turkey hunting!

happy thanksgiving 2006! i hope everyone stuffed themselves last week, and ate your share of turkey for me too!! i'm glad i got to talk to most of the family (sue, jess, lauri, rains...funny enough i didn't get to talk to my own sister because she was busy getting lost in hawaii kai) haha!

thanksgiving day was coincidentally a national holiday in japan too...my students tried to explain that it was like give thanks to your elders/thanks for your hard work day...i'm still not sure but i guess it's like how we have labor day. i spent the entire day doing absolutely nothing. i went running early in the morning along the river and then it was too cold to do anything else so i stayed home. that night chris and i were going to head to KFC for some chicken and mashed potatoes but it was an hour bike ride away so we decided that denny's would be fine.



denny's was actually awesome...i was so full! i want to go back already hehe.

oh yeah! i almost forgot...last week monday i took a cooking class that was put on by iwaki's international association (aka the IIA) The IIA is where i go for my japanese lessons every tuesday... My tutor told me to take the class with her, and guess what, I was on Fukushima news that night...they were filming and interviewing during the class. We made age-dashi tofu, clam miso soup, chicken and mushroom oyakodon buri, and spicy konyaku. it was so good! but don't ask me to make it again hahaha.


don't i look so domesticated!!?





looks good ah?

on sunday i went into tokyo again to margarets for thanksgiving dinner! i met michelle first in saitama and then it was off to rendezvous in shin-matsudo around 5:30pm...there was no turkey but eric made smoked chicken it was good!


we had chili, chicken, salad, fried rice, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin soup, shoyu-sugar pumpkin, and lots of wine!






there were like 20 people there...i love this picture because there's so much going on...tons of fun, random conversations.


2 liter can of asahi...crazy business.

yum...cakes!

that good eh?

thanks margaret for an awesome time! ok so michelle and I thought we were being smart by trying to catch the last train back to omiya, saitama to sleep at her apartment...but when we were switching trains at akabane we made the mistake of following the running crowd. we did get on the right line, but we ended up going in the opposite direction and got stranded in ikebukuro. the next train wasn't until 4:30am and it was only 1 am or so. it was pouring rain, so it wasn't like we could just walk around. we found this restaurant, and we both were so full from dinner but we decided to just order anything so that we could sit inside.


this guy was hilarious...i've never seen anyone THIS tired before...he was sprawled out on the bench, kicking the guy next to him, his bag is just hanging from his back, it was CRAZY...otsukaresamadeshita man!



we got back to michelle's apartment at like 6 in the morning and we both totally crashed! we didn't get up until 1pm that day and we just went shopping around her train station. there were soo many department stores! most places are super expensive.


xmas lights!


our usual stop at starbucks! here i am waiting for michelle...she bought a mug for herself and i guess somehow she said yes she wanted it gift wrapped so they went all out and made it pretty! but it took so long and she felt bad but i thought it was hilarious.



even though it was a very short trip it was well worth it to see everyone again! hopefully we'll be together again for new years...meiji shrine?? maybe...this one guy aaron lives in nagano so we might TRY to go snowboarding..we'll see. no plans this weekend i have to clean and decorate my apartment with xmas stuff! aubri, megan, and masa will be here in 3 weeks!! holy moly! happy holidays! i wish everyone could come visit :)

love everyone and i'm so thankful for all my friends and family...i am nothing without your support!
-andie

Stuck in Ikebukuro

尾はいよう　ございます！good morning わたし輪　馬鹿たれです。i am stupid..面白いね amusing aint i?。。。okay so right now its 4 in the morning and michelle and I are at an internet cafe in ikebukuro...we had a little mix up tonight while we were trying to get back to saitama so we missed the last train. the next train is at 4:30am, thank　goodness! these japanese keyboards are so confusing its driving me　バナナs！雨がすごい！to translate...its raining really hard! its been an interesting night to say the least, and we discovered two great places to hang out if we are ever stranded in ikebukuro again...which is hopefully never, but who knows. hope your thanksgiving was great!!

love,
andrea the idiot

Follow-up training (Zushi, Kanagawa)

Finally a weekend in Iwaki!! Hmm...let's see...what has happened since my kyushu trip? Well last weekend I was on the 5:59am train AGAIN to tokyo for follow-up training. But this time i travelled with the other japanese teachers from my school. Follow-up training was held at Shonan International Villages which is in Zushi, Kanagawa (just south of tokyo). We were in the middle of nowhere but it was a beautiful place! All of the other foreign and japanese teachers from the east schools were there, as well as our trainers from Okayama..it was AWESOME getting to see everyone again. Here are some pictures!


south maranouchi exit of tokyo station (so historic looking eh?)

me and michelle...again!

dinner

our nice room!

that night we had a yukata party in the boys room...dave (teacher from britain) actually baked cakes for the party cute yah? it was so much fun! and it was good because we were able to see some of the japanese teachers let loose. unlike us foreign teachers, trainings are a very stressful time for the japanese teachers. their training is very serious and intense, but for us it's more like review and a big party...i even got to play a japanese drinking game with mikako (a japanese teachers from iwaki...i love mikako because she lets me borrow all of her dvds)


cake







the next morning we woke to a beautiful sunrise. not a cloud in the sky, and a clear view of mt. fuji (aka fuji-san)! pictures don't do fuji-san justice. it was so captivating, all of us would run outside during our breaks just to get a quick glimpse.






lobby

silly mel

zen

east-meets-west...breakfast-eggs, potatoes, natto, and tsukemono...so hamajang! but yummy!



so majestic



after training was over it was straight to SHIBUYA to eat and drink :) haha...i've been to tokyo several times already but never stopped in shibuya (which is like central TOKYO) i got to experience walking the famous HUGE crosswalk...i felt like i was a in a herd of cattle, i was so overwhelmed that i didn't take a picture cause i didn't want to hold anyone up, but next time i will take one! more pictures, doozo!



kampai!

SMALL WORLD! so margaret (far left) is from texas but i know her first cousins! i went to elementary, intermediate, high school, and college with arthur and pouy...small small small world!

i love mikey (the red head) he only spent 3 months in honolulu but i can talk to him about it all the time...we talk about rainbows, leonards, UH, and genki sushi constantly...his fiancee just finished at UH manoa and she starts work with amity at the ending of this month so i'm excited to meet her too!


fun times! that night margaret was nice enough to let us ALL sleep at her place. so half of us went back early and the other half decided to go clubbing and pull an all-nighter. mel, michelle, margaret, aaron, and i went back to her apartment to get some sleep in mabashi. her apartment is huge, they call it "narnia 2" haha. she is hosting a thanksgiving dinner party next weekend but i'm not sure if i'll be going...aubri folks will be here soon and i should save as much money as i can before then. we'll see! at 7:30 am the next morning there's a knock on her door and it was marvin, suwen, and branda (half-dead looking) just getting back from clubbing haha. that day we ate GREAT ramen, and did a lot of shopping!! they have the greatest vintage clothing stores there, i need to bring more money next time i go!


marvin-hungover in the ramen restaurant


holiday flavors are here!!

training was great! seeing familiar faces, and meeting new people. work is CRAZY right now because we have to finish progress reports (report cards), do club chats (which are letters to the families), and we have parent observation week (where the parents sit in our classes (talk about pressure!) gahhh! so sorry i haven't been keeping up with the emails during the week. i hope everyone is great at home and thank you for your concerns about the earthquake/tsunami warning/tornado in hokkaido, but we weren't affected at all (thank goodness).

i miss everyone at home so much! the holidays are here! happy thanksgiving and stuff yourself with turkey and stuffing for me :(

aloha!
andie