We had level checks at school, which as always, were fun. Lots of paper work to go with it, but the level checks themselves are a lot of fun to do.

One of my students, when I was giving his parents the results (he was in the room too), kept doing victory dances, haha. It was pretty awesome.

Other than that…

Halloween is coming up. We’re having an event at school on the 30th, so I need to find some costume to wear. Last year I wore a pumpkin costume.
I might just do that again this year.

Or maybe try to find something else.

I dunno. I actually don’t really like dressing up to be honest.

Booked tickets for Christmas, to go back to Canada. So, it’s back to Canada from December 19th until the 3rd.
This will be my first Christmas without Watson.
That realization came to me the other day, and now it’s hard not to think about it.

On the other hand, it’ll be my first Christmas spending it with someone other than just my family.
And I’m looking forward to that.

Also might do a little road trip to Quebec City and Montreal.

I really have to get practicing those Christmas songs on the piano…

Every year I say that I’ll master these few pieces, but I never seem to get around to it.
This year, I want to.
I always end up playing something on Christmas for my family after dinner, so I really want not to suck this time around. Haha.

Last night, Hitomi and I hopped on the night bus in Nagoya to head to Tokyo.

The poor guy doing the announcements on the bus had an awful time telling the time… I don’t think he got it right the first time any of the times he said it, haha. The bus ride was all around pretty good. No smelly people or people who snored too loudly.

We made it to Shinjuku at about 5:30am. YES. BRIGHT AND EARLY!
From there, we took the subway to Shibuya and then a taxi to Kim’s humble abode which we have kidnapped for the time being.

So we made it to Kim’s apartment complex… and since we don’t have the fancy electronic key… thing, we have to use a regular metal key. Meaning we had to use a different entrance than the one Kat and I had used before when we stayed.

Although Kim drew us a lovely map… we had some difficulty figuring out where the hell to go. We thought we were supposed to go into the parking lot, but there was this chain there, blocking the way. And a security camera.

After circling the building a couple of times, we saw some people hopping over the chain and figured well if they can do it, we can too. So we got into the parking lot… and to these metal doors that Kim had mentioned… but when we tried putting the key into the lock, it wouldn’t go. We tried all the doors we could find, but no luck.

We walked around the parking lot a few times (it’s not that big, but we had no idea where to go), I called Kim, but then hung up when we saw a man coming down to the rubbish closet…

THAT WAS OUR CHANCE. We snuck into the complex behind the man and just as we did, Kim called with further instructions. It seems like we were at the right place….

We found his apartment, and it was then we realized that we had been trying the wrong key the entire time. Yes. A good 20 minutes wasted in the disgusting humidity because we’re too dumb to check to make sure we’re using the right key.

AWESOME.

Well, at least it was an adventure and the security people have something to watch.

Mostly because things have been… well, hectic. To say the least.

Guam was awesome. Nice, warm, sunny. We only had rain on one day (which was our last day, and we therefore spent it shopping).

We went snorkeling, relaxed with smoothies and ice cream by the beach, did a bit of hiking (I’m using the term hiking very loosely here) and saw some waterfalls, went to a fruit farm and learned about coconuts and all sorts of fruits…

It was just a really nice, refreshing vacation.

And on the plus side, I didn’t get a sunburn.

AMAZING.
I know.

No it really is, haha. My pale skin burns so easily. Although, I was using SPF50.

I took some photos. Sean took photos. Eri took photos.
I’ll upload them when I have a chance to sit down and just resize and whatever.

Yeah.
Things have really been that busy.

Just be happy. Or leave it alone so that other people can enjoy it to its fullest without having you there picking away at it.

On a completely unrelated note, leaving for Guam on the 20th for four days and I couldn’t be more excited! I just have to find a new bathing suit… I have one, but I’d like a nice new one for Guam.

Well, here’s a recap of the two weeks that have been missing (and Kat if I miss something, let me know, haha):

♪ Met up with Hitomi (shuuha on LJ), and since then have had a lot of fun hanging out on various occasions. Highlights include being in the park until nearly midnight (despite the dangers, haha), karaoke, buying tickets for a live next month, and wandering aimlessly. Dinner at LHK was pretty sweet, too.

♪ Went with Eri to 長久手 (Nagakute) which is just outside of the city to watch fireworks and wander around the celebrations that were going on. Got awesome candy apples, and the fireworks were really cool – especially the butterfly and Hello! Kitty shaped ones. Rode back to the station on the most crowded bus EVER, but the bus driver was hilarious, so it made it more tolerable.

♪ Following the fireworks in Nagakute, we headed to Sakae for some karaoke with Hitomi and Sean (so it was Sean, Hitomi, Eri, Kat and myself). Big Echo was ridiculously expensive, but hey, it was a Saturday night. So despite the price, we had a great time singing and a lot of double over in laughter moments.

♪ Kat and I were randomly approached by two guys on the way home. We exchanged e-mails. The one that I talked to seems like a decent fellow.

♪ Went to 白川郷 (Shirakawago), a ‘world heritage’ place with Toshi and Kyoko. It was pretty awesome, and really beautiful. It’s in the mountains, in Gifu prefecture… and well, you can’t go wrong with mountains. We went through an amazing number of tunnels, including one that was 11km long. I don’t know why I find that so fascinating, but I do. I love tunnels. Despite being stuck in traffic for a good three hours, it was a great day. On our way back, we stopped for okonomiyaki, and had a lot of laughs. Photos are finally uploaded: http://www.pink-spider.net/index.php/shirakawago/

♪　Went to 馬籠 (Magome) and an onsen with Eri and Miho. Awesomeness all around. We all had a lot of fun, and the onsen also had a pool that went from indoors to outdoors, a slide and a spa. We ended up renting a child’s floating… thing (because there were no adult ones left) and took turns trying to sit on it and whatnot. Pretty sure the pool boy thought we were some sort of crazy, and tried his best not to blatantly laugh at us. Magome is an old town, where a lot of Japanese style inns used to be, so the town is really interesting to walk through. Beautiful weather, too. Photos are posted: http://www.pink-spider.net/index.php/magome-onsen/

♪ Headed out for dinner with Eri and Hitomi, followed by some karaoke. We had a three hour singing session with quite the setlist — I’ll probably post it in my Japanese blog at a later date. The signs at karaoke are awesome.

♪ Went to LHK for Kat’s last night in Japan, with Eri. The staff there are so sweet; you just want to hug them all. They remembered us from the last time we went. Had the most amazing dessert EVER. French toast with ice cream, bananas and chocolate. I will marry it.

♪ While I was working, Kat set off on a few of her own adventures, including the botanical gardens and zoo, aquarium, and some of the heritage locations around Nagoya. She also got a random lady knocking at my door, for reasons we might never know, and had to buy some new luggage, which in itself sounded like an adventure.

★ To see Kat’s photos (many of which will appear on P-S.net at some point in time) make sure you check out her Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blissful_pics/

So, yes. I think that’s all I can remember for the big points right now. I’m working on adding more photos to the galleries, so if you’re interested, make sure you check them out! Even the older ones, like the Nagoya galleries and friends galleries will be updated.

It was awesome having Kat here, and I’m really glad she got a chance to come! Hopefully she’ll be able to visit again, and if Toshi, Tomoko and Kyoko’s wish comes true, she can find a job here, haha. (IN GIFU, THERE’S LOTS OF PLANTS THERE!).

Annnnd that’s it for now.

So, here are the missing two days from Tokyo plus the return to Nagoya, which in itself was an adventure.

On the 13th, we decided to visit Asakusa and Ginza. It was boiling hot out, so even though Asakusa was really nice, it was not nice feeling gross and sweaty. We had some ice to cool down and it felt like the best thing ever. Naturally we visited Sensouji, and then did a bit of looking around at all the different stalls. Kat ended up buying a really cute towel, and the older gentleman was so cute. He was also a very quick wrapper. To add to the coolness, we had gelato.

After that, we headed off to Ginza where we did mostly window shopping. We stopped into a few stores to browse, and although there were a million and one things we’d have loved to have, most of them aren’t exactly on the list of things we need and can afford, haha. We saw this moving cabaret shop which had different ‘scenes’ where you can put a token in and they move. They were mostly made of wood and metal… it’s hard to explain, but it was cool.

We met up with Kimkim for dinner, and headed out to this little diner for burgers. Unfortunately we were really late (we got there about 10pm and last order was at 10:30pm) and they were sold out of burgers. We had sandwhiches instead, which were just as good. AND I HAD ROOT BEER. It’s hard to find Root Beer in Japan so I was ridiculously exited.

We stayed up pretty late that night watching random things online, but all in all had a good time.

The fourteenth, which was day three of Tokyo, was reserved for Roppongi Hills, after much debate. We wanted to see a nice overview of the city, and the Mori tower had an outstanding view.They also had the ‘Sky Aquarium III’ which was just… amazing. It was basically like art with marine life. There’s no other way to describe it, and there are tons of photos in the photo gallery of it (just go to the Tokyo gallery).

Also in the Mori tower was an Ai Wei Wei exhibit. The art there was… interesting. It’s that kind of art that you don’t really get. We stopped in and watched this extremely bizarre and disturbing movie (well, the latter half of it). It’s like one of those artsy, ‘tortured-soul’ films, that only a certain type of person ‘gets’. We’re not sure if we should be confused, scarred, offended… it was just weird. The footage we saw was this guy with something like a twinkie in his mouth as he talked, and he was connected to what looked like tin foil and silver tubing. The tubing was connected to this wall, where you could see someone’s head, and they kept screaming and banging on the wall. The twinkie-man was also drooling.

Yeah.

From the Mori tower, we headed back to Shibuya to catch the bus to get back to Kim’s and meet him there. Oddly enough, we ended up on the same bus, haha. My future husband was not working at the conbini on our way by. It was sad. I never got to see him again.

Next on the menu was yakiniku, which we had to wait ten minutes to get into. But, the food was good and the menu had the BEST PHRASE EVER: “Yakiniku makes you happy. It’s magical”.
Truer words have never been spoken.

Then after much food, we went to karaoke. Yayyy. We initially planned to be there for three hours, but ended up extending a few times. We sang a lot. We also learned that Kat and I can actually rap — decently. Who knew. We were there until around 3:45am, and finally decided to call it night. On the way home, we stopped by McDonalds, because apparently we felt like we needed that at 4:00am.

Saturday… it was hard to wake up. But we had to catch the shinkansen to head back to Nagoya at 12:40. We left Kim’s place at 11:50… and let’s just say, we cut it really close. Long story short, after walking and the subway (with a transfer) we got through the wicket for the shinkansen at 12:37pm. That was just through the wicket. We still had to find the right platform, and get up the stairs. We made it on that train just in time. It was quite the little adventure because we both honestly thought that we just might not make it.

The ride back to Nagoya was nice, cool and relaxing. I fell asleep. Kat read. And after getting back we prepared for the live, which I already wrote about.

And that concludes our days in Tokyo, haha.
We took lots of photos which I’ve uploaded into the gallery: http://www.pink-spider.net/index.php/tokyo/

We arrived at the Shinjuku station in Tokyo at the lovely hour of 6:15am. Kim wasn’t keen on getting up any earlier than 8:00am, so we decided to head to the Starbucks in Shibuya for some breakfast while we waited.

We did some people watching, and caught a model and some photographers. It was pretty interesting, and it seemed like it was a shoe campaign. The model was wearing a ridiculous outfit, which made her look kind of like a prostitute. While they were shooting, she was propositioned by this one guy, who she completely ignored. A bunch of people walked through the shot, and they almost got hit by a few cars. That was our breakfast entertainment. The look on everyone’s face when they realized they were in the center of the Shibuya crosswalk when the walking lights were all red was priceless.

We were walking across the crosswalk after breakfast to hail a cab, and there were two irritating guys behind us going, “Do you speak Japanese?”. They also saw that Kat’s backpack had ‘Canada’ on it, so they were like, “Canada!?”. We didn’t respond. That is not cool at 8:00am after you’ve been on the night bus and feel like complete and total ass. That is annoying.

So, we ended up meeting up with Kim and taking our much needed showers and a bit of relaxation before heading out. Kim went to work earlier, but we met up with him for lunch and had some awesome shabushabu. The guy at the restaurant was so sweet, and gave us some candy on the way out.

Next, Kat and I headed to the Meiji Shrine to check out what was going on there. While we were taking a photo, this random guy (who is now our BFF) came up to us and asked (in English) if we wanted him to take a photo of us together. That was awesome, so we said sure. I said thank you to him in Japanese, and he kind of freaked out. YOU SPEAK JAPANESE!? And he asked a bunch of questions like where we were from, and we talked for a bit. He had one question that was plaguing his mind — IS GINGERALE CANADIAN? I told him that I think it was just a brand name, but we do drink it in Canada. Then he asked if he could take a photo of us with his camera, so after deciding he wasn’t creepy, we agreed and went on our merry way.

The shrine was really beautiful, peaceful and we had some great weather. There weren’t that many people there, so it was nice. At another part of the shrine, shortly after Kat had said she wished our buddy was around so we could get a photo together, HE SHOWS UP. He asked again if he could take our photos, but separately and together. I asked him if he could take a photo of us with my camera, and he had no problem with that. So he did, and then we got our photos taken by him. He was nice, we felt like models. He was always looking for the right light, and would be like OKAY, MOVE UP! MOVE BACK! STEP HERE! He also referred to us as ‘Miss Canada’ over and over. It was cute, and he was nice so it was fun. He asked about what we didn’t like about Japan, but I told him there wasn’t anything really I disliked. It’s just different from Canada. He said he thought Canadians have a lot of freedom… and I said well, I’m a foreigner in Japan so I feel like I have a lot of freedom here anyways… he laughed. We said our goodbyes, and explored the shrine a bit more.

Afterwards we headed to Harajuku for some crazy fashion. We didn’t buy much; socks, hair bands. That’s about it. It was paced, like it always is, but it’s always interesting to look around. We were there for about three hours just window shopping mostly, and at the end were feeling pretty exhausted. So, we headed back to Shibuya where we hopped on the bus to come back to Kim’s.

On the way we stopped at the conbini where the cutest conbini boy ever was working. And blushing like crazy. He asked me if I wanted a straw which confused me, because they generally just give it to you and I’ve never been asked. I told him it wasn’t necessary.

Kat and I hung out at Kim’s for a couple hours; tried on our head bands, watched Glee, chatted… and Kim texted us saying he was ready to come home and head out to dinner. We went for some awesome gyouza.

The rest of the night was spent with the three of us on YouTube and just talking… Kat and I had a giggle fest just before we went to sleep and I honestly don’t remember what was so hilarious, but we couldn’t stop laughing. Poor Kim.

So that was yesterday! What adventures will today hold!?
We all woke up for a brief period to a lovely swaying due to the earthquake. Every time we have an earthquake (which have been two now… well, two that we felt), Kat thinks that someone is gently trying to rock her awake.

Sunday, I went to the Chubu International Airport to meet Kat! Yay! Long story short, we made it back to my place after taking the train and a taxi. No problems; it was pretty smooth sailing despite the fact that Kat’s plane was delayed, which sucked for her.

We didn’t do much Sunday night; relaxed, ate, chatted… played with Kaito. That was about it.

So, Monday rolled around. We ended up slowly getting ready, having some lunch, calling home (both of us did; Kat to tell her parents she arrived safely, and me to thank my mum for the suitcase filled with awesome that she had packed for me). After lunch, we headed out to Sakae and Oosu Kannon.

In Oosu, which is always fun to walk around, we saw interesting Michael Jackson masks. One white, one black. I shouldn’t laugh, but you have to admit that it’s kind of funny.

It’s been a while since I went to Like an Edison, so I picked up the R指定 release that came out in the end of July that I didn’t have yet. We did mostly window shopping; Kat bought a small umbrella… but that was about it. We also headed to the Apple store so I could finally get a pink case for my iPhone.

It was disgustingly humid, so we were out for about 5 hours and then headed home. After napping (yes, we’re that sad) we ate some dinner (where they forgot to give us utensils, so we had to ask for chopsticks), then just talked and surfed around the internet.

TUESDAY.
We had to pack for Tokyo in the morning, make the apartment presentable because Hanna and Sean are stopping by to check up on Kaito while we’re away, and go to Fujigaoka to meet Eri and Miho. Well, we were a bit late, but we got there okay and first things first, WENT FOR DONUTS.

There’s this place in Fujigaoka called Hara Donuts that sells awesome awesome donuts. So we all stopped there, ate upstairs (which is super cute), and headed off for Eri’s car and a forty minute drive to Asuke. Asuke is in Toyota, which is in Aichi-ken, and close to where Eri’s hometown is. It was a really nice drive through the mountains with lots of greenery.

In Asuke, there’s this little town and it’s kind of like one of those historical towns where they show what they did in the past. So, we walked through there and went to a paper making place, where we each made two sheets of Japanese paper, one of which had momiji in it! Yay! They’re really cool and pretty. The lady who showed us how was really cute and sweet.

After paper making, we walked around the little town a bit while it dried. Tried out some stilts, which were hilarious. An older Japanese man came out of the basket weaving house to show us how to do them. He was AWESOME at it. Kat and I pretty much failed. Eri was really good at it, however.

We met Kaede-chan, a cow, some roosters and chickens, a really cute dog and a very drowsy cat. There was a Showa museum which we checked out, and some old fashioned Japanese toys. Eventually we made it back to pick up our paper, and then headed out for dinner! On our way to dinner we stopped to take a quick refreshing foot dip in the river.

After dinner, we went to part of the town where they lit candles all along the sidewalk. They just do it for a couple weeks in August, but it’s SO cool and really pretty. People decorate their candles with all sorts of paintings and some of them were ridiculously good. We’ll post photos later.

There wasn’t much left to do there, so we headed back to Fujigaoka and took some purikura! They’re not the most attractive purikura because we were outside sweating all day, but it was a lot of fun. Then Kat and I said our goodbyes to Eri and Miho, hung out at Starbucks, then headed to Meieki to catch the night bus to Tokyo!

That’s all for now. We made it safely to Tokyo and are staying with Kimkim.
We’ll update later, and post photos when we transfer them onto the computers.