its been a while

well hello all. It has been a while since i posted. I have been extremely busy this past month. We were told this would be our busiest month and they were not kidding. Man I don't even know where to begin to catch you all up. Well, the weather is getting warmer now. it's in the 70s. We are at the end of what is called Cherry Blossom season. It was so beautiful! Unfortunatly I only took one photo at the hanami party i went to. i should have taken more. Thankfully one of the students I spoke to at the party took lots of photos and is giving me some. Sorry let me explain. The party I went to was my friend's School Hanami party. I had a chance to speak with many of her students it was great. This past saturday I spoke with some of my own students at my very delayed welcome party. It was a welcome for Yuka and myself and a farwell party for a coworker we are glad to see leave. It was nice to see my students outside of the classroom. They were able to relax a little bit. Man I'm soooo tired. I apologize for the short sentences. Anyway some excellent news. My mom is coming to visit me this month on the 23rd. I am beyond excited! I've started to clean my apartment to get ready for her visit. Last month was a train wreck. I didn't have time to clean because I only had one day weekends. I have a ton of catching up to do. Its at least livable now, i just have some organizing to do. Oh yeah, and i have to clean the loft. I don't know how i'm going to get up there. HAHA. oh well. i'll let you know how that goes. sorry this wasn't a very detailed blog but i'm tired. so thats all you get. good night. oh yeah and i did my nails for the first time... japanese style with cute little gems. yall should see the nail art over here.

Takoyaki party

I went to a takoyaki party today! Takoyaki are little balls of a pancake like batter but hearty tasting. They have tako (octopus) and lettuce, mochi, cheese, ginger, konyaku, and a bunch of other things in them. They were soooooo good. Anyway the best part was when one of the ladies decided to put a big chunk of wasabi in one ball. They made 10 and whoever got the wasabi ball had to hide it. They were not allowed to show how hot it was. After everyone ate their ball we had to all guess who had the wasabi ball. I was cracking up the whole time. the one who thought of the game and put the HUGE helping of wasabi was the one who picked the ball. I was impressed she kept her cool but her watery eyes gave her away. She didn't cough... but she did try to reach for her drink a little too smoothly. Everyone pointed her out at the one who got the ball. I haven't laughed that hard in ages. so as a batsu game (which was her idea...) we all got to ask her one question about anything!

Japan Dealbreaker

Ok people, so the other day I went to the grocery store determined to find some garlic. Well, I found some for 200yen ($2) and i was like ok thats a little pricey. I picked it up expecting to have 3 or 4 in a baggy and what do I get. One little head of garlic! In my slightly louder then speaking voice I said "what?!?" it was a litle embarassing because people turned to look at me. one old lady had a huge smile on her face because she knew i was sticker shocked. I hate that look of knowing! Anyway I couldn't believe it! I'll use nearly a whole head of garlic in one dish! I asked my mom to send me minced garlic in a jar. otherwise i'm coming home. i'll miss fresh garlic. it will only be for special occasions, like my birthday. Bet when you saw the title you didn't think garlic would cause me to reconsider did you?