Nice Day for a White Wedding

Last weekend was Coworker C's wedding, as I had mentioned before.  They had the ceremony at a resort in Kawaguchiko, a place that's about an hour and a half bus ride outside of Tokyo, right near the base of Mount Fuji.

Last Saturday the weather was brilliantly warm- so warm in fact that I went out in short sleeves without a jacket!  Caught a train to Shinjuku around 1pm, then from Shinjuku Station I took the highway bus to Kawaguchiko.  Was picked up at the station by the hotel's shuttle service.  The driver was very nice, at first talking to me in English until I let slip a word in Japanese.  He asked, "Oh, you speak Japanese?" and looked very relieved when I confirmed, so he switched to Japanese after that, haha.

View of Fuji from my hotel room

Got to the hotel and checked in and was greeted by the bride's mother.  She's a very sweet lady, and was very happy that I could come.  Apart from Coworker C's family who was able to fly in from Columbia (only his mother, little brother, and a good friend), I was the only other person there from his side.

There was time to change and freshen up in my room (got a room all to myself, woohoo!) before the ceremony and everything began. 

It was amazing.  A lot of people wore silly costumes and I regretted not bringing mine!  There was a box of silly costume accessories there to choose from so I did end up putting on some bunny ears.  Everyone headed outside after the "Welcome Party", where everyone just had some refreshments and chatted for a bit.  We all lined up along the sides of the red carpet that was rolled out and lined with little tea candles.  Each guest also held a candle, and the first person on each side had their candle lit by the bride's father, and then each person passed the flame along to the next person, all down each row, and the bride and her father proceeded down the aisle as each candle was lit.

Words were said, they said their vows and exchanged their rings, and then there was a surprise fireworks display over the lake.  Not even Coworker C or his wife knew about it!  A very exciting touch.

It was pretty chilly around that time so we were all glad to head back inside for the reception and food.  I ended up seated across from a couple university guys who were studying English, so we chatted quite a bit throughout the dinner.  There were quite a few speeches, musical performances, slideshows, and dancing throughout dinner too.  Partway through, Coworker C and his wife left to go change from their Western wedding clothes (tux/wedding gown) into some traditional Japanese clothes.

They are so cute together!

Then there was the after-party, and they changed again into some traditional(?) Columbian clothes. There was more eating and drinking and singing and dancing.  And of course in true Japanese style there was a karaoke machine, so me, Coworker C, and a couple of the bride's English friends got up and did the YMCA.  Later CC and I also got up and did Backstreet Boys' "Larger Than Life", including the dance that the older boys at the preschool did for the Christmas performance (don't ask me why we did BSB at a Christmas performance..).  Lots of people loved it and asked us if we had practiced the dance specifically for the wedding, lol.

The after-party went on until midnight or 1am, I don't remember, and I headed back to my room and crashed.  Got up at 7am to shower and get dressed in time to make it to the breakfast buffet.  Had some time afterwards to relax a bit in my room before the shuttle bus was scheduled to take us to the station.  Got back to Tokyo just in time to be greeted by the huge dust storm that blew in that day.  Had to battle my way home against the wind, and by the time I got back a bunch of dust had collected in my tear ducts.  Gross!

A very fun weekend though, and I was very happy CC had invited me.  Will be sad once work ends and we won't get to "hang out" every day anymore.

Oh, yesterday was the kids' graduation ceremony.  A couple weeks ago I had a dream about the graduation and it was terrible, but in reality it actually went fairly well!  Though Cruella (as I've come to call the evil boss lady who is the reason everything at that company is shit) was not happy and was running around yelling at everybody, as she does..

Sorry for this novel.  I've decided I'm incapable of summarizing anything!

The Home Stretch

The end is in sight!  Nine mind-numbing and painful months.  My "due date" is now less than two weeks away.. And if we're talking only working days, there are only nine of those left!

Last day:  March 19th.

Then I can go back to having a semi-normal life.  One job.  A little more time in the mornings/evenings to do something other than come home, eat, check Facebook, sleep.

No more dealing with all the BS of that company.  Good God I could write a book about it all!

It will certainly be bittersweet though.  I will miss my students dearly, though some of them are going to other schools so I wouldn't get to see them anyway even if I did stick around.

And my coworkers.  They have certainly helped to ease the pain, and have helped pull me through this metaphorical desert I have been dragging myself through.  Coworker C and Coworker M, especially.  My legs gave out (again, metaphorically) a while back and I would've just given up without their support.  Wonderful, wonderful people.  As Coworker M said today, "This company has hired so many good people that they just don't know what to do with."  They are indeed going to be losing a great group of teachers. 

I uploaded my chocolate-making video like I said I would a couple posts back.  It's in the sidebar to the right (which you can see if you're reading this from my blog's website).  

I also mentioned in that same post that I would have my first driving-experience in Japan.  It was nothing terribly exciting.  I was freaked out at first when we were shown the car I would be driving at the rental place- a rather large moving-van-sized truck.

I did pretty good though.  No driving down the wrong side of the road.  No accidents or pedestrian casualties, though there were a couple times we almost lost the side mirror.  Thing stuck out way too far, and with the very narrow roads here, well...  I did turn on the windshield wipers a couple times too when trying to turn on the blinker.

The only terrible thing was that what should've only taken two hours or so each way took nearly four hours each way, thanks to the new Apple Maps application or whatever.  Never, ever use it.  You may as well just try to find your way without any directions at all, for all the help it is.  In the end, tired and frustrated with a throbbing headache, S's phone finally gave out and my phone's handy-dandy navi saved the day.  Got us right back on track and we were kicking ourselves for not just using it in the first place.

Got some video footage of that venture so I will have to compile and post that soon too.

This weekend's plan- attend Coworker C's wedding!  Looking forward to it.  :)

Grandma R

I was reading through an old journal entry last night, a little story that should have made me smile remembering it.

However, without warning, I just broke down in tears.  I sort of felt it then, that she had left.  

My Grandma R.

I knew she was in the hospital and wasn't doing well, and that it was only a matter of time.

I went to bed shortly afterward.  I hadn't been feeling too well yesterday as it was and couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.  

When I awoke around 3am I saw the posts on Facebook.  She had indeed gone on to be with Grandpa R.

Tried falling back asleep, but my stomach was still bothering me.  Around 4:30am I decided to be productive, so I did the American thing and went to the grocery store in my pajamas.  Got my grocery shopping for the week done and was able to fall back asleep again after I got back.

Got up again around 9am, got dressed and went to my hair appointment.  Came back and did some cleaning.

I'm over 5000 miles away, and there's really nothing I can do except just go about life as normal.

I've had to say a few too many goodbyes in recent years, and they're never easy.  Although knowing it's coming makes it a little easier.  When my Grandma O died last year, it was quite sudden, and I regretted not having gone back home for Christmas that year because I would've been able to see her one last time.

But Grandma R, I'm glad I got to see you when I did, so I have that last good memory of you. I know you're happy now with Grandpa, but I sure will miss you.

A picture of them together, as they should be.

Valentine's Day

While I didn't do anything for Valentine's Day last year, this year I decided to go all out and make some chocolates.

Around the end of January/ beginning of February, stores start setting up their Valentine's Day displays- tons and tons of super nice boxes of chocolates, and a plethora of supplies for those ambitious enough to make their own homemade chocolates.

Things work a little differently here; it is the women who give chocolate to the men.  Men who receive chocolate on Valentine's Day then reciprocate on March 14th, called White Day.  There is 義理チョコ (giri choco, obligatory chocolate) given to male coworkers, and then there is also 友チョコ (tomo choco, chocolate given to friends).  

I had never made chocolates before, but I had a couple of good ideas that I wanted to try out so I got some chocolate molds from the 100-yen store.  The chocolates were quite the success, thankfully!  I made a video of the process, which I will post once I've got it edited together.

Got tons of chocolates and sweets from some students and coworkers.  Have consumed most of it over the past couple days which I should not have, and am now suffering from sugar-belly.  :p

Time to do some tidying up before I head up to Ibaraki to help S move down to Yokohama.  Will be my first driving experience in Japan, thanks to the fact that I now have an international driver's permit!  Please pray that I don't go driving down the wrong side of the road.  :O  

Peanut butter cups and strawberry white chocolate hearts

Oni's Pants and Bean-Throwing

鬼のパンツはいいパンツ

つよいぞ　　つよいぞ

(The oni's pants are great pants

They're very strong   They're very strong)

I've had this song stuck in my head since yesterday.  Tomorrow is Setsubun, so yesterday at both the daycare and the Other Job we had a visit from oni (Japanese demon? Ogre?).

At the daycare we sang the above song with the kids while a couple of the teachers snuck out to get demon-ified.  Granted since the kids are so young the masks they wore weren't the traditional, super-horrifying ones.  They were actually just paper bags decorated with colored paper to make the face.  Quite cute actually.  Each of the kids were given a bag filled with balled-up newspaper- in lieu of the traditional roasted soybeans- to throw at the "demons".  

Very little throwing happened, but there was plenty of wailing and tears!  One of the oldest boys tried his best to stand his ground and threw all the paper balls in his bag with tears running down his face.  The others, though, took refuge with me and the other teacher not acting as a demon, while M-sensei ran around with the camera taking pictures of the kids cowering and fleeing.  There was a great one she got of Yama-kun and Miwa-chan on my lap clinging to me, mouths open with red, tear-stained faces and me with a huge grin.

Oh, the crazy traditions here.  I love it.  Traumatizing for the kids, but great fun for the adults!

Today has been an absolute lazy day.  I've hardly left my bed except to go pee or to fetch food.  No shower.  No usual weekend cleaning.  I haven't been completely unproductive though.  I did do my laundry, got a voice recording done for K and his friend who are working on a song in English, and wrote up a letter for former coworker at the Other Job who is going to court against the company.  Yeah.  Part of the reason I haven't been blogging much the past month.  Just so much BS with that place and I feel like that's all I would really have to write about.  Nothing much else exciting going on.  

Silly internet things have been quite therapeutic, helping ease the work frustrations.  I've always been a fan of Youtube videos (as S and J can attest to!), but .GIFs are awesome too.

Beautiful girls gone... MRRGHFFL!

How I feel sometimes after work

And that's all for now.  Got cornbread in the toaster oven that needs sampling to see if it's suitable for the chili I plan on making tomorrow.  Should probably do a bit of straightening up and studying before bed too.

Last Week's Snow

So, last Monday it snowed.  And I'm sure all of northern Japan was watching the news and laughing at us as the city fell into chaos.  

Much like what happens when it snows in Seattle.  The city falls apart and places that get actual snow laugh as snowplows push buses uphill.

But I digress..

So, at first it was like this:

And then it was like this:

And it kept going.  So I bundled up and grabbed my camera and went for a walk.

It was a good, work-free day.  Too bad tomorrow can't be work-free too..

Christmas/New Years 2012-2013

It's already halfway through the first week back at work, and March just can't come fast enough (because it means the end of my Other Job)!  Luckily we have a three-day weekend (Monday is 成人の日 Seijin no Hi - Coming of Age Day) to ease the pain of coming back to work.

Just for my memory's sake I'm going to do a list of what I did while back in the States, and throw some pictures up at the end.

21st- Left Tokyo, arrived in LA (I know.. flying on the supposed day of the Apocalypse!  I didn't realize it when I bought my tickets, but I wonder if that had anything to do with why they were so cheap?!)  

22nd- Pizza dinner at Grandpa O's, with my mum, older sister, nephew, two aunties and an uncle. 

23rd- Dinner at Grandma R's with lots of people from that side of the fam.  Pizza again!

24th- Took my sister and nephew to the airport, then drove to Phoenix with my mum, stopping for dinner at my brother's house, and to give Christmas prezzies to my nieces and nephew.

25th- Picked up my dad from airport, and had Christmas dinner at home.

26th- Got a cleaning at the dentist for the first time in almost 10 years.  She was poking and scraping around for a long time, exclaiming, "I can't find any build-up!"  She seemed oddly satisfied when she finally found a spot and started scraping away.  No cavities at all though, and she and the dentist marveled at how my teeth were better than some of the people who come in twice a year for cleanings.  Can't brag about much, but at least I have clean teeth!  Saw The Hobbit that night with my friends Miss C and Miss A, and my little sister.

27th- Got my third haircut of the year, then had dinner at Red Robin with my little sister and our childhood friends.

28th- Dinner at a vegetarian restaurant with another childhood friend, who I hadn't seen for years!

29th- Lunch with one of my best buds in high school Yoshi and his girl, then a Korean food dinner party with Miss C and Miss A, and a couple other friends from high school.

30th- Saw Parental Guidance with my mum and dad, then Rise of the Guardians with my Man Twin. :)  Parental Guidance was okay- it was cute and I like Bette Midler.  I really liked Rise of the Guardians though.

31st- Did some shopping with my mum and little sister, then had our traditional New Year's Chinese food dinner.  Did countdown at Miss A's house with her mom and Miss C.

1st- Took my dad to the airport, and had to stop on the highway to get 3 pit bulls off the road!  Sweet pups they were.

2nd- Dermatology appointment, then got a much needed massage at the spa where my friend works (same friend I met for dinner at the veggie place).  Then dinner that night at my brother's place.

3rd- Lots of last-minute errands with my mum, then had dinner at a Greek wraps place with my Wifee- one of my good friends from junior high/ high school who I hadn't seen since we graduated.  Miss C came over after she got off work to chat with me while I packed.

4th- Had to get up super early to catch my flight from Phoenix to LA, then on back to Tokyo.

Seems like my trip consisted mostly of... eating!

Resolutions!

I almost forgot that I had made resolutions last year!  Let's see what can be crossed off the list:

1.  Limit my "playtime" on the internet, and try to do more productive things.

 Hmm... can't say I did too well on this one.  Once I get home from work I don't have the energy to do anything!  That, and there's only a couple hours after work for dinner and some "me" time before I have to go to bed. 

2.  Study more each night, and start studying for the JLPT Level 2

 Done!  I think I did fairly well on the studying part.

 

3.  Take the JLPT Level 2.

 Done!  Just waiting for the results.

4.  Drastically cut back on my sugar intake.

 Did okay with this one.  Was pretty good about not buying sugary things for myself or eating sweets at home.. The problem was all the sugary treats people brought back and left sitting out at work that got me!

5.  Get more active.

 Did okay with this one too.  Biking to the station and back most everyday, and running around with the kiddos at work I think qualify for being "active".

6.  Drink more tea! 

 Yes!  Been drinking it almost every night.

7.  Improve my sleep schedule by going to bed between midnight and 1am, and getting up around 8:30am.

 Well, the Other Job pretty much took care of that for me!  Going to bed by midnight and getting up just before 7am on weekdays.  Weekends I'm usually in bed by 1am and up around 8 or 9am.

8.  Get my haircut at least 2-3 times this year.  (Last year i didn't get it cut even once!  I usually cut it myself every few months but it's hard to see the back of my head, and it's just gotten way too frumpy.)

 Got it done 3 times, woohoo!

9.  Sophisticate my wardrobe.  Jeans and t-shirts are fine for a high schooler, and maybe even a freshman/sophomore in college, but i'm really starting to feel too old for a lot of my clothes now..) 

 Definitely done!  I think I did pretty well, though the process did take its toll on my wallet.

10.  Travel to at least one new place.

 Went to Gunma (for snowboarding), to Himeji (to visit J), to Kanagawa (to visit my cousin's family), and to Kashiya-Yokochou in Kawagoe.

11.  Pay off my credit card.

 Done!  Though I've already gone and used it again this year, haha.  Shouldn't take much to pay that off though.

Not too bad there, methinks!  Got a few more goals for this year. 

1.  Keep up with the studying, drinking tea, regular sleep schedule, and regular haircuts.

2.  Go running at least once a week.  (Once the Other Job ends I should hopefully be able to do it more than once a week)

3.  Budget and spend money more wisely, and build up my savings.

4.  Read at least one book in Japanese.

5.  Travel to at least one new place.

6.  ?????????????????????????  (I will reveal what this is later on.. For now I'm keeping this to myself, because I feel like I'm more likely to succeed with my plans when no one else knows about them.  Strange, I know, but still..)

Anyone else have any goals or resolutions??

2012 in Review

Here it is, the last day of 2012!  I've been spending it back home in the States which has been nice, and will have an update about all the going-ons later.  Right now I'm going to take a look back at what all has happened this past crazy year.  In all honesty it was kind of a crappy year, but I can't complain too much- I have my health and a job and money to buy food and clothes and do things I like.  And the world did not end which means there is a chance to have a better year this time around.

*Rang in the New Year with the besties, S and J, at Meiji Shrine!

*Went snowboarding for the first time and loved it!  

*Lost my Grandma O, my baby girl Arctic, and my sister's kitty Diesel; and found out my aunt has cancer and had to have her leg amputated.

*Took a couple trips to Kansai with my friends.

*Acquired my Roomie!

*Celebrated my and Roomie's birthday at Tokyo Disneyland.  :D

*Watched the solar eclipse.

*Started a shitty second job (aka Other Job).

*Had to say goodbye to my first "baby", R-kun.

*Got to spend some time with my aunt, my cousin and his family at the base in Kanagawa.

*Climbed Mt. Takao, and got to go to a K-pop concert and meet the band!

*Celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving with some good friends.  :)

*Got to come back to the US to spend Christmas and New Years with my friends and family, and got to see my older sister and my nephew for the first time in almost 2 years!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year, and many good times in 2013!

November

Well, a month has passed in the blink of an eye and I haven't written anything about it!  Let's see what I can remember..

-November 4th:  Roomie and I took an excursion to 菓子屋横丁 (Kashiya Yokocho- Candy Alley) after watching a special about it on TV.  Took a bit of an unintentional detour on the way there and ended up walking a ways through some really peaceful countryside.

-November 11th:  Roomie and I met up with S and our other uni friend Ku in Tokyo for some amazingly delicious Chicago style pizza at a place called DevilCraft in Kanda.  It was drizzly that day and the shoes I wore had a hole in the sole of one of them so my foot got completely soaked, but I'd like to say that the pizza and good company made up for it.

-November 13th:  Had a date of sorts in Yokohama.  Had some breakfast (omelets and pancakes) for dinner, checked out the Chinatown and did some palm reading (of which I just observed), and took a ride on the Cosmo Clock 21.  Fun times!

-November 23rd-25th:  Three-day weekend!  The 23rd was a holiday- 勤労感謝の日 (Kinrou Kansha no Hi; aka Japanese Labor Day)- which just so happens to fall right after Thanksgiving in America, so Roomie and I decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner at our place.  We invited S, J, C-chan, and Sushi-kins.  Sadly J could not make it, though he did join us for a bit through Skype, and S brought her boy along.  Food and wine and shenanigans were had.

 

  

 

-December 1st:  I accompanied a coworker from my Other Job to watch the filming of an NHK program called Cool Japan, at Kanagawa University.  It was interesting, though quite a long time to be sitting in a hot auditorium with lights blaring in your eyes.  We ended up on the same train as a group of the people that appeared on the show and had a nice chat with them, during which I was asked again (3rd time in my life) if I'm British because of my "accent".  Irish, more specifically.  Which I am but I'm born and raised American and have sadly never even been to Ireland.  Someday, though.

-December 2nd:  The JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test), Level 2!  I feel very confident about the listening part- it was deceivingly easy.  The kanji/vocab/grammar/reading comprehension part though.. I'm pretty apprehensive about.  Have to wait for nearly 3 months to find out the results.  Thanks guys, for making the wait excruciatingly long!

Now, less than 2 weeks until I'm on a plane back to the States for my winter vacation.  It's crazy to think about, I've been gone for so long!  Granted I did go back for a few days in February, but that was a rather miserable time and it all happened so quickly it felt like I wasn't even there.  I'll get to see my older sister and nephew for the first time in almost 2 years as well, very excited about that!  It's nice to think about going back to enjoy some time with my family and friends this time.  And of course all the food I've been missing too.