Yamaguchi Week 2!

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though you are a miracle.”

Sorry, that's an obnoxious quote I just found on the Thought Catalog website and I thought it was funny and worth sharing. On the other hand, my job as the Yamaguchi language monitor has certainly been somewhat of a miracle and I have been loving every minute with my students. I am already starting to feel sad that they are only here for one more week! That being said, we had a great week together and I am sure their last one will be the best yet!

On Monday, I had a day full of classes and nothing too exciting happened to me. Being in class all afternoon prevented me from doing any activities with my Japanese students that day, which is unfortunate as they got to go to a local museum for tea and scones. But it was my turn to cook dinner for my housemates so I made them some delicious sour cream and ritz cracker chicken. Sounds strange but it was fantastic! (Recipe: http://www.makedinnereasy.com/heavenly-chicken.html). On Tuesday, I had one class and then got to play English Grammar Jeopardy with my students. It was slightly embarrassing for me as I didn't even know all the answers (but I do now know what a gerund is). After that, we had a homework and Hunger Games party, following which, I invited them all to come to the Student Ministry dinner with my housemates and me. They had a lot of fun, especially the professor as he usually spends his nights alone at the motel. They all tried chili for the first time as well, but had a hard time grasping understanding how chili got its name as we use the same word to describe cold weather! After dinner, I had to leave to go to my first astronomy class and they had a night at the observatory. My class was not too exciting and very, very hot and then it rained while I was walking home - rough night!

 

The clip I showed to explain how Jeopardy works!

 

Wednesday was packed with classes as well so I missed out on their chapel tour. I did challenge a few of them to hangman at lunch which they seemed to like and we also did some gum wrapper Origami. Their paper cranes certainly showed up my paper airplane!  I will have to pull out some more games at lunch this week! It was a pretty uneventful night as well but I did catch up on a few missed episodes of MasterChef in preparation for the finale! Thursday, I went to North Hatley with my students for the afternoon and took the two male students and the professor to a local bar, the Pilsner! After finishing their drinks, they wanted to order beer to bring back to Japan! After getting home, I watched the MC Finale (Congrats Chef Luca!) while preparing for Elizabeth's birthday which was the next day. I got her a fancy little jar scraper spoon for use in our new kitchen (and a Tim's donut and smoothie for breakfast) and made some decorations for her bedroom door. In the afternoon on Friday, the Japanese students and I went to the Capelton Mines, which, I learned on the tour, used to be one of the largest mining complexes in the world! The tour was fantastic and in the end, we were challenged to get out of the mines without any light! Luckily, there were glow in the dark arrows to guide the way out! 

Rainy day in North Hatley!

Underground in the Capelton Mines!

 

Friday night, we had a birthday party for Elizabeth and a bunch of our friends came over and saw our house for the first time! It was really fun to see them all again, and the night was really fun...until I wanted to go to bed in preparation for my 6:00am wake up! But oh well, the birthday girl had a good time, even if she didn't make it to her own bed until after 4:00am!

Why did I have to wake up so early, you ask? Well, Saturday was the Yamaguchi day trip to Ottawa! We left bright and early and arrived in our nation's capital around 11:30 and started the day at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. It was only the second time I had been there and obviously the first for all of my students. We did not have a guided tour but had three hours to wander the museum. The special exhibits included one on the history of Vodou (which I now know is waaayyyy more than putting pins in dolls) and one on famous Canadians and their quirks. I had a lot of fun at the museum and could easily have spent a lot longer there but I don't think it was as much fun for my students. We walked around downtown for a bit, visiting the Rideau Canal and the locks and the Parliament Buildings. We then stopped at the Rideau Centre for some shopping, where I met up with my friend Andrea who goes to OttawaU and then we went to the Byward Market, where I ran into my cousins while my students were shopping! We boarded the bus around 7pm to head home and when asked, my students' favourite part of the day was eating dinner at McDonalds!! They then passed out for the entire ride home, which I am hoping was a sign of a successful day! I wish that they could have gotten a tour of Ottawa, like our tour in Quebec City, but I will suggest that for the program next year! 

Canadian Museum of Civilization!

With Natsumi and Naomi on Parliament Hill!

Parliament Hill!

Andrea and me in Byward Market!

Family Reunion (après dinner at FatBoys) in Byward Market!

Today was a relaxing day, with time for homework, running, swimming, laundry and catching up with my housemates. I grabbed tea with a friend and then went for a swim with Jocelyn before heading home for an Italian dinner cooked by Elizabeth (with some lovely Italian music to set the atmosphere). And now, here I am, ready to go to bed and gear up for my final week with my students. 

So here`s hoping that your week was as wonderful as mine and that your coming week will be lovely! Miss and love you all!

All my love, Erica xoxoxoxo 

PS I saw this video on YouTube this week and have now watched it 7 times. It makes me cry tears of happiness every time! So no pressure on my future fiancé, but my expectations are now very high!