Hisashiburi desuneee!

For those of you who don't speak the Nihongo, "hisashiburi desune" means "long time no see." Which is definitely the case!

My oh my it has been a long time since I wrote! This is primarily because my parents came to visit for the first two weeks of October, and I have been trying to catch up on life since then! (I'm still not quite there, haha.) My parent's trip was great; we visited lots of different places including Takayama, Kyoto, and Gokayama, and they loved Japan! I haven't had the chance to post photo albums on facebook yet, but that is on my list of (urgent) things to do, so look for the links soon.

I really can't believe it's November already, and almost halfway through the month at that! Thanksgiving is coming up, and although I will not be celebrating the holiday on the 22nd like most good Americans, I will (thankfully... no pun intended...) get to enjoy some turkey etc. at least once at some local Toyama-JETs turkey-day parties (thanks Cheryl and Sevan!). As for the actual holiday, well, I will be working on Thursday, but in Japan it is "Labour Thanksgiving Day" on Friday, and hence a three-day weekend. So, Friday and Saturday I will travel to Kyoto and Osaka with about 18 other teachers from my high school!! They are all much older than me, and most don't speak English... so basically it should be a smashing good time. I'm really looking forward to it actually; I think touring around Kyoto and Osaka with native Japanese should be really rewarding, as should our drunken dinner party on Friday night! (The teachers who don't speak English tend to open up and at least try to talk to me a little bit when they're inebrieated.)

What else is going on... The leaves are changing, which is beeeautiful. It's my first Fall! I'm loving the weather right now, although I think it will continue to cool off pretty quickly at this point, until it starts to SNOW in December (also a first for me)!! I'm excited, and also terrified, primarily because my apartment lacks central heat. In some ways, the Japanese are so stubbornly old-fashioned...

Anyway, here are some links to some Fall pictures (the first is pictures from Halloween at my deaf school, the second in fall in Kenrokuen garden and surrounding Kanazawa, and the third is fall at the Kamitaira Gasshou houses!)

http://claremont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056941&l=4ead3&id=13301566
http://claremont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056632&l=426e2&id=13301566
http://claremont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057311&l=2f232&id=13301566

And, lastly, I'd like to share some more amaaaazing short essays written by my third-year students. For this first batch, the topic was "If you could change into any person, living or dead, for a single day, who would it be and why?" Read them all, savor them, die from laughter... ENJOY them!

"I want to change place with Sugaru that is my brother because they have a lot of talent. For example, he is very good at study and sports, and he is taller than I. So, I want to change place with my brother. If I could change place with him, I try to make a girlfriend, and I go date with her. I want to enjoy a single day with girlfriend."

(For this one, keep in mind that the student has the choice to be anyone for a single day. ANYONE.)
"I want to change places with a variety shop's assistant for a single day because I want to spend time being in many cute goods. I go to the office in the morning, then work in the shop. I answer to customer's question and keep the shop clear and so on. After the shop closed, I am willing to do some jobs and I go home late night. I really want to be tender with many cute goods."

"I want to become Thero. He is an magician and everyone knows him. He has great magic [technique (?)], and he always makes me very exciting by his magic. So I want to make someone exciting, and I want to see her surprising face."

"I want to change places with my teacher because she can see my friends of faces from best positions every day."

(One of my all-time faves):
"I want to change Ann Salivan...I want to meet Helen Keller and fight her." (!!!!!)

"If I could change place with one person for single day, I would change place with Ayumi Hamasaki. I like her very much. Her face is very beautiful and cute. What is more, she sings song very well. So if I could change her, I would go out for town and go to karaoke, or spend looking mirror all day."

"If I could change places with one person for a single day, I want to do with Napoleon. This is why, I like studying history. I want to feel the era and spend at that time. And he is big people." (Sorry kiddo, hate to break it to you, but the last thing Napoleon was is "big"...)

A short social commentary on Japanese gender roles:
"If I could change place with one person I want to change a father. Because I want to change a man. Mother is very hard. If I changed my mother, I have to cook, clean, the room and wash the dish. I can't do it. But if I changed my father I have to work only. My mother have to work and housework. I want to change a my father."

"I want to change place with Harry Potter because I want to fry by myself." (Brought to you by the letters L and R. They're really the same thing after all, aren't they?)

This one's truly amazing. She got big points for creativity, if nothing else...
"I want to become a gate in Disneyland. In the morning, I can watch countless smile and exciting people who are looking forward to entering the park. In the night, I can also watch the people who having many survenias (souvenirs?) happyliy, but also are sad to have to leave there. I want to watch many people's vivid face. In addition, to, I want to see the character such as Mickey and Minnie. So, I want to become it."

"I want to change places with Daisuke Matsuyaka, the famous baseball player. I like watching baseball, but I have never played it, and I have never visited foreign country. I have few same thing with he, for example, the age, the sex, and families we have." (Do you? Really?)

Now this one, I just flat out don't get:
"I want to change place with Sone. She is a gluttony fighter. I want to try gluttony on TV."

"I want to study harder as if Ichiro played the baseball very hard." (I just thought this one was cute!)

"I wish I change place with Naoya Murata. He very smart, tall, good at playing soccer and cool. However he is not fun. It is only him defect. However most girl love him, because he is perfect person."

"I choose my mother...By change places with her, I understand her houseworks, and want to know the importance of her, and I want to say, "Thank you for growing me everyday." (With a the right amount of water, sunlight, and fertilizer, anyone can grow the perfect Japanese child.)

"I want to be a singer. When I sing a song, my voice is very bad to listen...If I want to be a singer, please come to my concert." (Way to promote yourself, kid.)

This one's a classic:
"My dream is to be a actor, so I want to become a famous movie star. And I want to make friends who is also famous movie star and enjoy talking about some neutral topic like the weather or news."

"I'd like to change Amanda. Because she is very cute and to speak complete English. I'm not good at English so if I could change her, I would speak and speak in English. And I feel happy to solve many difficult questions. Other, she is so cute that everyone likes her and say "Amanda is cute." I want to be said "cute" too. So I'd like to Amanda for a single day." (Awww... :-) :-) :-) Also, I love that I'm a verb in the last sentence!)

"I want to become my mother. Because she is teacher. I want to make a test. It seems to be easy, but I suspect difficulty."

Some on-point political statements coming up...
"I hate American's government's for the long time because they promote War. I think that the big world war will happen 21 century. My hope is that All of the world got peace. I want to change places with American president, and told to the importance of peace. America is the most strongest country in the world. If America got peace, other countrys are may pieace to."

"I think that is American president, because he has very strong power. So if he said "we must do recycle" the people who lived in the world would do it and we could reduce garbage." (Now, if only we could get the president to say something as intelligent as "We must do recycle...")

"I want to change place with Prime Minister in Japan, because he has power which it can change of Japan. Japan has many problem today. For example, Japanese government has a lot of no useful persons for us. They are playing golf without doing others important works. And they are given much money by company to be given offer. If I change place with it, I force to stop them, and I will cut them." (Now now, violence is never the answer, angry young one.)

Lastly, a couple from different topics. The first is in response to a prompt to write a newspaper article about an automobile accident; the second a prompt to write about what the student did the previous weekend.

"A traffic accident occurred at Suehiro Street last night. It is said that two men were run over by a black car when they were crossing the street. One died soon and the other is curing in a hospital." (I can't stop thinking about a man in a full-body cast, slathered in honey and impaled with cloves, roasting in an oven!! I don't know if that's actually how you cure ham, but it sure as hell might as well be.)

And, I've saved the best for last:
"Last weekend, I was staying at home all day, because I had to study. Then, my parents had gone to spa, and my grandmother had gone shopping with her friends. That is, there were only me and Goro. Goro is my cat. I had talked to Goro about my future, world peace, love, and anymore... But he hadn't spoken. Anyway, last weekend was very lonely."

SOOOO that is my job in a nutshell, folks-- NUTS! Haha, it sure does make reading 100+ essays a week more enjoyable!

My fingers hurt. Till next time,
Mandy