Sports Day

Sorry for not posting anything recently. I've been having computer and internet problems but as of now both those issues are nonexistent so here we go :)

About 1 month ago my school had its Sports Day which is like a Sports Festival where all the classes compete against each other But only within their year. It was really interesting to watch. Here are some pictures from it.

IT was a beautiful day

At the beginning most of the races were normal ones.

But they soon became odd ;)

Here the different clubs are racing (if you can see. . . the swimming team is running in speedos, goggles, and a cap)

THere was a tug of war. . . school vs. parents

All the students cheered on their teams.

Each team made a poster too.

Two legged race

This is called "Hurricane" where the 3rd year students had 4 people running with a rod. Once they got to a cone they spun around it and then came back and had to run the rod under their teams feet as they jumped up and then over their heads as they ducked and pass it onto the next group.

Here the 2nd year students had to do like a group/ team 3 legged race. . .interesting. . some of them could run REALLY Fast.

Here the 1st year students are jump roping as a class!!! Soooo. . . 28-32 students!!!!!!!

I liked this part the most. . .the 2nd and 3rd year boys had to make different shapes with their bodies. . .it was really fun to watch.

Well, that is a nice little picture summery of my school's Sports day. Hope you are all doing well this fine Autumn day. Love you all.

Melody

Major Update. . .

Hey Friends and Family,


I am sorry that it has been ages since I updated. First my internet wasn't working and we had to get it fixed which took about a week and a half and then my computer completely died which really sucked and . . . still sucks!!!!! I love and hate technology. Ya know? Love and hate relationship.

Where to start. . .where to start. . .

I'm not sure if I've told you personally or not but I will be returning home next year in April. I'm really at peace and actually excited about this new change. :) My teaching job here will finish March 26th or something like that, my parents (maybe Anna) will come around April 1st (depending on Wendee's due date ;) ) and will stay for a about 2 weeks. I'm really excited about them coming to Japan. I haven't had any guests come and stay with me which is a bit sad but I understand. BUT I AM thrilled to have guests come and to be able to show them around and what not. After that I will head home 5days to 1 week later. I will want a bit of time to say goodbye and pack up some last stuff. When I told a friend of mine here she began to cry!!!! Wow! I was really surprised. I will miss Japan but I feel ready to come home. . . though the declining economy kind of frightens me. . .when I came to Japan the yen to dollar ratio was 100 yen to 1.45 dollars. ..now it's 100 yen to 1.00007 dollars or something like that. . .basically it's 1 to 1 . . wait I'm going to check today. . .it's not out yet . . I get the currency rates sent to me daily :)

Oh, something new. . my roommate, Charlene, has moved back to Australia. She moved out in September. I've been her roommate since the second month I moved to Japan which seems like forever. I'm happy for her though. . .a little jealous but happy. :) Here are some pics of our last supper. hahahha

Me and Charlene

Michelle and Bernice (Michelle is a friend from Australia who happens to live in Japan too)

Bernice opening her gift from Charlene

Bernice eating her gift from Charlene :)


Well, there were 3 little monkeys living in Japan. . . 1 returned home . . . now there are 2 little monkeys living in Japan.

I hope you are all well and that life is going smoothly and not too fast for you. I'm already getting head spins from how fast this year is going. It's already Fall and it just feels like I was in Oregon for summer vacation. Phew! I love the Fall though. . it's by far my favorite season I've decided. The air is crisp, the mornings are nice and cool and the afternoons are sunny and warm. I love it. It has been a little rainy but nothing like Oregon :) I miss Oregon Autumns. I love that bit of rain and the smell of the leaves and grass after a Autumn rain. Here it's nice too. Especially out in the countryside. Yes, there is a countryside. :)

I hope that you all feel more up to date with what is going on with me :)

Love you all!!!!



Melody

Oh, my goodness!!!

Okay, I was going through my old pictures trying to figure out what to print out and what to send to Aubrey in Paraguay and what to send home. . .and this is an image I chose not to print out but isn't it adorable!!!! I mean . . . look at them!! Look how much they have changed!!! And this is when I realize how important images are. I love these two sooo much and can't believe how old they are becoming. Slow down!!!

Day 6 of the Master Cleanse and More

Hello Friends and Family!

So I am on the 6th day of the Master Cleanse and it's going well. Today was probably the first day I really felt like eating something else but that was because I was surrounded by a room of people eating really yummy Bentos (mmm. . .home made Japanese lunch boxes. . .much better then PB and J ;) ) and I got some really yummy Omiyage (souvenirs) that I'll have to wait to eat but it's worth it!! I actually can't believe it's already the end of day 5. I did do the salt bath again today and it went much better. 1 tbs but I still didn't finish the water. . .it's just TOOOO much water to intake in one sitting. Seriously don't see how people can do that unless they have a HUGE stomach.

Oh, another thing. . .I've gotten Skype so if you want to talk to me for free you should download it :) Let me know if you want to know my Skype id.

Here are some pics from Oregon that I never updated.

Me and two of my girls



Me and Grandma (sorry I didn't see you as much as I would have liked to)



Brandie, Scott and Me



Me and Papa



Jas and Anna on my last night



Mom and Beth



Erik and the Girls



Us again :)



Me and my 2 oldest bros (Glen and Jason)



My Kate



N, S, B (Nate, Sam, and Bean)

The Master Cleanse day 3

Sorry I haven't blogged in a bit but I thought that today there was certainly something to blog about.

*warning: slightly disgusting potty talk ahead

So today was day 3 of the Master Cleanse. . if you don't know what this is then you can google it or wikipedia but basically it's a detox that helps cleanse your body. You drink 100% Grade B Maple Syrup ( 2 tbls), Lemons (2 tbls), and Red Pepper/ kayan (to taste). The lemon, maple syrup, and red pepper are high in vitamins and what not and the red pepper helps to break up the mucus in your system . . .anyways. . .if you want to know more google it or find the little book at a Whole Foods near you. :)

Day 3 started out like any other day EXCEPT we'd finally found non-iodized salt/ sea salt which we needed to do a salt bath/ flush your insides. since the iodine in salt helps with absorbtion if you use enough non iodized salt then it flushes right through you and your body thinks it's a solid and it flushes all the waste your carrying around inside you. You have to take it in the morning on an empty stomach so I woke up an hour early like I'd read to do because it takes an hour to pass the salt water. Well, I did so but I had NO idea how AWFUL it would be. Not only does it taste like an ocean. . . 1 L almost killed me. I drank about 3/4ths of a liter. .my roomate couldn't even drink 1/2 of 16oz. It was really bad. I felt SOOOOOO sick. I felt like I was coming down with the flu where you can't walk, weak all over, headache, nausea. ..etc. (oh, I put in two full tbls of salt. ..too much) Well, about an hour and 15 minutes later I had the desired effect except at first and for most of it. . .I felt like I was peeing out my bum. YES! I was peeing out my bum! It definetly flushed the system. I was like that from9:30am-3am. . . by noon I could control it though. . .but from like 9:30- 12 I was always running to the toilet. It wasn't fun but I did feel better after I went.

Here is my advice for you. . . if you do the Master Cleanse. . .I would recommend doing it at least once. . they say every morning or take Senna tea morning and night. . . i am doing the tea mostly from now on because I can' t do the salt water every morning. . . bathroom. . .time. . etc. But it was interesting. I won't take 2 tbls but maybe 1 or so. . . I'll let you know.

My roommate, Bernice, and I will be doing this for at least 10 days but I'm looking more like 14 or so. She's looking at less. hahahhah. But so far it's been great. BESIDES the salt cleanse it hasn't been hard at all. A few cravings but nothing serious. . . nothing tempting enough.

Sushi and Prawns

Yesterday I went out to eat with some past students of mine. We went out for sushi (I didn't have to pay!). Pretty nice sushi I think too. . .I'm use to the kaiten sushi (the ones on the belts that go around in circle and each plate is a different price depending on the color). But this was really beautifully prepared and served. The sushi chef and his wife ran the restaurant. very cute. Here are some pictures

We started out with these Prawns that they call amaiebi (amai is sweet and ebi is shrimp). Can you believe they eat the WHOLE thing. . head and all. . . Keiko ate the tail tooo!!!

Keiko

Me. . . I knew if I didn't take a picture no one would believe me.

And there goes the head. since living here I've come to like some cooked fish. . .most sushi. . .am starting to like nori aka. seaweed. I still don't like shrimp so much but I still ate this to be polite.

The sushi was GREAT!! To be honest I can't tell the difference . .. but the scallops were really soft and tender. The Hamachi (Yellow tail) was GREAT too.

Yuri being very skilled an eating her Magaro with her hands.

BBQ in Odaiba

On Monday my church had a BBQ in Odaiba which is near the ocean. There were suppose to be around 80 people but only about 40 or so came but it was a still a lot of fun. REALLY hot and humid but fun. I haven't edited through all my pictures from that day but here are some of them. I'll post more later. . .

My lifegroup leader Tess.

A crazy guy named Jared

I just like this picture

They say "where there's smoke there is fire" but I don't agree. . . :)

there was SOOOOO much meat!!!!


Also. . .

I am coming home in 2weeks!!!! In 2 weeks I'll be in Oregon!!!! And so will the Texas folks!!! Yayayayyayayayay!!!! I can't wait!!! I miss you all!!!