tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75581982074892576552024-02-21T00:25:22.834-08:00Chelsea senseiChelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-73989418459007271182011-03-14T22:44:00.000-07:002011-03-14T23:44:46.649-07:00Explanation of nuclear power plant problems...I have a friend from church who is a nuclear physicist and has explained the issues going on in Japan right now in dumby terms for me. Here is it...<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">Regarding the tsunami: there wasn't really any tsunami here in Tokai-mura. The bad tsunami pictures that you have been seeing on the news are from a lot farther north, over 100 miles away. So, no problems here, except for the inconveniences of no water yet in many places. But most places have electricity and gas services restored.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">Regarding the Fukushima nuclear power plant problems: Yes, there are problems. No, it is not at all dangerous for me or other people here in Ibaraki Prefecture. Tokai-mura is over 100 km (60 miles) away from the Fukushima II power plant. The evacuation zone is only 20 km around the power plant. The reason it is only 20 km is because people who live farther away than 20 km are not in danger</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">Actually, 20 km is probably overkill, but the authorities want to be cautious and plan ahead for contingencies that may never happen. Yes, this morning, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that the people between 20 and 30 km should stay indoors today, because of some increased emissions of radioactive particles from the reactors. OK, but even they don't need to evacuate. And I'm over 100 km away. So, no problem for me.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">Now it's time for fun facts about nuclear reactors and radiological safety: (1) The reactors are now shut down, and they have been since immediately after the earthquake. There is no nuclear chain reaction going on. What's happening now is the residual heat caused by the natural radioactive decay of the radioactive elements that have been produced inside the reactor while it was running.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">This amount is about 7% of full power at the time of shutdown, and then it decreases quickly (like only about 1% of full power after about an hour). {These values are from "Introduction to Nuclear Engineering", 3rd ed., by John Lamarsh and Anthony Baratta.} But even though it is relatively small, you still have to get rid of this heat. If you let it build up, then the temperature inside the reactor slowly climbs up.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">At the limit, the temperature will get so hot that it will cause some of the metal inside the reactor to melt. This is what is called a "melt down." But it doesn't necessarily mean a large release of radioactive particles. For example, at the Three Mile Island #2 reactor accident in Pennsylvania in 1979, part of the nuclear fuel did melt. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">So, to this day, the utility company cannot run that nuclear reactor. But it still runs the #1 reactor next door.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">(2) When a nuclear reactor shuts down, normally some diesel generators next to the plant turn on and provide electricity to run pumps to pump cooling water through the nuclear reactor to remove the heat from the radioactive decay. This can take place for awhile. I forget how long, and I can't find it quickly in my book, but I want to say it is about 2 or 3 days or so.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">At Fukushima, the tsunami damaged these diesel generators, so that they couldn't pump in the water. That is what has caused the problems now. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">So, they couldn't use the diesel generators to pump the water into the shut-down nuclear reactors. Eventually, though, they did figure out a way to get water into the reactors; I haven't yet heard how, but they did.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">There are a couple of problems now (A) high pressure and (B) buildup of hydrogen gas.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">(A) High pressure is easy to understand. The reactor is acting like a tea kettle. If you boil water in a tea kettle, it whistles, because the pressure inside has increased. The same thing is going on in the reactor, except that the utility company doesn't want it to whistle at all, because the steam is slightly radioactive.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">It's not very radioactive; it's not enough to cause big problems for people. But they try to limit the amount of radiation to the public as much as possible. That's one of the reasons why they evacuated up to 20 km away. They eventually decided that the pressure was too high, and they'd rather let it "whistle" than blow up. But since nobody was around, it wasn't such a big deal.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">B) The hydrogen gas is a little more complicated. Basically, the problem is that the insides of the nuclear reactors were already really hot by the time that they got the water inside. When the water hit the hot metal inside the reactor, it not only made steam, but some of the water molecules actually split into hydrogen and oxygen. (Remember, the chemical formula for water is H2O?) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">The radioactivity inside the nuclear reactor also facilitated this splitting of the water molecules. Then, the hydrogen gas--because it is a light gas--bubbled to the top of the nuclear reactor and then seeped out. (This is not so hard for hydrogen. The molecules of hydrogen are super small, so they can diffuse out through flanged pipe joints and stuff like that.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">Now, around the entire nuclear reactor is another thick, concrete shell. This concrete building is called the containment vessel. Its purpose is described by its name--it contains anything that might leak out of the nuclear reactor, such as in this case. So, the hydrogen that leaked out of the reactor built up in the top of the containment vessel. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">Well, inside the containment vessel is air, of course. When enough hydrogen had built up, it ignited and exploded with the oxygen from that air. This is what has happened at two or three (I can't remember now) of the Fukushima reactors.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">So, when you saw the video of a big puff of dust from the reactor, that was probably the lid of the containment vessel popping off. The dust was probably concrete. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">So, that's not so good, because now the containment vessel has a hole in the top. On the plus side, now no more hydrogen can build up in it, right? Also, remember--the nuclear reactor itself (which is inside the containment vessel) is still intact. So, the guts are all still inside, holding together. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">I heard this morning that there was another explosion at the Fukushima #2 reactor that damaged the suppression pool at the bottom of the reactor. I'm not sure what caused that (neither is anyone else), so we'll have to keep an eye on the news and see what's going on. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">On the other hand, the utility company has been able to get cooling water into the nuclear reactors--sometimes more, sometimes less, but now always at least some cooling water. And, remember that the heat in the nuclear reactors now is just the heat from the radioactive decay. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">So, the point is that this crisis is short-lived. There is only a limited amount of heat that needs to be cooled away, and it gets cooler and cooler with each passing hour. I would guess that yesterday or today was/is the worst of it, and probably everything will be fine by the end of the week. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">As long as they keep putting some cooling water in there, it's more a matter of how messed up the equipment is after this is all over than about any catastrophe. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">In other words, does the insurance agency "total" this car, or can it go to the autobody shop?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; "> The numbers that I heard this AM were 3 to 5 microsieverts (per hour) of radiation in the air around here. That's higher than normal, but it's not anything to get up in arms about. When you smoke, you get 80000 microsieverts per year. If you fly a lot (like airplane pilots and flight attendants), you get 1600 microsieverts per year. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">So, if you decide to fly back to the US to wait this out and then fly again to return to Japan, you might get about the same amount of radiation as if you just sit cool here. And it's a lot less expensive to just chill here. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">(This radiation is from the cosmic radiation from outer space, which is more when you are up at 30000 feet than when you are safely at sea level here in Japan.) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">Another unreasonable response: Staying inside and not going to the store to buy stuff for dinner tonight.<br />A reasonable response: Postpone your soccer or golf game until Saturday. Play video games today. Besides, it's cloudy, windy, and cold today--not good soccer or golf weather.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ">It's super long I realize but really helpful in understanding!!! </span></div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-8308180344036796012011-03-14T02:58:00.000-07:002011-03-14T05:09:51.778-07:00Back to school...Today was back to school again. The kids are out for Monday and Tuesday but teachers went today to start cleaning up the affects of Friday's earthquake. In the morning, teachers worked on report cards. I don't have any of those so I had nothing to do. I cleaned up the English room which took about 10 mins luckily and then I was out of things so I went and asked for a job. They lead me up to the home ec room. <div><br /></div><div>As I walked in it was almost haunting. The 6th graders were working on cooking their favorite things for the teachers as a thank you for everything this year. The first table I came across was pancakes and there were 2 already made with whip cream, sprinkles, chocolate and a cherry on it. There was bowls of fruit set out ready for distribution. As I moved my way around the classroom I found dumblings in every stage of assembly, floor everywhere, cookie cutters next to bowls of icing, freshly made loaves of bread, butter, eggs and milk sitting out and fully assembled mini pizzas waiting to be cooked. Granted all of these things were now 3 days old but it looked as if everyone had just stepped out of the room for a minute. My first job was to get rid of the food. (What I shouldn't tell is that I ate some of the food that was safe like the canned fruit still in its juice because of the lack of food that I have at this time.) My teacher had instructed me not to wash the dishes because the rest of the teachers would come and pitch in after lunch. I followed those instructions for about 10 mins and then realized I really have nothing else to do so I started on the 4 day old dishes that have had sugar and butter and who knows what else sitting in them all with freezing cold water! </div><div><br /></div><div>The teachers were very grateful that I had finished about 3/4 of the dishes by the time they made their way up to start work. I felt a sense of relief knowing that I had actually done something to help with the clean up because during the crisis I had felt useless. I feel that I am good in high stress, crisis situations but in this case I was useless because there is so much that needs to be done and so many things the teachers have to get accomplished but in order to ask me to do it they would have to explain the task in English making it more difficult then for them to do all of it themselves causing me to just stand around looking like a dumby. As I followed this group of women from room to room fixing things here and there I just admired their worker bee attitudes. It was a bit overwhelming as we would enter a room as they each tackled a section of the damaged areas. If you didn't know exactly what you wanted to work on as soon as you entered the room it would be too late because they would already have it done. </div><div><br /></div><div>Today was a great way, I felt, to help out with something that is easy for me to do without any language barriers to get in the way. These dishes need cleaning is something anyone could figure out and get started on. I often feel useless like I said so I was thankful for today to be able to contribute. This earthquake as been devastating for some and alarming for others but I am thankful that I am able to continue to grow with the people around me through all of this! </div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-28165563910258433692011-03-12T22:42:00.000-08:002011-03-12T23:21:49.592-08:00EARTHQUAKE!It has been a crazy few days here in Mito, Japan. <div><br /></div><div>Friday was practice for graduation day so all of my classes were switched around. So in the afternoon when I wouldn't have had class, 6th period I had my favorite 4th grade class. We were playing Jeopardy to review what they had learned though out 4th grade when an earthquake started. Now earthquakes happen frequently here so I thought nothing of it and started to continue the game but it picked up intensity to where things were falling off my shelves in my room. Thankfully, my classroom is on the 1st floor so we ushered all the kids out the back door bypassing shoes and everything. (My classroom is carpeted so they take off their shoes) We crowded outside and as I looked around I realized by coming out the back door we had placed ourselves in the corner of the fenced in around of the school grounds with a shaking concrete building behind us. With a quick glance, my teacher and I decided to grab the kid's shoes and take off for the playground. During all of this time, the ground is shaking! </div><div><br /></div><div>We spend about 4 hours in the playground as kids parents come to pick them up. No one was prepared so no one had grabbed coats and it was probably about 40 degrees outside. Everyone was very cold and very anxious. Intermittently there would be both big and small earthquakes and I was so intrigued and thankful for being in Japan as I watched the windows of the gym shake violently but never did break. Despite the tough circumstances it could have been much worse had it been somewhere else. Japan builds their buildings for these things. </div><div><br /></div><div>When one child was left and it was 6:30 (normally I leave school around 4:40) they released me but were to sure to tell me several times to be careful. I didn't realize at this time that things were so serious for some people. When I got back to my apartment, other AETs were waiting for me to take me with them so I wouldn't have to spend the night by myself in the dark with no water, power or gas. Simon was able to get a call through around 9pm my time to make sure I was okay but other then that phones were shut down as well. Mom informed us that there had been a tsunami and that there was devastation about 2 hours north of us. We are very thankful for the minimal damage done in Mito. </div><div><br /></div><div>Saturday consisted of waiting in line after line for food at convenient stores as well as cleaning up friends apartments that had been ransacked by the earthquake. Anything not bolted down came flying down. At the same time, everyone is trying to acquire water and food since everything is shut down. The people of Japan gained my respect once again as I watched them handle this crisis with generosity and class. There could have really been a threat of panic but these people waited patiently in lines and shared with everyone around them. Saturday night we were able to sleep with power, gas and water. We were also able to get on the internet to see the damage that had happened in northern parts of Japan and we were all thankful for the minimal damage done here. </div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-64769591859297956192011-03-09T18:42:00.000-08:002011-03-09T18:48:38.506-08:00The beginning of the end...The goodbyes have started. I realize I havent made an entry for quite some time but Im thinking this is a good time to start again. Things have been crazy as the news of my departure has been leaked. I have kept it from the kids as long as I can but now its a free for all. Last Thursday and just now were my last trips to the nursery schools I visit twice a month. I realize that teaching 4 and 5 year olds English doesnt get you very far but I have been able to become friends with these kids and play around with them. Saying goodbye was hard because I couldnt explain my reasons. One because I dont speak Japanese well enough but two because well they are 4 and 5 year olds so my reasons really dont make sense to them. (secretly, sometimes they dont make sense to me either)<br /><br />I am excited to go home and see everyone but saying goodbye is tough. These next few weeks I will basically have one foot in America and one foot here and that will be awful. Looking forward to the future but saying goodbye to people I may never see again.Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-82137847041076896702011-01-20T05:48:00.001-08:002011-01-20T05:48:40.964-08:00Hitches in the trip...<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">The amount of travel time in buses, taxis, tuk tuks, and catamarans. Evidently I get sea sick and supposedly its ok to shove 15 grown adults in a tiny bus for 6 hours. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">My debt card got eaten by an ATM</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The places we stayed weren’t awesome. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Emily got sick several times.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I lost my scuba mask on my last dive (the night dive) and no I hadn’t even paid for it yet.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">When I got home I found that my scooter had been stolen. AWESOME! </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Though all of these things happened…I wouldn’t trade this trip for the world. I loved it and can’t wait to go back to Thailand and get my “Dive Master Training” which should take about 2 to 3 months. Whose with me??? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-56159674817780281132011-01-20T05:46:00.002-08:002011-01-20T05:47:14.583-08:00...then Thailand!<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">We took a bus from Bangkok to the mainland of Thailand and then catamaran to the island of Koh Tao. I didn’t do so well on the catamaran with seasick meds. Yikes! Koh Tao is the cheapest place in the world to get your scuba license and I’ve wanted to do that since I got a taste at the Great Barrier Reef on Pac Rim. The resort we stayed at was right on the ocean and had an amazing view. The Thai people ran the restaurant but for the most part, the dive shop and instructors were English speakers. Many were from England and Australia. Our instructors name was Sonia who is from England. We were able to start classes the day we arrived and from there set off for the sea. I was so excited! The open water course consists of 4 dives. We did mostly morning dives, which start around 6:30am. It’s not exactly what you think of for vacation but I was loving it. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The most exciting thing that happened during our open water training was our last day out. The nice thing about the open water is that they make a video of you on your last day so we were preparing to be on camera all day. We go down on the first dive site and all of sudden there is a SHARK!!! Now normally I would have been a bit freaked but no fear it was a WHALE SHARK! These sharks don’t have teeth and only eat plankton. So I was resting easy and soaking it in that I was seeing a whale shark swim right past me! It was about 6 meters and I could have reached out and touched it. It was amazing! Needless to say my video is awesome with me swimming with a whale shark!!!!!! </p> <p class="MsoNormal">During this dive, Emily was sick so neither her nor Luke was able to finish their open water with me. They finished the next say and I went on to get my advanced license. This would consist of a deep water dive (30m), navigation, computer training, and a NIGHT DIVE!!! Everything was awesome and they saved the night dive for last. I was super excited but pretty nervous. In my dive group I had met another couple from England. Polly and Nick were so much fun. We spent a lot of time together diving and hanging out. Of course I continued to be the 3<sup>rd</sup> wheel as per usual. (Lots of cute guys at the resort but none worth mentioning) Anyway, the night dive was awesome!! So interesting and beautiful what the ocean is like at night. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">We were able to spend Christmas and New Years abroad this year and luckily we had so much fun that we handled it quite nicely. Of course no one likes to be away from their family during the holidays but thankfully we had a great trip. </p> <!--EndFragment-->Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-49415079375223529312011-01-20T05:46:00.001-08:002011-01-20T05:46:40.080-08:00Cambodia<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">Ankor Wat?? What is that?? I had no idea and knew nothing about Cambodia. Mito church supports our missionary, Joel, to go and do some mission work with the street kids but that’s all I knew. We set off for Cambodia on December 23<sup>rd</sup>. After volunteering to get booted from our flight for a $600 voucher, taking the red eye to Bangkok, bus to the Cambodian boarder, trying to get a visa, then a taxi to Siem Reap we finally made it to our final destination after about 30 hours of travel. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ankor Wat is why we went for the most part. They are ancient ruins of temples delicately sculpted with designs done thousands of years ago. We were able to see it was sunrise, sunset and in the middle of the day. I for one got my share of temples for a loooong time but Luke loved it! The history of it was fascinating to him. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Our mode of transportation was a tuk tuk. It is basically a scooter with a carriage on the back. Our driver’s name was Venna and we were able to get to know him throughout the week. It was a fantastic time. A highlight for me was sticking my feet in a tank of fish would proceeded to eat the dead skin from my feet and legs. Yes it sounds gross but it was awesome after I got over being soooo ticklish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After 5 nights we made the trek back to Bangkok preparing for the relaxing week at the beach!</p> <!--EndFragment-->Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-87513312861955231082011-01-20T05:45:00.000-08:002011-01-20T05:46:05.542-08:00Simon and Mary's visit<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">Simon and Mary are my younger brother and younger sister. Simon is a junior at Pepperdine University. Mary is a junior in high school taking college classes and is on the swim team. Out of everyone in my family I wouldn’t have picked them to come over and visit me during this year in Japan. Simon spent all last year in Switzerland doing a study abroad so he is proficient in travel but Mary hasn’t left the good US of A so I was excited when they announced first the desire and the means to make it over here. It’s an expensive and a long trip and I am appreciative that they made if for me.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">They came the last week in November over Thanksgiving. This was nice because it was my first major holiday away from home here in Japan and they got a couple days off from school. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">They arrived on Saturday night, which was also the same day the Harry Potter 7 Part 1 came out in theatres in Japan. Now this is a big deal because most new movies in the States are released months later in Japan but not Harry Potter. So on their first night I dragged them to a movie, jet lag and all. They might try to claim that they were able to stay awake through the whole thing but don’t believe them. They were out for most of it. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sunday I got to introduce them to everyone at church and then spend the day with some friends. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Monday, Mary and I faced the rain and went to Disney Land Tokyo. When we were kids we didn’t get to go to any of the Disney’s so this was her first time and my 3<sup>rd</sup>. (All my times were in Japan, still haven’t been in the States) and Simon discovered the city of Mito on my scooter. (He is lame and claims to not like Disney EVEN THOUGH it’s the happiest place on earth!)</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday was a national holiday here so everyone had the day off. Simon, Mary, my AET friend Emily, my Japanese friend Erisa and I jumped into the car and headed to Daigo. This has a popular waterfall and apple orchards all around so we got to see the waterfall and pick apples. The road trip was good for us to explore Japan a little. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday my school had a “mini marathon” at the local track so we got to go and watch. My kids were so excited to see Simon and Mary there!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Thursday and Friday, I got to take them to my schools. First my nursery school where I teach 4 and 5 year olds and Friday to my elementary school. We took one of my teachers out to dinner on Friday night because he claims to be a “ramen master” and Simon wanted a challenge. He loved it enough that Yuya took us for ramen on Saturday as well. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The rest of their trip I took them to Tokyo. We wandered around there for a couple of days and then it was time for them to leave again. It was a quick trip but it was amazing to see familiar faces in this new life I’ve made. It was great to show them everything I love about Japan and share some of my experiences with them. Thanks Simon and Mary for taking some time and coming to see me! Love you both!!</p> <!--EndFragment-->Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-19990622496778114012010-11-09T05:51:00.000-08:002010-11-09T06:00:03.152-08:00Halloween in JapanThis country doesn't really celebrate Halloween. There might be a couple decorations here and there but it isn't anything like the US. I was able to bring a little Halloween spirit to my kids thru classes and costumes throughout the week. My costume run down is as follows...<div><br /></div><div>Monday- Black cat</div><div>Tuesday- Baby Minnie Mouse</div><div>Wednesday and Thursday I had observations so I didn't think it would be a good idea for the boss. </div><div>Friday- Real Minnie Mouse</div><div><br /></div><div>Friday morning there was an observation as another AETs school, Heather Worsham. They involve the community in that kids get to walk up and down a street "trick-or-treating" to the shop keepers for stamps as well as roaming AETs for stickers. They have the English conversation which sounds like this...</div><div><br /></div><div>Student- Trick-or-treat</div><div>AET- Who are you?</div><div>Student- I'm a witch/pumpkin/black cat (these were the main three) but others include Death and a Samarii. </div><div>Sticker please.</div><div>AET- Here you are. Happy Halloween!</div><div><br /></div><div>The kids really enjoyed it and I loved it! I felt like I was Minnie Mouse at Disneyland because I had a line of kids for most of the hour lined up waiting to talk to me as well as parents and random shoppers stopping me for pictures. It was so much fun! Plus the kids were able to practice their English with many foreigners which is great exposure. </div><div><br /></div><div>After the observation I got to head back to my school and pass out candy to all my kids during lunch time. Normal Japanese schools frown upon giving candy or food of any kind (besides lunch) to the kids but my school is awesome so I handed out 333 dum dums to kids and teachers! It was so much to share the US tradition of Halloween to kids in Japan!</div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-78007799348857976002010-11-07T04:08:00.001-08:002010-11-07T04:13:00.865-08:00The BIG decision...Every November all the AETs have to decide if they want to sign up for another year or return home in April. This decision has been weighing on me SINCE I got here basically and its good to have it finally decided. I have decided to RETURN to the States after this one year. It was a really tough decision and one that didn't go without much prayer, tears and talking it over with just about everyone and their dog. <div><br /></div><div>I am at peace with my decision. God has provided that for me. There are days that I wonder if I made the right decision but I am learning to trust God and allow Him to work in my life. I plan on returning home for a while until I move to Edmond for the time being. I am looking into taking the pre reqs for PT or PTA school. I haven't decided which yet. I am excited about the road that God has put in front of me and I hope that you all will keep me in your prayers as I finish out a great year in Japan and adjust back to American life. Thanks so much for your support!</div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-29479017908044429532010-11-07T03:55:00.001-08:002010-11-07T04:08:03.058-08:00Happy Birthday to me!My friends were gracious enough to plan my birthday for me which was great but also decided it would be a surprise. That didn't really work out that well because they asked one of my Japanese teachers to come along and forgot to tell him it was a surprise so he told me prematurally but thats ok because they requested I be ready at 6:30am and for those that know me...I'm not quite a morning person so it was good I knew. <div><br /></div><div>So my schedule for the day...</div><div>6:30am- Picked up by Port and Cole</div><div>7:15- Finally leaving Mito City</div><div>11:00- Arrive at DISNEY SEA! So what was suppose to take an hour and a half took almost 4 hours because of traffic. It was not such a good start to my birthday!</div><div><br /></div><div>I had been to Disney Sea once before when on Pac Rim with my host family but visiting again w/ the friends I had made here was a good day. Obviously when I do these things, the highlights of my day is the food that I get to eat so...</div><div><br /></div><div><ul><li>I started with Mexican food for lunch which wasn't that good. </li><li>We then got to ride the little tea cups in Ariels Underground Cove. (Disney does an AMAZING job at creating the environment and makes it the "happiest place on earth!"</li><li>I was told to have a "gouza dog" while I was there so I had that for dinner. It was different and ok but nothing exciting really. </li><li>Throughout the night, we hunted down every popcorn stand in the place to try the different flavors. They had milk tea (decent), black pepper (really good and normal tasting), chocolate (fine), curry (didn't try it but fittingly in the Arabian Nights section, and carmel (favorite and hardest to find!) </li><li>We were able to watch several random shows through the day and catch a couple rides. Because we arrived later in the day we weren't able to get out "fast passes" for all the rides. (I was really fine with it really though.)</li></ul><div>We didn't arrive home until after 1am but it was a great birthday. I enjoyed being outside all day. Thanks God for good weather! </div></div><div>This is my second birthday celebrated in Japan and it was another good one!</div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-51564695953152251872010-09-28T05:49:00.000-07:002010-09-28T05:51:02.191-07:00Today...Today I was playing around with one of my kids and swatted a name tag from his hand and it magically poked a girl in the eye! She cried and the boy blamed it on me...it was really funny!Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-69807431172658985842010-09-15T00:23:00.000-07:002010-09-15T00:30:12.764-07:00She's stuck and crying really loud...A girl on the playground yesterday got stuck on the jungle gym thing. Now the thing wasn't set up very well because its either climb down on these ladder sets that aren't very easy or walk across either set of monkey bars. Now I realize that she would have had to do one of these to get where she was but there was no discussing that once she was scared out of her mind. <div><br /></div><div>I was the first to "arrive on scene" with her crying her eyes out. I climbed up in my dress (bad decision obviously) and tried to just climb her down. She wouldn't have it. Then my head English teacher,who is also this girls teacher, comes out and tries to talk her down from the ground. I am up there sitting next to her at this point. Then my VP comes out and just watches. Obviously its hard for me to comfort and reassure her because I can't speak Japanese. I was really frustrated but she was scared out of her mind. Yamazaki sensei brings out a ladder and my VP climbs up but she won't let go of the pole she has a hold of. It takes all 3 of us reassuring and prying hands away to get her to come down. Whats funny is that she probably finally came down the most unsafe way possible. I was holding her top half from the top and Yamazaki sensei and my VP had a hold of her feet trying to place them on each ladder rung. It was awful but also really funny at the same time. Poor girl.</div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-51347518201222916822010-09-14T22:29:00.000-07:002010-12-13T05:14:19.894-08:00The big event!This starts the blog of my best day so far in Japan!<div><br /></div><div>There is no way to explain the excitement that this event contains for my kids. There is so much preparation that you can't help to excited whether you really are or just want it to be over. My day was suppose to start off at 6:30am to get ready and have a good breakfast to be at school at 7 but that didn't happen. I woke up at 6:52 with no alarm and rushed out the door to arrive at 7:15. My VP gave me a hard time about it but it was fine. I was placed on the set up crew for each event. The beautiful of this Japanese culture is that they allow the children to do everything. So of course they had practiced each events set up several times and so the teachers really had nothing to do. Not that I could actually do anything because I didn't understand what needed to be done. I was the best cheerleader ever today!</div><div><br /></div><div>My friend Emily came to watch a little and cheer me on, not that I did anything. I cheered as relays and races took place and I watched and cheered as every grade did their dances. As it turns out, I got to learn most of everyones dances because I had so much free time in the weeks before this. I want to be able to explain every event to you in detail but I realize thats boring so I'll let the pictures and videos do the talking.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihm5V_wDY2qIaO5s1hZUJebW6sgWM_lTRrXHben8eVGjt4-FGfUKs-qQ2uLrz0xsNZqLYJgfWpkgaL_ITokDQpCvLHkCDQ_Qcrujql0ZMaRDRqaSc9YNYR6sEcq2iGJAJPrDT2emzXuRU3/s1600/DSC08221.JPG"><br /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">They will pass this ball all the way around the field. One ball for each team (red and white). It's really funny to watch the first graders get it, they get killed. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfKjNATt7oSvaVeIOZIKPeZKZETnHgILnqh0xNzybmK6MldGqdMsnJ_gKWZ1RwOlIXRu1de7LQl0zFc3NNCK-Q5W9xG38lGRMr2MYjtWRYPfeYYQQCSUQrepIbQeuwd4Tyff8iQu4U52t-/s1600/DSC08245.JPG"></a></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfKjNATt7oSvaVeIOZIKPeZKZETnHgILnqh0xNzybmK6MldGqdMsnJ_gKWZ1RwOlIXRu1de7LQl0zFc3NNCK-Q5W9xG38lGRMr2MYjtWRYPfeYYQQCSUQrepIbQeuwd4Tyff8iQu4U52t-/s1600/DSC08245.JPG"><br /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Apart of the 5th and 6th grade dance, they also do mounting. 3 tiers is the highest they go but its pretty impressive. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil8UPSe7P5CV12hG0AdqTxCpTSELVF8hlwv0hB_liaIPy2Ko-UQUbJmsDttOV58LJuXryThxs5cwy340OJNkX52IlhIUDWkmpSsY0e_hmsWlDqNo2qWA4EcT_VM8hc7vj3DWpaux795PeD/s1600/DSC08206.JPG"><br /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Some of the best 5th graders ever! We have secret handshakes!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7PQu1s9JSH7aZnRtjM3-ZVczXaVjJkUFBnF4oa20QKjxF66hrH3k8x8kvqmvxvLOJzJEh7H4KieE9URv50zEZ9umluRtrIVSRfbB151CWVuTCMPO2k4HZCwJCw4GUtpiEu9Gbib8IWH93/s1600/DSC08186.JPG"><br /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">I got to help with a couple of the games. This game is called "What color do you like?" and I picked the color that got to bypass the obstacles.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPUtFCy1pqsLxcX81lskheUNQrxAnY6oUI-N_5oD6POMlmg6kZpkyPACxjLBtQDm14gfZGg3eqg4QFn-QRP7hG9105-6vDZ5IZnfC5UwBgguPZofI2LWY6WgfPu0YXD46ZCp6hDzwVpmdD/s1600/DSC08178.JPG"><br /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">She's the sweetest ever!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Even these pictures don't do it justice so I tried to take some videos to show you exactly how it was.</div></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>1st video is of 1st graders playing a game. They are shaking pom poms from their shorts. It was something I hadn't seen before so it was really cute. </div><div>2nd video was me getting prepared for my one and only duty of the day. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div> This is the 5th and 6th grade dance. The sun was at a bad angle but I thought maybe Gamma could use some of these moves for Spring Sing next year. There is no way to get you to fully portray this day. There was so much going on, most of which I had no idea about, that I could only get so much on video without looking like a tourist. One more video. This one is of me dancing the Japanese traditional dance that all the kids learned in the gym one day. Everyone was quite surprised that the foreigner could do it. <div><br /></div><br /><div>This day made me love Japan even more. It got me closer to my kids and my teachers. Afterwards, the teachers always have a party to celebrate Undokai being over so I got to be apart of that. All of these things are helping me bond and get to know me teachers so much better which is helpful when I teach with them every week. So far this was my favorite cultural experience and I'm not sure another can contest with it but we'll have to wait and see. Let me leave you with the 1st and 2nd grade dance. Its a long video and the same thing over and over but I love it. Love you all!!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>All pictures and videos needed to be removed. Sorry!Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-3029694123452733592010-09-14T22:20:00.000-07:002010-09-14T22:29:08.736-07:00I'm a firewoman!I wasn't able to help with much for Undokai because honestly, its easier for the teachers to do it themselves then it is to explain it to me. The language barrier has never been so frustrating because I know there are things to do and I have no classes so I have nothing to do but I don't know what to do. The one job they did give me was to water the field. It was sooo hot the first week of practice and the field was so dry. With all the marching and running around they do on it everyday it needed a little moisture to keep the dust down. Well that is a pretty brainless job so they gave it to me. <div><br /></div><div>On Monday of Undokai week, they decided to up the stakes. They pulled out the fire hose and got the whole field in one swoop. Those things are sooo powerful! The youngest teacher, Yuya, and I took turns as we were both getting soaked by the wind spray. I was looking forward to using that for the rest of the week to make things easier but turns out that this fire hose doesn't seal very well and tends to leak all the way down the hallway. This is fine if there is actually a fire-the more water the better but when you are only doing something like watering the dirt...its not so good. So it was discontinued just as the fun was being started but that one day I was quite the firewoman!</div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-49375772405646881422010-09-14T22:11:00.000-07:002010-09-14T22:20:12.097-07:00Kawawada Army...Undokai is a big deal here. It translates as sports festival and they are quite serious about it. Ours was on September 11 and so the first 2 weeks of school consisted of cancelled classes and practicing marching, events, dances and more. I've never seen so much preparation done for a one day event. I was having fun NOT teaching class and watching the kids being tortured out in the sun, day in and day out. The first day of practice, the teachers had the kids outside practicing the opening ceremonies in which the kids have to march for quite a long time. To prepare for this, the kids marched out on the dusty field for almost an hour. My VP asked me to watch for white faces and fatigue and boy did we find that. We had kids left and right coming over holding their stomachs, white as a sheet. It was quite funny actually. Some were faking, of course, but others definitely were sick. We even had one throw up on his way to the nurse's office. As they started their like 12th time marching to the same song, my VP leans over to me and says, "Welcome to the Kawawada Army!" and thats exactly what it reminded me of.Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-71995598585586918912010-09-14T22:01:00.000-07:002010-09-14T22:11:04.774-07:00Student teacherWhy are earth would anyone consider sending me a student teacher? I was never trained to be a teacher nor do I have any idea what I'm doing. But right after summer break my Vice Principal told me to expect a student teacher from Ibaraki University for a couple days out of the month of September. What he also told me turned out to be quite funny. He said since me and this student teacher were the same age that he HAS to have a pretty face. He had never met this student teacher but since he is in college it was assumed. The first time I met Yuma he just came in for a meeting to make a schedule for when he would come in. I started laughing to myself because I assumed that my VP had actually seen Yuma and telling me he had a cute face. Yuma is the first person I have seen with severe acne. He's not bad looking but not quite my type. What was funny was when Yuma left my VP, my principal, my head English teacher and I all walked him out to the lobby. After he had walked out the door my VP turns to me and says, "Sorry, no pretty face!" <div><br /></div><div>So now it turns out Yuma will be with me for the WHOLE month of September. I would rather not have a student teacher only because I change things up from class to class that someone that is there with me all the time can see the changes and mistakes I make. He also speaks Japanese and so for the 4 days that he has been there...he knows more about the drama and works of that school than I do after being there 5 months!</div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-39609785337080757742010-09-07T22:42:00.000-07:002010-09-07T22:43:37.991-07:00Coming soon....Soooo much to write but this week is super crazy with my sports festival on Saturday. A typhoon is coming in today which has cooled things down but hopefully it will have past before Saturday. Some great stories coming your way soon!!!Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-85894522473391686812010-08-15T18:42:00.001-07:002010-08-15T18:42:31.481-07:00Summer vacation to KoreaFor summer vacation, Emily and Luke Martin and myself took 2 weeks to go to South Korea. It was as warm as it is here and a bit similar but in many ways very different. We concluded that Korea is a mix of China and Japan along with their own little twist. It was quite interesting. We were able to visit palaces and markets in our first week in Seoul. We also watched the Korean soccer team practice as well as visited North Korea on a tour. There was just enough relaxing mixed with exploration. We had Korean food as well as all the Western food we could find. Korea is more exposed to the western culture which is why we were able to eat Outback, On the Boarder and Taco Bell. Most Korean food is quite spicy and cooked in front on you on a grill like a barbeque. We were able to meet up with Emilys friend one night who father is stationed in Seoul as well as a Korean friend that I know. Those were helpful interactions in that it gave us a better feel of what life in Korea was actually like.<br /><br />Next we went to Jeju Island. They call it the Korean Hawaii and I can see why. It was a beautiful island. I flew in by myself because Emily and Lukes flight was full so I went a day early. It was sunny and hot when I got there and I was looking forward to several days on the beach. I explored close to my hostel which included walking around another small island close by. It was beautiful. They arrived the next morning and we went straight to the beach. I was thankful we did because after that a HUGE typhoon rolled in and we didn’t see the sun again until the day we left. We were able to keep ourselves busy with exploring lava tubes and waterfalls despite the wind and rain. All in all the vacation was a success. I was able to experience another culture but also relax a little bit after a long semester with my kids. I am looking towards this semester hoping that it will be as good if not better than the last.Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-53085495067086285142010-08-15T18:10:00.002-07:002010-08-15T18:14:21.301-07:00Teachers tripQuite some time ago I was asked by my teachers if I would like to go on their teachers trip with them. I had heard about others getting a chance to go on theirs and I didn:t want to miss out on mine so I said yes before they could even tell me what it was. It ended up being a bus tour to Nasu. Now I wasn:t really sure where Nasu was nor was I sure that I knew what we would do there but I wanted a chance to get to know my teachers outside the classroom and here it was.<br />Sunday morning, we all arrived at school about the same time that school would actually start. The first shock of the day was that everyone was in normal clothes. Of course, Japanese fashion allowed the women to look similar to school clothes but it started the day off right because everyone was more relaxed. My favorite was the youngest teacher I teach with, he just finished college so we are the same age. I had always seen him in suits or sports clothes and never pictured him in street clothes but he surprised me with him trendy outfit.<br /><br />So we get on this big tour bus and somehow I get shoved in the back with all the men. My vice principal, who speaks the most English, a 5th grade teacher and this young teacher…all of us in the back. It ended up being really fun but at first I was skeptical, these men ended up being my buddies for the day. We played Bingo on the drive which was good because that’s something I could do. It lightened the mood and allowed me to relax. We stopped at a dessert shop, what looked like a European church and then the Cheesecake factory. Japanese cheesecake is not the same as American I come to find out which was a bit disappointing but still good. Lastly, we went to an outlet mall for a couple of hours. The best part of the day was that these men really did follow me around. Yuya, my youngest teacher, didn’t leave my side. It was quite funny since we can hardly communicate. He can understand more English but harder to speak it. It was an interesting day but so beneficial to really get to know these teachers and what they are like outside the classroom.Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-26776266539025980962010-08-15T18:10:00.001-07:002010-08-15T18:10:34.242-07:00Taco making...I wanted to do something nice for my teachers for being so sweet to me so I decided I would make them tacos. I had my mom send over taco seasoning and I set the date. It was diffifult to explain that I wanted to make them food but eventually they got the picture. Tortillas are difficult to get here because they are so expensive so Emily and I went to town learning how to make them ourselves. On our second try we dominated them and so made several for my upcoming dinner date with all my teachers. I cooked the meat in the little kitchen near the teachers room and cut up all the toppings. Throughout the process, teachers poked their head in to see how and what I was doing. I brought everything out for them and explained how to make them. I watched as they all went thru the line and loaded up their tacos. They were thrilled. They all seemed to love them and even if they didnt I would never know because Japanese culture is to fake it. It was a fun little experiment to show them my graditude for being so kind to me as I fumbled through my first semester as an English teacher.Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-57318063296866690572010-07-23T18:16:00.000-07:002010-07-23T18:17:34.599-07:00Japanese Summer Vacation<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">Starting this week, the schools here in Japan are on summer vacation. The vacation lasts from the end of July to the end of August. Not only is the time shortened in Japan but the role of the teachers are different as well. The teachers don’t really get a summer vacation. If they want one then they have to take off. We all come to school everyday even though the kids don’t have to. The Japanese culture is to be or look busy so that you look like you are a good worker, EVEN if you have NOTHING to do! That is me. I have nothing to do because the AET before me left great lesson plans and there are only so many decorations I can make. There is only AC in the teachers room and outside this room its about 90 degrees everywhere else in the school so needless to say, everyone spends most of their time in the teachers room. The problem with that is you must look busy and well I have nothing to do and I’m not good at doodling and I’m not a writer of any kind so I’m out of luck. There is some socializing while in the teachers room but the problem with that is I can’t speak Japanese so not many people talk to me and if they do then its just quick little things. Its tougher then it sounds. Going a whole day not having one real conversation with a person while you are surrounded by people all day is depressing. It has only been a week of summer vacation and I can hardly stand it. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Luckily, next week we have summer training with all the AETs. The two weeks following training an AET couple (Luke and Emily Martin) and I are going to South Korea! It will be the vacation we need! I am pretty excited! Sometimes I think I’m being dramatic about dealing with my situation but sometimes it just wears on you. Things will get better with a vacation. They always do! </p> <!--EndFragment-->Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-86029156730165729472010-07-05T01:00:00.000-07:002010-07-05T01:01:31.834-07:00Address.......just in case you want to send me something! :)<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Chelsea Baker</span></span></div><div><div class="im"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Matsuyama Haitsu B-102<br />3-144-5 Migawa<br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Mito, Japan 310-0912</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Love and miss you all!!!</span></div></span></div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-29449442144687298992010-07-03T16:10:00.000-07:002010-07-03T18:13:06.414-07:00Rainbow Trout!Yesterday was quite the Japanese cultural experience! 2 of my Japanese friends, Erisa and Hitomi, asked me to go fishing with them in the town close by and me being quite the fishermen decided it would be a good chance to show them my skills! So despite the fact I was low on sleep I got up and met them. <div><br /></div><div>What I didn't realize is that fishing at this festival is not quite the fishing I'm used to. When we showed up, all the kids were in swim suits and everyone had nets and bags looking at a shallow pool of water. From what I gathered, we were expected to wade into this pool of water that had been stocked with TONS of HUGE rainbow trout! So Hitomi and I wading out in our chacos ready to try to catch fish with our HANDS!!! Now here's the problem, the water is cloudy, you can't see the fish but they are brushing up against your legs. I couldn't handle it. I was always the kid that hated swimming in the lake because there was a possibility that a fish might brush my leg and here I was in knee deep water stocked with TONS of fish! We did a lot of screaming as the fish taunted us by swimming by us. </div><div><br /></div><div>I wish that I could explain to you the amount of people that were here to fish with their hands and how skilled they were at it. These fish were soooo big and sooo fast but some people were excellent at catching them!! Allen Thompson, another AET, came along and he made the trip. He went all out and ended up sitting in the water and waiting for the fish which was the common thing to do. We never ended up catching even one but walked away with about 12 fish. It's funny how we acquired them, all thanks to Allen...</div><div><br /></div><div>1 fish from an old man with a net catching them right and left gave one to Allen. I think he felt back for the foreigner that couldn't catch any but was trying sooo hard.</div><div>1 fish from the people who ran the event. After most of the fish were caught they used a net to catch the rest of them and handed them out to the kids. Of course Allen got in that line as well. </div><div>2 HUGE ones and 4 small ones were given to Allen by a family with a cooler full of them. He was trying to give our 2 fish away because we decided we weren't going to eat them and they ended up giving us some of theirs. It was a very confusing exchange even with a translator.</div><div>4 more were given to Allen after he went BACK to get his other shorts that he shed after getting soaked. Some people wanted to interview the foreigner on why he was there and where he was from so they gave him more fish as a thanks. We ended up with more fish that we could eat!</div><div><br /></div><div>We decided to go back to Erisa's house and try to cook them so after passing some of the out to people we saw in the next hour we went and fried/grilled/boiled the fish. We had so much food that we had to invite more AETs to come join us for the feast! It was an amazing day and the best part was the whole day was FREE!!!</div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7558198207489257655.post-85561204007674826922010-07-03T15:59:00.001-07:002010-07-03T16:03:30.104-07:00Koke's a monkey!<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwQGxq-MQ8KYszj3OSDaHFPAbDJqjUGzc63NPCeYBx4dmTqX5L_bs-Gw2y2Zm-NGclP5T3kNLebeeVjngN8' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><div><br /></div><div>This is a little boy that is super crazy and tends to wonder around school a lot. He ends up in my English room a lot of times and will do things like this! </div>Chelsea Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07912947268285274746noreply@blogger.com0