Why being alone is actually awesome

Konbonwa!! Happy Monday everyone!

Today was one of those days where I woke up and everything went wrong. The dress I wanted to wear that I just bought hadn’t dried (#hangdryingeverythingproblems), I had a lovely pimple right above my lip that looked questionable, and my computer decided to completely restore (erase everything) my phone as I tried to drag my Zumba playlist onto it. So that was cool and it made me leave 20 minutes later than I normally do.

So let’s just say I started my day off as Ms. Grumypants. But then I listened to KK and tried to be a bit more positive. I really missed the kiddos and we had a great day! They are finishing up their “Windows into the world” which they are using as a display of what they researched. These were based on different groups of countries of one of the cultures in the classroom other than their own. I can’t wait to see the final product when it’s done!

Anywho, back to part 2 of Tokyo! Saturday morning I peaced out from the hotel after another nice Videochat with my family’s part 2 of Rosh Hashanah! Along my way to the station there was this huge street fair/street garage sale going on… whatever you want to call it. There were things of different kinds like food, clothes, toys, you name it. I giggled when I saw this guy putting his handmade mannequins into his clothes… CASUAL

well that’s new…

Quite the party goin’ on

Another thing I’ve noticed is Japan SUCKS when it comes to Breakfast… Sorry but I’m not sorry. But breakfast is my favorite meal so maybe I’m being picky but there really aren’t any breakfast places anywhere from what I’ve seen. Yeah they have the Nagoya breakfast aka toast and hard boiled eggs… whoop dee doo. WHERE ARE THE OMELETS AT?!?! So I settled for this random cafe that was quite poopy

Japan needs to work on their breakfast options- Caesar salad sandwich with hard boiled eggs without the bacon. Like what is that combo?

Then I hit up the train and I was like OH, NOWWW I’m in Tokyo. It was so stinkin’ crowded it was wild. I also made a big mistake and got scolded by an old Japanese lady. I finally got in contact with the girl I used to babysit in college through Viber. She tried calling me and even though I knew no one was talking I tried to whisper and be quiet. If you know me at all, you know I can’t really whisper, it’s an Irwin thing that my voice naturally bellows loudly. As you can imagine, this didn’t take long for that lovely lady in the tan sweater to tell me it’s illegal to talk on the phone on a train… WHOOOOPSIE

roomy, right?

I was headed to Asakusa and realized quickly this is one of the many tourist-y parts of Tokyo. There were SOOO many non-Japanese and tour guides ready to jump down your throat. But I did appreciate these things…

I loveeee murals 🙂 Also, do you notice how clean the subways/trains are!? IMPECCABLE.

Also, maps in English even with landmarks? God bless you Tokyo.

This area reminded me of downtown Nagoya! Super similar

I was trying to find Senso-ji temple which had some pretty good reviews online. I saw some people looking at a map so I figured I would practice my Japanese skills and ask them how to find it because my google maps was being confusing. I started to ask and she was giving me so funky looks and I’m thinking uh oh… She let me finish and then said, “We are not Japanese… we are from China. We speak English.” WELP I learned my lesson… hands down most embarrassing moment I’ve had in a while. Anywho… I found it on my own

Senso-ji temple in the flesh

I want one of these in my future backyard

this made me realize… I have a love/hate relationship with being a tourist

There is this HUGE market right near Asakusa station which was pretty sweet. Vendors on vendors of all different things. From food, hello kitty shenenigans, to clothes and postcards- you name it, it was probably there.

The downside you might ask? THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE. I’m starting to think I either have no patience or maybe I’m claustrophobic but seriously I just wanted to plow through everyone and find a nice quiet spot. I really don’t enjoy walking slow (okay maybe I can be impatient) and it’s moments like this when I’m like “I’m totally okay not being a tourist”. So I decided to find a nice quiet place to people watch (yes, that is a hobby)

I saw people tying these pieces of paper on but I’m not exactly sure why!

my new FAVORITE fruit!!

So at the Chabad on Friday they introduced me to this Japanese fruit called Nashi. It is the baby mixture of apples and pears… NOM DOT COM. Seriously, it has changed my world. Pears are actually the one fruit I’m not really a fan of unless it’s cooked. But these are the perfect combination of sweet and a bit sour. So fresh too! I bought this bad boy on the streets at that market for 100 yen ($1) and it was so big! Perfect to sit down and cool off and people watch 🙂

I want paper lanterns like this for my room!!!

This is where the love of being a tourist comes in. I can ask someone to take a picture of me and look ridiculous. But guess what- IT’S ALL GOOD cause I’m a foreigner here so they just smile and laugh at me.

oh hey

Another thing I’ve realized is I think temples are BEAUTIFUL don’t get me wrong. But I have a hard time connecting with them… it’s not like I’m praying there so I usually don’t know what to do after about 10 minutes.

snack #2- green tea ice cream nom nom nom. In case you were wondering this is SOOOO good!!! Coming from an ice cream guru 

being a goofball…

After enough of Asakusa, I headed to go see the oh so famous Tokyo Sky tree…

HOW COOL!?

Sadly, the wait said about 45 minutes-1 hour so I tried to ask a woman if I should come back. Who knows what she thought I might’ve said but she said yes. So this sky tree is located in a super tourist-y mall type of building.

Naturally I went to find my all time fav, Uniqlo

I got 2 cute dresses but am sad to report that the Uniqlo here doesn’t compete with America. Which is strange because I’m pretty sure it was started in Japan… but maybe this store was just tiny! So I headed back to the sky tree and the line was even longer -___- This time it said 1 hour-90 minutes… I didn’t have the patience to wait by myself so hopefully next time! It looks pretty sweet even from below though!

next time, right?!

 

 

I perused around a bit longer and was approached by a woman asking where I was from. I wasn’t sure if she was genuinely interested or not because then she proceeded to ask me to come with her to her temple. Strange, very strange.

This Banana Tree is all over Tokyo. Is it supposed to be leopard bananas? I don’t get it.

Japanese Willy Wonka? What da f

I decided I was over walking and ready to head towards the hostel before my phone was about to die (that moment when you pray it will last especially because you can’t just go use an outlet here in Japan) I’m happy to report that Tokyo has lots of English so it really wasn’t too bad to navigate around. Even when I was unsure I had my handy dandy friend google maps or my little knowledge of Japanese to practice on random humans.

gorgeous view from the train!

Of course as I had a feeling would happen, my phone died RIGHT before I was at the hostel. I was nervous about this because I had read reviews that this hostel was pretty new and hard to find. Instead of getting too worried I decided to stop in a thrift shop along the way and did WERKKKK. Lots of cute new tops and some dresses to add to the other 2 I got at Uniqlo. Japanese thrift stores are so clean and in such great shape it’s unbelievable 🙂

the new wardrobe..

After some shopping I approached a nice little ol lady to help me find my way. Luckily, she was down to help out the poor  silly American. She led me all the way to the hostel which was pretty hard to find. BUT to my surprise, this hostel was nicer than my hotel the previous night! It only opened this past May so it was brand spankin’ new… SCORE

lounge area

so cool to think people are literally coming from all over!

I was giggling at all of these signs they had around the hostel

those are heaven beds

My apartment should look into these beds. Sooooo comfortable, I swear the comforter was made of goose feathers and my pillow felt like it was Tempurpedic… I didn’t want to leave. Take me back please, now.

I settled in and took a nice nap which was much needed. I saw a sign for free sushi party at 7 PM in the lounge so I thought whyyyyy not. It was AWESOME.

They hired women in these maid costumes (Japan at it’s finest) to make the sushi!

Notice: 1. The drink are the roadies that I’m always talking about that were available here in a vending machine 2. Once everyone started drinking we joined in on the sushi making- refined my skills with some Japanese tips 😉

After chatting it up with this Australian lady I met, a girl from Southern California, a Canadian guy, and a girl from Hong Kong- it was time to hit the hay. I was hoping people would want to go out to a bar or something considering all I’ve heard is how crazy Tokyo is… BUT no one was really down/didn’t seem to be anything close to us. Next time I definitely will have to scope it out when I come with friends 🙂

Sunday morning I woke up to check out Ueno park which was close-by. From what I researched it is HUGE and has lots of museums, places to walk around, and a zoo!

It was a GORGEOUS DAY

From afar it looked like there was some sort of street fair going on…. but it turns out it was a Relay for Life!!! So cool to see something we are so familiar with in the U.S. here in Japan!

 

I realized quickly I was over being a tourist and really just wanted to get home. I knew I wouldn’t find breakfast anywhere else so I settled on some Starbucks…

 

Overall, it was a GREAT trip!! I’m so glad I didn’t back out and followed through with it 🙂 It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. It was nice to get out of the Nagoya bubble and it made me realize a few things that were affirmed by this article my friend sent me – http://news.distractify.com/alex-scola/go-it-alone/ (seriously, a great read check it out!)

1. I need to get out and do things on the weekends as often as possible. Besides the cost factor, that’s what makes being abroad so exciting. The more you see, the more you feel connected to the place and truly find adventure 🙂

2. I appreciate being alone when it has it’s time… but I also really appreciate making friends with total strangers (a lot usually)

3. I can go at my own pace when I’m traveling alone and enjoy myself however I would like

4. Embrace being humiliated especially since it happens quite often (ahem talking Japanese to Chinese people)

5. I’m still continuing to learn that things aren’t really that necessary (working on this) – but I was constantly reminded of this as my backpack was quite heavy to carry everywhere I went. I overpack even for a weekend, it’s a curse!!!

6. I realized a lot of things about myself as a person and am still continuing to do so. For example, what are my limits, what do I enjoy as challenges, and learning that I can trust myself 🙂

Going to keep spreading my wings like this guy 🙂 

It’s all part of the learning experience and I’m slowly letting go and embracing every bit of it.

 

Oyasumi Nasai as my eyes are closing!!

 

Lirwin takes on Tokyo Part 1

Konbanwa!!

I’m back in good ol’ Nagoya, safe and sound just in case you were worried!! (I was even worried…) I feel like I didn’t do much but did a lot at the same time. So I will break the trip up into 2 posts!

As I mentioned before, I took of Friday so I could get to Tokyo as early as possible on Friday for Rosh Hashanah at the Chabad. While I was getting ready to leave though I got to Facetime with my family at home and even be a part of the cousin picture with Grandma and Grandpa!! 🙂

it’s like I’m there!!!

I was lucky enough that one of the mom’s of one of my students offered to take me to the train station downtown. It’s about 1 hour away but I would need to get a taxi to the station or walk which is about 30 minutes (plus I don’t really know how to go…). She was helping me plan my weekend anyways so this was MUCH appreciated!! She even bought a random ticket just so she could get through the gate and make sure I got on the Shinkansen. She is an angel 🙂

this is my “OH MY GOODNESS I’M ABOUT TO GO ON A BULLET TRAIN” face

Nagoya to Tokyo is about 275 miles I believe (according to google maps) and it only took about an hour and a half! SUPER speedy. I had a nice nap, some snacks and read 🙂

that was fun 🙂

I took a quick train to Omori station to make the trek to the Chabad. I stopped quickly to get some flowers so I wasn’t coming empty handed. The best part is the directions I was following were all landmark based because everything is in Japanese and a lot of streets don’t even have names. So I was following directions like: “Turn left at the pachinko, go straight until you see the blue gate then walk 500 m pass the school and make a left at the dentist…” YUP

sweating and following landmark directions with a huge backpack in a nice dress is a baaaaad combination!

this school I passed was HUGE, they must have been dying in that heat too. hey kiddos!

I FOUND IT!! twas a miracle

Now, I’m not going to lie it took me about 20 minutes to cool off. There one daughter was pretty much staring at me as I nonchalantly tried to wipe my forehead with a towel. But there was no stopping it… I was dripping like a faucet. I swear I’m not human the way I sweat it’s actually insane. After lotsssss of water and adjusting to the A.C I finally looked a bit more normal… a bit keyword there

I came at perfect timing though!! I got to hear the shofar and join in some prayers. Then I helped them set up for lunch. Chabad families are always so welcoming from the ones I’ve been to and I’m happy to say this one was no different, they made me feel so welcome. I found out they have 8 kids!! Just like the Chabad at UD. It’s such a different lifestyle and I really enjoyed talking to Efrat (the wife) about how she homeschools them.

The food was DELISH, I was eating like a queen all day. Lots of Mediterranean style food (Israeli salad, hummus which I missed so much, roasted eggplant, salmon with chickpeas, challah)… pure yumminess!

Besides the Chabad family (I can’t remember all of the names I’m not going to lie…) there were 3 other people there! One was a French girl named Julia who is actually living in Nagoya!!! YAY FOR NEW FRIENDS!! She is downtown and studying here until February… so cool! Another woman named Esther was there who said she has been coming here and there and has been living in Japan (Tokyo) for 27 years! The last person was a guy originally from Philly and is here serving in the Navy, super cool!

After lots of talking and eating, we took this little nugget below on a stroller walk! Napped after post lunch food coma and woke up for Shabbat 🙂 For those of you who know, Shabbat is pretty much my favorite part about being Jewish. At home my grandparents come over every Friday and we have a nice dinner (that my mom and I always like to go all out for and try new recipes) and just enjoy each other’s company. There are some traditions like lighting the candles, blessing the challah, the wine, and making a kiddush/singing songs to welcome in the Shabbat.

just playing some dreidel with the little babe

This was my first time where I was at a Shabbat with Japanese people. There were people speaking English, French, Hebrew, and Japanese ALL AT ONE TABLE!! There were about 6 Japanese people there, 1 American, 1 Israeli and Julia and I! I truly felt like I was at home even though I’m halfway across the world, I felt so welcomed 🙂

They were even so sweet enough to offer to walk me to my hotel which was only about a 15 minute walk! Good thing they did because the English sign was super small in comparison to the Japanese. I walked in and saw this..

this is normal right? Only in Japan

oh thanks but no thanks

Apparently it’s customary that Japanese hotels will offer pajamas… I was hesitant and stuck to my own 🙂 The chabad was nice enough to offer me a spot to stay at their house. However, I would have been sleeping on the floor in a room with all of the kiddos and after a day of traveling all I wanted was my own bed… I was quite happy 🙂

this is what I’m talking about! great way to start the day 

SAYONARA SEASIDE OMORI INN! 

I’m really glad I didn’t back out and decided to make the trek alone.. I have much more to say about traveling alone that I feel like I learned this weekend. More on the next post 🙂

Sayonara for now!

 

Immerse, absorb, and adapt

Konbonwa!

It is Wednesday but today actually feels like Monday because we did not have kids Monday/Tuesday for Professional Development. My brain actually hurts from thinking too much. I know I sound ridiculous but does that ever happen to you? I also feel like I received so much information the past 2 days that I’m still trying to absorb everything I learned.

Sometimes with a workshop I feel like they are usually so fast paced, you really need to reflect to actually comprehend what you learned. That way you can take away something to apply it elsewhere in your practice/work or your life. The workshop we were doing was “Making the PYP Happen” which was just a broad skimming of what the PYP (the curriculum we use) actually is and what it should look like.

Like I’ve mentioned before, it’s really hard for me to kind of reverse my thinking of how I learned as a child AND what I learned in college about how to teach. BUT it’s also very exciting and it makes more sense once I can actually get the hang of it. I can go on and on about this but I don’t want to bore you to death 🙂

Basically, I am trying to immerse myself as much as possible here in Japan. I mean that in terms of culture, teaching, and even just learning about life in general. Then, I’m doing my best to reflect and absorb as much as possible so I can adapt and change my attitude/actions for the better. It’s never good to just stick to what you know- growing as a person is what makes life challenging and exciting, right!?

ANYWHO, here are some snapshots from the week…

NOM NOM NOM- Pineapple chicken with rice and bok choy!

new picture frame, wine bottle and candle mason jar!

kind of hard to see but it looks so much cooler with the lights off!

360 view of the bottle… HEY CHELC

MY CHARLES!!! Miss that handsome boy

ma and pops but of course ❤

getting packages makes me want to send something to myself everyday.

IT’S A DREAM COME TRUE.

All of that for a little less than $60- not too shabby!! Definitely worth it to do it in bulk 🙂 Can’t wait to use all my new products!!

VEGGIE HEAVENNNN

This was my favorite meal by far (even though I really liked them all!) this week. Green bean, feta, mixed nut salad with miso glazed salmon (same recipe as last week). I LOVEEE eating a big juicy salad like this. It keeps me so full but I also don’t feel bloated, just happy full!

yogi tea = happiness from quotes 🙂

back to my old ways moohahaha

sunsets always are the best way to end the day!

stop and enjoy the beautiful world around you 🙂

pad thai SAY WHAT

This was superrrr easy! I actually meant to cook this with Soba noodles but clearly was on auto pilot and cooked Ramen- whoooops. But I sauteed some mushrooms, garlic, onion, zucchini in sesame oil and ginger. Then I made a pad thai sauce of peanut butter, siracha and soy sauce. Throw it all together, add scallions and a hard boiled egg on the side- BADA BING BADA BOOOOOOM pure happiness in a bowl.

now THAT is something to wake up to every day for inspiration!!

Clearly my crafty genes were flowing this week. I actually think I need to do this more often- I forgot how great of an outlet it is. It’s weird because I HATED art growing up. I never felt creative enough and I don’t feel like it comes naturally to me. But thank goodness for pinterest and technology, I feel like it’s so much easier to do crafts and get creative with some inspiration from other ideas :). I want to keep filling this wall with greatness! Feel free to send me your favorite quotes!

all hail overnight oats…

After cleaning that PB jar clean (left some on the bottom of course for this sole purpose), I made over night oats!!! I used oats, milk (missing almond milk though), mashed up banana, and some of my new mixed trail mix (mostly goji berries). Put it in the fridge and had a DEEEEELISH breakfast this morning 🙂

take a guess…

No, that’s not fish. That’s actually eggplant sushi with horseradish. Discovered this new one at Kappa tonight! We went for some conveyer belt sushi after more planning and yoga. Great way to end the day!

One more today of school tomorrow and then I’m off to Tokyo this weekend— EEEEEEEEK!!! I’m planning on going to a chabad in Tokyo on Friday to celebrate Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) since I can’t be home with my family. To all of my friends and family celebrating- L’shanah Tovah!!! May this be a year of health and happiness for us all 🙂

More updates after the weekend and please keep your fingers crossed I make it back alive…

Sayonara for now!

Take it slow, and do you :)

Konbonwa!

I’m currently sitting outside on my stoop, listening to some acoustic covers, and watching the sun slowly set. It is the absolute most perfect temperature right now- warm but still breezy 🙂 Here is a quick catch up on my weekend!

Friday night we went out out for dinner…

PARIWAR = HEAVEN

We all split some garlic naan and cheese naan because it was just too damn good last time. KK and I shared Chicken Curry and Chicken Butter Masala. The chicken butter masala was my favorite 🙂 SUPER tasty

Anna and KK!

Leah and I- she’s so kawaii

After dinner we went out to Karaoke (same place we went when we first got here, Joy Joy) to have an early celebration for Kelli’s birthday! Kelli is the other 2nd grade teacher I work with and she left for Hong Kong yesterday for her Professional Development so we wanted to celebrate early. Karaoke consists of lots of shitty strange drinks (I’ve learned this the hard way), screaming our hearts out, and tambourine playing.

This time was extremely entertaining because one of the teachers James came with his Japanese friend. James sang all songs in Japanese and his friend sang all American songs. They are apparently in a band and we saw them get super funky.. quite entertaining. Isabelle the one to the left of me in the picture is an AMAZING singer so I’m always happy when she’s there to tune out my horrible tone deaf voice. Hannah behind me to the right with the blonde hair always keeps the energy up with her bouncing dance moves. She’s like the energizer bunny, I love it 🙂

SELFIEZ HAYYY

I’ve had a really hard time rallying on Friday’s to stay alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic (my friends from college would be so disappointed, I’m looking at you Hollywoodz girls). BUT I’m just accepting it for what it is. Teaching just like any other job is TIRING. It takes a lot out of you physically and emotionally so by the time Friday night comes around I am shot. So I am going to accept the fact that I’m a grandma, and it’s okay to be a grandma even at 22 sometimes. As long as I have friends like KK who tell me straight up when to snap out of it and be a fun 22 year old.

So we got our new internet, YAY!!

but uhhh wait what? That’s not English. AKA haven’t figured it out yet.. 

I bought an exercise ball this weekend!! My parents had sent me the Drums Alive drumsticks I bought before I left and I need to start practicing and put that certification to use. For now, I will most likely lock myself in my room to practice to the music, but maybe once I gain some confidence I’ll throw it out to my Monday group to buy their own ball/basket (since I don’t think there are risers here) so we can get a class going!!

If only you could have seen how excited I was. I was bouncing around the kitchen like a 5 year old

I told KK how a while back my mom boycotted her chair at the kitchen table and would sit on an exercise ball to practice good posture and build a strong core. I used to make fun of her so much but hey mom maybe I’ll follow in your footsteps 🙂

After food shopping and being lazy for the day (I think we needed it) we headed to a park!!

PARK’S ARE MY NEW FAVORITE THING

We were supposed to go to the beach yesterday but it was pretty chilly and was apparently supposed to rain. If I’m going to go to the beach I want straight up SUNSHINE. The park was perfect for yesterday though.

SOOO MUCH GREENERY

I read a bit, took a quick snooze and was awoken by obnoxious small dogs yapping in my ear, and did a bit of yoga  🙂 On our way back to the car, I spotted TWO BERNESE MOUNTAIN DOGS… I started running towards them. KK thought I was crazy and actually pretended for a bit she didn’t know me (don’t blame her). I LOVE these dogs, so fluffy, great coloring, and they just make me want to squeeze them and cuddle them all day. One was only 4 months old, so goofy with such big paws!! These are the first bigger dogs I’ve seen here in Japan, most dogs are super teeny.

yes I’m a creeper

BYE FRIENDS!! Hope to see you again! 

simply beautiful

After the park, KK and I were pretty tired and didn’t feel like heading downtown. We decided to try Fulbari which we thought was Asian but realized once we got there is was actually Indian food. There was ghetto music playing, Indian servers, and random salad bar. We were quite confused. We got this set that came with the salad bar, some kind of soup, naan/rice, and we picked Thai Chicken Curry and Chicken Butter Masala.

The salad bar was interesting just a random assortment of things like french fries, fried chicken, stir fry veggies, lettuce, garlic balls of some sort, corn, and kimchi. Goes together right!? Eh

no where nearrrr Pariwar standards -____-

I really liked the Thai Vegetable Curry but that was about it. At least we tried though!

Yesterday when we went food shopping I decided to play a little game, Sweet and Sour. You may have heard of it or played it before. Basically you just wave to people as you drive and if they wave back they are sweet and if they don’t they are sour. I usually play on long car trips to see how many people I can get to wave back. I got a total of 3 wavers, surprise surprise. Most reactions were blank faces or “Wtf is your problem you foreigner”.

To be honest I was being a silly foreigner. I was sticking my head out the window waving like a lunatic and saying “konnichiwa” to anyone I could. You have to spice things up sometimes, right? I gave KK a good laugh as I made an idiot of myself and I was totally okay with it.

Also, I bought some new things since I’ve been trying to be adventurous and get different things each week 🙂

FIGS NOM NOM

are you a peach or a nectarine orrrrr what?

SUCCESS- everything I hoped for and more 🙂 So tasty!! 

KK and some peeps ended up going to the beach today which was a PERFECT day for it. I wanted to go but I wanted to prep the food for the week, do some planning, and workout 🙂 So after I got some stuff done I headed back to the park!!

guess whose back, back again. It was POPPING, super busy today 

I did a circuit courtesy of my friend Chelcie- hit arms, legs, and core. Just how I like it

sweaty and happy- I love working out outside in the sun! 

I did some yoga at the end and then saw a family try to do some headstands too! I thought it was so cute. They kept falling over so I went over and showed them how to do it and the mom got it!! So proud 🙂 spreading the yogi love

Inspiring the locals hehe

I did it! I can’t wait to get better at yoga this year with my new awesome yoga teacher, Cait!

I also went to the daiso store (Dollar store) today and got a bunch of kitchen supplies we’ve really needed and some things I just wanted :). I got a big strainer, a peeler, an oven mitten, 2 nice soy sauce dishes, a new bowl (I broke my one from the pottery sale!!! I tried cutting a frozen banana with a spoon in it last night =fail), and a spoon strainer for when I cook with miso.

I also picked up a lot of random crafting supplies! I still feel like we need to jazz up our apartment a bit/I miss crafting so hopefully I’ll have some more updates on that later in the week!

Tonight we are having a Sun Mall potluck dinner and I’m going to make Pineapple chicken.. pictures on that later too.

Moral of the week: It’s okay I haven’t been exploring every weekend. Sometimes you need to listen to yourself and what you need. Whether that’s a night of all Netflix (likeee last night when we watched Mulan) or a glass of wine to chill. You have to do you sometimes and that’s okay!

Sayonara for now (:

A little love goes a long way

Konbanwa!

Wow, this week flewwwww by!!! Sunday was what KK and I have designated as “slave chopping” day. After we go food shopping (which we are getting much speedier at might I add!) we come home and chop up EVERYTHANG for the week. It makes it soo much easier and less stressful to just grab and go when we cook 🙂

I whipped up this bad boy with leftover carrots, zuchinni, mushrooms, onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, ramen and a hard boiled egg. Super nom!

Ramen stir fry with veggies and a hard boiled egg. Simple but delish 🙂

This week threw me off because Monday we didn’t have the kids since it was Open House day for the parents. The school chose to do it during the day because it was a Japanese holiday called “Respect for the Aged Day”. It seems like most families spend time with their grandparents/have family time because everyone gets off of work. I was expecting to see almost all of the parents because so far, they have been very active in their child’s education which I love! Compared to my old school in Delaware during student teaching where it seemed like sometimes the parents didn’t even care.

To my surprise, only about 5/6 parents came. -___- It was nice to meet some of the parents I haven’t met yet though. I’m still getting used to the language barrier with a lot of the parents though… I can’t wait until I can speak more Japanese.

sneaks are a nice touch, eh? Don’t worry we changed after our walk…

my gift from the art teacher, Hannah for teaching the Zumba/circuit classes!

KK and I have started having tea and honey in the AM AND the PM. I’m obsessed. It’s a nice way to start the day (helps me avoid 2 cups of coffee too) and it helps me calm down before bed 🙂

MY FAV MEAL OF THE WEEK

I used this recipe for the salmon: http://rasamalaysia.com/miso-glazed-salmon/2/ sooo simple. On the Salmon went white miso (which I’ve discovered I like WAY better than red), mirin, and rice vinegar. I liked it so much I even mixed some in with my salad. I also used the fish grill here for the first time which I was super excited about!!! We’ve been using it as a toaster when it’s really a fish grill… we’re so Japanese now, right? Then, I used this recipe as inspiration for the salad: http://pinchofyum.com/chopped-thai-salad-sesame-garlic-dressing

Sadly, I have yet to find kale or spinach here so I used cabbage instead. I also couldn’t find cashews (are you getting the idea that things are hard to find here yet?… yup) so I just used this nice nut mix I found. It was veggie/fish heaven… I could eat this everyday I think. PS- I think my co-workers officially know how much of a foodie I am.. there’s no hiding it.

You know why my week started off so great!?!?!

SUNDAY I GOT A PACKAGE!!!!

I’m a dinkle and forgot to take a picture of all of the things in the box but this was seriously the best way to start the week. My mom is the bestest and went to the post office not once but FOUR times to try to figure out how to send as much as possible for the cheapest amount. I needed some things but she knew I’ve been missing home and sent some things that made me feel the love ❤

These three were probably my favorite items. If you’ve never tried Justin’s Almond Butter, you quite frankly haven’t lived. DO IT TO IT ASAP. Pumpkin butter is an all time favorite and I will have to ration this out until my mom might have to send more with my cousin when she comes next month. Quinoa, speaks for itself. It is my best friend. Enough said. I already had to nicely tell KK I might be a little hasty with sharing these things. She was very understanding, this is why she rules.

Madre also sent 2 pictures frames, a small photo album, Drums Alive drumsticks (now I need to find exercise balls so I can start practicing!!), a big towel (they don’t have those here…), a pillow case of the doggies, some sleeping t-shirts I forgot, tampons (yes, they don’t have normal ones here either), and my winter coat/some vests.

I kept joking with my mom I wish she could just fit in the box, I mean she is small enough but sadly I did not find her in there. Next time mom ?!?

I rushed up right away and added the pictures 🙂 Feels even more home-y

do you spy the Puppy Yoga calendar!?! 🙂

Hi Charles!!!

This is the pillow case I had custom made with one side of my dog Charlie and the other of Jackson. I’m debating if I want to buy a body pillow (could be great for cuddling purposes) or if I should just drape it over? I’ve been changing it over every day and it makes me super happy 🙂

After getting these goodies, I was inspired to check out this website iherb.com that I’ve been hearing AMAZING things about. I finally checked it out and ordered a boat load… more on that once it arrives!

Oh, how I missed oats with a nanner, almond butter, and pumpkin butter!! The best combo

seriously I’m in love

Thai Salad, Gyoza, Tofu with Honey Ginger Carrots and Bok Choy 

Inspiration from this blog: http://www.inspiralized.com/2014/08/18/honey-ginger-tofu-and-carrot-rice-with-bok-choy/

the best part of biking to work 🙂

Today, was a GREAT day. It was one of those days that the good outweighed the bad and I kept thinking to myself, “Damn, I love my job.” That’s when you know you’re in the right place.

We also started Japanese lessons today which will be weekly which was great! It made me feel pretty confident because I felt like I knew most of the things. We went over greetings, common sayings, numbers, how to introduce yourself, and a bit of Kanji which is what threw my over the edge of “wtf”.

yup

Even though we were all exhausted, I can definitely say it is easier to pay attention when the language is actually relevant to us on a day to day language. If you want to learn along with me the word/phrase of the week are:

no problem/it’s okay- iie (ee-yeah) in a happy/higher pitched tone

you’re welcome- doui ta shi mashite (dough-e tah shee mash-teh)

please be my friend when you first meet someone OR please do me a favor once you know someone- Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu (Yo-ro-she-ku Oh-nee-guy-she-mas)

It’s just really convincing how some words have multiple meanings, especially depending the tone of the word. But hey, we will get it some day right?!

I hope you’re all having a great week too!

Sayonara for now 🙂

Step out of your comfort zone

Konbonwa!!

I can’t believe the weekend is here and almost gone, yet again! Time has been feeling like it’s on warped speed just flying on by.

Katiria cooked a new dish that I loved! Kimchi fried rice with chicken… nomnomnom

WE LOVE KIMCHI!

Some more updates on the gym: we saw a man wearing a full on leather suit going to a Zumba class. The class was POPPING, maybe I’ll need to venture out one of these days.

Besides that, Katiria and I were getting stared at while lifting weights like we were nuts the craziest people in the world. I think part of it is because women don’t really lift weights here and we are practically the only Westerners at this gym. Katiria was not about it and left to do their own thang. I did my best to ignore them and kept going, even threw in some Crossfit weightlifting moves which REALLY blew their mind. Moohahaha

I had a “I hate this country” moment on Friday though. I went to go swimming and right as I got to the gym I realized that I forgot my swimming cap. That’s the worst feeling ever when you realize you forgot something right as you get there. Why does our brain do that? Anyways, I knew this was going to be a problem but I thought I could be sneaky. I tied my hair in a bun as close to my head as possible to make it seem like I just had really short hair. That didn’t fool ’em. Like I said I stick out here as it is, especially in the pool because compared to most of the slower swimmers they make me seem like Michael Phelps. So of course someone comes running over “Sumimasen, sumimasen!! Cappu!!” Saying excuse me, excuse me, cap!! I tried telling her I have one but forgot it at home, is it okay for today? This took about 10 minutes to figure this stupid ish out.

this was me

Someone tried coming over to translate but he didn’t really speak English so that wasn’t helpful. I was about to leave because I was just so frustrated. Then an angel was sent to Earth and some old lady offered me her cap. This was the NICEST thing a Japanese person has done for me since I’ve been here I think. I was so thankful and the anger that was building up just made me swim even harder. So thanks I guess? But then I got yelled at AGAIN and I was just losing hope. She was saying I couldn’t keep my water bottle outside of the lane even though I have every time. I explained it was water and I wasn’t drinking it while in the pool… she finally walked away, maybe she felt bad, who knows. But I was so over it.

On Friday, we walked to our friend Sylvia’s house for a belated birthday party. I posted this on instagram, but real talk, you know you’re at a bumping party in Japan when you open the door and it looks like this…

this shit is serious

The walk was much longer than we thought so we showed up like 40 minutes late and it was PACKED. It took me almost the night to get over my shock of how crazy the community here is at NIS. There were 20 plus staff members at school here to hang out and drink! Nothing awkward, just like one big family. I freaking love it.

I also love how cool it is that everyone has such different experiences and there is so much for me to learn even from just talking to them. For example, I spent part of the night talking to Sylvia’s husband who is originally from Scotland and hearing more about his travels that led him to Shetland, Portugal, Kairo, and now Japan. I spoke to a few more teachers about their past experiences/got advice about some current school issues. The best advice I got was: Just go for it and reach out as much as you can. In order to make the experience here totally unbelievable I need to have international friends. I was told I shouldn’t be shy and reach out to the parents, they want to get to know me better too. This is a new concept for me but I’m excited to explore. I even asked one of my students mom for some Indian recipes, one step in the right direction 🙂

 

mid dance party HAYYY

blurry and sillayyy

Somehow we were the last ones (about 10 of us) until 2 AM rockin a dance party. Friday nights are a struggle for me I just am so shot from the week (yes I’m a grandma) but I’m trying to rally!

This morning I forced myself out of bed to go to a pottery festival downtown and I am soo glad I went! It was a beautiful (a little hot but still nice) day to be out exploring, shopping, and hang with friends!

so crowded but hello festival!

How cool!?

 

girls dancing and getting downnnnn to my girl Beyonce

I’m officially obsessed with pottery…

peeps on peeps

way too many choices!

One of the other teachers suggested taking pictures to “catalog” the items so you could look through all the options then come back and decide. My problem was I couldn’t remember where they were and there were just too many options. SO I decided to just not over think and buy when I really liked something! Everything was so cheap for the most part but I just wanted everything… shopping problems.

this is what I got- how pretty!? Feels much more home-y 🙂 I also got some surprise gifts for people in the future hehe

Hi Kitty Cat…

 

 

wanna catch a fish?

chocolate covered bananas!

After the pottery festival we came back, had a glorious nap and then headed downtown to meet up with some others for a Mexican place called Desperados. Kind of sucks that getting downtown is such a hassle it takes about an hour with all the transportation =/ By the time we got there the others had moved on to a bar BUT the food was bangin…

ENGLISH MENU YIPEEEE

nachos and guac to share 🙂

I got chicken fajitas! I even bought a bottle of Cholula hot sauce from this place- FOR THE WIN. 

Besides all of the outside of school activities, school has been good! The students are finally getting into the swing of things and getting used to the routines. I definitely have some challenges in my class between my 2 students who barely speak English and some others who have a hard time reading/writing. But I have support and am starting to learn some new strategies so I know we will be able to get them to where they need to be. I was really worried about this the first week because one student only knows maybe a few words in English. But even after 1 month I can see he has made friends and he is getting used to the routines which makes me happy 🙂 I also am trusting the process of being emerged in a classroom environment with a new language and how it will rub off on him. For example, a student in the other 2nd grade classroom came last year speaking no English and now is fluent and is an absolutely amazing student. I hope this happens with the students in my class!!

There are also a few things that I love about being in a school that uses the International Baccalaureate curriculum. One thing is about how each students culture is openly talked about. It works out nicely that our first unit is called “Who We Are” and it’s all about culture/community and what is our responsibility towards other communities and cultures. In the states religion and sometimes even cultural things are “hush hush”. Teachers are told to not bring up religion in the classroom and really be careful what you say about cultural differences. Even though research has shown that the more social/emotional learning and openness you include in your classroom, the better community you will have, the more your students will want to learn.

Especially for the start of the year and for this unit it has been so exciting to get to know more about the cultures of each student. Culture is such a huge part of who we each are as individuals. When children learn and understand differences and similarities they have and discuss them in an open matter at such a young age it will make them understand the world in a whole new way that I never did as a child. For the beginning of the unit we have mainly been focusing on our classroom community. They were having difficulties listening as well as working in groups with each other. Now for these next 2 weeks we are moving away from the classroom to the rest of the world. The will be making a window pane of the country (one of the countries represented in our classroom) they research and we will put them together to make a huge window display. I am so excited to see the end product of this unit and how much we all will learn about each other and the world together as a class!

Tomorrow is open house which will be interesting to meet some of the parents I haven’t met yet!

Off to do meal prep, gym and enjoy the day 🙂

Happy Sunday!

Matane! (See you later!)

Makin’ a comeback!

Konnichiwa!

First off, thanks to those of you who reached out to me after my last post. I feel the love and am glad I’m not the only one going through this post-grad transition ❤

Anywho, after much debate I can proudly say I DIDN’T CLIMB MT. FUJI!! Instead… I went on a bike ride for 40 minutes with Anna on a beautiful sunny day!

WE DID IT! Now just need to figure out how to raise my seat that is currently set for a midget

Then Anna and I hung out nommed on some frozen grapes, power napped and ventured out in the rain to go downtown for whatever would be in store for us. Yes, we packed a water bottle with drinks (we’re still in college right?) Don’t judge us.

Clubbing in Japan take 1

We got a ride from one of our lovely friends, Annika thankfully since it was POURING cats and dogs. We followed her steps exactly and Google maps to the rescue. Did you know it will tell you the exact times of upcoming trains and how to switch trains if you need to? Freaking genius. After lots of roadies we were feeling pretty nice minus the fact it was almost 8 PM and we hadn’t eaten dinner and were STARVING.

Annika told us about this Thai place that we reallyyyy wanted to try but trying to follow landmark directions is quite difficult. So I saw these 3 Japanese girls and I tried to ask them where the restaurant was. They weren’t sure and that point we were like we might as well ask them if they know where a bar was. They were like “ohhh clubbu?” with fist pumping motion (no joke) and we said yes! Turns out they were going to said “clubbu” so we said we would want to come! We realized we needed to eat SOMETHING though or this would be one ugly night. We stopped at a circle k aka the version of 7-11 here and got some sushi and ate it under an umbrella in the streets while it poured. Our new friends were something along the lines of: “Ehwa, Nowa, and Ayako”… that’s definitely not right but all I remember.

It turns out they were the same age as us, 22! We walked a while to the club which was called Club ID and it was $30 for the night that came with 4 drink tickets. There were FIVE floors of this madness…

 

Keep in mind I don’t go clubbing on a normal basis so seeing all of this madness plus being surrounded by Japanese people I was quite overstimulated.

 

 

things got weird real fast…

These selfies are too good to pass up. Next Anna’s flip flops broke- she decided to ditch them. You can only imagine the looks she got from Japanese people who IDOLIZ being clean. They were bugging

 

We felt like superstars for two reasons: 1. People kept coming up to us asking “Where are you from!?!!?” We were part of the MAYBE 5% Americans in the room. 2. We started interpretive dancing and they thought it was hilarious and they were cheering us on. When in Japan one must start a dance circle right!?

 

please have a good laugh…

Do you see what I see? This was the most scandalous thing I’ve seen here yet

We knew we had to catch the 12:02 train home but Anna didn’t want to leave (her other nickname from home besides Hotdogs is apparently Bouncy. I know understand that because this girl is a rabbit on the dance floor) Soooo we took a cab home for $60… we learned our lesson!

 

Anna trying to ask some random for the nearest ATM- bare foot of course…

On another side note, my timehop has been really depressing lately with all reminders of fun college things. Check out these beauties-

Is this real life?

or this? Remember that time there was a fire drill and I was in the shower Freshmen year..

cous cous YAY!

I forgot to take pics of the other meals but we had this Mediterranean cous cous, Stuffed Peppers with Mexican style cous cous and tonight KK is making a Kimchi Chicken dish weeeee 🙂

On Sunday we had our first sushi party with friends!

the prep!

sushi PARTAY ! We are going to try to do a little dinner every Sunday night 🙂

Then last night we ventured to a mini-downtown here in Nagoya to go to this sushi place, Wasabi everyone has been raving about.

cold strange eggplant..

gross seaweed salad

sushi of champions

I tried the shrimp but it’s official I really just don’t like that texture. I avoided that white/clear looking one below the tuna on the left. Anna couldn’t even swallow hers she said it was so chewy and slimy.. yuck. Other than that the salmon and tuna was FAB. Very fresh but not going to lie I had higher expectations for this place.

We had ordered this set that came with all that sashimi and these hand rolls

YAY we made it out- Even though the food was meh I was just happy to be out with friends 🙂 It was so beautiful out we sat outside the restaurant! 

EVEN HAPPIER… Baskin Robbins!!! I got Cookies and Cream and Coffee. Not going to lie I have probably had BR 3 times tops in my life but this was the cherry on the cake.

Also, I started riding my bike to/from school! I’m loving it. Minus the fact I get to work and am SWEATINGGGG, I take about 20 minutes to work on something and cool off, get changed and voila! It’s a lovely way to start and end the day outside with the sunrise/sunset and some fresh air and music along the way!

Off to drag ourselves to the gym in this currently yucky rain storm.

I hope all is well with all of you!

Sayonara for now 🙂

 

Welcome to the real world

Ohayo Gozaimasu (good morning) for me! Konbanwa (good evening) for most of you!

So I failed my goal of posting mid-week I apologize! This week was a bit of a rollercoaster. I officially had my first melt down since I’ve been here and to be honest I have been trying to wrap my head around how to express what is going on/how I am feeling. (Bare with me it’s a long one)

After talking to some friends and self-reflecting (funny because this is one thing I’m teaching my kids how to do… still learning whether you’re 7 or 22 clearly.) I’ve realized it comes down to a few things.

1. No matter what it is, beginnings are always hard. 

I vividly remember the first couple months of college being almost exactly the same way. Before you leave for college all anyone can say is, “Congrats! Aren’t you so excited?! These will be the best 4 years of your life.” … or some version of those things. Yes woohoo it did end up being an experience that I will never forget and I luckily found friends that I know I will have for a lifetime. But the beginning of freshmen year was DEFINITELY not rainbows and butterflies.

Freshmen dorm living was awk sauce and being a naive 18 year old, I thought I would make my best friends in the first few weeks. Yes this happens for some people, but news flash- that is a LOT to ask to happen.

I am currently going through the same experience now. Before I left I was mainly told, “This is going to be a life changing experience for you. I’m so jealous. You will meet the love of you life. Don’t bring home a Japanese guy.” (I could go on and on) So maybe these things will happen but probably not all of them. The hardest part has been altering my expectations of what I had. After talking to a lot of people who have studied abroad and even specifically in Japan I have been told the “honeymoon period” of being ecstatically happy lasts for about 4-6 weeks and then it drops and you hit rock bottom.

That did not happen for me. Sadly, I feel my honeymoon period only lasted about 1-1/2 weeks. We got here and everything was so new and exciting (from grocery shopping, driving, new restaurants, taking off our shoes everywhere, etc.) and then we had to dive straight into school orientation and it was like a 500 lb weight of stress and feeling overwhelmed was dropped right on my chest. My classroom was a disaster filled with 5th grade stuff, I was trying to wrap my head around a completely new curriculum that is amazing but exactly the OPPOSITE thinking methods of anything I have used, not having supplies I needed and literally walking around like a beggar asking other teachers for things, trying to plan when feeling I don’t know what the heck I’m doing, etc. etc.

On top of that, realizing fairly quickly we are straight up in the suburbs and not knowing Japanese well enough or how to explore very well leaves us quite stuck in our apartment. I had pictured all of these grand and unique adventures and to be honest we haven’t adventured that much sadly.

It’s also hard figuring out who can I count on. Who do I want to be friends with? It’s really hard for me to get used to the fact that for now unless I met some locals, my friends are my work friends. That is new for me.

2. It doesn’t matter where you are, adjusting to post-college real world is a transition.

It made me feel so better after talking to my friend Kristin last night who just moved to D.C. and was telling me about her first week and I realized we were going through a LOT of the same things even though we are on opposite sides of the world. The laundry list of items seems overwhelming anything from the following:

-learning how to balance communicating with friends/family with less time

-making yourself still get out and do things even though all you want to do is lay in bed and chill during free time

-making the time to prepare good meals so you feel healthy and well nourished 🙂

-feeling like a grandma at age 22 who is sleeping by 10:30 and then up by 6:30 in the morning

-forcing yourself to get to the gym because if not it’ll be you a bottle of wine and ice cream …

I could go on and on but really, I’m just glad that I’m not the only one feeling this way. For all of my friends reading this who have been working for even 10 plus years you’re probably rolling on the floor laughing at this because I sound ridiculous. But truly, this is a big part of why I’m feeling overwhelmed. I feel like I’m forcing myself to take care of my emotional/physical well-being with “me-time” as well as forcing myself to get out there and enjoy time with other people. Does this ever become any easier!?!

3. It’s okay to “hate” your adopted country… 

Okay I don’t know if I’m all the way at hate yet but after reading this blog post (http://youngadventuress.com/2013/03/things-no-one-tells-you-about-moving-abroad-2.html) Kristin sent me it hit home with me in many ways.  One of them being the fact that there are certain things here in Japan that PISS ME OFF. No other way to describe it. Some are as silly as why am I not allowed to jump rope at the gym? Or why do I need to use 5 different garbage bags to sort just the RECYCLING garbage? Seriously, some of these things drive me mad. But there are also things I absolutely love. This post made me realize it’s okay to feel this way, it’s quite normal.

It also made made me feel a bit better because I feel just like she wrote, “You are allowed to have a complex range of emotions when you straddle two different worlds.” As silly as it sounds, yesterday I had a thought in my head “If I don’t like living abroad and don’t know where the heck I picture myself living in the U.S., where am I meant to be!?” I know this sounds dumb especially since I’ve only been here for a month but it’s a scary feeling not knowing where you want to live or even just really feel like you belong.

4. It’s okay to do “you”

As life goes on I’m constantly learning to listen to myself more. We all have that “gut feeling” and sometimes you just need to follow it. Whether it’s telling you to get the f up and go get your anger out at the gym, or that you need a nap, or that you just want to go out and drank. Whatever it may be, usually your gut feeling is right so follow it.

I was supposed to be climbing Mt. Fuji tonight but I really just wasn’t feeling confident, especially with not having full function yet from my ankle. Sometimes we just need to listen to that gut feeling and hope it was right.

Besides all of that emotional business here are some pictures from the week 🙂

found a RMH donation box here in Japan! Donated as a proud ADPi alumni 🙂

ENGLISH menu at Pelican Cafe! Hallelujah

check out these hats… I felt like I was at a bar/bat mitzvah

BAKERY WITH THE BEST BREAD EVER

We bought a huge one for the week it was so dough-y and had lots of yummy grains and seeds in it. We also got some as a “thank you” for the teacher who has been teaching yoga for us once a week 🙂

Ice coffee you’re my hero ❤

So normally I probably eat pancakes/waffles like 3 x a year maximum. They just make me feel bloated and just overall yucky. But apparently this place was supposed to be the bee’s knees and I figured why not especially since I’ve been homesick even with food. Then this guy came out…

before sharing…

after sharing…

Anna and I shared half strawberry pancakes and half chocolate pancakes… WOWZA quite the meal. I still had that bloated feeling after and felt gross but I’m glad I tried it.

This past week we tried something new with food shopping. It’s been taking too long to come home and just start cooking dinner. I suggested we pick out specific meals and cut everything up before the week starts so we can just cook it up. It worked great! But this process was grueling on Sunday. We were shopping for THREE hours. We tried an international store which was exciting for some things we missed (cous cous, peanut butter, etc.), then this place called Tachiya aka Japan crazy version of Farmer’s market.

It makes me feel like I’m at an auction with workers screaming and shouting things all I can assume is that they are saying something like “GET YOUR BANANAS, BANANAS HERE!” Or at least that’s what it sounds like…

The prices are FAB but it’s also super packed. There are literally 3 men outside directing traffic outside who wear white gloves, super intense police hat and long sleeves and pants. Strange… 

I wish these pictures could sum it up, but either way this place RULES 

Balsamic chicken, rice and roasted sweet potatoes, onion, garlic and broccoli with pesto!

My only complaint about this meal is sweet potatoes here aren’t sweet they taste more like potatoes and are quite bland… still working on them.

after teaching my first Zumba/circuit class for the teachers! So happy they pushed me to do it 🙂 Felt great to get back to teaching

experiment for breakfast

I missed this! Our bananas weren’t right enough yet and I of course miss almond milk, chia seeds, pumpkin butter etc. But it was nice to switch it up from eggs!

WE HAD A MEXICAN FIESTA

actually the best part of the week

Mid-week we went out for Kelli’s (the other 2nd grade teacher) husband’s (Paul) b-day! I’ve been wanting to try this place and it was pretty good. I was really scared to try the meat when someone started saying it was things like tongue, cartilage, etc. So I tried some “roast” they called it and it tasted like steak it was good!

kimchi! I’ve been a huge fan of Kimchi since we’ve been here 🙂

We got “bim bim bop” which is this stone-ish bowl that has lots of veggies and a cooked egg and you mix it around against the hot bowl so it cooks and it was SO good.

We were a big group of about 10ish people and there were only 2 people working the restaurant and it was still super speedy! The older Japanese man came out with this bottle when I asked for water. He kept giggling and I was asking if it was water in Japanese and he kept saying “hai” (yes) and bowing but he kept giggling. With a glass bottle like this wouldn’t YOU be skeptical? I poured it, smelled it and thankfully it was water. He thought it was the funniest thing ever… good one, you got me!

This bread with avocado makes my day every. single. day

food from school! Salad, rice, some herb crusted chicken, broccoli, vegetable gratin and sweet potato mash! Much better than when I made it haha

asian style lettuce wraps! NOM also another success

meal at school take 2! We couldn’t resist. Nan with tandori chicken, roasted veggies and some kind of curry sauce with some edamame and salad 🙂 The naan was fantastic!

As you can tell sometimes the most exciting things of my week is the food… whatever makes ya happy right!?

We went to a good ramen place around here last night called Ton Ton! We shared gyoza (dumplings), fried rice, and 2 different ramen. One was called Kimchi Ramen and the other was Taiwan Ramen. I’m silly and forget to take pictures but both were sooo good.

gyoza for days

300 yen beeru yes please… normally I hate beer but it was Friday so this was necessary.

Okay well if you’re still with me, thanks for reading 🙂 Off to enjoy the day (attempting to not look at anything for work today) with a possible bike ride, hang with Anna (aka Hotdogs) and going to try a new restaurant and go out tonight!

Sayonara for now!