What to DRINK in Japan

Good Beer, Kirin Co. winter brew...ummm-Beer!
Chu-hi, the ladies drink. Kind of like a wine cooler, but well...COOLer. The peach is yummy!
Good wine, a tasty blush made here in Japan.

on those cold winter morning going to school, this tea hits the spot!!!

My Car

Here`s what I drive in Japan!

It`s called a Diahatsu MOVE and it`s really boxy and small. Get this though, I have Japanese friends who comment "WOW, that`s a big car!" hehehe Ohh, Japan! It`s great though, cool CD player, 4 WD for the snow, enough room for 6-7 people....OH yeah, might have to shove someone in the back or have someone lay on top of people, but it works! Check out my Hello Kitty Niigata-Ken hanging from the rear-view mirror, kawaii!!!

My Home

I just LOVE this picture!

I remember seeing this truck around town when I first arrived here. Luck was on my side when I saw it again on the drive to work last week and we had a red light and I was able to find my camera quickly in my purse (which rarely happens with the huge sucker).

Yeah....Niigata Japan

Out and About

Shanna and I made our usual outing for dinner last Tuesday here in Niigata shi. We always pass this one Hamburger joint called Donkey Something...hehe...my bad, can`t remember the name off hand. It was a fun place though...LOTS of hamburger steaks- yummy -and GREAT drinks!!! We just freaked out about the size of the menu. Imagine being seated at a small table for two and finding this HUGE-ASS menu on your table....you`d be laughing as well. (It`s still funny for me!) By the time we ordered we had about 6 menus on our table, talk about service!!! :)

First day of Snow - Niigata shi

Here`s pics from last Monday and the first day of real snow fall here in Niigata. Before that we got a few flurries here and there, but this came down all day and left us with a nice slush of grey goop by the end of the day.
Isn't magical!?!?

English Day - Saturday December 3, 2005

Many female ALTs around northern Niigata got invited for English day at a local English Community College. 10am to 3pm talking all day sounds easy but is rather exhausting, but over all it was a fun event. Plus, the 10000 YEN helped out as well! :)

Kimi wa Petto and "AHHHHHHHH....."

Kimi wa Petto
This is "kimi wa petto" - Your my pet. Like almost EVERYTHING here in Japan, once a manga becomes popular it'll be made into EVERYTHING else. Thus, "kimi wa petto" came out last year on TV - live action as they call it. Anyways, it stars my man Jun (Cutie-pie) so I wanted to give it a shout out!!!

AHHHHHHHHHH.....

I really need a vacation NOW and not 13 days from now. My schools are driving me WACKO. All last week I kept getting pressure from my teachers to make a full 50 min. activity Christmas lesson....no prob....i worked on all these different/fun things to do -Good! SO I come to work this week expecting to do Christmas lessons and the teachers practically ignore me. Honestly, one teacher TOTALLY FORGOT we had a class this morning- never came to get me and never said anthing else about it. Nice! Yesterday, one teacher was upset b/c she wanted me to have a fun game to play in her class over "I think". I haven't done a lesson over that yet and didn't have anything prepared at the moment she asked, but I told her I could get something together and get back with her soon. She obviously wasn't happy with that b/c she commented how in the winter people get lazy (yes, that's what she said!). Can you believe it? She told me then that they were way behind and needed to move faster in class, so don't bother going. I guess I'm more of a bother than anything else! Nice! Ohh.....there's SO much more....AHHHHHH......

Ryoukawa JHS

The last weekend in October was when my One-Shot JHschool Ryoukawa had its Cultural Festival. Unfortunately, I was in Tokyo at the time and wasn't able to attend. Here are some pics though that I was able to view at school. Looked like fun, too sad I missed it. But, these are my students at Ryoukawa.

Snow !?!

It`s snowing like CRAZY here in Niigata-shi!!! (doesn`t look like these pics yet, but soon)

It started out small on Saturday when I saw a few flurries coming down while driving, but as of today...it`s clearly visible. I woke up to find ice on my car windows and on top of my car, but on the way to work it started snowing pretty hard. It`s so strange, but exciting as well. And to think I thought I would`t see snow until I came back from Thailand in January. Haha, boy was I wrong! I`m a bit nervous about driving to Joetsu this weekend when I haven`t yet gotten my snow tires.

Wish me luck!!!

Me !!!

1. First name? Johanna

2. Were you named after anyone? Both my names "Johanna" and "Louise" are from my two Grandmothers middle names. I think I'm the 3rd or 4th "Johanna" in my family!

3. Do you wish on stars? Sure, but only on falling/shooting stars!

4. When did you last cry? Ano...Not since I've been in Japan....hehe....Sorry everyone back home! :) OH, wait - I cried from happiness when I reached the summit of Mt. Fuji. I think I might have cried from pain on the way back down too. I MEAN, who seriously thought it'd be smart to put 3 inches of loose gravel WITH rocks on a steep slop and have people stumble down that for 3-5 hours - I SWEAR!!!

5. Do you like your handwriting? Phew - not at all!

6. What is your favorite lunch meat? Sliced plain Turkey (NOT smoked, NOT peppered...just plain)

7. Month & day of birth? January 24th

8. What is your most embarrassing CD? Aqua - Barbie Girl Single :)

9. Do you have a journal? I use too the first month I came to Japan, it was my travel journal...but I just tossed that on the book shelf. So, now I'd say my Blog is my journal.

10. Do you use sarcasm a lot? The question for me should really be phrased "When do you NOT use sarcasm a lot?"

11. What are your nicknames? Hanna-Chan (here in Japan)

12. Would you bungee jump? Helllllll No!!!!!!

13. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Nope, the lovely think about being in Japan is you just shove your shoes off AT the door and stumble back into them whenever you need to leave...so I hardly ever touch my shoes!

14. Do you think that you are strong? Strong in heart and mind :P (hehe, yes..I'm a dork)

15. What is your favorite ice cream flavor! Peppermint or Cookies n' Cream

16. Shoe Size? 9.5 (in the States) 26.5 (in Japan -WHICH YOU NEVER SEE!!!!)

17. Red or pink? Mmmm...Tough one....ummmm...Pink

18. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? I can't remember names!

19. Who do u miss the most? Texas-folk (Except.....NOT KARL for all you people here in Niigata and part of the Musical)

20. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? I'm wearing my blue stripped pj pants cuddled under my "SOFTEST BLANKET IN THE WOOOORLD" and NO shoes!

21. What are you listening to right now? MTVJapan "Supernova" by BUMPS OF CHICKEN (yes, yes...i know...strange name....but GOOD song)

22. What was the last thing you ate? I actually made fried Chicken and Mashed Potatoes tonight (first time for me in JP) Yummy!

23. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Grass Green

24. Last person you talked to on the phone? Umm, I usually only Text people...so actually talking would be Pam

25. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Lips

26. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Hells Yea!!! Dawn AND Amy!!!

27. Favorite Drinks? Water, Beer, White Wine

28. Favorite sport? Volleyball

29. Hair Color? Dark Blonde

30. Do you wear contacts? Yes

31. Favorite Food? Tuna Sushi

32. Last Movie You Watched? HP: Goblet of Fire

33. Scary movies or Happy Endings? Both

34. Summer or winter? Summer

35. Hugs or Kisses? Kisses

36. What Is Your Favorite Dessert? Tiramisu

37. What Book Are You Reading? When I'm bored at school, I read "Snow Country" or my Japanese language book - fun stuff!

38. What's On Your Mouse Pad? laptop, so don't have one

39. What did you watch last night? I downloaded "The Christmas Story" yesterday thinking I could show my students what Christmas is like...not sure if I could use it though, damn kids use too many cuss-words!

40. What's in your CD player? Umm...My car CD player has a mix tape of Japn. music, ROCK ON "PLANETARIUM"!!!

41. Favorite Smells? fabric softener sheets

42. Sounds? My favorite song on the radio or my students ACTUALLY speaking in class

43. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Rolling Stones (I know what Grace will put) :P

44. What's the farthest you've been from home? Hmm? Tough one!?! hehe I guess being 15 hours ahead of Texas would be the farthest I've ever been!

Meri-Krismasu

Hi all- (Your Japanese Lesson for the Day: "Snow"in Kanji)

Thailand for me is a little over 20 days away. SO, I only have 3 weeks -3 WEEKS- of JHS teaching for this year....Sagoi!!! I can't wait! :) I'm leaving for Thailand on December 21st and coming back January 7th.

But until then...I have lots to do. I'm in the process of putting together some Christmas lessons for school (I'll hopefully have pics to show soon) and downloading Christmas songs/movies to keep me in the holiday spirit. I bought a Fiber-optic tree the other day for my apartment and some holly/berry tinsel to decorate the place. I even have a "Merry Christmas" wreath hanging on the front door - so I'm good to go!

You might think in a country that's 99% non-Christian that Christmas would just blow on by and you'd never even realize it. But once again, you'd be completely wrong. Japanese department stores have decked-out trees as colorful as anything in the west, and many streets have colorful displays and wreathes all lined up for blocks. Still, it's time to set the record straight -- it's most certainly NOT as some dewey-eyed western writers put it "one day out of the year when all Japanese become Christians". Christmas in Japan has nothing to do with religion at all. Then why is it popular? For one, exchanging gifts is a well recognized cultural trait and Xmas fits in nicely here. For another, the lights and glitter are pretty. But behind that you'll find very little else. In fact, when it comes to celebration, think Valentine's Day. Christmas in Japan is more than anything a time to take an important date out to dinner, and for some even to book an expensive hotel room for the night.
Do you keep passing along to one of your "friends" those fossilized 15 year-old cakes in the mail every year? Well, they eat those "Christmas Cakes" in Japan. But there is no big Xmas feast. Turkey is nowhere to be found, unless you want to pay a fortune to a mail-order company or one of the few department stores that carry them. Not much you could do even if you did have one, since for nearly all Japanese the only oven they have is a microwave or a toaster. So given a choice of a turkey sandwich at Subway's in Tokyo or Osaka, many Japanese go to Kentucky Fried Chicken, where there are always some special Christmas chicken dishes. Expect to see a very long line into every KFC on Christmas Eve. Almost no Japanese have any Christmas trees either; their homes being cramped enough as it is.
December 25th is still a work day in Japan. There are quite a few parties though. Tis the season for the "Bo-nenkai", or "Forget the Year Party", where many Japanese drink and forget the year's problems (and more than a few drink enough to forget more than that). There is also writing Nenga-jo or New Year's Cards for Jan. 1st. And a few give chocolates or small gifts to boyfriends and such, however hark the herald angels sing won't be something you'll be feeling here. But if you like drinking a few glasses of Christmas cheer, Japan is certainly the place to be. The beer companies are extremely thankful for Christmas.

No snow yet in the City to report, I'm afraid I won't see any until I come back from beautiful hot Thailand - which should be quite a fun shock. The temp. in Niigata-shi this week- Highs 45°F Lows 36°F It's funny, but I'm slowly adapting to the coldness here...doesn't mean I like it though!!!

A fun Japanese Christmas song to listen to : Namie Amuro - White Light.torrent Enjoy it!!! :)

My Turkey Lesson for School

Here are some of my students from Ikarashi JHS and the Thanksgiving Turkeys they made as a class lesson. Too cute!

4th Play Practice!

We had our 4th Niigata-ken Musical Play Practice of "The Jungle Tale" this last weekend in Murakami. We drove down in the pouring freezing rain Friday night to crash at Pam and Deccy's place and then the wolves got there earlier than everyone else (@ 9am) to practice "Thriller". But anyways, we got lots done and was able to run through the whole play. The top photo is of the Vultures (Bang- Deccy, Buzz-Christian, Whizz-Joel, Babe-Brooke, and Boom-Ben) roosting on thier perch, the 2nd is of Baloo (James) and Mowgli (Russell) not knowing their lines and sneaking at the script, the 3rd is of the Monkeys (Megan, Leanne, Satoko, and Ros), the 4th is of Kaa (Peter) and Mowgli, and the last one is Bagheera's (Fumie) black panther outfit....she's gonna draw in the crowds alone! Well....next practice is in Joetsu on Dec. 10th and 11th.

Niigata-ken Musical - Thanksgiving Meal

We played Jaken (Paper/Rock/Scissors) to see which of the two tables got to get in live to eat first...my side lost...but we still got lots of yummy food!
















Lopaka carving the Turkey!


















Shanna and James enjoying being the 1st and 2nd person to walk through the buffet line. Lucky!














Fumie, Rosalind, and Pamela getting food ready in the kitchen.















Justine and Satoko getting to fight over the wishbone. The both had a Birthday this weekend, so that's why they got to make a wish! Satoko finally won.

Thanksgiving in JAPAN 2005

Here's what my Thanksgiving meal looked like here in Japan. We had about 40 ALTs make one dish and bring it to our Play Practice this following weekend. Everything was WONDERFUL, we even had two turkeys!!!
I made some Candied Sweet Potatoes, pictured above with lots of pecans and then later on the main table with the yummy marshmallows melted on top. Everyone seemed to like them...so....here's the recipe for those who'd like to try making 'em. :)

Candied Sweet Potatoes

8 raw sweet potatoes

3 sticks butter

3 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

2 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

4 eggs

1/2 c. finely chopped pecans

Marshmallows

Boil peeled potatoes until tender. Mix all other ingredients except marshmallows. Pour mixture over potatoes. Let simmer in a big pan for about 20-30 mins. on low. Mix occasionally to mash potatoes and stir mixture. Add a layer of marshmallows and heat in the microwave for about 5 minutes or until slightly brown. Enjoy!

***NOTE: This is how I made this in Japan, we don't have ovens here...so I had to do some playing/praying things would cook well, but no fear - they came out delicious!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I`m day dreaming about hot turkey and gravy with a little cranberry sauce on the side, lots of dressing with giblets, some candied sweet potatoes, and maybe some buttered cornbread.....but instead I`m sitting at work at Ikarashi JHS doing nothing!!! Today`s finals for the students - so no classes. Lunch for me today will be left-overs from last night: rice and beef stir-fry. We are attempting Thanksgiving dinner later this weekend in Murakami for play practice...so my dream of turkey will not go to waste. But to everyone back home in the south, HAPPY THANKSGIVING (and eat an extra helping of dressing for me)!!!

Fall is upon us...

It's strange being in a part of the world where you can actually enjoy/witness Fall (unlike Texas where the weather fluctuates too much). I don't think I've ever seen so many orange trees, it's gorgeous. Before I know it, It'll be white everywhere....but....I'm secretly awaiting it!!!

FLASHBACK - 4 months

GROUP A

Hard to believe 4 months has flown by!!!

It's funny though, I look back at these pics of our first nights in Tokyo and I can recognize everyone. So many familiar faces!!!