I'm sorry everyone! Surprise! I'm alive and safe and home! As you can see, life's been a little chaotic since I've returned and I haven't been able to get back on to the computer like usual. I don't really use blogging too much being home so I wouldn't recommend checking this too much anymore. I doubt I'll update it often since it's named specifically for my Japan trip. Actually, if I wanted to I could reference it to the trip of life but, again, I'm not big on blogging.
I know I still have a ton of pictures to upload. Sorry!
I had a fun, exhausting, and horrible trip home. It was fun by meeting up with a classmate's dad and traveling home together so I had someone to talk with, exhausting because my 13hr flight had a lot of turbulence and not a lot of comfort, and horrible because I got sick while in life for customs/security in Atlanta and felt miserable the rest of the trip home. I eventually made it back to Dayton and saw Mom, Dad, and Jon who hid Kimmy behind him. Yay for surprises! Then Travis showed up to help with baggage too! That was nice. I was so exhausted I couldn't make myself stand anymore though. Hah, of course, I had Kimmy stay the night so she could hang out longer and that means, no sleeping until 4am! Haha! I pulled close to a 36 hour day! I never want to do that again, I was a mess for days after. It took me 4 days to get back on the computer. I was so busy with seeing family and friends and sleeping tiny amounts here and there. I started reading Dracula and realize I need to write!
Now Jon's left again to Maxwell and won't be back for a while. It's sad. It feels like a week after only 2 days. That's pathetic, I know but I can't help it. I miss him. I can't wait to do all the stuff we've talked about this summer! I'm super excited! I just hope I can get a job to help cover some stuff!
If anyone needs a babysitter or pet-sitter or manual labor done, I'm open! My only request is not Wed nights! I'll sing at Weddings, I'll mow your lawn, I'll clean your house. Please! I need something! I might go insane if I go another summer without a job! I almost had a chance at one but before I even got that chance, it was snatched away. >.<
Well, off to bed to hope for more success tomorrow.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
About that...
In 5 hours... I leave for the trains. And from the trains I leave for the Airport. And from the Airport I leave Japan.
Today was fun. I'll get on that updating thing during my 9 hours of layover tomorrow...
<3 you night!
Today was fun. I'll get on that updating thing during my 9 hours of layover tomorrow...
<3 you night!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
"Impossible" is not in my dictionaries!
So I actually went through with today even after being awoken early and getting a late start...
I covered a super large part of Kyoto all by myself... I never even saw my friend. -_-*
I visited the thousand tori gates but I didn't get to go through them all. That would've taken WAY too long and I was running late so on a tighter schedule... I apologize my camera has been failing with getting good pictures lately. It goes through phases like this sometimes...
But yeah, then I hopped back on a train to the closer part of Kyoto to where my other places were. (makes sense? grammatically? not necessary...) So I walked to Ginkaku Temple, walked around there, began walking back but hopped on a bus on a whim and ended up at Kitano Tenmangu shrine flea market- but I didn't go in since I was waiting for my friend... so I walked up to Kinkaku Temple, passing some shrines on the way, talking to random strangers with English accents, walked through all of that, then to Daitoku temple and through that, spoke with a guy from Texas there. He was nice, talked a lot but he was very peppy. So from there I walked back to Kitano Tenmangu shrine... and wandered through it because it was looking like it was going to close soon. It was nothing compared to around 1pm... thank goodness!
I wasn't feeling well at this point so I sat down for a bit and found out my friend wasn't going to make it so I munched on my dried banana chips and downed some water and went to meet her at the station I came in at... then waited and found out her phone died and she went home instead so I just got on a train and went home. Caught a bus just in time and got home and crashed... soo exhausted... my legs won't forgive me...
and tomorrow morning, even earlier for meeting Mai for the new Detective Conan movie before her classes! Probably going to grab Indian across from campus for lunch after hitting up Osaka castle for pictures- FINALLY- and book off one last time! ^)^
Then buy my Gaidai school t-shirt and close the suitcases until I'm home!
Wow... tomorrow's the last day for this...
weird...
PS: My map of Today is FINISHED! Check out Facebook!
I covered a super large part of Kyoto all by myself... I never even saw my friend. -_-*
I visited the thousand tori gates but I didn't get to go through them all. That would've taken WAY too long and I was running late so on a tighter schedule... I apologize my camera has been failing with getting good pictures lately. It goes through phases like this sometimes...
But yeah, then I hopped back on a train to the closer part of Kyoto to where my other places were. (makes sense? grammatically? not necessary...) So I walked to Ginkaku Temple, walked around there, began walking back but hopped on a bus on a whim and ended up at Kitano Tenmangu shrine flea market- but I didn't go in since I was waiting for my friend... so I walked up to Kinkaku Temple, passing some shrines on the way, talking to random strangers with English accents, walked through all of that, then to Daitoku temple and through that, spoke with a guy from Texas there. He was nice, talked a lot but he was very peppy. So from there I walked back to Kitano Tenmangu shrine... and wandered through it because it was looking like it was going to close soon. It was nothing compared to around 1pm... thank goodness!
I wasn't feeling well at this point so I sat down for a bit and found out my friend wasn't going to make it so I munched on my dried banana chips and downed some water and went to meet her at the station I came in at... then waited and found out her phone died and she went home instead so I just got on a train and went home. Caught a bus just in time and got home and crashed... soo exhausted... my legs won't forgive me...
and tomorrow morning, even earlier for meeting Mai for the new Detective Conan movie before her classes! Probably going to grab Indian across from campus for lunch after hitting up Osaka castle for pictures- FINALLY- and book off one last time! ^)^
Then buy my Gaidai school t-shirt and close the suitcases until I'm home!
Wow... tomorrow's the last day for this...
weird...
PS: My map of Today is FINISHED! Check out Facebook!
Monday, May 24, 2010
3 days? I did what?
And today?
I watched 3 Detective Conan movies... because everyone else was lame and was packing their bags, leaving, or not answers their phones...
and the host family had school and work...
GEEZ! Oh well, tomorrow I'm off to Kyoto! (Just like in the DC movie!) I'm going to visit a flea market shrine and some other places while I'm there alone. I'm excited for it! I did want to go back to Kyoto one more time before I left Japan and to another flea market! Yay!
Remember, never waste more than 1 day in a row!
^_^
I watched 3 Detective Conan movies... because everyone else was lame and was packing their bags, leaving, or not answers their phones...
and the host family had school and work...
GEEZ! Oh well, tomorrow I'm off to Kyoto! (Just like in the DC movie!) I'm going to visit a flea market shrine and some other places while I'm there alone. I'm excited for it! I did want to go back to Kyoto one more time before I left Japan and to another flea market! Yay!
Remember, never waste more than 1 day in a row!
^_^
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Lots of Lively Laughing Lately
Okay, I wasn't planning on updating today since not a lot happened but something really funny happened a little bit ago that I really want to share.
In general, today was good. It rained really heavily so no swing dancing (T-T) but otherwise, I went to mass with Carlos and listened to him give the second reading in Japanese. We grabbed lunch afterwards with some people and I said my goodbyes. They were really nice, it's a pity I had to leave them so soon. When I return to Japan, I'll see about visiting the area to see them for a Sunday. They seem to always have parties when I'm around. ^_^
But after that I hurried to meet Mai and her friends for Karaoke at Kyobashi. I was late, of course, but only just a little. We then did karaoke for 3 hours! It was AMAZING! We had so much fun and reminisced about some songs (from anime) and other things. They laughed as I reminded them of one of the songs from Rayearth... not the one I thought it was... so I stumbled a lot. I was running out of Japanese songs I could find and sing because they also picked songs that were on my "karaoke" playlist. We then also did some Taylor Swift, Arvil Lagvine, Pretty Woman, Michelle Branch, and then I found musicals... mwahahaha! They had two of my favorite songs from Mom's Mother's Day Mix: Shall we dance? and I Could Have Danced All Night.
Oh, it was awesome. They sounded just right (no funky versions or off keys) and I nailed them! It was funny. They were shocked about my "My Fair Lady" song. I guess they don't have very high singing voices... ^_^* It made me miss bursting into song back home and that CD since my iTunes died on me again and I lost more than half of my music... according to iTunes anyway. It's there, it just won't pick it up... >.<
But after that I barely caught the bus home and chilled out with the family for a while, then worked on my room again, put on my wig for Chihiro's amusement, and had a clothes fight with her too. We had a variation of Omu-rice for dinner but with veggies and no rice inside. Don't worry, we got a separate bowl for it and miso soup. ^)^ We hung around and watched TV, I told my host mom I should run with my luggage to the airport (about 1 hour by fast train away) and she couldn't stop laughing. Me too though... Then I returned to my room while they took a bath (o-furo) and continued to pack things until I began skyping with the rents.
Okay, more than 3/4 of the way through my talk with Mom, Chihiro walks in. She's in her pajamas, mask on, eyes red, and looking for something. At first she's a little difficult to understand so I think that she's telling me that I was too loud but she didn't say anything of the sort so I ask her if she's okay and she responds with where is "okaa-san?" Her mom. Where did she go? to be exact... I'm thinking... I've been in my room, door closed for the last 45 mins talking to my mother... I don't know. So I tell her I don't know and she walks out and I hear her go back to her room. Nothing.
After I finish skyping, I go look for Miwa... thinking she went somewhere. I find her in the kitchen doing dishes... and I ask her if she's okay and if she went anywhere. No... Then I tell her about Chihiro and she laughs because apparently Chihiro sleepwalks and talks sometimes. This is the first time I've seen it. We both crack up because she heard the door close earlier from the kitchen and thought it was weird but didn't think anything of it otherwise. So, yeah. Now I know I can communicate with my host sister even when she's asleep... hahaha. I'm sorry. I just thought it was soo cute because she looked really tired too and sometimes, according to Miwa, she will yell "mou" = "geez" in her sleep. I find stuff like this hilarious. Sorry. Aw... I'm going to miss these guys... for all the annoyances and frustrations with not being able to explain myself just right sometimes, I'm definitely going to miss them.
Chihiro also said, she definitely won't be awake to say goodbye to me on Thursday... because it'd be at 5:30ish. Hahaha, again, Miwa and I laughed.
In general, today was good. It rained really heavily so no swing dancing (T-T) but otherwise, I went to mass with Carlos and listened to him give the second reading in Japanese. We grabbed lunch afterwards with some people and I said my goodbyes. They were really nice, it's a pity I had to leave them so soon. When I return to Japan, I'll see about visiting the area to see them for a Sunday. They seem to always have parties when I'm around. ^_^
But after that I hurried to meet Mai and her friends for Karaoke at Kyobashi. I was late, of course, but only just a little. We then did karaoke for 3 hours! It was AMAZING! We had so much fun and reminisced about some songs (from anime) and other things. They laughed as I reminded them of one of the songs from Rayearth... not the one I thought it was... so I stumbled a lot. I was running out of Japanese songs I could find and sing because they also picked songs that were on my "karaoke" playlist. We then also did some Taylor Swift, Arvil Lagvine, Pretty Woman, Michelle Branch, and then I found musicals... mwahahaha! They had two of my favorite songs from Mom's Mother's Day Mix: Shall we dance? and I Could Have Danced All Night.
Oh, it was awesome. They sounded just right (no funky versions or off keys) and I nailed them! It was funny. They were shocked about my "My Fair Lady" song. I guess they don't have very high singing voices... ^_^* It made me miss bursting into song back home and that CD since my iTunes died on me again and I lost more than half of my music... according to iTunes anyway. It's there, it just won't pick it up... >.<
But after that I barely caught the bus home and chilled out with the family for a while, then worked on my room again, put on my wig for Chihiro's amusement, and had a clothes fight with her too. We had a variation of Omu-rice for dinner but with veggies and no rice inside. Don't worry, we got a separate bowl for it and miso soup. ^)^ We hung around and watched TV, I told my host mom I should run with my luggage to the airport (about 1 hour by fast train away) and she couldn't stop laughing. Me too though... Then I returned to my room while they took a bath (o-furo) and continued to pack things until I began skyping with the rents.
Okay, more than 3/4 of the way through my talk with Mom, Chihiro walks in. She's in her pajamas, mask on, eyes red, and looking for something. At first she's a little difficult to understand so I think that she's telling me that I was too loud but she didn't say anything of the sort so I ask her if she's okay and she responds with where is "okaa-san?" Her mom. Where did she go? to be exact... I'm thinking... I've been in my room, door closed for the last 45 mins talking to my mother... I don't know. So I tell her I don't know and she walks out and I hear her go back to her room. Nothing.
After I finish skyping, I go look for Miwa... thinking she went somewhere. I find her in the kitchen doing dishes... and I ask her if she's okay and if she went anywhere. No... Then I tell her about Chihiro and she laughs because apparently Chihiro sleepwalks and talks sometimes. This is the first time I've seen it. We both crack up because she heard the door close earlier from the kitchen and thought it was weird but didn't think anything of it otherwise. So, yeah. Now I know I can communicate with my host sister even when she's asleep... hahaha. I'm sorry. I just thought it was soo cute because she looked really tired too and sometimes, according to Miwa, she will yell "mou" = "geez" in her sleep. I find stuff like this hilarious. Sorry. Aw... I'm going to miss these guys... for all the annoyances and frustrations with not being able to explain myself just right sometimes, I'm definitely going to miss them.
Chihiro also said, she definitely won't be awake to say goodbye to me on Thursday... because it'd be at 5:30ish. Hahaha, again, Miwa and I laughed.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Yay Saturday!
So I'm being lazy today and only doing one update!
Here's what I said:
Hm, my day started off very early. I got up at 830 so I could get to our completion ceremony. I surprised the family being up that early.
I had to fight fan service on the way to school because I wore a skirt and rode my bike,(^^;
But the ceremony was fun and the food after was yummy. I said my goodbyes to a lot of people. It was sad.(T-T)
But afterwards, I went to the bank again to try to get my $100 back and after enlisting the help of a nice English speaking person, we found out it was the wrong bank, easy to mix up since I had an actual account at that one, either way lots of exercise and embarrassment. But yay for nice Japanese people!
Then, I passed out for a bit here. I was so tired, I don't know why. Oh, I FINALLY cleaned my room and later we picked up Miwa and the kids and got all you can eat awesome. Tabehoudai! I was so stuffed, then we did puri‐kura and helped Miwa search for a book. I ended up buying a japanese cookbook too! Yay 5 min meals!
I had a ton of fun with the family tonight and spoke a lot of good Japanese, I think...
Im so excited to go see the new Detective Conan Movie with Mai, Miwa wants to go see it too but I think she's working Wednesday Morning... Ironic... one of the last things I did before coming to Japan was see a Movie and that's the way I'll leave Japan. COOL!
Yay no more money troubles!
Going to bed now because I'm so tired and have a busy day tomorrow too! PLEASE don't RAIN, even though I know you're supposed to!
Here's what I said:
Hm, my day started off very early. I got up at 830 so I could get to our completion ceremony. I surprised the family being up that early.
I had to fight fan service on the way to school because I wore a skirt and rode my bike,(^^;
But the ceremony was fun and the food after was yummy. I said my goodbyes to a lot of people. It was sad.(T-T)
But afterwards, I went to the bank again to try to get my $100 back and after enlisting the help of a nice English speaking person, we found out it was the wrong bank, easy to mix up since I had an actual account at that one, either way lots of exercise and embarrassment. But yay for nice Japanese people!
Then, I passed out for a bit here. I was so tired, I don't know why. Oh, I FINALLY cleaned my room and later we picked up Miwa and the kids and got all you can eat awesome. Tabehoudai! I was so stuffed, then we did puri‐kura and helped Miwa search for a book. I ended up buying a japanese cookbook too! Yay 5 min meals!
I had a ton of fun with the family tonight and spoke a lot of good Japanese, I think...
Im so excited to go see the new Detective Conan Movie with Mai, Miwa wants to go see it too but I think she's working Wednesday Morning... Ironic... one of the last things I did before coming to Japan was see a Movie and that's the way I'll leave Japan. COOL!
Yay no more money troubles!
Going to bed now because I'm so tired and have a busy day tomorrow too! PLEASE don't RAIN, even though I know you're supposed to!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Taking it easy and sittin' on top o' the world!
Thursday and Friday have been better! No worries! I got that out of my system so now I'm ready to have fun like mad with my last week of school.
Fun Fact: Did you know that there are no Western Union's in Japan? Nothing like them either. Huh... That's a little inconvenient if you're broke...
Well, yesterday I did what I set out to do! Stay home all day! I kind of boycotted Japan and refused to leave the house but after how much my body and head hurt, I wasn't going to complain. My legs are still sore but what's annoying is that my arms are more bruised than I thought and so I get a not so nice surprise when I hit the correct spot. OUCH!
I met with Mai for lunch for the last time but we're going to Swing Dance and Karaoke on Sunday so it's not that bad! I besides sleeping in and missing out on the Toji Temple flea market... probably for the best... I met up with Keck-san and Mai for lunch and chatting. After that, I took care of my paperwork for getting my deposit back. I would have it but I lost track of time today and when I got in the bank... only the ATMs were open still. It was 4:07pm on a Friday... ... A little annoyed but at least I rode my bike so I could get home easily and I didn't waste 440 yen! Now though, I can't get the student discount for Karaoke and I want to see if Mai wants to go see the Detective Conan movie again with me since I haven't seen it and I really really want to! I know I probably will miss out on a lot of the general facts but we'll see if it happens. I can always wait 6 months to a year and see it subbed for free online.
*sigh* the choices... well, I apparently missed my opportunity to see my grade in Writing, which I call BS on since I was at school every day but Thursday and walked to her office and checked for the paper but it was NEVER there! Apparently, it was at one point though... mislabeled but there... a little miffed about that.
My Anthro paper was returned to me 20 minutes after I left campus... again... I'll have to grab that stuff after the completion ceremony tomorrow... ugh, early morning!
Keck-san is speaking at it though and I snagged a copy of his speech-it's in Japanese- so I can understand what he's saying in case he goes too fast again. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fun tomorrow and busy if anyone actually remembers to tell me the plans more than 30mins to an hour before hand... >.<*
Skyping tonight with Jon, lots of plans for this weekend! Already started living out of my suitcase again... ^_^* I'm ready to go home.
I'm just hoping the old lady smell comes out of my kimono before I have to pack it in or else all my stuff will smell like old lady... o.o
I'm sooo cleaning my room the next chance I get! It's making me grossed out...
Oh well, back to conan while the family continues to eat/search for Gakuto's missing book. Bye!
PS: Mai had an English slang presentation today. ... x.x I read it before she went and I fear what they are teaching these Japanese students... It's never a good idea to let someone who's not native to the language teach the slang of that language because they never really understand the full impact some words have. For instance: Today I'm f-ing happy! (Apparently the F word means very) +_+ and to make slang something sound slang you stop using articles... The ENGLISH MAJOR in me CANNOT STAND FOR THIS! (the presentation drops the fbomb 3 times and it's only a minute long...) and what's a RUG?
Fun Fact: Did you know that there are no Western Union's in Japan? Nothing like them either. Huh... That's a little inconvenient if you're broke...
Well, yesterday I did what I set out to do! Stay home all day! I kind of boycotted Japan and refused to leave the house but after how much my body and head hurt, I wasn't going to complain. My legs are still sore but what's annoying is that my arms are more bruised than I thought and so I get a not so nice surprise when I hit the correct spot. OUCH!
I met with Mai for lunch for the last time but we're going to Swing Dance and Karaoke on Sunday so it's not that bad! I besides sleeping in and missing out on the Toji Temple flea market... probably for the best... I met up with Keck-san and Mai for lunch and chatting. After that, I took care of my paperwork for getting my deposit back. I would have it but I lost track of time today and when I got in the bank... only the ATMs were open still. It was 4:07pm on a Friday... ... A little annoyed but at least I rode my bike so I could get home easily and I didn't waste 440 yen! Now though, I can't get the student discount for Karaoke and I want to see if Mai wants to go see the Detective Conan movie again with me since I haven't seen it and I really really want to! I know I probably will miss out on a lot of the general facts but we'll see if it happens. I can always wait 6 months to a year and see it subbed for free online.
*sigh* the choices... well, I apparently missed my opportunity to see my grade in Writing, which I call BS on since I was at school every day but Thursday and walked to her office and checked for the paper but it was NEVER there! Apparently, it was at one point though... mislabeled but there... a little miffed about that.
My Anthro paper was returned to me 20 minutes after I left campus... again... I'll have to grab that stuff after the completion ceremony tomorrow... ugh, early morning!
Keck-san is speaking at it though and I snagged a copy of his speech-it's in Japanese- so I can understand what he's saying in case he goes too fast again. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fun tomorrow and busy if anyone actually remembers to tell me the plans more than 30mins to an hour before hand... >.<*
Skyping tonight with Jon, lots of plans for this weekend! Already started living out of my suitcase again... ^_^* I'm ready to go home.
I'm just hoping the old lady smell comes out of my kimono before I have to pack it in or else all my stuff will smell like old lady... o.o
I'm sooo cleaning my room the next chance I get! It's making me grossed out...
Oh well, back to conan while the family continues to eat/search for Gakuto's missing book. Bye!
PS: Mai had an English slang presentation today. ... x.x I read it before she went and I fear what they are teaching these Japanese students... It's never a good idea to let someone who's not native to the language teach the slang of that language because they never really understand the full impact some words have. For instance: Today I'm f-ing happy! (Apparently the F word means very) +_+ and to make slang something sound slang you stop using articles... The ENGLISH MAJOR in me CANNOT STAND FOR THIS! (the presentation drops the fbomb 3 times and it's only a minute long...) and what's a RUG?
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