Wow, this is it. My last night in Japan. I can not even believe it. It is basically the hardest thing I've ever had to go through. I guess I will back track and update on the last week and a half or so...at least what I can remember. God, many tears will continue to shed...
Wednesday the 28th started the "study days" which basically means sleeping in and going out at night. Wednesday, my friend Daz invited me to go to have Shabu-Shabu, which is raw meat that you then dip into boiling water...kind of like fondue? Anyways, it was Daz, Lucas, AP, Ivan, Jia, and two Japanese girls. For less than $30 it was all you could eat and all you could drink. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun and I drank a decent amount of wine.
Thursday I went to DISNEY LAND with my friend Rian. Oh man, what a spectacular day we had. The weather was chilly, but perfect. The park was completely decorated for Christmas and it was the epitome of magical. The lines weren't very long at all. I, again, was a 7 year old kid. However, I was more excited than the majority of the 7 year olds. I fell in love with Peter Pan as well as our Jungle Cruise Captain. So many adorable Japanese kids. It was so hard not to kidnap them. Anyways, the day was absolutely spectacular.
Friday I had my Japanese oral final. It went decently. I messed up a bit, but I am hoping to still pull of an A for the class. After school Nadra, Sara and I made our way to McDonalds for the arrival of the muchly anticipated Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry. McDonalds had been tempting us for a month and on the 3oth it finally came out. It did not disappointed and was completely delicious. After that, Kyle, Keith and I went to Kichijoji, a really awesome town near where Keith moved to. There were great shops and a fabulous park. The leaves literally looked on fire. The lake was beautiful. It was quite relaxing. I then went to visit Keith's new apartment and it was great fun.
Saturday I went to lunch with Jon to an Indian restaurant. The food was delicious, however, I seemed to have come down with a case of food poisoning or something along those lines. I was horribly sick and miserable all of Saturday night. Sunday afternoon I was luckily feeling just well enough to go visit Rian's new apartment in Koenji, where So lives. The three of us went to dinner at an okinomiyaki place. It was good, but I was hesitant on eating a lot. After dinner, I went to Jon and Lucas's new apartment in Higashi Nakano for their housewarming party. It was quite nice. It was a relaxing, intimate time with good friends...and outside of the dorm, which made it even better. I slept over there and then Monday was spent with me pretending to start packing.
Tuesday was a very stressful and chaotic afternoon, but then I went out to dinner with my friend Takahiro, who I met in my one class. We met up in Shibuya with some of his friends and went to this amazing restaurant called Elephant which had Thai/Malaysian/Indian-ish food. Not only was the food great and the atmosphere amazing, but they had a coupon so the entire meal was 50% off...but then his friends all paid for me since I was leaving. So nice...I had never even met these people before. After dinner we went to karaoke for 2 hours. We were in the biggest karaoke room I had ever seen...and there were only 5 people. I swore the room could have fit at least 20. This was the first time I had been to karaoke in which I was the only person really singing in English. It was awkward, but definitely a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I had to come home and study for my final on Wednesday.
Wednesday was another great day...well, once the final was over. Luckily it wasn't too bad. After the final, my friend from music class, Katsuya took me to this adorable cafe called Cafe Life and we got some cake. I'm really happy that I was able to actually hang out with my friends from school outside of school. Granted, it took until the very last possible week, but nonetheless, it was still a lot of fun. After I said goodbye to him, I rushed home and then went out again. I went out to dinner to the Elephant restaurant again, this time with Nadra, Jon and Lucas. It was a great way to end the semester. We were all relaxed finally and I got to spend it with my 3 best friends that I made. Unfortunately at the end of the night I had to say goodbye to Jon and Lucas. Lucas I will hopefully be seeing in a few weeks in Disney World, but I don't know when I will see Jon again.
Today...the last day. This morning I went to cancel my health insurance and then to visit Nadra's apartment in Kawasaki. Visiting all of my friends' new apartments is quite depressing because they are all so fun and adorable and I really, really wish I was able to actually live here in a proper apartment and be completely on my own. Oh well. After that I met up in Shibuya with So to cancel my cellphone. However, it turns out I am able to cancel it at the airport which is awesome because now I can use it up until the last minute if needed. So and I then went to a cafe where we had some really good conversations. I gave him a stuffed panda, his favorite animal, to thank him for all he has done for me. I then had the extremely difficult task of saying goodbye to him. He was basically the only person who I have been good friends with since the very very beginning. He has done so much to not only help me, but he helped all of my friends as well. I really really really hope that he will be able to come visit me.
Since then, I have had the burden of breaking down into tears virtually every 10 minutes. There are only around 10 people left in the dorm. Luckily Nadra is still here to keep me going. I am almost finished packing at this point. I leave tomorrow around 10:15. I am debating staying up all night and just sleeping on the plane. My walls are now all empty, which is very discomforting. I have been getting calls and messages from my friends with the final goodbyes. I haven't been able to officially say bye to a lot of people, but I can only do so much. It's hard to see and talk to everyone considering most people aren't living in the dorms anymore and have left all throughout the week.
Sigh. This has singlehandedly been the best thing that has happened to me in my 22 years of life. I have made some of the best friends and have made some of the most incredible memories a person could ask for. Yes, things went wrong. Yes, I wasn't 100% happy the entire time. But god, it really was all I could ask for and more. I can't see how I'm supposed to be ripped away from here. It's going to be a long, long flight home.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Against All Odds
Again, there is much to update on since my life has been non-stop. However, I must try and remember all that has gone on...
I forgot to mention in the last entry about how I went to So's brothers' show. He has twin 16 year old brothers who are in a punk band and so they played a show in Koenji. Turns out I got to meet his whole family. His brothers barely spoke any English, but they were so cute. Their band was pretty good, too. His sister is 21 and is going to school to be a teacher. She spoke pretty decent English. And then there was his mom.... Most of my questions have no been answered as to why So is the way he is... He gets it all from his mom. She was so awesome. Drinking, smoking, and dancing the entire time. Her English was good, which was great. After the show, despite her being completely drunk, she took So and I to dinner at a Thai place. It was so much fun. She was life-long friends with the owners and the store was completely filled with records. So cool!
Anyways, what else has gone on... One Saturday I went to Ueno Park to the Tokyo National Museum. It was free for international students that day so I ventured over that way. The museums themselves were pretty boring, but it was definitely worth the trip. Hm... Sunday I went back to Koenji with my friend Rian. So helped her find an apartment. I am so jealous that they will both be living in the same town. It would be so much fun to live with them. After we spent the afternoon in Koenji, Rian and I went on a pilgrimage to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Shinjuku. We had to wait in line for around 30 minutes..but they gave us a free donut while waiting. It was magically delicious.
I then had a 3 day week of school in which not much of anything happened. Wendesday was my good friend Nadra's birthday so we went to the grocery store and drank on the bench out front. Thursday we had off and it was my birthday! I relaxed all day and then got ready for Nadra and my birthday dinner. We went to Alcatraz ER, a prison hospital themed restaurant in Shibuya. We had a private room reserved and about 25 people came. The place was awesome. The decorations were great. We sat on the floor on top of dead bodies. The food was fun - there was fried chicken served in a cage, fondue, the drink I got was a blood transfusion IV drip. I hope people enjoyed themselves. It wasn't many of my real friends that came, but it was still cool. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to a purikura (photobooth) and then wandered around Shibuya for a bit.
Friday was pretty uneventful...just drank some wine on the bench again with some friends. Saturday I slept all day in preparation for an all-nighter. My friend Yurie invited me to her friend's birthday party in Roppongi. I hate Roppongi since it is all foreigners, but I thought I'd go for it anyways. It was a combined birthday party with these two girls from Peru. I knew a few people there, but it was really awkward and weird, but it ended up being a lot of fun. The one birthday girl, Lorena, ended up having the same exact birthday as me, and turned 22 as well. She got so excited. She was really nice and ended up having me blow out the candles with her and her friend. It was sweet. After the party, we went to a Salsa club. It started out as a lot of fun, but then I ended up getting elbowed in the eye by accident. Who knew that Salsa dancing was a full contact sport. Anyways, luckily I didn't get a black eye, but it's still really sore and slightly swollen. I stayed out all night and didn't get home until 6:00. Just as I was about to go to bed, I saw Lucas and Jon outside of my window so we all went to breakfast at McDonalds.
I then slept for 4 hours before Rian and I ventured off to Akihabara which is where all of the electronics and creepy Anime people are. There were a lot of guys dressed up in girl costumes and yea...it was an experience, haha. Then we went to Yoyogi park which was completely great. There were so many crazy people out. There was a group of around 30 Japanese people dressed as greasers with huge pompadore hair and polka dot dresses with old muscle cars just dancing in the middle of the park. It was one of the best things I've ever seen. Not even 30 feet from that were lots of small bands set up on the sidewalk playing. Not even 15 feet from them was a huge reggae tent with a literal wall of speakers and everyone just dancing around. Down the street from that was a girl playing a violin with a guy on guitar. And across the fountain from them was a group of 10 people all playing drums. The weather was amazing and it was just the coolest thing ever walking through the park. We then wandered around Harajuku and ate a crepe, went to a purikura, and walked for hours looking at all of the fancy designer stores. I never wanted it to end. It was such a great day.
Today was the last day of classes. It's quite bittersweet. I didn't like my classes this semester, but it just means I'm that much closer to the end and that's no good. More and more people are moving out of the dorms. I won't see a lot of my friends that are strictly from school anymore. It's so devastating. However, I still have around 10 days to just hang out and have fun and explore and see people. Oh goodness....
I forgot to mention in the last entry about how I went to So's brothers' show. He has twin 16 year old brothers who are in a punk band and so they played a show in Koenji. Turns out I got to meet his whole family. His brothers barely spoke any English, but they were so cute. Their band was pretty good, too. His sister is 21 and is going to school to be a teacher. She spoke pretty decent English. And then there was his mom.... Most of my questions have no been answered as to why So is the way he is... He gets it all from his mom. She was so awesome. Drinking, smoking, and dancing the entire time. Her English was good, which was great. After the show, despite her being completely drunk, she took So and I to dinner at a Thai place. It was so much fun. She was life-long friends with the owners and the store was completely filled with records. So cool!
Anyways, what else has gone on... One Saturday I went to Ueno Park to the Tokyo National Museum. It was free for international students that day so I ventured over that way. The museums themselves were pretty boring, but it was definitely worth the trip. Hm... Sunday I went back to Koenji with my friend Rian. So helped her find an apartment. I am so jealous that they will both be living in the same town. It would be so much fun to live with them. After we spent the afternoon in Koenji, Rian and I went on a pilgrimage to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Shinjuku. We had to wait in line for around 30 minutes..but they gave us a free donut while waiting. It was magically delicious.
I then had a 3 day week of school in which not much of anything happened. Wendesday was my good friend Nadra's birthday so we went to the grocery store and drank on the bench out front. Thursday we had off and it was my birthday! I relaxed all day and then got ready for Nadra and my birthday dinner. We went to Alcatraz ER, a prison hospital themed restaurant in Shibuya. We had a private room reserved and about 25 people came. The place was awesome. The decorations were great. We sat on the floor on top of dead bodies. The food was fun - there was fried chicken served in a cage, fondue, the drink I got was a blood transfusion IV drip. I hope people enjoyed themselves. It wasn't many of my real friends that came, but it was still cool. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to a purikura (photobooth) and then wandered around Shibuya for a bit.
Friday was pretty uneventful...just drank some wine on the bench again with some friends. Saturday I slept all day in preparation for an all-nighter. My friend Yurie invited me to her friend's birthday party in Roppongi. I hate Roppongi since it is all foreigners, but I thought I'd go for it anyways. It was a combined birthday party with these two girls from Peru. I knew a few people there, but it was really awkward and weird, but it ended up being a lot of fun. The one birthday girl, Lorena, ended up having the same exact birthday as me, and turned 22 as well. She got so excited. She was really nice and ended up having me blow out the candles with her and her friend. It was sweet. After the party, we went to a Salsa club. It started out as a lot of fun, but then I ended up getting elbowed in the eye by accident. Who knew that Salsa dancing was a full contact sport. Anyways, luckily I didn't get a black eye, but it's still really sore and slightly swollen. I stayed out all night and didn't get home until 6:00. Just as I was about to go to bed, I saw Lucas and Jon outside of my window so we all went to breakfast at McDonalds.
I then slept for 4 hours before Rian and I ventured off to Akihabara which is where all of the electronics and creepy Anime people are. There were a lot of guys dressed up in girl costumes and yea...it was an experience, haha. Then we went to Yoyogi park which was completely great. There were so many crazy people out. There was a group of around 30 Japanese people dressed as greasers with huge pompadore hair and polka dot dresses with old muscle cars just dancing in the middle of the park. It was one of the best things I've ever seen. Not even 30 feet from that were lots of small bands set up on the sidewalk playing. Not even 15 feet from them was a huge reggae tent with a literal wall of speakers and everyone just dancing around. Down the street from that was a girl playing a violin with a guy on guitar. And across the fountain from them was a group of 10 people all playing drums. The weather was amazing and it was just the coolest thing ever walking through the park. We then wandered around Harajuku and ate a crepe, went to a purikura, and walked for hours looking at all of the fancy designer stores. I never wanted it to end. It was such a great day.
Today was the last day of classes. It's quite bittersweet. I didn't like my classes this semester, but it just means I'm that much closer to the end and that's no good. More and more people are moving out of the dorms. I won't see a lot of my friends that are strictly from school anymore. It's so devastating. However, I still have around 10 days to just hang out and have fun and explore and see people. Oh goodness....
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
And I'm telling you I'm not going
Sorry for the delay in updates. These past few weeks have been quite busy. Picking up after the last post, I got my hair chopped off. I went to Sakura hair cut place a few minutes from the dorm. It was the best experience ever. The people were so nice, they washed my hair twice and so thoroughly, they gave me a cappuccino, and there was the cutest dog ever. They also gave me a head and neck massage. It was around $50 but totally worth every penny. It was great and my hair came out cute. That Friday I went out to dinner with a few people to a Korean BBQ. It was a lot of fun.
That weekend I traveled to Gunma, a prefecture about 6 hours north of Tokyo in the mountains. I worked with a high school English camp for 3 days. There were about 40 student assistants and around 350 Japanese high school freshman. We took buses up with the kids. The hotel we stayed at was way up in the mountains completely isolated. I was the first one to walk into the hotel and immediately was reminded of "The Shining." The hotel was so reminiscent of that hotel. We were the only ones staying in the hotel so it was really cool. I roomed with my friends Amanda and Sara. Our room was really big and pretty nice. All of our accommodations were paid for, in addition to the 20,000 Yen we were paid (around $200) for the weekend. The meals were absolutely delicious, as well.
The goal of the camp was to help the high school students become more comfortable speaking English. Their ability ranged from not knowing much English at all to speaking it very well. We did different activities with them and workshops in which each team would get points. The very first group I worked with was a lot of fun so I decided to hang out and give them extra help all weekend. The students also had to work on tv commercial presentations on a "product of the future" that they would compete to have the best one. I spent a lot of time helping my group with their presentation, which they did on Pixie Dust, giving you the ability to fly. We spent hours perfecting their presentation. The presentations were to be judged by the assistants, and then the top 8 would make it to the finals, which would be performed in front of the whole camp and judged by their teachers.
Well as I had hoped, my group made it to the finals. All weekend when we had been practicing, they ended their presentation by saying "This commercial is presented to you by Kaho and Taro." Well, during the finals, much to my complete surprise, they changed the line to say "This commercial is presented to you by Kaho and Taro and supported by Melanie." Needless to say, I started crying. They were the only group to do anything like that. Not only that, but out of 78 groups, they ended up winning!! It was one of my proudest moments ever. My group was so awesome. I felt like such a proud mom. I ran up to the front and gave them all hugs. And they didn't just win the presentations...but they also ended up getting the most points out of all of the workshops so they basically won everything there was the entire weekend. The other assistants dubbed me "teacher of the millennium," which I was proud to accept.
It was actually really hard to say goodbye to all of the kids. I got tons of pictures of everyone. As we were saying bye, my group gave me a little cellphone charm and said "Don't forget about us". It was so great. I got their email addresses to try and keep in touch with them. It was one of the most rewarding weekends ever.
What else has happened...this past weekend Friday was pretty laid back. Jon and I just went to an izakaya the next town over. Saturday So and I went to Asakusa and visited the Temple as well as going to Japan's first amusement park. It was so great and decrepit and
old and amazing. The rides were so corny but they were so fun. The weather was all rainy, but I didn't let that ruin my time. We then went to dinner, which was delicious. The night ended fairly early so when I came home, Jon and I decided to go to karaoke from 11pm - 3am. It was so fun.
Sunday Jon and I went to Yokohama. I went on the world's second largest ferris wheel which had a wonderful view. We also went to Chinatown. It was definitely awesome.
This past week I ended up going to karaoke 3 times. Only once was late at night...the rest have been after school. I love karaoke. It makes me so happy. I have been going out to lunch with some friends during the weeks as well. Today I went to visit Tokyo Tower which is a huge tower right by my school. It is actually larger than the Eiffel Tower. I want to go back again at night sometime before I leave. I have been working hard and diligently to cross activities off of my list of things to do before I leave. This weekend, hopefully more will be crossed off.
School this past week was very crazy and stressful, but it's all been paying off. Except for psychology, which I'm doing decent in, I have like a 98% in all of my other classes. Quite exciting if you ask me.
One more week until my birthday. My best friend here, Nadra, her birthday is the day before mine so we are planning a big get together with all of our friends.
Three weeks until I have to leave. This place has honestly become more home than my actual home ever has been. I love everyone here. It's sad because everyone is finding their apartments and slowly starting to move out of the dorm, which is not OK in my book. They all need to stay here and hang out with me. They can't leave until I leave. At least when I come back to visit, I will have tons of places to stay.
Ok, that's enough for now. I hope I covered everything.
That weekend I traveled to Gunma, a prefecture about 6 hours north of Tokyo in the mountains. I worked with a high school English camp for 3 days. There were about 40 student assistants and around 350 Japanese high school freshman. We took buses up with the kids. The hotel we stayed at was way up in the mountains completely isolated. I was the first one to walk into the hotel and immediately was reminded of "The Shining." The hotel was so reminiscent of that hotel. We were the only ones staying in the hotel so it was really cool. I roomed with my friends Amanda and Sara. Our room was really big and pretty nice. All of our accommodations were paid for, in addition to the 20,000 Yen we were paid (around $200) for the weekend. The meals were absolutely delicious, as well.
The goal of the camp was to help the high school students become more comfortable speaking English. Their ability ranged from not knowing much English at all to speaking it very well. We did different activities with them and workshops in which each team would get points. The very first group I worked with was a lot of fun so I decided to hang out and give them extra help all weekend. The students also had to work on tv commercial presentations on a "product of the future" that they would compete to have the best one. I spent a lot of time helping my group with their presentation, which they did on Pixie Dust, giving you the ability to fly. We spent hours perfecting their presentation. The presentations were to be judged by the assistants, and then the top 8 would make it to the finals, which would be performed in front of the whole camp and judged by their teachers.
Well as I had hoped, my group made it to the finals. All weekend when we had been practicing, they ended their presentation by saying "This commercial is presented to you by Kaho and Taro." Well, during the finals, much to my complete surprise, they changed the line to say "This commercial is presented to you by Kaho and Taro and supported by Melanie." Needless to say, I started crying. They were the only group to do anything like that. Not only that, but out of 78 groups, they ended up winning!! It was one of my proudest moments ever. My group was so awesome. I felt like such a proud mom. I ran up to the front and gave them all hugs. And they didn't just win the presentations...but they also ended up getting the most points out of all of the workshops so they basically won everything there was the entire weekend. The other assistants dubbed me "teacher of the millennium," which I was proud to accept.
It was actually really hard to say goodbye to all of the kids. I got tons of pictures of everyone. As we were saying bye, my group gave me a little cellphone charm and said "Don't forget about us". It was so great. I got their email addresses to try and keep in touch with them. It was one of the most rewarding weekends ever.
What else has happened...this past weekend Friday was pretty laid back. Jon and I just went to an izakaya the next town over. Saturday So and I went to Asakusa and visited the Temple as well as going to Japan's first amusement park. It was so great and decrepit and
old and amazing. The rides were so corny but they were so fun. The weather was all rainy, but I didn't let that ruin my time. We then went to dinner, which was delicious. The night ended fairly early so when I came home, Jon and I decided to go to karaoke from 11pm - 3am. It was so fun.
Sunday Jon and I went to Yokohama. I went on the world's second largest ferris wheel which had a wonderful view. We also went to Chinatown. It was definitely awesome.
This past week I ended up going to karaoke 3 times. Only once was late at night...the rest have been after school. I love karaoke. It makes me so happy. I have been going out to lunch with some friends during the weeks as well. Today I went to visit Tokyo Tower which is a huge tower right by my school. It is actually larger than the Eiffel Tower. I want to go back again at night sometime before I leave. I have been working hard and diligently to cross activities off of my list of things to do before I leave. This weekend, hopefully more will be crossed off.
School this past week was very crazy and stressful, but it's all been paying off. Except for psychology, which I'm doing decent in, I have like a 98% in all of my other classes. Quite exciting if you ask me.
One more week until my birthday. My best friend here, Nadra, her birthday is the day before mine so we are planning a big get together with all of our friends.
Three weeks until I have to leave. This place has honestly become more home than my actual home ever has been. I love everyone here. It's sad because everyone is finding their apartments and slowly starting to move out of the dorm, which is not OK in my book. They all need to stay here and hang out with me. They can't leave until I leave. At least when I come back to visit, I will have tons of places to stay.
Ok, that's enough for now. I hope I covered everything.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
November Rain
Well Halloween has now come and gone. I was slightly let down...but then again, my expectations may have been too high. Friday was a party thrown by Temple. Before the party, I got all dressed up as a Grecian Goddess, complete with toga and flowers. I went out to an izakaya for my friend's Ivan's birthday. There were about 20 of us or so. It was a fun time...despite the fact that it ended up costing me a lot more than it should have. After that, we went to Roppongi for the party. It was at some club that wasn't big enough. They expected around 300 people to come but the actual turn out was closer to 700. I guess everyone loves a free party. It was fun seeing everyone all dressed up and there was a pole dancer, but it was just too crowded and too unorganized to fully enjoy. A bunch of us left around 11:00 and headed over to another club, which was completely empty. I was really tired by this point and wasn't in the best mood so around 1:00 am, Jon, Lucas and I went to good ol' McDonalds, then took a cab home around 3:00.
I slept until like...4:00 pm on Saturday, which was also helped by the fact that there was a typhoon so it was extra dark out. I was supposed to go to a parade and a party, but the weather just wasn't conducive for going out. Instead, a bunch of us just lallygagged around the dorm all night. It was nice and relaxing.
Sunday Amanda and I went to Kawasaki to Japan's largest Halloween Parade. Well we ended up missing the actual parade by like 10 minutes, but we ended up staying for hours taking pictures of all of the crazy Japanese dressed up. It was so great. Some of the costumes were just...ridiculous. Some were adorable while others were absolutely creepy. After some time, Amanda headed home while I stayed to see Rocky Horror Picture Show. They showed the movie on the large screen while actors performed it in front of the screen. Oh.My.God. It was so great. It was so bizarre seeing a Japanese Frank-n-Furter. And all of the things yelled at the screen, half were in English, half were in Japanese. I was in hysterics the whole time.
On Halloween itself we had a dorm party complete with Rice Crispy Treats, candy, pizza, lots of movies, and a costume contest. It was a nice time. I really do love this dorm. There is always something happening.
So it is now officially November which means 36 days until I leave. This is no good. I still have so much to do and so many people to hang out with. I can't even think about having to leave everyone here. It's heart-breaking.
I slept until like...4:00 pm on Saturday, which was also helped by the fact that there was a typhoon so it was extra dark out. I was supposed to go to a parade and a party, but the weather just wasn't conducive for going out. Instead, a bunch of us just lallygagged around the dorm all night. It was nice and relaxing.
Sunday Amanda and I went to Kawasaki to Japan's largest Halloween Parade. Well we ended up missing the actual parade by like 10 minutes, but we ended up staying for hours taking pictures of all of the crazy Japanese dressed up. It was so great. Some of the costumes were just...ridiculous. Some were adorable while others were absolutely creepy. After some time, Amanda headed home while I stayed to see Rocky Horror Picture Show. They showed the movie on the large screen while actors performed it in front of the screen. Oh.My.God. It was so great. It was so bizarre seeing a Japanese Frank-n-Furter. And all of the things yelled at the screen, half were in English, half were in Japanese. I was in hysterics the whole time.
On Halloween itself we had a dorm party complete with Rice Crispy Treats, candy, pizza, lots of movies, and a costume contest. It was a nice time. I really do love this dorm. There is always something happening.
So it is now officially November which means 36 days until I leave. This is no good. I still have so much to do and so many people to hang out with. I can't even think about having to leave everyone here. It's heart-breaking.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Under the Sea
Things have been going quite well lately. Mid terms are over and I got all grades back except for one. I got a 100 on World Music, 98 on Japanese Culture and a 95 on Japanese. Not too bad if I do say so myself. Now I have a few weeks to chill before getting into the hard work again. I am all scheduled for classes for next semester so that is a relief. Next weekend I am going to be working at a High School English camp. We get paid $200 and all of our accommodations are paid for, including food and hotel. Not only that but all of my friends are going as well.
This past weekend was a surprisingly good time considering I didn't have any real plans in advance. Friday I went with Amanda, Kyle, Dave and Sean to Shinjuku. I hadn't hung out with them since the beginning of the semester so it was a good time. We went to a German bar and then we found another "The Lockup" restaurant. We were very very rushed for time before the last train at The Lockup and all of them were drunk so it made for quite an adventure. Luckily we made it back for the last trains. Saturday I went to Shibuya with Lucas to buy records for some friends. We also found a really good conveyor belt sushi place. That night a bunch of us from the dorm had some wine and relaxed and had a great time.
Sunday was one of the best days I've had since I've been in Japan. Lucas, Jon and I went to Disney Sea! We tried going to Disney Land, but it was sold out...even at 10:00 am. I was pretty bummed out but we made our way across the complex to Disney Sea which is kind of like Epcot in the sense that there are different countries as different ports around a big lake. It was magical, of course, as soon as we got there. From the second I got to the park I became a 10 year old again. It was fairly crowded, but I know how to work the system between the fast passes and single rider lines. We got to ride everything...including Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. I got my picture taken with Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, and the Genie. I was singing and dancing the whole time. When we first got to the park, we all held hands and skipped down the road. The weather was beautiful. It was just the greatest day ever. I love Lucas and Jon so much. They are the best people ever.
I'm trying to go to Disney Land sometime this week, hopefully Thursday, so I can see all of the Halloween decorations. Speaking of Halloween, I am so excited for it. I finally made my costume today. I'm going as a Grecian Goddess in a toga with flowers around my head. There are a bunch of parties and parades and I can't wait.
That's all for now. Woo.
This past weekend was a surprisingly good time considering I didn't have any real plans in advance. Friday I went with Amanda, Kyle, Dave and Sean to Shinjuku. I hadn't hung out with them since the beginning of the semester so it was a good time. We went to a German bar and then we found another "The Lockup" restaurant. We were very very rushed for time before the last train at The Lockup and all of them were drunk so it made for quite an adventure. Luckily we made it back for the last trains. Saturday I went to Shibuya with Lucas to buy records for some friends. We also found a really good conveyor belt sushi place. That night a bunch of us from the dorm had some wine and relaxed and had a great time.
Sunday was one of the best days I've had since I've been in Japan. Lucas, Jon and I went to Disney Sea! We tried going to Disney Land, but it was sold out...even at 10:00 am. I was pretty bummed out but we made our way across the complex to Disney Sea which is kind of like Epcot in the sense that there are different countries as different ports around a big lake. It was magical, of course, as soon as we got there. From the second I got to the park I became a 10 year old again. It was fairly crowded, but I know how to work the system between the fast passes and single rider lines. We got to ride everything...including Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. I got my picture taken with Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, and the Genie. I was singing and dancing the whole time. When we first got to the park, we all held hands and skipped down the road. The weather was beautiful. It was just the greatest day ever. I love Lucas and Jon so much. They are the best people ever.
I'm trying to go to Disney Land sometime this week, hopefully Thursday, so I can see all of the Halloween decorations. Speaking of Halloween, I am so excited for it. I finally made my costume today. I'm going as a Grecian Goddess in a toga with flowers around my head. There are a bunch of parties and parades and I can't wait.
That's all for now. Woo.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Deer dance
I apologize for the delay, however, I have been in the middle of midterms with no time to do much of anything. I will continue with where I left off on the best trip ever.
Saturday Lucas and I ventured to Nara, a city outside of Kyoto. There is a huge park that is literally full of deer. It was basically one of the coolest things ever. The deer have free range and are able to do whatever they please. I purchased some deer cracker things so I was able to feed them. Not only was I able to feed deer, but I also was able to pet them and hug them and lay with them. It was so incredible. They are such beautiful creatures....well, except for the one deer that bit me on my stomach as I was feeding it. We also went to visit one of the world's largest enclosed Buddhas, housed in the world's largest wooden building. Talk about breathtaking. It was spectacular. After wandering around the Buddha and the park, we grabbed some lunch at a cute piano themed cafe and headed back to Kyoto.
Unfortunately our Nara expedition took longer than expected so once we returned to Kyoto, the rest of the temples we were planning on visiting were closed. Instead we ate dinner at an awesome restaurant called "The Lock Up." It was another themed restaurant, this time, themed as a prison. We had to walk through a haunted hallway to get there, then our table was inside of a jail cell. The staff all wore costumes like prison stripes, police officers, and other things of that nature. The drinks were great - Lucas got a drink that he had to mix by using a syringe. I got a drink that I had to mix by using different test tubes. So creative and great.
After dinner we wandered around Gion on a mission to find Geisha. It took us a while and we ventured down many shady alleyways, but alas, we found 2 geisha. I told myself that I wouldn't believe that they actually existed until I saw one with my own eyes. Luckily I did. We spent the rest of the night fairly low key - sitting by the river and talking for hours. It was quite nice.
Sunday we checked out of the hostel and boarded the train for Osaka. Once we arrived we put our bags in a storage locker at the station and started to wander. We weren't really sure where we were in relation to everything else and, although we had quite a few hours, didn't want to stray too far. So we ended up aimlessly walking around Osaka and finding some of the shadier areas. We sat in a bookstore for a while. We went to a shopping mall called Hep 5 that had giant whales hanging from the ceiling. I still don't know what they were for. Finally around 7:30 we met up with Chisa.
Chisa led us to her uncle's car, where I then got in to a car for the first time since the taxi ride from the airport on my very first day. He drove us around to various "hot spots" in Osaka. We just made very brief stops to take a few pictures. By this point it was getting late so we went back to his apartment just outside of the main part of Osaka. It was absolutely gorgeous. He lived on the 15th floor and had an amazing view of the city. We quickly went down the to Onseen that was in the complex. It was so relaxing after walking around for miles and miles and miles and days and days. After the Onseen, Chisa, her uncle, his girlfriend, Lucas and I, all went to dinner at the really nice shopping complex across the street. I tried some bizarre foods, as usual. Chisa's uncle was absolutely hysterical. He didn't speak any English, which made communicating quite fun. I tried, of course, to practice my Japanese, but I realized I still don't know very much. Following dinner, Lucas, Chisa and I stayed up talking for quite a while.
Monday was another very long day. Chisa took us to breakfast, which was extremely nice. We then boarded a train to Himeji, about an hour outside of Osaka. It took us a while to find the bus we were supposed to get on once we arrived, but finally we found it. It drove us passed Himeji Castle, which was beautiful, but we didn't go there. We went to the Himeji Museum of Art to see a Surrealism exhibit that Lucas found out about. I am not a huge fan of surrealist art, but this exhibit was actually really good. They had Dali, Man Ray, and a lot of other artists whose names are slipping my mind at the moment. It was a lot of fun.
Following the museum, we headed back to Osaka and went to Dotonburry Street which is the most famous street in Osaka. We had briefly visited it the night before, but this time we were able to spend a little more time there. Our first, and most important stop, was to the photo booth places. This one was extremely awesome because we were able to dress up in costumes. Unfortunately they wouldn't let Lucas dress up since he is a guy, but Chisa wore a flight attendant costume and I wore a doctor's outfit. The pictures are amazing. After the pictures I tried takoyaki, meaning octopus balls. I knew I wouldn't like it, and I was right, however, I was still determined to try it. We went back to the apartment, said by to her uncle, and headed back to the area around Osaka station. We went back to Hep 5 because they have a gigantic ferris wheel that over looks the entire city. It was a spectacular way to end our trip. It was then the long 8 hour drive back to Tokyo. The bus was ridiculously uncomfortable, but by this point, Lucas and I were so exhausted that we passed out and slept for the majority of the time.
All in all, this was one of the best trips I've ever been on in my life. I planned the entire thing and everything was smooth sailing. We met some cool people, had some great adventures, saw some awesome things, and became even better friends. I took over 550 pictures that I'm sure everyone will see when I return.
Since the trip, things have calmed down a bit. As I said before, last week and this week have been midterms and papers and stress. I was able to go to all night karaoke, though, finally. I went with Lucas, Jon, Yurie, Kyle, and then a bunch of other random people. Nothing like singing karaoke until 5:00 in the morning. Nothing much else has been happening. We've celebrated some birthdays in the dorm and I went to a festival a few towns over.
I miss everyone back home though. Less than 2 months until my return. I really don't want to leave.
Saturday Lucas and I ventured to Nara, a city outside of Kyoto. There is a huge park that is literally full of deer. It was basically one of the coolest things ever. The deer have free range and are able to do whatever they please. I purchased some deer cracker things so I was able to feed them. Not only was I able to feed deer, but I also was able to pet them and hug them and lay with them. It was so incredible. They are such beautiful creatures....well, except for the one deer that bit me on my stomach as I was feeding it. We also went to visit one of the world's largest enclosed Buddhas, housed in the world's largest wooden building. Talk about breathtaking. It was spectacular. After wandering around the Buddha and the park, we grabbed some lunch at a cute piano themed cafe and headed back to Kyoto.
Unfortunately our Nara expedition took longer than expected so once we returned to Kyoto, the rest of the temples we were planning on visiting were closed. Instead we ate dinner at an awesome restaurant called "The Lock Up." It was another themed restaurant, this time, themed as a prison. We had to walk through a haunted hallway to get there, then our table was inside of a jail cell. The staff all wore costumes like prison stripes, police officers, and other things of that nature. The drinks were great - Lucas got a drink that he had to mix by using a syringe. I got a drink that I had to mix by using different test tubes. So creative and great.
After dinner we wandered around Gion on a mission to find Geisha. It took us a while and we ventured down many shady alleyways, but alas, we found 2 geisha. I told myself that I wouldn't believe that they actually existed until I saw one with my own eyes. Luckily I did. We spent the rest of the night fairly low key - sitting by the river and talking for hours. It was quite nice.
Sunday we checked out of the hostel and boarded the train for Osaka. Once we arrived we put our bags in a storage locker at the station and started to wander. We weren't really sure where we were in relation to everything else and, although we had quite a few hours, didn't want to stray too far. So we ended up aimlessly walking around Osaka and finding some of the shadier areas. We sat in a bookstore for a while. We went to a shopping mall called Hep 5 that had giant whales hanging from the ceiling. I still don't know what they were for. Finally around 7:30 we met up with Chisa.
Chisa led us to her uncle's car, where I then got in to a car for the first time since the taxi ride from the airport on my very first day. He drove us around to various "hot spots" in Osaka. We just made very brief stops to take a few pictures. By this point it was getting late so we went back to his apartment just outside of the main part of Osaka. It was absolutely gorgeous. He lived on the 15th floor and had an amazing view of the city. We quickly went down the to Onseen that was in the complex. It was so relaxing after walking around for miles and miles and miles and days and days. After the Onseen, Chisa, her uncle, his girlfriend, Lucas and I, all went to dinner at the really nice shopping complex across the street. I tried some bizarre foods, as usual. Chisa's uncle was absolutely hysterical. He didn't speak any English, which made communicating quite fun. I tried, of course, to practice my Japanese, but I realized I still don't know very much. Following dinner, Lucas, Chisa and I stayed up talking for quite a while.
Monday was another very long day. Chisa took us to breakfast, which was extremely nice. We then boarded a train to Himeji, about an hour outside of Osaka. It took us a while to find the bus we were supposed to get on once we arrived, but finally we found it. It drove us passed Himeji Castle, which was beautiful, but we didn't go there. We went to the Himeji Museum of Art to see a Surrealism exhibit that Lucas found out about. I am not a huge fan of surrealist art, but this exhibit was actually really good. They had Dali, Man Ray, and a lot of other artists whose names are slipping my mind at the moment. It was a lot of fun.
Following the museum, we headed back to Osaka and went to Dotonburry Street which is the most famous street in Osaka. We had briefly visited it the night before, but this time we were able to spend a little more time there. Our first, and most important stop, was to the photo booth places. This one was extremely awesome because we were able to dress up in costumes. Unfortunately they wouldn't let Lucas dress up since he is a guy, but Chisa wore a flight attendant costume and I wore a doctor's outfit. The pictures are amazing. After the pictures I tried takoyaki, meaning octopus balls. I knew I wouldn't like it, and I was right, however, I was still determined to try it. We went back to the apartment, said by to her uncle, and headed back to the area around Osaka station. We went back to Hep 5 because they have a gigantic ferris wheel that over looks the entire city. It was a spectacular way to end our trip. It was then the long 8 hour drive back to Tokyo. The bus was ridiculously uncomfortable, but by this point, Lucas and I were so exhausted that we passed out and slept for the majority of the time.
All in all, this was one of the best trips I've ever been on in my life. I planned the entire thing and everything was smooth sailing. We met some cool people, had some great adventures, saw some awesome things, and became even better friends. I took over 550 pictures that I'm sure everyone will see when I return.
Since the trip, things have calmed down a bit. As I said before, last week and this week have been midterms and papers and stress. I was able to go to all night karaoke, though, finally. I went with Lucas, Jon, Yurie, Kyle, and then a bunch of other random people. Nothing like singing karaoke until 5:00 in the morning. Nothing much else has been happening. We've celebrated some birthdays in the dorm and I went to a festival a few towns over.
I miss everyone back home though. Less than 2 months until my return. I really don't want to leave.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
We're on the top of the world, you and I
Well my little adventure easily because one of the best trips I've been on in my entire life. I guess I will go into slightly more detail.
Late Thursday night Lucas and I traveled to Tokyo station to catch our overnight bus to Kyoto. The bus was really nice and had curtains. However, just because it was nice did not mean that we would be able to sleep. After numerous attempts and bathroom breaks, I think we probably ended up sleeping about 2 hours give or take of the 6 hour ride. 6:00 am came and we arrived at Kyoto station. We went to McDonalds and I got a delicious mcgriddle.
With map in hand, we made our way to the bus station to get to Gion, the part of Kyoto that our hostel was in. Gion is known as the Geisha town, which I will get into further later. Everything was desolate. I guess Kyoto doesn't wake up very early. Our hostel was easily found and was located right on the river in the heart of all of the excitement. The office didn't open until 10:00, but I was given the combination to open the door, thankfully. We were able to semi hide our bags in the common lounge, change our clothes, brush our teeth and sit for like 5 minutes. We decided to explore Gion until the office opened. We wandered the empty streets with unknown stores. Everything was closed and mysterious. We walked along the river and saw the old fishermen. By the time we circled around the town, it was 10:00 so we went to "officially" drop our bags off at the hostel, however, we still couldn't check in.
After the brief stop at the hostel, we were on our way to the first temple: Sanjusangen-do Temple, meaning 1001 Buddhas. Well let me tell you...they weren't lying about that one. There really were 1001 Buddhas and it was spectacular. They were all in lines and rows surrounding one large Buddha. It was amazing. The grounds of the temple were beautiful. A group of Japanese school girls came up to us wanting to take a picture with us. We couldn't say no. After that we headed to Kiyomizudera Temple, the Water Temple. On our walk there, we passed a school bus full of elementary school aged Japanese kids. The were all plastered to the windows and waving profusely to us. I don't know if it's because we are foreign or if it's because Lucas looks like a model/rock star/famous, but we got quite a lot of attention over the weekend. It was wonderful.
Kiyomizudera was absolutely breathtaking. We had to hike up a mountain, but unlike in Hakone, this one definitely paid off. We had the most spectacular view of Kyoto. We could see for miles as we were standing up in the mountains, surrounded by mountains and city and gorgeousness. The temples themselves were fabulous. As we hiked down the mountain, there was a large place where you could drink the water (hence being called the water temple). It's holy water and you are supposed to make a wish as you drink it. On the rest of the walk down the mountain, children kept saying "hello" to us. They were trying to practice their English, so I responded in Japanese trying to practice mine. I also got some delicious Mango ice cream.
We went to an Okonomyoki place for lunch which was delicious and then headed to find the Path of Philosophy which would take us to our next destination. The Path of Philosophy was located along a small stream and lined with various cafes and random shops. Lucas ended up purchasing a Yukata, which is the less formal form of a kimono. We finally made it to Ginkakuji Temple. They had a sand garden with a big "sand castle" like dome. Again we walked through the moutains and bamboo. We saw a group of people looking up towards the sky and realized they were looking at the one single tree that started to change colors for fall. After Ginkakuji we headed to Kinkakuji Temple, however, by the time we got there it was closed, which meant the other temples we were planning on seeing would be closed, too. But it was alright...by this point, we had had no sleep and walked for what seemed like days. We decided to head back to the hostel.
We were finally able to check in and found our room was shared with 6 other people and had bunk beds. It was quite exciting to actually be staying in a hostel. We then went to dinner at a cute Asian place along the river. It was completely empty and delicious. It was so relaxing to be able to sit down for a while. It didn't last long though as we continued to explore Gion. We went to one of the photobooths which led to quite exciting pictures. We found playgrounds, hidden doors and alleys, and fun shops. After a while we decided to split up and have some personal time. I continued my walk through the streets of Gion when I found, or I should say they found me, a group of drunk Japanese guys that started talking to me. I was a little apprehensive at first, but hey...why not make some friends. They ended up being so much fun. We went down to the river, which is a huge hangout spot for kids. My new friends and I, including the two guys who then became my "boyfriends" for the night, sat by the river for a few hours and Lucas came and met up with us. They were all so drunk and hysterical, but really really nice. My one "boyfriend" gave me the Japanese name of Mikachan, meaning beautiful. Finally Lucas and I had to call it a night considering we had been up for 40+ hours straight.
I have many more days to account for, but my stomach is growling so I should make some dinner. I will write more later.
Late Thursday night Lucas and I traveled to Tokyo station to catch our overnight bus to Kyoto. The bus was really nice and had curtains. However, just because it was nice did not mean that we would be able to sleep. After numerous attempts and bathroom breaks, I think we probably ended up sleeping about 2 hours give or take of the 6 hour ride. 6:00 am came and we arrived at Kyoto station. We went to McDonalds and I got a delicious mcgriddle.
With map in hand, we made our way to the bus station to get to Gion, the part of Kyoto that our hostel was in. Gion is known as the Geisha town, which I will get into further later. Everything was desolate. I guess Kyoto doesn't wake up very early. Our hostel was easily found and was located right on the river in the heart of all of the excitement. The office didn't open until 10:00, but I was given the combination to open the door, thankfully. We were able to semi hide our bags in the common lounge, change our clothes, brush our teeth and sit for like 5 minutes. We decided to explore Gion until the office opened. We wandered the empty streets with unknown stores. Everything was closed and mysterious. We walked along the river and saw the old fishermen. By the time we circled around the town, it was 10:00 so we went to "officially" drop our bags off at the hostel, however, we still couldn't check in.
After the brief stop at the hostel, we were on our way to the first temple: Sanjusangen-do Temple, meaning 1001 Buddhas. Well let me tell you...they weren't lying about that one. There really were 1001 Buddhas and it was spectacular. They were all in lines and rows surrounding one large Buddha. It was amazing. The grounds of the temple were beautiful. A group of Japanese school girls came up to us wanting to take a picture with us. We couldn't say no. After that we headed to Kiyomizudera Temple, the Water Temple. On our walk there, we passed a school bus full of elementary school aged Japanese kids. The were all plastered to the windows and waving profusely to us. I don't know if it's because we are foreign or if it's because Lucas looks like a model/rock star/famous, but we got quite a lot of attention over the weekend. It was wonderful.
Kiyomizudera was absolutely breathtaking. We had to hike up a mountain, but unlike in Hakone, this one definitely paid off. We had the most spectacular view of Kyoto. We could see for miles as we were standing up in the mountains, surrounded by mountains and city and gorgeousness. The temples themselves were fabulous. As we hiked down the mountain, there was a large place where you could drink the water (hence being called the water temple). It's holy water and you are supposed to make a wish as you drink it. On the rest of the walk down the mountain, children kept saying "hello" to us. They were trying to practice their English, so I responded in Japanese trying to practice mine. I also got some delicious Mango ice cream.
We went to an Okonomyoki place for lunch which was delicious and then headed to find the Path of Philosophy which would take us to our next destination. The Path of Philosophy was located along a small stream and lined with various cafes and random shops. Lucas ended up purchasing a Yukata, which is the less formal form of a kimono. We finally made it to Ginkakuji Temple. They had a sand garden with a big "sand castle" like dome. Again we walked through the moutains and bamboo. We saw a group of people looking up towards the sky and realized they were looking at the one single tree that started to change colors for fall. After Ginkakuji we headed to Kinkakuji Temple, however, by the time we got there it was closed, which meant the other temples we were planning on seeing would be closed, too. But it was alright...by this point, we had had no sleep and walked for what seemed like days. We decided to head back to the hostel.
We were finally able to check in and found our room was shared with 6 other people and had bunk beds. It was quite exciting to actually be staying in a hostel. We then went to dinner at a cute Asian place along the river. It was completely empty and delicious. It was so relaxing to be able to sit down for a while. It didn't last long though as we continued to explore Gion. We went to one of the photobooths which led to quite exciting pictures. We found playgrounds, hidden doors and alleys, and fun shops. After a while we decided to split up and have some personal time. I continued my walk through the streets of Gion when I found, or I should say they found me, a group of drunk Japanese guys that started talking to me. I was a little apprehensive at first, but hey...why not make some friends. They ended up being so much fun. We went down to the river, which is a huge hangout spot for kids. My new friends and I, including the two guys who then became my "boyfriends" for the night, sat by the river for a few hours and Lucas came and met up with us. They were all so drunk and hysterical, but really really nice. My one "boyfriend" gave me the Japanese name of Mikachan, meaning beautiful. Finally Lucas and I had to call it a night considering we had been up for 40+ hours straight.
I have many more days to account for, but my stomach is growling so I should make some dinner. I will write more later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)