A decent post... I hope

Hey,

I know it's been a while since I wrote something interesting on here, but not too many random/crazy things have been happening in this neck of the woods lately... One thing that has happened, was the crazy halloween party in Wakamatsu last weekend. It was probably in the top 5 of best halloween parties I have ever been to! Everyone was in such awesome costumes and DRRRUNK! It was a 6 hour namihodai (all you can drink -- and this all you can drink including shots, beer, mixed drinks, anything you could want) for only 1500 Yen.. thats about 10$! Yea, crazy, I know! This is one of the best things about Japan though, especially if youre in a group because you can get a set price, everyone pays in, and drinks as much as they want. Its a pretty awesome system if you ask me! So for the party we went as the teenage mutant ninja turtles, which I thought was pretty cool!

What else has happened... Well not much in the way of exciting activities, but school is progressing nicely. I usually dont have very many classes (avg about 10/week of 50 minute classes) which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It has been good lately because I have been prepping applications for grad schools and it has given me the time to concentrate on my statement's of interest and finding schools that will be good for what I'm interested in. This no class business is bad, because it gives me SO much free time! I have become rediculously good at Gold Miner (props to Cara for the introduction) and am excited to go back on Tuesday and play some SCRABULOUS on facebook (if you dont have it add the app and play with me!!).

I have definitely developed some favoritism in class... I dont know how teachers can say they dont have favorites, when it is insanely hard to like all students the same! The first and third graders in my school are hilarious! The first graders are so excited to learn and actually talk to me even though they dont know what theyre saying... This one kid, Daichi, has learned some new words and they have quickly become popular in the male first graders... these exciting new words are "sexperience", "penis", "sex", "hijack, or high jock (not too sure what theyre saying and neither are they)" and "American jock (?????)." How they come up with this stuff, I may never know, but it's pretty funny when they come up to you and ask do you have a high jack/jock? I'm like a WHAT? But theyre fun, I do daily cleaning with them so we've got a pretty good relationship!

Last weekend was also the school festival at Bandai chugaco (middle school)! At 7:30 AM I hauled my hung over ass out of Amber's place and headed back to Bandai with a massive hangover.... I was running a bit late so I had a quick shower and something to eat and headed to school expecting to be greeted by a carnival like atmosphere... What did I get? No commotion outside, and nothing going on inside... So i'm like, where is everyone, whats going on? Then one of the teachers comes in and is like Tyler-sensei, good! Come. I followed her into the gym where I was just in time for a very exciting part of Japanese culture... THE SPEECH. Ohhhh the speech. The speeches always last way too long and are so freakin boring partly because I dont understand and partly because everyone else looks bored out of their minds! So these speeches lasted a whopping THREE hours... in which time my head was throbbing, i passed out for about 10 minutes, and some inspirational speaker asked the entire school what their dream was... TOTALLY unnecessary...

Then it was lunch time and since I hadnt preordered a lunch, I went home for about 45 minutes to eat something and chill... When I headed back it was time for classroom exhibitions where each class had set something different up... It was cool for about 30 minutes, but lasted for TWO FREAKIN HOURS! arrrghh... this was followed by a pretty entertaining talent/air band show which was cool to see bc the kids were out of their school shells.

The day ended outside in the COLD and drizzle with the announcing of prizes and picutres (i swear I probably look like a demon in them because by this point i REALLLLLY wanted to get outta there). One of the funniest things was after the prizes were announced all the third graders were bursting into tears one after another. One of them would look at the other and then start bawling, then someone else would notice and start crying too - GUYS EVEN! My Japanese English Teacher explained that its because they are overwhelmed with their accomplishment and proud of what they've done... So it was pretty funny/cute to see...

Anyways, I'm off to Tokyo alone tomorrow, so this should be interesting... Tyler, the guy who stil speaks no Japanese, off to the BIGGGGG city by himself... Wish me luck and email my phone if you like!! :)