Fall Weather & New Laptop Have Arrived!

Fancy sushi at a restaurant right next to my apartment!

Both Fall weather and my new laptop arrived this week! YAY! 

The weather, both temperature and humidity have cooled down significantly! I'm very excited to be able to wear long sleeves and jeans. I was begining to think I brought way too many winter clothes. 

This was the first full week that I left the air conditioning off in my classroom, some days it still got stuffy but overall, it was nice with just the windows open. 

I decided to go with a mac laptop (which Philip is still upset about but will get over) and I love it. So far, it's easy to use and skype works EXCELLENT on it! I've had several people tell me that the calls are so clear, they forget I'm across the world! Definitely a good investment.

My class enjoyed counting pumpkin seeds last week, however, they did not enjoy eating the pumpkin pie dessert they made! The recipe said to mix pumpkin pie filling with whipped cream, then to crush graham crackers on top and finish with a sprinkle of pumpkin spice. I don't care for pumpkin, so it didn't sound good to me to start with. After we helped each student pour the mixture in their cup, we began hearing gagging sounds! They hated it! One student started making a gagging sound, then another and so on, until all but two students were pretending to gag. We quickly put a stop to that but I couldn't help but laugh. I had just finished telling Rachel how Japanese kids are not picky with their food. I've never seen them not like a specific food or say that it looked gross. I'm used to American kids being so picky (myself included). Only two students liked and finished their dessert. I asked the class if they at least had fun making the dessert and they all said yes. I guess that counts for something =)

I helped with the fall festival at school on Halloween day. I assisted Rocky with the snow cone machine. The weather was rainy off and on, so snow cones weren't very popular. It was nice to see some of my students dressed in costumes and others in their regular clothes (not in uniform). 

Last week, I had my students create their own currency, including pictures, numbers, colors, and symbols. I showed them American dollars and explained what some of the symbols and pictures on dollars represent.  I told them they can chose anything they'd like. When I saw this one, I had to take a picture. This student did this all on her own, she even knew the date he was born!

Halloween night, Rachel and I ate at Tony Roma's at American Village (the little area with shops and restaurants). It was our second night in a row eating there, it's the best food we can get off base. We walked around the shops after dinner and saw some kids dressed in costumes. A few adults were dressed as Michael Jackson, they really love MJ here! The movie theater at American Village is playing his movie and they are always playing his songs on the speakers around American Village. I guess that kinda makes it feel more like home, haha.

The highlight of our night occurred as we were walking to our car, in the parking lot of American Village. Three Japanese girls, who looked to be in their mid twenties, ran up to Rachel and I saying "excuse me, excuse me." They proceeded to say in broken English "It's Halloween....party....Halloween....base." We stared at them for a second, trying to understand what they were saying. They giggled as they spoke to one another in Japanese, then tried again "Halloween base." I still didn't understand, they began giggling and speaking Japanese again. Rachel and I began laughing too. "Base party" was all that I could understand. Ohhhhhh, then it hit me.......they wanted me to sign them on base so they could go to a Halloween party on base!! I asked them if there were trying to get on base for the Halloween party and they said "YES! YES!" I told them I was sorry but that I don't live on base, so I cannot sign them on. They looked sad but still giggled and said "Okay, thank you, thank you. Happy Halloween!" We all laughed as we said goodbye and went on our way. I felt bad that I couldn't help them, but at least we all got a laugh out of it.

It still feels weird that when people see me, they think I am either in the military or a military wife....neither of which will happen!

Last weekend I was able to do more Christmas shopping after church, I found so many cute gifts! I'm thinking of inviting a few of the teachers from school over to my apartment in December for a Christmas wrapping party. I love playing Christmas music and eating holiday desserts as I wrap gifts. My apartment isn't very big but we can make it work. I've already been playing Christmas music, I can't wait to decorate my apartment and enjoy the holiday season!

I planned out my itinerary for my Thanksgiving Tokyo trip. I booked a one day tour to Mt. Fuji! I've always wanted to climb Mt. Fuji, but since it's November and snowing, the mountain is closed to hikers for the season. My tour will consist of going to Mt. Fuji's 5th station, taking a boat cruise on Lake Ashi (just below Mt. Fuji), riding a gondola up Mt. Komagatake and then taking the bullet train back to Tokyo. 

Jessica is going to Tokyo with me, but she didn't want to do this tour, so I'm doing it alone. I am so excited about it, I don't care if I'm the only person on the whole tour! 

The rest of my itinerary includes Tokyo Disney and Tokyo Tower (which I read is taller than the Eifel Tower). I'm sure I'll squeeze some shopping in as well =)

I completed and submitted my report cards this week, but not without a little chaos. We were given a flash drive with the files of our reports cards on them. I enter my grades daily, on a computer program, online.  We were emailed a list of report card comments to use, which also had Japanese translations for each comment. I just needed to enter my letter grades for each student and copy/paste the appropriate comments, sounded simple...so I thought. 

For some reason, my new laptop would not open the report card comments file. I tried on Sarah's computer and it worked fine, so I used her computer to enter letter grades. The next day, students had half day so teachers could finish report cards to turn in by the end of the day. I put my flash drive back into my laptop and the format for each report card was misaligned. I finished entering grades with an hour left in the day and submitted my flash drive to the principal. I told him that some of the files were misaligned. We tried fixing it for 30 minutes before realizing that since my laptop is a mac, it does not have windows on it (and that's what format the files on the flash drive were on). So, my computer opened the files using another program, skewing the format. 

With only 15 minutes left in the day, I ran upstairs to the library computers, copied and pasted all my comments and letter grades into a new file, with the correct format. Needless to say, it all worked out, and I submitted report cards right on time. I guess I can't do things without some excitement involved =)

I was pleased with grades, I only gave a few F's and D's, mostly in bible and science! The curriculum in those subjects is way over my students heads, so, I'm going to start making my own tests, wording them in a way that is more understandable. All of my students got either A's or B+'s in math! The most C's I gave were in phonics and writing, we are working on that. First quarter down, three to go! 

I've been able to get a few runs in during the week and I'm now on the 3rd season of Gilmore Girls. Rachel and I opened my bottle of habu sake, and finished it. I received a package from my mom in the mail, full of goodies, all of which I will use! The weather was perfect this weekend but we didn't do much. Random: we ate at an Italian restaurant at American Village, great food (hard to believe it was Japanese owned, tasted as good as food in the U.S.). The menu said "sorry but we do not allow leftovers to be taken home." We didn't think of it much until Rachel asked for a to go box for her spaghetti. Our waitress didn't speak English but said no. I pointed to a to go box at an adjacent table, the waitress said "only for pizza." We asked why and all the waitress could do was point to her stomach and say "bad." We couldn't figure out what that meant, I still can't figure it out. 

I've typed way too much, I'll write again this week with more fun stories =) Sorry for the lack of pictures...we've been low key the past few weeks.

Time is flying by and my students are continuing to bring laughter to my life!

Love you to all!

Kristen