Highlight of my Friday...

Just so happened to be during my first class.... let's see if i can dig up a peep of these guys...so funny.



So everyone's in class goofing around before class starts...there's 5 kids(one's not in this pic). So two of them come out to my desk where I'm working and say,"Brian, Mei, Risa, and Kiyu aren't in the class it's very strange", in Japanese. So I say well lets go look for them they have to be in there somewhere. Of course, they're hiding pretty well...I walk in and they jump out and try and scare me. Of course I say I was totally surprised :), but then one student, Mei, bottom left on the photo says, "April fools!!!" which is funny by itself, then she thinks for a sec then says, "no,Febuary fools!!"

First, I was cracking up! Friggin cute, and I was also so stoked this girl new the months of the year...it's kinda hard to teach to kids that young.

..It was a very nice start to my Friday.

Look @ Chich...trying to steal some water from my glass, tried to catch her in the act, can still see a little tongue.

Sometimes I forget how easy my job is...

Getting ready for another day at the office, I basically get to wear anything I want, which I seem to be forgetting how much of a luxury that is!



Work is SO easy. My classes yesterday went really well, I'm somehow getting better at teaching I think. Not necessarily with teaching the content I'm supposed to, but really connecting with the kids and having them try to express themselves and be relaxed. My last class I was pretty much laughing the whole time because my junior high school students are so funny!

This week been in a funky mood. Unfortunately been thinking about leaving a lot, which is where I don't want my mind being, but I guess I can't help it. Was thinking about taking the trans-siberian express to link up with Katie for her wedding but not sure how everything will work financially yet. We shall see....>!

A good Monday!

haha...

So I had my part-time job today @ my kindergarten. Was going over the weather with my 5 and 6 year olds, at the time it was cloudy. So I decided to ask if they think it was going to rain today, half the class raised their hands. I heard a bunch of mumbling about it snowing, so I asked who thought it was going to snow, the half who thought it was going to rain raised their hands along with the other half. Then I asked who thought it was just going to stay cloudy...just me and the other Japanese teacher raised our hands lol.

About and hour later it started to rain, about two hours after that it started snowing! So much that the trains got shut down and I had to give some friends a lift home because they were stranded at the train station...I thought it was pretty funny a little later about the kindergartners.

A pic of my street after I came back from dropping my peeps off, little dark :(

Doin Work!

On the slopes!

Saturday was great, had a buddy e-mail me in the morning saying he's coming in from Tokyo to kick it. I was stoked, and he wanted to snowboard...I need more friends like my bud David out here! We had a great time...and he's expecting a kid so grats to him. As you may have noticed yesterday(Saturday) was a full moon. Did you know that that bright star next to it was actually Mars...!

I took this right before we went night riding...the moon was looking big, that's Mar's off to the left. LOVE MY CAMERA PHONE!



We had pleasant evening then got some ramen at the shop right next to my house. Had some drinks with some friends, played a little darts, and even hiked up the castle to check the view at night.

Then today(Sunday) I went to Charteriesse ski resort! It was a jungle out there!




Well that last one's supposed to be a rabbit...I don't think you see too many of those in the jungle! This ski resort is very cool! Pretty close to my house(a little over an hour) and the lifts go VERY fast so I was able to get a lot of runs in. So happy too a lady was nice enough to sell us her passes since we got there around 1pm and she was already headed out! That doesn't happen often in Japan. Smashed with some of the local dudes for a sec too...haha it was pretty funny, I was in the lift line with one of the really good dudes and he waved to me like I was his homie since we were doing some tricks right next to each other.

For most of the day I was the only American there! Which is always a bit of a trip, then I saw some friends when the lights turned on for a night time session. The day went super well and I'm getting very comfortable riding anything, anywhere, any which way on a snowboard!

Hmmm,what other funky pics did I take since my last post...Oh! Grabbed this at a train station...little Hello Kitty snowboard resort guide :P

..ohh and got some snacks for a long Friday at work, is there something odd here?

Back on the wagon..

Me,


Chiich,




It's pretty nice weather out today. Still a bit chilly but it was nice to relax and do a little studying after breakfast. I'm using my old book I lent to a friend that's coming in pretty handy. I used it in my last Japanese class @ UNLV but it was pretty far outta my league. I'm actually not really sure how I ended up passing that class. Now however after being here a lot of it is familiar to me which is nice.

When I look over the book it's funny what the book say to say, and what I say to people in conversation. It's the same but I realize I just say things very differently...I guess you would say less proper. At least I'm trying to work on it while I'm still here. It's funny how just a little bit of studying comes in very handy. For example, I probably only studied about 30 minutes last week and used what I studied at least 3 or 4 times since then. Someone even asked me a question involving what I had just recently learned!

Anyways really trying to stay productive and on things...including this lovely blog! I really like that before and after pic in the last post! On a budget until payday so we'll see how much snowboarding I'll be able to fit in. Definitely another night session since it's only $25 and hopefully somewhere this coming Sunday as well. Tonight is actually Australia Day! The local bar is serving Kangaroo burgers and Crocodile kabobs! The thing is that whole budget! I based it during the middle of the week which means I only have $10 for tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think they'll have some Kangaroo burgers left over so I think I'll just wait it out until Wednesday :P Did it last year it was pretty good!

Time to start the work week! Work has been going really smooth ever since I've been back from a visit to the states...gonna try and keep it going!! It's not hard when all I have to do is talk to kids :)

Ahh the difference 6 months make

This last pic is super duper fresh! Hours old. It took me a minute to realize the spot I was in as I was a little confused with the whole layout of the place since I haven't been there since the summer.

Right after work loaded the car out and jetted out to Kamui Misaka!!! NIGHT RIDING! And it wasn't too bad@! Only too about 45 minutes to get there, and like 30 to get back! Terrain was alright, but these past two weekends I've been riding in knee to waist deep powder and I realized what's it's like to be spoiled. There was only about a two foot base layer to this stuff and I really noticed the difference in the man made snow. BUT I'M NOT COMPLAINING! Just making observations. I had a great time and there were plenty of things to goof around. A night-only season pass is $180, I think I'm going to swoop one up after my next paycheck! Why not right!

I haven't been on the blog in a while! Ever since I've been back I've been bizzzzzzy. I also switched my phone to Japanese only in hopes to learn a little on accident...I actually started to use my phone less because it was so hard, hence no pictures. I also think I left my charger in America and have been super lazy to buy a charger so I've been borrowing a friends every week, again a reason for no pics! But hey I'm not making excuses :P

Things are going very very well. These past two weekends have been great and I'm so happy I just up and decided to go shreddy shred it up. A very nice Saturday to start. Went to the grocery store to make some din din, I managed to be the last customer before they closed! YES! Everything's comin up BRIAN!

BACK!

Ok this post is for the madre since she's was getting on my case for an update! :P

Well I'm back! It's funny to be back, I thought my Japanese would be a little lacking but I really haven't noticed too much of a difference, which is great. Funny thing though, when I walked into my apartment I thought the place had shrunk! I think I was just used to my way of living back home. It is a good to be back, although I had a great trip and do miss my life in the US just a little bit.

Currently catching up on laundry debating whether or not to hit the gym, lol it's probably going to be a no on the gym and maybe i'll just cycle around for a bit.

Here's a couple pics!



KENO ROCKS! Hit two of these, unfortunately that took some time :P



My only four-of-a-kind :( Not too much luck with the gambling but I did have fun! I was trying to think if I'm up or down on the trip, and I'd have to say I'm about even. It's really hard to tell because I won a lot, lost a lot, but every time I lost everything I drank and ate at the bar was free...so lets just say I came out even, maybe plus a little!



This is my best friend's brothers son! Mason is a really funny dude! Here's his parents ;)




My friend Adam's parents have funky bamboo on their kitchen table = ambiance :P
And the other side of the table...



The part in Las Vegas was very nice, I saw a lot of my friends and got to chill a lot! Adam's also fixing up an old Volkswagon...got to help out a little and learn a little bit about cars!



Hanging out in Tampa and Seattle was very fun too. Don't have too many pics but had a great time...I think I have one of Katie putting my hair in a pony tail!!!!!! Let me dig it up!



HA! Did it! Although it looks gay, I did it!!!!! :P Here's a pic of all of us on the boat too.



Well...that's a bit of the trip in a nutshell! It was very fun but not back to business, Happy 2010 everyone let's see how it goes! Any good resolutions?!?!?