I received my alien card, I am now a Japanese alien! I can use my alien card in lieu of my passport so I don't have to carry both with me at all times.
Rachel arrived safely on Tuesday evening. Here is our first picture in Japan together, at the Naha airport minutes after she arrived. We were a little excited to see each other!
Lori's husband Daniel took me to the airport to get Rachel. We took the express way, so it was only a 30 minute ride. It was raining and super windy because the typhoon was getting close to us. I was worried Rachel's flight might get deterred but she landed right on time. By the way, the typhoon missed us and hit Tokyo instead. Maybe we'll get one soon =(
I was so happy to have someone from home here with me, I cried when I hugged her, then she started crying, then we both started laughing =)
Daniel gave Rachel a little tour on the drive home, which I'm sure she barley remembers now because of jet lag. We took her by our school, American Village and the area I live in. She said she didn't sleep at all on the plane, so she was exhausted. By the time we got home, it was 10:30 pm. We set up the air mattress, showered, talked and went to sleep. My room feels much more like a room now, I'm already sad thinking about how empty it will feel once she leaves.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Rachel went to school with me. I introduced her to my students and they are all happy to have her in our classroom. Starting this week, I will have her working with small groups during math and reading time. She was able to sleep regularly each night and didn't experience much jet lag at all. It's been so nice to have someone from home on the other side of the world with me! We have been giving our abs a workout by laughing so hard that our stomachs are often sore from laughter.
Rachel in her new bed for the next month.
Before picking up Rachel on Tuesday evening, I had open house at school. It went smoothly and it seemed like a successful evening. The principal introduced all of the teachers, then we walked the parents of our students to our classroom. We had about 15 out of 23 parents attend, so it was a nice turnout. Sarah and I talked about our classroom rules, behavior management procedures, grading scale and explained our daily routine. Rocky was our translator, so we had to pause after every few sentences to allow him to translate for us. It was a new experience to speak in front of a room full of parents that had no idea what I was saying, until it was translated. At one point, I forgot I had a translator and spoke for about 2 minutes straight before remembering Rocky needed to translate. I informed the parents that our main focus is on language skills and that we really need their support by reading to their students each night. I talked to a few parents who have children that are struggling and gave them suggestions on things to work on. Open house only lasted an hour and the time flew by. All the parents are very friendly and supportive.
My students did very well at their first chapel last week. They were very enthusiastic and energetic while practicing in the classroom but got shy when performing in front of the other classes!
This is the video of my students performing their song during chapel.
Reciting their bible verse.
We stopped at "Nago Pref. National Forrest" which was a small forrest area that had some hiking trails and camping areas. I'd like to go back to check out the hiking trails. We ate Korean BBQ and shared a banana split for dinner on the way home. It was a fun day of exploring. The aquarium, pineapple park and Orion beer factory are all in Nago, so I'm sure I'll be back there soon!
This past Wednesday and Thursday night, Rachel and I had salsa lessons from Rocky. He has been giving lessons to my student Monica's mom. Monica's mom owns her own school and has a dance studio at her school. Rachel is new to salsa but has been doing well. I love learning something new while getting a workout in. We went to the lesson on base Friday night and bought Rocky dinner for being so kind to us. Tonight, Rachel and I are going to a salsa club with Rocky and Monica's mom. Since tomorrow is a holiday, we are going to take advantage and stay out as late as we can.
Yesterday, my mom, Lindsay, Josh, Philip, Savannah and Grace were all at my mom's house so I was able to see and talk to them all on the webcam! It was the first time I was able to see them all at once. I was very excited to talk to them, yet sad to see them all and not be there. Time is flying by though and I'll be home for Christmas before I know it.
Looking forward to only working 4 days this week =) Hopefully I'll have some interesting things to post again in a few days.
Rachel arrived safely on Tuesday evening. Here is our first picture in Japan together, at the Naha airport minutes after she arrived. We were a little excited to see each other!
Lori's husband Daniel took me to the airport to get Rachel. We took the express way, so it was only a 30 minute ride. It was raining and super windy because the typhoon was getting close to us. I was worried Rachel's flight might get deterred but she landed right on time. By the way, the typhoon missed us and hit Tokyo instead. Maybe we'll get one soon =(I was so happy to have someone from home here with me, I cried when I hugged her, then she started crying, then we both started laughing =)
Daniel gave Rachel a little tour on the drive home, which I'm sure she barley remembers now because of jet lag. We took her by our school, American Village and the area I live in. She said she didn't sleep at all on the plane, so she was exhausted. By the time we got home, it was 10:30 pm. We set up the air mattress, showered, talked and went to sleep. My room feels much more like a room now, I'm already sad thinking about how empty it will feel once she leaves.On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Rachel went to school with me. I introduced her to my students and they are all happy to have her in our classroom. Starting this week, I will have her working with small groups during math and reading time. She was able to sleep regularly each night and didn't experience much jet lag at all. It's been so nice to have someone from home on the other side of the world with me! We have been giving our abs a workout by laughing so hard that our stomachs are often sore from laughter.
Rachel in her new bed for the next month.
Before picking up Rachel on Tuesday evening, I had open house at school. It went smoothly and it seemed like a successful evening. The principal introduced all of the teachers, then we walked the parents of our students to our classroom. We had about 15 out of 23 parents attend, so it was a nice turnout. Sarah and I talked about our classroom rules, behavior management procedures, grading scale and explained our daily routine. Rocky was our translator, so we had to pause after every few sentences to allow him to translate for us. It was a new experience to speak in front of a room full of parents that had no idea what I was saying, until it was translated. At one point, I forgot I had a translator and spoke for about 2 minutes straight before remembering Rocky needed to translate. I informed the parents that our main focus is on language skills and that we really need their support by reading to their students each night. I talked to a few parents who have children that are struggling and gave them suggestions on things to work on. Open house only lasted an hour and the time flew by. All the parents are very friendly and supportive.My students did very well at their first chapel last week. They were very enthusiastic and energetic while practicing in the classroom but got shy when performing in front of the other classes!
This is the video of my students performing their song during chapel.
Reciting their bible verse.
The meeting with my "difficult" students mom went well. The mom brought my students nanny with her because she said the nanny spends the most time with him. The nanny was doing most of the talking, in Japanese of course, so we had a translator. They said he did well in kindergarten and has not had any problems until this year. He does not listen to them at home and will not do anything they ask him to do. We informed them that he cannot continue at this rate because he is still not completing any work. We concluded that they will hire a tutor to teach him 3 days a week, after school. Sarah and I will make copies of all classwork we do and sent it home so the tutor can reteach him the work we have done. The mom said she will buy our textbooks so she has a set at home for the tutor to use. I was happy that they were cooperative but sad that it takes all this for a 6 year old to do his work. I'm really starting to like this kid and hope that he comes around. This week, we will hit the 2 month mark of being in school, he needs to catch on soon!
We have Monday off for Columbus day (weird that I'm in Japan celebrating Columbus day when most people in the U.S. don't get it off!). Our plan for the weekend was to head to northern Okinawa to do some exploring. On Saturday morning, Rachel and I packed our bags in hopes of staying overnight at a resort in Nago. Nago is in northern Okinawa and although it's only an hour and a half from my apartment, everyone makes it seem like it's SO far away. We looked up a few resorts online but wanted to see them in person before deciding where to stay.
The drive was beautiful, right along the coast with the whole way up. It was cloudy and overcast with lots of fog over the ocean.
We drove for two hours without seeing any resorts we were willing to stay at. We decided to find something to eat and come up with a new game plan over lunch. We saw stopped at an Okinawa restaurant we saw off the side of the road. The sign said it was "Slow Cooked" Okinawan food, we weren't sure and still aren't sure what that means. We ordered curry rice and Okinawan veggie soba. We loved the soba and rice but neither of us liked the curry.
It was traditional Japanese style seating. We took our shoes off and sat on a mat, there was a spot for us to put our legs underneath the table.
As we were taking pictures in front of the restaurant after eating, we realized the sign in front of the restaurant was for one of the hotels we had looked up! We looked around and saw the hotel, 20 yards away from where we had just ate! It was an old looking, motel 6 type of hotel. We were so glad we didn't reserve the hotel ahead of time! It says it's a "resort" but it was not on the beach and looked nothing like a resort, by American standards anyway.
We drove down the road a little more and stopped at an ice cream hut on the side of the road. The lady working there did not speak any English. She couldn't tell us what flavors she had so she motioned us to come around, into the hut. We walked around and she gave us the ice cream scooper and two spoons to do taste tests. Very unsanitary but a nice gesture. I chose strawberry and Rachel chose blackberry.
We continued heading in the direction of home when I saw a sign for a golf resort. I drove into the resort and saw a beautiful hotel...it was actually a resort! It was nothing like the other hotel. We parked, walked around and hung out on the beach for a few minutes. By this time it was already 3:30 and it was starting to sprinkle, so we decided that we would come back here to stay in a few weeks. It's a very expensive hotel but so worth it compared to the other hotels! While looking around, we saw that we can para sail, ride paddle boats and rent jet skis at the resort! Something to look forward to in the future.
Busena Resort in Nago.
We have Monday off for Columbus day (weird that I'm in Japan celebrating Columbus day when most people in the U.S. don't get it off!). Our plan for the weekend was to head to northern Okinawa to do some exploring. On Saturday morning, Rachel and I packed our bags in hopes of staying overnight at a resort in Nago. Nago is in northern Okinawa and although it's only an hour and a half from my apartment, everyone makes it seem like it's SO far away. We looked up a few resorts online but wanted to see them in person before deciding where to stay.
Here we are in the car ready for our adventure.
The drive was beautiful, right along the coast with the whole way up. It was cloudy and overcast with lots of fog over the ocean.
We drove for two hours without seeing any resorts we were willing to stay at. We decided to find something to eat and come up with a new game plan over lunch. We saw stopped at an Okinawa restaurant we saw off the side of the road. The sign said it was "Slow Cooked" Okinawan food, we weren't sure and still aren't sure what that means. We ordered curry rice and Okinawan veggie soba. We loved the soba and rice but neither of us liked the curry.
It was traditional Japanese style seating. We took our shoes off and sat on a mat, there was a spot for us to put our legs underneath the table.
As we were taking pictures in front of the restaurant after eating, we realized the sign in front of the restaurant was for one of the hotels we had looked up! We looked around and saw the hotel, 20 yards away from where we had just ate! It was an old looking, motel 6 type of hotel. We were so glad we didn't reserve the hotel ahead of time! It says it's a "resort" but it was not on the beach and looked nothing like a resort, by American standards anyway.We drove down the road a little more and stopped at an ice cream hut on the side of the road. The lady working there did not speak any English. She couldn't tell us what flavors she had so she motioned us to come around, into the hut. We walked around and she gave us the ice cream scooper and two spoons to do taste tests. Very unsanitary but a nice gesture. I chose strawberry and Rachel chose blackberry.
We continued heading in the direction of home when I saw a sign for a golf resort. I drove into the resort and saw a beautiful hotel...it was actually a resort! It was nothing like the other hotel. We parked, walked around and hung out on the beach for a few minutes. By this time it was already 3:30 and it was starting to sprinkle, so we decided that we would come back here to stay in a few weeks. It's a very expensive hotel but so worth it compared to the other hotels! While looking around, we saw that we can para sail, ride paddle boats and rent jet skis at the resort! Something to look forward to in the future.Busena Resort in Nago.
This past Wednesday and Thursday night, Rachel and I had salsa lessons from Rocky. He has been giving lessons to my student Monica's mom. Monica's mom owns her own school and has a dance studio at her school. Rachel is new to salsa but has been doing well. I love learning something new while getting a workout in. We went to the lesson on base Friday night and bought Rocky dinner for being so kind to us. Tonight, Rachel and I are going to a salsa club with Rocky and Monica's mom. Since tomorrow is a holiday, we are going to take advantage and stay out as late as we can.
Yesterday, my mom, Lindsay, Josh, Philip, Savannah and Grace were all at my mom's house so I was able to see and talk to them all on the webcam! It was the first time I was able to see them all at once. I was very excited to talk to them, yet sad to see them all and not be there. Time is flying by though and I'll be home for Christmas before I know it.
Looking forward to only working 4 days this week =) Hopefully I'll have some interesting things to post again in a few days.
XOXO
Kristen
P.S. Some people haven't noticed this but sometimes I post videos on here. You have to click on the videos to watch them, they will not play automatically.
Kristen
P.S. Some people haven't noticed this but sometimes I post videos on here. You have to click on the videos to watch them, they will not play automatically.
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