Saturday, November 28, 2009

♥ LIGHT UP ♥

Sounds Christmas-y doesn't it??? WELL IT'S NOT! Light up is when temples light up the trees. Because it's fall now, the trees are pretty fall colors, red, orange, yellow, etc. It is very pretty. So many people go and see the light up. Today I went to Kyoto with my friend Ryota and we walk around and went to a temple at night to see a light up :) Here are some pics!

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Mountain with fall colors

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Crowd of people from the front and behind us going up to Kiyomizudera

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LOOK KANJIS! Can you read the pictures??? ;)

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Sakura tree! But no sakura right now :(

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Pretty tree :)

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Pretty view going up to the temple

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Light up in the zen garden

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Light up with some SPIRITS =ooo!!!

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A bunch of fall colors :)

Note: for light up, 1) wear comfy shoes, 2) get to the temple early unless you want to stand in an uber long line!, 3) don't forget your jacket if it's cold, 4) don't forget your camera!, 5) bring a good friend ♥

We met at 11 at school, got some lunch, then headed to Kyoto. We walked around for awhile, a long while, walking to many temples, including Kiyomizu... we didn't go in, but walked back to another temple to get in line for tickets for light up. This was like Disney World if you stretched the line for Splash Mountain! At least it moved fast. My feet were killing me from my boots, I kept trying to sit, but the line kept moving. The light up was pretty. I'm glad I got to see one!

Current status: tired!!!!!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Adventures in Volunteering and Modeling

This week was filled with awesome activities... and some not so awesome activities *cough* tests, quizzes *cough*

Tuesday, I had a test in Spoken Japanese, went to my teaching meeting and received the lesson plan, went to my relationships class, then to Tonoyama Daiichi Elementary school! We taught "I like..."/"I don't like..." using mainly school subjects. Speaking of school subjects, here is a schedule of a class at Tonoyama Daiichi. Subjects include: Reading, Japanese, Social Studies, Calligraphy, Integrated Studies, Math, PE, Music, Math, Science, etc etc

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Wednesday, I had permission from my Kawano-sensei to go to an intercultural exchange at a kindergarten rather than going to class. I found asking the teachers and telling me what I am doing and I why I find it important and a great opportunity etc etc works very well. So, I went with a small group to Konoike Kindergarten. Note: This seems a lot like a preschool, meaning kindergarten is in preschools here, and also I'll note here elementary schools are 1st-6th grade.

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This is Konoike Kindergarten. Looks like a castle eh? Pretty cool! We played with 5-6 year old kids. When we got there, we went up to the room and the kids were playing just some indoor games (tag, jump rope... wait those don't sound indoor LOL) and I jumped in and introduced myself and played with kids until they left temporarily. Basically here we played head, shoulders, knees, and toes with them and taught them Rock Paper Scissors in English. No matter what language I play this game in, the Japanese kids always win. I'm not sure why they are so good at! Moving on, I had a test that day in Communication. While studying, I was sitting in the lounge by myself when a guy came up to me and started chatting. Then he got to why he wanted to talk... he has a friend at a fashion school who needs someone to model clothes... well been there done that, guess I'll do it again. I gave him my email to pass on.

Thursday I had a quiz in Japanese, started watching a drama called "Kekkon Simulator" (Wedding Simulation) and we did our role plays in relationships. Ours was so-so. The other groups had some great ideas. My group had an idea but when I was trying to work on the script, I was finding it too short, so I started thinking the idea was too simple and slept on it... and wrote up a rough idea and new script which we adopted. This past Monday the group put it together. I guess because it was so hastily put together, it wasn't so good. It worked. At least I'm not the only one who feels the role play didn't act the actions perfectly...

Today, Friday, I woke up early and Skype'd with my family for Thanksgiving! It was nice to see them and talk... even though it was 5:30 am >.< I have decided to buy one of those tiny fleece blankies to wrap up in. Given they are worth the price.

This morning, another quiz in Japanese and continued to watch the drama. I took my work due in Communication to my professor since I was taking another holiday to do an intercultural exchange at an elementary school. Before going, I met up with Takuma and his girlfriend in the lounge near the atrium. We talked for awhile, his girlfriend and I trying to get him to stop smoking. It's a funny conversation. She is very pretty :) I'm going to his house next weekend for a Nabe party. His girlfriend will be there too.

I went to Kasuga Elementary with a decent size group of Japanese and exchange students. It took 4 taxis, free for us, to get to the school.

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There is the school. We arrived and the kids were so excited to see us... constantly saying hello... in fact some started yelling "HISASHIBURI" (long time no see) and I was thinking "Hisashiburi???? Have I met you before???" haha. We made name tags and visited two classrooms where students made various booths and taught us about various aspects of Japanese culture such as places, pop culture, sports, etc. Afterward we played dodgeball outside. Not as scary as the dodgeball game from hell that we played at Meirin.

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Mai and I sitting at the tiny desks :) Oh elementary school... to be young again!

After volunteering I broke the Amber record from walking to the station from the school. Today I was meeting Junko, the design student, to model clothes in the a photo shoot. I was only a few minutes late thanks to my fast walking. I didn't realize the school was so far away so that messed me up.

The school is in Shinsaibashi and originated in Paris. A very good school, very pretty. The guy who took the photos designed the clothes and the photos are for a competition, if he wins he gets to go to London. A girl did my make up for about 15 minutes before doing my hair. I wore 3 different outfits. Took a lot of photos. Modeling is harder than it seems, but it was enjoyable :) I was paid too, a bit more than I expected... I do not mind them paying for my travel expenses and buying a drink for me... but anymore just makes me feel weird. I understand though from the previous stylist I modeled for in the fashion show that even as students they take their work seriously and it's like a business to them. I hope the guy does good! His clothes were awesome! He is going to mail me pictures as well. I'm excited to see! I kept hearing good compliments during the photo shoot, and I laughed inside when he said "STAY" and took the picture of my pose from every angle.

Tomorrow, I'm going to hang out with Ryota. Looking forward to it :) This week has been pretty good.

Current status: PooPeD!!! as in tired...

Time to layout my schedule for next week to see what to expect! Going back to Tonoyama Daiichi :)

Monday, November 23, 2009

Kyoto: Fushimi Inari and Kiyomizudera

Monday my dad and I finally traveled somewhere: KYOTO! My usual Monday alarm went off, waking me during my REM sleep and my eyes were still REMing when I woke up >.< I got dressed, almost forgot the big duffel of my clothes my dad is taking back to the US for me (my suitcases were packed when I came here... and after all the things I bought... ZETTAI MURIDAYO!), and met my dad at the hotel. I had to run to catch my bus. Lately, I've been using the bus schedule to get to the bus stop just in time... and I look at it and the next bus is in 10 minutes, which is plenty of time if I go right then. And with the big heavy bag on my shoulder I had to try to run a bit faster.

I got the just when dad was trying to figure how much it would be if he didn't checkout by 10, which he didn't have to worry about after all. We planned to go meet my friends at 11 at the Fushimi Inari station so with time to spare we hit up Starbucks before hopping on a train. For the record, no express trains go to Fushimi Inari... I think the fastest train was the blue train. Which is almost no better than a local train HAHA.

So we start riding and I get off at the wrong stop... in fact I exit the station at the wrong stop! We got off at Fushimi Momoyama (I think is the name). I check my train map in my schedule book (I have the entire train map of Tokyo and Osaka and subways from all over Japan... did I mention these maps are entirely in Japanese? Kanji too), and we buy a 200 yen ticket and continue on to the correct station. Where we meet Mai (we volunteer together). Mai's friend, luckily had my email address because I forgot to write hers down, also had traveling problems. So it all worked out good. We all waited for each other.

Fushimi Inari was awesome. So many toriis!!! I wonder how many there are. We didn't climb all the way to the top though. I guess we took the weenie route down 1/3 of the way up LOL. We did run into TWO pet-able kitties :D I haven't pet a kitty since I left home! The cats here are wild and just run away :( I bought a torii (a little one) and my cell phone charm + a soft Inari cats eye charm! I mean so sooooo soft too! Super cute :) Here are some pictures!!

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Inari the fox. His temple!

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Seeing double? Both paths went the same way by the way.

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Toriis! Feel like you are in Memoirs of a Geisha yet?

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Me and the toriis

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Fall leaves!!!

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The second of two kitties I got to pet :) This one was comfortably sun bathing.

Afterward we went to Kiyomizudera. I decided to go to the Kiyomizu Gojo station... after walking to the temple I started thinking the Gion station that we went to when I went with the dance booth members was closer. Not sure if I am wrong or right... I got a little lost trying to go back the way I went with the dance booth members. I knew I saw a Family Mart and I hadn't eaten really the whole day and I wanted to find it. Anyways, at Kiyomizu we walked around... it was really crowded. I bought an omamori :) AND GOT A GOOD FORTUNE FOR ONCE!! YAY :) I drunk from the fountain... I'm not sure what kind of luck I drank though LOL. I could use some luck no matter what kind it is.

After Kiyomizu we headed back on an overly crowded limited express train. Next time, I'm just going to take sub express. It's not like we were in a hurry. Sub express wouldn't have been so crowded. I was so pooped by the time we go to back to Hirakata-shi. We sat in the atrium of the station and I tried to think of something that to do that involves sitting since we had time to spare before needing to go to the airport... come on... what did I choose to do???? Shouldn't be that hard to figure out... What is something fun to do that involves sitting? KARAOKE!!! So we hit up karaoke for an hour before heading to the airport. It was fun :)

I took dad back to the airport, an easier way that when I went to pick him up. It may not have been cheaper, and may or may not have taken as long, but it was sooo much easier. Hirakata-shi to Kyobashi on the Keihan line, Kyobashi to Tennoji on the JR Loop Line, Tennoji to Kansai Airport on the Airport express train. Then do it in reverse!! I didn't get back to the dorm til almost 11. I hate how much I have been eating McDs lately but I've been so busy. I think starting today it is back to cooking and packing bento.

I'm trying to remember what day of the week it is LOL. Holidays throw me off. Festivals too. And we just had both!

Current status: hungry, sleepy, but mostly hungry.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

I ♥ FESTIVALS!!!

Friday kicked off the Gaidai Festival which is the festival for the Gaidai students (the Japanese ones). The clubs and circles set up booths and sold various items, majority food, majority takoyaki. I did find a booth with AWESOME yakitori for 50 yen a stick :D I think they got 500 yen out of me total. I tried all the yakitori I found. That booth happened to be the cheapest and best! Also, there was a free hug booth from my red ranger <3

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That's my new black jacket by the way!! The sleeve on the one I brought from home is ripping off >.< Oh well, this one is super warm :)

Friday I helped the dance booth prep the room for Saturday, the starting of the INFES (International Festival... the International student's festival... with some Gaidai students thrown in LOL). At around 2:20 I went to town, bought a CD after losing track of time... good thing though. I started heading to the airport to pick up my dad, and luckily I lost track of time, and by the time I got the SMS from him saying "I missed my flight" I had only hopped on one train. So I went back to the school. I talked to him and he said due to the political issues in Afghan he wasn't able to leave. But we talked it out and we decided he'd come Saturday. Shortens the trip though. Shikata ga nai!!!

I wasn't expected at the final rehearsal for the dance booth but I went anyways. Because I didn't have my costume (I wasn't expecting to be going) I was asked to watch... which kinda made me sad. I ended up leaving. I could be doing some homework or finishing Bloody Monday... something that is not sitting there. So I just left.

Saturday!

Let the INFES begin :)

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Here's the dance booth...

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More like a room. ANYWAYS... I went to the first performance and left right after our show and went to the airport. Takes like an hour and half to get there the cheap way LOL. I did find until I had to switch to the line that goes to the airport. I saw the red train thinking "oh limited express!" and hopped on this nice looking train... looks almost like a shinkansen. By the time I realize that maybe I shouldn't be on this train (I was like the only one who got on it, at least from my side of the platform) the doors had shut so I sat down and proceeded to turn off my mp3 player because I was sure about to get into trouble.

I was right... sorta. I tried to play the dumb gaijin card, but that doesn't work when attendant speaks English. This train is the rapid express... certain cars are 500 yen extra, the one I was in, 700 yen. So I told her I made a mistake and I was the free train. So I get off at the next stop and switch 15 minutes to the orange train. Picked up dad, headed back, met Kanako at the station and checked in to the hotel. The hotel isn't as nice as the one I had in Tokyo. In fact in the hallway part of the ceiling dips some and dad has to duck. He also had to duck through the doorway to get into the room. And the bathroom must be fun for him too LOL. It's decent and good price too though so no complaints.

After dropping the stuff off we went to Kappa Sushi by bus. Conveyor belt sushi... dad's face was priceless when he saw it. It was also priceless seeing him figure out which restroom was the mans. HAHA it was written in kanji! I was very entertained by this conveyor food place. I couldn't stop staring at it. And I was surprised when the "shinkansen" food passed by. There was a touch screen menu so you can order specific stuff and it came out on a track above the conveyor belt on this shinkansen looking like tray. I had some inari, hamburger steak, and chocolate mousse :D It was good mousse too! We went to karaoke for an hour afterward forgetting it was the weekend and more expensive >.< DOH! Oh well..

Sunday!

I wasn't planning on going to the festival Sunday, but after dad missing Saturday we decided to cancel Nara and head to the festival. I'm glad we did. I danced the first performance again and then we planned to go to Osaka castle... but not after seeing the cheerleaders first!!

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Belly Dance! I PR'd from the second floor window and got 6 guys to come to the performance too :D Afterward I met Ryota's parents. They started telling me if I come to their hometown they would show me around and I should come and all this sweet stuff and I'm not sure which one of us, Ryota or I, were blushing more. His dad talked to my dad as well. And did I see a picture be taken of them too???

Anyways, back to the cheerleaders. So in America, there is this whole argument whether cheerleading is a sport or not. Well, I have the answer now. In America... no. In Japan... yes, heck yes. KGU's cheerleaders make every cheerleading squad I've seen in America look like amateurs. I got video of their whole performance. I never looked forward to or enjoy a cheerleading performance so much. And these girls are so sweet too... which I cannot say the same for a lot of American cheerleaders.

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These girls are true athletes. And I love their attitude. Throughout the performance they encouraged and supported each other. Also, when I watch a performance in America, I can always tell who is the head cheerleaders. In Japan, if they have one, I cannot tell who it is. They all seem to lead together. They have great communication. I was so impressed. I've watch the video twice.

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AND THEY MAKE KANJI WITH THEIR POMPOMS!!!! They spelled out 2009, Gaidai <3 (above), Joy !?, and Pairu-tsu (in Katakana). It was awesome. And it was so fast when they did it and so precise. Everything they did was so precise. They are so great. And I do not talk good about cheerleaders often. Then again I've never talked about cheerleaders outside of American ones. They are so dedicate in Japan. I actually didn't plan to watch the whole performance... I have that short term attention span, especially because it was cold and I was getting hungry, and I'm not really a big fan of cheerleaders... but I could not stop watching them. My friends and I laughed about cheerleaders from America who come here and see them and then question what they learned in America. Anyways... WOW. Sorry I cannot post the video... too big.

Afterward, I planned to go to Osaka Castle but it was starting to get rainy and more cold. So we head back to the hotel and looked at pictures and watched some TV, hit up McDs for lunch, walked around book off the rested at the hotel. I headed back early to study.

Monday is a holiday... we are headed to Kyoto. Fushimi Inari. Kiyomizudera.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday I'm volunteering and some Elementary schools :)

5 quizzes/tests this week!!! And a project due! AND A ROLE PLAY!

Goodnight ^.^

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Preparing for INFES

INFES = International Festival

This week is super busy!!! Lots of rehearsals and prep for the dance booth! Thursday is prep, and I'm hoping maybe the Belly Dancers can squeeze in a practice. Because my dad is coming in Friday I can't make it to the final rehearsal. I believe we get one rehearsal Saturday before we perform (YAY). Today was the most dancers I've ever danced with... 5 of us, only missing one person today! After learning last week I was doing the dance backwards (we are mirrored, opposites of each other, and I was learning from the girl on the other side, so I was doing it there way... woops) today wasn't half bad I think! But I do have to give speech about the history of belly dance in Japanese (of course). That shall be fun...

Here are pictures!

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I am the pink poster doll LOL

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Belly Dance Poster

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4/6 Dancers in costume :D


So yes my dad will be here... Friday I will pick him up, and we'll eat dinner and maybe hit up karaoke that night. I dunno yet. Saturday he'll come to the festival and see me dance. Afterwards, my speaking partner and I will take him to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Possibly after hitting up Midori and hyaku en stores. Sunday is Nara. Monday is Kyoto, possibly Osaka, and he'll leave that night... so short...

And then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday I'm volunteering with kids. I just can't get enough.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Another Day at the Elementary School <3

Today is the Uni's anniversary so no school! My plans: go to Meirin Elementary, go to Kuzuha, go to karaoke. I give this day 100 out of 10 stars :D

So I had to meet at the bus stop on campus at 8:45 am. It didn't hit me til last night that because the school is on holiday, that unless something is going on, the East gate (which is how I get to school, through the East gate) might be closed. I thought I'd leave a bit early. If it's not closed, I can get breakfast, if it's closed, I won't be late. It's funny how I actually made it early! I'm usually late for my 9am classes, but I can make it on time to meet for this.

It's raining... and yes the east gate was closed. I looked at the time and I still had 20 minutes which was enough time to get to the Main gate. Two girls are standing outside the gate, thank goodness, they are apart of the group because the campus is closed the guards are not letting people in without a good reason. So they are my good reason. We stand around waiting.... I think it was the Japanese students + 6 exchange (inc me). Only 4 (inc me) showed up. So we walk about 10 minutes to the school.

We arrive at the school, switch our shoes for slippers, and go to the boardroom where maybe the principal? speaks to us. He speaks Japanese so slow hoping we will understand LOL. I understood just fine. The school only has around 200 students, 1st-5th grade MINUS 4th grade... no 4th grade. In the boardroom we make name cards to wear and a poster where we write down a hobby we have. I put Karaoke and draw some pictures.

Next we head to the Gym where, for some reason us 4 international students go ahead with full applause. Yet another celebrity like experience. It was even more so because people were taking pictures constantly, EVEN THE PHOTOGRAPHER FOR THE HIRAKATA SHINBUN! So we are going to be in the paper :D When I find out when, I will buy a bajillion copies! In the gym we introduce ourselves to the students: name, nationality, and hobby.

Afterward, the first thing we do is watch the 3rd grade perform Eisar, which is a Okinawan dance I believe. It was awesome, and I had realized I left my camera in the boardroom ;_; The other American guy got a small video though so I want to try to swipe it. That is all we see of the 3rd graders. They leave and we play with the 1st and 2nd graders.

First game is TAG! Two students were chosen as "police" and everyone else was a "thief". The police tagged people and then when tagged the person and police held hands and they became police. You hold hands until you have 4 people the split into two. I got tag quick because I wanted to run with a kid and not away from one ^.^ THEY ARE FAST LITTLE BOOGERS! The game was timed and in the end only maybe 5 boys were not tagged.

Second game was Janken... Rock Paper Scissors. The lady wanted us to explain to the kids how we play in our home countries. I was first. I told them we call it "Rock, Paper, Scissors" then call go or shoot, whatever, maybe you call nothing just go. And the lady kept saying "Scissors, Paper, Rock" o.O Well, I learned from the Australian girl, that is how it is said there. Whatever. Mai, from Vietnam, had fun teaching how to say it in her language. So we marched around to this song, when the music stops, you play Janken with whoever is near you. The loser gets behind the winner and you start forming a train. I won once... but it wasn't fair because I think I lost at first but the girl thought I was confused and we did it a few times. I lose the second time around. We trained around and finally lost in the end. But it was so much fun.

Third game is hard to explain. It's called the Hunting Game. This one male teacher said these 4 phrases... then pointed twice going "AH!" then said a word. Depending on the syllables of the word, you formed a group with that number of people. It was pretty random, I don't think there was any winning or losing. For instance, if he says "kutsushita" that is "ku-tsu-shi-ta" 4 so you make a group of 4. At one point the teacher handed me the paper to read the phrases... I don't know if I did it right. But it was fun.

That was the end of playing with the 1st and 2nd graders. We gave them comments, thanks, and they went on there way. We took a short break and went back out there to play with the 5th graders.

The first game was long rope jumping. We were in two teams and timed for 5 minutes how many jumps we can get. I amazingly could run in the spinning rope, jump, and get out... after all these years. Pretty good for an old college senior :D We got 134 jumps I believe. And won.

The second game was Dodgeball... the dodgeball game from hell. I have NEVER played dodgeball like this!!! I play dodgeball, two teams, throwing balls, you get hit, you are out, if all your members get out, you lose. This... is the worst game ever. I am standing on my time watching for balls coming from the opposite side and a ball hits me in the back... and I'm like "WTF" it came from behind. So the teachers are telling me to go over to the other side, standing behind the team... then I realize that if you get out, you go behind the other team and throw balls from behind (which is how I got hit)! So not only do you have you have to pay attention to the people in front throwing balls, but the people behind as well.

Out of all the games we get to play again, it had to be dodgeball from hell. Three times. The third time, this one girl got hit in the eye, soon after my foot got stepped on, so I went over to where she was crying and comforted her. AND HERE THEY COME WITH CAMERAS!! I'm thinking "please don't take pics of her crying!!! especially because people will think I made her cry!!"

The games ended and we said our comments, thank yous, and the 5th graders went on their way. We headed upstairs where we went into one big empty room with two doors for two separate classrooms. We peeked in on two classes. I love the set up of the schools here. It's so awesome. After peeking, we entered a similar room, for another grade level, but not empty. Kids were playing in what we call centers (different groups doing different activities). We were going to do activities with them :D

Now, I think centers in America, I think coloring, board games, play doh, fun stuff. In Japan, it's totally different. The first corner (as it is called here I think, that is what we called it) I went to was juggling. I juggled cute bean bag animals with the little kids. I felt bad because they told me to choose my two favorite animals, and I picked two and started juggling them because I know how and they wanted to teach me how! SORRY! I let them teach me how to juggle with two people.

The second center was the spinning top. I spun some regular tops first then a girl taught me how to wrap a string around a top and let it go with the string. This I never mastered. I'm not sure what was harder... wrapping the string or letting it go properly. I was bad at both.

The third center, I played with this awesome toy that I want to find a buy. You stack these round blocks and with a little hammer/mallet, you hit them really fast out from each other one by one so the one you hit shoots out like a hockey puck and the others crash down. You have to do it fast enough so the stack of blocks do not fall over. It took me awhile to actually master this but I did! I know trick :D

The fourth center, I played with the cup and ball toy that I have experience with, but still not very good at. I learned a new way of holding it so I do better and I can flip it around but I cannot catch the ball still. This one little girl could flip it on its side and upside down and catch it every time. She was really good.

I did get pictures and video... but due to privacy I cannot post them. SORRY But if you are ever curious about the schools or want to see (especially that block and mallet game) just ask me :)

After leaving the school, I returned the dorm. Carly, Joel, and I made a quick lunch then began our walk to Makino, stopping for Carly to get money, then taking the train to Kuzuha. I have never been to the mall there. Nothing really good there besides Uniqlo but there is one in Hirakata-shi station, a bookstore, a sucky HMV... I think I'll go back before I leave because there was a Loft. I bought a new sweater at Uniqlo :D 2000 yen = a steal!

After the mall we returned to Makino and hit up Karaoke. Somehow we got out of karaoke very cheap. We payed 100 yen for 2 hours plus 200 yen for a drink... so 300 yen. My roomie was wondering how that happened because it is 100 yen per hour before 6 pm. Oh well. After singing we did purikura in my favorite booth with the monkey bars. My awesome friend Erin downloaded the pic so I have in my keitai now :D

All in all, today was awesome. I hate that I cannot share pics here of the school, but I can understand. Days like today, being at the school, bring me so much joy. I cannot remember when I felt so happy. Its days like these I wish someone from the JET Program was peaking around the corner and could see how much I enjoy it and really want to be apart of the program. I did mail in my application... so I can let it go until next year.

Friday, November 6, 2009

I wish I could move out of SH2....

I really do love all the friends I've made in the seminar house, I'm glad I chose this house, but I hate the disrespectful people who have no business being here. We JUST HAD A MEETING WHERE AT LEAST 5 PEOPLE SPOKE UP ABOUT CLEANING AFTER YOURSELF IN THE KITCHEN... and I heard that people went out drinking and left the kitchen a mess tonight. I hope Karma really does come and bite these people in a$$ one day. It's people like them I do not want to see make it in the JET Program. It's people like them who should not be here in the first place. If it was not already paid for, I'd be out of here.

OK, enough venting.

One more week down. I should write how difficult it is to apply for the JET Program while abroad. Not so easy. But I am almost done. I think the hardest part is the Statement of Purpose. I want this so bad, I want everything to be perfect. Thanks to all the awesome people who have read it, sometimes more than once haha.

Amazingly, I went into town the other day with Kanako and we went to reserve my dad's hotel and go to karaoke, then I asked her if she knew how to make gyudon. I bought the meat, but I did not know what else to do. She showed me in the supermarket a box, that contained a bag, that you boil in water, and WALAA you made gyudon. I was skeptic... but I made it last night. And it was GREAT! I'm bringing some home <3 I took leftovers in my plastic container today for lunch, but forgot something to eat it with, so I asked the people in the konbini for some chopsticks and they said I had to buy a bento or something to get them......... so I just bought McDs and ate my leftovers for dinner.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Cozy, Productive Day <3

So today was a holiday (don't ask me to name which one, I can't keep up with them anymore)... NO SCHOOL <3 Perfect day for no school... it was COLD OUTSIDE! So with the heater on and my cozy blanket I decided to have a pajama day :D

I went to sleep around 2 am, woke up at 9:30ish, and I made some eggs and toast for breakfast. I decided afterward I was going to have a productive day (compared to the weekend where I got half my book read, awesome accomplishment, but not so productive). So, I finally got my pen and paper and started writing Orei no Tegami (Thank you letters) to Jun, Jun's mom, and Manami and Kimiko. I printed a few extra pictures during the Umeda trip to send to them. I miss them <3

So I started writing, realizing, I need to figure out what to say and how to say it properly. We have a chapter in letter writing in the textbook and it helps but I decided to go to Yuji. I wrote, he read and corrected, and I wrote a very formal letter to Jun's mom, he read and checked, then I wrote a letter to Manami and Kimiko. I had Aki read the final drafts. Everything is perfect. So I can to my room to put them in envelopes and address them... and realized I forgot how to do that. So back to Yuji. He showed me how to address the envelopes properly. Got it done, and returned to my room to stick the pictures and letters in. Once I finished, I realized I was starting to get hungry... Lunch time?

No, not lunch time... it was 4:30 (seriously... it took me all afternoon to write 3 letters! maybe I did something else and can't remember *BLOND* possibly pokemon watching). I had gotten everything done today... except homework and lunch. Silly me. I decided to finish off my chocolate chip cookies (3 packs in 16 days... someone give me an OINK OINK :D ). That held me over. I wanted to get my JET Application out of the way by tomorrow, but it looks like now it won't happen due to so many things needed. BLAH! I can't wait for it to be done.

I walked to Sanko for the Tuesday sale with Joel. Too late, mostly everything was gone, but I should shop on Tuesdays... 100yen bread, 88 yen eggs, half price meat, 40% off frozen goods... !!!!!! I grabbed some pork chops, meat to make gyudon (yes I am going to attempt this), some veggies, and I FOUND MY ICE CREAM :D WOOO~! I made some nice curry for dinner.

In the midst of curry making, I was looking for a specific knife. It is now November and everyone in the Seminar House is getting lazy and the buckets with all the cooking ware is such a mess. People are dropping utensils in the bucks with pans and stuff and they are going to the bottom forever lost. So I finally have had it and I emptied all the cooking pan tubs and organized them (lids, bowls, pots, pans, big pots, strainers... which we have a lot of for some reason...) then later organized the utensils with Carly. I give it a week... it will be a mess again ;_; But it so much easier to find what you need (given people clean their dishes... which is what my speech is about at our house meeting Thursday *sigh* why me?)

Homework is done. Going into town with Kanako tomorrow to reserve my dad's hotel room and go to karaoke <3 YAAAAY :D