The 1st year boys... see ya later!  

Picture 2: Kazuhiko... too cool for school, Yuto still lookin' good... and the umbrella! Geez I love junior high kids! 

Picture 1: Kazuhiko hiding, Yuto smiling... and Junpei with the umbrella! Yuto is my FAVE baseball boy... Shhh... I don't really have favorites! ;-)  

Here's a brother-sister portrait!! Haha! Goofballs... ne? 

Don't they look happy to be done for the day?? One more day buddies!!  

Getting Tougher!

This week is KILLING me! I'm not being used in class because of testing, but this is the second to last time I'll be at Tachikawa Junior high before I leave. It's killing me that I'm sitting at a desk being a deadhead!! Grrr...

And am I going to elementary school?? Oh no!! That would make sense. Grrrr... Oh well...

It doesn't help that all my kids are asking me when I'm leaving. And I tell them and they tell me they don't want me to leave... it's just getting tough. Talking all about it last night with my good friends the Ota's I almost started crying... and that was just talking about having to say goodbye.

Oh well... I'm going to make the most of my last weeks and just enjoy my students. Or something like that...

Anyway... I'm going to post some happy pics from today! I swear after testing is the best time to take pics of my students... they're in such a good mood because one day of testing is over. Heehee... sneaky me... that's when I get some great pics. Just look and see...

Latas...

English Camp!

This weekend I spent camping on a mountain with 32 high school girls, 8 other foreigners, and 4 other Japanese teachers! It was a blast!! I'm completely wrecked... but needless to say we had a great time. Lots of bonding with the girls... and lots of fun had by all... a sample of the pictures are to follow! Enjoy... I'm off to bed. :-) Night!

On the steps, English teachers and kids!! Great group! 

Now this time... just the kids! BANZAI in the back! 

All the teachers... say "ROBBIE!" 

Lauren with Shiho on her shoulders!! Light as a feather!! 

Lauren, Nao, Kaori and me... last day with the kids! These girls are 3nensei... and speak GREAT English! 

Yu didn't know I was taking this picture... smile?!? :-) 

What are older sisters good at....?

Answer: being nosy and giving our little brothers a hard time!! :-) And how does that translate to Japan... well, I have some boys that are in effect my little brothers. Hiroshi, Kazuki, Yuhei and Kazuho. Now the other day, on my way to the post office, I saw Kazuho waiting with Kazuki's girlfriend... which sent all sorts of bells off... who was HE waiting for?
So yesterday, like a good big sister, I gave him all sorts of trouble about it! He told me her last name... but that's it (Igarashi... very helpful Kazuho!)... but I then cornered him into pinky swearing to tell me today (as he was on his way to the doctor... I've been made to wait!).
I love this game!! This is more fun than harrassing my own brothers. :-) The main thing these kids are afraid of is that they'll be found out... because "dating" (in the cute junior high kind of way) is majorly ILLEGAL by school rules. Nuts, eh?

I'm off to study some Japanese... I have been REALLY bad lately. REALLY bad!! And I have my lesson tonight... :-)

Good byes...

I had another set of goodbyes today... this time it was really bad... cried for two of my four classes this morning. I've been teaching the 3rd graders for 3 years and remember all of them... and am going to miss their smiling faces... and unconditional loving!! :-( Seriously... am a sad bunny! But on the up side... I will get to see them one more time when I go to that school (my fave) one more time in July. Man, this is getting tough... though this time... my junior high boys didn't laugh when I told them... they actually seemed a bit sympathetic... *sigh*

Here's my buddy Yuto... I only got two pics of him... both with his catcher's mask on! He's number two on the all-region team... number one? Our pitcher! 

Kazuhiko... wow! Does he not look like a pro?? Holy cow!? And the biggest surprise for me... he's a lefty! :-)  

Kendo... not entirely sure who this is... it might be Tatsuma... man I love that kid!! 

Toshiki... my hurdler buddy! He's the one in the middle... this heat didn't go so well... but he still managed to win the final!  

Taikai - Day 2 and 3

So... the sports tournament was GREAT!! :-) Day 2 ended wonderfully...

I started the day watching my Tachikawa baseball team CREAM Lauren's baseball team (7-0, was called at the end of the 5th inning!). Bad for her team... but man, I loved watching those boys win by SO much. Then I watched a little bit of basketball... my Amarume boys were being beaten badly... so I went to kendo!

My Tachikawa girls won the tournament... and my Amarume boys took second to Lauren's boys. I didn't mind too much because my boys seriously weren't as strong as Fujishima. But they came REALLY close! Which made me super proud... especially of Saito Ken and Kitagawa Daichi... they both won their matches. :-) Plus, they're just nice kids! After the kendo, I headed to the track. Where I saw a bunch of my old students... met Lauren's old student council president (Takamine... freaked him out too, cuz I knew who he was!!)... and cheered for my kids.

There were 4 relays: the amateur and the pros! ;-) My girls took second in both. And my boys... they took first in both. I've never been more nervous for a 4x100m relay than I was before my pros ran! Toshiki, Daisuke, Shunsuke, and Koya... I was SO nervous for them!! I love those boys... so, it was crazy to watch... but they were AWESOME and tore up the track!! :-)

After that I watched my Amarume baseball team (who won their first game in a HUGE surprise win!!) lose to a Tsuruoka school.

Day 3 - BASEBALL!!

I watched the morning game for Tachikawa... they beat the team 1-0. It wasn't as close as the score would look... the kids had everything under control.

Then there was a couple hour gap before the championship game... so I went to the S-mall. Where I met my Chinese brother!! Ryusuke was there... I LOVE that kid! He can come live with me in Hawaii anytime. He rocks!! Then I met Lauren for lunch at Jusco before heading back for the 2 o'clock baseball game.

I got there and the game had already started!! BOOO!! Was so annoyed... but we were already a couple points up. It was awesome. Our pitcher didn't crack once... he got tired and threw a few more balls, but didn't crack. Katsuya, the center fielder, made the most beautiful catch I've ever seen! It was AWESOME. He also got named for the play of the game with that one. It was made on the final out as well.

HAIL the conquering heroes!! Onward and upward to the ken-taikai (all-state sports tourney)!!

Taikai - Day 1

Today was the first day of the big sports meet. In Japan they don't have sports seasons... instead ALL the teams prepare for a meet on one weekend in June. This weekend is the one!!
So, today... instead of choosing just ONE sport to watch I floated between 3 sports... kendo, track and gymnastics. Now, it was VERY easy to float between kendo and track... but for gymnastics I had to drive from Tsuruoka to Sakata. Which I decided was worth it because 4 of my FAVE students are gymnastics boys (forget the rhythmic gymnastics girls!! blah... give me tumbling any day!!).

The big hit on the day were my home-made spectator shirts!! I made one for Amarume and one for Tachikawa!! The one for Amarume had an inside joke in it... it has to do with how people say my last name in Japanese. My name in Japanese is "su-ma-i-su" which to some of my students sounds similar to " su-pa-i-su." So on the back of my Amarume shirt I put... Give me some SU-PA-I-SU (in Japanese!). My gymnastics boys were the ones who really got it... and had a good chuckle.

Anyway, it's bed time for bonzo as it's another big, busy day at the tournament tomorrow!

Here's Kazuki... the crazy seito-kaicho!! Every other pic I tried to take of him went awry... but this one... is the best!! This is the ultra-genki kid I love... but has been missing most of the week because he's been "nemui" 

Wataru... formerly Wataru of the ghetto hat picture... now apparently wants to be James Bond!! 

I LOVE this kid!! Ryuichiro is the younger son of one of my old teachers... he's SUCH a cutie!! 

First of many...

Today I had to say goodbye for the first time...

I went to one of my kindergartens for the last time this morning. Now it's not as if I go very often (about 6-7 times a year), but still it was a goodbye. You'd think that I'd be ok saying goodbye to 4-5 year olds that I hardly see... but, no I wasn't ok. In fact, when I was asked to say something... I got all worked up and only managed to blurt out something about having fun every time I came to play and then thank you. And then I cried... mopped up my face and was ok. A little later... a 4 year old girl told me that I shouldn't cry. That was precious... and by that time I'd gotten it all together.

GEESH... does this make me the biggest SAP ever?

chuckle of the week... so far...

Jeopardy question: This man comes from Texas. He lives in America. Many people around the world do not like him, but he is the president.

answer: Eminem*

Nearly fell over with that one!

OW!!!!

Last night I went to kendo with Kirsty. This week, in preparation for the big sports tournament at the weekend, there's no evening kendo! AAAAH! Knowing this I asked Kirsty to come with her. So, I headed over to hers after school yesterday and we headed to Shinjo for kendo.

Well, now that the weather is HOT kendo is getting a bit more intense... AND smelly! We had a really good practice that included some much needed combination practice. One combination was men/hiki-kote (head/hit the hand going backwards). OUCH!! Kirsty hit right on almost the whole time, but once she hit a little off the mark... and now I have a bruise on my hand. :-(
Which, when you think about it, is quite special!

Anyway... I'm supposed to teach the devil children today... just hope I don't kill any of them! Have a great day!

Kosuke... how many times do I have to tell you? You're NOT tough! No matter how hard you try to be...  

Why is there only ONE kid who likes having his picture taken? Just ONE!!! Once again... yay for my Chinese brother! 

Look how tough they are?? Funny, eh? Watch for the pinky patrol!! ;-) 

Kobe beef!

Now, I've never been one to advocate eating meat with a lot of fat in it... and the whole premise of Kobe beef is that it is marbled... so it's kind of pink in color because there's fat well mixed with the meat. I was always a bit like "ewww, gross!" Not anymore! I now know the merits of meat like that... it's DELICIOUS!!! WOW!!

I went to a barbeque last night and we had this kind of meat. It was the best meat I've ever tasted... no joke! Not only was the meat good but the sauce (REALLY REALLY garlicky!) was amazing as well. Just enhancing the eating experience. Now, thank GOODNESS that kind of meat is so expensive. Otherwise the temptation to eat it all the time would be very high!

Yeah... so... that's my meat blog!

the UN-genkis...

I knew something must be wrong today when I saw my buddy (and student council pres), Kazuki... usually this kid yells "Alisha!!!" as he holds up his hand for a big hi-five. He just looked at me and held up his hand... no hello, no Alisha... no nuthin'! And it didn't stop with him... oh no! It was all of my fave 3nensei boys!! They were all completely un-genki today. Now, I've heard of a case of the "mondays," but usually everyone I hang out with doesn't have them! *sigh*

Here's to hoping my boys go back to normal tomorrow. Kazuki has promised he'd be more genki tomorrow... but am not holding my breath! :-)

adventures in teaching...

Today I got to teach with Nishiwaki-sensei... notorious for not using ALTs, but one of the best teachers I've ever seen. The class was brilliant!! The hilight would have to be when a kid started getting a bloody nose... and instead of letting him mop up his nose... Nishiwaki-sensei walks over and sticks a piece of tissue up his nose to stop the bleeding! Just like the kid was out on the field and had gotten smashed in the nose or something!! It was hilarious. :-) Man, I love Japan!

This afternoon I finally got to see "Hitch"... I laughed SO hard!! SUCH a funny film... Kevin James rocked and I must say... Will Smith was hilarious as well.

After that I met one of my old students for coffee... Naoya is like a little brother. We just ramble on about ALL sorts of stuff. He's so funny! We just talked about all sorts of stuff... and I taught him the ever-so-useful term "indecisive" (優柔不断＝　yuujuufudan in Japanese). And the best thing... he can actually pronounce most of the funny words we talk about. I've decided that he has to come to Hawaii or Alaska to visit. He'd LOVE the adventure of it. :-) Yay for cool students!

I'm wrecked from not doing anything. Heading to bed soon... have a good one!

I have a place to LIVE!!!

A truly exciting thing happened yesterday... I checked my email and had an email from my dad indicating that Mom had found me a place to live... so, being very excited, I called home. Sure enough my mother (who is awesome at stuff like this!) had found me a place to live... 4 blocks from campus!! This is such good news... I've been so disgruntled and undecided about things because of the housing issue. Now, I can just relax and get finished with things here... and not worry TOO much!

In other, VERY EXCITING news... Our local Seattle's Best now has Macha Frappacino's!! Oh BABY!! Lauren and I are going to be going to Jusco that much more... :-)

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Contrary to the tone of that earlier blog, I am NOT trying to depress myself. I'm actually really happy because even in a few or even 20 years... I'll not say that. Even if I'm never famous or never do anything particularly notable... I've lived. And not just in America and not just behind a picket fence...

So, no... was not trying to depress myself. ;-)

A great quote...

(something to fear...) that we'll reach a certain point in our lives, look around and realize that all the things we said we'd do and become will never come to be -- and that we're ordinary. - Anne Bancroft

I haven't seen a really great quote like this in awhile... makes a person think...

My Chinese brother...

So, I have a Chinese brother. :-) He's actually a 2nensei student in Tachikawa who only JUST came to Japan in March. This kid's amazing!! He's so happy and friendly, he makes my Tachikawa kids look downright docile (which is SO not the case!!).

The funniest thing is that he reminds me of my brother... even though he barely speaks English and speaks even less Japanese! He's just goofy and always joking around. Kind of like bro-bro! So, even though I miss my brothers... it's nice to have Ryusuke to fill in once in awhile. Makes me look forward to going home just a little bit. :-)

Those are my thoughts for the morning...

Cute things abut Japan...

One of the endearing things about Japanese gas stations (yes, I called gas stations endearing...) is that the little attendants who pump your gas (there are some self service stations, but I really don't like them...) stand in the middle of the road, sometimes stopping traffic, to make sure that you can safely continue on your merry way.

Well, today, I was making my way home from the grocery store right about the time my students were getting out of their after-school sports/clubs. I was tooly-ing down the road when I was stopped by the friendly gas station attendants... who, instead of helping their customer, were helping my kids get safely across the busy street near my house! How cute is that? That's not part of their job, but they did it anyway! Plus, they bowed and yoroshiku-onegaishimasu-ed a ton as well.

I LOVE JAPAN!

Oh... and later when I was eating... I talked to some of my kids... they're all starting to catch on that I'm leaving in August. This one boy says to me "when are you coming back?" Not "are you coming back?" not "will you be coming back?" but "WHEN are you coming back?" That left me with a warm fuzzy feeling as well. :-)

Hope your day's great!

Don't make me go!!

Last night I was sideswiped by weird/unexpected emotions! I was watching my Monday drama... where people were all saying goodbye to each other... which made me think of leaving my kids and the goodbyes that I'll soon be making... and the next thing I knew... I was bawling crying! I don't know what it's going to be like to say goodbye to my kids, my friends, etc... but I can only imagine the buckets of tears I'm going to shed in that process...

Yeah, so that's what's been on my mind lately...

Rockin' Good Times!

This weekend was great! Saturday I did some sports spectating... as I had kendo AND gymnastics to watch it was quite fun. (Though I did the Tsuruoka to Sakata shuffle! Eeek!) My kids were doing really well and I found out one of my old students was top 8 in the ken for kendo!! GO YUSUKE!!

After all the sports, Lauren and I headed to Sendai to have a night out. We started off with Indian curry... which we scarfed to avoid missing meeting up with friends! (Shouldn't have scarfed! But it was still good!) We met up with Raf and Andres and a collection of their friends to attend a birthday party. (We always seem to crash b-day parties when we're with those two!) Anyway... off we went to an izakaya... for all you can drink and eat (though since we were stuffed we just drank!). The highlight of that bit was the spontaneous karaoke session... we ended up singing the Backstreet Boys I want it that way... I can't explain the joy from that! There was no music, no mics... just a bunch of random people belting out the lyrics!! CLASSIC!

Then we headed out to Bar Isn't It? Lauren and I had made an earlier, pinky-swearing pact... and I'm pleased to report that the pact was fulfilled (for more info on the pact... just ask!). We danced and enjoyed ourselves... until about 3am... then we decided to enjoy ourselves right home for an uninterrupted 4 hours of sleep!! Haha...

Yesterday in Sendai, we had our hang-over cure lunch (without hash-browns we seem to make due with french fries A LOT!) and headed home.

I had dinner in Yuza... and managed (through no fault of my own) to get beer spilled ALL over me (thank you, Alex!) and finished off the meal in borrowed clothes. Fun fun... but had an AMAZING (as usual) dinner at Oi-san's before rolling into ed for a solid 8 hours of sleep.

Hope your weekend adventures were great! I'm outta stories!

Just so we all know... patronizing people make me want to scream!! I'm not bloody well three years old thank you very much. In case anyone was wondering... ARGH!! And I was having SUCH a good day too!

Scary or Reassuring...

Yesterday after soccer practice, I hung around chatting with some of my old students... currently 3rd years in high school (seniors!). We chatted about school and English and whether they were still studying English... etc. But eventually the talk came around to girls and who's the most sukebe (perverted) of the bunch, who's had the most girlfriends, and you can imagine what all else. WHY??? Why does it always come down to that with boys? Haha... am not sure whether it's reassuring to know that ALL boys at that age are the same!?! It was almost a relief... they're normal afterall.

ALSO, learned that there's an actual term for a girlie-man/manly girl... (most of the time I just say otoko-onna which means manly girl). If you think that's bizarre, then you'll think it's weirder that I know EXACTLY what that means!! The women's field hockey team for Japan was almost entirely composed of otoko-onna! That's just a funny side note.

So what's the verdict... is it reassuring to know that all high school boys are the same... or is it kind of scary!?

MY IPOD!!!

Yes, it's come. The era of the iPod for Alisha... I now own an iPod photo!!

I got home from school yesterday and I had a delivery slip in my mail-slot. I called the number and told the lady I'd arrived and that I'd be here all afternoon. And not an hour later, I was in possession of an iPod. I feel a bit bad because it distracted me from being sociable with my kendo boys... but they'll understand. :-)

That saved the day yesterday... I hope today's a bit better... and I don't feel like strangling 7 year olds. The only problem today is that I'm teaching my fave kids... minus my FAVORITE!! His dad's a policeman and got transferred... so Retsu-kun is no longer around... I almost cried last time I was there. Ganbatemasu!!

who knew!?!

If I had known that today was going to be such a bust... I probably wouldn't have gotten up this morning!! GEESH!! Talk about a discouraging day... I had a class full of 6 year olds that the teacher wouldn't help me control (I've never wanted to smack anyone that young before), but I rush back to a junior high lesson of kids that was uncooperative and boring to teach (no imagination on part of teacher and no prior notice as to what we were doing... leads to boring lessons!!).

Can I go to Tachikawa tomorrow?? PLEASE!!! No really... I'm serious... PLEASE!!!

Nothing Much

This weekend wasn't all that special...

Friday watched the season finale of One Tree Hill (10 cliff-hangers!!)...

Saturday went to the beach at Sanze... was pretty unspectacular, but hanging out was pretty fun.

Yesterday I read Harry Potter, did a bit of weeding, talked to some of my kendo boys... then Lauren and I met up with Kirsty, her mum and gran to visit Gyokusenji in Haguro. It's a temple with the most amazing garden!! Truly beautiful... and the koi were evening getting a bit excited. Haha.

Today I have a full day at school (have a class EVERY class period!)... should be good...

The middle boy is Ryohei... he almost lapped a kid in the boys 1000 meters!! Holy cow... it was AWESOME!! 

This is Chihiro... the younger brother of two of my fave elementary school students! He's 3... but is tall enough to be about 4-5! And MAN does he have ENERGY!!!

How many people are MISSING from this pic?? Haha... giving a camera to a 5th grader doesn't always result in great camera work!! ;-) 

Hiroto... after having finished the long jump! How cute is he??