"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.