september is over already?!?!

I must say, I have fallen into a nice little routine here and it is starting to feel more like home every day. On the weekdays, Kristen and I get up, go to school, get home around 4, sit around, go to bed, get up, and do it all over again. Each evening is a little different because it usually consists of video chatting with different people or catching up on facebook and blogs (well... sorta). We want to start doing more during the week, but we are so tired when we get home from school that its hard... but we're attempting to do stuff at least a few times a week because we don't want the year to go by just to realize that we didn't really see what was right around us. We have gone to the beach a few times, to watch the sunset or hang out for a while before heading home... its nice to be able to just stop by the beach on the way home. The ocean is always on the way to wherever we are going... you can't get away from it. It makes for some beautiful scenery as we drive different places and is definitely something I will miss when I leave.

beautiful sunset that we enjoyed at Sunset Beach near our apartment

I have found a church (Koza Baptist) that feels like home and I am already involved. I joined the choir and am meeting a ton of people, mostly military families. I wasn't sure that I wanted to get involved in a church that was mostly military, because I'm here to experience the Japanese culture... but it is nice to have something familiar a few times a week and I really feel like this is where God wants me for the year. They asked me to oversee the high school worship band, so I started doing that last week. On Wednesday nights I get to church around 5 and don't leave till 8:30 or 9. I help the HS worship band, go to the evening service/bible study, and then go to choir practice. It makes for a long day but I am enjoying it all, especially choir... I miss singing a lot. On Sundays I usually go to the end of the first service to sing the choir song, then Sunday School, and then the second service... I think this church is going to be something else I will dearly miss when I leave. I am quickly growing very attached to the wonderful people I’m meeting at Koza.

I think I'm getting the hang of this whole teaching thing. As I get used to the routine of things, I enjoy it more and more. There are still things I'm not sure about, but I love the music stuff I'm doing and really enjoy the Jr high and High school Journalism class I'm teaching... I think someday if I combine the subject I love with the age group that I like, I'll enjoy teaching even more. My plans will probably keep changing over the next 10 months, but I think I'll be working on getting my teaching credential next year and then try to get a job teaching high school choir... where I’ll do it is the biggest question at this point.

I was supposed to teach Computers, but the Kindergarten class is very large and we don't have computers for me to teach on right now. They are in the process of getting new computers and in the mean time I am helping in the Kindergarten class when I don't have other classes. It is kind of ironic seeing as one of the first things I said when I got here was the fact that I didn't like the Kindergarten class... All I can really do is laugh about it. I'm actually enjoying helping out... I think having to teach the computer classes would be an extra stress on top of the other things I'm still trying to adjust to. So for now I'm teaching music to preschool through 6th grade, Jr and Sr High Journalism class, and helping out in Kindergarten.

While I enjoy teaching the older kids more, I enjoy being around the younger kids... they are so cute and say the funniest things. Its funny to observe the Kindergarteners at their prayer request time... one of them says that they want a pony or a baby sister and all of a sudden all of the kids want one too. I remember wanting a sister SO BAD at that age... I got Justin instead. ;) Eventually, I got Janelle (I couldn't be happier with Justin and Jared, just for the record).

A few weeks ago, the Guppy (our car) broke down on the way to school. We kinda knew it was going to, but when it did, it was quite the adventure. It is amazing what you realize you take for granted in the US when all of a sudden you don't have it anymore. We pulled over into a parking lot and Kristen had to walk (heaven forbid, like the old days) to the closest Family Mart to call the school while I waited with the car (the windows wouldn’t roll up because the battery died and my computer and guitar were in the car… so one of us had to stay)... then we waited until Chicaco came and picked us up. They fixed the Guppy and it runs much better now.

The Guppy parked outside a shop... waiting for a tow.

Kristen and I with our vending machine coffee and juice waiting to be picked up

waiting with my coffee in a can

Last weekend Rocky took Kristen and I to a Jazz show on Friday night... it was SO fun to be around live music again and it was fun just to enjoy a Friday night out on the town. After the jazz show we went to a restaurant to get some food, and there was a dog just walking around in the restaurant. At first I didn't think anything of it, because the restaurant was located in the middle of a bunch of houses, so it felt like we were just eating at someone's house, but when I thought about it... I couldn't believe it. The dog just sat under the table and waited for some food to fall on the floor. It was very odd, yet not really that surprising.

the band

kristen and I at the Jazz club

This past week went really fast... actually, September has flown by as a whole, and I know that the rest of the year will too. This past weekend I bought a Ukulele (I've been wanting one for a while so I finally bought one), went to a free Salsa lesson on base, hiked to the Taa Taki waterfall, went bowling, went to church, and spend Sunday afternoon hanging out at the music pastor's house with their family. It was a wonderful weekend...

my new ukulele!

hiking in to the falls

beautiful scenery

the waterfall

me under the waterfall, its kind of a bad picture but you get the idea... it was amazing!

Kristen and I under the waterfall

Michael, Sarah, Kristen and I hanging out under the waterfall

these butterflies were all over the place

swinging on the swing set with the kids before bowling

dancing with Izzy at the bowling alley...

It seems like every day we see something new on the exact same route to school. One of the interesting things about living here is the vending machines that are all over the place. They only have the beverage ones (at least I've never seen a food one) which usually have a few Pop choices, water, and Coffee drinks. The "coffee in a can" is an popular drink here... its pretty good too. When our car broke down, there was a vending machine right there... so we enjoyed some morning coffee, right from the convenient vending machine. Some of the vending machines are also used for other things... like cigarettes or alcohol. Apparently you have to put your ID card in to show that you're of legal age before it will let you buy anything, but I wouldn't know because I haven't tried to buy from either machine.

the cigarette vending machine

Kristen and I decided that we are going to Tokyo over the Thanksgiving weekend. We visited a travel agency near us to get quotes and are going to get the tickets and reservations once we get paid next week. I'm SO excited! I will also be going to Hong Kong and China with the Juniors and Seniors over Christmas break. Every two years the Jrs and Srs take a big trip... and this is a trip year. They wanted me to come and I wanted to travel over the break... so I'm going with them. I'm VERY excited to go to another country, and am grateful for the opportunity to go with them, because I didn't want to do any major traveling by myself and my roommate is going home for Christmas break.

I got my alien registration card yesterday, so now I am officially a legal alien. Weird. The weather is still humid but it is cooling down a bit... and the humidity goes in and out as it rains. It is the beginning of the rainy season so it has been raining a bit more in the last week. It will be interesting to see how the weather changes over the next few months. Right now we're still using our air conditioners and de-humidifiers every night... its just too humid not to.

my Japanese Alien Registration card

One of the families from the school (the Gardners) are a wonderful family and they were kind enough to let me come to their house tonight and do some laundry. They have American appliances so I also baked some banana bread while I was waiting for the laundry... I enjoyed being around her Autumn decorations and the yummy smells of an oven. I miss having access to a dryer more than I thought I would. Well, I knew it would be difficult, but I'm already over the whole hang-drying thing. I can smell the fabric softener and freshly dried clothes smell on my PJs right now and it is so wonderful. I got very spoiled tonight... and I loved it.

I think I’ve talked about every major thing that has happened so now you’re all updated. I still really haven’t gotten the hang of this whole blog thing… I enjoy writing about my activities, but I don’t want to sit and write every night… because then I won’t be doing the stuff that I’ll want to write about. But I’m trying… and hopefully I’ll get better about posting a few little posts a week instead of 1 long one every few weeks. If you got through this whole post, congrats… here’s a treat as your reward:

They're adorable aren't they? Yep. I agree.