some pictures

one is a picture of me and one of my adult students who also ran kasugai 10km. one is the sigh at the race. one is just a pic of me and kanako

sore ribs

i ran today. i'm not going to lie, it wasn't my most comfortable run. i just have some muscle soreness. i think when i fell last weekend, i pushed my shoulder a little and the muscles got really tight. but after warming up and loosening up, i felt a little better. we'll see how i feel tomorrow. i have to skip my body pump class at the gym, but i may do the yoga and aerobics with a short run in between.

tonight there was a small car crash outside my apt. i am always the first to hear it (since our apt faces the street) so i ran out. i also chatted it up with the neighbors.

rach and i are starting a healthy living month. basically i am drinking more water, snacking less and adding ab workouts to my life. i did day 1 today, and i was HUNGRY the last half of my last class. i had to move around so the students wouldn't hear my stomach growling. i just need to change my eating times a little, so the first week will be rough i think.


ok i'm off to bed to finish this week strong..... its boys day tomorrow! but i alsoo get to meet up with my friend who works at my favorite restaurant who speaks french. we are meeting for dinner tomorrow. yeah!

good night.

the bad week continues

so the last 2 blogs, i talked about falling and the water breaking.... those events were followed by more fiasco.

friday, i got violated. little kids in japan so something called a kancho. Kancho (カンチョー kanchō?) is an act often played out in Japan; it is performed by clasping the hands together so the index fingers are pointing out and attempting to insert them sharply into someone's anal region when the victim is not looking. It is similar to the wedgie or a goosing, although the latter acts do not involve direct physical contact. http://www.kancho.jp/

to discourage this, and show my disapprovement, i looked at the 3 year old. screamed in a monster voice, and told them to go to the baby class in room 3 (we have no baby class, but little kids hate the baby class) flinging the door open and telling the kid to get out. the poor kid was scared and shook her head, saying, "i am not a baby" then i went back to normal. about 3 minutes later, a little boy shows up late, and he does the same thing...only in the front.... i did the same thing. after class, my boss yelled a tthem and told their parents. one things for sure. if i have a child and they EVER kanchos someone, they will be grounded for years. its gross. wedgies are one thing. at least you dont stick your fingers up someones butt. and you never do it to adults or TEACHERS! i cant imagine ever getting away with something like this when i was in kindergarten....


saturday i got up. i went running. it was really windy and it tired me out. i just finished running 2 hours and still had 50 minutes to go. and then I FELL DOWN BIG TIME. i crashed. i tripped, i slammed my right arm and ribcage against the cold hard pavement. and heard a pop. i got up, sat down, got up again. checked to see if i had any serious injuries, deciding no, i ran home (i was far from home, so i ran about 36 more minutes then got home) it was really cold outside, so i didnt feel any pain. but as soon as i started warming up, i had some bad pain. i had to sit down. then i called a friend to ask what happens if you break a rib. she and her husband came over and took me to the emergency room. turns out i sprained my ribs, or something along that line. so for the past few days, sneezing, laughing and coughing have become my worst enemies. the good news is, i didnt break anything and i can still run in tokyo marathon in 2.5 weeks. today the pain is minor, and hopefully ill be back to running by thursday.

then sunday rach and i came home and blew some fuses. having no idea which fuse is which,i tried all of them. they didnt work, so i grabbed the big one with a string hanging from it, and pulled that one. we had power...only to be blown again in 2 minutes....

but its a now a new week. so far so good. today is raining so i am procrastinating running errands. i need to take some pictures or something to put on here. ill think about it.

my water broke

this morning, i got up and peed. flushed, and the toilet made a horrible sound. i stared at it, and then didnt worry. later, rach was brushing her teeth and the water stopped. no more water. hmmmm... wait a bit, then the water works a little. then stops.

so rach and i left the house and ran some errands.

then we came back.. rach used the toilet. made a terrible noise. so i sucked it up and went to the neighbors apartment. i had to ring the intercom bell. heres the conversation (in japanese) (n=neighbor, j=jen)

(intercom)
n: yes
j; hi, i live next door... uhhhh
n: wait a minute

she comes to the door.

j: my water is a little problem
n:oh mine too. blah blah blah blah i called someone and there is a problem with the tank and may last 2 or 3 days. blah blah blah. do you have any water
j: we have water sometimes. the toilet is bad. tank has a problem? many people in apartment have water problems? did you call a water person (i didnt know how to say plumber, so i said water person)
n:no, i didnt call the water person, i called apartment owner. here is the number.

then other questions about our water problems were discussed and i went back home. rach will be smelly for a few days. i can shower at the gym.

so lets hope we can solve this problem (and then solve my apt rent problem of i did something wrong this morning and pushed the wrong button and i dont know if the money transferred or not...... ugh. what a wednesday morning. AND ITS RAINING! but the good new is, one of the grocery stores near our house has a great wine selection and good prices. plus we went to starbucks.

now its off to work... lets hope for water when we come home...

reading with jen

recently i was teaching 3-letter words reading to a group of happy 1st grade students. you know: pen, top, cat, sun, hot, etc...

well i had a kid confuse the "X" sound with the "K" sound while reading the word FOX. he was so happy that he was trying to read. i was trying not to laugh at what was coming out of his mouth. FOK FOK FOK!!!!!

kasugai station

yesterday, sunday, i was hurrying to the train station so i could make the train to meet my friend in the city on time. i was walking out of the bike parking garage (which is exactly about 1 minute sprinting from the train platform) when i heard the train bells ringing, warning of the incoming train. my train. so i took of as usual. i was running fast when all of a sudden my shoe flies off and i go sprawling out, falling flat on my face right in front of the station. my shoe is about 5 feet behind me. my wallet is about 4 feet in front of me. a girl (in shock of what she just witnessed) picked up my shoe and gave it to me. i said thank you, put it back on, grabbed my wallet and continued running. i made the train. when i got on the train, i looked down and saw the gloves i was wearing (rachaels new gloves she let me borrow) had holes in them. then my sock was torn up. but bigger than the hole in my sock and the gloves, was the giant hole in my pride.


but i made it on time to meet my friend

then we went shooping. i bought some cute stuff. maybe one day ill take some pics!


sunday turned out to be a nice day. i shopped, went to church, lunch at my favorite restaurant, hanging out with friends and eating dinner! a fun ride home with a crazy friend.

saturday i ran 4 hours with my friend. we had a great time! then i napped. then i met up with friends for dinner.

monday now is over. 4 more working days!

conference call

i had a conference call this morning. with these 2 good looking guys here. i haven't talked to them in awhile. it brightened up my morning.

favorite flavor runt

whats your favorite flavor runt? please leave a comment.

conversations with rex

tonight i called my accountant friend rex. He's a real character. hes good on the phone. but everytime someone calls him, he doesnt answer, so i leave random messages to increase his interest, so he will call me back.

i just got off the phone with him. heres how the conversation ended.

(hes in the subway station)

rex: oh man i guy just fell in the tracks
(i hear the ding ding ding of the train coming)
Jen: oh crap, are they gettting him out? the trains coming! whats happening? is he out?
rex: hes out. oh man. he's out. some guys are pulling him out.
jen: so hes ok? what happened? is that your train?
rex: yeah can i call you back?



and this is the part were we both know he wont be calling me back. hahah

good old rexy

kasugai 10km

sunday i ran kasugai city 10km. (thats my city, if you did'nt know) i got up at 7ish, ate, and then biked over to the city gym (not my gym) about 10 minutes away. there's were tons of people. about 6000. i met up with a friend and saw a couple other friends and students who were there to race and or spectate. my favorite is my japanese grandparents who came. my grandpa brought a megaphone, jen-san flags, and 4 friends. they found me before the race (in the gymnasium) and started cheering for me. the only non japanese girl in the gym. hhaha everyone immediatly started taking pictures, thinking i was a bigger deal than i was. haha. fun times.

the race was good. i felt good. the weather was nice. i saw rach cheering for me at halfway. the grandparents missed seeing me at the beginning and the end!!! i have no idea where they were or what they were doing. i finished in 49 minutes. (remember, i dont train for short fast races, only long ones. so this was the first time i ran a 10km for a time.)

my friend finished in 1 hour (she's the one i paced for in the nagoya city 10km. we got 58 minutes on that one) so her 1 hour was great!!!

then i biked back home (with a mostly flat tire) showered and went to town with rach to meet friends. we ate. then i went with the boys to play basket ball (but it was crowded so i played ping pong) then i called up the crew and we all went to eat at a chicken restaurant. we had enough food for 20 people, but we were only a group of 7. we ate and ate (i slowed down and didn't eat too much.) after we did a bit of karaoke and then rach and i headed back to kasugai.


saturday was a say of interesting occurrences. i got up to run, was met with heavy rain, and went back to bed. got up later and got ready to meet my friend and her husband. we went to lunch at delicious park. (oishii park) and then we headed to the shinzi katoh museum. shinzi katoh is a japanese designer who designs lots of stuff.. apparently he's a pretty famous guy. we looked around the tiny shop ((which was in the middle of a large hilly suburb in kasugai, in a brick house with blue doors. we looked around the tiny shop. then the staff asked if wed like to see the museum part. there were some random paintings and dishes. then we were asked if we'd like to meet shinzi katoh (after my friend asked if he was already dead. to which the staff replied... uhh no, would you like to meet him) then one of the coolest guys came out and chatted with us. we had coffee with him. we looked at his products and just hung out.

then leslie, hisashi and i headed to the driving range. i like it. i may start going once in a while. maybe it'll be my next sport.

then we went to the mexican restaurant for dinner. the night ended with them dropping me off next to my building where a man was standing akwardly talking on his cell phone. the conversation went as follows:

jen: just drop me off by that guy talking on his cell phone who looks like hes peeing
les: ok, is this ok.
jen: (looking out the window at the man.) yeah.... uhhhh (laughing) that guy IS peeing. and talking on his cell phone (outside of my apartment and next to the restaurant)

we get out of the car, laughing at him. he's not even paying attention. just peeing and chatting. while 3 people pull up next to him in a car, get out, and laugh at him. he's just acting like everything is normal.

rach and i make a good pair because she doesn't like the pineapple and banana runts a lot so i can eat all those and she likes the orange and mango (the ones i don't prefer) i guess ill keep her around.

finally, an update from jen.

good things come to those who wait. unfortunately this isn't one of those times....

i finished up a good rest of my winter vacation. here's the summary.

last friday i spent the day emailing people and then went out with some friends to a moroccan restaurant. the food was amazingly good. the company was nice. but the best part was the belly dancing entertainment. "she performed for about 10 minutes, then the music started skipping and they gave up. about 20 minutes later, they ask if we want them to try to continue.. someone at our table said yes.... so we watched the belly dancer.. we were convinced that SHE was a HE. for the rest of the night we were convinced until one of our friends went to the bathroom and heard her talking.

Sat, i spent the day with the grandparents. fun times, good food, good conversation.... then they came to church with me on sunday! God is good!

back to school. back to school to prove to dad im not a fool. so i started working monday again. it was rough to start again... its been a long week. im tired. nothing interesting happened. but today is friday! YEAH!!!! tomorrow i run 15 miles, then meet leslie and hisashi for lunch and stuff, then sunday is the kasugai 10km.

i like the show "heroes" im addicted. tonight i should have a new greys anatomy. we'll see if that happens...

wednesday i went into town to meet a friend to play tennis. despite thinking that i'd still be decent, turns out tennis is NOT like riding a bike, and i was horrible.......but thankfully, my friend is still my friend.

yeah for friday,

fun times with friends!

i went to my friends house yesterday, we went indoor fishing and the next day we went to a place called little world. its a place with many different sections, each a different country. you can look at traditional things from the country and then eat some food. it was a good time. i went with my friends sayuri and hideki.

then we went to the penis shrine. i didnt pray to it.

bienvenue 2008

holler. random new year festivities= random times=interesting

tacos, red wine, pink champagne, 3 extremely different guys, me, rachael, truth or dare.

thats what my news years eve consisted of.


new years day=laziness, unicorns, candy, bread, video games, denny's and open relationships.

now its wednesday, i only have 5 more days of vacation. im off to my friends house for 2 days.