snow flurries

Sooooo! its been an interesting couple of weeks here... i feel like i need to make a list so i dont forget to write about all the things on my mind!

last week i made a hugeeee error and got lost getting to work. even though i thought i could make it to work on time, i didnt and i ended up being late. uuugh. it was pretty awful. i am still kinda kicking myself for it, but i learned and i wont make the same errors again. :/

to that end, i feel like i finally got a taste of the ugly side of japan. its certainly not anything i am going to blog about here but its something for me to be more cautious of in the future. i am lucky things worked out though... and i can move forward.

anyway, it was a pretty big deal but on to good news!

i went to the food faire at nagoya dome this past weekend!!! omg. omg. o.m.g. the food was soooo good!!! just the smell... just walking towards the door! lol. it was food from all over japan and around the world! i had okonomiyaki which was soooooooo good!!!! i cant believe ive waited this long to have some.... ive been in japan like what? 3 months now?! anyway... soooooooo good!!! also, we had shaved snow for dessert! mandy and i are on the same wavelength when it comes to food, so we are having some excellent culinary adventures!!! i took plenty of pictures, on fb... unfortunately, you cant taste them though. -.-

also, major language breakthrough! i have been forcing myself to watch japanese television for 30 minutes every day so that i can improve my listening skills! its hard with my general dislike of television, but its working! a few days ago i saw an entire program and understood EVERYTHING! eeee!!!! ok, so the subject was easy; dieting, but i understood it nonetheless! lol. it was pretty amusing. =D now that i am watching it more, i am certainly upping my listening skills. this makes me really happy. ^_^

in 2 weeks i am going strawberry picking!!! i am so excited!!! i hope the weather is nice... the weather is soooo all over the place here. i actually have to look at the weather every day to know what to wear!

speaking of weather, we had snooooooow!!! eeeeeeeeeek! it was freaking coooold! well, once it snowed, it wasnt that cold but every day leading up to the snow was freezing! how do people live like this all the time?!?! lol. im such a california girl... or l.a. girl really. i shiver at anything below 70. thankfully it doesnt really snow much in nagoya and i think the 3 days of snow per year are over! yay! *does happy dance*

teaching-wise, ive have some really awesome students lately! i taught the word "convoluted," "t.g.i.f.," and what it means to keep your fingers crossed! today was really awesome. i subbed for the teacher i shadowed during training. i met his adult students and we had some pretty great conversations. we had a chapter on medicine/getting well and we all talked about times we've been to the emergency (ive never been). lol. but one guy broke his elbow and made the grossest popping sound during his recreation... one guy fell out of a tree (hehehehe) and one guy broke his arm snowboarding. still, kalchik has him beat with a broken back... but it was pretty amusing when the guy drew a picture of what his arm looked like. lol. after we talked about illness, we went around the table and i had everyone tell me some good news! especially after talking about all that illness! lol. so, one guy said he goes to the hospital every month. when i asked him how that was "good" news, he said that his doctor keeps telling him he doesnt need to be there, nor does he need medicine, so hes in good health. lol. that was good news. ^_^ then one guy told me that his daughter spoke for the first time and said "mama" which was really cute.... and one guy told me that he bought this cheap white shirt from a thrift store and tried to dye it with coffee beans but it failed so the shirt still looks like an off-white color but he likes it anyway. lol. also, the shirt wasnt that cheap... it was like $20... which isnt cheap IMO. lol. but he was soooo happy telling the story that i gave him a pass for good news. ^_^

some guy was asking me about the places ive been and so we got to talking... and when i told him my least favorite place on earth was china, i think he was slightly offended. lol. he wasnt chinese or anything but has big love for the place. i tried explaining that it wasnt a big deal... but he got kinda defensive and kept explaining why he thought it was wonderful.... uh... yea, i could do without going to china again... but different strokes!

cindy le arrived in korea on friday!!!! yay!!! i got my invite for steves wedding in thailand!!! AAAAAND JENNIFER IS GOING TO BE HERE IN LESS THAN 24 HOURSSSSSSS!!!!

so... in the end, working hard, working on establishing new relationships and meeting old/good friends. i also put my buddha necklace back on... after years and years of hiatus. good luck is on the way. so far, i love living in japan... even the bad parts are like little potholes that you learn to avoid. ^_^ happy!