Halloween 2013! ; hub's recent purchases; meeting a youtube star!
i think that Halloween is probably gonna be my favorite holiday in the year. granted i don't get any time off and end up working harder than usual to entertain my students, i love dressing up and just having fun! it's good to know that my inner cosplayer never really died as i got older ^_^
this is also one of the holidays that i know will always be fun for Kay, because there will always be some sort of party for Kay to attend, even if i'll be working the whole time ^_^;; she also loves dressing up and just having fun with her friends or other kids at the party as well. :)
here are some pics of this year's Halloween party at my Saturday school:
Kay was a princess this year. i originally wanted for her to be a cat (i bought the ears at Daiso and everything!) since i was a cat as well, but she opted to wear her gown. all for the better since this will probably be the last time she'll be able to wear this dress (my mom bought it for her two Christmases ago).
i was working the whole time during the party, mostly taking pictures, helping with games, and collecting costume contest votes. so, Kay was actually lost in the crowd, but she mostly stayed with the kids she knew and a couple of my colleagues played and took care of her the whole time ^_^ so i wasn't worried. in the end, she got a ton of treats and balloons, so she was happy all the way back home ^_^ i on the other hand was spent since i had worked two jobs that day from 9:00 AM to when the party ended at 8:00 PM! x_x at least i didn't have to plan a whole party this year like i did at my last job :) so, i got to enjoy things a bit more. ^_^
Halloween week at ACB started on the 23rd and ended on the 29th yesterday, so no more cat ears and tail for me anymore. i had found a pair of pumpkin orange jeggings at Uniqlo in September, and i wore them with my 2006 Tokyo Disneyland Halloween T-shirt for that whole week! i should probably get a new Halloween T-shirt. that T-shirt is starting to get a little old ^_^;; unfortunately, i was so preoccupied the whole week, that i didn't get any pictures of myself in the cat ears and tail of which the kids all got a kick out of :D
i still have one more Halloween lesson tomorrow to teach for my morning ALT job, and then Halloween will be officially over for me this year. :)
moving on, hubs has recently made a few big purchases from his favorite amazon.jp ^_^;; so now, we actually have a Casio keyboard in our home! i actually was against getting one, because it is quite big, and i'm just thinking that it's one more piece of furniture that we have to move when we eventually move house, ykwim? that's the down side of always renting a place instead of having your own house/apt. hubs explained that in Japan, elementary kids start music classes really early, and it really benefits them if they have some sort of music "sense" by learning some sort of instrument. i don't doubt that at all since i grew up in an Asian family, and i had learned piano and harp when i was a kid. however, look at me now! i have utterly no use for either of those talents, and even hated it when i was a kid. plus, i was never good at either instrument and i've pretty much forgotten how to play the harp... :P i actually want Kay to learn guitar, because it's more practical, but i guess everything has to start with the piano... :P in other words, i don't think learning the piano will benefit her much in life, but who knows *shrug*. for now, Kay is just using the keyboard (it's portable and has no stand) more or less like a toy or a music player. however, her hoikuen does have a biiiiig music recital that she will participate in at the end of November. she's going to play a rendition of Verdi's "Aida" a.k.a. the "Triumphal March" with her class and the Himawari-kumi on their pianicas, xylophones, and drums in front of hundreds of parents. according to one of my mamatomo, this is the next big thing after their Sport's Day.
Click to viewluckily, the keyboard actually has this song in it's song banks, so Kay can get some extra practice with her fingers :) she recently drew a picture of herself playing the pianica. oh and if you've never heard of a pianica, this is what it looks like and every kid here is required to purchase one apprently ^_^;;
other than the keyboard, hubs has just gotten his own speed bike. it's a racer, so it's nice and light with uber thin wheels. he's a real bike nut, and he spent a good deal of his youth just biking around places in Japan and Australia. he never biked around Taiwan, but then again i wouldn't blame him since conditions weren't nearly as bike friendly as they are now in Taiwan. funnily enough, both of our bikes and other bike equipment are made in Taiwan ^_^ ah, Taiwan... built up by manufacturing Christmas lights to become the land famous for its bananas, bicycles, and umbrellas. :)
hubs is also thinking about getting a bread maker, but he's holding off on that until he can really make sure that it's not going to be one of those appliances that we use once or twice and just store away to collect dust like our blender and hot plate ^_^;;
in other news, i was coming home last night after work and ran into a youtube celebrity!! if you watch youtube as much as i do, you know your youtubers. last night, i got the pleasure to meet and talk with Micaela Braithwaite. she's an expat living in Fukuoka and i'd say pretty well known. :) i think i've been following her on youtube for 2-3 years now, and i really like her vlogs ^_^ she's really nice and we took a photo together on her iPad. she's living in the city now, which means that i might bump into her again (yea right, with my work schedule ._. )...maybe? ^_^;; anyway, i was pretty happy and that really made my day. i told hubs about the meeting and he was really impressed too ^_^ if you don't know who she is and live in Fukuoka, definitely check out her channel :)