i am simon.

i am gertrude.

favorite pasttimes include: playing fetch with my fake mouse while jennifer sits on the couch or is sleeping or doing anything else; laying on any papers or other reading material; snuggling alot.

favorite pasttimes include: meowing at your hand while it rests on a door sill and trying to 'catch' it; jumping into paper bags/boxes; playing with sticks; hunting flies.

ASIAN FLIGHT NEWS FLASH!!

hey babies, i know it's been way too long and that you would much rather look at some photos rather than read about my life but i seem to have left my arsenal of cds at home. today you will just have to read the news of late...

yesterday i was trudging up those rickety back steps of mine and low and behold i see a fed-ex envelope inside of my screen door, propped against my backdoor. i was wondering why the fed-ex guy came to the backdoor and then i wondered what it was and then, THEN I HOPED IT HAD A RETURN ADDRESS OF UCI. my eyes lit up and i scrambled to it. i peered to the left hand corner and saw UCI printed in small bold letters. what else besides a duplicate of my misplaced diploma? i ripped it open very carefully and upon seeing two sheets of cardboard covering a piece of paper i could have easily printed up on my computer (minus the professional looking seal), i wept some tears of joy!! this is one of the greatest days.

all of a sudden i felt so free, free as a kite thinking... yessiree, i should quit my job because now i have this piece of paper that proves i graduated from an accredited institution that says YOU CAN TRAVEL THE WORLD, YOU HAVE TO BE A SECRETARY NO LONGER! this means that i can move forward on my application process to move to Korea to teach ESL. this is a very exciting endeavor!! sam just accepted a job south of seoul, s. korea and begins on july 10th, 2006. i have currently applied to 6 chinese summer camps. one of which i found out is full and today i heard from one of the employers. this program is 4 hours outside of beijing and they provide tours of some of the famous sights around the area on your days off. that position actaully pays a great deal more than the others so it is quite intriguing additionally. i figure that they may give priority to teachers that are already in the area. secondly, i am looking into a few teaching opportunities in the seoul area for a full length year contract that begin in august, as this is originally when i thought i would be able to begin work.

so all in all, this is very exciting. tonite i am headed to blue rapids kansas to chill out with sam's family, eat a bunch of meatballs and my homemade apple pie, and see betsy one last time before she heads off to moldova for peace corps.

let me leave you with photos of my soon be be homeless kitties. these are the only pictures i have for you today. if you want to adopt some kitties, or know someone who does, please let me know (my shameless kittie promotion of the day).

love you babies.

BACKLOGGED PHOTOS! these are from my trip to Ocracoke, North Carolina to see my sister and her hubby, three kids, and my padres.
November 2005


My niece Mollie and myself on a boat out to Ocracoke Island off the coast of North Carolina.

"Which way should we go?" we asked as our bike gang of a family hit the streets.

L to R: sister Kara, nephew Zack, niece Mollie, and momma Barbara. They are getting ready to get in some bike gang scrappery.

She is just so mad that they do not allow smoke in the lounge that she is going to bust a hole in the window! I mean seriously, what else do you do when you lounge around on a boat? ESPECIALLY when you are in a lounge on a boat. It's either that or swashbuckle, both involve parrots and cigarettes, let me tell you.

Yeah, we're swashbucklers.

I love these crazy kids. Friends meet my sister Kara and her hubby Michael!

MARATHON SAM IN ST. LOUIS & CO.
APRIL 8th and 9th, 2006!

Jennifer and Josie at the buttcrack of dawn in downtown St. Louis right while the marathon mayhem is starting to stir. Sunday, April 9, 2006. 6:30ish am

Pre-game diner at Jon and Josie's. Her parents were there to boot. Her mom knows me as 'the woman that likes to drink the sake.' We had baked salmon, a delicious salad, steamed veggies, and sweet sweet potatoes.

Yellow flowers in the kitchen.

Samu right before the marathon starts. He looks tough. Or just tired.

Crazykittieheadiwillscratchyourfaceoff close-up.

Cajun, the sparring partner for above kittie.

this boy is sam. this is his third marathon. he is around mile 15-16 and looking strong--at this point. hee hee. we saw him here because there was a blue grass band playing.

this dog will save you with a jesus life preserver. thank god for this dog!

sam and his fan club after the marathon! pictured from L to R: Mason, Erin, Tito, Josie, Jon, Sam, Rachel, Jennifer, Isa.

Josie and Jon in a great little greasy diner--please notice the old school cigarette vending machine in the back.

Janice Da-dang!

somewhere on I-70 between Kansas City and St. Louis

the list of the cast of characters begins: jon the budding musician!

Isa, please notice that he is getting tired just THINKING about the marathon tomorrow.

Rachel and Sam the roommates. Please note here that this is the day before the marathon and Sam is so hungry he is almost taking a bite out of her face, the poor sweet thing, she doesn't even know it is coming.

Tito. Need I say more? I mean, just look at the man.

The Fateful Weekend of April 8th and 9th.

it sounds so serious, doesn't it? well, i guess it's not so much serious as it is fun but sometimes it is fun to be serious. but usually not. i know this is going to put a wrench in the whole recapping of the japan craziness. BUT, i mean, you gotta know what else is goin' on in the land of janice dang. this is my new moniker! somehow, mail at my work will be mailed to this unknown woman which is actually me.

so.... i wanted to put some photos on my blog of sam's st. louis marathon and our mini roadtrip out there to support him. We all piled into the five seater--Isa, Rachel, Tito, Sam, and myself. We all rotated as co-pilot and relegated Isa to the 'mushpot' seat (middle, back) since he was the last to RSVP. tough t*tties isa! better luck next time. but when we got to st. louis we stayed with our very warm and welcoming friends of jon and josie. they make about one of the cutest couples and are engaged! congrats. they also have a great dog named cajun and a cat named meow-face. seriously.


please enjoy the pics. most of the time pictures are better than words anyhow.

Day 3 on the East Side

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Day of the Matsuri

Japan Revisited: Day 4

Monday, March 13, 2006

Today with a chilly day so i put on four layers and then Sam and I hopped on some bikes and rode through town. We stopped at a temple in Chichibu and then had noodles at a local ramen shop with Adam, the kanuk. He has been teaching English in Japan for 3ish years now. That is Adam in the red reading glasses at the post office. They just have those glasses around for anyone to use. It began to rain as Sam and I were tooling around town on our bikes. So Adam drops us off at the train station and we decide to take it all the way to the end and see if we can hop on the tram to the top of Bucosan Mountain. It is beginning to snow, the higher we go up. The train is practically empty and we keep our eyes open for our stop. Turns out it is the last stop on the line. Once we get there it takes us about five or ten minutes to work up the courage to ask how we can get up the mountain. After about ten minutes of pantomiming, we figure out that the tram is not working today. So we hiking around a bit and end up climbing on someone's property through a steep footpath. Once false step would have been detrimental! Across the road is a white apartment building where a woman is peering out her window very intently at us and probably wonder what those weird gaijin are up to now?!

As we are waiting on the train for the ride back into town, we make acquaintances with a young man who practices his english with us. He gives us a post card and we give him a drawing. He was very nice to us. It amazes me how you can be anywhere in the world and there is always a kind soul willing to help you out or make a connection.

Tonite Yoichi's mamma made us homemade curry and breaded pork. Yoichi's sister is a 'serious eater' as her mom puts it. This made me laugh alot. She is a soccer player too and studies like mad and writes really tiny. I wonder if it is to conserve paper or just to get ready for carpal tunnel when she works at some company? This girl gets no sleep. And she was very excited to see my pajama bottoms that I brought on the trip--a gray pair of pants with the Rolling Stones' logo printed all over it (the lips with the tongue sticking out). She told me that she, Yoichi, and their other sister were all going to the concert in Tokyo in a few weeks. Consequently, she inherited these pjs.

Japanland: Day 2

Notes about last night:
Yoichi's parents made little noises when they looked at my photos. They freaked out at the photo of my parent's house (b/c it was so large. Here things are a bit more compact). There is a little faucet on the back of toilet so as you flush, you can wash your hands before the water fills the bowl. What a conservationist's wetdream! (i wish i would have taken a photo! it was one of my favorite things about japan. and conversely, led to one of my least favorite things--having hands like little ice cubes all the time). Additionally, the toilets seats are heated and some have a budeis (sp?), others are squat toilets. Both are equally novel, at first. There are also different slippers that you put on in the bathroom.

Today we ventured out around town and hit up a local dollar store--THE Dizo is my favorite chain. I think I spend 25 yen-ish! We headed to the local bookstore where Takeshi works and is selling his newly published book. THEN we went to the lookout of Chichibu. The mountain in the distant is Bucosan and it is sacred, but they are also mining it for concrete. We went down slides with children at the playground. I also had my first onsen experience (hot springs--v. popular in Japan)! We then met up with alot of cool cats and had a party at Yoichi's house. But not before we ate these cook it yourself pancake things with different toppings--all sorts of sealife and veggies and mochi. It was chewy and not one of my favorites, but a very good experience especially when you have the worst jetlag EVER!

I will be adding more photos and text to my Japan logs. So please check back even though you think you've already seen them! xo jd