Career Change

Hello my Fun and Furry Friends!

Hope you are all doing well! As for me, I have been neglecting my myspace duties! I officially turn 30 today, and I am prepared to begin life in the "new 20’s."

I haven’t done anthing exciting since i’ve been back from Okinawa. Though, I went on a trip to Mexico back in November and I went back to Okinwa just last week with my 2 cousins Dave and Wendy. It was awesome to see everyone!

I’ve been working for Mountain View School District as a Substitute Teacher. Having worked for a couple of years now with school aged children, I have decided that teaching is NOT for me, therefore, I have decided not to pursue my career as a teacher. I am going to follow my dreams and hopefully have a career one day in Humanitarian Action, somewhere along the lines of Post-War Recovery. I would love to work for an organization somewhere in D.C. that deals with World Aide, either as a specialist in War torn countries, or as an actual Aide Specialist in these countries. whewwww. whewwww!

Wish me luck!!!

The Wedding Of My Brother

Fun and Games

In this picture, we have Aussie Jess and Canada Julie. This is our Southern Comfort Goodbye Party. As "Mama 5," aka Blockhead for Block 5, the South I had to make the annual "Goodbye Party." Thanks to so many block 5ers that helped me out!! We started the day at the beach for a fun filled day of frolic and fun in the sun. Atode, we headed for Gossa Gozza Izakaya in Naha,for some proper drinking, speeches, awards and games. I had drawings of people from block 5, and you had to put together the face. It was quite a funt time! For our 3 ji-Kai, we headed to Tomato Karaoke. Lots of funt Block 5!!!!! As your blockhead, it has been a pleasure!!!!!






For the next picture, we have Mr. Jon Vieser from Tonaki Jima and myself. When the group of us girls went to visit this fine gentleman in the small Island of Tonaki, I had the chance to partake in a Hari Race. It was great times! Yes, ok we lost, but It was really, really difficult!!!!

This picture holds many girlie's and Chris Madole. This was taken last week at Dave and Kazumi's Wedding. Yes, I am "Cupid-tow". I introduced them... and now they are married. Congrats again! For Japanese Weddings, one must pay 1 maun to attend a wedding. That means no gift, and you have to pay 100 Dollars. In return you get a meal, a present and one must provide the entertainment. So, the rest of us... danced around on stage and did the YMCA. It was lots of fun, and the Japanese really enjoyed watching us make fools out of ourselves.
For our last pic. Is Ms. Kitty Furber and Mama 5. We were the MC's for the night. Do you see our bows? Yes, they were a gracious gift from the Consulate General. Hehe. Ok, we swiped them... but it was lots of fun. We handed out Mock awards to deserving Block 5 members. For example, Julie got the most sober award... but my little Julie can beat us all when it comes to drinking and partying. capiche? I got "The Hardest Working Award with the less Nen-Q" Ok, I have had the most vacation... and I am the one with the fewest classes a week.

Hope you enjoyed.

Typhoon Man-YI

Well, well, well. My first ever typhoon. It really kicked our asses!! I decided to step outside to take some some pictures before and after the typhoon. I drove out to the beach before Man-Yi arrived to take some pics of the water. During the typhoon, I was stuck in my apartment with no lights, tv, radio or air conditioner. Let me tell you... it was sooo hot and humid in my apartment. I couldn't do anything. I didn't have any books, since they are all packed; I couldn't sleep, since it was so noisy from the wind. You know what I did? I decided to make paper airplanes and fly them out my window to see how long they would last flying. The winner, you ask? Airplane number 4, made out of stock paper. It beat the yellow plane by an astounding 2.3 seconds.

Man-YI decided to stick around for 24 hours, but it left behind a pretty big mess. Many trees were knocked out by the wind. Many signs were also knocked out. The McDonald's sign that would call out to children, no longer stands. Roads were flooded, sugarcanes were snapped in half and did I mention I had no aircon? Luckily, the phone lines were ok to call people. So, i managed to email people and talk on the phone.

After a while from being stuck inside my apartment, some teachers came to my rescue. Before, heading to seek refuge at school, Lisa, Jessica and i decided to hit the beach to see the waves. As you can see from the picture below, it was really windy. Poor Lisa had lots of trouble. A very dumb idea... but I had to see the waves. They were amazing! BTW, just in case family reads this: we stayed across the street from the sea wall, so we weren't close to the actual waves. But.. I have never seen anything like it. One can never live in Okinawa, and not explore a typhoon.
Thank God no one got hurt.

Sports Day, Take II

I didn't wear my sandals, as Kocho-Sensai requested. These kids are wonderful athletes. It was so hot and humid, but these kids performed wonderfully! THey are true athletes. Sports in Japan are taken seriously... very seriously. Sports Day, is a day when parents, family and local villagers come out to watch a mini-olympics. For the passed month, the students' 45 minute break was taken away, in order to practice for Sports Day. Can you imagine? Kids back home would have a fit! Nonetheless, Sports Day is quite fun! They had all sorts of fun activities like, sack races, 3 can races, club race... even in rain or shine. Two weeks ago, the participated in the Shimajiri Sports Festival. That day was amazing. The volleyball played so well! They looked like professional athletes! Tennis, was like watching the French Open. Soccer was like watching a World Cup Final. They are truly amazing... and they are only in Junior High School.

Tonaki Jima

Tonaki Anyone? We scrambled early in the morning to catch the ferry to Tonaki. Thank God for inventing sea-sickness pills. I think I kept playing footsies with the old lady sleeping next to me. We doubled the population of Tonaki when we landed. Ok, no just kidding but the island went from 500 people to 504. We rented little cars for 800 Y. an hour. We drove around in the rain, got wet and saw lots of the beautiful small island. At night, Jon our host, hosted a games night with some of the villagers. Shin-chan and Nori-San were our guests.

The island is small, but beautiful. You can walk across Tonaki in literally 15 mins. There are no major roads, and Main St. is about 7 ft. wide. The gas station only has 1 pump that is rarely used. There are 2 stores on Tonaki, but they are run from the inside of people's homes. Most of the houses are old Okinawan style with a cement block right in the front, to block the evil spirits. Nonetheless, Lisa, Rosalinda, Aussie-Jess and myself enjoyed ourselves!!

The next morning, the girls left and I stayed behind for one more night. Minako-Sensai came over Jon's house, and we had an improve Mexican Dinner. In the evening we watched old movies while listening to the rain. On Monday morning, the Hari races began. I was invited to participate in the race. My team lost.... but it was a blast.

Thanks Again for Great Times Jon!!!

Ice Cream ..... Anyone?

Hagen Daas in Taipei. The man had such a smile on him.

That's me! I had the Choco Royal. Notice the smile.

Now, my poor Mother. She's a diabetic. She could only order sherbert. Notice the crying.

Parents in Okinawa, Taiwan and Singapore

Mama and Papa at the Beach in Itoman. There we befriended a man who asked us out for a beer. Only in Okinawa!

That's my dad looking up at Taipei 101. I was on the floor when I took this picture!

On our way to Singapore.

At the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Singapore. Did I mention that I just added one more year of debt?

The Hokulea

On Sunday a bunch of us gathered to make flower arrangements for the crew of the Houkulea. We made head bands of flowers. It was a nice day to make these. I had to work, but I made my grand escape to the beach to help out the girls. Too bad we couldn't keep them, since they were for the crew.

This is a picture of all the people who helped join in the flower making. Don't we look nice?

This picture was taken during the Welcome Ceremony in Itoman Harbor. There was Hula Dancing, Eisa Drums and lots of speeches... it was to be expected! Afterwards we headed down to BiBi beach for a big party. There the crew ate roasted pig, drank lots of Orion berr and had lots of fun while enjoying some traditional entertainment from Okinawa and Hawaii.

This is the crew right before they were invited to come on Okinawan land.