"It's called a wicket..."

I don't know what's up with the blog, but I still can't upload any photos. I can't make promises, cause I'm busy and that's also not how I roll, but I'll try to post about China soon. At least words.

Ok, that's done, so, TAKATSUKI! I moved to Osaka, and have been teaching at Takatsuki school for two weeks. It's good, the staff and students are super nice. I don't have to take a train to work, just walk, and the weather's been beautiful. The new teacher's here, he's a cool guy, Alex.
Yesterday, me, Abrahm, Lamika and Alex met up to go to Matt's for some playground fun. Matt moved into a nice, new apartment, and he lives very close to a pretty big park. Matt, being Australian, taught all us Americans how to play cricket. IT. IS. AWESOME. But probably because
1. We're really bad at it
2. We were running around on sand in flip flops, therefore sliding quite a bit
3. A 8 year old student was kicking everyone's ass

After we thoroughly mangled that game, we taught Matt how to play baseball, which is crazy, because he's from Australia, not Mars, they know how to play baseball, right?
Matt: "I've seen it on TV once."

Get outta here.... It was all in good fun. We ran around for about 4 hours, then went back to Matt's for snacks and watched some British comedy shows. "Little Britain" is truly a test to my English listening skills, and apparently, I suck.

So today I'm cleaning, packing, buying shinkansen tickets to Tokyo to visit Miho next weekend! And generally PREPARING TO COME HOME.

I'm excited. You should be too.

Technical Difficulties

I'm having issues uploading photos to the blog right now, so once I get that sorted out, I'll have all the photos and stories from China up for your viewing pleasure.

Elephant Cafe

Wednesday evening, I met up with a student, Tomoko, in Osaka to grab dinner. Tomoko is going to graduate school for art therapy, and her undergrad degree is in photography! We have a lot in common. She's coming to visit America next summer, and we're going to road trip from Seattle to New York.

She took me to Elephant Cafe, which has a lot of Indian, Asian, and Spanish influences. The food was fantastic! I think Mom would love this place.

Mark your calenders...

... because I'm coming home.

Oct. 26. I expect to be greeted at the arrival gate with a PBR, Taco Bell, and your smiling faces.

Moving to Takatsuki...

I finished work on Friday, and spent Saturday cleaning and packing. Shipped my things to Takatsuki, then went out for dinner with a few teachers from Myodani school.

I'm all moved into Takatsuki, and I'm going shopping for a few things today. I'm also watching a fascinating Japanese show that follows a young guy around as he eats local specialties, and interviews the people who supply the ingredients. I wish I could understand what they were saying though.

Sayonara, Mere Chan!

Saturday was my birthday, my farwell party, and the new teacher Chellsea's welcome party! We were very busy. For Saturday students, it was my last class. Some students brought me presents! They are all super nice.

Asuka, me, and Daisuke. They're about 7 years old.

Yuka and Daisuke. Yuka made me a very pretty bracelet.

Me and Saori sensei in the teacher's "room" (it's more like an alcove). You can see the bracelet Yuka made me. It matched my shirt perfectly, I might add.

Me and Kaede, easily my favorite kid student. She's only 6, but she's super smart! She speaks great English.

Noriko

Rie

Miyuki

Masayuki and his daughter, Momoko, who is terrified of me.

Saki, me, Chiaki, and Shoko. They are super giggly high school students. Wonderful young ladies.

I have no idea why Ryosuke has this look on his face. I swear I didn't do anything.

Me, Chitose, and Shizuko. Super friendly, nice women!

Masaki, being ninja, me, Hideaki, and Satoshi. Hideaki showed up a photo he took on the subway of a ninja. Seriously, a ninja on the subway. It was amazing.

Hidekazu, Hiroyuki, and me. The Three Jokers. I will seriously miss these guys. It took me a moment, but I realized they're both bending down quite a bit. They're pretty tall guys.

Megumi, Jun, and me.

Arisa, Yoshimi manager, me, and Erika. Arisa and Erika are cheerleaders at their university.

I'm much more excited thank Ayako.

Naoko and Miki

My Japanese mothers. Makiko, Sumiko, Chiyoko, Kyosuke, and a newer student (sorry, I don't know your name!)

Me and the Odyssey girls. Miki, Naoko, Tomoko, and Aya (who was eating something haha)

Koki

The staff performed a beautiful rendition of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face", with alternate lyrics.

"Mere chan, Mere chan,

I can't hide my crying face.

Mere chan, Mere chan,
We're going to miss your smiling face."

Chika

Oha chan and Yuchika

Even Kaede danced.

Saori, Chika, Yoshimi, me, Risako, Kaede, Yuchika.

I have no idea what's up with the makeup. It's a Japanese pop culture thing.

The one, the only.... Hiroyuki Suzuki.

Then we went to karaoke!!!! Tomoko and I were feeling pretty great!

Miki Chan

Me and Miki, a high school student, in the lobby at school. Saturday was her last class, as she's taking time off to focus on the ridiculously difficult university entrance exams.