Blunders in the World of Wonders

Whoooooo

2012-01-23T07:39:00.002-07:00

I got creative this weekend. I made 4 pairs of earrings, two necklaces, and knit one very cute little owl. I was pretty unsuccessful with my dress making, so I felt compelled to accomplish something else.

Here is the cutest little owl!

A catch up on New Things

2011-06-09T09:18:00.003-07:00

Recently, things have been a' changin! Since December, Greg and I have been moving and shaking. The first biggest change is our apartment.

As most of you know, the swinging pad we had in Ocean Grove was pretty nice! We had some sweet dark oak paneling that any girl would die for and some moths to keep the food company in the cabinets. However, there were a few things we still lacked. So I started the search a wee-bit early, meaning that in the end we were paying for two apartments for two weeks! But it didn't take too long to find an good apartment. We saw lots of places and it helped that we knew exactly what we wanted. It had to be close to the parkway, reasonably priced, with a bedroom, and a decent living room. Greg was also keen on it being near the water. So after looking around, almost being scammed, and running from some places, we found our apartment in Keyport.

It is the third floor of an old victorian house. It had everything we wanted and a HUGE deck! We were stoked! The only catch was, no pets! :( As you can imagine, we discussed this for a long time. If we took the apartment, my dream of a puppy would have to be pushed back and I would have to stop guessing that every surprise or piece of mail was a puppy (thankfully I really haven't stopped either of those things! whew!). So, in the end we took the apartment and my puppy dreams were suppressed. The upside is we got two little parrots (more to come on them later).

After we moved in we started making and doing all the projects we had planned while we were at the old apartment. We built pipes shelving in the living room, a magnetic spice rack and knife block. We put up hooks and towel racks in the bathroom. Greg even did a bit of plumbing and put a hose on the shower so we could water the plants.

Most news to come!

Gingerbread Men

2010-12-23T19:07:00.004-07:00

They've been on my to-do list for months. I couldn't wait to make them. Gingerbread men. They are so delicious but I have never made them myself. This year, Greg helped me make my first batch of gingerbread men. Delicious.

Pumpkins & Halloween

2010-11-16T17:52:00.006-07:00

What is Halloween without some hot pumpkin picking action. We traveled out to some unknown destination in NJ and paid way too much for the pleasure of doing all the work to get a pumpkin but it was good fun. :)

Out in the pumpkin patch.

A pony ride for our friend's little girl that must have been all of 2 minutes. Oh children.

Corn Maze! This one dedicated to the Boy Scouts. Thank goodness someone studied history!

The pumpkins we took home. The blue one was just crazy. I had never seen it before, so of course I had to choose that one.

Halloween Festivities!

Surviving Red Shirts! Greg and I couldn't decide who came up with this idea so we had to agree that it was totally collaborative. We were really happy with how everything came out. We just bought red shirt from Target. Then I cut off the ends of he sleeves and sewed on black fabric to the collars. In the meantime, Greg cut out the badges from coasters and then we hot-gun glued them to our shirts. Overall we were super happy with them. Greg was even sad to cut his up to look wounded.

At Steph and Nat's house they created a kill room, which strangely people did not gather in. Perhaps not strangely. And I am the only one that would be honored to be killed by Dexter?

I know you didn't want to hear this but Scooby is a huge jerk as a boyfriend. Always out with his friend Shaggy, never spending time with his girlfriend and we suspect he beats her!

What the Red Shirts do when not on an away mission.

Camping in the Shenanadoah Valley

2010-11-16T17:38:00.004-07:00

Camping is fun but better when you are surrounded by children who play too close to wild deer and the hicks who feed the wild deer corn from their trucks. Did I mention it is also fun to hike for hours without water. Seriously though, I had a great time! :)

Suzanne and I hiking. Look how beautiful the forest is! :)

Cooking some camp food, PB&J.

Grilling up some porkroll. Oh so salty porkroll.

The tents!

Stopping to dip our feet in the nice cool water.

That pesky deer I was talking about.

Horseback Riding & Apple Picking

2010-09-19T08:04:00.010-07:00

It has officially been a year since Greg and I started dating. Therefore, to celebrate, Greg planned a wonderful day. It was all a surprise but I guessed immediately. Greg does this thing where he asks what I like and if he stops mentioning it immediately, I know something is brewing. I've been asked no less than 10 times if I have seen the movie Dune or read the book, this means I will have no Dune related surprises. I am a genius. Having guessed the surprise, did not however make the idea of a surprise less fun, and I even refrained from guessing so it couldn't be confirmed.

So, Saturday Greg and I got up at 7am to make it to the place we were going. He said wear comfortable clothes and tennis shoes, so I was pretty sure what we were doing. I did mention that it was "our" anniversary and that jumping out of a plane, was not my idea of fun. This was just to allay my fears because who knows what we could have been doing.

After two hours, we arrived at the Double D Ranch in north western New Jersey. They gave us each a horse and we took off for the trail. Amazingly, they paired us really well with our horses. Greg's horse was really competitive and wouldn't let any of the other horses, especially mine, walk in front of it. His horse was called Man On The Run. The horse they gave me was called Johnny Walker Black. He is about 10 years old and was the slowest. The guide said I had to be careful because he likes to stop and munch grass along the way. And this was exactly what he did, thus I got yelled at for letting him. Geeze horse! Also, he loved to walk really slow, behind everyone else, then once the gap got big enough, run to catch up with everyone. So I got the slow, hungry horse! Awesome.

The whole ride was a lot of fun. We got to see some turtles sun bathing on rocks in the river, ducks, and even a pair of dogs taking a walk by themselves. Despite slowy-speedy (as I came to call my horse), riding was great. I was quite confident even after all these years of not riding. Unlike when I took lessons, I could just get off the horse and be done, no cleaning or feeding, etc. Plus, the trail was beautiful. The leaves were just starting to turn and the weather was perfect. I wasn't even that sore the next day!

Afterwards, we decided to head down to Lee's Turkey Farm for some apple picking. It is a huge farm where they raise turkeys but also fruits and vegetables. I found the farm on the Internet and really wanted to go. I think pick-your-own farms are genius. You do the labor but it is so much fun. Greg and I wandered around the apple trees looking for the best apples. We got a whole bucket full with designs on making pies, cider, apple sauce, or whatever else we come up with.

Later, we wandered into the vegetable part of the farm and picked our own zucchini, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, hot peppers, red peppers, and corn. I was a little worried when we checked out because I was sure it was going to be expensive but it all came to around $40. That is amazing! I am sure we would have paid more in the store and it wouldn't have been as fresh or fun. Love it!

Now we are set with the task of finding recipes to make everything. I can't wait to cook the acorn squash and the zucchini. Last night, I made yellow squash soup. Delicious! Also, I've never made an apple pie or any pie for that matter where I wasn't helping someone else. So this should be a good learning experience with the apples.

It was a great day, making me one lucky girl!

Baking and Making

2010-09-12T16:09:00.007-07:00

With lots of my time on my hands, I've decided to stop lying in bed all day and do something. What resulted this past Friday was baking. I like having muffins or granola around to munch on but most of the stuff at the supermarket has either things I don't like in them or too many chemicals. I have also been trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup which is in EVERYTHING nowadays. So I figured I would make all that stuff myself. I also decided to do it all in one day.

What I ended up making was granola bars, oatmeal cookies, and bread.

Granola Bars.

These were really easy to make. Greg found an Alton Brown recipe and we used it as our model but added the nuts and dried fruit we liked. It consisted of sunflowers, oatmeal, almonds, wheat germ, hazel nuts, honey, vanilla extract, brown sugar, dried mango, and dried pineapple. First you toast the nuts and wheat germ, then melt the sugar, butter, and honey together, and finally mix everything together and bake for 25 minutes. Wait for them to cool and then cut them up into bars.

Now, we have a snack that we take take anywhere and is much better than store bought granola bars.

Oatmeal Cookies.

On a book spending spree in Barnes and Nobles, Greg and I bought a Test Kitchen cookbook. So far it has not failed us. Each recipe we've made has come out really well, from crispy fried chicken to muffins. The book is great because it also teaches you about the ingredients and rates the cooking supplies.(Yes, I think the Test Kitchen should pay me too!)

So this time, I used the oatmeal cookie recipe. There is a delicate balance with oatmeal cookies. Too many oats and they come out dry and crumbly and too little and they are technically not oatmeal cookies. So, this recipe provided the perfect balance of both. Plus, it called for adding nutmeg instead of cinnamon which was a good move. Fresh ground nutmeg is very fragrant and is a good match for oatmeal cookies.

Bread.

It is a wonder that something we eat every day can be so time consuming and fickle to make. For those reasons, this was the first time I have attempted to make bread. I also used the Test Kitchen book for the recipe. What it involved was a lot of just letting it rise. I used white flour, some whole wheat flour, and toasted wheat germ. Then there were two parts to letting it rise. After that, you bake it with a water filled pan next to it (this makes the outside crunchy), and then take it out and let it cool.

I was so tempted to cut it open right away, but resisted because it would have ruined the shape. In the end, it turned out beautifully. It wasn't too dense and was very tasty. I was impressed. So next time I am going to add some nuts to it and try it again. I am also going to find some rapid rise yeast because that is what the recipe recommends and I think it could make a big difference.

Now that the first bread hurtle has been passed, there are so many opportunities for more! :)

It was a good day of making stuff. I was really glad that everything turned out well. There is something to be said for following the directions exactly, having all the right ingredients, and even the right tools. Here's to bakin'!

The Wild World of Weddings

2010-09-08T11:04:00.018-07:00

There is nothing I like more than a party, especially parties that take years of planning and come with elaborate dinners and decorations. This has been a good summer for me. I've been a guest at 4 weddings.

I figured I would show my appreciation for all the food and fun by writing a blog about the weddings. But honestly, my descriptions and "awesome" comments don't really do justice to all the planning and thought that went into them. So I am going to give them a Leslie Award and let the pictures speak for themselves. :)

My cousin Sarah heads the list of weddings. She got married June 19th to Daniel Pritchard in Columbus, Ohio.

They get the special "you-got-all-the-Harker-siblings-in-one-room" award. Yay!

The next wedding was for Emily Watkins and Shaun Kirkpatrick. They got married in Philadelphia on July 24th. They get the special "did-it-in-less-time-than-anyone-else-who-didn't-elope" award.

It was a lot of fun because I got to reconnect with friends I hadn't seen in years. Not to mention the food was fantastic!

Ever been to Hershey, Pennsylvania? Neither had I till I went to Shawn Truppo and Hilary Rice's wedding on July 31.

They get the special "so-many-donuts-I-hurt-myself " award.

The last wedding of the summer was Janelle Jimenez and Hugh Prysten on August 20 on a rooftop in Tribeca.

It was by far one of the most enjoyable times I've had in New York. They get the "oh-shit!-there-is-caviar" award.

Midwest is Best

2010-08-04T13:32:00.008-07:00

This is my aunt and uncle's dog, Tess. She is the smartest and cutest westie!

Once a year, I am drawn home to the sweet lands of the Midwest. The place of friendly people, long drives, fields of corn, wide open spaces, and a sense of freedom that drove early Americans and Europeans mad. Every time I step off the plane or pull into the drive, a sigh of relief escapes my lips. The smells, the sights, the feeling of complete comfort. I haven't always felt this way. The reason I left is because I thought it was boring and complacent. However, I believe you can't appreciate where you are from until you leave. Galavanting around the world, and now the US, has given me that new appreciation.

This my father and I out hiking in John Bryan State Park

I never thought I would be such a fierce defender of the Midwest, but it seems that it is my banner to wave. Just like I had to defend Americans while being abroad, now I defend the Midwest. This is partly my inspiration for writing this blog.

This is my nephew and I after building his first lego toy. We graduated to no choking fears!

Now let me explain why the Midwest is best.

Time and time again, the people. What are we doing so right? Is it all the home cooked food? Spending time with cousins at Granny and Paw-Paw's house? Trips to the family farm in the summer? Fall football and sports medicine? Springs full of softball? Summers at camp? All of these things are probably what made me a nice Midwestern gal and they were all influenced by the people.

These are my grandparent's five children. Dan, Bev, Mark, Ann, and Jeff.

Each time I go back, it is for the people. First, family of course, but what is life without friends. This last trip back was no exception. First stop, the Harker family, which is quickly being married off and becoming something bigger and more diversified. Last year I went back for my sister's wedding and this year, for my cousin's wedding. (A wedding blog is coming soon).

This is just a taste of our family beauty. Aunt Nancy, Katie, Aunt Ann, Colletta and me.

I made a short stop in Cincinnati to see my favorite family of Wilders. Next time, it is going to be a much longer. :)

Next stop Chicago. I've been there a couple times now but this is the first time I did touristy things. Suzanne and Robb took me around to some good stuff. We saw Salt n'Peppa, of which I could still sing all the words to their popular songs and even got a "wow" from Suzanne. (Thank you elementary school friends!). We also hit the Taste of Chicago festival which didn't really taste that good. :( After that we got an architectural tour down the river by (as it turns out) one of Suzanne's friends. I also got to go to the illustrious coffee shop where Suzanne and Robb spend there time, in turn meeting their circle of Chicago friends.

Suzanne and I pose in front of the city sky scrapers.

Even in Chicago, there is no denying that people are more relaxed and friendly. We went for drinks at a fancy bar, with an amazing view of the city. When we walked in, people were wearing jeans and others were dressed in suits. Only in the Midwest. If this had been in NYC, we would have never been seated because we weren't dressed appropriately.

Restaurant described above.

This is what makes Midwest best: great people.

Ocean Grove

2010-07-30T10:09:00.007-07:00

Where in the world am I?

That is what I want to know. New York made sense. Big, crazy, expensive, fast, and willing to squash you flat if you got in the way of a suit on his lunch break. There are lots of jobs and even more opportunities. Nonetheless, I've found myself in Ocean Grove.

Ocean Grove is a Methodist Camp Meeting. It is a square mile of land which was bought by a church group for summer camps in 1869. There are just over $4,000 people living here. Those people who own houses actually lease the land from the camp meeting association.

In the center of the town there is the Great Auditorium. It has one of the biggest pipe organs in the US, about 11,000 pipes!

Then, around the auditorium, there are tents. People own these tents and come back year after year to set them up and chill all summer long. Around the tents are houses. They are all very cute, cookie-cutter homes with lots of intricate wood working around the windows and doors. If you are tired of seeing McMansions or housing developments where everything looks the same, then this is for you. Also, they have porches. What happened to us in the mid-west? Why did we get rid of the porch? I blame air conditioning.

Overall, it is a quite town. There are restaurants and tiny shops for the summer tourists. People usually get around on their bikes or on foot. You get the sensation that you on vacation each time you step outside on a sunny afternoon.

That begs the question, how is a mid-west girl doing in this beach culture? As everyone I've met on the east coast has told me, I am very nice. That means I take being made fun of easily. Everyone likes to take a shot at the girl who didn't grow up on the beach.

So here is what I am learning.

1. Sun block is your friend. Wear it all the time. My white, northern European skin is not cut out for this.

2. Navigating the water works with a few tricks. Logic would have it, staying close to land would make you feel safer, I mean that is where the little kids hang out. Please note, kids are dumb. The word "kid" should a be a synonym of "dumb". Anyway. If you stay close to land, the waves hit you the hardest and it becomes a struggle to stay upright. If you, however, swim out a bit, you can ride the waves up and down without them crashing on you. Also if you dive under the waves, they pass over you and don't blow you away.

3. Sand is not your friend. It gets in everything, including your pants.

4. Don't feed the water fowl! Unless however it is our friend limpy, King of the Seagulls. You'll know him when you see him.

5. Swim suits are just socially acceptable underwear. I am still amazed by this. If I wore my beach gear anywhere else, I would get looks or comments, even arrested, but on the beach or walking there all is alright. Crazy.

The learning continues. I am trying my best but it takes some getting used to, especially when you are surrounded by people who have been beaching it up for years. Given time, I am sure I will snicker and sneer at others who don't know what they are doing! We can only hope. :)

Sewing. It can be sew much fun and sew frustrating!

2010-07-29T13:24:00.007-07:00

Something I realized about myself. I am a doer. I think about what I want to do, plot out some rough points, and then take off. This happens in all places in my life. It can be exciting, impulsive, and utterly disastrous.

Let's apply this to sewing. Thanks to two lovely ladies, Liz and Suzanne, I am in possession of one fine piece of equipment called a sewing machine. Well, after having the tool, what do you do? Take lessons? Start small and build up? Ask for advice? Read blogs about sewing? Don't be ridiculous! You buy some fabric, make your boyfriend figure out why the tension isn't correct and fix it, then start sewing! :)

Now Greg and I have a joke going that I like to eyeball once and cut three times. That may be true but I am learning a lot from doing. I have had terrible disappointments but also great successes. So far (let's just count the successes) I've made a couple of dresses, a bag, a top for the beach, a skirt, and a bag for some marshmallow shooters for Greg's cousin.

Here are a few of my favs:

I made this skirt out of Greg's old seersucker yacht club trousers. I was blown away that he owned a pair and immediately asked if I could cut them up. :) It was a pretty straight forward project. Cut off the legs and make it a length that is comfortable. The only problem ever is that the zipper is crazy long because they were boy's pants. I wear them for cruising around town or going to the beach.

This is a beach bag. I bought this fabric in Japan and had intended for the longest time to make a bag out of it. I found some simple designs on the internet and then just started cutting. (Don't tell anyone but I did measure some stuff). It works really well. I am particularly proud of the handles but the pockets need work. I'll know what to do for the next bag.

The first job I had when I got back to the states left me with little more than scars from poison ivy and blue t-shirts. So when you have t-shirts, make things! I cut up a couple and made this. It was a little tight. Gotta work on that next time. This might be where that measuring comes in!

This is probably the best thing I've made so far. I bought the fabric just for this dress, it wasn't taken from something else for the first time. I had even bought a pattern for it. Too bad that didn't work out. The pattern was more complicated than I had imagined and I really wanted to wear this dress to my cousin's wedding. So I scrapped the first plan and made this instead. The only problem is that you can't really wear a bra with it. I feel more comfortable with a bra but going free and easy didn't seem to make a difference.

This is my most recent dress. I took a dress that I didn't really like the top from, cut it in half and sewed it onto a top I didn't really wear that much. In the end you have this beautiful design. It is super hip. We will see how much wearing it gets.

So where does the "sew frustrating" come in? Well, there have been plenty of disasters. One thing is changing the tension of the thread for different kinds of fabric. If the tension is wrong, the whole thing could come unraveled. Also, getting shapes right is hard. And do I need to mention zippers! Ugh. Eventually, I know this will become second nature but as a novice, it can make me push my machine away and throw myself on my bed as a crumpled mess in exasperation. Always followed by some whining.

I struggle on!

Summer Sun and Fun

2010-07-29T12:02:00.007-07:00

Well, after planting my garden, I was surprised at how everything took off. Seeds are tiny packages of dynamite, ready to explode given the right soil, water, and sun.

As you can imagine, I was super excited to put stuff in the ground and did so very early. I planted everything too early and everyone said it would all die. I was willing to accept that if it happened but guess what! It didn't! Almost everything lived, except some poor cucumbers. I replanted some and they grew too.

We now have sunflowers (thus delicious sunflower seeds) green beans, lettuce, basil, cilantro, tomatoes, strawberries, and hopefully cucumbers soon!

Things I realized about gardens:

1. Birds are not your friends. Sure you feel sorry because for them because they live outside and you live in a big house with furniture but they will decimate your garden!

2. I love squirrels but they love my sunflowers, not me! It is a weird relationship. I saw a very bold squirrel bite a stalk of a sunflower down and then proceed to eat the seeds out of it. The pesky beast did it right in front of me, knowing that I have a soft spot for him. Damn squirrels. So, beat the squirrels to the punch (either literally or figuratively) and get your sunflower seeds before him.

3. The reason they call it "planting season" is because that is the ideal time for seeds to germinate. If you plant after said season, you will have less favorable results.

4. Sometimes the mystery plant blooms and looks amazing (see below picture). I wanted to pull up this plant, which I thought was a weed, forever. I didn't because I hate killing things, even plants. Then low and behold, it produced these incredibly beautiful flowers.

5. Huge bush. (T-he). I wanted to rip it out of the ground. Once again, glad I didn't. It turned pink and full with beautiful blossoms in spring.

6. Leaving for a week to go travel and visit home means your garden will become overgrown with weeds. Even though, you put a boy in charge of watering it, it appears, that is all he did. The lesson here: weeds are bitches and they will take over everything, especially the viney breeds.

7. Nothing is better than waking up at dawn, weeding, and then making said non-weeding partner get up and eat a breakfast salad with you at 6 am when you return home. Delicious revenge.

8. Last but not least, summer vegetables are delicious. Worth every minute.

Jersey Shore Fun

2010-05-08T18:54:00.003-07:00

Spring has brought not just flowers, but friends and fun. A few weeks ago, some college friends got together and spent a few days hanging out.

Andrea and Suzanne flew to NYC and met up with Liz, Lauren and Me. On Friday, we did some sightseeing in the city, ate some cupcakes, and wore ourselves out talking and walking. One of the highlights being a doggy daycare, near Lauren's house.

Then it was off the Shore. We hung out just like they did on the reality show. We went to the beach, impressed the men and women with our sexy bodies, then went back and barbaqued, finishing the night with lots of drinking. There were some cold sleeping arrangements and then a very early wake up. All in all, too short but fun.

Thanks for the good times ladies!

Spring Fever

2010-04-05T17:16:00.004-07:00

It looks like spring has arrived! I want to hold spring in my arms and dance about in a field full of flowers. I've been waiting so long. For some reason, even though I lived in Russia, this winter has been particularly hard. That may have to do with the precarious situation I have got myself into with the heat company, but whatever. It was damn cold this winter and I am glad to see it gone.In anticipation, I've been buying up all the plants I find. On an adventure at a local nursery, I was told to put back everything I had because it is still too early. I was forced to buy house plants, of which I have several now.
Also, I cleared the garden at Greg's apartment. He has a small square of yard next to his apartment that is all his. The previous tenant had filled most of it in with stone. He must have been a classy gent! So I took it upon myself to clean it up, move some rock, and plant some flowers. Needless to say, the landlord and I are now best friends. I think he is going to buy me one of those matching heart necklaces!
It seems as I age, the meaning of things is changing. I don't remember caring about the seasons as a teenager or young adult. I just recall ignoring my father when he said it was still too cold to swim and then finding out the hard way that he was right! Now, I anticipate each season for their unique characteristics. So I bid winter farewell and welcome spring with open arms. Make my plants grow and let me enjoy eating outside as dusk covers everything.

Autumn in New York

2009-10-27T16:16:00.006-07:00

Zooming through the parkways in my red Kia mini-van, I feast my eyes on the beautiful colors that pass by. I love autumn. Everything about it is appealing. First, it is harvest time, meaning lots of festivals featuring corn, apples, pumpkins, squash, and so much more. My favorite holiday, Halloween, is celebrated. And, Thanksgiving, that usurper of my birthday, presents a reason to get together and eat, eat, eat! The colors are so warm and the crisp weather invites snuggling under warm blankets. There is no other season that makes me sigh with contentment the way this one does.

Since my job keeps me outside, I have had the opportunity to really appreciate the change of the seasons. I am delighted by the rainy and windy days just as much as the sunny days. Being in extreme weather makes me feel alive, it awakens the struggle to live within me. I love my umbrella being taken away by the wind and stomping through the puddles in my boots. Sometimes you can go through trails where the leaves fall like rain and you are encircled by a swirl of colors. The smell of the leaves and the crunch underfoot make me feel like I am the little girl in the Secret Garden.

I have been working for the Student Conservation Association since July and have had the opportunity to see a lot of the state parks in New York. It has provided me with a unique experience. Recently, we have been working on the Green Belt Trail and building picnic tables for the parks. Both, good work.

What else has fall brought me? Well, I have had the opportunity to check out a part of New Jersey that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise and to try sailing for the first time, thanks to a special guy.

I have also been trying to concentrate on doing the things I set out to do in NYC. I have been going out and enjoying the city. I am studying for grad school and I am trying to make my apartment feel like home. The last endeavor is the most difficult. I've come to realize, people make home, home, not the place. Though, my roommate and I have gone from the Dark Ages to the 21st century, in the fact that we started with absolutely nothing, not even furniture, to now having a couch, kitchen table, and even Internet.

There haven't been too many exciting adventure that are typical of my blog but living in NYC is a whole different kind of excitement. I am independent and wholly responsible for myself. It presents moments of congratulations and of disappointment in myself.

From Spring to Fall, so much has happened and continues to happen. Who would want to know what the future holds? Isn't the mystery enough to make you jump out of bed in the morning?

The Wild World of Leslie

2009-08-29T11:42:00.004-07:00

Since internet is still difficult to get even thought I live in New York City, I have been slacking on the blog writing. But here is what I have been up to!

Found an apartment! Well, technically, Zach found the apartment. We are living in Brooklyn! The apartment is great and the neighborhood is growing on me, not unlike a rash would! But it is great fun.

This is our first meal in the new apartment with absolultely no furniture! :)

Most exciting was the wedding of my sister Colletta! She married a wonderful guy and I am totally jealous! Now she has the most beautiful, clever, and cute son and an equally awesome hubby! Congratulations Colletta!!

As for other things, I will post more later. Things are moving at the speed of light here. Next, I might detail some dating I have been doing! We shall see!!

London, the 3rd time, the best of those times!

2009-06-17T17:48:00.004-07:00

On my way home, I decided to stop by this little village, unknown to most people called, London. All I can saw is, "Yes, please!" I had the most amazing visit. I got to drink wine in the middle of the afternoon by a beautiful river, a private tour of parliament, a warm and inviting house to enjoy, not to mention, the best company and conversation in the world. I will definitely book with the Maddy-Kate-Fiona-Jen-Jon Tour Agency again!

Thank you so much! I had such a great time. I won't be able to out do you in New York but you gotta let me try. I hope to see you all here soon!

Saying Goodbye to Moscow

2009-06-17T17:02:00.005-07:00

Leaving Moscow was one of those bitter sweet moments in life. I could make lists upon lists of reasons why leaving was the best decision I had ever made but at the same time, I did not want to leave aspects of my life there.

Moscow taught me lots of things. I learned, surprisingly, that I like people. It was fun to break down people's barriers, tease out a smile from their grim street faces, and destroy stereotypes of what you expect from certain types of people. In the end, I learned that Moscow has some of the best people in the world. With every interaction I had, it made my decision to study social work even easier. I would recommend to anyone, that if you need to test yourself, find out what you are made of, then spend a year in Moscow.

So to say goodbye to Moscow properly is to say goodbye to all of it's wonderful people (of course, not all of them are pictured here, the kiosk ladies would not let me photograph them! hahaha).

Irkutsk, Russia

2009-06-17T16:09:00.006-07:00

What reaction does the word "Irkutsk" provoke in you? Perhaps nothing, perhaps disdain, or even perhaps delight. Well, what about the word "platzcart" aka 3rd class? Anything yet? Ok, well what if I put those two words together and tell you that is how I am taking a holiday? I already performed this experiment and the first reaction was: Why? and then What? Oh, perhaps I traveled there just for the pure joy of seeing people's utter astonishment! Every person had the same reaction when I told them about my upcoming adventure.

Well what ensued was a very pleasant journey by train by 3 days, with a few interesting stories. Then a visit to the deepest lake in the world, where the only fresh water seals in the world live. Finally, a great time in one of the nicest Russian cities I have been to.

When Ruth and I sat down in our carriage and gave each other excited grins, we noticed a noise that was getting closer and closer. When we turned our heads we notice it was 20 eleven year old boys getting on the train. We prayed they would pass through out carriage to the next, but alas, they didn't. All the Russian conversation we had planned was slipping through our fingers. What we got instead was constant entertainment. They were a rugby team that had won their championship game and were victoriously heading home. They wrestled, fought, covered each other in ketchup, ran, jumped, climbed, patched their seats with band aids, and ate, ate, ate. Any desire to have kids vanished. We survived somehow and we ended up drinking and speaking with their coaches.

We had beautiful weather in Irkutsk for the first two days. Then we it rained for two days. Irkutsk was a simple city to figure out and also surprising in a lot of ways. First, the people were really friendly. In a book store a young security guard (kinda cute) talked to us for like a half hour trying to help us find some books to read. It was great. We also saw a film at the coolest theatre I had ever been to. It had huge reclining chairs and phones to order food as you watched. Fantastic! Also, there were many more traditional style houses in Irkutsk. Some of the frames around the windows were quite impressive.

Oh and the Lake, I shouldn't forget about that. It was big! Really big! I was surprised. The best part of it, I must say, was seeing the seals in their tiny and pathetic museum of Lake Baikal. They were super cute. There needs to be more work done to promote tourism around the lake. We had trouble finding trails to explore the expansive forest. It could be much more interesting if someone would just invest in it.

I don't know if I would recommend this trip to your average traveler but it was just right for Ruth and I.

Euro Vision and Adventures in the Garden

2009-05-18T03:56:00.005-07:00

The Portugese Group:
As you might be aware, the Eurovision song contest just took place. I was amoung the "lucky" few who got to go and see it thanks to one of my lovely friends who took me with her. So the performances were good but it was over in two hours. Then we watched the voting and they told us Germany won. I don't know how things go, I thought it would be live but some things are pre-recorded. I have no idea what happened. Perhaps we just saw some part of the voting and not all of it. In any case, it was fun. I am probably one of the very few Americans who has gone to Eurovision. What an honor. I did like a few of the songs even. I liked the entry from Iceland and from Portugal.

The Greek Group:The French group:After the concert my friend took me back to her apartment for tea and let me play with her bird. It was a great day!

Then I spent an afternoon in the botanical gardens with two friends but it certainly wasn't what I had expected. First, no flowers. Second, we got a tiny bit lost. And when I say "we", I mean, I wasn't supposed to pay attention, so I didn't and was absolutely useless when trying to get back to the car. I did however pick up on the tracks of a horse that had gone our way. I knew those fake tracking skills I pretended to have would pay off someday! We had a really good time. We answered questions like, if we were lost and had to eat someone, who would it be. You know the important questions of life! It was just good to walk and talk with good company.

This is Seva and Tema.This is Seva and Tema reaching for a big stick. Sticks were a theme of our journey through the garden.The Russian Entry:

The Sultanate of Oman

2009-04-16T12:52:00.014-07:00

After a long absence I am back with one of my lastest trips. Todd and I took a week break from the snow and clouds of Moscow for sunny and hot Oman. It was a great trip and it destroyed some of my fears that Egypt had created about the Arab world.

First, we flew to Dubai. We wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Why were so many rappers singing about flying there for the weekend? (Well I only know one. Justin Timberlake sings about it and for that I am ashamed.) To be honest, I don't really see the appeal of the city. Everything is new and expansive. You can't walk anywhere. The free, public beaches were the only thing that really appealed to us. Since, most of the people in Dubai aren't native, we fit right in when we went to the beach. Plus, we went to one which is nicknamed the "Russian" beach and it felt like we were hanging out in an alternate, sunny Moscow. It will be interesting to see the progression of Dubai.

From Dubai, we took a bus to Muscat, the capital of Oman. It is amazing to see that a country that had very little infastructure could grow so much after only 4o years. The current Sultan overthrew his father in the 70s and since then, he has tried to modernize the country. Now, there are paved roads, everyone has a higher standard of living, and they participate in global economics and politics.

We went snorkling and sightseeing in Muscat. Then we took a guided tour for three days to the mountains. It was interesting to see mountains without trees. I've seen pictures of it but it was really surprising. Also, it was funny to see goats roaming the hillsides. They are expert climbers. Unbelievable. Not to mention, they are really quite good at stealing your lunch. That is what they did to Todd and I! Who knew that goats were so agressive. Lesson learned.

Our guide was a really nice man. He spoke Arabic, English, and Swahili. Apparently, Oman had some involvement in the slave trade, so there is a close connection to Africa. The people in general in Oman were quite nice. We never felt harassed and they respected us. Of course we had almost no interaction with women, which is too bad. Todd did, however, make some young girls run from him when he came close to where they were sitting. He wanted to use the ATM but I think they thought he was going to grab one and haul her off! It was really quite hilarious. :)

This certainly wasn't a backpacker's holiday. We saw very few Americans that weren't military but I would recommend it. It was a great, safe place to see Arab culture. Plus, it is a fantastic break from the cold if you are living in a northernly country.

More of the Old World - Turkey

2009-01-17T02:50:00.023-07:00

There were two places I really wanted to see while being in Russia (other than Russia) and they were Egypt and Turkey. Having seen them both, they are now considered the dark and light sisters of my travels. I was nervous and even not looking forward to my trip to Turkey because Egypt had been so painful. When I told my Russian class about this, the Turkish girl in my class assured me that this was not the case. She invited me to her house and showed me pictures and even taught me a few words of Turkish (which I promptly forgot). Even so, I was a bit anxious on the flight over.

Turns out Turkey is a great place. The atmosphere was relaxing, the climate was inviting, and the people were friendly. The country is still fairly liberal when it comes to religion but you can see the struggle the people are dealing with, just by walking down the street. You see groups of women where one or two are wearing headscarves but their mothers aren't. And pleasantly enough (at least in the west of the country) you don't find those disconcering patches of black in the scenery, where women are totally covered. Also there is something so relaxing when you see a group of students, boys and girls, hanging out after school at a park. There is no one there veiling the girls and trying to keep them seperate from the boys, they are just being kids. Needless to say I didn't feel nervous about being a woman in predominately muslim country the way I did in Egypt.

All that being said, the trip was good. We flew into Istanbul and spent three days there. On the first day, which was January 1st, the weather was warm, the sun shining, and we were terribly excited. But unfornatuely, the days following that were overcast and rainy. But we had come from Moscow, so the weather didn't get us down. We saw the Hagia Sophia, which is the most amazing historical places I have ever been to. It was a cathedral built by Justinian during the Byzantian Empire. When Constaninople was conquered by Ottoman Turks in the 1400s, the church was converted to a mosque. Inside you can see how they altered it but there are still hints of its original origins. There are crosses on the ceiling crossed out, funnily enough. There are even pictures of Mary and Jesus left up.

The Hagia Sophia was the inspiration for the Blue Mosque that sets right down the street from it. It was incredibly beautiful and the aritect spent all this life trying to understand and copy the design of the Hagis Sophia. It is still a working mosque so you have to time your visits carefully. First you line up outside, take off your shoes, and then they let you in. There is a portion that visitors are not allowed past but you can still see everything.

Later we went to the cistern under the city, which the Romans and Byzantines had used to store extra water. It is also the place that James Bond used to get to the Russian embassy but I couldn't quite make out the route he used!! It was damp and kind a spooky. The best part was seeing the big madusa heads at the base of some of the pillars. So now you can see three stages of religion in Istanbul, the Greek/Roman gods, christianity, and islam. Fantastic!

After the fun of Istanbul we headed down the coast by bus (which was an excellent way to travel, with great service) to Selcuk, to see the ancient city of Ephesus. It was quite an advanced city during its height had running water, public baths, and a library. Ephesus is also sited in the bible, in revelations. We stayed there just two days and one night because the town is small and once you are done seeing Ephesus there isn't much more to do. Interestingly enough, we were getting tired of Kebabs by this point and discovered a Korean restaurant! We were the only customers at lunch time but it was a nice change of pace.

From Selcuk, we headed farther down the coast to Antalya. This is a coastal city on the Mediterranean Sea. The first day we arrived it was raining but after that, the clouds cleared, and we finally had some warm and sunny days. We could see the mountains, topped with snow, and the sparkling sea. This town is now quite a popular resort destination, especially for Russians, who don't need a visa. But in the off season, it was relaxed and uncrowded. We managed to take a boat ride while we were there. We knew we had to go down to the harbor and talk to a boat owner about the ride. I was not looking forward to this because it takes some haggling and we might be made to pay more than it is worth. But we knew this was what we had to do. So we went down and talked to the first boat owner that approached us. As we were talking another man approached us and started telling us stuff too. And out of nowhere a third man ran up and started yelling at the second man. Todd and I were a little worried but the third man gave us a cheaper price and showed us to the boat. Later, the third man told us that there are rules about asking people and since we started talking to the first man, the second man couldn't interfer until we turn the first man down. Who knew touts had complicated rules to follow! In the end we got our boat ride for about $10.

Eventually we left Antalya for Istanbul, and then flew back to Moscow.

This is part of the walls that surrounded Constantiople during the Byzantine Empire. They were supposed to keep foreigners out, but looks like they weren't doing such a good job!

One of the most distinctive things about Turkey was that instead of pigeons everywhere, there were cats! So needless to say we have plenty of pictures with cats. Also, many Turkish people keeps dogs. I just assumed they wouldn't because of islam, but everyone seemed to have a dog.

This kitty was wondering from tourist to tourist inside the Hagia Sophia.

This kitty was following Todd and I around in Selcuk, poor thing didn't have a tail.

This kitty was hanging out in the ruins of Ephesus begging for food. Todd and I never had anything to give them but we saw a German man pull slices of sausage out of his pocket and feed them. Who carries around sausage?

I would totally recommend that you visit Turkey. It is a great place to see civiliations, religions, and technology collide.

Estonia and Finland

2008-11-19T12:06:00.007-07:00

Since my last blog, summer has come and gone. Today it actually snowed for the first time. It was great. But as you know I haven't been idle just because it isn't summer. Todd and I played guide to his mother and her husband for a week in October. Then in November we took a trip to Estonia and Finland. Many of my students asked me why and all I could tell them was, why not. We got the time off work and we just wanted to see what those pesky Estonias and Fins were up to.

We left on a night train from Moscow to Tallinn. It took about 13 hours. And what was even better, Todd and I were not seated next to each other for the trip. We thought we could ask someone to exchange seats with us but turns out Todd sat next to a crabby old babushka who wouldn't budge. And the guy sitting next to me, literally couldn't budge because he was too big! So getting to Tallinn wasn't as romantic as it could have been. Nonetheless we arrived.

We booked a hotel close to the train station and when we arrived we saw that "close" was an understatement. It was right next to the train tracks! So it was easy finding the hotel. It had a great view of Tallinn as well. I guess that is what you get when you stop staying at youth hostels.

The "old town" of Tallinn is pretty cool. It has remained the same since the middle ages. So the streets are all windy and paved in bricks. It was very pictureque and relaxing but there wasn't much to do there. So we spent a day in the old town and then watched movies in English and shopped.

Helsinki Train Station

After two days we took the ferry to Helsinki. Todd was especially pumped to go to Finland because one of his favorite bands is from there, Lordi. Haven't heard of it? Don't investigate, really not worth your time. Anyway, we were expecting to buy Lordi Cola and all sorts of other stuff for Todd.

A candy bar we came to fondly call, racial slur bar!

Helsinki would be a great place to live but not such a great for tourists. There wasn't much to see or do that you wouldn't get in most big cities. They did, however, have H&M and reasonable prices even though they are on the euro. So we shopped! We also went to the aquarium and the reptile zoo place.

Then we took a train up to a town called Tampere. Apparently, this was the worker's capital of Finland and so Lenin had spent lots of time here trying to start a revolution. Needless to say Todd and I visited the Lenin museum and got a sweet photo of a couch Lenin slept on a for a few nights.

Eventually we made our way back to Moscow. Finland and Estonia were nice places to visit. And it turns out the Estonias were trying to speak Estonian or English but were overwhelmed with Russian. The Finnish weren't up to much because they had already mastered English! Now we know what they were up to!!

New York City - Part 3 of Holiday Home

2008-09-08T15:47:00.008-07:00

The last part of my trip was to New York City. I have a couple of friends who live here and a few friends that just happened to be in town while I was here. This was more about seeing good friends than about seeing NYC but I still got to do tons of cool stuff.

We took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

My friend from University, Liz, moved to NYC two years ago. I flew from Ohio to NYC with her and she kindly let me stay at her place. I also have a friend that I met in Japan, Sara, and she put me up for a few days as well. Not to mention, Kate from the UK, flew in just to see Sara and I for the weekend. Jen and John happened to be in NYC for a friend's wedding and Janelle and Hugh were doing some sightseeing before embarking on a tour of Asia. And Emily ventured far from Poukeepsie (sp?) for the day to see us. It was a great time and can only be expressed in pictures.

A view of Manhatten from the boat.

Janelle giving those classic Japanese peace signs. A habit hard to shake.

Liz, Sara, Janelle, and Hugh.

Ellis Island.

Times Square. Commercial but nothing compared to Tokyo.The American Natural History Museum, aka, one of the greatest places in the world!

We saw a special exhibition on snakes and lizards and I think due to my glasses making me look smarter, one of the volunteers explaining stuff stuck to us like glue! (but so totally worth it!)

The shell of this turtle is huge. I wish they were still this size!

Sara, Kate, and I stood in line for the Colbert Report and got in!! We saw the legend in person! Fantastic.

Emily, Kate, and I took a stroll through Central Park. Because Kate is British, she was loving the sunshine, so we chilled in the park for some of the afternoon. Good times.

A lovely view of Central Park.

Home in Ohio - Part 1of Holiday Home

2008-09-08T15:14:00.005-07:00

Once a year, every year, since I started living abroad, I have visited home and this year was no different. Of course, I was motivated to come by the prospects of being in my friend's wedding, getting to eat my way through New York City, and seeing my family.

Tyler and Me

I spent the first week back in good ol' Medway, Ohio with my Dad. It was as usual. I went shopping, visited the family, etc. I also went through all my old things in the back bedroom and thought of what it would be like to have this stuff out of boxes. And of course, I got to see one of my nephews, Tyler. He is my brother's son and two years old. He didn't know what to think of me but hopefully he had a fun few days of being spoiled!

Being in Ohio this year was like a breath of fresh air. The contrast of Ohio and Moscow are huge. I liked seeing all the green grass, the traffic moving quickly along, the friendly smiles, and excellent costumer service.

But being at home also makes me realize every year why I don't stay. Many people don't understand how wonderful their lives really are and don't appreciate the things around them. They live in excess and eat way, way too much food. I know that if you haven't left the United States then it is harder to understand why I am writing these things. I just don't want to get caught in that same trap. It appears that people in Ohio just sit and eat. The motivation/ambition factor is really very low. Don't people want to make their lives better? I understand there are obstacles and difficulties, but you gotta keep your eyes on the prize and look past that. And I won't accept that people's goals are to just live above poverty and shop at wal-mart, even if they aren't motivated by the same things as me. There are other kinds of motivation that lead to success. But I realize that my negative thoughts do not apply to everyone in Ohio, perhaps just to the people closest to me.

After that little rant, I would like to say there is no other place I would rather live than the US. But when I come back, I am going to bring back the things I have learned from Europe and Asia. Things like; don't waste your resources, there is never a reason to be impolite and rude, and taking an interest in things you don't understand can lead to amazing experiences.

The Wedding - Part 2 of Holiday Home

2008-09-08T14:00:00.008-07:00

The mascot of my trip home, Bailey, the Wilder's dog. This is how I found him in the morning when I came downstairs!
So if you talked to me at all this summer you probably heard me mention that I was going to a wedding several times. I probably told you about the dress, what we were planning for her bachelorette party and etc. Needless to say I was excited! And finally the big day happened.

On August 30th, my friend Suzanne and her boyfriend Robb got married. The wedding was in Cincinnati at an old movie theatre. It was a great time. I knew that hanging out with the Wilders would be one of the best parts of my trip back to the states. So here is just small sample of the pictures taken at the wedding.

Liz, Suzanne, and Me before the bachelorette party. Liz was excited because she got to wear her beautiful beaded dress. And Liz and I picked out Suzanne's dress, surprise surprise! This is Liz, Suzanne, and Me dressed up for the rehearsal dinner. We ate tons of food and drank great wine at this restaurant called Bella Luna in Cincinnati.
The happy bride and groom.
The wedding party. Also, I got to see great people at the wedding. Andrea and Dave came and it was so nice to catch up after almost 4 years! And then I got to meet Cody's fiance Dana. They are such a lovely couple.

Dave , Me , and Andrea

Dana and Cody

Random Pictures of Parks

2008-07-22T12:54:00.005-07:00

It has been PARK MANIA here in Moscow for me the this last month. I feel the call of mother earth and want to return to her natury goodness, so I have been visiting all the famous and close parks. Here are some of the ones I have been to.

This park is called Patriarch Ponds. It is famous because one of the scenes from Bulgakav's novel "Master and Margarita" takes place here. If you haven't read it, then you should. It is quite entertaining.

It so happened that the reason we went to Patriarch Ponds was because I wanted to feed some old bread to some ducks. Unfortuantly I learned that you can't feed the ducks here and that there in fact only one "ponds." There used to be two but the other was filled in and now has a building sitting on top of it.

In the quest to find ducks to feed on this particular day, Todd and I ventured to sokolniki park. At first we were put off by the fact that we had to pay to enter (60 Rubles!) but were delighted when we saw the form of transport depicted below. How unbelievable creepy is that train! All I can say is, "Yes, please!" The park is really quite nice. It has enough trees and open space to make you believe you have left the city. We plan on going back.

This park is called Pioneer Park. It was probably used for the young pioneers who endeavored to be like Lenin. Nowadays it is just a park. This park is neither famous or very nice but it is close to my house (25 minute walk away). I asked one of my Russian co-workers if she knew of a park within walking distance and this is what she recommended. It is a nice place to sit amoung the trees.This is Kuskovo park. A rich family used to live here and they collected porcelain and if you come before 6pm you can be the lucky guest of the porcelin museum! Lucky, indeed! Too bad for me, I arrived too late to see it. So one of my students and I walked around the pond.

And look! Ducks! And not just ducks but baby ducks! But alas, I had no bread on this day. :(

One of the most famous parksin Moscow is Park Pobedy. It was constructed to commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany.

And like any good park in Russia, it has lots of fountains!

Tula

2008-07-17T06:47:00.007-07:00

In June Todd and I took an excursion that our company organized to the town of Tula, south of Moscow. It is famous because this is where Tolstoy lived. He owned property a bit outside of town where he lived his ascetic lifestyle.

It was a great trip. Good weather, good company, and eventually, after we got the bus running again, a comfortable ride!

Our bus. We had a nice 3o minute break on a random street in Tula.

The first stop of our trip was Yasnaya Polyana, aka, Tolstoy's estate. Todd wanted to listen to what our tour guide was saying at this point but I made him pose for a picture, look how well he fakes a smile!

Here is Tolstoy's house. Since Tolstoy was an aristocrate he was obligated to provide money or troops whenever the Tsar went to war. Well once, when he didn't have either, he sold the house he was born in and it was disassembled and carried away brick by brick. The house in this picture was one of the wings off to either side of the main house. He lived here for most of his married life.

Tolstoy also maintained a farm and they have continued to keep it up. I was trying to get close to those geese but I was afraid they would chase me!

Tolstoy owned a huge piece of land. It is quite beautiful.

Next stop: Tula Kremlin. Here is the view of it from across the street of the main entrance. Even Peter the Great had visited this Kremlin!

A view of the walls inside the Kremlin. I think that tower was used as a place to torture people.

And a video. Listen to the quiet comments of our favorite four-eyed friend!

The Developments of Spring

2008-06-17T10:55:00.018-07:00

Spring has progressed and is almost on the verge of summer. I wish that it felt like the verge of summer but the temperature remains at a cool 65 degrees. I have always looked forward to the change in the seasons and now I long for a climate where I don't have to wear a jacket outside. There may be global warming in the rest of the world but in Moscow, it refuses to get hot.

This is the dacha.

But nonetheless I have been busy. Last month one of my students invited me to her dacha (see previous blog to see what it means) and I got to see first hand what it was like. The weather was a warm 4o degrees, so we stayed indoors most of the time, which only made the time there better. It was great to be in a home. By that, I mean a place with a comfortable couch, a dinning room table, good company, and a person who cooks. Living the single life has left me wanting some of these creature comforts. And I got to try a Russian banya for the first time, I was even beaten with tree branches! It was great. Behind my friend's house she has her own banya where she can sit and sweat. It was an interesting experience but I'm not going to lie, I prefer onsens to banyas.

This is the banya (sauna).

Spring also produced an unexpected surprise. For the last two weeks, when you walked outside, your person was pelted with white balls of fluff, somtimes so thick that you had to put your head down to keep them out of your eyes. Apparently there are trees all over Moscow that produce these seeds and they infest everything. Luckily we have some ingenious youths running around with lighters, now don't be afraid, they are doing their civic duty. They make big balls of the fluff and light it on fire and it goes up in a flash. It is cool to watch.

Here is the white fluff. It is resting on a wet spot on the curb.

One of the best aspects of spring has been on the foliage. Russians love their trees and they all love the untamed forests that fill their lands, so it is no wonder that if there is a place to plant a tree, they plant it! Our neighborhood is now all green and leafy, struggling to combat all the pollution. I like walking down our green street, so I figured I would take some pictures.

This is our claim to fame in my neighborhood, a monument to Ho Chi Min, and you should feel ashamed if you don't know who he is! This is the street where I live. Isn't it green!
This is the side of my apartment building from the street. It has five stories.

And this is the entrance to my building.

With a couple of friends I revisited Novodevichy Convent but this time toured the cemetary. We saw some pretty famous tomestones. I am always a bit amazed to see pictures on graves here. It is very interesting to look at faces but at the same time off putting. Perhaps I don't like thinking there is actually a person below that slab of rock. Nevertheless, I took some photos of the most famous ones.

This is the entrance to different sections of the cemetary.

This is the monument just put up for Boris Yeltsin. Here is a famous clown.

This is the tombstone of Anton Chekov, a famous author.

And unlike most of you slackers out there, Sandra (a friend I met at OU) came to visit me for five days. It was a good time and I got to do some stuff that I hadn't yet done in Moscow. One of the best things we did was take a boat ride down the Moscow River. I really enjoyed it and will probably do it again. But prepare yourself, I was utterly exhausted after four days!

Sandra and I on the boat.

Spring In Moscow

2008-05-11T04:39:00.009-07:00

Spring arrived early this year to Moscow. It was a sunny 65 degrees in the middle of April and the good weather has more or less continued. With the birds chirping (something I didn't realize I missed), I decided to head outside and explore parts of Moscow that had previously kept me away.

This is one of the churches at Kolomenskaya park, it is a Unesco Heritage site.

There were some big holidays recently as well. One of them was Easter. During the Soviet Union going to church was restricted and even monitored by the KGB. One of my students related to me the fact that if you wanted to be a prominent figure in your work and were caught going into a church, your career would hit the glass ceiling suddenly. But things have changed now. They have changed so much that the former head of the KGB, Vladimir Putin, went to mass for Easter. The same student told me he almost laughed out loud when he saw Putin standing next to the Patriarch because 20 year previously he would have been sent packing from his post for such a thing.

This is my friend Artyom. He took me out for a ride in a boat even though I thought I would fall in.

Arytom also took me to Moscow State University, where there is a lovely park for walking.

With the church up and swinging again the Russians have brought back some old traditions. One of them is having your decorated Easter eggs and Easter cakes blessed. So hundreds of people lined up the evening before Easter Sunday and waited to have their eggs blessed. Since I was raised a protestant, the whole idea of mass and blessing were a bit beyond me. Usually in a protestant church there is enough room for all the congregation at one time but the orthodox churches are small, so people wait their turn to come in and kiss icons, light candles, get blessed, and cross themselves. I never realized how much the religions diverged.

The crowded church at Kolomenskaya.

Also, when it is warm, you can't keep a good Russian inside. They all drive out to their dachas, which should take an hour or so but because EVERYONE is driving out to their dacha, it takes about 4 hours (no kidding). Once they are there, they enjoy the fresh air and the freedom to barbecue (the national past time of Russians, they love it). So what is a dacha? They often translate it as a country home but that isn't very descriptive. It is just a house outside of the city. The house can be as simple as having no running water or electricity or as sophisticated as a normal house in American suburbia. Often the little houses are squished together, where your neighbor is 10 feet away. But no matter the kind they have, Russians relish and cherish the ability to leave the city for a few days.

On May 1st the Russians celebrated "Workers Day". During the Soviet Union this was a huge holiday and everyone was "encouraged" to march through the streets holding banners that said, "World, Peace, and Labor." This holiday originated in the US but when the Soviets took it up as well, the Americans changed their appreciated for the workers to Labor Day. Today the holiday was celebrated with about 20,000 people march through the street in support of communism. Todd and I followed the march for a ways. It was quite somber. This might be due to the fact that most of the people marching were elderly, which means the members drop dramatically each year.

Some demonstrators.

I thought the line of police looked cool.

Finally, Russia celebrated their biggest holiday of the year, Victory Day, on May 9th. This is the day that Nazi Germany finally surrendered to the Allied forces in World War II. Since Russia lost as many as 20 million people in the war, Stalin made it a huge holiday and propaganda tool. I was discussing with a British girl how both our countries never bother to remember VE-Day or even VJ-Day. So Todd and I watched the military parade through Red Square on television because the event was only for VIPs or else we would have gone in person to watch. Then we headed to Gorky Park to check out the veterans. Usually the veterans receive flowers from children as sign of respect for their efforts during the war. I was surprised to realize that a lot of the veterans are women. They were employed as snipers, pilots, and of course nurses and doctors. It was funny to see them walking around with their chests covered in metals too!

Great Citizens!

One of the veterans.

Look! The fountains have been turned on!

The America ride.

Todd heard one of his favorite songs being played while scantily clad economic students danced. Moscow is truely a great city. (Give it a moment to play through and can you tell which song it is?)

Hopefully, as spring turns into summer, there will be more interesting things to talk about from sunny Moscow!

My friends took me to the park. Zhenya, Elena, Artyom, and Olga.

My trip to Misr (aka Egypt)

2008-04-04T03:02:00.014-07:00

Todd and I have just returned from Egypt and it was an interesting trip. We both had a good time but when we arrived back in Moscow, we felt a sudden sense of relief.

We departed from Moscow on the 22nd of March. When we arrived we were dumped in the most jumbled, chaotic airport I have ever seen. We quickly bought out visa and stood in line to go through passport control. Then we got our bags. All of this took 15 minutes. If you know something about airports, this is incredibly quick. So it may have been crazy but it was fast! The hostel we booked gave us a free pick-up at the airport, so we were happy to see Todd's name in big green letters waiting for us. The boy (he was 19) who drove us to the hostel was very nice but didn't speak a work of English. I didn't know then how much I would appreciate that later!

We stayed for two nights in Cairo. Our first night we only ate some Egyptian food and then went to bed. On the second day we booked a tour of Giza, to see the pyramids. We had a driver and a guide who spoke reasonably good English. Part of the tour we paid for also allowed us to visit a perfume shop (probably our guide's cousin), then we visited a papyrus shop (probably the driver's family shop), then we visited a carpet factory (probably someone else's relative). But we did get to see the pyramids, the sphinx, and saqqura.

Then on the next day, we took a four hour bus ride to the oasis town of Bahariyya. We had some problems when we first got on the bus because the man who checked our tickets said, "No bus." We took this to mean that we were on the wrong bus and we were naturally distraught. But the man didn't stop the bus to let us off and we just continued on our course. We were a bit stressed because we didn't know where we would end up. But in the end we arrived at our destination. We figure that "no bus" actually means, "wrong seat" because we couldn't read our bus tickets and just sat where we wanted. Ooops!

Then in Bahariyya, we were rushed by eight Egyptian men as we stepped off the bus. They all wanted us to stay at their hotel and take a tour. We were prepared for this so we shouted "no" at them and pushed our way through. Eventually we found the man from out hotel and he took us there. We stayed one night at the hotel and then the second night we camped in the white desert. So perhaps 200,000 years ago, there used to be a lake where the Sahara desert now stands and it has left a lot of interesting rock formations, sometimes you can find a sea shell or two!

Camping in the desert was the best thing we did on the trip. We were driven out into the desert and our guide, a Bedouin man, took us off the beaten track and showed us some cool stuff. Then in the evening we camped and he cooked us dinner and set up the camp. I desperately tried to help him but he refused and insisted I sit down or explore the rocks. Todd of course didn't mind this at all and put himself on "run patrol" which is Todd-enese for "not helping"! Also because we are Americans we had to have an armed tourist policeman with us, so he basically just sat around and our driver made him help! We got to see the sun set and the moon rise. It was awesome. Then during the night some desert foxes visited us. I was sleeping and didn't see them but they left their tracks in the sand.

After the desert we head to Luxor, which I nicknamed Butt-xor. The Egyptian ruins in Luxor were the best we had seen but the harassment from the taxi drivers and the merchants was unbelieveable. I felt like a walking dollar bill. No one was genuinely nice to us, they all wanted to do was trick us. It is a bad feeling to carry around with you. I expected men to stay stuff like this: "Heh, heh. Look at this! Yes! Combination hookah and coffee maker, also makes Julienne fries. Will not break!" But instead they said stuff to me like this: "Why don't buy this? Why you do this to me? I give you 50% discount. You lucky man (to Todd)." It drove me crazy! If someone tells Todd he is a lucky man one more time I will explode. And talk to him, he is not a lucky man, I beat him and torture him all the time!! :)

As for the sights in Luxor, we saw Luxor temple, Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, the valley of the Queens and the temple of Hatshepsut (the strongest and most famous female pharaoh). Karnak was by far the most amazing. It was a temple to the god Amunra and it used to employ 80,000 people. Most of the good stuff has been moved to the Egyptian museum but what was left was still amazing. Also, the Valley of the Kings was cool because we got to go down in actual tombs. The paint was still colorful on the walls, amazing after so much time.

Then after having all our fill of Butt-xor, er.. I mean Luxor. We hopped on the train back to Cairo. With our last two days in Egypt. We went to the Egyptian Museum and Islamic Cairo. The Egyptian Museum was cool but it was in absolute disarray. I expect a museum to be labeled, catalogued, organized, and somewhat sterile. Here, they had stuff laying everywhere. It said not the touch but you could do whatever you wanted. Plus, there were huge tours going on and it wasn't quiet at all.

Islamic Cairo was very interesting. We were taken on tour of the oldest and most famous mosque Al-Azhar. It claims to be the oldest educational institution, starting in 988AD. We were shown around by a nice man who wanted to take our picture in front of everything but wasn't very good at taking pictures! Hilarious. Anyway, he also instructed me that I should have 7 babies and told Todd if I couldn't have babies, then he should get another wife!!!

Overall, Egypt was fun. I wasn't prepared for the harassment that I was bound to receive but we got used to it after a few days. It just so happens that Todd and I are really nice, so we expect the best from people. If you go, don't take that expectation and you will have a great time. And the best news of all, Todd didn't trade me for a camel, although tempting, and I made it back to Moscow!

A Late Christmas and New Year Blog

2008-02-18T02:29:00.008-07:00

I know that Christmas and New Year are the furthest thing from your thoughts in February. Usually we are counting down the days till spring but I figured that learning a little bit of Russian culture as you sit at work (because I know this is where all of you read this!) might be interesting. And hey, at least I got this blog posted before winter was over.

A Russian Orthodox Church inside the Kremlin.

So to help you understand a bit about the Russian holidays I have to tell you some history first. As you know Russia is a Christian nation, specifically Russian Orthodox, which means their church closely resembles the other Orthodox churches. There are many similarities between them but time has made them all grow quite distinct from one another. One point of pride for the Russian orthodox church is that their church is much the same as it was 1000 years ago and keeping with that tradition, they also use the Julian calendar. This was a reform by Julius Ceasar over the old Roman calendar and it is something the Russian Orthodox still continues using (though revised slightly in the 1920s). The rest of the world uses the Gregorian calendar which was a revision of the Julian calendar by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.

So, as you can see, there are some problems with dates. When people in America are celebrating Christmas on the 25th of December (according to the Gregorian calendar), people in Russia have to wait until January 7th for their Christmas celebrations.

But the history of Christmas in Russia does not end with the Orthodox church. There was another event that forever changed the holidays, the Russian Revolution in 1917. The official state policy reguarding religion during the Soviet Union was that there would be a strict seperation of church and state. This was a huge blow to the orthodox church because they had been a priviledged and dependent part of Tsarist Russia. The USSR later declared that they were atheists and forbade most religious ceremonies or holidays. The leaders of Russia found themselves in a partiularly interesting position when the holidays came around. While you can change laws with the ink of a pen, it is harder to change what people had been doing for centuries. So they came to a compromise. The leaders deemed that New Year was not a religious holiday and could therefore be celebrated. This made New Year the biggest holiday in Russia. On New Year, families gathered together, presents were exchanged, New Year's trees were put up (actually an introduction by Peter the Great), and the minutes to the next year were counted down.

A Russian Orthodox Priest

Now in the 21st century, the Russian Orthodox church has revived and returned to it's previous, although slightly tarnished, stature and religious practices have been reinstated. But once again we have found that you can change the laws but the hearts and minds of the people are harder to sway. If you experience the holidays in Russia today, you can see that Dec. 31st/Jan. 1st is still more popular than Jan. 7th. I was curious of course and asked many of my students to explain their feelings about the holidays and many of them thought it ridiculous to celebrate Christmas after New Year. They felt that the orthodox church should reform their calendar. I know that the two students that said this are by no means an accurate cross section of Russia but it is an interesting point.

Grandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden

But now the good stuff. America believes that there is a jolly, old, fat man, clad in a red jumpsuit, that flies all around the world in one night and delivers presents to children. Russia is not without their own myth (hopefully kids under 10 don't read this, if so, that last word was a typo). They have a old, thin, blue clad man that travels around Russia and gives presents to children. His name is Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz). And can you guess which day he gives presents on? New Year? Yep, that's right!! But he is not alone in his cause to bring joy to children at New Year, he has help. He can be found roaming the streets with his granddaughter, Snow Maiden, (Snegurochka). They usually deliever their presents in person and you can hire people to come to your house and pretend for your kids.

So, as it turns out, we get to celebrate two Christmases in Russia!! Yeah, two calendars.

P.S. All these facts were either borrowed from Todd or from wikipedia. If I got something wrong, let me know. :)

Knitting with Svetlana

2008-02-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

My friend Svetlana is teaching me how to make a hat. She taught me a new way to cast on and to knit. This video is long and might not be interesting but have a look! Enjoy!

Greece

2008-01-07T01:28:00.000-07:00

Greece! Todd and I agree that this New Year was probably the best that we have had in a long time. Todd and I spent our first New Year together 4 years ago in his home town. We met friends of his in nearby Pittsburgh but ended up in the car when the clock hit midnight. On another occasion we went to a small night club with one of my Japanese friends where Todd got propositioned by a pimp to dance with some Japanese girls. We just don't seem to be the people who have crazy fun New Year celebrations. So we tried something different this year, travel.

We left Moscow on the 30th of December and after only a 3 hour flight found ourselves in Athens, Greece. The temperature was much warmer (at about 10 degrees Celsius) than Moscow and as we sat on the station platform waiting to be taken to the city, we marveled at how great the sunny skies and breeze felt. We were excited.

Our first stop was Larissa Station where we would find our hotel, Neos Olympos. The funny thing about Greece, at least in Athens, is that everyone speaks English! So unlike Moscow, where you usually get greeted with a frown if you must resort to English, Greek people smile and speak to you in English. I must say it was a welcomed change. I am so lucky that my language became the international one! At our hotel it was funny to hear everyone, from Chinese people to German people all speaking English. One of our hotel managers complimented my English and asked if I were German. I laughed and said I was American and he said, "well that explains it."

Our hotel room at Neo Olypmpos.

Next we set out to see the sights. We, of course, headed straight for the metro. Since the Olympic games were held in Athens in 2004, everything was shiny and efficient. The metro is quite small compared with what we are used to. We had to wait quite a bit, only to find out that Athens was much smaller than we expected. We could have walked many places! The best stuff to see in the city is centrally located, so we had no problems wandering around on the first day without a travel book or guide and bumping into ruins at every turn. The atmosphere was really relaxed and because it was off season, we didn't feel rushed or harassed as usual in touristy areas.

So for the next four days we went around seeing the sights and eating as many gyros as was humanly possible (so delicious! hmmmm!). It seems that they were prepared for us because we bought a ticket for five of the most famous things in Athens and then easily went on our way. We saw the acropolis, which is a huge rock in the middle of the city, where the ancient Greeks built temples to the gods. The most impressive structure is the Parthenon, built for the goddess Athena. The view from the top was really impressive, you could see the whole city. Then we wondered through the ruins and down the hill to the Temples of Hephaestus, the god of metal working. We also went to the National Archaeological Museum and saw some cool stuff. The best part of the museum was actually before we entered it. I was eating a muffin and when I threw the scraps to the pigeons I got chased and almost mauled by them. So hilarious, I did it twice! Then we visited the ancient cemetery called Keramikos and the temple of Zeus.

Todd indulging in yet another delicious gyro!

A view of Athens as we climb to the acropolis

The temple of Hephaestus in the background.

The temple of Zeus in the middle of Athens.

One of the things Todd wanted to see the most was the temple to Poseidon built at Cape Sounion. So we took a two hour bus to the temple. It was totally worth it. We got to wonder down the coast and see the Aegean Sea. It was really beautiful.

The temple of Poseidon.

Then for one night we went to the town of Delphi. It was in the mountains, quite a change from the city. Delphi was where the oracle of Apollo sat and told politicians or generals prophecies. It is believed that she gave her predictions while drugged by the natural gases in the mountain. When the Romans took over managing Athens, the city fell into disrepair because no one needed to ask the oracle anything. The Romans took a lot of things back to Rome but when it was excavated in the 1800s, there was still a lot of stuff left. The view from the mountains was breath taking and the small town was super cute. The only complaint we had was our hotel. we paid twice as much as in Athens but it wasn't as nice. Also, a word of warning. There are some goats and sheep that you will want to get a closer look at, just use caution. The cactus grass is deadly. Todd and I were playing on the side of this mountain and I fell, something the oracle probably would have predicted, and I got cactus spikes stuff all over me! Ouch!

The mountains at Delphi.

Goats on the mountains of Delphi.

Todd at Delphi.

Finally Todd and returned to Athens and spent and a day and half just chilling. I made a trip to H&M which was lovely and we bought the necessary souvenirs.

It was a nice break from work, Moscow, and routine.

Back Online!

2007-12-08T04:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, did you miss me! I sure did! I finally got internet at my apartment. It took about 15 minutes to install but there was a 4 month wait! No worries now though. I plan on spending less quality time with Todd and I am even contemplating only communicating with him via email! It might be for the best. I just don't know how I am going to have time for the internet and Todd. I am sure he will understand.

Anyway, here are some overdue pictures of Todd and I's second apartment in Moscow. We are living at the metro stop akademicheskaya (say that ten times fast!). It is a good location. There are lots of students running around because Moscow State University is quite close and there are lots of shops as well. There is even a pizza place about a block away. Needless to say, they know me by name there!

So here is the apartment. The first thing you see when you walk in the door of our apartment is the kitchen, straight in front of you. It is a bit small but if I sit at the table I can reach everything I need from that spot! Also, the apartment is very warm. I have been wearing only a t-shirt inside and I am always comfortable.

The next room is the guest bedroom. This is where you will be staying when you come to visit me! Aren't you excited?!

Then panning from right to left, here is our living room/bedroom. We have a double bed, so it won't fit in the little room that would make for a good bedroom.

In this picture there is our table and the door that leads out to the balcony.

Here is Todd, in the middle of the room, playing on his computer. Aren't those lovely pants he has on!And here is the opposite side of the room where our bed is located. Those lovely brown sheets were provide free of charge!

This is the hallway, where the entrances to the kitchen, guest bedroom, and bathroom/toilet are located. It is common in Russia to have the toilet and bathroom separate. I think this is a good idea and something America needs to catch onto!This is the view from outside our apartment balcony. During the Soviet Union they built tons of apartments with the same blue prints, so in our area, there are four apartment building, forming a square and in the middle is a playground. They look this way for as far as the eye can see. Sometimes it is easy to get lost!Here is the first snowfall of the year. It happened in October, so I ran outside quickly with Todd and a camera to capture this moment. Since October it has snowed a lot.Here is Todd in the snow as well.

Bad Karma

2007-09-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I have always believed in karma. If you help people, do nice things, then good things, rather than bad things, will happen to you. And today, perhaps my karma has run out...

During rush hour on the subway, when I was smashed against other people, someone opened my purse and stole my camera. I am so angry. All I can think at this moment is, "goddamn you russia."

I am lucky, nothing else was taken. But I do feel like an idiot. Unbelievable.

Adventures in the Big City

2007-09-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have had lots of new and interesting experiences in the big city of Moscow. First, I must tell you that I was put off by Russians in general when I arrived. As they went about their daily business, they wore a very sour expression on their faces. I was especially affected by the women, who dressed very nicely and look as though they would crush me under the pointy heel of their boots if given the chance. I think this can be attributed to living in a city in general (people in New York are not known for being kind!). But of course, this first impression was quickly replaced when I actually began talking to my neighbors in Moscow. All the Russians I have since had the pleasure of talking to have been great. The students in my classes are eager, talkative, and very interested in what their teacher is doing. For example, upon learning that I was new to the city, my students offered advice of what to see, what to buy, and I even received invitation to be led on a guided tour! So eventually I got my courage up and asked my students why they look so unfriendly on the streets and metro. I was quickly and jovially enlightened by their responses. First, they said that they live in harsh conditions, weather wise, and that doesn't make them very smiley when walking to and from work. Second, they think a person who walks down the streets smiling is probably crazy, so they don't do it. And finally, you won't get anywhere on the metro if you are too nice!

(This is my first class during the CELTA course, with some of the other teachers.)

The kindness of my students is only over shadowed by the kindness of the pen-pals I made online before I went to Russia. When I first arrived here, the representative from my school informed me that I should be wary of strangers, not let anyone in my apartment, not go to anyone else's house, and just be cautious. She said, "This is not like Japan." So, of course I was on my guard from day one and it was making me a little crazy. But thanks to my pen-pals, my worry and paranoia were destroyed and replaced by good ol' common sense again. They welcomed me into their homes and offered me help with whatever I needed. It is fanatic to see that no matter where you go, people are still kind, thoughtful, and generally nice.

(This is me with one of my pen-pals and his wife at a famous park in Moscow.)

Now, as for people who are not students or pen-pals, they are not mean but not friendly. For example, I have never been offered directions when I looked lost (unlike when I was in Barcelona or Tokyo). But I have been given good directions when I asked someone (yes, I can ask for directions in Russian!). I have also not had great customer service. The employees don't smile and they usually act as though they could care less. I suppose that is how all employees at restaurants, kiosks, McDonald's feel but in Russia, they just let it show. I was told by an expert on Russian culture (guess who!) that the reason for this is because during the Soviet Union everyone was guaranteed a job, so there was no need to be overly friendly to keep your job. I can see up and down sides to this. It would be nice to be guaranteed a job, wouldn't it!

(This is my second class during the CELTA course.)

Apartments here are something everyone should experience. Basically we have been time warped back to the 1970s. I was seriously disappointed when we first arrived. I have recently learned that this is due to the fact that Todd and I are living in company apartments, therefore they are not always of the finest quality. My pen-pals, as I found out later, live in modern and nicely decorated apartment. Todd and I's first apartment was, as it grew on me, a nice place. It was clean, had good furniture, was warm, and had thick walls so we didn't hear our neighbors. The only things bad about it were the location (far from the center of the city) and the fact that we lived on the 8th floor. All buildings with more than 5 floors must have an elevator but they didn't state that the elevator had to always work. On more than on occasion Todd and I had to run up to the 8th floor after a long day. Then, on our last night in the apartment before we moved, we got stuck in the elevator!!! I was always nervous about riding in it before and then it broke down with us in it!! So the elevator took us to the first floor, as is it's safety feature, but wouldn't let us out. Todd pressed the call button and the manager of our building answered thankfully. Todd told her what was up and she said she would find the "elevator guy"(of course I am paraphrasing, I had no idea what they were saying). So we made ourselves comfortable and sat out our 40 minute wait. Needless to say, we made it out alive. I was glad Todd was with me, I don't know what I would have done on my own. I probably would have ended up spending the night! I was angry to be stuck, but in the end, it cured my nervousness about being trapped! In our new apartment building, there are only five floors, so no need for an elevator! Our new apartment is nicer than the last one, especially it's location. We are now living close to Moscow State University, so there are lots more young people, cafes, and restaurants. This was exactly where Todd and I had in mind when we were thinking of coming to Moscow. Plus, we now have a guest bedroom! So if you are planning on visiting, we have a room and bed for you!

Finally, I will let you know about my job. I can not tell you how nice it is to be responsible for my own class. I feel like a real teacher! Plus, teaching adults is so much more rewarding than teaching children. These two things make teaching English, (something I am not usually fond of), incredibly more tolerable. I am getting a lot more job satisfaction. I am sure the company I am working for will beat it out of me eventually, but I am riding this feeling for as long as I can.

So Russia is not the scary nuclear power that might destroy the earth as you were taught by your baby boomer parents. It is a country that has dangers but is populated by ordinary people, just like in your country! When you plan on visiting us (as many of you should!!) don't freak out. We will be here to meet you and show you a good time. Not to mention we will introduce you to Russians that will change your whole out look.

Fiona's Visit

2007-08-23T01:06:00.000-07:00

So the first of many guests visited Todd and I in Moscow. Fiona and her friend Katie spent a few days in the city and let us (by that I mean Todd) show her around. It was fun and I can't wait to visit her in sunny ol' England in the future!

This is us at the agricultural exhibition of the soviet union, so they had one building selling stuff from each country that was part of the soviet union! Cool!

This is Fiona, Sara (Katie' sister), Me and Todd with Church of Christ the Savior in the background.

This is monument park, where they put all the old statues. Cool huh!!

Me and Lenin!

One of the statues of Stalin still up in the park.

Outside the Russian Art Museum.

The Apartment

2007-08-14T00:23:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures of the new "diggs" Todd and I are living in. The pictures turned out much better than I thought. So here is some Russian living!

This is the main room, which is both the living room and the bedroom. The couch Todd is sitting on pulls out to make the bed. It is a big room, so we don't feel cramped. We are on the 8th floor so we get a good breeze right now through the big windows. Plus, we have a balcony.

This is the bathroom. It is what it is!

This is the kitchen. The stove is slow to heat up but when it does, look out, it is hot! Also, we are lucky to have a washing machine. It can only hold very little but that is fine.

Here is the view from our balcony. Most of the apartment buildings where we live look rather run down or old, but to compensate there are lots of trees everywhere. The trees had a park like atmosphere so it is rather quiet and peaceful where we live.

The First Week!

2007-08-14T00:07:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of Todd and I during our first week in Moscow.

This is a picture of us at Moscow State University. These are pictures of an aristocrat's house that the communists confiscated and turned into a grocery store! Cool!

I made a date for this Saturday to go see Lenin. Hopefully it is around the time he has his monthly bath!

And here is St. Basil's Cathedral. It was made more beautiful by the stormy clouds behind it!

в Москве

2007-08-05T04:33:00.000-07:00

I am in Moscow! It was a long journey all the way here but I am finally in the capital city of Russia!

Todd and I flew from Pittsburgh to Newark, then across the Atlantic to Stockholm (where we got Sweden stamps but never actually saw anything there! I also managed to master the Swedish language in just a few hours. ex: bus is buss! hahahah) and then we flew to Moscow. I was exhausted by the time we got here. I experienced air sickness for the first time. We had an hour left to go during the flight over the Atlantic and I started to feel nausea. So I got up and went to the flight attendant to see if he had any medicine. I told him that my stomach felt bad and he didn't understand me (we were flying Malaysia Air) and so I repeated myself and the next thing I knew, a female flight attendant was picking me up off the floor. I had fainted!! That is only the second time it has happened in my life. So they gave me lots of ice and cold towels and made me put my head between my knees. The flight happened to be one of the roughest I had been on. There was a storm as we entered Moscow and the turbulence was terrible.

Todd and I were met at the airport by one of the administrators from the company we work for and taken to our apartment. We stopped off at a shop and bought some snacks and then settled in. At first, I was not impressed with our new surroundings. The apartment looks like it is something out of the 1970s. We do have tables and chairs, unlike when I moved to Japan, but I was a bit disappointed. There is one big room where we have our living room and bedroom. Then we have a bathroom, kitchen, and entrance. In the morning light, I began to warm to our apartment. The fixtures are all new in the bathroom and kitchen, we have a balcony, a TV, and a couch. Also, the apartment is quiet and it wasn't dirty, just outdated. I guess I just had different expectations. Or I could have just been upset because the previous foreigner didn't leave any toilet paper for us! I have always known, I hate foreigners! I will post pictures of it later.

Todd and I managed to get to the grocery store where we found all that we needed. Then we visited red square and learned how to get back to our apartment (there was a moment of panic!).

I am in awe of how much history surrounds us at the moment. There are still hammer and sickles on stuff but also international businesses everywhere. We saw this statue of Lenin and all around it were businesses like Hitachi, etc. Strange. The metro is fanatic like Todd said. It is really fast and efficient. Once I get used to things I will be happy. Right now (day two) I am still trying to figure out how to get home and where stuff is. Thank God Todd is here. He knew what to buy and he speaks to the clerks. I will catch on but at least I don't have to worry about it right now.

Well I will keep you posted as to how things are progressing!

Saying Good Bye

2007-07-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I will soon be leaving Japan. I have truely loved living in Japan. It has been quite an adventure. I have learned a lot about myself and about other people. The people who survived Shimane with me will always be close to my heart. The way I feel about Shimane is difficult to express. Most of the time I have liked our rural prefecture and the abundance of old people and rice fields. But there are some days I just wanted to jump up and down and scream my lungs out. Shimane is like a bad child (or Kitty if you will), most of the time it is sooo cute and other times it destroys your house! That is a deep, deep metaphor! :)

So, I thought there was no better way to commerate my tenure in Japan than posting pictures of Todd, Kitty, and I repapering the screens at my house. It was a stress reliever for both Todd and Kitty. If you have never just put your fist through a square of paper that you have tirelessly tired to keep whole, then you have not lived!

2007 JET Leaver's Party

2007-07-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night Shimane held their annual Leaver's Party and I have never seen so many drunk fools in my life! Needless to say it was a good time. I will let the pictures speak for themselves! Lots of love! :)

Daito High Farewell Party

2007-06-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

On Friday the teachers at my high school held my going away party. It was a really good time. They reserved a restaurant in Daito and about 12 teachers came. We started out the evening with a very lovely speech by Kawamoto Sensei and then Kanpai-ed. All of the English teachers came to the party as well as the Principal and vice principal, a science teacher, the school manager, and the art teacher. Since it was a small group of people the atmosphere was really good. While we were eating dinner Koto Sensei suspiciously took out a green bag and carried it to the front of the room. He provided the entertainment for the night. Apparently he knows how to do magic tricks. The first one he did was really hilarious because it was just goofy. He had a handkerchief with horizontal stripes and then turned them vertical! I thought it was the most hilarious thing I had ever seen! Then he did some real tricks. The vice-principal was so curious that he took a seat at the front of the room, right next to Koto Sensei, and inspected what he was doing. Too bad he never really figured it out. But it was really funny. He pulled Koto Sensei by the leg to get him to come closer. Fantastic.

This is a picture of all the lovely ladies at my party. It is (left to right) Abe Sensei (art teacher), Kaneda Sensei (English), Me, Kawamoto Sensei (English), and Fukui Sensei (English).
Kawamoto Sensei had arranged most of the party, of which I am very grateful.

The teachers also gave me lovely gifts. They gave me a think winter jacket because they want me to keep warm in the winter. They also gave me a big piece of cloth, usually used to wrap up your soap and towel when you go to the bath, with a picture of the school and the school song on it. It was really lovely. I don't have the heart to use it for my bath, so I will probably hang it up when I live in one place for a long time.

At the end of the evening we all Bonzai-ed. It was great fun. It really made me sad to leave. I had forgotten how much I had been taken care of by working at Daito high for two years. I had the best supervisor in probably all of Shimane and I really never had a big problems. All my teachers are lovely, my vice-principle is really nice, and Daito is a good town. I am sad to leave it! Don't worry Daito, I will never forget you! :)

Non-stop parties!

2007-06-24T04:23:00.000-07:00

Soon I will be leaving Japan and I can think of no better way to say good bye than having lots of parties with the great people in Shimane. So I started my weekend out right and had a going away party with my JTEs at Iinan High and the other ALTs down in that neck of the woods, Signe, Trevor, and Mike. We has a great meal in Iinan to my surprise. This food is unrivaled by anything Matsue has ever provided. It was great to see my teachers outside of work, not to mention hanging out with Signe, Trevor, and Mike. Since the demise of my car, I am no longer as free to just go hang out in Iinan, so it was really nice. I must also say a big Thank You to Mike who drove all the way to Kisuki to pick me up for the party. The transportation in Shimane is horrendous but nice people make up for it! :)

Then on Saturday Todd and I went to the beach. We had plans to stay in cabins that night at Taki so we figured we would go early and get some swimming in! We were super lucky because it was a beautiful day, the water was warm, and there were not a lot of people there. So we swam, at ice cream, got sunburned, you know, the usual stuff. It was also good quality time for Todd and I since this was the first Saturday he has had off since he started working at Nova. Then at about 5pm we met everyone at the cabins and helped unload the food for the cabins. We barbecued and spent most of the night talking and hanging out. Fiona had a great idea to bring boards for people to sign and put pictures on. So now we have a great souvenir from that weekend. Also, the cabins at Taki are beautiful! They are bit more expensive than others but that is the price you pay when you get to sleep in a real bed!! :0 Todd and ended our weekend by attending a BBQ for the local Japanese class. It was a good time to say goodbye to some people we wouldn't otherwise have arranged to say goodbye to. We ate some food and just chatted with people. It was too bad that at the same time we were having torrential downpour!! But it was good.

Now Todd and I are happy to be home but it was such a good weekend! Thanks everyone!

Last Daito House Party

2007-06-17T01:39:00.000-07:00

My house in Daito has been such an important part of my experience for the last two years. When I first arrived in Japan to see that I had a house, instead of an apartment, I took full advantage and hosted more than one party. At first the parties were random drunken messes but eventually they turned into knitting parties, birthday parties, movies nights, and pot luck dinners. I have had countless things broken and spilled on (not even to mention the damage kitty does on a daily basis) but I must say it has been quite worth it. It is difficult to find a place in Japan where you can take all your friends and let them be themselves!

So I couldn't leave Japan without having one more party. I invited the people who have made Shimane a place where I decided to stay for two years. I love living in Japan but if it weren't for my friends here I wouldn't have stayed so long. When you are sick, they come to the hospital in droves, freaking out the hospital staff. When your car breaks down, they are quick to drive to your rescue. When you are sad about livingn in a place that makes no sense, they let you cry on their shoulders. And when you have the most inappropriate comments to make, they all laugh. I never thought living in Japan would have me spending my time with so many foreigners (cause do I ever hate foreigners, with their devil speak) but it has made the experience for me! I love you all! :)

Hiroshima Weekend

2007-06-17T01:12:00.000-07:00

Recently I went to Hiroshima with Sara, Janelle, and Hugh. It was a good time, especially since we drove down in Janelle's big car and Hugh did most of the driving ;0! Maybe this whole "not have a car" business is a good thing! So we only stayed for one night but we did some shopping and ate some good food. We also managed to go to Miyajima on that Sunday. The weather was ok and there were plenty of deer for Sara to harrass! Here are some pictures of our good time there!

80s party and the Toroko Train

2007-06-04T00:07:00.000-07:00

I think this weekend is what all of June is going to be like, busy busy busy! It is true that every weekend in June I have something planned and even the weekdays are being filled up. So if you want to hang out with me before I leave, better get your diary out and find a date quick! (now I expect my blog to be flooded with eager people wanting me!)

So on Saturday JAGs hosted their, what seems to be annual, 80s party. They raised 50,000yen for their upcoming art exhibit. Yeah!!! It was also a good time. I didn't dress up this year but it was fun seeing everyone else make a fool out of themselves!! (wink, wink). Some of the costumes were really good. Like Will, I don't think you could have gotten any creepier than that, especially with that great mustache. Unnan's very own Himene won the 80s pop culture quiz and Sara represented Unnan by dominating in the 80s music quiz (which she paid for later because the prize for each question answered was a shot!!).

Then on Sunday, thanks to Jen's planning and expert ticket buying, we all rode the Toroko Train to Yokota. The Toroko Train is an open air train that takes you through the "full of nature" part of Shimane. It was fun. There were 8 foreign celebrities that went and none was more famous than Rob. As soon as we got on the train some old woman accosted him, offering beer, loud yelling, and peanuts! What would life be like without old Japanese people drinking at 10am! Then when we reached Yokota, Emily led us around her picturesque town. First, we hit the Poplar, then the river, and finally a shrine. It was really nice weather too, which added up to a fantastic Sunday.

Kazuna and Aki's Baby Shower

2007-05-24T05:01:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I had the privilege to take part in my first baby shower in Japan. I was amazed to know that Japanese people don't have baby showers because they love everything that is cute, and what could be cuter than a baby shower!!

An eikaiwa (English conversation) student of Jen's is due to have her baby next month and being the nice girl that Jen is, she decided to undertake the arduous but fun task of planning a baby shower. We had food, games, and plenty of people! We also made a diaper cake. Don't worry, it sounded strange to me too at first. A diaper cake is just rolled diapers that are placed in a cake shape and given the the mom-to-be. It is a very practical gift if you think about it. The mom-to-be doesn't really need cake but what she will need is diapers and plenty of them for that pooping machine that is about to arrive! As for the games, we had a relay race to diaper a winnie the pooh doll as fast as we could. I am not bragging, but my team won! Then we also guessed the flavor of baby foods. I can't believe babies eat that stuff!! Then at the end we each blew out a candle and made a wish for the baby. There was a memory book and we also made a patch work blanket. Everyone just signed a square and then I sewed them together. It was really easy which means I might be making one of my own in the future!! Jen and I also crocheted a couple baby hats, baby booties, and a blanket. I was so pleased with the blanket. And it was all due to my friend at home, Suzanne, who sent me great yarn and lots of it! :) She must be physic cause she sent me blue yarn and it turns out that Kazuna is having a boy!!

Anyway, it was a really good time. I am looking forward to planning baby showers in the future! So you know what that means friends! Start having babies! I know, we'll make it a race, first one to have a baby gets a surprise (other than a creature growing inside of you!). Ready? Set! Go!!!!!!!! (This means you Sara!)

Open Mic Nite

2007-05-14T02:37:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the musically talented JETs and some Japanese friends showed their skills at open mic nite. This time it took place at Hydro. Hydro is a small, dirty, fire trap, but they managed to set up a stage and not kill anyone (not that they have killed people but it could happen is all I am saying). Lots of people performed and it was a good night to see everyone. Also Cleve debuted some t-shirts from his new shop Argo with a mini fashion show. It was cute.

Well here are some pictures I took with my sexy, new camera! Enjoy

Golden Week In Tokyo

2007-05-07T00:48:00.000-07:00

This year's Golden Week was probably the best vacation I have ever had. I didn't realize at the time of Fiona's invitation to accompany her that I would be in for such a good time. I had already been to Tokyo before so my expectations were not so high. I mostly wanted to go so that I could hang out with Fiona. I also knew that whatever we did would be fun so it didn't matter where we were at. With these thought I embarked upon my journey with the illustrious night bus! The night bus was not so bad. I slept pretty well and arrived in Shibuya excited to see the city. Fiona and I were also lucky because Maddy happened to be taking the same bus to Tokyo and decided to spend the first few days of her trip with us. A very happy coincidence. Also, Fiona's friends in Tokyo came to the bus station to pick us up and that is when all the goodness began to happen. Fiona's Japanese friends used to live in Oda (where she met them) but recently they moved to Tokyo. I have always said Fiona is a great judge of character and she has probably met the best two people in Japan! They destroyed all the stereotypes I had held about Japanese people. First of all, Yuko is strong, outspoken, intelligent, and is so friendly. Her husband, Shu, is kind, caring, likes to cook, and looks after Yuko at every turn. They spend a lot of time together and love to drink. Perhaps this is not a surprise to other people but it was a breath of fresh air for me. Yuko and Shu let us stay with them for a whole week. They showed us all the interesting sites in Tokyo and even drove us to see Mt. Fuji in busy Golden Week traffic. It was fantastic.

Not only did Yuko and Shu make this holiday great but it was also the first girl's vacation I have been on. Fiona and I shopped, drank good coffee, slept in, and just did whatever we wanted. In the past I went to a place and did as much as I could everyday until I was exhausted. This time it was completely different because there was no pressure to see everything. Thank you so much Fiona, Yuko, Shu, and Maddy for such a wonderful vacation!

Selling My Stuff

2007-04-11T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Want to buy my stuff? Yes!! Ok, then scroll down a bit to my March 27th blog and take a look at the stuff I want to sell. Please buy it!!!!!!!!!!!! Pass the word to anyone else who might want to buy it.

Thanks!

Success!

2007-04-08T04:02:00.000-07:00

It was at this same time last year that I realized my body had changed! I crawled out from underneath my winter kotatsu hibernation like a grizzly bear in search of food and warm weather. I traded my sweaters in for t-shirts and realized that I had turned beastly. I must have gained twenty pounds (at least that is what it felt like!). Turns out that what Kate said about chocolate being able to keep you warm was wrong (though, tasty!).

So this year I made an effort to keep myself thin during the bleak and despicable winter months in Japan. Thanks to Sara and other inspirational people I managed to visit the gym more often than I visited the snack isle in Green City. And it was a success. I managed to keep a steady weight, and even lose some, during these last few months. I am very proud of myself. In my family our favorite past time is eating, especially my father, with whom I seemed to have inherited most of my traits. I just have a problem saying no. Who can say no to a delicious cookie or twenty! Also, I had Todd around this year with such inspirational sayings as, "No, those pants don't make you look fat. It is the fat that makes you look fat." Thanks babe!

Anyway, if you don't believe me (Fiona!). Here are some pictures. And I always thought Japan would keep me skinny. All the food here is healthy and amazing right?!?!

Spring 2006

Spring 2007

Adachi Art Museum

2007-04-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

Fiona invited me along to see the Adachi Art Museum on Sunday. She was showing around a friend from home so they were hitting all the highlights of Shimane. Here are my pictures from there. It was a very Japanese garden, hardly any flowers, but very zen. I must say though, that I was not impressed. It could have been better. The best part of the day was in Saty where we did prinkula (print club). It was a good day overall.

Pajama Pants

2007-04-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I made pajama pants! They have little mikan (clementines) all over them making different faces. So cute.

My first skirt

2007-03-28T00:55:00.000-07:00

Look what I did!!! I sewed a skirt!! I am incredibly happy. I have been threatening to do this since I bought a book on sewing way back in May of last year (almost one whole year of prep :) ). This was all inspired by Donna! I was so impressed with her creative and capable genius at making her own clothes and making fun costumes, that I wanted to do it too. Thank you for inspiring me Donna!! And also thank you for your advice and help with that damn bobbin! (I just turned some nobs and it began to work again, who knows what I did.) I can't wait to make more! Who knows what awaits me on the horizon!! (short pants actually, I want to make those or capris!). Also, I want to thank my job. Thank you JET program for giving me nothing to do all spring break which allows me to sew while still be paid for it. Lovely!

The picture was taken at work, right after I made it, so forgive me for not actually looking smart in the skirt yet. I am sure I will find a top that goes just right with it. And the reason I sew it at school is because they let me use their machines. I am too cheap to buy one of my own but I might get one at the next place I live. It is so much fun!

Selling My Stuff

2007-03-27T03:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! As you know they cancelled the ALT position at Daito High so I have to get rid of everything in my house. The BOE said they would take care of anything I couldn't manage to get rid of but I would rather give/sell it to other JETs rather than have it get lost in the bureaucracy! So except for a few items everything is for sale. Here are some pictures of things that I really want to sell. If you want something, let me know and I can give it to you in July (unless I no longer need it), and I promise not to give it to anyone else unless you change your mind.

Things I am selling:

TV: 10,000 yen. It has a built in VCR, comes with a remote, and has bi-lingual capabilities (but to be honest, I have never learned how to use that function). It is in good condition and fairly new.

Desk and Chair: 3000 yen. They are both in good condition.

Stereo: 8000 yen. This has a CD player, MD player, and tape player. It is only about 4 years old and in good condition. There are two speakers that come with it naturally as well as a remote. (If you have a tape player-thingy that you use in your car to play your CD player, you can use it in the stereo and play music from your computer, I often do this. Savvy eh!)

TV Stand with two matching stands (3 pieces): 3000 yen. These are quality and will help you get laid, trust me!

One of the smaller stands mentioned above, as well as the speakers that go with the stereo.

Mirror: 500 yen. Who doesn't need a mirror?

Bookshelf: 1000 yen. This is a tall bookshelf with adjustable shelves, to fit your needs!

Stand: 1000 yen. This is a piece of quality furniture. It is tall and has two front drawers. Storage containers (3): 1000 yen for all. There is one pictured below and two more. They are in good quality and I use them in replace of a dresser but the possibilities are endless!

Stand-thingy: 1000 yen. As you can see from the pictures it is about yeh high and holds stuff. Don't you want to buy it?

Adjustable folding chair: 500 yen. I will make a washable cover for it (you can even pick the fabric that I make it out of!)

Trash can: 500 yen. It has two compartments with a divider. Wouldn't this be a convenient way to divide your gomi?

Electric Heater: 1000 yen. This is convenient for chilly evenings and would be great in a small apartment.

Fan: 2000 yen. It oscillates and has a remote. I am not letting go of this till right before I leave but if you want it, you will get it before the hottest month of the year, August!!

Iron and Ironing Board: 1000 yen. Everyone needs to get out those pesky wrinkles. I think you should buy this, you know, speaking as a friend.

Tall Lamp: 1000 yen. Doesn't this remind you of University. Well you can recall those wonderful memories every day if you buy it!

6 plug power cord: 500 yen. Because everyone needs more power!

Electric hand mixer: 500 yen. No lady can call herself a whole person if she doesn't have the latest technology in making cakes! Did I mention that it will get you laid if you buy it?

Nabe Set: 1000 yen. This comes with the burner, pot, matching bowls, and even some gas I didn't use! You need one of these for those lonely, cold nights in Shimane next year.

Electric Blanket: 500 yen. It is in good condition and I can have it cleaned before you buy it. It will keep you toasty warm if you buy it!

Red adjustable futon/couch-thingy: 10,000 yen. It is two years old and in good condition. It comes with a washable cover. I put my regular futon on top of it and use it to sleep on as well as fold it up and use as a couch when guests come over. It is also great for watching TV in bed. You should definitely buy this!!

Free Stuff:

Plants - Come on, you need some life in your apartment!

Kitchen stuff (plates, cups, silverware, cooking utensils, pots/pans, storage tins, all of it!)

Lamp - It is a table top lamp with some Japanesey paper on it.

Cushions - I have a ton of large and normal sized cushions that I just want to give away.

Black stand - I use this in my entry way for storing shoes, you could use it for that too!

Futon rack - This is used to air-out your futon. It is just a simple, adjustable rack.

Clothes drying rack - It is one of those tree-like racks where the arms fold down.

Toaster oven - It works well but it doesn't look that good so whoever wants it can have it.

Bicycle - After I get the tires fixed, it will run like new!

Dish drying rack - I actually have two and you can take your pick!

Small blue adjustable chair - It is just a floor chair but it is small, use it for guests you don't like.

Pink and white rug - I have a rug that sits in front of my sink, it is a bit dirty but if I scrub it you can use it at your entry way or somewhere else where you don't mind it getting dirty.

Phillips Raditor Heater - This was probably expensive but I don't know cause I didn't buy it. It can heat your home better than pesky kerosene but it is electric, so you are paying for it either way. If you are interested you can come check it out first.

Dolls Festival

2007-03-27T02:36:00.000-07:00

This blog entry is a little late in coming but I wanted to share some pictures of Girl's Day or Dolls Festival that I celebrated. Dolls Festival was on March 4th and the purpose of this day is to honor girls. When a woman gives birth to a daughter the mother is given a set of dolls that show the King, Queen, Princes, and Princesses of old Japan. They range in style and value but they all just show the royal family sitting around. Then on the day, you set them up and look at them, no playing with these dolls. Then you eat food and watch kids run amuck everywhere, at least that is what I did.

It was an interesting day for me because I got to hang out with one of my Japanese friends and meet her friends and their children. Watching the dynamics of the children was interesting as well. There were cousins at the party, a boy who was 3 and a girl who was 2. The 3 year old boy was bullying everyone younger than him. He stole a ball from a girl and then kept shoving his already wobbly 2 year old cousin. I thought the parents would discipline him for being bad but no one did anything. All they said was, gambatte (roughly translated as Good Luck). Even at 2 years old the parents are teaching their kids to fight their own battles. But at the same time they allowed bullying, which is a huge problem in Japan, even among adults! The whole day was interesting. I am not often around small children and after that day I am thankful for that!!

Enjoy the pictures!

The dolls.

This is my supervisor's daughter (Fuko) and she is the cutest Japanese girl I have ever seen!This is my supervisor Naoko, my friend Miwa, and her niece.

Naoko, her daughter Fuko, and me with the dolls.
The bully!

Glasses Shopping

2007-03-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

Recently, Sa-chan (Sara) has been hunting for a pair of cute Japanese glasses. She of course invited me along because she needed my expert opinion on glasses! I know I have never worn a pair of glasses in my life and this was probably the first time I have ever been in a spectacles shop but she was still hopeless without me!

But eventually I got distracted. While I should have been paying attention and trying to help her, I began browsing myself. Here are some pictures of me pretending to be smart. I think I would call myself smarty-pants if I wore these glasses. Not unlike a random girl I had class with at OU who would answer questions out of turn in a class of two hundred!! Grrrrr! I still hate Miss Smarty-pants! But I would definitely be a smarty-pants if I wore glasses. My favorite pair is, of course, the last!!

Vogel Park

2007-03-01T22:53:00.000-07:00

Recently I went to Vogel Park in Matsue. For those of you who didn't realize it, Vogel is German for bird. I don't know why they chose the German word for bird over the English word but that is what they did. Confusing. I wish they would pick one language to rip off that way we wouldn't get mixed up. Todd, Heidi, ChauChau (a Chinese girl who recently moved to Shimane with her mother) and I went to the park over the long weekend. It was a good time. We learned that there are African Penguins. We thought it was cruel treatment to keep the penguins in this warm area with all the tropical plants but as it turns out that is the kind of climate that they like! Also, we were able to feed the birds. We paid 100 yen to hold this cup of fruit and other delicious things birds like and they would land on our arms and eat out of the cup. As a person who is a huge fan of animals, it was coooooool! There were also all these beautiful flowers there. It was nice to see so much color and life during the winter. So I took a ton of pictures. Enjoy!

Daito High Graduation

2007-03-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

Today we enjoyed long and emotional ceremonies in celebration that the 3rd graders are finally free from mandatory education. Yep, that is right, it is graduation time in Japan. The school year goes from April to March (quite different from the US system). The celebration was also a little different from US high school graduations.

We started today by first having cleaning time. Why this is necessary I have no idea. All the teachers are dressed up and parents are arriving, but we must clean?!? Then we assembled in the gym for the ceremony where lots of people gave speeches and there was a ton of standing and bowing. We sang the national anthem, school song, all the students names were read, and then speeches were given. Then we went back to the 3rd grade classrooms where the homeroom teacher gave each student their diploma and all the students gave speeches about their time in high school (that means standing for 2 hours while 40 students speak!!). Then they all stood outside, gave each other presents and took pictures. It was great! My supervisor, who was also the homeroom teacher of 3-1 class wore a kimono for graduation. It was really pretty! She had to go to a kind of salon to get dressed in it this morning because you can't put it on by yourself. I think wearing a kimono was really cool.

I keep thinking about how important this moment is for them, but at the same time how these last four years are insignificant in the scope of their life. They were still children while attending Daito High and therefore had not the opportunity to stretch their wings and really make something of themselves. Now they will ascend into the world and finally become who they are going to be. All the trauma and triumphs of high school are over. For some that is a relief and things will look up from here on. For others they enter the twilight of their life sooner than they would have liked. I, for one, was glad to graduate high school and never look back. I enjoyed it but at the same time I knew there was so much more out there and I was more than ready to get to it. I wish the graduates luck.

Pirate Jokes

2007-02-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Since the students are preparing for graduation and I don't have any classes, I did what any good ALT would do, I spent my time looking up Pirate Jokes online. Here are some of the ones that I weird out my colleagues by laughing really loud at my desk for no apparent reason! Rrrrrrrrr me maties!

1. This pirate walks into a bar with a big ship's wheel down his pants. The bartender says, "Excuse me, sir, but do you know you have a ship's wheel down the front of your pants?" And the pirate says... Aaargh, it's driving me nuts!!

2. What is a pirate's favorite letter?
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

3. A pirate walks into a bar and the bartender says, "Hey, I haven't seen you in a while. What happened, you look terrible!"
"What do you mean?" the pirate replies, "I'm fine."
The bartender says, "But what about that wooden leg? You didn't have that before."
"Well," says the pirate, "We were in a battle at sea and a cannon ball hit my leg but the surgeon fixed me up, and I'm fine, really."
"Yeah," says the bartender, "But what about that hook? Last time I saw you, you had both hands."
"Well," says the pirate, "We were in another battle and we boarded the enemy ship. I was in a sword fight and my hand was cut off but the surgeon fixed me up with this hook, and I feel great, really."
"Oh," says the bartender, "What about that eye patch? Last time you were in here you had both eyes."
"Well," says the pirate, "One day when we were at sea, some birds were flying over the ship. I looked up, and one of them shat in my eye."
"So?" replied the bartender, "what happened? You couldn't have lost an eye just from some bird shit!"
"Well," says the pirate, "I really wasn't used to the hook yet."

4. So this pirate walks into a bar, with a paper towel on his head.. he sits down, has a few drinks, and sure as the sun shines, the bartender's curiosity finally gets the best of him, and says to the pirate "hey there guy, don't you know that you have a paper towel on your head?" to which the pirate responds "AARRR matey, that's no paper towel, that's a BOUNTY on me head!"

5. Have you heard about the new pirate movie?
It’s rated AARRRR!
And do you know why?
Because of all the booty!

Car + Leslie = Trouble

2007-02-27T03:59:00.000-07:00

As those sages of wisdom in the band Queen say, "Another one bites the dust!" Two cars down, bring on the next one.

As many of you know, since you either visited me in the hospital or I emailed you, I was involved in a car accident on Friday the 23. It was an unfortunate accident that left me car-less and incredibly bruised and sore.

The story, which has been told more times than I can count, goes like this:
On Friday afternoon I was headed into Matsue (the big city about 30 minutes away) for a meeting about the upcoming English camp that I am on the committee for. About five minutes away from my school someone pulled out in front of me on Rt 24. I had to make a split second decision to either swerve or hit the car in front of me, so I decided to swerve. I didn't think about it but just reacted. Then the next 10 seconds were the scariest of my life. I was only going about 50 kilometers (about 35mph) but since he pulled out right in front of me I had no time to stop. So I swerved to avoid him (thank the Lord there was no on coming traffic), then I over corrected, and finally lost control, crashing into a guard rail. At first the wind was knocked out of me because of the impact, so after everything stopped I just sat there writhing in pain. Two men in a truck stopped to help me. They turned off the car, asked if I was alright, and pulled me away from the driver's side because there was glass everywhere. I had destroyed the entire driver's side. The car was totaled. As most of you know, there is not much to a Kei-car. I had no airbags or other safety features, basically I was driving a tin box on wheels. Also, I didn't leave a scratch on the guard rail! The guard rail is made out of steel and my car was made out of wood and paper I think, (don't worry, traditional Japanese wood and paper, so that makes it ok!). I wasn't really upset till I thought the guy who pulled out in front of me had left. Turns out he hadn't! So I called my supervisor and Todd, they both came out to the scene to wait with me while the ambulance came. Todd rode the bike from our house to the accident as fast as he could,(sweet boy!) and my high school students made fun of him as he rode past (little devils!). So the man who caused the accident came to the hospital with his insurance representative. They have to work out who has to pay what percentage of the accident. I know it sounds strange but if you are in your car and the engine is on, then you are somewhat responsible for the accident. So my supervisor said I will probably have to pay 20% or 30%, which means I won't pay anything and I will only receive about 70%-80% from the guy who caused the accident. And in true Japan fashion the guy returned later to give me a gift and to apologize. The guy was quite young I think, maybe 19 or 20 years old. He said that he just didn't look when he pulled out, confirming it was his fault. So when he came to the hospital he brought his mother, perhaps she drove! Anyway, they gave me a gift and when they went to leave they bowed deeply to show their respect but the boy didn't bow deep enough for his mother's taste and she pushed him down to bow deeper. It was hilarious! I couldn't bow because I was in bed and injured but it wouldn't have mattered to me one way or another. But it was an interesting piece of culture to witness. As for the those injuries I have terrible whip lash, some nasty bruising along my right side, chest pains (probably from the seat belt), and a very sore right leg. I didn't fracture or tear anything which is good but they made me stay in the hospital for three days for observation. That was worse than the accident. It was boring and the food was not great! In Japan they have socialized health care so it shouldn't cost much for the stay, x-rays, or medication (yeah socialized medicine!!) I healed a lot being made to stay in bed. Also the best part was that everyone came and visited me! I got lots of tasty food from a whole pineapple to folder about the meeting I missed from Will.

I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who came and visited me. It meant a lot to me that you took the time to come and see me. I appreciate it so much. While I did look like I was faking it, since I was not visibly injured, it was nice to talk about what happened with all of you because it was quite traumatic. I am not good at showing any kind of seriousness in those situations. I just want to joke about it or write it off. But just know that it meant so much to me to see all of your love and concern!!!!!

Thank You to:
Maddy, Heidi, Rob, Gabi, Jo, Emily, Cat, Will, Nicola, Ksenia, Jen, John, Janelle Y., Lena, Janelle J., Hugh, Naoko and her family (my supervisor), Sara (by whom I was harassed via email while she couldn't be there in person) and last but certainly not least Todd! I don't know how I would manage without his strength and hilarity! I am a very very lucky girl to be so loved by so many people.

My secret life

2007-02-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

So I figured it was time to come clean with my other secret life. I know, you are all disappointed to hear this. I have been such a pillar in the community thus far and now I will forever ruin a possibly glorious future. So here it is:

I live with Todd and we are not married. (Pause) Now I am waiting for the sky to open up and the fury of God the almighty to punish me for all that I have done wrong. (Waiting.... Waiting.....) Well apparently God is not as angry as he was in the old testament.

So the reason for me telling you about my secret life is that it recently became an issue with my school. For seven months Todd has been living with me. He has got a visa and works for Nova (a private English school). Since it didn't say anything in my contract about other people living with me I assumed it was fine if I spent the second year of JET living with my boyfriend. After seven months the school finally piped up and decided to tell me that he is not allowed to live with me. They said it was for insurance purposes and the fact that single women are not allowed to live with men, it give the students a bad impression.

This is how my Tuesday unfolded. I came to work and taught two classes that were mostly successful. The students have exams coming up so we just reviewed for the tests. Then my supervisor came to my desk after lunch. I should be more wary when she initiates conversations at my desk but of course I was happy to talk with her. Then she informed me that Todd is not allowed to live with me. (Fair enough if that is the rule). But since I have only five months left in Japan the school will talk to the Land Lord and if it is cool with her, then we could stay until we leave. Five minutes after she leaves my desk Will calls. He informs me that my vice principal called his boss asking for advice about this "situation". Will and I talked about my position and what were my options for a while. Then my supervisor returned. This time she took a chair and sat with me to talk. She explained that unless the Land Lord was OK with Todd staying he would have to move out. She also took full responsibility for never giving me the housing agreement, for it not being in English so I can read it, and for not telling me that Todd was prohibited from living with me in the first place. She is wonderful. She didn't even seem to be too worried, which made me feel a lot better. Now we just sit and wait for the Land Lord to make a decision.

You may be wondering how this all started after seven months. Apparently one of the JTEs that I am not fond of asked the vice principal yesterday whether it was alright if a man lived with the ALT. So then the vice principal was required to investigate the matter. I am completely pissed it was one of my JTEs but not surprised it was this JTE. While we work well together it appears that everyone dislikes him and the students hate him. The students have often talked to me about him and even in broken English they came across crystal clear about their feelings for him. While that is a trifling matter, it does make me feel better. But this is a obvious case of don't ask, don't tell. Everyone knew Todd was living with me, we didn't hide the fact because we didn't think it was wrong. So everyone just chose not to talk about it, in a very Japanese style, and therefore it did not exist. Once someone breathed a word of it, it suddenly became real. They are completely non-confrontational so no one came to me right away to work on the problem. Instead they called around and told everyone in the school besides me. Did I mention that I am terribly excited to get the hell out of Japan!?!

Don't worry though, we have options.
#1: The first one and probably the easiest is to tell them that Todd and I are engaged. While I don't know how telling them we are engaged is going to help the insurance issue of this ordeal, it will let Todd live out our last 5 months together without being harassed. The school will know it is a lie, we will know it is a lie, and you know it is a lie. But if no one actually says or asks if it is a lie, then it doesn't exist. (I am getting good at this Japanese stuff).
#2: The other option is to tell them that Todd will move out and it will take him five months to find an apartment, which is not as crazy as it seems. This is Japan, doing things like finding housing can take a very long time because it has to be a formal procedure (lots of bowing and meaningless phrases to utter before you can move in).
#3:An easy option is for me to lie and say that Todd has moved out and is just visiting from time to time. Unless they stop by my house at 11pm every night to see who is sleeping in my bed, they won't be able to stop him from being there.
#4: And the last option is for us both to actually move out. This might be the one I like the most but it is the most impractical. First, the Land Lord is not going to find another person soon to move into the house, so she will be out 5 months of rent. There is not a new ALT coming so her contract with be stopped with the school. And if I did get an apartment, it would be in Matsue. This means I would have to commute but most of the teachers here do anyway and I could live in a city where the grocery stores stay open after 8pm. This will be hell though, moving, packing, finding a place, paying rent, blah blah blah!

After being a bit scared yesterday, then embarrassed, then angry, I am finally calm. This whole deal is out of my hands. All I can do is sit and wait. I would like to say that the next morning, at morning meeting where all the teachers gather to hear announcements, the vice principal asked if there were any boyfriend questions. What questions would any of the other teachers have about my boyfriend? Do they want to know that I am in a healthy, safe, monogamous relationship? And instead of sleeping with random people at parties, sexually harassing young men/women, going to snack bars to hold hands with women illegally brought here for the sex trade, or have a revolving door of sexual partners, I have decided to live with my boyfriend. I can see why they are upset!

I know this is Japan and they are ass backwards with anything involving women but I am going to say this anyway. Why is it necessary for my place of employment to police my personal life? Why is it acceptable to announce my personal life to my co-workers in a meeting? Does it hurt anyone if I live with a man? Do you feel bad? Is my vice principal laying awake at night worrying about what I am doing to myself? This recent incident solidifies the fact that I will never marry. I don't need my life validated by marriage. Am I less of a person because I am unwed? I hate the way Japan treats women. I am an equal in society, whether that is Japanese society or American society. I can't wait to tell Japan where they can stick it come July.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

2007-02-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

Today saw the first heavy fall of snow for the winter in Shimane. It was so beautiful when I woke up this morning. Like my students say, "Shimane has many natures" and indeed they couldn't be more correct. The weather may be crappy most of the time, the roads narrow, the people crazy, and the heating of buildings inefficient, but they do have a beautiful landscape. I love all the jagged mountains and the beautiful scenes that you can witness from any high point in the valley I inhabit. I will probably miss this the most of Japan because it doesn't matter how much you photograph it you won't be able to really capture the effect of seeing it in real life. I know, cause I have been trying to capture it for two years!

Well here are some pictures of what I woke up to this morning!

This is the view from the second story of the school. It appears the baseball team won't be able to practice on the field today. I did tell you that they practice their sports year round and if it gets too cold for the players, that is when you break out the barrel of fire for the kids to stand around like hobos under a bridge. Somewhere in that direction is my house as well.

This is a picture of the road on the way to school. I had to keep getting out of the way of the parents who drive incredibly fast after they drop off their students at school. Apparently they have no concept of the fact that you drive slowly around a school or in the snow!

Notice something strange about this picture? I guess even when it snows you don't have to close the doors. Would it make the school a more tolerable place to spend you whole day if they tried to keep the whole building warm just by closing the doors? Maybe. But no, it makes you stronger to be constantly cold and it gives you idle conversation topics to comment about how cold it is every 15 seconds! Plus, you are rest assured that you are not going to become asphyxiated by the kerosene fumes if you don't heat the whole building. With things like leaving doors open in winter and kerosene heating, I think it is good they are not subjecting another foreigner to this torture next year!

And this last photo is a crooked shot of my school. It is a corridor between the buildings. It may have open doors and windows but at least it has a roof to keep the snow from falling directly in. And snow blowing in through a doorway is quite pretty actually. Maybe that is why they do it?!

Job Cancelled

2007-01-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I should have been apprehensive when my incredibly busy supervisor stopped by my desk today and asked whether the job recommendation she wrote for me got me a new job or not. As always a bright spirit, I replied that it had worked out for me. She breathed a sigh of relief and then handed me my re-contracting papers. These were not like the papers my fellow Unnan ALTs received. These papers already had all the boxed checked and the lines filled out. Apparently, due to the budget they are cutting the ALT position at Daito High. They are making the Yokoto ALT come to Daito once or twice a week and the Mitoya ALT take over visiting Iinan High once a week. Good luck!

First I was shocked. I had no warning they were going to do this because they never warn you about stuff in Japan. Second, I was worried. Had I done something to make them not want another ALT? (I mean I do go home for an hour lunch break and I am currently writing a blog at work!). Now, I just feel sad. I don't know exactly why. So let's enjoying evaluate!

Positive Side of Getting Rid of ME!
1. The school does not have to pay for a girl who does half as much work as everyone else.
2. There is no unsuspecting JTE that will be forced to look after the me as a supervisor.
3. There will be no more foreign girls lurking in the school and freaking out their students with a cute but incomprehensible language.
4. There will be no more explaining everyday things (like the use of kerosene and why short skirts in winter are a good thing) that are soooo obvious to everyone except the foreign girl.
5. There will be no retarded foreigner living in the neighborhood who is unable to sort her trash perfectly.
6. The foreign girl won't bring other foreigners around to sully the town with their loud voices and dispositions to have fun and not practice bukatsu for ten hours a day!
7. I don't have to write any of that successor info crap! (the only really positive thing!)
(It is getting bitter, better move on)

Negative Side of Getting Rid of ME!
1. There will be less chance for the students to interact with a foreigner.
2. The JTEs will not have much opportunity to practice their English with a native speaker. They will get to continue teaching, "I play skiing" without any objection.
3. The small but positive effect I am making by forcing the students to write speeches and read them in class will be lost. ( I do think it has proved their speaking ability.)
4. Daito is a great school. I get along with all my JTEs. They give me lots of freedom but at the same time lots of help. No other ALT is going to benefit from this situation and that's too bad!
5. There will be nothing for the students to write about in their class journals about how small the ALT's head is.
6. They won't have anyone to blame when things go wrong. (remember, doesn't matter where you are at, it is always the foreigner's fault!)
7. With each entrance of new 1st graders their English is getting better and better. I am glad that the JTEs can now correct that and subject them only to Katakana English and thoroughly retard their ability to speak English altogether!
(Oooops, getting bitter again)

In the end, I am thoroughly dismayed. But it is not the end of the world. I just can't help feeling sad. I do already have employment after JET and had never intended on staying another year. I have no reason to be sad as this will have no effect on me whatsoever, but I can't help it.

C'est La Vie!

Hamada: Far Far Away Jewel of Shimane

2007-01-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the new year the city of Hamada likes to hold a Junior High School English Camp for their students. This is one of the most well organized English events I have been to and after going last year I signed up to go again this year. It is a full day on Saturday (8:30 till 3) but completely worth it. I usually spend all my time with high school students so it was fun to hang out with younger kids. Though, I don't want to give you the impression that I like kids at all, but it is fun making them try to understand the noise that you are shouting at them!

Then after the English camp, my partner in crime Sara and I stayed to party it up with Hamada JETs. We were pleasently surprised. First, Hamada has some good bars, unlike the filth that is Hydro! And, they have good people living there that we would have liked to get to know better but they live far far far far far away! Zanen! But it was great to mingle, drink, and sing karaoke with them. Special thanks to Donna for letting us crowd her cute apartment and stay the night!! :) Here are some photos as proof that we did visit that mysterious and hidden city of Hamada.

Say "P'nawn da" to Gemma and "Howdy" to Ken (known as Shimane - Ken, get it?). Two Hamadians!

Just a plutonic kiss between mutually respected peers. Stop thinking those dirty thoughts!

Lena and I taking a moment to reflect on what just happened!

Say "Guten Tag" to Karin! She is one of our German speaking JETs!

棟上げ (muneage)

2007-01-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the rare pleasure of being invited to Muneage. It is a Japanese tradition that when someone builds a house to have a ceremony to ensure the longevity and sturdiness of it. Japanese people love their ceremonies.

Last year I met a woman who lives in Daito and I often run into her at the wonderful establishment of Green City, so we have hung out a few times. Miwa Tadai is married to the owner of a pachinko parlor right here in Daito and has three small kids. Recently her father started building a house in Daito. So she called me the day before the ceremony and asked if I wanted to come. Many Japanese people never get to participate in Muneage because it is going out of fashion and less Japanese people are building houses. So I was very grateful that she invited me so that I could see it.

The ceremony was not complicated or long. First, the men go in the house and say some stuff, drink some sake, and then pray with the man in charge of building the house. The interesting part comes when they start throwing mochi (rice cakes). From the top of the house they throw mochi from the four corners and the women and children stand below trying to catch it. Some of the mochi had money hidden inside so the kids thought it was fantastic. Mochi on its own is not very tasty. It is just this white block of hard rice. So it was funny to see children scrambling to get it. Also, it is really hard. So when they were throwing it you would try to catch it in a bag but if you looked down to pick some up that you missed you could possibly be hit in the head with a hard block of mochi. It was hilarious. I saw so many people get beaned with mochi! It was a good time. Also, I was informed that I should not bake the mochi to eat it because that represents setting the house on fire. I should therefore, only boil it to ensure the safety of the house. Todd pointed out that boiling might represent flooding but the Japanese did not seem worried about that!

Also, a note on Japanese houses. They are basically just wood and paper. The houses are built relatively quickly, in just a few months. They are not prone to insulate or other common necessities when building houses in the States. This makes Japanese house kinda like the kei-cars we drive, disposable. They build the houses quickly, easily, (never cheaply, nothing is cheap in Japan), and then instead of repairing the house when it is old, they tear it down and put up a new one. It is an interesting way to do things, I just wish I didn't have to be here in the winter! I think I am losing brain cells from using my kerosene heater all the time (as it is the primary way they heat homes/offices/schools!)

Ohio Christmas and Family

2007-01-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

While I was freezing my tookas off eating gyoza and macaroni and cheese on Christmas, my family was enjoying their traditional holiday celebration back in the great state of OHIO! They partied at my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jeff's house this year which apparently had not one, but two Christmas trees from the picture. I hear they had ham, chocolate moose, and other delicious dishes. (Oh ham, how wonderful you are! One day we shall reunite in a country that knows how to prepare you and has ovens big enough to cook you!)

Apparently there were only three of the Harker clan missing from the festivities this year but all the babies came this time. In the picture is my second cousin Keldan, Dominic, nephew Cameron, Erica, and my Sister (not a baby) Colletta holding our nephew Tyler. So many babies!

I can tell that you are interested to see some of the Harkers! So here are some pictures.

This first pictures is Uncle Dave, Aunt Ann, and Katie. Aunt Ann is my Dad's oldest sister. Uncle Dave is in the military and recently had the good fortune to be stationed in Ohio! Katie goes to Beavercreek High School and Aunt Ann spends her days chasing after their pooch Tess!

These lovely people are my cousin Esther, Uncle Rex, and Aunt Bev. They live close by in the great town of Xenia. They are both in the medical profession. Esther is soon to graduate from high school.

These tall gentlemen are my Uncle Jeff, my dad Mark, and my grandfather Fred. My Uncle Jeff is 4th down the family tree of siblings and my dad is the baby. It goes Ann, Bev, Dan, Jeff, and Mark.

This is my cousin Mary Ann, her husband Jameson, Dominic, and Erica. Mary Ann and Jameson live in Xenia and Mary Ann is a beautician. I think Erica is enjoying elementary school and having a little brother!

This is my cousin Sarah with our grandparents Lola and Fred. Sarah lives in Columbus and is posed to graduate from college in May. Yeahhhhh!

This is my cousin Ari, Laura, and their son Keldan. Ari and Sarah are siblings. Laura and Ari live in Yellow Springs and have resisted getting Keldan's lovely blond hair cut. Isn't he cute!

This is my brother Kenneth and his wife. Kenny is holding my nephew Tyler who was born during the summer. They are doing quite well and from what everyone told me, Tyler was quite a hit at the party! Oh, everyone loves babies!

Finally, last but not least, is my cousin Heidi holding her cousin Dominic. Heidi is in the air force and is currently going through training to be a pilot. Suspiciously missing from all these pictures is Heidi's mom, my Aunt Nancy. She may have cleverly avoided the camera this year.

CHRISTMAS CAKE

2006-12-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

It is part of the Japanese Christmas tradition to eat Christmas Cake on the 25th. Japanese people don't really celebrate Christmas as we do in the States, they just like seeing the lights and decorations. In Japan, Christmas is a couple's holiday, where they romantically exchange gifts and stare lovingly into each other's eyes over dinner for two. And here is a picture of it: the amazing, delicious, deceptive, and very christmasy Christmas Cake! I knew you were wondering what it looked like and how it tasted (yummy by the way). And it is important to know about it because the last question on my Christmas Quiz is, "Do Americans eat Christmas Cake on Christmas?" Well.... do they? Hmmmm, having trouble with this question? The only question that my students had trouble with was, "where does Santa Claus live?" They all think it is Norway for some reason. But don't worry I set them straight! And then had them write letters to Santa begging for him to forgive their ignorance!

Merry Christmas!!

More Fun Keitai Photos

2006-12-11T05:26:00.000-07:00

Recently, while sitting at home trying to keep warm in my inhumanly cold house I began to contemplate the greatness of the Japanese cell phone. They are great. They have a ton of functions on them, look cute, and are not ridiculously small like Americans like them. And the best thing about Japanese cell phones is the camera. Everyone takes pictures all the time. It is perfect for those moments when you see the most interesting or hilarious thing and wish you have a camera on you. I know I sound like the official spokeswoman for keitais but it is one of the biggest things I will miss when I leave Japan. Consequently, the lack of heat that is prompting me to sit in front of the computer in the first place is not one of the things I will miss about Japan.

Anyway, here is some randomness that I recently caputred with my keitai.

This is a photo from the elevator in one of the nearby stores in lovely Unnan (Cheriba). Apparently, if you get one of your appendages caught in the door, they will send out a huge crab to pinch your finger as punishment.

I was standing in the train station waiting for Todd to get back from orientation in Okayama when I noticed this sign by the doors. They graciously translated it into English so that the foreigners who are around have no reason to disobey it's logic. While there is nothing wrong with the English, it is just a big odd, isn't it?

And it is enkai time here in Japan. Enkais are work parties where you drink copious amounts of alcohol with all your co-workers in the effort to bond. The end of the year party is one of the biggest and therefore has the best food and games. Yes, you heard me, games. So we played bingo and guessing which was the least important event to happen at the school, followed by an invigorating game of junken (rock, scissors, paper). Anyway, I took a picture of this cool fish they used as decoration for the sashimi (raw fish). Apparently this fish is quite rare and has

cool poka dots. I did the foreigner thing and took

a picture of it.

Funniest Exam Ever!

2006-12-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

This week the end of the semester exams are taking place. So, like usual, I was put in charge of making the 3rd grade listening test. This semesters topics are weather, expressing opinion, and halloween. (By the way, not a single student got the date of Halloween correct. Either that means I am a bad teacher or my students are retarded, I am betting on the later.) Also, the third grade, since it is an elective class, can do special projects, like make an English movie. So we did. We have two groups in our class and two very interesting movies that are still going through the editing process. The theme of movie making was also included on their exam. The students were required to write about their role in the movie, what they thought of editing, and their overall thoughts on making the movie. One of my students wrote for his thoughts on the movie,

"I was excited to make movie. I'm a hot dog."

I found this incredibly hilarious for a few reasons, first there is no hot dog in any of the films we made and second, his English is excellent. My third grade elective class does not have the best English ability in the school as one would have thought. They were made to take an elective class and they hate all the other options more than English. It makes for an very enthusiatic class some days!&#*^@! So I have no idea why my student wrote this but he got full points for his response! Awww the power of being a teacher!

Happy Birthday Me!

2006-11-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

Kyoto Fun

2006-11-27T01:33:00.000-07:00

I think there could be no better birthday trip then the one I just took. I decided to go to Kyoto for three days and visit friends I had made way back in May. You might recall the story I have often told of the dentist I met on the train to pick up my Dad from the airport when he visited. The dentist was terribly nice and invited my father and I to dinner. Since then we have kept up contact through email and I had been wanting to see them again. This time when I visited I stay at their house and they showed me all the sights in Kyoto.

The best thing I did was go to the Iwatayama Monkey Park! It was soooo cool. There are monkeys just walking around everywhere and you can stand right next to them, they are so close. There are no cages. I did notice signs that warned us not to make eye contact with the monkeys or try to touch their babies (just good common sense really). Then in an enclosed area you could feed the monkeys. Of course I paid my 100yen and got a small bag of bananas to feed the monkeys. They stick their tiny fingers through the bars and ask for the food. It is soooo cool. I highly recommend going there if you are in Kyoto!

Also, I went to Nara and saw the big buddha. It was good fun cause there are deer roaming around and you can feed them too.Overall I had a fantastic time. The dentist's family took great care of me and took me around everywhere so I could relax and enjoy. There is nothing like Japanese hospitality. I just hope I can return it so well if they come to visit me in the states!

Softball Day turned into Cricket Day

2006-11-13T00:13:00.000-07:00

After some planning, asking, pleading, hoping my school agreed to let me hold an English (as in the language, not the country) Softball Day. In the end, Roger (an Australian CIR) and I managed to prepare everything and even got the Daito Softball team to come along. Finally, the long awaited day came. But what could ruin a softball day more than no one showing up? Well that is an easy question, Rain!! Not that we were unprepared. Roger had brought a cricket set and we had made sure the gym was available to use, just in case. And it was good we were prepared because it rained all morning and afternoon. On the up side, I got to play cricket for the first time. It was interesting and the watered down version that Roger taught us was alot of fun. In the end it was a good day. I am glad I got to do something international at my school even if it was not exactly what I had planned. A big thank you to everyone who helped out, Janelle, Sara, Hugh, Todd, Nick, Naoko, and Mishima-san!

More Halloween

2006-11-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought you had had enough of Halloween pictures I have a few more up my sleeve! These pictures are from my own high school, Daito. Enjoy!

The JET Halloween Party

2006-10-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from the JET Halloween Party. Jenny, Nick, Todd, and I went as greasers and pink ladies. It was very cute. We participated in the pub crawl where we had to go around to 7 bars. And thanks to Jenny, since we had a drink in each bar, we won the bonus prize, which was a free drink at one of those bars! Good looking out Jenny! This was a really good time. So good even, or maybe cause he was drunk, Todd got up and sang Karaoke!! Isn't he cute.