HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!!!!! 

I just love this photo. I could just stare at it for hours. Unfortunately I can't take credit, Martin took it. For more fun stuff, his blog link: http://www.martinmccloud.com 

musical...again?

last weekend seeing Jlo and talking about Peter Japan got me thinking...will i do it again next year? originally i had thought i probably wouldn't since it's practically every other weekend for almost 6 months...but then i started thinking, maybe!
from martin's blog: http://www.martinmccloud.com/japan/pix/japan_050205.html
he took some great photos of our nagaoke performance (and party after)

...incredible! the SHAPE these guys must be in... 

Mr. T and Mr. D

"J***, you are the bottom of the barrel!
Real scum!! Son of a bitch!!
You don't have a necessary consideration toward others. The whole of your life style is set only on a lip service, and only the arrogance is always simmering in your mind! What a pity!!"

HAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAAAAAHAHAAAAHAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

they are very sad 

i'm sad... 

kodo...

i'm going to see the kodo taiko drummers tonight in shibata. i'll report back ashita.

4 o'clock, baby!!!!!!!!

http://www.angelfire.com/comics/esid/010201.htm

ok i can deal with another 3 minutes

http://www.angelfire.com/comics/esid/010603.htm

stealing from kat's blog

http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries
check the countries you have visited. let's have a contest. let's enjoy checking countries. gonbatte!

today...

we have air-con in our teachers room. great!
this morning the bank called me at school to ask if i could go there today. i rode my bike to school today, so in 30 minutes i had to bike from toyoura to daishi bank, arriving covered in sweat and absolutely disgusting in this 30 + degree weather...all to discover all i had to do was hanko the date on something because i'd flipped the month and day.
then today i was doing oral reading tests with my ni-nenseis. after i had done everyone indifidually, my teacher asked me in front of all the students who got the best marks. so i listed off several. after one boy's name my teacher stopped me and said, "(boy's name), really?" and made the boy stand up and then he was like, "no, it couldn't have been him, do you remember how he did?" and i was like, i just did 36 students no i can't remember how he did in particular but the marks are right in front of me. so after class he called the boy over and made him read the page again (to which he did perfectly). then as the JTE and i were walking back to the teacher's room he said, "that boy is not good at english. i think he was lucky to get an easy page". WTF?

nat's goodbye party 

immigrant's 

atsui desu!

i'm sweating my ass off in the teacher's room this lovely sunny morning.
more trouble with the 2nd year's - they went on a school trip to niigata city on friday and one kid was caught shoplifting...his homeroom teacher was suspiciously absent this morning with a 'stomach ache'.

anko is good

little ichi-nenseis, so cute (chugakkou) but so devilish. we were practicing "do you like...?" today in class and a group of them at the back, through their giggles, managed to ask my JTE who i was team-teaching with, "Mr. Saito, do you like Justine?" then me, "Ms. Justine, do you like Mr. Saito?......HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE"

ichi nensei, tennou shogakkou 

can i have ten children please?

shogakkou today. my new fun thing to do is go to the library with some of the ichi nenseis at lunch. we take out an 'easy reading' book and the group of us read it together! they read it at about the same pace as me (their pronunciation is just a bit better). it's great! after we went to the gym and hoola-hooped. haven't done it in years and wow! good excersize! ichi nenseis are totemo kawaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i just keep thinking the mad hatter 

lins looks good in orange 

yeah, it's a bit crude but...

squat toilets:
...some confessions of a rookie.
when i first came to japan i didn't even realize that i wasn't using them properly. i assumed they were just like any other hole-in-the ground toilet like they have in italy and greece. so, for the first few weeks here, i actually stood backwards on them, facing the door of the cubicle. when i finally realized my mistake ("why do i always have to reach behind me to get the tp?"), it made things much easier. i think it took lindsay about 6 or 7 months to figure out how to use the 'ledge squats' - like the ones they have in restaurants sometimes.
never try this: rest your hands on your ankles for support. you'll go toppling backwards.
comments? additions? anecdotes??? c'mon, don't be shy...