I know, I know....blogging has been on the back burner

Hello all!
Sorry its been so long since my last post. Let us see if I can quickly wrap up what has been happening since my birthday. I had my first week of school, where I did the same introduction lesson oh, about 30,000,000,000 times. =P I still have one more school to go to, my second elementary school. So, after next week, I will be officially done introducing myself and my home. Part of my intro has been to explain that I am a vegetarian. I tell them what it means and that "many people in Asheville are Vegetarian" Ha! I thought it was pretty interesting to show these kids that there are people who not only speak a different language but have completely removed, what the kids consider to be, what makes a meal a meal, meat/fish. Ha!
Moving on...the little kids are very cute, 1st and 2nd graders especially. It makes me want to be a elementary school teacher...in Japan at least. BUT these kids have yet to realize that I do not speak Japanese. As I walk the halls I get swarms of children asking me all sorts of questions in their soft spoken, yet quite fast, Japanese. Sigh. I wish I could understand them! That is just more motivation for me to study the language.
Okay...the rest of the blog will be the usual. I will share a picture and a (hopefully) brief explanation....brief because I am using my neighbors internet still.

so on my way to pick up matt in Kofu, I saw Mt. Fuji! I am not sure how well you will be able to see it, but the mountain in the background is Mt. Fuji. I was excited to finally see it. I live on the completely other side of the prefecture, so it is very rare for it the sky to be clear enough to see it.


Matt went into a store to kill some time, when we saw these great "Engrish" slippers. That's right people...it says "where are you doing?"! hee hee!



These are the promised cake pics that I took on my birthday. I was craving a Ingles or Harris Teeter style cake. But, alas, there aren't any of those places near our home here. To get a real birthday cake here, you have to order pretty far in advance from what I understand. These three slices of cake were a nice substitute, but still not the same. =P

Here it is! one of the famous cigarette vending machines. This one requires a certain id to be swiped to get the cigs, but have no fear under aged hooligans, there are plenty of beer vending machines with out any id requirements, just pay your 200 yen and let the drinking commence! (ps. I do not condone underage drinking k? but I do think its pretty funny to see beer and cigarettes being sold like this. I have a friend who lives near a vending machine that sells eggs...eww.)

Key chains are big here. You put them on your cell phone, your Nintendo ds, your keys...etc. You find lots of these key chain machines in Japan. I thought this one was pretty funny. They are selling mos burger key chains. Mos burger is the Japanese Burger King. So if you wanted, you could have a hot dog, or a hamburger attached to your cell phone...sooooo coool! =P

Lastly, Matt and I went to Kofu to experience the "I love Kofu" Festival....really, that is what it was called...in English and everything. We ate festival food (yay pork free Yakisoba!!) and watched Taiko (Japanese drumming) on the main stage. We eventually ended up at a karaoke place. It was...interesting. =P (I can't sing)

Just finished crying...

Everything is okay. I am fine; everyone is fine. I just read a story and saw a short video that was pretty touching here and here about a girl who was so touched by hearing the robot wall-e say his name in the Pixar trailer she begins to cry...but the story does not end there...I recommend reading her story. I saw wall-e last weekend. I liked it, though I don't really think kids will enjoy it, at least not the first 30 mins worth, its a bit too adult (aka slow and quiet) in the beginning.

Moving on...
I am so excited about moving to Japan in about 23 days!! Everyone keeps talking about what a big adventure it is, and I have to agree. The only problem is I have soooooooo much I need to get done between now and then. I will have to be completely moved out of my condo, getting the utilities out of my name, selling my car, packing my bags, still buying things I need to bring, getting my visa, the list goes on and on and on....
At the same time, I really want to enjoy these last few days here in the US, specifically in Asheville.
I will really miss Asheville, it is just a great place with such amazing people and a feel to it that I love so much. I love going into a restaurant (Lucky Otter, Noi's Thai Kitchen, Jack of the Wood, Laughing Seed, BurgerMeister's etc.) and actually having vegetarian options. Not an iceberg lettuce salad, but real, filling, meals. I know I will miss that a whole lot.
I will also miss the fact that in Asheville I can go downtown on a Friday night a watch the hippies dance and play in a drum circle or Saturday see ...well...the people of Asheville, enjoying life.
I think that's a big part of the feeling you get when you are in Asheville, those around you are truly enjoying their lives, enjoying the world around them.
This past weekend my mom came to visit. We went downtown a bit on Saturday, ate tempeh Reubens at Jack of the Wood, then we walked around and my mom fell in love with a lady's dog.

I really like this pic because Matt looks so cute when he is laughing. I love him!
Here are pics of the dog w/ my mom. To be fair, my mom has been in love with these little dogs for years, and this one is pretty cute with that little bow.

Well, I am tired now and have to get in some Jon and Kate Plus 8 tv show watching in as there won't be any in Japan.