Just some random cool pictures



This was part of the palace, near the main hall.  The stones rank the various nobility.  I just like the layout of this shot.



I always love the look of seeing something through an arch, a doorway, or window, but the pictures so rarely turn out.  This one is one of the best 'look through' pictures I've ever taken.  Also of the palace.




The roof/eves/whatever we call it of one of the palace buildings.  



As I mentioned earlier, I had a lot of fun in the garden experimenting with the colour on my camera.  Look bamboo in the snow.



I like sunlight, but direct sunlight can sometimes mess with the quality/clarity of the pictures.  But I still like to take pictures into the sun, and since I was experimenting...  Here is sepia sunlight.



Snow falling from a tree above me.  The snow fell on shayera  making her look like she lost a snowball fight with the tree.  I turned around fast enough to catch this.



Some window in another part of the palace.  I just think it makes a cool design.

That's it for the saga from Seoul.  Even though we really only had a day there, I sure took a lot of pictures.

 On the 6th we had a very early start, 5:20 we had our wake up call and our shuttle bus left at 6am.  But at the airport there was a cultural section where you could try on traditional Korean clothes, play games, and play musical instruments.  I think it was for kids, but the only people I saw there were adults.  As a cosplayer I couldn't turn down the opportunity to dress up.



This lovely blue outfit is apparently men's clothes.  Oh well.  When we first got to this area there was no staff around to help me.  The colour is great and it pretty much fit, that should have clued me in.







I love this pink outfit, but it's definitely more for a petit girl.  The jacket didn't really fit over my shoulder's and chest.  The pose may look cute (that's what I was going for), but it's also keeping the jacket closed.



By this point a staff member had come around to help me dress.  I had been wearing the clothes properly but they did the not in a simple bow.  You basically tie a bow, but you pull one of the ends out so there's only one loop.  The staff member also told me to put my hands under the shirt.  In some ways I think this is my favorite of the three outfits.  The colours are bold and the trim on the skirt is beautiful.

 After the palace we decided lunch was our next priority.  We headed to the subway stop where we wanted to do our next bit of sightseeing.  We couldn't find the place that sounded interesting in the guide book, but did find a cute little place.



Doesn't it look good, but it was hot, spicy hot, but so good.  I had kimchi in Korea, what fun.  The hot food was exactly what was needed on that cold day.



This was the easter gate of the old city.  We couldn't go in it, but it was something to look at.



Random street.



Another building we couldn't go into.  This one is the bell pavilion.  I love the colours on all the old buildings.



Dinner of course was yakiniku (Korean barbeque).  The best I've had.  And different.  You put the meat, kimchi, salad, garlic, and sauce on to a lettuce leave and roll it up and eat it with your hands.  Korea also uses metal chopsticks, they're a lot harder to use, but at least I didn't drop any food.



Another random street, this time on our way back along the maze from the yakiniku restaurant.

 My favourtie part of the palace was the secret garden  It wasn't really a secret, more that only the royalty could enter.  Love the simple garden.  There was a square pond with a little island in the middle with pine trees on it.  There were a couple of viewing pavilions, not that we could go in them, but they look good in pictures.



I had a lot of sun playing with the colour settings on my camera.






I took so many pictures.  These were only a few of the pictures I look.  I just loved the way the scene looked in the snow.  It's something that I haven't gotten in Japan, asian architecture with snow.  






The building in the background is the royal library.



Here I am in front of the royal library.  It was on the other side of the pond.

 The first place we went sightseeing was Changeokgung palace.  This is only one of five palaces in Seoul.



Here I am out in front of the main gate of the palace.  It's a big place that sprawls along the side of the mountain.  But they only let people in if they're on a guided tour.




This is the big hall, used for parties, celebrations, and grand events.




This is the queen's chamber.  The sign on the building reads something like 'big creating building'.  An heir to the thrown was very important.




Just another area of the palace.

So made it to Korea and back.  It was only a short trip, but it was fun.  I got to the airport and found shayera  right away.  Then she noticed our flight was delayed; 3 hours.  Why?  Because of snow.  So mixed reactions.  Sad because of delay, but so excited about snow.



Look, we finally made it, 4 hours late, but we made it and there's snow behind us.  And it was cold.  We were to leave Japan at 5pm, but it was after 9 when we finally got to take off.  By the time we made it to the hotel in downtown Seoul from Incheon it was after midnight.



Here's the view from our hotel.  Very nice.  It's a little hard to see in the picture, but there are mountains in the background.  On the other side of the street is City Hall and off to the left (not seen in pict) is one of the 5 palaces in Seoul.

Well, that's all for now, I have to get ready for work.  More pictures will follow.

 It was a nice day in Takatsuki; a little windy, but not too cold.  I went for a walk along the river.  There were lots of people out and about, of all ages, enjoying the fairly pleasant weather of the last days of the winter holidays, doing various things like...


- walking a dog
- flying a kite
- playing
- fishing
- walking or running

But everyone was so relax, a relaxed state that I don't often see in Japan.

I didn't just go for a walk, I walked to Book Off.  Love Book Off I found the next 4 volumes of Bleach that I needed, and the latest Ghibli anime movie Ponyo.  I saw it in theater and loved it, and acctually understood most of it.

Well, tomorrow I'm off to Korea.  More adventures to have.

 Welcome year of the tiger.

I went to a local shrine.  It was nice.




I ended up talking to an older couple with a dog, it was nice to have someone to talk while waiting in the cold.  The man offered to take my picture.




It was so nice walking home and hearing the various temple bells echoing through the sharp air.  Yes, maybe I've been living here too long and have lost my winter fortitude.  Walking home my hands were freezing.  I stopped off at a combini to get a few things.  I had problems getting my gloves off, opening my purse and getting money out.  Then when I got home I looked at my hands.  It wasn't my imagination, I was cold.  That's not a natural colour for fingers.



Not to worry.  I know my first aid.  There were a few very painful minutes as my fingers warmed up.  They now look very red, but I can feel them and they don't really hurt anymore.

Happy New Year

 Happy Holidays

I've had a very nice slow Christmas.  I slept in, had a nice breakfast, opened presents, (thanks mom & dad), went out to go grocery shopping so I could make Christmas dinner.  I had a few friends over for dinner, it was really nice.

Later, when it's a reasonable hour back home I'll skype with family.

Here's a pict of my Christmas tree.

 Yes, I'm crazy, I woke up at 4:30am to go to Tokyo for Jump Festa and I cosplayed.  So much fun.  I'm sure naye  has lots of detail about the event. But I'm too tired to write much.



Look big Ichigo balloon.  He even makes me look tiny.



Hee.  Cosplay fun.  The strange looking foreigner finally found a place she doesn't totally out of place.  So many Bleach characters, I fit in.  It was a blast, I had so many people asking to take my picture.



Bye for now from a tired, sore, but happy cosplaying fangirl.

Since the weather has finally gotten more seasonal, it dropped below freezing Wednesday night and has been below 10 since. I walk past many of these bushes everyday on the way to work. I'm not sure what they are, but they're beautiful. On Wednesday after work, utopiantrunks and I went to check out a small illumination one of my students told me about. It's nothing spectacular, but it was nice. Obligatory picture of Colonel Santa. Thursday at work. He is one of my favorite students, and he's big. He's the same one who made the Jack-O-Lantern at Halloween. Well, yesterday we made styrofoam snowmen. Here's a close up of our snowmen.

Christmas is coming
I hope I don't get fat
It still looks like fall here
But there's nothing I can do about that

Thank the gods I like anime. In one of my kids classes we started the dreaded "What are your favorite coral reef animals?" The vocab is difficult, the structure is difficult and it only gets worse as the unit progresses. J-chan, you had to do these lessons, right?

To check if my kids understood the concept I asked them, "What are you favorite anime?" Yes, they understand the concept, especially after I told them that "I like Bleach, One Piece, and Hagane no renkinzutsushi (FMA)."

I had to reassure them that names of the shows was fine in Japanese. I'm very strict about no Japanese in class. But I wanted to see if they understood the concept.


BTW loving Ace in chains

OK, time for some quality Engrish.

When in the 100 yen shop (dollar store) with utopiantrunks getting yarn to crochet she asked if I knew how to knit. Well, I knew at one point. But do I still remember? So, I bought knitting needles so see if I could knit. Yes, I can, but not well.

But on the package there is some quality Engrish that I just have to share.

- The light and sharpends make knitting easy.

- Please enjoy blightcolo while knitting.

- Please do not use it in addition to an original use.

- Br fully careful of handling and keep it to the place where a child's hand does not reach.

OK, time for some fun pictures.





Last month in Takatsuki we had an art festival and there were paintings all over town. This was my favourite. Take note of the skeletons in the boat.





Fan girls shouldn't go shopping. What else can I say?





I went with utopiantrunks for some doll fun. I haven't played with dolls in so long. I had a blast.





Wheeee. That's how I felt.





And we had tea and cake with the darlings next to a lovely Japanese garden.





We then went wandering in the garden. Oh, I love Japanese maple trees.








And here are a few of the snowflakes I made this year.

Every once in a while I just have to shake my head and sigh.

One of the kids at work, not one of mine, but I do have her brother, is a little terror. Well, the little brother isn’t an angel wither, but I can handle him. But the sister… Oh my, she slaps people, including staff and teachers, won’t participate in class, won’t sit still, she has also pushed me and fwacked my boobs.

True, compared to her mother and Japanese women it may look like I have balloons stuffed down my shirt, but they’re real and when an 8 year old jumps up and slaps as hard as she can, it hurts.

In our classrooms we have tables with the legs folded up against the walls when they’re not in use. Most schools have safety straps to hold them in place, but not at my Monday school. My classroom is OK, the folded table is held in place with a stack of chairs and the table I use I don’t collapse it. If I want more room I just push it aside.

Today the ‘little darling’ pulled the table down nearly hitting the teacher and another student. The teacher sent her out of the class to sit for 5 minutes. I saw what the kids had done. I try not to kick my kids out of the class, but I agreed with the time out. I was about to call my kids to line up for class when this happened.

Now on this fateful day the staff had just put up pictures from Halloween. As I’m going over homework with the one kid who showed up I see her jump off the chair she was told to sit on and skip over to the window where the Monday pictures are hung.

There are a few emotions/expressions/trains of thought I expect to see from kids on a time out. Guilt. Boredom. Frustration. ‘Oh dear, I’m in trouble.’ ‘I shouldn’t have done that.’ ‘When can I get back to class?’ NOT ‘Oh, don’t I look pretty in my costume?’

I’m not afraid to discipline children. Hey, I’ll do that even with the parents around if they’re not doing their job. It’s my classroom’ my rules.

So what do I do? I open the door and tell her to sit as if she were a dog. I have never seen her obey without hesitation or complaints or a fuss that makes my father look easy to get along with. Using gestures and vocabulary she should have learned in class I told her to sit and stay. Yup, I was treating her like a dog.

I go back into my class and kind of forget about her, but kept her in my peripheral vision to make sure she stayed put. I can’t forget the shocked look from the mother’s that were around. They’ve never heard that tone from me before. Why would they? I’ve got pretty good control of my classes.

When another one of my students showed up a couple minutes later I saw that the girl was crying, hard. Did I feel guilty? No. This kid has been a terror to her regular teacher. Then when the regular teacher broke his collarbone another teacher has come in. The new teacher is good and strong and disciplines well, and she still had problems with this one student.

Fear of God isn’t a big thing here in Japan. Fear of mother obviously isn’t there/effective. Hey, I’ve met mom. She’s in the class with little brother (he’s 3yrs old so a guardian is there for discipline. Discipline? Ha. Non-existent.) Fear of Carrie? I can hope that it has some effect. I can hope that she will be better behaved in class (I like her teacher) and hopefully my breasts will no longer be assaulted and not be pushed at the top of the stairs. Yes, very scary.

 It's Halloween.  I had 4 kids classes, two were my regular ones and then 2 event lessons.  Those two were a bit more of a challenge.  But my kids were great.  They had no problems with me in a costume, or doing very unusual things with ghosts, pumpkins, and witches.  And they were cute.  How cute were they?  This cute.



Because I had such little ones I wore my cutest costume; Pipi longstockings.  Everyone loved it.  Especially the hair.  I was impressed that one of the adults dressed up.  She's Kiki from Kiki's delivery service.  So my co-worker decided that she needed to have a broom.

      

Then in the evening I had 2 school parties in town.  One of the school director's challenged me to wear a different costume than from either Takatsuki school.  Good challenge, I don't like repeating a costume in a year.  So inspired from the mask I made yesterday I came up with a new costume.  After work I headed to the dollar store to get a couple of things and this is what I came up with.

    

The green man.  That's what I was going for.  Not poison Ivy.  I wore this costume out from home and my goodness I scared people.  I was fun.  I normally get stares here but tonight was special.  I had to walk under the train tracks there was a couple in front of me.  The guy happened to glance behind him and then there was me.  The snapped his head forward and told his girlfriend to look.  She does and gasped.  He asked if it was Halloween, I replied that it certainly was.  She murmured something like it was wonderful.  I thanked her.  Every one loved this one.  Simple, sweet can make some of the best costumes.

Here's the decore in my dining room.  Happy Halloween

 Another day, another costume.  This is my new costume for this year.  A Bleach Shinigami (death god).  It was another busy day at work.  I started with my Mini Kids, they didn't want to wear a costume.  Then I had a special event class with new, young students.  They were about 3 or 4 yrs old.  The girls were great and bold and had no problems coming in and interacting with me.  The boys were all in tears.  I just laughed.  My next class was with this darling girl.  It's a one-on-one with her.  Usually she's really good, but today she was half dead.  I'm not sure if she was tired or just put off by my costume.



My next class was the reason I wore this costume.  Those boys try my patience they don't want to be there, and they're always tired.  But they found out one week that I like Bleach, well I do have a Bleach pencil case.  So they will come alive and talk to me, in English, about Bleach.  I figured that this costume might get them more interested.  It worked.  It was the best lesson I've had with them.  No Japanese.  No silliness.  They worked hard and all participated.  They made masks.  The picture doesn't do them justice so I didn't upload it, but they looked great.  I made a Green Man mask.  And the kids asked me questions, in English, about the mask.  It was amazing.




This is my Junior High class.  They're nice, but they didn't get to do a special Halloween lesson, but they still had fun hats so I gave them candy.  It was nice to get a picture with their Japanese teacher too.  (She's the one in the witch hat.



My last adult class got canceled.  Hey, I don't mind, it gave me time to get out of my costume before I had to run for my train.  I asked the school director to take a full body pict of me as a costume reference.  To get all of me in the pict because I'm so tall she had to crouch down a bit.  I like the effect, it makes me look even taller.  It is kind of dramatic.  "I will protect you from hollows."

 Having gotten bored of all my Halloween videos that I watch every year I decided to watch Ghost Hunters for some variety.  Then I stumbled upon Ghost Hunters International.  Yeah, old castles and ghosts, what else could I ask for.  Thus far the most famous/monsterous castle has been the Frankenstien castle.  



Maybe it's because I've been watching Ghost Hunters, but mostly I didn't have very little kids today that I wore a spookier costume.  There was a prospective student in the office during one of my breaks she was a cute kid, about 6 or 7 yrs old.  She started calling me 'kumo-san', which translates as 'spider lady'.  Her mom shot back that I was a teacher and she had to call me 'sensei'.  The girl shook her head and said 'kumo-sensei' was strange.



I included this picture just because I of the older kid in the background with the scream mask.  



My fav pict today.  My student in my second class is all by himself as his classmate dropped out.  He's a really great kid and works hard.  Since he's the only one in the class if he's there and I'm ready early we start early.  Because we started early the staff wasn't up at the end of class to take our picture.  I put my camera on the table and this is the outcome.  He did a great job carving his pumpkin.  I miss large orange pumpkins.

 Yesterday was my day off and I went to Japanese class, had lunch out, and went grocery shopping.  When I was going through the bakery area to get an apple pie when I found this.  A halloween collon.  They had 3 different flavours, chocolate, ponto (no idea but it's white), and custard.  I went with the custard. 




Today at work since I figured that I mostly have boys I could get away with dressing as a pirate without terrifying any of them.  Even though some of them are really, really, little kids they handled the strange lesson, strange decorations in the classroom and most of all their strange teacher.  This picture isn't my youngest class today, but I love the one girl with the Jack-o-lantern head.  Her mom is the one peaking out behind her.



Beyond my normal 3 kids classes I had a special event.  The kids were not regular students so their English wasn't great, but we had lots of fun.  And, hey, another kids class means one less free time lesson.  I'd much rather teach kids.

Here's an extra pic of my costume.  I kept wanting to break out singing, "I used to be a farmer and I made a living fine..."