TravelStream™ news feed for member nikkimick06 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/nikkimick06 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:14:20 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1176706320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1176706320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1176706320/tpod.html Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:14:20 -0400 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My adventures while teaching English in Japan!!!

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Phuket, Thailand

Most of the day we just hung out around our hostel. The International House of Travellers. Its kinda right in the middle between Phuket town and Patong Beach. It wasnt terrible. In the morning we had breakfast. It was good. Could rival any continental breakfast Ive had at any hotel in the states. Anyway, some wandering, and then lunch at the restaurant next door. I had this huge steamed fish. I mean huge. And TASTY! For less than 3 USD. Can you believe it. It was so damn tasty. Then we went to some shopping area near Patong beach. It was so cool!!!!!! There were so many things that were cool to just look at let alone buy. Actually we didnt do too much here besides shopping and laying on beaches. But, it was cool. We ended up going back to our hostel then and yup, watched a movie. Boy are we bums. But, it worked out quite well cause a little later that night, the owner of the hostel was giving rides to Patong beach to celebrate new years. It was cool. We didnt have to worry abt getting a rickshaw or a taxi. We get to Patong beach and just wander and stare at the crazies that are out on New Year`s. Andy had blisters on his feet so we stop in at a pharmacy so he can get some bandaids. This was a huge mistake. He got the bandaids just fine, but the lady proceeds to tell me that there were just 6 bombs going off in Bangkok. GREAT!! Thanks for the info. Wish I was drunk so I coulda ignored her. But, I couldnt. Then I told Andy what the lady told me and he kinda wished I didnt tell him. Ignorance is bliss. I know this for a fact now. For the next eternity, I debated going back to the hotel just incase anyone was planning to blow up Patong beach. The pharmacy lady told me that Patong is safe cause its small and its on an island and that we should still enjoy new year`s. I was like yeah, thats easier said than done. I decide to stick it out for awhile. But, I was seriously stressed as was Andy. We found this cheap ass bar and had a beer thinking this would ease the tension. It didnt. Not at this bar anyhow. There were bikes and cars back firing and huge garbage trucks parking infront of us. I was like you have got to be kidding me. I cant sit here. They are clearly going to use that garbage truck to blow up this particular bar. We must leave. So we did. On our walk I decided its New Years. I cant go back to the hotel. Im in Thailand for crying out loud. And I felt bad cause I could tell Andy wanted to stay out. I spotted a nice Irish pub not on the corner so even if there was a plot to blow anythign up near it, the bar was surrounded by enough other buildings to block anything was my thinking. I proceeded to slam three beers, met some Irish boys who hung out with us the rest of the night and relaxed. Right around midnight we head to the beach for the most kick-ass new Years every. Seriously. All up and down Patong Beach there were fire works being lit off. Right near us too. And paper lanterns being sent up into the sky. It was cool. And it went on for like 45 mins. Then, the Irish boys, Andy and I walked down the beach a ways and found a dance party on the beach. It was perfect. Just what I needed to relieve the stress of the day and reflect on the day. New Years 2007 was a good one!! That is definite. I think we stayed at the dance party till 3 or 4 am. There were these Thai break dancers there. Amazing. So much fun. Well, while I was dancing Andy got drunk. Drunkity drunk drunk. Getting him home was ridiculous. Almost as bad as getting to phuket. We took a rickshaw with the Irish boys and tried to tell the driver two stops, our place and their place. He ignored us and brought us all the way to their place in Phuket town 10K from where Andy and I need to be. Hmmm....one of the Irish boys yelled at the rickshaw driver so he left. Thus, leaving Andy and I without an option. Not that Andy minded much, he was resting on a flower pot!! hahahaha! The nice Irish boys decided not to strand us and walked around with us to find a cab or something. We found a man with a motorbike. Clealy both of us will not fit and Andy might fall off. So this poor man takes us to his own personal car. Which I might add is a pile of S**T. Big time. I really didnt think it was going to make it the 10K. Plus it was running low on gas. He stopped and put in a smige of gas and we make it to IHOT but, he cant break my bill. GREAT!!!! Im so mad by this point and I feel really bad because this guy is actually really nice and is trying his best but Im beyond it. I have to go to this 7 eleven to get change. As I get outta the car some Thai boys cat call me which clearly Im not in the mood for so I give them the evil eye. Then, Im like wow that was probably a really bad idea. Better get in the store. So I go in 7 eleven and ask them for change but you have to buy something. Im so angy Im just emitting this anger vibe and Im really trying not too cause Im the only white person surrounded by Thai men at 4 am in a 7 eleven. I get some gum and my change and book out with out a problem trying to ignore what they`re saying to me. Finally we get back to IHOT without any further complications. Happy New Year`s!! It really will go down as one of the best new year`s ever. It was cool. Even the part about trying to get back to the hotel. It all worked out so no problems. Just a kick ass new years memory. Till next time!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1176704100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1176704100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1176704100/tpod.html Mon, 16 Apr 2007 02:51:30 -0400 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My adventures while teaching English in Japan!!!

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Phuket, Thailand

From the children`s home we took a bus to Bangkok. This was 7 hours of pure roller coaster mountain cruising madness. And I was sitting in the second seat from the front. I have no idea how the ppl in the back made it without puking all over themselves. So, I was all ready for a relaxing trip to Bangkok via the bus. But, the roads are very curvy and there are many hills and apparently the bus driver only knows one speed...super fast.....then slam on the brakes.....then super fast again. This is around corners, up and down hills, his technique for stopping at rest stops. The person sitting next to me must have taken this bus a time or two before because he had a barf bag with him AND he used it. That added to the pleasantness of the ride. Not to mention the ppl across the aisle barfing in their bags. We made it to Bangkok 7 hours later. I somehow, by seriously some miracle, did not barf. Thank goodness. Once in Bangkok, Andy and I had to figure out how to get down South to Phuket. We actually had a place to stay there which is a plus but we definitely did not know how we were getting here. According to all the websites the planes, buses, and trains were all sold out. We took a cab to the other Bangkok Bus Station. Which was completely ghetto. Im pretty sure it was the South train station. Anyway, it was crowded, way crowded, dirty, and just had an overall not so cool vibe about it. Well, we go to the ticket counters to try to get tickets for an overnight bus and they are all sold out. Slight panic sets in cause I dont want to stay in Bangkok and I definitely dont want to stay anywhere near this station. Andy and I notice some travel agencies across the street and check them out. Again, nothing!! A little more panic. We get sent back and forth between the travel agencies when finally a lovely lady brings us to this table outside of the first travel agency we went to. At this table there are two Thai men sitting with a money box and slips of paper and to top the cliche off, they had cigs hanging outta their mouthes. Hmmm.....this seems good. Right. However, they tell us they have tickets for an overnight bus with aircon to Phuket. The price wasnt bad either. It did seem like there were a bunch of other ppl waiting near this table too. So, after a brief discussion of the shadiness of the situation and our respective worries about getting ripped off or taken to some alternate destination we decide, meh, why not, we need to get to Phuket. We pay the men and the card table in the middle of the street near the shadiest train station Ive ever seen. Cant say I was completely comforatble with the situation. Neither was Andy for that  matter. But, we did it. He handed us a slip of paper with our seats written on it and told us to wait. We had a couple hours and we were hungry so we set off to find some food. Apparently this station is a member of the twilight zone club because we kept walking around in circles to the back part of the stn and ending up where we started. We gave up and ate at the restaurant near the shady card table. Cant say the restaurant was much better than the card table transaction. Seemed a bit mob-esque. With the men with greased back hair, tattoos, wearing old army fatigues or leather vests. Oh yeah. Seemed like a nice place. But, hey, they had karaoke and an English menu and we were hungry. We figured drinking was a good way to ease our tensions as well. So we ate, we drank and then the drunk possible mafia men started singing love songs to me. Fantastic. What could be much better than this. Hahahaha! Dear Lord. Not only were they singing, one very persistent fellow came to sit with us. We thought we could get rid of him by saying we had to go to the bus cause it was leaving (which it wasnt but it was coming soon). Nope. Didnt happen. He followed us to the bus stop/random card table. So, this guy doesnt speak English, but he really wants to ask me out I guess. He calls his English speaking friend on his cell and has him talk to me and make sure when I get back to Bangkok that I will call his friend, who yes has given me his phone number. What the heck is this all about. He was in love I guess. Andy and I get on our bus. We are in the very first row on the second floor of the bus full of only Thai ppl. We felt a bit akward. And here begins the Highway to Hell adventure. At least thats what Andy and I deemed it. The first two hours were pretty cool. They played some hysterical Thai TV so we were entertained. Then we slept for awhile and had a rest at some rest stop in the middle of no where, but with a fantastic store. Now, sometime after this point is when things went a bit awry. The bus made a big clunky sound. Like a BAM, Clunk, eeerrrkk, CLUNK! I thought we either got shot at or we ran a person over or the engine fell out. Its night, and raining, and you cant see a thing so...hmmmm. The bus proceeds to pull over on the side of the highway. And its night, so all we can see in the red glow of the break lights. That was creepy. Then the bus pulls back on the road. Then it does a U turn. Then, it pulls over on the side of the road on the other side. Then it backs up and goes forward for about 20 minutes. Then, we pull into this clearly closed mechanic shop place/someone`s house where the bus driver proceeds to blow the horn for 10 minutes straight. By this point Andy and I are like what the F***K is going on. This can not be good. Well, no one came out of the mechanic shop so we left. Or did we. I cant remember. We fell back to sleep. Maybe someone came out and fixed the bus and then the driver again went backwards and forwards for awhile. Who knows, its all this blur of complete terror, confusion, and sleep. Either way, the bus eventually got fixed and I dont know how long it took. But, we had to stop and get gas or something and Andy had to pee at this completely remote gas station. I guess he had a beer with the ppl inside really quick and they fed him something before he got back on the bus (this all seriously took place in 7 minutes). He said he kinda thought they were going to kidnap him and he`s not entirely sure what kind of interaction he interrupted. Oh boy. We`re not even halfway there yet. And all this has happened. But, actually after this, things went pretty smoothly. They did bring us to Phuket. We had no idea where we were in Phuket, but we did get dropped off there. Our hostel was still another 10K or so away and we took a rickshaw there. After the rickshaw driver stalked us for a block and we had no alternative. It was fine. He brougt us to our hostel and we got all checked in. And the place isnt so bad either. Clean. And that is key. With TV and lotsa English movies. We have arrived in Phuket alive and well. Yay us!! We really didnt do too much this first day. Ate, hung out, watched movies. We were tired. Plus we had to save our energy for tomorrow!! New Year`s Eve!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1160958840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1160958840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1160958840/tpod.html Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:33:45 -0400 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My adventures while teaching English in Japan!!!

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Miwa, Japan

The main focus of this little entry is on Japanese Toilets and Japanese TV. Both are highly entertaining!! First of all, Japanese toilets are pretty much the same as Indian Toilets. Porcelain bowls in the ground. So you definitely have to squat to use them. And be sure to face the right way! Well, at the school I am teaching at I thought there was only Japanese toilets. For two months now I have been using the Japanese style toilets. Which is no big deal, Im a veteran of the squat growing up in the Northwoods and all. But, the other day I found a Western toilet!! I was so excited!! The funny thing is that its in the same bathroom as the Japanese toilets, but I thought the stall it was in was a closet!! Hahaha! I shoulda checked that out a little more closely! There is a huge difference between Japanese toilets and Western ones especially here. First of all, you dont have to squat which is nice. It can get to be pretty tiring. But, not only that, the Western toilets here have a variety of functions including heated seats, a drying function which is a breeze of air, a bouday (spelling anyone?) for ladies, and a few other buttons that do some mysterious things. With so much variety why would they stick to the Japanese toilets?!?! It is definitely a much more enjoyable experience using the Western Toilets especially when the seat it heated! Unless you are in a public place. Then I think a Japanese toilet is much better because you dont have to worry about sitting on a nasty toilet seat not knowing who in God's name has been there last!! Maybe the men reading this wont understand how horrific public bathroom experiences can be for women, but boy it can get pretty sketchy! So then Japanese toilets are nice. And in their homes, most Japanese have Western toilets. But, on the seat there is some cloth cover thing so you dont sit directly on the porcelain. And one of the Ladies from the Unofficial JET welcoming committee who helped me get settled had me buy one!! Haha! I think it will be quite nice in the winter. Not having to sit on the cold porcelain! I hope so anyhow. Now if you think this is entertaining, wait till I tell ya about Japanese TV! I definitely miss American TV, but I can rent most popular shows at the video store here. So thats a blessing!! Here's an example of what Japanese TV is like. I was at the gym running and they had the news on. I was half watching it, but then all of a sudden this story came on about a man who got bit in the butt by a bear. I think the focus of the story was how he didnt get hurt cause his wallet was in his pocket and he managed to kick the bear in the head. But, the funny part is how this story was reported. The reporter lady was crouched down, with her hands like claws and she was chasing the man around with her face like 3 inches from his butt!! It was hysterical!! This went on for like 5 minutes because first they had to make clear how the bear was chasing the man (this is the part where she followed him around with her face like 3 inches from his butt!!), then they had to demonstrate many times how the man turned and kicked the bear in the head. So picture a Japanese man being chased around by a woman pretending to be bear with her hands all claw like and her face in a scowl and 3 inches away from this guys butt!! I couldnt contain myself. It was too much. I burst out laughing!! There is also hysterical game shows that involve people dressing up in drag and spinning around on some sorta thing that stops infront of some other ppl and the people spinning around in Drag have to answer the question asked by the ppl wherever they stop and if they get it wrong they spin again. I really have no idea what the point of all this is especially since I dont know Japanese and this is what I could decipher!! Hahaha! It was hysterical. Too entertaining. Well that should cover it. Till next time!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1176164520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1176164520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1176164520/tpod.html Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:31:02 -0400 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My adventures while teaching English in Japan!!!

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Huay Ma Lai, Thailand

Not entirely sure where I left off, but I know I was heading to the orphanage some time soon. So, that`s where I`ll begin. Dada, the fellow from the Phillipines who runs the children`s home picked us up at the Burmese Inn. Now he was running about an hour late so some of us walked to the bakery to buy some of this fabulous cheese bread for breakfast. I mean that stuff was good. So Dada, actually picked us up at the bakery. He`s such a wonderful guy. Just so laid back. Anyway, he had only one truck and about 11 of us to bring to the home. I think two ppl could fit in front so there was roughly 9 of us plus luggage in the back of the truck. It totally reminded me of ba-ha-ing down some dirt roads at home. It was hysterical, but boy was it a long ride to balance there. However, we made it without any complications. No lost luggage or ppl! Good thing. There are about 40 kids who live at Baan Dada`s North of Bangkok. And when there are 40 kids around you are bound to get a warm welcome. Which we did! They are the most adorable kids ever. Now most of them dont speak English. But, that really didnt impare any of our communicating. I bonded with one boy quite quickly. We were playing soccer. I cant play soccer for the life of me, but he didnt seem to mind. It was still darn fun. After about 20 mins of soccer he was like lets go to school. He said it in English and took of running. I was like ok so i take off running after him and was like wait, school is about 6k away. Are we running the whole way there?!?! I might pass out!!! And this adorable little boy, just keeps running, and pointing straight ahead saying school, school. Ok, Ok. I can do this. Just pump the arms, breathe in thru my nose out thru the mouth, pace yourself. So we`re running. And we maybe run 1K and we see some kids coming towards us on the road. What he meant was the other kids were getting home from school and were on their way home from the bus stop. Thank goodness. 1K was plenty for a morning jog in 85 degree heat. So we meet up with the other boys coming home from school and yes Jog back thru the jungle. Boy am I glad I was wearing flip flops. That really helped. Just kidding. The kids found it entertaining though. I was a bit clumsy in the jungle. But, this is what I mean. They are just so loving. They want you with them all the time. Its really lovely. Once we got back, there was some time for introductions from the kids who were at school. There were also some volunteers from Australia to meet and two other ALT`s from Japan. We basically spent the rest of the day playing with the kids. They got a new swing set from the Australians and this was a pretty big hit. And I must admit a darn fun swing set. There was a slide, two swings, some netting to climb up and over one side and down the other, and rings for some acrobatics. A pretty kick ass swing set if you ask me. Most of my time was spent devising games with the kids on the swing set. One of my favorites (ok the kids liked it too, not just me!!) had two players. One at the bottom of the netting on each side of the swing set. You play paper, rock, scissors, and the winner gets to move up a square in the netting, the first one to get up, over, and to the bottom of the other side wins!! It was hysterical!! Its amazing how easy it is to communicate when there is a language barrier. And how much fun it is!! Then there was a water fight. Then a HUGE Pizza dinner to prepare that night. The other two ALT`s from Japan made pizza dough and Dada provided tons of veggies and whatnot for the pizzas. So our first night there was a pizza bonanaza!!! The kids loved it for sure!! It was definitely a wonderful wonderful first day at the home. The next morning and afternoon was mostly spent sightseeing with Dada. Almost all the kids were at school so we had some time to kill. The other two ALT`s (Erin and Sonia) and also a girl named Daniella who arrived later in the night, and I went for a walk in the morning. A long, long walk! It was fantastic. We stumbled upon a lagoon area, and many varieties of fields, and plants, and flowers, and rubber tree plantations, and a strange hike up a road in the middle of the jungle that didnt really lead anywhere. Well, we decided that it has been a good long time so we should head back since we didnt want to miss the ride into town with Dada. We were going to the local market. I was pumped. If there is one thing I love it is markets with fresh fruits and veggies, and whatever other random stuff you can think of. It was fantastic. And everything is so fresh, you buy some fruit and they cut it up for you right there and you eat it, fresh and warm by the sun. Simply amazing. I tried actual coconut milk for the first time. You choose your coconut for like maybe 10 cents, the guy cracks it open for you and gives you a straw and you drink it right there. And it was so good! Im not usually a big fan of coconut but this stuff was delicious. I guess Ive just never had the real thing before. Once everyone was satisfied with their market purchases, there was also some internet time. Just a brief stop. But, I really enjoyed this little internet place because there were little lizards running all over the place. For those of you who have been to Florida, they resembled those little guys. Adorable. Then it was off to a temple for a bit. It was a truly amazing gold temple. I cant even describe it. It was just that cool. Ill put up a picture. After that it was about time for the kids to be getting home from school so we headed back to the home. And of course a lot of playing commenced. My friend Im travelling with, Andy, was totally in his element. He has scores and scores of energy. Where he gets it I have no idea. For hours and hours straight he would run around with the kids. And when I say run around I mean he really was running the entire time. I cant believe he didnt get heat stroke or suffer from exhaustion. Amazing. Id run for maybe an hour then take a little break and sit with some of the little girls or go help in the kitchen (as much as they`d allow anyhow!) for a rest and then go back out. Before dinner everyone has a shower. The showers are cold so they are done in the afternoon, after school, so its not too cold. Cause it gets cold in the jungle at night. Then some more play time, and shortly after is dinner time, and the younger kids head to bed. Some of the kids have a band, so there is also music time at night where everyone goes to this side house and listens to the band practice for awhile. And then there is some meditation time, probably to try to calm some of the kids down so they eventually fall asleep. Then is chaos again trying to figure out where everyone goes. Which actually doesnt take too long, and then the whole area is quiet. So quiet. By this point all of us volunteers are wiped out! Travelling, and playing all day. So most of us headed back to the volunteer house and hit the hay. But, there were some boys chilling by a fire so Erin and I stopped and chatted with them for a bit. They were in their teens. And spoke very good English. They were so sweet. And it was at this winding down part of the day, that I realized, this is what I love doing. I just wish there was some feasible way to do it full time. Seeing those kids faces just from playing with them for a few hours, or showing them something from home, or giving them something as small as a piece of chocolate or a pen and how it makes their entire day. Is so rewarding. I really wanted to stay there forever. But, there is still two days left. The third day we were at the childrens home was the Village Day/Christmas party. Also Known as Pure Madness day if you ask me. Seriously, it was pure chaos. Fun Chaos. But, 100 percent chaotic. In the morning we prepared games for the children who live at the home, and the children who visit from the villages to play. We also divided out clothes and toys to be distributed to village people. This is an example of just how wonderful and amazing Dada is. Every year, if the childrens home gets many donations and there is too much for them to use, he divides it up and has a village day around Christmas time to help out the villagers. He`s like I know we have little but we still have more than them and too much to use right now and the villagers need the help so I help them. AMAZING. It was so refreshing to meet him and realize there are still ppl in this world who are truly giving and selfless and good. Its something thats easy to forget with all the other terrible things happening pretty much daily. So, thats what the day consisted of.....games like potatoe sack races, the human knot, balloon stomp, a grab the snack game, a water balloon fight, and the kids trying to climb an oiled up bamboo pole to get some baht. Hysterical. We also served lunch to the villagers. After all the games, prizes, gifts, and lunch were finished. It was time to distribute the clothes. Now, I thought the rest of the day was madness. This was even more intense. It really made me realize how little the villagers have because their whole disposition changed and it was how much of this stuff can I get. We had to regulate a little because people who already got a bag of clothes and a toy would try to sneak back in line to get more before everyone had gone thru. Chaos. I made the mistake of leaving a sweatshirt outside and it ended up getting taken by the villagers. It was sad because it made me realize how desperate these ppl actually are. At first I was upset, then I realized how much more they need it than me, and that I can always get another one whereas they cant. It would be impossible. Crazy. Ive never seen desperation or ppl turn so aggressive before over things like clothes. I guess Ive never been around people with such a shortage and an opportunity to get more. It was very eye opening. After that experience, its hard for me to think of all the things I have and that Ive taken for granted my entire life. As far as American standards go I dont particularily have a lot, but seeing these actually poor people it was an awakening experience to how much I do have and how much ppl take for granted. I wish everyone could have an experience like this. Especially ppl who spend their money on meaningless and frivolous things like plastic surgery, or name brand clothes or ppl who havent had to work for anything in their lives. Because its hard to think of these things when they are so far from our everyday lives. After all the madness of the day got cleaned up and the villagers were on their way home we had our own little Christmas Celebration. There are about 40 kids at Baan Dada`s, and maybe 10 or 11 ppl in our volunteer group. Each member got assigned 5 kids to buy Christmas presents for. Most of the things we bought were necessities like socks and some clothes, but we also threw some toys in there too. Just for good measure. As we were organizing our bags of gifts some cards that had been sent from Japan were being handed out. It was amazing because there were tons of toys to be had and the kids were more into getting the cards at the moment. They were so excited that someone knew their name and made them a construction paper card. All of the cards were in English. So, most of the kids would bring the cards to the volunteers to read. It was so just nice. Really nice. Having the kids sitting on my lap and listening intently to their cards. Its amazing how many kids can fit on one lap!!! Ok. The kids were super patient and now it was present time!! MADNESS!!! They were so grateful and excited by the smallest thing. A towel, a tiny personal mirror, pencils, or a geometry set thing. No competition. No thinking someone else was getting more than them. Just pure happiness and excitedness, and thankfulness. It was so touching. Well, it really didnt take them that long to tear through all their gifts and afterwards some of us went to hang out in their bedroom area. They were playing the guitar for us and some kids were doing their homework. Since their school work was in Thai I couldnt really helo them out at all. But, the thing is they didnt care. They just enjoyed that I was laying on the floor next to them and that I could periodically be used as a jungle gym during brief breaks. It was lovely to just to cuddle with them and speak as well as we could. Back to the volunteers house to get some sleep once all the kids are starting to get settled for bed. Our volunteer house is about a two block walk back into a clearing. Its a two story building with two sides to it, like two mini apartments. Each one has: The downstairs has two bedroom areas, a living room area, and a bathroom. The upstairs is a loft type area. So you can sleep quite a few ppl in there. Its made out of cinderblocks I believe. Or whatever, its just a brick and cement building. So nothing fancy, but it does the trick. One creepy ass experience I had was sleeping next to the window upstairs one night. There was a chewed circle in the screen and no way to block. Well, in the middle of the night I hear a monkey or similar animal running across our roof. Fine. That wont fit thru the little hole. But awhile after that I woke up cause in my half asleep state I definitely thought I was cuddling with something furry. Instead of checking for sure I woke up the girl next to me and practically slept on top of her the rest of the night cause it was as far away from the window as I could get. Well, when I woke up in the morning, right below the window were some lovely rodent turds. I cuddled with a rodent. Fantastic. I guess its better than a poisionous scorpion. But, that was the worst of it. So, nothing too bad. The next day was our last day there. While the kids were at school this day we went on a trek day. This is included a long tail boat ride to a sunked temple, an elephant trek thru the jungle for a bout an hour, lunch outta a plastic bag and some fresh pineapple, then bamboo rafting back to the beginning. What an intense day that was. Hiking in the jungle, crossing rivers to get to bamboo rafts, riding on an elephants head. Seriously exciting stuff. Bamboo rafting was a bit life threatening I think. There are three ppl on a raft. The guide and two others. Sonia and I were on a raft together (we were also on the elephant together). Now we were the two girliest girls on the trip so maybe we should have rethought the whole going on a bamboo raft together with a guide who isnt much older than us and seems a little.......evil. I think thats the best way to put it. He crashed us, purposely like every 25 feet. I mean this started to hurt. I was in the front so I had to hurl myself backwards or sit suddenly on my knees so as to not be catapulted into the pile of rocks he decided to crash us into. Or when he dedided to play bumber rafts with some of the other evil raft drivers. Yeah, I was infront. Who`s idea that was I dont know. But clearly I cant stear a bamboo raft when mad man in the back is pumping as hard as he can so we are flying down this river. Im just glad I didnt fall in cause I really wasnt in the mood to find out there were prihannas there or something. By some grace of God, both Sonia and I survived. By the skin of our teeth. Glad I did it though. Just wish it woulda been a little more peaceful so we could have enjoyed the gorgeous scenery. Mountains, and Jungle, and Riverlets. Gorgeous. After that adventure it was off to sleep on a floating house with the kids. We slept outside on a river basically on a giant raft that resmebles a living room in a huge house. It was great, but freezing. And dada, Bless him, He`s like I bet you wouldnt have been cold if you had your sweatshirt. No, Dada, you are right. I probably wouldnt have. This became quite the joke for all of us. So, this was a funny conversation. Oh Dada. We got up bright and early and had a tearful goodbye with the kids. It was hard to leave. But off to Bangkok and then South to the beach it is. If anyone is interested in helping out Baan Dada`s check out the website. There are many different ways to contribute. And your donations will be warmly received. Thank you!! Please help them out if you can. www.baandada.org. And here is a link to information with pictures about the kids currently living at Baan Dada`s: http://www.yesicanusechopsticks.com/dada2006/bios/. Try to say no after looking at their adorable faces! Its virtually impossible!! Trust me, I know first hand!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1175090040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1175090040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1175090040/tpod.html Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:03:10 -0400 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My adventures while teaching English in Japan!!!

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Bangkok, Thailand

I'm going to give part two my best shot, but I'm going to warn you I'm getting tired. If it starts to not make sense, this is why. Here goes nothin! Arriving in Thailand was wonderful. We stayed the first night in Bangkok so we could meet up with the other volunteers and just hang out and get to know each other. We stayed at a cute little place called the Thai Cozy house which was nice for the price. Super cheap. However, there was a cockroach incident that sent me leaping for the bed. But, that was our fault for leaving the window open. Anyway, Andy and I wondered around some market streets where I proceeded to buy 3 swimsuits for the price of one top in America and also 2 sun dresses which were the best purchases because they were perfect for the weather in Thailand. After this we wandered into an outside restaurant area and decided to eat to kill some time until we had to meet up with everyone else. Somehow the topic of drinks came up and we ended up getting a little tipsy before meeting everyone. Although, it worked out fine since we all ended up going for drinks anyhow! haha! It was very surreal arriving in Thailand because its Winter Break which means its around Christmas time. Being from MN I am used to feet of snow and pine trees. Instead I had 75+ degree weather and Palm trees decorated with Christmas lights. It was so great! It didn't seem quite right, but it was still great. Especially the Thai guy dressed up in the Santa suit. That was priceless. So, we met everyone and they are very cool and Ryan has got his stuff together for this trip. It's his 3rd time so I'm feeling pretty good. Everyone heads to the shopping area again to just bum around and hang out. Then we all kinda start tapering off in our own directions. Most people went back to the hotel, but Andy and I went for ICE CREAM!! It was delicious. We had a bit of a sad thought, regretting how excited we got over ice cream and not beer. We felt old for a second. But, seriously this ice cream was amazing. It was huge and layered and there was tons of chocolate. Oh boy. I love food. Shortly after that it was time to go back to the hotel and rest up for the tons of travel we have to get to the orphanage. The next morning we take a bus to the orphanage area making a couple pits stops on the way for sightseeing. Now, this day was a surprise for us so we didn't know what the heck was going on and apparently we had to wear special clothes. However, I didn't know about this and came downstairs in my new orange dress. Well, orange was an off-limits color. So, I change into my dark pinkish one. This was also no good. I was like my goodness what is going on today. Clearly no hiking or anything cause it's only the color thats a problem. I guess the third time is the charm cause it worked. The running joke became no matter what we are doing, my clothes weren't right for it! Boy am I glad I changed too because one of our stops was to go to a Monastery where monks live and pet the tigers that live there!!! IT WAS SO F-IN SCARY BUT AWESOME!! You could walk with the tigers down to their resting area for after they eat. Since tigers virtually pass out after eating its ok to go in and touch them Well, supervised of course. I have never been so excited and scared at the same time. They even take your camera in with you to take pics. Its cool. Although at some points they definitely took too many pics cause I wanted to get the f away from the tigers. There was rumbling in the throat that was working it's way up to a growl and a potential paw swat. Apparently this is no problem. Cause the camera just kept snapping. There aren't only tigers here. There are all kinds of wild animals, bears (I fed the bear a banana), peacocks, little pigs, cows, mules. You  name it, they got it. Pretty neat. We also stopped at the Bridge over River Kwai where the Japanese slaughtered a bunch of Thai people and I think made them build this bridge. I think I need to watch the movie to get a better idea of this. Either way, they let you walk right onto the bridge and even across it if you want. And no, its not safe in the least bit. Its not fenced off or anything and the only real place to walk is between the tracks cause if you walk anywhere else and lose your balance you'll fall in to the river. I mean Thailand is great, no codes, no rules really, you can pretty much do what you want. Hold tiger heads, walk on train bridges, that yes are still in use. It's the place to go for adventure. It was a 9 hour bus ride to the orphanage so we were poopered out by the time we got to the town where the orphanage is near and pretty darn late so we decided to stay at a hotel in town and get dinner and rest up for meeting the kids. We stayed at the Burmese Inn. Nice little huts is essentially what it was. But, I loved it. I slept great! The cold shower wasnt so pleasant though, but when its that hot, a cold shower is best. At dinner we met a little girl from Singapore who could speak Chinese, French, and English. She was 7!! Is that really possible? I mean she could actually speak all these languages. She spoke to me in English and a girl on our trip knew French so she talked to her in French. Both fluently, very, very fluently. And just demonstrated Chinese for us. To tell the truth, it was kinda creepy how smart she was!! It really makes a person think about how much of their brain they are actually using! I guess this was all too much to handle cause Ryan, Andy, and I bought a bottle of the local wine, Romberry wine! Not so tasty cause its really strong!!! Very good for bonding. Gets right to the point. Tipsiness. It was so good, Andy decided he was Mexican and dressed to fit the part. This was quite the riot for the locals who were so kind and wonderful. Even though every time we ordered food mine came last, even when I ordered first. This also became a running joke along with the clothes. I wasn't allowed to order food the entire trip!! Everyone was too worried it would take too long!! Hahaha! Ok. Well, we have really only made it through day 2 of this trip!! I mean we havent even got to the orphanage yet, which was the whole point of the trip. But, Im am pooped out and need to get some sleep. You will just have to be patient and wait and see what other twists and turns this Adventure in Thailand took. Cause let me tell you there were lots!! Till Next Time!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1175085960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1175085960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1175085960/tpod.html Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:53:39 -0400 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My adventures while teaching English in Japan!!!

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Taipei, Taiwan

Let's cover Winter Break now. This was literally the best winter break, and quite possibly the best trip I've had yet! Seriously, if you want an adventure, Thailand is the place to go!!! It is so much fun. My winter break was actually divided into three parts. One part getting to Thailand, One part volunteer trip, and One part all about beaches and islands. It was amazing. And all thanks to Ryan who coordinated the whole volunteer thing and Andy who was my travel buddy/bodyguard incase of any fishy business taking place. Which I'm pleased to say there was little of! Ok. Part One: Just trying to get to Thailand was a great Adventure. We had a stop over in Taipei Taiwan from 3pm until 9am. We were just getting to the airport in Nagoya and finding our airline when we see fellow JETs at the same ticket counter we were heading for. Dave, Dan, and Bob I believe. They were on the same flight as us!!! It's hysterical because we noticed them as they just got called up to the ticket counter to get checked in so we didnt have to wait in line at all and we all got to sit by each other in the plane. In the plane we were having our own little party. It was fantastic. Nomihodai (all you can drink!!). They didn't charge us for drinks on the plane so we took advantage and had a few beers. Well, I had a few and some red wine, the boys had QUITE a few!! It was hysterical. Alcohol, I've realized, is the cure all for any flying phobia anyone has. It truly works wonders. However, just to be sure Im going to have to test this theory further of course. We all have a bunch of time to chill in Taipei, we separated to check into our respective hostels. After that, I had just about one singular goal for the entire trip.....See the Taipei 101 so this is what we did!! And I am so glad we did. It's currently the tallest building in the world with 5 stories underground and 101 above ground is how I think it is all laid out. I mean just looking at this building is cool. It's gorgeous. And inside is even more goregous with totally upscale shops and truly awe inspiring architecture. I mean it is just so damn cool. Then, Andy and I got into the world's fastest elevator and went to the top!! The view is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And who knew at that height it is so windy. I mean it was windy up there. Thank goodness for all the fencing to barricade us off from being blown away. Also there is a small museum up there with some crazy expensive but truly amazing artwork and a movie about the making of the Taipei 101. It was pretty interesting. Really interesting actually. This is when we found out that on New Year's Eve there are fireworks lit off from the Taipei 101!!!!!!!!!!!! It looks spectacular and I would definitely love to get to Taipei to watch that someday. I mean I was probably a little too excited just from watching the movie that to see them in person would be excellent. Seriously, Ask Andy, I made him watch the movie twice just so I could see the fireworks part again. They were that good. The other boys met us at the top of the building and bummed around for a bit. So, Andy and I decided to meet them downstairs. Once we all re-grouped again it was off to the market. A night market that is. I guess THE night market in Taipei. This place kicked some serious ass. And my sense of smell was working at this point still and to be honest there are some points in the walk thru that it really could have been on the fritz and I would have been totally ok with it. Some of the food they were cooking literally made us gag because the smell was so so so so terrible. There were three such moments throughout the market. There was actual gagging on everyone's behalf, I'm not even lying. But, even though it was smelly in some parts, it was still very cool. The shops, and stands, and restaurants, and food stands. It was pure chaos, and there were just so many people. Let me tell you, they have some amazing shoes in Taipei. Wish I woulda budgeted for some of those. If only I had known. They were gorgeous. Part way through Andy and I are hungry so we're looking for places to eat. Bob spots a lovely little cart serving some marinaded concoction and he asks me what it is.......and I was like....They're....ummm....Oh MY GOD!!.......It's CHICKEN FEET!!!!!!! It was too, nail and all, bony little fingers. Just chicken feet marinaded. Craziness. Well, when you are in such a situation, there is only one thing to do....try em. So, Bob and I ate some chicken feet. Ok one chicken foot each. I'm just going to say it......they were awful. Absolutely terrible. The marinade on the outside was fantastically delicious. But once that wore off you were left with nothing but chewy cartlidge. Not only did it taste only like cartlidge but the taste coats your entire mouth...teeth, gums, tongue, even the roof of your mouth. There is absolutely no escaping. I was doing ok until I realized that even though I swallowed the damn thing, I could still taste it and strongly. I had to turn and walk away from the little booth so as to not offend the cook with the gag that was coming on. Once I got that under control I made turned again at the edge of the booth and lo and behold there was a little cart with chocolate samples!! Here is some advice for all you chicken feet eaters, chocolate gets that lingering cartlidge taste out almost perfectly. It was a god send. Am I glad I tried a chicken foot, yes, will I ever do it again, under the right circumstances maybe, but probably  not. This is an example of how cool this market was. Not only did they have chicken feet cooking, but they also sold the most beautiful shoes and tapestries. And one store over are bras. I mean come on. This is a cool market. There was even fresh fruit. We had a bananna smoothy. It was marvelous. However, Andy and I are still starving. The other boys head off to find a bar, but I'm really thinking it a better idea for Andy and I to eat and head back to our hostel since the first part of our trip in the Volunteer portion and not the beach. So recovering from a hangover and jet lag would probably not be ideal. On our way thru the market we saw a restaurant where they fry up some meat and veggies right infront of you. It looked amazing. So we went there. And it was so good my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it!!!!!! I got pork and Andy got shrimp. Both were fantastic. They bring you some soup and a bowl of rice as well as a cup for all you can drink tea or pop. Then the chef fries up the food with this oh so perfect sauce. You get three veggies I think and 1 meat. I just can't even explain how delicious this food was. It was just what we needed. When we finished eating we headed to our hostel. Which quite honestly could have been the setting for that terrible horror movie Hostel. It was that sketchy and we were a little nervous. Everything turned out to be just fine, but man it was rough going with the sleeping. I mean there was one guy who was actually living there, in the little cubicle bed. Like he moved in. Books, CDs, CD player all in about a 6 foot long by 3 foot wide space that he had to sleep in too. I mean wow. This is the kind of stuff that people running from the law do. I was a bit skeptical. And someone stole Andy's blanket while we were gone. Hmmm.......had I not been so tired I would have been up for sleeping at the airport, but that was an hour away. I must have been ready to get outta there too, cause I woke up an hour before we had to and didnt realize it, got dressed woke up Andy so he could get ready to go, and then said oh wait haha we still have an hour! Yeah, I was ready to go. Now we are on our way to Thailand!!! Only 6 more hours in the air. And boy, was it worth it! Taiwan was fantastic though and I could've stayed much longer.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1174544340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1174544340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1174544340/tpod.html Thu, 22 Mar 2007 05:57:51 -0400 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My adventures while teaching English in Japan!!!

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Miwa, Japan

So here comes the chaos that was December. Ive decided that maybe December wasnt quite as hysterical as November after all. It was actually kinda strange. A few very strange things happened. I guess it was just overall kinda interesting. First of all there were a ton of parties in December. The Japanese have Bonenkai parties at the end of the year. It is to celebrate and forget about the year of hard work you have done. Then at the beginning of the year, sometime in January, there is a party to celebrate all the work you will do that year, anyway I had three such parties. The first was our JET Bonenkai. We had our very own special and foreign bonenkai. It was so much fun!!!!!!! There were tons of food and drinks and even some dancing and about 60 or a few more people in attendence. This includes my mom and her friend Deb who came for a short visit early in December. This was a very welcomed party because early in the week I had to take a sick day because my lip swelled up like none other while I was sleeping. I mean I could see the thing outta my peripheral vision without even looking down. Ridiculous. I have no idea what happened. Well, clealy something bit me but I dont know what the heck it was and I looked ridiculous. So I was pretty stressed out cause not only did I have to figure out how to take a sick day, I had to figure out how to go to the doctor and where. It was all very hectic. Thank goodness for my supervior who helped me through the ordeal! Who knows what it was that bit me, I just hope it wasnt a spider and that I ate it in my sleep or something. Either way, my lip cleared up in a few hours after the doctor gave me some meds to take. Whew! My mom, Deb, and I also did some sightseeing to some castles around my area in Nagoya and Inuyama. And they got to see some Japanese culture from my flower arranging class I took them too. Let me tell you, it was definitely interesting having them here and seeing how they reacted to things. The following weekend after the JET bonenkai I had my welcome party/bonenkai with the English teachers I work with. Now, this night is one of the reasons I started to get a negative image of Japan for a second. Not because of the party, that was wonderful!!! And the karaoke afterwards was hysterical. I opened with Baby Got Back just to see their reaction. Which was Wow!! hahaha! But because of what happened on the way to the party. There was a bike accident in the middle of the street while we were waiting at the corner to cross the street. It was horrible!!! What happened is a man on a bike didnt acknowledge the dont cross signal and drove out into traffic and got smashed by a car. I mean there was no locking up of the brakes or any attempt at slowing on behalf of the driver cause it all happened too quickly. So, this poor bicyclist got smashed. Well, as if this wasnt bad enough, we had to cross the street and walk past this bloodied up smashed bicyclist while the driver removed the bike from under him. Now, had the bicyclist even appeared to be ok this would have been alot less traumatizing. However, the pool of blood emerging from his head and the position his body was in and how motionless he was made me question the likelihood of his survival. I was in shock and on my way to a party. Great! This isnt the best way to start out a night. But what really made me question Japanese society is how the person I was walking with reacted. She said, `the driver is very lucky because the man on the bike did something very wrong by not obeying the signal. Maybe it is too bad if he dies, but he did do something wrong.` I was like what?!?! Now maybe this is just a case of poor communciation because of the language barrier. But, even if the dude did do something wrong, no one deserves that. And the other thing that made me question the Japanese idea system during this time period is the thought that this poor man committed suicide. Ive heard rumors about the suicide rate in Japan and the number of ppl who publicly kill themselves, most often with trains. I was under the impression this happens no where near me and not so often anymore. But, this impression was wrong! Two days before this bike accident, I was talking with some Japanese friends of mine who told me of three, yes three, train `accidents` at 2 stations near me all within the last few weeks. One right before my station and two right after my station. I saw one of my friends when I was on the way into the city and she told me the train was late and I didnt realize it, but then I asked why and she told me some person had jumped infront of a train and they had to clean up and stuff before the train could go again. Afterwards, the next time I saw her with our other friends, they told me of two more instances within two weeks prior where that happened. So, needless to say I was a little terrified of taking the train and crossing the street for a bit. And wondered what the heck was going on at the moment to make everyone so unhappy. Clearly the holidays were coming up so thats always an issue, but on top of that the Japanese work all hours of the day, never see their family, and if one little thing goes wrong at work they are really hard on themselves. Apparently December is when all this just gets to be too much to handle. It took quite awhile to process all this, and even still Im not sure Im entirely getting it. But, you gotta carry on right. So, I enjoyed some of the charms of the Nagoya area with my friend Jess a few days later to decompress all this new info and to eat some brazilian chicken while browsing the shops of Osu. It was a good way to deal. Then, my wonderful supervisor invited me to her house for dinner and we had a girls night!! It was so much fun. She even cooked for me and our friend Miki! I like hearing about their lives because they are still in their 20`s so I like to compare their experiences with experiences for women of their age in America. It is very interesting. Ok. 2 more parties to go. The second to the last one was with my flower arranging and tea ceremony club. We did a gift exchange and had a large meal at our school, with drinks of course! It was like a secret santa exchange. Each person bought a 1000 yen gift and brought it wrapped to the party. But, instead of drawing names, we wrote numbers on a piece of paper and assigned them to the presents. Then on another large piece of paper we drew lines to those same numbers written at the bottom of the paper. Each person chose a line and followed it to the number that corresponded to the present. Like a maze or something. It was pretty cool and not as difficult as it sounds here. We also did a very fun toast with streamers and lots of KAMPAI`S!!! being yelled. My 90 year old sensei can party like none other let me tell you! Then, the next day I had the Bonenkai for all the teachers at my Junior high school. Again we chose our seats by picking numbers, the women chose the pink sheets of paper and the men chose the blue. They need to do things this way or else the men and women segregate themselves. So it was designed to be man-woman-man-woman etc. Its funny how it is so difficult to get the sexes to communicate sometimes. Well until the alcohol gets flowing of course. But, things are definitely much more gender segregated here. Thats for sure. This party was great fun too!! I ended up sitting next to the Principal who is a lovely guy. And after a beer or two and after the food was getting served up the conversations began. He can speak some English and is actually quite good so it was really fun to be able to talk to him in an environment other than the teachers room. Most of the 1st grade teachers were sitting at our same table and I know them quite well so it was a riot. After the main party we kinda broke off into smaller groups. My group went for much needed coffee. It was hilarious because our website guy was WASTED and being a riot, basically trying to hit on me so the other teachers kept trying to distract him. It was so funny. Nothing too offensive. Just drunk. The next day Winter break started, which I went to Thailand for. A break I was looking forward too very very much!! I will write about that next time. Again pics coming soon. I`ll just do a mass picture uploading soon. Till next time.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1174270320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1174270320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1174270320/tpod.html Thu, 22 Mar 2007 05:41:46 -0400 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My adventures while teaching English in Japan!!!

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Miwa, Japan

Ok. So here is the first little update that I will attempt to do. This will cover the rest of November 06. So the weekend after I went to Kobe and Kyoto I got an even closer look at Japanese culture and how they live in their everyday lives. Many people in Japan are farmers. They raise vegetables and have rice paddies. November is the season for harvesting sweet potatoes and a friend of mine from town rents some land and raises sweet potatoes. The plot isnt so big, but its too big for just one person to harvest the sweet potatoes so its turned into somewhat of a community event. This is actually the second time Ive helped harvest the sweet potatoes. It was a blast. A bit chilly but a ton of fun. There were probably 10-15 families there. And each little team got a row to dig up the sweet potatoes. These suckers were HUGE. I mean seriously some of the sweet potatoes were like a foot long. Ridiculous. You dig them up and pile them at the end of your row. Its actually quite the time consuming process. During this second time of harvesting there were community members and local tv there taping it. It was broadcast on like the public access channel I guess!! Thats pretty exciting. I didnt actually get to see it so Im not entirely sure that I made the cut, but I would like to think that I did. The kids there were hysterical too, digging in the dirt. It was getting cold out so the frogs had burrowed down into the ground and every once in awhile one would pop up and scare the be-jesus outta one of the kids. Since I was wearing gloves I had no problem picking the cute little frogs up and moving them. Apparently something that doesnt happen often cause they were amazed at my frog catching abilities. Kids, so darn cute. Needless to say I was eating sweet potatoes for a good week straight after that cause as reward for a hard days work you get to take some sweet potatoes home with ya. I only took 3 but they were so big they lasted forever!! Good thing I like sweet potaotes ALOT!! The following week is when the cities start to decorate for Christmas. It is wonderful. Nagoya station, which is pretty impressive on its own, gets decked out for the holiday season. There are HUGE and I mean HUGE Christmas trees that decorate the front of the station. And this year was a teddy bear theme. Along with the Christmas trees there were tons of cute little light up bears to look at. Displayed on the front of the station was also a slideshow of Christmas around Japan and the world. Paris and New York were two of the places that stick out in my mind at the moment. And of course in between the pictures are season`s greetings messages. Its all too adorable to handle. I enjoyed many a coffee`s and walks with Jess around the station that week to check out the progress, the decorations and the small art display. Very cool. Not only in Nagoya but in my small town as well there was quite the impressive display near the library. A little house made outta lights with Santa-san (as he`s affectionately referred to here) climbing the chimney. A tunnel made outta lights, a HUGE tree decorated in blue lights that I loved, and Christmas carols playing as you walk around this Christmas wonderland. Again it was all too cute to handle. I wasnt sure if Japan really celebrated Christmas like we do, but apparently they are way into it. Some if not most families give presents from Santa and go to Church, yes a Christian church. I found out that Japanese are religious in a very interesting way, they celebrate all the major holidays of all the major religious. Hahaha! My kinda people. Christmas is on a much smaller scale than in America though and there are no large meals or family gatherings. Just the immediate family and maybe a small fake Christmas tree, but not usually. Christmas Eve in Japan is actually more like Valentine`s Day in America. Its a day to take your girlfriend or boyfriend out for dinner and buy presents for each other. It makes sense. Things are pretty romantic with all the Chrismas lights and light snow (if you`re lucky!!). Anyway, that was a good week checkin out the lights and decorations. The following week was Thanksgiving. It didnt really feel like Thanksgiving though. Especially since all the Christmas things taking place already. But thats because the Japanese dont celebrate Thanksgiving at all. It just so happened that this year Thanksgiving landed on a National Holiday. So we didnt have to go to school. We had a large gathering of JET`s from America as well as Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. Some people in the latter three groups had never celebrated Thanksgiving either. This came as quite a shock to me. I dont know why, but I just assumed everyone did it. Maybe because it is pretty much my favorite holiday. We even got to eat TURKEY!!! It was ordered online and had to be delivered to Japan, but nonetheless we had all the Thanksgiving food. Thanks Rowena!! We had pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cookies galore, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, tons of Turkey. It was basically heaven. AND to make things even better we got to watch an American football game that someone had downloaded. What a blast!! I seriously almost forgot I was in Japan for a minute. And after eating Japanese food for almost 4 months straight it was a good change of pace. Now I understand why Americans are so overweight!!! Also during Thanksgiving week, I took a cooking class with my supervisor. We made a crazy delicious and easier than I thought 4 course Japanese meal. Im totally pumped. If my kitchen wasnt freezing all the time Id be more inclined to actually cook it again. But man, that room in cold!! Id get hypothermia if I cooked that meal. It would just take way too long. Maybe in the next few weeks when the weather gets warmer but not too hot, I`ll give it a whirl again. Japanese food is tasty and pretty darn healthy too. Ok. This brings us to the last weekend in November. I went on the craziest hike of all time. I wanted some adventure in nature and I sure did get it. I went to Eastern Aichi prefecture and visited my friends Yuri and Drew who live in the Mountains up there. Yuri knew of a good hike to do so I put all my trust in him and off we went. Now I am so glad I did this hike. But it is clear that my definition of hike and Yuri`s definition of hike are two completely different things. This hike was only a half hike, the other half was mountain climbing. Oh yeah. Im not kidding. There were ladders, and ropes, and chains, and rock ledges involved. I was scared outta my mind but having a blast at the same time. I cant wait to do more hikes like it. I feel like maybe Im getting my bearing with it. Only one hike previous to this involved climbing rock walls and those rock walls were much much smaller than these ones. And in a much safer locale if you ask me. In spite of the fear, I made it to the top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a good time to see some of the leaves changing and the mountains and rivers and towns nestled in between were amazing from up there. The last ladder led to a rock ledge where there is literally a mile drop on each side. I climbed the ladder, saw the view, thanked God I was still alive, and froze.......I mean I was clutching that rock like there was no tomorrow. Until......this all too intense and in way too good of shape for his age and own good man comes up the ladder behind me and needs to get past me on this ledge. I panicked!!! I looked at Yuri, who was just as comfortable as ever on this rock bridge and said I CANT MOVE!!! hahahhaa! Sheer panic. It was hysterical. Well, the man was quite persistent so I had to move or more like crawl to safety. Its a good thing he came too because other wise I probably would have just went right down the ladder and missed the very top of the mountain by like 50 feet. Going down was a little better than going up, but the second ladder still scared me. It was at a weird angle over this drop that just didnt seem too appealing to me. Yuri had to hold my hand and use many encouraging phrases to get me down that ladder and around the tree. But, I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!! So all in all November was GREAT. So much for the bought of homesickness. Nothing like some farming, holidays, cooking and hiking to cure that. Keeping busy is the key!! And so fun too. On to December. Which was just as hysterical as November. Pictures coming soon......Until next time!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1163626440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1163626440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1163626440/tpod.html Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:09:47 -0400 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My adventures while teaching English in Japan!!!

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Miwa, Japan

Well.....Its finally happened, Im homesick. But, the thing is, Im not sure if you can entirely classify it as homesickness. Its quite strange because Im totally glad Im here, I dont want to be anywhere else, I know I made the right decision by coming here, and quite frankly Im having a blast! Its just that the other day, I realized when I go home whether it be in August or if I stay another year, everything is going to be completely different. I was, for some reason, under the impression when I get home I will just be able to bop to Morris and hang out with everyone there. Well, considering everyone (or most everyone) is graduating in May this isnt going to be the case. Everyone is going to be spread out and its probably not going to be easy getting everyone together in one spot at the same time! Bummer!! I will try my hardest though! ha! And Im sure Ive missed some good stories too!! Anyway, so that bummed me out. And there`s always that akward readjusting to each other time after you`ve been gone for awhile. Blah! Then, I realized it had been like 2 1/2 months since I talked to my best friend from high school and this is not normal. We usually talk for at least an hour on an almost daily basis!! There is so much going on that I dont get to hear about through emails, and then when we finally do get to talk there`s too much to inform each other on that its too difficult to fit it into an affordable (cause let me tell you it is EXPENSIVE to call ppl) phone call. Arghh! Realizing you`ve entered the real world is a rough deal man. I can handle the bills and what not just fine, but not having all my friends around, thats gonna suck. Well, I mean, I guess it is sucking since Im here and all. The thought that from now on I might only get to see people in the same spot again at some cheesy ass reunions really blows! I hope this isnt the case!! We can at least make our own cool ass reunions!! I guess this will just make it that much sweeter when I finally get to see everyone again!! Anyway, I have great people here too who are very concerned that Im homesick. So, they are keeping me busy and constantly asking if I need anything. Im sure its cause they want me to stay two years, which I might. But they are very helpful! And school is always fun!! So, thats good. Who knew this teacher gig would be so enjoyable! I still dont know about teaching in America though. Im sure its mighty different when you can actually understand what the students are mumbling under their breath!! Oh the joy of not understanding sometimes! Well, just wanna let everyone know that I miss them!!!! And really cant wait to see everyone again!! Im gonna have to be patient for August!! Wow!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1174028640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1174028640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nikkimick06/jet_program/1174028640/tpod.html Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:07:08 -0400 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My adventures while teaching English in Japan!!!

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Miwa Town, Japan

Sorry Everyone!! I got on bit of a long streak without updating. A few months I think!! Well, I did try to warn you that I wasnt good at keeping things updated. I am going to try to get back into this though. I do want all of you to know what my time in Japan is like and what its like teaching English. So, Im going to give it my best efforts. Just so you know, my bought of homesickness got better fairly quicky. I kept myself pretty darn occupied doing pretty cool stuff. Thats all you get for now. A cliff hanger till I fill you in. Hope everyone is doing good!! Please wait patiently till I get things rollin again. Till next time!!
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