Sunday, November 30, 2008

early thanksgiving

since i was rushing after school on wednesday to do my last minute packing before leaving for the airport (by the by.. amazing trip.. i'll write all about it tomorrow on the blog) i didn't get to update everyone on my classroom thanksgiving. the kids had the option of dressing up instead of wearing their uniforms. they were so cute!the families came to have thanksgiving lunch with us. i had 27 people in my class!! it was a tight squeeze, but we all managed to fit around the tables! all the parents brought something to share for the potluck.. turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, vegetable salad, doughnuts (LOTS haha), potato salad, and other yummy food.

when we were finished eating, the kids presented drawings they made of what they were thankful for.after the parents left (and some students), we ended the day watching finding nemo and making origami. i picked up some books earlier, so they had fun making pianos, airplanes, and boxes. i made an elephant.. they were very proud of me :)
now it's time for the thanksgiving activities to come down and christmas ones to go up! i'm excited to start playing christmas music :)

Sunday, November 23, 2008

.thankful.

with thanksgiving in a few days, i thought it would be the perfect time to reflect on the blessings i've been fortunate to experience while on the island.. it would be pages upon pages long if i did the whole three and a half months i've been here, so i'll just reflect on this past week. i know i won't be able to think of them all, but here a few.. enjoy!

* new friends
* skype dates
* melty kiss
* thanksgiving activities in the classroom (hand turkeys, charlie brown thanksgiving movie, touring the "mayflower", reading the magic tree house thanksgiving, the kids fascinated by the culture of the pilgrims and wampanoag indians and excited to learn about it,...)
* finding christmas presents
* my kids singing a song about the ten commandments in chapel
* watching kung fu panda for the first time.. epic movie.
* collecting shells and coral at the beach
* every moment i spend with my first graders.. i don't know how i'm going to say goodbye to them in june
* being the honorary member of laura's conversation english class
* ayana wanting to sit with me at lunch so we could talk about tokyo disney the whole time
* surprise emails
* weather that feels amazing
* sam using the term, "phat", and the hilarious moment afterward when i explained what that word actually meant.. priceless.
* the excitement of going to tokyo in a few days
* jed stopped including me in his "i don't like girls" phase
* my kids all getting 100% on their spelling test and having an ice cream party
* listening to the disneyland sountrack while i looked at the map of tokyo disney.. yes, i'm obsessed... but we already knew that :)
* trying new food
* chocolate covered pretzel sticks
* love.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

the humidity is going away!

praise the lord.. there have actually been some cool days and nights.. VERY refreshing :) this week went by fast.. probably because there wasn't school on tuesday. the girls and i went to get our re-entry stamps on our day off so now we can officially leave the country AND come back. that was also the day it POURED allll day. it was nice to watch a movie and drink hot tea :) my kiddies were well behaved this week. they are going through a phase where they LOVE it when i eat lunch with them at their table.. all the girls try and cram around two tables to sit and talk with me haha.. so cute.
thursday laura asked if i could teach her english class again. i always love teaching that class.. they are such fun people. rika invited me to go to naha with her on saturday to dinner and dancing, so i was excited for that.. i love naha. it is the closest to the city-life i will get here on this island!
saturday morning after skype calls, i went to the beach.. it was finally sunny on a weekend and my tan was going away! :) the beach i normally go to is now closed for swimming.. too many dangerous jellyfish. but i still enjoyed catching some rays and walking up and down the beach looking at sea shells and coral. i can never get tired of these beaches :) and i found huge holes in the sand that crabs live in! i tried to take a picture, but i got too close every time and they would scurry back into their holes.then that night, rika picked me up and we went to naha to meet up with her friends. after dinner, we walked down the main street looking at shops before we went to the club. there must have been some new americans here because i heard them say, "look, an american!" when i walked by. brought back memories of when i first came here :) i was surprised at how much the clubs are here.. 2200 yen ($22)!!! i'm used to getting in for free haha! but you got unlimited drinks, so i guess it can pay for itself. however, when you are a girl, you normally get free drinks at clubs, so it was still expensive :) it was a lot of fun.. the djs were really good. met a lot of interesting people haha. there were mostly american guys there and japanese women. however, there was one japanese old man who was visiting from mainland. he sat at our table and just STARED at me. i would look and smile and he would give me a thumbs up haha. he only knew a few words in english. one being dance haha. so after saying no a few hundred times, i finally gave in and danced with him. hilarious! everyone was laughing on the dance floor. he also knew beatiful, and at the end of night, told me that he loved me haha. then he tried to kiss me!! full on grabbed my face and tried to kiss me on the lips!! oh goodness.. did he really think i would want to make-out with him?! it was also funny that all the guys i talked to assumed i was in the military. seriously?! they were surprised that i'm here teaching off base.. no connection to the military.. just randomly here teaching first grade. but the ladies and i had fun dancing all night.. we didn't get home to almost five in the morning! all that to say.. i've been very lazy today :) did some grocery shopping, laundry, and some skype calls. i'm going to bed early tonight! :)

Sunday, November 9, 2008

busy (BUT FUN!) weekend...

friday was my first parent/teacher conference experience.. not too bad! :) i enjoyed getting to meet all the parents and talk to the ones i normally see after school every day. there weren't too many concerns with some of my students, so it was a pretty upbeat conference day. and i'm happy to say the my students aren't scared of me haha. they tell their parents they have fun and they think i'm cute.. haha.. it makes my heart melt.

on saturday eight of us went up to northern okinawa to hike hiji falls. it was a long car ride full of crazy kids, beautiful scenery, a rain cloud following us (i swear it was!), and a lovely stop at a bento mart. once we finally arrived at hiji falls, we found out that it was closed due to construction. haha.. we traveled too far (2 hours!!!) to not do anything! there was another waterfall down the street that rocky knew about, so we decided to go there instead.. hiji falls will have to be another day! we parked.. ate our lunches in the van (made a little picnic bench out of the middle seat.. quite the lunch spot) and then got ready for the "hike." to get to this particular waterfall, you have to walk in the water the whole time.
we were prepared for a normal hike, so we didn't bring shoes for a water hike. let me tell you, my feet were so sore! some of those rocks were very sharp! and some were also very slippery.. quite a few people fell into the water ;) we didn't get to the main waterfall (you need shoes for that), but we did make it to a little one.

me and my hiking buddy at the waterfall spot
it was very beautiful walk.. looked like something out of jurassic park haha. AND while we were walking to the waterfall we could hear bursts of thunder in the distance.. we could just imagine trekking through the water and being caught in a downpour. luckily, that didn't happen :)

super snail!
and the dry award goes to... rocky, alison, and me! :)

today the girls and i met up with the gang again (minus rocky, add dennis' mom and some sophomore boys that are staying with lori for a couple days during a cultural exchange program) to go bowling on base. i haven't been bowling in a long time (besides playing on the wii haha).. i've missed it! i didn't do that bad either.. 144! the girls were hilarious with their bumper bowling :) we then went to the hundren yen store for the guys to buy some stuff.. they bought matching red hats that i guess japanese kids wear during pe. they were hilarious.
we ended the night at chili's.. YUM. i haven't been this stuffed in a long time haha.
dennis and izzie having fun with their lemons :)the "birthday boy"
tuesday there isn't school again, so i'm hoping this week will be an easy one. pray that it is! :)

Sunday, November 2, 2008

it's already november!

the months seem to be flying by!! the last week of october was a good one. class went well.. my kids led chapel on friday so they were very excited and we have been practicing for the last couple weeks. we did noah's ark and had animal masks, a cardboard ark, rain cloud and sun, a dove on a ruler, and some costumes to help tell the story. after the skit they recited a bible verse and then sang "rise and shine".. so cute :) i could tell they were nervous haha.. they were talking VERY fast haha. but heck.. they are in first grade.. i give them mad props for their performance. i'm very proud of them! :) friday was also a half day so teachers could finish grades. we had a yummy potluck (found a dish i'm going to make when i come home.. get ready!) and great fellowship. that night i went to the halloween carnival at the church i've been attending. it was nice to see some of my students there dressed in their adorable costumes. and it was nice eating some halloween candy and a snow cone.. kind of crazy at 8 o'clock at night (for the snow cone NOT the candy haha) but the temperature feels like it is still early afternoon, so it's okay :) got home and decided to watch a scary movie since it was halloween.. decided on ringu (the japanese original version of the ring). it was funny to actually understand things they did that are part of their culture. but it definitely wasn't a funny movie! scary just like the american version (but a little creepier) and on top of that.. there was a thunderstorm while watching it!!
saturday i hung out at one of the shopping malls browsing clothes and shoes. i ended up buying make-up instead haha. that night i hung out with laura and two of her friends that are also military wives. went to the amazing transit cafe and had great food and fun conversation.
sunday was church and tried a bakery for lunch.. YUMMY. bought some pitas too.. excited to have those for dinner soon! low-key evening.. watched a movie and cleaned the apartment.
i miss you all and hope you had a fun and safe halloween!!!