Live from Japan!

Being the Apple junkies that we are, we tend to find Apple stores wherever we go. And when we find them, we can’t help but go in and oogle over the fancy electronic gadgets. Even though there isn’t much left for us to oogle over (since we own or have owned most products in the Apple line), we still can’t help ourselves.

This latest stop was in Osaka. We were just walking around when we saw the shiny happy Apple logo. Our stop in Osaka means that we have now visited three out of the seven Apple stores in Japan. Perhaps we should make it our goal to see all 7 before we leave….

…here we come!

Well, not for another three months, but I am still SUPER excited.

We just booked our tickets for our flight home! We will be coming for a visit on September 12th and leaving on September 27th. It will be a four-city tour where we try to hit all the people and places that we love and miss in just 14 days.

We will fly into Chicago and quickly make our way to Milwaukee where we will spend the first few days with my Dad’s side. After that, we will head over to Madison to spend some time with my Mom’s side and hanging in our old university town. Then we will head up to Minnesota for a few days with Aaron’s family before making our way down to Chicago. In Chicago we will spend some time with Aaron’s brother’s family and friends before we head back to Japan.

It is 97 days away, but I am so excited anyways. I can’t wait to come home and see everybody. I am already daydreaming of all the things I want to do….

The list could go on and on. I know it is only 14 days, but I am going to make damned sure that those 14 days are jam-packed with all the goodness that America has to offer. Can’t wait to see you all! Can’t wait to talk to you! Can’t wait to go out and have a good time! We all just have to wait 97 days!

A few months ago Aaron was offered the position of RPA, I must admit that at the time I was a bit jealous. It is a cool position, giving him the opportunity to interact with the JET’s in our region and be involved in the professional development conferences at the prefectural level. It gave him a chance to be a little more involved in this upcoming year as a second year JET, and I felt a bit left out.

That’s where AJET comes in. AJET is an organization that was founded at the same time as the JET Program. The goal of AJET is to enhance each persons JET experience by organizing social and cultural events.

This year we have attended most of the AJET events that were hosted (enkais, Doburoku festival, Ski Weekend, Camp Horado, Hanabi, and a few others). For the most part, the events have been successful, fun, and a great way to bond with other JET’s and experience bits and pieces of Japan that we would have missed otherwise.

So, a few weeks ago, when they put out the call asking for new people to join AJET and replace those that are leaving, I thought I would give it a go.

Read the rest of this entry »

Usually when I see signs, especially signs with a lot of Japanese on them, I ignore them. After all, chances are I am not going to come even close to understanding what the sign is about anyways, so what is the point?

But, for whatever reason, this one just sort of caught my eye. I looked at it for awhile and much to my surprise, right there on the bottom among all of the Asian faces is a picture of Hillary Clinton! Why is she there? What is this sign all about?

Does anyone have any ideas?

Something extraordinary happened earlier this week. Something amazing and wonderful. Something unexpected and special. Something that makes my heart sing with joy.

Bet you’re wondering what it is….

I bet you think I am going to tell you….

Well, I’m no good at secrets. You’re right. I will tell you.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes I just get the feeling that I am meant to have a bad day. Despite the fact that I am trying my best to overcome, be optimistic and all that, the universe has decided that it won’t be a good day for me today and it is trying very hard to be sure that I agree.

Like today, for example.

My morning just wasn’t the best, I feel as though I am coming down with a bit of a cold, i have a HUGE zit, and I didn’t have a restful sleep, but I wasn’t trying to let it all bother me. Especially since I have FOUR classes today. I left the house and got on my bike.

Usually my bike ride is where I give myself a little pep-talk. I think through my day, breaking it down into smaller, more manageable pieces. That’s what I was doing today. I was lost in my own thoughts, thinking about how I could make this a good day. How I only had to make it until 4pm and then, if it still wasn’t a good day, I could come home, relax and watch a movie, if I want to.

That’s when the universe decided to have a good laugh.

A young man walked out of a small office building on the side of the road, and without even looking around he pitched his full bucket of mop water towards the gutter in the street. The dirty, scuzzy water left his bucket and made a graceful, sweeping arc upward. Instead of landing in the gutter, as the young man had intended, it drenched me. I was covered in dirty, slimy, soapy mop water and I had no towel and no time to stop (as I was running a bit late). So I had to, simply, carry on.

See what I am saying? Doesn’t that just seem like the universe is mocking me. I was trying to pep myself up, trying my hardest to believe that I could make a good day. Instead of letting me live in my little fantasy world, I got drenched in mop water.

So now I have a bit of a cold, the largest zit in the world, am a little bit sleepy AND, despite washing up a bit, I feel as though I was dipped in slimy mop water (oh wait! i was!). It’s going to be quite a day!

Just last weekend, Aaron and I watched some of the rice paddies around our neighborhood get planted. Apparently, it is the right time of year for planting rice.

The days have gotten longer (the sun rises at 4:44am now – total insanity) and the weather is getting warmer. Today we made it up to about 27 degrees Celsius, which is about 82 degrees Fahrenheit. It truly is starting to feel like summer. But it is summer in that good sort of way, not the stupid hot quite yet.

Along with the warm temperatures and the longer days, the summer sounds that I nearly forgot have arrived as well. The cicadas and the frogs have come back and they have filled the night air with a buzz.

As I walked home from the train station today, I walked right past our landlady’s rice field. The noise from the frogs was nearly deafening and the cicadas were providing fine accompaniment. Now, I am laying on my futon, three floors above ground level and I can still hear them. It is this small reminder that summer is on its way that I am enjoying right now. A reminder to soak in the nice weather now because it will be stupid hot before I know it!

Every Wednesday I go to my Japanese lesson with a lovely woman who volunteers to teach Japanese to foreigners. She doesn’t speak much English, but I actually like that. It forces me to use the Japanese I have and when we get stuck, we can always use a dictionary to help us out.

My Japanese classes are held in a sort of community center area of Gifu station. It is a quiet space with a lot of tables and chairs. A lot of high school students use the space to study.

This week, when I went to sit down next to my teacher, I noticed that one of my students (the one who made a movie with me in it) was sitting across from me. The fact that I speak Japanese at all is a little known secret. At school I actually try very hard to keep it under raps. I don’t really want my teachers or students to know that I have as much language skill as I do because it is not my job to speak in Japanese with them. It is my job to help them improve their English.

Read the rest of this entry »

One day in the recent past I woke up as the sunshine streamed in the window. I rolled over, looked at the alarm clock and realized that it was my birthday! I tried to fall back asleep, but knowing that I was 28 years old (and getting older every second) kept giving me nightmares. So, I decided to wake up and start going about her business.

Unfortunately, I had to work on my birthday so I got up and went through my usual routine. I was only interrupted by my husband, who was quite thoughtful, and wished me a happy birthday and gave me a little gift. The rest of the morning went on without a hitch. I took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast and packed lunches. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Until……

I opened the door to go to work. There, sitting outside the front door, was a medium-sized blue package tied with a white ribbon. Attached to the package was a simple note that said, Happy Birthday Danielle. It was written in all capital letters with no identifying information.

Immediately, I took the package inside, and asked Aaron if he had done it. He looked confused, and told me that no, he hadn’t. I quickly opened the package, and even touched the ribbon (we all know how I feel about ribbon). Inside was a single item.

The largest jar of natural, unsweetened, non-hydrogenated peanut butter I have ever seen. Many of you heard of my problem sharing the peanut butter when Aaron’s parents visited, and I am quite ashamed that I was so selfish and protective. But, at that time, there was a shortage. I needed to protect my supply.

Now there is no shortage because for the first time ever I have gotten not one, but two, jars of peanut butter for my birthday. Who knew that it would cause such joy?!

The only problem is, I have no idea who left this jar of peanut butter for me. The mystery remains. Who gave me this ridiculously huge jar of peanut butter? Fess up, I must thank you properly!

The last couple of weeks contained the official end of one school year, and we are coming up on the beginning of the new school year next week. This has meant lots of changes for me and danielle as things shuffle before the next school year.

The biggest change for me was the loss of two of my team teachers and best friends at my school. Making the switch even more difficult is that the two teachers were also my supervisors.

Read the rest of this entry »