Count Your Blessings....

I've decided to stay another year on this little island in Japan. Why? You know those moments when you have to stop, take a look around, and say "this is my life?" Everything has been a blessing, the good and the bad. I feel as if I've just touched the surface with teaching and honestly, I enjoy it. I really do and I hope to gain some new skills in my second year.

Other than that, I have nothing major to report. The past few weeks have been a wonderful bliss of every day events. Not life-changing or newsworthy I suppose, but you gotta count the blessings no matter how small.

I've got a couple of serious blog posts coming up in which I'd like to start some sort of dialogue because I'm about to crazy keeping it all to myself. It's just some things that have been in the back of mind since coming to Japan, but until then here's some of my favorite moments from the past couple of weeks.

Cinnamon Challenge Yvonne.

Valentines Day-As I told my friend, it was just another day at work. Except this year I used the holiday to justify the ghastly amount of chocolate and desserts I ate. And, my students gave me cake and presents! I totally felt the love!

Eating lunch with my students. It's been a long road, but I'm finally at a point where the 3rd years and I understand each other and get along! Oh, but wait...they're graduating! Argh!

One of my students made me laugh so hard at lunch that the home teacher yelled at her. I'm sure he was really yelling at me. She didn't care though, she kept on making me fun of me.

Japanese lessons with my JTE.

Mos Burger. Nuff said. I love this place, but I'm giving it up for Lent. Waaah!

Working with the 6th graders on their career projects and the JTE decides to play some American music. It started with Bruno Mars and Beyonce and then changed to Enimem and Chris Brown. After a certain point, I couldn't take it and told him that this music isn't the best for children even if they can't understand the lyrics. However, he claimed that it set the mood for class. Eh???

One of my students made me feel like a star when he asked for my autograph.

Playing free dodeball(whatever that means) while a game of soccer, basketball and volleyball are happening in the same gym. O_O

ALT gatherings and dance parties.

Peace y'all. <3

Maman! Je Peux Faire un Gâteau!

On Sunday, Becky and I gathered with some of our Iki friends-the super cool Moms- for a baking lesson. These women are fierce! I can dedicate a whole blog post or two to them, but I'll save that for later!

Back to Sunday! I baked a pineapple rum cake (sans the rum) and Becky baked scones. As always, these lil events are fun and full of very genki children.

Although I have the occasional identity crisis about my Haitian heritage...

"Do I call myself Haitian-American? OMG, I'm so Americanized, my Creole sucks!!"

....I was extremely happy that I could share something from my family's culture. I told some stories about when my Mom baked the cake for family gatherings and how my Auntie taught me to always be happy, to smile, to sing, and to dance when you bake or cook. If you are happy then the people who eat your food will be happy. However, that last part was hard for me to explain in Japanese. I hope the gestures helped.

Nagasaki Lantern Festival

Last weekend, I met up with my JET friends to experience the awesomeness that was the Lantern Festival.

Alrighty, loves! Here are some pictures in reverse order. So New Years to Nagasaki Conference.

Pictures of my new apartment coming soon.

1. New Years celebrations. Every year since high school I go to a family friend's home to see the Waraguna dance. They're from Belize and they do this dance every New Year's Day.

Happy 2012!

2. Christmas! On Iki, we had a Christmas party for the lil kiddies. We ate, made cards, and snowflakes. So much adorableness in one room!

Becky made the cookies!
3. Iki Thanksgiving. This was the 4th annual Iki Thanksgiving. Good times and so much good food!


My pineapple rum cake! Owain's first Thanksgiving(he's from the UK)!
I don't know what this is, but it's funny. We went for lunch at a favorite spot and this guy walks in wearing a woman's dress and wig. So, we just had to take a picture with him.

Nagasaki Conference