What is the difference between a pumpkin and a Jack-o-Lantern?

Currently celebrating Halloween in my elementary schools. Why not my Jr high you ask? Well here is why. I made about 20 Halloween flashcards for the kids so they can learn words such as ghost, witch, skeleton and of course Death. I presented these flashcards to my teacher at the Jr high and she told me this is too difficult and the students wouldn't understand. I took this criticism in stride (like I do most of the time) and printed off yet another word search. Wouldn't you know that I brought these same flashcards to the elementary schools and the students learned the words easily. Somehow I can teach 1st and 2nd graders this vocabulary but 7th and 8th graders would find it too difficult. I swear that woman is messed up in the head. She is probably the worst English teacher in Japan. She speaks Japanese in her classroom 95 percent of the time and English 5 percent. I really wish these students luck when they have to take exams for high school.

Last weekend I went to Shimonoseki for an American Food party. It was tons of fun. I really felt like I was back in college (or even high school) hanging out at someone's apartment. The cops even showed up later on in the night. People were kind of freaking out and shushing everyone, but we weren't doing anything illegal, we were just being a little loud. I was cracking up. It was great to have some delicious American food. (Thanks to Jo and Jocelyn). We had subs, pizza, salsa and chips, guacamole, SOUR CREAM!!, and jello shots. There was dancing and talking, taking silly pictures while posing, all the good party stuff. The next day John, Bruce, Josh and I went to the fish market in Shimonoseki. I have never had such delicious and fresh sushi. The atmosphere is alive the minute you walk in the door. You hear vendors yelling "Irashiaimase" and trying to lure you their stands. Colorful arrays of sushi and sashimi are sold individually for your instant eating pleasure. I was able to eat fugu which is blowfish and can be poisonous if not prepared correctly. The chefs have to be approved by the government in order to prepare this dangerous delicacy. After the market we hopped on a ferry to Kyushu (the southern most island in Japan-excluding Okinawa and all that). We went to a city called Kokura to do some shopping. It felt weird to be in an urban environment amongst all those people. We went to Tower Records and I purchased a whopping 3 cds. I am craving media entertainment, especially for long car rides. After a sandwich at the mall we headed back to Shimonoseki. John and I raced Bruce and Josh back to the car. We took the ferry and they took the train, of course, John and I won (and had a more pleasant ride, in my opinion). That'll do it for this week.