megane/ glasses

(sorry the pics with my glasses and the one after are not uploading correctly so please wait for a later date. thanks)


So I've decided to buy glasses. . . they are a lot cheaper here then in America. . . about 70 dollars for the perscription and frames and exam. Dirt cheap and contacts are still around 20 bucks for a box which will last me a good month and a half. I'll buy them too but not as often and not as much. I'm slowly getting use to them though. . It's weird. Tatsuya fancies them on me though so that's a plus. I think it just accents the HUGE head I have. Hee hee hee. OH, well. . .what can I do. . I'm cheap.





While I was glass shopping we found a fun shop with funny glasses. . . I was going to get these but they definetly would highlight my big head. hahahhaha



THis past week I had a pretty bad cold. . . .influenza is going around here in Japan. It's pretty bad in the winter. My friend, Amy, got a pretty bad case of something lungy and I had a lungy thing for about a week and half and am just getting it out of my system completely this week. But I was homesick and missing my mom's stew so she sent me the recipe and I made it. It tasted just like her's too except I added Garlec stems which are nice.



March 3rd is Girl's day in Japan where they celebrate daughters. Most women when they are born are given a set of dolls. . .Japanese dolls that are realy expensive and they set them out on this day. Two of my private students are friends and they invited me over to one of their houses to make girl's day food so I got to go over and learn how to make this food. Ironically most of the food is sea food but it was goood. I had Clams in some soup, salmon eggs and shrimp and nori (seaweed). It was all good except the eggs. Ugh. . .they were a bit salt. ;) but still okay. The women in this picure are Yuri (on the left) and Keiko (on the right). I will have more pics of this up later.


Love you all!

25th Birthday! Hurrah!

I don't know if you knew it or not but my birthday just past by. . . I am now 25 and if you want to send me a present or card you can address it to

Melody Lewis
403 UMEDA KOPO
1-6-6 KAMITODA
TODASHI SAITAMAKEN
335-0022 JAPAN

I had a little gathering on my birthday. We all went to dinner and just hung out. It was a Tabehodai which is basically you can eat as much as you like for around 20 bucks for about 2 hours. It's an interesting concept. . . they also have Nomihodai which is all you can drink but that isn't very cost effective for me seeing as I dont really drink all that much. A bit of a light weight my brothers and sisters found out on the cruise. Its been known that I dont always finish my drinks. . .or if I do its after all the ice has melted ;).

Well, here are some pics from my birthday.



Here are all the people, excluding one, who came to my birthday party. Yukiko is taking the picture. From Left to right. . . Charlene (my roommate), Me, Mika (a student of mine), Tatsuya in the back, Yumi (another student), Chiemi (a friend), Amy and Bernice (friends. I started training with Bernice and Amy is good friends with her from English.) and Yukiko ( a friend but ex-student at NOVA. We became friends even though its against work rules. . oops).



Wow, do I look hunchy and he looks skinny. . .well, I guess both are kinda true. I am working on the posture and he's actually working on teh skinniness. lol



My cheezy roommate being cheeky. My samurai and me looking flush even though we had no drinks at the dinner. Just water.



before



And after. . . Yukiko seems to rub off on people. It's a good thing.




Like I said. . . lol




There was a lot of food. . . it kept coming and coming and coming.



I know its blurry but I love this picture of Chiemi. It captures her heart and personality.



Amy and Bernice love food. . j/k but not really. I love Amy in this pic too.




what did I say :)




Sooooo serious!



I LOVE this picture. He looks soooooo cute!!!! It caught him at the perfect moment. When I think of Tatsuya I always picture a smile.


My second favorite. Even if we are blurrey you get the idea.

Okay, and this is what Amy thought of the night and being at my birthday party. . . love you too amy ;)

Unpaid wages

Can I just tell you how happy I am today. Well, I've VERY happy for many reasons but the image above is probably one of the biggest reasons I'm happy TODAY! Yes, the Japanese government is coming through and starting to repay our back wages and it's a lot of money. . . mom, lets just say it's enough to pay off my credit cards and have some fun afterwards! Boooyah!

Another reason I'm happy today is because I cleaned my rooom and re organized the closet and got some container thingies at the 100 yen store to help organize it all.

Another reason I'm super happy is that Tatsuya got offered a job last night and had a second interview with another company! But he still has many companies to interview with. He's praying for an international company. . Goldman Sachs. . . Neiman Brothers. . . .other ones I don't know ;) But it's good that he already has offers!

Also I just picked up my new visa and it's for 3 years!!!!! Wow, my last one was for only 1 years. So that's pretty cool ( I know this may not seem like a "yay" for some but for me it's good. In case I do stay next year I dont' have to worry about applying again. )


I start training for my new job March 25-28th. I am also looking to move towards where I'll be working since my roommmate is sadly leaving Japan in the summer. I have a friend who lives in that area (Nerima) and she likes it a lot. She only pays around 500 for her own place. The station is a good station too. There are a few train lines that go through it and one of them is the same one that Tatsuya lives on. But he lives on the other end of the line. I have a good friend, Yukiko, that lives near Nerima too so that will be nice. Pray I can find a place that is affordable to move into by May. I know the Lord will provide. He has done so since I"ve been here.

I love you all.

Hokkaido Part 4: The Second Middle

Hey friends and family,

After Hakkodate Amy and I traveled to Sapporo for the snow festival (Yukimatsuri). It was a pretty amazing first day in Sapporo.



Yes, that the Sphinx in the back.



aaaargggghh. . ..I'm a Chinese dragon!!!



The Sapporo version of the Tokyo Tower

After we walked around the Yukimatsuri and were frozen we went to the Ramen Alley. We found a famous ramen house where we ate Butter Corn Ramen which is a well known ramen in Sapporo.







The Sapporo Yukimatsuri was HUGE! the scale of the sculptures were pretty large.




We loved Sapporo.

Hokkaido Part 3: The Middle

So on our last day in Hakodate we went to Onumakoen/ lake. It was a great place and we had a lot of chopping in the snow. We went off the beaten track a bit. Most of the people there were tourists. . .and most of them were Chinese too. I think we were the only ones who actually went chopping in the snow.



Here we are about to leave on our 1 car train. It was really cute.



Here we are at teh station/ information area. Thats a swan and Amy.



Me and a bear. There are these carved bears with fish that are famous in Hokkaido apparently. Another thing that is famous up here is a saying "Boys be Ambitious". Apparently some foreigner. . . doctor or something. . . .said it to a college. I dont know really. Sorry. hahahha good story huh?



I'm guessing its a pokimon. . . not sure on that one. They had a bunch of these at the lake before you go on the trails or rent a snowmobile for 6 minutes for 10 bucks. . .no kidding. RIPOFF but all the Chinese people were into it.



A really pretty mountain you could see all over the park wherever you walked.



SO I saw these tracks on teh lake so I though it was okay to walk on it. . . I learned the hard way as I always do. I started to sink and it was kinda scary but not really. Amy would have jumped in after me. . . later she told me "what would have been the good of me to jump in and then freeze too". thanks amy ;)



My poor boots. . .they held up but that was after the lake incident.



Me after almost falling in.



Amy chomping



just more beautiful pictures of Hokkaido



We found a part of the lake you can walk on and there were these igloo type things you could sit in.



Us on the lake



I kept seeing people eating ice cream and my roommate, Charlene, told me that she'd heard that Hokkaido had the best ice cream in Japan. So I got some. . and she was right.



I shared with Amy.



that night we had tonkatsu and whatever Amy is eating here. . its shrimp and other yummy stuff.



Best bowl of Tonkatsu Ive had in Japan. Ps. for some reason I like to eat Tonkatsu when I get home sick. . . maybe because my friend, Yukiko, and I would hang out at Otori a Japanese set menu restraunt and we'd eat tonkatsu sometimes. . I dont know. . good memories. makes me warm inside.



That is the sign from the restraunt. Oh, Tonkatsu is Pork.


Our hotel in Hakodate

I have more videos I'll update those later. Check out m y last blog. .I've added some vidoes.

Hokkaid Part 2: The beginning

So some of you know that I traveled to Hokkaido which is the Northern island of Japan. Its farely close to Russia actually. In Sapporo and surrounding areas there is a snow festival called Yukimatsuri. My friend, Amy, and I decided to travel northward for this festival. Here is our pics from it.









here is amy on the train to the airport!!!







I got camera happy. . .there were sooo many more then this. . .hahahahahah







us waiting







the airline we flew on was called "Air Do" heee heeee. .







first glimps of Hokkaido





Hakkodate airport













Our first meal in Hokkaido. . ...RAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNN







waiting for Amy to get out of the toilet







On our way to Goryokaku koen







Us at Goryokaku koen :)
















Our second night in Hakkodate and our second meal. . .yes, we logged our days by our dinners. hee heee hee







Our cute chopstick holders were squids





I had crab grotten. ..crab was really expensive there.