Week 82: Last day and subsequent collapse

WELL! Last week I mentioned that I had a day off, so after 9 weeks of no vacation, and then a busy Saturday, I used Monday to relax.

Right.

one last USJ trip!

My friend took me to USJ!  Since it was a holiday, it was PACKED.  I mean, everyone says "there are times it's not packed" and I responded "yes, but those are SCHOOL days.  You know, the days I have to work."

Lines were AMAZING

One ride actually had a 320 minute wait.  I'm like "PEOPLE ARE WAITING THAT LONG?!"

We did not ride anything.  We walked around and saw stuff.

dead ant, dead ant!

And there were street shows and walking attractcions

old new york

IT'S GONNA EAT ME

now to find out who this is.

And we saw the parade

waiting and eating lunch.

parade!

Easter is the next holiday, so of course, there were Easter decorations

he never did like CHASING rabbits.

And we checked out Potterworld, of course.  OH! here's a funny story!  SO!

Way back in February, I went to Rakugo.  Japanese storytelling.  And for audience participation, a very entertaining guy was called up.  He was guided in telling some AWFUL jokes, like "what's the most comfortable pet? A carpet" "What's the tastiest pet? a Crumpet" etc.

Anyhow, after the storytelling, they had a "chill and snack" time where audience members were invited to just socialize.  This guy and I were some of the ones who stayed.  When they asked me where I worked, I said I was a teacher, but I was under legal obligation not to say where I worked.  (no, really)  And he laughed and said he was the same.

"Oh, you're a teacher?"
"No, I work at USJ, but I can't say where."
"You're a USJ hitman. Ok."
"No, I'm an entertainer.  and if you happen to go through Potterworld..."
"Ah, I thought I recognized your voice."

SO! While I was a USJ, I took a chance.  Chances were SO slim, but OH WELL.  I got in line for Olivanders and when we walk in, THERE HE IS.
My friend and I got good spots to stand and I said to her, in a normal voice. "What's the loudest pet?"
And he couldn't help laughing. :D

And guess what!

I got selected for the wand trying out process! :D

I did not buy the wand, but it was fun to be part of the process! (guess it really is who you know!)

And it was just all really fun!  One of the fun things was, we got some caramel popcorn holders early on.

Sesame street area

And so we just had something to snack on all day!  And they're CUTE!

They had holders for other areas, like a Gundam one, or maybe a minion one, etc, but not only were those more detailed and not as cute, they were WAY more expensive. :P

So Monday was fun!  We finally left around Sunset, because we both had work the next day. :P

Tuesday actually wasn't too bad! They had me teach the 2nd graders, so I wasn't bored.  I did have to sing the "hello" song again.

and then I replace "I'm good" with other emotions

It's a good basic song that I AM SO SICK OF.

As a "goodbye" one of my teachers gave me a cake!

isn't it pretty!

It was, unfortunately, green tea (that besides the Word of Wisdom, I think tastes like low quality grass)  So I gave it away to someone in the share kitchen.

Me: walks in with cake, coincidentally spots acquaintance who has done me favors in the past. "Congratulations!  Do you want a cake?"  Hands her cake
Her: stares at it confused "Um. Yes?  Why?"
Me: Well, my teacher gave it to me as a goodbye gift, but it is green tea. I don't like green tea. Do you want it?
Her: Are you sure?
Me: well, it's either that, or I throw it away.
Her: clutches it to her. "thank you."
(I ate the chocolate flake on top of course.)

So Wednesday, I had planned, for WEEKS, to have the sisters (and a few other peoples) over for lunch.  I decided on crepes.  I'm poor, so I told the sisters to bring fruit and whipped cream. The elders I told to bring bananas and butter.  One of the elders stared at me and said "but butter is EXPENSIVE"  and I'm like...."no. really.  food is expensive. you'd almost think I was asking you to put in partially to this giant meal you people ask me to host."

Anyhow, I woke up Wednesday and had apparently forgotten about my body's habit of falling amazingly ill immediately following the end of school.   (I think I'm in denial)

But it was too LATE to cancel the lunch, so I held it ANYWAY.

elders couldn't make it in the end.

And it was fun!  They all enjoyed the crepes, and the others brought fruits and veggies and one sister brought onigiri (rice balls.)

SPAM onigiri!

The Sisters brought fresh strawberries, and the English sister said when she suggested they buy them, her companion said "but those are expensive!" and she remembered me laughing about the Elders and was like "Let's get them anyway."

And then it was over and I died.

I was COMPLETELY useless until Friday afternoon.

Mostly.

I did get some packing done.

By Friday Afternoon, I was feeling better, so I decided to press my luck by biking to a mall to hang with a friend.

they had cherry blossom taiyaki! I will miss taiyaki

And I got new shoes. :)

Danica is coming in on Monday, so I did a lot of packing because 1) lots to do and 2) I'm not sure I could fit her in my room without getting rid of a lot of stuff.

This means I'm going through the stages of packing.

"How much do I love this?"
"This will fit"
"How do I own so much stuff?!"
"Throw it ALL AWAY."
"I don't CARE, I want to KEEP it!"
"Can I pack it now, or will I need it later?"
"Ok, where did I put....?"
"I cannot see my floor"
"Good enough for now."

Of course, no one is the same, so one tends to cycle and jump around the stages pretty unevenly. :)  My room is now an interesting mix between an utter mess and...kinda empty.

Saturday, was a lot of random stuff. I DID make an apple cake recipe I like!  I stuck it on facebook, so give it a try and tell me how it turned out for you!  I'm gonna give some of mine to the Sisters. I can see the Elders' faces now. "But Elders, apples are EXPENSIVE." :P

Hope you are all doing well!

Week 81: It's almost done!

Wow, I have one more day of school left.

And it's on Tuesday.

That's right, after 9 weeks of no days off, we get one JUST before the last day of school.

That means this last week I said goodbye to two of my schools and to a lot of my classes.  Of course now I'm almost sad I'm leaving.  I had some good classes!  The teachers, of course, ask why I'm leaving, and the answers vary on how well I know them.  "I want my own classroom", "I miss my family", "It's time", "I can't afford to live on this salary anymore", and "if I have to teach the 'hello' song ONE MORE TIME..."

This was a busy week as well!  I just seem to have them a lot.  Monday I didn't get back until late because I had a few doctors to see (it always comes around at the same time...)  Tuesday I had class at Church.  Thursday I taught the relief society how to make cookies!  American cookies!

oatmeal raisin cookies to be specific.

See, Japan baking is all based off French baking.  Which is good.  But their cookies are all close variations of crisp butter cookies.  And there're just not the same as a good oatmeal cookie.  They were very surprised at how soft the cookies are, and I'm like "Americans like soft cookies, and they like flavor to them, not just butter and sugar."  Though, again, I do love a good butter cookie.

The English speaking missionary/sister had to translate for me, and the look on her face when she realized what that entailed was priceless.

"This is cake flour and bread flour and we mix them, because Japan doesn't have all purpose flour."

"We put in some vinegar because when you bake, you want to use sour milk."

"There are three kinds of cookies, drop, shaped and bar.  Here are the differences between them."

"Do you know how they make brown sugar?"

Yes! When I get in teacher mode, I tend to spout all kinds of "interesting facts" that the person then has to translate.  I feel no shame.

We had extra time (and ingredients) so we made snickerdoodles!

this was fun because I just did a demo cookie and let them take over.

oatmeal cookies again.

And then, when it was over, I got to introduce to them the joy of dipping your cookies in milk.

it was a winner.

Specifically snickerdoodles.  If you have never dipped warm snickerdoodles, you really must some day.

I'm not sure which cookie they liked more, they were both well received.  We ran out of snickerdoodles first, but then that was only a half batch.  The best part was them trying to SAY "snickerdoodle" ;)

The big to-do this week was graduation.  Hopefully you remember me talking about the set up last week.  The 2 hour long rehearsals.  How everything is very choreographed and set.  Well!  It's all done now!  And WHAT a kerfluffle.

FIRST you gotta set up the chairs

's a lot of chairs.

Then you gotta decorate.

art flowers

the students drew the pictures AND carved the frames

live flowers.

And you gotta make sure EVERYTHING is perfect.

why yes, that is the vice principal and principal ironing the flag.

And this is all done up to the day before.

Then the day OF...I went to another school. So you get to see a different graduation!

still very pretty.

the 5th graders played music for the 6th graders when they came in!

Because this was a smaller school, I thought the ceremony would be a little shorter.  Well, apparently 2 hours is how long it's supposed to last, because in order to stretch it out,

they had each student give a tiny speech after accepting their certificate.

I mean, great but...I was really hoping it would just be shorter.

Most students wore the uniforms they'll wear at their new middle school, thought several (as shown) wore traditional clothes instead.

including the boys.

After that, they sang

THIS IS PROOF THESE GUYS CAN SING. couldn't get them to do it in class.

And then they went back to their classrooms for a last "goodbye" from their teachers.

Then they ran the gauntlet

the hall of well-wishers.

And when everyone was finally gone, the teachers got to eat lunch.

the 5th grade teachers.

lunch! (can you spot the tentacle?)

They asked me what I thought of the ceremony and I said "it was beautiful! and so organized!"..."and long. and cold. and all in Japanese."

(I read unobtrusively most of the ceremony)

They were all fairly surprised to find out that we don't have a 6th grade graduation ceremony.  One teacher asked me and I said "nah, usually when they change schools, they just...change."  And she looked around the teacher's room at all the things for the ceremony, the flowers and the ribbons, the certificates and the boutonnieres, the cloths and the decorations and then looked at me.

"That sounds nice."



So Saturday, I went into Osaka.

it's where you go to see odd things.

And there was an Irish festival!  I wore orange and green.

don't ask why I have a green tutu.

It was very small.

There were THREE booths.

Two sold alcohol and one sold potatoes and seafood chowder.

This was a little disappointing because there are, I swear, about 12 different Irish pubs in the area and not one had a booth!

They had a "parade" which was small really more a "presentation" thing, where people got on a little stage and presented.

Guess what started off the show!

The look on the lady's face says "Yes, I realize I'm playing Scotland the Brave at an Irish Festival."

They had other stuff!

Everything green by the local DonQuixote

Finally some actual Irish music!

and dancing!

and Irish Setters! They're so PRETTY

And it was tiny, but fun.

We did other stuff!  We went shopping and ate too much

pancake on a stick!

CURRY!

And we saw a cute one!

animal donuts!

We were so full, so we didn't get an animal donuts. :)

And then we went to see Moana!  I loved it! :D

The weather is looking up, but it's still a struggle for each degree it seems.  There are signs that the sakura are going to start though, so I remain hopeful! :)

Hope you're all doing well!

Week 80: must be the pollen

I'm tired again. And I've been getting the recommended sleep!  Must be the pollen.

In other news, what a week!

It's almost the last week of school, so there's lots of wrap up lessons being planned.  Some students get the odd idea that I'm going to do a party or go easy on the last lesson.  Where do they get that idea?

The weather is looking up (kinda) so I'm riding my bike to school again!  I'm sure this has contributed to my tiredness a little.

Most of the other adventure stuff happened after school.  Let's see, Monday, I made cinnamon rolls.

they got a little burned, so I drowned them in cream cheese frosting.

And then Tuesday I taught English class at the church...and fed them my cinnamon rolls.

All right, this is actually kinda funny.  See, for various reasons, the missionaries at times will have one of my tupperware.  And then, week after week, they will forget to return it.  So this time, when I saw them on Sunday I said "if you manage to get the tupperware back to me on Tuesday, I will GIVE you another one with treats in it.  If you do not bring it, I will eat the treats in front of you."

So when I pulled out the rolls on Tuesday and started handing them out, I went over to the Elders' class and said "Elders, they're eating your dessert". :D  They got a roll in the end, but there wasn't enough left to take home, so I got my tupperware back!  WOO!  (I'm a mean person)

Wednesday, a friend and I went to a lantern festival.  Wait, Wednesday?  Yes, she was busy Saturday, so we decided to go after school on Wednesday instead.

It was LOVELY.  There were, as expected, lanterns.

not nearly as big as Awaji's.

still funny looking.

religious lanterns

pretty!

There were Ikebana (flower arranging) displays.

release the kracken!

looks like it was inspired by the ocean.

I wish I took better night pictures.

Entrance to fairy land!

this just looks pretentious.

And lit up buildings and foliage.

there were people inside taking tea, making the scene perfect. But a bad angle for pictures.

more plum blossoms!

pretty!

the angled lights really added another dimension to this rock garden.

and a few things I can't categorize quite as well.

amazing art.

a large statue.  We're talking BIG

...lantern hats?

We finally headed back to our respective houses to warm up, but it was a nice night.

Thursday was entertaining because my school practiced their graduation ceremony.  And I mean they practiced every part of it.  Every single student.

the coming in and sitting down properly.

Where to stand

they had tape marking stop points and corners.

How to receive the certificate (right hand first) how to walk away with the certificate (under the right arm, words facing out), squaring the corners.

And when a student got it wrong, they were taken to the side by another teacher and gently coached through it before being sent on.  It was really cool.

No. Literally.  We had a cold snap and the gym is still unheated. I huddled under my coat the entire 2 hours.

2 hours?  Well, there are over 150 students, and after the names they did the speeches and the singing.  Either way, by the end, I was well and truly chilled.

Thursday night, easy day at school or not, I was tired.  But I stayed up and got my haircut anyhow.

it's short again!

And Friday night...I did nothing.  Nope. I had pancakes for dinner and watched cartoons.

So Saturday, after that entertaining week, I felt well and truly justified to do nothing.  I chatted with family. I cleaned my room, I went grocery shopping, and I just was lazy.  I didn't even go out for a walk.  (it spit rain occasionally anyhow)  I did, however, EVENTUALLY, make bread.

that I ate too much of.

I bet you all thought I'd never take that Saturday off!  Well HA! :D

Hope you're all doing well!