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Yoshii’s So Happenin’

Why would you ever want to go anywhere other than Yoshii when you have such fun things to do?

In Yoshii I can get some “American Style Pizza” that has tuna, corn, and mayo on it. I mean, I never even noticed you got that on a pizza in America! How silly of me!

At the same place, you can get such cute girly drinks as a melon soda float, complete with cherry (not the maraschino type, and with a seed still lurking within). This one was in the process of trying to overflow. How dare it even pretend to spill!

If the coffee/ pizza shops aren’t enough for you, you can always go to Tony’s Café and have a taco salad. Or if it’s your lucky day, you might catch a hoppin’ birthday party there. Here’s Eugene (another ALT) posing for the camera. What a nice cake he got from Sho Bakery (another lovely gem this town has to offer, but I digress)!

Some people had braided pink streamers into my hair during said party.

And let’s not forget what small towns have to offer in abundance (besides the dragonflies). Lot’s of spare time to do things like this!

That’s right. It’s me on my mighty steed. I affectionately call it my bad-ass cowboy pic. Kyle just calls it stupid and likes to laugh in long stretches about it. Jerk! If it was that bad, then surely I wouldn’t upload it for everyone to ridicule! I hope you enjoy it in all of my bobble-headed glory.

Though it happened last week, I’m preparing a post on my middle school’s Sports Day, a very important event where kids are made to do ridiculous activities in front of their parents in the name of health and fitness. Don’t worry; I took lots of pics (and a few videos). It’ll be a painfully long blog, if not just for the pics. I can’t wait to write it all. I love the long blogs. They suck out a little bit of my soul every time I write them. Kindof like a leech. An evil soul-sucking leech.

Day of Restaurants

Today I’m holed up in my house, listening to the storm shutters rattle away as a typhoon blows through. The power’s been off and on, so the only thing I can humor myself with is to play on the computer. It’s the only thing that doesn’t die every time the power fails.

But enough of that. Let’s talk about happier times. I think that would be yesterday.

My friend invited me to come along with her to June Berry, her favorite tea house in her hometown. She was a bit worried that it would be closed, but luckily, unlike some other businesses, it was still open. The building is designed somewhat like a cottage, with one wall gone so you can look at the little farm of chickens and their goat. We both ordered tea and waffles. The berry waffles are hers. Mine is the azuki waffle plate. It truly was good in a ridiculous way.

The goat eventually came and joined us on the patio.

The view of Toho Village was lovely from the high vantage point of June Berry. Here’s a pic I took from its front door:

After spending about three hours there, mainly chatting with the owners of the establishment, we went back to Yoshii, though not before receiving a bagel (!!!couldn’t find these anywhere!!!), green peppers, and a tiny pumpkin as a present. How cool is that??
Around 7pm we headed to Miraku, a place that serves wonderful tonkotsu ramen (a Kyuushu specialty), yaki soba, okonomiyaki…and of course, alcohol. One of the students in my weekly conversation classes helps run the place along with her husband, and asked that I come by sometime. She sat with us the entire time, apparently pleased enough that I actually showed up to give us a free appetizer and drinks. Here is a picture of my beer:

After Miraku, we finished off our tour of restaurants by going to Tony’s Cafe (a Mexican restaurant I had previously mentioned in some archived post). My friend had wanted to go, and besides, it’s were I always go on a Saturday evening. We stayed there until some ridiculous hour, long enough to be able to eat again. We shared a taco salad (which was, as usual, delicious), and after a few Asahi’s, and several rounds of trying to dance to the para para version of “Night of Fire” on the restaurant’s computer, we finally called it a night.

Here’s some Tony’s Cafe flair (yeah, that’s a gun in his hand):

The entire restaurant tour lasted about 14 hours! I wonder where we’ll go next time…

Where Have I Been…

It seems I slacked off quite a bit these past few weeks on posting. I am, however, back again. After surviving the week of preparation, then the very tiring week of elementary schools and conversation classes, I may actually want to spend time doing this again.

Sadly though, I’m still kind of tired…don’t want to think too much…just want to rest…

I swear I’ll post something tomorrow! ;)

I pinky promise!

Friday Mayhem

What a day full of excitement, dread, suspense, humor, and stupidity. Yeah, my Friday has been good times, and good times that it’s Friday. I don’t know whether to laugh, to cry, or to fall into a heap on the floor and not move until the authorities come looking for a body.

I was assaulted by bugs today. Read the “question of the moment” for all of that fill-in-the-blank fun. It’s been awhile since I’ve had one of these, so I think now’s a good time. I love bugs, just not when they’re all up on me.

Today was the commencement ceremony for middle school. I guess that means that all too soon I’ll be repeating lines in class. Actually, none of the teachers have yet to book me for any classes. So far…safe! I had to do my usual “hajimemashite” spiel at the ceremony, and rush right afterwards to the kindergarten. The kindergarten visit had been scheduled only half an hour after the commencement ceremony…who plans my schedule?? Either way, they told the kindergarten that I might be late, and had me be the first speaker at the ceremony. Even though I had to change clothing, I still ended up getting to the kindergarten early.

I was totally prepared for the visit this time. We sang “Heads, shoulders, knees and toes”, and played the monster drawing game. I told them now many body parts the monster had, and they drew it. Check out this pic:

Once lunch time was called, several of the kids asked me to eat lunch with them. I am going to try to eat with everyone eventually, but yeesh! One girl had one of my hands, a boy had the other, and they were kindof tugging me back and forth. It was…adorable! It was sad, though, cause I knew who asked me first, and it was neither of them. I let them do it for awhile before going to eat lunch with the girl who asked first. Here’s a pic of her and a goofy boy during lunch:

Those two kids picked right back up where they started after lunch was over and it was time to play. One girl started trying to climb me. The same girl who had been tugging at my arm far about 10 minutes decided that she wanted to poke at my boobs. It was a valiant effort trying to fend her off. She eventually suceeded, and someone else got me too. They all went into a frenzy when they caught site of a pic of Crayon Shin Chan mooning the audience on one of my “Teaching at Preschools” handouts that I had brought with me. If ever there was a time to yell out “tasukete!” *help me!*, that was it.

…You remember that moment in Kindergarten Cop where the kids are swarming him as he’s yelling? That was me today. Seriously though, I think that movie will be about 5 billion times funnier, now that I’ve also experienced it.

Question of the Moment: Bugs

My day with bugs yesterday!

Tell me what the blanks are in the comment section, and you can be a winner too!

Every blank will be a type of bug.

Sorry, I think this one is too easy…

Fill in the blanks:

• What better way to start the day than to reach to turn down the hot water a bit only to find something slippery. I thought it was shampoo, but when I looked, it was a _____!

• In kindergarten, about the time when lunch time was winding down and many of the kids were washing out their bentos, they suddenly started gathering around and shouting. Under one of the sinks, with one of their hotels next to it, was a giant _____.

• Riding my bike from the kindergarten, I took my favorite route back to the middle school. It is winding, with a river on one side, and rice paddies on the other. As usual, I was surrounded by _____. However, surprise, surprise! One finally hit me today!

• One of the most unpleasant experiences you can have here is riding your bike through a cloud of _____ at night. Yuck! Oh, and let’s not forget the _____ webs that seem to stretch out far enough to get me on said bike rides.

• Somehow, the _____ are able to get into my house even with the screen door’s closed. I’m starting to wonder if they’re able to actually get through the mesh, for they seem a lot smaller than in the US.