new things. pretty things. old things.

new things: i signed up for a french class today. its about the news and current events in japan and in france. should be interesting. im hoping to meet some more french speakers and just speak french again. (with my luck it'll probably be all old business men-apparently most of my hobbies are those of middle aged and old men...running, working out, hahah-just what i want! but we shall see) it will be saturdays from 10-1 (however this does pose a problem with my long runs...)

pretty things: its cherry blossom season. the weather is nice (at least till about 4-when it starts getting colder) this morning i ran for 2 hours and 50 minutes. somewhere around 17 miles... give or take a little. i ran by the river. i ran through 3 parks. so many people were having "hanami" cherry blossom viewing picnics. this means that people bring out their blue tarps and mini grills. bring the family along and sit under the cherry blossom trees. while i was running, i was a little thirsty and kept hoping someone would give me something to drink.. or some food. unfortunately, no one did... hahha

old things: i dont know if this is considered old.. but it is to me.. i lost my voice....again... this is getting on my nerves. its getting old! 5 times since i've come to japan. i dont get sick. i just lose my voice. i think it is due to the dry/humid air changing all the time. today its a little better... i can get around, but i sound like a man. i just keep drinking tea with honey.

i changed my cell phone plan today. im hoping it will save me some money. i was getting a little out of control with my old plan. (my old plan was the one i got when i came here. it was pretty expensive -60 a month for like 30 minutes and unlimited mails. ) but in the past year they came out with a different plan. the white plan. 10 dollars a month. free calls to other ppl with same phone free. from 1-9pm (im at work... so great huh?) but i got the double white. double the price but cheaper phone calls. basically it should cut my phone bill in half (and looking at my past months usage.... it should cut it by A LOT!)

i guess my day was a success. i successfully spoke french at the french school to sign me up for classes (and the staff even told me that the classes may be too easy for me!) then i went and changed my phone in japanese and it was a piece of cake. (a woman was helping me, and a man who spoke english came out to see if he needed to translate, but the woman waved him away and told him it was fine!!!) i did it. i can live life in 3 languages.

last night i talked to cara. that was fun times. ive missed talking to her. its nice talking to people who are also living a similar life sometimes.

well I am beat. im going to take a nap. i have some more eureka stars to give out, but ill do that later.

End of the school year...

this week is the last week of our classes. the end of the school year... but no worries, the next year starts on monday. so no break. Just changing the classes around and new students coming, other students leaving.

this week we are decorating easter eggs. with markers. students think its weird. and their english isnt good enough (preschool-elementary school) to understand exactly why americans decorate eggs. oh well. they enjoy making them and looking for them around the school.

i am officially running another full marathon in the beginning of may and a 3km run at the end of april.

the weather is getting nicer here. too bad this season is so short (june=rainy season and july-sept=HOT AND HUMID)

i've been studying more this week. french and japanese. we'll see how long this lasts.

thats all the exciting stuff happening in the life of jen eureka.

a cleaning machine

i am a cleaning machine today. i cleaned my room. changed out the winter and summer clothes. did laundry. washed dishes, organized all our plastic bags... and you know now the exciting life i lead.


tomorrow i dont have to work due to a public holiday. YEAH!

i picked up a new hobby. im not so good at it. i started to play the guitar. its not easy. i have a newfound respect for those who can play the guitar well. this could be short lived. already my finger hurts just typing this.

of to shower and eat lunch. have a good day!

neririn gumi miso

this was a good one. you add water to one powder and it makes a foamy soup concoction. then you have another side of only powder. you put the mold in the powder and add water. it turns instantly into a jelly gummy thing and then you dip it in the foamy soup concoction. then eat... its delicious. i give it 9/10 Eureka stars. although it is a slightly long process just to eat a little candy.

pictures of friends

fun times around the city. karaoke, oasis 21, and wimi's house

pudding candy

this was horrible. you just add water. shake it up and down about 40 times. then add chocolate icing for decoration. it looked alright enough....however, one bite, i was proved wrong. it was gross. it tasted like plastic. it gets 1/10 Eureka stars. the one star is for it being a clever idea (in theory)

dogs

Most people who know me, know i'm not a dog person. well, im even LESS of a dog person now. You can thank my downstairs neighbor and her crappy, stupid, barking at all hours of the day dog.

im not even lying. as i write this (at 8:16) in the morning...the dog has been barking for a straight hour. not to mention last night until 2am.

doesnt it sleep??? im tempted to find out when it does and then go bark really loud at it.

doesnt the owner go crazy? seriously...2 weeks now. stupid dog. (i know some of you like dogs. i dont. i will never own a dog.)

well off to run and get away from the annoying animal downstairs. I even saw it one day. its not even cute. i gave it the stare of death....apparently it didnt work.

Look strange...

Today I went to the eye doctor. since my drivers license expires next month, i had to do the paper work from japan and get an eye test here. So i went this morning. I was a little nervous. i thought my right eye was a little weak. so i go and get 3 or 4 tests done. one is a focusing one. then i had to do the eye chart. but its a little different. mine was a bunch of C shapes all with the opening a different way. i had to point the direction of the opening. then i took a color test. a bunch of colored circles and arranging them in color order. then a side view test. when i was doing the side view test, the eye dr. wanted me to look straight ahead and tell him if i could see the pen on the sides. this is all fine and dandy...except...

the doctor kept saying "look strange" haha i had to repress my smile and laugh. he said it a bunch of times (although i am soooooooo grateful that he actually tried to speak to me in english and he was pretty good too... this was just too cute)

then he took pics of my eyes and gave me a print out at as a gift!

all in all..... left eye =20/15 right eye=20/20 both =20/15 no worries. i passed all tests!!! yeah for good eyes. now i think i can get my drivers license renewed

buying a swimsuit in japan-when you are not japanese

I went to buy a swimsuit today. I need one so i can start fully being a triathlete. last year i tried to buy one. tried... but i am a large beast in this country and couldnt find one my size and refused to buy a 3XL swimsuit.

this year i had a new tactic. start with the biggest swimsuit size and work my way down..... it was a good thought... except when i tried on the biggest swimsuit in the store.... it fit perfectly.

Size 15. yes. 15. the upside... its the size no one wears so it was around 60$ cheaper than any of the other ones. it pays to be a large beast sometimes.

i should note that I have not gained weight since coming here. I am currently a small or medium in the US.

at least my head fits the goggles and swim cap...

Jen's face....in case you missed it.

oh McDonalds.......

I think you need to fire the guy who invented the mcdonalds wrap. its a mcwrap... it sounds like mccrap. just a thought from me today.


i went on a run in the beautiful, non cold weather. then i went to my friends house for lunch and dinner. we played Wii fit! so much fun. i think i want a wii!