Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Oops!
haha so at dinner today my host mom and I talked for quite a while. I was feeling pretty confident in my Japanese and then....I mixed up the words for "laundry" and "graduate"! They don't even sound that much alike haha. Sotsugyo is graduate and Sentaku is laundry. At least they both start with S! haha anyway so I was doing my laundry before dinner and I wanted to say I forgot to take it out but instead I ended up saying "I forgot to graduate" haha. My host mom just looked at me a little weird and kept talking. hehe:)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Karaoke Pics!
We were (are) awesome
The Group that stayed til 5am!
Singing with Paula, Van, and Joel
Eating Sushi and Watching Sumo on TV
That's what I was doing like 20 minutes ago and I was thinking "wow this is a very Japanese moment" haha. We went to the SUPA market today and bought some vegetarian sushi. They have 2 kinds. One has a soy thing on the outside with rice on the inside and the other is a big one with seaweed, rice, cucumber, egg, and something that is like daikon radish but isn't. (I forget the name) Oh yeah and I found out that it is ok to eat the big ones with my hands instead of chopsticks!!! But if I did that in the states it might look weird...hmmm
Jumping back to this weekend, on Friday night there was a typhoon coming so we decided to stay at the karaoke place we were at. It was 30 bucks for singing til 5am with all you can drink! (Nomihodai) So yeah that was funn! But by 3amish people got really tired. People...but not me!! I sang til the very end! For our last song we woke everyone who was sleeping up and sang "We are the champions" while putting our arms around each other and swaying. Yeah good times...but the typhoon didn't actually hit us haha...
On Saturday I had Van, Celeste, and Paula over for dinner at my host mom's house. She cooked us some great food and bought some pizza too:) The only bad thing was when Celeste accidentally ate cow intestines....but besides that a great time for all! lol. Ken chan really liked Celeste. awww cute little doggy! inuuuuu!!
Umm so yeah school and everything is good...I've gotten good scores on most of my tests. Today was late start and got on the late bus. I made it to class EXACTLY on time. (They are really strict about being late here!) Ok I might have been like 30 seconds late cuz they had already handed in the homework but it was still 10:05 on my watch so it counts. (I don't know why we don't just start at 10, but whatever...)
I'm going to go watch Part 2 of the Heroes Season 3 opener. Woooo!
Jumping back to this weekend, on Friday night there was a typhoon coming so we decided to stay at the karaoke place we were at. It was 30 bucks for singing til 5am with all you can drink! (Nomihodai) So yeah that was funn! But by 3amish people got really tired. People...but not me!! I sang til the very end! For our last song we woke everyone who was sleeping up and sang "We are the champions" while putting our arms around each other and swaying. Yeah good times...but the typhoon didn't actually hit us haha...
On Saturday I had Van, Celeste, and Paula over for dinner at my host mom's house. She cooked us some great food and bought some pizza too:) The only bad thing was when Celeste accidentally ate cow intestines....but besides that a great time for all! lol. Ken chan really liked Celeste. awww cute little doggy! inuuuuu!!
Umm so yeah school and everything is good...I've gotten good scores on most of my tests. Today was late start and got on the late bus. I made it to class EXACTLY on time. (They are really strict about being late here!) Ok I might have been like 30 seconds late cuz they had already handed in the homework but it was still 10:05 on my watch so it counts. (I don't know why we don't just start at 10, but whatever...)
I'm going to go watch Part 2 of the Heroes Season 3 opener. Woooo!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Frozen Spiced Bubble Tea!!
I found bubble tea on campus! It was yummmmy! I actually ordered raspberry but they gave me the spiced (kinda cinnamon-y) flavor! hehe
Classes are going fine. We have a test every day tho which kinda sucks. We had a kanji test today and I think I did okay but not great. They take off .3 points for each tiny line you don't curve or point or do EXACTLY right so yeah they are very strict haha.
I think I am going to go for a run today...like now actually. I have basically no time to myself here haha. School, hang out with friends, home, dinner, homework, sleep, school!! So I have to run in the next half hour because dinner is at 6:30 sharp! But I'm not complaining because life is good and this weekend should be fun! Karaoke on Friday with tons of people and Saturday is my welcome party! Maybe Sunday I will have some time to myself lol. Eh who wants to be alone anyway. I am having too much fun:)
cyyyyaaaa
Classes are going fine. We have a test every day tho which kinda sucks. We had a kanji test today and I think I did okay but not great. They take off .3 points for each tiny line you don't curve or point or do EXACTLY right so yeah they are very strict haha.
I think I am going to go for a run today...like now actually. I have basically no time to myself here haha. School, hang out with friends, home, dinner, homework, sleep, school!! So I have to run in the next half hour because dinner is at 6:30 sharp! But I'm not complaining because life is good and this weekend should be fun! Karaoke on Friday with tons of people and Saturday is my welcome party! Maybe Sunday I will have some time to myself lol. Eh who wants to be alone anyway. I am having too much fun:)
cyyyyaaaa
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
More pictures from Kanazawa
At dinner!
Tea ceremony!
Paula and me at breakfast:)
At the garden!
In our yukatas on our way to the onsen!
Van attacks Celeste!
At the Ninja Temple
My roomies!
I stole these off facebook for those who don't have it and can't look at pictures that I am tagged in!!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Kanazawa Weekend!!!
Woo! So our IES group went to Kanazawa for the weekend and it was really fun! It is a 4 hour bus ride from Nagoya station to Kanazawa. It is basicallty driving across the whole island to the other beach. We stopped a couple times at different rest stops along the way. At Japanese rest stops they have giant lines for the basthroom and most of the toilets are squatty pottys so I wait for the western toilets. There is also a really funny sign that explains how to not use the western toilet. It is in my pictures but basically it shows in pictures to not sit on the toilet backwards to put your feet in the bowl hahaha. Yeah so anywayyy on to Kanazawa.
We stopped at this giant fish market for lunch. I took tons of pictures but had fruit for lunch cuz I dont eat fish! After the fish market we went to a Ninja temple! Well it is called that but no real ninjas lived there. The reason it has that name is because it has secret passages and hidden staircases and stuff! We got a tour around it but weren`t allowed to take pictures inside. Still, it was really cool!!
After that, we went to a gold leaf factory. Everything had gold in it including the sake and ice cream!! They told us that 90% of the gold leaf in Japan comes from Kanazawa. So then we went upstairs and got to make our own silver and gold leaf boxes! I changed my mind like 10 times but finally went with a shape design. We put tape on the box then they put some glue on it and we stuck the gold and silver onto the box. They then put the seal on it and let it dry then pulled the tape off! Some people`s designs were so cool! After that we went to the gift shop
When we first got to the hotel they explained the onsens (hot springs) and told us there were 3. One of them is for girls and guys together and I was like hmmm...no I dont think I want to get naked in front of a whole bunch of guys....so anyway we went to our rooms and I shared a room with Celeste, Paula, Natalia, Nell, and Natalia. We totally got the biggest room! We were like screaming about how awesome it was and most likely freaking out the Japanese people staying there hahaha. We had a bigger room because there were 6 of us!
So anyway we went down to dinner in a huge tatami room and I sat in the vegetarian section! this time they had an awesome tofu and vegetable soup. Anyway we ate a lot. Then we went to the onsen!! Everyone in my room wanted to go to the co-ed one so I was like...hm ok! And changed into my yukata (see picture). When we got there the onsen lady was crazy and kept making sure we knew how to wear the little green towel (we werent actually naked with the guys haha) it was like a snap on towel. I heard from one of the guys that the lady told him he was wearing it wrong so she ripped it off him and he was like WHAT? haha excuse me I`m naked!! So yeah the onsen was REALLY hot but very relaxing. My cheeks turned red tho lol. Afterward we changed and hung out in the guys room and watched Hard Gay which is too weird/funny to describe.
In the morning we had breakfast at 8 in the same room we had dinner in. It was nice and we went in our yukatas because we didnt want to change haha. They are like Japanese pajamas but I wore it over my real pajamas. After breakfast and being locked out of the room for a bit, I bought an omiyage (gift) for my host family then we left at 10am. It took an hour to get back into town because our hotel was up in the mountains (so pretty!) When we got to town we went to a beautiful garden that is one of the best in Japan! i took tons of pictures there too! After the garden we got to make our own okashi sweet candies which was cool! We then took the 4 hour bus ride back and my host mom gave me some a noodle soup for dinner and more okashi for dessert!!!
Check out all the pictures HERE!
We stopped at this giant fish market for lunch. I took tons of pictures but had fruit for lunch cuz I dont eat fish! After the fish market we went to a Ninja temple! Well it is called that but no real ninjas lived there. The reason it has that name is because it has secret passages and hidden staircases and stuff! We got a tour around it but weren`t allowed to take pictures inside. Still, it was really cool!!
After that, we went to a gold leaf factory. Everything had gold in it including the sake and ice cream!! They told us that 90% of the gold leaf in Japan comes from Kanazawa. So then we went upstairs and got to make our own silver and gold leaf boxes! I changed my mind like 10 times but finally went with a shape design. We put tape on the box then they put some glue on it and we stuck the gold and silver onto the box. They then put the seal on it and let it dry then pulled the tape off! Some people`s designs were so cool! After that we went to the gift shop
When we first got to the hotel they explained the onsens (hot springs) and told us there were 3. One of them is for girls and guys together and I was like hmmm...no I dont think I want to get naked in front of a whole bunch of guys....so anyway we went to our rooms and I shared a room with Celeste, Paula, Natalia, Nell, and Natalia. We totally got the biggest room! We were like screaming about how awesome it was and most likely freaking out the Japanese people staying there hahaha. We had a bigger room because there were 6 of us!
So anyway we went down to dinner in a huge tatami room and I sat in the vegetarian section! this time they had an awesome tofu and vegetable soup. Anyway we ate a lot. Then we went to the onsen!! Everyone in my room wanted to go to the co-ed one so I was like...hm ok! And changed into my yukata (see picture). When we got there the onsen lady was crazy and kept making sure we knew how to wear the little green towel (we werent actually naked with the guys haha) it was like a snap on towel. I heard from one of the guys that the lady told him he was wearing it wrong so she ripped it off him and he was like WHAT? haha excuse me I`m naked!! So yeah the onsen was REALLY hot but very relaxing. My cheeks turned red tho lol. Afterward we changed and hung out in the guys room and watched Hard Gay which is too weird/funny to describe.
In the morning we had breakfast at 8 in the same room we had dinner in. It was nice and we went in our yukatas because we didnt want to change haha. They are like Japanese pajamas but I wore it over my real pajamas. After breakfast and being locked out of the room for a bit, I bought an omiyage (gift) for my host family then we left at 10am. It took an hour to get back into town because our hotel was up in the mountains (so pretty!) When we got to town we went to a beautiful garden that is one of the best in Japan! i took tons of pictures there too! After the garden we got to make our own okashi sweet candies which was cool! We then took the 4 hour bus ride back and my host mom gave me some a noodle soup for dinner and more okashi for dessert!!!
Check out all the pictures HERE!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Yatta!! I did it!
Yayyy! I tested into the higher Japanese class!! Yesterday was the first day of classes and I went to Japanese 300 (3rd level) because I originally tested into that class. It was too easy and at the end we took a test. After class, there was a Coffee Hour party that my friends and I went to but mostly to get the free food haha. They were playing ice breaker games but I left to find out how I did and yay! I did ok! I talked to the Dean lady and she said it was chotto abunai...(kinda dangerous) for me to go into the higher level but she let me and I was like wooooo!!
Today we had the first real language classes (I am now in 400 level). They go on for a long time but they split us into groups. I was in the D group (groups A-E, not my grade lol). We had 5 short classes of Japanese including a vocab class, writing, reading, speaking, and one i wasnt really sure cuz we kinda combined all of those together haha. Everything was in Japanese and it seems about my level so yay! And I thought the book would be the same but it is different woo!
I have my Japanese Culture class in an hour so I am just in the student center. My friends and I went to lunch at the cheaper cafeteria today hehe! There are like 5 i swear....so many places to eat! I had curry udon (noodle soup with curry in it yay!) And an anpan dumpling for dessert (sweet red bean paste inside) oooh it was awesome!
So anyway, here are some random things I have observed about Japan so far....
-They are very good drivers, they have tiny cars, and when people park they ALWAYS back into the spots so they can just pull out after. (oh and they drive on the opposite side of the road too!)
-When they do their laundry they don`t have dryers so they hang up everything including underwear ahh!
-The shows on TV are mostly about food! Japanese people love food haha. And they do this super zoom in close up thing that shows all the grease but they think it looks yummy...
-I get to have TEA ALL THE TIME!
-My host mom asked me if I was getting pimples cuz I am stressed out and homesick but I am neither of those things haha. Its just reeeeally hot and humid here. Not good for my face!
-The other day my host mom gave me apple pie for breakfast! Apparently she saw me...big American girl...and thought hmm she must want some apple pie....lol
Sooo that is it for now!! cyaaaa <3
Today we had the first real language classes (I am now in 400 level). They go on for a long time but they split us into groups. I was in the D group (groups A-E, not my grade lol). We had 5 short classes of Japanese including a vocab class, writing, reading, speaking, and one i wasnt really sure cuz we kinda combined all of those together haha. Everything was in Japanese and it seems about my level so yay! And I thought the book would be the same but it is different woo!
I have my Japanese Culture class in an hour so I am just in the student center. My friends and I went to lunch at the cheaper cafeteria today hehe! There are like 5 i swear....so many places to eat! I had curry udon (noodle soup with curry in it yay!) And an anpan dumpling for dessert (sweet red bean paste inside) oooh it was awesome!
So anyway, here are some random things I have observed about Japan so far....
-They are very good drivers, they have tiny cars, and when people park they ALWAYS back into the spots so they can just pull out after. (oh and they drive on the opposite side of the road too!)
-When they do their laundry they don`t have dryers so they hang up everything including underwear ahh!
-The shows on TV are mostly about food! Japanese people love food haha. And they do this super zoom in close up thing that shows all the grease but they think it looks yummy...
-I get to have TEA ALL THE TIME!
-My host mom asked me if I was getting pimples cuz I am stressed out and homesick but I am neither of those things haha. Its just reeeeally hot and humid here. Not good for my face!
-The other day my host mom gave me apple pie for breakfast! Apparently she saw me...big American girl...and thought hmm she must want some apple pie....lol
Sooo that is it for now!! cyaaaa <3
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Shumatsu, getsuyobi (Weekend, Monday)
Hey! So everything is still great! On Friday I hung out at school for a while with my friends (still orientation time) then went home for a dinner with my host mom. After dinner I met Joanna and Phil at the train staion in Sakae (one of the good shopping and hanging out areas) So we looked around and didnt see any karaoke but we decided to go to a bar. Since we are all 20 it is weird for us to be able to just go into a bar and get a drink! We talked to the bartender in Japanese and decided to get Shoju because it is popular here. I didnt like it that much tho! Joanna and I wanted something sweeter so we opted for lychee liquer with grapefruit juice and it was pretty good. The bartender didnt speak English so it was a good chance to practice our Japanese too!
On Saturday my host mom took me to JUSCO the giant department store that has everything..kinda like Walmart and Fred Meyer combined haha. It is like 6 stories tall tho lol. We went there so I could get an electronic English-Japanese dictionary. We found one with a HUGE discount! It is worth 300 bucks but it was on sale and the display model so I got it for 180 bucks instead! RAKI NE! (my host mom thinks i am lucky haha) For dinner we went to a Chinese restaurant and they ran into some friends so they came back to our house and had some drinks and talked. They were really funny!! Apprently they are coming to my Welcome Party on the 20th. My host mom says I can bring 3 friends too...hard to decide who.
On Sunday we went to the ward office so I could get my alien registration (yep! I am an alien from Roswell!) and my Japanese national health insurance. (required) Then we went to a really nice Japanese restaurant to have lunch. I had miso noodles and then matcha and mochi for dessert! Oishiii! It is kind of hard to find totally vegetarian food here but I can mostly pick out the meat haha. We went shopping and my host mom bought me a cute necklace with a purple flower on it! yay!
Monday I signed up for classes. I am taking the language course, Japanese Culture, Calligraphy, and Japanese Writing (mostly Kanji practice ahh) We have the language class every day (starting tomorrow) and the other classes once a week. I am also considering joining the basketball club team and the movie club! And maybe the International Friendship club too hehehe.
After school on Monday, Paula, Van, Celeste, Nell, Joel, and some guy I forgot his name..went to Sakae to get phones. Well I already have a phone so I just went for fun and to get lunch and stuff. Nobody had the right forms unfortunately but we had a good time hanging out. What is weird about getting phones here as a foriegner is that you need your passport, alien registration card, student id, and a whole bunch of other forms just to get a phone! And parent permission if you are under 20!! Luckily I got a phone early haha.
Ok well the bookstore is open now so I am going to stop by there to get my calligraphy kit. Classes start tomorrow ahh! And we have another test so I will hopefully do well and move up to a higher language class! gotta go study! cyaaaaa!
On Saturday my host mom took me to JUSCO the giant department store that has everything..kinda like Walmart and Fred Meyer combined haha. It is like 6 stories tall tho lol. We went there so I could get an electronic English-Japanese dictionary. We found one with a HUGE discount! It is worth 300 bucks but it was on sale and the display model so I got it for 180 bucks instead! RAKI NE! (my host mom thinks i am lucky haha) For dinner we went to a Chinese restaurant and they ran into some friends so they came back to our house and had some drinks and talked. They were really funny!! Apprently they are coming to my Welcome Party on the 20th. My host mom says I can bring 3 friends too...hard to decide who.
On Sunday we went to the ward office so I could get my alien registration (yep! I am an alien from Roswell!) and my Japanese national health insurance. (required) Then we went to a really nice Japanese restaurant to have lunch. I had miso noodles and then matcha and mochi for dessert! Oishiii! It is kind of hard to find totally vegetarian food here but I can mostly pick out the meat haha. We went shopping and my host mom bought me a cute necklace with a purple flower on it! yay!
Monday I signed up for classes. I am taking the language course, Japanese Culture, Calligraphy, and Japanese Writing (mostly Kanji practice ahh) We have the language class every day (starting tomorrow) and the other classes once a week. I am also considering joining the basketball club team and the movie club! And maybe the International Friendship club too hehehe.
After school on Monday, Paula, Van, Celeste, Nell, Joel, and some guy I forgot his name..went to Sakae to get phones. Well I already have a phone so I just went for fun and to get lunch and stuff. Nobody had the right forms unfortunately but we had a good time hanging out. What is weird about getting phones here as a foriegner is that you need your passport, alien registration card, student id, and a whole bunch of other forms just to get a phone! And parent permission if you are under 20!! Luckily I got a phone early haha.
Ok well the bookstore is open now so I am going to stop by there to get my calligraphy kit. Classes start tomorrow ahh! And we have another test so I will hopefully do well and move up to a higher language class! gotta go study! cyaaaaa!
Friday, September 5, 2008
PICTURES!!
These are from my IES Orientation in Inuyama. I will put up Nagoya pics later so yeah..Enjoy!!:) (You don`t need to have facebook to see them)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2077102&l=aac76&id=7307196
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2077102&l=aac76&id=7307196
Thursday, September 4, 2008
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Kimono
Heyyyy!!!! OMG I am sooo loving Japan!!!! Our last couple of days in Inuyama were great. I don`t think I mentioned that we stayed in a traditional ryokan (Japanese inn) so we got to sleep on futons on the tatami mats! It was really cool. Our last full day we had a lot of free time so me and a few other people went to a MONKEY PARK!! It was this place that combined an amusement park with a monkey zoo! It was really awesome! totemo ii!!! We went on the giant ferris wheel and looked at the view and then we saw soo many monkeys! The park had over 600 rare monkeys! We saw tons of baboons, lemurs, chimps, etc. Even a gorilla!! And while we were looking at the gorilla he tryed to punch me in the face!!!! Luckily there was glass between him and me hahahaha!
So the next day we left Inuyama for Nagoya where we will live and go to school. Everyone on the bus was very excited to meet their host families including me!! Very excited/nervous! When we got to Nanzan Daigaku (University) we all sat in a room and they called our names one by one to go meet our families. We all clapped as each name was called!
I went to meet my host mom who is soooo sweet. She is about 70 years old and lives with her husband and 40 year old daughter (that is common in Japan if their child isn`t married and sometimes if they are!) Anyway, my host mother is very thin and wears a lot of make up so she was suprised to find out that I don`t wear any! She called me kirei! (pretty:) She also can`t pronounce my name so she calls me "Kei`chan" (chan is what you put after girls` names)
And they have a cute little dog named Ken chan so it`s smiliar to what she calls me! Ken chan is totemo ureshiii!! (very happy) He is always jumping on my legs and licking me haha. I`m more used to cats so it is a little weird haha. But very cute! The host dad doesnt really talk to me but he is nice. The host daughter (Yukimi) speaks English pretty well so she clears up confusion between me and my host mom. But she speaks to me in Japanese which is good!!
So we got the results of our placement tests today and I got into a lower Japanese class than I wanted, but they said we can take another test to go into a higher class so I am going to do that! Apparently we have 3 hours of Japanese class a day, 4 days a week! It is a very intense course and counts for 8 credits. I am hoping to also take a literature class and an art class but we sign up next week so I will find out then!
I have met some really nice friends here so I am having a good time! Everyone is really nice! There isn`t internet at my house so I am using it at school. I will bring my pìctures on a thumb drive tomorrow and upload them so everyone can see!! Miss and love you to my friends and family!!!!
--Kei chan
けいちゃん （ケイトリン）
So the next day we left Inuyama for Nagoya where we will live and go to school. Everyone on the bus was very excited to meet their host families including me!! Very excited/nervous! When we got to Nanzan Daigaku (University) we all sat in a room and they called our names one by one to go meet our families. We all clapped as each name was called!
I went to meet my host mom who is soooo sweet. She is about 70 years old and lives with her husband and 40 year old daughter (that is common in Japan if their child isn`t married and sometimes if they are!) Anyway, my host mother is very thin and wears a lot of make up so she was suprised to find out that I don`t wear any! She called me kirei! (pretty:) She also can`t pronounce my name so she calls me "Kei`chan" (chan is what you put after girls` names)
And they have a cute little dog named Ken chan so it`s smiliar to what she calls me! Ken chan is totemo ureshiii!! (very happy) He is always jumping on my legs and licking me haha. I`m more used to cats so it is a little weird haha. But very cute! The host dad doesnt really talk to me but he is nice. The host daughter (Yukimi) speaks English pretty well so she clears up confusion between me and my host mom. But she speaks to me in Japanese which is good!!
So we got the results of our placement tests today and I got into a lower Japanese class than I wanted, but they said we can take another test to go into a higher class so I am going to do that! Apparently we have 3 hours of Japanese class a day, 4 days a week! It is a very intense course and counts for 8 credits. I am hoping to also take a literature class and an art class but we sign up next week so I will find out then!
I have met some really nice friends here so I am having a good time! Everyone is really nice! There isn`t internet at my house so I am using it at school. I will bring my pìctures on a thumb drive tomorrow and upload them so everyone can see!! Miss and love you to my friends and family!!!!
--Kei chan
けいちゃん （ケイトリン）
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