Saturday Sept. 20: I created the page for Aunt Marti, cleaned a bit, and then Aki came over again around 5. We went to the grocery store for liquor and food! We bought Saki, beer, and ginger ale. We made a concoction of drinks! We listened to music and she taught me how to make traditional Japanese food!!!
TEMPURA!
For dinner we made nukujaga and tempura! After we made dinner, we cleaned up and changed into comfy clothes! We watched Mona Lisa's Smile and went to sleep after that! It was wonderful to have a slumber party and learn how to cook new food!! We had so much fun!
Sunday Sept. 21: We woke up around 9:30 but around 7:30 we had an earthquake. I knew we were fine because Aki did not even wake up! But it was rather big. It was about as big as the first one I experienced. We woke up and took showers and had fruit and tempura for breakfast. We decided we wanted to go to Narita to go shopping for fun. So we did! It ended up being a rainy day so it was great to spend inside! When she dropped me off I went to the store to collect the ingredients for Gyoza. I invited John over for Gyoza. Gyoza is traditional Japanese dumplings. Aki had given me the ingredients in the car and I then ventured to the store to gather and make! I told John it was an experiment and that I was not sure how it would turn out! We tried it and it was delicious!!! They turned out perfect! John and I then had tea and chocolate cake that I had bought at the bakery. I then took him home and then it was time for bed and school on Monday.
Monday Sept. 22: Well it was like an ordinary Monday EXCEPT we had Tuesday off for Autumnal Equinox Day. John and I went to Tokyo after school! We ventured to a book store that he knows of in Tokyo station! It is a fantastic book store! It has 4 floors of anything you could ever want! I ended up buying a Japanese cook book with both English and Japanese! I am very excited about learning how to cook new things! Its wonderful!! We then found a German restaurant. I had a salad Nicoise :) kinda random at a German restaurant. We then went to Ikebukuro. This is an area just north of Shinjuku. John and I went to the hostel and were able to find room to stay! It was then off to meet up with some of his friends! We went to a Latin club and went Salsa dancing! This was my first experiences with Salsa! How exciting is that?! We had an absolute blast! We partied until 5:00 am and then were hungry from dancing all night. We found this little Thai restaurant and ordered some chicken. John and I did not get back to the hostel until 6:30 am!! The sun was fully out! We had to check out at 10 AM.
Tuesday Sept. 23: Well we checked out and then we went to this adorable french cafe for breakfast/lunch. I had a Greek salad and he had a hamburger. We ordered tea and coffee too! We searched through the cook book while we were waiting for our delicious food!! We sat and talked for a long while. It was great! We then went to Roppangi because I really wanted to get my nails painted. Well the prices on the outside of this one salon were very deceiving so we ended up just going to Starbucks and talking and then going to Tokyo station to catch our bus back to Itako. We were both sound asleep on the bus back! I thankfully woke up to hit the button for Itako! John and I went out for Italian! It was fantastic! The restaurant is owned by one of his students parents! We both ordered pasta and desert :) Apple crisp! YUM!!! I really want to go back simply for the desert! It was that good!! It was then painting my nails, watching devil wears prada, and bed for me!
Wednesday Sept. 24: Well one day until the big day! Wednesday evening I had another Enkai! I am going to begin teaching private lessons at a company in Chiba. Erin, another ALT is also doing the private lessons! They threw us a wonderful welcome party! Erin will be teaching the beginners on Monday evenings and I will be teaching the advanced level on Wednesdays! Masa, one of the guys, caught the fish the day before and the restaurant prepared it for us! It was yellow tail and flat fish! I am really looking forward to working with them :) Working with kids is wonderful BUT also working with adults will be very rewarding. The enkai lasted for over 4 hours! It was a great night before my birthday!
Thursday Sept. 25: My 23rd Birthday!!
Well I got to school and what an incredible day it was from the very beginning! Akiyama-sensi had made these words for me and placed them on my desk! I was then able to talk to my family for about an hour! It was so fun to see them at school! They were able to "meet" Kyoto-sensi and my two English teachers! The kids were all telling me happy birthday and singing too! It was great!
I got home, and had to go deal with the post office. Kathryn had told me that my box was in customs so I had to go sort that. Apparently, there were so many individually wrapped gifts that customs was suspicious, held it, and was waiting for me to contact them for them to release the box and enable me to have my birthday presents! After a while, I was told I would get it tomorrow. I was just glad to know where it was and that I was actually going to get it. And yes, they thought there was a BOMB in the box. How ridiculous!
It was then it was time to party with Rie and John! Two of my closest friends here in Japan! But fortunately in Itako! Rie picked me up and then we went to get John. We went to a little Izakaya. We had drinks, great food, and even cake! It was such a fantastic birthday! We ordered Daiko back to my apartment! Rie came and hung out for a little while and then went back to her place! She gave me tons of ice cream for my bday!
My name in JAPANESE!!!
Friday Sept. 26: When I got home from school, I had a box by my door! Lionel, french guy, remember? Sent me a dozon BEAUTIFUL red roses!
Friday night was so much fun! My teachers at my school are absolutely INCREDIBLE! I can not even begin to explain how special they have made me feel! I have felt so welcome in every way! They threw me a huge party! I invited everyone out and Ooyama-sensi took care of the rest! She gathered who wanted to come and made reservations for dinner and karaoke! We ate dinner for a long time. We went to a shabu shabu restaurant. As always, traditionally sitting on the floor! shabu shabu is a traditional Japanese style of eating. We had chicken. You pick up a piece of chicken with your chopsticks and shabu shabu it through the boiling water that is in the middle of the table that is served with tons of sauces. Then you dip the meat in a sauce and indulge! It is fantastic! We had SO MUCH FOOD! Between salad, shabu shabu, starters, etc. and CAKE!
Nesaki-sensi and I doing shabu shabu!
Kurimata-sensi! He sits next to me at school! :)
After the fantastic dinner they had EVEN MORE FOR ME! CAKE AND PRESENTS! I was not expecting this much! It was over the top! Hence, making this one of the best birthdays I have EVER had! It was fun looking around realizing that I was the only foreigner at my own birthday!!! HOW COOL!?!
Aki was able to come to my birthday TOO! After I sat back down at my seat, she also had a gift for me!!! From lush, a body store! :) It was all good smell soaps! We had cake and then they paid for me!!! And we were off to karaoke for 2 hours!! We had an absolute blast there too! singing and sporting kyoto-sensi's signature move. You will observe in the final photo!
Well it was home for me and Disney sea in the morning with Emily, her friend airi from California, and Adam!
Saturday Sept. 27:
Well I got a call from Emily around 9 AM! Disney Sea was still on! I called my parents so I could open presents on the phone with them! I felt really strange opening my presents without anyone around :) I seriously have been SPOILED ROTTEN this birthday! :) I also called Kathryn so I could open hers!!
EEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!! BURBERRY TRENCH COAT!!
After opening presents, I got ready for Disney! I was going to take the bus or the train but it was really inconvient so I braved it and DROVE TO TOKYO DISNEY! HOLY COW! I did it, it was kinda scary, expensive, but sooo much fun! The four of us had an absolute blast running around the park! I got there around 3 and left about 10:30! It takes about an hour to get there. It is only 7 km from Tokyo so I was a little scared of going to far and ending up in TOKYO! that would be awful! But we rode a ton of rides, ate curry, ate churros, watched the light show, and went shopping! It truly topped off my birthday week! What an adventure it has been!!!
Adam (ALT from England), Airi, and Brittany (ALT from California!)
Sinbad's storybook Voyage!!
Water/light show. Bringing water and fire together...It was really impressive!!Sunday Sept. 28: today was wonderful! I slept in untill 11:15! I cleaned my apartment and got ready to go play Tennis with Nobuko, her daughter, and her daughter's best friend! We had such a great day! Nobuko also has not played tennis in awhile. We taught her daughter and her friend how to play tennis. We then came to my apartment for tea, hot coco, and snacks!! After that we piled into my car and the showed me where the indoor pool is here in ITAKO! Thank goodness! I am finding resources on where to work out! I also am going to start taking Japanese classes on Tuesday nights! 1000 yen in Kashima! After that we went to a fun store called bull dog, I had not been yet. It has everything! We then took venetia's friend home and went back to their home :) I was invited to stay for dinner so I of course stayed! Nobuko and her family are sooo nice! They speak a tiny bit of English! I then came home and pulled together a lesson for tomorrow and created this SUPER LONG BLOG! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! As you can see, I am contiuing to have an absolute blast here in Japan!!!
AS ALWAYS, COME VISIT!!! MISS YOU!!!!!!!
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