Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Holiday Greetings from Thailand!!!!

I wish I had some of my GREAT photos to share right now, but I will soon!

So far I've rock climbed along a cliff over the ocean, swam in the beautiful blue water here, set up a quota to get a full body massage every day, and tomorrow I'm going scuba diving in the SAME spot that the "Beach" was filmed and it'll be ONE YEAR from the tsunami tomorrow as well.

I've done WAY too much shopping already and way more to come...

It's great being back in the WARM weather..LOVE IT!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

Possibly my last post...

Alright, this might be my last post until I return back from Thailand....so to end the year right. Here's a few of my favorite things so far in Japan.
Top pic was taken at this bar/club called "China Lobby" It's this fun little awesome joint on Tree Street here in the Shi. Can't read the menu AT ALL, but it's still a cool atmosphere! 2nd pic is of my favorite Japanese band at the moment called ELLEGARDEN. They actually sing all in ENGLISH...can you believe it, but their English is GREAT! "Space Sonic" is there new song and the video has them singing in dresses, too good! I can't wait to see them here in Niigata. The last two pics are in honour of the last episode of Hana Yori Dango. I'm SO sad it's over already. The last episode aired last Friday and these are two important scenes from the Manga that made it into the TV series. This is mainly for Grace and Beth, enjoy! ;)

To everyone else out there....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

and I'll see you again sometime next year (after January 7th)

Ja mate ne!

Where I live...

The Big Swan at night!
NOT EXACTLY WHERE I LIVE...hehe.....this is TOKYO!
THIS IS NIIGATA-SHI THOUGH! YEAH!!!

(Thanks Shanna for the pics - You ROCK!!!)

More Craziness from the Summer

Yu and Mary
Shanna and me (looking' quite cute I must say)
Me and Shanna again at the Big Swan
(WOW...lots of people)
Chicka, Tara, Shanna and I

Random pics from the Summer!

Me, Chicka, and Shanna
Tara, Joel, Me, Chicka, Phil, and Errol
Me, Yu, Mary, Shanna, Sam, Momo, and James
Ros, Me, Rich, Ben, Grace, and Joel (JOEL...where's your hand?)
Linds, Momo, Joel, Shanna, me, and Kate

Mary's House Party

"Crazy Mary" had a house party a few weeks ago!
Guns were present. WEIRD seeing me with a gun, huh?
Starting out the night!
Arm-wrestling matches took place!
Crazy girls or as Kat would say "Drunken Fools!" hehe

SHAME Bar-tenders!!!

Shiori and Raymon
Joel (NOT a bartender) and the love of his life - Shiori
Shiori and Coo (the love of my life) hehe He's SO ADORABLE!!!
Raymon - the owner of SHAME
Shiroi and Coo

(All pics graciously taken by Shanna - Thanks)

Hello Kitty Take Over

People make fun of me here b/c of my Hello Kitty Take over with my Keitai (cell phone). Everywhere I go (different prefectures/ big cities/ historical places) I grab Hello Kitty as a gift and attach it to my cell phone. Well....now I have about 25 kitties on there so it gets pretty dangle when trying to use the phone. I`m use to it but when I pull it out, my friends FREAK! They`re just jealous!!! hehehe Anyways, check out my phone compared to Beth's. See our cute sticker picture Print club all over our phones too....we`re so turning Japanese!

My HELLISH drive to work today!

Here`s what my drive to work looked like today....ICE ICE EVERYWHERE! Can`t even see the road and if you go too fast/too slow you feel your car start to skid...SCARY!!!! (for real, it was really scary)

These pics are taken with my NEW Digital WIRELESS Canon camera I bought yesterday. Nice, huh?

Snow in the Shi

Let it snow...Let it snow...Let is snow...AND BOY IS IT!?!? Here`s pics from over the weekend. Talk about having a white holiday season....oops, what am I talking about...I`ll be lounging on a beach somewhere in WARM weather when the holiday officially roll around.

YEAH!!!

Ikarashi Snow Fall

Here`s what my base school Ikarashi JHS looked like last Friday after the snow. Just kept falling all weekend...so it`s probably more snow now.

All white!!!

Cooking Class

I thought this was fun. We were shopping at Dekky 401 Sunday here in the Shi and in the middle of the mall was a parent/kid cooking class. They were making these amazing little chocolate Christmas cakes. Too cute!!!

Sunday Sushi

Yes...I look like a dork, but the sushi was good. This is our local 100 Yen sushi stop and usually on Sunday afternoon, like yesterday after watching "Memoirs of a Geisha" or "Sayuri" as it`s known here in Japan we stop buy and fill up on (My favorite) tuna sushi, green tea, and LOTS of ginger...ummm. My mouths watering already!!!

I love the pic of Beth picking off her wasabi...hehe

Like a Kid in the Snow

Yes, this weirdo Texas girl likes the snow. It's fun and new to me even though i look really silly in this picture. I'll look cooler when we start going skiing/snowboard. YEAH!

Tex-Mex in Niigata !!!!

YES!!! I heard about this cafe through a friend of a friend here in Niigata and YES, we have TEX-MEX. Well...not exactly authentic Tex-Mex, but there are tacos, enchiladas, guacamole, and more!!! And I even have a strawberry Margarita (that was more like a frozen strawberry Martini) but good to say the least! Tuesday night was our first time here and the first of many for me. I heard that they're TWO Mexican restaurants in Niigata, so when I find the second one...I'll share it! :)

YEAH....for TEX-MEX!