bad daddy, what are these?

funny students. the funny things they say. last friday i was teaching some first graders the difference between "what's this" and "what are those" we went around the room pointing at things and saying the appropriate "what's this/are those" one boy understood pretty well i'd say as he came up to me and pointed at my chest, asking, "what are those?" i laughed a lot out of sheer shock and the hilariousness of the situation.

yesterday i was teaching some 5th and 6th graders. we were doing a role play that consisted of "mom, can we go to the zoo?" "sure, lets ask dad" "dad, can we go to the zoo?" "sure, how about next friday.

i made the students line up and ask me (mom) if they could go. then i chose a boy to be dad. the students asked me if they could go to the zoo. i said "yes, ask dad" they ran to "dad" and asked. Dad responded with a big "NO" one student looked up and without missing a beat responded "bad daddy" hahah it was really funny.

i love kids and the funny things they say!


on another note.... today was the first day it that it didnt rain this week. i took advantage of the nice weather and ran 10 miles. yay!

sunday ekiden

sunday ended up being a nice day. the weather was perfect. no wind. not too frigid. just right. i ended up running 3.7 km. 17 minutes. not too fast. not too slow. decent considering the lack of speed training. i was the first runner and then i had a lot of time to wait for my team to finish. when we finished, we got 2 sports drinks, 2 ichigo mochis (mochi covered strawberries) and a bento. yay for free stuff!

now i have to focus on the next race. march 22. tokyo. training is going well despite the recent rainy weather. hopefully saturday will be good weather for me to get my 18 miler in.

saturday i cooked crepes for hiro and i. then we went swimming and ran some errands. we found a really cute cafe and had lunch! so great. the night ended with a birthday party for a few friends.

this week is going by pretty slow so far, but i cant believe its already the last week of february. today i had a lot of trial lessons for new students. they went pretty well. i think. i hope we can get a lot of students this year. but i dont know if/how that will happen.

well i am off to bed. tomorrow i'm getting up early to do pilates, then i am meeting the nozao's for coffee at starbucks. should be a nice time. i enjoy spending time with them!

nothing new

yesterday, due to a race this weekend, i had to run my long run. i got up, ran 15 miles, showered, ate and relaxed for a bit, then went to work. work was busy. 5 normal classes plus a trial/model lesson.

watched funny cat videos on youtube then went to bed. felt so good!

this weekend i am running an ekiden. its a relay. i am on a team of 5 women and the first runner runs tot he 2nd runner and so on, until we all finish. we pass a sash as we run and if we are too slow, the blue sash becomes white.... disqualifying us.

last year, i was the 3rd runner. we were a coed team and had to be fast. we didnt get disqualified and got free lunch! it was so cold last year. i had to sit in a non heated gym (which may have been colder than outside) for about an hour and a half.

this year we are an all womens team. i am the 1st runner. 4.7km. this year i dont have to wait so long before i run. so thats good. but i will be bringing a blanket to wait for my team to finish!

on another note, i have run 35 miles so far this week. and i will run another 10 or so over the next 3 days. no pain. feeling good. just taking my time. audio books are the best!

feeling loved on a monday in february

today was monday. like usual, i didnt really to start the week just yet. i wanted another weekend day. but it just wasnt able to happen. so i went to the gym. ran. came home and ate. went to work.

i taught my first class. adult free talk. then 2 great kids classes. after my first kids class was over, i went into the hallway to get some stuff for the next class, when my boss and coworker shove a big box at me. saying, you got flowers. i looked at them and wondered who would have sent me flowers. at work. i dont even know my work address. sure enough, the flowers were from hiro. 12 beautiful pink roses. it made me feel really special. so nice!

i taught my last 2 classes with a smile on my face and as i was cleaning up after class, my adult french student came to the door. handing me a small bag with a note. in french. these are black beans that my mother made. i love black beans here. i felt so happy and loved just by that small gesture.

seriously, i am blessed with great people surrounding me.

nice day off!

yesterday was a day off. it was nice to break up the week! saturday, i went to meijo koen to run with the members of the ekiden team im running with next weekend. the weather was perfect. nice to chat with friends. in japanese. then i went to hiro's and he cooked spaghetti with good sauce. then we went to town and meandered around the book store for awhile. then headed to starbucks to study. i studied japanese. its what i do best these days. no one can say that im not trying my hardest. then after a few hours at starbucks we headed over to a vietnamese restaurant. it was my first time eating vietnamese food and it was delicious! yum!

all in all it was a nice day to just spend time doing things that i wanted to do and have the time to do it.

today i kept thinking it was monday. but its not. and its friday tomorrow! whooohoooo!

this weekends plans consist of

friday night -studying
sat- run 15 miles, head down to yokkaichi to meet up with some friends.
sunday- church, lunch, and then dinner with hiro.

today i had a class of 2nd graders. they are so cute. and energetic. and always in a good mood. always pickin their nose too! 2nd graders are good. they are old enough to understand things, yet young enough to still really like the teacher. everytime i say "make a line" it turns into a giant blob of kids fighting over who gets to stand close to the teacher, and usually ends up into a giant group hug. with 7 little kids all fighting to hug me, i cant help but smile.

short week

this week, wednesday is a holiday! it will be nice! only 2 days, then a day off, then 2 more days, then 2 days off! whooohoooo!

yesterday was a really nice day. got up, went to church, tiger cafe, and then we had a surprise party for zelda. it was so fun. the cake was beautiful and tasted great too! then a bunch of us stayed around and chatted. rach and i headed back to kasugai around 7 and then i lounged around till i was tired.

this morning, got up, ran 7 miles, swam for 25 minutes and then had lunch. going into work early today- and get off at 8 as well!

however, today is my least favorite day of teaching, i have 2 difficult classes that are not my preferred classes. a little on the difficult side. but persevering is what i do best, so with a smile on my face, knowing i get off at 8, and wednesday is a holiday, ill go.

whew, im tired

i've been go go go since friday. i went to yoga, came back and cleaned. then i went to work, worked till 8. went to the grocery store, came home, cleaned a bit, cooked dinner, and tomoko came over to teach me japanese. then i went to bed around 11:30. i woke up at 7. ate breakfast, ran 14 miles, showered, called my mom, cleaned the bathroom, painted my nails. then i went around town to do some errands. came back home to clean my room and put together a birthday gift.

its 4:30 and i am beat, but im taking a short break before i cook dinner. then hiro will come over. so itll end up being a nice relaxing evening!

it was good to get caught up on a lot of things. i've wanted to clean the apt for awhile. i dont mean pick up, i mean seriously clean. move things, wash floors, scrub things. have the time to do things well.

it was so nice outside today. i loved every minute of my run. sunny! 43 degrees. lots of people out walking in the nice weather. not really any pain. just weakness. im learning not to push myself too hard right now, until i am back to 100%. the good news is, that i am learning to run using my abs to keep my back straight and strong. not slouching when i run. its a good workout! plus anytime i start to slouch, my leg starts hurting so i have to keep my core strong!

this week we have been doing trail lessons for new students who want to see my school. i have been jumping, running, tickling, and singing the ABCs all week with 3 and 4 year olds. lets hope they decide to come!

other than that, nothing too exciting. this next week will be a short week. we have wednesday off! yay!

ok off to relax! have a good day!

shirakawago

last weekend was such a great weekend! hiro and i, along with another couple went to a place called shirakawago. it is known for the houses with the slanted roofs, and when the snow is covering the town. ive seen many pictures in books, and online, and i have wanted to go for a long time! well i got that chance last weekend.

saturday morning, we got up and took a train for 2 hours to takayama. then a 1 hour bus ride took us to shirakawago. it was rainy, but not enough to bother us. we dropped our bags off at the house we were staying at, and then we headed out to explore the town. it looked so nice, with a layer of snow covering everything. we went inside some of the museum houses to look around. then we walked up a hill to get to a good viewing spot. it was really windy up there, but really beautiful to overlook the town.

that evening, we went back to the house we stayed in, and we had a huge dinner included with the room. the 4 of us shared a room and in the middle was a table. we had so much food. i even ate a fish head! then we bundled up again to go see the "light up" outside. that turned out to be a couple of spotlights shining on the houses. when we got back to our room, the table had been removed, and the whole room was full of futons!

the next day we got up and explored a little more. then we took a bus, about 40 minutes, to another town. this one was less touristy. it was really peaceful. just a bunch of older people lugging their tripods and cameras around. we walked around, played in the snow, ate lunch, did a little hike, and then got the bus back to shirakawago. from there we took the bus to takayama, and then ate dinner. then after a 2 hour train ride, we were back in nagoya.


it was such a nice trip. everything i thought it would be! we kept busy, but relaxed. it was nice to get out of town for a weekend and enjoy a new place in japan.