7 months! I have been in Okinawa for 7 months as of January 18th! Wow!
Christmas break was amazing. We celebrated the close of 2009 at work with a Bonenkai, which is a party that most companies throw for their employees to reflect on the year and look forward to the next. We started at an izakaya which is a bar/restaurant and then continued on to a karaoke place where you rent a room and sing all the karaoke you want! It is still a little odd to me how much Okinawans love to karaoke, but it is usually a great time. Ben and I left for America on the 24th and spent Christmas Eve recuperating from our flight and hanging out with my family. We headed to Indiana to visit my Aunt, Uncle, cousins and Grandparents on the 25th and had a delicious Christmas dinner with everyone. We did some shopping (mostly late Christmas gifts!) on the 26th, and then went out downtown to meet up with some friends later on in the night.
Before we knew it, we were on another plane and on our way to North Carolina for Ben's sister, Sarah's wedding! Her wedding was in a beautiful cabin/winery tucked away in the mountains. It was a very personal, romantic wedding and Sarah was a stunning bride! Everything went smoothly and I think was just what Sarah hoped for, from a fun evening wine tasting, to a delicious rehearsal dinner, a beautiful wedding, and drinks/socializing after.
With six of us in a van, Dennis drove us from North Carolina to Highland so we could make it for the New Years Eve party. Ben and I both were able to see a lot of people we care about at the New Years Eve party which was nice because neither of us know for sure when we will be back.
We came back to Okinawa on January 4th and both returned to work the following day. I am finally starting to feel back on track at work with the students and my routine.
Ben left today for Thailand and will be there for 40 days, which means I am going to have a lot of free time in the next month and a half! I am planning on studying Japanese a lot more, I am really close to being able to read Hiragana/Katakana. I am also planning on using Japanese more often, we'll see!
A new teacher has finally arrived, his name is Charley. Charley is from Florida and decided to change his career from a paralegal to a teacher. His fiance is Japanese and lives on mainland Japan. He just got here on Saturday so I still don't know too much about him, except that he loves his protein shakes...(ha). He seems like a nice enough guy though.
Well it's time for bed! I hope everyone had a warm Christmas surrounded by loved ones!
Combonwa,
Nikki
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12.09.2009
Thanksgiving/Christmas
Ben and I had a very delicious Thanksgiving dinner. We cooked a turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sausage/cream cheese/cranberries/walnuts/pickles roll-ups, and warm apple/banana bread.
My students knew little to nothing about Thanksgiving. I tried to teach them about it all week, and I feel confident that I at least left them with the knowledge that it is important to remind yourself what you have to be thankful for. I had my junior high/high school students tell 3 people specific reasons why they were thankful for them and then write about it. Most of them chose to tell 3 of their family members, some chose to tell their friends, and a few decided to tell me that they were thankful I am here to teach them English! One of my high school students, Yoshino, took a different approach to the assignment...
Me: Yoshino, whom are you thankful for?
Yoshino: I am thankful for my parents and my sister.
Me: Why are you thankful for them?
Yoshino: I am thankful for my mother because she cooks for me, I am thankful for my father because he works for me, and I am thankful for my sister because she helps me with math.
Me: Did you tell them all of this?
Yoshino: Yes.
Me: And what did they say?
Yoshino: Nothing.
Me: Why not??
Yoshino: They don't speak English! I thought we were suppose to tell them in English...
Well, at least she had the right intentions. She decided to tell them again, but this time in Japanese.
I looked at the weather for Chicago today, and it says that it's 19 degrees, windy, and there is light snow! Yuck! It's 79 degrees here and sunny! :)
It's hard to believe that I only have to teach for 9 more days before I come home!! I usually procrastinate packing until the day before a trip or even the day of....but I won't be able to do that this time because Ben is insisting that I don't check any luggage, I am pretty sure I have Dennis to thank for this! So I am going to have to do some strategic packing, and really plan out my outfits, instead of throwing everything that I might have a possibility of needing into two big suitcases.
Well, time to get ready for class...after today, I have only 8 more days of teaching before vacation!! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that they were reminded of what/whom they have to be thankful. I also hope that everyone is keeping warm in this December weather, I know I am. ;)
Sarah, can you believe it...only 19 more days until your wedding?!
...
My students knew little to nothing about Thanksgiving. I tried to teach them about it all week, and I feel confident that I at least left them with the knowledge that it is important to remind yourself what you have to be thankful for. I had my junior high/high school students tell 3 people specific reasons why they were thankful for them and then write about it. Most of them chose to tell 3 of their family members, some chose to tell their friends, and a few decided to tell me that they were thankful I am here to teach them English! One of my high school students, Yoshino, took a different approach to the assignment...
Me: Yoshino, whom are you thankful for?
Yoshino: I am thankful for my parents and my sister.
Me: Why are you thankful for them?
Yoshino: I am thankful for my mother because she cooks for me, I am thankful for my father because he works for me, and I am thankful for my sister because she helps me with math.
Me: Did you tell them all of this?
Yoshino: Yes.
Me: And what did they say?
Yoshino: Nothing.
Me: Why not??
Yoshino: They don't speak English! I thought we were suppose to tell them in English...
Well, at least she had the right intentions. She decided to tell them again, but this time in Japanese.
I looked at the weather for Chicago today, and it says that it's 19 degrees, windy, and there is light snow! Yuck! It's 79 degrees here and sunny! :)
It's hard to believe that I only have to teach for 9 more days before I come home!! I usually procrastinate packing until the day before a trip or even the day of....but I won't be able to do that this time because Ben is insisting that I don't check any luggage, I am pretty sure I have Dennis to thank for this! So I am going to have to do some strategic packing, and really plan out my outfits, instead of throwing everything that I might have a possibility of needing into two big suitcases.
Well, time to get ready for class...after today, I have only 8 more days of teaching before vacation!! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that they were reminded of what/whom they have to be thankful. I also hope that everyone is keeping warm in this December weather, I know I am. ;)
Sarah, can you believe it...only 19 more days until your wedding?!
...
11.30.2009
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