Returned "home"

After a long 5 hour ride on the shinkansen/bullet train, I'm finally back in Fukuoka! Have to say I missed it and waaay prefer it to Tokyo. So many tourists there! And crowds and everything. D:

Though, I did find the last book of the Princess Mononoke manga I was collecting. I also got a 1000 yen Simon figure from Gurren Lagann to make up for the Viral I never found. We walked for 9 hours to find that thing, and failed (probably because it's no longer made and most stores mainly carried perverted female figures). BUT. We did find one online, and Chris got it for me. MERRY CHRISTMAS he said, as he threw his card at me. This is the one I got. It'll be in the mail.. someday. I got an email that it's processing.

Anyway, I said we were going to go back out later at night to avoid the tourists. Well... instead I got sick. I was throwing up all night and suffering from a killing headache. It finally faded a little after I vomited the first two times so we headed out to a convenience store for dinner/bread for my stomach. I threw up at the first place again, but then got a corn dog (American Dog, according to the Japanese), along with a pack of bread, and after eating them I felt mostly better. So... I was well again in time to go to sleep, though the headache never really faded and I still have a remnant of it 24 hours later.

But, I did take a couple more pictures in the station and on the way back, since that's all we did today. Had to be out of the hotel by 11am and on the train by 2pm. We couldn't exactly lug our bags around everywhere, so we hopped in a taxi and went straight there. Ate at a little sandwich shop and then looked around the underground subway mall area.


Then it was back on the train for the five hour return trip from Tokyo to Hakata station in Fukuoka. Kinda miserable. The guy in front of me had his chair leaned back, and my bag wouldn't fit in the overhead tray thing, so I had it in front of my knees. Due to his leaning back, my knees were shoved into my bag and I was unable to move for most of the trip. But, I did take some pictures and videos from the window.


Also, videos.





Sorry there's a lot. What they are is in the title/description of each. Mostly just views from the window to show how fast it's going and also how quickly scenery switches from city to countryside. The first is the shinkansen pulling into Hakata station, the next two are views shortly after leaving, and the last is a view of Tokyo as we were headed back.

Sensoji

So today we went to Sensoji to see the giant lantern and stuff. Here it is.



Also, a padoga.


And me!


Didn't really do much else so far. It was really crowded.


We're going back tonight to see it better, get more pictures, maybe be in one. We'll see how well that plan works out.

Tourists everywhere!

Also, there was a tiiiny amusement park and we're glad we didn't get our hopes up about it being awesome.

More pictures

Live, From Tokyo

Hey! Just arrived in Tokyo a little while ago. We left the dorm at 1pm, boarded the shinkansen at 3pm, and arrived at 8pm. A short taxi ride later and it's now 9:40pm. The taxi driver was awesome. He went on a back road to the wrong hotel at first and started rambling to himself in disgruntled, confused Japanese until he realized he should've stayed on the main road, and turned two corners to find the hotel. He'd barely missed it. But we're here! The Chisun Inn in Asakusa.

Pictures! The room is tiiiiny.



There's working internet though, obviously.

Oh! And the first thing we saw while driving through Tokyo in the taxi waaaas...


A Dennys.

We're about to venture out into the city to find some dinner, then come back and hopefully fully plan what we definitely want to do here. There's a Pokemon Center somewhere for me to find! Also, we have to go to Akehabara, a palace that's only open on holidays where you can see Mt Fuji from, and Tokyo Tower, at least. We're still considering that amusement park as well, but it is kind of cold. Currently 38F according to google. Mika was also telling us about a park. We forgot to pick up a tourist map at the train station... oh well.

Also, merry Christmas Eve. o uo


Mountain Dew in Fukuoka is 120 yen for a can 350ml. Here, a 500ml can is 120 yen, and it's EVERYWHERE. I have to search all over in Fukuoka! D:

And we found a restaurant that we often go to in Fukuoka. May end up trying it here too.

Toward the End

So we had our going away party a while ago with just our group. I posted pictures of the ice cream. Last week was an I-House goodbye party. They made those leaving do a little speech in front of everyone. I almost lost it and started crying right there in front. I did later, when accepting a board thing all the advisers had signed for me with little messages. But the real trigger was a video that was played with pictures from the entire semester. A lot of them were from my facebook page, actually. People started sobbing right there, and seeing them set me off too. So then people went around taking pictures and my face is red from having to constantly regain my composure. At one point right after I'd recovered, Andrey walked up to Chris and said "you'll be here next semester". Then he looked at me and said "You won't". I lost it right there, and he froze in utter shock, handed me a cupcake from the nearby table, tried to hand me an entire cake pan, and then excused himself.


Meagan, Me, Natsumi and Me and Misa. I'm waiting for more pictures to be uploaded. My (chris's) camera died right at the beginning of the party.


My health class and teacher. (top) Dimitri, Jen, Brian, Meagan, me, Chris, Tess. (bottom) Allena, Edwina, Shinfuku sensei, Ayuki, Nancy, Don, Rebecca.

In other news, exams ended as of Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon I sent in my final paper too, though it wasn't due until New Years Eve. I just rather it be out of the way, so it is. Had three finals for Japanese class. Kanji, grammar, and speaking. After the grammar part, the last one, Jo sensei made us all hug her. 8 of the 12 beginners are leaving for good. I had her sign my board thing with the adviser's signatures too. Takahashi sensei signed it at the party. She was the only teacher who attended. I also have a scrap book I've been filling with little things. I don't think there will be enough room so for now I've packed up all I want in a bag together.

Anyway, other than Japanese I had a Natural World final. It was literally four questions with five options after each and we had to mark which were true. I have no idea how I did but it counts for 70% of my grade. Originally we were told it'd be an essay and I think I would've preferred that. Manga class's final was to read some manga, about nuclear bombing victims in Hiroshima, and write responses. Besides final exams, I had papers for health, intercultural communications, and the aforementioned economics. None proved too difficult.

I've moved out of my room now. All my bags are in Chris's room, and on Friday we're going to Tokyo for a few days. We'll be in Asakusa and we're visiting Akehabara, an anime and technology focused place. Determined to find that ever elusive Viral figurine! I'm convinced one exists, somewhere. May meet Josh somewhere in Tokyo if we can find each other. Might also go to an amusement park, and definitely a castle or something that's famous for its giant red lantern. Mika was also telling us about a park. I wrote down his suggested places to visit.

I'm not sure what else to talk about. I'm out of my room. Have to turn in my key tomorrow. I also need to cancel my bike registration and figure out how to send it home in a relatively cheap way. Then there's the course enrollment form I have to have signed for UNCG. My card might no longer let me into the library so I'll need Chris to print it for me.

Let's see... we had our final dinner all together last night. Meagan and Brian are currently in Korea. Christ is leaving Japan on Friday so we'll have to do stuff tomorrow, like climb Fukuoka Tower finally. We went to Yayoikin for food. It's one of Christ's favorite places. I'm about to start uploading all of the videos I took all semester long on facebook, so if you know me on there, check them out. There's some of karaoke, food, bowling shoe machines, and whatever else I've seen/done.

Random photos!



My Yayoikin meal. Hamburger, hotdog, chicken, with bean sprouts and onions and green beans, and also potato chunks. That empty space is where my rice was before Chris took it.


Where I've been practically living the past few months.


Going away party photos
Meagan, Chris, Allena, Me - Meagan, Me, Maki
Me, Chris, Meagan, Cayleen


KFC for Christmas, anyone? "Yes!" reply all the Japanese.

Canal City Christmas

So here's the video I couldn't get to upload properly yesterday.

Going Away & Christmas

So with most people's departure down to just over a week away, we decided to have a mini party at an ice cream place. Here is the menu to give an idea of what there was.



Though, Chris also got real food. So did Brian. It's curry with tuna and egg on top.



And here is Chris's order and the giant one the rest of us split.



Chris wanted strawberry and the rest of us got a giant vanilla and chocolate thing. It was split between eight people. Me, Meagan, Kisha, Christ, Brian, Sarah, and two of Sarah's French friends, Loralen and Michael. It was amazing, though we couldn't quite finish. Chris did though. Then he got sick.



By the way, it was served with a shovel.



Then we headed to Canal City to see if there was a Shimama in the Pokemon Center yet. Instead we stumbled upon a Christmas show.




Also, KFC really is the place of choice for Christmas meals.

Class Party

So today, since the year is almost over, Jo sensei brought us to a traditional Japanese place. The first place was booked full so we couldn't go. It was also far away, but had meat based food. The replacement was a short walk, but was tofu based. Still, it was pretty good.



1. The starter set. Some mushy thing that might've been soybean paste, an egg based soup with a weird jiggly consistency and shrimp and random things hidden inside, a salad with tofu beneath, and a little thing of something and cucumber.
2. Two mochi-like things on a stick, and tofu inside crunchy egg, with a green pepper.
3. Tofu in soup. I couldn't eat this one.
4. Doria. Cheese with rice beneath, and this one had lots of seasonings and shrimp in it. This was the main course; the rice.
5. Coralie's eel rice and miso soup. She said it was delicious.
6. My soybean ice cream.
7. Coralie's soybean cake.
8. Jen's mochi with a tea like taste.
9. Jen pulling the mochi apart to let us taste. The three of us each got one of the three desserts so we could all share and try them all.


And here's my class, minus Simon and Josh. Josh just skipped or something, and Simon's in Tokyo.



Top: Me, Jen, Abdul, Brice
Bottom: Coralie, Linda, Daniela, Jo sensei, Tess, Ayuki, Rebecca

And these are my teachers.


Takahashi sensei. She teaches us writing and is super adorable and soft spoken. After this picture she said we could be sisters, and before she made a show of fixing her hair.



Jo sensei. She's insane. She says other teachers tap their students when they do wrong, but she punches them. And she animates this each time with the Japanese sound effects. Pishi pishi vs. BASH BASH.

Accident

Finally, a post in English! No pictures though. Haven't done anything interesting. Er, I guess there is this though. Our school had a Lighting of the Tree ceremony and we stumbled across it while heading back from class a while back.



So anyway, one of the things we were told the first week here is how crazy drivers are. We hear a lot of beeping, see a lot of cutting others off on the road, but we had yet to see an accident. Yesterday, we did. We must've just missed it because we were coming back from Kappa Sushi on our bikes, rounded a corner, and saw a car parked on the sidewalk. There was a guy sitting down with people trying to put a neckbrace on him. He looked like Squall. He tried getting up, but they pushed him back down and put the brace on. There was broken glass everywhere, a van run into the sidewalk's guardrail, and a motorcycle busted up in the middle of the road.

From then on, our breakneck bike pace to fight the cold turned into a casual, careful stroll along the sidewalk. We definitely have to cross roads a lot while biking, and we've definitely nearly had cars pull out and cut us off before. I'll count us lucky for now.

In other news, I sent out postcards and I hope everyone who I sent one to has gotten it by now. I have confirmed deliveries in North Carolina and California so far. I sent out literally fourteen postcards.

このしゅうまつ２

きんようび　に　ホークス　モール　に　いきました。私はともだちと　おこのみやき　をたべました。とてもおいしかったです。そして、じゅうじに　ハリーポッタをみました。とてもおもしろかったです。ほん　がだいすきです。えいが　がすきです。

どようび　に　ともだちと　どうぶつえん　にいきました。カバとライオンとさる　を　みました。でも、レッサーパンダは　いちばんかわいいどうぶつです。　ライオンのうちはちいさかったです。　かなしいです。　ブライアンさんはさる　を　さわりました。それから、はな　を　みました。とてもきれでした。私は　ともだちと　しゃしん　をとりました。あとで　どうぶつえん、ラーメンを　たべました。おいしかったです。



にちようび　に　ねました。それから、インディアンのたべものをたべました。そして、ともだちとパンテイとスタギングをみました。アニメです。とてもおもしろかったです。

しゅうまつはいそがしかったです。でも、たのしかったです。

もっとしゃしん

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This Weekend2

Friday I went to Hawk's Mall. Me and my friends ate okonomiyaki. It was very delicious. Then, at 10 o'clock we watched Harry Potter. It was very interesting. I love the books. But I like the movies.

Saturday, my friends and I went to the zoo. We saw a hippo, lion, and monkey. But, the lesser panda was the cutest animal. The lion's house was small. It is sad. Brian touched a monkey. Then, we saw flowers. They were very beautiful. My friends and I took pictures. After the zoo, we ate ramen. It was delicious.

Sunday I slept. Then I ate Indian food. Then my friends and I watched Panty & Stocking. It's an anime. It was very interesting.

This weekend was busy, but it was also fun.

More pictures