AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

Good grief, is this going to get better yet?!
Now the US is up to level 3(technically the world is) so travel is being really restricted so I cancelled my flight home(still in the works actually, have to wait for the poor overworked CS people to get to it).  My parents finally got theirs to Japan cancelled.  Sigh....
School's officially out, though no students for most of the last three weeks.  Just my last day for the school year was yesterday.  Hard though, as that school's closing down so I probably won't see the teachers again...students either.  Wish for pictures...they are a bit touchy about pictures of students here.  Privacy is big to them.  So I'm not angry, just sad.
Getting the sacrament is fun...have to meet up with a small group(still no large group gatherings here) somewhere to get it.  But we do Zoom meetings  and those are fun.
Have three fiction books to read, but I feel like Tangled 'reread the books if I have time to spare'.  Read them so many times I'd rather not.  Do have church related stuff that's not worn out to me yet.  Been listening to the Saints volume one on the church website while doing cross stitch, so that's a fun sunday thing.
Weather's warming up though, so hoping to get together with friends more while we're all bored waiting for next school year to start.  Have an elephant reserve to visit...maybe Kyoto if it's safe...
Earthquake in Utah damaged the temple...scary.  The tornado quite a while back completely missed it so this is a little worrying.  They just shut it down to remodel for earthquakes too....Divine inspiration at work...sounds like no one got hurt there...Poor Moroni lost his horn.  Hope that's an easy fix.

World War Z

Am I weird because this Coronavirus scare reminds me of that movie?  Of course, minus the total society collapse and biting zombies.  But the rush for things to stock pile is a little annoying.  Every store I know of is out of toilet paper, tissues, and (not all on this one) Paper towels.  I have plenty of the latter two, but a little low on toilet paper.  Should still be good for a while, but I don't like leaving it this long.
It also got the trip to Japan and cruise tour my parents and siblings planned on cancelled. Yeah, guess which ship it was going to be on?
But I can go home instead, though I'll have less time given the way my work schedule goes.  At least the tickets were cheaper than usual.
Schools being cancelled is just for students at the moment.  We teachers still have to go prep stuff for graduations and next school year.  Downside is there is no school lunch so I have to remember to bring one.  One of my coworkers already does that so no big deal for them.
Got to love winter in Japan.  Had one attempt at snow fall(didn't stick and only lasted about an hour) and otherwise it just rains.  The cold drizzle that's worse than snow.  And I get to walk at least 10-15 minutes in it.  50 if I miss the bus.  The wind is not nice either...
Hope it warms up tomorrow....

Christmas

It's funny how since being in Japan I'm kind of glad they don't bother with the overly annoying holiday songs that usually start back in October.  I do miss the real Christmas ones though.  Glad that most wards-including the one I attend here in Tokyo-sing alot of them on Sundays.
It was also fun to do Christmas caroling.  We even tried singing Silent Night in Japanese.  The elderly people we visited sang with us on that one.
Always reminds me of how grateful I am for my savior and redeemer around this time of year.  I'll never get tired of singing those songs and thinking about that while doing so.
Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Thoughts

On living alone:
1. Busy
2. Terrifying
3. Exciting
4. Food
5. Bed(there was basically a frame, had to buy the futon and pad with sheets and such)
6. Where is....(anything)?
7. Sleep
8. Boring
9. Lonely
10. Boring
11. Work
12. Boring
13. Church
14. Boring
15. Boring
16. Boring
17. Boring
18. Boring
19. Boring
20. Friends want to hang out? Yes!
21. Boring.
22. How do I....(anything)?
23. I'm So Bored!

Things I Learned

From coming to Japan
1. Even if they don't speak any english at all, they still know what 'taxi' is and can point to where to find them.
2. McDonald's is here, though I personally think the quality is much higher.  I will say that the ketchup has a hint of spicyness but I actually like that.  Helps when I'm craving Western food....Pizza here is just not the same.
3. Hotel and Guest house owners usually can speak english well enough for you to understand, though in my experience the latter is better at it.
4. It is not quite the 'other world' feeling despite being across the ocean.  Though the driving on the left side of the road helps me remember I'm not in the U.S....And all the rice.
5. I think they really know how to cook seafood here, because I actually like it.  Though the dried fish and squid(I think) they gave me for a snack once was not.
6. Onigiri is awesome.  I'm hoping I won't get addicted to it, but it makes a great snack. Plus it comes with many different fillings so I won't get tired of it.
7. Kids are still energetic and restless, even here.
8. The only things you really need to keep an eye on are umbrellas and bikes.  Strange huh?  Those are the top two stolen items here....
9. Public transit is like the U.S., as in it is displayed in both Japanese and English in most places.
10. Drying laundry takes forever...and washing it by hand is hard...have a lot more sympathy for our ancestors...
And that's it for now.

Okay...

So things I learned just from flying to get here is going to start off my lists...
1. Airport security is not as scary or detailed as they make it out to be in the movies and books.  Maybe just because they could tell I'd never done any of that before...

2. While the aisle seat is great, you can get better views from the window.  Being in the middle is no fun for standing or seeing.  Unless you're glued to a movie/game.

3. Airplane food is great, though that may have been that it was a Japanese Airline....

4. Having someone willing to listen to you chatter before takeoff to calm your nerves really helps for the first time.

5. In flight movies that give you more than 1 option really helps, and games could be fun if the controller worked better...and they had more options that a novice could play...

6. Luggage retrieval is not that hard unless you are in a real hurry. 

7. Baggage handlers are not nice to any bag.  I got both my bags back dirty and one was damaged.  Thankfully in a minor way....

8. Jet Lag is REAL....spent the first two days in a dizzy fog where I was falling asleep at 8 pm and waking up at 4 am (no I'm not kidding).

9.  When my dad told me not to 'nickle and dime' getting from the airport to the hotel, he meant it.  I was sooooooo dead by the time I got there....

10. Layovers are super boring....no matter how cool the airport is.

And that's all for that list.

W. O. W.

Okay, I know it's been two months since I've written anything, but the electronics I brought with me could not do Blogger. Figures.
Plus there was the whole move to Japan thing...Jet Lag is real...and other things...
Well, I have a few lists that I will post later about the last two months but mainly I was seeing if I could get on Blogger for now.
Plus I work as long as my dad does with a bit of a longer commute...so not a lot of time for stuff.  Sigh....
Plenty of rain here...weird compared to home I must say....But I still catch myself not thinking I'm in Japan.  Not as 'other world' as one might expect.  But I did study the language and culture for a while there.  Made it less of a mystery I think...
So that's all for now.