ugh

so one of the most un awesome things happened to me ....

lets brainstorm and think of some terible things that could have happened...

1. i got a cold
2. i got the flu
3. i broke an arm
4. i got hurt
5. i got a fever




nope none of the above.... in fact i kinda wish it was one of the above... but NOOO.... i just had to go and get laryngitis. thats what every teacher who has parent observations needs.... no voice. way to wake up this morning to no voice at all. no pain, no cold, no voice. what do i do.... wait it out. i read that it can be caused by a few different things

1. overexerting the vocal cords- i know for sure this wasnt it. i
2. stress- this is probable
3. an infection


so who else has taught only whispering??? yeah...not the best. horrible. ugh... who knows how long this is gonna last.

ook well im off to bed in hopes that tomorrow ill have a voice. and try not to stress out.

im welcome to any suggestions... whether remedy or teaching ideas.


(its already hard enough for me to communicate in japanese.. lets add to the difficulty.) ugh.....


p.s ill write about more fun things like my past weekend at a later date.

weather

its sunny and nice outside now. this morning i wore a 3/4 sleeve shirt and was comfortable. yeah for november 22 being good weather.


funny story of the day.

i went to the grocery store to get some thngs for dinner tomorrow and i couldnt find the eggs. i walked all over with a confused look on my face thinking "how stupid can i be? i cant find the eggs!" so i went to ask someone. however i am not too sure on the japanese word for eggs. so i went to the nearest employee and said... (this is the english translation) excuse me, where are the tomago, tamago, tomaga, tamogo. (i think one of them is the right word for egg.) and i also added the gestures making an oval shape with my hands. she knew what i was trying to say and she led me approximately 3 steps away to the egg area. good one jen. then she said, in english, eggs.

thank you.


oh yeah here are some fun things to tell you all about. the morning i went to disney sea, i had to get up very early and be at the trainstation at 5ish in the morning. as i was walking, i noticed some peculiar things. 1. red lights are the equivelant of stop signs that early. there are always men looking at magazines in the convience store (this may only be funny if you live in japan) 3. when i got to the station, there were like 50 or so old people wandering around. it was dark and they were aall walking around, and to be honest, i was a little nervous. i mean this seems like a scary story just waiting to happen. but as i watched them, i noticed they were all cleaning up the trash around the station. this solves the mystery to how everything is so clean here. its the old people at the crack of dawn!!



im off to work. tomorrow is a day off!!! whooooohooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry

ok its been awhile.. heres some updates and pictures. not this pas sunday but the one before, i went to disney sea with my friend peter. we had a good time. it was so much fun. disney sea is divided into different areas. there is the european part, the aladdin part, middle of the earth, and i forget the other parts. we walked around all day long. we got to go on 6 rides and see 3 shows. we rode journey to the center of the earth, indiana jones, raging spirits, aladdin, tornado one, tower of terror. there is a fast pass thing so we can get a pass every 2 hours and then come back to that ride and get on with little or no wait. the tower or terror ride was popular so we went at 9am to get our fast pass and it was already booked till 7pm!!! craziness.

oveerall it was awesome and i woulndt mind going back.


last week went by fast!!!we had a planning day wednesday for our christmas party. then this past weekend was as follows

friday night... cleaned like a mad woman. then i talked on msn messenger to my friends till 4 am!

saturday... got up at 9 went to the grocery store, atm, paid my france ticket off, went to the foreign foods store, met my boss at a seminar about chants, went to starbuck with her afterwards, went to the 100 yen store and bought christmas decorations, and then went to my friend veronicas place to hang out. we played catch phrase, ate a lot, talked, ate, watched Never been Kissed. then i went home.

i have successfully learned how to take a taxi from my train station to my place. it costs about 7.10 but its really broken down into 6.50 just to get in the taxi and then .60 to go 2 kilometers.

sunday... went to church and lunch afterwards. then a few of us went to another friends place to watch a movie. being the professional hair cutter i am, i cut peters hair then we watched about a boy. talked and i went back to my place.

so far this week s going by at a decent speed. this morning, i bought a christmas tree, and tonight after work i set it up! its so cute and tack. i love it!

this thursday i am inviting a few friends over for a tanksgiving meal.... however i am unsure about the turkey part...we will at least have a bird to eat.


wve been having parent obserrvation att school and will continue for the next month or so. its alright. not my favorite thing. the kids are nervous because their parents are watchign them, so they suddenly forget everything theyve learned and the parents think they dont learn anything. yeah its awesome. then we get these parents who "speak english" they lived in another country and so their child should be so good. my question is... if they speak english "so well" then it shouldnt be thet much effort to just teach their kid and stop blaming me for thier kid not learning english. i like the little kids classes, they dont get shy around thier parents and they are the same with or without parents being there. thats nice.

well thats about all....ill put some pictures up now!

saturday

ive been looking forward to today as my day of catching up and rest. ive been dragging a little lately and i think its partly becuase of all the little kid germs i am around all day. you know...when the kid picks his nose and then holds your hand. or when the litte kids come up to you real close and breathe on you.. yeah.. so anyways, i slept in today till 11. i did nothing forawhile. then i cleaned. major cleaning. bathroom, toilet room, kitchen, living room...yeah major cleaning. oh and laundry. i didnt however do my room...yet...

i wont lie, i took breaks to watch greys anatomy. i am almost finished with season 2. and there are only like 6 episodes of the 3rd season on itunes... so ill have some free time on my hands in about a week, but i will miss watching 2 episodes in a row. i cried watching one of them today.

i left the apt to run to the grocery and drug stores. i kind of looked like a celebrity who leaves the house looking like a wreck and people take pictures of them looking like crap...yeah like that... fortunatly i dont have and paparazzi chasing me aorund here.

tomorrow i am going to disney sea. should be a fun time. i just hope it doesnt rain.

i do have a few more things to accomplish today to feel like ive been productive.. i want to write some emails, write some letters, read my bible, and study japanese...oh and watch one more greys anatomy. the night is young.. its only 6:25. oh and clean my room and paint my nails. ok so y list is still long. well see...

now thats just a little fruity

i went to the grocery store after work tonight and i was looking at fruit. i always look at fruit here and wish i could go back to france were it was so cheap and i ate it evveryday. that was the one thing i could afford. well times have changed. were not in kansas anymore. fruit here is expensive. so thats why i was just looking at it. some prices to give you an idea of some normal fruit prices here

grapes-one bunch- $6
one big apple-$5
one big orange-$4
honeydew- $9


and the kicker- cantelope. how much does cantelope cost in the US? france? anyone? well i can tell you how much a cantelope costs here in japan. approx. $36!!!!!!!!!!! cantelope isnt even the best fruit out there. 36????!!!! who buys that? i bought a winter coat for $40 the other day. man i should take it back so i can go buy a cantelope. how crazy.

taking the time to update!

ok so much has happened over the past week or two. i finished up the halloween parties at school. i will hopefully add pics after if my computer wont take forever to upload them. then my mom came as you read in the last blog. it was a fun time had, hopefully, by all.

she came friday night, and i got to unpack a whole suicase of stuff for me. it was like christmas. i got clothes, toothbrushes, deoderant....wait this doesnt sound like christmas... hahah well anyways, things i wanted. then saturday we got up ad my japanese grandparents (gym friends) came over. we talked and ate-i cooked a good meal- and then my mom and i went into town. and met up with kayla. we wandered around, went to the japanese dollar store (which is so much more cool than the US dollar store) and then we had dinner, got sticker pictures, and did karaoke (the latter two mom didnt want to do, but i am sure she is sooo happy to now have those experiences under her belt)

sunday we got up and went and met some friends in town and went shopping, found souvenirs, went to eat and came back home. then all week i worked somom and i did some things in the morning then i went to work. then friday i had a holiday, so we went to kyoto- a very traditianal popular japanese town with lots of shrines and temples. we took the bullet train and got there in like 40 minutes. then we spent a day of wallking. and when i say we walked... i mean we were serious walkers. all day long we walked. we walked and walked. do you get the point? if not, ask my mom. then we chilled and had starbucks. after we got back to town, my mom went back to my apt and i went to a game night with some friends. we played apples to apples. i love tis game-- it brings back fond memories of my sophomore year of college with michelle and playing her apples to apples game. fun times. i spent the night at a friends place then sat i came back to my apt. we got picked up by my japanese grand parents and we ate lunch with them and another woman-who works at my gym- and her 3 kids. so much fun. then after we got back, my boss picked us up for a little wanderinga round in the car.

sunday we got up and went to church then lunch, then shopping, then home. i got a winter coat. its hot pink. i love it. i think people had me in mind while designing this coat.

monday mom went to the airport. and back to florida. bye mom. thanks for everything.

other random but interesting tidbits:

ive been watching greys anatomy like its my second job.
i a going to france dec 27-jan6. whooooooooooohhhhhhoooooooooooooooo
it suddenly got cold here. as in monday i wore a t shirt and tuesday i needed a winter jacket.
my room is a mess.... i need to clean, but i have a lack of motivation. hey youre lucky im updating my blog....

well i guess ill try to post some pictures.

oh maybe ill tell some cute stories about the kiddies at work...

one little boy -who used to annoy the crap out of me when i started- (who is recently one of my favorites) took my hand and kissed it during class

today i had 2 little boys who were kinda sad. one wouldnt leave my side and would cry if he couldnt hold my hand (he was sad casue last week he realized that his mom doesnt stay outsie the door while he is at class) the other boy was kinda quiet. h is usually a little bad and always running aorund doing bad things (he is 3 or 4) but today i called him for his turn to "buy some fruit" and he came up to me...his bottom lip trmbling, and hugged me so tight and wouldnt let me go (keep in min the other little boy is holding my hand and the rest of the class is trying to "buy fruit") so who knows whats gotten into these kids...

i like to make my students put their hands in the middle of a circle and on 3, yell "i am not a baby!"

ok well hopefully that was fun for you all.

japan is good. i am learning a lot. ive been here 5 months-nexy week

some pictures-finally

so moms been here for 10 days and leaves tomorrow. we have kept busy-dont you worry. from seeing around nagoya to going to kyoto. we painted the town red. below we put some pictures so it could be like you were visiting too.