It's July 7th - the seventh day of the seventh month - which means it's Tanabata ( Read more... )

Happy Independence Day! I celebrated with a BBQ in the park. Actually it was a sayonara party for me thrown by the Tahara International Association but we fixed hamburgers, hot dogs, and threw water balloons so I could almost pretend it was a real 4th of July party ( Read more... )

Mailed my Peace Boat application today. It's out of my hands now. If you're the praying type please keep me in yours and if you're not if you wouldn't mind crossing a few fingers and toes that would be great. I really really really want this job ( Read more... )

1. Bought my plane ticket home!!! A one-way trip back to America=happy face! Only 43 more days in Japan=sad face. I'm ready to go home but I'll miss Tahara. It's my second home ( Read more... )

As you may or may not know the Japanese have a lot of set phrases that are polite to say throughout the day. Living alone, I don't get to use the ones for leaving and coming home but I do have to say the ones at work. For example, I say a loud "Good morning!" or "Ohayogozaimus" to everyone in the teacher's room every day ( Read more... )

There is a reason I have my mom ship me my allergy meds from the States and that is because I don't like taking things when I don't know what's in them. But sometimes I go with convenience over complete understanding. Especially here in Japan ( Read more... )

On Monday May 3rd my friend Marie (Mah-ree-ay) and I headed to Hamamatsu to see their famous kite festival. It was Golden Week so it was packed. The line for the shuttle bus from the station to the festival was over an hour long and wound around two blocks! Marie is much more patient than I am and when I complained she just said, "It's Golden ( Read more... )

During the month of April every weekend in a small town called Iga-Uneo hordes of people show up in ninja costumes hoping to practice their ninja skills for the Ninja Festival ( Read more... )

Before I went to China I took a quick weekend up to Nikko with my good friend Marie (pronounced Mah-ree-ae).

Nikko wasn't really on my radar of places to visit in Japan until I read a book on early Japanese American relations and it said that the must see sights for early American tourists were Nikko, Fuji, and Kyoto. So on Friday night we hopped ( Read more... )

Today was my first day at Tobusho - my most favorite out of my five schools. I was so nervous that Michiko-sensei would be gone. She has been so kind to me since I came to Tahara three years ago and I would have been super sad if she had been transferred. But she was still there! I could hear her on the phone when I walked through the door (she ( Read more... )