aquarium

Wii with my students and precious joy

I had a Wii afternoon with my high school and jr. high school students a couple of weekends ago.I even invited a "real live american high school student" to join in on the fun. it was a good time. i think my students really enjoyed it.

update

sorry i havent updated in awhile. i've been busy, and not so motivated to write. but here are the highlights till i post some pics....

i lost a very important paper i needed for my visa renewal. so i had to stress out my boss and have her get me a copy....only to find out that the rules changed and i need a different paper.....

we got a package yesterday from erik barnes. hes great. he sends the best packages.... we are working on one for you!!!!

i have been walking a lot. eating a lot. running a lot. biking a lot. swimming some. and my random exercise classes thrown in.... im just plain tired.


last weekend i went and saw a play in nagoya on saturday night with 2 friends. it was the diary of anne frank. it was so good! really well done. this is the second time ive seen a play by the nagoya players and both have been excellent. i suppose ill see the next one as well! we also were sneaking mike and ikes in the dark.. yum!!!

after the play, our group got a bit larger and we went to dinner in the french restaurant under the fake eiffel tower. i mean the tv tower in nagoya. i tried mussels for the first time and really liked them!! i also met a french canadian and got to speak french.

going home, the trains were stopped for some reason....so i was almost stranded in the city. but fortunatly, a train came and i got home around 12:30

sunday i played the baboo instrument again.... i think im getting worse. then we went to lunch, then i hung out with some others at my pastors house and then i went to dinner at another friends house. it was a busy weekend.



this weekend, i am going to a picnic with some friends at the park on saturday. im excited. im hoping it doesnt rain.


well happy friday... this girl is off to work.

meijo park half marathon

i completed my second half marathon last weekend. it wasnt my best, i couldve/shouldve done better, but i guess i just need to accept it and hope/train for better the next time.

sunday morning, i was at the park at 9:30 to check in. my race didnt start till 12:30. but i was with some friends who were running the shorter races (3km 10:00, 5km 10:30, 8km 11:00 10km 11:30 half 12:30) so i watched and cheered until it was time to line up.

the race was challenging. it was 2 small and 6 big laps around a park. no signs marking the kilometers. this makes things difficult as the race was made up of 75% men. so i always have to be careful to run my pace and not start out too fast. but i have no idea how i ran this time. the best thing about this race was the fact that tons of my friends came and cheered me on. it was so great to have their support and cheering. everytime i saw them, i knew i could keep going. THANKS FRIENDS!!!!

the last lap was rough, it wasnt too hot, but it was humid. i knew i just had to hold on and break 2 hours. my knee hurt (i hate my asics shoes...but i wore them because they were expensive...) but i kept going. i got to the finish line and giving all i had left, i tried to pass the man in front of me...who saw me, smiled and pushed himself as well. we shared a smile.

i finished in 1:59 not my best. not what i wanted (but i guess i wasnt training for a half marathon as much since i started swimming and biking) i came in 4th place in my age group and probably about 7th over all out of women. out of everyone i was 249th out of more than 500 (i dont know exact numbers yet. i only know i was #502 and there were more people. )

i took monday off from everything and then walked for 1 hour both tues and wednesday. i gained a kilo. haha. i ate candy galore. now i am heading back to the gym today. im looking forward to jogging a bit. loosen me up.

my next run is a 24hr relay with a team of 12 people. i dont know any details but it sounds fun.

i cant believe its already thursday! almost the weekend again! where did this week go?

wednesday

i bought some cherries the other day at the grocery store. they are really good!

yesterday i swam 1550 meters. almost a mile. with only 1 30sec break!

i have a half marathon this weekend. im not looking forward to it at all! i found out it starts at 12:50. in the middle of the humid afternoon. i wont be expecting a pr on this one. although im aiming for under 2hrs. we shall see

japanese tv is so funny. go to youtube and type in human tetris, then after watching that, click on some of the other random japanese games. hahaha. i laughed a lot last night watching these!

i have to go renew my visa and get my reentry permit. maybe i'll go monday. or sometime next week.

i have some mike and ikes now. 3 boxes. YUM!!!! although i havent started eating them yet.

nothing else exciting here...

amazingly great weekend!

here's the story of my fun fun fun weekend!

saturday morning, i got up and biked to my french class. 18km in 1hrish then i skipped out of french class an hour early because i had to take advantage of the great weather. i met up with pastor willie and then we biked around and stopped for water at some friends house. then we continued riding for another hour or so and i then showered and met up with someone. after that, i went and saw my second favorite band. it ended up being a mixer party which had the potential to be extremly lame, except for the fact that i was there with 6 of my friends and we had a wild and crazy girls night out. so fun so fun. we danced. we laughed. we avoided weird guys (somewhat unsuccessfully) the drummer of the band is cute because he smiles when he plays. i told him that recently i started playing a percussion instrument. ( i left out the fact that it was a bamboo instrument) then we took a picture together. he's my celebrity crush.

another guy-the event photographer for the night- decided i needed to be in like 10000 pictures. so finally i took a picture with him.

then all of us girls headed home.

sunday i woke up, went to church, lunch, willie and mimis. then we made lemon squares. then i rode my bike home ( i left it over there saturday) its only about 14km. less than 1 hour! so i think i am going to ride to church from time to time. then rexalicious came over for dinner. we ate and rach and i had a good time harassing rexter.



i think ive eaten like 39430 jelly bellies this weekend.



i really like my bike and look forward to many adventures!

cooking with jen eureka

so recently i've taken up cooking. i cooked 3 times last week and so far 2 times this week. i like it. i like mixing random things together and hoping for the best. also i like to see what i can do in under 30 minutes. the food has been good. creative to say the least. it sure is a change to my old pasta days. i think i like cooking because it keeps me busy and wasting less time.

well off to shower and work... have a good day!

law abiding citizen

june 1st brings some new rules. and more strict enforcement (apparently)

no riding bikes while doing the following:

listening to an MP3 player
talking on the phone
texting on the phone
and no umbrellas.

i understand the first 3. but i hate the last one. just in time for rainy season.

it started raining on my way home from the gym this morning, and i was just preparing to get wet, but when i looked around, every other person riding a bike was using an umbrella. so i decided to be like all the other law abiding citizens and use my umbrella. i figure i could at least tell the police that i had no idea......

i like this song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdQA6mC3ZWI

Hiro's birthday party

my favorite place

today i went to tiger cafe. twice. once for lunch and once for dinner.

i like it. but i really like the atmosphere at dinner. the lights are low, and the doors are open and its so nice and romantical. If you have a significant other, i really recommend it. or if anyone has a secret crush on me and wants to take me out to dinner, now you know where to take me.

speaking of romantic places. the field of green, at oasis 21. its the most romantic place at night. all the couples hold hands. it is a nice place. haha. however, i would probably chose a nice park not in the middle of the city. but oasis 21 has its charm.



now i'm relaxing after a fun weekend of french class, good friend's bday party, church, lunch and a friends ballet recital. not really wanting to start the week... but at least its only 5 days.


oh yeah. today i played the wooden bamboo instrument in the church worship. didnt see that one coming....



OOJJ!!!!!!!! its a time to take risks!