I realized that I've been posting a lot but, honestly, if I don't write it right away I will forget it. Anyway...
The other night during dinner my husband and I had a conversation about what miss most about being in America. We excluded the obvious things (ie language, friends, family). My husband said convenience of food. For instance, fast-food and delivery. It's not so much about the quality of food because, let's be honest, it sucks but rather the easy accessibility. Those days when you just want to pick something up or better yet, have it come to you is not a real possibility here. They have McDonalds and KFC for fast-food or Pizza Hut and sushi for delivery but you can only eat so much of that food.
I, however, said technology convenience (ie dryers, dish washers, ovens). Being here I have realized how lazy I am when it comes to cleaning my apartment. Before my apartment as always pretty clean but now that I don't have technology to do things for me faster, I don't want to do them at all thus leaving my apartment dirty most of the time. There is always dishes to do and laundry to wash!
All in all we miss convenience!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Best Insult Observation Ever!
My husband is one of the funniest and most honest people I know. Sometimes a little too honest!
Yesterday on our ride home from the super market, he apologized to me for what he was about to say..."Honey, you smell like old nacho cheese"!
I started laughing so hard that I couldn't even feel insulted. It was probably the best insult observation ever!
Yesterday on our ride home from the super market, he apologized to me for what he was about to say..."Honey, you smell like old nacho cheese"!
I started laughing so hard that I couldn't even feel insulted. It was probably the best insult observation ever!
Exciting Weekend
Today is my wonderful husband's birthday. However, we celebrated this last Saturday. We went to this new izakaiya (Japanese pub) for dinner. When we told the host that we wanted to eat there, he went on to explain that there we no pictures on menu and asked us if this was ok. I laughed a little inside because this is just another example of how different our new world can be. Nobody would ever, possibly, turn costumers away because they can't read the menu, nor ask them if they can read the menu.
Anyway, we preceded to eat there. I was pleasantly surprised at myself, though, and the amount of the menu I could read since it mostly consisted of kanji. Plus, you learn to be adventurous with food. Sometimes we like to just point and order things that we clearly don't know. All of our food turned out pretty good. We also did the two hour nomihodai (all-you-can-drink), which is always a steal. In a country that is pretty expensive, drinking is actually a pretty cheap thing to do. Most bars/restaurants have nomihodai for 1.5-2 hours at a cost of around $20. Crazy!
After the restaurant we went to a "Snack Bar". Most snack bars in Japan are small bars, usually with karaoke, and women who wait on you hand a foot. We walk it and they bring the choice of whiskey or shochu. We go with the shochu and orange juice. So, they bring a new bottle of shochu, orange soda, a bucket of ice, and two glasses to our table and anytime our drink was less than half empty, someone was there to fill it up. Even though I enjoyed the attention, I think that bar is usually geared toward lonely business men, not a young foreign couple. They really enjoyed us though, and kept encouraging us to sing. I could help but think, "when in Rome".
All in all it was a good night, but now we are back to work and preparing for Halloween this weekend. This year, we'll even get to make it to the annual Halloween party in Asahikawa!
Anyway, we preceded to eat there. I was pleasantly surprised at myself, though, and the amount of the menu I could read since it mostly consisted of kanji. Plus, you learn to be adventurous with food. Sometimes we like to just point and order things that we clearly don't know. All of our food turned out pretty good. We also did the two hour nomihodai (all-you-can-drink), which is always a steal. In a country that is pretty expensive, drinking is actually a pretty cheap thing to do. Most bars/restaurants have nomihodai for 1.5-2 hours at a cost of around $20. Crazy!
After the restaurant we went to a "Snack Bar". Most snack bars in Japan are small bars, usually with karaoke, and women who wait on you hand a foot. We walk it and they bring the choice of whiskey or shochu. We go with the shochu and orange juice. So, they bring a new bottle of shochu, orange soda, a bucket of ice, and two glasses to our table and anytime our drink was less than half empty, someone was there to fill it up. Even though I enjoyed the attention, I think that bar is usually geared toward lonely business men, not a young foreign couple. They really enjoyed us though, and kept encouraging us to sing. I could help but think, "when in Rome".
All in all it was a good night, but now we are back to work and preparing for Halloween this weekend. This year, we'll even get to make it to the annual Halloween party in Asahikawa!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Halloween Crafting
The finished ones are mine and the last two pictures are of the kids' progress. We ran out of time so we have to finish them next week.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Waiting...
I hate waiting for Nathan to come home on Monday nights. He doesn't get home until around 10:30 pm. I have way too much time to do nothing. BORING!
Day Two
With Halloween right around the corner, I have been busy crafting and decorating. When we were in Sapporo last weekend, I bought a copy of Martha Stewart Living: Halloween Special. I was so excited because Halloween is one of my favorite holidays for decorating. I found some amazing projects for me and to do with my elementary students in the magazine and from her website. I'll post pictures tomorrow of our crafts, once completed.
I have also been busy planning, or better yet searching, for my Halloween costume. I am hoping to make a Pikachu costume but I can't seem to find yellow fabric anywhere. It's crazy! For those of you who don't know who Pikachu is...he's an anime character from Pokemon.
I have also been busy planning, or better yet searching, for my Halloween costume. I am hoping to make a Pikachu costume but I can't seem to find yellow fabric anywhere. It's crazy! For those of you who don't know who Pikachu is...he's an anime character from Pokemon.
If I am able to find the appropriate fabric and can complete it by Halloween, I'll post picture of that too.
Other than that, everything is great. Oh one more thing, one of my students asked my today about subjunctive mood sentences and how to teach it. If someone could contribute that would be great!
Thanks for listening! Meg
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Third Time's A Charm
I know that I have had two blogs already but I found that they were to hard to keep up (aka they were too fancy for me). Though they may have looked nice, I finally got honest with myself and accepted my laziness. This blog, however, seems much more convenient and I can upload a new post from any computer or even my phone!
What to expect?
* Updates in my life & misadventures
* Interesting cultural differences
* Pictures of the adorable children I teach
* Interesting conversations with my adult students
* Maybe even some craft projects
* Blah, blah, blah
So, let's all hope that this new blog will be able to embrace my laziness!
What to expect?
* Updates in my life & misadventures
* Interesting cultural differences
* Pictures of the adorable children I teach
* Interesting conversations with my adult students
* Maybe even some craft projects
* Blah, blah, blah
So, let's all hope that this new blog will be able to embrace my laziness!
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