Ok, I know it’s been forever and a day since I last updated my blog and I apologize to those who actually do read it to keep up with my life. So much has been going on everyday and every weekend so it’s really hard to find time to sit down and type out my life!

What has been going on with me? Well I’ve been having lots of tests, traveling around to various places, and making lots of friends. That pretty much sums up my life hahaha! I don’t really have any disgusting food stories to tell this time…except, one day last week my host mom fried some fish for dinner. I thought it was just fish meat (is that what you call it?) but then a surprise fell out of the piece I was eating…it was a sac full of tiny white eggs!! I was grossed out and realized that the bigger of the two pieces I had, was loaded up with eggs!! I didn’t eat it…I know it’s rude not to eat things here when they’re served to you…but the fish eggs are just gross!! I’d rather eat the guts again than eat the eggs! Hahaha!! Oh yeah…I don’t like quail eggs either…they have a funny taste!

I can’t really think of much else to talk about but I just wanted everyone to know I’m still alive and I’m still here! The links to all my pictures I’ve taken since my last update, are below. They can tell you more than I can describe! Enjoy! :)

Saftey Drill - October
International Camp - October
Yokohama and Yokohama-Chinatown - November
After Midterms - November
Cooking in Experiential Activities Class - November
Coreys Birthday - November
Kirin Brewery and Shibuya - November (most recent)

Sorry for not updating in a long time...I've been super busy. I really don't have much time to write down what's been going on but I'm gonna post links to more photos I've taken. Sorry for a lack of updates again!!

Ueno - museum/shrines/random pictures!

Tokyo Tower/Roppongi Hills!

So I think it’s been about a week since I wrote in my blog.

I’ve been extremely busy! School started on Monday and since then I’ve been going non-stop! Let me try to think and catch up on all that has gone on this week. Monday classes began at 900am. My first class is Japanese and I was really afraid that day! Hahaha! I didn’t want to go because I was afraid of learning things that I should have remembered! Hahaha! I liked the professor we had on Monday. She is really nice and she doesn’t speak English and wants us to speak only Japanese. I mean it is a Japanese class! Usually if someone doesn’t understand everyone in the class pretty much collaborates and explains in English! I love my class! Hahaha!

After class on Monday I just stayed around campus for a while since it was too early for me to go back home. I eventually ended up leaving around 545 so I could make it home in time for dinner. On Tuesday it was a holiday. I think it was something about the equinox. I guess it's the beginning of fall…I think Jacob said that…but I don’t remember. I was just happy I didn’t have to go to school! LOL! I was supposed to meet up with friends in Machida at noon but it turns out everyone was late that day. I actually had to wait for an hour! By the time some of my friends got there I was starving so we immediately had to go eat! We had some udon. I guess if I have to explain udon, it’s like ramen but the noodles are fatter. Ummm…it’s kind of hard to describe…just Google image search it! Hahaha! I love Google!

After eating we walked around in the stores and shopped. I didn’t buy anything I just looked around. I had a good time…although my shoes rubbed the skin on the back of my ankle raw and it hurt really badly. Oh yeah that day my knee was hurting too! Hahaha! I’m literally a walking disaster! Hahaha! When I came home that night I missed one of the stairs and fell down…errr fell up? I was going up the stairs not down but I fell…LOL! I’m a genius! One thing I’ve been noticing lately is that I’m staying up later and later…which could be a good thing I guess. I’m used to being up late like back home in America. That’s bad because I have to get up at 645am everyday to eat breakfast!

The next day I had to go to class again. I left my house at 745am and when I got to Fuchinobe, the station where I take the bus to school, I saw a long line for the bus. It wrapped around the whole area and people were waiting for like 20~30 minutes to catch a bus to school. Luckily I saw one of my friends in line when I was walking towards the end of the line (a block away LOL) and I cut! I felt bad but he told me not to! I only had to wait for 5~10 minutes. I made it to class on time and I was happy. That day I had two classes, Japanese and Fieldwork. For fieldwork we go out to schools and talk/play with students. I thought it would be a fun class until I actually went and listened to what we had to do.

So basically everyone in the class, excluding 5/6 people, is really proficient in Japanese. My professor doesn’t speak English and most of the people who are good at Japanese in the class are Chinese and Korean. So I felt really dumb and tried not to say anything the entire class. When you go out to schools, elementary/middle/high school, you have to talk to the kids about thing like pop-culture and economic problems in your home country. Okay, I can’t even do that good in English so how am I supposed to do it in Japanese?? Hahaha! My friend and I were both talking about what we had gotten ourselves into and how we were going to fail!

After that class I went and dropped it from my schedule! I mean I know it would be a good experience, but, I live with a host family so that is more than enough practice with Japanese for me! I don’t really care if I sound dumb to them since they probably expect it. But to embarrass myself in front of students…that's just bad. I know when people talk and do a bad job I judge…to a degree…so I’m sure the Japanese are the same way! Whatever, I changed so it’s ok!

On Thursday I left my house at my normal time, 745am, and when I got to Fuchinobe, the lines for the bus were even worse! To make matters worse, I didn't see any people I knew that day so I had to walk to the end of the line and wait. I arrived at that station at about 830am and I finally got on a bus at 855am! I was freaking out because I knew I was going to be late! I ran to class and was the last one in the room. I think I made it in there at 903am! I hate being late! Hahaha! That day we had Japanese for 3 hours! OMG! My brain was tired by the end of the class! Towards the end of class we went to buy our textbooks.

Ohhhhh…I forgot to mention that the day before I went to the ATM to pull out some money because I was running low. So I go to enter the amount I want to withdraw and I put in 90,000 yen. I couldn't remember how much $90USD was for one reason or another. So I’m standing there staring at the ATM thinking and I realized how much I was going to take out, or at least thought I was going to take out, and quickly changed it! I thought it was going to be $9,000USD but it turns out it was only $900. That’s still a lot though!

Today the wind has been blowing strong all day. It’s kind of nice but at the same time kind of annoying. So I was standing outside at school by some trees talking to my friends and then all of a sudden a strong gust blows and a piece of tree flies out of nowhere and slams into my face! It actually did hurt, but it was funny! Hahaha! We had a Japanese exam today. It was kind of intense but I think I did ok. After the test I waited for my friends Lulu and Sarah and went back to their apartments and waited till 4pm for my next class. My last class was boring, especially when we were reading an article that had a lot of big words in it. I was getting really tired! LOL! I can't think anymore so I’m going to stop here. I know I forgot a lot of details, but I’m exhausted from today! I want to sleep! LOL! Goodnight!

I’ve been busy these past two days, so I want to apologize for not updating my blog!

Let me think. Okay, well on Friday we had a fire prevention orientation. I actually knew a lot about what we covered, which was earthquakes and fire. Obviously living in California where earthquakes are kind of normal, hearing things here was nothing new to me! Sounds bad doesn’t it? Anyways after we listened to that, we were getting a first aid lesson. I guess you’d call it first aid. We were taught the proper way bandage someone’s head and arm if bleeding. LOL! It was funny! We all took out our cameras once we had the bandages on! LOL! After we finished bandaging each other up we took a short break and went to the next portion of our orientation, the CPR lesson!

We all had to practice on a dummy…it was so funny to watch other people do it! I had to do it too and I’m sure I looked dumb too…but it was great! We were also shown how to use an AED, which is a defibrillator I think. I don't remember! Oh yeah, prior to the break, I slammed my knee into the bar on a table and it gave me the biggest bruise! I swear I’m accident-prone! Once we were done with the CPR lesson we were free until the welcoming party at 6pm at the Sakura Café at school. A group of us went to Machida to go to Yodobashi for some reason or another. I don't really know why! I ended up buying some earbud headphones because my over the ear kind are too big to carry around everywhere!

We all met up again at the kuru kuru, that piece of art, and went back to the school for our party. It was really crowded but fun. We all got in groups and introduced ourselves to everyone…it was kind of weird but oh well! We also got to eat free food, which is a plus with me! We all decided we wanted to go to Wara Wara after the party so a large group of us went. We walked outside and it was pouring rain. There were 3 people to each umbrella…it was pretty funny to watch us all try to walk and not get totally drenched! We waited at the bus stop for a while and a bus finally came and it was packed full of people. Luckily I got a seat but the rest of the bus was just as crowded as the trains usually are!

We got to Fuchinobe and split into groups. I went to Wara Wara and some people went to go eat ramen. When we got to the Wara Wara the drinking began! It was a fun night overall and we all drank a lot! I’ll put pictures up at the end! Once our 2 hours of all you can drink was up, we met up with the other people who came later and drank a little more with them! It was too late for me to come home so I went with my friend back to his apartment. There were 4 of us going to the same building and we all got drenched because of the rain. My shoes were soaked, my socks were soaked, my pants were soaked…I was just wet! LOL! Thankfully my friend had an extra set of clothes I was able to use! One of our friends brought over an extra futon for me to sleep on…it was nice. I really wouldn't have cared if I had to sleep on the floor LOL! I was tired and intoxicated!

We ended up going to sleep around 3am. I woke up at 10am because it was hot and stuffy. It was just as hot outside too. I really don’t get this weather but there’s no reason for me to try and understand LOL! When I woke up, I put my clothes that were still damp outside so they could dry. When 12pm rolled around I got my clothes and shoes and they were dry and I left to come back home. I made it back here by 130-ish pm. On the way I saw some huge fish in the river that I walk along. I also saw a turtle too! I came in, started laundry, and took a nap for about an hour. I woke up and ate some chestnuts with my host parents. After I was hoping my clothes would be dry, but they weren’t. I’m still not liking this whole air drying thing. My clothes just don't feel the same hahaha!

So dinner time came and we had these German sausage things that were pretty good, shredded carrot with mayonnaise and tuna, rice, vegetable omelets, and some seaweed salad. Dinner was delicious! I ate quickly and got dressed because we were going to go out to a club in Roppongi. By the way, each time I stay out, I ask my host parents if it’s ok. I don’t just go and not let them know. Plus I ask more than once. So I left and went to a friend’s apartment to drop off my bag with clothes. We drank a little before we left and other people showed up and started drinking more! We then left Machida for Roppongi. I love it in Roppongi! The buildings are so tall and it’s really cool at night. Although I could have lived without the extreme masses of foreigners!

We went to a club called muse. It wasn’t bad. I was glad they played hip-hop and r&b music because I can’t dance to house or techno! LOL! It was a fun night and we drank more again! LOL! I can’t remember everything that happened because we were up all night. I can briefly summarize the night though. Dancing, drinking, dancing, more drinking, walking around, talking to people, more dancing, and then we left! We didn’t leave till 5am because that's when the trains started running again! I was exhausted and my feet were hurting from my shoes! LOL! We made it back to my friend’s apartment by 730am. I was wide awake and ready to come home so I grabbed my stuff, showered really quick, talked for a little bit and then left for home. I made it home by 10am and on the way it started raining! LOL go figure!

I came in and talked to my host parents for a few minutes until they asked me if I had slept. I said no and they told me to go to sleep! LOL! I slept for about 4 hours and then I woke up. I’m glad because I want to be able to sleep tonight! LOL! Now, I’m just sitting up waiting to eat dinner because I’m starving! Hahaha! Classes begin tomorrow and I’m not too thrilled. At the same time I’m glad because it will give me something to do! Well I have to use the bathroom now, so if you’ll excuse me! ☺

Here’s the link to the first aid/party/warawara pictures!

So yesterday I went to Harajuku and Shibuya. It was definitely a good experience! I loved it!

We started off the day meeting up at fuchinobe station. I got there early somehow…it’s weird because when I left I had to wait forever to catch my train and I was rushing to catch my other train at Machida…and somehow I did without missing it like usual! Hahaha! Anyways, we all met up and left at about 11am. The train ride took about an hour…which isn’t too bad. Six of us went making it much nicer to see things because we didn't have a large group of people who wanted to do different things. So we arrived at Harajuku station eventually and walked towards the Meiji Temple.

It’s a pretty famous temple in Japan. It is so beautiful! I can’t even really describe it! Look at my pictures at the end…LOL! So we walked along a path towards the inner shrine and there were these huge scary spiders. I tried to take a picture and I’m not sure if you’ll be able to tell in the pictures, but good luck! Hopefully it will show up clearly for whoever sees it! Eventually we made it into the inner shrine and we bought some charms and looked around for a while. I bought a charm for protection against evil and another charm for victory! I don’t know why I bought them, but I thought they were cool! So we walked around for a bit and then decided it was time to eat!

I love eating here in Japan! All the food is usually good…with the exception of some of the things I’ve eaten…LOL! I love restaurants because the food always looks exactly like the picture! It’s nice to actually get what you order! Hahaha! We ate at a sushi/Japanese restaurant. It was delicious and of course I had to take obligatory food pictures! Check them out at the end! Once we finished lunch we went into a shop where I ended up buying a nice leather-ish jacket! Yes I know I’m totally not a person who likes those types of jackets, but this one is just HOT! LOL! Plus I got a good deal on it. About $79USD…I was going to buy something similar at Urban Outfitters in California for $300USD! I’m happy with that purchase!

Once we finished shopping there we walked to a famous spot in Harajuku. It’s known for its shopping and food. And I must admit it was a fun time! We spit up into small groups of three…guys and girls…we were going to meet up at 500pm. I only bought the jacket and a CD yesterday…although I could have bought more. I helped my friend Allen find a jacket he liked….I really liked it too! I wish I could have bought it too but I didn’t because I didn’t want to copy him! Hahahaha! It’s cool though, he asked me if I was going to buy it and I told him no! Haha! Afterwards we walked around Harajuku a little more and ate crepes…they were so good! I had a strawberry, cheesecake, whipped cream crepe! OMG DELICIOUS! LOL! After eating we met up with the girls and went to Shibuya.

Let me start off by saying that Shibuya is insane! I loved it there! There literally is no way to describe it. Shibuya’s intersection is very famous and known world wide for the most insane crosswalk. I took pictures and it’s very easy to see why it’s famous! We spit up again in Shibuya and walked around for a while. I was amazed by everything. Plus I liked shopping…well window-shopping! Hahaha! It was very fun and very amazing to me! I really have no words to describe it! I’m sitting here trying to think but nothing is coming to my mind other than the word “insanity!” That’s how I’d describe Shibuya.

We eventually left Shibuya and went back to Machida where we ate Korean food for dinner. I’ve never eaten Korean food before…and what I did eat last night was delicious! I really like food! Hahahah! I don’t know what I ate, but it was good, that’s all I can say! After we finished dinner at about 930pm I decided it was time to come back home since curfew is at 1030pm…yes that’s right, I have a curfew! I actually have to be back before 1020pm because that’s the latest I can shower! Anytime after that, I’m S.O.L.! Hahaha! So I waited at Machida station for about 10 minutes for a train to come and I was starting to freak out because I needed to take a shower after sweating and walking around all day!

I got off the train at my station at 950pm and it’s a good 15~20 minute walk to my house. I walked really fast and eventually when I got closer, I started running! Haha! I wanted my shower! I ran up the stairs of death too! LOL! I made it inside at 1005pm and took a shower right away. Afterwards, I went to sleep since I was tired and had to get up early in the morning to go to PE registration. I went to sleep and it was hot all night…well maybe not hot…but definitely humid. I wish my room had an air conditioner! Oh well! I woke up at 645am and heard the rain outside and was not looking forward to walking in it!

After breakfast I had to leave. I walked outside and it was humid and raining! I seriously hate the weather! LOL! Apparently there’s a typhoon here right now so it’s making the humid air come right into Tokyo. The rain wasn't even very heavy either. It was kind of light. I mean I could have not used an umbrella but I would have been soaked eventually. I don’t know! LOL! Well I made it to the station and I was sweating at 815am WTF? Stupid rain and humidity! I made it to school at 9AM and rushed into the meimeikan to go to the registration. I thought more PE classes would be offered but there was nothing that caught my attention or sparked my interest. I decided not to sign up for anything.

Eventually we left the school and went and got Michael Burbon to help us get cell phones! I’m so glad he helped us today because I would have never known what the heck I was doing! So I now have a cool phone! Yay! Click on the links to see my phone!

1 2 3

It’s really cool! It opens two ways. One is like a regular flip phone and the other is for watching tv! So cool! LOL!

Tonight we had curry rice for dinner. I was in heaven! I’ve been craving it for so long and to finally be able to eat it was a heaven sent! LOL! Anyways I’m hot and sticky from this humidity so it’s time to take a shower!

Here are Harajuku/Shibuya pictures!

Hope you like them!

Sorry I haven’t done a daily update in a while!

Let me think of what has happened. LOL! Well, Yesterday we all met up at fuchinobe to go to Akihabara. If you’ve never heard of Akihabara, I’m shocked! Well slightly because I know many people don’t know much about Japan! ☺ Basically, Akihabara is known as electric city. You can get any electronics there for a cheap price. I’m not sure where these cheap electronics are in Akihabara, but they’re somewhere in there! LOL! I don't remember really what we did because by the time I got home I was exhausted! I took pictures and will put the link at the end of this post.

Last night a mosquito bit me again!!! WTF??? Does my blood taste good? LOL! Hahaha! I should have totally brought some anti-itch cream but I didn’t think about it, or that I’d even need it! Oh yeah, it rained the other night and apparently it was pretty loud, but I didn’t hear it! My host parents asked me if I heard it and I told them no, and that I didn’t even know it rained! Hahaha! I heard from someone else that it woke them up too because it sounded like someone was knocking on the door! I guess the reason I didn’t hear it was because of the sound of rain and thunder that I listen to when I go to sleep on my iPod! Anyways, it rained last night and it helped me fall asleep!

When I woke up this morning it was still raining! I was not looking forward to walking 20 minutes in the rain to the train station! After breakfast I had to hurry and leave since I had to be at the school by 830am because we had more placement testing today. It was definitely hard! We had an interview, in Japanese, and then a written exam. I feel so dumb…but I really should have studied or used Japanese over the summer. Oh well! After the interview we went to AMPM to get something to eat because we were all hungry. I had a chocolate chip melon bread…sounds strange but it was so good! It’s kind of like the round breads from the Mexican bakery.

After eating we had to go back for the written portion of the test. It was hard but not too bad. I forgot a vocabulary word and right as I stood up to turn in my test I remembered what it was and I didn't want to sit back down and write it because they would have thought I was cheating! LOL! Oh well! After that test we went to a computer lab to go play with the Internet! Hahaha! After messing around we went and got more food from AMPM! I had a chicken rice ball and some potato sticks! It was a small good lunch! Afterwards we thought we had to go back for another written exam but we didn’t have to. So we went to the international student office.

While sitting there we were all trying to figure out which classes to take. I’m taking Japanese culture, modern Japanese history, fieldwork, tutoring, and a regular Japanese class. OMG, that’s a lot. I might drop some classes depending on how I can handle it. When 200pm rolled around we went to the international student bazaar to see if we could buy any cheap stuff…by the time we got there, everything was sold out! What were the odds? LOL! We had to be at another orientation at 230pm so we headed over to that room. It was a boring orientation that I really didn’t pay much attention to…I was getting sleepy sitting there! LOL! After it was over several of us went to Machida to get some stuff. I went because I have to go there anyways to switch trains! So we got there and looked for a money exchange and found one. After we went to Yodabashi and everyone split up.

I looked at cell phones…I’m actually hoping to buy one on Thursday so I’ll keep you updated. Well I’m tired now…and I have to get some sleep for tomorrows trip to Shibuya, the shopping paradise of Japan! LOL! Oh yeah, check out my random Japan pictures again…I added some more.

Here are the Akihabara pictures

Enjoy!

September 13, 2008

This morning I slept in until about 7am I'm actually surprised. I didn't sleep with any blankets last night because it was really hot and humid. After I got out of bed I went and had breakfast. I shouldn’t have to say what was for breakfast because it’s been the same everyday! Hahaha! Today I might be going to Tokyo but I'm not sure. I'm meeting my friends at the meimeikan at school and from there we will decide what we're doing. On my way to school, I stopped by Tokyu Hands, a department store, and bought myself a planner/schedule book because I’ve been in need of one since I arrived. Now I can finally put all of my important dates in it instead of trying to remember everything!

I got to the meimeikan early so I just waited for a while and listened to music. It was an interesting wait but it went by fairly quick. I met up with everyone and we decided to go to Machida instead of Tokyo because some of us tend to get lost from everyone else. I’d say there were at least 10 of us who went. Once we got there we all decided to split up into groups and meet back at the station at 530pm. We walked around in a lot of clothing stores and other shops. It was really interesting and I must admit I liked some of the Japanese fashion for men. Not all, but some. I’m definitely going to go shopping soon! LOL!

We went into an arcade and looked at all the crane machines and were amazed. We found a purikura, those booths where you take pictures and draw on them or whatever you’d like to do, and we decided to take pictures! We ended up splitting up with our smaller group because they thought we left. It was fun and I have the pictures, I don’t have a scanner and I think taking it with my camera would be weird so I can’t show them yet! Sorry! After that we were really hungry so we went to a restaurant for lunch at like 330pm. It was really good! I ordered a chicken cheese steak. When they brought it out to us it was still on a skillet cooking and it smelled delicious! I took a picture of it and will put links to my pictures when I’m finished writing this.

After eating we went into some more shops and decided to go back to the station to meet up with everyone else. We actually found them before the station though at the “au by KDDI” shop, which is a cell phone service provider. We went in and looked at the phones with them while they were attempting to see if they could get one right then. I looked at all the phones and I can’t decide between two of them! The only bad thing is that you have to pay for the phone up front. It’s not like America where you get it for free if you sign up. I mean if you want a cheaper Japanese phone it works that way but if you want to get a nicer one you have to pay. I’ve decided to pay! LOL!

They were unable to get a phone without their alien registration card so we walked back to the station and took the train back to fuchinobe, the station where school is. Once we got back to the school we decided to split up and go back to everyone’s apartments so they could drop off things or get ready for the night. I stayed at my friend Sarah’s apartment and it was a good 25-minute walk from the school. By the time my arch in my food was starting to hurt but I didn’t pay much attention to it. We stayed over there until about 830pm then walked to fuchinobe to meet up with the group that was going to go to Wara Wara. It took us an hour to walk from the apartment to the station. It was so humid last night that you could see it in the air. It was gross.

We finally made it to the station and I was tired and already wanted to go to sleep! We waited there for about 20 minutes for everyone to show up and there were at least 30 people who went to the Wara Wara, which is like an all you can eat/drink place. It was really fun and I don’t really need to explain what we did. I’ll just post a link to the pictures! Hahaha! After Wara Wara, we went to karaoke at about 1am. I started off singing first LOL! I sang the Japanese song “Cutie Honey” and everyone was surprised! It was fun! We ended up staying until about 230am when we decided it was time to go because we had a long walk to get back to the apartments.

I’m skipping over the walk part because it was just a long, long walk. I will say however, that there was no one out that late last night. No cars, no people, only the exchange students! By the time we got back to the apartment it was 330am and my ankle was in pain. I thought it would be better when I woke up the following day but that didn’t happen. Today my ankle/arch is killing me! I don't know if it's from walking in flipflops for the past 3 days or what it is. All I know is it hurts every time I walk! I woke up at about 10am and had some laughs with Sarah. I ended up leaving her apartment at 1030am and it took me 2 hours to get back to my home stay! I was literally gimping along the whole time I had to walk. It was so painful and still is!

When I arrived home, my host mom taught me how to use the washing machine. It’s actually pretty cool because it can tell how much you put into it and it knows how much water to put in. when my clothes were done washing I had to hang them up outside on my balcony to dry. I really have no idea how long it takes clothes to dry outside so I’ll check them before I go to bed tonight. So that’s all I have for right now…I’m tired, I want to sleep but if I do I won’t sleep tonight, and my leg hurts. I also would like to shower but that has to wait until after dinner. Oh yeah tomorrow we’re going to Akihabara, which is a really famous place here in Japan. It’s a place where all the electronics are really cheap. I don’t think I’ll buy anything, but you never know!

Here’s a link to my random Japan pictures.

And here’s the link for yesterday/last nights pictures.

Enjoy!