oops
I really need to stop vanishing from LJ for weeks at a time. I can't remember the last time I updated or checked anyone's journal. I fail D:
So.... what's up?
Back at work again. Winter vacation was fairly uneventful. I guess it's mostly due to trying to save money and being paid less this year... didn't get crazy. Last year Marcel and I went to Tokyo for 5 days around New Years (used 18 kippu so travel was cheap, but still)... whereas this year we went to Osaka for just two days. And Osaka of course is much closer. Went by regular train. It takes about three hours I think.
I went to Osaka last back when I lived in Fukushima, believe it or not. It was a brief stop during a Golden Week trip to Kyoto with a friend. Just went to America Mura there and Namba area. And this time, tho I skipped America Mura, I went to Namba again. I got to see Glico Man (^_^)
In Osaka I got this lucky bag at a vintage toy shop. It's a Ghostbusters backpack! Inside it were a bunch of random and sucky things... but some of the things were good. One thing seems a likely gift for my niece. But there was a terrible Watto figure from the new Star Wars. WTF can I do with it? Still don't know. However, it also contained a Wiley Coyote keychain and a complete set of Halloween themed Smurf figures. Innnnnnnnnteresting.
Marcel got me amazing Christmas gifts. First of all, I asked him to get me these large size Fullmetal Alchemist manga that I was salivating over... since as you may know I finally finished reading the whole manga and loved it. But originally I was borrowing them from a guy I dated so I didn't have my own copies of most of them. I was hoping to get the whole series anyway but when I saw the big versions with several color pages inside I knew I wanted those instead heh. Only issue I have is that they don't seem to include the yonkoma D: which I loved. You win some, you lose some.
Oh, and he also got me a green Nixon watch (my fave color, very much resembling a red watch I got last year for myself except this green one is a better quality watch with a really nice plastic/rubber type band on it that should last a long time). AND he got me a Ninja Turtles wallet! It will match my Ninja Turtles backpack :3
Actually I got him a wallet, too... his old one was in bad shape. I got him a green leather wallet (green's his fave color, too) at this store he likes. I also got him a plaid wool backpack at an import clothing store. And for smaller gifts I got him a wooden solar system thing at Muji and some weird gloves with pterodactyls on them that you can wear and still use smart phones.
Speaking of which I was seriously considering getting a new phone. I still have the same one from almost 3 years ago and the enamel is chipping off. I guess it's time to bedazzle it so you can't tell how crappy it looks. Like I said, I WAS thinking about getting a new one, but at the same time, our job contract is ending in Feb and we won't know about next year until March. So I don't really want to sign a year or two contract without knowing my work status first. And if God is on my side and I can work one more year (hopefully the last?) here, I will have time to buy plane tickets to America and visit my parents for the first time in TWO YEARS during spring vacation. I would love to buy the tickets in advance but I'm worried if I buy them before I know about my job and the contract falls through, I will be in no position to go to the US... I will have to move out of my apartment and find a new job, etc. So I'll have to wait until I know about next year. Honestly summer's the best time to go home, but I don't want to wait that long... not sure what I'll do yet...
Looks like I will pick up some part time work at school even after my contract ends, so I will actually make MORE money since I will still be getting paychecks from my company (>_<) interesting. But my juku class is three 6th graders and one 4th grader, and the owner of the juku said since the 6th graders will be entering jr high soon they will not be continuing in the English conversation course D: just the one 4th grader... but one student is not good for the school so they may try to combine it with another class or get more students so she can continue studying English with me. I am a little sad to see the boys go, but two of them are ALWAYS talking to each other and it sometimes drives me crazy haha. Whereas the 4th grade girl is very sweet and even got me a birthday present :3 so I hope I can keep teaching her!
Oh, another thing I did during winter vacation... I watched all of Naruto Shippuuden lol. Ok I skipped the filler episodes but I watched the main story. There is a woman that works at my juku who loves Naruto and her nickname is even Kakashi Sensei. So I was talking to her and I gave her this old shirt I had of Kakashi Sensei that I got in the US ages ago. I even apologized because I was sure it would be stinky and she wouldn't want it but I knew she liked Kakashi so I gave it to her. Anyway she was talking to me about Naruto and I got all nostalgic because I watched it until about 2007 or so. Maybe even longer. I stopped a little into Shippuuden but I had also read some of the manga. So after talking with her about it so much, I decided this winter vacation I would maybe have time to watch it, and I literally watched it day after day lol. Now that I'm caught up, I even want to read the manga again to find out what happens next. But until then this weekend I held myself over by watching 3 of the Naruto Shippuuden movies heh. One thing about anime movies is they never have anything to do with the main plot, which is a total bummer. At least a flashback or something would be interesting, right? But they weren't too bad. And I watched the last one in Japanese with no subs and I understood it. I was super happy. I wonder if I can pass JLPT 1 this year.
Today I felt hot and checked my temperature. It said 37.5 which is apparently 99.5 F. So I guess I do have a bit of a fever. I took some pain reliever which should help. I hope I'm not coming down with something because I'm out of sick days! Thank goodness Monday's a holiday.
But uggh, next weekend my school is having class on Sunday and I have to schedule a special meeting with some teachers to plan the lesson for it... I have no idea what I should do. I have to do a cultural lesson about America for a class of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders (one class of mixed grades). Last year we made 3D snowflakes but I don't know if they want to do the same thing again or if I should change it. I wish we could cook something so I could make grilled cheeses or something. My Canadian boyfriend and British friends are also doing lessons and I have to be the interpreter for our meeting... ahhhh I will be so happy once it's all over.
So.... what's up?
Back at work again. Winter vacation was fairly uneventful. I guess it's mostly due to trying to save money and being paid less this year... didn't get crazy. Last year Marcel and I went to Tokyo for 5 days around New Years (used 18 kippu so travel was cheap, but still)... whereas this year we went to Osaka for just two days. And Osaka of course is much closer. Went by regular train. It takes about three hours I think.
I went to Osaka last back when I lived in Fukushima, believe it or not. It was a brief stop during a Golden Week trip to Kyoto with a friend. Just went to America Mura there and Namba area. And this time, tho I skipped America Mura, I went to Namba again. I got to see Glico Man (^_^)
In Osaka I got this lucky bag at a vintage toy shop. It's a Ghostbusters backpack! Inside it were a bunch of random and sucky things... but some of the things were good. One thing seems a likely gift for my niece. But there was a terrible Watto figure from the new Star Wars. WTF can I do with it? Still don't know. However, it also contained a Wiley Coyote keychain and a complete set of Halloween themed Smurf figures. Innnnnnnnnteresting.
Marcel got me amazing Christmas gifts. First of all, I asked him to get me these large size Fullmetal Alchemist manga that I was salivating over... since as you may know I finally finished reading the whole manga and loved it. But originally I was borrowing them from a guy I dated so I didn't have my own copies of most of them. I was hoping to get the whole series anyway but when I saw the big versions with several color pages inside I knew I wanted those instead heh. Only issue I have is that they don't seem to include the yonkoma D: which I loved. You win some, you lose some.
Oh, and he also got me a green Nixon watch (my fave color, very much resembling a red watch I got last year for myself except this green one is a better quality watch with a really nice plastic/rubber type band on it that should last a long time). AND he got me a Ninja Turtles wallet! It will match my Ninja Turtles backpack :3
Actually I got him a wallet, too... his old one was in bad shape. I got him a green leather wallet (green's his fave color, too) at this store he likes. I also got him a plaid wool backpack at an import clothing store. And for smaller gifts I got him a wooden solar system thing at Muji and some weird gloves with pterodactyls on them that you can wear and still use smart phones.
Speaking of which I was seriously considering getting a new phone. I still have the same one from almost 3 years ago and the enamel is chipping off. I guess it's time to bedazzle it so you can't tell how crappy it looks. Like I said, I WAS thinking about getting a new one, but at the same time, our job contract is ending in Feb and we won't know about next year until March. So I don't really want to sign a year or two contract without knowing my work status first. And if God is on my side and I can work one more year (hopefully the last?) here, I will have time to buy plane tickets to America and visit my parents for the first time in TWO YEARS during spring vacation. I would love to buy the tickets in advance but I'm worried if I buy them before I know about my job and the contract falls through, I will be in no position to go to the US... I will have to move out of my apartment and find a new job, etc. So I'll have to wait until I know about next year. Honestly summer's the best time to go home, but I don't want to wait that long... not sure what I'll do yet...
Looks like I will pick up some part time work at school even after my contract ends, so I will actually make MORE money since I will still be getting paychecks from my company (>_<) interesting. But my juku class is three 6th graders and one 4th grader, and the owner of the juku said since the 6th graders will be entering jr high soon they will not be continuing in the English conversation course D: just the one 4th grader... but one student is not good for the school so they may try to combine it with another class or get more students so she can continue studying English with me. I am a little sad to see the boys go, but two of them are ALWAYS talking to each other and it sometimes drives me crazy haha. Whereas the 4th grade girl is very sweet and even got me a birthday present :3 so I hope I can keep teaching her!
Oh, another thing I did during winter vacation... I watched all of Naruto Shippuuden lol. Ok I skipped the filler episodes but I watched the main story. There is a woman that works at my juku who loves Naruto and her nickname is even Kakashi Sensei. So I was talking to her and I gave her this old shirt I had of Kakashi Sensei that I got in the US ages ago. I even apologized because I was sure it would be stinky and she wouldn't want it but I knew she liked Kakashi so I gave it to her. Anyway she was talking to me about Naruto and I got all nostalgic because I watched it until about 2007 or so. Maybe even longer. I stopped a little into Shippuuden but I had also read some of the manga. So after talking with her about it so much, I decided this winter vacation I would maybe have time to watch it, and I literally watched it day after day lol. Now that I'm caught up, I even want to read the manga again to find out what happens next. But until then this weekend I held myself over by watching 3 of the Naruto Shippuuden movies heh. One thing about anime movies is they never have anything to do with the main plot, which is a total bummer. At least a flashback or something would be interesting, right? But they weren't too bad. And I watched the last one in Japanese with no subs and I understood it. I was super happy. I wonder if I can pass JLPT 1 this year.
Today I felt hot and checked my temperature. It said 37.5 which is apparently 99.5 F. So I guess I do have a bit of a fever. I took some pain reliever which should help. I hope I'm not coming down with something because I'm out of sick days! Thank goodness Monday's a holiday.
But uggh, next weekend my school is having class on Sunday and I have to schedule a special meeting with some teachers to plan the lesson for it... I have no idea what I should do. I have to do a cultural lesson about America for a class of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders (one class of mixed grades). Last year we made 3D snowflakes but I don't know if they want to do the same thing again or if I should change it. I wish we could cook something so I could make grilled cheeses or something. My Canadian boyfriend and British friends are also doing lessons and I have to be the interpreter for our meeting... ahhhh I will be so happy once it's all over.