Stake Conference

Today was stake conference, it was an interesting experience. The stake rented a conference center near where I have been going to church. I got left once we got to the conference center to fend for myself. Lucky for me my missionaries saw me and welcomed me, my missionaries are awesome. :D When we went in to get seated I was greeted by another ALT, Ashley, and she had me sit by her. It was really interesting. Ashley tried to understand what was being said, she knowing Japanese (she says a little, but she understands a lot), and I knowing not Japanese. Luck for me there was an Elder sitting directly behind me translating everything into Spanish, so while Ashley was trying to understand the Japanese I was trying to catch the Spanish. I got quite a bit, but really only enough to get the idea of what was being said. After the meeting I found out that they had an English Translation, but no one told be that before the meeting…. Oh well.

After Stake conference I was invited to the Stake president’s house for lunch, but first I had to wait for the Stake president to get done with his meeting. So, I got to sit in on the stake president’s new member meeting. Lucky for me my missionaries came in and the one from New Zealand, Elder Heart, translated the whole meeting for me. I really like Elder Heart, he makes sure I understand what is being said and he translates everything for me. :D After the meeting I got to meet the Mission President for the Hiroshima mission and his wife. He and his wife has lived in Orem and went to graduate school. They were very nice and welcoming, I love mission presidents and their wives, they were called to their position for a reason, their great capacities to love and make everyone feel welcome.

Finally, we got going and the missionaries and I went to the Stake president’s house for dinner. As it turns out the stake president and his family live in my ward. I know his kids, but didn’t know that they were his kids until today. I love the Stake president and his family, they are very nice and very a lot of fun. During dinner the Stake president asked me if I needed anything, we I really don’t, so I told him I needed friends, which he replied, “A boy friend?”. I thought that was funny. I told him a boyfriend would be nice, but I just needed friends. I love how everyone here is obsessed with finding me a boyfriend. :P I had a lot fun at lunch.

The stake president had to leave early to go to some other meetings. After we finished lunch the missionaries gave a lesson on humility. I should say the Japanese missionary gave a lesson on humility and the other translated for me. The one of the YSA sisters came over, Seiko, and we all talked with her and took pictures. While we were talking and taking pictures sis. Hayashi (the stake president’s wife) made me a care package, it consisted of oranges, and apple, rice cakes, cheese, caned corn, rolls, and noodles in a cup. What a great lady! Then Seiko and I took the train home, and she paid for my ticket! She is a sweet girl.

It has been a good day. Next week I may finally make it to the military ward. As silly as it may sound, I am kinda hoping to find a reason to stay in Japan, a male reason. ;p But we will see where the wind will blow me.

Celestia, over and out.

YWs

I am so a nerd

So I got invited to go to my ward's Young Woman's activity.
I said I would love to go, the girls were so excited.
Well, Friday rolls around and I wasn't feeling to well
but I decided to go anyway,
after all I was being picked up and had no way to call and cancel.
I am glad I went.

The girls were a hoot! They are so cute and
and a lot of fun.
We made some sort of rice roll
You must forgive me not knowing what it is called....
Sarada something (sarada is all I caught...)

So, first you put some rice mixed with vinegar on your seaweed

Oh look at me go!


Next you put on some lettuce.
(Mine is the one in the bottom left)

Then you put on a fried and scrambled egg.
Then put on sliced cucumber and imitation crab.


Put on some tuna mixed with mayo,
Then top it all off with more mayo!

Now put the ends together and make a roll!

And walla! you have a rice sarada roll!

now for the proper way to eat it,

Shove in mouth and take a large bite!

oh how very lady like!

Celestia- Over and out

Life

I have been thinking a lot about life the last few weeks.
It seems like every stage in my life has been hard.
There has always been something that I struggle with.

Life doesn't seem to be life without hardships.

As I look back on my life I see that many of my greatest joys
came from times when I was struggling the most.
One Truly grows out out of trials and afflictions.
As much as I disliked being in the midst of those hardships
I would not change them for anything.

I have seen how I have grown through struggling through the
afflictions that have been thrown my way.
I have risen to the occasion and proven to myself that no matter
what life throws me I have the ability to make it to the top and thrive.

Many of my afflictions have not only taught me about myself
and shown me that I can do anything,
But they have shown me how to trust in the Lord.
I have seen many people come into my life and bless
me beyond measure.

My success in life is not my own, but of all those around me.

To all of you wonderful people in my life,
I thank you from the bottom of my heart
for all the ways you lift me up
and help me fly.


Note: the picture is of a foot bridge that is near my apartment.

Leo Palace, my home

Leo Palace

So here is a quick look at my apartment.

This is the lovely view as you walk into the

main living space.

Here we have my table on the right side of the room.
My lovely welcome poster is hanging on the wall.

Here on the left side of the room is my desk and TV.

Right now my TV is a hat stand and picture frame,

I don't watch much TV.

On the other side of the room we have my closet

and a full length mirror.

Here we have my door, a ladder, and most important:

My rice cooker!

Everyone should have one.

Now were does the ladder lead?

My Bed room!

I sleep in a little loft. I love it!

The only problem is that I am directly above my door

and directly below my upstairs neighbors door.

When they come in late and I am asleep I think someone is trying to get into my room,

It scares me to death every time.

As soon as I get the rest of my house cleaned I will take pictures of the rest of my apartment. I also have a kitchen, thrown room, and bathroom. This is only half of my apartment.

Celestia, Over and Out.

Atata Island

Atata and Kono

Yesterday I went to Atata Island to the school there. It was a lot of fun because I got to take a 30 minute fairy ride. Atata is a really nice place and it is beautiful I can see the ocean from the school, there are beautiful views from most of my schools.

It was really misty yesterday. It made for some interesting pictures, but you couldn't really see the beauty of the area

Atata is famous for their oysters, this is an oyster farm. There all over the area. Really soon they are going to have their oyster festival, I will be sure to get some free oysters!

There are lots of fishing boat out in this area. I thought this looked really neat.

Today I was at Kono elementary. It was a wonderful day. When I arrived the whole school was outside waiting to greet me! There are about 5-6 staff and 16 students. They welcomed me in English and in Japanese. Each student had a name tag on and shook my hand. They were all so cute. I got to introduce myself to the whole school for a class period. It was fun to get to know each other. I ate lunch with them in their lunchroom, it was fabulous. During lunch all the kids tried to talk to me, it was a lot of fun trying to figure out what we were trying to say to each other. After lunch I played volley ball with most of the students. It was so much fun! I love this school so much! When I got back to my desk in the teacher's room I found a picture of me and all the children from when we were doing introductions. I love that this school took pictures and gave some to me so I could have pictures of the students since we are not allowed to take pictures of them.

It has been a really good week. I hope tomorrow will be a good day! I am going to a hot springs tomorrow night for a school party, it is their New Years party. I don't know if I will get in, but I will be sure to enjoy the food!




Celestia, Over and out

Skool and stuff

I guess I better post something while I am somewhat awake... :D

Today was so fun! In my fifth grade classes we played a game. The students got into three groups and they each took turns coming up to front of the class and draw something on the face on the board. I have to say that the first class came up with the best faces, they were really funny! I wish I would have taken my camera to take pictures of the boards! The second class was very creative in their drawings..... they put Picasso to shame! The kids had a lot of fun and they used a little English, what more could you ask for? I love that school's 5th graders!

So, Sunday I actually got to church! I was so excited. I got a ride from Mr. Hayashi, he is from my company. I am glad he took me to church, it is a 400 yen train ride. While that isn't way expensive, about $4, I really don't have the money right now to get to church. When I got to church everyone was soooo nice and introduced themselves. I met a few girls my age and sat with them. In sacrament meeting they had me stand up and Mr. Hayashi introduced me to the ward. Sunday school was fun, it is the YSA program for the single adults in the ward. The bishop gave the lesson and Mr. Hayashi came in and translated for me so I could participate in the lesson. In Relief Society they had a sister who was visiting from the stake translate for me, her English was perfect! It was really nice to be able to understand what was going on in the lesson and be able to participate. After church the stake president's wife, who was visiting our ward, invited me to dinner at her house the following week. I was so excited to get a dinner invitation, I think that made my whole day! After church I ate a snack with the single adults, one girl shared her rice balls with me, and we talked with the missionaries... I think they spent just a little too much time talking with the single girls in the ward... but I'm not judging..... I was glad to talk to someone in English, one elder is from New Zealand. After we ate we went to a fireside. It was all in Japanese, but I wanted to hang out with the girls a little longer. I was glad that I went. We were a little late and the fireside had already started, but after an American came up and talked to me. As it turns out she is an ALT for the same company as me! We talked a while and had a good time. It was nice to meet another ALT and one that is also LDS in my area. She doesn't really live close, and hour and a half ride from where we were, but at least we are in the same stake and can see each other at stake things. I took the train home after the fireside, it was fun. The view of the ocean from the train was amazing! It is a half hour train ride from our church building. At one of the stops a high school girl got on with a longbow, it was really cool. I got up the courage to talk to her right before we got off the train. She said it was a Japanese longbow, that is all she said. Any way, I thought it was really cool.

Next week I will go to the Japanese ward, but they are going to get me the military ward information so I can go a man hunting! Yes, they told me that I am always welcome to go to their ward, but they thought it would be best for me to go to the military ward so I could find a husband! So I guess in two weeks I will be going man hunting at the military ward. ;P It should be great fun, but with my luck there will only be families there.....


Well, I think that is enough for today....

Celestia, over and out.

To my Ladies

~A shout out to my Ladies~

Ok, ok, so this is a little sappy....

So I was thinking about you girls while I was walking home from school today.

I thought of all the places my feet have traveled

and all the people I have met.

I realized how grateful I am to be here in Japan.

I am not as grateful for the opportunity I have to be here

as I am for the opportunity I have to be your friend.

You girls are the greatest!

You sure know how to make a girl feel loved.

Thank you for making me feel like I have real friends,

like I belong.

Love ya!

What Nots

This is me after three nights of going to bed after 10pm,
three days of getting up @ 5:30am,
and being terribly exhausted and cold.
Terrible picture, isn't it?
Some times I think I must not like me to punish myself so.

Funny thing... I crashed this morning after only being up for 2 hours!
It was a struggle to keep going all day today.
I am seriously thinking of going to bed as soon as I am done here.
It is only 6:30pm and if feels like 3am....


Here is my favorite Engrish that I have run into so far:

Fits me perfect, doesn't it?

It is a cute little notebook, so needless to say I bought it.

I use it for my lesson plans and notes.

Well, I'm off to bed.

Celestia, Over and Out

Otake Pictures

oh man.... my last post was so long! Sorry...

So, here are some pictures I have taken so far in Otake:

:D

Look! The trees are still green!

I love how one side of town has trees and bamboo

and the other side is just factories

This is one my way home from one of my schools

I walk past this almost everyday. There is a stream the passes through this area.


So funny thing, I walked past this and loved it, so I took a picute of it.
Well, there were some workers who saw me taking pictures,
This is right in front of a car repair place,
Well they were worried as to why I was taking pictures, they were so
releived to find out I just like the way it looked.


:D

I love the little person with the big eyes!

:D

This is a really pretty place by my house. I can't wait to see what

It looks like when it gets its leaves, maybe it will flower!

This is for you, Liz!

Look! I am posting on my blog! It has been a long week and I have been very tired. (I really shouldn't be blogging after a tiring school day...)



I got to Otake a week ago today. When I got to my apartment I found a note left by one of the ALTs in the area. He had helped move out the person who was here before and left me his contact information and offered to take me places I need to go (as long as I don't abuse it :P). It took us forever to get my alien registration and bank account set up done, neither of us had ever done it before. But we had a lot of fun doing it. My IC (internship coordinator) brought her eight year old daughter with her since she was still on holiday. We had a lot of fun together, she was my little tour guide. i love Japanese kids! They are so cute and so nice!







My IC-
Masako and her daughter (I thin her name is Kaho)




I didn't have time to do any shopping before we had to leave and visit one of my schools. It was really funny. I work with four different teachers at that school, three women and one man. The female teachers tried to hook me up with the male English teacher. It was really funny and he was a good sport about it.

When we got done with that school we went shopping. You Me town is pretty much a mall/ shopping center. It has a grocery store, jewelry store, 100 yen store, shoe store, music store, electronic store,Clothes stores, food court, and quite a few cute little boutiques. Most of the stores are in one building with out being separated, unlike it is at home. I got my bed there ( a whole new meaning to "bed in a bag", it was my whole bed in one bag, not just the bedding), a rice cooker, iron, alarm clock, cooking tools/supplies, laundry things, and some food. The whole time Kaho took me around the stores showing me things and telling me their Japanese names.

Thursday was a really interesting day. I met 4 of my 6 schools. I really can't remember much, it all blends in together.... But it was a nice day. I finally met the other ALT later that night, his name is James. He took me shopping. Really I just wanted to get out of the house and hear someone speak correct English, he shopped and I talked. :D I will have to get a picture of him and post it.... as it is I don't have one.

Friday was a nice relaxing day. I hung out around the apartment and put things away... some things. Mostly I washed the dishes that I bought and what James had brought over for me (they were the dishes the ALT before me had....). That afternoon I went exploring. Not such a good thing.... I over used my foot and it hurt really bad. I thought, "Oh, my foot hurts. *Shrug* oh well. I will go home, wrap it, and it will be better before I know it. No big deal, right?" Oh how wrong I was!

Saturday I chilled out, talked to my family on Skype. I went to the store, again, with James. I needed to get a few things... plain rice is ok, but really, it needs something. That is when I realized that my foot wasn't getting better. It felt worse Saturday then it did the day before....

Sunday was really sad. I got up and ready for church. I gave myself an hour to get to the train, take it to the next stop (5 minutes), and find the church that was supposed to be right across the street from the train station.... But I couldn't find it. Nor did I see any non Japanese people in Church clothes, and it is a military/English ward. I walked around until I misses sacrament meeting then i decided to go home since my foot was in excruciating pain and I missed the sacrament. :( I watched movies and hung out the rest of the day and tried to stay off my foot.

So Monday i finally called some one about seeing a doctor. It turned out to be a big deal (for the company), everyone was so worried about my foot. They sent out someone from the Hiroshima office to pick me up and be my translator. He ended up being really nice, though his English was the best (Still his English was really good). On the way over he asked me if I was a Mormon since I was from Utah. I told him I was, and as it turn out he is too! He lives close to me so he offered to pick me up and take me to the local Japanese ward next Sunday. yay! I will be able to go to church!... Any way... So the doctor was really nice and knew a little English, so between him and my translator i got all taken care of! Nothing is broken, which is good, but I have an inflamed muscle... not so good. They gave me a cool patch to put on it, it also has pain killers in it, and sent me on my way. That is right, they didn't charge me at all for my visit. As it turns out that was a very unusual occurrence. Monday was a holiday and they usually charge more on holidays. I was told they weren't charging because I am a teacher at a school near the doctor's house.

yesterday was my first day in the class room! I had a lot of fun, though it was a little awkward. In my first class I had a student, in the front row, fall asleep. The whole while the teacher was trying to get questions for me out of the students. I finally stepped in 5 minutes before the class got over and had them play a game. The other three classes were much more energetic, then again so were the teachers. I have a little admirer in one of my classes. He just wanted to talk to me the whole time. When class was over he told me that he really liked my hair and thought I was beautiful. I think he is my favorite! (shhhh, don't tell anyone!)

Today it snowed! It was really funny because my school was really worried about me. One of the teachers lives close to me and took the bus with me, she didn't want to drive in the snow because it is too dangerous. Funny thing is the snow was only a powder dusting, I don't think the roads were even wet. There are only 4 buses that go out that way a day, and we were on the 9:00 buss that would get to school at 9:27 (the cool thing is that the bus stop is right in front of the school's front gate), so the teacher was really late.... I leave school early, too, because of the bus schedule. The principal came in and escorted me to the bus stop and made sure I got on OK. It was really nice.

I walked around the bus/ train station when I got back from school. I thought it would be prudent to find how to get to my school for tomorrow. As it turns out it is a 30 minute walk from my house, so I don't have to pay for the bus or train on that day! On the way I took some pictures.. it was really pretty. I forgot to take pictures when I was at my school today, it is up in the mountains and it is sooo pretty! Next time, perhaps.

Celestia Over and out

Japan pics

Here are just a few pictures I have taken so far:

My anime face-


















I loved these park benches.















Beautiful fountains. :D















My hotel Room















My bathroom. :D




















Todays lunch, Raman! I love Raman.

What Nots

Wow, I wish I wasn't so tired/lazy, I would love to say so much more then I have. i have had so much fun the last two days! I love the people I am with right now. I am going to be so sad when I leave everyone and I go off on my own. It is inevitable. I guess we will just enjoy it while it lasts.

Today we had a lot of training. The sad thing is that it took us forever to get to our training today because there were accidents. I think one was a suicide and one was just an accident. We found out that the line we go on from our hotel is very popular for suicides. It is very sad. but, on a more happy note, we had a great time in the training. We learned a lot and had a great time together.

We went to a Karaoke box tonight, we went because it is Ashley's birthday, one of the other interns. We had so much fun. We ROCKED Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, we all sang it and it was amazing! My voice is a little weak after rocking out. Though, I have to say I am really sad that a few of the songs I forgot the tune and totally botched the songs! So sad. As soon as I can I will post out Karaoke pictures.

Tomorrow we are going to go to Church and then we are going to a park and see everyone dressed up as their favorite anime characters. It should be a lot of fun. We only have a few more days left together to have fun and see the sights. Liz and I leave for our areas on Tuesday. I have to say that I am really nervous about going out so quickly. I meet my schools on the 6th and 7th, if I remember correctly. It should be real nice to get started. I am nervous, though, about being a good teacher. I hope I can do it and be everything they want me to be.

It is late. More for you later.

Celestia, over and out.

Greatings from Japan!

Look! I am finally in Japan! This is so exciting!

The flight over was a nice but long flight. We even had some turbulance and had a bit of a scar, it felt like we were on a roller coaster. We arrived yesterday at 4:30, Japan time, got settled in, and went touring the local temple, the Sensoji Temple. We were too tired to do much so we

turned in at about 9:30, it was New Years eve for us, so that was kind of lame. But hey, we did manage to take some pictures.

This morning we got up and went to a family mart to pick up breakfast. We then decided we would eat it by the river at a little park they have there. it was realy pretty and we had a great time.

This is the lovely park we ate at. It was a nice view.

Well, I do have more to say and more pictures, but I am tired so that will be all for now.

Celestia, over and out