Let’s play adventure….round two!

Day two of adventure weekend began in Nishihara village and ended in good ole Yunomae.  We woke up, Ian walked the dog, and we all stopped for a quick bit of breakfast at 7/11 before heading back to Aso.  Ian wanted to go to the top of the volcano to take some pictures with his new flashy camera.  The last time we were there it was August.  I much prefer going during the summer.  Everything was brown and dead on Sunday (pictures below).  Plus it was FREEZING!  We parked our cars and made the short walk up only to find out that it was –2 at the top (28 degrees Fahrenheit).  Add in wind that nearly blows you over and…..BRRRRRR!!!  Needless to say, we didn’t stay for very long…just long enough to get a couple of pictures and be on our merry way.  Since it was so cold and the wind would be coming right at us on the walk down, we took the cable car.  If we weren’t cold enough, we decided to get ice cream.  There’s a reason for it!  Aso cows are famous for the good quality milk that they produce, and the Aso area makes a milk flavored ice cream.  It’s really, really good!  Thick, rich, and creamy…..yum! 

 

Ian and Justine were looking at a map of the Aso area at the cable car station, and they just happened to find a place called the “Soba Dojo.”  (Soba is a type of noodle.)  We all agree that it would be fun to eat lunch at a “dojo”, so we took an unknown route down the mountain, went on a wild goose chase, and found the restaurant.  As it turns out, it was a soba training center in which restaurant goers learn how to make their own soba noodles, have them cooked, and then enjoy.  It was a little expensive but well worth it!  We each got to mix, knead, or cut our noodles (pictures below), and when our order came up, there was no denying that it was our food because the noodles looked like a beginner had made them.  Some were thick while others were little skinny strips.  There was no uniformity whatsoever.    Our instructor (in the left picture) was really sweet and excited to see foreigners rolling out soba.  It was a really fun experience that I’m glad we had!  We even met another foreigner there.  As we were finishing up, he approached us.  As the only other foreigners there, I’m sure he was curious about us.  His name was Jasper, and he was from Denmark.  He had just graduated high school and was traveling all around Japan doing one homestay after another. 

  

After our soba experience, we hit the road back to Kuma-gun.  Since we avoided the expressway, we took the loooooong way home, which resulted in traffic jams.  We spent the time laughing at the silly things other Japanese drivers were doing or making fun of Japanese car names, including the Honda That’s, Daihatsu Naked, Dingo, and Bluebird just to name a few.    The night ended with us rolling back into Yunomae.  After unpacking, finally washing the smoke smell from our clothes and bodies, and getting ready for the inevitable Monday, it was time for bed. 

Let’s play adventure!

On Saturday morning I Skyped my sister, Christina.  We usually Skype on Thursday or Friday nights, but (bless her heart!) when she called me on Friday night, the kids were going crazy, so I told her to call me back on Saturday morning.  We talked for about half an hour, but we had to cut it off because Ian and I had to begin on weekend adventure!

The plan was to go to the Aso fire festival on Saturday night, stay the night, and then drive back on Sunday.  We drove our little putt-putt car, but I was very pleased with it!  Yes, our car is old.  Yes, it has mold growing in the back.  Yes, the doors won’t lock.  Yes, if you slam on the brakes too hard, the seat belts sometimes unbuckle, but dang it….it’s a pretty good car!  It faithfully took us to Aso and back and plenty of places in between.  That was the longest trip we’ve taken it, and we feel pretty good with the outcome!  Of course, we didn’t take it on the expressway…..I’m not that brave yet, so we did have to take the long way. 

Mary, Justine, Melissa, Ian, and I planned to meet at Mary’s house and leave from there around noon since Mary had nursery school graduation that morning.  Melissa had to cancel, and David called the night before to see if he and his girlfriend, Ikumi, could ride up with us.  We picked up Justine on the way but had to wait a bit for Mary to get back.  As we rounded the corner to her house, some of her neighborhood kids saw us, and immediately ran over to our car.  They kept their distance, but I got out of the car and ran over to them.  The three girls were probably around upper elementary age, but the little boy was only two years old and kept asking me what I was.  HAHAHAHA!  He was confused as to what the big dumb foreigner was!  We started playing tag.    I tried to get Ian and Justine to play, but they stayed in the car.    I had fun and was actually sad when Mary pulled up.  The kids might not have spoken it, but I’m pretty sure that there was a collective “oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh!” whine that kids make when play time is over.

I drove myself, Justine, and Ian, and Mary drove Ikumi and David.  The 219 goes to Yatsushiro and follows the Kuma River gorge.  It’s an absolutely beautiful drive.  What makes it even better now is that the sakura (cherry blossoms) are blooming.  You can see little pink blossoms on all of the trees.  Other than stopping for lunch/potty breaks we made good time to Kumamoto where we picked up Ana and Michael.  Michael rode with us, and I felt so bad for him squeezed into our back seat!    Onward we went to Nishihara, Rebeca’s village, to meet up with Rebeca, her boyfriend Yuusuke, Shara, Krista, other Ian, Amanda, and Rachel.  We piled into four cars and caravanned to a burger restaurant.  I felt like our car was slowing the pack.  Since we have a yellow plate, our engine is smaller than the standard one in a white plate car.  With four people loaded in it, the pedal pushed to the floor, and trying to drive up a mountain, our little car often makes horrendous noises.    (Fun fact—Ian’s motorcycle at home has a bigger engine than our car.)  We finally made it there, and the burger place was awesome!  It had an authentic western/biker bar feel to it, complete with motorcycles, rocking chairs, and wooden barrels.  There were about twenty of us, and we really filled the place up! 

After that we drove on to Aso City.  The festival was at the Aso shrine.  I soon realized that wearing a white coat to a fire festival probably wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had.    Ash was falling from the sky, and it smeared little black streaks all over my coat.  The festival itself was A LOT of fun.  It reminded me of the Japanese version of the Fourth of July…..there were blatant drunk rednecks and fire.    Anyone who wanted to could pick up a little bale of dried Aso grass, stick it in the fire, and twirl it by an attached rope.  It’s a purification right.  I saw young kids all the way up to old women twirling fire balls.  I lost count of how many almost-accidents I saw, but there were fire fighters EVERYWHERE.  Everyone in our group wanted to do it, but I was terrified.  After a little peer pressure and my own determination, I did it! (below left)  I shared a bale with a friend.  Once he finished having his fun, he passed it off to me.  It was scary, but as the bale flung through the air, the fear left.  That was such an amazing experience, and now I can officially say that I have twirled fire.  Whenever each of us did it, the Japanese onlookers focused their cameras on us to see the crazy foreigners.  The festival really didn’t last for very long.  We were there for maybe an hour.  If it wasn’t such a once-in-a-lifetime thing, I would have been a little upset that we drove so far for such a short time.

 

After the festival, our group fractured.  Krista and Rebeca’s car load drove up to Fukuoka to spend the rest of the night in the city.  Mary’s car headed back to Kumamoto City, and Justine, David, Ian, and I spent the night at Rebeca’s house, which wasn’t too far away.  She has the CUTEST little dog, Zuma.  He’s a long hair Chihuahua and is absolutely precious.  We all miss our pets at home, so we enjoyed playing with him.  David and Justine slept on Rebeca’s spare futons, and Ian and I slept on Rebeca’s bed.  That’s right….an actual bed!  We’re so used to our futon, which is nothing more than a flat, uncomfortable pallet on the ground, that sleeping in an actual bed was such a treat!!  We let Zuma sleep with us, and he was such a sweet cuddle buddy!  He would curl up on top of the blanket into the crease of our legs (above, right).  Anytime we moved during the night, he would reposition himself and continue to sleep.  Adorable!

Yikes!  I’m already too long-winded, and I haven’t even started on Sunday!  Therefore, this seems like a good place to stop.

and so the Reeds visit a Japanese dentist….

Good day everyone!  I’m about half a week behind, but I’ve got more than enough time to play catch up!  The next two weeks are spring break, but since it’s Japan, I still have to come to school and look busy.  I do miss American vacations when you get the WHOLE time off, and work is the last thing on your mind!   It’s okay, though.  I have a whole list of things to get done in the next two weeks, including writing a short story for my writing workshop (@ Will Reed—see, I promise I’m still writing! ), studying Japanese (blarg!), catching up on this blog, researching about the process of a Japanese driver’s license, researching where to go after our time in Japan finishes, and more.

Last week I said how Japan is DESTROYING my Lenten promise of giving up sweets.  It’s darn near impossible.  Wednesday when I came to school, I only had one class during the first period.  The rest of the morning, I was silently working at my desk like normal, but I was interrupted around 11:45.  One of the office ladies came to get me.  She took me upstairs to the home ec kitchen room where a couple of students were preparing mini parfaits.  They were cutting up fruit, whipping whipped cream, and mashing chocolate for garnish.  I helped them construct the little parfaits.  I realized that ALL Japanese students are artists.  They take even the most basic task of making parfaits and turn it into a work of art.  It’s amazing.  When I came back to my desk after lunch, there were mini parfaits setting on each teacher’s desk (mine pictured below) and a whole plate of cookies on the communal snack table.  How am I supposed to give up sweets when everyone keeps offering me delicious treats and waiting to see if I like them??? 

 

On Thursday I went to my elementary school to see the sixth grade graduation.  The gym showcased sixth grade artwork.  My favorite were the posters that each student drew showing what he/she wants to be when he/she grows up (above, right).  There were normal pictures: police officers, baseball players, bakers, doctors, teachers, farmers, etc, but I thought the middle one above took the cake.  Apparently he wants to be Spiderman.  HA! HA!  A friend translated it, and it actually says “action star,” but I still think it’s really funny.  It was really cute because all of the boys were dressed up in what looked like their Sunday best—dress pants with sweater vests and ties beneath.  The girls looked a little funnier.  They were “dressed up”, but they looked a little more like characters from a popular Japanese pop group, AKB48 (below, left).  They had on short skirts with knee socks and little dark blazers with gold embellishment.  I felt less awkward at this graduation because I actually knew the process of graduation and what was supposed to happen.  There were far fewer tears at this graduation, but still there were many tears. 

After graduation, I went to the BOE for the rest of the day.  I haven’t spent a significant amount of time there since last summer.  I don’t have internet there, so I spent the afternoon writing a blog and studying Japanese.  I actually got three lessons done!    That night we had scheduled dentist appointments.  It has been a year since we went to the dentist, so we really needed to go.  My supervisor showed us where the dentist office was in town and filled out the proper paperwork for us, but after that, we were on our own because she had to go back to work.  We first got called to the back for a consultation….. conducted in Japanese.  It took us a while to figure out what each question was, but they were things like “Do you have any pain?”  “Do you have problems with bad breath?”  “Do you have gingivitis or gum disease?”  Then we went to take X-rays.  It was a pretty cool X-ray machine.  I watched Ian’s on the screen as he got it done.  The X-ray spun around his head, and automatically the computer generated the full jaw image.  The third and longest part of our appointment was sitting in the chair.  They told us EACH and EVERY detail about what they were doing.  Ian and I both agreed….we wished they would just do it.  It was making us more confused when they tried to explain what everything was.  The dentist had an English phrase book with Japanese phrases on one side and English on the other, so the dental assistant would point to number twenty on the Japanese side, and I could look at number twenty on the opposite page……”Now I’m going to remove the tartar from your teeth.”  The first thing they wanted us to do was swish and spit.  I can’t tell you how many times we had to do that.  After each thing they did, they wanted us to swish and spit.  I never really felt like they cleaned our teeth the way they do in the States, but they did show us how to properly brush and floss our teeth.  HAHAHA!    As she was making small round stokes over my back teeth, I was thinking that I learned how to brush my teeth in elementary school!  My gosh!  The dental assistant also did an under-the-gum scraping thing.  They did find a cavity in Ian’s teeth, and told me to come back again for more tartar removal.  Both of us are going back on Thursday, and hopefully this will be the last visit.     

On Friday I woke up to the sound of pouring raining outside.  In fact it poured rain ALL.  DAY.  LONG.  It was like a little preview to rainy season.    I usually ride my bike to school since I can see my schools from my front door, so I put on my rain coat and took off.  I got maybe half a block from my house when I realized that there was no way in hell I was going to make it all the way to school in the driving rain.  My tights and the front of my skirt were already soaked, so I turned around and got the car.  It’s mornings like that when I’m really, really glad that my bike isn’t my only means of transportation. 

Friday was the closing ceremony at school.  Other than that, I had the rest of the day to sit at my desk and look busy.  Ms. Fuchita told me that all of the women were going out to eat lunch that day, but I had already brought my lunch, and it was Friday, so I couldn’t eat meat, and I was a bit concerned that I might accidentally order some.  Regardless, I didn’t go.  At first, I thought that I was indeed being quite lame, but I actually had a really good conversation with some of the other teachers.  It started off with Mr. Fujiwara asking if everyone in America has a pool.  I said no, but it’s fairly common in the south.  He asked if I did, and I told him that my parents did.  I showed him and a few other teachers a picture of the pool, and they couldn’t believe how big it was!  They asked me how many months out of the year we get to swim in it.  I told them about three or four, depending.  They were in shock!  In Japan, they can only really swim in August.  It’s hot in June, but that’s rainy season, which lasts until mid July.  It’s still really hot in September, but the water is already too cool.  They asked about rent prices and guns.  In Japan not many people have guns.  Gun control is VERY strict over here.  I told them that I don’t particularly like guns, but my dad, brother, and Ian all have guns and showed them more pictures.  They were amazed at the huge deer that my brother, Aaron, killed.  Mr. Fujiwara asked if any of my family would come to visit me.  I told him that my mother was coming in August.  All-in-all, it was a really nice conversation!   

I had a couple more students come and ask me what was interesting to see in California.  From what I can piece together, the judo team is going to Fresno, California for a judo competition.  I’ve never been to California, let alone Fresno, so I had to do some investigation.  I researched where would be interesting to go and then used Google to translate it. 

That gets me caught up from last week.  The next blog will focus on our adventurous weekend….and what an adventure it was!!

a confusing week

This week has felt very abridged since Tuesday was a national holiday. Therefore, Monday felt like Friday, and Wednesday felt like Monday, and it doesn’t quite seem like it should be Friday yet. I had two classes on Monday. Since it’s the last week of classes, we’re really doing nothing but playing review games. I played battle ship in first grade. I totally could have won against my partner, but I didn’t. I let the kid win. He was holding his paper so low that I could see exactly where his battle ships were. In second grade, I played a review game that Mr. Fujiwara made up.  It was like a board game, and each space said things like “Name the days of the week,” “Make a sentence with ‘Are you ______?’” , “Fix this sentence: ‘You is a girl’,” etc. Some of the spaces featured me, so they said things like “Ask the ALT ‘Are you ______?’”, “Shake hands with the ALT,” “Touch ALT’s head,” “Touch ALT’s nose,” etc. I constantly had two or three kids around me at any given time during the class asking me questions or trying to touch my head. That was a lot of fun! I did realize that Japanese students don’t know how to properly shake a hand. Most Japanese don’t shake hands unless it’s to a foreigner. They bow at any occasion that we would shake hands. I’m guessing that they aren’t taught to have a firm grasp. (Plus, it might seem too aggressive for Japanese society.) Every kid gave me a limp noodle handshake, and I felt like DEAD people would have better grasps than some of these kids!

Monday afternoon, Ian picked me up from school, and we rode with Mary up to the city. Her boyfriend, Hiro, was having an enkai, and she asked us if we would go with her so that she wouldn’t be the only awkward foreigner there. We had a really good time watching other drivers on the expressway.  We all agreed that one guy seriously looked like he was sleeping while driving. I really hope that he had some type of auto-pilot! One lady was driving and had one hand on the wheel. She was holding a little pet bird with her other hand. I laughed so hard at that one! Oh, Japan and your silly drivers!

The enkai was very small, but it was the best one I’ve been to so far. As usual, Ian charmed the Japanese. For whatever reason, the Japanese LOVE Ian. Maybe it’s his facial hair, maybe it’s his bubbling personality, and maybe it’s the way he drinks any Japanese person under the table, but regardless, THEY LOVE HIM. While Mary didn’t appreciate it very much, it was funny how Hiro was reaching OVER her to talk to Ian or offer Ian more food or drink. I showed pictures of my family to Hiro’s friends, and they all said that my nephews and niece were cute and that my sister, Amanda, and I look so much alike. I get that a lot.

We stayed the night in the city at Ana’s apartment. She was nice enough to offer her place even though she was going to Hitoyoshi to spend the holiday with Michael. She has a cute little apartment. Ian and I were jealous of how everything matches. She has a brown futon with brown sheets, pillow cases, and curtains. All of ours are a hodge-podge of hand-me-downs. Beggars can’t be choosers, but….. I woke up on Tuesday morning around nine and walked to the store to get us breakfast. By the time I got back, Ian was awake. I skyped my sister, Amanda. It’s always very difficult to get ahold of her because she leads a very busy life, so it was nice to catch up with her for a little while.

We spent the day with Mary and Hiro.  After Ian described the awesomeness of Reef Burger to Hiro, he wanted to try it.  Mary and I laughed as he tried to delicately eat the big, fat, greasy burger.  We told him to just dig in.  For some reason the Japanese like to eat french fries with chopsticks or a fork, but Mary swatted his hand as he tried to and said, “Nope, you eat those with your hand!”  After that, we went to the mall.  It was a REAL mall….not just a cluster of shops.  I don’t particularly enjoy shopping, but it was nice to be in a place big enough to have a mall!  It was also really, really packed.  It reminded me of Christmas shopping season.  Mary said that that mall is ALWAYS like that, and the weekend before when she was there with Hiro it was even worse than what we saw!  My favorite store of the day was the foreign food store.  It had so many things that are difficult to get in Japan…..German chocolates, English teas, Mexican tortillas, French cheeses, etc.  Ian and I bought some English and German tea that we’ve had before and are good.  We wandered around the mall for a good long while before dropping Hiro off and driving back to our little middle-of-nowhere towns. 

On Tuesday night Ian booked his flight home.  The only reason that he was holding out on it was to check out Murray’s fall schedule.  Potentially, we was going to stay for fall semester, but after waiting and waiting and waiting for Murray to put it out, we were afraid if we didn’t book soon, airline prices would go up.  He’s still going to try to take online classes or do work from over here as much as possible to finish up his degree and return to Murray the following spring semester.  He got a REALLY good deal on his flight and will be arriving back in the States on June 29th.  What I particularly enjoyed is that he was able to book the same flight as Mommy and I on the return trip.  Yay!  We can all fly back together! 

Eeeeek!  This blog is starting to border the too long phase, so I’ll just have to write another one to cover the rest of this week.    

oh, Japan!

Hello everyone.  It was a week ago since I wrote my last for-real-describing-my-life-in-Japan post.  The last two have been to drum up support so that you all would visit my friend’s blog to see my spot as a guest blogger.  Each week she’s featuring a guest blogger with the theme being “Lent.”  At the end of Lent she’ll see which guest blogger had the most views during his/her week, and that person will win a book.  Please feed my competitive nature, and help me win!!   

Anyway, not a whole lot has happened in the last week, but don’t you worry!  I still have plenty to tell.  I think I said it last week, but I am SO JEALOUS of you back at home who are having nice eighty degree days!  I LONG for summer.  Here it seems like old man winter is digging his nails down in an attempt to hang on.  The days are getting warmer, but the highs are probably only in the lower sixties.  Factor in a little mountain breeze, and it’s still not quite short sleeve weather.    Soon, very soon!  Everyone keeps talking about how it’s almost time for the sakura (cherry blossoms) to bloom.  I cannot wait for that because it is supposed to be extremely pretty.  Families, couples, and friends will take a Saturday or Sunday and picnic the whole day under the pale pink blossoms.  It’s a pretty big deal over here!

Last Friday, as you probably noticed, I had no classes and was very bored at work.  Therefore, I wrote three whole blogs.  I do enjoy getting paid to go to work and pretend to be busy all day!    I was thinking about my teaching situation here compared to my teaching situation at home.  This job is a million times better than the three combined jobs I was working at home.  In the States, I taught about thirteen hours of freshmen composition at Murray State and WKCTC and waitressed at The Parlor.  My combined salary from those three jobs was about a third of what I’m currently making.    I make more in one month here than I would teaching two FULL semester courses at home.  In addition, I have FEWER responsibilities here.  At the JHS, where I spend most of my time, I rarely have to prepare anything for class.  Teaching at home meant lesson planning everyday, grading essays, updating the grade book, emailing students, making copies of worksheets, and constantly have something to do.  It was a never ending cycle that I always felt behind in.    However, none of that matters here.  The closest thing that resembles my teaching job at home is that occasionally I will have to grade a sentence quiz.

I’m not sure why, but there were a couple of young men in the teacher’s room the other day.  It was as if they were visiting the JHS for some reason.  They were lounging around and talking to a couple of the teachers.  Other people or townsfolk come to the school as well, but it’s usually for business, and you can tell by the way they’re dressed.  The two guys were not there at all for business.  Both had on very eccentric clothes.  One guy was even wearing parachute pants.    I’m not lying!  Oh Japan and your crazy fashions!

Last Friday evening Ian picked me up from school, and we drove to Hitoyoshi because I had to go to the gyno.    Several of you already know the whole story, and since this is posted to the internet, I won’t go into all the details.  The most basic story is that I’ve been having a very irregular cycle, and I was a bit concerned that I was pregnant.    When I heard the doctor say “ninshin nei” (not pregnant), I sighed relief.  (I want children eventually…..just not NOW.)  Mary went with me to translate.  She wasn’t exactly sure what he was saying when it came to the medical terminology, so I’m not sure if he explained what was wrong, but they gave me a shot and bitter powder medicine that I had to eat before each meal.  After that fiasco, Ian wanted to stop at Nafco, which is a Lowe’s type store.  I stayed in the car because I nearly passed out after the shot, (Yes, I am a grown woman, and yes, I do almost pass out every time I get a shot or blood taken.) and I was still feeling a little woozy.  Ian came back a little while later grinning and telling me about Japan’s law mower options.  He was just strolling down the aisle and saw the three options.  The first was more like a weed-eater, the second a Flintstone-type lawn mower (with blades, just no engine), and the third was a flame thrower.  At first he thought that maybe that’s not what it was, but he said that there was a picture on it to fully demonstrating its uses.  He said that the cheapest option WAS the flame thrower.  HAHAHAHA!  Oh, Japan!

Saturday morning I woke up at 7:40.    My one morning to sleep in, and I’m up when my normal alarm would go off…it figures!  I woke up remembering a pretty funny dream, though.  I was at home and behind Wal-Mart.  The Wal-Mart there has a little hill behind it.  I remember very specifically in my dream that it was a twelve foot hill.  Anyway, I was fighting with someone, and this person literally lifted me off of my feet, above his/her head, and threw me off of the hill.  The next scene was in the hospital, and I was waking up from a coma.  My arm was broken.  I got discharged later that day, and then I got into another fight.  Even though I was down to one arm, I won that fight.  I love remembering crazy dreams!  Since I woke up so early, I had plenty of time to clean the kitchen and make breakfast before Skype time. 

Sunday morning we went to Mass.  It had been a while since we last went to Mass, so we needed to go.  I was thinking during Mass that I’ve been really bad about giving up sweets this Lent, so from here on out, I’m going to do it.  No sugary snack, chocolate, or sweet drinks, yet Japan has a way of making me not fulfill this promise.   More on that later….  After Mass, we planned to meet up for lunch with Melissa and Justine.  We went to Everest Kitchen, a really delicious Indian restaurant in Hitoyoshi.  The restaurant is beside a bowling alley and overlooks that parking lot.  There was a big event there, and we were having a really good time watching the crazy Japanese drivers try to park their cars.  They were making up parking spots, blocking other drivers in, nearly hitting cars as they backed in, and so much more!  Oh, Japan! 

Sunday afternoon we came home and took a nap.  I’m not sure if it was the rainy weather, full bellies, waking up early to go to Mass or what exactly, but we were sleepy.  Ian slept longer than me, so I went for a bike ride.  I headed up the main road, the 219, and took it out of town.  I quickly realized that it’s pretty much straight up into the mountains right outside of town.  It was a tough bike UP, but it ROCKED on the way into town.  My pedals were spinning so fast that I couldn’t even use them!    I felt like a little kid again!!  Whenever I got home, I parked my bike in a little plot of land beside my front door that is big enough to be a flower bed (bottom left).  I said last year that as soon as the weather warmed up, I want to plant flowers there, so I dug my trough out of a box and got busy.  I quickly found out that I HATE weeding.    It took me about an hour to weed about half of it.  Plus, the ground there is very rocky.  I’m pretty sure that a previous tenant put down gravel to avoid weeding, but the weeds grew through anyway.  I might be over my head, but I’m going to try this!  After I threw my hands up in disgust, I started dinner.  I made a noodle dish (bottom right), but I asked Ian, “Why is it that everything I make looks like vomit??”  It was good even if it didn’t look the best.       

I’ll stop here and finish up the rest of the week in the next blog.  

Guest blog

If you haven’t already, please don’t forget to view my blog about Lent on my friend’s blog.  Each week she features a different guest blogger, and the guest blogger with the most views during his/her week of Lent wins.  Please help me win!  If you’ve already visited it, I thank you.  If you haven’t, feel free to and ask your friends to do the same.  It’s a very short read and will probably take five minutes at most. 

http://theirischronicles.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/lenten-reflections-celebrating-lent-in-japan/

I appreciate it!!    

guest blogger!

Hey gang!  Last week I mentioned how I’m going to be featured in my friend’s blog as a guest blogger.  I read Karissa’s blog, and I noticed a few weeks ago that she asked for readers to volunteer to be guest bloggers with the topic of “Lent” for the guest blog.  I emailed her back saying that I would be willing to do it. 

So here are the rules:  The guest blogger’s blog is up for only one week during Lent.  Whoever gets the most views during his or her week wins a prize of a book.  I’m pretty competitive about this, so PLEASE help me win!  I normally hate seeing these kinds of “please-vote-for-me” things posted on people’s walls, but I’m asking pretty please!    In turn, the next time I see a “please-vote-for-me” thing posted on your wall, I promise to vote for you!  It’s a very short read.  If you can read some of the longer blogs I post here, you’ll have absolutely NO problem getting through this blog.  Feel free to read it time and time again.  Feel free to ask your own friends to read it.  The link is below:

http://networkedblogs.com/viv3n

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!