Where did October Go?
- Aimee Miessler
- Nov 30, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 1, 2022
Hi! October came, I blinked, and October left. But I made so many fun memories this month. I enjoyed hosting my parents as they graciously visited me for my birthday!
For my birthday, we went to Tokyo where my mom`s family took us out to a Mexican restaurant. One of her cousins remembered my mom asking about Mexican food a while back. He had finally found a Mexican restaurant and wanted to take us there! It was delicious! When we went back home to Noto, Mal and Alex had set up a little birthday thing where they made dinner and we talked and hung out! It was super nice and made me feel so special.
It has been about 3 years since I last visited and saw my family in Tokyo. When I visited, I had only taken one semester of Japanese and knew words and phrases my mom said to me. Because of our previous language barrier, I was not able to talk to my 2nd cousins as much. This motivated me to want to learn more Japanese and this time, I have about 3 years of Japanese under my belt, so I was able to converse a lot more smoothly with them, which was so fun! It was interesting to learn from my second cousin, who is in his last year of high school, that he feels comfortable reading and writing but cannot speak English at all.
Japan celebrates some American holidays like Halloween and Christmas. This year, some Mal, Alex, and I volunteered at a local children`s center for Halloween and had a blast! We each managed a "mission" for children to complete and receive a sticker. When they received four, they were able to redeem it for a Halloween goodie bag! I was in charge of creating the maze mission. My dad helped me cut out the headstones and skeletons out of cardboard while I worked on the design of the headstones to incorporate into the maze.
I`ve been getting closer to my students and co-workers which I am so grateful for. My students have been coming up to me more before and after class to talk about or show me something they enjoy, give me cute drawings and origami (folded paper art), or compliment my hair or jewelry. Piercings are not too common, so they enjoy counting the number of piercings I have! I`ve been having a difficult time remembering names, but I have challenged myself to learn most, if not all 250, of my students` names as soon as possible! My rough estimate of the names I`ve learned so far is about 20% of each of my classes. One of my 6th year elementary school classes has only 8 students! Thankfully, I know 100% of their names.
The weather has been wonderful recently! Unlike my hometown in Florida, there are seasons here! The leaves are changing color and I can finally have the ultimate winter experience I`ve always wanted! I am a bit nervous to drive in heavy snow since this will be my first time, but I`ve been advised by many people here how to be safe while driving in snow and ice. I had my tires changed to winter tires so I feel more prepared to take winter driving head on!
Lastly, Travis, an ALT in a nearby town called Wajima, is a photographer and took this beautiful photo of the blood moon! He has taken many photos and he truly has a talent for capturing the beauty of things and has been to many cool places. Check out his Instagram @travistphotos to see more!
I also learned how to say lunar and solar eclipse in Japanese and would love to show you!
月食（げっしょく）Gesshoku: lunar eclipse
日食 (にっしょく) Nisshoku: solar eclipse
I find these words really funny because the kanji used is moon (月), sun (日), and to eat (食)
During a lunar eclipse, the moon is engulfed into Earth`s shadow, essentially being eaten by the shadow! During a solar eclipse, the sun is engulfed in the moon`s shadow, thus being eaten by the moon!
As always, thank you for accompanying me on this super awesome journey that I am so grateful to be on! See you soon!
What a wonderful time you had with your Mom & Dad 💝 Awesome Aimee (Lindinha 🥰) I’m so happy for you! 😘😘😘