Snow Fun

On Sunday afternoon, Lauren and I decided to take advantage of all the snow we had gotten the previous day (about 6 inches). We set out to build snowmen.
Now, the Japanese build snowmen, but they only use 2 balls.



Of course we wanted to be very American and build our 3 ball snowmen. So-we got busy. Here is Glen, before he was Glen.



When Lauren was forming Ed's head, she noticed that she could see a face in the snow. It was pretty freaky. Can you see it? Seriously-she didn't do that--it was just there.


Me and Glen


Glen and Ed from inside our courtyard


Ed, Lauren, me, and Glen


We had a blast playing in the snow--and trying to find things to use for their faces. (Twizzlers made great mouths.) We even sacrificed our scarves so they would look SUPER cool. And look mom-I'm getting great use out of my cowboy hat!

Random snow pictures

Here are just some pictures from my neighborhood the morning it was snowing.













I'm a dork

Young Life Conference

On Saturday we went to a YL conference at Misaki church. We had to catch the train at 7 that morning, so I was up by 6...on a Saturday...blah. Anyway, Liz IMed me that morning to let me know it was snowing. I looked outside and saw this:



Of course I was super excited, and almost sad that we weren't going to be home all day to enjoy it. I figured it would stop by mid-morning and melt like the last snow a few weeks ago. Well, it ended up snowing all day. It was even snowing at Misaki church, which is about a 2 hour train ride from the apartment.

Random pictures from the conference

Daisuke leading worship


Here is Shinsuke playing the keyboard. When I we first got to the church that morning, Liz said something to me about Shinsuke's hair being long. I looked around and said, "Where is Shinsuke?" Umm yeah--I didn't even recognize him because his hair had gotten so long. I'm a dork.


They were referred to as the 'Suke band'...of course, that's probably not funny to anyone but those of us that were there...oh well.

Joshua and Jerri


We got bored in the afternoon, so we proceeded to put our nametags on Shinsuke's back without him noticing. Then we proceeded to take pictures, all without him noticing.


Joshua looking adorable--as always


Shinsuke eating a twizzler which we forced him to eat. (We haven't met any Japanese people so far that like Twizzlers.)


After the conference we all went to dinner together. So of course I have more pictures...sorry this is mostly a picture post, but many of you have openly admitted you only look at my pictures anyway. (shame on you)

Ayumi and me...she's not sad, she just insist on making sad faces for the camera


Lauren, Ayumi(actually smiling), and me


Ayumi, Yuya, and Shota


Bong--I love her!


Justice trying to avoid Ayumi who was taking his picture


And of course when you give a 6 year old your camera, you're going to end up with pictures like this...


After dinner, Kazu, a guy we met, offered to drive us home instead of us taking the train. We never turn down a car ride so of course we agreed. Well, what is usually about a 1 1/2 hour drive turned into a 5 hour drive because of all the snow and roads being closed. It was crazy. We left at 9 and didn't get home until 2...so, we all decided to sleep instead of getting up for church. We needed a lazy day after our long day and extra long car ride.

Grocery store fun in Japan...

So, Lauren and I discovered the 'drinks in a bag' last week. What's that you ask? Well, it's like this. You pick 10 drinks, put them in the marked bag, and then just go check out. They scan the bag and you get 10 tiny drinks** for only 500 yen (about 5 dollars). We were excited because they had sprite, and we can't find sprite many places.



**You can't tell in the picture, but these are actually small cans. They are 160 mL. Regular cans (12 oz) are 355 mL.

Japanese snacks are, umm, interesting...

Once a month all the English teachers that work for our city get together for training. Yesterday was the day for this month. I got to see some of the teachers I worked with at my old school, so that was fun. Mrs. Matsuda gave me some snacks with a note that said "Happy New Year"



I took one look at this sack of 'treats' and said "Kore wa nan des ka?" (What's that?) I mean, I'm all for trying new stuff, but these looked DISGUSTING.
Sure enough, when we opened the sack at my apartment, our suspicions were proved true. It looked like poop. Lauren proceeded to place some of them on the floor so we could get the full effect.



Now, they really didn't taste THAT bad, but come on people--why does it have to look so gross?

Atsushi--the 15 year old playa

Atsushi: Hello, please call me Atsushi.
Me: Ok, Atsushi. Got it.
A: How old are you?
Me: 26
A: I am 15. 15 isn't bad.
Me: (Laughing)
A: Are you free next Sunday?
Me: (Laughing more) No, I'm very busy.
A: Why don't you come to Starbucks with me?
Me: Maybe I will see you there sometime.

How great is that? My 15 year old student is asking me out. I can tell this kid is going to make me laugh a lot.

Umm, yeah...

Student: Are you married?
Me: No.
Student: Our homeroom teacher is single. He has a small apartment, but a big heart.


How sweet is that? The kids are looking out for their homeroom teacher...cracks me up.

Lunchtime...Japanese Jr. High style

I never finish my lunch. Let me explain...Lunchtime is about 50 minutes, but only about 10 of those minutes are for eating. It is mass chaos. At my last school I ate in the teacher's room and had tons of time. At Katsutadai I eat with a different class each day. I go to my assigned lunch class, then sit and wait for them to say 'itadakimasu', which is said before meals. At this point, you start inhaling your food as quickly as possible. I'm the world's slowest eater, so this is horrible for me. I usually come home with at least 1/4 of my lunch un-eaten. After 10 minutes have passed, the bell rings and then everyone says 'gochisosamadeshita', which is said at the end of meals.

Lunchtime is stressful for me since I'm trying to eat all my lunch, and try to talk to my students. They get their textbooks out and try to ask me questions. That part is actually fun, but I think I'd rather go back to having my 30 minutes to eat...

Differences in lunchtime (other than the time):
-No cafeteria--they eat in their classrooms
-The students serve each other. They bring the food and trays, etc to their classroom and then the 'lunch leaders' serve the food.
-They eat rice (just about) everyday. (I only say 'just about' because today they didn't have rice, but that was the first time I've not seen rice on their plates.)

I will try and take pictures sooner or later of lunchtime.

Today was a 10...for sure

First of all, the sun was shining and that made me smile. I love the sun. I can't wait until it's really spring, but unfortunately we still have a couple months of winter here. Today was just a fluke. I was told not to get used to the warm weather just yet.

Church this morning was really great. I really just love all the people there and I couldn't have asked to be around nicer people. After church this morning a lady came up to me and asked 'Nihon go wakarimasu ka?' (Do you understand Japanese?) I sort of laughed and said, "Umm, no" Then she said, "Ego only?" (English only?) I said, "Well, Nihon go skoshi." (Basically, I understand a little Japanese) She then proceeded to ask me questions in Japanese AND I actually understood her. With my broken Japanese I was even able to answer her questions. I was on cloud nine. I couldn't believe I actually had a conversation in Japanese, even if my Japanese was really sloppy, she understood me so that was great. So-now I'm totally ready to get serious about my Japanese. Maybe that was just the push I needed to get serious about studying.

This afternoon Lauren and I sat in the courtyard and read since the sun was out and it was so beautiful. However, after about 30 minutes, the sun went away and we went inside to make something warm to drink. When we came back out, Liz was getting home and she was about to walk down to the Korean church so we tagged along. Everyone down there was so sweet. I'm excited to get to know them better since we will be using their building for bible study. They also need some help with teaching English, so I might help with that.

We met Yuya for dinner at Mos Burger. We were there for several hours, so of course the conversation got interesting. We prodded him with questions about Valentine's day in Japan, because it is VERY different here. I will write about it when I get a chance.

Yes-this was a real conversation...

Ben: you were in my dream this morning
Jenn: oh yeah? what was i doing?
Ben: what were you doing?.....this is weird ok. are you ready?
Jenn: yeah, i'm ready...
Ben: you and i...you and i were shopping for bathtubs...in our bathing suits
Jenn: that's hilarious
Ben: we had to get in every bathtub in every store and try it out. i don't know if we were married or what
Jenn: well, that is funny
Ben: and you had to try on different bikinis in each bathtub so you would run to the bathroom to change 2-3 times for each tub
Jenn: oh my gosh...
Ben: it was very real and very crazy and fun. i'm not kidding. that is my dream
Jenn: well, you have some crazy dreams ben
Ben: that is easily in my top 4 craziest dreams ever
Jenn: it's as weird as my dream that i always had where i was pregnant and had kittens...and one of them was always blue

My newfound love...

So, I have fallen in love with my new heater. I bought it on Friday and haven't left its side. (just kidding)
Japan is so stinkin' practical and they are all about making things easy for you to carry on the train. Even though the box had handles, they proceeded to make the box just a little easier to carry, with a new handle on the top of the box.



I'm blown away by these people sometimes. Why aren't Americans this smart? Well, maybe it's not necessary in America since everyone just goes and gets in their car.





It may not look that great, but it's a miracle worker, I swear.

Mexico Dec. 26-30

So, I guess since I'm just doing laundry, I will update you guys on Mexico.
I left the day after Christmas and was there for 5 days. I had a good time playing with kids and spending time with my mom too. There were a few funny times when I spoke Japanese to the Mexican people. It was great.

We did VBS for 3 days in Acuna, Mexico. You guys know I love kids, so I had a blast.
This is Omar.



He's 13 and didn't leave my side the entire day he was there. Of course we couldn't really communicate, but we kept finding Angel, a translator, to help us out. Omar told me that he was jealous that I lived in the states and that he wants to go there someday. He said he wants to get out of Mexico like his uncle. I wish I could have just taken him back with us, but then again I know that's not really the solution. Since we couldn't really talk, we spent about an hour just kicking a soccer ball back and forth. Sometimes I think things like that don't really matter, but at that time, I think it was exactly what I needed to be doing.

This is Omar's cousin.


She did not understand why I couldn't understand Spanish. She kept trying to talk to me, and Omar kept telling her I couldn't understand. Then she proceeded to yell Spanish in my ear, thinking that if she spoke just a little louder I would understand her. It was adorable. I really loved those kids.

Here are some boys that were there all 3 days.



The short one in the front was great and had the best smile. He came in his cowboy boots everyday and played soccer.

Here are a few more pictures from the week.

The boys...


Pinata time


The cutest little boy EVER

New school, new questions...

Yesterday was my first day back at work and also my first day at Katsutadai Jr. High. So, I walked outside at 7:30 to get on my bike and leave for school. However, I got a big surprise.



Yeah, I got to ride my bike for 30 minutes in the snow. It was freezing and I really need to find my gloves that don't have the fingertips cut out. I gave my speech to the teachers, then the students in an assembly. This school is a lot smaller than my last one, so I'm excited. I think I'll be able to get to know more students with the smaller classes. During soji (cleaning time) I walked around with the 9th grade teacher who speaks 1/2 English, 1/2 Japanese to me. I'm hoping that instead of getting frustrated, it will help my Japanese. We shall see...
Since it was the first day of the quarter, I got to leave at 11:00...which was great.

So, today was technically my first day actually working. I had to do my intro lesson for the 7th graders. They are always the most fun classes because they actually want to participate.
Here are some questions that they asked me during 'question time'.

-Is your hair color natural?
-Are you married?
-How many boyfriends do you have?
-Have you kissed a boy?

Then one boy said, "Between me and these 2 boys, who is the cutest?"

They had me laughing so hard. It was a fun first day back to teaching. Of course, I finished my classes at 11:30 so I was wondering what I would do to fill the rest of my day until 4:15. However, I actually helped prepare stuff for a lesson tomorrow so that kept me busy, then I just read my book.

That's all I have to report for now. I will try and put some pictures from Mexico up sooner or later.

How could you not love her?

George: Where will I sleep if I come visit? Don't you have a twin size bed?

Jenn: It's ok. I have a fold out lunch.

George: No, if I come there we're totally spooning.


Later in the conversation:
George: Next time you're at home, put your finger in my belly button.