So, I get obsessed with various things at various times. Sometimes it’s a certain food, a certain song, a certain anime. Usually, you can tell what I’m obsessed about when you’re around me, but for my buddies back at home that haven’t seen or heard from me in a while (sorry! Internet crashed, AGAIN, so I haven’t been able to log into skype… ><;) I’ll let you know what/who I’m obsessed with for the time being.
Music:
I am still greatly in love with Asian Kung-Fu Generation! Something about their music is just like dead on. I can never get enough of them. :]
But there have been some new tunes I’ve been listening to. First of all, I’ve recently became a big fan of Arashi. It’s one of Japan’s most famous boy bands and much to my surprise, I really like them. I’ve been the kind to get into boy bands. But something about Arashi I like. And so I even bought their 10th anniversary album with all their best tunes from the past decade. I’m just glad that the songs I’ve been listening to on youtube were also in the CD! Well, mainly CD 2, but yay!
Another friend started to get me into m-flo. It’s like, Japanese rap. Very upbeat and cool.
And there is also UVERworld. I’ve only listened to one of their albums so far but the genre ranges a bit. I really love their fast songs and have even learned one with a rap section in the middle. But man, that rap section was hard to do… It used to be too fast for me. Too fast to even hear what he was saying! But now, almost a year of living in Japan and listening to the song (not that religiously), I can actually hear what he’s saying and in my mind, it seems the song has slowed down. Haha. :P
One other song I’ve been listening to a lot lately is sung by the group B’z. I got into this group because they play the opening song for the drama Buzzer Beat.
TV Dramas:
Yes, I am watching Japanese dramas now. I dunno…they kinda remind me of Mexican novellas because they’re short and there’s always something crazy going on! Unlike the English ones on daytime TV that are always made fun about having poor acting and slow/boring storylines. They just seem like such a snoooooooore. But an upside to watching Japanese dramas is that I get to work even more on my listening. I usually have my dictionary next to me to look up words I don’t know. And then learn them! haha…I think that made me sound like a nerd…or a dork…hmm…
I’ve also started watching other TV programs that aren’t dramas. Two of which are quiz shows! Nep League and Q-Sama. (Weird names, I know). But they’re fun to watch and it’s more like studying than watching TV really. They get quizzed on kanji (both writing and reading) and sometimes they have to translate English words (which then becomes something like vocabulary studying for me).
Interestingly enough, the band Arashi also has their own TV show! It’s actually pretty funny! Some of them seem really different from their singing appearance. 2 of them are pretty silly. Hehe.
Manga:
There’s gotta be some manga that I’m reading, right?
Haha.
So I have the same 4 that I’ve been into for the past 5 years. Hehe. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, xXxHolic (which I’ve been reading the past year really), Naruto and Bleach. But along with these I’ve started reading Vagabond, upon the recommendation of a buddy of mine. Vagabond is definitely not like the other mangas I read but it is quite interesting. I guess it’s more out of the kid realm and more into the adult side of manga. So at first I was like, “oh crap, this is crazy” but then the story began to get really interesting and now I’m hooked. But I haven’t read it in a while since my internet at home crashed again…grr…
Hmm…I think that’s it at the moment…
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Train Hopping, Temple Hopping, General Hopping…
So 2 weeks ago was my longest trip! And it was awesome. Well, aside from the stupid mosquito bites. ><”
So, my cousin was in town for 1 week and then we spent a week traveling up north. That was a blast!!!
Friday we went to the Fukuoka Orientation dinner at a beer garden. It was all you can eat and all you can drink. There were also little grills on the center of the tables so that you could cook your own meat. Yum yum. And there were many beer options. I think Liz had fun trying out different kinds (since there aren’t that many in LA). But I think she like the ume-shu best of all (ume-shu = plum wine). And we were all having fun mingling with re-contracting JETs and getting to know the new JETs. But then it started to rain. And the beer garden was on the rooftop of a building in the city…so…we all kinda ran away for shelter. Haha. But since Liz and me were done eating (and I still had packing to finish), we took that as our cue to head home. Sadly though, it was hard to find people to say good-bye to…I had to resort down to e-mailing them…
Some hours after this, we were leaving my apartment, hit the combini and went to the main train station. After eating a quick breakfast, I sent Liz to activate the rail passes. At this point, I’ve adopted certain Japanese customs that I’m not sure I can play off the whole “I don’t know Japanese or anything about Japan” and so it was all up to my cousin. Luckily, we got it all done without a problem. HURRAY!!!
About 3 hours after that, we made it to Kyoto and checked in at our hotel. Since we had most of the still, we wondered about, had lunch and visited Fushimi Inari Shrine. One of my personal favorites in Kyoto. But I stupidly forgot to transfer the mosquito repellant from my luggage into my backpack. I was ambushed!!! And for just about the rest of the vacation my legs would become extremely itchy at random times (so I always had to walk about with the anti-itch solution…).
After trying to fight the bugs, we can back home, washed up (Kyoto was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo humid!) and planned out the rest of the our stay in Kyoto. I let Liz choose where she’d like to go (and I gave my recommendations). Then I spent the rest of the night trying to plan out the bus course.
While in Kyoto, we visited, Toji Temple, Sanjusangendo, Chion’in Shrine, Yasaka Shrine, Gion, Ginkaku-ji, Kinkaku-ji, the Imperial Castle gardens and Nijo Castle.
The morning of the day we were planned to go to Tokyo, an earthquake hit Shizuoka Prefecture. I can be a heavy sleeper and I would have slept right through it, had Liz not woken up all scared and telling me to wake up. Although I still didn’t really feel it. I just went right back to sleep. ehehe^^;;
But due to the earthquake, all the trains going in and out of Shizuoka Prefecture were temporarily stopped. Luckily, we were able to catch a shinkansen to Tokyo and arrive only a little later than we had planned.
In Tokyo, we did more city hopping than Temple hopping. But we got to see cool buildings, paintings, lights and huge crowds of people. :P
We stayed in Shinjuku and visited Shibuya, Akihabara, Odaiba, Asakusa Shrine, Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Roppongi Art Museum, Tokyo Tower and almost ALMOST went to Tokyo Disneyland. That would have been awesome. But we hadn’t planned for it and by the time we thought about it, it was too late (as in, it’s too near the weekend during summer break).
The downside was coming back because a: I was coming back all alone and b: I lost my glasses somewhere in Shinjuku. I lost them on the last freakin’ day!!! Almost home-bound and then I realize I don’t have them and gah!!!
x’(
Four days later, I went to a glasses store recommended by one of my JTE’s and I can see clearly once again. Yay!
So, my cousin was in town for 1 week and then we spent a week traveling up north. That was a blast!!!
Friday we went to the Fukuoka Orientation dinner at a beer garden. It was all you can eat and all you can drink. There were also little grills on the center of the tables so that you could cook your own meat. Yum yum. And there were many beer options. I think Liz had fun trying out different kinds (since there aren’t that many in LA). But I think she like the ume-shu best of all (ume-shu = plum wine). And we were all having fun mingling with re-contracting JETs and getting to know the new JETs. But then it started to rain. And the beer garden was on the rooftop of a building in the city…so…we all kinda ran away for shelter. Haha. But since Liz and me were done eating (and I still had packing to finish), we took that as our cue to head home. Sadly though, it was hard to find people to say good-bye to…I had to resort down to e-mailing them…
Some hours after this, we were leaving my apartment, hit the combini and went to the main train station. After eating a quick breakfast, I sent Liz to activate the rail passes. At this point, I’ve adopted certain Japanese customs that I’m not sure I can play off the whole “I don’t know Japanese or anything about Japan” and so it was all up to my cousin. Luckily, we got it all done without a problem. HURRAY!!!
About 3 hours after that, we made it to Kyoto and checked in at our hotel. Since we had most of the still, we wondered about, had lunch and visited Fushimi Inari Shrine. One of my personal favorites in Kyoto. But I stupidly forgot to transfer the mosquito repellant from my luggage into my backpack. I was ambushed!!! And for just about the rest of the vacation my legs would become extremely itchy at random times (so I always had to walk about with the anti-itch solution…).
After trying to fight the bugs, we can back home, washed up (Kyoto was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo humid!) and planned out the rest of the our stay in Kyoto. I let Liz choose where she’d like to go (and I gave my recommendations). Then I spent the rest of the night trying to plan out the bus course.
While in Kyoto, we visited, Toji Temple, Sanjusangendo, Chion’in Shrine, Yasaka Shrine, Gion, Ginkaku-ji, Kinkaku-ji, the Imperial Castle gardens and Nijo Castle.
The morning of the day we were planned to go to Tokyo, an earthquake hit Shizuoka Prefecture. I can be a heavy sleeper and I would have slept right through it, had Liz not woken up all scared and telling me to wake up. Although I still didn’t really feel it. I just went right back to sleep. ehehe^^;;
But due to the earthquake, all the trains going in and out of Shizuoka Prefecture were temporarily stopped. Luckily, we were able to catch a shinkansen to Tokyo and arrive only a little later than we had planned.
In Tokyo, we did more city hopping than Temple hopping. But we got to see cool buildings, paintings, lights and huge crowds of people. :P
We stayed in Shinjuku and visited Shibuya, Akihabara, Odaiba, Asakusa Shrine, Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Roppongi Art Museum, Tokyo Tower and almost ALMOST went to Tokyo Disneyland. That would have been awesome. But we hadn’t planned for it and by the time we thought about it, it was too late (as in, it’s too near the weekend during summer break).
The downside was coming back because a: I was coming back all alone and b: I lost my glasses somewhere in Shinjuku. I lost them on the last freakin’ day!!! Almost home-bound and then I realize I don’t have them and gah!!!
x’(
Four days later, I went to a glasses store recommended by one of my JTE’s and I can see clearly once again. Yay!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
My Week So Far...
So, I've had different things going on every night. It's been a little crazy...
Monday:
My buddy Aki took Liz and me to an Okonomiyaki restuarant that also has Monjayaki (which really popular in Tokyo and so there are few restaurants around here that have it). And then he took us up a mountain where the night view of the city was really nice. I only had my cellphone with me so my picture is not that great...I think Liz has better ones...It was fun but a little sad since it's the last time I'll see him since he'll be flying to LA on Saturday to go to Santa Ana Community College.
Tuesday:
Liz and me went to the city, hung out a bit and met up with some of my Japanese teachers (the ones that teach me Japanese not the Japanese teachers I work with) and some of my classmates to go to a Maid Cafe! It was actually quite fun. On certain food and drinks that you order, they can draw stuff on them!!! So, while everyone was asking for animals for their omlette's, I asked for an anime character (no surprise, ne?). But it ended up sparking a conversation with that maid because later she came back with a drawing of a character from the anime I had asked for (I asked her to draw a different on my omlette than the one she drew for me with pen) and gave it to me! And man, she's a great artist. So I told her that I draw too but not as well as her. So of course she wanted to see mine (and by chance, I had a picture of one in my cell) so yea...in a way I made a Maid friend. :P
I think my cousin enjoyed it too but...it was hard for her with the huge language barrier...
Wednesday:
Chikugawa Hanabi Taikai
(Chiku River Fireworks Festival)
This was so much fun! Fireworks for about an hour and half, festival food, friends and yukatas galore! I rushed home after work (felt work a little early actually), got into my yukata and actually managed to do the obi myself! I didn't need to use the ready set one! haha! But not until we were all down at Kurume (cities away from me) did one of my friends point out one little mistake: I had folded it incorrectly.
D'oh! ><"
But other than that, it was ok.
The return was a different ordeal. Getting to Kurume was alright aside from uber packed trains. Coming back...well, we couldn't even get INTO the station for a while. So we went to a department store and "chilled" for about 45 minutes and then tried the station again. This time around the gigantic crowd had pretty much disappeared.
Thursday:
Block event 1 - Son House
Last night, my fellow block heads Lupita and Emmett and I had our first block event: Dinner at Son House. I think it went rather well. Everyone was chatting with everyone else. Food was as yummy as ever. Yea, it was a good night. ^^
And now, my craziness will become even more crazy!!!
Today is the Fukuoka Orientation. After all that, there is an orientation dinner (where all the other re-contracting JETs that didn't present at the orientation can join and meet the new ALTs). So Liz and me are going to a beer garden for dinner tonight. But we're going to skip the after party at club Gossip. It sounds like a nice club but I still need to finish packing for my trip up North with my cousin!
So yea, I'll definately be MIA for a week+. We will be in Kyoto for about 3 and half days and in Tokyo for about 5 days. Oh man...it's going to be fun and I can imagine unbelieably tiring...ugh...
Craziness to be reported later.
Mata ne!
Monday:
My buddy Aki took Liz and me to an Okonomiyaki restuarant that also has Monjayaki (which really popular in Tokyo and so there are few restaurants around here that have it). And then he took us up a mountain where the night view of the city was really nice. I only had my cellphone with me so my picture is not that great...I think Liz has better ones...It was fun but a little sad since it's the last time I'll see him since he'll be flying to LA on Saturday to go to Santa Ana Community College.
Tuesday:
Liz and me went to the city, hung out a bit and met up with some of my Japanese teachers (the ones that teach me Japanese not the Japanese teachers I work with) and some of my classmates to go to a Maid Cafe! It was actually quite fun. On certain food and drinks that you order, they can draw stuff on them!!! So, while everyone was asking for animals for their omlette's, I asked for an anime character (no surprise, ne?). But it ended up sparking a conversation with that maid because later she came back with a drawing of a character from the anime I had asked for (I asked her to draw a different on my omlette than the one she drew for me with pen) and gave it to me! And man, she's a great artist. So I told her that I draw too but not as well as her. So of course she wanted to see mine (and by chance, I had a picture of one in my cell) so yea...in a way I made a Maid friend. :P
I think my cousin enjoyed it too but...it was hard for her with the huge language barrier...
Wednesday:
Chikugawa Hanabi Taikai
(Chiku River Fireworks Festival)
This was so much fun! Fireworks for about an hour and half, festival food, friends and yukatas galore! I rushed home after work (felt work a little early actually), got into my yukata and actually managed to do the obi myself! I didn't need to use the ready set one! haha! But not until we were all down at Kurume (cities away from me) did one of my friends point out one little mistake: I had folded it incorrectly.
D'oh! ><"
But other than that, it was ok.
The return was a different ordeal. Getting to Kurume was alright aside from uber packed trains. Coming back...well, we couldn't even get INTO the station for a while. So we went to a department store and "chilled" for about 45 minutes and then tried the station again. This time around the gigantic crowd had pretty much disappeared.
Thursday:
Block event 1 - Son House
Last night, my fellow block heads Lupita and Emmett and I had our first block event: Dinner at Son House. I think it went rather well. Everyone was chatting with everyone else. Food was as yummy as ever. Yea, it was a good night. ^^
And now, my craziness will become even more crazy!!!
Today is the Fukuoka Orientation. After all that, there is an orientation dinner (where all the other re-contracting JETs that didn't present at the orientation can join and meet the new ALTs). So Liz and me are going to a beer garden for dinner tonight. But we're going to skip the after party at club Gossip. It sounds like a nice club but I still need to finish packing for my trip up North with my cousin!
So yea, I'll definately be MIA for a week+. We will be in Kyoto for about 3 and half days and in Tokyo for about 5 days. Oh man...it's going to be fun and I can imagine unbelieably tiring...ugh...
Craziness to be reported later.
Mata ne!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Visits
So last week Thursday, my cousin arrived in Japan!!!
Yay!!!
I only feel horrible that somehow I got mixed up on her flight and was waiting for her at the wrong terminal...luckily after only a few minutes of waiting and getting that "something's wrong" feeling, I found out I was at the wrong terminal and took off running to the right one. I found her at the payphone looking rather confused and troubled (because had just tried calling my cell but failed to understand...).
Anhyhoo, we made it back to my place safely and so far we've been having days filled with things to do, people to meet (some unplanned) and (for my cousin) pictures to take.
So Friday night, one of my host moms invited to her place for dinner. We met her at hte bus stop, took a bus to her place (she lives out of the city. In the country side, really), had dinner with her and her sister and spent the night. For me, it was like when I first came and decided to take up my host mom's offers to stay with them instead of the hotel. Then on Saturday, my cousin and I came back to my place (I did some cleaning...bit of a weekend routine for me... ehehe^^;;) and then met my other host mom for a Summer Festival and dinner. This host mom's friend was nice enough to pick us up and take us to my host mom's house. Again, very much deja vu to my first week in Japan. hehe.
The only bummer in all this was at the exact moment my host mom arrived to pick us up, I got a text from a friend, stubbed my toe, got a text from another friend, noticed I broke my toe nail (in the middle...part of the tip going in where all the pink part is) and then got a call from my host mom's friend to tell me she arrived. That was a really crazy 1 minute. And quite painful. Yay...let's see how temple hopping in Kyoto and train hopping in Tokyo goes... :/
Oh~! But both the dinner and summer festival were a lot of fun! And my cousin wore a yukata! But...I think she got tired of it after a while. haha. Yea...I had forgotten to mention that to keep it on, the obi (the belt & bow part of the yukata) has to be put on a little tight. Otherwise, it can easily open up and yea...I don't think she wanted that kind of show. I'm strangely ok with it...and the wooden shoes...hmm...
Then on Sunday, I finally got to meet 2 of the new ALT's! They've been around since Wednesday but I've been busy with other things (namely my cousin) that I've been having bad timing to meet them. But I finally did!
I've been keen to meet them since I'll be a block head this year. The JET's in Fukuoka are separated into blocks, or groups based on location. I am part of block 6 and along with my buddies Emmett and Lupita, we're going to be "blockheads." Basically we plan events for everyone in our block so that they don't feel lonely and so that we can get to know each other better and all that fun stuff. Furthermore, we act as contacts for them. If they have a question, they can come ask us for help or advice. So...a little like being an RA in college. :P
I will unfortunately miss the first block event because I'll be in Tokyo with my cousin. So I didn't want to make my new block feel I'm abandoning them so I've been wanted to go and say "hi" for a while. ^^;;
Later to come:
*Maid Cafe
*Fireworks Festival
*Block informal dinner (at Son House!)
*JET Fukuoka Orientation (Beer Garden)
*Kyoto
*Tokyo
Yay!!!
I only feel horrible that somehow I got mixed up on her flight and was waiting for her at the wrong terminal...luckily after only a few minutes of waiting and getting that "something's wrong" feeling, I found out I was at the wrong terminal and took off running to the right one. I found her at the payphone looking rather confused and troubled (because had just tried calling my cell but failed to understand...).
Anhyhoo, we made it back to my place safely and so far we've been having days filled with things to do, people to meet (some unplanned) and (for my cousin) pictures to take.
So Friday night, one of my host moms invited to her place for dinner. We met her at hte bus stop, took a bus to her place (she lives out of the city. In the country side, really), had dinner with her and her sister and spent the night. For me, it was like when I first came and decided to take up my host mom's offers to stay with them instead of the hotel. Then on Saturday, my cousin and I came back to my place (I did some cleaning...bit of a weekend routine for me... ehehe^^;;) and then met my other host mom for a Summer Festival and dinner. This host mom's friend was nice enough to pick us up and take us to my host mom's house. Again, very much deja vu to my first week in Japan. hehe.
The only bummer in all this was at the exact moment my host mom arrived to pick us up, I got a text from a friend, stubbed my toe, got a text from another friend, noticed I broke my toe nail (in the middle...part of the tip going in where all the pink part is) and then got a call from my host mom's friend to tell me she arrived. That was a really crazy 1 minute. And quite painful. Yay...let's see how temple hopping in Kyoto and train hopping in Tokyo goes... :/
Oh~! But both the dinner and summer festival were a lot of fun! And my cousin wore a yukata! But...I think she got tired of it after a while. haha. Yea...I had forgotten to mention that to keep it on, the obi (the belt & bow part of the yukata) has to be put on a little tight. Otherwise, it can easily open up and yea...I don't think she wanted that kind of show. I'm strangely ok with it...and the wooden shoes...hmm...
Then on Sunday, I finally got to meet 2 of the new ALT's! They've been around since Wednesday but I've been busy with other things (namely my cousin) that I've been having bad timing to meet them. But I finally did!
I've been keen to meet them since I'll be a block head this year. The JET's in Fukuoka are separated into blocks, or groups based on location. I am part of block 6 and along with my buddies Emmett and Lupita, we're going to be "blockheads." Basically we plan events for everyone in our block so that they don't feel lonely and so that we can get to know each other better and all that fun stuff. Furthermore, we act as contacts for them. If they have a question, they can come ask us for help or advice. So...a little like being an RA in college. :P
I will unfortunately miss the first block event because I'll be in Tokyo with my cousin. So I didn't want to make my new block feel I'm abandoning them so I've been wanted to go and say "hi" for a while. ^^;;
Later to come:
*Maid Cafe
*Fireworks Festival
*Block informal dinner (at Son House!)
*JET Fukuoka Orientation (Beer Garden)
*Kyoto
*Tokyo
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