alphabet ocean

Diet Snapple
Hot Pockets
Stromboli
Hummus
Taco Bell
Wheat Bread
Turkey
Philly Rolls
White Pizza with Vegtables
Pizzas that do not cost $30
Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese
Dorito’s Munchies Mix
Wawa
Water Ice
Diet Soda (the choices here are Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi and that’s all)
Pitas
Ranch Dressing
Chicken Ceasar Salads
Salads that are made with lettuce and not cabbage
Microwave tv Dinners
Mac and Cheese
Baked Beans
Being able to read the labels on food
Food that is low cal or non fat
Terrible breakfast cereals like Lucky Charms and Reese’s Puffs
Waffles
High quality cheese (like Tilamook, Mozz., etc.)
Vegetable Trays
Everything Bagels

Filed under: General
Tags: feed me, food, hungry, list, send me something on this list
by Holly

Quotation from "Love Story" as seen in the bathroom at Kumamoto Cineplex

Filed under: japan
Tags: crazy english, measure once proofread twice, movies, no i didnt tell them it was wrong, sign
by Holly

Someone stole my bike.  :(

Filed under: General
Tags: bike, i had really started to like you, sad
by Holly

High school in Japan is more like college in America, in the sense that you can get away with a lot more because the teacher doesn’t care.  It is all about how much you study on your own time for the exams.  Most of the ‘bad’ behavior is sleeping, but sometimes they read manga, have invisible ping-pong matches, sit in each other’s laps, fly paper airplanes to each other, eat, flex their muscles, dance, have silent conversations across the room, and plenty of other things that would get you kicked out of class in America.  To be honest, I am pretty sure you can’t kick a student out of class in Japan, because by law they have the right to be there.  But man, will they get chewed out later!  Anyway, as an example, today in class I watched a boy:

1) move to a seat near an outlet

2) plug in his straightener

3) set up a standing mirror

4) proceed to straighten his wet hair (they had had swimming class the period before)

5) listen to the awful sizzling sound of wet hair being straightened

6) put wax in his hair to spike it

7) pick up the standing mirror and checked the sides and top of his hair, and then asked his friend to check the back

8) and finally leave class to put all his hair stuff away

And it was like nothing was happening.

Only in Japan!

Filed under: teaching
Tags: crazy student, japan, only in japan, school life, teaching, ways to damage your hair
by Holly

Next month I will spend two 11 hour days in Taipei.

What do I do with two 11 hours days in Taipei?

Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: free vacation, july, taipei, travel advice
by Holly

I have every intention of writing about South Korea and cross posting the photos here (you can find the whole set on facebook now) but I am  TOO BUSY TOO LAZY too preoccupied watching Japanese tv.  Currently, I am watching this:

Rookies Banner

It is about a teacher (guy in the black jacket in the center) who becomes the advisor of the baseball team, which consists of bad kids, bullies, and thugs, who have gotten lazy after a six month ban for playing due to a fight.  He makes it his mission to turn their minds around and show them that they can reach their dream of going to Koshien, Japan’s National High School Baseball Tournament.  It is totally unrealistic and ridiculous, but I love it anyway.

Last weekend:  980 yen karaoke + nomihoudai, a real sit down dinner, oar boats, lake picnic, salsa dancing, 3am McD’s with a stranger who wanted to speak English, getting told that I have a small face a lot

In 46 days, my best friend is getting married and I will have been in Japan for a year.

Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: 45 days, drama, not about south korea, rookies, weekly recap
by Holly

As per request of my dad, here are two photos of my bike:

My Bike

My Bike II

Filed under: japan
Tags: feels like riding a motorbike now, flat tires, my old red bike
by Holly

It turns out that I’m NOT fat and athletically un-inclined towards riding a bike–I’ve just been riding on flat tires for the past four months.

Who knew!

Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: hooray, i would have probably kept riding on flat tires if my students hadn't have pointed it out, I'm not japanese, japan
by Holly

Today I watched some students practice judo.  It was the first time I have ever seen judo played in person and not on tv.  It was really neat.  It is one of those things that I realized would probably never have happened if I didn’t come to Japan.

Me, drawn by a 3rd year student

During class Q & A a student asked “Shall we dance?” and we totally did.  I love my job.

Filed under: japan, new things
Tags: drawing, japan, judo, little note, only in japan, picture
by Holly

I

II

III

New Friends in Tagawa

This is the shortest I have ever cut my hair.

Filed under: General, new things
Tags: cut, goodbye hair, i freaked out and called my mother at 5am right after I got it cut, photo, taking chances
by Holly