and then a week passed

Hi.  It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

So.  Sunday, John and Ele and I did go to colonize the self-study room.  But we only stayed there during the morning.  We were studying and stuffers and on our way there we heard a band practicing or something, and we went to go look and the people waved so I waved back J

…..okay honestly, I can’t really remember every little thing that happened this past week.  But every time I thought “Oh, I should update my blog” something always ended up coming up.

Well, that’s kind of a lie.  I just didn’t do it.  :)

We’ve pretty much been having classes Monday through Friday, same as always.  Not really anything special, I guess?  Sunday night (?) we had a little pot-luck dinner in our lounge.  And we ended up having a dance party.  I swear, everything these people do turns into a dance party.  I kind of love it.  It was pretty fun :)  Oh!  And at some point we went on a biking adventure…

That was Saturday, which I’ve already wrote about.  I knew that :)

Wednesday was my birthday ^_^  On Tuesday night Rachel and Tyler and two of our nihonjin friends decided to stay up until midnight.  We ended up going on an 11 30 run to Family Mart to get a little cake and some Coolish, and Tyler made a makeshift cake with pocky candles.  It was pretty fun :)  Then on Wednesday morning I woke up and Ele made breakfast for us!  And she put the TV Guide she bought next to my plate because it has Arashi on  it <3  Then we went to school and had school.  And brah (by the way, I’ve started speaking pidgin a ridiculous amount now that I’m away from home o.o  I think it’s because of Ele), my classmates are so super stealth.  I’m always really impressed by their mad planning skills.  They threw me a surprise birthday party.  I found out later in the day that when they all disappeared during lunch, they went back to the dorm and were setting things up.  And Ele totally lied to me and said we were going to eat yakiniku but she had to get her clothes out of the drier first, and then we went in and turned the lights on and everyone went “SURPRISE!!!”  It was so amazing J  And there were also a bunch of nihonjins there!!  They set up the laundry room to look like a little café, and we had all sorts of sweets to nom on.  And Ele made me a cake, and Yagi Sensei actually bought be an ice cream cake!!

By the by.  Ice cream cakes in Japan are WAY HARD CORE.  They’re made FULLY out of ice cream.  Not the half ice cream half cake thing we do in the states.  That doesn’t cut it in Japan.  SO GOODNESS.  And, Baskin Robins, which they call さんじゅういち here (at least, I think that’s what it is.  It means 31), is having a sale during Golden Week, where everything is 31% off.

But that’s a side story :)

They even got me presents, which I wasn’t expecting AT ALL.  They’re so sweet, and I’m really lucky I’m here with this particular group of people, I think.  We had a lot of fun, and it turned into a dance party.  Sooo many dance parties with these people.  And THEN they made me sit in a chair in the middle of the room and people were doing crazy dances for me and it was strange and hilarious.  Yagi Sensei was using Aida’s camera to film it all and she was pretty into it.  So funny.  She was like, “Yeah, now all the boys dance for her!!”  And I was like, “O.O!!!”

So grateful <3  I love my classmates so much.

OMG FRIDAY WE PLAYED WITH LITTLE KIDS!!!!

They’re so adorable.  I think I’m going to die.  I love playing with them, and they’re all so excited.  They ask all these questions and I don’t know how to respond, so I’m basically just nodding and smiling and going “Sou…”  So funny.  And these kids are BEAST at legos, man.  You would not even BELIEVE.  And before we went to the preschool we stopped at a bookstore nearby and I bought the Potato magazine for May and it had an Arashi poster inside ^.^  I’m going to lose so much money on magazines here… Oh well :)  Then we went to a little café they had nearby and I got this fruit cheesecake… so much goodness.  And, I absolutely loooooooove little kids.  So much.

Then after we got back we had the Yakiniku BBQ with SGE.  I don’t know WHAT happened but SOMEONE got confused and thought that it wasn’t until 7, when it was actually at 5.  It was always at 5.  But anyway.  Kenji and these other two guys came to pick us up, so we went down and a couple people made us like, half an hour late.  Pretty damn embarrassing if you ask me.  And we kept saying “let’s just go” but Kenji said we had to all go together or he’d get in trouble from Kazuki or something.  But when we got there they were still setting stuff up, so I guess it was okay?  It was suuuuper cold though.  But we had so much fun.  Oh!  We made new friends, and they’re GIRLS!!  Their names are Sari and Mami and I absolutely love them, and they’re taking us shopping tomorrow at Kanazawa Station AND WE’RE GOING TO PURIKURA OMG SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!  And here in Japanland, you can SEND purikura to your ketai and then put it on facebook.  HAPPINESS!!  Ele and I were at a table with Sari and Mami and Tekaki, who helped make the Yakisoba, and Rob-san, who is from the east coast and is a teacher at the high school, ended up sitting with us too :)  Then afterwards we all went back to our building, which we found out has the name of Nishikawa Heights.  The nihonjins call it “heights” for short, and now it makes so much sense why no one understands us when we tell them we live in building 47.  Anyway.  We all ended up back in the lounge and hung out for a long time, just talking story and stuff.

Then today Ele and I went to… the house.  Of this lady.  Who’s name I can’t remember to save my life.  But she showed us the instruments that the geisha used and I think if we keep going back to her house she’ll teach us how to play the kato.  Which would be awesome.  And she made us dinner.  We had sushi and chicken and yakitori and veggies.  Sooo amazing.  I’m still full.

Tomorrow is studying and shopping.  That’s what definitely has to happen, I think.

And, I need to be more better at updating this.  My English sucks so bad right now.  :)

Jaa <3

thanks you beautiful people

So, we didn’t go on a Notti bus adventure today.  But we still had a lot of fun ^.^  We went to the gym across the street around 3 and I think everyone wanted to play basketball, but there was already some stuff going on in there.  Mainly, basketball practice and badminton practice.  I still don’t really know if we were actually allowed to be there or not o.o  But still, it was fun to watch.  When we got there, everyone kept looking up at us (because the bleacher-type sitting area is above the court, not at court level).  Possibly we were a little distracting.  But oh well J  It was really fun to watch them play.  So intense!!  I haven’t watched a basketball game in a long time.  I actually like basketball.  It’s one of the sports that I pretty much understand.  I mean, I can follow football and soccer, but I don’t really GET it, you know?

We went back to the dorm and decided to go ridding around on our bikes to go exploring.  Fun times, right?  So we’re downstairs getting all our bike stuff together and guess who shows up again!!  Yusuke had just gotten out of class and came to see us, but we were all about to head out.  AGAIN.  Our nihonjins just catch us at the worst possible times, I think.  But he took us around town a little on the bikes.  I think I’m getting the hang of knowing where things are now.  Not enough to venture out by myself, but enough to be able to find school if I have to, I think.  Which is a very good thing.  Hopefully by the end of May I’ll be a total pro at navigating this town.

It just struck my how incredibly fast time goes by.  I mean, I’ve already been here for a week.  In a few days I’ll be 19.  And then in about five weeks May will be over, and I’ll only have two months left in Japan.  Damn.

Anyway.  Yusuke had to go home, so we said goodbye to him and then went riding on our own.  Riding bikes with everyone is sooo much fun.  We found a little park that we went and took pictures in!  And we went to this Yakiniku place for dinner.  I’ve never been to a yakiniku before, I think, but it was so much fun.  The meat was amaaaazingly delicious.  I kind of wish I had more pictures of it, but I was too busy eating everything.  We got SO full.  And it was really fun to grill our own meat too!  We got veggies to grill as well ^.^  Then the receipt told us how much each person owed, so we all got out that much.  Except, we used a whole bunch of coins.  So when we went up to the front to pay, the poor guy had to count out ALL our coins.  We felt so bad… but it was kind of funny at the same time ^^;

After that we rode to Mister Doughnut to get some desserts and morning noms.  So cute.  The tape that they use to seal the bags says “Thanks you beautiful people”  Just one of the reasons I love engrish.  It’s waaay too amazing.  After we got back we all went to hang out in the laundry room, because the power there was turned back on.  So I put on my laundry and we were hanging out, watching MTV because the laundry room has cable (wtf?!  Need to find out what channel and time HnA and VS and the new show is on, STAT!) and we had the heater on and I think two of the washers and driers going, and we were all in there hanging out eating doughnuts and playing mario party on the DS when the power goes out AGAIN.  I guess just can not handle, which seems so strange…

Tomorrow will be devoted to shukudai and studying.  I think our plan is to go colonize the self study room at school, just because we can ;)  Plus, we’ll be around nihonjins.  What a beautifully added bonus!!

Jaa <3

now you’re all going to be able to find your way here alone next friday, right?

Pshhhh, hell no.

Friday morning we met Fudano Sensei with our bye-cycles ( ;) ) to ride to the pre-school that we’re going to be doing service learning for.  The path to the preschool is mostly a straight line, but it’s on a slope, so getting up that hill is kind of a bitch.  There’s a really steep part, and then most of it is a gradual uphill slope.  I have faith, however, that by the end of these next two months I’ll be able to make it up there without a problem.  Here’s hoping, anyway.

The kids.  Oh my god.  OH.  MY.  GOD.

They’ve got to be the most adorable things I’ve ever seen.  We got there and the 5-6 year old classroom is right there when you walk in, and all the kids were looking out the window at us and the poor teacher was trying to get their attention… but they were seriously waaaay too adorable.  I was dying all over the place.  We got to go in and meet them, and then we went and met the 3-4 year olds and the 4-5 year olds, which are the age levels that we’ll mostly be working with, I think.  They were just so much… oh my god.  I’m dying just thinking about it.  They were so adorable, and talkative and showing us what they were doing and their books… they were so so cute.  Achan, Jaso, you totally would’ve been dying.  I was dying.  I’m so, SO excited for next Friday.  Wednesday and Friday are going to be the highlights of the week for me, I’m pretty sure.  God.  I can’t wait to go back and see them.

So after we got back from the preschool I figured out how to use the phone card I bought and called my mom, and she had FOUND my bank information.  Yay!!  Then I called Achan but got her voicemail, so I left a message.  Then I called my daddy but got his voicemail, so I left a message.  Then I called Kai but got his voicemail, so I hung up.

Jeez people.  Answer me when I call you.  I call from so far away too…

Anyway, we went down the bank and opened Japanese bank accounts.  Still kind of confused about how that’s going to work, exactly… I guess because some people brought all their money in cash… But either way, whatevs.  So after that we came back to our building and I was on my computer and I saw my daddy posted a status, so I ran downstairs to call him and I got to talk to him <3 <3  I miss my daddy so so much.  But I’m glad I got to talk to him.  I’ll probably make another round of calls sometime this coming week.  I called Kai and got to talk to him too.  I think I’ll try to call Achan again tonight… maybe around 8 Hawaii Time.  I wish I knew when she was working, because that would make it easier.  Oh well.  But I know she’s dealing with a lot of family stuff, ne?  Love you Achan, and I wish I could be physically there for you.  But I am right here if you need me <3

So after 8 we had some visitors.  Apparently this guy wanted to come up and talk to us, but he was too intimidated to approach our whole group.  So he waited until someone wandered off by themselves, and that someone happened to be JohnSan.  His name is Yusuke, and after he showed up we all decided to go to dinner.  I was kind of in a bad mood and really didn’t want to be by myself because I was feeling lonely from missing people at home, so I told Ele to get ready because we were going out.  Then Yusuke went to go get his friend Shingo to come with us.  10 of us went in all and we ended up at this really cheap Italian restaurant.  Food is amazingly affordable here.  I kind of love it.  And the portions are absolutely to my liking.  I can usually finish food in Japan. At home, the servings are too big for me xD

After dinner Yusuke had to leave, because he had to catch the train home.  He lives like, an hour away by train.  I’m always so impressed with how far these people are traveling to come hang out with us.  Makes me feel special J  We also talked about how people keep staring at us, but I kind of like the celebrity status.  God I sound so big-headed xD

Ele and I went back to the dorm after dinner and made riceballs and watched Hana Yori Dango ^.^  I love that she asks to watch it.  We only have two episodes left in season 1.  Yay!  And we got to sleep in this morning because we had absolutely NO obligations today!!  Nothing to do, nowhere to be expected… I absolutely love it ^.^  I think some of us are planning to go exploring on the Notti bus today.  That bus is 100 yen and goes in a circle, so it’s pretty good for explorations.  Plus, the routes are color coded.  SO helpful.  Aida came to wake us up this morning, and me, Ele, Sher, Tyler, and JohnSan had breakfast in her room.  That was really really nice.  It felt family-ish, which is something I miss.  Aida cooked, and we had fried rice, French toast, and parfaits.  Afterwards, we all helped clean up and do dishes and everything.  It was really nice J  I was going to do laundry today, but there are rumors that the electricity went off in the laundry room (???) so that might have to wait until tomorrow.

I think that’s it.  I miss home.

Jaa <3

don'tmakemelaughi'mpissing!! xD xD

10 extra points if you got the reference in the title.  And it does pertain to the events of the past two days, plzkthnx.


So.  After lunch on Wednesday we go to class.  This class is about taking pictures of Japan and using the pictures to analyze daily Japanese lifestyles and such and such.  We had to fill out forms so we could get a Japanese Bank Account, and we also got our Hanko!  It's a name stamp, and it's pretty much like your fingerprint or your signature so far as Japanese society works.  So we're talking about all these things that we have to do to interact with the small children on Friday, and Fudano Sensei starts getting really quiet and apologetic, and we're all like, "....what?!"


So she finally gets around to telling us that in Japan, it's required for people working with small children to take a stool test.


Oh.  My.  God.


I swear we almost died laughing.  Well, I almost died laughing, that's for sure.  All of us were cracking up, it was sooooo hilarious.


So they passed out these test tubes for us and were trying to explain how to use them, and the whole time we're just cracking up, because the lady explaining to us (Her name is Miyamoto-san and she's absolutely adorable, I love her to death <3 ) was trying to find the right word in English.  So we told her "doodoo" and she said it and we all cracked up even more, because it was just too funny and adorable.  I absolutely love Engrish.  It was hilarious. We were dying.  So.  Hard.


After we all got composed we went over what the class was about and by the time it was over we had an hour until we were supposed to meet again to talk about joining different clubs.  Right after we get out of class to wait for an hour, Miyamoto-san is waiting for us outside, and tells us that when we're done with our "doodoo" samples (we all cracked up again, and she was smiling and said "Yes, I look it up in dictionary.  Doodoo... or Poop."  And then we all cracked up harder.  So much dying that afternoon) we could put them in these envelopes she brought us, and to please bring it back to her desk.  It was sooooo funny.  That whole afternoon.  My stomach still kind of hurts from laughing so much.


I think I'm going to join the Japanese Archery club.  They wear these special kimono when they shoot, but idk if we're going to be aloud to wear them.  Mostly, I want to join because I miss shooting things :(  I can't lose my aim while I'm in Japan, because I have to come back and be able to kick everyone's ass when we go to the range.  That's my goal :)  I hope it stops being cold soon.  I seriously can not handle at all.


After we figured out all our club activities choices and such and such we went to the SGE meeting.  SGE stands for Students for Global Exchange.  They're the group that gathered the bye-cycles (bye-bye-cycle!) for us to use while we're staying here.  It was pretty funny, because we were ALL super nervous to go in there, and they were super nervous to talk to us.  So we went in there and sat down and it just kind of went "... ~ ... ~ ...--awkward laughter-- ...~...~..."


Fudano Sensei broke the ice by telling us to introduce ourselves, so we did that, and it kind of eased everything up.  they're really super nervous about speaking English though.  More so in groups, I think, than in one on one conversation.  Or they just don't want to speak English in public.  Kind of like how we don't want to speak Japanese in public.  I guess that's the point of the interaction though.  They speak to us in English and we speak to them in Japanese.  Something like that?  Anyway.  After a while Fudano Sensei and Yagi Sensei left and said good luck, and then we all kind of just sat there for a good minute before we got up and went to talk to people.  Marikriz dragged me over to talk to some people.  A bunch of them are in the soccer club, and I remember meeting Hideki, Daigo, and Hamu.  That's not actually his name though, it's a nickname, because the kanji for his name looks like ハ on top of ム.  Pretty adorable nickname, I think ^^;  We asked how old they were, and the all said 20 and asked us how old we were.  I said I was 18, but my birthday is next week Wednesday, and they kind of just went off talking to each other and the guy that was doing all the talking in the beginning in Japanese, so I have no idea what any of that means o.o


My classmates really like dancing.  Like, REALLY really like dancing.  But I guess it's a really good way to break the ice.  Tyler put his iPod on and we taught them the Cupid Shuffle and the Electric Slide.  It was really really fun ^.^


Oh, and I got to talk to Jaso on skype that night!!  That made me suuuuper happy inside :)


So this morning we all woke up early and busted ass to finish our homework from two days ago.  Old habits die hard, I guess.  Procrastination just comes so easy xD  But the good news is, we did get everything finished.  We learned about the different regions of Japan, and then at lunch we got bento and came back to the main building to finish our homework on self introductions.  Our whole group, pretty much, is homework fail procrastination.  I'm sure we'll get over that soon though.  :)  After class I went to the post office to take some money out of my bank account because I'm pretty much running out of cash.  I clicked English on the machine and put my card in and everything and the machine says, "Please input your pin number."  And I completely froze.  It had been so long since I'd used my pin number that I completely forgot what it was.  Holy shit.  So I tried twice to remember, and I thought I'd got it, but I was completely wrong, because they wouldn't give me any money.  Damn.  So now I have to figure that out.  Maybe if they can send me another pin number and I can get it from someone at home.  I'd be pretty sketch of them to let me change it over the phone, even if I do know all my secret code informations, right?  That is, if people can't find my paper with the code on it.  I don't really think they will though.  I don't even know where it is, really.  Damn.


So we made plans to go to the 100円store today, and this guy from yesterday came to our apartment building.  And we were all, "Oh wow!  Look!  It's... you!  You're here!  You...!"  No one could remember his name.  And we all thought Ele had invited him over, because he was walking with her and Sher, but apparently he just showed up.  Which is beyond totally cool.  Turns out his name is Kenji.  Like my old voice teacher xD  He was pretty cool, and I hope he was okay with the fact that we weren't staying at the dorm, we were going to the 100円 store.  So he met us there on his bike and hung out with us while we were there, and then he went home.  I hope we didn't leave him with a bad impression; I can never tell what Japanese people are thinking >.>


We came back to the dorm and I had ramen for dinner and watched Glee with Ele.  Yay people who illegally upload tv shows!  We're going to the preschool tomorrow.  I'm super excited for the little childrens.  Also, I bought a whole bunch of nail stuff, and I have an inu-chan and a neko-chan on my thumbs.  I miss you guys <3


Jaa <3

i’m happy to be here, don’t get me wrong…

It’s just going to take some getting used to.  Operating this campus, I mean.  I wasn’t really good at talking to people I don’t know back home.  Now I have to do it in a whole different language.  It’s going to be amazingly difficult, I think. 

I don’t have a place yet.  I mean, I have my dorm and what not, but not like… a social place.  I could just go back there after I get out of class, but somehow that seems like a bad idea.  After all, they want us to be social and make friends and meet people and ect.  And the dorm isn’t exactly the best place to do that.  So I need to find a place to be.  Like at WCC… well, I didn’t really need a place at WCC, because my classes were all back to back, so I didn’t ever stay on campus very long.  And at KCC I was in one classroom the entire time… wow, I guess I haven’t really had a place to be since the drama room at Kamehameha.  And from now, that seems like ages ago.

I need to find a place to be when I don’t have class that has people and internet, so I can be connected but not be a hermit..  Everything here is hooked up through LAN cables.  There is no wireless network to speak of, I think.  Which is absurd to me, but that might just be because I’m coming from home, where wireless internet is the next big thing.  I’m sitting in the library, and they don’t seem to have anywhere to plug in where I’m at.  I mean, the desks have little power things to plug in to a power source, but not to plug in to internet.  There’s connection places in the self study room, which is kind of like a really big lounge, but there were a lot of people in there, and most of them were guys, and there were no empty tables, so I was kind of intimidated.  Of course, if I were less cautionary and more social, I might have just sat in there anyway at a table that wasn’t completely full.  But I’m soooo not like that.  I can’t be like that on my own.  I’ll have to go back with one of my classmates, or when it’s less crowded.

Also, I had a terrible dream last night.  It gave me a headache that I still have.  But that might just be the cold air.

I figured out why Asians run everywhere in their dramas.  Because it’s so cold, that’s the only way to be outside and keep warm.  I don’t have an explanation for why they run around all the time in the summer though.  That’s just absurd.

I had jelly food for breakfast today, and we didn’t really have class this morning.  Just like an oral exam part of our pre-test from yesterday.  I suck so bad at memorizing vocabulary.  I really need to make a personal dictionary for that sort of thing.  Or carry around my pocket dictionary, at least.  I actually don’t know why it isn’t in my bag right now.  If it were, I could be doing my homework.  Everyone here seems to do homework all the time.  Even where I’m sitting in the library, I can see at least 8 people studying.  They’re such good students, it kind of makes me feel bad.  Maybe this will turn me into a better student.  I think part of it will be focusing on the task at hand, and not being so ADD about things.  Distractions is usually what screws me over, after all.

I tried to get on to Hulu this morning because Glee is playing at home tonight, and it told me that Hulu is only supported in the United States.  I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t watch it, but I need to make contact with home so I can tell them to record it for me just in case, so I can watch it all when I get back.  Ele is going into her interview with Yagi Sensei soon.  I told her I would be in the self study room but clearly I’m not, so I’d better go back to the main building to wait for her.

Jaa <3

and so it begins…

I got a webcam!!!!

So Sunday night a bunch of us went out for dinner.  Me, Ele, John, Reid, Tasha, Sher, Tyler, and Aida.  2/3 of our group.  We were having a hard time finding somewhere that had enough room for all eight of us.  First we went to look at a ramen place, but they were pretty crowded.  We wanted to find somewhere fast, because it was suuuuper cold outside.  We eventually ended up at this donburi place, I think, and they had the raw egg deal going on, which I’ll tell you about later.

Okay.  So a lot of these food places in Japan have this system, where you order food out of a vending machine type deal.  That’s a really bad explanation.  So they have the menu board.  And you put your money in and the board lights up, indicating what you can buy with the amount of money you put in, and you punch in what you want.  When you’re done, you press this big black button and they give you this slip of paper.  Then when you sit down, the waiter comes and takes the slip of paper and then brings your food.  Amazingly cool.  Very efficient, and it eliminates a lot of human error. 

I ordered a 牛どん, which basically a beef donburi.  The rice in Japan is amazingly delicious.  So, it comes with a raw egg, and what you do is you crack the egg over the rice and the beef and mix it all together and eat it right like that.  And I know some people might find the raw egg thing kind of sketch, but I think it’s okay in Japan, because I didn’t get sick or anything.  And it was SO GOOD.  The eggs here have a slight sweetness to them, I think. All the food is so good.

I went to sleep at like, 9 or so.  Then I woke up at 3.  And again at 4.  And then at 5.  By 5:45 I just decided to stay up, because it wasn’t worth going back to sleep.  But it was pretty unpleasant, not being able to sleep in.  So much dislike.  After I decided that I wasn’t going to go back to sleep, I went up to the lounge to get on the internet, and I got to talk to a bunch of people from home and watch Kai at work.  I miss the Chip and Cookie store.  And I miss my room and my bed and my house and Kailua and everything.  It’s been cold and rainy for the past three days.

We met in front of the main building at school at 9:00 am to go get pictures taken for our alien registration. After that we went to go check out the cafeteria for food and Japanese class started at 10:40.  The bells that ring to start and end class are absolutely amaaaaaazing <3  I love them to death.  Our class today was just introduction stuff and then we went to hook up our computers to the printer, but I’m not entirely sure about how that works yet.  Still pretty amused with all the people staring at us though xD  Afterwards we went to get our alien registration worked out, and we had like an hour to kill, so we went to the little shopping place across the street and they had an electronics store!!  So I dragged Ele there and I finally got a webcam ^.^  It’s been so good to actually SEE people and talk to them.  My tutu was pretty amazed at the technology this afternoon xD  I got to talk to AChan and Falcon and Mom and Bear and Nebka… all the people I love <3  It’s such a relief to be able to talk to them, but I didn’t get to talk to my dad, and I really miss him.  Hopefully he gets a skype soon, or Falcon is over there when I’m on so I can talk to him <3 There are other people I really want to talk to, but there are communication issues there or something, and it gives me a headache, so we’ll just skip over that.

After dinner that night Ele and I watched the first two episodes of Hana Yori Dango.  She wants to watch more of it tonight ^.^  It gives me happiness to know that she likes it.

This (Tuesday) morning, I managed to stay asleep until 8, which is wonderful.  Then Ele and I went to school to go find some morning noms before class.  We had culture class first today, and it was more introductory-going-over-syllabus type thing.  Then we shared our pictures and went to lunch.  I’m loving how short the classes are.  Two 45 minute periods per class is definitely something I can live with.  Ele and I decided to go to the “fancy” part of the cafeteria to get lunch, and as soon as we got into line these guys started looking over at us and talking amongst themselves.  Then they waved at us, so I waved back and they got all stoked.  It was pretty funny.  We got our food and sat down and they kept looking over at us.  Everyone kept looking at us.  I’m kind of getting used to it though.  It almost feels like celebrity status *.*  So when the guys left they turned and waved to us again, and I waved back.  It’s what I do that’s why xD  Then we went to go find everyone else, and we met this guy named Yuichiro.  He was telling us about the different clubs they have on campus.  I’m pretty sure we’re all going to be expected to join the SGE, which stands for Students for Global Exchange.  I’m pretty excited for that.  Making new friends will help keep me away from being homesick.  That hit me pretty hard tonight, actually.

Anyway.  We had bike orientation today, so now when there’s good weather, we can go ride bicycles!  We also met Rob, who is from… the mainland somewhere.  But he came to dinner with us and these two Japanese guys that helped to tell us about the bicycles.  It was pretty fun.  Then we went and got Coolish, which I’ve pretty much got everyone hooked on.  Happiness!  I love introducing things to people.  That’s pretty much it for the past two days.  Tomorrow I think they have club meetings, so we’ll probably go to the one for SGE.  Then on Friday we get to meet the small children at the preschool!!  I’m so excited for that.  I love small children.

Jaa  <3

omg look they’re wearing raincoats!!

We've all pretty much decided there’s something wrong with us, because we keep waking up suuuper super early and start getting tired around 3 in the afternoon.  Apparently it’s jetlag, because 3pm is 8pm at home.  So that would actually make sense, I guess.  But I don’t like waking up so early.  And I can’t stay up anymore... as late as I used to, I mean.  I think I might have to take a nap in the afternoon so I’ll stay up late, and hopefully catch a regular sleep schedule soon, because this is ridiculous.

So Ele woke me up at 6 am this morning because we were supposed to meet outside at like 7:10 or so to go take the bus to Kenroku-En.  It’s a garden next to Kanazawa Castle, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.  I took a bunch of pictures, but accidentally deleted some of them >.>  Sorry!  I’m in a lot of other people’s pictures though, so I’ll steal those and probably put them up on facebook.  I’ll put some of them here.

 

So, we woke up and I had jelly food for breakfast ^.^  I love that stuff, and I know it’s probably like some kind of diet food or whatever, but it’s just so much fun to eat ^. ^ (last part of that sentence is what she said ;]  )  Then we got ready to leave and OMG so cold outside today.  It was pretty ridiculous.  Like, I thought my fingers were going to fall out, and I was so sad that I didn’t have any of my human heaters around, because they’re all still in Hawaii.  But seriously, it was freezing ass balls.  So we walked to the bus stop and waited for the bus and while we were waiting this lady walked by who was walking her dogs and she was wearing a raincoat.   AND SO WERE HER DOGS!!!  I was so ridiculously entertained by this.  Mostly because I miss my pets <3  So then we got on the bus and went down to the actual city city of Kanazawa, and met up with Sensei and went to Kenroku-En.  Where it was still very, very cold.  But very beautiful.  There are so many people I want to go back with.

 

Okay Kai, you’re never going to let me live this down, especially because of all that shit I give you for leaving Slava at Alter.  So, we’re walking through Kenroku-En and it’s really cold, so I go to put on Slava and he’s NOT THERE.  I fucking panicked.  Like serious kind.  I almost started crying.  Then I ran back through the park through all the tourists looking for Slava, and it felt very Asian, because in all those shows they’re always running around looking for something.  So I was almost freaking out and I could actually feel my heartbeat for once and then I FOUND HIM!!  I was carrying Slava so I guess he slipped out of my arm and fell onto a bush.  I almost cried with relief when I found him, too.  And then I spent the rest of the day wearing Slava because it was so cold.  God, it was like I lost my kid in the mall or something.

So we left Kenroku-En and we were walking down the street and it was freaking cold as shit.  Our teacher bought us some takoyaki to try, and it was amazingly delicious, but suuuper hot.  Oh.  A note to how cold our shower was the other day – even though the water was like freshly melted snow, there was still steam in the shower.  It was coming off our bodies.  That’s messed up.  It was so cold today that I could see my breath. I should’ve worn my disco pants >.>

So we’re all gathered at the corner and then we realized that Rachel was missing.  So Fujikawa Sensei went to go look for her while we waited in a store, because it was a little warmer in there.  When we finally found her like half an hour later or so we walked down to the bottom of the hill and took the bus to the geisha headquarters of Kanazawa.  There we got to go into these preserved houses that the geisha would live and work in, and we got to walk around and see inside.  It was pretty cool to see how everything worked.  The stairs were SO steep.  It was really ridiculous.  But very educational. Everything was so elaborate, especially the geisha hairpieces.  After we finished that, we caught the bus back to the city and had some DELICIOUS noms.  

It was fried shrimp and egg over rice and udon.  Soooo delicious.  Then Ele and I went out exploring for a little bit before we came back to the dorm.  We caught the bus all by ourselves ^.^  And we talked to the lady in the manga/internet café place in nihongo!  So we have mad skills J  Except not really.  Then we came back to the dorm, and now it’s about 4:30 and there are 7 of us up here in the lounge interneting.  Mama-chan says we’re all going to dinner somewhere.. o.o  I think Ele and I are going to the hyaku en store tonight, since we never went last night.  And… I think that’s all for now.  My toes are cold.  I want my pets.

Jaa <3

you just want to see them crash, don’t you?

I woke up at freaking 6am this morning and COULD NOT get back to sleep.  If this is jet lag, I am definitely not a fan.  So much dislike.  It’s ridiculous.  Don’t get me wrong, I tried to go back to sleep.  I even closed my curtains to try and go to sleep.  But no dice.  So I got up and went to the lounge to interweb, since it was noonish at home.  I talked to Jaso and Mommy over FB and had jelly breakfast (^.^) and then went back to my room to start unpacking.  Which I haven’t finished yet.  I should go back and do that tonight.  Anyway.  We had to meet in front of the school at 11:15.  Before that, I braved the shower.

It was like jumping into an icy lake, I swear.  Not a fan.  At all.  We couldn’t handle.  Ele and I already knew the water would be cold because people told us last night.  So we went super ghettofab and heated water on the stove and on the water heater and mixed it with the icy cold water.  It did the job, at least, but it wasn’t a very pleasant experience.  Not looking forward to repeating that tonight.  But, when we got to the meeting place and we were telling our people about it, one of the ladies (I can’t remember her name, which is unfortunate, because I like her)  took down which rooms didn’t have water.  Of course, then our Sensei told us that the dial next to the mirror by the sink should control the water temperature… we’ll try that tonight, but if it doesn’t work, something is going to have to be done, because this is pretty unacceptable.  I don’t like taking ice cold showers when it’s 60 odd degrees outside.  The temperature I can handle.  Not so much the cold water.

 

So we all got on a bus and went to this hotel to have lunch, and it was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS.  I put up pictures of it on facebook, and I could put them up here too… in fact I should.  Maybe I will…

After lunch, we went to walk around and see all the cherry trees at the hotel. And they were absolutely GORGEOUS.  I took a butload of pictures.  Here are some of them, ne?

So, ato de, we went back to school and had a short tour of the campus and got stared at.  A lot.  We found a bunch of cool rooms though.  There’s this room in the library where they just have ukumillion records and these fancy chairs that play the music super loud for you.  It’s really nice in there.  Then after that we went to meet the president of the school and had an introduction/opening ceremony type of deal.  It was pretty chill.  Then on our way back to the dorms we kept getting passed by guys on bicycles (bye-bye-cycle!) that were grinning and waving at us, so naturally I waved back, right?  Tyler said he wanted me to wave at them and give them “the eye” (?) to see if they would crash.  That’s not very nice of him, but it would have been funny.  They’re really nice though.  Everyone seems really nice.

Now, I will go back to my room and finish unpacking, so that I can be settled.  I think Ele and I are going back to the supermarket tonight, and to the １００円 store to get some things for the dorm room.  Like a full length mirror.  I need to know what I look like before I leave the house.  Because I’m vain like that.

Jaa <3

コダイはどこですか？？

Congratulations, Fujikawa Sensei. Our first night in Japan, we did exactly what you told us to.

We got lost.

So we arrived in Japan, and it really wasn’t that cold. I guess 60 degrees really isn’t that big a deal as I thought. Our flight was late though. Super late. While we were going through customs… no, immigration? We met this family with the most ADORABLE little hapa children. The dad was from the UK originally, and the mom was from Japan, and now they live in Australia and were coming back to visit Grandma. The kids were SO CUTE. They had two boys and a little girl. Soooo adorable. You don’t even know.

After we got our luggage we met our Sensei in the lobby of the airport and got on a bus and headed for Kanazawa Institute of Technology, which they call KoDai here for short. When we got here we put our stuff in our rooms and got comfortable for a little bit before we went to go have orientation. There we were told about getting medical help on campus and such. We also met our sensei again. Now I definitely know what they look like; introductions on the bus were kind of sketch, because I couldn’t really see. We went over the rules of the place we’re staying, which include be quite, be quite, and be quiet. It’s because we’re living right across from a residential place, and with the other international group that comes here, they’ve gotten complaints about the noise.

We also saw lots and lots of sakura, aka cherry blossoms. OMG. SO. PRETTY. It makes me happy inside to see them :] They’re seriously all over the place. And in the randomest spots too. But there are some right outside my room :] My room has a balcony, and it overlooks the river, and there are unblossomed so they’ll blossom soon and they’ll be RIGHT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW!

After orientation we went to go get our computers. So get this. KoDai’s men to women percentage? 90-10. That’s what the teachers told us, anyway. So we were walking through the school and all these people are watching us as we go past. I think it’s because they don’t get that many foreigners here. And a group made up of mostly girls, at that. So we got our computers, and they’re ALL IN JAPANESE. Seriously. I tried to use them this afternoon and mostly succeeded, but they’re a little confusing. Mostly because the keyboard isn’t as wide, so the keys are all over the place. But I got to talk to AChan on facebook. Yay! After we got our computers we were excused back to our rooms for free time until tomorrow at 11:30 am, when we meet to go have lunch at a hotel with our sensei as a sort of welcome thingy.

So, at 5pm Ele and I decided to go on a walk around. Have a little adventure on the first night. I think our first intention was to go find something to eat. We ended up walking in this HUGE CIRCLE around Kanazawa. I mean huge. Really, really big. Like, where the hell are we big. We were walking around commenting on how many people were staring at us. That was super funny. To see the different reactions we would get. Some of the guys were giving us creeper status stares, but mostly they were just surprised I think. I loved overhearing conversations. It makes me feel like a secret agent, because we know they think we don’t understand, but we kind of do :] Like outside the cd/dvd/game/ect shop we walked out and these people who hadn’t seen each other in a long time ran into each other. And they were surprised. And I translated all that right there in my head. MAD SKILLS!

Anyway. So we were walking and walking and walking, and we were using the KoDai library as our land mark because it’s super tall. But we walked past it. So we turned down, because we were pretty sure we were too far down. Plus it was completely dark already. But we found a grocery store and went in there and I got chopsticks with nekochans on them <3 And I used my いちごかばん to carry everything! Thank you Jaso!!

So, we’re walking down this dark street, starting to get worried, and we came across this convenience store, so we went in there and I bought instant ramen for dinner (which is waaaay more delicious here, by the way) and when I went to pay I asked the guy working there where KoDai was. IN JAPANESE. Most of the whole conversation was in Japanese. We felt very skilled :] He asked if we were international students and we said yes, and then he went in the back to get his co-worker to man the cash register. Then he WALKED US outside to show us where to go. He asked where we were from and the magic word Hawaii worked again, because he seemed pretty stoked. He walked us all the way to the river and told us to walk along it and then turn at the next street, and that would take us back. And he said ganbatte kudasai before he went to go back to work. I mean, I thought he was just going to go in the back and find a map and show us on there. But he literally walked us out until we were where we couldn’t possibly get lost unless we were completely retarded. Which we’re not. It was just so… nice. We’re planning to go find him again sometime, because we didn’t get his name.

Highlight of the night was definitely using my nihongo and having a nihonjin actually understand what I was saying. It doesn’t get more real than that :]

We got back to our room around 8 and then we made our noms, which are magically delicious. AChan, I saw your milk caramels at Family Mart. And I bought some of those magic milky mint throat candies ^_^ Kai, while we were lost, I saw a car driving with one headlight out. You know what that means. I think it means I’m winning, because it was in Japan, and you can’t beat Japan. Now who owes, ne? HAH.

So, if I don’t get my butt up to the lounge to get on the interweb to post this tonight, I’ll post it in the morning. Either way. You won’t know, because I’ll time stamp it for tonight :] But I mean, I’ve got another hour and a half to interweb. So it’s entirely possible. And I think they lied to us about having cameras on our Japanese computers, because there’s definitely a mic there and a plastic seal between the two mic holes. You can’t fool me.

I still miss home. It’s cold in our little apato, but I think that’s because I have bare feet.
Ne, Oyasumi <3

日本に行きましょYAAY!!!

Anybody who I made watch the Arashi After-Concert Bus Crack video knows EXACTLY how that Yay is supposed to sound.


Omg soaking in the bathtub was AMAZING. The water was really hot and it made me really sleepy. Plus, there was an American outlet in the bathroom, so I charged my laptop there and listened to A Very Potter Musical ^_^
I found out at breakfast that there was a whole power strip of plugs on or under the desk or something. I didn’t find it because I’m not curious enough, maybe? That, or I was just waaay to tired to try that hard.

Sleeping was really easy last night. Except I kept waking up every so often. Sometimes it was cold and sometimes it was hot. Really really weird. And then my phone in my room rang at 6am, which was supposed to happen, I know, because we were all getting wake-up calls. But there was no one on the other line. Weeeeeird o.o And I my hair went WAH-PANG because I didn’t put anything in it last night, so I braided it into submission ^_^

We had breakfast at the hotel. Breakfast and lunch were both really really delicious. It was totally buffet style and we even got to sit in a little private room last night for dinner. It felt very classy, but I kind of can’t wait to get to my room at Kanazawa so I can Himono Onna it up. You know what I’m talking about, Jaso <3

It was SO COLD outside this morning. They said on our flight just now that it would be about 17 degrees Celsius in Komatsu where we’re landing. That’s about 63 degrees Fahrenheit. Still cold, but not as cold as the 40 something it probably was this morning. I brought Slava out of my carry on and into my purse just in case :] OMG. I was at the airport this morning and couldn’t find my big bag of pens :[ I think I might have left it on the plane yesterday, because I don’t remember leaving it in the hotel…

I got to talk to people at home!! Jaso was online last night, so I facebook chatted with her :] And Puna was on this morning, and I talked to Kai on skype while at the airport. I hope I’ll have more time to talk to people. I’ve been facebooking the hell out of my family, specifically my daddy. I think he’s lonely now that I’ve left, but I told him not to worry; my orphans will come and keep him company :]

I think we’re almost to Komatsu Airport. Our flight was delayed because some people got held up in immigration or something. And then our taxi took like a freaking half hour or something ridiculous like that. But we should be arriving at Komatsu in about 20 minutes or so. This flight has a lot of turbulence too. Something about flying around Asia, I think. I love it ^_^

Ja <3

already i’m so lonesome i could die

I’m happy I got to do what I wanted to before I left Hawaii for 4 months.  :]

It makes me really miss home though.  We’re on the bus to the hotel we’re going to be staying at for one WHOLE NIGHT in Korea :]  Home of so many pop groups its seriously ridiculous.

And we have to wake up early tomorrow, because our plane to Japan leaves at 9 or so.  I just know we’re supposed to arrive there at 10.

I miss my family.  And my pets.  So many adorable Asian babies, but I couldn’t take pictures of them because the lighting was bad I’m not a creeper.  There was a red fire hydrant at the airport.

Outside the window of the bus the sun is setting.  I lost sight of it as we turned in the road, but I couldn’t really see much of it to begin with.  It was suuuuper bright red though.  Really intense.

We got to the hotel and had dinner, and we each have our own hotel rooms with these big beds.  It seems like a lot of space for one person to be in, but there’s a big bath tub and a robe on the back of the bathroom door, so I want to take a bubble bath tonight ^_^  The bed also seems to big for a single room.  It makes me miss having sleepovers :[

Also, the plugs in Korea are weeeeeird.

It’s hard to believe that I’m going to have to live without my family and friends.  I mean, I like the people that I’m here with, don’t get me wrong.  But it’s not the same, ne?  I know I’m going to be surrounded by people all the time, but I can’t help but think that it’s going to be a little lonely the whole time, no matter how comfortable I get.

How depressing, ne?  But that’s not why we’re here :]

It’s only 8:04 in Korea, but it’s already past 1am in Hawaii, and I got very little sleep both the night before I left and on the plane.  So the plan is, go to the business center for internet, internet for about an hour, take a bubble bath, and go to bed until the wake-up call at 6 am.

Ooooh, what a good plan.  :]

so kiss me and smile for me, tell me that you’ll wait for me, hold me like you’ll never let me go

I.  Love.  Turbulence.

Our flight to Korea has a LOT of it.  No, I’m not blogging from the plane duhhhh.  They won’t let us do that, even though Savannah said that it doesn’t really mess with the navigational whatever.  But I am typing it up, and I will post it so it looks like I put it up while on the plane :] 

I don’t know how this happened, but I somehow didn’t realize that this flight is 10 hours long.  TEN.  HOURS.  I don’t think I’ve ever had to sit in one place for that long.,  It’s freaking ridiculous.  I’m pretty sure the longest flight I’ve been on was like, 5-odd hours or so.  Maybe 7, but I doubt it.  Wait… no, it was 7.  Going to Texas, I think, to get to New York.  But 10 hours?!

And at the moment, there are about… 5 and a half odd hours left.  DISLIKE.  Not having a cell phone feels maaaajorly strangeness.  I kind of wish I had brought it with me, so I could at least have the familiarity.  Having only my iPod feels like having only one arm.

Wow I’m technologically dependant.

They keep playing songs on the airplane radio that remind me of home, or something that happened at home, or people at home.  They played the song from Ponyo, they played Madonna’s “Vogue”, they played “Everything” by Arashi, and “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith.  And that’s just a few of them.  I got sick of it, so I switched to my iPod.  I don’t know if it’ll last 5 and half hours… what’s the expected battery life on these things anyway?  If I just listen to music with the backlight on 0%?  Guess I’ll find out…

I’m ridiculously happy with my going away presents ^_^  Now I have things to remind me of the people I’m going to miss.  I want to shake my orange squishy out the window of the plane, but they pulled all the blinds closed for the movie or something.  And I opened the blind just a wee bit to check, and it’s BRIGHT out there.  Almost ridiculously so.

I did sleep some.  But I’m finding it hard to go back to sleep.  And I keep checking my watch and time seems to be moving really slowly >.>  My new haircut kind of makes me feel more Japanese, but I think that’s just because I have it up in Himono Onna style, and it’s flopping around all over the place.  Kind of funny, actually.

I miss my family and my friends already.  4 months is a really really long time, and I didn’t realize that until around now.  Like, really really realize it.  I hope everyone is still around when I come home, and haven’t gone out to the corners of the Earth.  That would royally suck.  :[

I just noticed they’re playing Sherlock Holmes on the plane.  And I haven’t seen this yet.  So, Ja ne.  I’ll update again from Korea.  Here’s hoping I have internet access there.

行きましょ! ★

I'll be at the airport in 11 hours to check in for my flight to Japan Korea.  Then one overnight stay, and another hour plane ride and I'll be in Japan.  For FOUR MONTHS.  It's a long time to be away from home.  I've never been away that long.  Hell, I've only been out of state... four times.  And at the longest it was about 10 days.  This is kind of huge, isn't it?


And I'm only half packed ^^;  I know when mom reads this she's gonna be irritated, because I told her I was mostly packed.  But I didn't intend to sleep tonight anyway, and you know how last minute I am.  But I'm strangely not worried about getting everything done before 4 or so in the morning.  Is that strange?  Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet.  I mean, I've been freaking out about it to everyone I talk to for the past month and a half or so, but now it's happening tomorrow and I feel like I'm waaaay too calm about it.


I have a lot left to do in the next 9 hours or so, and yet I feel like I have SO MUCH TIME.  Which I obviously don't.


I don't know when I'll have internet connection next.  Do I take my laptop charger in my carry-on with me?  Will I even be able to charge it when I get to Korea?  Hell, will I be able to access the internet in Korea?  Or will everything be ridiculously password protected?  Shouldn't all airports have free, open wi-fi?  I think so.


I need to upload my pictures from my camera so I have a clean memory card.  And charge my battery.  And pack my camera battery charger.  I feel like I just know I'm going to leave something behind.  Here's hoping I don't.


Alright.  Enough procrastinating.  I've got to get this at least semi-organized.