One of the things that many people don't tell you is that when you have a lot of free time, and I mean a lot, you don't really want to do anything. Or maybe that's just my point of view.

I have been dedicated to reading 50 books in 52 weeks, but I am a bit behind, but three books are notched down, and I have 47 more to go. One of the books on my list is to read all of the Game of Thrones, and some classical novels I say I have read, but truthfully have not.

Another is the learning Japanese aspect. They say when in Japan, you'll catch on quick, but it still hasn't stuck that well. That could also be from this apparent ADD that I have acquired.

Just anything in general that involves typing something onto something else, or reading or studying, has left me.

And it's time to pick it up again.

God, even a game to keep me entertained is that too much to ask for brain!?

I was trying really hard to avoid the whole sickness thing. But when you work with nothing but children with snot rolling down their cute button noses, I had the feeling that I was going to be plagued as well as they are. But how can I ask for medicine when I am sick? Hence the dilemma.

Well, the sickness has invaded, and the other bad thing? I need groceries, and it's raining, outside.

This is a no bueno dia. So I am just gonna roll back into my blankets and pray the rain goes away to come another day.

Four Months Already?

Four months in Japan. Yes, today marks four months that I left from LAX and came to the land of rice and neon signs. Seriously, so many neon signs. None near me thank God.

Well, a reflection of the four months that I have spent here? I thought you would never ask. Especially since I haven't written in a while. But slowly starting back up and being reprogrammed. And once I start, I will try to continue.

To begin with, Happy New Year! Wow 2013. We have survived another end of the world scenario. I don't really know how many is that now, but I kind of lost interest the minute we survived Y2K. Well, maybe a bit after.

For the 10 days that I had of vacation, it was in a word, glorious. No work for one week and spending 4 days in Tokyo, can be something that the doctor ordered.

I will say for the record that Tokyo is huge. like Huge. And to make matters weirder, there is a ton of Americans in Tokyo. Like, when I go to Nagoya and see another American or something I stay surprised for a second because it's crazy rare to see them. But going to Tokyo, seeing all of them made me second guess whether or not I was still in Japan. It was nice not to feel alienated for a while. But not much could have been said for it.

We visited many places in Tokyo, Roppongi and Wendy's where we spent New Years Day, Shibuya and Shibuya crossing and their poochy mascot, Shinjuku and the hotels we found to stay the night, Harajuku and the nostalgic feeling of the callejones from Los Angeles (and a churro for a snack!), and Akihabara and the maid cafe that my friends were called masters and I was called princess.

After vacation it was nothing but sleeping and resting and playing video games, all the while fearing stepping outside because it was outside. I just didn't want to okay? I'm broke at the moment so the only thing I can afford is food and drinks. Which I don't mind.

So for now, I will remain in bed while the cheese nan I have leftover cooks in the toaster oven I almost burned down, along with my apartment. That's what I get for sticking in a tortilla and not watching over it.

Mmmmm peppers.

So there is this place by my house that I have been coming to frequently. It's not just because their food is delicious. But it's also because their food is awesome.

Peppers is as close to a Mexican restaurant with a side of George the Greek I can get (George is a delicious burger place by my old high school).

Peppers has an amazing rice and chicken combo, an amazing chili cheese fries (with actual chili in the chili! None of that Del Taco chili), and awesome fajitas wrapped in a tortilla.

My mission while in Japan, other than learning the language and holding a conversation in Japanese with a Japanese native, is to try everything once in Peppers menu.

Yes, my wallet is gonna go broke (not really, their combos are as much as a Carl's Jr. combo) but my stomach is going to be ecstatic to have Mexican wannabe dishes.

That's all for now. じゃね

Where are you from?

I normally get asked this question back in the States because I often have people confuse me with being of an Asian decent due to a last name dubbed "Zinzun." I always end up telling them the whole history of my last name. Now, granted, I have never heard the story myself, this was something that I looked up in the good ol' internet. According to Google, I have Mexican Indian blood in me because my father's father (which is just my grandpa) was a Mexican Indian from a tribe called TzinTzunTzan. I suppose they got bored with the long last name and deleted the T's because they were just place holders and dubbed the new last name Zinzun. Now, there are some cousins (Very distant cousins) that still have that T, but I will be going on a tangent if I get into that side of the family.

Well, now that I am in Japan, I don't get into the whole speel about my family's last name. Yes, one of the reasons is because I don't speak fluent Japanese, but the other reason is because I don't speak fluent Japanese. Yup, both in the same ball park. Keeps it frustrating because I want to tell people that no, although I look Asian I am one hundred percent Mexican.

I suppose the reason that I am instilled with Mexican pride is because I am the only Mexican in Okazaki, unless someone out there wants to prove me wrong and come outside and play... because seeing another Mexican out here would be peachy. I'm not joking.

Well, the reason that I am talking about my last names and Mexican innuendo is because I recently went to a culture festival that had Indians, Philippines, Brazilians, and of course Japanese. I went walking through the food section, which all looked as good as the next, and stumbled on the Brazilian food cart. They had premium sausage (actual sausage not a sex reference) and this pulled pork sandwich. I pointed with my index finger and asked how much.

"Hyaku go ju en," she said. One hundred and fifty yen, which is like a dollar fifty, depending on the exchange rate.

I grabbed my change and she knew that I wasn't Japanese, so she asked if I was Brazilian. I have the tan skin, a little bit of a pointed nose, bigger eyes than she does, so I could have passed as a Brazilian girl, with a sexy Portuguese accent.

"No, Mexican," I said.

I have been saying that a lot. I don't say I'm American. I say I am Mexican.

Not only that, but I have around 5,000 songs, some of which I did not pay for. I will not say the other way, lets just say I have found ways of finding old CDs around the house. Anyways, so 5,000 songs, and the majority of the time I am listening to Adan Chalino Sanchez, Alejandro Fernandez, Jesse y Joy, and much more beaner and Spanish songs.

I think one of the reasons that I do this is because I miss Mexico, but this place does remind me a lot of Mexico. It's foreign ground to me, it holds that essence of translucent objectivity that brings me back to when I was a little girl walking down my street corners and visiting my cousins who were just a walk away. The houses are the same, just the colors are not as extravagant or garishly eye appealing, like you are forced to look at them. The drivers here are just as ballsy, but the cars look small as if they already crashed and that is why they have no front or back.

But more than that I do miss home. I miss my family and such, but I wouldn't trade this experience for the world, honestly. I do believe that a year will pass like a loop over my head. As if I woke up in my futon one day and close my eyes and wake up in my bed back in Riverside.

That's all I can say for now. Before I start getting nostalgic of home.

Taking notes... A TON of notes.

Oh man, this week was he rice the whole way through. I was happy to embrace the weekend, only to have it literally rain on my parade.

So far the children are sweet but it takes them a while to learn and ease up to me. The babies especially.

The babies are adorable! They have cute little faces, cute little eyes, chubby little cheeks, adorable little outfits, everyone is adorable!

I think I will have a hard first couple of classes. I just have to know how to manage my time, how to have students speak up, and especially, how to properly lesson plan a class.

So now that talking about work tomorrow, I'll go into my day yesterday!

It was my first day off after working a whole week straight along side my NET trainer, so what I wanted to do was head out and explore the city on my new bike that my NET left me. As cliche as it will sound, I pulled open the blinds that morning and saw cloudy skies and wet roofs. It was raining.

That didn't really deter me from going on and exploring. I took out the bike from the bike rack and departed.

As I was biking I wasn't hit with any serious gusts of wind, or any splashes of water into my face. It wasn't until I traveled close to the school that it was getting ready to pour.

I stopped by a stationary store and bought me some little trinkets to get me through the year, and then walked outside to a downpour. My bike was getting soaked like crazy! And if it wasn't for my waterproof trench coat, I would have been as soaked as my bike.

And let me say for the record, it is hard to bike with one hand while you hold up an umbrella with the other.

I needed groceries as well, so I dropped by the Cibico, all the while not realizing that it was going to get worse as far as raining goes. The rain got a lot worse after I left the grocery store.

Once I arrived, so did my fellow new NET, his name is Fred. It was nice to meet a new arrival, and I hope to have a good working situation as well as a good friendship. God knows I can use a friend.

Yesterday was also my NET's last day in Okazaki, so to celebrate a bunch of amity and aeon NET teachers were going to meet up in the big city of Nagoya. I was excited to see and meet new people, and it was great to be reunited with Mark! We talked about work, our first few days, our apartment, and everything in between. It was great seeing an old face and so much fun to meet new ones!

Chicken wings here are incredible! Not as good as the ones at home, but still in its entirety, they were good enough for me, and I don't even like bone wings or traditional as they like to say.

Saying goodbye made me realize that my NETs kids, were now mine. And I had to figure out how to make it work, as Tim Gunn would say.

I will make it work as smoothly as I can. That was my promise, to care for my NET's kids. :)

First day of school. Accomplished!

Oh man, since I have internet for a while it seems appropriate to actually be blogging and such. And I have a few minutes before my walk to work so I can talk about my time in Okazaki so far.

In such a way that Japan is modern and fresh and new, there are also instances in which Japan is old and keeps to its heritage. I have been placed in the latter of the two.

Okazaki is old, and still holds a ton of old roots to their culture. I have run into more old people that anything else. But they are incredibly adorable! And of course well mannered. I have yet to have anyone give me bad looks. But this could also be due to the Asian face my mother claims I have.

I got off the train station from Okayama where I departed from my friends Deren and Richard, and said goodbye to Naomi and Mark who rode along with me. Each one of us gave each other a big hug with the hopes that after we get used to everything in our area we would meet each other again. Hopefully, Nagoya, but we still worked out anything.

I was greeted by my manager and we walked with my heavy luggage (why did I pack so much!?) towards another train station that would take us into the heart of Okazaki. As we were traveling, I asked Manager (that's what she likes being called) about the apartment.

"I am very sorry, but your apartment is very old," She said.

In all honesty, I was thinking peeling walls, spiderwebs, broken sinks, things like that. But it wasn't the case.

We took the bus, got off and walked in a straight line all the way down to a little apartment complex. White Cloud III. I heard a ruckus upstairs, and I knew that was going to be Ayumi and Alex, the NETS that I would be replacing.

My first impression of them was that they were cheerful people. Ayumi I pictured to be a little bit taller, so you should have seen my surprise when I saw her as a fun size Snicker's bar (kind of like another friend I know).

I walked in and didn't notice much other than that it was spacious! So much leg room to do so much! I didn't care about the old feel to it. I was happy with it's condition (minus a few minor details).

Anywho, they took me out both days, and I ate merrily and happily so there is a happy note of things. I will talk about it later right now I want to get to the point at hand.

My first day of work. Man, it was not as hard as training was that's for sure. I think it's because you are working with children that you need to have a feel of what you will be doing with them. Yesterday, we had to work with one of each classes that I will be teaching on a regular basis, or when Manager changes my schedule. She is already primping me for the new and old moms to observe and see if I do a good job.

One student in particular was so scared of me that he didn't want to do anything at all for activities. He just held the rattle, the abc board, and clutched it. Kind of reminded me of Emilio.

The other students were happy and participating, so I have an idea of how to continue their teaching. I just hope I don't have any babies that cry. I don't think I will be able to handle it.

Yes I can. I survived five munchkins at once, one crying one shouldn't be that tough. :)