Bubbleshare is going kaputt.

Unfortunately, one of the photo archival websites that I had used for this blogsite is ending. Therefore, some of the photos that I have uploaded onto some blog entries will be lost. There are far too many for me to download and reload elsewhere, so if you see some blank spots, that's why.

Sad, but such is life. Fortunately, I did space out where I uploaded photos, therefore, you will hopefully be able to see some photos from other archives (Picassa and Blogger).

xx tara

Heeeeyyy.... where you at?

Ahhh... I wana tell you a story...

Once upon a time... A young woman skipped off to Japan to have an adventure..

"Ah, I'll stay for a year I reckon!
have a ball, meet some funky people,
drink heaps and be merry!"

and most of the time, that happened.. She met some neat people, she had a ball doing some great adventures and learning heaps on the way... but something was missing..

"I miss my boyfriend!!"

was a common cry she bailed to her friends now and then - most days probably.. 1 month even proved to be a little too long for her and her man..

"Right. That's it" stated the man over the ocean in a little home in Glen Innes, New Zealand.
"I'm coming over, get me a flight for christmas!"

"woooohooo!!"

Shouted the young woman, and the countdown began. Sometimes, the weeks dragged by, sometimes the months flew, but the days did go by and slowly but surely, the day arrived when the loving couple would be reunited.

"hey" the young woman said
The young man just grinned

Yep, was romantic as ever - just like two pigs in mud, or even Sushi and Miso Soup - just meant to be together. And before we all knew it, the man went down on bended knee, while the woman was packing their first traveling day pack;

"So, s'pouse I reckon I'll do this now eh?"
"oh baby!"

From that day on, the young woman and young man became united and never parted each others side... well, not quite, but they did get engaged!

So! The young man and woman are now living back in New Zealand - in between their family homes and workin' their butts off in the East Auckland community.

Catch their adventures and fun at http://porknpuha.blogspot.com/

Sosi in Sendai

Sifa is here!! He's been amazing, from doing cultural lessons with me in school and my ekaiwa, to helping me clean up, sort out and pack up.

We had an extra day, so we decided to spend it up in Sendai to check out the shopping and pretty lights for the starlight festival.

Next stop, OSAKA!!

tired of being tired

I'm not sleepy yet. I think it's because I don't have enough to do. because when I do more, I can sleep at a more reasonable hour. but when I don't have anything to do, I have to wait until now plus about an hour of tossing and turning to get any sleep.

I'm pretty sure that most people think that I'm nuts for the amount of work that I 'put on myself', for the amount of balls I have up in the air and all of the things that I type up, plan, analyse, research, do. But it's not about actually doing those things. hardly at all. I don't type up countless scores of lessons that quite possibly aren't going to be used again because I want to gain some recognition or something, I don't make up ridiculous amounts of movies and blogs because I want to become famous. I am bored. I am continuously restless and my mind is always searching for something to think about.

In Aotearoa this year, I was juggling a 40 hour a week job, a secondary job running my girls group, going out about 4 times a week (including almost all-nighters) and normally an 'okay' fitness level. Then I could sleep pretty well.

This Japan, I have struggled to be able to find projects to do. I have completed projects that I have been juggling for a long time, I have started and finished other projects that other people might not find the time to do.. because for some really annoying reason, I have programmed my body to think that almost every waking hour must be completely filled with activity, and if it's not, then I won't be tired when it comes to 10pm, 11pm, 12pm, 1am....

I know this isn't normal because people are always telling me to calm down, take things slower, that I'm going hard out or that maybe I should let other people think things through and do it themselves instead of me taking over. So why do I have to be like this. I don't know if I was always like this or if it's something that I've become addicted to overtime - the rush of anxiety levels, the adrenaline my body creates when stress levels are just a bit too high. Or if it's just natural for me to only need to sleep 5 hours a night and never have quiet hands.

I hope, I really hope that when Sifa comes, I might relax. That I might just be able to think ' hey, lets just lax', or that I could fall asleep easily between 9pm and 11pm.

Night.

Tomioka Schools at a glance..

I've kinda realised that I haven't got anything much up about my schools and kids!! This is partly due to my social work thinking that the kids I work with are sacred and shouldn't be exploited on my personal blog (mainly because when I am social working - my kids are normally 'troubled' and so it would be identifying them as such). The other reason is that I don't actually have much to show... but here is a slide show of different photos I've taken of the youth, they are typical Japanese kids and I reckon most of the time fun fun fun!!

The bad kids aren't even bad and are just rebelling enough to find their identity, all of them are sooo good in school and listen to everything in class and try pretty hard.

SNOW!!!

It's cold now, reallllllyyyy cold. and last week, another ALT and I were doing a lesson on Christmas (yaya!! haha) and it started to snow outside!

I couldn't believe it and kept staring out the window .. it's pretty damn amazing aye. love it! hehe.

Star Jumps and farts

Mum reckons that if I do 15-20 starjumps (depending on my 'body type') I'll be warm for an hour.
That's the kind of thought-framework that I come from.
brilliant. thanks mum.

Dad did a fart in Auckland and blamed it on me - I'm in Japan.
That's the kind of reaction-framework that I come from.
choice. onto it dad.

My family sets up a laptop in the kitchen and then walk away when I'm talking to them on skype. they then walk past it several times smiling at me, pretending to walk up and down stairs, falling into holes etc.
That's the kind of humour-framework that I come from.
brilliant. kia ora whanau.

now you know why I am like I am.