Oct. 28th Party

Sakurako, Ayaka, Soushi, Shota, and Ryutaro

This is my favourite class that I teach on the weekends. Yesterday was their Halloween party. Witches are the most popular character in Japan.

Horii-san and Asano-san

Later, I went out with some of the teachers from my company. It was a nice mix of 50-somethings and 20-somethings. We ate at a beautiful Japanese-style restaurant that had tatami rooms, elegant black laquered floors, and a patio with pagodas and stepping stones. I made one new friend, Eri, who studied English in Vancouver.

Yoko and Yasuko-san

An Afternoon with Shigeko in Yokohama

Today I spent the afternoon with Shigeko Ishiyama in Yokohama. Shigeko is the former computer student of the husband of a volunteer that I worked with while I was on my practicum teaching developmentally-challenged highschool students. She is such an elegant lady!

We went out for lunch and I had lamb. We then took a boat tour and went to Yokohama's ChinaTown. We also walked around a park which had many Edo-period buildings. It was like being in Shogun!

Shigeko's husband lives in Shanghai. I asked her if she missed him and she said that she didn't. She likes being able to have her own life funded by her husband's overseas income. Sounds good to me too!

Leah and Mark's Wedding Speech

Click on the doggies to hear the wedding speech I created for Leah and Mark.

New Job

Rita is making me work for a living! that bitch!
As of yesterday i work in that crazy glass tower at citibank. I am excited solely becasue i might have some extra cash from now on...down side is that i will be yelled at by irrate customers (in French!).

I extend greetings to all the russian ritas-call me!

Happy Belated Birthday, Kend-Rita!!! Now we will have written documentation of your birthday being on October 6th and we will never forget it again! Now it's your turn to *SMASH* the piñata! Smash!

Love,
KatRita
xox

Moscow Cat Theatre!

Click on the photo to see the Moscow Cat Theatre!

Yes... It's true- I'm Getting Married!!!

Thank you Kat-Rita for the warm wishes. Please send me your address!!!
SkeliRita happy birthday! I know that anything you drink will get you!!!
I just got back into London now, and posted some comments on your previous posts.
Mark and I drove across the provinces, he proposed, and then we made it to BC. Stayed at my moms 5 days, then at his parents for 7...eee..e.e..e
I just got into London late tonight, after have three flights delayed, cancelled, and freezing bus rides to isolated villages in northern BC...e..e.e.
I miss you all!
I will post a video of my uncle on the web about this "tity shit "dit" " man that he used to work with. He's the one who talked about "maniacal fury".
Anyways, I'm exhausted and need to get rest- i will update you more later.

~~RussianFritz~~

Let's Drink to Russian Weddings!

I send my blessings to my Russian sister and Russian brother-in-law-to-be! Let's recall other great Russian weddings, like Fritzler on the Roof (see left).

Drink la kayim, to life, To life, la kayim, La kayim, la kayim, to life, It takes a wedding to make us say,"Let's live another day,"Drink la kayim, to life!

Heaven bless you both, to your health and may we live together in peace!May you both be favored with the future of your choice, May you live to see a thousand reasons to rejoice!

Be happy, be healthy, long life! And if our good fortune never comes, Here's to whatever comes, Drink la kayim, to life!

Hi everyone! How has everyone been? I hope you had a great birthday celebration Skelei-Rita!

Russian Fritz, you "accidentally" left something in my car the night we went to Bertoldi's; one might think that you did it on purpose! It took me a while to notice it. haha

Moving along, last night I went to a happening birthday party; it was a gal from work's birthday and all of her friends got together and threw her a surprise parade! We all assembled at the Lorne Ave Public School and prepared ourselves for the trek down Dufferin street. A few people decked out their vehicles; one guy rode one of those mini motor bikes down the street. There were a couple of drummers, and the rest of us were decked out in costumes and/or carrying banners. The birthday girl's best friend went as Santa Clause; he said, "you can't have a parade without a Santa." I went as a giant whoopie cushion, and I even bought a fart machine to complete the costume.

Initially we were going to have a cop block off the road for us for a few minutes, but since it was homecoming weekend, they understandably needed to put their cops to use elsewhere, but I guess they still gave us the green light and said that they would take care of any complaints! That's great! To avoid any potential kerfuffle with the neighbours, the birthday girl's best friend had put out flyers for all of the neighbours beforehand to let them know what were going to do. This was terrific because when we all paraded down the street, most of the neighbours were out on their porches or front lawns. Many of them were waving, some had happy birthday signs up, and one lady even had some beads which she gave to someone in the parade to give to the birthday girl. It was so wonderful that many of her neighbours came out to enjoy our parade too; the best part is that she hasn't lived in that neighbour overly long, so she doesn't know many of her neighbours yet. I guess one of the neighbours even said to one of our paraders that the parade was the most fun that block had seen in years.

Oh yeah, and the best part was that it was raining that day, so we all looked that much more crazy and determined to throw the parade. I guess the birthday girl's boyfriend put on the raining on my parade song moments before we came down the street. That's funny, because it was literally raining on her parade!