i am the biggest idiot to walk this planet....

There aren't many people who don't already know that about me, but just let me reinforce it once more. Today is Tuesday, September 26, 2006 it's currently 11:10 p.m. Japan time and I am back in my apartment, coming back from the most amazing 3 day weekend EVER...oh yeah, in case you were wondering what I did this time, I just lost all 200 pictures that I had worked so hard taking over the past 4 days...don't ask how, it's andrea, enough said. I am so upset with myself right now, you can't even imagine. The pictures of the Tokyo Game Show and of my new Tsuchiura friends can be replaced, they can always send me their shots, but it's the pictures of the Jake concert that are irreplaceable. Which is why I am writing this blog. One reason is to let everyone know that I made it back safely after aimless trekking through the Kanto area, but more importantly to write everything down while the memories are still vivid.

Ok so Friday was a "working day" for us at Amity which means that we don't have our regular classes, and the Amity students have the option to sign up for a private lesson with any teacher they choose for a whopping 40/hour...being the new teacher I had a lot of students from other teachers, as well as my own students that signed up. I had 7 classes in a row and it was supposed to be a "cruise" day...The good thing about "working days" is that we get to choose any topic we want to cover. For the boys it was bugs/insects and for my girls it was Hawaii. The vocabulary: sunscreen, towel, swimsuit, camera, surfboard, and hat...for the older children it was that plus-dance hula, go surfing, and go swimming. And we made paper leis in every class hahaha (sooz the box of straws you gave me is almost gone!) It was fun. That night Chris's friend Danielle from Tsuchiura Amity came up to Iwaki and she stayed in my apartment. We stayed in to plan out the weekend, it was nice having company!

Saturday we left for Spa Resort Hawaiians which is in Yumoto-Iwaki city. The movie that Jake did the soundtrack for was filmed about this exact resort!! The movie is called "Hula Girl" and it just made it's premier this past Saturday and has received good reviews! I haven't gone yet but I am planning to go this weekend. There are no sub-titles but from what people tell me Spa Resort Hawaiians is built on an old coal mine. Once the coal mine shut down the workers were left with no jobs and came up with the crazy idea to build an amusement/waterpark over the mine. It's also about the Japanese girls learning the art of hula to perform at the park. Anyway, Chris Danielle and I werent' sure which bus to take so we got on this super old beat up looking bus because it had Hula Girl movie posters all over it, so we were like, ok this has got to be it...it turned out to be a tour bus and took us all around Yumoto (extremely country)...our tour guides spoke Japanese but were sporting very bright red aloha shirts. We finally made it to Hawaiians and it was packed!!! There are 4 or 5 big waterslides and it's all indoors. There was one big pool outside with jacuzzi's and these beds in the water that you could lay down on and the bubbles massage your back, sugoi ne! We had so much fun! They served fresh coconuts, fresh pineapple juice, loco moco, teri burgers, churros...It took me a while to decide but I settled on a teri burger and fries, one of my students said to get the loco moco but that stand was farther away.



*hopefully Danielle will email me the pictures she got at Hawaiians...but if not I am already planning my return. :) closest thing to Waikiki as I'll get...

Saturday night we ate at Italian Court a nice little Italian restaurant within walking distance of our apartment. That was my second time there already! Then we stayed in and watched "Kinky Boots" it's a British film it was really good! I recommend you rent it at blockbuster :) cute story.

Sunday it was off to Chiba for the Autumn Tokyo Game Show 2006! You know me I'm so not into video games but the experience was amazing! The Tokyo Game Show happens twice a year and all of the big game companies come to show off their new systems and games that are soon to be released! Some of the booths that were there-Xbox, Sony Playstation, Capcom, Bandai, Konami, Square Enix, Microsoft, Sega, Tecmo, Tomy, and Cykan...admission was only 1,200 yen and you could play all of the new games for free! The coolest thing was getting to see and play the highly anticipated Playstation 3! I didn't play it because i don't care, but it was a huge deal to everyone there. The new x-box games look really good too!! Blue Dragon and Lost Planet to those of you who care. Each booth is huge and extravagant! Everyone wants you to play their games so what they do is they give you something free if you play a game, score! In addition to the free stuff each company also hires models to wear these super skimpy outfits, pretty funny. There were men swarming with huge cameras, I don't think they were there for the games, but just to take pictures of all the girls, yuck. Oh and of course it wouldn't be a game show without all of the characters!!! Young and old, male and female...there were so many! Mostly Final Fantasy or anime characters.






*Danielle is going to send me her pictures later, she took so many at the game show. It's something you really have to see!

Mike-You and your friends should be jealous! It would be like your idea of heaven.

We were at the game show for 6 hours! Then I met more Tsuchiura friends...John (AEON), Nam (JET program), and Mandy (Amity). They are a fun bunch! From Chiba we went to Akihabara aka "Electric Town"...I'm so sad I lost these pictures...with the bright lights and display screens on the buildings I had some good ones :( we also stopped in a costume shop to look at all the anime costumes they are expensive!!! had some good pictures in here too...grrrrr!!! Akihabara is the place to go for any electronics (again, not in my interest) but it was still cool! Then it was off to Ueno station to meet more friends for dinner. We ate at this Korean/Yakiniku restaurant called Toriko near the station. It was so good! Reminded me of a Korean influenced Gyukaku. I had Ishiyaki Bi Bim Bap w/side order Kim Chee, yum!!! We had so much fun here, I will be returning soon! I beat Chris at this game on Nintendo DS, several times...he was a sore loser haha. After dinner we went to Big Echo Karaoke Studio super nice!!! I think Big Echo is my favorite place for Karaoke (it's a huge chain) the Ueno one is 6 floors high! Again, so much fun. It reminded us all of the karaoke scene in the movie "Lost in Translation", another movie that I really like!! rent it! haha. After karaoke it was finally time to head home...Chris and I crashed in Tsuchiura at Danielle's apartment, which is bigger than ours! It was really nice, good job Amity...

Monday was spent sleeping and making paper leis (for the Jake concert) I wanted to go in time for the sound check but I couldn't make it...sad. But I did manage to get to Kita-Yono eki all by myself from Tsuchiura without getting lost! But once I arrived in Kita-Yono I didn't know my next move...Luckily I had Kaz's (jake's manager) keitai number and she helped me get a taxi to the venue. I got there around 6:15 and I got to go backstage and meet everyone before the show, unbelievably exciting! I was so flustered meeting all of these important people and they were probably thinking, "who the heck is she?!" hahaha. The venue was called "Heaven's Rock" it was a small but PACKED and standing room only. Jake played mostly new stuff from his "Gently Weeps" album, and some from Dragon. It was a-w-e-s-o-m-e...Jennifer Perri also sang two songs with him from the Hula Girl movie. My favorite was when he played John Lennon's "Imagine"...in Saitama they have a John Lennon museum, so he felt it was appropriate. I love that song...The COOLEST part of the concert though was when he gave me a shout-out, my stomach sank. He said something like, I have a friend from Hawaii in the audience tonight, her name is Andrea, and her mom is my awesome massage therapist, it was crazy...like i was going to wake up from a dream, for it was too good to be true. After the concert I got to cruise backstage again they aren't allowed to take pictures or sign autographs for fans, which is sad because Japanese Jake fans are crazy! We waited until they packed up and were ready to sneak him out the backdoor. There were girls waiting and had to be held back, he's such a superstar here. We all piled in this big van, and I got to sit next to him on the ride to Tokyo. After I checked into the hotel, I went out to dinner with Jake, his manager Kaz, and A&R at sony music japan Kazy. We went to this sushi restaurant near the hotel, it was my first real sushi/sashimi experience so far in Japan and it was with them, unreal. Nama-biru (draft beer), super clean sake, scallops, unagi, ikura, toro, ume-shiso, tamago, saba, tako, nabe and more...chuo yabai!! soooo goood! Everyone was so nice and so humble, really an incredible bunch, I am so blessed to have met them!


(the hotel i stayed at)

(jake gave me this pillow)

I got 4 hours of sleep, I had to wake up at 6 to start getting ready to head back to Iwaki (how depressing) haha. I packed up and Jake was nice enough to meet me for breakfast. We had breakfast at this place called Jonathan's. I had corn soup, toast, and coffee. The corn soup was good, I remember when I came to Japan the first time... we ate that almost every morning...Good times, good conversations...he really is the nicest person EVER, i felt like he was an old friend or something. my first encounter with a hawaii person so far here, and it was him! he probably thought i was crazy, i talked about home so much! i will never forgive myself for losing those pictures...all i have is a mental image, but it will be with me forever.

i made it back to iwaki in time for work. i was exhausted but i'm just on such a high that i somehow made it through with a big smile on my face the entire day. it's not everyday i get to say i had breakfast with jake shimabukuro. the japanese teachers were like, "you know him!?" and i was going to show them pictures tomorrow but now i can't... :( i told all of my junior high students about it...everyone knows who he is here. i told the other teachers to go buy the hula girl soundtrack and they are haha...it was a great experience, and i hope to see him next time he visits which should be in december, so kind of soon! :) he gets to be home for a little bit and then he is off to australia! what a life...he called me today to make sure i got back alright, so nice! i'm sad now though because that's probably the last time i'll talk to him for a while. but great things don't last forever and it was everything i thought it could be.

ok well it's nearing 1 a.m. here and i'm so tired! sorry this is so long but pictures speak a thousand words, and there are no pictures so instead there are thousands of words...i deeply apologize but this is for my records too. alyssa will be here soon too! yay! i hope i get to see them i gotta check out the itinerary again.

i hope everyone is doing ok at home...through all the excitement my heart, thoughts, and prayers are in hawaii with my family and cousins in hilo and honolulu...

i love you all.
gambatte ne.
andie

Another quiet night in Iwaki...

Sorry I haven't posted a blog since training but the past three weeks have been exhausting!!! Training in Okayama was a great experience, we all got along great, and our trainers were the coolest. Even though we were only in Okayama city for a week I got really comfortable, and actually started to remember what was where, and how to navigate through east and west Okayama. Just as we started getting comfortable, it was over and we had to pack our bags and say our goodbyes as we headed off to our cities. Even though it's only been two weeks since we were all together I feel like it's been a lot longer. I will miss going to Joypolis with them. Joypolis is like this building where there is a big Sega arcade, Sega karaoke studio, Sega bowling alley, huge 100 yen store, and good restaurants (pizza and crepes yum) all in one!! Here are some pictures from training:












The total commute from Okayama to Iwaki station was about 6.5 hours. Took the shinkansen from Okayama to Tokyo (ueno) 4 hours, then I got on the Super Hitachi from Ueno to Iwaki. I was met by Jessica and Chris (the other Native English teachers)...We went straight to my apartment which is about a 10 minute walk from the station. I was pleasantly surprised to find a pretty big space with everything I needed already provided. All of the Japanese teachers were waiting in my room to meet me, I was all gross and sweaty haha. They are all so nice. Here are some pictures of my apartment:








I spent the first week at work shadowing Jessica because I was taking over all of her classes. I teach 32 classes a week, my youngest student is 1 and a half, and I have a few parents classes so I teach mom's that are in their 30s...quite a range! It was really overwhelming trying to remember names, and remembering where all the materials belonged...Trying to figure out the Japanese computer-clocking in and out, logging student absences, etc. Jessica was awesome in training me. She broke everything down for me and gave me notes on EVERY student, and sent me pictures with their names so I could practice at home. Her last day was sad...a lot of her students were sad, one cried. I was sad because it hit me that I wouldn't have her there the next week. Saturday all of the teachers went to dinner at "Potato House" the food was so good!




Jessica left for tokyo on sunday, and returned to north carolina on wednesday...yet another goodbye. I was looking forward to having a weekend where I didn't have to say farewell. That weekend Chris and I took our bicycles and biked around Iwaki for 3 hours!! I haven't rode a bike in YEARS. I was a bit shaky but at least I didn't get hit :) hahaha...I got membership at this place called Book Ace where you can rent American DVDs and CDs and it's only 100 yen per rental. Pretty awesome!




We also went to Toys R Us and Baskin Robbins. It was a good day, but my butt was sore when I got home haha. Iwaki is very country...a lot of trees and bridges. At night, it's sooooo quiet. A lot like Papaiko actually. It's very relaxing but there isn't a lot to do so Chris said that he tries to travel on the weekends as much as he can. Next weekend is a 3 day weekend for us! Hopefully we are all going to head to Tokyo for the weekend and then on monday I get to go to the Jake Shimabukuro concert! I'm so excited hahahaha.

My first week on my own as a teacher went better than I expected but I feel like I don't have any time to myself. I wake up early to work on lesson plans, then I'm at work for 9 hours, then I come home and work on the next day's plans...the other teachers said that it will get easier and it's normal for the first couple months or so to feel this way. So I guess if this is the worst of it then it's not that bad. Here are a few pictures of my students...I have 32 classes with like almost 90 students altogether so this is just a few of them.




I thought I uploaded more but I guess I didn't...the first one is a couple from my baby class. They are sooo cute!! The second picture is my last class of the week on Saturday nights, they are junior high students. I look forward to this class and it's a good way to end because these girls are so funny! I'll post more pictures of students later...trust me!

Well that's about everything that has been going on. I get to see Jake in a week! I'm looking forward to it not only because it's him, but also because I get to see someone who is from Hawaii and who is a familiar face. I talk to Christine T. at least a couple times a week, but she's all the way in Kyushu... :( if she was any closer I would've gone to visit her already.

Well take care and I miss everyone at home!
Love,
Andie