tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67070616497438703072024-03-14T11:16:10.499+09:00Running with ChopsticksLife in Japan.Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-35282624869086315212009-08-20T02:39:00.009+09:002011-03-22T05:07:44.332+09:00The Final UpdateThis past month went by pretty fast. I've been back in the US since August 1st... so about 2.5 weeks now.<br /><br />Anyway, I'll try to sum up my last couple of weeks in Japan now...<br /><br />July 21st I had to ride my bike to work one last time. I was using a vacation day, so I technically didn't have to go in, but I had to pick up my pay check. The weather was HORRIBLE. It rained, thundered, and lightninged ALL night and into the morning. That last bike ride to work was pretty miserable. When I got there, all the teachers couldn't believe that I had ridden my b<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8eq9FcNYJ2mRHpZ5eR2UhfakPMcrwCOyrVTBU_XKkFRsjQVXRBlYAjDJtcFvH3l2nhEW0RmcM3oNCWq9Hx9Tge492QYMwPvZWnAGBD7_cq2JF64TbhsmzdXWRlJkoTI2oBApeexvvbFI/s1600-h/IMG_8077.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8eq9FcNYJ2mRHpZ5eR2UhfakPMcrwCOyrVTBU_XKkFRsjQVXRBlYAjDJtcFvH3l2nhEW0RmcM3oNCWq9Hx9Tge492QYMwPvZWnAGBD7_cq2JF64TbhsmzdXWRlJkoTI2oBApeexvvbFI/s200/IMG_8077.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371747168872377250" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ike</span>... even though I've ridden my bike to work everyday and that has been my only means of transportation to that school for the past year... but anyway... My supervisor was nice and offered to drive me to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Ube</span> airport. I really had no other way of getting there since I had to go all the way back to my apartment for my suitcase and the trains weren't even running because the weather was THAT bad. He dropped me off and I went to check-in. One of my students came to visit me to say goodbye which was really sweet. My flight was delayed a little while because of the weather, but it wasn't too long of a delay. I got to Tokyo and made my way to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Saitama</span> Prefecture. I have a friend there who offered to let me stay at his apartment. He was actually in China and just left a key under the mat for me, so that was really nice. That night I made my way back into Tokyo and met some friends for dinner.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpmdqs3m0aFuEUjVSfaTEMZ4NxD1iVtksp-Lcyo_jGRqRvSeIN0rhfohx_gKP0CVlcVDdM1-Eg7x4knNV9Lu3lTfS2sIBYBbIdyieDlYORwBPZtmFnjG4kYeFWbfoeQRorfF7yIha8GQ/s1600-h/IMG_8084.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpmdqs3m0aFuEUjVSfaTEMZ4NxD1iVtksp-Lcyo_jGRqRvSeIN0rhfohx_gKP0CVlcVDdM1-Eg7x4knNV9Lu3lTfS2sIBYBbIdyieDlYORwBPZtmFnjG4kYeFWbfoeQRorfF7yIha8GQ/s200/IMG_8084.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371747569313457106" border="0" /></a><br />The next day, July 22<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">nd</span>, I met up with Ian in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Shinjuku</span>, Tokyo. He flew in that afternoon and we wandered around all day trying to get our stuff ready to climb Mt. Fuji. It was pretty exhausting just running around all day - getting food, ponchos, etc. We finally caught the bus to Mt. Fuji at 4:50pm. The bus arrived at the 5<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">th</span> station around 7:15pm just as the sun was beginning to set. We had planned to eat some noodles there before we left, but everything was closed! So we bought a bag of chips and that was our dinner. We started climbing around 7:45pm. We made it to the 6<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">th</span> station with no problem... went on to the 7<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">th</span> station... still no problem... but after the 7<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">th</span> station is where things started to get really difficult. There were a couple of 7<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">th</span> stations and each one was harder and harder to climb to. By midnight we had made it to the 8<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">th</span> station and I was completely exhausted. I think we ma<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRtON_Rr_Yg04t6WNB05H-beaFQsoLi-qtXe6OtJhRR5JnNzbUIhn3Q1aNAFFNgeVC15vwN7LEaCAa-bmdyeopI8X-iZTIWUmG2AqwtZshxaWAjolT8hrnWd-Vt9E9cQkFlwcjIXBndA/s1600-h/5894_1206550528171_1360894691_572380_7827356_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRtON_Rr_Yg04t6WNB05H-beaFQsoLi-qtXe6OtJhRR5JnNzbUIhn3Q1aNAFFNgeVC15vwN7LEaCAa-bmdyeopI8X-iZTIWUmG2AqwtZshxaWAjolT8hrnWd-Vt9E9cQkFlwcjIXBndA/s200/5894_1206550528171_1360894691_572380_7827356_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371748377095460178" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">de</span> it to the 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">nd</span> or 3rd eight station stop before I finally told Ian that I couldn't go any further without some sleep. I paid the 5500 yen to stay the night in a little hut and Ian was hard core and stayed in his sleeping bag behind the hut. It was REALLY cold outside too. You'd climb some, get hot, sweat, then get cold from your sweat, then get hot again... it was a bad cycle of hot to cold all the way up the mountain. But anyway, we stopped for 2 hours and slept. Even though I was inside, I was still cold because of my sweaty clothes. I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">seriously</span> got to my spot on the floor and just <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">laid</span> down and fell asleep. At 2am we started out again and the weather was pretty bad. We had about 2.5 hours left to get to the top and it sprinkled on and off. As we got closer and closer to the top a line began to form because the trail narrows and there are a lot of people trying to make it up there for sunrise. We passed a bunch of people who stopped and were sucking in oxygen from these cans of air. I just had my water in hand and kept drinking it as I walked. We had brought our own food and pretty much ate the whole way up because we were <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">burning</span> so many calories. We finally made it to the top around 4:40am - just in time for sunrise... but instead of a sunrise, we got pouring down rain :-( Luckily I was in the bathroom when the rain started and I just stayed in there until it <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihfdQqyyo-KxrYLfb_f8BJO0yHqN4oTz15BmNK17iyhOJ9uACPzDlstLCFovT8Hm9_Ef9tNRDsfmKXG1i0SspXRcwfJ2zlbe_KhYU6LySv4AtQAuJmgSB7qcVATOGJSPNEoUnlEUCLMxg/s1600-h/IMG_8102.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihfdQqyyo-KxrYLfb_f8BJO0yHqN4oTz15BmNK17iyhOJ9uACPzDlstLCFovT8Hm9_Ef9tNRDsfmKXG1i0SspXRcwfJ2zlbe_KhYU6LySv4AtQAuJmgSB7qcVATOGJSPNEoUnlEUCLMxg/s200/IMG_8102.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371748712326576450" border="0" /></a>stopped. We hung out at a little shop at the top for awhile because we were completely exhausted. I bought some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">udon</span> to eat for 1000 yen... but it was so worth it. It was funny because there were vending machines on top of the mountain!... only in Japan. Around 5:45am we decided to make our way back down the mountain. It was really foggy and the rocks were slippery from the rain. Once we past a certain point though, the trail turned into this volcanic ash and we <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">didn't</span> have to climb down rocks anymore. The volcanic ash trail was a different trail than the one we took to go up the mountain. I don't think people would actually be able to climb up it. We'd take a step and then kind of skid a few feet... and that's how the entire trail down was except for the top which was the slippery rocks that we had used to get up the<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Vla0f6-O_MwCMZOUTyIRKlQjhikRjRjRS_C1_8mwlQUMyMmN_hCQ77m5OMGpXdWdEcmVqQi6jEVtWWU4MeLyJfS24ye9EdpjuJY8eRPaZjzF9-e-tirtGg9e9pfj4HBsu-t4kfgnsDU/s1600-h/5894_1206550768177_1360894691_572386_1848479_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Vla0f6-O_MwCMZOUTyIRKlQjhikRjRjRS_C1_8mwlQUMyMmN_hCQ77m5OMGpXdWdEcmVqQi6jEVtWWU4MeLyJfS24ye9EdpjuJY8eRPaZjzF9-e-tirtGg9e9pfj4HBsu-t4kfgnsDU/s200/5894_1206550768177_1360894691_572386_1848479_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371749212919513698" border="0" /></a> mountain. Eventually the sun came out and it was pretty cool to look down at the clouds below us. We made it back to the 5<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">th</span> station around 10am. There were a lot of people passing us near the bottom on their way up. I must have looked completely exhausted from their reactions, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">haha</span>. When we got back down there were these 2 people asking everyone if they had seen the 2 <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjphiwohYxkT_x4WAUp3cIL1BOa4zZVEqhwG7259s_TIDtE4RNLFauzo7zFAz8yqAvYnN_2vqslr3FKQqJvCN2BZKeDokGtmogg5Eojfn6eZCV9ZPpg9hihTi3-JKq8EeQrJstZvkFEf28/s1600-h/5894_1206551488195_1360894691_572403_2359140_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjphiwohYxkT_x4WAUp3cIL1BOa4zZVEqhwG7259s_TIDtE4RNLFauzo7zFAz8yqAvYnN_2vqslr3FKQqJvCN2BZKeDokGtmogg5Eojfn6eZCV9ZPpg9hihTi3-JKq8EeQrJstZvkFEf28/s200/5894_1206551488195_1360894691_572403_2359140_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371749400438577858" border="0" /></a>people on the posters they were holding. Apparently 2 people went missing on the mountain. I later looked it up online and it turns out the 2 missing people had started climbing the mountain that Sunday with a group of people from their work and then didn't show up to work on Tuesday (because Monday was a national holiday) and then people started to worry. We climbed down Thursday morning and that's when they had started searching for them. Turns out 1 of them was found dead near the top of the mountain Thursday afternoon and the other 1 was found dead shortly thereafter. But anyway, once we made it back to the 5<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">th</span> station we got some noodles, bought some souvenirs and caught the 11am bus back to Tokyo. I'm really glad I climbed Mt. Fuji, but I don't think I'll ever do it again. I seriously think climbing that mountain was the most physically demanding thing I've ever done in my entire life. My entire body hurt for over a week later.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157621796560929&text=" align="center" width="375" frameborder="0" height="345" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Admarket's</span></a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">flickrSLiDR</span></a>.</small></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjETDv3gxoh6gX7YgpGPThOHxhWyOjTTQXe4WsAQph8eFhzRFDjbwcl9CvxhLC-iAHnCtmj-kwbnzQml3U6N8Cax_AanEuW2GpcYdaJBOEVRvKs6TkSkoE9a9LeGj4T8vlgqSk_FF7T14/s1600-h/IMG_8148.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjETDv3gxoh6gX7YgpGPThOHxhWyOjTTQXe4WsAQph8eFhzRFDjbwcl9CvxhLC-iAHnCtmj-kwbnzQml3U6N8Cax_AanEuW2GpcYdaJBOEVRvKs6TkSkoE9a9LeGj4T8vlgqSk_FF7T14/s200/IMG_8148.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371749911863794098" border="0" /></a>Friday morning (July 24<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">th</span>), I took local trains all the way from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Saitama</span> to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Shiga</span>. I stopped in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Shibuya</span>, Tokyo to get a picture of the busiest crossing in the world - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Shibuya</span> Crossing. I was on local trains for about 10 hours that day. I made it to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Shiga</span> Friday nigh<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2MM3K_zR3bnmR9EFolvgxzLjKptReUwQ_xsfsFE9BliCY_vq8QxmIQeHoM6jiiG1xakEftUaj8V77cMQT6xjQE1RbkeM5zHK3Mht9aoyBr_-ujVHphp2iAgbdyvWFi_hd1BooAuaLvMs/s1600-h/IMG_8157.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2MM3K_zR3bnmR9EFolvgxzLjKptReUwQ_xsfsFE9BliCY_vq8QxmIQeHoM6jiiG1xakEftUaj8V77cMQT6xjQE1RbkeM5zHK3Mht9aoyBr_-ujVHphp2iAgbdyvWFi_hd1BooAuaLvMs/s200/IMG_8157.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371750459899198418" border="0" /></a>t and stayed with my friend Nathan in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Maibara</span> for the weekend. He lives right next to Mt. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Ibuki</span>. If I hadn't just climbed Mt. Fuji then I probably would've climbed it, but I was all climbed out. We went to Osaka Saturday night and met up with my friend Mina for dinner. I met Mina back in 2003 when I did a summer <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">homestay</span> in Osaka. Sunday was a really chill day and we got to catch up on some of our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">tv</span> shows. Monday, July 27<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">th</span>, I took local trains from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Shiga</span> all the way back to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Yamaguchi</span>. On my way to the train station in Nathan's town, this man pulled over his car and asked me if I was going to the train <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">statio</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWM3X6AvyWaKOiwjw3_aqXh1rrb62zw0v2dBdh8CFb74PxIjIOUpvuOHfWawcLntdSuZLV1CIX0wfR_MHGeklCqMVcJpLtJBTvCpEGI9Xk0LxLp8pJLNOJmny37ySjMxFQ6a3m-HdNdTc/s1600-h/IMG_8160.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWM3X6AvyWaKOiwjw3_aqXh1rrb62zw0v2dBdh8CFb74PxIjIOUpvuOHfWawcLntdSuZLV1CIX0wfR_MHGeklCqMVcJpLtJBTvCpEGI9Xk0LxLp8pJLNOJmny37ySjMxFQ6a3m-HdNdTc/s200/IMG_8160.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371750920448220722" border="0" /></a>n. I told him I was and he said something along the lines of "if it's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">ok</span> with you, can I give you a ride there because I'm going there too." It was about a 40 minute walk from Nathan's house to the train station and I had all of my stuff with me, so of course I accepted the ride from him. He was telling me about how his family was hosting an American high school exchange student right now and he'd just arrived about a week before. He was a really great guy and saved me from the 20 minutes I had left of lugging my stuff to the station. That day, I was on local trains for about 13 hours. I made it back to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Ube</span> around 9:30pm. I had to stay at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">Meng's</span> apartment since my lease was up.<br /><br />Tuesday, July 28<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">th</span>, I had to go back to my base school to sign a few papers and make sure all of my bills were paid. My contract ended July 27<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">th</span>..... but they still asked that I go in, so I did. After that, I ran around <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">Ube</span> all day trying to get rid of stuff that wouldn't fit into my suitcases. Throwing stuff away in Japan is a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">hassle</span> to begin with - you have to sort your trash about 9 different ways or they won't pick it up. Now I was trying to get rid of things like shoes, shampoo, etc. I basically just made a lot of trips to the convenience stores and threw stuff away in the trash cans they have outside. That night, I met up with the teachers from my base school who had become my friends - the art teachers, Biology teacher, Math teacher, and Japanese History teacher. We went out for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">yakiniku</span> and they gave me presents.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_lsVlkW9obnpgqS2AuWsUuplACfgbp6aHKLfvcO-v1zgCqeYoYs8iqGuczg8aLuM-E_FVAh6GVYLfG97pixThux35CFIq05Xa5GO2BuAgsN7yFjjGMRCACeJ0l57_WOyq8VAFZfRmbcI/s1600-h/IMG_8166.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 168px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_lsVlkW9obnpgqS2AuWsUuplACfgbp6aHKLfvcO-v1zgCqeYoYs8iqGuczg8aLuM-E_FVAh6GVYLfG97pixThux35CFIq05Xa5GO2BuAgsN7yFjjGMRCACeJ0l57_WOyq8VAFZfRmbcI/s200/IMG_8166.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371751753287742754" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZRHf5V7n8D80XoOEQjPYZx2pJc8S7jhg61QrhCNa6FPhvFd6JzO5Oaf97LED6giksRiQhaho6Pa7HQLTcEPOam1oL-SJkSpTAqFq6rffhtyz06SiHNpaxQLD4AWPW2FpbKV-2rHfUjho/s1600-h/IMG_8167.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 222px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZRHf5V7n8D80XoOEQjPYZx2pJc8S7jhg61QrhCNa6FPhvFd6JzO5Oaf97LED6giksRiQhaho6Pa7HQLTcEPOam1oL-SJkSpTAqFq6rffhtyz06SiHNpaxQLD4AWPW2FpbKV-2rHfUjho/s200/IMG_8167.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371751765214430706" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div>The next day, Wednesday, I went to buy a bus ticket to Fukuoka and the earliest one they had was at 5pm... so I bought it. I went to the bank to try to cancel my bank account, but they wouldn't let me because I had forgotten to bring my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">inkan</span> - this little stamp that everyone has and uses as their "official" signature. That was really frustrating. I told them I didn't have one and they told me to go get one made. They wouldn't accept any form of identification I had either. So I just didn't cancel my bank account. Whatever. When 4:30pm rolled around, I got a taxi to come and pick me and my stuff up to go to the bus station. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">Mayuko</span>, a friend of mine in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">Ube</span> who I met at the Indian restaurant came to the bus stop to say goodbye. I finally made my way to Fukuoka. The bus dropped me off and then I had to grab a taxi to drive me to the airport. I left all of my luggage in lockers at the airport because it was a lot easier than trying to lug it all to Ian's house in Saga and then back to Fukuoka on Saturday. After I put all of my stuff into lockers, I caught a train to Saga and made it there on the last train which arrived around 11pm.<br /><br />Thursday and Friday (July 30<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">th</span> and 31st) I hung out in Saga. Saga <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">JETs</span> are all really nice and I always enjoy hanging out with them. I went around with Ian and some of the Saga new people on Thursday and helped them at the grocery store, etc. Thursday night a group of people went out for dinner and it was good food for a good price. Friday I hung out with some Saga people who didn't re-contract for another year while Ian was at work. That night they were having a going away dinner for Eddie and Glen which was a lot of fun followed by karaoke.<br /><br />Saturday, August 1st, I woke up pretty early and made my way to Fukuoka. I flew from Fukuoka to Seoul and had about a 5 hour layover in Seoul. Then I flew from Seoul to Chicago and my mom and younger sister picked me up at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">O'Hare</span> and we drove back down to Indiana. We got back around 1am Sunday morning.<br /><br />Being home has been nice so far. It's nice to not have to pay rent or bills for awhile :) I got a cell phone and a car... now all I need is a job!<br /><br />Since I'm not in Japan anymore, then I guess this is the end of this blog. I hope you all enjoyed reading my blogs and looking at my pictures throughout the year! I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">definitely</span> hope to go back to Japan - either to study or work again. For now, I'm trying to keep my options open. I might be back!Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-69113811855229279632009-07-20T09:06:00.016+09:002011-03-22T05:25:34.352+09:00Coming to an end...My year on the JET Program has quickly come to an end. I'll try and recap what all I've been up to since the last time I posted...<br /><br />Last Friday, July 10th, I went to Kenchou (the prefectural building in Yamaguchi City which is home to the Prefectural Board of Education). All of the Prefectural JETs who are leaving this year had to go there for a farewell ceremony and to collect our money for our return trips home. The JET Program is the only English Teaching gig in Japan that I know of that pays for all of your travel expenses (and then some). It's really nice! Anyway, here's a picture of all the prefectural JETs who are leaving along with 2 pictures of Seiki Sensei - our boss.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinbeU8MtG-vfT82dCFch58-UF0JCaDRdt7CaDwY5qG-qcRssz-qwOk8IIPA07ze_I6hXl1hcZqhAF-gLoY4T3d8tPAq8r7MhMY0-N8iBEGPpUWHnnl051yLi6AdkchCRwVRrHm5W8eaK0/s1600-h/2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360328609095757762" style="width: 135px; cursor: pointer; height: 169px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinbeU8MtG-vfT82dCFch58-UF0JCaDRdt7CaDwY5qG-qcRssz-qwOk8IIPA07ze_I6hXl1hcZqhAF-gLoY4T3d8tPAq8r7MhMY0-N8iBEGPpUWHnnl051yLi6AdkchCRwVRrHm5W8eaK0/s200/2.jpg" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_L8mZaqjJxF4zFKPH2A_LpHIyNm1ciymM85k-8aRx5Uwes_zst_A0TCfJ-yQaazQLw7qIjFNkDADtIUIEtcmU2ExkAToglZNWaAYrvvND4UJmMLgA8dX6rBJm8Bx7J1mY9JMJ51QxuQk/s1600-h/6734_1177806411893_1430114369_478929_6584441_n.jpg"> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360328178566020754" style="width: 222px; cursor: pointer; height: 167px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_L8mZaqjJxF4zFKPH2A_LpHIyNm1ciymM85k-8aRx5Uwes_zst_A0TCfJ-yQaazQLw7qIjFNkDADtIUIEtcmU2ExkAToglZNWaAYrvvND4UJmMLgA8dX6rBJm8Bx7J1mY9JMJ51QxuQk/s200/6734_1177806411893_1430114369_478929_6584441_n.jpg" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiduzoUWwyMLnizglhCyNnCbjUC1_AdUFGLR274_IUbpNSnYjekLVwmDc6fax_i2XQDJDcv2GQCN3yBzrcItknkRVd_1qUlxLvOhreGA0PzMU-0RV13oRtRXW1pliJC947373SBFel5nto/s1600-h/6734_1177806371892_1430114369_478928_588727_n.jpg"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiduzoUWwyMLnizglhCyNnCbjUC1_AdUFGLR274_IUbpNSnYjekLVwmDc6fax_i2XQDJDcv2GQCN3yBzrcItknkRVd_1qUlxLvOhreGA0PzMU-0RV13oRtRXW1pliJC947373SBFel5nto/s1600-h/6734_1177806371892_1430114369_478928_588727_n.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360328187667478658" style="width: 126px; cursor: pointer; height: 168px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiduzoUWwyMLnizglhCyNnCbjUC1_AdUFGLR274_IUbpNSnYjekLVwmDc6fax_i2XQDJDcv2GQCN3yBzrcItknkRVd_1qUlxLvOhreGA0PzMU-0RV13oRtRXW1pliJC947373SBFel5nto/s200/6734_1177806371892_1430114369_478928_588727_n.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">After the farewell ceremony at kenchou, I hurried back to Ube just in time for my farewell enkai (party) for my base school. It was just with the English teachers at my base school along with my art teacher friend and Japanese history teacher friend. Also, Fujii Sensei (an English teacher who got moved to another school back in March) came along with Nishioka Sensei (an English teacher who retired in March). It was a good time. One part of the meal included really nice sushi which was laid out nicely on this GIANT wooden ship. It was so cool!<br /><br />The next day, July 11th, I made my way up to Hagi for the AJET Leaver's Party. It was a good time. We cooked out on the beach and then later that night we all went to a bar and they presented some awards (such as: biggest gossip, the person turning most Japanese, etc.... I didn't win any awards). Here are some pictures from Leaver's Party. I don't have too many... but once people start posting their pictures online then I can take them and add them here.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157621708661264&text=" align="center" width="375" frameborder="0" height="355" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a title="Admarket.se" href="http://www.admarket.se/">Admarket's</a> <a title="flickrSLiDR" href="http://flickrslidr.com/">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbtw5nY_pVkHbAWA7wMdO83VKmPs1ra44P0D-qLuJMbgXhryVHwgJ-J9DfgUfbDfpTQTagsqVGXHGS3BNgQKSSELjqCqYCM3PbqwgaxPi02TGGMP_426VlVFsju99kNvpWIYKPTaIItU/s1600-h/IMG_8024.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360333307867890034" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px; cursor: pointer; height: 150px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbtw5nY_pVkHbAWA7wMdO83VKmPs1ra44P0D-qLuJMbgXhryVHwgJ-J9DfgUfbDfpTQTagsqVGXHGS3BNgQKSSELjqCqYCM3PbqwgaxPi02TGGMP_426VlVFsju99kNvpWIYKPTaIItU/s200/IMG_8024.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Last Wednesday, July 15th, my base school - Ube Nishi - had their Sports Day. I love Sports Day because it's fun to see what the students wear. This is one of the only times all year where students are allowed to decorate their clothes and wear props at school. They really go all out expressing themselves! The weather started out really great - actually, it was incredibly hot... but it was sunny. About an hour and a half into it, though, it started to rain... and then it started to pour. It was kind of a mess. Everyone was soaking wet. The rain only lasted about 15 minutes, but by the time everyone made it into the gym - they were soaked. They sent everyone back to their homerooms and had a meeting in the teacher's room. They decided to go ahead and send students home for the rest of the day since they didn't have a change of clothes. It was 11:30am! It was fun to watch while it lasted. Here are some pictures:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157621584724755&text=" align="center" width="375" frameborder="0" height="355" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a title="Admarket.se" href="http://www.admarket.se/">Admarket's</a> <a title="flickrSLiDR" href="http://flickrslidr.com/">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">This past Friday, July 17th, was the closing ceremony (for the start of summer break) at my base school. There was also a special farewell ceremony for me. The principal got up on stage and talked about how I had first met a Japanese person in 6th grade when this girl was in my class (her family had moved to the US that year). He then went on to talk about how I studied Japanese in high school and how I spent a summer in Saga Prefecture and then another summer in Osaka. I was trying really hard not to listen to what he was saying because I didn't want to get all emotional before I had to give my farewell speech. I was really surprised that I was actually understanding everything he had to say... but I'd be a little disappointed if I couldn't understand him... considering all of the studying I did over the years plus this year spent living in Japan. Anyway, after he was done talking, I got up and gave my speech - first in English and then again in Japanese. My supervisor wanted me to do it in English first... so that's why I did. During my English version I got a little choked up, but then reminded myself that almost everyone in the gym had no idea what I was saying and so I probably looked really funny getting choked up because they didn't know why... But then I started the Japanese version. I was almost to the end when I started crying : ( haha... yeah. Once I started crying, the entire gym started crying. But then I pulled myself together and finished it. I think it was a nice speech. After my speech, a student came up to the stage with this HUGE bouquet of flowers and told me (in Japanese) how much students enjoyed my classes, that my classes were interesting, that she looked forward to my classes, and that they would miss me, etc. This also happened to be my favorite student :) It made me happy. As I left the gym to go back to the staff room, everyone was clapping and crying. That was when I finally felt that my time here was done. It's been a really great year. I don't have any pictures from the closing ceremony at school, but I asked my art teach friend (who takes all the school event pictures) for a copy of the pictures she took and she said she'd put them on a cd for me... so whenever I get them, I'll post them.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Friday night, I went out to dinner with Meng and our Japanese friend Mayuko. We went to my favorite yakiniku place and I ordered a beer that is just about as big as my face, haha... I didn't realized it was that big. Afterwards, Mayuko came over because I wanted to give her my bouquet of flowers since I'm moving out of my apartment and don't want to just throw them away. Here are pictures from dinner and a picture of me with my bouquet of flowers!<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBkEmLYM5BUkVeKheuCcB9cGDOUx22CPs1BOlw59LBcSrFaCXB0ZVT1sWpscF__xbTkGvEU-6acH-3xUrVjeMAndFvP5WQ7atoSsSCslQm_yh0aRbPiqqqPr-3lGPjVEJ5w2yf32xk-p0/s1600-h/6533_526709946920_3900017_31417979_2197523_n.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360339298809183746" style="width: 243px; cursor: pointer; height: 182px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBkEmLYM5BUkVeKheuCcB9cGDOUx22CPs1BOlw59LBcSrFaCXB0ZVT1sWpscF__xbTkGvEU-6acH-3xUrVjeMAndFvP5WQ7atoSsSCslQm_yh0aRbPiqqqPr-3lGPjVEJ5w2yf32xk-p0/s200/6533_526709946920_3900017_31417979_2197523_n.jpg" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZInJ5tlo_oEK4CeNOlQI7ixi81V90MgQazwen0TF6YuDiaTCNcFtW93rJ6KixpWI4wSYL4-pp_DS0i41UDaRlfQK8WDW-pgHY1NfJOwe9Uapd1ULuxyZ8CF9WkGGzHU0xV5BjvjP-5E/s1600-h/6533_526709941930_3900017_31417978_7753935_n.jpg"> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360339291274427090" style="width: 136px; cursor: pointer; height: 182px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZInJ5tlo_oEK4CeNOlQI7ixi81V90MgQazwen0TF6YuDiaTCNcFtW93rJ6KixpWI4wSYL4-pp_DS0i41UDaRlfQK8WDW-pgHY1NfJOwe9Uapd1ULuxyZ8CF9WkGGzHU0xV5BjvjP-5E/s200/6533_526709941930_3900017_31417978_7753935_n.jpg" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPfvfdKR5hY-61DGvJPhAQpOd797HeKQAf4yTKe-kmILvRgZcMbQ4G04EORwKz3YB0QalNuXdFUa4yxiaUdaxOEPZLq5SLGJ934UpA7mu1bq0PJfjhPsX_XCN_kS9RoYYq61wQjJhcEk0/s1600-h/6533_526709936940_3900017_31417977_419447_n.jpg"> </a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2nvkcYOkf1OBYo5Kv-15e1vdZ9dw27AEZYPxTsoYuwij-n-N_4cd2COnOBugVyFuflwm4pRj5mWUjkAsRq9P9U0DAl50HvrtNBjcXP8IZro4qBKiubX-wKrh320qH33zr04vB8uT1p4U/s1600-h/IMG_8047.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360339304652867762" style="width: 150px; cursor: pointer; height: 200px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2nvkcYOkf1OBYo5Kv-15e1vdZ9dw27AEZYPxTsoYuwij-n-N_4cd2COnOBugVyFuflwm4pRj5mWUjkAsRq9P9U0DAl50HvrtNBjcXP8IZro4qBKiubX-wKrh320qH33zr04vB8uT1p4U/s200/IMG_8047.JPG" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg16AunC8mrvhKSyUuuRS10oBMdFmzYmJFxHWvMDW80zQD9kTyAC0FTYsj0OzryR8XarMpHFbv0RqyL8BHuOyGDW40yBBaTUrrFsY4NHJlmaezueKBHCelKPyNSvsCowFfNe_yWY6gRY9A/s1600-h/IMG_8052.JPG"> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360339314649900274" style="width: 150px; cursor: pointer; height: 200px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg16AunC8mrvhKSyUuuRS10oBMdFmzYmJFxHWvMDW80zQD9kTyAC0FTYsj0OzryR8XarMpHFbv0RqyL8BHuOyGDW40yBBaTUrrFsY4NHJlmaezueKBHCelKPyNSvsCowFfNe_yWY6gRY9A/s200/IMG_8052.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><br />Saturday night I went to a Yukata Party at a brewery in Moji-ko. It was really fun and I finally got a chance to wear my yukata! Earlier that day I was shopping in Kokura, so I made my way to Shimonoseki to get ready with some people. We took the ferry from Shimonoseki to Moji... which took all of 5 minutes. Shimonoseki is on the very western tip of Honshu (Japan's main island) and Moji is on the very northern tip of Kyushu (Japan's southern island). You can easily see Moji across the water from Shimonoseki. After dinner, almost everyone went back to Shimonoseki for karaoke and it was a lot of fun! At one point I took the bow off of my yukata so I could lean against the back of the seat at karaoke. When I went to the bathroom just before leavin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGM1ZS0aBrf_A5oCjeIEgixPr9mWXZoi5Yi3fdu3POrbuvThEPvqTsHB_SsnPLsFQaN1B0_idtudzNTsB6zd_t8F_7PYB0oPYJ5slvFmLMXeeRPnkqu-qB2jiTcoLn3hR861V4qyYB10/s1600-h/6533_526709632550_3900017_31417971_6033938_n.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360344704643043554" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 230px; cursor: pointer; height: 173px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGM1ZS0aBrf_A5oCjeIEgixPr9mWXZoi5Yi3fdu3POrbuvThEPvqTsHB_SsnPLsFQaN1B0_idtudzNTsB6zd_t8F_7PYB0oPYJ5slvFmLMXeeRPnkqu-qB2jiTcoLn3hR861V4qyYB10/s200/6533_526709632550_3900017_31417971_6033938_n.jpg" border="0" /></a>g karaoke, there was this older woman in there (maybe in her 40s?... can't really tell with Japanese people to be honest... they usually look much younger than they really are). Anyway, she saw that my bow wasn't on, so she takes it and is all like "oh, this is how you put the bow on" as she drunkenly fixed it, haha. It was probably around 3am, my yukata was probably a mess anyway, and this woman was still happily chatting away with me as she put the bow back on. It was a fun night. Here are some pictures!:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157621586181095&text=" align="center" width="375" frameborder="0" height="355" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a title="Admarket.se" href="http://www.admarket.se/">Admarket's</a> <a title="flickrSLiDR" href="http://flickrslidr.com/">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-weight: bold;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVeNIn703rNfdhztRRL2HgmdqqcPgwzDFQ1ZdKqj3I4mAUBeJT9v8Okiv_Ux4NlEWSDe3meG3YEjYR6kquz6Nz6hl4lJh8PCFrqsmJeRN4ALreJ5b0-K0uDASQ78cLsgJHA70QP8pNZWs/s1600-h/IMG_8016.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360347197151546658" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px; cursor: pointer; height: 150px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVeNIn703rNfdhztRRL2HgmdqqcPgwzDFQ1ZdKqj3I4mAUBeJT9v8Okiv_Ux4NlEWSDe3meG3YEjYR6kquz6Nz6hl4lJh8PCFrqsmJeRN4ALreJ5b0-K0uDASQ78cLsgJHA70QP8pNZWs/s200/IMG_8016.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">So that pretty much sums up what I've been up to for my last couple of weeks as a JET. These past few weeks have been really busy, but a lot of fun! I'm going to end this post with 2 pictures of these young people that I FINALLY met in Ube. I met the guy on the right through my friend Jimmy about a month ago. His name is Taka and he used to be one of Jimmy's students before he left to study in Canada for 2 months. When he came back, I met him and he's been really great! He's going to be a junior high English teacher sometime in the near future. He has his degree, he just needs to pass some test which he'll take next week. The guy on the left side of the picture is his friend. The girl in the picture ... one night a few weeks ago, Taka invited me to dinner and took me to this really good place out near Ube Airport. When we went to pay, she was the person behind the cash register. Taka told me that she had been glancing at me throughout dinner... like she wanted to talk to me,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH-BfSDD9eS-CSkk9FUe59Gp3fUCMk38_kegjJu7cHqc4oIqHiUPaLdMMCJ4TGCMLhymYQDzRIoJ82BkZCvAOtxHNqhCVmJv4cAPSGU9DtM-yBeSFGF6LnbC-v6Z-Z2BEZYBzTEifev7U/s1600-h/IMG_8017.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360347307869299138" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 150px; cursor: pointer; height: 200px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH-BfSDD9eS-CSkk9FUe59Gp3fUCMk38_kegjJu7cHqc4oIqHiUPaLdMMCJ4TGCMLhymYQDzRIoJ82BkZCvAOtxHNqhCVmJv4cAPSGU9DtM-yBeSFGF6LnbC-v6Z-Z2BEZYBzTEifev7U/s200/IMG_8017.JPG" border="0" /></a> but maybe she was too shy to. When we went to pay, the 3 of us got to talking and it turns out she went to Australia for 2 months about a year or so ago and she really likes foreigners. We left the restaurant and I was telling Taka how I would've gotten her contact info if I wasn't leaving in a few weeks. Turns out, sometime after that, Taka went back to that restaurant and got her contact info because he thought she was really nice. We all had dinner sometime last week and she was telling me that she goes to Baiko University - this small school in Shimonoseki... and I know her English instructor! Small world. It would've been nice to have met her and Taka earlier, but I'm really glad I met them because they're great!<br /><br />Today I'm going to finish packing and cleaning my apartment. Tomorrow I'm flying up to Tokyo! Wednesday I'm meeting my friend Ian in Tokyo and we're going to take a bus down to Mt. Fuji..... and we're going to climb to the top! I've wanted to climb Mt. Fuji for years! I really hope the weather is nice and it doesn't rain. I think it's going to be a pretty tough climb... but I won't leave Japan until I've climbed that mountain! Friday, I'm going to take local trains all the way from Tokyo to Shiga and stay with a friend there. I'll have some fun in Osaka next weekend before heading back to Ube. I have to stop by my base school next Tuesday so I can take care of some final bills. I also need to close my bank account and cancel my cell phone before I leave... so I'll do all of that around the 29th of July. I'm keeping my suitcases with Meng while I travel. Saturday, August 1st, I'll be on a flight out of Fukuoka on my way back to the US (via Seoul). I probably won't have a chance to update this until I get back to the US... but I plan on at least adding pics of my climb to the top of Mt. Fuji! Look for an update in about 3 weeks! </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-16875022472264694502009-07-09T21:20:00.004+09:002009-07-09T21:35:07.679+09:00Fun Times!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAerrrnlLd7yNo5kVkfJ7chgkbxCiNIB0V0D-jSEdNG-xxIY_Ao_aemlBTNanBN_SvTLvfgv3Uf77ku3OVLBfM-vLAW6PMGVTSkgCPcf_wi4xSsv5yuSH3GdFF3chz3WGThusLUXle0CY/s1600-h/fb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAerrrnlLd7yNo5kVkfJ7chgkbxCiNIB0V0D-jSEdNG-xxIY_Ao_aemlBTNanBN_SvTLvfgv3Uf77ku3OVLBfM-vLAW6PMGVTSkgCPcf_wi4xSsv5yuSH3GdFF3chz3WGThusLUXle0CY/s200/fb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356435161542345234" border="0" /></a>I've really been enjoying my last couple of weeks here. Last Friday, a few co-workers from my base school came over to my apartment for a little get together. I told my friend Maiko, the art teacher, that I wanted to have some people over and she rounded them up! These are some of my favorite co-workers! All of them came to Ube Nishi (my base school) in April... so I've only had a few months getting to know them and they're really great! Actually, the calligraphy teacher isn't new, but I didn't really know her before the new school year started up again in April... I knew who she was, I'd just never spoken to her before. Anyway, we made a lot of food, drank a lot of drinks, and had a really nice night!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe align="center" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157621086439198&text=" frameborder="0" width="375" height="355" scrolling="no"></iframe><br/><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">For the 4th of July, I went to a rooftop party in Shimonoseki. It was really fun! There was a bbq, lots of food, fireworks, and this Japanese guy juggled fire! The night ended Japanese style with Karaoke and a ride home on the back of a bicycle.<br /><br />As of tomorrow, I'll only have 1 week of work left. I cannot believe it. It's really sad to say goodbye. It's been a fantastic year overall and it's hard to believe that it's coming to an end so soon. Today, I taught my last class with a group of students who I've taught quite a bit throughout this entire year. Most of the students in the class were in the very first class that I ever taught. They are 2nd years now, but they were 1st years when I met them. My lesson plan was about the 4th of July and then we played a category game the rest of the time. At the end of class, they all surprised me and stood up to read a letter they had written to me thanking me for teaching them. After they read the letter out loud together, they sat down and 5 students held up cards that had the hiragana letters ありがとう written out (one hiragana on each card). That's "thank you" in Japanese. Wow. I'm really going to miss Japan... especially my students.<br /></div></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-78664366384074638482009-06-28T22:43:00.005+09:002009-06-28T22:48:09.132+09:00RefreshingI was walking around Tokiwa Park by myself today when 2 complete, separate strangers told me how beautiful I am... how nice is that?! Both times, the people were old people... but I don't care.... and it makes it that much better because they were being genuine (as in not trying to hit on me). It was refreshing to hear :)Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-74639889289833245562009-06-26T20:02:00.012+09:002009-06-26T20:39:40.005+09:00Last day at Ube Shougyou (Commercial High School)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkivVNIH2aJTa3NTsmwnK2am6Nw2E3DQ64GURnjkIChpin_cTdwuH23YRxJPpN-U348FSfIEPoa-_6JS6GAlnQG30LKhBYmx2q4VhqWZlJA_L3yihK45Pf8HEKnZKtjnScD-HA9ApPYeU/s1600-h/IMG_7916.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkivVNIH2aJTa3NTsmwnK2am6Nw2E3DQ64GURnjkIChpin_cTdwuH23YRxJPpN-U348FSfIEPoa-_6JS6GAlnQG30LKhBYmx2q4VhqWZlJA_L3yihK45Pf8HEKnZKtjnScD-HA9ApPYeU/s200/IMG_7916.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351593366470436690" border="0" /></a><br />Today was my last day teaching at Ube Commercial High School (Ube Shougyou). There are still 3 weeks of classes left, but next Friday I will be teaching at Ube General Support School since Shougyou has exams. The Friday after that, I have to go to Kenchou in Yamaguchi City for the Prefectural JET's farewell ceremony. Then the Friday after that, it's the farewell ceremony at my base school (Ube Nishi) and I will go to my base school that day because I have to give a farewell speech in front of the school. I really enjoyed teaching at Ube Shougyou over the past year. The students are all very friendly. Almost everyone at the school really warmed up to me over the course of the year. I remember when I first got there, the English Club was really just feeling me out and so were the teachers and students. I'm<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5dYAvNn-37Y8w6LexmstCnQs4lhOJ1KntsOOa9sJuo7_FtORRXAFgcsnDQqkKvvb0kHr8ITpfjDvjaBsHw3Z-jmSpCkEc4ILEttB88KJXqWGiUX13WLKgQhY61jDemER2NjL9ArY0mTw/s1600-h/IMG_7932.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5dYAvNn-37Y8w6LexmstCnQs4lhOJ1KntsOOa9sJuo7_FtORRXAFgcsnDQqkKvvb0kHr8ITpfjDvjaBsHw3Z-jmSpCkEc4ILEttB88KJXqWGiUX13WLKgQhY61jDemER2NjL9ArY0mTw/s200/IMG_7932.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351593516794257010" border="0" /></a> not gonna lie, it is somewhat disappointing to leave once everyone has finally warmed up to me, but I know I made the right decision. Also, it's really nice to leave on a high note. One student in particular at this school is my absolute favorite student that I've worked with. She is a member of the English Club. When I met her last August, she was a very sweet, shy, and quiet first year. She has since grown into an outgoing, bubbly girl and she is now a second year student. She really came a long way over the year - socially and her English has really improved thanks to a little self confidence. Her pronunciation was really good when I got here, but now it's even better and she has enough confidence to be heard. Anyway, she makes my time here in Japan complete. I really wanted to have an impact on at le<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQUzkxaGzRcy52Qs-h_wlDREGMove5uXBmTPnBXVsUaBp0a5lvR3ACcr7Rc4QvENPK9jQ8l5IbpkngFdf8hflPPc55odHxygjdBsSyzB59ipQDYyoM583ks7T55ZJ3yrpmrx3CAExH3o/s1600-h/IMG_7928.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQUzkxaGzRcy52Qs-h_wlDREGMove5uXBmTPnBXVsUaBp0a5lvR3ACcr7Rc4QvENPK9jQ8l5IbpkngFdf8hflPPc55odHxygjdBsSyzB59ipQDYyoM583ks7T55ZJ3yrpmrx3CAExH3o/s200/IMG_7928.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351593932821906290" border="0" /></a>ast 1 student and from what I gather from a letter she wrote me, I'm pretty sure I've had an impact on her and it feels really great. Lately, I've been wondering if I actually made a difference while I was here in Japan this year... and I realized that I have and that makes me really happy :)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157620587523960&text=" scrolling="no" width="375" align="center" frameborder="0" height="345"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-43454144424739355222009-06-26T19:22:00.015+09:002009-06-29T17:09:00.420+09:00Rafting, Shrine, and Beach<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vgXH9lxlQAhJfebW6vDNycKxCdgVmrFz_WiSJWUt7WV3EV3YHkurDP5JSDbjiZoS8WruuBwfvJK9d2LjbAo0DoWnLPheowcRD4JROKHII5V9KT8d81SucoUaHxCvCLpTQtazI8eYWIM/s1600-h/5170_1159795801639_1430114369_415109_7742604_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vgXH9lxlQAhJfebW6vDNycKxCdgVmrFz_WiSJWUt7WV3EV3YHkurDP5JSDbjiZoS8WruuBwfvJK9d2LjbAo0DoWnLPheowcRD4JROKHII5V9KT8d81SucoUaHxCvCLpTQtazI8eYWIM/s200/5170_1159795801639_1430114369_415109_7742604_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351586341948986402" border="0" /></a>Two weekends ago (June 13th), I went rafting somewhere in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi with a handful of other Yamaguchi JETs. We went on the Nishiki River. The rapids were pretty much a class 1... well, more like .5 if that were a ranking... not many rapids at all. But, it was still a lot of fun. The water was incedibly CLEAR and it was really pretty along the river. We also had 2 kayaks and those were much more fun. I think kayaks would not be fun in big rapids, but for our baby ones, it was pretty fun!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnze370MK_gT-xLhHAS2Rm8_ePeREK-UhvXEitfzbpBbf7eN7mPXvtyqnwB8jzO4ryHZZZ4-Fox46rhBrFK13R0NOLuor1dOEGWOVR5Qdij0uAyNT7gsBvETY8kSDtmBiaSq1yAoXzADI/s1600-h/5170_1159785601384_1430114369_415077_1230198_n.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 161px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnze370MK_gT-xLhHAS2Rm8_ePeREK-UhvXEitfzbpBbf7eN7mPXvtyqnwB8jzO4ryHZZZ4-Fox46rhBrFK13R0NOLuor1dOEGWOVR5Qdij0uAyNT7gsBvETY8kSDtmBiaSq1yAoXzADI/s200/5170_1159785601384_1430114369_415077_1230198_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351580687626146866" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwU8vmEs9d02ijQ_KVEoSO0H1Co7GqdFa65VLP3rpCTR_fLj6mA34uSqMwNvsE3RT1EmoS6wa7hmN5HRyBdtVk6Z9z1vqukZGoCukzPeXsu8ftjdUVJbc2mGSI8GBd752QfK8GqROivU/s1600-h/5170_1159786681411_1430114369_415084_745821_n.jpg"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwU8vmEs9d02ijQ_KVEoSO0H1Co7GqdFa65VLP3rpCTR_fLj6mA34uSqMwNvsE3RT1EmoS6wa7hmN5HRyBdtVk6Z9z1vqukZGoCukzPeXsu8ftjdUVJbc2mGSI8GBd752QfK8GqROivU/s1600-h/5170_1159786681411_1430114369_415084_745821_n.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 218px; height: 163px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwU8vmEs9d02ijQ_KVEoSO0H1Co7GqdFa65VLP3rpCTR_fLj6mA34uSqMwNvsE3RT1EmoS6wa7hmN5HRyBdtVk6Z9z1vqukZGoCukzPeXsu8ftjdUVJbc2mGSI8GBd752QfK8GqROivU/s200/5170_1159786681411_1430114369_415084_745821_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351580694004895746" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLUbS6LpHmqkovSeynCtYpPywF6HlRn9gCAkpwkh8QXeuNoWGdpBlKkRTekniQWqiwCXSYzZfF3j548qG4JF-aPvj6EVNEkvyfsRC02WyZWIHeTHaYn2x1VOoFPJ7e0RnfbNtc4beX8Z4/s1600-h/5170_1159798441705_1430114369_415144_1433900_n.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 158px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLUbS6LpHmqkovSeynCtYpPywF6HlRn9gCAkpwkh8QXeuNoWGdpBlKkRTekniQWqiwCXSYzZfF3j548qG4JF-aPvj6EVNEkvyfsRC02WyZWIHeTHaYn2x1VOoFPJ7e0RnfbNtc4beX8Z4/s200/5170_1159798441705_1430114369_415144_1433900_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351580699148243154" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsi1hIzOLWiGM7sH6WLKhLwWfkQgwX_f3Du5mWgTN30M0nwXiKS0Yws6fii19mwvx8kconve6C8rDXkT5oMQUrKNs0XZUI0ueyyAio6x2CnRJxWHPdlYqX5qsd9fZtajdKGTt2q5i9KY/s1600-h/5170_1159794921617_1430114369_415107_14815_n.jpg"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsi1hIzOLWiGM7sH6WLKhLwWfkQgwX_f3Du5mWgTN30M0nwXiKS0Yws6fii19mwvx8kconve6C8rDXkT5oMQUrKNs0XZUI0ueyyAio6x2CnRJxWHPdlYqX5qsd9fZtajdKGTt2q5i9KY/s1600-h/5170_1159794921617_1430114369_415107_14815_n.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 158px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsi1hIzOLWiGM7sH6WLKhLwWfkQgwX_f3Du5mWgTN30M0nwXiKS0Yws6fii19mwvx8kconve6C8rDXkT5oMQUrKNs0XZUI0ueyyAio6x2CnRJxWHPdlYqX5qsd9fZtajdKGTt2q5i9KY/s200/5170_1159794921617_1430114369_415107_14815_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351580701029913090" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The same weekend I went rafting, I also took a day trip to Fukuoka with 2 co-workers from my base school (the art teacher and the Japanese history teacher). We originally went because the art teacher wanted to check out a Tibetan Exhibition. It was cool. Everything was written in Japanese, though, so I mostly just walked around and looked at stuff without REALLY knowing what it was. Trying to translate all of the readings would've taken far too long... so I didn't really try too much. If I wanted to know what something was, then I'd try to make out what the reading said... but I could mostly just pick out a few key words thanks to the kanji. It was still cool, though.<br /><br />After the Exhibition, we made our way to <a href="http://yokanavi.com/eg/landmark/index/437">Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine</a>. Students go there to pray for a good grade before exams. I was praying for a new job come August :) Same thing.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmYNlZ6kTSgjJ0dW1X8xFkYcTASSwDEoJWOe5kLU3RLVHYBt4pXapnIa-pyh9mT_LvQ2qDfhBxgVRo5VzvtKEnV6MG2VTv1jbqb-70jYHqQSwW6ZHiuPi-GlbA8t3iMbo5RMAHQwpsF8/s1600-h/IMG_7876.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmYNlZ6kTSgjJ0dW1X8xFkYcTASSwDEoJWOe5kLU3RLVHYBt4pXapnIa-pyh9mT_LvQ2qDfhBxgVRo5VzvtKEnV6MG2VTv1jbqb-70jYHqQSwW6ZHiuPi-GlbA8t3iMbo5RMAHQwpsF8/s200/IMG_7876.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351583244996758914" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3F9TgHPeus5DLvfj-chyA_aWfxSlxMckR7I8h8E5-MTwKvgU5RBGgNH2mEAnZqITSnIlpQmULmAc5CONEaTTrJ4B9qL6DoyaCAdQmnURw1c8ZzAAEdJcomMqJVE14Y8iDTrBZj-pVlqE/s1600-h/IMG_7867.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3F9TgHPeus5DLvfj-chyA_aWfxSlxMckR7I8h8E5-MTwKvgU5RBGgNH2mEAnZqITSnIlpQmULmAc5CONEaTTrJ4B9qL6DoyaCAdQmnURw1c8ZzAAEdJcomMqJVE14Y8iDTrBZj-pVlqE/s200/IMG_7867.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351583740336702290" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzTNW8vRO8jEbl5Kl02lyC4QPwV7ba9tix0G73tKCfDDsGl-mp_BCOcgg8XjrPA8W2GMMAIW65OnUNbQ-gzEpCIrxl7UBNlGOv2VPv9gizTB-lGHm-4D6jHtw66hC0Jk3qIUlctYbBp_M/s1600-h/IMG_7885.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzTNW8vRO8jEbl5Kl02lyC4QPwV7ba9tix0G73tKCfDDsGl-mp_BCOcgg8XjrPA8W2GMMAIW65OnUNbQ-gzEpCIrxl7UBNlGOv2VPv9gizTB-lGHm-4D6jHtw66hC0Jk3qIUlctYbBp_M/s1600-h/IMG_7885.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzTNW8vRO8jEbl5Kl02lyC4QPwV7ba9tix0G73tKCfDDsGl-mp_BCOcgg8XjrPA8W2GMMAIW65OnUNbQ-gzEpCIrxl7UBNlGOv2VPv9gizTB-lGHm-4D6jHtw66hC0Jk3qIUlctYbBp_M/s200/IMG_7885.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351583259537537938" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NcGc6rdFCSp8wKbSpIVjM_jvj1V5GgXHusNEsPA4apN-5Ca9R6Sp_0FSGkADWArFVaoojcgVB73Dk9IovYOi-GZ3EdENsnpNbHoizmKjc5-8thGyY_4nZMxScNDgDY4b2wU0N2SU4EQ/s1600-h/IMG_7886.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NcGc6rdFCSp8wKbSpIVjM_jvj1V5GgXHusNEsPA4apN-5Ca9R6Sp_0FSGkADWArFVaoojcgVB73Dk9IovYOi-GZ3EdENsnpNbHoizmKjc5-8thGyY_4nZMxScNDgDY4b2wU0N2SU4EQ/s200/IMG_7886.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351583264476570930" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUY6DoBW3EBuPXt5e7vgHIIxkeVvrP2IsETtCsO9OyiOVTaKeh7xITKjzY7YAXjMwGoTQ-VX8nUzHE7s6Pq7FZlV1X4ady-5KM-K65HqZf8dJ-vf-t7-yWtxveVtrVueFNbXPWg0d3cg/s1600-h/IMG_7877.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUY6DoBW3EBuPXt5e7vgHIIxkeVvrP2IsETtCsO9OyiOVTaKeh7xITKjzY7YAXjMwGoTQ-VX8nUzHE7s6Pq7FZlV1X4ady-5KM-K65HqZf8dJ-vf-t7-yWtxveVtrVueFNbXPWg0d3cg/s1600-h/IMG_7877.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUY6DoBW3EBuPXt5e7vgHIIxkeVvrP2IsETtCsO9OyiOVTaKeh7xITKjzY7YAXjMwGoTQ-VX8nUzHE7s6Pq7FZlV1X4ady-5KM-K65HqZf8dJ-vf-t7-yWtxveVtrVueFNbXPWg0d3cg/s200/IMG_7877.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351583253420386850" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_zQ4rN6Dg6u3o6Txr9ALMBuGgDdgV9NTObA76kNtH4QjohOHTSjd_YKK5pQaPUzwpkp_AcC6H9VB2BR2SX2qpIqgJ35kToH7e3VA_vKmaFW0qSn7S7tx85RZlBAQioGNPLWqEBd5cq0/s1600-h/IMG_7880.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_zQ4rN6Dg6u3o6Txr9ALMBuGgDdgV9NTObA76kNtH4QjohOHTSjd_YKK5pQaPUzwpkp_AcC6H9VB2BR2SX2qpIqgJ35kToH7e3VA_vKmaFW0qSn7S7tx85RZlBAQioGNPLWqEBd5cq0/s1600-h/IMG_7880.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_zQ4rN6Dg6u3o6Txr9ALMBuGgDdgV9NTObA76kNtH4QjohOHTSjd_YKK5pQaPUzwpkp_AcC6H9VB2BR2SX2qpIqgJ35kToH7e3VA_vKmaFW0qSn7S7tx85RZlBAQioGNPLWqEBd5cq0/s200/IMG_7880.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351583234388772802" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The week following the rafting and day trip to Fukuoka, I had Monday and Tuesday off. I pretty much did nothing all day Monday because I was exhausted. Tuesday, however, I made my way to Nijigahama Beach in Hikari. This is the same beach where the welcome party was way back in August and I hadn't been there since because it's pretty far from Ube. The weather was really great! There weren't any other people there except for a handful of people fishing. I went to the convenience store when I got to Hikari and bought a few beers and snacks. This was my spot for the day: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-OOGOi9t9hTsJrNIYfX7F5zIb3kqRRYgI0nInAZWbKovCYOkYXbp1G_mp1nYWm8kd4JI5U_TejA4oBui0IBs4pfHShPnjreSG4jhzPGfFQ5NJl5zbLQs13zULOSQ5qI59Ral462UNvYA/s1600-h/IMG_7903.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-OOGOi9t9hTsJrNIYfX7F5zIb3kqRRYgI0nInAZWbKovCYOkYXbp1G_mp1nYWm8kd4JI5U_TejA4oBui0IBs4pfHShPnjreSG4jhzPGfFQ5NJl5zbLQs13zULOSQ5qI59Ral462UNvYA/s320/IMG_7903.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351585637442307602" border="0" /></a></div></div><br />While I was there, a nice old man came up to where I was sitting/laying, sat down in the sand next to me, and started a conversation for about 45 minutes. We chatted for a long time - well, he did most of the talking and I did the polite nodding of the head and Japanese sound effects. I finally got too hot and told him I was gonna go dip in the water and then he left without saying goodbye which I thought was a little odd. But then he came back with a present he had bought for me somewhere nearby and invited me to go eat with him at a restaurant nearby. I told him I'd love to, but had to catch a train back to Ube... which was half-true. It was also because I was exhausted, had a little too much to drink, and was majorly sunburnt. Encounters like this one remind me why I like this country :) and old people :)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3DBmM7PPHN_a2FaJPSZbIhxwRqVJHVb0Fspsfai413N8vQOfXzxyXLmGpsITryRDe41uqHGzCKnWjQLr3pghyxu_iaWuhjPN3r5OGVrEmOrArflTxjJxRtIIrGrri37BR0N1Kt1fPWKo/s1600-h/IMG_7888.JPG"><br /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRvKGKVsYrf5whUc2oQsd2XTR5HFHgXokyGVGkYjwn-PZ3912NT9ZY0WOXitCwt4TEO2qAUUU0LNohdOCtUrY7DLiZ_yrtxTUu24wBKlLbdw2gi5Aci4dkUeC8mESuXQbYgWNwuWgjQVs/s1600-h/IMG_7907.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRvKGKVsYrf5whUc2oQsd2XTR5HFHgXokyGVGkYjwn-PZ3912NT9ZY0WOXitCwt4TEO2qAUUU0LNohdOCtUrY7DLiZ_yrtxTUu24wBKlLbdw2gi5Aci4dkUeC8mESuXQbYgWNwuWgjQVs/s200/IMG_7907.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351588370002271026" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3DBmM7PPHN_a2FaJPSZbIhxwRqVJHVb0Fspsfai413N8vQOfXzxyXLmGpsITryRDe41uqHGzCKnWjQLr3pghyxu_iaWuhjPN3r5OGVrEmOrArflTxjJxRtIIrGrri37BR0N1Kt1fPWKo/s1600-h/IMG_7888.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3DBmM7PPHN_a2FaJPSZbIhxwRqVJHVb0Fspsfai413N8vQOfXzxyXLmGpsITryRDe41uqHGzCKnWjQLr3pghyxu_iaWuhjPN3r5OGVrEmOrArflTxjJxRtIIrGrri37BR0N1Kt1fPWKo/s200/IMG_7888.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351588217980240578" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZ0kVw5rEKPd_QoSCR077cO529ymsNgjvBBbq8ckzaKTbKpxJBh0xIkhWwjBLqwJ5JBsXiIc0_Kih1qg0Vfujec3IrPio2FEQmPwcDL-dtBGtEmjy0izYndi82lBuRaBSJClpYk1PXw0/s1600-h/IMG_7890.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZ0kVw5rEKPd_QoSCR077cO529ymsNgjvBBbq8ckzaKTbKpxJBh0xIkhWwjBLqwJ5JBsXiIc0_Kih1qg0Vfujec3IrPio2FEQmPwcDL-dtBGtEmjy0izYndi82lBuRaBSJClpYk1PXw0/s200/IMG_7890.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351588223338684514" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ly8CtkzmHnpY3p2TN5Xcoadtvfo93X40cvBFb8YQx-mwVQS_fW7E9nA5AXO_7D2FBMfcuEbRbAOyw0c5sxRT2HaqJRwV1151nXGw0NIkARLCQ_zedHt1CqNtw8kUztS34fhfasoVbBQ/s1600-h/IMG_7904.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ly8CtkzmHnpY3p2TN5Xcoadtvfo93X40cvBFb8YQx-mwVQS_fW7E9nA5AXO_7D2FBMfcuEbRbAOyw0c5sxRT2HaqJRwV1151nXGw0NIkARLCQ_zedHt1CqNtw8kUztS34fhfasoVbBQ/s200/IMG_7904.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351588227531650898" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK1CDdYl5znIqc7a-D8SDe7FtyFyw1L8YcAfA79O38c83wu2xn9DEq1m8RyIvaNR639ixxiHwOBCcXJdbCqUJD_fIifOs5u6aL3xpSk2xA3p8TRWB2ttK0kgVkGPFtXLsu9XQN-ogNMjU/s1600-h/IMG_7906.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK1CDdYl5znIqc7a-D8SDe7FtyFyw1L8YcAfA79O38c83wu2xn9DEq1m8RyIvaNR639ixxiHwOBCcXJdbCqUJD_fIifOs5u6aL3xpSk2xA3p8TRWB2ttK0kgVkGPFtXLsu9XQN-ogNMjU/s200/IMG_7906.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351588239034769986" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5yprpDeQuf72FXzUrI-hBAow5QP8XQ6FKemiyaFcwYkEsRqfQCaOTI1mxndbhu6mZySLkGN-TZs4G_bhWWJ4oSMDLWdOvtuHdcLB0omOqtKn6WN9GMoldDqPEYBKyOvPK7EtM6VZZ0mg/s1600-h/IMG_7905.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5yprpDeQuf72FXzUrI-hBAow5QP8XQ6FKemiyaFcwYkEsRqfQCaOTI1mxndbhu6mZySLkGN-TZs4G_bhWWJ4oSMDLWdOvtuHdcLB0omOqtKn6WN9GMoldDqPEYBKyOvPK7EtM6VZZ0mg/s200/IMG_7905.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351588232350570402" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">On a side note: Last weekend I went to Saga for my friend Ian's birthday and it was FUN!<br /></div></div></div></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-68799432499268189202009-06-11T19:49:00.006+09:002009-06-11T19:59:47.459+09:00June?!?!?!?Haven't updated this thing in awhile...<br /><br />Things have been pretty good lately. Last weekend was fun. Friday night, I went over to a co-worker's apartment and hung out with some of the other younger teachers. There are these 3 female teachers who came in April and they've been really great! They talk to me at work and now it seems like we're hanging out outside of work. One of them invited a few other teachers over for food and drinks. I think it was one of the best times I've had in Ube - for sure. Saturday, I went to Hiroshima with Meng to see the Carps play Fukuoka in their brand new stadium. I think this was the worst baseball game I've ever seen in my entire life! By the second inning, the Carps were down 6-0... !!!!! Yeah... by the fifth inning it was 11-1... so we decided to leave. Made it back to Ube in time for some bowling and karaoke, though! It was a lot of fun! A couple of us stayed and did karaoke until 5am!<br /><br />I just got home from the teacher softball game tonight and it was really fun! My base school (Ube Nishi) played a game for fun against Ube Chuo. I got there late because the teacher giving me a ride was late... but I still managed to bat AND I actually got a base hit! Yeah! Way to not embarass myself! I really miss playing softball now. Hopefully when I get back to the US I can find a team to play on for fun... hmmm... yeah, that'd be fun!Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-11721780582437907532009-05-26T18:51:00.005+09:002009-05-26T19:03:16.461+09:00Nagato City, Yamaguchi<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJaBEDdnSS1VXZad5seumhD-vGXoGi97Tz4tFtNPofhbrayjFGr3vP8NeTRK4NpRqhU4Pepgp3BqrE1GMptDrw0Sy_95ONTYsV_qiwOIz_SGKgr5IvdVttzXD3et0igaSG1dNq0KwSDLY/s1600-h/IMG_7866.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJaBEDdnSS1VXZad5seumhD-vGXoGi97Tz4tFtNPofhbrayjFGr3vP8NeTRK4NpRqhU4Pepgp3BqrE1GMptDrw0Sy_95ONTYsV_qiwOIz_SGKgr5IvdVttzXD3et0igaSG1dNq0KwSDLY/s200/IMG_7866.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340070758162149794" border="0" /></a>On Saturday, I took the train north through the prefecture and ended up on the other coast - in Nagato City (which touches the Sea of Japan). Nagato is a very big, very rural, very spread out city. It's really pretty. I went with Meng and we were in search of 1 shrine in particular. It's a "fertility" shrine that we had heard about. I won't post pictures on here of the shrine itself... but if you want to see them, then ask and I might email them to you or something. When we got to Nagato station, we randomly ran into another JET who lives up around that area. He's actually from Indiana, too. Anyway, he came along and it was a nice afternoon. Here are some non-shrine pictures that show just how rural Nagato is. I really liked the peace and quiet.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1HDiKi1nVYF-YsPLsBBWcVPPLcFgf7PfNaSa9HsZxiwTaFI6w66-NdhN7edfqDF-5MDmDSFfdxIU5qA2asP0x3JNiLV9UWrXuBMPH1kqab20W26O2KErFewnTB_TLxwZjVR457Q3RWVg/s1600-h/IMG_7860.JPG"> </a><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1HDiKi1nVYF-YsPLsBBWcVPPLcFgf7PfNaSa9HsZxiwTaFI6w66-NdhN7edfqDF-5MDmDSFfdxIU5qA2asP0x3JNiLV9UWrXuBMPH1kqab20W26O2KErFewnTB_TLxwZjVR457Q3RWVg/s1600-h/IMG_7860.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1HDiKi1nVYF-YsPLsBBWcVPPLcFgf7PfNaSa9HsZxiwTaFI6w66-NdhN7edfqDF-5MDmDSFfdxIU5qA2asP0x3JNiLV9UWrXuBMPH1kqab20W26O2KErFewnTB_TLxwZjVR457Q3RWVg/s200/IMG_7860.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340070111251132626" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGx88LaP0pw8BpPFRTsKLBfTV5TMgfnNLcfa7WVof5Fa5z1q6k3AiQYPCyPNU4HcMiCHSC7RvAZZQ8pqoEZIYudlg1CDOxTYhbBAN6Kz-NyVhfzfaNYHzccC-VTKmmOEIXo0Ra7AuF8aw/s1600-h/IMG_7856.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGx88LaP0pw8BpPFRTsKLBfTV5TMgfnNLcfa7WVof5Fa5z1q6k3AiQYPCyPNU4HcMiCHSC7RvAZZQ8pqoEZIYudlg1CDOxTYhbBAN6Kz-NyVhfzfaNYHzccC-VTKmmOEIXo0Ra7AuF8aw/s200/IMG_7856.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340070106989725362" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7RNiu8Q4QtHGnY23rESCZACLI71X4TUh3PbvP4i4vMfxnaDztno5xBkT57F5nRWWqYhLOtBLulVKJvgPn2832wohEDnYB8M9ZGl3iPAiaRzkZDmtJQ7nfvP6Da-QwDQiaZX8zh1kKgzY/s1600-h/IMG_7865.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7RNiu8Q4QtHGnY23rESCZACLI71X4TUh3PbvP4i4vMfxnaDztno5xBkT57F5nRWWqYhLOtBLulVKJvgPn2832wohEDnYB8M9ZGl3iPAiaRzkZDmtJQ7nfvP6Da-QwDQiaZX8zh1kKgzY/s200/IMG_7865.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340070115432646226" border="0" /></a></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-83100679492499523262009-05-19T22:23:00.002+09:002009-05-19T22:37:06.382+09:00Attached.Sooooo... I've become a lot more attached to this experience than I think I ever would have imagined even just a few months ago. Students and co-workers have REALLY warmed up to me and it's a really nice feeling. I can't go anywhere around town without running into a handful of students from 1 of my 3 schools... and they always get excited, yell my name, smile, and say hello to me. Whenever a new teacher finds out that I'll be leaving at the end of July - their reaction is sad... which then makes me sad, too. One of the other English teachers at the commerical school was telling the teacher who I team-teach with about how at the end of one of her classes she overheard students talking about how happy and excited they were because it was their turn to have class with me that week. Not gonna lie, that made me REALLY happy when I heard that. I must be doing something right. I've also noticed that many of the teachers (particularly at my base school) are talking to me a lot more lately... because let's face it - they pretty much never talked to me before Christmas. Ever since a new wave of teachers came in at the end of March, things have been especially great. I sit around 3 really young teachers. Between the 4 of us, I think we cover the age range of 23-26... or something close to that. This is the first exam period that I've actually found bareable... because in the past, exam week meant sit at my desk and don't get talked to for pretty much a week straight. This week though, it's been really nice because people feel comfortable talking to me now. It's going to be so sad when it's time to say goodbye. Only 2 more months left. Where has the time gone?Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-29073912010731391642009-05-14T18:07:00.014+09:002009-05-14T19:25:34.720+09:00Golden Week - BEIJING, CHINA!!!!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJsO29e1mtNKNLDp3YqUyqXJ5LjBHMYBFKKJ-6FG04nBOjTtphSLdc4v1elh3zU6JIfFOBK5YSzuzxl6qghfloBtQrqU7qa_T1T8S0SVqNtoq_Pv39nAJWSmYZh6UIGFA6Wjdthkipfs/s1600-h/IMG_7614.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJsO29e1mtNKNLDp3YqUyqXJ5LjBHMYBFKKJ-6FG04nBOjTtphSLdc4v1elh3zU6JIfFOBK5YSzuzxl6qghfloBtQrqU7qa_T1T8S0SVqNtoq_Pv39nAJWSmYZh6UIGFA6Wjdthkipfs/s200/IMG_7614.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335613978770154114" border="0" /></a><br />I went to China for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Week_%28Japan%29">Golden Week</a>! I was in Beijing from May 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">nd</span>-7<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">th</span>. It was a lot of fun and I got to see so many historical places that I've always wanted to see! I met my friends Ian and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Meng</span> who had left a few days earlier. They flew into Shanghai and made their way up to Beijing. I got there Saturday evening and had to make my way to the hostel by myself. When I bought a ticket for the bus, I thought the woman said 60 yuan, so I gave her 60 and then she gave me 4 back in change. I was really confused, but just assumed she knew what she was doing and went on my way. When I was on the bus I looked at my ticket and it said "16 yuan" ... that's right, I got ripped off... at the AIRPORT of all places. That's when I realized that I needed to be careful so it wouldn't happen again. Luckily, I was only ripped off 40 yuan which is just under $6<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">USD</span>... BUT STILL, that goes a long way in China! I paid $9 for a $2 ticket. So that was my first impression of China - getting ripped off. When I got off at the stop I was supposed to, the directions that I got from the hostel website were crap and I had no idea where I was. It was also getting dark, so I just decided that I'd take a taxi from there because I was near the hostel. The 1st taxi I got, I showed the address to the guy and he looked at me like it was chicken scratch. It was written in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">romanization</span> which meant he had no idea what it said and he didn't speak any English what-so-ever. He motioned asking if I had a cell phone - I did not. I got another cab driver who, surprise, couldn't read <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">romanization</span> either. This time I motioned to ask him if he had a cell phone. He reluctantly pulled one out of his pocket and I had him call the hostel to ask for directions. When we got there, the fare was 10 yuan ($1.50). I handed him a 100 yuan bill and he was really sketchy giving me my change. I wasn't about to get ripped off again so I just sat there until I had 90 yuan in my hand. So my first impressions of China were - a) Chinese people will rip you off if they have the chance, and b) they can't speak English... at all. These impressions held true for the remainder of my time in China.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisEzoFT18QeHP9CwbCQVvh5RIDBHhxzwOqk0v4zqjlLDC4XqjF4fbojVIzj_3-ARxl1Eqk81uh9G0DESnXqWPStbvR_l2BY7CU2cEFfSeSv_30w8wCiytyeRNoJAdczUcqEtpwY9TCIkE/s1600-h/n3900017_31313803_1638343.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisEzoFT18QeHP9CwbCQVvh5RIDBHhxzwOqk0v4zqjlLDC4XqjF4fbojVIzj_3-ARxl1Eqk81uh9G0DESnXqWPStbvR_l2BY7CU2cEFfSeSv_30w8wCiytyeRNoJAdczUcqEtpwY9TCIkE/s200/n3900017_31313803_1638343.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335604192813824610" border="0" /></a><br />After I met up with Ian and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Meng</span>, we went out dancing with one of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Meng's</span> friends who is studying in Beijing. It was a pretty fun night and we didn't make it back to our hostel until 6am! Even though we didn't get back until the morning, we all managed to head out Sunday before noon in order to do some sightseeing! We made our way to Tienanmen Square and from there walked the entire length of the Forbidden City. It was really exhausting, but really cool! We went to this really good restaurant afterwards and wandered around the city for a little bit before making our way back to the hostel.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdIzvvtfIcaXdMdSBcJ7ny3mofgeq-Rf931NwN68YDBO3UsxeCK56piiyn3QZwFC94zWzRmguzQochAtPgwQNVYN8uypFrxenyDiicCUgcp1D-gJMAMUE7oCIX5mVRSIV3FX47wZe-pcE/s1600-h/IMG_7550.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdIzvvtfIcaXdMdSBcJ7ny3mofgeq-Rf931NwN68YDBO3UsxeCK56piiyn3QZwFC94zWzRmguzQochAtPgwQNVYN8uypFrxenyDiicCUgcp1D-gJMAMUE7oCIX5mVRSIV3FX47wZe-pcE/s200/IMG_7550.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335604677386239202" border="0" /></a><br />We took a day trip to the GREAT WALL OF CHINA on Monday! I think seeing the Great Wall of China was #1 on my "list of things to do while living in Asia." There are a couple different parts of the Wall that you can go to - a super touristy part, a less touristy part, and a part that hardly anyone goes to. We chose the less touristy part. It was really cool to be there! You have to hike up pretty far just to get to the Wall. There's actually a cable car (more like a ski lift) that you could pay to<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHsfdnMA2nXeVu2m_Ndz9ovhhRwQq2nyOp0ql5h-_ionBBStcJmE7XZUH_nFLSli4qZdpoU5FnEuMoqyq68Dfa-SjDgFCDtVbSLMWEKU9nXjdRdajgUHsVGzrgR5u1HkVVsWdWjLGbHQ0/s1600-h/n3900017_31313812_7666847.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHsfdnMA2nXeVu2m_Ndz9ovhhRwQq2nyOp0ql5h-_ionBBStcJmE7XZUH_nFLSli4qZdpoU5FnEuMoqyq68Dfa-SjDgFCDtVbSLMWEKU9nXjdRdajgUHsVGzrgR5u1HkVVsWdWjLGbHQ0/s200/n3900017_31313812_7666847.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335604187679590786" border="0" /></a> take up there, but we chose to hike up there. Once you're on the Wall, you can walk around - but it's REALLY tiring. I think the entire wall is just comprised of steps... steep, uneven steps. You are either climbing up steps, or climbing down steps. It was hard work! We got to a section of the Wall that had a "no trespassing beyond this point" sign... but we went past it anyway because one of the tour guides told us that it was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">ok</span> and nobody would be up there to stop us. It was basically just a really overgrown portion of the wall that was kind of crumbling. It was cool, though!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMu5DtZ2VObACq-nY7-cMmdHCPrFDiWENvRKddQMXpaGd2PRNNtOmMsODWH4mCj6enPXX7Gk-UAfSn-fmkQsGdn3KiJzkpgXwrVjWSZP1an9CjRFTPNLutEZKRPojDPVAKOpN5XAa-ovU/s1600-h/IMG_7580.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMu5DtZ2VObACq-nY7-cMmdHCPrFDiWENvRKddQMXpaGd2PRNNtOmMsODWH4mCj6enPXX7Gk-UAfSn-fmkQsGdn3KiJzkpgXwrVjWSZP1an9CjRFTPNLutEZKRPojDPVAKOpN5XAa-ovU/s200/IMG_7580.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335604684515591330" border="0" /></a><br />When we got back to Beijing, we rested for a little bit and then made our way to the night market! I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">absolutely</span> love night markets and this one didn't let me down. They were selling all kinds of WEIRD food - star fish, scorpions, sea horse, and tons of other weird bugs! The only thing weird that I ate was scorpions. That's right, fried scorpions! They were actually really good! One of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Beijing's</span> specialties is candied fruit. I tasted some of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Meng's</span> and it was pretty good. After the night market we went to an area of Beijing where there are 2 GIANT <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">man made</span> lakes. The area is really cool! There's a park and there are also a lot of bars. The nightlife was really nice. They have couches that you can sit on outside most of the bars along the lake and there was a lot of live music. It was nice.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTmGPL6H9lyML0ysibwISGYgaOkbMeKhJ04mqPOuRENQI6eU4QMDQZzqN73bXFiN47bgnz8C7nSB7jeaOTd6mkuiHGXBCREaRbMtCO5sZ5zPphcy82msVP2xriJrLo46tDtDBlhBd634g/s1600-h/IMG_7665.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTmGPL6H9lyML0ysibwISGYgaOkbMeKhJ04mqPOuRENQI6eU4QMDQZzqN73bXFiN47bgnz8C7nSB7jeaOTd6mkuiHGXBCREaRbMtCO5sZ5zPphcy82msVP2xriJrLo46tDtDBlhBd634g/s200/IMG_7665.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335621668227595298" border="0" /></a><br />Tuesday, we took a trip to the Summer Palace. It was pretty big. Nice, but big. We wandered around there for a few hours and then made our way to the 2008 Olympic Stadium! The Stadium was HUGE! Really cool architecture. Right next to the National Stadium is the Aquatics Center - where Michael Phelps won his <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB-0eW550SrRUhabYKWP0uwD44h2ljoCljQkHsSSZ7IrgeJ8K6FI1VaJmymd8k6rT5sHxhMBKfE0AbNK6dzxd7maOF682Wx5LQL3TqA4_cFz0tdqHMzU8kCb8sYz-FDLxu8uPIAhB9kic/s1600-h/IMG_7680.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB-0eW550SrRUhabYKWP0uwD44h2ljoCljQkHsSSZ7IrgeJ8K6FI1VaJmymd8k6rT5sHxhMBKfE0AbNK6dzxd7maOF682Wx5LQL3TqA4_cFz0tdqHMzU8kCb8sYz-FDLxu8uPIAhB9kic/s200/IMG_7680.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335615815011672530" border="0" /></a>8(?) gold medals last summer. The Aquatics Center has REALLY cool architecture and it looks especially cool at night. We only had time to go inside the National Stadium because the Aquatics Center was closed by the time we went over there. After the Olympic Stadium, we met up with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Meng's</span> friend again and s<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_v9lUIu2Lr1bThr341Kyd-2RnRdPnjklNh9kP6u45k49t_Ajk4wsTeTXqIqmAq0WnDgys4p0p53Jtf9Up4D1JJuO5XJNSzKNwRjbyA1bLyI7eXRIQTODS1M7Q8LssjJgyElnyGcHHG8E/s1600-h/IMG_7740.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_v9lUIu2Lr1bThr341Kyd-2RnRdPnjklNh9kP6u45k49t_Ajk4wsTeTXqIqmAq0WnDgys4p0p53Jtf9Up4D1JJuO5XJNSzKNwRjbyA1bLyI7eXRIQTODS1M7Q8LssjJgyElnyGcHHG8E/s200/IMG_7740.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335614904290030690" border="0" /></a>he took us to a really fancy restaurant that is famous for the best Beijing Duck in Beijing. The food was EXCELLENT. We each ended up paying about 150 yuan - which is quite expensive for China... but when converted to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">USD</span>... that's only about $22. A fancy meal at a famous restaurant for only $22. Not too bad. After dinner, Ian and I made our way back to the Olympic Stadium so we could see it lit up at night. The Stadium wasn't lit up for some reason, but the Aquatics Center was and it was really cool!<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Wednesday</span> was my last full day in Beijing. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Meng</span> and I really wanted to go inside the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq_I2rgS7b4IQ1Pbjo7agg_M3XVzLm6IH1pEsxLjxaEWc6vKu25VU4GquG5quIHKYt46-l4F2PjggJc2oKDNQoIvfRs8SsAzLLRoeJAtloaYBp8i6Gg9DWoJ_5EOqd0HdmEZA7TDmcFmM/s1600-h/n3900017_31313851_1454177.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq_I2rgS7b4IQ1Pbjo7agg_M3XVzLm6IH1pEsxLjxaEWc6vKu25VU4GquG5quIHKYt46-l4F2PjggJc2oKDNQoIvfRs8SsAzLLRoeJAtloaYBp8i6Gg9DWoJ_5EOqd0HdmEZA7TDmcFmM/s200/n3900017_31313851_1454177.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335616501067698818" border="0" /></a>Aquatics Center, so we made our way back over there and it was <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">definitely</span> worth it! After we saw all we could of the Aquatics Center, we made our way to the other side of the city - to the Temple of Heaven. I'd seen it in a lot of pictures and postcards and decided it was something I wanted<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTru64ub-b22DRHLWnfElM406sAhy1bAi7os7R3bXhY2_jHLfGm4Wxmp0Zs3r1j5r4WRWgfe3qd8Ob5Ib2-PoK-wdHIc3HxEmLzzYnwA_cqcNuRUmRUpwmj8NoZY8oGvAuTm9jYMoUdtg/s1600-h/IMG_7781.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTru64ub-b22DRHLWnfElM406sAhy1bAi7os7R3bXhY2_jHLfGm4Wxmp0Zs3r1j5r4WRWgfe3qd8Ob5Ib2-PoK-wdHIc3HxEmLzzYnwA_cqcNuRUmRUpwmj8NoZY8oGvAuTm9jYMoUdtg/s200/IMG_7781.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335617166104545538" border="0" /></a> to see in person. It was cool. The park was really big (just like everything else in China). We saw the main attractions and then took a taxi to the Silk Market - which was one of our "have to do in Beijing" things. I don't know what it is, but there is just something about markets that I really love. Anyway, the Silk Market is famous because this is where you go in Beijing to shop and bargain for really cheap, authentic-looking, knock off name brand items. Clothes, DVDs, electronics, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">jewelry</span>, handbags, you name it - they've got it. The thing about <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">th</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dgv7xpoTCCw9tjgMH4_XBY6lmuuY_CKU5sxqJ9-Utjodevxm4XOuziN7lDdxM78Pw5Hu-4A0rKp9F4DJpDkgXq75O5vBJFZKr8yjXytgvGyL6f0LzTol_s9YCatOx2lFLh7_yZ3kmbI/s1600-h/IMG_7801.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dgv7xpoTCCw9tjgMH4_XBY6lmuuY_CKU5sxqJ9-Utjodevxm4XOuziN7lDdxM78Pw5Hu-4A0rKp9F4DJpDkgXq75O5vBJFZKr8yjXytgvGyL6f0LzTol_s9YCatOx2lFLh7_yZ3kmbI/s200/IMG_7801.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335619058213329234" border="0" /></a>is market that makes it unique is that it is all indoors - like a shopping center type of building. There are the clothing floors, the handbag floors, the electronic floors, and of course the silk floor. I was really lucky to have <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Meng</span> with me because she speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese - that instantly knocks down the price and they she'd bargain for me from there. It was pretty fun! I bought a really cool <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Custo</span> shirt for 50 yuan and a Louis <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Vuitton</span> wallet for REALLY cheap (it's fake, but still!). I don't really care about name brands too much, but it's a cool wallet... and it was cheap! Luckily I didn't didn't have that much cash left on me (I actually ended up borrowing some from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Meng</span>) - or else I REALLY would've done some major shopping. I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">could have</span> done some nice early Christmas shopping! Anyway, after the market we made our way back to the hostel to rest for a bit before going out dancing one last time in Beijing. It was a really fun night! I got up early and left for the airport Thursday morning.<br /><br />My trip to Beijing was really great and I'm glad I finally made it to China! I would've liked to have seen another city in China, but I didn't have the time because I had to work on Friday. Beijing was at the top of my list for China and I definitely recommend it. I think what I had <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">envisioned</span> before going was a China 5 years before the Olympics. You can definitely tell that a lot had been done in order to get ready for the 2008 Olympics. There were a lot of new little trees, an entirely new subway line, etc. It's really hard to see where the local people live because it's all behind walls. I think those walls were put up for the Olympics because the government didn't want tourists to see how the local people live... because it's a lower economic level than most developed countries. The few doors that led to behind the walls were almost always closed, but I did see a few doors that were open and had a peek inside. I saw small alley ways and very cramped living spaces. I didn't go in though... because I don't think that would've been appropriate... and probably not allowed either. Also, I got online at the hostel and typed in www.youtube.com to see what came up - it's blocked. So that's the sum up of my trip to China. Here are more pictures if you want to check them out!<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157617925232526&text=" scrolling="no" width="375" align="center" frameborder="0" height="355"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Admarket's</span></a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">flickrSLiDR</span></a>.</small><br /></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-51062762318926631312009-04-25T08:41:00.002+09:002009-04-25T08:50:15.809+09:00Ejio Park School TripFriday I got to go on a school trip with the 2nd years at the commercial school. It was a lot of fun! The entire school had some sort of trip depending on which grade it was. The 1st years had an overnight trip to Akiyoshidai where I guess they had to do a lot of exercise and I'm sure team building activities. The 3rd years all met at Tokiwa Park for a day of activities. Since I only teach 2nd years at this school, it's no surprise I ended up on their trip. The 2nd years walked 1.5 hours to Ejio Park which is in Onoda (the next town over). Once they got there, they had a few jump rope competitions. They used a giant jump rope and half the class had to all jump under it at the same time and whichever class got the most jumps won a prize. The prize was coke with their lunch. After that, everyone went off and had a picnic with their friends. The teachers all ate a nice bento from this place called Hotto Motto. We also had bottled green tea to drink. I've aqcuired a taste for many different things since I've been here. I remember the first time I ever came to Japan and tried bottled green tea, I seriously wanted to spit it out. By now, though, I can actually drink it without a problem. After the picnic, everyone was free to walk around or play in the park the rest of the afternoon. It was fun hanging out with the other teachers and my students. Around 1:30pm we all made the 1.5 hour walk back to the school. It was cool and overcast all day with the sun trying to peak out. I definetly got a sunburn on my face though. Finally, some color! I forgot to bring my camera, so no pictures. Oh well. A few students had cameras - mostly disposable cameras. I think that's really interesting that so many students still use disposable cameras here. It's kind of refreshing to see that.Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-71030456085311952392009-04-21T17:34:00.005+09:002009-04-21T17:42:48.775+09:00Wet Bicycle Seats & Chest X-RaysYesterday, it rained hard core all day... and all night... It was like there was a typhoon or something. Really windy. This morning I went to ride my bike and even made sure the seat was dry before getting on. When I got to work I realized that somehow the back of my pants were soaking wet. I'm pretty sure the seat on my new bike is like a sponge. It just soaks up all the water. Wiping it off won't help. I had to wear my long (bright red) jacket around all day to cover up my butt because of the wet mark. My pants FINALLY dried by the end of the day, but then I got back on my bike to go home and it was STILL wet. Not visibly. But once I sat down it was like sitting on a wet sponge. Not cool.<br /><br />I was teaching today during 1st period and about 20 minutes into it a teacher comes in, interrupts, and says that it's time for the entire class to go down to the nurse's office to get a chest x-ray. What the heck?!?! I guess they do it once a year. My supervisor explained to me that the school is very concerned about all of the students' health. I think taking a chest x-ray once a year is a little extreme. They're looking for tuberculosis. But still. I think they had a few other medical checks. I just went back to the staff room because their physical checks took the rest of the time. Weird.Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-22325635710379156572009-04-15T21:29:00.003+09:002009-04-15T21:34:39.972+09:00Ube NewsI. Asbestos was found in the technical school that I go to every Thursday. They said it's only in some of the downstairs rooms... so they just aren't going to use those rooms anymore until it's taken care of - they hope by sometime this fall.<br /><br />II. They made an announcement today at school that there was some crazy man wearing a white shirt and blue jeans riding around on a bicycle somewhere near Ube station with a knife. I live near Ube Station. They told me to be careful.<br /><br />Exciting stuff, huh?!Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-31029701900998973412009-04-13T20:36:00.007+09:002009-04-13T21:04:21.664+09:00Camping and Yabusame<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0POmmvcw0XXxF3DyLwPEx_sLv9t2I85L7pWXdnkC9P85PYw01RKio12fqHRqIYhKPwKF2wtn9q7mOHYoLn0N5K_TwNEbvEQO7K9L_lWGa29pMRuOQfoFY2Ql5XurBcMznqkDOWPMLi7s/s1600-h/IMG_7351.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0POmmvcw0XXxF3DyLwPEx_sLv9t2I85L7pWXdnkC9P85PYw01RKio12fqHRqIYhKPwKF2wtn9q7mOHYoLn0N5K_TwNEbvEQO7K9L_lWGa29pMRuOQfoFY2Ql5XurBcMznqkDOWPMLi7s/s200/IMG_7351.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324142753137903314" border="0" /></a><br />This past weekend was a Yamaguchi AJET organized event - camping! We stayed in Mongolian huts at this camp ground in the north eastern part of Yamaguchi Prefecture (near Shimane prefecture). It was a lot of fun. There were around 50 people - Yamaguchi JETs, Shimane JETs, a few marines from the base in Iwakuni, and a handful of other people. All we did was eat, drink, and hang out the entire night. The weather was great, too! The next day we made our way about 20 minutes east by car to Shimane Prefecture. We went there to see Yabusame which is traditional horesback archery. It was pretty cool. I think I take the mountains and beauty of Yamaguchi for granted sometimes. I really love Japan's landscape. It's a pretty country.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF124hoUf08plIVdxkkDod-QMrlTWk05maA4WhWhLKh28QZdXBK84rVtFHarFIGmhtKxse8RZeBgD4lF4zMVRlA4LKFpiyv8hIBuiF9Ej2dFzKl35mGVQeTTBUcn-_PH5780a5vNgNxgM/s1600-h/IMG_7350.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF124hoUf08plIVdxkkDod-QMrlTWk05maA4WhWhLKh28QZdXBK84rVtFHarFIGmhtKxse8RZeBgD4lF4zMVRlA4LKFpiyv8hIBuiF9Ej2dFzKl35mGVQeTTBUcn-_PH5780a5vNgNxgM/s200/IMG_7350.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324141537770841234" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Nh9WCLaTnPUjjVpzi5s_XW00Y68c-trHPq33OXbZPDmcwk6nKlpN6_nb7r9z6ACY67T4GITBYG2z9fVlc-mmR5yaXajA7FYGVYgjgU9JHiZQBReXuSx8aUwWqxgk0U0PvRMzdiKg460/s1600-h/IMG_7370.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Nh9WCLaTnPUjjVpzi5s_XW00Y68c-trHPq33OXbZPDmcwk6nKlpN6_nb7r9z6ACY67T4GITBYG2z9fVlc-mmR5yaXajA7FYGVYgjgU9JHiZQBReXuSx8aUwWqxgk0U0PvRMzdiKg460/s200/IMG_7370.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324141544332950562" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Cy2Yu8osLyhA5EeYitTz5qvrdgnVZfxyiN-XeBF82IjVb-41nQIOO26Pz4lG1FHQguAHmoHNQeajD-93X5XGGeA78amOOsoNlHWTnz-FBjtQcb-WHyyMwd2qv2gNb6LvZZEYklKUkcE/s1600-h/IMG_7401.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Cy2Yu8osLyhA5EeYitTz5qvrdgnVZfxyiN-XeBF82IjVb-41nQIOO26Pz4lG1FHQguAHmoHNQeajD-93X5XGGeA78amOOsoNlHWTnz-FBjtQcb-WHyyMwd2qv2gNb6LvZZEYklKUkcE/s200/IMG_7401.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324141546540438754" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFhnmkvhjFxiQHmjJkSCyW-c7XDuCIKuG-zDjJMPBoyVotHiplcPcz17ACqQYTG51eN7W6eDlXwmPfQUPes6ekmNg1lWPGZmU96XxxYQ6Uos6oQvatP86MfYPrAzxYS5l0KxQeO1JIFh4/s1600-h/IMG_7395.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFhnmkvhjFxiQHmjJkSCyW-c7XDuCIKuG-zDjJMPBoyVotHiplcPcz17ACqQYTG51eN7W6eDlXwmPfQUPes6ekmNg1lWPGZmU96XxxYQ6Uos6oQvatP86MfYPrAzxYS5l0KxQeO1JIFh4/s200/IMG_7395.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324141548819813746" border="0" /></a><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157616615471179&text=" scrolling="no" width="375" align="center" frameborder="0" height="335"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /></div><br />Last week was a really good week. There are quite a few changes that have been made at all of my schools for the new school year - and I'm really happy with the changes. Friday night I went to my base school's welcome/goodbye party (enkai). It was a really good time! A few new teachers were there and the teachers who had been moved to new schools were there to say goodbye. Among the 12 or so new teachers at my base school are 2 young female teachers. One is 24 and the other one is 25. They aren't English teachers, but their desks are basically next to mine and they are eager to practice English. Finally. Somebody to talk to at work! That change alone makes a HUGE difference. Besides that, I'm pretty happy with the classes I've taught so far. I feel a lot more confident in my teaching and so far this school year I really enjoy going to work. I enjoyed it before, but knowing how things work and not being the new person anymore makes a huge difference. It's nice. I really like it. It will be hard to leave at the end of summer.Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-11104413247329570122009-04-13T20:04:00.009+09:002009-04-13T20:24:35.877+09:00Sakura! (Cherry Blossoms!)<div style="text-align: center;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvlQbkQKLNCQo5rxDYQ5LtrEBgUPWgTUhzfn3r3-88xkBGXYD-bIHY5yni-9zBEfrD8O8UJFFeU8KeNNL88f0Ix3ouwKCK61h9V6uXebfuyJzq45zTVPqh4JqRJ2CeDSPcMyaYJKYQ-Vs/s1600-h/IMG_7339.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvlQbkQKLNCQo5rxDYQ5LtrEBgUPWgTUhzfn3r3-88xkBGXYD-bIHY5yni-9zBEfrD8O8UJFFeU8KeNNL88f0Ix3ouwKCK61h9V6uXebfuyJzq45zTVPqh4JqRJ2CeDSPcMyaYJKYQ-Vs/s200/IMG_7339.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324132829001894770" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDcY-K1flSd78su_sQAfHe-vXeZPPdzoBhl7__CZz1hvjXfUBJ9cTHmoQ20RWhmeYo18Mr-CmgkjoAHHFrcWWq-oTaMvDx2kDGo_d_h5vSzF_x-B5wPixYBluWghaqCUthmVLnDsq2ZU/s1600-h/IMG_7321.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDcY-K1flSd78su_sQAfHe-vXeZPPdzoBhl7__CZz1hvjXfUBJ9cTHmoQ20RWhmeYo18Mr-CmgkjoAHHFrcWWq-oTaMvDx2kDGo_d_h5vSzF_x-B5wPixYBluWghaqCUthmVLnDsq2ZU/s200/IMG_7321.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324132818115632386" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBMTx82NoM9-D6oczBgXM88bXGEu5XppVJllr_yZMgcLw3Uw4_1perRVZkWQadYWmhA3IdsMaCF4Wmoz2aBTdYJ-huIDmyWmtF6tk2TRjbGzPFAKilN_hHNw6-u5uxTNvDT2ILAMrebE/s1600-h/IMG_7338.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBMTx82NoM9-D6oczBgXM88bXGEu5XppVJllr_yZMgcLw3Uw4_1perRVZkWQadYWmhA3IdsMaCF4Wmoz2aBTdYJ-huIDmyWmtF6tk2TRjbGzPFAKilN_hHNw6-u5uxTNvDT2ILAMrebE/s1600-h/IMG_7338.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBMTx82NoM9-D6oczBgXM88bXGEu5XppVJllr_yZMgcLw3Uw4_1perRVZkWQadYWmhA3IdsMaCF4Wmoz2aBTdYJ-huIDmyWmtF6tk2TRjbGzPFAKilN_hHNw6-u5uxTNvDT2ILAMrebE/s200/IMG_7338.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324132825600602386" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The cherry blossoms were in full bloom<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDcY-K1flSd78su_sQAfHe-vXeZPPdzoBhl7__CZz1hvjXfUBJ9cTHmoQ20RWhmeYo18Mr-CmgkjoAHHFrcWWq-oTaMvDx2kDGo_d_h5vSzF_x-B5wPixYBluWghaqCUthmVLnDsq2ZU/s1600-h/IMG_7321.JPG"> </a> last week and the weather has been perfect. I went to Tokiwa Park after work on Thursday and it was really nice. I'd say Tokiwa Park is Ube's "claim to fame." It's actually listed as one of the best (maybe top 10?) places in Japan to see the cherry blossoms in spring. There are over 3,000 cherry blossom trees in the park! It's also famous for the many pelicans!<br /></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDcY-K1flSd78su_sQAfHe-vXeZPPdzoBhl7__CZz1hvjXfUBJ9cTHmoQ20RWhmeYo18Mr-CmgkjoAHHFrcWWq-oTaMvDx2kDGo_d_h5vSzF_x-B5wPixYBluWghaqCUthmVLnDsq2ZU/s1600-h/IMG_7321.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0i5mqT3CwowyPEStskAkRv7mlnMM-B-7au7d-za8_Lh3tzUMBVm4sQAKy0LH_phjcylIYWg1uvBYyCudMvl01eJ7X-26dWOsRUdoDKuQruNS04TX6ZUV-55nhCqV78N7FdtqPVdmN-uU/s1600-h/IMG_7307.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0i5mqT3CwowyPEStskAkRv7mlnMM-B-7au7d-za8_Lh3tzUMBVm4sQAKy0LH_phjcylIYWg1uvBYyCudMvl01eJ7X-26dWOsRUdoDKuQruNS04TX6ZUV-55nhCqV78N7FdtqPVdmN-uU/s200/IMG_7307.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324133815750041330" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFVAGNjyMKi14Kjgg7ux_we3xg2yJCnCiVD_0XFeEZSQu93gm5M0sfyvKSCp15umYJIDcEcV6cWya6VsZ5Vx_GFUIuflIoqHpt4v9ss7GAsIcVEfFhYv3gYcbgeGIYULFJADoDRVCPyE/s1600-h/IMG_7304.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 201px; height: 149px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFVAGNjyMKi14Kjgg7ux_we3xg2yJCnCiVD_0XFeEZSQu93gm5M0sfyvKSCp15umYJIDcEcV6cWya6VsZ5Vx_GFUIuflIoqHpt4v9ss7GAsIcVEfFhYv3gYcbgeGIYULFJADoDRVCPyE/s200/IMG_7304.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324134566890824018" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYU5megHVeBh_ztXLuE3rvM6TCxi3WTujyRypk8M-z5q1LrJJPzLfOpn6lIB23OgyvXsnToTuj2eO_Zqnw2JQA0GSisFZVkETIQFWH7kjNSZc-R7WiM4vm87-bHEsZOyyBwK3nz2vgBYc/s1600-h/IMG_7344.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYU5megHVeBh_ztXLuE3rvM6TCxi3WTujyRypk8M-z5q1LrJJPzLfOpn6lIB23OgyvXsnToTuj2eO_Zqnw2JQA0GSisFZVkETIQFWH7kjNSZc-R7WiM4vm87-bHEsZOyyBwK3nz2vgBYc/s200/IMG_7344.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324133567708502514" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFsTCw40nPl17NMDY5zPxey1Oct4nhyphenhyphenq1eIo7Xc_d2NLu4NuwXn6U1dJe_kPRqx0sL0td17M8x3pw_lP0JcwnIA5kJnVmReViov3pSTTou7BfCGHxjPl_vhzpv3ayZVyPreTGsaDgMPuo/s1600-h/IMG_7334.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFsTCw40nPl17NMDY5zPxey1Oct4nhyphenhyphenq1eIo7Xc_d2NLu4NuwXn6U1dJe_kPRqx0sL0td17M8x3pw_lP0JcwnIA5kJnVmReViov3pSTTou7BfCGHxjPl_vhzpv3ayZVyPreTGsaDgMPuo/s200/IMG_7334.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324132819338800322" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDEthwgsSaN8t6X8CsnVnk23fH0MYtYWJCJjGcoLbGTO9FzVIrc_H69P-Oe5mmb0hFjfqkq0dPBrjkcL4ZrQtUGAydSeqdm7E-pNVrclX8dLvmAafH90Ax1EDSfdcjmzgWwzlLhrFU_9w/s1600-h/IMG_7343.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDEthwgsSaN8t6X8CsnVnk23fH0MYtYWJCJjGcoLbGTO9FzVIrc_H69P-Oe5mmb0hFjfqkq0dPBrjkcL4ZrQtUGAydSeqdm7E-pNVrclX8dLvmAafH90Ax1EDSfdcjmzgWwzlLhrFU_9w/s200/IMG_7343.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324133562242111170" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-6258669343222844602009-04-07T20:47:00.014+09:002009-04-13T21:02:40.749+09:00Catch up time!<div style="text-align: center;">Where to start...<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjraCNu8FCxAX257sqTqdzX9rUauBKYZ3mcjW-QVB_DP85cQpdGm6lhMj0apf_qxcrUsTg2-ZALpnWXpJT0LppogR_GVoJl4qF_hwhkLXISZ0IU1RSurxscMK5o2LIm4gc6GD1ImbqbzUg/s1600-h/IMG_7193.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjraCNu8FCxAX257sqTqdzX9rUauBKYZ3mcjW-QVB_DP85cQpdGm6lhMj0apf_qxcrUsTg2-ZALpnWXpJT0LppogR_GVoJl4qF_hwhkLXISZ0IU1RSurxscMK5o2LIm4gc6GD1ImbqbzUg/s200/IMG_7193.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321918425496163714" border="0" /></a><br />I flew up to Tokyo 2 weekends ago (March 27-30) and stayed with a friend who lives in Chiba. I had a really nice time :) One thing I realized while I was there, though, was that I could never live in a city anywhere near as big or crowded as Tokyo. It was more crowded than usual because it was spring break, but still - way too many people in one place. That said, it's still a cool place to visit. I went to Harajuku, Meiji Shrine, Yoyogi Park, Shinjuku, <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjelBuiCqgkxpAeMSZYqObb3YO0E_l3iuPrLopo4JR-g_CEgpXq6nfXrph2FZcv2sVMROdL_1ss2A4tMP0dPsK8FxwbbIR6MFQoYnRE_7sNSBN5m21NeY22f1LU46cz2I3MG7A7V2vgZtY/s1600-h/IMG_7199.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjelBuiCqgkxpAeMSZYqObb3YO0E_l3iuPrLopo4JR-g_CEgpXq6nfXrph2FZcv2sVMROdL_1ss2A4tMP0dPsK8FxwbbIR6MFQoYnRE_7sNSBN5m21NeY22f1LU46cz2I3MG7A7V2vgZtY/s200/IMG_7199.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321919209368520066" border="0" /></a>Disney Sea, and Asakusa. Like I said above, I didn't actually stay in Tokyo. I was staying at my friend's apartment in Chiba which is about an hour train ride from the center of Tokyo. My friend is Japanese and she seriously knows how to make food. It was nice to have someone prepare breakfast for me every morning - and it was actually GOOD breakfast... unlike my usual grab whatever food is in my apartment and go. The cherry blossoms at Yoyogi Park were still kind of on their way to fully blooming, but that didn't stop people from gathering and having hanami parties. I've come to find out that hanami parties consist of going to a park where there are cherry blossoms, drinking lots of alcohol, and eating lots of food. Pretty fun. Disney Sea was cool to see... but just too crowded. The wait for everything was 2-3 hours. It was also pretty cold the weekend I was there. I'm still glad I went to Disney, regardless of the crowds. Here are some pictures from my weekend trip to Tokyo:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157616372097129&text=" scrolling="no" width="375" align="center" frameborder="0" height="335"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSasAppUNy3cHBLc23skmfqyS9op_1fBY4cW8zs2XYDV2J2IlMHJQAeJwTwjYOGfz0spX5ytmRFuWO6lxhKYWPQHkgnyHMJraCYuZ1INBuSugPbp_oNclDk3-GvjG5vJq1R_RX88lReLs/s1600-h/n3900017_31271463_7152977.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 142px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSasAppUNy3cHBLc23skmfqyS9op_1fBY4cW8zs2XYDV2J2IlMHJQAeJwTwjYOGfz0spX5ytmRFuWO6lxhKYWPQHkgnyHMJraCYuZ1INBuSugPbp_oNclDk3-GvjG5vJq1R_RX88lReLs/s200/n3900017_31271463_7152977.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321926735639061298" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">This past weekend I celebrated my birthday with some friends. Saturday night I had dinner in Ube with Meng, Jimmy, Saranne and her fiance Hideki. We went to a yakiniku place... because I love yakiniku. After that, Meng, Jimmy, and I went down the road and went bowling. We bowled 5 games and had a few drinks in the process. These 3 girls were bowling in the lane next to us and it <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI8OdOtYP7S5NB1L8AxDjj2h8H4289-dEXkjeuQgdTrD-m8iWwHoCTg53B7esBbNVCblfwjXbZGUh64k6xe2hucRoPBYwvY9VeJHtAzUPg6xVok3psKQJEWZd63_qQ9BUZPrUIatze9cs/s1600-h/n3900017_31270318_4753880.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI8OdOtYP7S5NB1L8AxDjj2h8H4289-dEXkjeuQgdTrD-m8iWwHoCTg53B7esBbNVCblfwjXbZGUh64k6xe2hucRoPBYwvY9VeJHtAzUPg6xVok3psKQJEWZd63_qQ9BUZPrUIatze9cs/s200/n3900017_31270318_4753880.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321926531328870690" border="0" /></a>turns out they were 20 years old and had graduated from the commercial school where I teach. They weren't that interested in being our friends though, haha. After bowling we decided to go down the road and we stopped at this really cool store called Don Quixote. We took advantage of their awesome photo booths. We then made our way to this Japanese style restaurant. I had 2 pieces of salmon... and they were delicious. After that, we made our way to McDonald's where I believe I had some kind of hamburger. I thought I was being smart and ordered another burger to take home with me (so I could eat it for breakfast Sunday morning... yeah...), but I ended up leaving it in the back of a taxi... yeah... All in all - it was a great night! The next day (Sunday) Jimmy, Meng, and I met up with Richard at Space World. Space World is an amusement park in Kitakyushu. I was a <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5xpFTll-DthsyoScjgxTGQ-32r8Us6fPmZ-JqaVEEZaDxoZr2CK905gdxQ_Ri6bJII5OmeoerTmtkSa7wvN9ON2H4SnBj2JlLewOfp3MBg9H2-97oDFATVVqmmA-WyuOMOo01ZCdIEM/s1600-h/n710882522_1623125_5148212.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5xpFTll-DthsyoScjgxTGQ-32r8Us6fPmZ-JqaVEEZaDxoZr2CK905gdxQ_Ri6bJII5OmeoerTmtkSa7wvN9ON2H4SnBj2JlLewOfp3MBg9H2-97oDFATVVqmmA-WyuOMOo01ZCdIEM/s200/n710882522_1623125_5148212.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322260212858737266" border="0" /></a>little disappointed in the park, but it was fun hanging out. I just thought there would be more rides... there were only 3 "big" coasters and 1 of them was c<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnx5IDEj7L8-RnAIrI5jmQFl7uQT7MGMnsvjdLK0QOalYj75kK0AAzDO1jRgv626sLf5CKKDZNYaWgqZWcXP1d-NgLAcJt84nYYoGPV4QsvOGWrZRUn99_d1-XxLRGAuuZ1O27Ad98o8/s1600-h/IMG_7288.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnx5IDEj7L8-RnAIrI5jmQFl7uQT7MGMnsvjdLK0QOalYj75kK0AAzDO1jRgv626sLf5CKKDZNYaWgqZWcXP1d-NgLAcJt84nYYoGPV4QsvOGWrZRUn99_d1-XxLRGAuuZ1O27Ad98o8/s200/IMG_7288.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324144568457848226" border="0" /></a>losed. Richard has all of the pictures from the day on his camera, so as soon as I get them I'll post them. After Space World, we made our way to Kokura and had dinner at the awesome Thai place. The cherry blossoms at Kokura castle were really pretty!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxukJQPufydLf8N0r2-1nBzAmdPrmvCHMvDJWpPJncsMqRBpnJtl7Aupmovjs9ErL-deglNAGPQU3DoIcwuCq_n_eazXHTK2ObLfJ4SgAWXbzKzEIvTaL47KMLphudhADSB9LJjEhqbng/s1600-h/IMG_7295.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxukJQPufydLf8N0r2-1nBzAmdPrmvCHMvDJWpPJncsMqRBpnJtl7Aupmovjs9ErL-deglNAGPQU3DoIcwuCq_n_eazXHTK2ObLfJ4SgAWXbzKzEIvTaL47KMLphudhADSB9LJjEhqbng/s200/IMG_7295.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324144903058116802" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />So that covers the past 2 weekends. Work is what falls in between... or rather the lack thereof. Going to my base school for the past month and sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day with no work to do has taken its toll - that's for sure. I'm just not going to get into how not fun it has been. Old teachers left and new ones came in which is a nice change. There are these 2 younger females who sit very close to me who are new... there is potential there for work friends. It's nice to not be the only young person there, that's for sure. I have nothing in common with the older teachers so they don't really talk to me. I FINALLY got my base school schedule today. Tomorrow is the opening ceremony. They weren't shy in giving me classes... I have 4 classes Mondays and Tuesdays, and 3 classes on Wednesdays. Teaching 4 classes in 1 day takes its toll. I'm not complaining though... not yet. I'll have 4 classes every Friday at the commercial school. I'm not sure yet how many I'll be teaching Thursdays at the technical school. I hope the teachers at my base school actually give me some guidance in terms of lesson plans this year. Last year they just said "do whatever"... but I'd rather make lesson plans that are relevant so that students HAVE to pay attention. There are 2 new English teachers at my base school that I'll be working with. My first day of teaching at my base school is Monday. If they don't approach me about lesson plans then I'll approach them and make them give me a topic. I hate how non-confrontational people are here... just talk to me!<br /><br />What else... hmmm... oh, well today is my actual birthday. I did nothing today because I did all of my birthday celebrations on Saturday and Sunday. I actually had some self-control and managed to not open any of the birthday cards I received in the mail until this morning. My mom sent me a wrapped box of Hostess cupcakes with some birthday candles. It was nice to have something to open AND cake to eat! She was the only one to sing happy birthday to me and it was through my phone email which I received at 7:30am... perfect timing... very nice mom, thanks!! I didn't tell anyone at work that it was my birthday... I didn't really see the point. It will be interesting when they hear me do my self-introduction in class. Will they notice that I'm 23 and not 22 anymore when I introduce myself? I had a nice birthday. It is a little weird though that it's practically over... in Japan... but just beginning in the US. That's weird.Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-64085258721080320402009-03-23T21:56:00.012+09:002009-03-23T22:54:23.455+09:00Seoul, South Korea and the DMZ!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54nQk1kx76RmVOnuEN_KcWY_25weOUV84aY1L-3c3MlxnEKljsVU9jxDA2OXKzT5IUvq8PDRniG1-9sASguvUpjbOf1f4TO4pdNjr13AR1BfV5IMnQUUPj4H3yCXEjWnIvScAbLCxAj4/s1600-h/IMG_7036.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54nQk1kx76RmVOnuEN_KcWY_25weOUV84aY1L-3c3MlxnEKljsVU9jxDA2OXKzT5IUvq8PDRniG1-9sASguvUpjbOf1f4TO4pdNjr13AR1BfV5IMnQUUPj4H3yCXEjWnIvScAbLCxAj4/s200/IMG_7036.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316379793792637570" border="0" /></a><br />I took a trip to South Korea!! I was there from March 18-21. It was a really good time and I really like Seoul! All of the Korean people I encountered were pretty nice and Korea is much cheaper than Japan. We stayed in a hostel in the Hongdae district which is where all the college students hang out. Honestly, the streets were really dirty... a lot of trash, but I still like Seoul. There are SO MANY American food places - Outback Steakhouse, Quiznos, Subway, Burger King, Dunken Donuts, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays, Coldstone, etc etc etc. Not just 1 or 2... but every couple of blocks. The only non-Korean food that I ate while I was there was Mexican food. I'm pretty sure all of those food places mentioned above can be found in at least Tokyo - but I actually haven't spent much time in Tokyo outside of various inbound and outbound orientations. I'm actually going to Tokyo this coming weekend, so it'll be interesting to compare.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnToU6xBOWgd7hgxkSUMtpMSHQj4VXRu4Mu1h6fmygrC5dYDQJyjtxqqBwPu2pzi7EHCXYY5GNggVLIyWVNeM3pwca0RHzhVJVmGPD7hXcxZRH3a0oiZKBNfeiKjmqUCh734Q6nkWgbsQ/s1600-h/IMG_7171.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnToU6xBOWgd7hgxkSUMtpMSHQj4VXRu4Mu1h6fmygrC5dYDQJyjtxqqBwPu2pzi7EHCXYY5GNggVLIyWVNeM3pwca0RHzhVJVmGPD7hXcxZRH3a0oiZKBNfeiKjmqUCh734Q6nkWgbsQ/s200/IMG_7171.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316370703494094642" border="0" /></a><br />Anyway, I'm not sure if I liked Seoul because I'm just not used to being in a large city... or because it was actually really awesome. I think if I were visitng from America I'd still like it, though. Korean food is REALLY good. I actually had no idea what Korean food was before I came to Japan. It's really spicy... and delicious! Besides eati<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBelOW7kzqBvpTpSfS2CFInzHwZ-4UFKCDNhHb5xe8JNB7_86vcNBl8EMh1bf8E23_RFIqJGDaewSWpJHHEGHjhr6Um-ADqMNKlLWCkKWmvLEmbEAPRpukihpFRy0g5Q0JKA27hnX7PUc/s1600-h/IMG_7103.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBelOW7kzqBvpTpSfS2CFInzHwZ-4UFKCDNhHb5xe8JNB7_86vcNBl8EMh1bf8E23_RFIqJGDaewSWpJHHEGHjhr6Um-ADqMNKlLWCkKWmvLEmbEAPRpukihpFRy0g5Q0JKA27hnX7PUc/s200/IMG_7103.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316371690994199506" border="0" /></a>ng Korean food, I managed to see quite a bit of Seoul including Itaewon, Namdaemun Market, Gyeongbokgung - the main and largest palace of the Joseon Dynasty, Insadong Market, a tradition Korean performance at a theater, and I even made it to the Ice Bar! Namdaemun Market was really cool - it's HUGE and you can find a lot of cheap knock off name brand things. I don't really care about name brands... at all... so it didn't really bother me that the bag I purchased had a hilarious name trying to imitate some well known name brand... actually, I kind of like it more that way... but anyway. Check out these pictures from SEOUL!!!!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157615742901832&text=" scrolling="no" width="375" align="center" frameborder="0" height="355"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWk3dBfO2-03E38TMhiQQFR5qxnfJjCH2dMnspry2AgLoKMywglQRf5wUH5aindu3jcOUlEWTZRWMumATiXlEZi0J_-1BPGuslLF7Vke9NC7Bymc_S2UJ2lm4A058VVaUTge3rY5fP-sg/s1600-h/n3900017_31255701_1284283.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWk3dBfO2-03E38TMhiQQFR5qxnfJjCH2dMnspry2AgLoKMywglQRf5wUH5aindu3jcOUlEWTZRWMumATiXlEZi0J_-1BPGuslLF7Vke9NC7Bymc_S2UJ2lm4A058VVaUTge3rY5fP-sg/s200/n3900017_31255701_1284283.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316377141278679810" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Besides Seoul, we also took a tour to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone">Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)</a>. This was REALLY interesting and really made the trip I think. If you ever go to Korea - this is something worth going to. You can only go if you're with a tour. It is the most heavily armored border in the world. I actually learned quite a bit on this tour. At some points along the border, North Korean and South Korean soldiers stand pretty much face to face. The South Korean soldiers have to wear sunglasses. This is mandatory. They don't want the soldiers to make eye contact with the North Korean soldiers because they don't want them to have any kind of connection what-so-ever. There used to be an American presence on the border as well, but that was taken away because conflicts kept arising due to American and North Korean conflicts. Now the United Nations has stepped in and there is a United Nations presence. There is still an American military base in Seoul. Our tour guide was really cool. She was probably in her late 20s and was dating an American English teacher who teaches in Seoul. She was telling us about how there are a lot of American soldiers and even more American English teachers living in Seoul and that the American teachers and soldiers always get into fights - especially at bars. The way she put is was something like this "there are a lot of American soldiers there who haven't gone to college and aren't educated yet and the American English teachers who have degrees have a lot of disagreements with the way the American soldiers act and they end up fighting."<br /><br />But anyway, back to the DMZ. We also stopped at Imjingak Park which is home to the Freedom Bridge. You can also buy North Korean beer there - the only place you can buy North Korean beer outside of Nor<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj10YOKG1BQ2-OkHhdPQImZteAzNptEmg-AMl74HWDXoOm505PNk8hyCUoxHzyHjBYpfU_CKD6ZUAITds66VR-oLw4v3kODekC4nLUAQfhXrx2046xZtnh_Mur5VxdioLA2NRMSmnaXqQQ/s1600-h/IMG_6989.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj10YOKG1BQ2-OkHhdPQImZteAzNptEmg-AMl74HWDXoOm505PNk8hyCUoxHzyHjBYpfU_CKD6ZUAITds66VR-oLw4v3kODekC4nLUAQfhXrx2046xZtnh_Mur5VxdioLA2NRMSmnaXqQQ/s200/IMG_6989.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316379148926127314" border="0" /></a>th Korea... so of course I purchased some. We got to go into the Third Tunnel - which is 1 of 4 tunnels the South Koreans have discovered - the last being in 1990. They believe there are about 20 tunnels total. Our tour guide was telling us how she remembered when they found the 4th tunnel in 1990. She was a little girl and said that she remembered everyone had to be in early and at night they had to keep their lights off... she said it was creepy. The tunnels were dug by the North Koreans and run from North Korea into South Korea for the purpose of moving troops during the war. The North Koreans tried covering up that they were the ones who dug the tunnels. One tunnel was coated in coal because they wanted it to look like they were mining for coal - there is no coal in that area to mine for. They tried saying the South Koreans were the ones who dug the tunnels - but the direction of the explosives are in the direction from North Korea to South Korea. There are other clues which prove that the North Koreans were the ones who dug those tunnels. They are still looking for more.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-n4c2fvmUYVua2pTHtzRvHq_r9apmOhVjm4N3ESTCZ3yoyIuQCOVoTqjpni_x5poWjUM52CWe2gr-I-spSb3D4ibYGRPAWsYVI_kz3VYp4sdpHUIJmIZaoSPhhXYF4sjto6-hL0dWf98/s1600-h/n3900017_31255715_5325612.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-n4c2fvmUYVua2pTHtzRvHq_r9apmOhVjm4N3ESTCZ3yoyIuQCOVoTqjpni_x5poWjUM52CWe2gr-I-spSb3D4ibYGRPAWsYVI_kz3VYp4sdpHUIJmIZaoSPhhXYF4sjto6-hL0dWf98/s200/n3900017_31255715_5325612.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316377643063218018" border="0" /></a><br />Another intersting stop was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorasan_Station">Dorasan Station</a>. They hope to make it a regular passenger stop once North and South Korea reunite... I have a feeling that won't be anytime soon... but what do I know? It's just an empty station now. I think the tracks are used for supplies. We also went up to Dora Observatory. You are supposed to be able to see North Korea from there... but the day we went it was so foggy you seriously couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. Stupid fog. It was still pretty cool though.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Check out these pictures from the DMZ tour!<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157615648952895&text=" scrolling="no" width="375" align="center" frameborder="0" height="355"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /></div><br /><br /><br /></div></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-68246064037563943582009-03-16T18:28:00.008+09:002009-03-16T18:46:16.847+09:00Ohori Park, Fukuoka<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbpw_VKk1n02ooaE0TtVFYbMBxs9cGb2mJDZjpwv6_7PHVYlq5tLKqlpeEPPdkrVUNPxZu56iLKu4AYXFsV0PlR4o4MBi0_Y-KEclELjbReL3abiqDcrOGJPGSAnEPK3oT47JiqfJ8Bls/s1600-h/IMG_6895.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbpw_VKk1n02ooaE0TtVFYbMBxs9cGb2mJDZjpwv6_7PHVYlq5tLKqlpeEPPdkrVUNPxZu56iLKu4AYXFsV0PlR4o4MBi0_Y-KEclELjbReL3abiqDcrOGJPGSAnEPK3oT47JiqfJ8Bls/s200/IMG_6895.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313717132576938034" border="0" /></a><br />Sunday I spent the day in Fukuoka city with Meng, Richard, and Jimmy. We ate at a famous ramen shop... with the best spicy ramen I've ever had! After that we went around to all the big, foreign name brand stores. I thought those stores were expensive in America... but they are even more expensive in Japan. We went to Ohori Koen (park), too. The weather was awesome and the park was really pretty. I even spotted a few Cherry Blossoms (Sakura)! It was a nice afternoon. We ended up meeting up with one of Jimmy's co-workers who lives in Fukuoka and we ate burgers and fries at this little restaurant. The burgers were fantastic! We finished out the day at an Irish pub in order to somewhat celebrate St. Patrick's Day. We caught the very<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFq0pqpDL0ehGDRfyLdtQNseoM7L3KWtEHo76gkj2dNFvcYolHjMdFh9knpvvneJ9JAeXgj-gp9LtgjCHSYD9nkooypNy0QHdBFURWao4GxDPrH67buI7xbq5tbYrb0vH0hcVzFamMvFY/s1600-h/n67801409_30665079_327723.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFq0pqpDL0ehGDRfyLdtQNseoM7L3KWtEHo76gkj2dNFvcYolHjMdFh9knpvvneJ9JAeXgj-gp9LtgjCHSYD9nkooypNy0QHdBFURWao4GxDPrH67buI7xbq5tbYrb0vH0hcVzFamMvFY/s200/n67801409_30665079_327723.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313718971911840306" border="0" /></a> last possible train back to Ube and got back at 11:30pm. It was a nice day. Check out these pictures from the park! ***Jimmy took the picture of us on the right... so photo credit goes to him... it's a nice shot -> -> -><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> <iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157615356696554&text=" scrolling="no" width="375" align="center" frameborder="0" height="355"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /><br />We also took "purikura!" Purikura is short for "print club"... you take your picture in these photo booths and they have all kinds of fun backgrounds to chose from. After you take the pictures you use a machine to draw things on the pictures and add on all sorts of different things. It's a lot of fun and everyone always looks good in purikura!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOdhPZm84puvzllezm7BajOeQNTZ8wrBrK_fnf7ZpXy1JKONcE4dr77zhgMV-nOW9aZWcIz48b8BvOBO1K8Yax6CTd4vJB-O_Ss6mEGPOaEvoDII5lQkgo5mza1VqcnnYdV9TlvNqnq9c/s1600-h/n3900017_31250738_7705334.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 141px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOdhPZm84puvzllezm7BajOeQNTZ8wrBrK_fnf7ZpXy1JKONcE4dr77zhgMV-nOW9aZWcIz48b8BvOBO1K8Yax6CTd4vJB-O_Ss6mEGPOaEvoDII5lQkgo5mza1VqcnnYdV9TlvNqnq9c/s200/n3900017_31250738_7705334.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313718071253853730" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiflz6oAUyXMhXypi75hY1suelLEasjrABWH-l3xbd45zFf5iR8l3WBD1Xefm8QNghrnl7fY3sSY-1K5CtNEZzrv6CizfxGtSBCk0weng72Tr0oXSHXSwdZzjxaWP3CWafG2AR65w-mMwM/s1600-h/n710882522_1533608_5799850.jpg"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 141px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiflz6oAUyXMhXypi75hY1suelLEasjrABWH-l3xbd45zFf5iR8l3WBD1Xefm8QNghrnl7fY3sSY-1K5CtNEZzrv6CizfxGtSBCk0weng72Tr0oXSHXSwdZzjxaWP3CWafG2AR65w-mMwM/s200/n710882522_1533608_5799850.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313718076582499186" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL6IyCeojeuKHKFmEUeAfn9r2MyzTgNIhv82N0qpHVzFoIlhlaXwlACJyn0GB30U2xlTeZq3SNqJH6Kc2Av-8N5Vtki0Vb9BKTYTKyy6dFYBXfoKj8_ig-puhCqTusi4fNpWbwnjgGgLY/s1600-h/n710882522_1533607_5328721.jpg"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 141px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL6IyCeojeuKHKFmEUeAfn9r2MyzTgNIhv82N0qpHVzFoIlhlaXwlACJyn0GB30U2xlTeZq3SNqJH6Kc2Av-8N5Vtki0Vb9BKTYTKyy6dFYBXfoKj8_ig-puhCqTusi4fNpWbwnjgGgLY/s200/n710882522_1533607_5328721.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313718074617769714" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCD7mJBUF_76wSVLvx2xTPHQRod4IF8JyiQdtqTfrO5vM9QM2V4LSmBFs2wiqF7XP7CY8HjqChjGBbKdVNmVH-RjS8v_fpF7_NLFRMtSvMAHHdHXIljV56izNIgv-WTZ9Go0NdX_36jyQ/s1600-h/n710882522_1533604_3704000.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCD7mJBUF_76wSVLvx2xTPHQRod4IF8JyiQdtqTfrO5vM9QM2V4LSmBFs2wiqF7XP7CY8HjqChjGBbKdVNmVH-RjS8v_fpF7_NLFRMtSvMAHHdHXIljV56izNIgv-WTZ9Go0NdX_36jyQ/s200/n710882522_1533604_3704000.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313718069339716274" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTaheTQsaDcpZZzZ0rtt09Xt3ylmGJ47yD3gL2Pia6ZZuvBrNaArpKdVpYM7yLe-cWaUtrdJPzCLRlBDSkwonVkoq4wGgg2iHxT_vbXrEColEBZszhNt7CbW7asau7ROblXPdCOEGYv8M/s1600-h/n710882522_1533606_1589351.jpg"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTaheTQsaDcpZZzZ0rtt09Xt3ylmGJ47yD3gL2Pia6ZZuvBrNaArpKdVpYM7yLe-cWaUtrdJPzCLRlBDSkwonVkoq4wGgg2iHxT_vbXrEColEBZszhNt7CbW7asau7ROblXPdCOEGYv8M/s200/n710882522_1533606_1589351.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313718075014729714" border="0" /></a><br />*We accidentally put the wrong date on the purikura... supposed to be 3/15/09... oops!*<br /></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-50484828911349796152009-03-09T20:09:00.004+09:002009-03-09T20:29:44.490+09:00New Bike!One day last week I was riding my bike to work and the back wheel went completely flat... and the rim did something rims shouldn't do. It might have had something to do with the fact that I'd been riding it with flat tires for a good 3+ months... but it was also a really old bike. The seat was wobbly - really wobbly, the basket was majorly dented, the kick stand barely worked, and the lock was tricky. I ended up pushing my bike the rest of the way to work that day... it also happened to be raining. My supervisor told me that the guy before the guy that I replaced rode around on my (now old) bike for 3 years and he weighed over 100kg (over 200 pounds). It was a pretty old bike that served its purpose. The school said they would buy me a new bike, but they had to temporarily fix the wheel until the next day. It got me home that day, but by morning the tire was flat again and I had to walk to work - making me late for the 2nd day in a row. I'd never been late before those 2 days - and it was fine because it wasn't my fault. I went to the store with my supervisor and this is the bike we ended up with:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQR7sihhD-AuKuZG96Bnu5suotpzk7LvC05mBLG7kjsFW3MFpcIgsTbLS97jnpx5aUat4JxmOG4IMoLmGOHvsUaP5SsFxyDH-yRTrQfz0FvMFuEN0-6p2WFRkHKvybXmqAH-6k0muTFz0/s1600-h/IMG_6874.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQR7sihhD-AuKuZG96Bnu5suotpzk7LvC05mBLG7kjsFW3MFpcIgsTbLS97jnpx5aUat4JxmOG4IMoLmGOHvsUaP5SsFxyDH-yRTrQfz0FvMFuEN0-6p2WFRkHKvybXmqAH-6k0muTFz0/s320/IMG_6874.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311144333233038082" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqb3rb0LKydGSUwRix2f2PiF759aRUQW_na3UU1BlRINInhtksrrBNNEQmiPydywxvniOUe3fXLb06DTdWKjL62T6ydoJ17ehacAG4J5w-G04BvIUvFhZnA7NfxA1s9vFCH4OvB0R2d3o/s1600-h/IMG_6875.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqb3rb0LKydGSUwRix2f2PiF759aRUQW_na3UU1BlRINInhtksrrBNNEQmiPydywxvniOUe3fXLb06DTdWKjL62T6ydoJ17ehacAG4J5w-G04BvIUvFhZnA7NfxA1s9vFCH4OvB0R2d3o/s320/IMG_6875.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311144340401861362" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhti5OIHi3ROTPpiKfDGCBxJ6cpLHtQccDtnobS9ukw1aBWpsF2dxlTTZ1WNJ4mHIsFQCZwc_WGSOT5dv7VqBIuKlzNZhaIkvwR3JgApMZtePXwPH73Wpn5KGmGqDI0YlGPCbKJn8t9IBY/s1600-h/IMG_6876.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhti5OIHi3ROTPpiKfDGCBxJ6cpLHtQccDtnobS9ukw1aBWpsF2dxlTTZ1WNJ4mHIsFQCZwc_WGSOT5dv7VqBIuKlzNZhaIkvwR3JgApMZtePXwPH73Wpn5KGmGqDI0YlGPCbKJn8t9IBY/s320/IMG_6876.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311144350183386002" border="0" /> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinB9GJFQoYb0cXje2MilY7bXoVNBdLu1jMbsPI0oeHZxW6UpPjn40hE3Ka58I8MCIZzmsifp7JYdppnL6SXL528Y-Rs8_LUnvCWO6H-9tze_0wS1-k7DnE7suqIHLT0gL_ozb7ymVY2GA/s1600-h/IMG_6877.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinB9GJFQoYb0cXje2MilY7bXoVNBdLu1jMbsPI0oeHZxW6UpPjn40hE3Ka58I8MCIZzmsifp7JYdppnL6SXL528Y-Rs8_LUnvCWO6H-9tze_0wS1-k7DnE7suqIHLT0gL_ozb7ymVY2GA/s320/IMG_6877.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311144357181107058" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br />Besides getting a new bike, nothing too exciting has happened. Work is beyond boring. Last week was exam week for the 1st and 2nd years, so I had nothing to do. Beginning this week is spring vacation - for students, not teachers. It's kind of stupid. Nobody has anything to do - I swear everyone is just pretending to be busy... some people flat out sleep at their desks. The new school year begins April 8th. Until then, I will go to work everyday and try to keep myself busy - mostly with some self study books that I have. This Friday there's a prefectural seminar for Yamaguchi JETs in Yamaguchi city. It's the last one. I guess people who are finishing out their contract and not renewing get information about departure. I'm glad I get a day off from doing nothing! Self study gets boring after the first 4 hours.<br /><br />This past weekend was really nice. My friend Saranne had a nabe party at her house. Nabe is cooked in this big pan on the table and there's a base soup and you put in veggies and meat and eat it - it was delicious! It was a really nice time. Sunday night I went to dinner with my new friend Jimmy. We met randomly at YouMe Town the same day I had my party - Feb 27th. He's actually in the 1st picture I posted from my March 2nd post - the white guy in the middle. He lives closer to me than any of the other foreigners in my area which is really nice. Anyway, we went to this yakiniku place. It was good. Good food, good time.<br /></div></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-10196283167976362932009-03-02T16:08:00.005+09:002009-03-02T16:28:03.998+09:00Hey, it's March!<div style="text-align: center;">I had a small party on Friday... about 10 people came... it was really fun!<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif7KCjseF5Ry7xjXutpuUQma94IX0gtKqvdQ-COc9cHyo8vHIj0jx9LylCczATQbPxZQVDetV5tg3GHw9FpDBHGBWb8nLEW0paluXnspg_Wt0Zcg42VFkMc0IZq8h01JmgR89RI0u7Rt0/s1600-h/IMG_6859.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif7KCjseF5Ry7xjXutpuUQma94IX0gtKqvdQ-COc9cHyo8vHIj0jx9LylCczATQbPxZQVDetV5tg3GHw9FpDBHGBWb8nLEW0paluXnspg_Wt0Zcg42VFkMc0IZq8h01JmgR89RI0u7Rt0/s320/IMG_6859.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308484487978730226" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitpVfxX7bdb_FIoaZijxxGp3hRmKWSALRSAAtXDBMTc_fx3uGq7qsHrZ9d3cm0PmubzMqNYg6h7N0EmLrcgGw1eJDrCnxMoernjH_19ko_KYIkjADiMmhfL1E4xtd6Tua56PNszdb41Zg/s1600-h/IMG_6862.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitpVfxX7bdb_FIoaZijxxGp3hRmKWSALRSAAtXDBMTc_fx3uGq7qsHrZ9d3cm0PmubzMqNYg6h7N0EmLrcgGw1eJDrCnxMoernjH_19ko_KYIkjADiMmhfL1E4xtd6Tua56PNszdb41Zg/s320/IMG_6862.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308484494782186562" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Sunday was graduation... it was pretty boring. I skipped the teachers' party that night because I just didn't feel like going... and I was being lame. Oh well - there will be others.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVFFKXOgm10_EaKNBd1wX6XZi8gu6qQJoOKEYFsNyMx3w_ObbN-K_YZ5j4nPHHAqQKgH_WbRljuOiHdf8joAswqDRZk29W_baJEX-QL_9D2d4dqqbZgenNfhPV6evLpslpAUTws1KJXSc/s1600-h/IMG_6869.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVFFKXOgm10_EaKNBd1wX6XZi8gu6qQJoOKEYFsNyMx3w_ObbN-K_YZ5j4nPHHAqQKgH_WbRljuOiHdf8joAswqDRZk29W_baJEX-QL_9D2d4dqqbZgenNfhPV6evLpslpAUTws1KJXSc/s200/IMG_6869.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308485691727038898" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhab1gt4GOnBxD7Xi7rdfN1iHAjHblnoJ3DAp8PSRnp8Vp0W0T8wNuJ3hOKeu3faD9S2U1AY_RcoOqhI7hFg3us2Q_YRzxcV5t-JDytQ7xIdhcdpTsFQU-bgkwMPJ4rxWADUV6Mv7aCDag/s1600-h/IMG_6872.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhab1gt4GOnBxD7Xi7rdfN1iHAjHblnoJ3DAp8PSRnp8Vp0W0T8wNuJ3hOKeu3faD9S2U1AY_RcoOqhI7hFg3us2Q_YRzxcV5t-JDytQ7xIdhcdpTsFQU-bgkwMPJ4rxWADUV6Mv7aCDag/s200/IMG_6872.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308485702402823602" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaXozjj52SNihaUDoWfpEeimNDiwNtRKJSVXi8pUKtJsuEZVVZz_Vycf0bDFoEm6joGWA1x9nwxlS6a4V-hlBWNdCNXTGtFuaPEOC0hA5fvDvHv4pA4YEYLSHZnr3aLIpvPin3fTPUJfw/s1600-h/IMG_6873.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaXozjj52SNihaUDoWfpEeimNDiwNtRKJSVXi8pUKtJsuEZVVZz_Vycf0bDFoEm6joGWA1x9nwxlS6a4V-hlBWNdCNXTGtFuaPEOC0hA5fvDvHv4pA4YEYLSHZnr3aLIpvPin3fTPUJfw/s200/IMG_6873.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308485705820508338" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The entire school had to attend graduation and teachers had to be there for an entire working day (although, my supervisor let me leave around 1pm... before I told him I wasn't going to the party at night because he thought that I was... ha...). Since Sunday was a working day, all schools that had graduation yesterday now have a "substitute holiday" today - Monday. All I've done today is sleep in, go to the grocery store, watch movies and tv online, and eat cookies and pizza. I might do laundry later, but that's about all I have planned.<br /><br /><br />One last thing before I get back to my tv shows and cookies:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" >HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! </span><br /></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-11564965575331668652009-02-25T17:49:00.004+09:002009-02-25T18:02:37.327+09:00Japanese Cedars and the YenJapanese Cedar Trees and the Yen have nothing to do with one another... I'm just going to talk about both.<br /><br />In the past 3 days I have heard the same story about Japanese Cedar Trees numerous times... so I guess I'll share. Apparently many, many Japanese people have really bad allergies in the spring (beginning now) due to cedar tree pollination. I guess after Japan was defeated in WWII, somebody decided that cedar trees were the way to go because they grow quickly and they could use the wood to rebuild. So all of these cedar trees were planted on the mountain sides, but they stopped cutting down cedar trees to use the wood a very long time ago because it was cheaper to import wood from somewhere else. Now there are just a bunch of cedar trees that cause really bad allergies. Even more people are sporting the doctor masks - not because they are sick or don't want to get sick anymore - but because of the pollen in the air. So that's the story I've gotten all week.<br /><br />The Japanese yen is pretty weak right now. Less than a month ago the exchange rate was around 1USD = 0.89 yen. Today, it's a lousy 1USD = 97.18 yen. The exchange rate still isn't back to where it was when I came back in July, but the dollar is catching up. Well, either that or the yen is doing worse. I haven't been keeping up with it, but I'm pretty sure the yen is losing more value than the dollar is gaining. The Japanese economy has been steadily worsening for the past few months... right along with every other economy.<br /><br />Japan's finance minister, Nakagawa, resigned recently due to his ... unusual... performance at the G7 conference a few weeks ago. They blamed it on cold medicine... but everybody knows he was wasted drunk.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BPLLHtcot1U&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BPLLHtcot1U&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">All JET's have been informed that we should be expecting a stimulus check from the Japanese government sometime soon : )<br /></div></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-23327626802859666252009-02-22T19:07:00.007+09:002009-02-22T19:50:04.469+09:0050th Ube Unesco English Speech Competition - JudgeI was a judge for the 50th Unesco English Speech Competition at Kosui Hall, Tokiwa Park here in Ube all day Saturday. I wasn't looking forward to it... at all... but it wasn't that bad. It was a beautiful day outside, too. I had 2 students competing in the afternoon (Sr. High), but they didn't place in the top 10. I think they were both disappointed, but actually they both did a really great job and I was really proud of them. It was a little awkward that I had to be the judge since I had students competing. I looked over the overall scores and found that even if I had given them both perfects they still wouldn't have placed in the top 10... close, but not in the top 10... and that made me feel better because I was afraid I might have subconsciously judged them too harshly. If I remember correctly they placed 15th and 16th. That was out of 26. They didn't mess up and tried their best... that's really all that matters.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Here's a picture Meng took. Two of her students placed in the top 10 for Sr. High. This is a picture of the top 10 Sr. High students with the judges and officials standing behind them... can you pick me out?!<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBpPJuaP38-dCCcZO6N_d0Ba6FNqUYrqE2WY6xnzbDc13-DJQmcKG1V2wjaYXpeBF_O0b-RtQfKfE5c7ij4LbrtdRmL07i7IPgcPj1ww93PruxQQ1hNKzxuOHfOllD2uhAtkxwTerY9g/s1600-h/n3900017_31228209_3078.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBpPJuaP38-dCCcZO6N_d0Ba6FNqUYrqE2WY6xnzbDc13-DJQmcKG1V2wjaYXpeBF_O0b-RtQfKfE5c7ij4LbrtdRmL07i7IPgcPj1ww93PruxQQ1hNKzxuOHfOllD2uhAtkxwTerY9g/s400/n3900017_31228209_3078.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305562672078953218" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Meng and I met Saranne near Ube Shinkawa for dinner afterwards and the restaurant we went to was really good! I finally made it home around 9pm. I was pretty exhausted considering I'd left my place at 7:15am. I was dreading judging this speech contest for a few weeks... but it turned out to be a nice day. It's weird how things turn out like that sometimes.<br /></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-73801536413493189592009-02-16T16:20:00.008+09:002009-02-22T19:06:44.579+09:00COLDPLAY! OSAKA 2/14/09<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYo0wBJv7Od2xGlsTO2tFzz7SVFEszdAG3r3zNrZ4PuOPHnuDq1b5jBf_shD5bHu26ytFy_XxmsnHmoXY8L1_NrlU5cvixEBo4ZPuOsU0ETXOO2Ij3enfvzG2DUhRM0W3aP4vtO9OzPs/s1600-h/IMG_6810.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5GSOeQoNwdxH8PkaQ43nIUY4lou6JHOUfAnIRSKMGnRY_l_91seUBehZQA9KOXZtA8f17ryAlr8Xak8MXO9US5HaxTHD5jOiXxwWSOG8wHOUzHhf0IMY4a-TAEH1A-1hPcgKgzjLEfM/s1600-h/IMG_6792.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYo0wBJv7Od2xGlsTO2tFzz7SVFEszdAG3r3zNrZ4PuOPHnuDq1b5jBf_shD5bHu26ytFy_XxmsnHmoXY8L1_NrlU5cvixEBo4ZPuOsU0ETXOO2Ij3enfvzG2DUhRM0W3aP4vtO9OzPs/s1600-h/IMG_6810.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 217px; height: 164px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYo0wBJv7Od2xGlsTO2tFzz7SVFEszdAG3r3zNrZ4PuOPHnuDq1b5jBf_shD5bHu26ytFy_XxmsnHmoXY8L1_NrlU5cvixEBo4ZPuOsU0ETXOO2Ij3enfvzG2DUhRM0W3aP4vtO9OzPs/s200/IMG_6810.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303295595779858034" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5GSOeQoNwdxH8PkaQ43nIUY4lou6JHOUfAnIRSKMGnRY_l_91seUBehZQA9KOXZtA8f17ryAlr8Xak8MXO9US5HaxTHD5jOiXxwWSOG8wHOUzHhf0IMY4a-TAEH1A-1hPcgKgzjLEfM/s1600-h/IMG_6792.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5GSOeQoNwdxH8PkaQ43nIUY4lou6JHOUfAnIRSKMGnRY_l_91seUBehZQA9KOXZtA8f17ryAlr8Xak8MXO9US5HaxTHD5jOiXxwWSOG8wHOUzHhf0IMY4a-TAEH1A-1hPcgKgzjLEfM/s1600-h/IMG_6792.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 163px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5GSOeQoNwdxH8PkaQ43nIUY4lou6JHOUfAnIRSKMGnRY_l_91seUBehZQA9KOXZtA8f17ryAlr8Xak8MXO9US5HaxTHD5jOiXxwWSOG8wHOUzHhf0IMY4a-TAEH1A-1hPcgKgzjLEfM/s200/IMG_6792.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303295611295649362" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYo0wBJv7Od2xGlsTO2tFzz7SVFEszdAG3r3zNrZ4PuOPHnuDq1b5jBf_shD5bHu26ytFy_XxmsnHmoXY8L1_NrlU5cvixEBo4ZPuOsU0ETXOO2Ij3enfvzG2DUhRM0W3aP4vtO9OzPs/s1600-h/IMG_6810.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTwdZNIHz93NMx8PxegiUK7pvOl0nieuIwe8sElsbVg-Ad-S5rPH9bzC7tyUYBmpztEG9UGI61-Ce0Gi6fmd3Pmke5TKeh6MraVa2zy-XXfkF1UD_0_K-XBJE591GqCAa_Yi79E15PFoM/s1600-h/IMG_6742.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 163px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTwdZNIHz93NMx8PxegiUK7pvOl0nieuIwe8sElsbVg-Ad-S5rPH9bzC7tyUYBmpztEG9UGI61-Ce0Gi6fmd3Pmke5TKeh6MraVa2zy-XXfkF1UD_0_K-XBJE591GqCAa_Yi79E15PFoM/s200/IMG_6742.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303295603313726914" border="0" /></a></div><br />Coldplay came to Japan and I went to see them! I've always wanted to see them live, but I've never had the opportunity... so I was not going to let this one pass me by. My friends and I bought tickets to this concert before Christmas break! We were really excited to see Coldplay perform live and they did not let us down. They are AWESOME live. I haven't been to very many concerts, but this one tops them all. I'd pay to go see them again... definitely. The concert was actually in Kobe and not Osaka... even though all of their promotions say Osaka. Even the t-shirts they were selling said Osaka instead of Kobe... and they were selling them right there at the venue in Kobe.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOtoFYPSkU1-q54b3RYviKpLx9_JIolX7WFbCX0W0SYx17KMRNTCsYsb5xeD7zChvSgdRRdeProNl8vHAaWh1SUHflIl9XgXvvtSsh5G4ftbbpTUw2Ad7RB1f40OSOZNVACUYvveHnVK4/s1600-h/n700105353_6084183_3946.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOtoFYPSkU1-q54b3RYviKpLx9_JIolX7WFbCX0W0SYx17KMRNTCsYsb5xeD7zChvSgdRRdeProNl8vHAaWh1SUHflIl9XgXvvtSsh5G4ftbbpTUw2Ad7RB1f40OSOZNVACUYvveHnVK4/s320/n700105353_6084183_3946.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305560948055251842" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157613861004681&text=" align="center" scrolling="no" width="375" frameborder="0" height="355"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /></div><br />It was an unusually warm weekend, too. There was a <a href="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20090215a1.html">fluke heatwave</a> and the weather was great all weekend! I went all the way up there just to go to the concert, but I also met up with my friend Mina and a friend of hers for lunch. Actually, I went to her house and she cooked lunch! She made this really nice pasta and a nice appetizer of mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes. It was great!<br /><br />It was a really nice weekend that just-so-happened to fall on Valentine's Day... so I guess I can say this was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had! They actually celebrate Valentine's Day here as well. It's a little backwards though - girls are expected to give chocolates or flowers to boys. Then in a month or so they have "White Day" where boys are expected to give chocolates or flowers to girls. I got Valentine's Day chocolate in the mail from my mom!... even though I am 22... almost 23... I still get excited when my mom gives me Valentine's day candy... I don't think I'll ever grow out of that either : )<br /><br />So yeah, great weekend! and I'd go see Coldplay live again in a heartbeat!<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">This building was near our hostel... it has a road running through the middle of it!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0XPdY6JyJQNuxnk5ieyNavpH9VnxtjTK5AiN3jOlROD8XMb2bc6SWDWX9i_2gd6pwVr2XyOs75VJ-iV4RuqBPC8K2phDdiK7XWM5eWveug49VtTutoai6w_YuWLBpDgY7NIeAs_Gvoqk/s1600-h/IMG_6822.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0XPdY6JyJQNuxnk5ieyNavpH9VnxtjTK5AiN3jOlROD8XMb2bc6SWDWX9i_2gd6pwVr2XyOs75VJ-iV4RuqBPC8K2phDdiK7XWM5eWveug49VtTutoai6w_YuWLBpDgY7NIeAs_Gvoqk/s200/IMG_6822.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303296827758366498" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVhtJYCZ8BxjDHxuFuHa-bt-f1xJN7vfC08uFPETfbADuhyphenhyphenEbR6_jd0QQ56j43Im8afv-lBPiIMQDNc3GWvoCwfoQCqmGbokWR1s7CUcCO5EjhffDg2HkcEYQYDCdq7VDrYApRMkaavso/s1600-h/IMG_6823.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVhtJYCZ8BxjDHxuFuHa-bt-f1xJN7vfC08uFPETfbADuhyphenhyphenEbR6_jd0QQ56j43Im8afv-lBPiIMQDNc3GWvoCwfoQCqmGbokWR1s7CUcCO5EjhffDg2HkcEYQYDCdq7VDrYApRMkaavso/s200/IMG_6823.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303302396896788754" border="0" /></a></div><br />I also wanted to mention something that happened on my way back to Yamaguchi. I was sitting on the shinkansen (bullet train) when this guy walks into the car I was in. He was in a nice suit and was really hasty in his movements. He seemed really pissed off at the world and was irritated about something. Anyway, he hastily sat down next to this guy and throws his jacket into the seat in front of him. He kept moving around trying to get comfortable or something - leaned his seat all the way back, kept putting his feat up on the seat in front of him and then would take them down. Just really angsty. Then he stood up to get ready to get off - at the Hiroshima station stop - and he spit on the floor.<br /><br />I joked about meeting members of the yakuza (Japanese mafia) on the overnight ferry to Osaka back in September, but I honestly believe that he was a member of the yakuza. There was just something about him - he gave off an "I don't care about the world, I'd do anything including murder to get what I want, I'm going to be as rude as possible to everyone around me and try to act like a badass" type of vibe. It turns out he wasn't the only one on there either. As one of his buddies got off, we made eye contact and this guy seriously growled profanities at me. It was so weird! and a little creepy. I don't know much about Japanese profanities... but I do know that they don't have profanities like we do. They don't have the "f-word" or the "b-word" or the "a-word", etc etc etc. Those words just don't exist in the Japanese language. Japanese profanities would be talking down to someone or using inappropriate verb forms for people who aren't your friends... stuff like that.<br /><br />There is a controversial word "gaijin" which means foreigner. Some people find it offensive because it's a shortened form of "gaikokujin"... gaijin is just one of those words that people debate whether or not somebody is trying to be offensive when they use it. It really just all depends on context. I think it's kind of like the "n-word"... black people use it with each other, but if a white person were to use it then it becomes offensive. ANYWAY, when the guy growled these profanities at me he used that word - that's how I know they were directed at me and only me. People around me just kind of looked at the guy in disgust while at the same time ignored him because he was itching for attention. The woman in my row actually bowed and apologized. I have no idea what he said since I've never studied "profanities in Japanese," but his tone was really nasty and I don't need a translator to tell me that it was offensive. It was weird.<br /><br />I actually took a picture of the guy (discretely with my cell phone) that I was watching at first - the guy who spit on the floor - because I was shocked at his overall demeanour. You can only see the back of his head, but I'm going to post it for my own enjoyment. Here's a picture of the bullet train too! I was on the Nozomi which is the fastest bullet train in Japan!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwwL9yhkopX0RDNw_DZGF5R3QaEPYMZBJPDzBBEbbjMJLbxE7LOp2xesVv18MiKleA3B1Sf9UhGr2i9-zpopOly7NXL-o307_iG7g_DK3zOzn7IAB7ihXRh-QP_fYhQDwW3LyZtul5wI/s1600-h/IMG_6829.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwwL9yhkopX0RDNw_DZGF5R3QaEPYMZBJPDzBBEbbjMJLbxE7LOp2xesVv18MiKleA3B1Sf9UhGr2i9-zpopOly7NXL-o307_iG7g_DK3zOzn7IAB7ihXRh-QP_fYhQDwW3LyZtul5wI/s200/IMG_6829.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303296821776314354" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiJghetQuTlNJt2Cd5uSMRtO7pEjv4hwVW6lD6jhLt3JOei6j45Tg8FkT5rCY2DMALhrynmHa3Fjp_RUn1UX2dwREfR4OWkoSGtcsTMCnbFjn9wZQbTuTRvbiC3VEX-7c_zSz9WoE9AcE/s1600-h/IMG_6833.jpg"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 184px; height: 245px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiJghetQuTlNJt2Cd5uSMRtO7pEjv4hwVW6lD6jhLt3JOei6j45Tg8FkT5rCY2DMALhrynmHa3Fjp_RUn1UX2dwREfR4OWkoSGtcsTMCnbFjn9wZQbTuTRvbiC3VEX-7c_zSz9WoE9AcE/s200/IMG_6833.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303302393649025266" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-b1uVV2m5ilbNCY7CgW_4OGzTb7lt-r3JgnuW2aBwPw08KEL1caTC8qbt4DSe1isdPnC7NhyphenhyphenGxvvgx3KtImMkdJc9d4GSXq9lhEcyRAHVRdVOAYUcQeirpYCw2SiXR1-adKlCA5AFdQ/s1600-h/IMG_6832.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-b1uVV2m5ilbNCY7CgW_4OGzTb7lt-r3JgnuW2aBwPw08KEL1caTC8qbt4DSe1isdPnC7NhyphenhyphenGxvvgx3KtImMkdJc9d4GSXq9lhEcyRAHVRdVOAYUcQeirpYCw2SiXR1-adKlCA5AFdQ/s200/IMG_6832.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303296831458396706" border="0" /></a></div>Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-80586625068263648342009-02-11T10:58:00.007+09:002009-02-12T21:51:55.914+09:00Japanese Jehovah's WitnessesA Japanese Jehovah's witness just rang my doorbell and woke me up on my day off (it's a national holiday today). She wouldn't leave me alone even after I told her I didn't understand most of what she was saying. She did say "oh, you have a day off from work, that's nice." I didn't realize she was a Jehovah's witness at first because she was really sneaky and sly about pulling her Bible out... but I kept thinking, oh no, I think this is a Jehovah's witness because she's beating around the bush. At one point she opened it and read a passage to me... which I didn't understand at all. After I told her again "分かりません" (I don't understand), she then started asking me about marriage and if I was married.<br /><br />Two male Jehovah's witnesses came to my door back when I first arrived. With them, though, I recognized that they were Jehovah's witnesses so I started out speaking English and only English and then quickly shut the door. They didn't pull their Bibles out immediately or anything, they just had that look. The 2 men and this woman creepily reminded me of how Jehovah's witnesses back home are... they act the same, look the same, etc etc etc... they're just using a different language and they're Asian instead of white... it's weird.Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707061649743870307.post-31275579256237063272009-02-10T16:14:00.006+09:002009-02-10T16:37:17.264+09:00HOKKAIDO!!!!! 雪祭り 2009! Snow Festival!<div style="text-align: center;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBLH7dj8Q7pZwQGTqsSxypMEL2yTd7IvTKT-2zHW2kQYhq6chGKful3Y9tZ_2W8YcZOoVNIoxv5rPeNXF33yYnm_a8E4vTnjl6VZIbSj0QN7M2syovnLLMb1JIR6rI7fhfrbR225dFPDQ/s1600-h/IMG_6697.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 237px; height: 175px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBLH7dj8Q7pZwQGTqsSxypMEL2yTd7IvTKT-2zHW2kQYhq6chGKful3Y9tZ_2W8YcZOoVNIoxv5rPeNXF33yYnm_a8E4vTnjl6VZIbSj0QN7M2syovnLLMb1JIR6rI7fhfrbR225dFPDQ/s200/IMG_6697.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301066388465101218" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDMRvvM7LiwkRMgpAMZEHg5Rufp5FjylW8akh53G4jctReb6_0SJuw087ULoxLRfatTZFcA2-TFecV5pKZAKiBOhy61jq1mqvjZ1S9zLV6oyafYDgO4FHydotZXh7C2wl5z9VjG-D_Bl4/s1600-h/IMG_6725.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFL36JJS0pUvZCiSuNoDvPhaal7XIHc3HP67rDHIDZw34GtZzScfViXHXGBvlxZoCvnrgUYa5Vvyfb01Z90XhFq3wBRlbh72sICbiJNxWkD3HR4cgl0C2aEc8V76YV0-0EgsIkrMi3Ggw/s1600-h/IMG_6530.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 175px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFL36JJS0pUvZCiSuNoDvPhaal7XIHc3HP67rDHIDZw34GtZzScfViXHXGBvlxZoCvnrgUYa5Vvyfb01Z90XhFq3wBRlbh72sICbiJNxWkD3HR4cgl0C2aEc8V76YV0-0EgsIkrMi3Ggw/s200/IMG_6530.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301066378943743538" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDMRvvM7LiwkRMgpAMZEHg5Rufp5FjylW8akh53G4jctReb6_0SJuw087ULoxLRfatTZFcA2-TFecV5pKZAKiBOhy61jq1mqvjZ1S9zLV6oyafYDgO4FHydotZXh7C2wl5z9VjG-D_Bl4/s1600-h/IMG_6725.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 175px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDMRvvM7LiwkRMgpAMZEHg5Rufp5FjylW8akh53G4jctReb6_0SJuw087ULoxLRfatTZFcA2-TFecV5pKZAKiBOhy61jq1mqvjZ1S9zLV6oyafYDgO4FHydotZXh7C2wl5z9VjG-D_Bl4/s200/IMG_6725.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301066385972657346" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFL36JJS0pUvZCiSuNoDvPhaal7XIHc3HP67rDHIDZw34GtZzScfViXHXGBvlxZoCvnrgUYa5Vvyfb01Z90XhFq3wBRlbh72sICbiJNxWkD3HR4cgl0C2aEc8V76YV0-0EgsIkrMi3Ggw/s1600-h/IMG_6530.JPG"><br /></a></div><br /><br />This past weekend I flew up to Hokkaido! It's the northern most island of Japan. I went there for the Snow Festival (yuki matsuri) in Sapporo - the capital of Hokkaido. It was really cool! The Sapporo Snow Festival was on my "list of things to do in Japan"... it was a very expensive weekend, but totally worth it and I would go again if I could! Here are tons and tons of pictures from the weekend:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157613512996523&text=" align="center" scrolling="no" width="375" frameborder="0" height="355"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small></div><br />Saturday I went to Otaru with my friend Nia. Otaru is a cute little town in Hokkaido famous for its canal... and other things like glass blowing. The town almost had a European feel to it. Hokkaido isn't too far from Russia... so perhaps there are some Russian influences coming out in the town. Here are pictures from Otaru:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV3DgoUQ0jBu-fC7VcQZiq8LKGMJF0UNex86JZML_AV_AAkHcIVoIpJPkD5OHALW9wD1mh6AyArsQgzIpvpjBzHqDOmkT6Xsufk3UjBJTV4wpXM2lwHmj2d634n_yLbS555NWNJRVWeHQ/s1600-h/IMG_6605.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV3DgoUQ0jBu-fC7VcQZiq8LKGMJF0UNex86JZML_AV_AAkHcIVoIpJPkD5OHALW9wD1mh6AyArsQgzIpvpjBzHqDOmkT6Xsufk3UjBJTV4wpXM2lwHmj2d634n_yLbS555NWNJRVWeHQ/s200/IMG_6605.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301067992105261138" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxsatCHZTiGBd436AysM_hHCnk_yG6SWllbh50NHu7mGheoqKgXuDvvhbP2_yKEYg2q2NDuNKNsimQ0gqWCiThUj9sdMDU8PlugsP3JaUqTuvil8KDqcuPfMf7GLY7tmOPThDUif5_iNs/s1600-h/IMG_6623.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxsatCHZTiGBd436AysM_hHCnk_yG6SWllbh50NHu7mGheoqKgXuDvvhbP2_yKEYg2q2NDuNKNsimQ0gqWCiThUj9sdMDU8PlugsP3JaUqTuvil8KDqcuPfMf7GLY7tmOPThDUif5_iNs/s200/IMG_6623.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301067986238611922" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV3DgoUQ0jBu-fC7VcQZiq8LKGMJF0UNex86JZML_AV_AAkHcIVoIpJPkD5OHALW9wD1mh6AyArsQgzIpvpjBzHqDOmkT6Xsufk3UjBJTV4wpXM2lwHmj2d634n_yLbS555NWNJRVWeHQ/s1600-h/IMG_6605.JPG"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghr-3msAHt-Wo1bdrObFKMT5d__uB1sxgl6GgLGvWdAmUdab5rGYRQeN9oMlXL7yU18z0tjVXf9CA1PFmajZfTRluQHOpyiiDwVlvh8NT6McMCrgHF9YbKCpPbtcNc10dxn42s8NYwx1w/s1600-h/IMG_6643.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghr-3msAHt-Wo1bdrObFKMT5d__uB1sxgl6GgLGvWdAmUdab5rGYRQeN9oMlXL7yU18z0tjVXf9CA1PFmajZfTRluQHOpyiiDwVlvh8NT6McMCrgHF9YbKCpPbtcNc10dxn42s8NYwx1w/s200/IMG_6643.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301067990888479874" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=57032473@N00&set_id=72157613542770350&text=" align="center" scrolling="no" width="375" frameborder="0" height="355"></iframe><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se/" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com/" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small><br /></div><br />It was a great weekend : )<br /><br />I'm glad it's finally February. January was pretty dull, boring, and cold... but most January's are. I think things are starting to pick up again though, which is good. At work yesterday this teacher came up to me and started talking about the Grammy's and music. I didn't even know the Grammy's were yesterday... but I thought it was nice of him to start a conversation with me.<br /><br />Yesterday I walked into one of my classes and the students were REALLY excited that I was there. It's nice to walk into a classroom and hear students say things like "ah, it's Barbara! Yay! I'm glad." I think it's a good sign... it seems like they enjoy it when I teach them. It's also nice to hear things about how pretty I am on a regular basis. Seriously, they think I'm pretty (because I'm western) and they aren't afraid to let me know. What other job in my life will I have where I'm told nice things about myself on a regular basis and where people get super excited when I walk into the room?... I don't think I'll ever have another job like that.<br /><br />Today, all afternoon classes were canceled so that the entire school could run a relay race around the school yard because it was a nice day. Random.<br /><br />Tonight I'm having dinner with the women teachers from the all-boys technical school. Should be fun!Barb Belsitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10527374235582787485noreply@blogger.com0