Good Times

I was invited to my friend's home in Fukuoka City. There, I met her parents and aunt for the first time. She mentioned that her father loves to use the amount of random English that he knows. Her father really enjoyed talking with me though and I thought his English was rather good compared to the average Japanese person.

Anyway, we had a little BBQ, which had me completely filled up; it was sooooo good. 

Fukuoka Tower

Inside the elevator going up!

I have visited Fukuoka City numerous times since I've been living in Japan, however, I never bothered to visit the 234 meter-tall tower until yesterday. My friend tagged along with me and we enjoyed the amazing 360 degree panoramic view of the city. I need to make my way back here for a night view!

Fireworks in Kurume

Hello everyone!

I'm back!

Ok, so my 4.5 year old macbook died on me back in mid-July and I haven't been able to do anything in regards to blogging.

Well, now I have a spanking new macbook pro and I am soooo loving it! It's so fast, elegant, powerful and super light!! I was able to have all my data from my previous macbook transfered to this computer. I plan on going to the Apple Store once a month to take classes on how to use iMovie and the other useful applications that I never took advantage of.

Anyway, I'll leave you all with photos taken in early August at the annual fireworks In Kurume City. This is one the biggest and most popular fireworks display on Kyushu island.

new year's day cards

When I arrived from my trip a few days ago, I was greeted with a bunch of nengajo (Japanese New Year's cards) in my mail box. Many of which are from my students.

Many of the cards are pre-designed. So, the sender simply just writes a message on the card and mails it out (just like a Christmas card).

However, one of my students got really creative and personally designed the above card for me. Many of them know me for liking Jun Matsumoto from the Japanese boy band, ARASHI. (uhhhh... I don't like him that much, but I do love watching him in Japanese dramas.) I'm going to thank Haruna so much for this!

christmas party for the kiddies

Last Saturday, a neighboring town had its annual Christmas party at the town's International Center. The party is mainly held for the town's elementary school students in grades three to six. Only a selected amount of students can attend, so we had a total of forty students in attendance.  These forty kids are divided into four teams; each group having its own foreign leader. We actually had four foreigners from four different countries: the U.S. (moi), Canada, the U.K. and Australia. 

The kids had fun doing a lot of fun activities such as: making reeves, making ginger bread houses (or at least attempt to anyway), making somores  (so, so, yummy and fun!), singing Christmas songs and a few other festive activities. They also received a bunch of gifts from our Canadian Santa Claus. (The kids were like, "Why is Santa tanned??" hahaha) But the kiddies really did enjoy themselves and we adults did too. My favorite activity was definitely making somores! We had an actual fire going on outside; it was awesome!! It was madness trying to tell the kids that they can only make two somores. 

Enjoy the pictures!

oden party

 Last Saturday, five former students of mine invited me and their current English teacher, a fellow American, to a little party at one of the student's home.

Our dinner that the mother, whom I work with, prepared with her daughter. It was so yummy~

a yummy lunch with great people