pictures from february 2008 ekiden

pictures from tokyo marathon (Feb 2008)

lost and found

tonight i decided to check on all the stuff for next weeks trip to kanazawa. tickets-check, marathon registration #- check, hotel reservation........uhhhhh no problem. its in my email. or maybe its not. hmmmm... did i make the restervation? what did i do with the confirmation????

"uhhh rach..... did i make a hotel reservation?"
"i think so"
" ok, just wondering"

so i called one of the 2 seemingly possible hotels i may have chosen. nice man. all japanese. i asked if i had a reservation since i think there was a problem with my card on the internet when i tried to reserve. he said no reservation, but if i call back in 1 minutes, he can do a full check. called back.. nothing. so i asked if they had any open rooms... nada nil nothing

hotel no. 2 i repeated the same as above, but the man told me that they had rooms open for one of the 2 nights. the most important night. so i reserved 2 rooms. i was so happy.

then i kept looking and found a 3rd possible hotel. this one sounded really familiar. so i called again, with the same spiel (shpiel?)and he told me i had a reservation. AHA i am not crazy. so i confirmed the reservation to the nice man. and would have hugged him...or bowed a lot, had a seen him.

now, i have reserved 3 rooms in kanazawa for may 2 and 1 room for may 3.

i couldn't bring myself to cancel the extra rooms tonight.. so i am looking for ppl who want to go and if not, ill cancel tomorrow during the day when the staff has probably changed.



on a side note, i am feeling mighty jolly. i had a problem, and i fixed it. in 99% japanese. i called 3 hotels and communicated and solved my problem in japanese. wow. i surprised myself. go jen. it also helped that the japanese hotel staff were so nice and patient, and have to be. hahah. thank you polite people. maybe i will stay in each of your hotels before i leave japan.

some pictures

Here are some pictures. my strawberry cheese cake from my student, a friend's daughter in her school play, and my birthday gift from rach....an aroma pot!!!!!!!!!!!( i love it! and the living room smells so great right now!!!)

global warming

So recently i've decided that it is really important to think about the things we do and the choices we make in regards to the earth. There are so many things that we can do to make a difference. After living in the U.S for 21 years, I never thought about recycling. I was never concerned about leaving the lights on, using the air conditioner or heater, using tons of plastic bags while shopping, and driving around just for fun.

those days are over. and not just for me. they should be over for you too. Coming to Japan has really opened up my eyes to see how simple it can be if we work together, put in a little effort and do the small things that add up to big things. here's my story.

we have about 10 different trash containers; burnable, non burnable, plastics, tins, cans, styrofoam, cardboard, milk cartons, plastic drink bottles.

we can take out the burnable trash 2 times a week. non burnable 1 time and depending on the recycling, every other week. the hardest part about this is taking it outside. not the separating. it gets to be second nature after a few months.

eco bags. they are great. you can get a tiny one that folds up, stick it in your bag/car/pocket/etc, and you always have a bag with you. it also come in handy if you need to make a few stops and don't want to awkwardly have a bunch of bags. it also can work as a makeshift umbrella when you forget your on a rainy day.

air conditioning/ heating; why oh why must people have central heating when they dont even use all the rooms in their house? japanese people are smart. they have rooms that all have sliding doors. for example, our living room can open to 3 rooms or just be a small area (with our kitchen, tv, table etc) and we can just turn on the heater/aircon for a little bit just to heat up/cool down the room. it stays nice and toasty in the winter and well the summer is hot, but manageable. we have small space heaters in our rooms to take the chill out.

my bike. i understand this isnt possible in some places, but bikes and public transportation are my best friends! although sometimes inconvenient (rain, shopping, after marathons etc.) it is nice to be outside and use some effort and get some exercise while getting to my destination. trains are nice (although i like when my friends can drive me home sometimes after the trains are late) sometimes cars are just plain overrated.

and beef. here's my newest lifestyle change. I'm done with beef unless i am invited to someone's house and its considered rude for me not to eat it. here's why;

(Time)Which is responsible for more global warming: your BMW or your Big Mac? Believe it or not, it's the burger. The international meat industry generates roughly 18% of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions—even more than transportation—according to a report last year from the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Much of that comes from the nitrous oxide in manure and the methane that is, as the New York Times delicately put it, "the natural result of bovine digestion." Methane has a warming effect that is 23 times as great as that of carbon, while nitrous oxide is 296 times as great.
There are 1.5 billion cattle and buffalo on the planet, along with 1.7 billion sheep and goats. Their populations are rising fast, especially in the developing world. Global meat production is expected to double between 2001 and 2050. Given the amount of energy consumed raising, shipping and selling livestock, a 16-oz.T-bone is like a Hummer on a plate.
If you switch to vegetarianism, you can shrink your carbon footprint by up to 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year, according to research by the University of Chicago. Trading a standard car for a hybrid cuts only about one ton—and isn't as tasty.

sorry its so long, but this is something that is important, so read up and make some simple yet earth saving changes.

here you go. enjoy

the last hour and 10 minutes of being 24.

this is it. ill never be 24 again. wow.

some memories from my 24th year...

1- running in 4 marathons
2- spraining my rib
3- rach moving to japan
4- having a blast in ohio last summer with friends and family
5- losing my voice like 4 times
6- having a fun sea day holiday with friends
7- going to my favorite restaurant almost weekly
8- spending time with old friends and making new friends
9- starting to teach french
10- being busy with things i (mostly) enjoy doing


so heres to the last hour and 10 minutes.

I am looking forward to being 25!!!!

my birthday present to myself...

i bought some yoga clothes for my present. I had been wanting some new pants since mine arent in great condition anymore after almost 2 years of wearing them every week. so i splurged, bought capris and a cute tank. here they are...

goodbye adrian...

a good friend left a few weeks ago... here are some pictures from his goodbye lunch!!

pictures from strawberry picking

saturday and sunday

saturday. a day of fun.

10-1:30 french class
1:30-3:00 shopping for bday gifts for friends
3:00-4:30 lunch with a friend
5:00-6:00 shopping for my birthday gift.
6:00-6:30 talking on my phone with a friend
6:30-7:00 more last minute bday gift shopping
7:30-12:00.......

the great tiger cafe birthday party for the 25 year old jen eureka.

favorite restaurant, favorite people in japan. i had such a great time! thanks to all who came!!!!


sunday consisted of church, strawberry picking and eating, senbei eating, relaxing at the rexerific's place, and having dinner with friends. fun times despite the evening rain.

i feel loved. great times.

by the way, i bought my plane ticket home for christmas break today. look for me in december!

the winners

the winners, yes i said winners..., of my question answering contest a few entries ago are: Cara and Erik. both have a great package in the mail to them. enjoy the little bit of japan love.


as for the people that missed out, dont worry, ill do it again! but not today...

this morning's run

Today i went out for my long run or 18 miles. it was a beautiful morning. i got some exploring in. new sights, new areas of running. so nice. here are some pics.

erik barnes could make a living off of this...

so about a week or so ago, erik wrote a profile for rachael. it was so good. so good in fact, that i asked him to write one for me for fun. and here it is...

Jen loves PBR. And by PBR, I mean Peanut Butter and Running. Seriously, you can't catch her, but she'd appreciate it if you tried to keep pace with her. Jen also loves everything that has to do with people: hanging out with friends, hanging out with new people, hanging out with old people, going out to find people, and even travel to another country to teach people. Jen has learned multiple languages in order to connect with even more people. Jen's love of meeting people is only matched by her need of helping people. Jen's brain is actually a sponge; wanting to learn everything outside the familiar and read whatever is available. Jen has a warm grin that has the innate ability to make you smile back. She's like Phoebe from the sitcom, Friends, only not a dimwit. If you want to change lives and need a partner in crime, look her up. She lives with Rachael.


thank you erik! its so nice!

nice pictures i stole from my friend's blog

these arent my pictures. but they sure are nice. so i took them from leslie's blog. thanks!

fun times in the city with lauren

My friend lauren came to nagoya. we hung out. the night ended with a ride on the ferris wheel. here are some pictures to commemorate the fun times of the night.

mysterious bike....

last night, i was coming home from work. right before i got to my apartment, i stopped at the intersection att he light. across the street, waiting for the light to change was a bike. it was all centered to cross the street at the light change, only there was noone on the bike. i scanned the premises. maybe they went to the vending machine. perhaps a quick round of pachinko. maybe they needed to pee in the back alley? who knows. well i forgot about it as i passed it and went back to my place.

this afternoon, however, it was still there. only someone moved it off to the side. whose bike is it? why is it there? i dont know. we may never know. but i took a picture anyway.