September Randomness: Sailor Moon Toys, Tasty Food, and a Rainbow

I was planning on going to Tokyo this weekend, but I canceled those plans because a typhoon is coming. It looks like now it won't be much by the time it reaches Tokyo, but oh well. A lot of rain had been in the forecast and it didn't look like it would be a nice weekend at all. Though I think it was clear yesterday and I just checked today's forecast and it's clear again there today. It's ok though because I will just go in a few weeks instead.

I saw a new series of Sailor Moon gachaphon toys when I was at Seiyu.

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Lake Sanaru

This past Saturday Jonathan and I biked to Lake Sanaru in Hamamatsu. We drove there in early summer last year, but this was my first time to bike there. The beginning of the bike ride wasn't very pleasant because the road was busy and at some times the sidewalk wasn't wide enough so we had to ride on the street. But towards the end we went through a short, but nice, pedestrian/bike only area that used to be an old train line.

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My Trip to America

In August I spent about three weeks in the US. It was nice to go back there for a little while. The flight to the US wasn't bad at all. I can't sleep on planes but I usually try and then get restless because I want to sleep but can't. This time I just knew I wasn't going to sleep and didn't really try, but then I ended up sleeping a bit. Probably only for a few minutes at a time though.  

We had a layover in Atlanta. We ate lunch or dinner or whatever you eat after being up for so long. We ate breakfast and lunch before the flight from Narita and two meals on the plane so who knows, lol. Anyways, we got food from Qdoba. When the woman working there asked if I wanted salsa I answered "hai" which is "yes" in Japanese. Oops, haha. I quickly corrected myself though.

We had a pretty view of the sunset as we landed in Lexington.

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Shirahama Beach and Fireworks in Atami

Last week I got back to Japan after visiting the US for about three weeks. I had a really good time and will do a post about that soon.

The day before flying to the US, Jonathan and I spent a day at Shirahama Beach in Shimoda. We also went there last year: A Day at Shirahama Beach in Shimoda.

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Differences Between Japanese and American Junior High Schools

typical Japanese junior high school - picture from Wikipedia

There are a lot of differences between junior high schools in Japan and America. I have taught at four different junior high schools in three different cities in Japan. Besides the number of students, the schools have been very similar. Schools in Japan vary less than they do in the US. Schools can vary quite a bit in the US, and I only have experience with one, so not everything I say may be true for all American schools. But some things are still pretty standard.

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July Randomness: Cuteness and Deliciousness

I'm finally on summer break! Well, I've sort of been on break for the past week, but I've had to go to school for an hour or two every day to help with English speech contest practice. So it hasn't been too bad, but I've still had to get up early. But now I'm free! :)

Anyway... here are some random pictures from July.

Loft in Hamamatsu Station had a cool Nano Block train set display. They also had a large castle.

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I Climbed Mt. Fuji! A third time!

This past weekend I climbed Mt. Fuji for the third time because Jonathan really wanted to climb it again. I didn't really want to do it again, but a couple weeks ago I looked at my pictures from last year and started getting excited about it.

Here are posts from the previous two times:
Fujisan! I Climbed a Volcano!
I Climbed Mt. Fuji Again!

On Friday, the day before our climb, we made taco salad for dinner and I drank an Inca Kola. I had no idea that it had caffeine. Well, it turns out that it has about the same amount as Mountain Dew. I don't do well with caffeine late in the day. Plus I rarely drink caffeine so it can really affect me.

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