It was rather pretty. See???
Couldn't make a snow angle or have a snowball fight. Next time, ne?
In the meantime, I'm gonna stay warm and finish review for my test tomorrow. Blah...let's see if I still have luck in me for it...
:P
Saturday, December 6, 2008
雪！！！
So it snowed this morning!!!
It was rather pretty. See???
Couldn't make a snow angle or have a snowball fight. Next time, ne?
In the meantime, I'm gonna stay warm and finish review for my test tomorrow. Blah...let's see if I still have luck in me for it...
:P
It was rather pretty. See???
Couldn't make a snow angle or have a snowball fight. Next time, ne?
In the meantime, I'm gonna stay warm and finish review for my test tomorrow. Blah...let's see if I still have luck in me for it...
:P
Thursday, December 4, 2008
雪？
Lots of various things have been going on. I'll have to recap later but I just wanted to write something small and quick...
...a bit of a "breaking news" if you will.
:P
So I heard from a friend that the weather forecast has predicted snow for Saturday. And just morning my neighbor and co-worker told me we're scheduled for snow tonight. So...there's a possibility of snow this weekend. And as much fun as it will be to see it snow, I don't want it to snow on Sunday. Snow on a test day will not be cool. Not only will it be really cold, I may get distracted and then since the test will take just about all day, I won't be able to play in the snow...
grr...
(P.S. That kanji that I used for the title of this article is read, "yuki" and it means snow)
...a bit of a "breaking news" if you will.
:P
So I heard from a friend that the weather forecast has predicted snow for Saturday. And just morning my neighbor and co-worker told me we're scheduled for snow tonight. So...there's a possibility of snow this weekend. And as much fun as it will be to see it snow, I don't want it to snow on Sunday. Snow on a test day will not be cool. Not only will it be really cold, I may get distracted and then since the test will take just about all day, I won't be able to play in the snow...
grr...
(P.S. That kanji that I used for the title of this article is read, "yuki" and it means snow)
Monday, December 1, 2008
Oxy-reunion Weekend and overall busyness (crazyness) PT. 2
After all my Oxy buddies left, I headed back home with Julia. She got to stay with me for 2 more days. Woohoo~! Sadly though, I had my Mid-year JET program meetings to attend that Tuesday and Wednesday. So Julia was left all alone in my place throughout the day. But at night, we did lots of socializing.
Awesome Grace made dinner both those nights and just about all the JETs gathered at her place (well, at least all the neighboring JETs) and Julia got to know my neighbors a little better.
The Mid-year seminar was alright. It was pretty cold but overall there were some helpful points from the presentations that were prepared by fellow JETs. The lunches, however, were not all that great…but hey, food is food and when you’re hungry…
On Thursday morning, I got up really early to get ready for work and take Julia to the airport. I had to take some time off of work to make sure I get her to the airport but not ridiculously early. We did get there early…but at least not like 5 hours too early. More like…an hour and half…maybe 2…can’t remember too great right now…
I rode the train to work (falling asleep along the way) and then attempted to walk from the Asakuragaido Station to my school. I had only been to this station maybe twice before. But it was from school to the station. This time, it was from the station to the school… But I recognize certain areas a lot better now. So I only got a little turned around but quickly found my way back.
And then this day, Shinichiro-san (the grad student I helped prepare for his college interview [who got in BTW]) came to visit Andachi-sensei and I! (She’s one of the JTE’s I directly work with). And he came with more gifts…ehehe^^; But he did seem really happy to have gotten in (not that I ever doubted it) and Andachi-sensei decided to make a monthly/bi-monthly meeting with him to help him to keep practicing his English and to practice doing presentations.
I sadly returned to my lonely apartment…
Oh, but another crazy weekend began soon enough…
Awesome Grace made dinner both those nights and just about all the JETs gathered at her place (well, at least all the neighboring JETs) and Julia got to know my neighbors a little better.
The Mid-year seminar was alright. It was pretty cold but overall there were some helpful points from the presentations that were prepared by fellow JETs. The lunches, however, were not all that great…but hey, food is food and when you’re hungry…
On Thursday morning, I got up really early to get ready for work and take Julia to the airport. I had to take some time off of work to make sure I get her to the airport but not ridiculously early. We did get there early…but at least not like 5 hours too early. More like…an hour and half…maybe 2…can’t remember too great right now…
I rode the train to work (falling asleep along the way) and then attempted to walk from the Asakuragaido Station to my school. I had only been to this station maybe twice before. But it was from school to the station. This time, it was from the station to the school… But I recognize certain areas a lot better now. So I only got a little turned around but quickly found my way back.
And then this day, Shinichiro-san (the grad student I helped prepare for his college interview [who got in BTW]) came to visit Andachi-sensei and I! (She’s one of the JTE’s I directly work with). And he came with more gifts…ehehe^^; But he did seem really happy to have gotten in (not that I ever doubted it) and Andachi-sensei decided to make a monthly/bi-monthly meeting with him to help him to keep practicing his English and to practice doing presentations.
I sadly returned to my lonely apartment…
Oh, but another crazy weekend began soon enough…
Oxy-Reunion and just overall business (crazyness) PT. 1
Sooooooooooooooooooooooo many various things have happened 2 weekends ago and even more things happened this past weekend. As you can tell, I’ve been pretty busy and haven’t had much of a chance to write about all of it…so here goes…
2 weekends ago, my friends came over to visit me. It was another awesome Oxy Reunion! Woo! (short re-cap. My college buddies came to visit and hence we call it "oxy reunions" because we all met and graduated from Occidental College).
Saturday morning I got up fairly early to do some quick cleaning and get myself to the airport and then to Hakata station. I first thought I was running a little late because the JR train took a random stop between stations (to let the really fast train go) and then because as soon as I got to the airport and found the bus to take me to the international side, it took off. But luckily I got to the arrival terminal before Julia got there. And it was a bit of a surreal moment to see her here. In Japan. In front of me. We hugged (and pretty sure we attracted odd stairs since we somehow made it into a swinging hug and did a full 360...). We then squished into the bus to take us back to the domestic side, hop onto the subway and make it just in time for Kelly’s arrival. Apparently she was unable to recognize me from behind because my hair has gotten fairly long.
We then hung out by the information both for a couple of minutes, awaiting the arrival of Terence. Once we found him and we all headed for some place to eat. Sadly, I got flipped around by some construction work and couldn’t find the awesome shabu shabu place right by the station I’d been to before with my neighbors. But we found a good udon place (and with warm noodles in the belly on a cold day, it was great).
After re-energizing, we headed back to the Hakata station and headed for home (Steph didn’t join us ‘til later that evening). So my friends got to see a part of my area in the daylight as we walked form the JR station to my jutaku…getting hot along the way.
Small note: The week before they came it was almost bitterly cold in my area. But the weekend they came it was generally calm. So I like to think they brought warmth to the city…and sadly took it back. Haha. :P
Once we arrived to my place, I did my usual, “Sorry it’s messy. Oh yea, it’s old too…beware…” etc etc. But I think (*think*) they found it cozy…I’m pretty sure they all have better apartments than me… For example, they get nice water heaters that doesn’t require clanking…
So after chilling for a bit and drinking tea (I may have served them too many cups of tea…ehehe^^;;) we headed for Canal City, a really huge shopping area in the city, not too far from me.
We rode both the train and subway to get to Nakasu Kawabata. From there we walked through a … domed shopping strip (?), which during the summer had many paper lantern-like decorations up. I was a little sad to see them gone and more so that they didn’t have pretty decorations up at the moment. But once we got to Canal City, all that changed. There were so many Christmas decorations all over the place! (I’ll try to post some pictures later). And since we got there when it started to get a little dark, the lights looked beautiful!
We checked out stores, ate ice cream (even if it was cold…melts slower! ;P) and took many pictures. We also ate some really good ramen. At the top floor of this shopping area, there’s a place called, “Ramen Stadium.” It’s pretty much a collection of Ramen shops with different styles (various regions of Japan do it differently).
And then we went back one more to Hakata to pick up Steph. This time, we rode the hyaku-en bus (100-yen bus). We got lucky and arrived at the station just as Steph arrived. ^^ We then returned to my place, showered and slept.
Sunday morning we skipped breakfast and had brunch at the American Diner I like to go that’s near the Nishitetsu station. I owner is really nice but since he was cooking for 5 people that day (it’s like a small mom & pop joint) he didn’t really get to come over and talk to us. But as always, the food was great. :]
We then went to Tenjin, the city, and looked for a scarf for Julia, did 2 rounds of purikura, left Julia at a Starbucks and the rest of us went to the “Big TV” to meet up with the Sumo crew. From the “Bit TV,” we hopped onto a bus and rode it to the Kokusai Center to watch the Sumo tournament.
Sumo is actually quite interesting. Sure there is a lot of tradition in it (they squat and prep for the actual fight by doing the same thing about 3 times before they actually wrestle) but once they actually wrestle, it can get crazy. Some are ridiculously fast and some have the craziest techniques to stay in the circle and not fall down. I believe I caught some on tape…
Afterwards, Steph, Kelly, Terence and I went to pick up Julia and with the map in my hand we found our way to the restaurant the rest of the Sumo crew went to (yay! I can follow maps!). We had Chanko nabe. I believe I heard it’s what Sumo wrestlers eat…
And what did we do after dinner? Why Karaoke of course!!! After 2 hours of singing (and always with left over songs in the system) we hailed a taxi, I haggled the price with him and then Steph convinced him to let all of us ride (3 sat on the back, Steph did some crazy ninja stuff to hide on their legs and I sat at the front (in case I’d need to help the cab driver).
Small note: Talking with cab drivers can be fun sometimes
Arrived at the Nishitetsu Futsukaichi station: Walked Home: Shower: Sleep
Monday morning began a little slow since we stayed up pretty late doing karaoke. We had a bit of a slow start and then it was raining that morning…boo. We made plans to go to Hamakatsu, a cool tonkatsu place where you can crush your own sesame seeds for your dipping sauce, and I invited another friend. He was nice enough to offer driving us to the restaurant even if it did take him 2 trips to get everyone there (it’s not that far but in the rain it may suck).
After some fine feasting, we headed to the Dazaifu Koumyuuji Temple (only the Oxy-crew. Aki-san, my friend who joined us for lunch, went shopping). We found it, took pictures (the fall leaves look so beautiful there!) and since we had some time, headed to the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine as well. This Shrine is known for having high school students coming to prey for good grades. I will admit…I did buy a study charm from them…I have an exam coming up to…
After this, we went back to my place, everyone but Julia packed up and headed back to Hakata Station so that they could all ride the Shinkansen.
And thus ends the Crazy Oxy-Reunion Weekend…
2 weekends ago, my friends came over to visit me. It was another awesome Oxy Reunion! Woo! (short re-cap. My college buddies came to visit and hence we call it "oxy reunions" because we all met and graduated from Occidental College).
Saturday morning I got up fairly early to do some quick cleaning and get myself to the airport and then to Hakata station. I first thought I was running a little late because the JR train took a random stop between stations (to let the really fast train go) and then because as soon as I got to the airport and found the bus to take me to the international side, it took off. But luckily I got to the arrival terminal before Julia got there. And it was a bit of a surreal moment to see her here. In Japan. In front of me. We hugged (and pretty sure we attracted odd stairs since we somehow made it into a swinging hug and did a full 360...). We then squished into the bus to take us back to the domestic side, hop onto the subway and make it just in time for Kelly’s arrival. Apparently she was unable to recognize me from behind because my hair has gotten fairly long.
We then hung out by the information both for a couple of minutes, awaiting the arrival of Terence. Once we found him and we all headed for some place to eat. Sadly, I got flipped around by some construction work and couldn’t find the awesome shabu shabu place right by the station I’d been to before with my neighbors. But we found a good udon place (and with warm noodles in the belly on a cold day, it was great).
After re-energizing, we headed back to the Hakata station and headed for home (Steph didn’t join us ‘til later that evening). So my friends got to see a part of my area in the daylight as we walked form the JR station to my jutaku…getting hot along the way.
Small note: The week before they came it was almost bitterly cold in my area. But the weekend they came it was generally calm. So I like to think they brought warmth to the city…and sadly took it back. Haha. :P
Once we arrived to my place, I did my usual, “Sorry it’s messy. Oh yea, it’s old too…beware…” etc etc. But I think (*think*) they found it cozy…I’m pretty sure they all have better apartments than me… For example, they get nice water heaters that doesn’t require clanking…
So after chilling for a bit and drinking tea (I may have served them too many cups of tea…ehehe^^;;) we headed for Canal City, a really huge shopping area in the city, not too far from me.
We rode both the train and subway to get to Nakasu Kawabata. From there we walked through a … domed shopping strip (?), which during the summer had many paper lantern-like decorations up. I was a little sad to see them gone and more so that they didn’t have pretty decorations up at the moment. But once we got to Canal City, all that changed. There were so many Christmas decorations all over the place! (I’ll try to post some pictures later). And since we got there when it started to get a little dark, the lights looked beautiful!
We checked out stores, ate ice cream (even if it was cold…melts slower! ;P) and took many pictures. We also ate some really good ramen. At the top floor of this shopping area, there’s a place called, “Ramen Stadium.” It’s pretty much a collection of Ramen shops with different styles (various regions of Japan do it differently).
And then we went back one more to Hakata to pick up Steph. This time, we rode the hyaku-en bus (100-yen bus). We got lucky and arrived at the station just as Steph arrived. ^^ We then returned to my place, showered and slept.
Sunday morning we skipped breakfast and had brunch at the American Diner I like to go that’s near the Nishitetsu station. I owner is really nice but since he was cooking for 5 people that day (it’s like a small mom & pop joint) he didn’t really get to come over and talk to us. But as always, the food was great. :]
We then went to Tenjin, the city, and looked for a scarf for Julia, did 2 rounds of purikura, left Julia at a Starbucks and the rest of us went to the “Big TV” to meet up with the Sumo crew. From the “Bit TV,” we hopped onto a bus and rode it to the Kokusai Center to watch the Sumo tournament.
Sumo is actually quite interesting. Sure there is a lot of tradition in it (they squat and prep for the actual fight by doing the same thing about 3 times before they actually wrestle) but once they actually wrestle, it can get crazy. Some are ridiculously fast and some have the craziest techniques to stay in the circle and not fall down. I believe I caught some on tape…
Afterwards, Steph, Kelly, Terence and I went to pick up Julia and with the map in my hand we found our way to the restaurant the rest of the Sumo crew went to (yay! I can follow maps!). We had Chanko nabe. I believe I heard it’s what Sumo wrestlers eat…
And what did we do after dinner? Why Karaoke of course!!! After 2 hours of singing (and always with left over songs in the system) we hailed a taxi, I haggled the price with him and then Steph convinced him to let all of us ride (3 sat on the back, Steph did some crazy ninja stuff to hide on their legs and I sat at the front (in case I’d need to help the cab driver).
Small note: Talking with cab drivers can be fun sometimes
Arrived at the Nishitetsu Futsukaichi station: Walked Home: Shower: Sleep
Monday morning began a little slow since we stayed up pretty late doing karaoke. We had a bit of a slow start and then it was raining that morning…boo. We made plans to go to Hamakatsu, a cool tonkatsu place where you can crush your own sesame seeds for your dipping sauce, and I invited another friend. He was nice enough to offer driving us to the restaurant even if it did take him 2 trips to get everyone there (it’s not that far but in the rain it may suck).
After some fine feasting, we headed to the Dazaifu Koumyuuji Temple (only the Oxy-crew. Aki-san, my friend who joined us for lunch, went shopping). We found it, took pictures (the fall leaves look so beautiful there!) and since we had some time, headed to the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine as well. This Shrine is known for having high school students coming to prey for good grades. I will admit…I did buy a study charm from them…I have an exam coming up to…
After this, we went back to my place, everyone but Julia packed up and headed back to Hakata Station so that they could all ride the Shinkansen.
And thus ends the Crazy Oxy-Reunion Weekend…
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