pics have been updated. I am still stuck in the driveway even after two pots of boiling salt water and spending an hour scooping and trying to get the car out. i will have to call someone tomorrow. I spent some of the after school time with the computer club and they were doing typing practice. I was level one on all the tests they were doing(the lower the level, the better the score) Then i did english typing practice to find words per minute and the best i got was 65 wpm. So better than college i think. Oh well, the snow just won't stop and i am getting really annoyed with my car trapped.At least the snow is acting like an insulator on the home because it is so high so my place stays warm.

the birthday was good. We had dinner all you can eat pizza and pasta at a place in Sapporo. Then i got some great gifts. But the drive home was horrible. A blizzard, and then i survived that and now my car is stuck in the driveway. oh well, i will post pics tomorrow, i am just a little tired now.

Well today was good, yesterday was weird. Let's start of with yesterday.

For some odd reason, yesterday seemed to be a bad day for the kids. Four things and only one involved me:one, some kids were found to have shoplifted from the local writing supply store and i just don't know why they would do that; two, one kid broke her collar bone at the elementary school before i got there so she was absent; three, i think from what i heard that the kid with Ausperger's punched another kid in the face; last, the boys in the first years were being really weird with me and started to gather around me when i was in the hall after lunch just showing my face as i do and they are some of the most vulgar ones and group hugged me and started to hump me, overall it was very weird. Oh well, two more months and i will only be touched like that by only one other person in my life. they are weird.

Today was awesome. It was my last day for the year at the largest elementary so all the kids were a little sad and made me a going away present. I have included pics of it so just check the pics link. So that was all touching. Then they had the orientation at the middle school for the elementary 6th graders for the next year, so i helped with the preview english lesson and went over the alphabet with them. It was very good and all. I also had lunch with the first graders and they were all happy to see me in the classroom. I will miss them and i will have to come back here once again when i can in the future sometime.

Had the day off to go to the doctors to get the varicose veins and such on my left leg sorted out. Nothing to worry about, just something that has been on there since before i started college, and i want to get rid of it. the day was pretty good. Sunny all day so the snow melted. Then i did some cleaning after i got the scans done at the doctors.
This weekend was very slow and relaxed. I didn't even leave the house yesterday, but thankfully with good reason. It was snowing all day yesterday, so i felt staying home was worth it. What i mainly did however was watch Modern Family online. It is actually very interesting and funny. Sofia Vergara is the heart of the show, much like Chris Colfer and Jane Lynch are the soul of Glee. I watched the first season of it this weekend, so that is 24 episodes. Maybe much, but i like it. Now to begin the week and do more school planning and grad school stuff.

Today i was able to play and move around with the preschooler/toddler class that i teach at the local library. It was fun enough. I did animals and 1-10 with them. Moving around like a camel on the ground or a cat, then beating my chest like a gorilla to coincide with the book by Eric Carle that i read to them was basically what that entailed. I usually i don't know what a better term would be but "make a fool of myself" regularly in that class. I guess act like a clown and entertain the kids with actions that i would never want to do in an adult public is a good description. It was fun.

I have been applying to grad schools and have nearly completed two and have two more i will apply to in the next week or so. I am waiting on transcripts, informing references and requesting them, and then i got a copy of my diploma today. So just transcripts and support statements are the big things to deal with. It isn't looking too bad, and since it is faster than it would in America. On top of that, the requirements are not as bad as America's, meaning in short i do not have to take the GRE. I only need references and transcripts and since most of the entry requirements state a minimum 2.2 or 2.1 degree from UK or the equivalent, i am good since my GPA equates to a grade 1 degree in the UK. But as an international student i would be limited to working only 20 hours max(or face deportation should any tiny overage occur in any week) a week; as such, i will have to looking to funding, grants, and scholarships. I should have 7 or 8K saved after the move and such home. I hope, but i guess maybe i should just take the Japanese yen out and wait till i get to the UK to exchange it to avoid exchange rates and weak currency issues since the yen exchange to pounds than the dollar to pounds currently.

I worry about my financials a lot, but i do have to consider some things. One, i am in a much better place than most other people-i do not have any current debts thanks in large part to the help i received from scholarships and working during college, but even more so from my parents, thank you so much- and i should just consider this to be like an average person's loan and stuff for college, except mine will be for grad school and i will have a lot more employability compared to a college grad when i finish. The only downside to going to the UK is the job market for an American. They hire from the UK and then the EU first. Thus, the company has to search all the other places and only if there is no one can somebody outside of that area be considered for employment. Man i wish i was married to a Briton so i could be a dual citizen and enjoy all the benefits of both. Well, that and being married to a person i love, but i digress.


The snow continues, but hasn't been as heavy lately- meaning that there is some blue skies and sun during the middle of the day now. I am ready for a weekend of sleeping in. 

Now is the winter of my discontent

Well, let's start with the weather. The snow has been coming down more and more and I just want it to stop already. My water heater for my shower has been on the fritz and I have asked for the gas company to come by and look at it. I did all I needed to do before I left and there was no water problem. My pipes froze only in my shower room and all the other ones were okay. I turned off the main valve and emptied the pipes before I left. Then when I come back the shower is frozen in the small pipe that leads from the semi-main water pipe in the shower room. There is a tap on that one and water would come out so I knew it was a problem with the small one or the ones in the water heater itself. It froze and then I put the pilot light thinking that would help, and it did, it unfroze it and it came out and all this steam and such as well and then I don't know but then there was some other sounds coming from it and I think I might have broken again. I am seriously done with this cold and do not ever want to live in a place this cold again. I miss central heating which would have lessened the ill-effects of the water pipes. So this morning I tried it and the pilot light would keep going off after like 30 seconds of hot water, I would reignite it and there seemed to be a buildup of gas so the ignition would light it up with a small boom. At least I am 5 minutes from an onsen; I will have to take the evening bath there instead of a morning shower. 

Weather and water aside, my weekend was okay. I took the train up to be safe with all the snow, but it was a little long. The way home I got delayed and the 3 hour journey turned into 6. The travel aside the weekend was great. Amber and I had a movie night on Friday when I got there. Then on Saturday, there was a radio station holding a public Glee viewing of the first two episodes, and that was nice to see how the Japanese reacted to it- frankly there was not much reaction at all especially to the humor. Then we had a wine and cheese party with a French guy and there was a bunch of his international friends there, so the night was filled with Spanish and French and lots of other people. Then we went to a reggae club where the music was adequate.

I have spent the day looking at UK schools and such and information on Linguistic Master's programs there. Frankly, I wish I was from the EU because it is the same price for them as any UK student. Then it is double or more for students outside of it. However it is still cheaper relatively than I think I would be if I went to school in the USA. I can get the degree in two years part-time, or one full time for like $15K in fees and then more for living expenses. Though I guess I will still have to debate whether or not full-time or part-time would be more financially sound and doable. In all my searching, the school of Oriental and African Studies still looks the best for the courses and general study area that I want to do. It's my number one, but I am looking at the University of Essex, Cardiff, and Birkbeck as well. 

School should be relatively non-stressful this week since I have only a handful of classes. Most of my time will be spent on doing other things outside of school. I am getting ready to move and all the shower room upkeep that I have to do. I need to repair a crack in my tub that I got a year ago but have put off because it isn't a problem since I can't even sit in the tub because I am too tall and stocky. Then I need to start throwing things away and seeing what I need to get rid of before I go home. I think I will go home after Japan to set up things and wait until I get accepted. It will also make visas and stuff easier since I can't handle that stuff easily here. I am thinking however that I will just leave Japan and take another week trip to London to scout out things and maybe go with Amber to see the sights and people. Then I will come home just so I don't have to fly a bunch and save. Life is going to be busy when I get back, at least I will be able to go to my brother's wedding and spend some time with my family before I go on to the next step of my life. 

I have updated my pics from this week on my album, link follows, but i have also inserted the link into the Title of the blog. Just click the "for pics" hyperlink. http://s1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa398/AerykkSvard1987/

Scratch what i may have been telling people previously about the weather here. It is worse than it was last year; a little later but worse than last year's. The snow fall has been ongoing for the past week or so i believe- or at  least it has been going on everyday a couple inches minimum each day since i have gotten back. This weather really makes me miss London, and i get why old people go to Florida and retire(because it is the only one of the 50 states currently without any snowfall).

Weather aside i am having an okay week. I don't have to go to school tomorrow since there is just the opening ceremonies and the school said they didn't need me so i start on Monday. I will take the train and go up to Sapporo this weekend for some fun. There is apparently a Glee thing going on there this weekend, but i am not expecting much in Sapporo. I am almost done with my re-reading of the last Harry Potter book, and it has only been like 5 days or so of reading it. I am just amazed at how easy to read they are and enthralling- as Amber put it, it is like reading crack or any other highly addictive substance. I guess i seem to like all things "Harry" lately-wink wink. The books and movies are so good, but very different from each other. well actually no, they aren't different from each other, they are a different experience from one another, but the books just have so much more information in them than the movies can because the movies would be like 5 hours long if they had everything in them. Though i think i would not be the only person who would want to see those movies if they were that long.

Warmth and Hugs to those out there who need it and have it because i have neither right now. :(
Though as a side note i am not the kind of person to ever use an emoji(the punctuation marks shaped like emotions) because it is becoming to where writing and texting are overriding actual conversation. Yes they add some of the emotional and prosody clues that speech delivers and text doesn't, but for some odd reason i just don't want those things and internet speech to ever become part of real conversations. Though i do catch myself reading "LOL" as "lull" and not as "laugh out loud." So like "Lull" hahahaha!!!!

Furthermore i hope my blog doesn't become too lackluster since i am unable to put pictures on here anymore. 

Spent a couple days in Sapporo with friends, and it was nice. The snow is horrible, and i want to scratch what i have been saying that this year isn't as bad as it was last year. It is worse than last year i think, maybe it came later, but i never had my pipes freeze or have the windshield become frozen after spraying it. I think i will just plan on staying inside a little until i have to start school. I have been talking to someone i met in London, and it has been nice to get to know them more. I will have to see what the future holds.

I think i will try to for the school of Oriental and African studies in London as my Masters school. The tuition seemed a lot less than it was for America, and then the program is two year part time, or one year full time. So even if i took out a loan, it would be for less than £10K, if that. From the looks of it, it seems that i am in a good position and the fact that i graduated Cum Laude from college was a great confidence booster. I just wish that i knew i graduated with that when i graduated. Why did it take a year or so and for me to check it myself to find out? In the British system that means that i graduated with a First Degree, and that is a very good thing i believe. I will just have to see how things work out and do my own research on life in the UK.

So i have reached the limit on the pictures that i can put up here so now i will have to host the photos on photobucket. The link is as follows http://s1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa398/AerykkSvard1987/ i hope you all enjoy it. there are a lot of pictures, and i had a lot of fun. went to a lot of places, saw Wicked and The Phantom of the Opera. Both were exquisite. Now to settle back down into the every day things until i go home.

Well London was amazing to say the least. I took so many pictures that i will have to find some way to host them off this site since i have used all the space allotted for the blog. I had a wonderful time. I saw three movies, and the musicals i saw were awesome. I just loved Wicked as usual. New Years was a mess of drunken people, but i didn't stay out the entire night. The food was awesome and exquisite. It was awesome to be in a country where English is spoken and it made me realize that i need to be someplace else in this world. I have decided that i will not go on another year in Japan and i will try to seek employment or further education in the UK.