She is kawaii でしょう？
Later in the week, I went to an Ayaka concert with Chrisie, Kyle, and Chris. It was sooooo fun! I don't know Ayaka very well but she is an AMAZING singer for being so young. She's about my age, actually. I took a picture of the Budoukan, where the concert was held. It's a HUGE venue.
Don't mind the dude's head.
It was very strange how the Japanese people are into "organized fun." Their idea of going all out an enjoying the concert was to wave on hand in unison and put their hands up and clap. Kekeke. I wonder how different a Malice Mizer concert would be? kekeke. After the concert, Chris and Kyle were in the mood to sing an old Chinese song, which I took some video of. I think they got a little embarassed and turned it down by the time I took video but here it is anyways:
Oh, a random picture from last weeks English club dinner:
I made friends! :D
Friday I celebrated my birthday with yakiniku, karaoke, and clubbing. I had fun, but had such a hangover on Saturday. I also forgot to notify my host parents, so I think they were a little mad about that, since they were worrying. They were poking fun at me all day though, and Okaasan even laughed at me and said "My daughter is becoming a juvenile delinquent." >_o She gave me some bitter medicine for the nausea and I slept pretty much all day.
Pic at the yakiniku restaurant. They give you raw slabs of meat to cook yourself. It was soooo good. I don't get a lot of meat from the Japanese diet so I was happy. (:
Now I have lots of readings for school to do, but I'm not worried. My favorite classes are Japanese and Modern Lit. The others are really boring and I always always want to fall asleep in them. I am surprised how people actually really do put their heads down and sleep in class! I do not have the balls to do that.
5 Comments:
HEEHEE. Too much fun huh? XD
Omg I'm not normal??!! Bwahaha. I couldn't go to a Maid Cafe I think. 恥ずかしいすぎるから。。。
But it sounds like quite an experience.
The Ayaka concert sounds pretty amazing... go see some Johnnys please!! xD
"Organized fun" made me lol... I would totes get into that too. With a glowstick and a uchiwa with Nino's face on it. LOL.
It's hard to hear that song, but it sounds majestic.
BAD GIRL NI NATTAN? DAME DAME.
LOL BORING CLASSES.
UNIVERSAL.
AHH. <3
love,
neeners
The singing was adorable! lol, I'm worried that your host parents will get mad. I think you should just tell them where you are in a text or something. lol.
Hiromi...I KNOW. But you see...I wasn't in the condition to do that. hahaha.
Neener, I'm a good girl, remember that! I might make some stupid mistakes but I am always in one piece at the end, desyoo? ;)
２１才でしょう？タイテルは２０才と書いている．．．
お誕生日おめでとう！
ああ！間違えた！ありがとう！＜３
Last Friday, CIEE took us on a trip to Kamakura--the land of buddhas, temples, and tourists. Look, I made a friend!
This was a little guy, and he was friendly, but there was also a behemoth buddha, which everyone trembled in fear of.
(Jay kay or am I?)
Kamakura was a truly beautiful place, and out tour guide was friendly and adorable. If you want to see pictures of the entire trip, plus some video (of the tour guide showing us how to pray, Hiromi getting a fortune, and SAMURAI CANDY, click HERE.)
On Saturday, I woke up late but rushed to meet some friends in Odaiba. I'm not sure what exactly Odaiba is famous for--it's near the beach, and looks fantastic when lit up at night. As far as I can tell, it's a great spot to take a date because you can shop (lot of malls), and get on the ferris wheel at night for some "cozying" up.
New York City doesn't have this many colors!
I couldn't get a steady hand, but this captures just how trippy it was.
When we finally got to Odaiba, we met a large group of CIEE kids for dinner, but quickly split up since we wanted to get on the ferris wheel. Christiex2, Kyle, Jordan, and I all boarded the ferris wheel and it was a fantastical 16 minute ride full of lulz.
(I am not creeping away from Jordan, just the claw he made instead of the traditional Japanese PICTURE PEACE SIGN. Those were the wrong gang signs, Jordan!)
After, we took purikura! Those little sticker pictures. Very azn, no?
You can get them sent straight to your phone via infrared! Japan is amazing. (DO YOU SEE THE CLAW?)
Sunday was fun too--it was Easter so I checked out Christie's church. I met a bunch of awesome people. :D
I leave for class soon! More blog to come: club activities, first days of classes, etc! :D
9 Comments:
hisashiburi indeed >:3
Kamakura looks bangin. I wanna hang with all those Buddhas. And the samurai candy guy of course.
Odaiba is prettttttyyyyyy. I'm so jealous you got on that huge ass ferris wheel. Remember our Six Flags trip? I just wanted to go on the ferris wheel... lol. *Watches everyone ride Batman for the 42342534th time*
lol the claw...everyone looks very... bright. x)
omg the batman had to be one of my favorite ones :D fcck that kingda ka amirite? im sorry, i dont feel like getting raped again kthnx. lololol.
we will ride that ferris wheel together one day, k! ;) or maybe you and celia will? :O
there were some buddhas i couldn't take pictures of. they were BIG AND GOLD. perhaps they were too sacred for peekchurs.
YAY update :)
See, you have so much cool stuff, stop holding it back :D
The Kamakura trip was awesome, those Purikura pics are so crazy! Where'd you get that one taken? In a Taito?
Kamakura was cool, they should have fed us better though haahaha. That purikura was in Odaiba near the ferris wheel. You should go to Odaiba! They have an indoor amusement part! :O
dude the Behmoth Buddha was awesome!!! Odaiba looks beautiful! And yea nyc looks more green and black at night haha maybe a lil yellow with people's lights on. I firmly believe that there should be a colorful ferris wheel everywhere :)
Can't wait to hear about the first day of classes etc...welcome back to the land of homework haha
I mite be really late on this, but i like ur bangs too btw!
You all look great in purikura
eileen its ur dad i was super amazed and very much enjoyed ur blog my princess its very enjoyable and fasinating at the same time i also see a very beutiful pics of my little girl and i see the fun you are having and feel very sad and happy at the same time godbless you and miss u very much keep enjoying ur adventures my little girl and god bless u and have a safe trip my prayers are allways with you
Ahhh you're purikura is amazing! I'm obsessed with those now...I'm actually writing a paper on them HA
EJ
eileen loved those pictures of the gardens and statues and the turtle wich i think should be named michaelangelo however i kinda got jealous of you rubbing that little budda's belly me mad now! just kidding <3 lovefromyour real budda dad miss you loved all your poetry on your blog darling allways thinking about you my little girl keep upthe good workproud of you mua! papa :-)
We watched tv for a while, and talked about Robots in Japan. Japan seriously do make amazing robots that do all kinds of things, like feed disabled people or the elderly (which Okaasan chuckled at when she saw). Robots even replace people's jobs at times. What would Marx say? "Aah, of course." We watched a Hana Yori Dango repeat!
Check out Mastujun. She knows I'm in love with him by now. :D
After wards, I studied Kanji until it was time for me to leave for Sophia University Orientation before we start classes on the 11th.
Okaasan gave me strawberry pocky before going food shopping. I took this chance to take pictures of my house. It's three floors, so here are pictures of the first floor.
This is the living room. In front of the tv is this "kotatsu," the table with the heated element. Many a time someone watching tv with their legs until here will fall asleep. It's that comfortable.
Here's the table where we eat, which is also heated under neath. My legs are very happy, but sort of too long for the table. I need to lay them out straight in front of me or my legs will burn. Often times, I accidentally play footsie with my neighbor. My bad.
This is the kitchen. Sort of small, but it has an awesome bar-type window. See next pic.
I always clean the dishes. Okaasan loves me, I swear. 喜んで洗って上げますよ。
This is the 玄関（げんかん） were you must leave your shows or offend the Japanese people. If you are a visitor, it is traditional to say おじゃまします OR しつれいします。 They are ritualistic expressions, but literally mean something along the lines of "I'm becoming a burden/(I'm sorry) for intruding." I would have to guess.
I made it to school on time for the very long Sophia University orientation. They threw lots of materials and information at us at once. Just look at this swag bag. (It is heavy.)
Afterward, we recieved reimbursement for our transportation to orientation related events. Transportation is EXPENSIVE, so I was glad. We also received money to get our commuter passes, so I do not have to pay to get to school anymore. The upper class men (先輩) took us to the station to fill out the forms, though they were not that much of a help. They were very helpful in other ways though! :D One of them gave me their phone number so I can call if I every have any trouble, or am in dire need of some help. For example: I missed my last train home and need to know the nearest karaoke bar to sleep in. (Apparently, they have special prices for the hours 12am to 5am~ 10 bucks to basically sleep there if you need to.)
This is my commuter pass. It allows you to travel from your home station to school for no additional charge. You can also travel anywhere along the way for free, and if you are going somewhere not on the route, you need only pay the difference. I was worried because the route I take did not have ANY fun places, but the man at the station changed my route after talking for him a bit. With this new route, I go through Shibuya, A VERY FUN PLACE GOOGLE IT. This means I can go to Shibuya for freeeee! I took this route home today, and it was fine, it took about the same amount of time to get home.
I tried to get a haircut, but didn't want to wait an hour for an opening, so I bought a banana chocolate crunch crepe instead (late lunch?). I went home and had dinner with Okaasan, and decided to write a long entry. Now, I think I will study more kanji for tomorrow's test. Wish me luck. T_T
4 Comments:
bitchin breakfast~ i don't go to bfast when I can sleep a little longer honestly.
hana yori dango on tv, repeat or not, is awesome. i see you there season 1 domyouji.
o shit, strawberry pocky. :0 i don't like the strawberry flavorrrr. x) i also see you there, difficult kanji x)
kotatsu.... man. that is some offical shit. ^^ it looks comfy.
lol watch out for legburns from the dining table omg. and worse, the footsie you mentioned. o_o
haha you must be familiar with doing dishes of course. xD
do you say itte kimasu and tadaima? right and properrr.
megayayz for reimbursements and commuter passes!!
shibuya? :0 ok palo.
lol crepe sounds like a tasty lunch.
lovies.
trust me, you won't gain weight. all i do here is eat pudding and cake and i'm not a beast yet. when i go back to the US tho, i will be!
Good info on the "miss last train - karaoke sleep for 10 bucks" deal.
Lol, missing my last train is like my biggest nightmare since arriving here...
I like your many pictures on your blog. You should do that more often. I really like your very traditional looking home.
Yesterday, Dr. Slater of the Anthropology department at Sophia University gave an interesting lecture about the Japanese view of the self versus the world, especially their relationships. He talked about 思いやり, Okaasan had explained to me the day before. It's having empathy, being thoughtful, and having compassion for other people. For the Japanese, even the self is made up of only part of a whole. The word for self means exactly this, as well: 自分 It was an interesting lecture, and you can tell this man knows his shit. It was kind of frustrating that people kept offering their perspective and interrupting Dr. Slater. Some were even very defensive of the American perspective without realizing that one perspective is not inherently right/wrong or good/bad, but it serves a purpose in society that the Japanese value.
After the lecture, me and Kyle were supposed to study, but I could not resist the lure of shopping and crepes in Harajuku. After lunch, we headed down there and straight for the infamous crepes. Kyle got me a 50 yen off coupon, so my Tirimasu crepe came to about 430 yen. Very much worth it.
After Harajuku, me and Kyle headed to Roppongi to meet Hiromi (my group リーダー) and JT (another member of group Kanpai) for drinks. We hadn't had dinner, so we took a cab to Shibuya to have convey er belt sushi--pretty deace for only 120 yen a plate. We headed back to Roppongi to a bar called Muse where we played darts. Fun! Drinking age in Japan is 20 years old. by the way.
After running through the streets and acting like hooligans, we ate ramen. You have not had ramen if it's not Japanese ramen. I'm not taking the instant crap here. Then we headed home, but it was late already and the trains stop running at a certain point. We asked the man at the station and I was lucky--my train was still running but リーダー's wasn't! She ended up coming home with me and sleeping in my futon. My Okaasan was very great about it, she was just worried about us out alone. (I still fight her about this. Tsunashima, where I live, is nowhere near as dangerous as Spanish Harlem. It was actually quite peaceful last night).
I spent today studying 一日中 (all day long) until about an hour ago my neck started getting stiff I decided to call it a night, maybe watch Ryuusei no Kizuna, a Japanese drama with Ninomiya from Arashi in it. SORRY, no pics of last night, I forgot my camera! If you wanna see pictures and videos, I direct you to リーダー's travel blog. お休み！
3 Comments:
Good luck with your placement exam. I know you'll do fabulously. Especially if you've been studying very hard like you say... :D
Haha! Abrasive people~ Goddamn tone that patriotism down a little bit, and let a guy speak. The only time I'm really patriotic is during the Olympics... then it's fuck everyone else. Other than that, let it slide guys ok.
Crepes!! They had those at Commons today O__O It smelled like burnt brown sugar everywhere. I didn't want one, but there were bananas as far as the eye could see.
Bar fun sounds fun. Especially since I saw the videos. LOL stop startling the nihonjins damnit!
Ramen... I want so badly. :/ I have Maruchan ramen in my room, but that will not do.
Have you told her that you are from Spanish Harlem indeed? I think she should let you off the hook for just that. ^^ There are bums and sketchy people as far as the eye can see. Although it is home.. :D
Ryuusei no Kizunaaaa. I would watch Ninomiya in anything. This is a sickness. I want him to do another movie... or drama. x__x Lend Ninomiya out to America, Arashi kthnx. (JKLOL stay together for eternity guys.)
ANYWAYYYYYYY
I love you.
Etc.
I'll try to send out this postcard soon. I'll probably write in japanese and english at any rate.
that sounds like an awesome night!! And yeah...good luck with the placement exam! I think not going with the intensive was a wise choice, i was actually thinking "being in Japan is intense enough" before i read it haha.
I hate when people are closed minded about the beliefs of other cultures! Nothing wrong with a little cultural relativism people!
Oh and that movie night thing i told you about that i helped plan...went really well *sigh of relief* We might do another one later this month :)
I think i commented a little extra to make up for my lack of commenting on the last post :( Next post maybe I'll write you a book haha
Oh and happy belated april fool's day...and yes i played a prank on someone, couldn't resist haha
<3
Visit meee!! I wonder if that's possible. Shit is expensive as HALE. AMIRITE. I bet you can get good ramen in NYC. Wait it out bb. Thanks for the luck. <333 I was supposed to study now but wrote this instead. AHAHAHAH.
I told her about SpaHa and she was like "ooooh." Lol. FINE.
Kia--I played a joke on someone too. :D AHAHA. What was yours? Glad your movie night was a hit~ Keep doing good things for ppl, bb. Ilu~
