23/11/07

It's less then 1 month before I leave for Oregon! It's 9 months and 1 day since I came to Japan. It's 2 days away from me being officially unemployed for 1 month. My friend, Yukiko, has been married for 1 day now. It's 4 days till Brandie's b'day And it's 1 month till Bethany and Erik get married. . .it's a special time in November.

Even though life here isn't all peaches and cream I am happy. My roommate is amazing, my boyfriend is great, I have great friends and family, and the Lord is good. My cup may not be brimming over and I may not know what to do come December but He's providing for the now and I know He will provide for the later :) I love this time becuase I can't control anything and I can just trust (sometimes its way difficult) in Him to provide. He always has.

So I got my dress for Beth's wedding! It fits like a glove. A little too much maybe for my lking. My roommate says it looks perfect but I think around the tummy needs a bit of triming. I will work on that. It does look nice though. :) It's not as brown as I thought and I hope Bethany is okay with that but it's lovely. I love it. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Here is the dress

18/11/07

Yes, this is my third entry but it's a good one. . . I am dedicating this update to Ched Cheverier becuase when I last saw him he was really into martial arts.

These are afew pictures I got from a random competition at my local gym. I went to the gym in the aftertnoon and the parking lot was packed. When I got to the second level with the gym is I saw a group of kids ouside the Judo room and I peeked in. I was pleasantly surprised by a Karate competition. The kids were as young as 7 or8 and as old as early teens. I quickly did my routine and headed home. I showerd, dressed, and charged my dead camera battery as quickly as I could. Heading back to the gym hoping it wasn't already over. . . .which it wasn't. I got out my camera as another match was about to start but as I took the 6th frame it died on me. So here are the six frames I got. Sorry.



















It was soo much fun to watch all the kids competing. I was standing behind one of the teams seating area and each time a kid would finish he would exit next to me. It was soooo sad becuase whenever they would lose they would all be crying. One lost and he came out and his dad was there and he turned and just started to cry on his dad's leg. His dad lovingly patted him on the head and shoulder and told him he did well. It was soo sad. I wanted to comfort him to and tell him that he could probably kick my ass even though he came up to my hip. I had no idea how hard Karate reall is when it comes to competing. One kid started to cry on the mat from another kid wailing on him. Height and weight seemed to really do a lot for a player at this level of competing. Basically all the taller and stronger (or even just fatter) players usually one. It was sad becuase the kid who started to cry on the mat. . . they had to stop the competition before the time was up (which isn't very long in the first place. . .it's like 1 minute for the older ones and a minute thirty for the less advanced kids). He was like holding his ribs and his leg from the apponent kicking him so hard. . . and they had padding on their feet and hands and he had a helmet on. Some of these kids were pretty talented even for being a lower belt. I was very impressed and want to see more Karate competitions/ martial arts competitions in general.

17/11/07

Howdy Howdy!

Yesterday was Tatsuya's and my 1 month anniversary. We met up after my private lesson at 6:30. I wasn't hungry yet so we decided to walk to the restraunt instead of taking the train. It was a few stations away but it was a nice walk in the crisp air. He took me to a cute little Italian restraunt near his house and we shared a ceasar salad and 2 pizzas. . . I had 4 pieces and he had 12 pieces. He was really hungry. . oh, Japanese pizza's have the THINNEST crust ever. .it's like eating air basically. :) So really it wasn't that much food but I was still surprised he ate soo much.



This is the only picture I have of our night. . . sorry. I was a bit camera shy ;)



Here is the lovely mirror he gave me :)



Me and the lovely mirror. . .hee hee hee



Yeah, just a random picture of me now. . .


I hope you guys enjoyed that. . .I had a good 1 monther but am ready for some work. I hope that come this week I'll be back teaching regularly.

17/11/07

Can you believe it! Another update in the same week. Pretty crazy huh? hahhaha. . . .

So my roommate and I are pinching pennies here but it looks like we are going to start work this week!!! Yayyayaya!!! Finally! It's almost been 1 whole month of no work at NOVA. I've been doing part times to feed me but it's not enough to live on. If I hadn't gotten that photo job a few months ago then I would have been up the creek without any paddles OR a boat. . . . but I did so I'm okay for now. Since we are nearing the end of a dry spell my roommate splurged and went and got a haircut for 15 dollars (2,000 yen)! It's sooo cute. Here are some pictures.



Before 1



Before 2



After 1



After 2

She looks sooooo good!



Here's a random picture of one of my private students. She studied in Dallas, Texas for a year and is pretty good at speaking English.



Me and my roommate being goofy.



It's starting to become cold here in Japan. Tomorrow it's suppose to be 12 degrees Celsius which is around 53.6 degrees Farenheit. I'm not in bad shape but my roommate isn't looking forward to the coming months where it will get EVEN colder. It's also getting drier and drier which is funny because in the summer it's like you're walking in a pool there's sooo humidity.





My mom likes to see pictures of me so here they are out on our balcony.



My friend, Yukiko, and I. She's getting married on November 22, 2007!!!


I hope you liked all these pictures!!! Here comes more.

14/11/07

おはいようございます！

みなさんは　元気ですか。私は　元気だよ。　今日は　とても　いい天気です．さいきん　私と　ルーム　メート　いしょに　さんぽをしてる。　昨日は　ルーム　メートと　いしょに　さんぽをした　うちから　川口駅まで。　楽しかった。

明後日は　竜やと　私の　１月か　anniversary　です。　金曜日に　私たちは　晩御飯を　食べますと　映画を見ます。　だけど　竜やの　プレセントは　なにを　買いますか。　たぶん　。　。jewelry. . .とか　本とか　わからない。

Good Morning !

How are you all? I'm doing well. TOday is soo beautiful. The other day my roommate and I have taken to walking. Yesterday we went walking from our house to Kawaguchi staion which is alittle over an hour. It was pretty fun though.

In 2 days it's Tatsuya's and my 1 month anniversary. On Friday we are going to go to dinner and watch a movie. However now I'm trying to figure out what to buy him. . .maybe some jewelry or a book. . .I don't know. . .we'll see.


Last week a good friend of mine from SD, CA came to visit. He actually was in Fukoaka to study Japanese for 6 months. He left the other day but before leaving he came to Tokyo to see me.
HE was sooo great. . since I have no money he paid for us both to go to the Ghibili Museum. The Ghibili Museum is a museum of Studio Ghibili's work such as "Princess Mononoke" or "Spirited Away".

Here are some pics though. . .





Okay, so I always see people walking around with like 4 boxes of Krispi Kremes but I never saw the store. . .we'll my friend and I stumbled upon it the other day in Shinjuku. Crazy huh?



My friend and I in Karaoke! WE were under the sea :)



Ryan opening his energy drink. . .at first we were confused but soon it was opened.



Yayayyayya for Ghibili/ Laputa!!!



He's sooo cute :)




Ryan getting lost in the forest ;)




I liked the feathery things sooo I said "hey, picture". . .. and this is what came out.



Again it's Christmas in Ikebukuro. Crazy huh?


So I made 2 mixed cds for Tatsuya and these are the cover and the inside of the first cd. I forgot to take pictures of the second one. .sorry.




Inside



Cover


Okay, so news on NOVA. We had a big meeting last week with the new owners and with the unemployment office. It sounds good for us now and they are starting the process of getting NOVA up and running again. My plan is to stay with NOVA till next April and then change jobs. OF course this is all dependent on if I stay again. I have decided to stay with NOVA becuase it's convenient and we do get our back pay for the past 2 months. It's only 80% but that's better then nothing. It won't be right away but we will get it because the government is paying us back. But I hear up to 6 months!!! Ugh. . ..I hate government time. But so far it seems to be all okay the question is when will it start up again. . .for now I'm living off of privates and my savings which are dwindling quickly. I have enough for rent next month and my bills but food may become a strain. . .we'll see what will happen.

I'm really not soo worried becuase I know the Lord will provide for me here. He hasn't not provided for me in one way or another. . .then again maybe he sent provision and I didn't see it. . . I did turn down a part time job becuase that was after the meeting with NOVA. . .oops. .. .but I'm praying NOVA will start up soon which is the goal. . .

Please keep us in your prayers. Keep Tatsuya and I in your prayers too. THanks for all your words of encouragment and all the prayers you've said already.

Miss you all.

Melody

06/11/07

Wow!!! I can't believe that people other then myself read this. . . oh and Brandie. But my Uncle Heck and Aunt Verna wrote me a nice e-mail asking for an update so here it is. . . .

Here are a few pics from the past few weeks. . . .

There was a little festival in Toda where I live and my roommate and I went down to check it out. . it wasn't much but there were a bunch of fun booths.



This one happens to be a booth of old women selling cigaretts. . . yes, very "festival" like.



Fun masks.. I wanted Charlene (my roommate) to try one on but she wouldn't :) but neither would I.



This was a cool booth. For something like 200 yen you got this little thingy that looks like an egg dying wand with a thin paper covering it and you get to try and catch as many fish as you like untill it break.s Pretty fun.



This one has to be my favorite of all of them! American Hamburger 100% Beef! hahahahah.




I was in Koenji waiting for my private student when I saw the tallest man I've EVER seen before and he was Japanese.



In Japan it's already Christmas!!! Though Tatsuya says it's not Christmas without snow and that it always seems weird to see a Christmas tree without snow on it. (he's from Hokkaido where it snows every year. ALOT of snow)



Cute women in their Kimonos :)



I went over to my friend's house (adam and Ayako) and we watched movies and ate way too much junk food BUT it was worth it. And they have the SWEETEST cat named "Jet Lee Hopprich". Hopprich is Adam's last name. hahahhaha.


Okay, so here is the update on the NOVA business. . . I just got an e-mail from my AT and she said that their is a buyer. Which means that NOVA has new owners! It also means there are 2 differen things that could happen. . .

1. We could get our jobs back, our back pay, and what not. :)
or
2. We don't get our jobs back but we get unemployment immediately.

I am not sure what will happen but most likely number 1 becuase it would reflect really poorly on Japan if they didn't. Also they have bought the company but if they don't give us our back pay most of the workers won't work. And if they dont' hire us back on who will they hire to teach? But really I'm not all together sure what will happen. Please pray.

On the other hand . . . I have around 10 privates and I just interviewed with a school that needs a part timer but maybe have it turn into something full time. Also they do Visas sooo that is a plus .

Tatsuya and I are doing well! I'm sooo lucky to be dating such a great guy. :) He just finished a crazy festival thingy his university puts on every year and it lasts 3 days but they set up the day before and the next day. . . So it ended on a Sunday but they broke stuff down on Monday. He woke up on Sunday at 6:30 am to get there and he didn't go to bed till Monday at 1pm! Crazy kid is trying to kill himself.

Oh, for any of you who knew I was having some stomach issues/ eating issues. .it's all cleared up and I think it was mostly stress. I can eat just fine now. . I don't eat as much as I use to but I eat more then I was a month ago! I can eat a good size serving now and not crash in 30 minutes or feel like I'm going to barfe. . .and all the other symptoms have cleared up :) Thank the Lord. Seriously! It was pretty sad there for awhile.

I love you all. Thanks for your prayers.