It was terrifying as always~

So, I found a really weird thing this week. I stopped by a vending machine on the way home to grab a coffee and I spotted it. HOT Ginger ale. Canada Dry ginger ale, even. I wasn't brave enough to try it, though~

Ai-sensei brought in tea for all of us to try at work this week. It was a chamomile and orange peel blend. It was really nice~ Sadly, it did make me kinda sleepy which was bad, because I still had 2 classes to teach. Hahaha. I'm re-reading the Hunger Games trilogy on my kobo. The movies won't come out in Japan, but I'm hoping to go see Catching Fire when I go home. The Capitol.PN website was issuing free ID cards again for the movie, so I got the updated card. Being from District 1 is pretty sweet~ Did I ever mention that I'm apparently a goldsmith? Awesome.

On Monday, I ended up meeting David after work. I popped into Starbucks to wait for him and decided to give the red cocoa cake a try. It wasn't bad, but I was kinda disappointed. I was hoping it'd be like a red velvet cake, but alas, it wasn't so. My hazelnut cocoa was nice, though.

On Tuesday, one of my students brought us in cookies! We're talking with my grade 3 students about jobs and what they want to be when they grow up. She wasn't sure what she wanted, but she mentioned that she likes baking the week before. So, Midori and I had joked that she should bring in cookies for the class. And this week she totally did! She brought in lightly sweetened shortbread cookies for us! It was so sweet~ They were very nice, too!

And on Wednesday, two of my kinder girls were drawing pictures on the blackboard. One girl drew a picture of Princess Peach on the right and the other drew pictures of herself and her pet on the left. I thought they were cute~

On Friday, David and I both had half days. We're both working on our anniversary and we also both had weekend plans, so we decided to go out on a date. I wanted to try the Afternoon Tea tearoom, so David took me out for lunch! I ended up with the smoked chicken, potato and broccoli pasta with Afternoon Tea blend tea and David (who ate lunch while he was waiting or me to get out of work) ended up with a cute tea set. It was sooo good~ I probably won't get the same tea next time. It was rather weak, but the food was amazing!

After lunch, we walked around for a bit. We popped into the Pokemon Center and David bought me a cute little Vulpix bag charm. Vulpix is still my favourite Pokemon, but you almost never see things with it in the store, so I always get excited when I do.

And then, we wandered back home for the evening. It was a nice little date~ <3

And yesterday, I went out with Mika and Kazue to Bennyland! Sadly, there was a disinct lack of Benedict Cumberbatches, but it was still fun! It's a locally owned amusement park here in Sendai. It has kinda a shaggy, run down, haunted vibe going for it, but it's safe.

We started by doing the cute Jet Coaster, which was a kids train type thing. It was so bumpy! Hahaha. It was kinda hilarious. A little disconcerting, but still fun.

After that, we wandered over to the not-so-monorail type ride. We each got to pick a car thing and drive around the park on a track. Or rather, we hit the gas or brakes and the car moved along the track. No steering wheel. It was kinda cute and gave a really nice view of the park. I guess in the spring, when the sakura are out, it's quite pretty.

We all did the Pirat ship ride. Yes, Pirat. No 'e'. It was terrifying as always~ The free fall and momentum and whatnot was scary like always. But, still fun. We screamed our heads off, though. The people behind us kept laughing at us.

Now, there were 2 big coasters. The Cyclone, which was a normal coaster and the Corkscrew. Kazue flat out refused to do either, but I wanted to do the non-upsidedown one. So, Mika took one for the team and went on it with me. The attendant came over and advised us to remove our glasses, so we got to go on it blind. What a great idea~! ...Not. We sat in the middle and again, we screamed our heads off. Hahaha. I was gonna take a photo from the top, but I was took scared. As soon as we were buckled in, Mika and I started to get scared. I made a joke about getting out, and then the car began to move. Hahahaha. It wasn't overly big, but everything is bigger when you're partially blind. It was only like 45seconds long, but it was fun. We were shaking like leaves afterwards and laughing at ourselves.

We didn't stay all day~ It's kinda like those carnivals that come through at home where you buy tickets and go on rides that way. It's easy to spend a lot of money there, but we didn't wanna spend loads of money, so we planned what to do before buying our tickets. Kazue wanted to do one more thing before we left, which was the space car up and down-y ride things. It was fun~

After Bennyland, we ended up going to the Hub British Pub for dinner. They're brand new to Sendai and it we wanted to check them out. I ended up with bite sized fish and chips and a Bailey's ice cream drink. All drinks were 1/2 off because of their grand opening, which was pretty cool. Less than 1,000yen for dinner. Awesome.

Which brings us to today which was a bit of a lazy day for me. I did some laundry and I'm just kinda chilling and watching Christmas specials on youtube. Hahaha. Hopefully this week will be more interesting~

They are freaking adorable and amazing and awesome and lots of other words!

So, it's been a bit of a quiet week. We've got a lot of new kids in preschool, so that's keeping me on my toes. Although, the new kids are turning out really nice! One of my new kids' mum speakings English, so she often chats with me after class. She's really sweet~

In class a few days ago, one of my students gave me a Canada flag! He went to a festival thing I guess and he got it and thought of me! So thoughtful for a 3 year old, eh? :) And it was funny~ I stuck it in my hair, like how we wear them on Canada Day and another of my students, H, came up and said, "Ashley! No! T's!" And then gave it back to T. Hahaha. They had a bit of a discussion about what was going on, then H brought it back and stuck it back in my hair with a laugh. It was cute.

And~~ My new Sherlock figures arrived this week! They are freaking adorable and amazing and awesome and lots of other words! I got them from a seller in China, but I found out about them through tumblr. They're actually pretty well made~ And they're quite heavy and durable. Which is awesome. Sherlock came with a skull, which I have sitting next to his chair right now. Lovelovelove!

SOOOO COOL~~~!!!

Anywho, that's actually about it. Like I said, it's been a quiet week, really. Payday is on Thursday, though, so hopefully we can get our plane tickets bought later this month. Keep your fingers crossed! >__<! And maybe, I can still afford to go to Disney for Halloween... Nooot likely, though. Oh well~

Russian tea is really neat!

It's been an exciting couple of weeks. Good times all around. And I finally got my camera wire to work, so I could upload my photos. Hurray!

So, to start off, Azusa moved away. Azusa was the barista at my local Starbucks who would chat with me most often. She's from Niigata I think? But, she's a sweetie. She drew on my cup one last time before saying goodbye. I brought her a little gift and she cried! I didn't mean to make her cry, but she was really happy.

Also, the Star Trek movie finally came lout over here in late August. I'm a total fan. But then again, I just adore Benedict Cumberbatch, so I suppose everyone saw that coming. You don't wanna know how many times we've gone to see that movie. The theatre we go to got a bit of a face lift in their lobby area. It's not got a nifty Studio Ghibli mural along the wall!

Work has been going well~ One of my students lives on a farm and his mum is always bringing in goodies for us. They brought us in another watermelon recently! Chiga brought me over a plate and said every slice on it was for me! I was so happy~~~ And it was really tasty, too! The same family also went to Disney Land recently and brought us back some cute omiyage. Mickey crackers! Yum yum~

In preschool recently, we had a rainy day and couldn't go to the park. So, some of the kids were cutting up old book club pamphlets and taping them to paper. Kinda like a collage~ One of the girls asked if I wanted one, so I asked her to cut out the Harry Potter set for me. Then she proceeded to tell me to stick it on my forehead. She was so amused that by clean up time, I had one on each cheek and on both sides of my neck. Hahaha.

In my kindergarten class, the kids recently decided to show off their artistic abilities on our whiteboard. One of the girls thought it would be cute to draw Canadian flags. I totally agreed. And another one of the girls made me a zoo with stickers. I thought it was so sweet~

 I also had a bought of nostalgia at school recently~ Angel used to have a backpack of William, the blue Egyptian hippo. And William walked into class one afternoon! One of my students got him as a gift from his mum, I think.

I've taken to cross stitching at work on my breaks. I finally finished one of my samplers and now I'm starting another~ I'll post pictures of the new one when I finish.

Mika and I met up recently in Sendai for an afternoon of frilling about. We ended up meeting some girls at the station who wore lolita, too. We all grabbed lunch and hung out together. It was just a fun afternoon~

On the subject of frilling out, I went to my first real lolita tea party last Saturday. Oh man~ It was so much fun! I got to sit with Mika, thank god. There were about 30 people I think. We all had to fill out profile cards to give to each other. And then Hikari asked us to give introductions. Oh. No. Actually, mine went pretty well. I was able to say what I wanted in Japanese and Mika helped me to make sure it was all correct before they gave me the mic. No one laughed and everyone politely applauded, so I guess I didn't screw up. I was shaking like a frigging leaf, though! I ordered Russian tea with strawberry jam and the chocolate waffles. Russian tea is really neat! You take a bit on jam and put it on your tongue, then let the tea wash over it. Nifty! I won an apron in BINGO. Lucky~~~!! It was a really fun afternoon! Oh, and before anyone asks, I know that my makeup wasn't done! I had a clinic appointment before the party and when I packed up my stuff to change in Sendai, I forgot to pack my makeup kit! T___T

Oh, Kazue and I also went to the Build a Bear shop recently. They were closing. Kazue wanted to go to say goodbye, so I went along with her. They were having a massive sale, so I made a dragon for David. Named Glorthlok. He was pretty happy. Hahaha. They had the Bunny mascot out and about, so we got a picture with her~ She shook my hand and gave me a hug. Awwww. <3

Last Sunday my work had an event in the morning. It was a massive Hide and Go Seek event type thing. The teachers were all assigned a colour and 5~6 kids and our job was to help the kids hide from the Hunters who would come and catch them. Naturally, I had the pink team. My team was AWESOME! We didn't win, but we did pretty well! Two people caught, but we had a get out of jail free pinecone, so only one person stayed in jail. I had a pair of siblings on my team. They are hilarious. The younger one got caught, and big brother made a big dramatic display over it. As little brother was being led away he shouted, "Nooooo!" and sank to his knees all dramatically, then landed face first on the ground. It was hilarious. Hahaha. It was a full hour of running and hiding and constant movement around the park. Good times~~~

Right after the event, I had to boot it to Sendai Station. I had a ticket to see the Sailor Moon musical that evening, so I had to catch a shinkansen to Tokyo. I barely made it to my train, but I managed to get to the theatre with plenty of time to spare. The musical was AMAZING. It totally made my life. And my favourite Sailor Moon character made her musical debut in this one~ Queen Serenity. Sailor Moon's mum. I adore her. She was flawless in the musical, too, I might add. So perfect. I cried when I saw her. Amazing. Oh, and Gackt sent flowers to the musical cast. I thought it was kinda sweet~

I ended up staying with my friend Sara while I was down. I went straight to her place after the musical and we got pizza and watched Cupcake Wars. Good times. It was nice just to chillax and chat. I miss her so much~

 The next day, we got together with her friend Andrea, and we went off to Harajuku. Sara had actually never been down Takeshita Dori, so I took her. We did some window shopping and just ventured around. At one point, we popped into La Foret and I got to try on a Triple Fortune bonnet! Oh. My. God. They are so pretty! Like, ridiculously good quality and gorgeous. But, reeeeeeeally expensive. But still~ The shop lady let me try one on and it looked so pretty~! Maybe someday~~~ I saw a reallt cute Duffy bear, too. Someone had it dressed up like Aiba Masaki from Arashi! Too cute! Oh, and check out my amazing photo skillz. I totally snapped a photo of us on camera walking into Takeshita Dori. I totally didn't even notice till just now!

After that, we just kinda wandered around. We ended up at Shibuya park. It's a reeeeally nice park! And it was a really nice day, so everyone was out and about. I think mum would probably really like it. There were so many people out for runs. I really kinda wanted to join them, but it's be difficult to run in wedge heels and a long skirt. Maybe next time~

After that, we just went back to Sara's place to have lunch and watch a movie. We ended up watching Resident Evil. Oh boy~ But, anywho, after that it was time for me to boogie off and meet Mika and Melissa for our bus. We took a highway bus back to Sendai and it was a surprisingly quick trip! We got in about 20minutes early, even! Good times. I watched Sherlock on the trip home. It was pretty awesome.

And that about sums up the last little while~ I've been off this week, so I got back to work on Monday. Woo~~