of comparisons...

The differences between working in Japan and working in America (or Why I like working in Japan):

1. Japan: I can wear as much, or whatever kind of jewerly I want, and the Japanese mothers tell me I am stylish.
America: I have to be careful what jewerly I wear and when or people might get upset at me, depending on where I work.

2. Japan: I wear blue hair extentions. Again, I am stylish.
America: I wear blue hair extentions and mothers wonder if I should be allowed to teach their children (and at some places it would be against the regulations)

3. Japan: I wear flip-flops to work and people tell me how much they like my shoes.
America: I wear flip-flops to work and people ask me if I bother to get dressed (and once again in some places this is against regulations)

4. Japan: If I don't like the parents, or don't want to talk to them, I can always pretend to not understand them (in most cases this is true!) Best part: so far, I like all the parents!
America: yeah, I have to deal with them.

I'm sure there are more great comparisons, but they'll have to wait for another time.

Anyway, quick update on my weekend (and by quick I mean long and detailed...)

So Saturday I went out with some students, of course you know that because you already read that post. Sunday, like usual was really long. I did Sunday School, Church, Bible Study and then went to Suginami for Cell. Bible Study was a bit difficult because the Chinese woman that has been coming is actually rather difficult to understand when she asks questions. So far, no one knows what she is asking. This is strange, because usually her English is pretty good. Hopefully this issue will be resolved soon.

Cell was good, there were only three of us. We got to spend more time just talking and catching up so it was good. And then I spent the night at Lauren's. OH yeah, we had Japanese pizza for cell. Now Japanese pizza is rather interesting. It's about 30 bucks for one pizza, and the toppings can be very strange. It's not uncommon to find corn or mayo on a pizza. This pizza was good. It was sea-food with no tomato sauce. I think it either had sea-weed or spinach on it, but probably sea-weed. I liked it. And I brought some sweet potato apple pie too. That was yummy as well.

Well, the reason I spent the night with Lauren was because Monday we met up with Tami and her friend from America, Warren. We met up and went to the Ghibli Museum. So Ghibli is an Anime studio. This is the company that made Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away, and more recently Howl's Moving Castle. It was rather interesting, and educational too. It showed how animation was made. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. After that we went to Tokyo Dome City and wandered around. Then we had a Hawaiian dinner. It was good, but the day was long. I was happy to get home. The bad part about Monday: It rained ALL day long! And I did not exactly have the proper shoes for that. I slipped twice. Wasn't hurt, but got wet. Also, I had to carry my bag all day. It was heavy because it had my clothes and my big honkin Bible in there. But other than that, it was a good day.

But in any case, the weekend was full. This week starts American Culture month. So far the classes enjoy it. Next weekend is Coffee House where I will experiment with having two. Week after that is Gingerbread House and the week after that is my Homecooked American Dinner. I have some plans for the beginning of August, but after that class is out and I will be pretty free. I'm sure I'll find things to do. Oh yeah, I also plan to go to Costco this next Monday and see the new Star Wars movie with Lauren. Tanoshimi (I'm looking forward to it).

Ok, I think that's enough of my rambling for now. I'm going to study now for my Japanese test tomorrow.