I am going to be ace at flexibility once I leave this country

I was at my favourite school today again. I just love it. The kids are ace, and the teachers are wonderful! It`s also the only school so far where I feel comfortable using the PC...for like hours on end..no worries not do any personal stuff...I was actually working hard from 8.30 till 4.30 straight today! Making flashcards, planning lessons, hanging up the artwork of my grade 1 and 2s...

Lunch today was accompanied by the japanese version of the lion king (or Ra-i-o-n kingu) musical. I loved it! I was singing and boobing along to it. The kids were all looking at me slightly bemused.

But yes, I was planning all the lessons when I find out out about an hour ebfore I have to go that the lesson plans have changed..and I should be teaching all about christmas next week. So I make up a whole bunch of new flashcards..aaand...we are going to make advent calendars! It all came about when the teacher asked me to tell the kids about what christmas is like in germany. I was like...well..80% of them won`t understand anything..and th e teachers can`t translate....I then suggested advent calenders...explaining the tradition that we have in germany fo opening a door every day until the 24th. The teacher loved it, and rushed off immediatley to find big paper! So yeah I ended up drawing x-mas related sillouettes on them, and I will get the class to decorate it, and make pockets. I`ll fill each pocket with a sweet and maybe a sticker..and then every child can open one door everyday at school! How ace is that? I love school!

I was in such a rush yesterday to sort out stuff that I totally forgot to rant about yesterdays teachers meeting! I had ths woman come in who was supposed to be my translator, to sort out the lesson plans for the following week at that school. It turns out she was more of a lesson plan dominatrix. She basically told the teachers - in japanese - what I was going to teach, and exactly what games I would play and how I would drill the words. I was seething inside. How dare she mess with me, and take over like that? Why doesn`t she just go ahead and teach then? Those kids are a handful anyways, I`ll gladly pass em on to someone else. She then after detailed explanation turned to me with her big grin and said, you will be doing this and this, the teachers want this....I was like..do they now? because with my limited japanese understanding...you`re not even translating everything I am saying to you, and you`re also not telling me the truth.....

oh well...I went and washed up the tea cups to stop myself from smashing someones teeth in to a wall. That was taken as a really positive thing by the staff though.

right..last day tomorrow..and then...sleep!!!!!! yaaaaay!!!!!

Herzlichen Glueckwunsch zum Geburtstag Papa!!! ^_^
Und auch an Onkel Juergen!

"halo bebi choco bebi!"

Darn this school for letting me out so late! Also darn this school for having no heating..It`s so darn cold!!!

Anyways...teaching went ok, I had introduction lessons only, so all in all it was pretty easy and fun. I hate the 6th graders...well that`s a lie..it`s just..they so don`t care..which makes my job more difficult..while I have a smile plastered on to my face all I am imagining is owning jean greys super powers (X men), and making the students stick to the ceiling until they listen and stop making stupid scarcastic comments in japanese. Alas I have no such powers..so I`ll just mumble something under my breath in english.
Grade 2 were great though...really enthusiastic and good! this one little boy made me laugh because before I could ask his name he said to me in a very japanese accent "hello baby, choco baby". I just cracked up, and couldn`t stop laughing, which got everyone else laughing too. I had lunch with those kids too...which was fun. In japanese schools they tend to play music during lunch time. Today was a mix of J-pop, j-rock and j-hip hop. I was bobbing along to the music..doing some funky moves, and all the kids wer eloving it. Especially when I did my eqyptian head movement thing. So lunchtime turned in to a dance class. let`s all learn how to mpove our head in a funny way, and wiggle those shoulders. I also taught them how to that proper hip hop style hand movement thingy. So there you have about 15 7/8 year olds all doing these hip hop signs..being all cool. It was fantastic. Kids are great.

On my way home I met up with Hannah who trained with me, she`s replacing someone for a week over here. We were just about to go off to dinner when we bumped in to Amy who invited us out with her lot. So we ended up going to an Izakaya in a massive group of gaijins. It was really cool! We got to meet some Jets, and even a guy form manchester! It was odd talking about fallowfield and 5th ave in an izakaya in Japan. But yeah! I`d better run of and finish my last bits of lesson planning!

Tanjoubi omedeto Alex-kun!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has finally happened...

Well..that was an odd second day of teaching. Today the BoE came to my school, and I already had many meetings with my fifth grade teacher beforehand to figure out exactly how our lesson was going to go. I was quite nervous this morning...what if I mess up? etc...The 3/4th grade class went quite well..those kids are awesome. i ahd lunch with grade 3 and they were really cool, we did armwrestling, and played janken. There`s only 2 girls in grade 3 so it was all about the boy play, which suited me fine, we pretended to shoot each other dragon ball z style. Though it had finally happened, I was confronted with a plate of infamous little fish and peanuts. The fish still had their eyes and everything...I was like...riiight...but I had to eat it. the rule at elementary is "you gotta eat everything". The kids made sure of it too. I left a little heap of mini fish heads in the corner of the plate...but they all picked me up on it, surrounded my table, pointed at the fish heads and made gestures and noises in the direction of "naughty girl has to finish her plate before she can play". So I hung my head in shame then scooped up all the heads, shut my eyes, held my nose and chewed, while the kids were all staring at me proudly and expectantly. Lunch is fun.

Anyways..my observation lesson. I actually was almost late! I didn`t realise my next lesson had started, I was still downstairs making worksheets for my class on thursday when one of the teachers was like "you ahve class!!!". I was like "%'&('==!!!!!!" and ran up the stairs like a maniac, racing the kyoto sensei. I arrived slightly out of breath only to be confronted with the head teacher, the 5th grade teacher, the BoE woman and about 5 other teachers all standing there waiting for me and smilling. the kids though it was very funny. I swear the entire Teacher body came to watch my lesson...there were more teachers than students, all standing around at the side of the room...it was soooo awkward. I tried my best to stay cheerful and make the kids feel at ease. The lesson plan was a little dry due to it having to fit in with the lessons set by the BoE. I was just like...omg....the kids must be hating this. It went ok though..faster than I thought and all in all..there didn`t seem to be any hard feelings...still damn awkward..and all this on my second day of teaching!

yesterday, I went for a meal with the girls and we ended up in this funky ice cream cafe...they have niiice stuff here!! they even have this bucket of ice cream which looks awesome but needs to be shared by about 6 people or more. That`s so gonna have to be done!

"don`t look at the prices, they will hurt your eyes!"

I woke up several times during the night because my feet were freezing..that`s not good is it? I think I will wear socks tonight in bed..maybe that`ll help. Yesterday night was nice..we ended up staying at speakEZ because the entrance fee to the rock night was like 2000yen...which is ridiculous. It was fun though..I met a whole bunch of new people again..actually japanese people too! Got speaking to a guy who used to be in the japanese mafia..that was exciting..he was a bit of a charmer really. I also met a DJ who was a bit shy but then when I tried my broken japanese at him he was like "OHHHH tsugoi desu ne! Kawaiii"..so I am in the good books there! He even gave me a hug goodbye! A japanese person who gives hugs!!!! do you guys realise the significance of this????

Anyways..I woke up a little dazed and confused this morning..as I didn`t get to bed till about half 2 in the morning. I spent a little bit of the morning making flashcards for my schools, and then met up with Toby. We went to Mishima which is a sleepy little town. We went to the temple there which had the coming of age festival going on, so it was filled with stalls and little girls in kimonos. We then spontaneously decided to go to Shizuoka, which Toby described as a smaller version of Tokyo.

When we got there we walked straight in to a street festival, which had people playing music and lots of stalls with various crafts. It was kind of like a german christmas market..just less christmassy. We also went in to various shops which were selling funky clothes, and got talking to one of the shop assistents in a music store about english bands and music taste. In the evening the entire market street was lit up beautifully. I am starting to feel a little homesick for christmas feelings...I guess as much as I hate all the commercial humdrum around christmas, I do sort of like it. I heard Mariah Careys "all I want for christmas is you" song and got totally nostalgic and homesick....hahahah how pathetic is that?

saturday- ness

I got to sleep in finally! I was still good though and only slept till like ten past 9 in the morning. Fran and me decided to clean up the house a bit..air the futons and hoover the tatami mats. After our house was returned to a ordered state, we cycled off to Katahama to find this massive second hand shop. Fran wanted to buy a keyboard. The shop turned out to be quite expensive actually..for a second hand shop anyway. They had everything though..a lot of DVD`s and seasons of varous american programmes. They had english music too..the albums were only marginally cheaper than normal though..which is still more expensive than in england in most cases....It`s crazy how expensive music is here!

Anyway we decided to browse through the other shops a bit, and then made our way through the woods. I cycled in my most hunched position I could muster to avoid any massive spiders attacking my head. Then we got to the beach!!!! Yayyy! I got to see the sea! The beach itself was a not so nice version of brighton beach actually...but it was great to see water..and the scenery was amazing..it was quite a clear day and the mountains were visible. We then cycled along the sea front back to Numazu. On the way we made a little detour to the port to walk amongts all the fish restaurants..and fish stalls. It was a cool place..if you like fish. Not quite as gruesome as the one in Tokyo.

All in al I got to see a lot more of the area and it`s actually got a lot to offer..scenery wise! Right I am off to go to some punk rock thing tonight!
(Pictures of today will go up tomorrow...I was stupid and forgot to usb them!)

Music festival

First day at the new school today! It was great because I didn`t actually have to teach because it was music festival time. I think that festival was all over schools in this area actually. I got there early because the bus was already there, hopefully it made a good impression! The teachers at this school all don`t have much english, but they are relatively keen to talk to me so we end up having half and half conversations. It`s good for me to be honest because it forces me to speak some japanese..and learn some more while I am at it. I think they enjoy teaching me a little bit too...it is their territory after all. So yeah I arrived early, and was greeted by a supply teacher who also works at my other school. We got chatting (mainly in japanese) and I asked if I could hang with her during this festival, because I didn`t really know what I was doing.

We went off in a pair around all the different stalls. Let me explain; it seems here that all the kids organise some kind of activity which they come up with themselves and then make all the props and stuff. We had a little map which was also made by the kids of all the different activities available. Whenever you go in to one room you`d get a stamp for completing the activity....it was really well organised! All official and beaurocratic. Except that the stamps would be hello kitty ones...or piglet. So yeah the first room we went to we had to throw rings at bottles. I kinda sucked but still got a medal for it. We then went and made slime in the science lab! It was ace!!! My A level chemistry skills did me well and so I apparently mixed the best slime that day! We then made some book marks, using kawaii stickers...and went fishing (magnets), then we built towers out of cans and got 3 rd place, I also went in to the ghosht house...which was spoooky!

Then there was the actual concert where all the parents came to watch, and all grades did performances. I think the most awesome ones were the kindergarten kids (who were actually our guests). They were soooo cute! and tiiiny! My goodness I swear I could have stuck one in my pocket and no one would have noticed. I also love the confusion on some of their faces. It`s like..."what the hell am I doing here? what`s with all those big people looking at me?....I want mummy!" But anyway...they all sang a song with actions. then they all took off they`re school coats revealing stripy jumpers. Then they played this roboty sounding pop song and did a dance to that! OMG I loved it! The japanese really have their child choreographed dances down to a T! Again the best part of it were the reeeeaaally tiny ones..that just looked a little confused but joined in whenever they could. awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!
I was freewing by the end of that though. The concert was really long and because I was sitting the whole time, my limbs actually started hurting from the cold. I have no idea how the school kids survived in their shorts and skirts! Hardcore!

Lunch was cool too, I was with grade 3 and got asked all sorts of random questions like what`s my favourite vegetable, shape,animal,colour,number,food,fruit,drink,day fo the week, month,music...etc...I just had to make up a whole lot on the spot. I got talking to the 3rd grade teacher and found out he is only 25! He also was impressed when I said I like rock music and promptly asked me about bands..He likes lost prophets, and MUSE!!!! I found a japanese guy who loves MUSE!!!!! sorry...ehm....I am composed again. he likes the more hardcore stuff though..megadeath, Anthrax (?) Hoobastank.....etc.

The only sucking thing was I had to wait till 5 till I could go. The teacher before me could leave at half 4 and seriously after 8 hours...I just wanted to leaaave! It was painful. But I got home and met up with steve, we went out for japanese fondue type food. Kinda like hotpot. It was oishiiiii! Was good chatting to him about random stuff! Ghosh I am so dead...I am so happy that I can sleep in tomorrow...knowing my luck though my body is gonna wake up at half 6 now, cause it`s gotten used to it...tsssk. I will post some pics tomorrow!!!

Thanh Mai-san wa tanoshii desu ka?

First day teaching today!!! Got up at like quarter to 5 in the morning..my teeth were chattering the minute I left my blanket...arghhh I cannot deal with this coldness!!!!
Anyway..got to the school 10 to 8 and was getting ready for the meeting I was supposed to have. I thought It was just a meeting with the teachers to discuss next weeks lesson plan...but no...I get led in to the assembly hall where the entire school is lined up and applauding me! I am like WTF???? Then the head teacher is introducing me to the kids in japanese..telling them my hobbies (I thought he was just interested in what I like!), and other stuff....Then they`re like.."please intraduce yo-ur sellf"...in japanese???!!! hai. ok...so I did it really simply..and then they wanted something else in english.....I survived though...and it was all over in less than 5 minutes.phew.

The first lesson was great...the kids were enthusiastic...it was all good....I really love this school...everyone is so cool there! By the end of my second lesson the other teachers had been informed by the 2nd grade teacher that I was good and fun...so yeah!!! good start!...I had lunch with the 5th graders and got on really well with them. Though I was wondering something...there is this girl in my class who doesn`t like A LOT of foods..especially vegetables...now I wonder....I`d expect that in a british culture...because it is quite easy to not have vegetables in the diet....and school lunches don`t necessarily have it either....(watch jamie oliver to observe the state of the diet in britain....if you think I am being mean), so I am not that surprised to find picky kids in england......but in Japan..where vegetables are just the done thing...and where all schools have the policy from day one that EVERYTHING is to be eaten, or at least tried, I find it more difficult to develop such pickiness.....
Obviously there are many other factors...when it comes to food...like gender, age bla bla I`ll stop being a geek...

But I just wanna say..maybe there`s some genetic link between fussiness of food..because nevironment cannot be all....and if so..what`s the use of it?

but yeaaaah..I divert...when I got back..I received a new bike from Brooke who is leaving tomorrow (I LOVE IT ALREADY), and a full length bright red mirror! yaaaayyyy
I met up for dinner with Amy (the girl I replaced for a week doing teaching here), and Jodie. We had thai food..it was a nice place..actually felt a bit like vietnam..which was comforting.

So now....I am gonna hit the pillow...I am shattered!!! oyasuminasai...or something like that.

samui desu ne!!!!! tchaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Ghosh it`s so darn cold here!!! I actually woke up cold! how bad is that??? I have also found more evidence that the japanese are basically the british of asia....You go out..there I am wrapped up warm..and the girls are wearing skirts and stockings to school!!! all the kids today at my third school were in shorts and t-shirts!!! wtf???? here I thought it was only english people that seemed to have some genetic advantage over the rest of us mere mortals when it came to facing the cold (just go out to town on a cold winters saturday night..and watch all those english people in their mini skirts..or the boys in their t-shirts...). But no. Apparently there is another nation that is hardcore. We should steal some english and some japanese people and compare their DNA..find the similarities and then mutate the genes of every baby that is born from then on...tough with global warming hitting us we might actually not need that.

Anyway..I diverge. the third school today was also in a beautiful location...the english room has a view out to the sea..it`s absolutley gorgeous..and made me feel homesick. the kids were.....interesting..a few them were lovely..but these classes couldn`t be bothered much..and just played aoround the whole time...I am not looking forward to teaching them. Though the teachers were all lovely..really nice! I actually understood quite a lot that they were saying during lunch..and we chatted a bit..I used some broken japanese...it felt good! I had to go to my second school halfway through for a meeting. As I said before the board of ed is coming on tuesday..I have a feeling everyone is very nervous about that, so we had a meeting on the exact plan of the lesson...ghosh...scary. The Principal was lovely though and was joking around with me, he did a little picture of me to post the news of the new ALT in the schools newsletter...lol he was very proud of it. I really like him!

I got to go home early which was nice, and went off to the big store to get another blanket..because it`s wayyy too cold..and I really wanted that stitch (lilo and stitch) blanket!!! (I am such a freak....). I have to get up even earlier tomorrow..to be in school extra specially early for some meeting...argh....well at least friday there is a music festival, so i don`t actually have to teach! yaaay!

Right-o! Left-o!

Second school today! I cycled up to the station in the morning too..it was such a good feeling! I love cycling I have decided! Even if it is on some weird girly bike with zero suspension! I get scared in the evening though, because my bike`s light is broken..and it`s not my bike either..and if I get stopped by the police..with no papers for the bike and no light..they might send me to prison!!! (well..hopefully not that drastic...but it`s possible).

Anyway...this school is in a beautiful area surrounded by mountains and a massive lake..seriously nice spot! I can see mount fuji clearly out of the window in all it`s glory! and the lake on the other side...wonderful! The school is really small too which makes the classes small..which makes it easier to get to know the kids. I ate lunch with grade 4 today as well and got asked all sorts of random questions like what is my favourite fruit. We played dodgeball during the lunch break. I also met the principal who is a real sweetie and joked around a bit. My IC is funny..she`s been spreading this idea that I am some language genius..which is so not true! So the principal immediatley picked me up on it and was like.." I heard you can speak many many languages???"...I was very red in the face..and giggled a lot...ups

Oh and another piece of "great" news. On tuesday the board of education of this area is coming to observe my lesson...well technically it would have been brookes..but now it`s mine..yay....(ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh). So the teacher I am team teaching with is also quite nervous...which isn`t comforting...ohhh man...challenges! dammit!

I went on another excursion today to find the 100yen shop..it`s sugoi!!!! They have everything there..I just wanna go mad and buy it all! I love how in Japan everythig can be cute if you want it to be...I swear I am coming home with all the furnishings for a house..but in cute form...(my girly side is truly taking over here).

so yeeees that is it for today...I am going to go home and try out this rice vegetable omelette thingy...I will report of my sucess tomorrow hopefully.

There was a farmer had a dog, and Bingo was his name oh!

So the first day at the new school..shadowing the leaving ALT. It was an interesting day actually! We got there late because Lina was late..and I didn`t manage to figure out what the cycling route would be , so I am gonna have to explore when I ahve free time and find it somehow. The school is massive! I won`t be teaching all of the classes, as there is another ALT there..which is cool, cause at least there`s an actual english speaker about. The classes were all doing things in honour of Brooke (the leaving ALT) which was cool. The most awesome thing that happened was that one of the classes (Grade 1...so keep in mind these kids are 7), did a dance for her. It was to this hip hop song that you`d hear in places such as M2 (go to manchester...). It was the most awesome thing I have ever seen!!! about 25 or more 7 year olds doing this choreographed dance..with position changes...and hip thrusting..robot dancing..jumps and even a little bit of street dance....I was absolutley gobsmacked..but also laughing hysterically...because..really..the words to that song..are things that 7 year olds should not hear.

But yeah they were cool kids..looking forward to teaching them..a lot of enthusiasm there which is good to know...and I am not teaching the older ones..so I won`t have "cool" kids that don`t wanna learn.

Apart from that the day was relatively slow...I was shadowing all day..which sin`t the most exciting thing ever..but at least brooke is helping me lots with getting there and stuff...

I`ve also found out that i will definatley be working on the 25th of dec. that`s actually my last working day, then it`s winter holidays till the 6th of jan....so yeah..gotta figure out what I am gonna do during that time.

This internet cafe is so much better than yesterday! Free drink bar..comfy chairs..fast internet..and I conducted all the paper wokr stuff in my broken japanese!!! I feel like I have accomplished something! yay!

My mad weekend

Well we woke up at around 8.30am on saturday morning...in an attempt to do something with the day. First of we had a beautiful breakfast in the executive lounge of the Hilton on the 36th (or whatever) floor. OMG......I wanna be rich and live in Hilton hotels....We then went off to the Shinjuku park...and Martin discovered to his horror that it was covered i spiders that were building massive webs everywhere....I`ve never heard him babble so much in fear....we also discovered a flea market! Which seems to be happening every saturday or so at around noon and beyond. There was lots of random stuff and a lot of clothes really! It`s a brilliant thing to do when you`re leaving too..you can just go there, pay a small fee for the space and then sell all your stuff!

We then went off in search of the bus that supposidly goes from Shinjuku station to Numazu. It was pretty stressful. I did the whole "Hammond" thing (top gear) and compared symbols to each other....we walked in circles for about half an hour till someone pointed out to us that the station was BEHIND a particular building...that`s why we couldn`t find it!...well we got back anyways.

Fran was in and we decided to go for a meal together. It was an awesome place where we basically cooked the food ouselfves on a hotplate. It was the japanese version of pancakes, but with vegetables, egg, shrimp, avocado etc......awesomness to the max! After that we caught a cab to SpeakEZ , where there was a gig night going on. So I got to see all the other ALT`s again and meet a few more new ones too! The music was cool...apparently the guitarist likes jimi hendrix..a lot!

I met 2 guys who are actually from near brighton or have lived there! It`s such a small world!

I also met 2 cute japanese girls and we had some funny conversations about british accents and things along that line. At around 3 am we decided to go home, but get some stuff for breakfast on the way. We ended up chatting till 5 am in the morning.

I sent martin on his way back to hong kong, with his bag considerably lighter after my stuff was out of it (THANK YOU AGAIN!). We decided to make pancakes when I got back...so I got my first lesson in making american pancakes with syrup! I learnt fast and soon I was turning out mini japanese sized american pancakes! ohhhh yeah!!!!!! bring it on! I can add those to the (short) list of thing I can cook!

I then chilled a bit while eating my milka chocoalte (DAANKE!), and then went off in search of an internet cafe. I cycled on a japanese bike for the first time ever too! It took me like 5 minutes to figure out how to get the stand to fold in, and then cycling it was weird too. The bike is like a girls bike...you sit up straight..and I can`t stand and do my speed peddling thing....the suspension is also terrible...so any bumps are felt dramatically. Oh well...It was a day of firsts!

First day at school tomorrow!

Numazu, stupid women, and angels

MAN!!! It has been rather hectic and mad for the past few days..so apologies for the possibly veeery long blog, as I try to summarise the highlights of my adventure so far.

I am also writing this on Martin’s laptop so can’t put any pictures up, until I get to my laptop…so I apologize for the lack of imagery.

Ok so I arrive in Numazu on Monday, in the early evening. We get back to my beloved “hotel aria” and my beloved clerk, who can speak about 6 sentences of English but is the sweetest guy ever. I also get a call from Rina welcoming me back – so far so good. I arrange to meet up with Fran on Tuesday, as she is looking for a housemate and the Tokyo office suggested it as a possibility if I felt like it.
Her flat is nice..very Japanese! Tatami mats! Slidey doors! A Balcony, a high tech toilet and a tiny washroom. 3 Issues; very little privacy (thiiiiin walls), cold (there’s a radiator which runs on petrol), and no internet. But it would save a lot of money.
I am in 2 minds about it, when a woman from the company calls up, to ask whether I have decided yet and when I’ll move. Talk about pushy!!! Basically I find out that the hotel has only been booked for 2 days instead of the whole week, as I was informed. Apparently she just wants me to decide quickly, and then move. I try to explain to her the dilemma of not owning a keitai (phone) or internet – therefore being totally un-contactable to the company, if I move now. She doesn’t seem to care very much, just telling me that the company isn’t responsible for stuff like that…I almost swear at her. I then ask about moving my luggage..it’s heavy…and I was only at this apartment once – in the dark. She tells me the company isn’t responsible for that and neither is my coordinator. I almost swear at her again.

Thank the lord my coordinator is an angel in human form! After I almost give in to temptation to pack up and fly back home, she calls me up and basically tells me she will help me move, help me get my documents, help me with the phone, and help me buy a futon etc etc. So Rina, her husband and me end up driving around Numazu sorting out gaijing documents, a phone (daaaamn phone companies…more stress!!!), and buying a futon (sleeping in Japan seems to be an art). So finally on Thursday I have my first night in my new apartment. Fran had bought strawberry cake to celebrate and I had bough cookies ice cream. It was a feast! I now have a phone and an address. I do not have internet..but that’ll hopefully get sorted soon.

Friday I go to Narita airport and meet Martin (my stepdad – or mamachichi in Japanese)! We go and spend the night in the Tokyo Hilton hotel in Shinjuku!!! It’s amazing! Seriously, we’re on the 32nd floor overlooking Tokyo…all the staff are amazing at English, and I had croissants and jam…and fruit…and salad!!! Heaven! They had nutella tooooo! It’s all very exciting, and a nice break from stressness!

So I think that’s it for the update. I shall put pictures up of my new place soon!