Home from school… now my Halloween fun can begin.  I’m starting with some ramen noodles and vegetables followed by oranged juice and medicine.  Natasha and I have the ideal Halloween night planned out and it isn’t any extravagent party which I’m sure I could find more than enough of, with all the foreigners out here.

 We are putting on our comfy clothes and watching some scary movies – which all know can be funny when they are too fake!  I can’t wait.

 

Ok so school blah blah blah… I’ve taken a small memory card of picutres.  Basically I went to the store last night even though I was supposed to stay at home and bought a few things because my room needed it.  Then this am I decorated like crazy with the help of Eunice and Bella. 

I hopped into my Japanese kimono and walked around saying hi to parents and kids. 

Then… off the haunted house – where I made my first mistake.  Wait – that was actually my second error of the day.

The first error came with a man on second and third.  Seriously though folks.  I’ve told  you that when I look outside my window it’s really hard to tell what the weather is or what time of day it is.  I figured it would be cold so I wore a long sleeved t-shirt with a hoodie sweater over it and a scarf. Since I was being Japanese (even though we put on slippers anyway) I wore my little black Asian flats.  When I got downstairs I thought, “Jolly good.  It’s raining.  My body LOVES me.”  With no time to spare I dodged puddles all the way to the bus.

So on to my second error.  The haunted house.  Well really it was more like a short tunnel but we made some kids cry so that was cool.  haha.  It was however IDIOTIC of me to make monster noises.  Let’s hope that it doesn’t have a big effect.  We had ghost masks on, the ones that were made popular by the movie “Scream”. 

Then there was a lot of walking around while kids did crafts and parents made scarecrows.  Followed by the constart lining up of children for singing. 

The doctor had said rest and avoid cold.  I opted to act like Godzilla stomping in the rain after little people.  I deserve to be on my death bed right now.  Alas.  

After staff photos I went home.  I wasn’t supposed to be at school anyways so I literally ran all the way to the bus stop and made it just in time.  Ellie called when I was home to see where I went.  She reminded me to do comments which everyone is doing at home this week and  told me mine could be Halloween themed since I only taught two days this week (today no classes thank goodness!)  I also have to finish up my lesson plan since I was out.  I’ll have that done this weekend.

Korean culture is a very sharing culture… except when it comes to say maybe block time. haha.  When Korean people eat they order one thing that everyone puts their chopsticks into, etc., etc., etc.  I can’t say this about ever aspect because I only see eating and block time pretty much.  I’m not an expert out here just yet. 

While as teachers, we encourage sharing, there are times when NOT sharing is also a good idea.  Like when it comes to germs.  Say coughing or say drinking Aimee Teacher’s drink.  Brittskys – you’re gonna love this one. 

I had walked back into the teachers’ room really thirsty for my vitamin C.  I brought a giant thing of OJ with me today.  Someone had put my stuff back on my desk including the OJ and people ASSUMED that it was for everybody.  Plus they finished it off.  Now hopefully these people after drinking out of a bottle with tonsalitis inhabitants, will not in turn get a bad cold or tonsalitis themselves.    NEVER ASSUME.  It makes an A** out of you and me.  (mom, dad – i hope that wasn’t too much profanity for you. Thanks.)

 

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!  I’ve only had a tootsie roll pop!

-blonde haired girl in kimono

  

A long time coming: Phillies win the World Series

By BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer 33 minutes ago

Rains smears paint on a car wi…
AP – Oct 28, 4:42 pm EDT

Water covers seats in Citizens…
AP – Oct 28, 4:38 pm EDT

Wind blows standing water on t…
AP – Oct 28, 4:35 pm EDT

PHILADELPHIA (AP)—From losingest team to longest game, the Philadelphia Phillies are World Series champions.

Strange as that sounds.

Strange as it was.

Brad Lidge and the Phillies finished off the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 in a three-inning sprint Wednesday night to win a suspended Game 5 nearly 50 hours after it started.

Left in limbo by a two-day rainstorm, the Phillies seesawed to their first championship since 1980. Pedro Feliz singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh and Lidge closed out his perfect season to deliver the title Philly craved for so long.

“It was a crazy way to win it with a suspended game but we did and it’s over and we’re very excited,” 45-year-old Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer said. “It has been a long wait, but it’s worth it.”

Bundled in parkas and blankets, fans returned in force to Citizens Bank Park and saw the city claim its first major sports championship in 25 years. No more references needed to those sad-sack Phillies teams in the past and their 10,000-plus losses.

Series at a Glance

vs.

Phillies win series 4-1

1. Game 1: at TAMPHI 3, TAM 2 – FinalRecap | Box Score
2. Game 2: at TAMPHI 2, TAM 4 – FinalRecap | Box Score
3. Game 3: at PHITAM 4, PHI 5 – FinalRecap | Box Score
4. Game 4: at PHITAM 2, PHI 10 – FinalRecap | Box Score
5. Game 5: at PHITAM 3, PHI 4 – FinalRecap | Box Score

“They could taste it just as much as we could,” Series MVP Cole Hamels said.

It was among the wackiest endings in baseball history, a best-of-seven series turned into a best-of-3 1/2 showdown when play resumed in the bottom of the sixth inning tied at 2.

How bizarre? Hamels was a star in Game 5—and the ace never stepped on the mound Wednesday night; Two Rays relievers warmed up to start, and there was a pinch-hitter before a single pitch; “God Bless America” was sung rather than the national anthem, and it was quickly followed by the seventh-inning stretch.

All because the game was suspended Monday night after rain made the field into a quagmire, washing out the foul lines, creating a puddle at home plate and turning every ball an adventure. Commissioner Bud Selig eventually called it— he got booed when he presented the MVP trophy to Hamels.

For Philly, it was more than a World Series win. It was a bit of redemption for all the losses, the jokes, the slights.

Finally, something to celebrate.

How much did Philly fans want a champion to call its own?

Well, the sports hero they point to with the most pride isn’t even a real person—Rocky Balboa.

Yo, Adrian … the Phillies did it!

“It’s over,” shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. “It’s over, man.”

Lidge went 48-for-48 on save chances this year, including two this week. He retired two batters with a runner on second, striking out pinch-hitter Eric Hinske to end it.

Lidge jumped in front of the mound, landing on his knees with arms outstretched. Catcher Carlos Ruiz ran out to grab him, and teammates sprinted to the mound to join them as towel-waving fans let loose.

“At first, I couldn’t believe it. And then the gravity of what happened hit me,” Lidge said.

A generation ago, it was Tug McGraw who went wild when the Phillies won their first title. A few days after country singer Tim McGraw scattered his dad’s ashes on the mound, it was Lidge’s turn to throw the final pitch.

Despite low TV ratings and minus the majors’ most glamorous teams, fans will always remember how this one wrapped up. And for the first time in a long while, kids saw a World Series champion crowned before bedtime.

“I believe this firmly, our guys are not going to be satisfied without playing in October from now on,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “And that’s a good thing. And that’s all because of this group of people this year.”

Reliever J.C. Romero got the win, his second of the Series.

Hamels went 4-0 in five postseason starts, beating the Rays in Game 1 and pitching six sharp innings in the rain during Game 5. He was set to be the first batter when the game resumed, and was immediately pulled for a pinch-hitter.

While former NL MVPs Ryan Howard and Rollins drive the Phillies, it was their less-heralded teammates who helped win it on this chilly night.

Tied at 3, Pat Burrell led off the seventh with a drive off the center-field wall against J.P. Howell. Chad Bradford relieved and one out later Feliz singled home pinch-runner Eric Bruntlett.

Rocco Baldelli’s solo home run off Ryan Madson made it 3-all in the top of the seventh. The Rays almost got more, but All-Star second baseman Chase Utley alertly bluffed a throw to first on a grounder over the bag and instead threw out Jason Bartlett at the plate.

Pinch-hitter Geoff Jenkins, the first batter Wednesday night, doubled and later scored on Jayson Werth’s bloop single.

Mud covers an on deck batting …
AP – Oct 28, 5:35 pm EDT

In all, there were six new pitchers, three pinch-hitters and two pinch-runners when play restarted.

Manager Charlie Manuel, whose NL East champions clinched a playoff spot in the final week, guided the Phillies’ second overall championship in six World Series tries. The Phils helped themselves by going 7-0 at home this postseason, beating Milwaukee and the Dodgers in the NL playoffs and then defeating the Rays.

“I always thought we’d win the World Series. I knew we could beat anyone in the league,” Manuel said.

Once known as a city of champions, Philadelphia sports fell on hard times after Julius Erving and Moses Malone led the Sixers to that 1983 title.

Since then, the Phillies, Eagles, Sixers and Flyers made it to the championship game or round—seven times, in total—and lost all of them.

The city became so starved for a crown that it was ready to throw a parade down Broad Street for a horse. But local colt Smarty Jones lost, too, in his bid for the Triple Crown.

A tarp covers the infield in C…
AP – Oct 28, 4:46 pm EDT

“People enjoy being associated with winning and a world championship is the ultimate,” Mike Schmidt, MVP of the Phillies’ other championship, wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press this week. “It unites a town behind one team.”

Cheesesteaks, on the house.

Tampa Bay did itself proud, too, until this final week. Baseball’s best success story this season, the worst-to-first Rays played like the downtrodden Devil Rays from the past decade.

Even so, the gap between the Phils and Rays wasn’t enormous. Had Evan Longoria’s late, long drive off Jamie Moyer in Game 3 not been blown back by the wind, the teams might still be playing.

Notes

The World Series failed to make it to a Game 6 for the fifth straight year, the first time that’s happened. … Burrell went 1-for-14 in the five games. … Howell put down the first sacrifice bunt of his career.

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