I just dunno anymore

Okay, here's the deal with the job situation. I filled out the application for a T.A. job in QPS and while I was waiting to hear back from them I was working at the day care center. Well on Friday (when I was supposed to work 1-6 at the day care) I get a call from QPS at 7:30am asking if I could work at the high school. I said okay, just to fill in. I was working with the special needs kids. It was fun. But that afternoon I called up QPS to find out my pay and what position I actually had. Well, I'm only getting about 25cents more than the day care and it's like a temp job, I won't know when I'm working until either the day before or that morning. And that kinda sux. So I dunno what to do anymore. This isn't what I thought it would be. Tomorrow I'm working at the high school again, but afterwards I'm going to go over to QPS and say this isn't what I thought it was going to be and I need something more permanent. If they can't give me something there is always other school systems, tutoring places, and the day care. There's a teacher leaving at the center and the director asked if I wanted the job, just until they find someone else or I find another job.
ARGGGGG I dunno anymore,,, can I go back to college,,, it was easy then.

Vader for President!!

Our Christmas Tree

Lizzy and Me decorating the Christmas tree,,, the tree I picked out!

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree and my mom's little village across the mantel. I think we did a good job decorating, but we didn't do a lot that we normally do; we didn't put up the evergreen garland around all the woodwork and kept most of the little things in their boxes,,,, dad said he didn't want to clutter up the living room, which is fine with me!

We have a Christmas Tree!

So today, after helping my uncle danny move (no comment), we (me, mom, dad, uncle brian) went up to New Hampshire to my Auntie Laurie's house. There we drove down the street where we could cut down our own Christmas Tree. We've never done that before. It was nice to walk around and try to pick out the best one, but it was soooo cold; it was about 30 degrees F (-1 C). We did get free hot chocolate and hot apple cider. I think we picked out a nice one. I hope to have a picture of it tomorrow before and after we decorate it.

I'm working,,, kinda

On Monday I called Kate at the day care center I used to work at to let her know I was putting her down on my application and she asked if I could help them out for a while cause they are short staffed. So, I'm helping out at the day care center until I hear back from Q.P.S. It's weird being back at the center, seeing all the kids and parents I knew before.

Things to do List

Here's how my day is going to go,
First I need to drop off my T.A. application,
Second, to the Post Office to mail my MassHealth application (why can't I just do it all online???)
Third is off to either my car insurance office or to the Registry of Motor Vehicles (I do need to go to both, but I can't remember in what order,,, mom would know) to get Sparky (my truck) back on the road.
I think that's it,,,, I hope the RMV doesn't suck all the life out of me.

Patriots!

Yes, another sports related post,,, but this time it's the Patriots!
I haven't been able to see a game all season so last night I was all excited. So far this season, the Pat's have stomped their opponents big-time (all except Indy, but they won that game too), so I was hoping to see a great high scoring game,,,,
That did not happen!
The game was a nail bitter, down to the last few minutes. But they did win (thank the gods, cause if they lost my dad wouldn't let me watch another game) and are still undefeated. Leave it to the Patriots to fill in the void left when the Sox won it all,,,
I do promise not to post so much about the Patriots,,,,,, manly because they only play once a week!

Shopping

I went shopping with my family yesterday,,,
and now I think I'm broke until I find a job.
But I had fun and that's all that matters!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Thanksgiving was good, even though I had to help cook,,,,, well kinda, ,, , more like me just holding things and stirring. Then I stuffed myself on food. I think I gained 5lbs (2kg), but that’s okay, tomorrow is SHOPPING DAY!!!
We (mom, Liz, and me) are going to Wal-mart first thing in the morning,,,, and by that I mean we want to be there when it opens and it opens at 5AM!! So we’ll be waking-up around 4am or earlier then getting coffee and waiting in-line until the store opens. Then we’ll be going to other stores and then probably going to a mall or two. A lot of walking and holding and sweating. Sounds like fun!

Snow??

Guess what happened my first day back in the states! It was SNOWING. It only snowed for a few hours and it was only a dusting but it was SNOWING!!!!!!!!

I hope you can see the snow. Well, even if you can't you can still see my backyard and the tree in front of my neighbor's house.

Then I went to the Quincy Public Schools office and picked up an application for Teachers’ Aids. It’s just a part-time position but it’s something.

Isn't Flying Fun?

I guess it was going to happen; anytime anyone takes an airplane, they have a story able how much the (or a few of them) airports stink. So here’s my story. Kansi Airport was great, but the FREE wireless was off and on, but it was FREE so I can’t really complain. Then, because some fog and low clouds arrived in San Francisco, the plane landed about 10min late and then sat on the tarmac for another 10min because of what the pilot said was “traffic”. And of course the gate was at the far end of the international terminal.
Then Customs was BEFORE getting the luggage which is weird because normally it’s the other way around. But getting the bags was not fun. After waiting for 5min for the luggage to come out only to see that the bags were for the first and business class passengers. I had to wait for another 10min for my bags to show up. At first I wasn’t worried because I had a 2 hour layover but after getting my bags I only had 45 min until take off, which would have been okay, if I didn’t have cookies and tea in my bags. There was another line for people who had food declared on their customs’ form. THAT line look 10min to go through.
WHY is the customs exit always at one end of the airport and the security check for domestic flights are in the middle. So after dropping my bags off again, it took 5min to walk over to security, which was another 10min. THEN I find out that my flight is at gate 88,,,,, out of 90!! It took me 15min to walk/run to the gate only to sit down for 2min when they started to board all rows. I’m just glad I made my flight.

Changing focus

So, I’m going to change the focus of this blog. Instead of writing about what I’m doing in Japan and the different things I see, I’m going to write about what I’m doing and seeing in America, for my friends and family in Japan. I don’t think I will be able to update too often, but that’s nothing new.

Okay, anyone who knows me knows that I tend to show people one side of me (normally the happy, easy going side) and hiding what is actually going on. Well, that’s the case now. For the last two months or so (or better yet, when I returned from America) I haven’t been myself. And so now my aunt and uncle has said (and I completely agree with them) that things aren’t working out here anymore. So without getting into the details (and don’t even ask me to tell you them, cause I won’t tell you) I will be coming back to America on Monday,,,, just in time for Thanksgiving,,, ya I know, kinda soon, but I didn’t want to drag everything out.. This has been a hard thing for me to do and rationalize in my head. I don’t know if I’m going to post anytime soon.

My last day at school is Wednesday (tomorrow) and I don’t know if I will be able to get online long enough to post something. I do know this though, I will probably (I try not to say never or definitely) will stop this blog. That doesn’t mean I won’t create a new one some time in the future,,,, just don’t hold your breath! It’s hard to remember to post something and I don’t think I could make my posts interesting enough when I’m home,,, but you never know.

I saved them up

okay, so I went a bit over board with the posts today,,,
They were just bits of info I had stored in my head that needed to get out before it gets to crowded up there and they start to fight.
You know how it goes.

therapy

I’ve been looking around the web and I know I’ve seen sites just like mine, saying all the differences between Japan and their home country (normally America),, but I don’t think any of them at as many Red Sox posts as I do!! (Hey, I’m unique in one way). With all that said, I don’t really care. This is my way of getting things out, cause no one here is really interested in all this, it’s old hat to them, but it’s all new to me.

Think of this as a free form of therapy.

Why?

I went to the movies last week and I noticed something, not only were there a hook on the back of all the seats (for your bags I guess) but an umbrella holder too! But enough of that, let me tell you what happened when I went to see “Stardust” on Thursday. When I walked into the theater it was basically empty, only about 5 other people there. I had a great seat, right in the middle of the theater.
THEN right before the movie started two high school students (a boy and a girl) sat right next to me! I mean the theater was basically empty, they could have sat anywhere, but because of assigned seating, they just ‘had’ to sit next to me. I can deal with that I thought, if they get too noisy I’ll just move my seat. About 5 min. into the movie I hear a noise, I look over and the two students are making out right next to me!!!!
That just doesn’t make any sense to me,,, if you’re going to the movies to make out (that’s fine) but go in the back or in the corner and you wouldn’t do it right next to someone, would you? After a min or two I got up and moved two seats over and the boy gave ME a weird look!!!

Hot Cans

Things here are very structured. On October 1st, all the stores change to winter uniforms and change the settings on the vending machines. ‘What settings?’ you may be asking,,, well they sell cans of coffee and tea (and like drinks) in some (most) vending machines and during the spring/summer the cans are cold, but after October 1st the cans are hot (warm). The cans are even different; a little thicker and smaller but they do warm your hands nicely when it’s cold out.

I want milk!

I think I have found the reason why my stomach is always a bit upset. There’s only whole or soy milk here and I’m use to either 2%, 1%, or skim milk. Even Starbucks only has whole or soy milk. They do sell skim milk but it’s in powder form (yuk!)

Eating and Drinking are rude?

I found out the other day that most Japanese think it’s rude to walk around when drinking or eating. So that explains why I never see anyone walking (or even on the train) with a cup of coffee in the morning. I wonder what Japanese tourists think when they walk around Boston and see every other person walking around with Dunkin’s or Starbucks’ cups?

I never really thought about eating on a train before, mostly because the T is too jumpy and bumpy to eat anything safely. But I can see how eating on the train in Japan could be considered rude,,, have you smelled some Japanese food before?

Last Red Sox post till spring training

yeah, I know, , I know, I don't think it's for real either, but it's worth a try.

....

....but no promises. Well, Uncle Billy was in Boston when the Red Sox won, so he came back with some Boston newspapers from that Monday and Tuesday. I spent that night reading and then cutting them up. I felt like Sakura when she cuts out pictures of the boy-bands she likes. I was going to put the pictures up around my room, but I was afraid of destroying the wallpaper, so here’s a picture of the back of my door. Looks great,,,, Right?!?! Okay, I know, I have too much time on my hands.

RED SOX ARE WORLD CHAMPS!!!!

okay,,, I think that says it all!

But I feel that I missed something,,,, Not being there, with the tons of fans, yelling and shouting, just reading stories and watching clips on the net,,, its nice, but not the same as being there.

so,,, I guess I will start talking about Japan again..
,
,
,
But wait,,, the Patriots are 8-0 with the colts game coming up,,,,,
,
;-}

My favorite sister just e-mailed me some pictures of Cosmo! He looks so cute,,,, and because he’s a black cat, a perfect Halloween picture! Don’t worry, that’s just his toy mouse.

Does it make me a bad person if I say that I think I miss my room a bit more (a part of a milimeter) than cosmo?

Just be glad it isn't a year round season.

Yeah,,, another Red Sox post,,, but this is really the only place I can really talk about it,,, no one here is really a Red Sox fan. 2 down,,,, 2 to go!!!

Thanks for the letter!

One more post for today,,
Thanks Aunt Mary and Uncle Dick for your letter!
I love getting mail.
When I figure out Aunt Miki's scanner, I'll post the pictures of Uncle Dick
(if thats okay 0;-)

As promised,,,,, Halloween pictures!

Here's some pictures I took today with my cell. When I get some more pictures from Aunt Miki's camara, I'll post them too!

Well, for most of the day, Uncle Billy was wearing the monkey-suit, but we finally got Tammy to wear it!

Now, doesn't he look like he's having fun?

Me and Tammy! You really can't see my wings very well in the picture,,, maybe one of Aunit Miki's pictues are better. And before you ask, I really don't have any real costume, just somethings I bought that I thought would be funny/cute together,,, (even though I've lost weight, I couldn't find a costume I liked that fit me!!!!! The Japanese are too small!!!) But I really love my glasses!

One down,,, Three more to go!

Okay, so Game One,,,, 13-1
RED SOX
Oh, that just sounds good!
But at some point during the 5th inning, I started to feel bad for the Rockies, I mean, come-on,,, it was starting to become a joke, especially after they walked in a run for the second time in a row. But even though they were winning 13-1, Uncle Billy was still trying to tease me saying, you know this game isn’t over yet,,, they could still loose, it is the Red Sox… Well, at least he’ll only be here in Japan for the first two games. I’ve been a Red Sox fan for too long not to take his words to heart.

Okay,,, so when did this become my Red Sox Blog?,,,
I might start with the Japanese stuff again soon,,,,,,,,
,
,
,
,
When Baseball is over.

Halloween Pictures

I promise to put up some pictures of our Halloween week here soon, hopefully before the end of the week, but don’t hold your breath, you know me.

Some of the costumes the kids are wearing are sooo cute!

Red Sox are in the World Series!!!!!!!!

I love that I just typed that,,, it brings a smile to my face every time I even think about it! But get this, they didn’t show the game live!!!! I mean come-on,,, DiceK was pitching and everything,,, but no, they showed parts of the game a few hours after it was over. I had to teach Monday morning anyways, so even if it was on I couldn’t watch most of it. So when I was done teaching at Noontime, I used Aunt Miki’s computer and used espn.com’s gameday to find out the score. I’ve had a few adult students ask me how excited I am that the Red Sox are in the World Series,,,, I just smile and start to giggle. But again, I feel left out of all the excitement! I can watch all the celebrations online, but it’s not the same as actually being there.

At least Uncle Billy is going to America next week, so that’s one less person to use the TV that week so hopefully I can watch the World Series in peace. Also, he likes to tease me about my love of the Red Sox, (so rude! I don’t tease him about sumo!) and I don’t think I will be able to take his joking if things don’t go so well.

To buy or not to buy?

I saw these iPod cases the last time I was at the electronics store in Umeda, and had to stop my self from buying one of them. The one I liked the best was only for iPod nanos. But what do you think?
To buy or not to buy,,,,,,, that is the question. Whether it's better to have something cool looking or to have a fuller wallet,,,,



OK,,, give me a break, I was an English major.

I love my sister!

I can't say that enough,,,,,
come on,,
she made me cry!
but in a good way..
how come you never know what you have until it's gone?

i dunno anymore

Okay, I know I should put something here,,,, but right now, I dunno what? My favorite sister sent me a Halloween card that made me cry,,,. I’ve been kinda watching the Red Sox games, but somehow I’m always working when the games are on, so espn’s gameday is great,,, cause I’m too cheap to pay $10 to listen/watch a game…. Well, cheap isn’t the right word, right now, I feel if I go for it, it’ll be kiss of death,,, like a 50/50 thing, if I get it, the sox will only have one more game,,,,, and if I don’t,,,,,
,,
,,
,,,
okay, I’ve been a Sox fan too long to actually say/type it, but you get the idea.

Tomorrow I think I’ll go into Osaka City for some shopping. I want to go to this department store, called “The Loft”. I’ve been told they have a great Halloween section. That and to the large Electronics store near there to look at external DVD players. I found out how to change the region on my laptop’s DVD player but I’m only allowed to change it 5 times before it won’t change any more. There’s probably a way of hacking it,,,, but I’m not that computer literate. This way I can rent movies here and play them on my laptop instead of waiting for the TV to be free (which it never is) and still be able to play the movies I brought with me.

I love the Red Sox, but this is crazy!

Watching the Red Sox games in Japan is making me crazy!!! I think/know NHK doesn’t think there are a lot of Red Sox fans (and they are kinda right) so they think they can do some crazy things with the game. Let me just start off saying they don’t do these things with yankee games; that just makes me mad! First, game one; it was aired at 11:30am, about 2 hours after it finished in Boston. So I knew the score before hand which took all the fun out it, so I turned it off.
Second, they aired game 2 live because DiceK was pitching, which is okay, I get that, he’s a big thing over here. Well, the game started off live, and then at 11:45am they stopped showing the game to show 30min of news. That’s okay, I had some lunch. So then at 12:15 the game started up again,,,, and STOPPED at one o’clock!!! So then I got mad, and looked in the newspaper to see when it was going to start again,,,, at 2:30! I took a nap and calmed down. At 2:30pm I turned on the TV to find they started the game from the beginning!!! I didn’t want to watch the same thing over again, so I flipped through the stations on the satellite, every once and a while checking back on the progress of the game. Finally it got to a point where I haven’t seen yet,,, only to find out that they skipped the bottom of the 7th and 8th innings! Nothing happened then, but still. Finally they showed the 9th inning and Manny being GREAT! Which almost made up for all that I went through!
Game three was just mean! It was aired at 9 o’clock AT NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I spent the morning keeping away from the computer because I knew if I went online I would find out the score, which ruined game one for me. But my curiosity won out and to my joy, 9-1 Boston! I watched some highlights of the game and the post game celebrations, and thought, I can watch this game. So I stayed up until the top of the 9th, when I knew it was all over and then went to bed, after all it was MIDNIGHT. It was strange staying up late to watch a game after all season watching the games in the morning.
I then spent the next few days wondering who I wanted to win the yankees / Indians series. Part of me wanted the Indians to win just to stick it to the yankees fans and to prove we can go farther than them, but then I thought, if the ALCS is against the yankees, then NHK will probably air the games live and without interruptions. But then the Indians kicked butt 8-3 and now everything is up in the air,,, I shutter to think what they will do to the games now.
OH and the only Patriots game they have aired here so far was against the bangles, which aired at 3AM!!! I love my Patriots, but that’s just insane!

YEA! Halloween is coming!

I went to Universal Studios Japan last weekend with some friends (the pictures should up on Picasa, USJ 2) and everything was decorated for Halloween!! I just thought this was funny!

And now the school is all decorated for Halloween, with ghosts and pumpkins and all sort of things hanging up,,,, I'll post a picture or two soon! I Love Halloween,,,, I guess living in the Halloween Capital of the world for 5 years helped.

NBC stinks (aka another Jenna rant)

Okay, everyone who knows me knows that I watch too much TV. I have my favorite shows and I don't like to miss them. So when I first came over here, I downloaded my favorite shows off of iTunes; Heros, Battlestar, Eureka to name a few. I thought that even though I was on the other side of the world, why should I miss my favorite shows? So after reading about all new cool new shows starting this fall in the states I thought I would just download those as well,,,,, oh but nbc hates me. Well, not just me, but I can take it personal right?
NBC took all of its content off of iTunes and moved it all to Amazon's Unbox, something about wanting to try something else... okay, I thought, I'll just have to go to two places to watch my tv shows; Heros airs on nbc and the new shows Chuck and Bionic Woman is there as well. But then I find out that you have to download a special player (okay, I did that for iTunes) and I would only get to watch it on my computer (that sinks a bit, but I'll deal). So I download the software and free pilot of Chuck BUT when I opened Unbox to watch Chuck I got a message saying the show couldn't be downloaded because of copyright issues because I'm not in the States!
Then I find out it's the same for all of the shows!!!! Now I don't know if it was just like that because it was a free download and I didn't have to put in a credit card number, but I was logged into Amazon and I have my US credit card on file. But I wanted a free show!!! The reason why I used iTunes was because I could still download everything (legally) from Japan cause I have a US credit card.
If I find out I all the shows are the same, free or not, then I'm off to bittorrent. For all the talk about tring to keep people from downloading things off the Internet illegally and all the lawsuits, nbc just pushed me there.
okay, sorry about my rant, I just had to get it out!

ARRRRGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes I hate being a Red Sox fan!!!!
I watched today's game (9/14) at home until about 11, the 6th inning, when I had to leave to go to work. We were winning 5 to 2!!! When I got to work, it was the bottom of the 8th and the score was 8 to 7,,,,,,,,,,,, YANKEES! I'm kinda glad that I didn't see that part, but COME ON!!!! I watched (kinda) the last inning on ESPN MLB Gamecast. You really need to check it out, cause I know I can't explain it!
Now, Saturday's game is at 4pm Boston time,,,, which s*x for me cause that's 3AM in Japan,,,, I hope they show the game later in the day. I don't want to wake up the whole house watching the game at 3am.

Oh, one more thing. Today I was wearing my Youkilis shirt, and when I was on the train going to work, a Japanese guy came up to me and asked "Do you like Red Sox?", so I answered "Yes, very much" then he said "I love Big Papi,,, Go Big Papi!!!" and WALKED AWAY!! I think I stood there for a while just laughing to myself.

Not going to school?

I've noticed something here that I've finally asked Auntie Miki about. One of Sakura's friends didn't go to school for a while. She just said she didn't want to go anymore and apparently her mom was okay with it. It was only after a week or two did the principal of the school get involved. It was almost three months before she went back to school! I asked Auntie Miki about it and she said that it's normal in most schools to have at least one student per grade not going to school and the parents can't say no to their kids so the kids miss school. The principal, if he's (she's) nice enough, he'll go to the student's house to find out why, but there is no agency or police that gets involved. So the student doesn't go to school for a while, the school will just try to get them back to school and there is no "holding back" of students in Japan, so the student will just go on to the next grade even though they missed a lot of class. I don't know the details about it, but the whole thing is just strange to me! What would happen to a student in the states if they just turned around and said "I'm not going to school anymore"?

Hit and run Bicycle!

hehehe,,, I love that title!
The women here (mostly older ones) sometimes wear these visors. That in of its self would be fine, but it’s the kind of visors they wear that just weird me out! The visors are like the tinted windshield of a motorcycle helmet, but without the helmet part. Sometimes the visor just covers the eyes, which is okay with me, because you can see that they are looking ahead. But sometimes the visor’s band becomes like a headband and the visor covers the entire face, all the way to the chin, so you can’t tell where the women are looking, if they even see you at all. The worst part is that these women wearing the visors are riding bikes down the sidewalk, and I can’t tell if they see me walking or do I have to just get out of their way completely! I always think they don’t see me and get a strange feeling that they are going to run me over with their bikes. I can see the obituary now,,,, Death by hit and run bicycle!

No cold water?

So everyone knows it’s wayyyyyy too hot here in Osaka, but this is a little crazy.
I guess the water pipes are close to the surface or to the outside walls of the houses because at school when I turn on the COLD water to wash or when I flush the toilet WARM water comes out!!!! Okay, I think I’m going to have to explain the toilet thing. Japanese toilets (in houses) have a sink like thing (for lack of a better word) so you can rinse off your hands with the water that’s going to fill up the toilet bowl. It’s a good idea, I think; conserve water and all that. When it first happened, I talked to Yukari about it and she said that some days when its been hot for a long time she has to run the water for a while to get cold water. We joked that in America (with hot water heaters) you can run out of hot water, but in Japan you can run out of cold water!

I think I'll put up a picture of a toilet someday,,,,, I never thought I would ever say/type that!

A train story.

Here’s a story I just had to share!
I was riding the train to work this morning and sitting next to me was a young kid (around 3 or 4 yrs old) and his mother. The kid, as most kids do, started to stare at me. So I did the only thing I could think of, I stared back and then made a funny face. That made the kid laugh. Just as the train arrived at my stop, he decided to make a funny face at me, tongue sticking out and everything. Well, I just caught a glimpse of the face before I got off the train, but I guess his mother saw the face and got really mad at him. As the train door closed, I heard the mother yelling at the poor kid for making faces at foreigners.
I got a little boy in trouble,,, I should feel bad, but it’s just too funny!

My new car!

With a post title like that I know what some people might be thinking, so NO I didn't get a car over here!!! But the other day I was out with my Aunt Miki looking at cars and I saw one that I just love! Aunt Miki has been thinking about buying a new car for a while, so to get an idea of what kind of car she would like, we went to a used car dealership to look around. I saw alot of cars I would like to have, but this one just screams JENNA!!!! Don't you think so?

(insert unoriginal title here)

Okay,,, so I’m a bad person,,, I know that, you know that,,, lets move on…

I just put up my Summer vacation pictures on Picasa, the url is somewhere around the blog….
It was strange being home again. I kept on comparing America to Japan; from the prices of things (Japan is more expensive) to riding the trains (just imagine if the T was always on time…). Now that I’m back in Japan, I think I miss America more than I did before I left. I guess you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Before, I was just trying to get into the county, and it was like a world-wind of lets see this, lets go here, and now, I think I’m getting the hang of things here in Japan making me more aware of missing America. Well, I’m happy to have this opportunity to live in Japan, so I’m going to make the best of it and enjoy!

p.s. The title of this post was going to be "I'm BACK!!!!", but then I thought that would just be cliché, , , ,

too cute!

okay,,,, I'm still a kid at heart,,,,, no surprise there,,, so when I saw this pillow/stuffed animal I had to buy it. It's just too cute.

Guess what?

hello all!!
okay,,, because i was looking for the cheapest flight possible from Japan to Boston, i was stuck with a FIVE AND A HALF HOUR layover at an airport,,,,,,, what airport? you ask,,,,,, in Hawaii!!!
The first time i'm in Hawaii,,, and the only time for a while (its tooooooo expensive) and i get to spend the time sitting in an airport!!!!!!
But get this,,, they have this great garden in the middle of the airport,,,,
so thats where i am now,,,,,, typing away on my laptop to you (gotta love wireless), sitting in the middle of a beautiful garden in the middle of an airport, in Hawaii,,,,,,,,,,
okay,,, so i'm bored,,,, and i still have 3 1/2 hours to go,,,,

food court

So, to continue this "the same yet different" thing I seem to have here, , ,
I went to the food court at the mall down the street from the school. From the looks of it, it looks like a normal food court, but it's not!!!! (you were expecting that right ;}). First, after you pay for your food, instead of getting a number or just waiting for your food, you're given a little beeper thing that will go off when you're food is ready. Then, most of the food is served VERY hot. So hot and right off the 'grill' that it's served on cast-iron skillets surrounded by a wooden 'surround' (i can't think of the right word) to protect your skin, like you would find at a restaurant. So walking around the food court you hear beebers buzzing/beeping, food sizzling, and people talking very loudly,,,, okay so its more like American food courts than I realized,,,

I just realized this

I'm sitting at my laptop, typing away, when a thought came to mind. I'm sitting in front of the large front window at the school (see the school's website for a picture http://williams-school.jellybean.jp/) and some kids walk by. Thats okay, but then they start to stare into the windows. I think they were just looking at the pictures in the window and give a small wave. Well these two kids (boys) look at each other and start laughing and pointing at me. After a second or two they wave back, talking to each other and then walk off.
After all that I had a thought,,,,,,
So that's how the monkeys at the zoo feel.........
I guess I've grown use to the strange looks. Even in a part of the county were foreigners are seen alot (there's a college known for exchange programs in the area) I'm still a bit of a novelty I guess; my hair is light, (people here say it's blond, but its more like light brown) and I have light blue eyes, not strange by US standards, but here is a different story. I think I like the kids' reactions the best. Most adults are polite enough not to stare, but kids just look and look and stare. When they do that I, being my normal crazy self, either wave or make a funny face, which makes them laugh and draws attention from their parents, who smile and walk away.
I've heard stories about people not sitting next to foreigners on the trains or being discriminated against, but that hasn't happened to me yet.
Well, twice on the train, but I think it was because I was listening to certain podcasts at the time (http://www.sliceofscifi.com/ and http://www.winginit3d.com/) and laughing like an idiot, so I think I might of scared some people,,,,,, and that strangely makes me kinda happy!

Movies in Japan

wow two posts in one day,,,,, what can i say, i'm on a roll
I've seen a few movies here and how can something be the same yet sooooo different.
Well first of all the price of going to the movies here is CRAZY!!!! A normal ticket costs 1800yen(about $18), a student (any student ID will do, even an expired SSC on,,,, hey, it doesn't have a date on it!) is 1500yen, and children and seniors are 1000yen. AFTER 7pm most movie theaters cost only 1500yen,,, yeah strange. Oh and on the first day of every month all movie tickets are 1000yen and some have lady's day on Wednesday, when women can get a ticket for 1000yen. okay do you get that.....
Then when you buy a ticket you choose your seat! thats right, they'll show you a layout of the seats in the theater and you can choose where you want to sit.
During the movie everyone is very quiet and respectful, ie typical Japanese. then EVERYONE stays for the credits, they don't even put the lights on until the credits are done.
I think the only time i stay for the credits in the states is when there's something at the end.

okay, sorry (again)

okay, life's been,,,, well life, i hope (no promises) to update more offten (is that okay Shelly?). with that out of the way, , , ,

I've been helping my Aunt Miki teach a few English classes at my cousins' elementary school, let me tell you about that!
First,,, we teach the 1st and 2nd graders once a month (on a thrusday). There are 3 classrooms for each grade,,,, thats okay,, thats normal (by US standards),,,, but what's crazy is that each class has OVER 32 STUDENTS!!!!!!! yeah,,,,
I don't know how the teachers do it,,,, i guess thats why all the test are from the books so all the students have to do is study the book and they'll be okay,,, i guess,,,,, everytime i go there, i'm overwhelmed by it all.... that and in the elementary school they have class periods, like i did in middle and high school. and in between classes the students are allowed to basically go crazy in the halls,,,,
i never thought i'll say it, but the schools in Mass weren't that bad.

toooooooooo hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay, its May 24th and its 82 degrees F (28 degrees C) here,,,,, and HUMID!!!!! My body is not ready for this,,,,,,, my anti-persprant is not ready for this,,,,,, God the summer is going to sux

7-1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AH DAMMMMMMMMMMMMN IT!!!
Of all the games we get over here,,,,,, I have to sleep through a game were they WIN 7-1, and Dice-K goes all 9 innings,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Now I'm just mad,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

just thought i should share

I missed a game!!

Now, Ive been really good at seeing Red Sox games here,,, I normally don't see the beginning but always see at least an inning or two, but today, well Monday nights game (which was shown here at 8am, Tuesday morning, gotta love the time difference) I actually slept through!! We didn't have classes today (billy wanted to go see a festival or something in Kyoto) so I thought I could just sleep-in,,,, I got up around 10:30 and then took a shower and then got breakfast and looked over the newspaper (the English one), and there I saw it, Red Sox vs. Tigers, 8-11am,,,,,,,,,, I took one look at the wall clock and I missed the game by 20min. To say I was pissed would be an understatement. And now I find out that my sister, Lizzy, went to the game.... well I hope they won, I'm off now to check and see if I can see the game online yet.

I cant believe I missed a game!!!!!!!

wow, mom was right...

well, with a title like that, everyone who knows me is saying that she`s lost her mind,,,, and that maybe the case, but its true. I have living with my aunt miki and uncle billy for over a month now and miki has been saying how nice i am, how i do things around the house without her having to ask me to, how i help out and don't complain, and overall every easy going and goes with the flow, and (here's the kicker) how all that is because of how i was raised and my mom, even though she was strict, taught me well. . . . . . . yeah,,,,,,,,

So here i am, sitting at their computer, alone in the house, thinking either aunt miki is right, or i haven't shown my true colors yet. . . . i kinda want to say both,,,, but ummmmmmm yeah,,,,,

I mean, i even eat onions, peppers, and mushrooms here!!! and i cant tell if I'm eating them cause i like the taste or because i don't want to upset aunt miki,,,,,,

I think all this rambling is leading me to one thought,,,, i think its one most people have at some point,,,,, for as much as i complain / and will still continue to complain about my mom,,,, she did good,,,,,,,

oh great, mothers day is tomorrow, and I'm on the other side of the world,,,,,, sometimes i have the best timing.

which picture?

Okay, ,, I know, this is a shock, two posts in one day,,, well, I'm bored (can't you tell?)

I'm trying to figure out how/what picture to post on my profile, so here's three pictures, and let me know which one you like best,,,, if none, give me another picture!

I figured it out!

well, i finally figured out how to put pictures in my blog, , ,, well, first i found out how to change the language from Japanese to English, , , i know I'm trying to learn Japanese, but its just hard to figure out how to do things when you don't know the language ;-}

These are two pictures I took when waiting in line for 2 1/2 hours for spider-man the ride.

The first one is of part of the line. the line started upstairs and worked its way down to there and then inside into three different rooms, , , , , i'm no longer afraid of dying cause i know what purgatory is going to be like; an endless line weaving in and out with a crying/whining kid behind you and no place to go the bathroom.

the second picture is one i had to take; its one of the water fountain i wrote about last entry. just a picture to prove i didn't make it up!

strange things

so, i've lived in a forigen country for over a month now, i should be used to everything now,,, right? well, not so much, there's still things that just make my head turn sometimes, and i guess thats a good thing, cause if nothing surprized me, life would be boring.

now, take going for a long car ride with your friends in a mini-van. if you were sitting in the second row you would allways have to turn around to talk to the people behind you, right,,, well in the minivan i took to go to the cook-out, the middle bench seat (second row), had a handle, that when pushed, turned the bench as if it was on a lazy-susan so you could face the people in the back bench seat. it took me awhile to get use to it.

when we went to Universal Studios, me and uncle billy spent 2 and 1/2 hours waiting for the spider-man ride, and the beginning part of the line is outside. they had water bubblers every so many rows. thats nice of them,,,,, i think, cause what if you have to go to the bathroom?


then on saturday, i went to the movies with my uncle billy and his friend to see spider-man 3. Billy waited in line for the tickets. when he handed me mine, there looked like there was a seat number on it. he told me, thats where you're sitting in the theater. i looked at him strange, assigned seating at a movie theater?!?! its a good idea but i couldn't get my head around it.

Alex, the exchange student who lives a few floors below us said, "you'll get use to it all. everything here is about convience, i've stopped being amazed by it all and just go with it"
now, i know i'm a jaded arigant american, but sometimes its great to just have a "what the heck?!?!?!" moment,,,,,, it makes me smile =}

More pictures!!!

yea!! i put some more pictures up on my picasa site, (use the link below) to see them. I have pictures from a cook-out we went to and from Universal Studios Japan, in Osaka.

the cookout was at a little park area about a hour away, it was nice there.
usj was great, but wayyyyyyy toooooo many people. me and uncle billy spent 2 and 1/2 hours in line for the spider-man ride, , , , it was good, but i don't know about the wait.

PICTURES!!!!!

okay, that maybe a little true, i have pictures, but i couldn't decide what pictures to put here so i put them on picasa2 so you can see and comment on them there. the url is http://picasaweb.google.com/JennaBella23

wow, its been a while

okay, again i'm saying sorry, , , I spent last week watching my uncle teach and this week i've been teaching a class here and there to get my feet wet. I think its going well, i hope so anyways. i hope to get the pictures up here soon. i found out that my aunt miki has an extra usb cord, so hopefully it will work and the pictures will be up soon, i know promises, promises.

Oh i saw two red sox games here! of course they are the games that dice-k were pitching, but its better than nothing.

SO SORRY!!!!!

Okay, I'm sorry, lifes been crazy, been doing so many things here that i won't even try to tell you here. hopefully i'll get my camera hooked up to my laptop soon (i forgot my usb cord) so i can post some pictures of japan.

At Logan

So I'm sitting at the gate in Logan airport, bored out of my mind, not wanting to listen to my iPod this early, so I decided to turn on my laptop and waste that battery to type here, ,,, I don't think I've ever seen Logan is empty before, its weird but nice. Its going to be a long day.

One More Day

This will be my last post until thursday or friday, by then I'll be in Japan. As I'm sitting in my living room typing this I don't think it's really hit me yet that I'm leaving. I just hope I'm not forgetting anything or jumping in over my head. just my inner pessimist sneaking out.
Wish me luck!

Last day at work

Yesterday was my last day at the day care center. It went better than I thought, I didn't cry (that much). The next few days will be hard, but I can't wait

I just realized something

I was just looking over the blog and I realized something, there is no pictures. I think I'll get around to it soon (no promises)

Getting close

I put up a sign yesterday telling the parents that I was leaving and today a few parents came up to me. It went well, they all were happy for me and wished me well.

I think its really hitting me that I'm leaving soon, and I don't know how I really feel about it, but thats okay.

I don't think I'm rude

Okay, this is just me venting,
after calling and leaving messages for 2 weeks, I finally got fed up with the SSC licence office. I left a message saying that I'm tried of calling up all the time, but i will continue to call until someone gets back to me, I need some information please. I don't think thats rude but a few hours later i finally get a call back. She tells me that what i said was highly unprofessional and uncalled for. She also said that she was just now doing the licences for the Summer 06 people and that the office is a busy place and my phone message was in a pile of things to get to. After being talked down to, I finally got to tell her what I wanted to say from the beginning, that I need to get my licence done before I go to Japan. So she said her side would be done by Friday but the DOE may take a few weeks. (arrrrggggggggggggggg, if she got back to me sooner (alkdsjf;laksjde;kjfna;ksjndf;kajshdfk;jhasd)) I hope a letter from her will be enough to get my working visa.

how many days left?

I went to work today, , and the whole day I kept thinking only 4 more days, 4 more days, , , , I just want to get this over with and get over there!!!!

oh, and one more thing, Salem State College SUX!!!!!! I graduated summer 06, I completed everything I needed to, I Should have my teaching license all set, but for some reason, IT'S NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I've called and called and left messages for two weeks now and NOTHING HAS HAPPENED!!!!!! can you tell I'm pissed!?!!?!?

I'm almost done packing

Well, after a week from hockey sticks, I'm almost done packing everything I think I'm going to need. I still have a long shopping list, but i have one bag thats 45lbs and the other is 37lbs, so i can still cram some more in there.

God, I'm going to miss Baseball season and Football season!!!!!

I will miss you papa

My Papa Tony passed away on Monday, , , , the wake is Wednesday and the funeral is Thursday. I don't think I can say anything else, maybe with time.

family party

Today I went to a party at the Auntie Carol's house. My cuz Chuckie is on break from the navy, so they had a big party for him. I didn't want the family to know i was going to Japan until after the party but Uncle billy told big papa and he told everyone for me. I did get to tell aunt mary and uncle dick though. The were so happy for me, which was nice.

As for Papa Tony, he's not good, we guess it's just a waiting game now. It, for lack of a better word, SUX!, but i'm glad this is happening now instead of right before i leave or when i'm in Japan. so for now, pray for him and my family

Papa's in the Hospital

Okay, this was one of my fears about going to Japan, my Papa Tony is in the Hospital. He went in Friday afternoon, and he's better now, its still a bit touch and go, but they think he's out of the woods.

On a much better note, to get our minds off of things my sister and me went shopping. I can't even begin to image how much money i spent today, probably over $250. I knew I left money in my checking account for a reason. and i still didn't get everything on my list

I hate parents

I told a parent today that i was leaving and well, she basically said that she hated that i was going, , , i still have to write up a letter to the parents saying i'm leaving, thats going to be better than telling each of the 18 parents separately .

on a better note, my sister, the best sister in the world, bought me season 1 of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, , , i love my sis!

i dunno

so i put in my two week notice, it went better than i thought. my boss was sad to see me go but knew it was a great experience for me, or so everyone says,

I dunno, i haven't been able to sleep the last two days, different things keep running through my head, its probably just my pessimistic nature. well, i still need to do so much, my "to do" list is getting longer and longer by the day.

Oh and another thing that bothers me is the fact that i'm going to miss so mcuh,,, birthdays, holidays, great movies that will be coming out this year,,,, just keep saying, this is great, this is great,,, :-}

My first post!

Welcome!
For some reason you stumbled on to my blog. I created it to document my trip to Japan. My uncle runs an English Language school in Osaka and he offered me a job for a year. So for the first few posts I will mostly be about preparing for my trip and what I'm going to miss. This is a great experiment for me, the farthest I've ever been from home is 35miles, , Hope I will keep this blog interesting enough to keep you reading. Welcome!