Good Times...

Life has been good lately....where to begin?

Candice and I have everything worked out for our fabulous 2 week winter vacation in the Philippines. We are going to the very popular island of Boracay. Everything around Christmas times sells out really fast so the last few weeks we have been working on it everyday. We tried to book our flight to Manila in the middle of Sept. but they were already sold out!!! I wonder how far in advance people book these flights? We were put on the waitlist and then bumped up about a week later after some smooth talking by Candice. She can be very persuasive. Then we started sorting out hotels and such. It is going to be a really great holiday.

I killed my fish. But it's for the best, really. He would have never survived the winter. I bought a small tank heater but it didn't work. After having one of my students look at the instructions I realized that I would need to also buy a pump to move the water around. It wouldn't work without water movement. So I scraped that idea. I read on a Beta message board (yes there are such things, and yes, I went to it for help) that an electric blanket can do the trick. Soooooo I bought the cheapest blanket I could and literally wrapped up the little tank. Everything was going great. As the water got warmer Genki became genki again. BUT I left it on HI all night. In the morning Genki was cooked. Pretty sad day. I flushed him. I told the story to one of my classes and they laughed their asses off. Funny thing is that they said that I should have buried him. Apparently, he will not go to heaven unless he is buried! Where do they learn these things? Not from me, that's for sure!

For a few days I thought about getting a hamster. I love hamsters. But then I would have to find someone to care for him while I travel, and it was difficult enough trying to find someone to care for my fish. So no pets for me. Maybe another Beta in the spring.

Exams are next week. Yeeehaawwww!! So I will be sure to post more often ( due to having no classes).

The Mt. Sanbe welcome party was last weekend. It was fun but it pissed rain the entire time. So many of the new jets are young, really young. Apparently, we were a bunch of pigs and the PAs had to clean up a big mess the next morning and even pay for damages. It wasn't me...I swear!

My wonderful friend Kathy and her wonderful husband Kevin are expecting their first child on Sunday!!!! I am so excited for them and so sad that I can't be there for them. It's times like these that make me hate hate hate Japan. I am hoping for a girl. There are so many cute girl outfits in Japan.

Happy Birthday Sarah!!! My little Meemsey turns 25 today. Miss ya girl.

My students taught me some very useful sentences today:

Watashi wa yukkuri nihongo ga hanasemasu. Watashi wa benkyo o shimasen.

I plan to use them whenever I get that look. The "youhavebeenhereayearandstillcan'tunderstandme?" look.

What else????

Oh... I have officially fought off the NHK lady four times now!!! This is a huge accomplishment. There is a licensing fee for owning a TV in Japan. Yeah, total crap!!! The thing is, there is no penalty for not paying and they come door to door trying to convince you to set up direct debit from your bank account. HELL NO! Twice now they have given me the English version of the pamphlet. I just say thank you and shut the door. Playing stupid, while also being really polite and sweet has kept me from having to pay this fee for over a year now. I don't watch Japanese TV, I don't have cable, I am NOT going to pay just because the TV sits in my house. Plenty of Japanese people don't pay either....

Another long weekend coming up. Should be a good time. I will write about it next week. Promise!