Friday, January 22, 2010

Eye of the Tiger 2010

TAKING IT BACK

This music makes me wanna put on a bandana, some purple striped leotard, legwarmers, and start flashdancing across my 1R (one room) apartment. 2010 is almost 30 days gone and I haven't posted since September. Maybe I'm a quarterly blogger. That's not really blogging now, is it? That's like bl-ing. B.L.-ing. blo-ing? At any rate, I realized I had seriously fallen behind on my reading bloglist and felt inspired since reading the first Twilight book to update my blog.

Update Status: Since September, I survived worrying about my mother in the tsunami, wearing an elmo suit for two Halloween parties, spending Christmas in sweaty balls Samoa with mom and bro, and continuing the Japanese school year (April to March) with my VERY talkative class. Hmmm, where to start? Let's start at the very beginning....a very good place to start. Hell no! I'm no Fraulein Maria, that's for sure--except for the wicked youth part.

Anyway, Japan is cold as Edward Cullen's hand clenched with whitened tension at the thought of mauling his beloved Bella. lol. So I'm hooked on heat-tech underwear (hi-to-teku in Japanese) and have been known to wear two pairs under jeans and a sweater while indoors. I am still baffled at the nakedness that abounds during winter here. It's like end of summer wear, with Uggs, and a mask: Un-friggin-believable. More on the uniqueness that is Japan in another blog.

I have recommitted to Japanese lessons online with my teacher/friend (friecher? teachend?) Tomoko that I met while in NC. I stayed at her home a few days last summer and had a great time. Her family is very sweet and we always have a good laugh during our lessons. When I was living in NC, we had the time difference on our side so I could meet her 10 pm EST which was 10 am JST. Now that we live in the same time zone, we have to meet at 1030 pm during the week. Last night, I feel asleep during our 10 minute break...which is just wrong on so many levels. She laughed it off and said we could meet tonight. I'm such a ditz sometimes. (P.S. there was no alcohol involved.)

Which brings me to work...the reason for my exhaustion. (I am currently addicted to taurine and consume 3000 mg per day.) The 25 kids I teach are all almost 3 years old now, and I am proud to say I have helped create some English chatterboxes! I haven't met much success trying to create English chatterboxes out of my Japanese teaching partners, but they put up with my forgetfulness, horrible crafts, and a host of other quirks that come with me. :) I have made peace with the crafting pressure and have turned out some crafts that even they "ooh" and "ahh" at so there's a bright spot in that arena of my life. I don't even want to laminate my lips anymore. YAY.






Conclusion - Life is good. Be grateful for what is and hopeful for what can be. That's it for now. Have a great 2010 people!