relax bear jessica sensei

Well I survived my first week as a SENSEI on my own. It went very well. I feel like I've already been doing this for a while and its only been like 2 weeks. I guess thats a good thing? I've found that I get along best with the 7 year olds. They were trying so hard to get me to laugh, and I guess I was trying the same with them. Making funny faces to describe an emotion we were learning and they would crack up. SO CUTE. I've noticed that there are some kids and some babies that remind me of people in my life back home. SO WEIRD. Like there is this one really nerdy Japanese boy that always does ninja moves whenever he wins at a game or gets something right. He looks so much like my friend Chandler. And there is this one baby that is only 1 year old who reminds me of a boy Nick I met in Jamaica last March. hahahahah Its so strange. Theres a girl that looks like the japanese version of my cousin Brandy. I think of her everytime I teach this girl lol.  Anyways. I am already getting to know my students which is great. And I think they are realizing that I have a silly sense of humor to me. We stamp their work and give them stickers so today I bought a stamp with Pikachu on it that says Good job! and I brought stickers from home and they've been loving those. SO FAR SO GOOD.

Yesterday, Tomo and her new husband offered to take me and Alex to a Holiday light thingy. It was so pretty! It was in Gotumba, which is right on the base of Mt. Fuji. So it was pretty cold at night.



Tomo is one of my coworkers at Amity. She is so funny. She loves hearing about shortened words like.. Be right back is BRB and Oh my god is OMG ... So she is always saying OMG! And she has a really hard time saying my last name. There are two things she said she cant say... Parallel and Avril Lavigne. The first time we met she told me that my name was harder to pronounce then Avril Lavignes name! And i had no idea what she was talking about haha but now I know. Its hard for Japanese people to say words with a lot of V's L's and R's in it. So Ciarelli is a little difficult for her haha.
So it was really nice of her to take us out...We all went to dinner and karaoke afterwards and had a great time. We had hamburg, which I took a picture of. Its not hamburger. I had a student last week who kept telling me she wanted hamburg and i was like hamburger? and she was like no hamburg. and looked at me like i was an idiot. Now I know. lol. Hamburg tastes really similar to meatloaf and you can get it a few different ways like with cheese or sauce or veggies or whatever. I had a sauce on mine that tasted just like a stew type sauce. Very yummy.
I finally did laundry and I was really sad to not have a drier. It was a lot more work having to hang everything up outside on the balcony, but not that big of a deal.
There is this bear here called Rilakkuma that is everywhere and I think its sooo cute:

AWWW

Rilakkuma means Relax Bear.

Anyways. Enjoy my pictures in the slideshow or at THIS LINK.

OH also.. here is a list of things I already miss from the states:

• Hersheys chocolate
• Reese's peanut butter cups
• CHOCOLATE MILK. they dont have it here and its depressing.
• A bed thats not on the floor
• Pizza that doesnt have mayo on it. (seriously they put mayo on everything over here)
• Tomato sauce that doesn't taste like spaghettios sauce.
• Being able to throw my trash into a garbage without separating it (the garbage here is so detailed. in my kitchen i have a garbage for burnables, one for plastics, and another for bottles. and i have to seperate every little thing GAH)
• QUIZNOS SUBS !!! AND JERSEY MIKES SUBS!!
• The latest music & movies
• Family and Friends and Weez- OBVIOUS

Things im loving Japan for having that America needs to have:

• Karaoke places (legit ones with a room to yourself)
• heated toilet seats!!!!! 
• SAKE (well, they need to have it everywhere.. esp. WARM)
• Ramen
• Bike riding everywhere possible without being called a nerd
• amazing 100 yen stores (aka dollar stores)
• rice cookers in your kitchen

anyways. im sure that list will grow. finding new things everydayyy. everyday is an adventure.