Big entry catching up on the rest of November! Nikko trip, Thanksgiving, and other things!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Same as Nagano trip, meet in Kaihin at 8:30 to get on the bus. This time we only had one bus since a lot less people went on this trip, which by the time I got on it was mostly full. I semi-unknowingly made Joe give me the seat next to him he had been saving for Chris... oh no! But he'd brought his laptop and we watched Enemy of the State for most of the way down. So intense!! I got really into it and it distracted me completely.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
DisneySea + the rest of the week
Wednesday, November 15
DisneySea report!! wooohooo. :) At 10 am I met Deborah, Matt, Casey, Joe and Adam outside Maihama Station. From there we got on the Disney Resort Line monorail train (which costs money!!! It so should not. 200 yen, what a ripoff!) and rode it to the DisneySea stop, where we got off, bought tickets, and went in!! yaaayyy :D
DisneySea report!! wooohooo. :) At 10 am I met Deborah, Matt, Casey, Joe and Adam outside Maihama Station. From there we got on the Disney Resort Line monorail train (which costs money!!! It so should not. 200 yen, what a ripoff!) and rode it to the DisneySea stop, where we got off, bought tickets, and went in!! yaaayyy :D
Saturday, November 18, 2006
So my iPod broke and I had to order a new one from the Japan site, which got here on Thursday. I really prefer my old one.... but oh well, there's no way I can use it again, so I'm just going to have to get used to this new one. At least it has a cool engraving on the back that I got for free!
Saturday this past weekend was our Ladies Night Out for the women of IES. Organized mainly by Allie and Harsha, they invited all the girls in IES, and about 18 of us showed up. We dressed up nice (everyone wore the cocktail dresses they had brought with them... why didn't I bring mine? I have one that would have been perfect... AT HOME, agh) and hung out in Shibuya. It was really fun and cool.
princess fire-dogThat's the literal meaning-translation of my first and last name, hahaha.
Saturday this past weekend was our Ladies Night Out for the women of IES. Organized mainly by Allie and Harsha, they invited all the girls in IES, and about 18 of us showed up. We dressed up nice (everyone wore the cocktail dresses they had brought with them... why didn't I bring mine? I have one that would have been perfect... AT HOME, agh) and hung out in Shibuya. It was really fun and cool.
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Nagano: A tale of public baths, apples, and MONKEYS
Naganooooo! At last.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Everyone met up at Kaihin Makuhari outside of the building IES is in at 8:30 (ahhhh early), where we had two buses ready to go. We loaded up our stuff and got on the buses. The bus I was on was totally the cool bus (hahaha), we just tended to have more fun amusing people than it seemed the other bus had (and some unsavory characters like Jakub, but you know). On the way there Lisa and I listened to the Avenue Q soundtrack (the good songs, anyway) most of which she hadn't heard, which was good times. :D We stopped twice along the way at service areas (the second time for lunch, yumm katsu curry), where we quickly discovered the awesomeness of fruit-flavored ice cream. Oh myyy, blueberry & vanilla was the first one I got, and then apple! Sooo goooooddd.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Everyone met up at Kaihin Makuhari outside of the building IES is in at 8:30 (ahhhh early), where we had two buses ready to go. We loaded up our stuff and got on the buses. The bus I was on was totally the cool bus (hahaha), we just tended to have more fun amusing people than it seemed the other bus had (and some unsavory characters like Jakub, but you know). On the way there Lisa and I listened to the Avenue Q soundtrack (the good songs, anyway) most of which she hadn't heard, which was good times. :D We stopped twice along the way at service areas (the second time for lunch, yumm katsu curry), where we quickly discovered the awesomeness of fruit-flavored ice cream. Oh myyy, blueberry & vanilla was the first one I got, and then apple! Sooo goooooddd.
Monday, November 6, 2006
(Nagano update coming very soon! really!)
mmmm, I love going to the grocery store. I just got my favorite vanilla yogurt, this really good instant pasta soup, CREAM CHEESE FOR THE BAGELS I NOW HAVE YAY BAGELS, and chocolate (yes). Oh and the bread with like a hot dog and some cheese or whatever in the middle, sounds disgusting but is GOOD.
Wednesday night after work I went over to my host family's house, mainly to give them the omiyage (souvenirs) I got in Nagano. They also had an omiyage for me, these blueberry things, but unfortunately (ahhh!) I left it at their house. wah!! They were individually wrapped so they might still be good when I see them again in a couple weeks. We're going to this... art museum thing an hour away by train, and also to the Chiba Zoo at some point in the future as well. Zoo!!! :D I also realized that I booked my ending flight date wrong, Dec. 19th when it should be the 17th, but fortunately they said I can stay with them during the extra days, which is a relief. I'm not sure how I'm going to get to the airport from their house (where I live now isn't exactly convenient for that either), but I'll figure that out later. I might have to take the limousine bus, even though it'll be expensive... the train requires like 4 transfers, and I'm gonna have all or half of my stuff with me. :/
Oh, but the thing that was noticeable about their house is that it was completely messy. Which is not an insult at all, I was really pleased. It means they left it how it normally is; they didn't try to clear away the mess for the benefit of a guest. I think that can be interpreted to mean that I'm not considered a guest; I visit often enough that they don't need to tidy up for me. This is their normal life. That makes me really happy, I'm always glad when that happens because I don't like to just visit a place, I like to live there so I can really get the feel of it, so being considered a normal part of something is just wonderful for me. :) I'm glad that I got to come back and see them again. It's really nice getting to meet up with them a couple times a month. I think I'm going to miss them a LOT when I have to go back and I won't know when I'll see them again! Because I don't know when I'll be back in Japan! I'll just have to make sure Bekah comes here to study abroad or whatever and then I have an excuse to visit. :)
The IES Halloween party was Thursday night and it was pretty fun for like the hour or so I actually attended of it. I brought along some random clothes, not really sure what I would be, but then I found someone to be: Priscilla! One of the other girls here. It really did look like something she would wear (her fashion style is a bit distinctive, short skirts and semi-gothic etc). So I just told everyone I was Priscilla, and everyone thought it was funny. It's always nice when random impromptu costumes turn out well.
Friday night I met Lisa, Allie, Matt K, Marius, Priscilla and Anna in Shibuya at Hachiko (along with half of Tokyo) for karaoke. We didn't have a specific place in mind so we let this guy on the street hustle us into one (haha!). 2000y per person for 2 hours of karaoke, that's not really too bad actually. It was, of course, lots of fun. Lots of singing of songs everyone knew so we all get into it.
This weekend has been our holiday (for Meikai people), there wasn't school on Thursday, Friday nor today. I've just spent most of that time chilling at home. I browsed through Aly and Brette's Tokyo travel guides and discovered all this cool stuff I want to do, like Ferris wheels and pretty gardens and stuff. I'm dying to see all the chrysanthemums in bloom. Aly also told me about this really fun roller coaster she went on near the Tokyo Dome in Korakuen. I want to ride it!! I dunno when I'll get to do that, corraling people is hard sometimes, but I'm gonna try!
mmmm, I love going to the grocery store. I just got my favorite vanilla yogurt, this really good instant pasta soup, CREAM CHEESE FOR THE BAGELS I NOW HAVE YAY BAGELS, and chocolate (yes). Oh and the bread with like a hot dog and some cheese or whatever in the middle, sounds disgusting but is GOOD.
Wednesday night after work I went over to my host family's house, mainly to give them the omiyage (souvenirs) I got in Nagano. They also had an omiyage for me, these blueberry things, but unfortunately (ahhh!) I left it at their house. wah!! They were individually wrapped so they might still be good when I see them again in a couple weeks. We're going to this... art museum thing an hour away by train, and also to the Chiba Zoo at some point in the future as well. Zoo!!! :D I also realized that I booked my ending flight date wrong, Dec. 19th when it should be the 17th, but fortunately they said I can stay with them during the extra days, which is a relief. I'm not sure how I'm going to get to the airport from their house (where I live now isn't exactly convenient for that either), but I'll figure that out later. I might have to take the limousine bus, even though it'll be expensive... the train requires like 4 transfers, and I'm gonna have all or half of my stuff with me. :/
Oh, but the thing that was noticeable about their house is that it was completely messy. Which is not an insult at all, I was really pleased. It means they left it how it normally is; they didn't try to clear away the mess for the benefit of a guest. I think that can be interpreted to mean that I'm not considered a guest; I visit often enough that they don't need to tidy up for me. This is their normal life. That makes me really happy, I'm always glad when that happens because I don't like to just visit a place, I like to live there so I can really get the feel of it, so being considered a normal part of something is just wonderful for me. :) I'm glad that I got to come back and see them again. It's really nice getting to meet up with them a couple times a month. I think I'm going to miss them a LOT when I have to go back and I won't know when I'll see them again! Because I don't know when I'll be back in Japan! I'll just have to make sure Bekah comes here to study abroad or whatever and then I have an excuse to visit. :)
The IES Halloween party was Thursday night and it was pretty fun for like the hour or so I actually attended of it. I brought along some random clothes, not really sure what I would be, but then I found someone to be: Priscilla! One of the other girls here. It really did look like something she would wear (her fashion style is a bit distinctive, short skirts and semi-gothic etc). So I just told everyone I was Priscilla, and everyone thought it was funny. It's always nice when random impromptu costumes turn out well.
Friday night I met Lisa, Allie, Matt K, Marius, Priscilla and Anna in Shibuya at Hachiko (along with half of Tokyo) for karaoke. We didn't have a specific place in mind so we let this guy on the street hustle us into one (haha!). 2000y per person for 2 hours of karaoke, that's not really too bad actually. It was, of course, lots of fun. Lots of singing of songs everyone knew so we all get into it.
This weekend has been our holiday (for Meikai people), there wasn't school on Thursday, Friday nor today. I've just spent most of that time chilling at home. I browsed through Aly and Brette's Tokyo travel guides and discovered all this cool stuff I want to do, like Ferris wheels and pretty gardens and stuff. I'm dying to see all the chrysanthemums in bloom. Aly also told me about this really fun roller coaster she went on near the Tokyo Dome in Korakuen. I want to ride it!! I dunno when I'll get to do that, corraling people is hard sometimes, but I'm gonna try!
Saturday, November 4, 2006
Hmm, I just go up and down about how I feel about my Japanese skills. I'll do just fine at work having things explained to me completely in Japanese, and then I'll go humilate myself at Subway by somehow not expressing that I wanted my food to go (the question I dread the most at restaurants because I still don't know the phrase or the proper replies) and so had to carry my sandwich & cookie back without a bag. Something that struck me as truly terrible and proof of an embarrassing lack of proper Japanese knowledge!!
And then I will randomly discover that I can read manga a lot better than I thought I could. In fact, I might be able to graduate to actually reading it raw, something I had previously thought was impossible for me. It's easy enough online when I can turn on Rikaichan and have kanji & unknown words automatically looked up for me, but it's different with paper of course. And as much as I procrastinate about studying the kanji we learn in class they are probably the #1 most important thing for me to be actually paying attention to. And this just opens up worlds of possibilities, I could actually buy a Japanese manga/novel and read it without needing scanlations. Just now I read the newest chapter of xxxHOLiC, and while I consulted a translation when things got a little complicated/kanji-overloaded, I could read the majority of it on my own. Amazing. Plus you pick up all these nuances and speech patterns that get lost in translation (no matter how good a translation), which is so cool. :D
"Isn't it funny how people can change the way they 'look'?"
"I'm all minstrel" (referring to her music preferences)
- Aly (both)
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And here's some other cell phone pictures that I never posted.
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan in a random Japanese knickknack shop. crazy~
THE CHIBA MONORAIL OMG OMG OMG
It glides off into the night ABOVE THE CITY!!!
Crows for Bekah. This was as I was walking to Gyotoku Station one morning. THEY ARE HUGE AND EVIL.
Ahahahahaha, classic.
Also classic.
And then I will randomly discover that I can read manga a lot better than I thought I could. In fact, I might be able to graduate to actually reading it raw, something I had previously thought was impossible for me. It's easy enough online when I can turn on Rikaichan and have kanji & unknown words automatically looked up for me, but it's different with paper of course. And as much as I procrastinate about studying the kanji we learn in class they are probably the #1 most important thing for me to be actually paying attention to. And this just opens up worlds of possibilities, I could actually buy a Japanese manga/novel and read it without needing scanlations. Just now I read the newest chapter of xxxHOLiC, and while I consulted a translation when things got a little complicated/kanji-overloaded, I could read the majority of it on my own. Amazing. Plus you pick up all these nuances and speech patterns that get lost in translation (no matter how good a translation), which is so cool. :D
"Isn't it funny how people can change the way they 'look'?"
"I'm all minstrel" (referring to her music preferences)
- Aly (both)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And here's some other cell phone pictures that I never posted.
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan in a random Japanese knickknack shop. crazy~
THE CHIBA MONORAIL OMG OMG OMG
It glides off into the night ABOVE THE CITY!!!
Crows for Bekah. This was as I was walking to Gyotoku Station one morning. THEY ARE HUGE AND EVIL.
Ahahahahaha, classic.
Also classic.
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