tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22271810189646053172024-03-08T19:25:55.746-05:00Leaving the ShellA log of my exploits in Fukuoka, Japan, and my first time out of the country.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-56130965292247421872011-01-10T19:45:00.005-05:002011-11-07T15:09:55.184-05:00おわった<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">This time home as in the US, not back to Fukuoka. Four days ago I got on a plane at 7:20pm to leave from Tokyo and I arrived in New York 13 hours later at... 7:50pm. Time zones are silly. Finally got home around 10pm or so, getting Bojangles on the way. I hadn't had sweet tea in forever. Never was able to adjust to the bitter taste of Japanese.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But... I'm back. Missing everything over there but there's nothing I can do except hope for a chance to return someday. Adjusting to things and seeing people I haven't in months. I've been tackled four times now, twice by surprise.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm still keeping up with friends on Skype, at least. Talking to Chris about every day at least briefly. Planning a trip this summer to Minnesota and tickets may be bought after a discussion with parents. On the fence about Animazement still as well, but I need to decide before any plane tickets are purchased.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's snowing out so I'm confined to my room, since I don't really want to trek across campus to Deborah's half of the world. Had Taco Bell with her and Candie tonight though. My tummy struggles to handle greasy American food at times but I'm dealing. If I get hungry again, since we had an early dinner, I have Red Lobster in the fridge. And.. that's about it. I don't know what there is to say about home.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Going abroad was probably the best thing I could've done. I had the greatest experiences of my life and made the best friends I could have from all over the world.</span><br /></span><div><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><b>Edit</b>: I made a website and have added it to the outside links section. It's full of tips and things about studying abroad in Fukuoka.</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-18321261361944746802011-01-04T06:10:00.004-05:002011-01-04T06:20:34.296-05:00Sweaty Sweat Sweat<span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:78%;" >Today I sweated. A lot. And I laid on stone. And rocks. And a mat.<br /><br />I went to a hot spring and we did the whole package; hot spring plus sauna rooms. I went with Meagan and Jen. GOSH. So we start out by taking off our shoes and putting them in a locker by the door. We get a key that we exchange for a bracelet with a bar code. Then we get our bag and go through to the woman's changing area. So we put all our stuff in a locker and then it's time to strip. We awkwardly go out through nearby doors and sit on a little bucket to wash off with a shower nozzle and provided body wash stuff. The hot springs are riiight next to us, but we have to go back inside, put on the provided clothes, and go to the sauna part first.<br /><br />There were six, kind of. You go in a certain order. First we laid down on stone, first setting down our towels to rest on. It was hot and we were there for a while. Then the next one was a little less hot, and on rocks. White rocks that poked. The next was cool air to recover. Then it was back to hot. The hottest one there. This one had little hourglasses beside each spot to lay down that counted down ten minutes because you weren't supposed to stay longer than that. Stubbornly, Meagan and I lasted the whole time. Next was another rock room that was cooler but still hot. It had blue rocks. Finally, passing through a normal room you get to one where you can either lay down or climb into one of the honeycomb type things in the wall. So I laid down in one of those until me and Meagan retreated to the relaxing/waiting room thing to cool and wait for Jen.<br /><br />There were several rooms with TVs and chairs set up but we didn't stop. We were sticky and sweaty and gross.<br /><br />We returned to the changing room where we stripped again, then washed again, then finally got to the hot spring. It was outside, and today it was cold with misty rain. But the water was hot. One was 38 degrees Celsius. The hottest was 43. There were also barrels that you just sat in and we probably stayed there the longest. If I had my arms out, the cold rain balanced out the hot water so I didn't get overheated. So we chatted, then went to the inside hot spring briefly, which were in the same room as the little shower stations.<br /><br />Then we took our third shower of the day to wash off the salty hot spring water. Finally washed my hair here too. All the shampoo and conditioner and body wash were provided. Then they had a wall of sinks, brushes, and hair dryers in the changing room that we used after we had dressed again to do our hair. Then it was back into the rain.<br /><br />We met with Chris in Tenjin and decided against yakiniku because it was too expensive. I wanted to try it... :< It's cook your own meat, I think, but Jen is vegetarian. We also didn't know where to find a shabu shabu place. So instead we went back to Sweets Paradise, the all you can eat cake place. They have curry, pasta, sandwiches, and more as well so we all filled up, and now I'm back and exhausted.<br /><br />Oh, and this hot spring was in Hakata, by the pier with the red tower. Or something.<br /><br />Tomorrow's my last full day.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-3630624496240744702010-12-27T08:03:00.003-05:002010-12-27T08:18:35.226-05:00Returned "home"<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">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. </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://stompandchomp.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/uplark_tengen_toppa_gurren_lagann_viral_pvc_figure_2.jpg" target="_blank">This is the one I got</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">. It'll be in the mail.. someday. I got an email that it's processing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02497.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02497.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02500.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02500.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02504.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02504.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02507.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02507.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Also, videos.</span><br /><object style="font-family: verdana;" height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3Qct9r9-q4A?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3Qct9r9-q4A?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object><br /><object style="font-family: verdana;" height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AoQyQ-qUoM4?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AoQyQ-qUoM4?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object><br /><object style="font-family: verdana;" height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/un-icT98wPY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/un-icT98wPY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object><br /><object style="font-family: verdana;" height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bobFivcV6Ps?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bobFivcV6Ps?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-24496800146475386962010-12-26T04:32:00.003-05:002010-12-26T04:47:04.459-05:00Sensoji<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">So today we went to Sensoji to see the giant lantern and stuff. Here it is.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02461.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02461.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02466.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02466.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Also, a padoga.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02469.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02469.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And me!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02480.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02480.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Didn't really do much else so far. It was really crowded.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02464.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02464.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Tourists everywhere!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Also, there was a tiiiny amusement park and we're glad we didn't get our hopes up about it being awesome.<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/" target="_blank">More pictures</a><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-85893830621750650512010-12-24T07:38:00.004-05:002010-12-24T09:34:18.166-05:00Live, From Tokyo<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Pictures! The room is tiiiiny.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02415.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02415.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02413.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02413.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02419.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02419.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There's working internet though, obviously.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oh! And the first thing we saw while driving through Tokyo in the taxi waaaas...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02411.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02411.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A Dennys.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.<br /><br />Also, merry Christmas Eve. o uo<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02432.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02432.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br />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:<br /><br />And we found a restaurant that we often go to in Fukuoka. May end up trying it here too.<br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/?action=view&current=DSC02431.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Tokyo/th_DSC02431.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-69557506069628118692010-12-22T09:37:00.005-05:002010-12-22T10:20:37.933-05:00Toward the EndSo 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.<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02317.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02317.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02314.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02314.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=IMG_0413.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_IMG_0413.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br />My health class and teacher. (top) Dimitri, Jen, Brian, Meagan, me, Chris, Tess. (bottom) Allena, Edwina, Shinfuku sensei, Ayuki, Nancy, Don, Rebecca.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Random photos!<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02326.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02326.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02341.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02341.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02343.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02343.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br />Where I've been practically living the past few months.<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=92.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_92.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=91.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_91.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=90.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_90.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br />Going away party photos<br />Meagan, Chris, Allena, Me - Meagan, Me, Maki<br />Me, Chris, Meagan, Cayleen<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=82.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_82.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br />KFC for Christmas, anyone? "Yes!" reply all the Japanese.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-87586694498823704582010-12-13T00:49:00.000-05:002010-12-13T00:50:10.239-05:00Canal City Christmas<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So here's the video I couldn't get to upload properly yesterday.</span><br /><br /><object style="font-family: verdana;" height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7u46Q4x7-og?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7u46Q4x7-og?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-372265706057669732010-12-12T09:50:00.005-05:002010-12-12T10:36:56.184-05:00Going Away & Christmas<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/?action=view&current=DSC02250.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/th_DSC02250.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Though, Chris also got real food. So did Brian. It's curry with tuna and egg on top.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/?action=view&current=DSC02258.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/th_DSC02258.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And here is Chris's order and the giant one the rest of us split.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/?action=view&current=DSC02263.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/th_DSC02263.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/?action=view&current=DSC02265.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/th_DSC02265.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/?action=view&current=DSC02267.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/th_DSC02267.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/?action=view&current=DSC02276.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/th_DSC02276.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/?action=view&current=DSC02273.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/th_DSC02273.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">By the way, it was served with a shovel. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/?action=view&current=DSC02278.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/th_DSC02278.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/?action=view&current=DSC02283.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/th_DSC02283.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Also, KFC really is the place of choice for Christmas meals.</video></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/?action=view&current=DSC02281.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/IceCanal/th_DSC02281.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-34930109744753151552010-12-10T01:57:00.004-05:002010-12-10T02:09:03.937-05:00Class Party<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02218.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02218.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02219.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02219.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02221.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02221.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02224.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02224.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02225.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02225.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02227.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02227.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02228.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02228.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02229.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02229.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02230.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02230.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">2. Two mochi-like things on a stick, and tofu inside crunchy egg, with a green pepper.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">3. Tofu in soup. I couldn't eat this one.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">4. Doria. Cheese with rice beneath, and this one had lots of seasonings and shrimp in it. This was the main course; the rice.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">5. Coralie's eel rice and miso soup. She said it was delicious.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">6. My soybean ice cream.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">7. Coralie's soybean cake.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">8. Jen's mochi with a tea like taste.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And here's my class, minus Simon and Josh. Josh just skipped or something, and Simon's in Tokyo.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02232.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02232.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Top: Me, Jen, Abdul, Brice</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Bottom: Coralie, Linda, Daniela, Jo sensei, Tess, Ayuki, Rebecca</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And these are my teachers.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02210.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02210.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view&current=DSC02222.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC02222.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">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.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-51736037704455783082010-12-05T07:57:00.003-05:002010-12-05T08:05:04.604-05:00AccidentFinally, 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.<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u3nE5NNQcC8?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u3nE5NNQcC8?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-33008316429540327002010-11-22T02:17:00.005-05:002010-11-22T05:30:14.135-05:00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。<br /><br />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。<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/?action=view&current=DSC02103.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/th_DSC02103.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/?action=view&current=DSC02105.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/th_DSC02105.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/?action=view&current=DSC02094.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/th_DSC02094.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/?action=view&current=DSC02040.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/th_DSC02040.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/?action=view&current=DSC01960.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/th_DSC01960.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/?action=view&current=DSC01967.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/th_DSC01967.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/?action=view&current=DSC01901.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/th_DSC01901.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/?action=view&current=DSC02141.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/th_DSC02141.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a><br /><br />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。 <br /><br />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。<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/" target="_blank">もっとしゃしん</a><br /><br />-------<br />This Weekend2<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Sunday I slept. Then I ate Indian food. Then my friends and I watched Panty & Stocking. It's an anime. It was very interesting.<br /><br />This weekend was busy, but it was also fun.<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Zoo/" target="_blank">More pictures</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-12159776312627107052010-11-15T01:18:00.006-05:002010-11-15T09:47:33.958-05:00このしゅうまつしゅうまつはとてもたのしかったです。<br /><br />もくようびにラーメンをたべました。それから、ケーキのみせにいきました。とてもおいしかったです。チョコラテのケーキをたべました。それから、ともだちとボーリングにいきました。しんさんは、いちばんじょうずでした。もくようびはとてもたのしかったです。<br />きんようびに がくさいにいきました。しんさんとクリスとクライストとブラインとメイガンもいきました。おもしろかったです。それから、ともだちとうどんをたべました。それから、クリスとDexterをみました。Dexterがすきです。<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/?action=view¤t=DSC01733.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/th_DSC01733.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/?action=view¤t=DSC01751.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/th_DSC01751.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/?action=view¤t=DSC01772.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/th_DSC01772.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/?action=view¤t=DSC01778.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/th_DSC01778.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a><br /><br />どようびはとてもいそがしかったです。クリスとクライストとしんさんとスペースワールドにいきました。ジェットコースターにのりました。タイタンはいちばんおもしろいジェットコースターです。ビデオをとりました。それから、スイーツパラダイスにいきました。スパゲテイとケーキをたべました。とてもおいしかったです。<br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/?action=view¤t=DSC01785.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/th_DSC01785.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/?action=view¤t=DSC01794.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/th_DSC01794.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/?action=view¤t=DSC01804.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/th_DSC01804.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/?action=view¤t=DSC01872.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/th_DSC01872.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/?action=view¤t=DSC01876.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/th_DSC01876.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a><br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X4MlGCYm6S4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X4MlGCYm6S4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/Weekend/" target="_blank">もっとしゃしん</a><br /><br />にちようびに べんきょうしました。それからねました。<br /><br />しゅまつはいそがしかったです。そして、たのしかったです。私はうれしいです。Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-27195722252733054122010-11-01T03:08:00.010-04:002010-11-01T03:52:04.481-04:00Halloween Party<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sup guys. Time for a real update, sort of.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So Saturday I had to go to a field trip with the Natural World class. We went to a mountain to look at rice paddy's. We easily were distracted by Simon's new pet and a crab that made one of the teachers scream. Then Alecs picked it up. We also got lost on the way, missing the turn and driving up a mountain path that scraped both sides of the car and eventually turned rocky and too steep to drive up. There was also a creepy abandoned car, barking dogs in the distance, and no cell phone service.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view¤t=DSC01308.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC01308.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view¤t=DSC01312.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC01312.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view¤t=DSC01345.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC01345.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view¤t=DSC01356.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC01356.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view¤t=DSC01350b.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC01350b.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/?action=view¤t=DSC01327.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/th_DSC01327.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" ></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Then we went to the Halloween party in the I-House. It was pretty cool. Food, candy, drinks, music playing, everyone in costume. Ours was ridiculous. We were Seinan Senshi/Seinan Soldiers, kind of like Sailor Moon. We got the idea when Meagan saw the masks in the dollar store, so we went with it. They even had a villian one for Chris, and he bought dynamite that I didn't realize actually exploded out confetti and smoke. He shot me close range, I screamed in alarm, and everyone stared and went dead silent. They thought I'd really been shot or something. After the party we went out for a while then came back and watched Silent Hill. It wasn't that scary... so Sunday we watched テケテケ, a movie about a creature drawn to red that kills people. It wasn't really scary at all either.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/?action=view&current=H24.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/th_H24.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/?action=view&current=H23.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/th_H23.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/?action=view&current=H06.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/th_H06.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/?action=view&current=H09.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/th_H09.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/?action=view&current=H03.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/th_H03.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/?action=view&current=H02.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/th_H02.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/HalloweenParty/" target="_blank">Link to more pictures.</a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">As far as long ago things go, I tried to upload the Kyoto trip pictures but didn't get them all there. But they are on facebook if you want to go seek them out. Here are a couple to tide you over.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/KyotoTrip/?action=view&current=DSC00824.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/KyotoTrip/th_DSC00824.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/KyotoTrip/?action=view&current=DSC00752.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/KyotoTrip/th_DSC00752.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/KyotoTrip/?action=view&current=DSC00761.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/KyotoTrip/th_DSC00761.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/KyotoTrip/?action=view&current=DSC00855.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/KyotoTrip/th_DSC00855.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> Shabu-shabu dinner. We put the meat and veggies in the water/sauce and it cooked</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://s1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/KyotoTrip/?action=view&current=DSC00996.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa408/spazzieinJapan2/KyotoTrip/th_DSC00996.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> Train station interior</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-29376868599614634962010-10-27T12:06:00.003-04:002010-10-27T12:08:57.720-04:00<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">So I never posted pictures, but I have done this:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ASFhycz7w1k?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ASFhycz7w1k?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Other things I've done:</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">-Bowling</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">-Aimless shopping</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">-Found Root Beer and Cherry Coke</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">-Biked in a typhoon</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">-Learned I can't actually stay the whole year</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">-Decided to plan a hotspring trip</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">-Possible Tokyo/Okinawa trips<br />-Turned down possible job at daycare<br />-Started cooking own meals in the dorm<br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-1771527502341966202010-10-08T02:13:00.004-04:002010-10-08T03:02:45.654-04:00Kyoto and Stuff<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Don't have time to add pictures and stuff now. This will either be edited or I'll make a new post. Most likely the latter.<br /><br />Sooo, went to Kyoto a weekend or two ago. Started off with meeting by the cafeteria and loading up on a bus. Went to the train station. Got on the shinkansen for a few hours. That's the super fast bullet train. Took a bus to Nara and went to a temple. We fed deer. That's really the most interesting part that I remember. But we went to Kofukuji and Todaiji temples. Then arrival at the hotel and check in before leaving for dinner. It was shabu-shabu, which is kind of a hot pot. One side has water, the other some kind of broth. You get a plate of veggies and one of meat and you cook them. Endless food and drink. They didn't provide us with a ride home after so we had to walk back to the hotel through the dark. I was with Jeremy and Julien though, and both are advanced Japanese speakers, so we made it back fine.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Saturday we woke up and went to Sanju-sangendo, then to the Kyoto International Manga Museum. Lunch at a random hotel that wasn't our hotel, for some reason, then back on the bus to visit Nijyojyo castle and then Kinkakuji, which is a golden temple that actually looked really cool. Then we got free time to feed ourselves that night, and went to bed. Though, most everyone went to Osaka, me, Chris, Christ, Brian, and Mitch stayed at the hotel and watched the Watchmen.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Next morning we get up and check out of our rooms, leaving our bags in the lobby. Then we wandered around 'til it was really time to leave WikiBrian took us to a nearby temple and the most fun part there was that there were pigeons everywhere and you could feed them. So we fed pigeons all morning. Got back on the bus, I got sick and still am sick a week or so later with the same cold (though it's going away), and we rode back to the train station, got back on the Shinkansen, arrived at a foreign station, and once more Nogami-san said "well, that's it. Find your own way home" and then he left us. But, we made it back.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And that was the Kyoto trip. I definitely prefer Fukuoka. Kyoto is full of tourists, is crowded, is hard to find your way around in, and we kept getting ditched by our adviser. It was a lot of rushing between temples to tour too, and each one was stuffed full of tourists. We'd get about 1.5 hours at each and by the end we'd all be in this big group sitting around waiting to leave again. We never stayed entertained for the full time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I need to figure out how to send postcards, how much it'll be, and also where to find some neat ones.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The week after Kyoto was pretty laid back. Didn't do much exciting. Just going out to find new places to eat at and stuff. I'm going to get on photobucket and make a new account for more pictures. My posts are too plain and photo-less now. Then I'll have things to talk about once I see pictures I've taken since I've last posted some.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-92008252615307944932010-09-23T14:00:00.003-04:002010-09-23T14:04:41.964-04:00Kyoto<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What have I done lately? This week went by so quickly because I only had two classes. Natural world, we spent watching a video that was actually narrated in English. Then I had my Japanese writing class on Wednesday. We finished learning Hiragana and are about to move on to katakana.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Uh, it really is hard to think of what I did. Just the usual stuff. Had an anime night tonight. Made people watch Ouran High School Host Club. Christ likes it, Mitch didn't watch, Chris and Brian cringed a bit. I giggled. One of my favorite animes right there.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then I left to shower and sleep. Ended up also packing and taking out the trash, then settling online to update this. We're leaving for Kyoto in 4.5 hours so I really need to get a move on with that sleeping thing. I'm not sure why it's so troublesome to manage.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Kyoto trip seems like it'll involve a lot of tour busing. Friday and Saturday we have 6 hour tours to go on. We're taking the shinkansen to get there in the first place, which is the super fast bullet train. Friday night we have the group endless drink and food dinner, with the shabu-shabu hot pots as well. Saturday we're turned loose to find our own dinner. Sunday we get a lot of free time until the ride back home. We'll see how this trip goes. Should be fun</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-89991808450655613262010-09-20T08:49:00.001-04:002010-09-20T09:35:01.281-04:00Update<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So... haven't posted in a while again. Finally uploaded some images to help me figure out what I need to say. Though, I've already reached the limit in photobucket. Whoops.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Went to that festival with people. Then we went to this castle during a night bike ride. Got back just in time for a group picture of the dorm. Saturday I had class in the morning but the vocab quiz was postponed so I don't have to worry about it again for a while, since I don't have that class this week. Then we went to a Softbank Hawks baseball game. We left because it was 4 to 1 and we were losing and Brian was restless. So we went to the mall next door and shopped around, and later found out that they'd pulled off a comeback win. Also missed out on taking pictures on the baseball field, which kind of bothered me, but I guess it's alright.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">We did something at midnight, got back and found out people were deciding to head out at 3am to bike to a park. So we joined in, which meant me, Chris, Christ, Brian, Abdul, Alecs, Aliyah, Edwina, Jennifer, Roxane, and maybe a couple more I'm blanking on went out. The park was crazy. The first one had an Eiffel Tower of ropes to climb up. The second had rope bridges and tunnels that skinned us up as we raced through them. We played freeze tag on the playground and you couldn't touch the ground so it was tough.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then we decided to bike to a place to watch the sunrise and lost everyone but Brian, Aliyah, Chris, Christ, and myself. On the way we heard a dog barking ahead from the dark, Christ panicked and screamed to run for it, and we realized a short while later that it was just a puppy that wanted attention. We got to the beach and sat on a wall to watch the sun come up, then headed off to a pancake place only to find that they only offered a breakfast buffet at that time and it didn't involve pancakes. So we left and returned home to sleep.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Woke up, did stuff. I hardly remember what. No class Monday so we slept in, then biked to Tenjin and went shopping. Chris bought a bike so he could go with us without constantly borrowing. Me and Mitch stocked up a bit on Mountain Dew because there's a machine in Tenjin with it. I have three cans in my fridge now. About to meet to watch either Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle because several people haven't seen it. Not sure whose room we're going to do it in, so I have to go check that out.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I thought I only had class Tuesday this week, but I have one on Wednesday too. I forgot that I have two different Japanese teachers then and only one canceled. Oh well, that's still not too bad.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-70505787658351439092010-09-16T16:04:00.003-04:002010-09-16T16:13:23.210-04:00Blah<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Haven't done much lately. Haven't uploaded pictures either. That'll be done sometime that is not now. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Just wanted to say that I went to a festival the other day. It was just rows and rows of tents selling food, merchandise, or games. There were a couple haunted houses, but we didn't go in. Aki and Shin took us, so we had real Japanese guides to show us around and help us navigate the train. It wasn't as bad as the fireworks one getting home. We weren't stuffed in and squeezed front to back, since then everyone had left at once and here people just left when they felt like it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There was a shrine at the festival too.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Uh... I bought a bike today. Almost everyone in the I-House has one, and if you don't, you get left behind. People bike to Tenjin now. That saves us 500 yen every time. An hour walk there is 20 minutes on bike. We're more inclined to go out to places because biking is so much faster. It's pretty great. I'll let anyone who cares to try guess the color of the bike I got. It's awesome and I want to take it home somehow. But it sucks going uphill.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Then we went to this place with a giant USA flag above the door. It was Texas themed. The waitress wore a cowboy hat, as did the cooks, and they served steak and burgers. Except, the burgers had no buns, and both were served on a bed of bean sprouts. Otherwise, it could've passed as a resemblance of home, though it definitely tasted great. My burger slab had cheese cooked right in.<br /><br />Next we did homework, watched a Very Potter Musical Sequel, I showered, and now I'm about to crawl into bed.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Not sure what the plans are tomorrow. Class and then paying my rent at the bank. Dinner somewhere, bed... then wake up for Saturday classes. Japan sucks in that regard. You don't tip, everything can be biked or walked to, tons of other cool things, but you have to make up missed classes on Saturday, even when the teacher is the reason they were canceled in the first place. Another thing is, I don't think you can take home leftovers from restaurants. I've never seen anyone do it.<br /><br />Oh, but classes are canceled on the 20th and 23rd for holidays. Then Friday we're leaving for Kyoto at 7:50am so we're skipping that day of classes as well. I hope we won't have to make those up...<br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-24226004551631364212010-09-13T15:35:00.004-04:002010-09-13T15:56:05.570-04:00Update<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">So, haven't posted in some time now. Haven't done too much really. Friday was spent lazing around. We played a lot of Brawl mostly. Saturday we biked to Tenjin, but biking was difficult and I was left behind for a long while. Caught up and they immediately said "Ashley's here, now we can leave!" We'd gone to a book store. But, I went inside with Brian and Chris and got manga adaptions of Miyazaki's Spirited Away since they had the whole set and each book was $1 about. The rest of the group went to eat nearby, so then we headed off to return to the dorm.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-9-1101.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-9-1101.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Everyone has a bike. I kind of feel like I need one too because if you're walking and everyone else is riding, you're left behind and ignored. But, I won't until I found out some things, like if I get to stay for the year.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There, me, Chris, and Brian gathered up Christian, who'd had to give up on the bike trip 'cause his tire had a hole, and we went to some crowded, noisy Japanese food place. After a late night swim at the beach to follow and a couple card games, we headed to bed.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-9-1105.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-9-1105.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sunday... another lazy day? I hardly remember doing anything. Just went to Sunny for food. Didn't even bother eating out.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Monday, had my single Beginning Japanese class of the day. Lunch in the cafeteria. Around 5 we headed to the public library to see what it's like. It was closed so we decided to walk to this pretty far off mall to look for food. Ended up being a shopping mall with only two food choices; an expensive cafe, or McDonalds. We finally caved and ate at McDonalds. I have to say, it wasn't bad. We got big burgers and lots of fries, but small drinks. I had a teriyaki burger, and it was wonderful. Then we walked to the closer mall because I'd found a hat I wanted and we wanted to find a cheaper one. We ended up finding the same exact hat for a bit less, so I bought it. couldn't help myself. I've been searching for a hat for forever.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-9-1313.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-9-1313.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-9-1320.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-9-1320.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-9-1327.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-9-1327.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-9-1332.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-9-1332.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Umm... Then we headed back and watched Pirates of the Caribbean 1 while Brian and Christ decided they wanted to straighten my hair. And now bed.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-1775520373638346792010-09-09T13:45:00.005-04:002010-09-09T14:38:22.111-04:00Hmm<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">What have I dooone lately? Uh, Thursday. Thursday is my long day. I start at nine and end at.. something. But today my last class was canceled. Normally that'd be awesome, except here when a class is canceled, it's made up on a Saturday. So I'm not very thrilled about that.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm supposed to go to some free baseball game on the 18th, but I have two make up classes that day and I have no idea what time any of those three things start at.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Christ keeps braiding my hair, begging me to seriously dress as Laura Croft, so that may be more than just something I say and never return to.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">At some point I played badmitten with Chris and all of the French kids (Corallie, Brice, Linda, Thibaut). Andrey and Alecs joined in later, but it was pretty awesome fun.<br /><br />That day we also went to an Italian place for some food resembling home. We tried to find the source of the good smelling place the day before that and ended up at an Indian place.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-809.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-809.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-805.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-805.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Forms are due tomorrow to extend my stay here to a year. Waiting to hear back from my school if there is room for me to do that. Meanwhile, I'm turning in what I have ready tomorrow to the office. Er, I guess it's today now. I'm not really sure how the time passes so quickly. We go do homework in someone's room and suddenly it's 4am. It's only 3 right now though. But, we're already talking about how miserable we'll be back home after all the stuff we're constantly doing here. Uugghh...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">ANYWAY. Tonight we tried something new for dinner. I had my first sushi! We went to the conveyor belt places, where the sushi goes by and you grab what you want. Though, we kind of just ordered specifically what we wanted. I had 2 tempura, other shrimp, and tankotsu, which is pork. Each plate had two sushi on it and it was pretty awesome. The tempura was my favorite, followed by the pork, because both of those were warm and cooked, not cold and raw.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-906.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-906.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-905.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-905.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-909.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-909.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">On the way out, we noticed an ABC Mart in the mall and rushed over. Christ and I had made a deal to buy awesome shoes at some point before heading home. Well, we did. The ones I got were on sale for about half off, putting them at around $31, which I thought wasn't too bad all things considered. Besides, they're awesome.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-915.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-915.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Let's see... after that is when we got back and jumped right into homework. I have three classes tomorrow, one of which involves a presentation on America's health problems.<br /><br />Heading to bed now... but first one more picture.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/2010-803.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_2010-803.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-51108486797626722882010-09-07T14:47:00.004-04:002010-09-07T14:52:45.364-04:00Lazy Day<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Today I did nothing. We went nowhere. I went to class, then sat in my room until I was retrieved. We went to a little shop while waiting for others to end class. There was one of those seats with the storage space inside, so I peeked in... and there was a helmet with a head inside it in the seat. It was terrifying.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Then we gathered up people and went to find the source of a good smell we often walk by. We ended up at an Indian place. There seem to be quite a few around. While there, we realized that Chris says baggle instead of bagel. He followed the scene perfectly, so much that I first thought he was faking it. "You're saying bagel wrong." "No, I'm saying it the same way you are!" "Bagel." "Yeah, baggle!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">If you don't know what I mean, watch this.<br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WmFwD2n7Ojg?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WmFwD2n7Ojg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Anyway, we watched the last Lord of the Rings movie, then Christ braided my hair and begged me to dress as Laura Croft or whatever from Tomb Raider for Halloween because my hair's so long. Meanwhile, Brian was staring fixedly at me as he examined me and envisioned the type of make over he wants me to try. Apparently he's really good at dressing up girls, and I'm his newest target.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I also need money to pay for my dorm, and for my school to reply to my email so I can extend my stay, because they haven't and I feel lost and nervous. I need to get this stuff turned in.<br /><br />Oh, and that typhoon that was supposed to hit? We got like.. a little gust of wind and sprinkled showers of rain.<br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-1724979171450337462010-09-06T14:39:00.003-04:002010-09-06T14:51:21.318-04:00Typhoons<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">So apparently it's Typhoon season, and one's supposed to hit tonight and continue on pouring well into tomorrow. We have to watch the school website to see if it causes a class cancellation. Though here, that just means it'll be made up on a Saturday. Still, everyone's hoping for it. The eye of the storm was supposed to go right over us, but then it veered off, so I don't really think we'll get such horrible weather that classes will be called off. Though, I can hear the wind hitting at my window a bit.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Anyway, today was... uneventful? Had Japanese class again. We had to answer questions into a microphone and it was recorded so we could listen to it later or something and compare to how much we've improved. We also had a quiz and I </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >think</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> I did pretty well on it. We'll see on Wednesday, probably. Tomorrow all I have is Natural World.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But after class we went to Tenjin, where we ended up eating at a burger place. I found out I can't handle greasy foods anymore, or something. It upset my tummy pretty badly. Anyway, while we were eating we heard this man suddenly go "GAIJIN" really loudly, which means foreigner, so all our heads jerked around toward him. Then he asked where we were from. We said America, and he replied with "I thought all Americans were large". I guess that's a compliment..? It surprised us, in any case. It was an older man with a college looking kid with him.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/DSC00520.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_DSC00520.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/DSC00521.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/GeneralJapan/th_DSC00521.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Christ looked at shoes and we decided we're going to someday buy horribly colorful shoes for ourselves, Brian bought a shirt, and I got mountain dew from a vending machine to take back. Only got two though.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Then we ended up watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, to continue from the first that we watched last week or something. It's now pretty late and I've showered and am ready for bed. So goodnight!</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-88786569241360471562010-09-05T14:12:00.006-04:002010-09-05T15:04:47.282-04:00Fireworks, Shrines, and Extensions<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">So, Saturday... What did I do? Nothing really. Woke up, went with Christ to Hotto Motto for lunch. It's an obento (lunch box) place. Um... oh! I went to a fireworks festival. The cost and time of travel wasn't really equivalent to the fireworks though. Like, we left at 6pm and got back.. probably closer to midnight? But they were neat. They had huge ones and the hundreds of people there would make sounds of awe in union at every one of them. Some fireworks were smiley faces or heart shaped too.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/101_1680.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/th_101_1680.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/101_1682.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/th_101_1682.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />But you know how you always hear about people being stuffed onto Japanese trains and things? It was like that. There were a ton of people there and no room on the train. So a girl grabbed my bag to make sure I stayed with them and pulled me onto the train behind them, where I was squished up against two people; Jeff and some random Japanese guy, with a random girl pushed into my back. It was really awkward, since with the train's constantly stopping and going, everyone on board would rock and sway into everyone else. It was really hot and awkward and scary.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Anyway, instead of going to bed after getting back so late, I got online, Skyped a little about extending my stay to a year, and then was dragged off to the beach, at midnight, to go swimming. It was actually a lot of fun. We stayed for a few hours. More I-House people kept showing up. We swam and joked until we realized we were freezing and finally headed back. But not before Alecs had dug a massive hole and we'd buried Christ in it.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/101_1684.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/th_101_1684.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/101_1689.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/th_101_1689.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Then, a 3am Sunny's run left us with various sweet breads and sugar highs, so we watched TV on someone's computer and finally crashed around 5:30am.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Then today, Sunday, we woke up and went with Christ's friend Eri to a shrine. Chris came along too, as well as one of Eri's friends. We met at the dorm, then hopped on various trains and ended up at an Italian place for lunch. Then we got on another train and went to the shrine, where there was also a museum. We prayed at the shrine for good luck and drew fortunes. I got the littlest amount of luck so I had to tie mine up with others in the hopes it'd increase later, or something. It was actually really cool though. Christ and Chris both got the luckiest luck so they kept theirs on them.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/39.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/th_39.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/37.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/th_37.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/38.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/th_38.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/DSC00513.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/th_DSC00513.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/DSC00429.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/th_DSC00429.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/DSC00479.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/th_DSC00479.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We also tried mochi, which is kind of like this stretchy, chewy rice paste/dough filled with bean paste. It was alright.<br /><br />For more pictures, visit <a href="http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/FireworksAndShrine/" target="_blank">this album</a>.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Got back, hung out in the lobby then met on my floor's lounge to work on homework. I realized quickly that I'd accidentally already done mine thinking it was due my previous class on Friday so all I had to do was study. But there's kind of a lot, though I know large chunks of it already. We have our first lesson quiz today. I'm not really sure why I'm still awake.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We all studied together for quite a long time until I realized I was falling asleep and left. But taking out my contacts always makes me briefly feel wide awake again so I'm waiting for that feeling to pass and uploading more pictures. Hooray?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Seriously working on the steps to extend my stay for a year. I remember having complications trying to get the proof of my money last time so I guess I really need to get on that again.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-24181172403333210262010-09-04T01:30:00.002-04:002010-09-04T01:34:50.517-04:00Friday~~<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Title says Friday but this was made Saturday. I guess that's alright. Um, yesterday marked the completion of our first full week of class. I had Japanese in the morning first, because Health was canceled since the teacher's at a conference in.. Hong Kong? Or something. All the professors seem to be constantly wandering off on conferences around the world.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">After Japanese was manga class, though we didn't watch a movie so it was kind of a let down and more boring than last week's. Disappointment.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's like... 2:30pm here right now. I'm about to head downstairs and see what people are doing, if anything. Or maybe I'll just wait for Christ to answer my mail asking the same question.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh, I'm already regretting the decision to return the futon. It actually did help. The bed was still hard with it, but without the mattress is a rock and it's painful. I'm pretty sure I have some bruises from laying on it. I wonder if some place would have cheap bed pad things that I could get... I might have to check on that later. Haven't yet paid my dorm rent and stuff for this month either, but I did withdraw the money to get it done so I may do that today too.<br /><br />Still debating the one year thing, though I'm running out of time to submit it. I may, I may not. I don't know.<br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2227181018964605317.post-2601746731209848042010-09-02T13:17:00.006-04:002010-09-02T13:31:28.897-04:00Canal City II<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">So, went back to Canal City. Mitch and Christ hadn't gone, and apparently neither had Jeremy so they all came too. We ended up with a group of ten or so, 'til Robin mysteriously disappeared.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was in class all day. 9am to 6:20pm. I am exhausted and I still have a CD to listen to. But it'll be really easy so I'm taking a blog/picture post/shower break. So I started with psychology, chapel break, beginning Japanese I, lunch break, intercultural communications, beginning Japanese III, and finally ended with economics. Apparently we're taking a trip to Nagasaki that day, so that should be cool. The communications class is going to this big rival baseball match between schools or something too, but it's over the weekend, as an extra thing. We were all excited to go until we realized it's the Sunday we'll be in Kyoto. Oh well, I guess.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">After class we went to the dorm, swapped books for cameras, and headed back out. So, took the subway back to Canal City. It's the stop after Tenjin, and it starts with a G, but I keep forgetting what it's called. Goin, maybe? I'm not sure. But we started with the Pokemon Center again where some people stocked up. I got a Jirachi 'cause it's super cute. Jeremy got one, and three others including Roark and Arceus. I forget what the last was.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/DSC00318.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/th_DSC00318.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/DSC00312.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/th_DSC00312.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/DSC00327.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/th_DSC00327.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/DSC00328.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/th_DSC00328.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/DSC00330.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/th_DSC00330.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/DSC00331.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/th_DSC00331.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Um, then we wandered the mall a bit. Canal City is a giant mall, by the way. We found a store full of Miyazaki stuff from all his movies and I finally got my phone a keychain strap thing. I am no longer a social outcast! Mine is the cat with the strawberry that's on the far left of this picture:<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/DSC00344.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/th_DSC00344.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Christian got one of the little forest sprite things from Princess Mononoke.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We ended up getting ramen, which I'm kind of getting tired off. It had a strong smell too, and not in a good way. That's where Robin disappeared. He's allergic to meat or something, and ramen's cooked in fish.. broth or something like that. But instead of saying he was going, he just vanished. He was lurking outside and then poofed. I haven't seen him since and am assuming he made it home.<br /><br /><a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/DSC00346.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/th_DSC00346.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/DSC00347.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/th_DSC00347.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/DSC00348.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/th_DSC00348.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We finally left a while later too, then had a mini-study party of me, Chris, Christ, and Brian in Brian's room. I did all my homework except for the CD listening, since Brian's laptop doesn't have a CD drive for some reason.<br /><br />I'm on Skype right now kind of lingering to see if anyone will get online. This blog's time settings are wrong and I need to fix it, but it's currently just about 2:30am on Friday morning. I need to shower after this, then listen to the CD real quick and get to bed. I don't have class until 1pm tomorrow, but I'm meeting people for lunch at noon. I also have to pay this month's rent and fees tomorrow or so too.<br /><br /><a href="http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/ab159/spazzieinJapan/Canal%20City/Trip2/?start=0" target="_blank">More pictures here</a>.<br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0