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....
Monday, November 26, 2007
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)