Countdown to summer vacation...

Yes, there are 10 more teaching days left, and while I love my students, I'm ready for a break from the unhelpful homeroom teachers, the lesson preparation (often last minute) and the repitition of English teaching. I'm looking forward to the 6 week holiday during which I will be travelling, preparing for next year's lessons and hopefully swimming in the morning in the pools at my schools. Teaching is so labour intensive. I swear, my respect for teachers just keeps on growing and growing.

Anyway, not much new going on here. Dave and I went to Osaka about a week and a half ago. I may have mentioned this already, but Osaka is the only place close to me, that I know of, that has an esthetician that does hair removal by wax. Ladies in Japan, if you need to take care of your bizness, go see Raddi: http://www.raddietheosaka.com


She is fast, her prices are reasonable and she's nice. I've been talking about her before I actually went to her and now I'm absolutely raving. Girls, if you are in Osaka, and need a wax, go see her.

Aside from that, Dave and I unfortunately didn't do too much in Osaka. It was a hurried, irritable day and we walked a lot, but I was able to snap a couple of fun pics:

I think these "boys" are prettier than me...


For some reason, I find this sign humourous, especially since I've heard Japanese people say "pimp, pimp." I don't know what it is...the accent?


The one at the top is a boat constructed into a building, which was pretty cool.

And that's about it. I've been pretty horrible about snapping photos lately. Since it's almost been a year since touching down on Nippon soil, I've gotten used to a lot of things and most things just seem normal to me these days. But I'm trying to capture things that make me laugh, take my breath away, or just make me go WTF and post them for your viewing pleasure. Like this t-shirt that a 5th grader was wearing the other day:
Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be a grown woman, but I just kept giggling at this and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the La coupled with a word very close to horny.

And here are a few of the 5th grade boys, mugging for the camera. The one on the right is going to be a lady killer. I almost guarantee it. These pictures don't do him justice, but he's too cute. I hope and pray he doesn't turn into one of those fanny boys like in the picture I posted...

On a more serious note, it's been 25 years since HIV was first discovered and it has been 25 years that this killer has been growing. Since it's inception and the announcement of it being a "gay -related immunodeficiency disease", HIV/AIDS has morphed into a colour- and gender-blind human catastrophe where no country has been untouched. It boggles the mind to think that this disease was borne from a single animal-human contact and has been devastating cities and villages, particularly those in Africa. While much has been researched on the phenomenom on the dark continent, and the reasons for it's spread does make sense at the basic level (poverty, lack of education, misinformation), it's just crazy that HIV/AIDS is still spreading, and quickly, in the USA, particularly in the African-American community. Canada/U.S. have the information, the wealth and the means to prevent the rate of infection from rising, yet it's still here, it's getting stronger and it's killing more people. I thought that it was incredible when I read that "African-Americans make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for an astounding 51 percent of new HIV diagnoses." HOLY SHIT. Please read the article in Newsweek and inform yourselves: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12665721/site/newsweek/

I'm out.