Alright, now a letter for the masses:
I'm going home! So I'll have actual e-mail access, and can catch up there. Please give me a call if you'll be in Michigan, or if you just want to say hi. I'll be at my parent's house, their number is listed so you can get it off the internet because I don't want to publish it here.
Otherwise, today's been kind of rough. I'm really good about waking up here -- usually up by 6:30, 6:45. Today, I woke up at 9:30, 10 minutes before my first class of the day, when my teacher called. I don't know what happened, but it wasn't good.
Anyways, time to get off the computer, and get a few more papers graded before I take my much-needed vacation! I'm so ready!
Ps, A preview of a future blog: I have finally experienced one of the best things about Japan- sentos. Onsens will come and be better, I'm sure, but the sento is wonderful. More later,
s
Sunday, December 15, 2002
alright, my battery will die soon, so this will be short.
in brief:
last thursday i went home and curled in a ball in my bed and shook. friday i went to the doctor and got antibiotics for strep. so i spent the weekend in bed and resting, which was nice because i needed rest, but i'm going to get it next weekend -- i had plenty of things i need to get done before i leave that i didn't have the energy for. and i missed a few parties.
i just was watching cleaning period at school, and the kids outside were instructed to shovel the snow banks _into_ the driveway. i was cracking up, and so were the kids who were watching with me -- it made absolutely no sense! i suppose it's so the snowbanks will melt sooner, but they're snowbanks! who cares! now i won't be able to ride my bike out of the parking lot, because it's 6 inches deep in snow. but good thing the edges are clean.
it's also really funny to see a large hoard of (very obedient, of course) 8th graders in uniforms using shovels.
alas, the doctor only prescribed 3 days of antibiotics, so i think i'll go back this afternoon and try to get more. i'm healthier, but i haven't beat it quite yet.
otherwise, just cleaning, cooking christmas treats for the offices, and organizing my photos this week before i come home. and yes, a bit more christmas shopping. anyone, let me know if you have any requests from japan!
bye,
sarah
in brief:
last thursday i went home and curled in a ball in my bed and shook. friday i went to the doctor and got antibiotics for strep. so i spent the weekend in bed and resting, which was nice because i needed rest, but i'm going to get it next weekend -- i had plenty of things i need to get done before i leave that i didn't have the energy for. and i missed a few parties.
i just was watching cleaning period at school, and the kids outside were instructed to shovel the snow banks _into_ the driveway. i was cracking up, and so were the kids who were watching with me -- it made absolutely no sense! i suppose it's so the snowbanks will melt sooner, but they're snowbanks! who cares! now i won't be able to ride my bike out of the parking lot, because it's 6 inches deep in snow. but good thing the edges are clean.
it's also really funny to see a large hoard of (very obedient, of course) 8th graders in uniforms using shovels.
alas, the doctor only prescribed 3 days of antibiotics, so i think i'll go back this afternoon and try to get more. i'm healthier, but i haven't beat it quite yet.
otherwise, just cleaning, cooking christmas treats for the offices, and organizing my photos this week before i come home. and yes, a bit more christmas shopping. anyone, let me know if you have any requests from japan!
bye,
sarah
Wednesday, December 11, 2002
Yikes, haven't written for a while. Yikes seems to be my new word... only when I'm writing e-mails or texts, I don't really say it yet...
So I can't figure out how to stay healthy here. I was doing really well Monday through Wednesday -- I'd been going to the gym, not getting enough sleep, but eating well and keeping pretty busy. Last night after school I was pretty tired so I didn't go to the gym, and I went to a friend's apartment for a long dinner party. (no alcohol, just lots of food). Got to bed by midnight - reasonable. This morning I woke up with a fever, inflated thyroids, and a really sore throat! I can't explain it, but it's no good that I'm always sick on Thursdays - the days I teach 4 classes (1st and 2nd years) with Japanese teachers (alone). But I'll rest tonight and get better soon.
I'm excited to be coming home (Dec. 20). I've pretty much decided I'm going to stay here for 2 years, (not official, but I've been on the fence and last sunday I just had the feeling that I wanted to stay) and I miss home a lot but I don't think I'm really home sick. Regardless, home is where to be for the holidays, especially after I've seen pictures of my house with the Christmas tree this year. I'm very excited.
We had a huge snowstorm in Toyama Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday alone it had snowed 30 cm by 5pm. A lot! It was gorgeous but is already melting because Toyama doesn't really get below freezing. I don't have proper shoes yet, so my feet were a little wet and cold.
The Toyama method of snow removal is ridiculous. There are _sprinklers_ in all the sidewalks and roads, and the water melts the snow and creates large puddles which don't disappear. Plus, the sidewalks and side streets aren't really plowed, so I walk in the car tracks of the road which is very dangerous. The streets are narrow enough anyways... But the snow was beautiful and I really enjoyed it.
Only 5 more days of classes. At this point my classes are pretty fun - singing/christmas themes... V., B., and I made a Christmas video for one of the classes, which was a good little project.
I just had a dried kaki (persimmon) which was really good.
So the big news here is that the one and only English teacher/ speaker at Oizumi, my smaller school, has just had a miscarraige, but not really because the baby is okay, but she's gone for the rest of the year. This has been a difficult thing for me to get from the other teachers -- we spent a half hour with dictionaries looking up medical terms, etc. But I'm very sad, and will miss her. I didn't know that she was pregnant - it kind of justifies some of her crazy behaviour (although I still believe she's a crazy person)
Must run for my train!
Until tomorrow or next week,
Sarah
So I can't figure out how to stay healthy here. I was doing really well Monday through Wednesday -- I'd been going to the gym, not getting enough sleep, but eating well and keeping pretty busy. Last night after school I was pretty tired so I didn't go to the gym, and I went to a friend's apartment for a long dinner party. (no alcohol, just lots of food). Got to bed by midnight - reasonable. This morning I woke up with a fever, inflated thyroids, and a really sore throat! I can't explain it, but it's no good that I'm always sick on Thursdays - the days I teach 4 classes (1st and 2nd years) with Japanese teachers (alone). But I'll rest tonight and get better soon.
I'm excited to be coming home (Dec. 20). I've pretty much decided I'm going to stay here for 2 years, (not official, but I've been on the fence and last sunday I just had the feeling that I wanted to stay) and I miss home a lot but I don't think I'm really home sick. Regardless, home is where to be for the holidays, especially after I've seen pictures of my house with the Christmas tree this year. I'm very excited.
We had a huge snowstorm in Toyama Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday alone it had snowed 30 cm by 5pm. A lot! It was gorgeous but is already melting because Toyama doesn't really get below freezing. I don't have proper shoes yet, so my feet were a little wet and cold.
The Toyama method of snow removal is ridiculous. There are _sprinklers_ in all the sidewalks and roads, and the water melts the snow and creates large puddles which don't disappear. Plus, the sidewalks and side streets aren't really plowed, so I walk in the car tracks of the road which is very dangerous. The streets are narrow enough anyways... But the snow was beautiful and I really enjoyed it.
Only 5 more days of classes. At this point my classes are pretty fun - singing/christmas themes... V., B., and I made a Christmas video for one of the classes, which was a good little project.
I just had a dried kaki (persimmon) which was really good.
So the big news here is that the one and only English teacher/ speaker at Oizumi, my smaller school, has just had a miscarraige, but not really because the baby is okay, but she's gone for the rest of the year. This has been a difficult thing for me to get from the other teachers -- we spent a half hour with dictionaries looking up medical terms, etc. But I'm very sad, and will miss her. I didn't know that she was pregnant - it kind of justifies some of her crazy behaviour (although I still believe she's a crazy person)
Must run for my train!
Until tomorrow or next week,
Sarah
Sunday, December 01, 2002
So much to write, and so little time has passed...
First I'll give you an overview of the past four days, kind of a table of contents for this blog entry.
Thursday - thanksgiving
Friday - Elementary school visit (new school) and English dinner club/kareoke
Saturday/Sunday - Tokyo
Monday - Elementary school number 2.
Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I was kind of sad to be missing out. Thursday night Brian made pumpkin pie, and despite the fact that it had no crust and he had to make it in his microwave, it was very tasty.
Friday I went to a new elementary school and taught 3 classes and ate lunch with the students. It was a blast -- definelty the best elementary school experience I've had. Since I don't usually go there, and I didn't have a chance to talk to the teachers about lessons in advance, I planned all the lessons combining the best bits from my previous elementary school visits. The classes went really well and the students were adorable. I got on especially well with the 2nd graders -- we ate lunch together and I discovered that we could communicate very well in simple Japanese. They speak pretty slowly and with the formal tenses I've been taught, so we had nice conversations about the kinds of food we like to eat, about our dogs, and about how much we all like swimming (we went around a circle during lunch, saying things we like, and after I went last and said I liked swimming, we had to make another round so all the students could tell me how much they also like swimming). Then I played games with them (juggling and a version of marbles -- how cute!). Today I went back to the elementary school for 3 other grades and the 2nd grade class had made me a book - each had written me a letter (illustrated, of course) about how much fun they had with me. And another point of confidence is that I can read everything in the book! I need to hang out with 2nd graders more often.
Friday afternoon I crashed at my desk and researched digital cameras on the internet.
Friday night was installment 3 of the English club, with the Deputy mayor making a special appearance. This time was at nice hotel (the previous had been at restaurants) and I didn't like the formal atmosphere so much. But after champage and a few glasses of wine, atmsophere didn't matter so much. We played bingo (they seem to be really fond of this game) and I was appointed the roller girl (meaning I rolled the thing and called out the numbers). The first prize was a 100 dollar gift certificate to the hotel for dinner (donnated by the hotel - we think it was because the mayor was there) which was won by one of the Japanese men. Second prize - monopoly - went to nadia. I took 3rd prize -- a set of tickets to minority report which opens in japan pretty soon, which I've seen but am very happy to see again. 4th - bing crosby x-mas cd and a photo book of various cities at christmastime. It was won by a Japanese guy who gave it to victoria because he felt bad she didn't get a prize. After much prodding, the winner of the 1st place prize was pressured into giving Brian his gift certificates -- he refused 'a respectable number of times' (victoria) and then had no choice but to take them.
Then on to kareoke - same nice kareoke bar with the whisky that was magically refreshed every 10 minutes.
Called it a night around 9:30, went home and to bed for the tokyo trip.
I had to leave my apartment at 6:15 to catch my 6:40 train, so I meant to wake up at 5:30 to shower, pack, etc. Of course, my alarm didn't go off (which isn't my fault, i discovered a fluke in my cell phone this morning -- the alarm was set for 6am monday, and i woke up a bit before 6 on my own and the alarm didn't ever go off. i was confused and didn't think much of it until i was at mr. donuts at 7:10 and my alarm went off -- i looked at it and the clock is screwed up -- the date says december 2nd, and the calander day says monday, but day written out says wednesday so the alarm went off at what time it went off last wednesday - so something wierd must have happened to my cell phone -- now i need to get a new alarm because my backup alarm sometime stops or randomly skips an hour)
Back on track -- woke up at 6:15, dashed out the door, leaving essentials such as my cell phone, planner with maps and phone numbers, and tokyo guide books in a neat pile on my bed.
made it to the train station with 5 minutes to spare, made the train change (the shinkansen was really cool, although I didn't have a reserved seat, wasn't sure if I was supposed to be on the train, but the connection was only a few mintues and i didn't have time to talk with the attendent when the machine gate thing rejected my ticket so i just hopped on - once the train started it wasn't going to stop until tokyo and i did pay for a shinkansen ticket to tokyo... ) and made it to tokyo.
The JR tokyo station is an underground maze (actually it's not underground and didn't seem at all confusing on my way out of the city - maybe it was just travel fatigue, a lack of maps, and a lack of a plan). But luckily Lorraine Wichern (meghan wichern's mom (NU) whom I was visiting in Tokyo) had sent me a great e-mail with suggestions for things to see and how to see them. So I walked out of the station and headed for the gardens of the imperial palace. it was a gorgeous day (tshirt weather) so I took out the lining of my coat and changed my sweater and undershirt for a long sleeved-shirt. Okay I'm going to start abbreviating because I did so much in Tokyo and all the details will probably get (if they're not already) mundane. Oh but it's just so tempting to tell you about the throngs of Japanese tourists I followed in a big arch around the gardens -- men with florescent jackets and batons waving us on past the 3 entrances, until i saw that these people were then crossing a bridge over the road, climbing a hill, and going somewhere completely different. So I went to the imperial gardens (after I departed the millions of tourists who walk _so_slowly). At the exit of the gardens was the Tokyo Modern Art Museum, so I went there. Spent an hour, stuff in my locker, it was nice.
Then on to Akihabara. I was looking at digital cameras, and I had already figured out which one I want online (a bit out of my price range but i expected that in tokyo it would magically be cheaper -- it was just a bit cheaper), didn't buy one because I was tired, a bit confused, and hadn't really shopped around too much. also was starved, and hadn't been able to find a suitable cafe/western style thing that I was sure would be all over tokyo (and were all over tokyo in the right neiborhoods) so I had a kebob from a street vendor. After my browsing, I found the station and made it to Roppongi where the Wicherns live. Travelling took a lot longer than I expected, so I arrived at their amazing and very western residence just a bit before 5. Other dinner guests - an American couple who used to live in Tokyo and were stopping by on their way back to singapore from florida, a woman from IBM who used to live in France, and a grad student from Brandeis who was studying in tokyo at waseda university (plus the wicherns - i'm probably spelling their name wrong - who recently moved back to tokyo). It was a very international crowd, very interesting hearing all the stories of the ex-pat lifestyle.
Their home was amazing -- a really cool neighborhood, a really nice building, and a very nice and _western_ style aparment. I can't explain what a wierd sensation it was after being in Japan for 4 months to step into a living room (yes, a living room - couches and arm chairs that were higher than 6 inches off the ground, in fact very very nice), and a living room filled with nice Americans who were drinking champagne (with strawberries!) and eating olives, and a very good assortment of music. It was like home but with people I didn't know. It was very strange. I wasn't in Kansas anymore - certainly not Japan. Thanksgiving dinner was great - turkey, potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin and apples, brussle sprouts, beans, shrimp, pumpkin pie, apple pie, a very nice evening.
After the festivites I got to... gasp... sleep in a real _bed_. I can't describe what a wonderful experience this was - just imagine that after sleeping on an elevated futon (it's called a bed but it's really metal bars with the padding _in between_ go figure, so I threw a futon on top and don't feel the bars as bad)... In the morning had a nice shower and relaxed, read an english newspaper, had english muffins with strawberries and a pear for breakfast. Then Steve and lorraine took me out and around Tokyo, which was great. They were so nice and helpful with everything - it was great to have insiders show me around the city, to not have to hassle with where i was going and how i was going to get there and how to read a map, asking directions, etc. We went to an area where a lot of youth go and shop and hang out -- and when I say youth of tokyo I mean jhs, hs kids wearing clothes that make absolutely no sense. There were the goth kids who were crazy looking, but I was totally blown away by the innocent-seeming girls who were dressed in the most ridiculous things I've ever seen -- red plad skirt with matching bag, cartoon sweatshirt and fuzzy leopard print knee socks with little bats hanging off them -- it really is a fashion world of its own.
Went to the Meiji shrine and saw a few weddings and little girls dressed up for the 3-5-7 holiday, very beautiful and cute. Then the Wicherns terated me a really nice Chinese food lunch (gochisoushite kudasaimashita), and we saw a great store where I did some x-mas shopping, and we walked back the their place ( a really nice walk through a graveyard). They escorted me to the Shinkansen platform of JR Tokyo station (with a homemade bento in hand - leftover turkey sandwich and fruit) -- so nice and helpful! and I got on the train for home. I saw 2 people from Toyama on the platform so I had some company on the way home.
The turkey sandwich (on really nice bread, with cranberry sauce) was amazing. I savored every bite.
Stopped by Victoria's last night for a glass of wine and to rehash the details of the trip, so made it home around midnight (my train arrived at 10). A very nice trip, and it made me realize how nice it will be to go home in 3 weeks for x-mas. Yay I'm so excited! But I do still like Japan, the comforts of home are nice sometimes, also.
Whew! This morning I finished elementary school visits at hoshichoshogako. Yesterday morning I woke up with a sore throat, which was scratchy all day, and this morning I woke up without a voice. Plus, after waking at 6, drinking way too much coffee at mr. donuts for breakfast while I planned the lessons, I was a little worn out. but i made it through the lessons, and they were very nice and gave me throat drops, plus a ridiculous amount of omiyage (italian chocolate, australian beef jerkey, a box of cookies from a department store, and a gold pained gourd on a pedestal, still trying to figure that one out...)
So now I've been writing this for nearly an hour and it's well past time to go home.
Tomorrow and Wednesday I'm off to mid-year seminar, so I probably won't check my email until Thursday, but of course when I did on Thursday I would love a flood of notes mentioning how you've made it this far through my blog site and you had a wonderful thanksgiving in your respective areas of the world.
Sayonara,
Sarah
First I'll give you an overview of the past four days, kind of a table of contents for this blog entry.
Thursday - thanksgiving
Friday - Elementary school visit (new school) and English dinner club/kareoke
Saturday/Sunday - Tokyo
Monday - Elementary school number 2.
Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I was kind of sad to be missing out. Thursday night Brian made pumpkin pie, and despite the fact that it had no crust and he had to make it in his microwave, it was very tasty.
Friday I went to a new elementary school and taught 3 classes and ate lunch with the students. It was a blast -- definelty the best elementary school experience I've had. Since I don't usually go there, and I didn't have a chance to talk to the teachers about lessons in advance, I planned all the lessons combining the best bits from my previous elementary school visits. The classes went really well and the students were adorable. I got on especially well with the 2nd graders -- we ate lunch together and I discovered that we could communicate very well in simple Japanese. They speak pretty slowly and with the formal tenses I've been taught, so we had nice conversations about the kinds of food we like to eat, about our dogs, and about how much we all like swimming (we went around a circle during lunch, saying things we like, and after I went last and said I liked swimming, we had to make another round so all the students could tell me how much they also like swimming). Then I played games with them (juggling and a version of marbles -- how cute!). Today I went back to the elementary school for 3 other grades and the 2nd grade class had made me a book - each had written me a letter (illustrated, of course) about how much fun they had with me. And another point of confidence is that I can read everything in the book! I need to hang out with 2nd graders more often.
Friday afternoon I crashed at my desk and researched digital cameras on the internet.
Friday night was installment 3 of the English club, with the Deputy mayor making a special appearance. This time was at nice hotel (the previous had been at restaurants) and I didn't like the formal atmosphere so much. But after champage and a few glasses of wine, atmsophere didn't matter so much. We played bingo (they seem to be really fond of this game) and I was appointed the roller girl (meaning I rolled the thing and called out the numbers). The first prize was a 100 dollar gift certificate to the hotel for dinner (donnated by the hotel - we think it was because the mayor was there) which was won by one of the Japanese men. Second prize - monopoly - went to nadia. I took 3rd prize -- a set of tickets to minority report which opens in japan pretty soon, which I've seen but am very happy to see again. 4th - bing crosby x-mas cd and a photo book of various cities at christmastime. It was won by a Japanese guy who gave it to victoria because he felt bad she didn't get a prize. After much prodding, the winner of the 1st place prize was pressured into giving Brian his gift certificates -- he refused 'a respectable number of times' (victoria) and then had no choice but to take them.
Then on to kareoke - same nice kareoke bar with the whisky that was magically refreshed every 10 minutes.
Called it a night around 9:30, went home and to bed for the tokyo trip.
I had to leave my apartment at 6:15 to catch my 6:40 train, so I meant to wake up at 5:30 to shower, pack, etc. Of course, my alarm didn't go off (which isn't my fault, i discovered a fluke in my cell phone this morning -- the alarm was set for 6am monday, and i woke up a bit before 6 on my own and the alarm didn't ever go off. i was confused and didn't think much of it until i was at mr. donuts at 7:10 and my alarm went off -- i looked at it and the clock is screwed up -- the date says december 2nd, and the calander day says monday, but day written out says wednesday so the alarm went off at what time it went off last wednesday - so something wierd must have happened to my cell phone -- now i need to get a new alarm because my backup alarm sometime stops or randomly skips an hour)
Back on track -- woke up at 6:15, dashed out the door, leaving essentials such as my cell phone, planner with maps and phone numbers, and tokyo guide books in a neat pile on my bed.
made it to the train station with 5 minutes to spare, made the train change (the shinkansen was really cool, although I didn't have a reserved seat, wasn't sure if I was supposed to be on the train, but the connection was only a few mintues and i didn't have time to talk with the attendent when the machine gate thing rejected my ticket so i just hopped on - once the train started it wasn't going to stop until tokyo and i did pay for a shinkansen ticket to tokyo... ) and made it to tokyo.
The JR tokyo station is an underground maze (actually it's not underground and didn't seem at all confusing on my way out of the city - maybe it was just travel fatigue, a lack of maps, and a lack of a plan). But luckily Lorraine Wichern (meghan wichern's mom (NU) whom I was visiting in Tokyo) had sent me a great e-mail with suggestions for things to see and how to see them. So I walked out of the station and headed for the gardens of the imperial palace. it was a gorgeous day (tshirt weather) so I took out the lining of my coat and changed my sweater and undershirt for a long sleeved-shirt. Okay I'm going to start abbreviating because I did so much in Tokyo and all the details will probably get (if they're not already) mundane. Oh but it's just so tempting to tell you about the throngs of Japanese tourists I followed in a big arch around the gardens -- men with florescent jackets and batons waving us on past the 3 entrances, until i saw that these people were then crossing a bridge over the road, climbing a hill, and going somewhere completely different. So I went to the imperial gardens (after I departed the millions of tourists who walk _so_slowly). At the exit of the gardens was the Tokyo Modern Art Museum, so I went there. Spent an hour, stuff in my locker, it was nice.
Then on to Akihabara. I was looking at digital cameras, and I had already figured out which one I want online (a bit out of my price range but i expected that in tokyo it would magically be cheaper -- it was just a bit cheaper), didn't buy one because I was tired, a bit confused, and hadn't really shopped around too much. also was starved, and hadn't been able to find a suitable cafe/western style thing that I was sure would be all over tokyo (and were all over tokyo in the right neiborhoods) so I had a kebob from a street vendor. After my browsing, I found the station and made it to Roppongi where the Wicherns live. Travelling took a lot longer than I expected, so I arrived at their amazing and very western residence just a bit before 5. Other dinner guests - an American couple who used to live in Tokyo and were stopping by on their way back to singapore from florida, a woman from IBM who used to live in France, and a grad student from Brandeis who was studying in tokyo at waseda university (plus the wicherns - i'm probably spelling their name wrong - who recently moved back to tokyo). It was a very international crowd, very interesting hearing all the stories of the ex-pat lifestyle.
Their home was amazing -- a really cool neighborhood, a really nice building, and a very nice and _western_ style aparment. I can't explain what a wierd sensation it was after being in Japan for 4 months to step into a living room (yes, a living room - couches and arm chairs that were higher than 6 inches off the ground, in fact very very nice), and a living room filled with nice Americans who were drinking champagne (with strawberries!) and eating olives, and a very good assortment of music. It was like home but with people I didn't know. It was very strange. I wasn't in Kansas anymore - certainly not Japan. Thanksgiving dinner was great - turkey, potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin and apples, brussle sprouts, beans, shrimp, pumpkin pie, apple pie, a very nice evening.
After the festivites I got to... gasp... sleep in a real _bed_. I can't describe what a wonderful experience this was - just imagine that after sleeping on an elevated futon (it's called a bed but it's really metal bars with the padding _in between_ go figure, so I threw a futon on top and don't feel the bars as bad)... In the morning had a nice shower and relaxed, read an english newspaper, had english muffins with strawberries and a pear for breakfast. Then Steve and lorraine took me out and around Tokyo, which was great. They were so nice and helpful with everything - it was great to have insiders show me around the city, to not have to hassle with where i was going and how i was going to get there and how to read a map, asking directions, etc. We went to an area where a lot of youth go and shop and hang out -- and when I say youth of tokyo I mean jhs, hs kids wearing clothes that make absolutely no sense. There were the goth kids who were crazy looking, but I was totally blown away by the innocent-seeming girls who were dressed in the most ridiculous things I've ever seen -- red plad skirt with matching bag, cartoon sweatshirt and fuzzy leopard print knee socks with little bats hanging off them -- it really is a fashion world of its own.
Went to the Meiji shrine and saw a few weddings and little girls dressed up for the 3-5-7 holiday, very beautiful and cute. Then the Wicherns terated me a really nice Chinese food lunch (gochisoushite kudasaimashita), and we saw a great store where I did some x-mas shopping, and we walked back the their place ( a really nice walk through a graveyard). They escorted me to the Shinkansen platform of JR Tokyo station (with a homemade bento in hand - leftover turkey sandwich and fruit) -- so nice and helpful! and I got on the train for home. I saw 2 people from Toyama on the platform so I had some company on the way home.
The turkey sandwich (on really nice bread, with cranberry sauce) was amazing. I savored every bite.
Stopped by Victoria's last night for a glass of wine and to rehash the details of the trip, so made it home around midnight (my train arrived at 10). A very nice trip, and it made me realize how nice it will be to go home in 3 weeks for x-mas. Yay I'm so excited! But I do still like Japan, the comforts of home are nice sometimes, also.
Whew! This morning I finished elementary school visits at hoshichoshogako. Yesterday morning I woke up with a sore throat, which was scratchy all day, and this morning I woke up without a voice. Plus, after waking at 6, drinking way too much coffee at mr. donuts for breakfast while I planned the lessons, I was a little worn out. but i made it through the lessons, and they were very nice and gave me throat drops, plus a ridiculous amount of omiyage (italian chocolate, australian beef jerkey, a box of cookies from a department store, and a gold pained gourd on a pedestal, still trying to figure that one out...)
So now I've been writing this for nearly an hour and it's well past time to go home.
Tomorrow and Wednesday I'm off to mid-year seminar, so I probably won't check my email until Thursday, but of course when I did on Thursday I would love a flood of notes mentioning how you've made it this far through my blog site and you had a wonderful thanksgiving in your respective areas of the world.
Sayonara,
Sarah
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