Just another day at work.

Since there are no students at school it seems I'm not the only one with time on my hands. As I sat at my desk today, one of my team teachers crouched down beside me at my desk and whispered "do you have shoes for the gym?" I said no, but she proceeded to tell me about the "young teachers' secret plan to play badminton. Well the secret soon turned out to be general knowledge as myself and 7 other teachers younge and old broke out the badminton nets after playing without them for 10 minutes. Here I am at my desk about two hours later, back drenched with sweat and eyes wanting to close, but yet I feel energized and excited. That was so much fun! It is a must to socialize with your teachers outside of the school/classroom setting because you see a TOTALLY different side to their personalities.



The plan for tomorrow is to play basketball or volleyball in the afternoon...that's after I cook some curry chicken in the homemaking room for lunch! Just another day at the office lol!



PICTURES COMING SOON!

"Killing The Game"

My poor blog has been in the back of my mind for sometime due to lack of motivation, but I think I'm back. I'm coming down to my last days in Japan and I've been keeping very busy.

At the end of March my good friend Ian came to visit me for 8 days of what he called "killing the game". Killing the game was his reference to the way Japanese people, especially women carry themselves with style and poise whether it be to go to the grocery store or on a night out. It's true these women have style and after living here for this long I can say that nowhere else in the world (except maybe Paris?) can rival the complete style in Japan.

The first day of Ian's visit was pretty low key. After meeting him at the airport, I handed him my camera and from that moment until his last day here, he went off! The man took pictures of everything! I loved every minute of it and hope it is, as he says, the start of a new hobby. We took the Narita express and he wasted no time pushing his earphones in my head to listen to Drake. If I didn't know he was going to make sure I did!

The next few days saw us in Himeji, Kobe and Osaka. We had a few false starts waking up early, some of which are admittedly my fault, but we made the best out of each day and caught jokes along the way.

Half way through his trip we visited Kyoto's Kinkaku-ji(Golden Temple), Gion & Pontocho(geisha district), Kyoto Tower, Fushimi Inari(shinto shrine), Shosei-en garden as well as Nara's Todai-ji to see Daibatsu(big Buddha) and Nara koen(deer park). I think this part of the trip was when I got the most amount of laughs. We were both lacking proper sleep and Ian was on a roll with the foolish jokes and randomness. Some of the things that came out of his mouth just made me laugh until I cried because they came out of nowhere and made no kinda sense!

I had never visited Nara prior to this so I was really excited, and rightly so. I got to feed the deer! I was nervous at first and told Ian not to be surprised if I got scared, but the deer were so tame!!!! I loved every minute of it(the pictures will prove it), except for when the greedy deer went in my jacket pocket looking for more cookies and left the inside all wet and soggy! Ian almost got robbed and called the deer "the pickpockets of Asia" lol! Thus far, Nara is one of my favourite places in Japan.

To end off the visit we took the Nozomi shinkansen (bullet train) and spent the last 3 nights in the capital city, Tokyo. We met up with Ian's friend of a friend Damien who added to the abundance of jokes. We walked from Shibuya on a nighttime tour of Harajuku and Omote-Sando Hills (think Yorkville in Tdot or Park Ave. in NYC) courtesy of Damien ending off the first night with an AMAZING Thai dinner.
sidebar: If you're ever in Tokyo and you have a thing for Thai food like I do, look up the restaurant Kaffir Lime.

Although we were dressed and ready to go out it didn't happen. For me the laughs and good company was great and truth be told, we probably had more fun walking and talking than we would have going out. Day 2 in Tokyo met us in Akihabara, Tokyo's electric city early in the day after which we hopped on the train a few stops over and met Damien at Shinjuku station. The great thing about meeting up with people is the discovery of new places. We went to a hamburger joint called JS Burger. Now I am no burger girl per se, but the ones at this place were supercalafragalisticexpialadociously delicious! I had a burger with avocado AND PINEAPPLE! I won't even try to describe it because I won't do it justice.

Later in the evening we headed to Roppongi Hills (I'm starting to think any place with Hills after it is posh lol) where we window shopped and had Chinese for dinner. The chef nearly burned the restaurant down and we were surrounded by a cloud of smoke and the staff opening all the windows! It was a hilarious sight watching some of the people just get up and walk out without thinking twice, while us losers just sat there and laughed lol! The night was capped off with some coffee/hot chocolate and some SERIOUSLY GOOD conversation. Great convos are few and far between in this foreign land where the majority of people don't speak and understand all the nuances of the English language. All in all a GREAT day.

On day 3 in the city, we shopped a little bit and met up with tour guide extraordinaire Damien at night to try different kinds of yakitori and later on ramen. I was a bit scared of the yakitori that I tried as the meat was half cooked, but it didn't kill me so I'll count it as another notch on my belt of new things.

On the last day Ian and I ran over to Akihabara again to grab a few things, meandered our way through the side streets of Omote Sando area to find Kaffir Lime again and had lunch before we were on our way to the airport. I was feeling sad the night before, but I think I did a good job of hiding it (E how did I do?). We made it to Narita in good time and before I knew it the amazing visit had come to an end and Ian was walking through the security check.

I honestly do have the greatest friends, I'm thankful for them every single day. E thank you so much for coming to visit, I know you could have gone somewhere else for much cheaper but you came here. Love you liked Mommy's breakfast on a Christmas morning:)!

PICTURES COMING SOON!

I'm lacking blog motivation

On a real note, I lost all motivation to keep my blog updated. The main reason being, I feel like no one is reading. I know some of you read because I can see the counter numbers increasing, but please leave a comment or something. That is what motivates me. Yes I will have this blog to look back on when this experience is over, but what keeps me wanting to write is knowing that you are reading so please leave a comment. Hopefully I'll be motivated once again.

Things are well and I've been keeping myself nice and busy for the past couple of months. For the holidays I went to Beijing, China for Christmas and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for New Years'. I'll be back with more.

Lata

Happy New Year from Good ole Nippon

Thank you to all of you who have been there and supported me through this experience abroad, especially my folks. I love you like Caribbean breakfast on Christmas morning!

Thank you for keeping in touch and dispelling my fear of being out of sight out of mind.

I really can't believe that 2009 is here already and that I've lived in Japan for 18 months! Before I know it July will be here and I'll be packing up to go home! As much as I LOVE it out here, there is truly no place like home. Home where you are surrounded by friends and family who love you for you, can relate to you and can communicate with ease and understanding. I really have learned to appreciate even more of the little things while being here.

For me 2009 will continue in the same fashion as last year...harnessing positive energy and striving toward forward movement. I will try to be the best person that I can be and reach for the stars.

I hope this year brings all of you nothing but positivity, health and many blessings. Love you much!

Amanda

Tottori International Festival

Sunday morning I literally struggled out of bed bright and early. I really don't know how I managed but I did. Tottori city is an hour and a half away from me by train and the event started at 11am. I had to be there early to help Simone set up the booth.

The event is called "The Time Festival" and it features a little bit of something from various countries around the world. There were about twenty or more booths showcasing the cultures, food, books and crafts from each country in attendance. People from all walks of life, young and old alike, visited the Trinidad and Tobago booth that we were sitting at. Two older ladies stand out in my mind. They were so cute and wanted a piece of everything. They bought some coconut drops, fudge and one of them bought one of the handcrafted earrings I made. That wasn't enough for them, they literally pulled us to come and take pictures with them.

Everyone got particularly excited by the carnival costume headpiece that was on display. They got equally excited when they realized they were free to try it on. It was a hilarious sight. I caught some good laughs listening to people who had never heard of the twin republic, try to figure out where Trinidad and Tobago could be in the world. The funniest guess was America to which Simone replied in her thick Trini accent "no man, no man, come come come" and showed them to the map. I found it interesting the number of people that asked if we speak English in T&T, but I guess when you don't know you really don't know.

We wasted no time at the end of the day with packing up and leaving. I had to catch the train back to my city or else I'd have to wait two hours for the next. The service is not as frequent on a Sunday.

The event was a huge success, I really enjoyed it. It's been a while since I've been around so many people from different countries so it was refreshing to say the least. It almost makes me want to try and start up an event of its kind in my little city.

Pictures

Hula video courtesy of my cell phone

Bounenkai & Mochi Making

This past Saturday I was chillin' in my apartment when my cell phone rang. It was my neighbour Manabu from down the street. He can speak a little bit of English, but he struggles here and there so the convo was pretty funny. He started with "hello Amanda, what are you doing?" I told him I wasn't doing anything, just relaxing. He struggled with explaining that he was at a Bounenkai, tried to explain what it was about, that he was drunk and that he and his friends wanted me to come out. I asked him if the event was inside or outside and he told me it was half and half. Now, I asked because I went to a reggae event with him before and it was outside and I froze! He sent his friend Sogihara to come and pick me up and when I got downstairs the first thing he asked me was if my clothes were warm and if I had any more. I was wearing 2 fleece jackets and a scarf, then went back up for my winter coat. If you know me well you know I HATE & DESPISE the cold.

Anyway, we got to the event which was at the same OUTDOOR place and I wanted to strangle Manabu. Luckily there were heaters and a fire going inside the tarp tent.

I had no idea what a bounenkai was, but thanks to good old wikipedia I was able to make sense of what Manabu was trying to explain to me. In a nutshell it is a party to say good bye to the year that has gone along with all the worries, stresses and strains that it may have brought usually with alcohol. The alcohol drinking was tame here thank the Lord, but for those who did partake, they slept in tents over night. Japan has a zero tolerance blood alcohol level.

I watched the mochi making process in awe. I don't like mochi at all, or at least the kinds I've tried. I don't really think it has a particularly appealing taste. I mean how tasty can rice gluten really be? Nonetheless, it was so interesting to watch.

Sogihara drove me home around 1:30am. Usually that would be no problem, but I had to get up the next morning to help my friend Simone at an international festival. All in all I had a really enjoyable Saturday night.

Pics

Video 1-Mochi making part 1


Video 2-Mochi making part 2

My students truly make my days

I don't know what it is about the students that I work with. They say you get back the energy that you give off, but I don't think it's me. I don't know where the energy comes from, but no matter how bad I'm feeling as soon as I walk into one of my classes I break out into the biggest smile. It's not the fake "good morning class" smile, it's truly genuine. When I finish classes for the day my face hurts from laughing and smiling with the students. They truly make my days.

This week is my last week at my current school until February. I've been sitting at my desk in the staffroom all day for the past two days doing nada. Yesterday one of my students, Moeno, came by the staffroom to see me. A while back I saw her drawing some pictures at the beginning of class. I walked over to her desk and she rushed to close up what she was doing. I don't know, maybe she thought she was going to get in trouble or something, but I asked if I could look at her work. This girl can draw! I asked her if she could draw a picture of me and she said yes. I forgot about it. A few weeks later she asked me if she could have a picture of me. Now, back to yesterday...she came to the staffroom to give me her drawing and I was floored. It's a small picture, but her attention to detail is crazy. This picture is one of the many things I will treasure from my time here.

Jamaica to di Worl'!!

I took some time to recoup from back to back visitors and just when I thought I was ready to write about it, Barack Obama went and got elected 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE US OF A!!!! Needless to say it took me about a week for that to reaaaaaally register. Now that I'm focused I have time to write about my AMAZING visit with Tamii and Angel.

It's so funny how life works sometimes. What I love about it, is that there are so many defining moments for so many different things. If anyone had asked me 6 years ago if I thought Tamii and her husband would travel half way across the world to come and see me, I have no idea what I would have said. You never really know how much of an impact or how much meaning you have in someone's life until you have defining moments such as this one for me. Trust me when I say there have been many, I'm just adding this one to the list.

Enough of the mushy stuff and down to business. October 13th-18th marked one of the greatest weeks I have spent in Japan thus far. My girl Tamii and her hubby Angel came to visit me all the way from J-A-M-A-I-C-A JAMAICA(whaddup Cham)! As I'm typing this, I still have to wonder if I dreamt it, or if they were in fact here...in my apartment...in Japan. Well, I don't need a pinch because the jerk sauce, Tru Juice, bun, rough tops etc. etc. that are now in my stocks are proof that they really were here!

It sucks that when you really look forward to something, it takes soooooo long to come, but when it finally does come it doesn't last long enough! The week that Tams and Angel were here went by in a blur. It was too the point that by the end of the week, we had forgotten some of what we did at the beginning.

I won't go into every single detail of what we did while they were here, I'll let the pictures do the talking. Tams if you're reading I have to say again, that I am TRULY blessed to have you in my life and I'm so happy that you spent your birthday with me in Japan:) (MUWAH!) Angel if you're reading don't get jealous because you know I love you too. The trip would not have been the same without our delirious, lack of sleep "pump up the jam" dance session. We MUST do it again!

I've Been Busy!

I have about 10 years worth of stuff to catch up on it seems. Usually, I would sit down and do a full-fledged, detailed recap, but truth be told I just wasn't in the mood to write. I think that slump is almost over, but I'll wait and see.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at home in the summer...words REALLY can't explain. From the successful surprise birthday party for meh first shugadumplin niece, to going to the annual Whiteout fete, to reuniting with the movie crew, to seeing my girls in each of their new homes, to visiting my Thursday morning show at CHRY, to getting my hair done at Nanni's natural hair salon, to riding with "my Ian" to Barrie, to one of my bestest visiting from NY, to driving to Buffalo with meh mommy to pick her up and daddy to drop her off, to the Caribana festivities, to having lunch with Frangie, to watching the Wire with Dwayne, to ladies night at Danielle's, to attending Emma's baptism and seeing my extended fam the Langleys, to seeing Aunty Cora after so long, to FINALLY meeting Kris and her little man, to the farewell party...ALL of it was great and reminded me of all the things and people for which/who I am grateful.

These past few months have gone by in a total blur. I've honestly been keeping myself very busy. This is something I decided to do when I signed my recontracting forms last November. I came back to Japan in mid-August and literally hit the ground running. I'm not quite sure how I managed, but I survived without even a smidgen of jetlag. I got in on a Friday and I was at the beach hanging out on Sunday...talk about wasting no time. I went to a housewarming and met some of the new ALTs (assistant language teachers), went to a beach party, went out dancing, caught up with friends, had a girls weekend, taught my private conversation classes, went to Korea, went to Tokyo, started crocheting like a madwoman, watched the previews of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice (2 of my fav shows), went to Okinawa (southern Japan) and snorkled for the first time, had visitors from Jamaica and through all of this I managed to have 5 Mondays off in a row! I just don't know how I do it! ahahahaha.

I tell you this year is going to be an even better experience than last year if I have anything to do with it. It has already gotten off to an amazing start and I'm loving every minute of it. I truly am relishing every last minute I have here because come next August it's back to reality, but for now, I love life and it loves me!

Korea pics

Girl's weekend pics

Okinawa pics

What Can I Say?...Old Japanese People Must Really Like Me.

Yesterday I went to Himeji city to go buy my niece's birthday gift. The weather was absolutely gorgeous so I took my time walking to my destination. On the way, I stopped to browse at the shoes on display outside ABC Mart shoe store. So there I was minding my own business and all of a sudden I feel BRAPS on my left shoulder. I turned around to see an old Japanese man staring me in the face. He was probably just a little shorter than me and had no regard for personal space. He had a lit cigar dangling from his bottom lip as he looked in my face and nudged my arm. I backed away hoping he would leave me be, but boy was I wrong! The man proceeded to put his arms around me in an attempt at what seemed like an embrace. I was totally gobsmacked! Japanese people do little to no physical contact with each other, let alone hugging up a foreigner! At the time all of this was happening, I was holding my cell phone in my right hand talking to Khaleelah. I used my left forearm to try and fend him off and remove myself from his attempted embrace. I ran into the shoe store and in a desperate attempt to ask for help I looked at the store employee and said "tell him to stop". Yea right, like that did anything! I don't know why I refuse to believe that Japanese people can't understand me when I speak English. The old man came in the store all smiles, I walked around the shoe display and made a dash for it out the door. All this time I'm smiling and laughing in disbelief as Khaleelah laughs in my ear because she can't believe what is going on. So I'm walking very briskly down the shopping arcade, turned around to find the blasted man RUNNING after me! In all seriousness I really couldn't comprehend what was going on! I'm running away and the man is saying "no no, yes yes" and gesturing for me to come toward him. No sir! His eyes were red-rimmed, probably with drunkenness AND he had a lit cigarette in his mouth. Awww helll naw! I ran into the glasses shop and when I turned around he was gone. I wasn't scared, but I was shook...shocked really. What really just happened? Did an old grandpa-looking Japanese man REALLY just chase me down the shopping strip? Wow, only in Japan I swear.

On the train back home, an old lady that came to sit down beside me reached into her purse and handed me a candy from a pack, smiled and took one out to eat herself. Today as I rode my bike back toward my apartment from the harbour, the old man waiting for the light beside me reached into his bike basket and handed me a bag of rice which I kindly refused.

Either something is in the air or old Japanese people just really like me?