day 3: check

[bangkok's haven]
[welcome to phuket]

last week the weather forecast for phuket said cloudy/ chance of rain. in actuality, we had perfect weather today! we started out early [for some reason i can hardly sleep past 7am!] and headed to a gorgeous nearby beach. of course we took a million cheesy videos and wandered around like we had no clue.

this afternoon we explored outside town, taking in some cool architecture and semi-hiking up the hill on the northern side of the city. it gave us an awesome view of the city and we got to see the sunset behind the hills. here are a few photos, but check out flickr for the whole shebang <3

we had our first thai food in thailand for dinner tonight. both of our mouths were burning but it was totally worth the pain *

happy hot xmas

it's definitely going to be a hot one, folks. cassie and i are sweating like crazy. actually, i just asked her to confirm and she said "no, i'm sitting right in front of a fan" :) we've safely arrived @ our hostel on phuket. it wasn't so easy to get here from the bus station but we are adventurous and brave enough to turn down a million offers for taxi and motorbike rides.

this hostel is already more amazing than the one the last 2 nights in bangkok. that one hinted of the flinstones-- you know, bed rock. bangkok was an overall success, but we are incredibly glad we didn't stay there any longer. yesterday we went to a temple, glimpsed the river, ate an amazing breakfast, saw a movie for less than 4 bucks, and rode a tuk-tuk. yes, i know EVERYONE says not to, but it was a quick, cool ride and totally part of the bangkok experience.

this morning we weren't psyched about more downtown exploring so we found this beautiful park on the north city of the city. we spent hours there, riding a duck-shaped paddle boat and taking millions of artsy photos. it was a much needed haven for us both. AND speaking of us both, cassie is the ideal travel partner. we crack each other up and are interested in basically the same kinds of things: typical sights, natural beauty, and going with the flow. i'm so grateful to be spending the holiday in the presence of her good attitude and laughter*

happy hot xmas; hopefully some pictures will be online tomorrow!

thailand photos

i'm leaving for thailand in less than 24 hours!!! this blogspot takes a SUPER long time to upload photos, so i'm trying a new approach.

this is the link to my newly created flickr site... check it out for thailand photos*

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22059488@N04/

antsy

this weather is definitely making me more anxious to get to thailand. it's rained for the past 17 days straight here. it's some of that not quite freezing weather so its raining but still super duper cold. today i FINALLY got a sweet view of toyama's mountains, but the photos can't do them justice.

my readyness for vacation is made worse by the slow schedule this week. each day so far i've taught 2 class and the next two days i'm teaching NONE. that means a bunch of sitting around the staff room planning for thailand. of course, half the sites i want to use are blocked so i really can't get anything done. today one of the teachers said "kelly, do you like sushi?" i said "sometimes" she goes "mmm. let's enjoy sushi someday. together. do you know together?"

tomorrow and friday the parents are coming for individual conferences with teachers. i told one of my co-teachers that if parents were complaining about their kids' english grade, he should send them my way. i'd give 'em a piece of my mind concerning their own role in their children's lives* of course, i'd give 'em a piece of which they'd have zero understanding.

i'm off to do some laundry, vacuum my apartment, and make something for lunch tomorrow. i said no to sushi bc it would cost 2,000 Yen, which is basically 20 bucks for lunch which i don't even love.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all oyasuminasai*

i have a cool life

every weekend i do something fun. whether it's karaoke, dancing, or eating. i love my friends here and seriously, it's so good to be enjoying japanese life.

[cute tidbit: after my christmas fun class with the special ed. students on friday, the young teacher who taught with me said "thank you kelly. i am fun" :)]

2007 in a nutshell

i feel inspired to re-cap my year thus far. i doubt i will post much more before 2008 begins, except perhaps some thailand photos from an internet cafe somewhere. let's start with perhaps my most important memory of the year...

new years: some of my favorite college friends had a big bash: starting with an incredible ;) new years parade and hike at lauren's house, then heading to loudonville for some good old nelson family fun. then sittig-mohnkern & company stormed boston. for me, this was a beautiful summary of my 4 years of college. it was sort of like a jumping off point... you know, from boston to the ends of the earth. it was also one of my favorite times with matt. it's my most recent memory of matt's love of adventure, friends, and good conversations. as we drove to boston, matt joined right into our silly girl talk. i can see those three hours as clear as day and i'll never forget them as long as i live. <3

january: 1st time as a bridesmaid/ lynz's wedding [the beginning of the theme of my life].

january-may: last semester: student teaching changed my life. it was amazing to see fruits from 7 semesters of hard work. i absolutely adored my city placement and it was influential in my mindset for teaching in the future. i learned a TON and have loads of hilarious quotes from those crazy gangster kiddos. amazing times @ H&S- teaching with sis-fanster and making a difference in some little lives.

may: graduation & myrtle beach-nuff said!! 2nd time as a bridesmaid/ wieder's wedding [sense a trend?].

june/july: an absolute whirlwind of making money, packing, and saying my see-ya-laters. it seems like ages ago, somehow. it was during this time i realized anew what amazing people i have in my life. you are all SO good to me*

august: beginning of life as i know it now. my first time to live alone, my first time in asia, my first time "teaching" english, my first time being immersed in another language. ate some crazy japanese food. climbed mt. fuji. made some rad friends.

september: more of the same, with some japanese study and random excursions thrown in. the beginning of real, quality friendships in this country!!

october/november: the big 2-3; celebration of being a sister; acclamation to an incredibly gorgeous FALL in japan! tons of trips to the mall & starbucks. my first movie in japan: bourne ultimatum, for which i paid roughly the equivalent of 17 bucks.

december: prep for the winter everyone says is coming; detox from my bicycle to which i'm afraid i have become addicted; CRAZY amounts of planning for thailand [countdown: less than 9 days!]; mentally psyching myself up for my first christmas away from home...

already planned for 2008: okinawa with some favs for spring break; finding a job @ home; a hot hot hot himi summer; 1st time as a maid of honor/ ash's wedding; attempting to regain my spanish; putting the pieces of my <3 style="font-style: italic;">here.

cloud nine

[far right= my favorite!!]
[teeny tiniest= hiro-kun :)]

in an attempt to promote international understanding, dialogue will be recorded in the following format. those of you who don't understand romaji-ized japanese, please read the [words in here] because they are my rough english translations. all japanese is summarized, as i didn't have a notebook to quickly jot down hiragana as the day went by.

today was an amazing day, as are all my days at elementary school. i taught all 4 classes AND ate lunch and had recess with the kiddos... talk about cloud nine.

early in the morning, hiro-kun came in to give his routine greetings. he was a bit nervous to come over to my desk, and kept saying "sensei, sensei" which indicated he wanted his teacher to go first. i said ohaiyo [good morning] and he just looked at me with his big ol' eyes. i gave him a star-shaped foam cutout that i brought for my christmas lessons & he couldn't believe his luck! i explained in 5 words of japanese that my mom sent the cutouts to me. his teacher told him basically, [kelly's mom sent it to her from America. now she's giving it to Hiro-kun]. he showed EVERYONE in the office his tiny little star and said "kelly-sensei. mama" haha. so freaking cute*

i ate lunch with 3nensei and they were incredibly jazzed. i can't even fathom how much more japanese i can understand now!!! i remember my first visit there, probably late august. i couldn't grasp a single word when the kids asked me a question. today we talked about all sorts of things, including the nasty fried shishamo (intact fish which i hear are perpetually pregnant and thus have tiny ivory colored eggs inside their swollen bellies) we had to eat, and the complexities of being left-handed. after eating i spent yasumi [basically, free/ rest time] watching kids jump rope and showing off my ability to cross the rope while jumping fast. my absolute FAVORITE little guy at jyunicho was stuck to my side the entire time. he wanted me to jump rope while crossing the room, and said "good-o" [good :)] and gave a thumbs up when i met his challenge. he also said "ready, set, go!" every time i began. his pants AND shorts fell down when he was jumping!! i motioned he should pull them up a bit higher and he followed my suggestion to the extreme. wow, if steve erckle lived in japan, he'd be jealous...

20 minutes into our play, hiro-kun came over with a book he wanted me to read. we plopped down in the middle of the hallway and started to read. my little favorite was there, of course, and my hiragana reading wasn't quite fast enough for his liking. he quickly took over and complained to hiro when he wasn't paying attention ["hiro-kun, look! don't you want to read this book?"] sadly, the time was up soon and we had to start cleaning.

as i walked around, hiro waved me over to his little room. he had a cleaning rag in his hand and was breathing on the glass window. he would grin at the condensation and wipe it away with his rag. he wanted me to breathe on the other side, and a few minutes later we switched sides. i, of course, had to use my sleeve to wipe the glass since i don't have my own personal cleaning rag.

i have to wait MORE than a month to experience today's bliss again. sad news, yo*

holiday here

it's been refreshing to realize that my christmas season this year is drastically different from christmases past. i'm super bummed to not be home with my family. at the same time, i'm content to experience life on the other side of the world.

i can do my work, spend time with my friends, and wrap a few special somethings for my family to be shipped next week. today we had a "christmas party" for some kids of himi. they were super genki but i couldn't help feeling they had no idea what was going on. they were playing games and getting candy, which is always fun for kids. but there's no historical significance, family traditions, or thrill of snow and a big dinner. i can't imagine my life without the celebration of christmas. i can feel myself getting more homesick as i reminisce about the amazing christmases we have had in the nelson home* my parents always make it an incredibly special time...

last year al & i got new p.j.s in our living room at midnight on christmas eve.

this year i'll be on an island at midnight on christmas eve.

if i am kelly

today my 2nensei kids were practicing "if i ____, i will _____" we had them race in teams to write sentences. my teacher picked the beginnings and they ran with it. some examples were "if i am rich..." and "if i am a monkey...." THEN she decided to try "if i am kelly..." [now, i know that's not really good english; you should probably say "if i were kelly..." but hey, i was curious what they would write so i let it go!] i bet you're dying to know, too. well, die no longer! here are the answers from one class:

5. if i am kery [COME ON!!! they still don't know how to spell my name?!], i will be an english teacher. if i am an english teacher, i will teach english. if i teach english, i will study english. if i study english, i will be sick. if i am sick, i will eat chocolate.

4. if i am kelly, i will be model. if i am model, i will be popular. if i am popular, i will get marriage. if i am marriage, i will be happy. if i am happy, i will be pleased.

3. if i am kelly, i will go to america. if i go to america, i will visit N.Y. if i visit N.Y. i will watch a baseball game. if i watch a baseball game, i will be excited. if i am excited, i will jump in the river. [AHHH haha i was cracking up @ that curve ball ending!]

2. if i am kelly, i will be a model. if i am a model, i will take a lot of pictures. if i take a lot of pictures, i will give to my friends. if i give to my friends, they are happy. if they are happy, i am happy too. if i am happy, all world people are happy too. [!!!]

1. [and now, my personal favorite:] if i am kelly, i will go to a bath. if i go to a bath, i will drink ビール [beer]. if i drink ビール, i will be happy. if i am happy, i will watch TV. if i watch TV i will stay in bed.

*these kids must think i have a luxurious life...
watching tv, going to baths, and drinking beer :)

it's official

let's start with engrish, like always:
1. why do you like mother teresa?
"because she has a very beautiful heat"
2. what is your future dream?
"i want to be a beautiful woman" & "i want to become a handball"

some musings from my life...
my crazy teacher stresses me out. i realized today that i am constantly on edge when she's at her desk. when she goes to teach a class, i am instantly calmed and can work effectively and without tension. i'm not sure how i'm going to make it till the end of march, but i'll just go day by day. [the source of anxiety today was the mountain of students notebooks that swamped our desks. they somehow made their way completely onto MY desk, even though she said i should only do them if i had time. of course, she knows i have endless amounts of time since i'm teaching no classes till thursday because of end-term exams]

yesterday was my first day to eat with class 2-5. i always get nervous on mondays about how the homeroom teacher will respond to my eating with the students. this particular teacher has always been nice but reserved. as we all prepared to do aisatsu [greetings, or something...] someone shouted "eigo, eigo de?" and the teacher looked at me... "what do you say in english?" i was on the spot and didn't want to disappoint the kids by saying that we say nothing before we start to eat, so i exclaimed "LET'S EAT!" :) i was so flattered and grateful at the effort of that teacher* she could easily have ignored my presence and made no attempt at communication. she carefully chose to include me in the class and to encourage her kids to use english.

upon arrival at that same class today, i sat down in the empty seat designated as my lunchtime spot. the kids were lined up to fill their trays at the front of the class. one of the genkier/ braver girls flicked my dangling earring to get my attention. i turned around and she just smiled and waved. haha! i guess that's a start. it's better than nothing. as we were finishing our meal, the girl behind me picked something off the back of my sweater. i couldn't understand what she said it was-- apparently the word for random fuzzy things on clothing hasn't been included on their vocabulary lists yet-- but i appreciated it all the same.

yesterday i bought my first article of clothing with engrish* i think that means i have officially adjusted to japan...