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Sorry for the delay in posts I had to make sure everyone could see the blog.

Anyways my life over the past week or so....

Over the weekend I kind of just relaxed. I went and sang Karaoke with some friends on Saturday night. It was kind of fun. I had a couple good duets with Carrie hahah.

Sunday I did alot of clothes shopping because I'm wayyyyy overdue when it comes to refreshing my wardrobe. I still have tons of stuff from high school which is a bit ridiculous. It's probably because I don't like spending money on clothes when what I already have works fine, but since its been so long I really need it. Alot of my clothes are clothes other people have bought for me, but I feel like my clothes should represent my tastes, so I need to make it my own. I spent around $130 on clothes which isn't that much for everything that I got. Most of the clothes I got are drying now because I wore them but I'll edit this post later and post pics of what I bought.

All in all I bought a Nike Trainer Jacket, a nice brown long sleeve shirt that came with an undershirt that is super Japanese style with the chest open (that I won't wear) I didn't have the option to buy just the brown long sleeve or I would of. I also bought a nice white and black striped dress shirt, 2 pairs of grey dress pants (since I don't have any grey dress pants and they go with alot of stuff I already have), and a weird Japanese jacket that came with snow pants. The weird Japanese Jacket I was told (after I bought it) that yakuza (who are new to the gang or Chibi yakuza ちびやくざ) wear that kind of jacket. That makes it hilarious, but I have yet to wear it in public yet. The jacket and pants together were only 1700円 or 17 dollars.

On Tuesday night I went with Teraoka-sensei to have some ramen. She took me to one of her favorite places in the far north west of Sano (which is a city famous for its ramen). It's called おぐら屋 (Ogura-ya)　I was expecting a small little Mom and Pop shop, but it looked big. It was really delicious ramen, I should of brought my camera and taken a picture. I got a copy of the menu. It sucks that it's so far away, (it would take me probably 45 mins by bike to get there) or else I would go there more often. I probably won't go unless someone with a car takes me, or maybe by bike once the weather gets nice again. I found the website and here's what it looks like and what the ramen looks like:

Big place in the middle of no where

Delicious Ramen 美味しいラーメン

We also split some Gyoza.　餃子　（Like Dumplings)

On Wednesday I taught at Azuma ES. I really like Azuma for some reason. I get along with all the teachers pretty well, and its relatively easy to communicate with them. I wish I could hang out with some of them after school or on a weekend sometime but they're always busy. I had my first teacher "group lesson" there. I taught the teachers some basic English they could use when preparing lessons with me. I also taught them whatever they requested. It was kind of weird because it felt too formal, I felt unprepared and besides my hearing my pronounciation the head of English could have easily taught them everything I did. It was kind of good to teach them some things they should probably know. I can't really talk much about what they should know, because after all I'm living in a country where I can barely speak even basic Japanese. Of course my Japanese has improved and I've learned over 1250 Kanji, but until I can have conversations without using any English I won't be satisfied.

Today I taught at Funatsugawa ES. It was pretty fun. Its such a small school but I go there so rarely I still don't feel fully comfortable there. Everytime I go there, the lunch always is stuff I don't like haha, they must think I like nothing. The people are all so nice, and the students are pretty smart. Of course the 5th and 6th grade are super socially awkward (more so than my other schools), but I guess that's expected at that age.

Tomorrow I teach at Azuma JHS, which I'm looking forward to. I like teaching there because it's a nice break from teaching at Elementary. I'm really happy I chose the teaching path I did (with a mixture of both Junior High and Elementary). I don't think I'd be as happy if I took just one or the other. One of the weird things about living here is from time to time I complain, but then after looking at the big picture I realize that if I had a choice I'd make things exactly the way they are. Luckily the path I chose was the one that didn't require a car, its in the middle of all 5 of my schools, its close to 3 train stations and the Sano Outlets.

This weekend I'm going to Tokyo to see two friends that I actually met on Skype. One of which I'll be meeting for the first time. We're going to meet up around lunch time and do a little sight seeing then go to Odaiba for dinner. I'll probably spend the night in Chiba with a friend and come back on Sunday.

Oh also it feels like January was the fastest month I've had yet. Time flies here. My job makes me realize how ridiculous it is to only have 4 weekends in a month.