The past... 2ish months

So, in lieu of giving details about the last two months of my blogging absence (which would take forever), I will provide you a series of highlights in twitter-ish (ie. short) form. If you really want to know more about any of it, feel free to ask and I will expand on it:

• Watched as much of the World Series as possible, which wasn't much. Phillies lost. I was sad. Oh well -- always next year.
• Had 1st English Camp, with the 2nd graders. Spent the weekend at school playing English games. Lots of fun. Other JETs came too.
• "New Flu" (ie H1N1) took over the school. I had 10 students absent in one class. Some classes were canceled. I got the vaccine because I have asthma.
• I was on Japanese tv because of contra dance. Watch the video here: http://contrakyoto.byethost9.com/Videosimpleceebox.html#NHKvideo  (Sorry, I can't translate for you.)
• Cooked Thanksgiving dinner (with some help) for me and 5 friends. Difficult without an oven. No turkey, but most other traditional items were covered. Good food, good company!
  
• I started taking actual Japanese classes, but they ended at the end of Nov. They'll start back up in March. Feels good to finally be getting speaking practice.
• The English Debate team competed a lot and went to Nationals. I stayed at work late a lot to help them. It was fun but really stressful.
• Took the JLPT (Japanese test), lowest level. I think I passed. I'll find out in Feb. I'm proud of myself for doing it and for studying (kind of) hard.
• Baked about 350 sugar cookies for my students. It took forever. But they turned out pretty well. Bribing students into liking me. :)
• Went home to America for Christmas. Trip home took 28 hours (27 hours on the way back to Maibara). Was FANTASTIC to see friends and family. Still deciding if the trip was good for my work ethic.
  
• Back in Maibara now. New term started. Lots of snow (that has mostly melted already). Saw some monkeys (!!!!) Back in my routine.

Okay, well, those are the highlights I guess. That'll give you a vague sense of what I've been doing. I hope you all had a great holiday time. I know I did! So... I wish you a belated:

Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays!
and Happy New Year!

By the way, 2010 is the year of the Tigerin Japan.

Edit: I legitimately felt an earthquake while typing up this post. Normally when I feel "earthquakes" they're actually just trucks driving by.