This one is to you Ebs

The last phone call...

Isn't it crazy how life turns out? You meet people, become great friends, laugh, eat onigiri together and before you know it 3, 4, 5 years has passed and you are practically related. Then comes the part where each goes their separate ways and you don't know when you will see them again.... the latter is always the saddest.

When I first met Ebu, I can't remember my first thoughts, but we became friends and every Saturday I looked forward to going to Japanese school and sitting next to Ebu, studying, laughing, arguing over correct kanji, talking about our crazy cats. Eventually I even began bringing him lunch I made-- hehe. Ebu and Lo, we became the pair that was always at school on Saturdays rain or shine. We've seen teachers and volunteer come and go and even the changing of the prinicpal. The secretary however has always remained the same and even when I came back from Japan she recognized me. I however, almost didn't recogize the person standing next to her and within 2 seconds a huge grin came across my face as I realized it was Ebu!

My best friend will be leaving the country this weekend and I feel like Japanese school won't be the same. Of course there is always the internet and we will keep in touch, but it isn't the same. Let it be known that I looked into all the information I could and if there was something I could've done to help or prevent you from leaving I would have done it. I just wish I could've done something more so that we could continue to have our fun Saturday school times :)

Life is short, but friendships are forever. I don't know where I heard that, but it seems appropriate at this time.

Well Ebu, thank you for years of being a great friend and making every weekend lots of fun! You will be greatly missed and I hope we can meet again someday...

-Lo

“boku wa Gunma, Gunma, Gunma Gunma~~~~~ kuma jyanai yo”

Today it was a roomies trip to Gunma! We got up at around 6:30am on our only day off and were out the door at 7:30am!!! SUGOI!!!!!!!!!!!!! We took our beloved Keisei line to Ueno and then changed to Takasaki line to Takasaki. The train was kind of like the one that we took to Nikko; with the seats facing each other. It wasn’t busy (most of the people were coming to Tokyo not going the opposite direction) so we could just sit and relax having both of the pairs of seats for our use.

On the way there we listened to one of the podcasts I downloaded: In Our Time: Lysenko, which was about a crazy, self learned bioagriculturalist who attempted (an failed miserably) to change Russia. He actually thought that he could change the climate of Siberia by planting a forest. He promised Stalin he could do it in 4yrs….. of course that didn’t work at all. The rather interesting part about it was that everyone actually believed him and he was never denounced as a scientist. Even after the war…

Anyway, back to Gunma-

We arrived in Takasaki about 3 hours after leaving Tsudanuma, only to find we needed to wait another hour until the bus we needed would come. We didn’t despair, but took the chance to explore the area a little bit. Who would have guessed that we would find a jackpot!! There in the middle of nowhere was a sweets factory AND the factory store!!! So for 70 yen we both enjoyed a small like cake, mine was Strawberry cheesecake and Shi got Tiramisu. It was super yummy.

The bus ride to Gunma no mori was rather interesting. We took the most roundabout way to get there. I was sure we’d turned the wrong was down a one way street about 5 times… haha The cutest part was when this little old man got on the bus, he brought a drink to give to the driver--- you don’t see that in Tokyo. It was a scenic tour of the area, but kinda fun. There were a lot of Shell and Mobil gas stations, which was very surprising. There seemed to be more there in the country then in Tokyo.

The 3 of us: me, shi, and Ryo met up at the Gunma Modern Museum of Art. There was a really large lawn in front of the museum that many families were enjoying the nice weather. We had a small picnic, nothing too fancy just some onigiri, veggies, senbei, and ginger cookies.

The museum is really cool and the special exhibit right now was about different architecture of museums around the world. It showed the blueprints for the remodeling of museums in LA, Shanghai, Spain, Brooklyn, and many other places. It was really cool to see how they developed their ideas on paper, to the scale models, to the pictures of the finished products. The Indianapolis Museum of Art was just remodeled a few years ago, I kinda want to see the blueprints of the remodeling now…

The whole day was super fun and we got back home at around 9:30pm. Now I am watching Indiana Jones in Japanese…

The 1st kakigori of the year: blue hawaii flavor !

"Egg day" part 2

Here are some more pictures of my kids b/c they are just the cutest things in the world!!!

They were so intent on copying what I did (which was not exactly what I wanted them to do--- but hey what could i do)
The fact that they were actually quiet was AMAZING!!!
My twins--- so cute!
Haruna, my 3yr old genius. She says almost nothing and then will just blurt out something that amazes me! The is the cutest thing this side of the Pacific.
Nanami, one smart little cookie, who until recently didn't really smile so much, so getting her to smile during the class was a task. Who knows, but something worked and now she is a smiley kid!

And finally a picture of the leftover Easter Eggs. I decided to use the leftover colors from the Paas kit Sheila's mom sent (THANK YOU!). Some of these will be going w/ me to my flower viewing party today and some will just be breakfast for the next few days. It was a fun time!

"Egg day"

So my kids at school have decided that Easter should be referred to as Egg Day and America has some very strange holidays; first Green Day (St. Patrick's Day) and then Egg Day (Easter). It is really cute to hear them talk amongst themselves. Most of my kids know that I understand most of what they say. I have one class however that knows I speak really well, because they just outright ask me questions in Japanese. I never reply in Japanese, but it would be rude to just ignore them... anyway back to Egg Day.

This week in classes we are decorating Easter Eggs!!! This has to be one of my favorite activities associated with a holiday second only to decorating for Christmas. I took my camera to school today so here is the first installment of pictures from classes today. I will update this particular entry as the week continues!!!










I made the egg over there -------------------------->

China town

A few weeks ago I went to Yokohama again, but this time it was to visit China town. We had such a fun time. I've never been to China and honestly I don't really have too much interest in going there at the moment for various reasons, but China town was fun. There were soooo many roasted chestnut vendors. You probably could've just walked around to all of them and had enough for an entire meal b/c they just give out free samples. It was a little bit of a bummer for me b/c I'm not a fan of chestnuts---- they can just stay in the song as far as I'm concerned (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire).

Apart from the chestnuts the other things that you will find plenty of in China town will be nikuman (meat roll) and pandas. China town has taken both of these and made---- dun dun dun dun dun dun----- a PANDA NIKUMAN!!
Notice anything a little odd about these pandas? Yes--- the colors are reversed. The Danpa is sooo cute though. Leah got the custard version and we all shared a little bit of it.
We then moved onto Panda World where we ate lunch at the cafeteria and browsed through the shops. Panda World was sooooooo cute. I restrained myself from buying a lot of things in that store--- hehe.

---> Me and the Danpa!!














My lunch was Wanton Soup with a little Japanese flair--- MELON SODA!!

We basically just walked around all afternoon, took pictures and ate a lot. I of course had some really yummy mango/vanilla ice cream cone!!! YUMMY YUMMY I restrained my shopping self mostly except for some really yummy Jasmine tea. The ladies who ran the store were really cute and I talked with them for a few minutes. It is definitely on my list of places to return before I head home to the US.

There was really only one thing about the whole day that was a little unnerving--- that would be the Communist hats for sale:
Why would you spend even 420 yen on something like this???

Some other interesting pictures:
Did you know that poo gives a fortune??? For 100yen you can find out yours!
yummmmmmmmmm Nikuman!!
Such ornate detail at the main shrine in the middle of China town.
And of course---- a VW dealer! Oh how i miss my little bug....

春が来た・・・・・・らしい

Spring is upon us here in Japan. I don't have to wear my huge winter coat anymore, which is really nice b/c it takes up a lot of room on the train. Yeah for SPRING!!!

So keeping in tradition with this blog, here is a picture of another tasty looking meal at the Saia-O'Neil household.

Spinach, Lotus root, Scallop Pasta! hmmmmmmmmmmmm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I haven't had a lot of too interesting things to talk about b/c my life has been consumed with work, doing household chores, and trying to get to bed at a normal time. I've been trying to avoid the 3:00am nights...

So today I went out to run errands: the fruit/veggie stand, the post office, and the recycle place. On my way home I there suddenly appeared a cute little stand that wasn't there the day before. It was selling homemade mochi (pounded rice cake) with various types of sauce on top. One of the little old men was pounding the mochi himself!! It was fun to watch for a few minutes. I decided to buy some sweet bean paste flavored ones and almost scared the men when I ordered in Japanese---hehe. It made a rather yummy lunch.
The cute little stand ---> (i tried to a take a picture sneakily)

McDonald's has come out with a new McFlurry here: carmel and oreo. It was yummmmmy!!!
----> (notice my blinged out phone!!!)

Here are some other pictures as I was walking through the park to get to work today. They planted one of my favorite flowers, pansy.



The last bit for this blog is a picture of a present I got from one of my students. She has this glue that you can make things and then it becomes like a sticker. It was pretty cool and she gave me one today. awwwwww I love my students!
So that is it for this episode--- peace out ladies and gents (^-^)v

Changing the calendar to March

Today was quite possibly one of the most productive days I've had in a long time. (^-^)V

I went shopping at Loft (my favorite department store) and discovered that they had an entire KAPIBARASAN section!!! I think I literally squeaked with happiness. Kapibarasan (spelled in English as Capybara) is a relatively new character that has come out. I have a small one that when you pull the Yuzu on the top the little thing vibrates and goes in a circle. It is kinda fun to play with and my kids really like it. I think it is so cute and such an interesting idea to take a real animal that is pretty cute and turn him into a really cute cartoon, thus now everyone flocks to Ueno Zoo to see the REAL Capybara (which i already have seen.. hehe). So I of course bought a few things, and a few postcards and then came home.
The real Capybara at Ueno Zoo.

The rest of the day was spent not doing a whole lot, but enjoying the quietness and relaxation. I haven't had a day like today in a long time and it was definitely long overdue.

Spring is popping up here and soon the Cherry Blossoms will be blooming! My student's father told me that there are some that are already 30% in bloom in the park by our school. I was surprised to hear this considering that they usually bloom at the end of March-beginning of April. Anyway, it is time to start carrying my camera with me at all times. I don't want to miss a chance at a good picture!

Here are some pictures I've been meaning to put up of the past few weeks or so:
Kozue and I at our monthly dinner! It is soo nice to have one night to get dressed up and go eat at a nice restaurant in Tokyo. I'm gonna miss those times when I go home.

Yokohama

Today we took a roomie day-trip to YOKOHAMA to visit one of my PU friends, Jon. The days started a little later than we had originally planned b/c I'm fighting a cold and didn't feel so good this morning. Then b/c of the wind our train was about 20min late and it took twice as long to get to Tokyo Sta. than it usually does. Buuuuuuut after a little bit of a bumpy start we finally made it to the right train and a lovely warm comfortable green car seat! It was so nice to just sit down and relax without getting a blast of freezing cold air everytime the door opens. It is the easiest thing to buy tickets, you just add a ticket to your SUICA and then hold it up to the light above your seat. The light turns from red to green and WALAH you are all set!
We had hoped to get on at Tsudanuma and take the same train all the way to Yokohama, but w/ the wind and all they changed the trains so we had to change at Tokyo Sta. and then go onto Yokohama. We took our lunch, sat in our nice, comfy seats and happily munched on onigiri, oranges, and pretzels.

The plan once we got to Yokohama was to do some sightseeing and go to this really cool onsen. We had some initial issues trying to find the free shuttle to the onsen, sooo we just took the metro and walked. With all the delays we decided to go straight to the onsen and just relax.

The Minato Mirai Manyo Club is an 8-story onsen/massage area. There are about 15 different types of massages that you can have, private family baths that can be reserved, and then the main bathing area (separted by gender of course). When you walk in you pay and then get to choose from about 8 different styles of yukata to wear. After going through the normal pre-bathing ritual you can choose to go into any of the following bathing areas: the inside ofuro, any of the 4 outside ofuro, an herbal steam bath, herbal heat sauna, or salt sauna. It is definitely something to experience for yourself. Sheila and I are already planning to go back, this time for an entire day. They also have a gift shop, many different restaurants and places to rest and relax after you finish bathing. It was so relaxing, just what I needed. (^-^)v
After a great time at the onsen we met Ayumi and Jon for dinner at a place called Garlic Jo's. It definitely lived up to its name~~ yummy yummy yummy!

Now for some pictures:
<----Wind power at its best!!














A really cool looking ferris wheel (but something definitely to do when it is warmer)

Leave it to me to find a Disney Store wherever I go!!! YEAH MICKEY!

I went to Yokohama and brought back a Starbucks mug!!!!!

The Fuzz~~

I have officially been logged into the computer system in Japan as having been checked for ID. We were looking at a map to check where exactly to go and this man w/ an Airport POLICE tag walked up to me and in Japanese asked if I spoke Japanese. I told him yes, and he then proceeded to ask if we lived in Japan and if we had any identification such as a passport. I told him that we didn't have our passports but we did have the Alien Registration Cards and would that work. He said of course and asked if he could write down the information from our cards. The whole thing probably lasted about 4-5 minutes but it was a little strange. We always have our cards w/ us, and I was previously told to always keep the card in my wallet b/c the police can ask for identification at any time--- but I never thought it would actually happen. It was a little embarrassing b/c people were staring and kinda whispering as they walked by, but the officer was nice and after writing down our information we parted with a polite thank you from both sides.

Oh the things that happen in Japan~~~

風邪＆風

The 2 kazes--- in Japanese kaze=cold and kaze=wind. Recently these two things have happened decided to greet me at the same time. A few days ago I caught a rather annoying cold. This winter I've had a lot of colds--- I'm going to be sooo happy when Spring finally comes!!

The second kaze, wind, has been crazy these last few days. I was riding my bike home the other night and I was almost going backwards the headwind was so strong--- Then Sheila and I started laughing and that didn't make it any better.

Tonight I made dinner!!!!
If you know me then you know that I'm not the best cook, buuuuut this actually turned out pretty well, so I decided to take a picture!
The Menu: Salmon, young broccoli with steamed tomatoes and mushrooms, and an apple

Valentines Day '08 & the daifuk

Valentine's Day---- in any country it is a special day for couples. Well considering I am single, the whole couple thing didn't work out in my favor this year. Instead of going out for a nice dinner or making dinner w/ my significant other, this year my significant other (otherwise known as my roomie, Sheila) and I went for KAITEN SUSHI! Kappa Sushi, where every plate is 105 yen, is the pillar of the sushi community in our minds thus we go at least once a week. Because of a change in our teaching schedules, Sushi Friday has now been changed to Sushi Thursday. So after stuffing my stomach full of 7 plates (14 pieces) of sushi and one green tea pudding dessert, I decided that Valentine's Day wasn't such a bust this year. I did get a few very cute valentines from my students, which was very unexpected!


I hope everyone else had a great Valentine's Day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Part 2: The daifuk
Prior to coming to Japan, I refused to eat anko (sweet red bean paste) adamantly! However since being here basically since last March, I've decided it is rather good. In fact I actually make an effort to go out and buy anko donuts. Craziness! When did I become like this!! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME!!~~~~ I didn't actually recognize this change myself, my mother pointed it out to me as I was buying an anko donut at the local bakery. She was so surprised and said so in such a way that made me almost drop the donut that I had so daintily plucked.... My roomie also likes the daifuk (it is really pronounced daifuku, but we shorten it b/c-- well it just sounds cooler) so tonight we bought one for 80yen and split it for dessert. Geez, where did the ice cream and pie go and when did the daifuk become the dessert of choice?

And now for some random pictures of the last month or so:

This is our microwave/oven . So small and sad, but we finally got enough courage to try it out as an oven. I was a little skeptical-- "it looks questionable to meeeeeee.
The final result: very yummy chocolate cookie bars!!!

LET IT SNOW, let it snow, LET IT SNOW!!!

THANK GOODNESS for Sundays... I finally had a day I could sleep in. Ma is here visiting so the only time we can go and do things is in the morning. It was sooooo nice to just sleep in, wake up and watch cartoons--- Lilo & Stitch in Japanese. :)

Last night we had a Girls Night at our apartment with 3 of our friends. It was a lot of fun to just have people over and hang out. It is fun to go hang out in Tokyo b/c there is always something to do, but sometimes it is a pain to have to worry about the train and when the night is over there is always about a 1hr ride home and then an expensive taxi ride to our apartment. It is just cheaper and more fun to have people over to our house.



So as I speak it is snowing! I have missed snow soo much. It just didn't feel like Christmas w/o the snow. So a few months late, but it is finally snowing!!!