it's been ages.

to celebrate the warm weather finally here in pittsburgh, i will share my day:

Étienne de La Boétie

recently read Boetie's essay The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude (1577), it was the first libertarian piece of political philosophy written - i highly recommend the read to you all! the full pdf text can be found here. this is my kind of leisure reading - romance novels just don't cut it!

marv: he's gonna call the cops!
harry: he's not gonna call the.. from a tree house?!!

christmas time at mine and viewing these classics:
i. Frosty the Snowman
ii. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
iii. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
iv. The Little Drummer Boy
v. A Charlie Brown Christmas
vi. Santa Claus is Comin' to Town!
vii. A Christmas Story
viii. Home Alone

country projects

at shirokawa middle, with all the grade levels, we are finishing our country projects. students were able to pick on their own which country their group would be studying. today i finished with my 1st year class! the countries picked were: Tanzania (bonus points to this group for creativity), England, Egypt, France, Italy, New Zealand and America. they all researched the countries at the computer lab and looked up country maps and flags - seriously, this project saved me this semester! not having lesson plans to go off of -- or a curriculum for that matter -- made it difficult to come up with lessons. i thought i would share with you the italian poster purely so you have something to compare the american poster to - its super ridiculous and super great.

My House in Nomura

i finally got around to taking some photos of my little house in nomura. now you can finally see where i've been spending my days and nights here in japan!

my dinning room/kitchen area

my small bathroom. my toilet seat is heated!

washing machine and vanity room

shower room! this is the best!

my bedroom! the comfiest bed in all of japan!

sending penpal letters back to the states

today, my third year students from shirokawa middle finished up their pen pal letters they are sending back home. here are some of the best quotes this century:

"I'm the same birthday as Jesus Christ." -Rinta

"I'm 15 years old. I love Ichiro and does anybody know it?" - Yasushi

"I like to collect American movies,　DVD and video. I have about 21. DVD and Video." - Taiki

"I play judo. I am a black belt. I am delicately strong!!!" - Kono

"I like mathematics the best of all subjects." - Mizuho

"Do you like any food? I like meat." - Kai