Monday, July 29, 2013

I felt pretty damn awesome.

Ah~ It's been busy! David went to Aomori this week and took his lappy with him, so I had no chance to make my weekly post. Oh well~ Anywho, we had summer school this past week at school and it was crazy! I'm very glad to be back to my normal routine! Last weekend (not the one that just went by, the one before) I went out with my friend Kazue~ She took my to one of the big outlet malls. It was freaking huuuge! It actually looked like a castle and there's a really fancy hotel right near there, too~ We might go back for high tea sometime!

As I said, last week was summer school at work. There were 6 days total, but 2 days per theme, so 3 themes. The all encompassing theme was Eras in Time. So, we ended up with a Stone Age day, Victorian Day and Space Age Day. It was a stressful week, bu the kids had fun, so it was successful.
I forgot to take a photo of the space day~ Sorry. On the first day, one of my students brought us in a gift! Her father had gone on a business trip and brought us back omiyage! I think he went to the States, but I wasn't told. Anywho, he brought us back a case of Acai berry juice! That was thoughtful! It tasted great, too~
Oh, and yes, that IS Captain Caveman you see up there on the Stone Age display! I giggled like a twit when I saw that. X'D
Since David was off in Aomori for half the week last week I was cooking for myself. And what did I rustle up after a long day at work? Ahhh yeah~ Iron Man cup noodle! It was spicy and had little stars in it. Yummm~
I also visited Starbucks a bit more than usual~ Azusa was happy to see me, since she's been busy as of late. She even wrote my name on my cup! ...Well, she tried. I think it's cute, to be honest~
So, on the final day it was Space themed. On the final day of summer school we let the kids decorate the paper we used for our game. They drew cute aliens on it. I drew a Dalek and a TARDIS. Yep. I'm awesome.
After school that night David picked me up and we went out. We spent some money in Sega World and won a few things~ I won a cute Eevee statue that I forgot to take a photo of and an Asuka figure from Evangelion that I will probably end up giving to Jake. Oh, and a pair of cute Alice in Wonderland themed bag charms. We also won the COOLEST watch ever. I'm in love~ It's huge, but I adore it.
After that we went and did 2 hours of karaoke~ We've gotten into the habit of singing almost ALL Disney songs. It's AWESOME. I sang a Takarazuka song this time, too. I felt pretty damn awesome. No videos this time, but next time we go I'll take a couple and upload them. And the last song of the night? Don't Stop Me Now by Queen. And to make it even more awesome, they showed concert footage as the video fore that song! I was so freaking happy!
So, Sendai celebrates Tanabata later than most of Japan. It's being celebrated on August 6-8th this year. As such, everyone is starting to decorate! There's a bamboo tree in the station and anyone can write a wish tag and hang it. I wrote mine on my way to work yesterday.
Sendai station is all fancy now too, of course.
On my way home from work today I had to run a quick errand for work, so I popped into the Disney Store while I was in town. Did you know that August 8th is apparently はちみつの日 or Honey Day? I had no idea, but there you are!
I picked up a few small things, like a button for my bag and a new muffler towel. I also picked up some cold tumblers for David and I~ They have a nifty little ice thing in the center to keep the drink cold without diluting it. Cool~ I'll definitely use it at work, so awesome.
Oh, and I got a birthday gift in the mail! Suzi sent me a purse! And OH MY GOD. It's my the Wonder Woman purse I had back in high school! I used to love this purse and I was so sad when it died! I almost cried when I opened the package and saw it! But, I laughed with joy instead. Hahaha. It's amazing!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Man, was I ever spoiled!

Man. I've been BUSY~ I was trying to get into the habit of updating on the weekend when I have time, but I was sooo busy this past weekend that I had no time! It's so crazy having a social life all of a sudden!

So, last week was Open Class week at work. Basically, it meant the parents could come in and watch their kids at school. They all brought video cameras and were filming their little ball of sunshine, even when they threw things and hit the other kids. Gah. I hate open class. I felt the pressure of being judged very heavily, for lack of a better explanation. Thank god that's over. But, one this that was fun~ In my kinder class last week we were talking about having pets and we asked the kids to decorate their own pet pig. I couldn't help doing one, too. Let's play Spot the Boy Meets World reference!
Last Wednesday, I went for my traditional Starbucks breaky before work. The baristas in the Izumi Chuo Starbucks are really sweet~ There's a couple that speak English with me and one lady looks a lot like Margaret, my stepmum! True story~ I had to do a double take the first time I saw her! I really like the ham and cheese sammiches, so I usually get that and a drink. Wednesdays model was a caramel frappuccino.
After work on Wednesday, I went to meet David. He was working in Izumi Osawa, which is about 15 minutes away from my work by bus. I finished first, though, so it was better for me to meet him~ It's a nice mall. I grabbed a drink and wandered up to meet him~ And why yes, that IS a Star Wars decorated coffee jelly drink!
After David finished, we wandered around for a little bit. I'd never been to that mall, so I wanted to explore. We found a really strange UFO catcher~ It was for cakes! Like, REAL cakes! They looked tasty, but a little on the difficult side to win, so we just passed.
The mall was all decorated for Tanabata, too~ It was really nice! And can I just add, that Japan has the cutest vending machines?
We decided to grab dinner there. we ended up going to Italian Tomato Cafe~ They have a selection of pastas and other stuff. I got the tomato cream sauce pasta and David got a burger. He decided to be all fancy and eat it with a knife and fork. Hahaha. David's set came with dessert, so he got a cute mini parfait.
On Thursday, we met up after work and did some shopping. we popped to the Disney Store and bought our tickets for next month! Can't wait~ And then we went and blew some money at Game Station. I finally won the Hatsune Miku snackbox! Wooo! And David won about 5 million plush thingies. Lucky!
Which brings up to Saturday, which was AWESOME! Mika and Kazue had invited me out for cake with some mutual friends. They told me to look for the girl in pink lolita, because she was the organizer.I wasn't expecting to be part of a lolita parade! They were all super sweet~ I didn't have any lolita, so I just wore some nice Axes Femme and everyone complimented my outfit and especially my floral crown. It was a nice afternoon! The cake was delicious~~~ Mika, Kazue and I are gonna go back sometime!
After cake, we walked around for a little while window shopping. Mika brought me to all her favourite recycle shops and to her lolita shopper's store, Glass Forest. The store owner was really sweet and invited me to the tea party in September, so I'm all excited to go. It'll be nice to have people to dress up with~ Don't really intend to get back into the sweet part of the fashion. Probably just gonna do classic styled outfits, since they are easier to use in casual clothing situations. Not crazy, over the top, sugary pink frosting dresses for me!

For dinner we ended up going to Casa de Sol~ It's a Mexican restaurant by the station. I had never even noticed it before! It was literally a little hole in the wall on the 5th floor of a random building. The food was amazing, though! I discovered that I like guacamole and I never knew how much I missed Mexican food until then. OMG yummmmm~
We went out to MafuMafu after dinner. MafuMafu is an English language school in Sendai. They have a cafe that's affiliated with the school for people to practice their English or Japanese in. It's a good way to make new connections. However, it's really small and the noise tends to be quite loud. I couldn't hear Melissa even when she was standing right beside me! But, I met some interesting people~ It was fun! And I was voted one of the best dressed, so they gave me a free drink! Orange juice~ Ahhh yeah!
PS. Kazue is freaking bonkers when she gets drunk. Hahaha. She was using the hangers as bows for a short while. It was pretty funny~
On Sunday I had a dinner date with my friend Beckie~ Before we went out, I popped into 7/11 to grab a drink and decided to give the current promotion lottery a bash. I actually won something! I got a Pikachu phone charm! Woo!
Beckie and I ended up going to an Italian place for dinner. It was reeeeally nice! They provided us with free bread and even a little display of their fresh pastas so we could make an informed decision for which type we wanted used for the meal. I got the baked meat spaghetti~ It was freaking amazing! And I got an orange grapefruit type drink thing. It was ok~
Monday was fun. Mika and I met up with Kazue after work and we all went shopping. Mika wanted to get a new dress for a wedding she was attending and I just wanted to look around. I ended up buying an Alice and the Pirates dress for 10,800yen. Holy crap is that ever cheap! I had to ask if the price was correct, because it seemed wrong. But, it's really pretty. Good investment~ There was a cool little shrine thing on display, too!
After that we ended up going off to this Mediterranean type bar place for dinner. The food was pretty good, but they had a required 1 drink per person and a seating fee to boot! Expensive! Won't be going back there!
Yesterday I got macarons as a snack while on break~ They had strawberry ones at Family Mart, so I pounced. Yum yum~ The coffee was quite tasty, too!
I met David at Aeon after work~ We decided to try Pepper Lunch for dinner. They specialize in hamburger and steak. It was ok~ A little too peppery, but not bad. Might try it again some time!
It was raining, so we both had out umbrellas. However, David had forgotten his umbrella at the school a few days earlier, and since he remembered to bring it home finally, he had two. He didn't let that go to waste!
We took a detour on the way home to Sega World. I ended up winning a Vaporeon plushie on my first try! Lucky! It's sooo soft, too! And I saw something pretty funny~ Sadako plushies that pop out of fabric boxes. Lol. They're kinda cute!
One of our students today brought us in omiyage from Tokyo Disney! Chiga gave the cookies to the kids, but there was 1 big cookie in the tin that could obviously not be divided up, so she wrapped it up in a napkin and gave it to me! I was sooo happy~ Can't lie. And then, she offered me the tin as well, since they usually just throw them out. Score~ And she snuck a Minnie magnet clip thing into the goodie bag for me, too. Man, was I ever spoiled! PS. The coffee was also a gift~ From Satomi-sensei!
Today after work, I popped over to the local mall in Izumi Chuo to check out their Daiso. It wasn't anything special, but the building had several hydrangea bushes outside! The rainy season is hydrangea season in Japan, so it's a very common sight to see. They're so pretty!
I ended up meeting David this evening in Sendai Station. I chilled in Starbucks while I wait and played around with my new iPod app~ Line Play! If you play it, leave me your username and I'll add you! It's really cute!