Finally...the adventure begins. Thailand here I come! Yet first Jeff and I had a 10 hour layover in Shanghai. By taking China Eastern and having this layover in the Pudong Airport we saved $300 and got to spend a day in China!!!! Jeff and I paired up with two other English teachers in Hiroshima that were going to Myanmar, Larissa and Eric. I was a little worried at first since getting in and out of China usually requires a visa and a bunch of paper work. I mean...what if they never let us out of China once in? Worries aside [View Full Entry]

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Yeah, yeah, that's almost as corny as my "Leaving on a JET plane" quote from one of my first entries. So yes, as many of you have heard, I am headed to Thailand this Saturday, Dec 24. This blog is to inform everyone what Christmas/winter has been like in Japan! I have been a busy lady ever since I have been back from my sister's beautiful wedding. I got back and after the first day of being extremely exhausted and my teacher telling me "just go home and get some sleep, okay?" when they are usually commenting on having too much [View Full Entry]

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I will never forget when I found out my sister was engaged. I had been in Japan for less than 12 hours. I was checking my email amongst many other JETs in the Keio Plaza. I get this email with only exclamation marks in the title from my sister. I open up the email and alas, Erin, my older sister was engaged. This was a moment we had talked about our whole lives, coming true. Scary and exciting at the same time. This was no surprise...we had been expecting Fin to do it for a while. So, I am sitting around [View Full Entry]

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Oh the wonderful wonderful Autum days in Japan. Unlike California, Japan has 4 real seasons. I have been thoroughly enjoying all the beautiful leaves and nice crisp air. First I went up to Sandankyo Gorge to hike around and see the leaves. The last weekend in November I went to Miyajima, my second time there, to do a hike and enjoy the beautiful island. The koyo was amazing. It really looked like some of the trees were on because the colors were so beautiful. These photos do not do justice to the beauty on Miyajima. It was a relaxed weekend and [View Full Entry]

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So when you think about Japan there are many things you associate with it....sushi, kimonos, karate, and of course SUMO!!!! I was fortunate enough to get to experience a sumo wrestling tournament this weekend. It succeeded my expectations. I had such a good time and would definitely go to another sumo match in the future if I was given the chance. Originally we were supposed to go with the AJET group, but things fell through. That did no stop us from going. There were 9 of us in our crew headed to the tournament, me, Lisa, Nikki, Marc, Mercedez, Jen, Ellie, [View Full Entry]

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It has been a while since I have posted an entry, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy doing stuff and seeing things! Right now it is the end of Fall and the leaves in Japan are amazing. In Cali we really don't have an Autumn, so coming to Japan was a special surprise to see all the leaves change into beautiful red, orange, and yellow. I will also add that Japan is getting cold. I am not used to cold weather. Rigth now it is as cold as it gets in San Francisco...a nice crisp 40 degrees. [View Full Entry]

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Well that is your Japanese lesson for the day, "Happi Harroween" is Happy Halloween in Japanese. Tough, I know. So, yes, this past weekend I celebrated my FAVORITE holiday (what can I say, I love costumes!), HALLOWEEN!!! Japan does not really celebrate Halloween, but that was not going to stop me from dressing in costume! As a matter of fact, it is becoming a bigger holiday because of the foreign influence. You think they would all trick-o-treat and make jack-o-lanterns becaues of all the Halloween paraphanalia they sell starting in September, but then again they really don't celebrate Ch [View Full Entry]

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OH WHAT AN INCREDIBLE WEEKEND!!!! Lisa and I had no idea what we were going to do. I talked to my other friend Jane for the first time in a LONG time and she said she was going on this bike ride that this guy Rob was planning. Lisa and I kind of invited ourselves and found ourselves on a great adventure that none of would ever forget. We ended up riding our bikes from Onomichi in Hiroshima Ken on Honshu across the many islands in the Inland sea to Imabari, Ehime Ken, Shikoku. The ride itself was 75 km, but [View Full Entry]

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The Monday after the sake festival we had the day off. Sunday we were supposed to go to Hagi in Yamaguchi Ken...we did not move most of Sunday! Sunday was spent happily getting Italian food at my favorite place in Kabe, and romping around the Fuji Grand department store. Lisa and i are entertained very easily. Monday we decided to take a day trip to a town in Hiroshima Ken called Takehara. According to our Hiroshima Ken Guide Book, it is the 'little Kyoto' of Hiroshima because of its preserved historic buildings. It once used to be a thriving town [View Full Entry]

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At the end of September I had my welcome enkai (drinking party) with my English Teachers. Like most enkais it was a nomihorai (all you can drink and eat). Due to events earlier that week and the idea of drinking with my English teachers made me drink one too many drinks. After dinner we all went to sing Karaoke...no Bon Jovi this time. We stuck to Backstreet boys :-). The following Monday Ogawa Sensei comes up to me and gives me a tons of information on the Sake Matsuri (sake festival) the second weekend of October. I guess from the [View Full Entry]

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