Saipan, here we come!

For the past few weeks, I have been attempting to plan a trip to visit the infamous Emma and Angelo in Saipan. I say trying because the Japanese airlines are fighting me every step of the way.

All that aside, I am really excited to see my bestie and my replacement boyfriend. Its only been a few months, but I miss your attendance at my yoga classes, our random coffee and beer guzzling, and scrabble is never the same without you! J and Keddie will be joining me, and Adam at a later date. Keddles and I will will be diving everywhere we can, while J gets his certification and then joins the madness.

Here is a new little segment I would like to call

Mindless Drivel (currently...)


reading: the wind-up bird chronicle


on repeat: amelie soundtrack


playing: Some kanji learning game that Bunny gave me slime forest


craving: Santoshi curry (droooool)


happening in the office: office dude is cleaning the ceiling vents again!


weather: surprisingly nice for Toyama, kinda sunny (through the clouds)


downloading: samurai champloo


watching: mahou sensei negima

Himi



We went to Himi on Saturday for a sushi and beach adventure. I was blessed with a fudgesicle (thank you Dave!) and delicious sushi. Some of the best I have had in Japan yet. There were also fish with hats that talked, a kissing tako, and a bridge show reminiscent of "its a small world" (shiver).



I nearly forgot, Dave and I had a fountain photo shoot as well!



Classy...

The beach was an something else. I have only been to the Shimao beach once last year, and it seemed a lot cleaner. This beach looked as if red tide had struck, but instead of rotting fishy carcasses, there was GOMI. Enough to make a tree-hugger wretch. It made me very sad, and I think that I will have to organize a beach cleanup. The most confusing part, though, was that there appears to have already been a beach cleanup! There were piles of trash formed upshore every 200 yards or so. It looked as if they were waiting to be burnt. Gomi still covered the beach, it didn't make any logical sense. We wondered if disgruntled pirates were throwing their gomi overboard, or perhaps a landfill accidentally leaked into the river system and shot out into the Sea of Japan. There has to be some reasonable explanation. And NO it wasn't Korean trash, as another great myth of Toyama leads us to believe.

The waves were fun, as always. I miss waves. Yeah, you heard me... I miss Florida. Not enough to come home for at least another 6 months, but I miss it. Warm weather, tropical plants, the beach within 3 blocks of my apartment, papayas, sigh... Enough of that though.

The saddest part of the day wasn't the trash. It was the monkeys. If you are not too quick on the draw, or perhaps have only read this blog once or twice, you may not be aware of the fact that I am obsessed with monkeys. Monkeys are downright adorable. They are most adorable when living in their happy, open, free, entirely liberated, natural monkey habitat. So, when you see monkeys trapped in a cage, behind fencing, standing on urine-stained concrete, and looking forlornly at you from within their dreary empty hell... you cry. I love Japan, but this shit is too much. I have seen some horrible things in my time, but there was NOTHING for these poor animals. The cage was empty. No toys, no fake foliage, no ropes, no nothing. They had each other, and their miserable little faces. The Takaoka zoo is along the same lines, and I am currently boycotting it. They at least have something to entertain their trapped animals, though.

It's finally over!


I say that with a tear in my eye. The past 4 months have been great, and stressful, and fun, and a pain in the keester, all rolled up into one.

A big thank you to darling Chamise for lending me her wings, and Casey for the excessively loud "SUGOI!" after my cartwheeling in the second performance. It nearly made me fall offstage.

One of my favorite aspects of the day was Rachel (and Jacqui helped too!) doing my hair up ala Big Time Sensuality Bjork.


witness the striking resemblance!


I took them out with the assistance of Timmy's teeth and Jacqui in Saturday night, and still have some gnarly dreads because of them. I am a little scared to wash them out, and am kinda happy with them as they are. I don't want to be a false Rastafarian, though. So... I am torn as to what I should do.

This was them after the show... they are a bit mankier now.

Whew!

I survived another week of madness, and the charity show is tomorrow. Thank GOD! After 9am tomorrow its all downhill. My supervisor informed me today that this is the beginning of our "break." That means the kids have no more serious classes. Good thing I arranged for a music/fun lesson next week. My kids would probably kill me if I gave them something they didn't want to pay attention to.

I love my kids. I love them more everyday. I know I sound like a sap, but seriously... I could be having the shittiest day in the history of feces-smothered days, and my kids can snap me out of it. I leave my house every morning and bike to school. I inevitably meet up with the same kids at the stoplight, and we chat a little.

Me - "Your bike tire is flat! Kiotsukete!" random-kun - "I know!" Or the usual, "RORA!?! Ohayo Gozaimasu!"

No matter how many times I run into them in the grocery store, on the train, outside of the conbini while I breeze by on my bike, they still have the same reaction. COMPLETE AND UTTER SHOCK. They have to be somewhat accustomed to me at this point. I live in their town, I do townish things, I am rather boring really. I often get, "hana!? EEeee!?" Yes, my nose is pierced. I cannot wear it in school. Secret. Secret! They like to touch it, and lately sticking pencils and (for the kindergarteners) paper ken (swords) through my 00 gauges is all the rage. Also, there is the "Oh hello! I love you!" from my baseball boys. The past few weeks I have ridden by them daily on my way home from eikaiwa, charity show practice, yoga, and or Japanese class. They are always passing me on their way to the station. I approach and notice that they are mine (Dalenna's school has nearly identical uniforms, so its hard to tell from far away), as I get closer one of them bellows, "OOOOOhhhh! Rora-sensei!" The rest follow suit. I have ridden blocks away before still able to hear their whoooping.

I don't know where I was going with this. I just wanted to talk about my kids. If some of them show up at the Charity Show tomorrow, I would be ecstatic!

Charity Show

is ruling my life. That is ok, its for the kids, and the blind dogs, and whatnot. I promise updating will occur (if anyone cares) after this Saturday happens, and perhaps after a nap.

Till then, I will leave you with this...


click here for toyama charity show tv spot



I have never been so excited about one of your balls!