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?

Alison and Amanda take over Japan

To make things a bit clearer I will break down our adventure city by city. Enjoy.

Aioi

At 9:30am Monday morning I was knocking on Ali's hotel room door. I thought I had the wrong door until I heard "Amanda?" from behind it. She opened the door and I was so happy to see her. I must say I think we have a really unique relationship. I walked in and it felt like we had just been chillin' out and kickin' it a few days ago. I took off my shoes and headed straight to the bed, as did she because there were 30 minutes left until check-out. Granted I do live like 2 minutes away from the hotel, but whatever.

I welcomed Ali to my humble abode at about 10:10am, we took it easy for a while before heading out, on bikes of course, to take in some of my little city. Our first stop was to the Board of Ed where Alison met my supervisor and his staff. It was lunch time when we arrived so some people were taking cat naps at their desks. In walked Rokudai-sensei from his lunch to greet us. He and his staff had heard so much about this friend coming to visit and they were delighted to finally meet her. Next stop was Futaba Junior High school. I don't have much to say except that my students are pure jokes. The girls wanted a picture with Ali so of course I obliged. Next stops were Uniqlo in Himeji for a bit of shopping and then the grocery store and then back to the apartment to ready ourselves for our week of taking over the country.
Tokyo(Shinjuku)

The next morning we took the shinkansen to Shinjuku station in Tokyo. After about half an hour of walking in circles IN the station trying to find the right exit to get to the hotel, we gave up and took a cab. Of course the hotel was about 2.2 seconds away! We didn't waste any time, checked in, took our bags to the room and headed out again to wander Shinjuku and start shopping. Alison got 2 pairs of prescription glasses for drop dead prices...they are pretty cheap here.

The day ended with a really good dinner at El Torito Mexican restaurant where I had my first encounter with tableside guacamole! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Clubbing got thrown out the window because we were both beat.

Yokohama/Ebisu/Harajuku

What can I say? I LOVE this place, especially China town. We first went to the landmark tower, but of course we had to stop and shop first. I thought the landmark tower was a good stop, one because it's just a nice sight to see and two, because there is a Coldstone's creamery on the first floor. *smile*

We proceeded to Yokohama China town (the biggest in Japan), took in some temples and got some good pictures. I kept hearing about this man with fishbowl earrings and finally saw him....and yes my camera was ready.

We had lunch at Aalawi Jamaican restaurant in Ebisu. The food is good and the jerk chicken is actually spicy...well spicy for Japan that is, but still tasty. At this point we were winding down again, but we made a quick stop to the crazy streets of Harajuku. I knew we were both tired because we didn't really attempt to buy anything. The two of us were pretty much on the same page and rather than clubbing we chilled in the hotel and went to bed!

Kyoto

The next morning saw us on the Shinkansen yet again, this time heading to Kyoto. I must say I was extremely excited for this part of our take over because I had yet to visit and I heard so many good things. Kyoto has over 2000 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines and if I remember correctly, it is also one of the oldest cities in Japan.
We stayed at a traditional Japanese guest house. The staff were so helpful and the location is ideal. After checking in, we headed straight out to Kinkaku-ji (Golden) temple. This place is absolutely gorgeous. The gardens are expertly manicured and the scenery is breathtaking. On our way out we stopped to buy some lovely yukata-type robes before heading back to the guesthouse. After getting ample directions and information from our host, we made a mad dash to a kimono shop where I bought my first kimono and had a little obi tying lesson. It was great! It was so fun that we didn't realize the time...we basically closed down the store and stayed an hour later than planned. We walked the streets of Gion and Pontocho and I swear I felt as though I was on set of an old time Japanese movie.

Friday morning (May 1st) met us still in Kyoto and wanting to see more. Initially we were going to visit a shrine then head to Osaka and Kobe for the day. Needless to say, and executive decision was made and we spent the day in Kyoto and went to Ginkaku-ji (Silver) temple and Fushimi Inari. Unfortunately, the Silver temple was completely under construction so I couldn't get any good pictures of it. Fushimi Inari shrine was so much better than I had expected. I saw pictures of it and marked it as a must see. The first "head shrine" is at the bottom of a mountain. From there you can work your way up the mountain along trails of orange torii. Ever since I saw pictures of this place I had envisioned a picture that I wanted to take there. Ali and I went to work in executing my vision and it turned out thousands of times better than I could ever have imagined. To date, it is one of my favourite pictures of myself!

At about 5pm we made our way back to the guesthouse to get our bags and head back home to Aioi. Our decision to cut out Osaka and Kobe couldn't have been better. We were so tired at this point, we just wanted to relax and that's exactly what we did.

Aioi & Himeji

We got back to my city Friday night and spent it chit chatting, and relaxing. The following day we went back out to Himeji castle and did the walking tour. I didn't realize that the castle would be so busy! It was Golden Week so I swear everyone was out. Part of the tour that usually takes about 5-10 minutes took us 45!! It was pure madness. I'll have to keep Golden Week traffic in mind next time. After the castle we headed back to my place to pack Ali's bags and enjoy what little she had left of her stay. Sunday morning we went back to Himeji bus station so Ali could catch her airport bus, but not before she had me run to the store to pick up two more of the plates she loved from the 100 yen shop. I had about 15 minutes and spent 7 of them trying to remember what section of the store we found the plates in. I felt like I was on amazing race or something the way I was running because there was NO WAY I was gonna let Ali leave without giving her a proper goodbye. I ran back with about two minutes left to see her giving some guy instructions on how to say bye to me if she had to leave..uhh yea right! I got my hug, and kept a brave face until the bus pulled off. I swear if it wasn't for that guy who was there seeing his friend off I would have broken down. It wasn't until I walked back into the train station that some tears actually left my eyes. Just typing this brings happy tears!

Overall, if you couldn't tell, the week was AMAZING! I enjoyed EVERY LAST MINUTE of it and can't wait for us to do it again soon, whether it be Japan or somewhere else in the world. Thanks for coming Ali, I really appreciate it!

PICTURES PART 1

PICTIRES PART 2

Alilboogie in DA HOUSE!!

That's right folks, I had my first visitor in Japan and I'm still coming down off of the high!

Last time I left off talking about how crazy I was going to Tokyo to see Mighty Crown only to be back a few days later. Two days later to be exact!

The adventure began in Tokyo the Sunday night after the Mighty Crown dance. I'm sitting in a club with Latoya watching a dance showcase and my ketai (cell phone) rings. I pick up and hear this little voice on the other end say "hiiiii Amanda!", I'm like hiiii? and then it hits me as I say "hold on a second, I have to go to the lobby because it's too loud in here". I'm getting nervous and thinking naaaaaaah, it can't be. So I get to the lobby and say "hello? Ali?" She says "hi Amanda I'm here, I'm about to get on the bus to Himeenji(wrong pronunciation of course)". The first words out of my mouth were "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE HERE!?" And that's where it all began.

Now my heart is racing because I'm in Tokyo, she's at Osaka airport. I am scheduled to leave Tokyo on the overnight bus to Osaka around 11:30pm(at the time it was about 7:30pm) and I'm absolutely freaking out! Ali asks me if she should stay at the airport and I tell her that makes no sense, to get on the bus to Himeji(20 mins by train from my city) and I'll work something out and to call me as soon as she gets there. She tells me she forgot her rail pass at home and that her dad has sent it to my address via Purolator. This is #2, things happen in 3's right?
We hang up and I run back inside to tell Latoya what's going on as I'm near tears and feeling like THE WORST friend in the world for screwing up the dates. Toya was the voice of reason because I was so ready to pay $150 ONE WAY to take the shinkansen(bullet train) to go meet Alison....money I didn't really have to spare mind you. I call my supervisor to see if he has a spare key to my apartment to let her in. It's bittersweet when I find out that he doesn't. I call some other teacher friends to ask them if she can stay at their place until morning, but I hang up before they answer. Somehow that option just didn't sit right with me. So I call Khaleelah to ask her if she can book a room at the hotel outside my city's train station..she's out to dinner and can't, but as smart as she is she tells me to call one of my friends, get the number and book it myself. See? I was freaking out, I couldn't think straight enough to figure out that I could do that lol. So I call the hotel book the room no problem right?

Nine 'o clockish rolls around and Ali calls to tell me she has reached Himeji. I'm calmer now as I feel like things are under control. She tries to make me feel better by telling me it was her mistake and that the itinerary she sent me was set up wrong so it make sense that I was expecting her the next day. That doesn't do the job. All I can think is 'ohmigosh, I'm such a bad friend! This is her first time to Japan and this is the worst introduction to a new country ever known in the history of man!' Anyhoo, I proceed to give her directions to catch the train to my city, tell her about the hotel, to call me when she checks-in and that I'll be there first thing in the morning. About 40 minutes pass and I haven't heard from her. I look at my phone and see 2 missed calls from the hotel...shoot! I call back about 4 times to talk to her, but the hotel staff kept hanging up on me(or so I thought)! Miscommunication. Scratch that, language barrier! hahahaha. Luckily Toya and I were with this guy who could speak Japanese so he got Ali on the phone. She sounded so distressed. I felt even worse, because she got lost trying to find the train, she broke down at one point and by some miracle God sent an English-speaking Japanese angel to guide her in the right direction. I was a little relieved just knowing she was at the hotel and had somewhere clean to lay her head until I could come to the rescue.

Don't worry it gets better from here on in, I promise. To be continued...

Mighty Crown...East Coast Rulaz!

For the longest time, way before I came to Japan, I kept hearing the name Mighty Crown associated with Reggae and sound clashes. All I really knew about them was that they were supposedly really good Japanese Reggae djs and that they won some sound clashes in Jamaica. I wanted to go to one of their dances when they were in Toronto, but it never quite worked out so I decided that being in Japan I had to see them before I left. Well a couple weeks ago I did just that, just barely though. Khaleelah had been telling Toya, Tamla and I about this party for about a month and for some reason we slacked on buying tickets. I went to buy mine the week prior only to discover that they were sold out. I panicked because I had already purchased my bus tickets and the hotel was reserved. Not to worry I would figure out a plan B. Luckily I had just met a Japanese promoter/club owner/artist a few weeks prior named Zebraman. Yea, I was shocked by that too...his real name is Takahiro but Zebraman is his stage name. You would never think this man was Japanese because he is forever speaking patois. He lived in Jamaica for a few years and then moved to New York, but that's a different story for a different day. Fast forward to the fact that he was able to hook us up with guest list access under his name. Khaleelah had to drop out last minute so it was the 3 of us that went. All I have to say is that
although it was crazy of me to go to Tokyo that weekend to be back two days later with my visitor, it was well worth it! I now see why Mighty Crown calls themself the East Coast Rulaz! They were GREAT! The vibe was positive and full of energy all night. I am definitely going to see them again. In fact they will be in Osaka with Tarrus Riley as their special guest, the countdown begins!

PICTURES

Hafa Adai!(Hello)

Spring break was great! Not much else needs to be said. I went to Guam with some ladies and we enjoyed the sun, beach and shopping. I especially loved going to Kmart and seeing more cereal selection than my heart could take. Yea, it's rough in Japan not being able to go pick up some Honey Bunches of Oats or Honey Nut Cheerios. I had no intention of shopping while in Guam, but you will see from the pictures that the other ladies had something else in mind. I'll keep this short and sweet, enjoy the pictures!

GUAM PICTURES

Soca in Osaka

I'm gonna keep this one short.

On March 19th there was a Soca event for artist Sparkey Drakes(from Guyana/Antigua) that took place at club Life in Shinsaibashi. Can I just say steups?! Good thing I knew not to get my hopes up because I would've been upset!! The week before the party I went hunting for the venue and ran into the club owner. He is also a dj. I asked if he had new soca and that I would burn him a CD if he didn't have any. Needless to say my wicked CD was the REAL soca set for the night.


note: I'm not suggesting Sparkey's soca isn't real, it had more of a reggaeton/reggae vibe

SEE PICTURES HERE

Taking over Tokyo

On the weekend of March 14th I got to go back to Tokyo to celebrate Khaleelah's birthday. I was looking forward to this because I didn't really get a chance to see Tokyo when I arrived in Japan for orientation. I took the overnight bus and arrived Friday morning, met up with Khaleelah at the train station and we headed to Yokohama for one night. We found a little reggae club of course and although it was almost empty we enjoyed the music. The next day we were off to check-n to Sakura hostel then later meet up with Rasheeda who came over from Korea and Tamla. It felt great being around some familiar faces...especially ones from Toronto. I realize I miss the little funny nuances that we Torontonians possess.
Saturday night the 4 of us hit the town and went out to two clubs. First we went to Gas Panic, a bar/club in the Roppongi area of Tokyo. The music was OK and the club was JAM PACKED so we left there and headed over to club Jamaica. The name speaks for itself. The music was great and I was presently surprised when the DJ did a mini set of soca. I was Xtatik(pun intended) because it wasn't the commercial soca songs that are played on the radio. I was so happy when I heard Machel Montano play I swear I was in a daze the rest of the night. Add to that that I was super tired and fell asleep on a chair just before we left. Rasheeda and Khaleelah were troopers and left the club to go to the fish market, while Tamla and I went back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. I woke up to see the 5th lady, Christina from Cali, sleeping on her bunk. We all woke up pretty late and tried to squeeze in what we could, which of course involved food. We ate at Junkadelic Mexican restaurant. I had been craving Mexican for a while so it went down really good, not to mention the fact that I had a DELICIOUS glass of soursop juice. Our union was long overdue. Saturday night we went to club Harlem in Shibuya. The night was flop for me, I didn't enjoy the rotation of the music very much and I was exhausted from the weekend's events. Needless to say, I found myself a little corner and slept for the majority of the night. What a waste of a hot girl outfit. Sunday we had our last meal together at Denny's and then parted ways with two of the ladies. Christina, Khaleelah and I met up with Jason and had lunch at Aalawi Jamaican restaurant in Ebisu. The food was decent! We spent the rest of the day roaming Shinjuku and Harajuku before catching our overnight buses. Now that I know the ease with which I can access Tokyo at a decent price, I plan to go more often.

TOKYO PICTURES #1

TOKYO PICTURES #2

All in One Update

I've been slacking, yes I know. Blame the winter months, it's like my semi-hibernation season.

Kobe Field Trip

The week I got back from Sapporo, I was lucky enough to go on a school field trip to Kobe with the second year students. We visited the Kobe earthquake memorial center, which was quite interesting and fun at the same time. They had these earthquake simulator games and gadgets on site. Next we headed to the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art to see an exhibit by Edvard Munch. I had no idea who this man was except for the ads I kept seeing on the train. Nevertheless, he has some beautiful pieces and the gallery was HUUUUUUGE!! I also witnessed an umbrella locker hahaha, I never knew they existed(see pictures). Next up was the adventure of Kimoto-sensei(my team teacher at the 3rd school) and I searching for the train from HAT Kobe chuo to Sannomiya in search of China Town, the next check in point. It was quite funny because there were some lost students behind us trying to pretend like they knew where they were going and not following us. We got to China town just in time to bless our hungry bellies with some tasty Chinese cuisine. After lunch we walked around, bought omiyage and watched this man do some trick with water in a pan. We then headed to the last check in point before heading back to school at the Kobe port. There we went to the Kobe Maritime museum, met up with the students, took pictures and hopped back on the school bus, which may I say aren't like our yellow school buses. They actually charter coach buses! These students are living large.

KOBE PICTURES

Mie Bus Trip to Ise Shrine & Mikimoto Pearl Museum

At the end of that same week, I took the train to Gifu on Friday night. Khaleelah and I went on a day bus trip to Ise shrine and Mikimoto Pearl Island. We left Gifu station around 7am and about 2 hours later we arrived in Ise city(Mie prefecture) where we had an hour to walk around the shrine grounds. That place is huge! We were very fortunate to see many Shinto priests as there was a festival going on that weekend, namely the Kinen-sai; The ceremony to offer prayers for a plentiful harvest.

Next we headed to a hotel where we were served a "small" enkai-style Japanese lunch. Now, the people who organized the tour from the Gifu international Youth Assoc. said in the itinerary that lunch would be small. This is Japan and their portion sizes are relatively small, but nothing about this lunch indicated that. We had sashimi, fish, beef, veggies, oysters, rice, dessert and it was delish!! This hotel had a natural onsen on site, so we soaked for a little while after lunch before hopping back on the bus. The next stop was Mikimoto Pearl Island. Click HERE to get some more info. about Mr. Mikimoto and the harvesting of pearls. We all attended a workshop where we made what I like to call ketai(cell phone) bling. We were given 'Mikimoto' pearls and instructions to follow. Cell phone or ketai accessories are all the rage in Japan. I said I wasn't gonna fall prey, but I did and I now have for things dangling from my phone. Next we watched the woman diver's presentation. All I know is that those women are brave to be jumping into that cold water in the winter. It's not like they wear wetsuits to be somewhat insulated from the cold either. You'll see what I'm talking about in the pictures.

MIE PICTURES

Karaoke Night in Himeji

The Friday after the Mie trip, I got together with some of the other ALTs in my city to go out for dinner and karaoke. I had told them that I had yet to do karaoke in Japan and wanted to do so, so we organized an outing last minute. Let me start by saying I had a ball! I sang my heart out, on key, off key and around key lol. The English song selection really surprised me. I'm not going to say much more about this night, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves and you can tell me whether or not it looked like I had fun.

KARAOKE PICTURES

Nagano ski trip

The weekend of Feb 29th was another new experience for me. I went snowboarding for the first time in my life. Let me start by saying that I sprained my ankle playing volleyball with my students the day we left. We were having so much fun, my team gave the other team some serious licks. They were surprised that I could play so well, it was quite amusing. So, I went up for a wicked hit and came down on the boy's foot. He was on the other side of the net trying to block my beautiful hit, failed to do so and he came down on my side of the net and alas I sprained my ankle on it very badly. After writhing in pain for a couple minutes while the students and gym teacher laughed (I swear the way they express feelings is JACKED UP), I iced my ankle, taped it up and carried on with my day. That evening I met up with my ALT friends to catch our shuttle bus to Osaka, where we would catch the overnight bus to Nagano. We arrived to Nagano Shiga Kogen about 7:30am, stored our bags at the Silver Shiga hotel because check-in time in Japan is ridiculously late...4pm to be exact, then went to deal with our ski rentals. I opted to snowboard for one day rather than two, which I think was a wise choice. The boots held my ankle in place so there was minimal pain. We hit the slopes at about 9am and I threw myself right into it. Getting up the first time was hilarious because I was on such a slight incline screaming my head off while little kids whizzed by me. I made it to the ski lift which I thought went up way to high, but I was a soldier. I wish I had the experience on video because all of you would be wetting your pants with laughter from me boarding down to the ski lift station, to getting off the ski lift, to falling umpteen times down the slopes and laying there laughing hysterically at myself while people passed me straight. I must say I was very proud of myself. According to the others I was spectacular for a first timer, especially because I was able to stand right away. By 4pm I had had enough. We met up and had lunch and then I headed back to the hotel where I had a much needed onsen bath. Half of the group went night skiing while the rest of us called it a night pretty early around 8:30pm. I iced my crippled ankle and was in lala land by 9:15pm.
The following day (Sunday March 2nd), Alison and I went to see the snow monkeys. I can't even begin to explain how ecstatic I felt. Those macaques are the CUTEST things ever! I was pretty happy with that part of the trip, actually that was the highlight of my weekend.

NAGANO PICTURES

Kobe Sky Buffet

The following weekend I met up with some other ALTs to go out to dinner at the sky buffet in Kobe. I only knew a few people there, which was cool. My purpose for going was to find out where the place was. I enjoyed the company and the food. The view of Kobe is beautiful. I'll keep this one short so I can get up to date faster! lol

SKY BUFFET PICTURES

It's Official

Thursday, February 7, 2008 marked the day that officially continues my incredible journey over here in the far east. After MUCH back and forth, tormenting and debating with self, I have recontracted and will therefore be staying in Japan for another year. This has been one of the hardest decisions I have had to make in my life thus far, but at the end of it I am VERY happy with my decision.

The last week of solidifying my decision was quite humorous because my supervisor at the BOE(board of ed.) called me EVERY DAY. I don't know if you remember or even read the beginning of my blog where he said he wanted me to stay here for three years. Now more than ever I see that the man was serious. No matter how I told him I would give him my decision on Thursday(the 7th, 2 days before the deadline), he continued to call each evening. Each call went something like this:

Amanda: hello?
Supervisor: oh helloooo, this is Rokudai-sensei
A: *chuckle* hi Rokudai-sensei, how are you?
S: ohhh I'm fine, so Amandaaaaaaa did you make umm the decision to stay in Japan?
A: noooooo, not yeeeet but i will bring the contract on Thursday
S: *chuckle* ohhh okaaay, I hope, we hope(the BOE and teachers) that you stay in Japan b/c you are a good teacher
A: okaaaaaay, thanks
S: okaaaaay goodbye
A: *chuckling* have a good night

No joke or exaggeration, the man called me EVERY DAY for a week with the same conversation. it's a good thing I already had my mind made up. Could you imagine the torment? The funny thing is the program(JET) specifies that supervisors are not to do this so that participants don't feel pressured into saying yes and then change their mind. Clearly he didn't read that memo, or didn't care. Anyhoo, I thought for sure I would walk into the BOE palms sweating, heart racing and all as I handed over the paper. Surprisingly I was extreeeeeemely calm. I was actually going to play a trick on Rokudai-sensei and give him a photocopied contract that said I wasn't recontracting, but I couldn't do it to him. When I gave him the contract you would have sworn he was holding his breath for a month the way he exhaled. I guess it was a triumphant moment for them, it was all very funny to witness. After thanking me, he motioned to his staff and said "OK OK!" to which they all clapped. Are you serious? It was so funny, but at the end of it all I felt really good...boy are they good for an ego boost.

So that's it folks, my long drawn out story to tell you that I've recontracted for another year. Yaaaaaay me!