Eeh? Spring break? Doko?

Okay, here's the deal: You go to sleep now and I'll take those extra 13 hours of day to do everything I wanted to do today! What?! Why can't we switch?! My day disappeared on me! I'm not kidding! One minute it's 1:30pm the next it's 5:30pm... Then one minute it's 9pm, the next minute it's quarter till Midnight?! What?! That's not fair! I went to classes today, was late to my speaking JPN and missed my vocab quiz... dang it! I ran late doing my interview with my speaking partner for my paper due thursday so therefore, couldn't do my quiz of vocab I knew... Of course.
Then I went to Hirakata station to find the church, found it and got some info on it... Japanese, Portuguese, English, and Spanish... you wanna guess what languages are not being spoken THIS weekend? Of course, oh well. Then went to Book Off- bad idea... it is the "Second Time Around" of Hirakatashi. . . Well, I got 4 CDs for 2200 yen. That's actually a REALLY good deal considering which CDs I found! I wasn't feeling well again so when I finally made it home- was sooo tired, my vision was getting fuzzy- I got an offer to go to an electronics store with Toru-san and Chihiro. I said yes but wasn't very coherent so we decided it was best if I stayed home since my head hurt too... I ended up falling asleep on the floor and then woke up to take another nap in my room. I interviewed Toru-san for my paper, his knowledge of English is much smaller than I thought originally... so that took FOREVER! Then I came to my room and was checking over my cds and putting them on the computer and then facebook happened and well, bad news bears... it's after midnight. Well, I did shower and was awoken from my incoherent state of bumpersticker hunting by Kimmy thankfully. I might have been there all night otherwise...

But yeah, going to study for my RWJ class quiz and my SPJ class vocab quiz... dang, and I'll prepare for my meeting with my psy partner tomorrow. We're a bit behind on that project too. ACK! Why couldn't Spring break have been longer with more time for not doing stuff requiring leaving my room? Why must I be so SOCIAL?! Not this week!

Now I'm finished!

Oh Saturday!
I have not left the house and have enjoyed it thoroughly! I slept and chatted with Jon and Kimmy for about 2.5 hours... oops, sorry for keeping you up late! It was really nice but I got too hungry and had to get on with my day. I got lunch eventually and hung out with the children, making origami things. I made a sweet shuriken but it fell apart and now I'm missing a piece... I'll have to make another part... but yeah. I've been uploading pictures and relaxing and updating the blog as you all have noticed. I organized my room again but I might look into doing something else productive by the end of the night. Either scrapbook my journal or write! I've hopefully FULLY charged my camera. I don't know what exactly I'm up to tomorrow but it will be interesting probably. I don't plan on being in the house all day tomorrow too!

I'm Home to Japan!

Okay for Friday:

In the morning, we were still in Seoul, Korea wandering our way around. We packed our bags and checked out of the hotel, grabbed some breakfast in which I used my airplane BR's spoon with breakfast. Mwahahaha! I collected things! Well, we were off to our next place which had a guided tour in English at 11:30 so we booked it over and bought our tickets in. $3. Yeah, I loved it! But then we realized, this tour wasn't for the village... it was for another Palace... Oops... well, we had to go with a tour guide in this palace so we just went with it. This lady was not going to mess around. Her suggestions weren't suggestions and she would tear into you if you did something against the rules... I heard about this one guy who was trying to sneakily take videos after she said, "no video recording"... oh man... it was ugly. But since this place was very similar to the other palace in some areas, Cassie and I wandered around with the group discussing our story ideas and different techniques. It was fun, Lindsey and Jackie joined in too. So... every one of us wants to write something... well, Cassie wants to make it a comic but still... O.O weird...
So we got out of that at about 12:50 and we sprinted our way back to the hotel which was supposed to be a 20 minute walk from there. We made it in plenty of time and we tried to spend some more of our won on a vending machine because it's not worth much anywhere else... But yeah, we got back and boarded our bus and spoke with our guide in Japanese again. They collected everyone else and took us to some place where we could buy stuff in yen(!?!) and get it Duty-free? maybe? Well, I had been sleeping before we got there so was groggy the whole time and missed my opportunity to buy my Korean metal chopsticks. Then again, it was in yen so not as cheap as originally thought.
After that, they shuffled us to the airport and we ran around there getting lunch since none of us had eaten anything. I managed to get omurice, the random rice omelet thing that my host mom made one time. Not nearly as good as hers and they put mustard on it... the picture didn't look like that. So I mostly ate the rice inside and gave the rest to Cassie and ran off to use my remaining won 6000 won more BR. I got two scopes of ice cream: Lovestruck strawberry and almond bon bon. Both tasty... we were in a hurry so with the aid of a spoon I downed that cone in literally no time at all! Even Cassie was impressed and she eats really quickly... So with that we wander toward the gate but Jackie and Lindsey go to 7-eleven to spend their last won, so Cassie decides to visit this gift-shop for people and well, I didn't think about that... I saw two cute hair bands and I got them but I paid in won and yen because I didn't have enough won to cover the whole thing. That was weird.
Well, afterwards we went through security and got to our gate, on our plane and into Japan. The ride back wasn't as good, nor was the food but oh well. We picked up Cassie's bag from the baggage claim, got through customs, and took our trains home. Cassie finally bought her cake from Yodoyobashi station, I wonder if it was worth breaking her diet more? I got home and missed dinner so just put away all my stuff, got a shower, and relaxed. I chatted with Miwa-san for a bit in Japanese. I think my Japanese was pretty good, although a few words escaped me. Curses! Basic vocabulary! But then I went to bed so I could chat with people in the morning. It was fun and now I'm relaxing and catching up and trying to keep warm!

I guess it is only March still... Oh well. I'm finished for now! Finally! Have fun catching up! I'll be looking at pictures and playing with my new pretty stuff~

/BYE\

Full Day in Korea!

Here's March 25th!

Bad News: My nails are driving me "bat-crap* insane", my camera battery died-I think it might be time for a new one since I charged it the night before coming here, I spent a lot of $, I had the spiciest meal I've ever had & hopefully will ever have, and I probably should have bought a pair of shoes. It was freezing cold-literally snow/sleet-and poured on us too!

Good News: I've got a lot of cool pictures, stuff, and gifts; I'm half done with my 1 gift each rule, we got to see a lot of this area of the city, we took a cab for SUPER cheap, wandered the shopping areas, tried new food, got delicious Baskin Robin's Lovestruck Strawberry- it had REAL cheesecake in it-not Japanese cheesecake! I also learned a lot about history today. I bought a larger umbrella for $3. Yay! Cheap things in Korea! The train cost $1 and was super nice and clean.

BUT! Seoul smells bad- sewer bad! I also got paranoid about our room service and when I returned... Gene was not on the bed! I about flipped out when I did a 180* turn and saw him sitting on the TV. My heart skipped a beat. Everything was fine but man did I momentarily freak! I bought some cute clips for $1-3 and one can go with my Kimono! Yay! Almost have it all collected! I only converted $100 to won and I'm doing great! Yay me! Much better than when I went to Spain... oh, Spain... how I miss you... but I got a little make-up, jewelry, gifts, and an umbrella and I'm proud! I'm so glad I came! It's been a ton of fun even with people getting into arguments and fights. I had to solve them for the good of the trip and apparently everyone wanted to room with me... feeling special much? >.> <.< Oh well, we check out tomorrow and are going to see a tour at a traditiona Korean village. I'm sure that will be fun- maybe I'll use my phone camera since my regular is dead. Nooo! Good night!

PS: Oh yeah, we got burgers for dinner as some fastfood joint and I managed to get something tasty, yet greasy. Oh wait, nothing special there except it was edible to me and my particular needs for burgers... ^_^*

Spring Break BBQ & Blues

Okay, so I warn you this will be a long one because it is catching up on lost time! It's actually taken directly from my journal since I didn't have convenient internet access while in Korea.

March 24th,
"So I can't believe it. My break is half over and I haven't had any real chance at all to update my blog. On Monday, I went to SPA World with Cassie, Lauren, and Lindsey before showing Lauren off to Hiroshima. It was in a word: Random. We literally walked around naked on this girls only floor of a large {hotel-like} building. There were lots of different European style baths- Atlantis (?), Spanish, German, Italian, Grecian, Finland, etc. Some were just plain baths, some were ice baths, saunas, salt saunas, Milk & honey, bubble, and herbal. I've never taken so many baths in my life in such a short amount of time. Nor have I seen so many naked people I was really uncomfortable for a long time. I would get better for a whie then be blantantly reminded we were nude in public and feel weird again. I managed to get salt in some wounds, get a waterfall back massage, and have an old Japanese lady help me handle the practically "ice" bath. It was really, well, fun but random. We also got to run around in pink tunics with no pants in public-sexist (haha) and weird- the guys got pants and were blue... We got purikura in those clothes and got some ice cream to help us cool off. It was delicious! I'm still uncomfortable about it but I would like to explore the Japanese style baths next month.... unfortunately, they will be expensive then... not $10.

Tuesday- I should not have gotten out of bed. I went all the way to the government building and forgot my passport- so everyone got their stuff but me- was broke, missed my buss to start it off, thought my international bank card was dead, realized how much $$ I've spent and how horribly expensive it is here. I'm used to free fun stuff at friends' houses- not $10 Karaoke 2 nights in a row and $5 to get there and back, and eating out 5 days in a row... then leaving for Korea... I got home to an empty house after believing I was going to lose my phone # because my prepaid plan expired on the 24th- next day(today), and I cracked. All I had to eat that day was a bread slice that morning with honey because I couldn't open the strawberry jam jar... It was about 7pm at that point. I was just soo frustrated and scared and it rained on me all day... that always helps- NOT. Lindsey had to pay my way home so I could have $ for the bus. I was UGH! I got $ & a prepaid card & chocolate & found out my phone would be fine & my ATM card was fine & cheated and called Jon while he was asleep to leave him a message, hear his voice, and spend some of my soon to be expiring $. I felt better by the end of the day & procrastinated packing with collecting things to journal, uploading pictures, talking to Lovelies, and anything else I could (including starring music in iTunes again). Oh, another thing that knocked my day was I started it all off by finding out I wasn't accepted into this RP website my friend was a part of... REALLY? I was like "you've got to be kidding, fine. If I'm not good enough for them, I won't do it. I want it for fun, not for a job. I mean really- a full application?" It didn't bother me too much at first but it did eat at me for a while once everything else went down the drain.

But yeah, then WED happened!
I woke up early & ran late but still beat the bus by a light to the stop so SCORE! I ran there with my bag of everything (bookbag) for the next few days: clothes, toiletries, trinkets, music, cube, Gene, passport- Yeah! I met Lindsey, got $, and went to go buy my permit to keep my gaijin card. $30 difference for single re-entry! Woot! (Double that and you get the multiple option)... It only took 15 mins waiting too. We collected everyone, got Subway for lunch-which was actually more delicious here oddly. But we got to our next train in Namba after buying our last treats before expensive airport stuff. We got there with plenty of time and went to check out some shops. Of course, I only get good ideas for bdays & christmas gifts when I'm in a tourist trap... I managed to say- wait until we come back! See how much I spend & see what I want for who... ...{edited for spoiler content}... No! Look for useful things! Well, the plane ride was fine but I had issues keeping my passport on me at all times when I have to stow my only bag... We found out guide easily. I remembered the name of our tour guide agency! Yay me! The meal on the plane was yummy & I started a game of chess after attempt to nap but we were landing before I could finish. I will beat you Medium chess computer! Oh, we (Jackie, Cassie, Lindsey, and I) all learned how to make fun messages on our phones with colors and pictures and animations. If you have gmail, I can send them to you and you can see it! I wish I could show the rest of you but I'd have to get a video I think. I'll look into it back in Japan because the phones don't work here in Korea.
But yeah, I got pictures with Gene & of stuff and rode a bus going 80 mph... I guessed right! It was scary though... drivers there are TERRIFYING! They don't stop! Red is a mere suggestion and there are huge intersections with no traffic lights or signs at all! We then spent an hour being cranky with each other, trying to find and decide where and what to do while our guide was there with us. After that we fought over who to room with and met back with our guide who showed us to food places. The funny part was she spoke NO English so we were all getting good Japanese practice there! We did well and got toriniku (?) for dinner since we couldn't find anything everyone liked at first at 10pm at night... It's all you can eat meat you grill at your table. The waitress happened to walk to our table hand us a menu and say "good evening. Here's your menu." We did a double-take! Perfect English all dinner and paying. She was amazing and a comfort after so much mental stress and other stress about tomorrow. She was so nice. The food was GREAT too! Beef and pork- it was so sweet with cinnamon or something... and we got spicy salads and lettuce and daicon- a Japanese radish thing & onion soup thing & Kimchi and slices of garlic and bowls of rice. It came out to $15 but SOOO worth it. Then we got ice cream parfaits which in the States would have been $4-7 but were 1,500 won --- which is less than $1.50. ^_^! They were huge and cholaty and delicious and we ran into someone from school in our hotel who gave us useful korean words and recommendations. I will not eat octopus, especially if it is trying to escape while I'm chewing... ewww... Cool but ewwww... I'm rooming with Cassie and we are getting up early with a full day of walking and riding the train tomorrow. Oh,
I will get a picture of the money later. I can't wait! Heh, almost forgot- I tried a bit of a small green pepper at the dinner place and well, I got a video of the reaction. You should have seen it the first bit of the garlic clove slice. Hah, it burned!
Well, bed now finally! Good night!"

I'll put up the next day's entry next...

Den Den 2010!

Okay,
Friday- finished exams, played piano found on campus, walked to Hirakatashi with Lindsey to get her Gaijin card-she's offical now!-, went to Karaoke with Erin and Rasmus and some others, then went home and to bed!

Saturday- slept in! Most of the day... went to the seminar houses and played around with everyone before going to dinner at a Korean BBQ and then more karaoke! It was a beautiful day but downpoured on us by the time we left Karaoke... meaning, I left my pants, bike, coat, and sweater at the seminar house and took the bus home...

Sunday- cold, talked to Jon, went to a Den Den Town street festival! I was in costume! People recognized me! I was sooo excited!!! Yay! Got lots of pictures but not on my camera, sorry all! But yeah, it was cold so I had to get back to the seminar houses with everyone to collect my stuff and throw it on and bike back home... I was warm wearing shorts, pants, a skirt, a button down blouse, a black awesome coat, and my red wool coat... I did have my black knee high socks on too! Yeah, I was the essence of wearing as much clothing as possible... >.>
Oh well, it was useful. I wasn't cold anymore! Well, I got back and have skyped with my parents so yay! Now I can go to bed!

Actually, we discussed a few less peppy matters so just keeping my family in your hearts and prayers would be really appreciated right now. No super serious worries but every little bit of prayer helps! Love you all!!

Night! (oyasumi!)

PS: weird thing, I ran into my teacher at the street festival... it was kind of amusing... >.> <.< Kind of... Oh and I tackled one of my friends who I didn't realize was holding a can of coffee and spilled it over the both of us. I came out fairly unscathed! But I defended his chair from another customer later at dinner, so we're even (I hope)!

Attack of the Dust Bunnies!

I know I haven't posted lately but that's because I've been getting through my midterms! I've also been getting really bad headaches everyday this week and I'm not so sure it's from lack of sleep. I put away my obi because that still has an "old" smell to it and makes the room smell bad when I leave the door closed... and after I get back from my last exam and lunch with everyone I'm going to hardcore clean my room. I've been trying not to use the heater lately (it got cold again), so it doesn't blow out anymore dust...

The week we had Gakuto's bday on Wed, which I forgot about until I lay passed out due to a headache and was awoken with a start because Wed night the kids have golf practice... and there was definitely loud noises and voices. There were only 2 more children and their mom... wow. She was nice and could understand English sentences but I'm not sure she spoke it, she didn't anyway. But that was fun and I went around after changing my hair that day. I got a bunch of interesting responses! You can see a picture on facebook later this weekend! But yeah, I got through my written exam today AND rode my bike on wet ground/in the rain... not doing it again. I was petrified the whole time... but my pride of not wanting to spend money was too great and Lindsey had me walk with her in that direction so laziness set in.

But yeah, that was scary; although, at the scariest part... not a single car was behind me... for an abnormally long length of time. It was weird. There was a line of cars on the other side but no one was behind me (I kept checking) while I went on. The entire time I had this long stretch of road with no sidewalk... It was a miracle! I'm telling you. So I made it home, wet but safely. I hung out with the family a bit after they all got home. I had tried to pass out again but just laid there for a while until I couldn't any longer and I heard the clinking of dishes. I really think this will improve once I clean the room and my sheets. It's hard sleeping on the ground where all the dust is... my futon isn't very thick to lift me up. Oh well, I've got 2 sets of plans for Karaoke this weekend and then I'm going to a street fair so I can be in costume for my first time! It'll be interesting and hopefully fun too!

Finally! I did it! やった！

TODAY!

I successfully bought CLOTHES!
My costume to be exact...
and the final book out so far of my series,
so no more Book-Off Trips for me!

I think I'm good for spending money for a while now... After everything I bought today and just traveling around, I'm pretty certain that I want to have a low cost rest of the week and Spring break. Maybe a round of Karaoke to start off the break with a hurrah? Going to that cosplay street festival my prof spoke about in class with Cassie and Lauren but that's all I'm planning for this weekend.

Today was pretty uneventful except for my oral exam-which I might have done all right on. It's better not to dwell on past mistakes... 忘れちゃった！
AND my trip to Shinsaibashi with Mai and Lauren, Cassie was supposed to go but she forgot that she had tickets to the AC/DC concert here???????????

It's Cassie. Who knows but we love her still, somehow!! ^_^*
Well, since I don't have my speaking class tomorrow, I only have 2 classes and they are at 11 and 3! Yay!

Oh yeah, I might buy a ridiculous dress here. They're pretty and cheap and I like them a lot but we'll let the immediate love of them wear off and we'll see if I still want to buy one later. I mean, I am working on my kimono. WELL, I'm going to go read my manga while I wait for people to get back on facebook before I go to bed!

Yay! "Studying!"

Sunday Fun Day

No more worries, no more troubles, no more craziness than usual!

Okay, I woke up and chatted with the entire family for 2 hours! I'm so glad! Alex and Emma are getting so big! I got to her Alex's adorable laugh! よかった！ It was great getting to see my grandma and grandpa too. I spoke with them for a long time and I'm very grateful. I really miss everyone.
Afterwards, I wandered out of the room to get food-which I had to wait for Chihiro and Gakuto because I couldn't find my normal slice of bread. Eventually I get it and start munching. Goodness was I starved, I grabbed a little of the left over yummy-ness from last night too. But then, I realized I had emails to respond to one of which concerned my exam tomorrow. So, I made plans to meet my classmate Bryan at Hirakatashi station and we studied at his apartment. I'm not sure exactly why but I was absolutely exhausted today. I fell asleep on the 20 min bus ride to the station. Still it was a fairly productive 3 hours even with our random rants and tangents about otaku, schools, parenting, and our teacher. I will just have to review before class too.

When I got on the bus, I was sooo tired again and nearly fell asleep on the way back but some older gentleman sat next to me and started speaking English to me. It was amusing because he had apparently gone to Bellefountaine, Ohio on business before. It was rather entertaining and then he gave me one of his tickets to ride the bus without paying when you get off. I didn't realize what it was at first but then I was like "Oh, arigatou gozaimasu!" Thank you, thank you very much! He was very nice. Random craziness, like I said. I got off at my stop and realized that one of the mom's in the neighborhood who I have met before was there too. She was so surprised that she didn't notice me on the bus in my red coat but we chatted back into the neighborhood. She's very nice, I wish the Japanese in my brain wouldn't freeze up every time I go into extended periods of English and then try to switch back... But that was nice, I wish I could remember her name, because she called my Katie-chan and I'm not sure if I should refer to her with formal language or informal. I attempted to stick with formal for the sake of being safe and feigning idiocy.

Well, I had been trying to work on this paper I have due tomorrow after my exam but person after person kept talking to me and it never got started. So at this point, I got home and no one is here. I told the kids that I'd be back before dinner and it's like 5:30 so I figure I'll try working on this while waiting for them to return. I looked at stuff, checked my email, tried to be productive and then... I realized...
I forgot to buy my cookies for after dinner when Miwa and I were going to make the chocolates for my friends. It's getting dark so I hurriedly message Miwa and ask her where I can go to buy them. 5 seconds later, they get home... She sends Chihiro and I off to the grocery store at the top of the mountain so we walk there, buy our stuff, and come back only to realize... I don't have anything to put the made chocolates in, so we're sent back out right after I put my stuff away... This time we're allowed to use the bikes because dinner would be ready soon. We get the stuff and come back. Yes! We got everything this time! I was so embarrassed. I also had it pointed out to me that I found my supposed "missing holey socks"... yeah... I might need to throw these away or patch them.

We were going to make everything after dinner so off I go to work on the essay again. I get out some bookmarks to note pages and pull out my info on my partner, then I remember that we never finished chatting about the topic so I message her about the last two items and dinner's ready.
I had more or less minced tuna on rice with soy sauce and miso soup. It was pretty tasty but a little unsettling for my stomach, although I'm not sure why. I ate it surprisingly slowly and then, we started the chocolate endeavor! Mind you, I was excited about this! I got some pictures too but I could only get close ups as the kitchen was not photo friendly according to Miwa. One of these days after midterms I'll draw up a layout for the house so you can see it. But yeah, we mixed and poured and taste-tested the leftovers. It was proclaimed oishi by both Chihiro and Gakuto and myself, being the chocolate connoisseur I am.

I got a response from my partner about the stuff and replied my info back to her but now I'm going to take an ofuro and feel WAY better so I can totally kick this 3+ pager in the tush! Okay! Bathtime then Papertime then Bedtime!

I'll worry about the other stuff tomorrow... oh wait. I better not have Japanese homework...


Dang it... I do... *facepalm*

Round 2 Karaoke!

So today, I got a gmail account... but I'm rather annoyed with it because it keeps calling me my school email name which I set to no longer be associated with... but everywhere else it calls me my gmail name... I got really upset about it, so I had to step away.
I didn't go through with my original plans (again) but it's okay. I ended up playing with Chihiro and Gakuto outside for a bit, met the neighborhood dogs, skyped with someone at the seminar house because I didn't want to bike there... yeah, it was a lazy day...
As much as I wasted the afternoon away not really doing anything productive, I got dinner with the family- it was the delicious potato soup thing again- I did not want to pass it up, even though I had a bit for lunch. Everyone was so busy today, I had to fend for myself for lunch. I skyped with Jon this morning and sent some emails out too. I chatted with my seeester Ashley since I'll get to chat with everyone else in the morning!--- night... my computer is set for Ohio time still... yeah...
But eventually, I managed to narrowly catch the bus- I accidentally touched the door and the driver kind of scolded me... oops... sorry! I had moments before told myself that if I missed this bus, I was staying in that night. The buses only come every half hour and it wouldn't be worth it to get there way after 9 and come back before midnight... (there being Karaoke)...
Well, I didn't make it by 9 to get the special deal so I ran off to Book Off to blow off some steam and didn't find any more of my books but looked at cds since those are the only other things in there that I could use back home...
After about 30 mins, I got to Karaoke and found Lindsey, Ollie, Cassie, and her friend Kyle... that was it. Oh well, we had a lot of fun and we sang more japanese songs from our youth. I totally NAILED White Reflection, Hiro no Tsuki, Dearest, Yubiwa, and Rewrite. I was soo excited, we also did some classics: Boot Scootin' Boogie, American Pie, Phantom of the Opera (which was epic, a little funky with words and music but still epic-- I need to retrain my voice! I'm out of shape!), Here without you, Untitled-simple plan, Drops of Jupiter, Mr. Brightside, etc. It was good. I had to leave before I could do Famous Last Words... sad... and I didn't actually sing my normal- ai no tameni... I'll have to do both of those next time.

The best part was our room wasn't killing my voice because of the smoke smell! It was barely noticeable at all and my clothes don't reek either! Yay! On a side note, I miss having a dryer, it shrinks my clothes back to normal size once they've undergone the craziness of Japanese washers... and they get SOME wrinkles out... It's been about a week of hanging in my closet and my shirt might be wearable now.

But yeah, now I'm home after catching the last bus back and needing to go to sleep so I can skype with the family but I want to be productive now... of course... Story of my life! Night! Oyasumi!

PS: We sang Frank Sinatra- Fly me to the moon(? I forget which one now...) and I got Lindsey to kind of follow me in east coast... I got my SWING DANCING!!! She's demanding we practice on Monday... we'll see how that works with my schedule but I would LOVE to!

Rapid Recall!

Let me think,

Thursday I hung out with some people to cheer them up because their days weren't the best but overall, I was SUPER excited about life! I got to ride my bike that day too and I had chocolate... it was great! Oh and I got to talk to Jon and some other awesome people-Alyssa, Kimmy, Swing People-too! I managed to chill out with the family that night too. I feel like I'm not spending enough time with them but I know they wouldn't say that. Oh, by the way, I managed to get to school by bike in 15 minutes... I am officially crazy!

Friday,
I went to class by bike and made it at a nice pace, my normal 20-22 mins. I got through my classes and then hung around for meeting Mai for lunch with everyone because everyone wants to be friends with her. She's so KAWAII! It's almost not fair but because it is her, it is fair. But yeah, so after that I waited around to meet with my other partner for a psych paper due Monday-we don't procrastinate at all!
It was fun talking to her so I'll probably enjoy writing that 900 word thing. No biggie, I just have a few other things I have to take care of like a midterm that I might/might not have a clue about... and my Japanese oral/written exams...

It's soo close! Break! Please! I got all my stuff for Korea so yay! I just need to get my pass to keep my gaijin card so another $30... ugh, one day I'll have money but it won't be for a LONG time once I get back home. I can't wait because I get to skype with pretty much everyone in my family on Sunday! Ashley Boo! We need to skype again!

But yeah, since it's so late and I want to be productive tomorrow maybe, I should get some sleep. Night!

Making Up for Lost time!

So wow! This is the longest it has been between posts (I think), well this week has been a little crazy.

Sunday, I was supposed to go to Toji but didn't when I realized I had a midterm the next day that I was not ready for and I spent a good amount of money all ready that weekend. So I basically stayed in my room all day while the family was out and about... lame... I did get to chat with Miwa-san in the evening when I was procrastinating studying for my vocab quiz, which I did well on still!

Monday was all right. I found out I need to pay the rest of my stuff for going to Seoul by Friday (which I'm doing tomorrow...) and finally heard back from Jon about his break- I had gone too long without a word, it was starting to afflict me. Well, otherwise I got out of that test with a good amount of confidence and got home early to "take a nap" kind of happened, kind of... it's okay, I wasn't that exhausted. More important things like friends! ^_^

Tuesday was rainy and blah, and while I did manage to buy the 2nd to last book of my series and splurge a bit in Den Den Town with Cassie and Lauren, I got soaked by the rain and my spirit depressed because my store with my costume was closed for some unknown reason. Even the other store of it, said it should be open... my costume... it wasn't meant to be... so I wasn't too cheerful and got a bit homesick too that night...

Wednesday, today! or well, no okay.
It was interesting, kind of freaked myself out and a few others but all is WELL, yay! I'm so relieved, it's unbelievable. It takes a lot out of me to be upset or even angry. It's really not worth it... but sometimes things just explode all at once like a volcano! Fortunately, we're not talking Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius! But I'm all better now or on the way and I am going to bed and skyping with lots of people tomorrow, errr tonight! Yay! Spring Break is soo close! Crap! Midterm stuff!

The Time Has Come!

Okay, so this is me... sitting in my room after not going to Toji today, trying to be a good student and study for my Midterm tomorrow...

It's not going so well, but eventually, as time runs out, I will get better. I keep forgetting to mention that I found out recently the reason why we lock the lower lock on the door... my host siblings can't reach the other one... Oh No! So I've unintentionally been locking them out sometimes... I was so embarrassed when I found out.

Also, I went to Den Den Town again with Cassie and Lauren with the intent of finding a costume for a cosplay event on the 21st! We found something but the coat was too big... the price was just right though. It was about $30 and I can't imagine spending much more on something unless it's gorgeous and perfect and my size like that time with the random chinese dress in my color and everything. We're going to another chain store on Tues to see if they have another in my size but since the skirt fit, I doubt it... They don't seem to make clothes here for the stereotypical anime girl... you know, pear?

Oh well, I will have to stop back over there if there are none for a good price and in my size... I'll probably do that on Friday since everyone's busy. We'll see. It's the costume I really want so maybe it's meant to be and I can find someone with a sewing machine to help. I mean, I did happen to become best buds with a fashion design major here somehow and she offered to help if I let her take pictures! Yay!

Anyway, one more side note before I get to the point of this post. If for any reason I make plans with you to skype and I'm more than 7 mins late, please email me on my phone- I can give you the address later. Otherwise, I feel SO bad if I forget which time it is. Please! This will take worry off my back here! Thank you, I promise I want to talk to you guys.

~~~~ Dun Dun DUN!!!

Welcome to the MAIN EVENT!

Sorry, I have "It's the Big Show" Music going on in my head... and I'm not sure why...

Anyway, the time has finally come for me to review the web page for my host family's Salon. It's in a chain of Yosa Park salons and called the Princess Tiara.

Here it is: http://kpado.jp/kansai/osaka/27210/relaxation/1501-00539097-000/shop_top/

First Late Night Karaoke Event!

So, I was definitely right about this week! It was a good week! I bought 2 more books, I went to see a Castle, I wandered around with Cassie and other people for no real purpose (that anyone knows about anyway... mwahahaha), I got my Gaijin card, I got sushi for dinner with people, we booked our flight to South Korea, and I found out 2 of my friends know/want to know how to Swing dance... YAY!!!

We went to Karaoke tonight and it was SOOO much fun! I was also pleasantly surprised by my uncanny ability to read kana and make up a tune for it rather quickly! I got to sing japanese songs I don't know and did pretty well. I also got to sing some AWESOME Japanese songs that I actually flipped out about when I found them and got them played!!! They even had the normal background, nothing else did but that!!!! I got a bit of it on camera, not all :*( but that's okay! I will learn this better and sing it again!! EEEEEEEKKKK!!!! *girly sound* I also almost know all of the words to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance song! lol, finally!

I didn't even drink anything but Apple Juice!! It made me laugh, I thought I might have a little something but the only thing they had was Absente (sp?) and I could smell it... it smelled good, which means NO! See! look! Self-control, although I bought a bar of chocolate as compensation since I had a small, yet delicious dinner and hadn't broken into my supply of chocolate for the White Day chocolate-making day!

It was great fun but in order to do that I had to hang around school from 8:30 when I got there in the morning before class until 6:30 pm when everyone got out of class... I sat at a desk for 5 hours working on copying a song... I got distracted and did a cartwheel in the hall but it still took me a LONG time to do... I can't wait, thanks for all those years of watching anime on cartoon network forcing me to watch openings and closings of episodes!! I never realized how much stuck before I actually knew any Japanese!!! Bringing back the Old School!

よかった！ I'm glad!

Hey everybody!!

I'm now up to 8/11 of my manga! Yay! I'm getting them for cheap too! Tell me, where can you find a popular manga book for until $3? Tell me!

Well, besides that it has been rather rainy all week. I can't believe it. I said it was going to be a good week, but really it has been. I haven't had nearly as many unfortunate events occurring as per usual. Yay! That and this weekend, I'm going to Karaoke with friends on Friday, going back to Den Den Town on Sat to look for some costume ideas with Cassie for a Con/festival thing later this month, and Sunday I'm going to this non-denominational church with Alex and some other people so long as it isn't raining because I don't know how to get from my place to there without a bike, and doing something else, which I've already forgotten... Toji! That's right! I'm going back to the flea market to look for more things for my Kimono! Only things I need for it though! I'm going to be good now since I've already been to these places before, it's not the shock of awe and cuteness anymore! I will resist! I promise!

I have also been doing some hunting around for other things and found a place to Swing dance but it appears as though one of the places is closing... Sad face... but there is still hope! Cassie said she'd travel with me so I feel better! I practiced the Shim Sham today for no apparent reason but for a need of Swing Dancing, and I taught my host lil sis how to properly do an A-frame lift. She loved it but didn't realize that it can get tiring... *falls over dead*

We played more Mario today, we're basically going around collecting the big coins right now since they're on World 9. We also danced a bit to random music on the television and I translated a few lines from Spanish to English to Japanese. It was really basic but fun. I'm really grateful for being here. These people are great, I told them about how I'm planning to go to South Korea for part of spring break and they didn't realize, I get a Spring break. Maybe they've only had 1 student before and it was in the Fall?

Today Cassie and I went and got our Gaijin cards so I'm official now! I have a card with my face on it and it says I'm allowed to be here! We wandered around to Book Off again, and I found one more that I didn't have and saw "Chrono Cross" for PS1. I wanted it but I wouldn't be able to play it on my ps1 so no point. I just wish we could do that, perks to the DS...

Well, I have a listening comprehension assignment I should do so I can go to bed and be well rested for tomorrow! Night!

Mata Genki!!

I still maintain that it will be a good week!

I unfortunately have not been feeling the best and so had difficulties focusing on studying for my test today. I feel much better about that one than the speaking one so really, I can't do any worse... I also have finished my rewrite on my essay! Yay!

But other than me feeling ill, it's been a fine few days. A few people got to see me hyper for the first time and it was described as "normal-bubbly-energetic-amusing." Sorry guys! I figured it would happen sooner or later, just be grateful that I was stuck in class for about an hour when I first began my hype... it was ... interesting. I think I had more fun in my speaking class today than I've imagined that I could. We were covering naide and directions again... let me tell you, I was giggling and managed to look like an idiot and a genius during the same class. Explain to me how I pulled that one off... while hyper...

I hung out at school with people until about 3:20 and had bad timing so I didn't get home until 4 where I then began to translate my first manga chapter-- and by translate, I mean look up only the words I don't know and write them in. It took forever because the internet was being finicky. I then started homework and writing down another Japanese song to learn for Karaoke on Friday! Woohoo!

Chihiro came upstairs to call me for gohan so we went and ate and I was SOO hungry! I destroyed that plate and miso soup, I wanted to ask for more but I figured since I wasted so much yesterday because of my stomach, I'd make sure everyone got enough first. We played a bit of Mario on the Wii after dinner and then I finished up my essay and began working on something that will possibly reclaim a large part of my life... what have I done... I'm sure I'll keep it in perspective! I've got so many cool things to do here and awesome people to talk to! Oh, and homework too...

But yeah, that's where I am now. I'm not tired yet but I'm sure I'll be heading to bed soon. Yay, my meal stipend came!! I also am trying to make plans for Spring Break- I'm going to South Korea the Thurs-Sat but I don't know what I'm going to do for the first part. Any suggestions? I'm thinking a beach somewhere, Okinawa maybe? But I have to find someone who is interested in going with me...