see ya 2007

so yesterday my friend tomoko and i did everything we could/wanted to do. heres the run down

mochi pounding
bowling
karaoke
nap
study
dinner at our fave restaurant
onsen

what a great busy day. so much fun!

now its 12/31 and rach and i are sitting here, sipping wine, making taco rice. waiting for our friend to come over.

too bad...

jimmy fallon got married.

the most productive day of my life

today i was productive. its 7:30 and the first time i've sat down.

i went tot he gym for 3 hours. met rach. went to the craft store, sports store, and then got some lunch at KFC. then went to the drug store. from there, rach went home. i went to the P.O. grocery store, then came home to unload and box up some things. then i headed the opposite direction to the back, then back to the P.O. to mail some more things and make some copies at the convini.

by then it was 5:00. i came home, scrubbed the shower and tub, and cleaned my room and other misc. chores. rach did a bunch while i was out and about. man o man. im glad i got so much accomplished.

now i can relax and eat and chat with rach. tomorrow i secretly hope it rains so i dont have to run- not that i dont like running.... i do.... its just hard to start. once i get out there, no problem. i got a new undershirt for running in cold weather so i am a bit excited to try it out. however, theres nothing like running in the spring and fall..... spring, hurry up!

i ate chicken pot pie today. its my favorite food.
heres a list of my top 5 favorite foods:

1. chicken pot pie
2. mike and ikes
3. cereal
4. soup in a bread bowl
5. eel

ok, off to drink tea and relax.

i love winter vacation. i never want it to end!

today i ran 12 miles then i biked 40ish kms. we made a pit stop at the old spaghetti factory and loaded up on pizza, pasta and salad! yum!

it was such a nice day. i didnt even have a jacket on. wow. so great. tomorrow i am going to have a productive day. i have a huge list of things to do!

the good news is in: i think i will have paid off all my school loans by the end of 2009 (at the latest) yeah. im awesome!!

I'm so good at winter vacationing!

so its day 6 of winter vacation and i am loving it! it started out really busy. here's the rundown

sat: my friends surprise birthday party at my house. so much fun. she really had no idea.

sunday: church christmas service, then potluck gift exchange party. lots of fun. the night ended up in an intense game of charades.

monday: girls (and one guy) christmas brunch. homemade scone, homemade quiche, and mint chocolate ritz. christmas walk. very enjoyable. then off to the church christmas dinner. lots of food. lots of fun. however the night was long. heading home the train stopped for over an hour. someone committed suicide by jumping in front of a train (not our train) makes you really sad to know how hard the holidays are for some.

tuesday: running. sleeping. internet. eating. relaxing. kanako came over

wednesday: running, then kanako, rach and I went window shopping and out to lunch and coffee. i like those 2 girls!


today my plans are to get out and run to my pastor and his wife's house, (about 12 miles) then go biking. it looks like a nice day so i'm off to pack up the running backpack and head out.

i hope everyone had a merry christmas!

pet peeve

sorry if i offend anyone, but this is something that drives me insane!

i hate hate hate when people get engaged and the first thing the girl does is get the token "ring" picture. you know. the stupid shot of the hand with the engagement ring. i hate when girls get engaged and the first thing out of their friends mouths is: let me see your ring. seriously. its lame. its a ring. yes its a symbol, but when you show it off and friends ask to see it, they could care less about the true meaning or symbolism of the ring. i hate the 10 bazillion shots of hands on facebook of peoples rings. seriously.

i remember when i was really young, my grandma lost her wedding ring in the couch. (my grandpa had passed away several years earlier) so she asked me to look for her ring. when i found it, i gave it to her.. i remember the ring so clearly. it was a simple silver band. no, ladies, it wasn't a huge diamond, but it was the reason behind the ring that was so important to her. not the ring itself.

why do girls feel they deserve a huge ring. does it help them feel secure? does it mean your S.O. loves you more? what is it about this ring? why does it deserve a picture? why don't we take pictures of other rings and put them on facebook? is this the ultimate proof that you're engaged? i just don't get it. and don't even start with me on the price of these.

part of the problem is, the materialism involved in the ring. people get so caught up in how they feel about the ring, how it looks, if its perfect, if so and so picked out a nice one,.... this tarnishes the true symbol and meaning behind the ring. we lose the meaning of the ring to the shine and glitter of the ring.

also, in other countries, they just skip the whole engagement ring process. how do they manage to survive this ringless time. i can only imagine the following conversation bewtwen a newly engaged girl(NEG) and her friends.(F)

NEG : hey! im getting married! so and so asked me to marry him!
F: show me the ring!
NEG: well...i dont have one..
F: youre such a liar.. youre not getting married.
NEG: no its for real... im seriousy
F: whatever



if i ever get married, you wont be invited. im not gonna show you the stupid ring. just believe me when i tell you.

all in a days work....

so i have been teaching my high school boys class some slang over the past few weeks. here's the list so far:

hey whats shakin
how YOU doin?
check ya later
thats none of your business (none ya)
everyone and their mom
oh crap (but they say it sounding like "oh clap"


so i was explaining that crap had 2 meanings. like "oh no" and the other is "poop" however, they had no idea the meaning of the second word and liked repeating it cause its fun to say. so i explained.. you know.. pee and poop.... blank stares. you know... number 1 and number 2....more blank stares... so i repeated #1 and #2 with motions. the lights went off. they got it! they were laughing so hard. then one kids asks, is number 3 (insert vomit motion)? hahahah

only 3 more days of work till my vacation. i cant wait. i think im more excited than my students! whoohoooo.

ok i need to clean a little tonight.

DID YOU KNOW????

4 = death?? in japan, in hospitals, they dont use the numbers 4 and 9 on any rooms. at first it doesnt seem like a big deal, but if you have rooms 1-100, technically you wouldnt have 100 rooms. 4= death and 9=painful. this is why i got the phone number i did, its all 4s and 9s. hahah. i bet nursing homes in japan dont have the number 4 either. can you imagine being in room 44? death squared.

poop crispies

i had a domestic night. i wanted to make rice crispy treats. but i only had red and green marshmallows and frosted flakes. so i made do with my limited options. i ended up with a brown marshmallow concoction mixed with flakes. hahah. nothing says merry christmas like a pan of poop crispies.

yummmmmmm

the busiest day...

well not really but its only quarter till 6 and i am beat.........

i got up at 7. ran from 8:40-12:00. showered and ate some toast. got my haircut. went straight to my japanese grandparents place (20 minutes by bike) then i chatted with them and ate some cake and drank coffee and tea. then i came back.. my plan is to relax and nap till 7:30. then 2 friends are coming over for dinner (i already cooked last night) one friend is coming for rach and my other friend is coming because he is playing santa claus tomorrow at my school christmas party. and we have to be there at 8:30. ugh. 8:30 and finish around 6. then we all eat dinner together and ill get home around 8:30. ugh! i want christmas vacation!

anyways, my hair is great. the hair stylist was so nice and chatty. today was one of those days where i just fit in. its the days like today that i love living in japan. no communication problems -especially when i had to speak japanese for like 6 hours! days like today i can see just how far i've come in the past year and a half! its great having great friends who you can just chat about anything (even when i'm 24 and they are 65)

well off to relax. tonight is my moms graduation (morning in the US) so i have to stay up late tonight to watch it online! yeah mom!

i take it back

it is a beautiful day today! seriously. sunny and 50 degrees! and this weekend its supposed to continue.

today was the first day of the new friday class schedule at the gym.
before it used to be:
10-11 yoga
11:15-12 aerobics
12:15-12:45 step aerobics

i really enjoyed this schedule. the instructors were so nice. but it was always a rush to finish class and have to shower, eat lunch and get to work in 1 hour (especially with all the old ladies who hog the showers hahaha jk)

now the new schedule is:

9:45-10:45 yoga (same inst.)
10:55-11:25 body pump
11:35-12:20 aerobics (new inst)

the first class, no change,, only a little earlier.
he second class, my friend teaches, but it was tough on the legs. i am going to have some awesome muscles after a couple of months!
the aero class- i have a lot of room for improvement. but i had fun just bouncing and jumping around. the teacher has a different teaching style and it was hard for me to catch on to the moves. but eventually i caught on a bit and could do 75% of the routine pretty well.

lets wait and see how i feel tomorrow, and having to run 20 miles on top of that! ahaha

well, off to lounge around a bit till work. its boys day today!!! ahhhh! oh well, i get off at 8!

so cold!

its cold. i just got up. i am sitting next to heater! its so so so cold! but then i looked to see the temp and its 40 degrees! i shouldnt be cold! all my life, winters have been colder than this. so why am i freeezing? here are my excuses!

the windows here are not double paned. this means that when its cold outside and warm inside, water forms on the inside of the glass and makes the whole window really really wet. and its really cold by the window.

we only have a heater in the living room and a small one in my room. they are both off all night. so waking up in the morning, is really cold!

i have to walk or ride my bike everywhere. we cant get into the car we warmed up and go to work and make a dash for the office. (although my commute isnt so bad)

i run a lot. for example. today i will be running 13 miles. thats no jog around the blog (unless its a really big block i guess) i have no desire to go, but i have too, ive wussed out 2 times already this week.

i really think if i had a treadmill, this morning, i would seriously consider running 13 miles on it! (the gym has them but i can only get away with 1h20 minutes before they kick me off!

ok off to go run! sorry about complaining (to all my friends who live somewhere much colder than here!)

62-60

that was last night's boggle score. no, i wasnt the winner, but i came close. Rach and i are in the habit of playing boggle once a week. she always beats me....by a lot! I always tell her i'm going to invite someone whos not good at word games to come play against me. or a japanese person who doesnt speak english well. but last night was a break through!!! i was only 2 points away. i had her until the last round. then i choked! ahhhh. next time.

this morning, rach and i are going to starbucks and running some errands. nice productive morning!

its wednesday! however,, i work this sunday, for our kids christmas party. ahhhh only 17 days till winter vacation! i cant wait.... im more excited than my students. 16 glorious days of not working! come quickly!

the fall

running in the fall is great. the air is so nice and crisp. the leaves are beautiful. its so much fun to just run along the river under the red, yellow and green leaves in the morning sunrise. (although i do admit, its hard to get out of bed at the crack of dawn to run in the cold-leaving the comfort of my warm blankets) there's just something in me that loves the peacefulness of the morning. seeing the old people walking their dogs, who smile and say good morning. it ends up being such a nice special part of my day. this saturday, i was out the door and running at 6:30. i ran 5 miles in one direction to a big river, ran back through two nice parks and all the way to this huge cemetery that overlooks the city. i ran for 2 hours and 50 minutes. i felt pretty good. i like the time to myself, to think, to enjoy Gods beautiful creation and just to start my day.

its december. wow. i've been in japan for about a year and a half now, and i can't believe it. i have a couple more weeks till winter vacation. about 20 days more of work. whooohooooo!!!! im still not sure of what i'm going to do. i few days trips... i don't know what else...