I want Mexican food

I need good salsa, so I have decided to fly home for the holidays. Well, that and I missed everything and everyone, and that coincided with finding a cheap flight, so here I come! It will be a whirlwind trip- only 8 full days in Utah, but I'm sure it will be worth it. I leave in 2 days, and still haven't started packing (I take after mom in that department). Snowball fights for recess! This is the day after it last snowed in my city. Yes, some of the kids at this school were still wearing shorts!! But they have finally turned the (kerosene=headache) heaters on.
Anyway, Happy Holidays, I mean Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to you!

Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus

Mr. and Mrs. Santa, some of the teachers in the pre-school department, and the mysterious candle ceremony fairy.


Yes, most of these kids are crying. It took a long time to get all of them from running out of the photo. I don't know if it was worth it.


These older kids (about 4 years old) like Santa a little. I'm still not sure that they understood who he was.



This picture is just to demonstrate the art of overpackaging in Japan. This small piece of gum is individually wrapped, and placed into this box with other small pieces of individually wrapped gum. Then this box is wrapped in cellophane, which is wrapped with other boxes in a plastic bag to sell in the grocery store. And sometimes when you buy gum, it comes with a little mini post-it notepad used for spitting the gum out. It is insane. Every time I buy more than one item at the store, at least one of those items is (unnecessarily) placed in it's own little plastic bag before being placed in the larger plastic bag with the other item. Is there any way to stop this? I've learned the word for "no, no, it's ok" but am not always able to use it in time.

It snowed today

Yes, it is finally the Christmas season. Though the holiday isn't truly celebrated here, stores play Christmas music, sell Christmas costumes, and decorate in shiny red and green. And I ate lunch today with Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. That's right- Santa Claus and his wife came all the way from... California to entertain the nursery school students. The kids loved it, and I just got to sit and watch. I didn't get any pictures for proof, but I do it again in a couple of days, and I will make sure to document it.

Cold, cold winter

The temperature is dropping quickly here, but so far, not one of my schools has decided to bring out the heaters. Even worse, in most of the classes, they keep the windows open. I just can't figure it out! My toes went numb today and I couldn't stop shivering, but some of the students were still wearing shorts! Is there something I don't know?? I know I've lived in pretty warm climates for the last 9 months or so, but I am not that weak. I finally asked one of my teachers today about it, and he agreed that it was very cold. He said that they would be working on getting heaters in there. If they don't, I'm not sure I will survive the winter.