June 14, 2007

• i'm sitting here in the dark in our hotel room in ishigaki (okinawa), japan - rika & ana are sleeping now. it's 2am & i have to wake up in a few hours, but i must update. i'm already extremely behind so i didn't want to make it worse (which reminds me - i still have 2 more china updates left - whoops).. i've been through a whirlwind of emotions as of late, but right now i feel a sense of peace. everything comes and goes - in due time.

  WIS end of the year brunch @ walnut in nishi-azabu

  

  :: i tried my darnest not to cry.. but i did - how can i not? i had to say goodbye to the best place to work EVER. as much as i don't like to think this is true.. i know i will never work in a happier environment.. these people always made me feel special.. my family away from home. the staff, the kids, the working conditions.. everything was simply the BEST - i will never ever forget all the people that changed my life here & i will never forget the school that renewed my strength ::

   

  girls end of the year dinner @ saigon near sangenjaya

  

  :: i love these girls - we're the "go girls (5 girls)" - minus ai-chan ::

   

  elizabeth's going away @ seta onsen

  elizabeth is the ONLY person that truly went through hell with me at the first school i worked at in japan.. we were co-teachers and dealt with the worse of the worse.. she's the only one that can really truly relate to me.. b/c of that. we will forever be bonded.. although we knew someday we'd have to..it was really sad saying goodbye

  

  :: lilia, elizabeth, chrissy, & me on elizabeth's last night in tokyo.. this was an awesome onsen located in tokyo - a huge pool of hot water outdoors - what more can you ask for? ::

  

  :: afterwards we had dinner together wearing these interesting outfits ::

  

  :: then after about 3 hours at the onsen, we went to outback for dessert (it was elizabeth's idea since she would never go to outback in the states & she knows the dessert is the bomb) ai-chan joined us there ::

  

  :: i just wanted to post this pic b/c of the funny guys in the background ::

   

  sunday after church

  

  :: the girls had coffee with some of the guys at church - ben, toshio, hershell, & karhoong :: 

  

  :: then branda & i spent the night at margs.. she took us to eat at this much talked about 'ganksta' ramen shop near her place ::

  

  :: it was pretty tasty ::

  

  :: and although we had ramen.. we were planning on making tacos for dinner.. so we decided to have it as a 'late night snack' - yummmmmmm ::

  

  :: i had to show marg how to put the taco together.. she was so funny.. she gave up on cutting lettuce and she didn't want to ask me cuz she thought i would get mad at her for not knowing how to cut lettuce! haha ::

   

  girls day out at tokyo dome

  originally we had it all planned to take a trip out to go to "fuji-Q" (it has japan's fastest rollercoaster), but we ended up getting there too late and the bus left without us.. we felt so bad b/c rika (aka the organizer) was the only one to make it there on time and she didn't get to go b/c of us slowpokes  we ended up going to breakfast together at 'pronto'..and then decided to spend the day at tokyo dome since we were all looking forward to riding rollercoasters..

  

  :: on the way out of the station.. we saw this - an umbrella vending machine! ::

  

  :: girls day out - rika, ghee, ana, margaret, me, & branda ::

  

  :: on our first rollercoaster - omg..it was the SCARIEST rollercoaster i have ever been on in my life.. i'm usually never scared b/c i love rollercoasters, but this one left me with goosebumps ::

  

  :: i sat in the worst possible seat.. rika and i sat in the very front row so we could see everything clearly. and i sat on the right side & the rollercoaster kept dropping off to the right side so i felt as though i was going to fly out of my seat.. fyi - that's really us on that rollercoaster you see.. ana didn't ride it so she took a picture for us ::

  

  :: the girls enjoying the view ::

  

  

  :: of course we had to take sticker pictures ::

  

  :: then we had lunch at 'news cafe' - funny engrish - i was laughing like a mad woman (b/c i'm really not mad)::

  

  :: lunch time ::

  

  :: us in front of the tokyo dome ::

  

  :: cool goodluck locks ::

  

  :: branda, rika, ana, & i went on a speedy coaster while marg & ghee opted for the slower one ::

  

  

  :: yay for rollercoasters! ::

   

  dinner at 'sungary' russian restaurant

  just a couple weeks ago, we found out that one of the moms in our class owns a russian restaurant in tokyo (it was passed down from her grandma b/c she used to live in this country near russia (it's a part of china) that was once owned by japan... since we have never eaten russian before.. we decided to treat ourselves to something new & nice - it was such a neat experience

  

  :: we learned that in russia, they add jam to their tea! what a cool concept - we're going to start doing that from now on ::

  

  :: assorted appetizers ::

  

  :: mushroom soup - marg put a lot of pressure on me to take good food photos ::

  

  :: the main meal - veal ::

  

  :: us with akiko (the owner & yuka's mom) she was so nice to come out and join us just for a few minutes ::

   

  the day before i left for okinawa

  

  :: lunch with chieko in korea town at 'haruban' in shin-okubo ::

  

  :: we met up my boss for a small farewell dinner at a restaurant in roppongi called 'vietnamese cyclo'- it was such an awesome dinner - she is the coolest boss ever ::

  that night ana & i spent the night at rika's place so we could take a cab to the airport together to catch our super early flight.. we've only been here for 2 days now, but we've done soooooooo much. i can't wait to show you all pics of how wonderful this island is..

  • 1:35 pm
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