aleshia crawfish's Journal
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10:26pm 30/11/2009
  so like i've mentioned before, i'm starting a temp job this friday helping out at a program that leads a study abroad trip for HS students every year. they're from a school in yokohama (japan).. about 64 students, and they'll be here for 2 weeks. that is to say, you probably won't see me for 2 weeks, and i can't hang out or anything etc. i'm excited but kind of nervous, mostly because i'm worried about if i'll be able to bond with my girls. i'll be leading a group of 9 girls (some of which MAY or may not be troublemakers), so i have a few questions since a number of you guys ARE teachers...

1) japanese students are a bit different from american ones, but do you have any tips for connecting with HS students? what types of convos/topics do you talk about? what do HS kids like? i pretty much taught JHS and elem so i'm not sure how different HS kids are. as a reference, these girls are about 16 years old.

for those of you who have taught HS kids in japan, what's popular with HS girls right now?

2) i have to buy my students (in advance) individual presents. my budget is $3 each. any idea about something they might like?

3) what kinds of activities, games, etc would be good to do with those kids in free time? i'll be living with them for 2 weeks, and i have to coordinate random activities to do during program 'downtimes' as well... card games? i have no idea!

i'd reaaallly appreciate any insight! it'll probably turn out okay, but i'm definitely one of those people who likes to be overprepared for situations i'm not used to, haha.

onegai shimasu!!!		  
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12:54am 30/11/2009
  for my future reference:

ozuki salon [only japanese salon in dc, but no black reviewers]
http://www.ozukisalon.com
georgetown

salon revive [vonetta (most/best reviews, afr-am hair), hiwot (2nd best reviews, natural hair, flat iron), yodit (natural, flat iron)]
http://www.salonrevive.com/
u st (near metro)

bang salon [amanda (natural hair)]
http://www.bangsalon.com
chinatown/f st (near metro)

christmas list:
good haircut
a good job
-10 pounds
eye therapy
more freedom/leeway, less guilt trips/pressure from parents
good luck and fortune

lol wishful thinking.

eventually... if i can get a job early next year, i'd like to get a laptop since mine is dying. and a car. and an apt (moving out). and an ipod touch? tho i guess i can throw that in with new years resolutions.

thanksgiving dinner was super yummy. best part, no one came over. 2nd best part, we didn't have tons of leftovers and stuff to put away. leftovers were gone pretty much by fri (because my dad took a lot to my aunt's place).

black friday shopped with my sister, and stayed up all night putting together bookshelves. we are very very handy now.

i learned a little bit about cars from my dad as he helped us refill stuff under the hood. went to advanced auto for rain-x wipers and coolant. i also exchanged my f-ed up (scratched and chipped from dropping it several times, tons of software probs including random shut downs, lagging, poor sound quality) env3 for a new env3. worst service ever.

saturday i played touch football with bk and his friends. weird because i've spent years avoiding them out of crippling fear. they were pretty nice. i had fun, and ended up going to 18th st lounge later that night because it was one of their birthdays, though turns out we didn't even meet up w/ him since he didn't show!

temp job #2 starts on friday. had orientation from 9-6 today. zoe was there (she's in job#1) and steve is also there (as a teacher). fingers crossed for good luck~

i've been eating a lot... of pizza. i need to tone it down. i swear diet starts again today... no more donuts (though i will have pizza........ :-))		  
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12:15am 17/11/2009
  i had an interesting week!

1. i started and finished driver's ed for the 2nd time. i mentioned this before but i did all my 6 hours of driving. now i just need to practice practice and hopefully past the test this time. i went to bowie library to practice parallel parking and 3 pt turns with my sister, but alas the car is sooo long and it was really hard to maneuver. i WAS able to do the parallel parking at about the 5th try (and after running over the cones 3x....) i'll have to practice again, and hopefully it'll be alright.

2. ( my birthday weekend! )
i just really wanted to have fun on my birthday~~ :) im glad so many people helped. thanks everyone!

PS in times square, i got to take pics with two characters from the winter cirque du soleil show for kiddies... here we are!



3. started my temp job at JET today. kinda grunt work, processing applications, but let me tell ya the types of things that will disqualify you from even getting your app read... some people get disqualified for the SMALLEST details. i felt bad about a bunch of them. if i ever reapply to JET, i'll know what to do and what NOT to do for real!

i don't get paid much, but it's something for now... and i'm just glad to stop this huge break in employment. i just hope that it doesn't affect me too badly.

4. i'm 25 now. here's hoping to a new, luckier, and more positive life. :) i believe things will fall into place in 2010, so long as i keep the ball rolling for now. aaandd i'm going to try to not let the stress of not being there yet get to me in the meantime~

keepin my head up! ooooooh child ♪		  
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01:22am 12/11/2009
  today was my first day of driving with the driving instructor. i don't remember it being this hard to stay within lanes. i hope i can get used to that soon. does anyone remember when they first started driving, and if that was hard? i also can't really seem to get how you're supposed to scan everything as well as keep in mind all the people changing lanes and doing crazy stuff around you. maybe my reaction time is too slow, but i can't really see what happens and then process what to do very fast.

so my birthday plans are sorta coming together, but i'm having a hard time feeling excited about it because of the fight i'm having. 'fight', really... i'm not going to go into detail about it, but it's really important to me that it can be resolved and we'll be ok again.

i have a 2nd temp job... did i mention the first? i can't really remember, but just in case i didn't, i'm going to be a cultural assistant, leading a group of japanese HS kids around the DC area for various stuf while they're studying abroad. that's for 2 weeks in december. starting next week, i'm going to be helping to process jet applications at the embassy. honestly, i'm not looking forward to it because the commute is not only 2 hours one way by public transportation, but also $9 round trip. and they don't pay enough for that. =/ but i need to fill in this employment gap somehow...

sorry for the lackluster posts guys. wish i had something a bit more upbeat to share!

tomorrow's another day of driving, and hopefully get some other good things done in the meantime to prepare for my bday weekend. goodnight~		  
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03:00pm 27/10/2009
  so i'm considering trying to plan a trip to NYC for my birthday (november 14th). naturally, you guys are invited :) though i know most of you aren't even in the dc/nyc area. anyhow, i don't have specific plans and i don't even know if i want to do NYC for sure or not, but it is an option.

thing is, if i do plan on NYC, i have to figure out my plan ASAP since my birthday is in about 2 weeks... so i wanted to sort of ask around to see what people thought, since i know at least some of you have been to NYC before! (i've only gone once on a school trip)

1) would be interested in going?
2) what is the best location to get a hotel in? i'm considering getting a big room/suite so that everyone'll just share.
3) what are the best things to do (of reasonable cost)? i'm not all that into too much sightseeing, but i wouldn't mind hitting up a spot or two, a play or show, etc etc.
4) while i'm considering making it a weekend trip, i know not everyone has that luxury. but if anyone was interested in a weekend, would fri nov 13th-sun nov 15th be better, or would sat nov 14th-nov 15th be better?

any ideas or comments would be appreciated! i'm also considering other options, including karaoke party at my house or an overnight trip in DC. let me know if you have any ideas~!		  
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