My forever long battle with computers is...still continuing...
:/
My laptop's backlight has decided to give way and so I can't really see my screen. Unless I decided to go for odd angles that allow me to see what I'm supposed to be seeing but then I easily lose where the mouse pointer is...ugh...
Anyhoo, so I'll be MIA 'til I get a new computer. I'm able to do this post because my uber friendly co-worker, one who took a look at my sick laptop, is lending me his spare monitor for the time being.
So...I'll make mental notes on what to write about.
Mata ne~
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Current Obsessions
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…
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…
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
Monday, July 27, 2009
Weekend Pile-ups!!!
Phew.
So my weekends have been filled with crazyness for the past…for the whole month! Haha.
For Independence day weekend, Lupita and me threw our second Mexican dinner party (this time, it was called Mexi-Nite) and then it was our friend’s, Carl, birthday BBQ the next day. The following weekend, my friend Emmett had an English-club-BBQ-party. It was a lot of fun! It was interesting to me how his students were more willing to speak in English than some of my students are.
Then on Tuesday, I had an early dinner, took a shower and then took a nap. I got up around 9 and then headed for the train station to meet up with Lupita and Matt. In the city we met up with Matt’s girlfriend, Rena. And then at the karaoke place, Aki met up with us. Yes, karaoke. Yes, somewhere around 10 or 11 at night. Why?? Because we planned to karaoke until 4 in the morning. Yes! Until 4 in the morning on a weeknight. Why on earth would I do this craziness? Well because in the city at 4:55am, there was a festival known as Hakata Yamakasa. Mainly men (there were a few little boys and even babies “participating” in the festival too) take turns carrying huge and amazingly heavy mini shrine around the city. They get splashed with water here and there too. I think it was done this early in the morning to avoid the heat wave from mid-day…but it may have some other kind of traditional reason too…
So anyway after this crazy night, we all hopped on a train to go back home. I took a taxi from the station to my place, took yet another shower (it’s pretty humid these days…boo) and then biked to work. I was fine until my breakfast hit in and I immediately started getting sleepy….despite the coffee I had drank. So after a fun day at work where I helped teach, showed pictures and took naps at my desk (not uncommon in Japan, but a bit embarrassing when 2 of my students caught me…haha) I went to my Japanese class. And this time I actually stayed up (I’m usually the sleepy one…), participated more than other times and actually got some things right! Yay! But in my defense, we were reading a story this time (no grammar drills).
Then there 2 days worth of classmatches at my school (all the students get separated into groups and they play either soccer, dodgeball, volleyball and basketball. So I pretty much spent those days outside…and only on the second day did I get some sunburn. ><” Luckily, not a lot.
Friday night, I went with some friends to go watch the new Harry Potter movie! Yay! (more on this later)
The next day, Saturday morning, I got up early (ugh) to go to my friend’s high school to help her with her English Camp. She asked a group of us…and I was happy to know I wasn’t the only one that needed coffee first thing in the morning to properly function…especially for a Saturday morning. But man, once we met her students, I had all this crazy energy running through me!
Later that day, there was a Sayounara Block dinner. JETs in Fukuoka (maybe other prefectures do this too…I really don’t know) get separated into blocks, or groups. Then our “block heads” are in charge to doing events for everyone in the block to meet up, connect and stuff like that. The block heads are also like the ones the block members can go to to ask questions. I’ll be one for next year. ^^v
Then, on Sunday morning, I got up early (yet again) to go on a road trip with Grace, Carl, Emmett and David to Miyazaki Prefecture. Man…most of the weekend was spent in the car…but we did get to see some awesome things! (yes, I have been slow at uploading pictures…they’re still in my camera…photo updates later…)
Then on Wednesday night, instead of Japanese class, we went on an outing. We went to a beer garden. Or so I thought but it turned out to be a “Maid ‘n Beer” garden. It was a mix between a beer garden and a Maid café. So…interesting…
*breathe*
Ok, where was I???
Oh right, so then on Friday night, I had an enkai with the teachers for the 1st years (enaki = business party). We had dinner and drank and had a jolly good time…despite the crazy rain going on outside! After the dinner, some of them were going to go karaoke and I soooooooooooo wanted to go with them but I had told Lupita and Julie that I’d meet up with them for our unofficial “nijikai.” (nijikai = it’s an after-party but usually associated with an enkai). So I got a ride from my JTE that was heading home (and it was luckily on her way). So I had my “nijikai” with the girls at our favorite place (well, at least for like Lupita and me), Son House. It’s an awesome family hamburger restaurant with an awesome owner who knows English and has traveled to San Francisco and whatnot. So we’re getting to know them pretty well now. ^^ So much so that we stayed until they closed…ehehe^^;; But the night doesn’t end there, we decided to go karaoke after that!
Then we took a taxi home (because it was raining yet again…boo) and slept in for Saturday. But in the evening, we ventured out to the mall to look for yukatas. Sadly, I couldn’t find a yellow one…but we got one for Lupita who, until now, did not have one. After we got back to my place, we ended up staying up until 5am again! But this time it was just spent looking up bands on youtube and general chatting…
Sunday morning though…it was raining cats and dogs!!! So some trains were stopped, some rivers were in danger of flooding over…but aside from huge puddles around my place, my area was generally ok… So once the rain stopped for a bit, my gals went back home and I just stayed inside all day.
…ok…this is pretty long…I’ll stop here…
So my weekends have been filled with crazyness for the past…for the whole month! Haha.
For Independence day weekend, Lupita and me threw our second Mexican dinner party (this time, it was called Mexi-Nite) and then it was our friend’s, Carl, birthday BBQ the next day. The following weekend, my friend Emmett had an English-club-BBQ-party. It was a lot of fun! It was interesting to me how his students were more willing to speak in English than some of my students are.
Then on Tuesday, I had an early dinner, took a shower and then took a nap. I got up around 9 and then headed for the train station to meet up with Lupita and Matt. In the city we met up with Matt’s girlfriend, Rena. And then at the karaoke place, Aki met up with us. Yes, karaoke. Yes, somewhere around 10 or 11 at night. Why?? Because we planned to karaoke until 4 in the morning. Yes! Until 4 in the morning on a weeknight. Why on earth would I do this craziness? Well because in the city at 4:55am, there was a festival known as Hakata Yamakasa. Mainly men (there were a few little boys and even babies “participating” in the festival too) take turns carrying huge and amazingly heavy mini shrine around the city. They get splashed with water here and there too. I think it was done this early in the morning to avoid the heat wave from mid-day…but it may have some other kind of traditional reason too…
So anyway after this crazy night, we all hopped on a train to go back home. I took a taxi from the station to my place, took yet another shower (it’s pretty humid these days…boo) and then biked to work. I was fine until my breakfast hit in and I immediately started getting sleepy….despite the coffee I had drank. So after a fun day at work where I helped teach, showed pictures and took naps at my desk (not uncommon in Japan, but a bit embarrassing when 2 of my students caught me…haha) I went to my Japanese class. And this time I actually stayed up (I’m usually the sleepy one…), participated more than other times and actually got some things right! Yay! But in my defense, we were reading a story this time (no grammar drills).
Then there 2 days worth of classmatches at my school (all the students get separated into groups and they play either soccer, dodgeball, volleyball and basketball. So I pretty much spent those days outside…and only on the second day did I get some sunburn. ><” Luckily, not a lot.
Friday night, I went with some friends to go watch the new Harry Potter movie! Yay! (more on this later)
The next day, Saturday morning, I got up early (ugh) to go to my friend’s high school to help her with her English Camp. She asked a group of us…and I was happy to know I wasn’t the only one that needed coffee first thing in the morning to properly function…especially for a Saturday morning. But man, once we met her students, I had all this crazy energy running through me!
Later that day, there was a Sayounara Block dinner. JETs in Fukuoka (maybe other prefectures do this too…I really don’t know) get separated into blocks, or groups. Then our “block heads” are in charge to doing events for everyone in the block to meet up, connect and stuff like that. The block heads are also like the ones the block members can go to to ask questions. I’ll be one for next year. ^^v
Then, on Sunday morning, I got up early (yet again) to go on a road trip with Grace, Carl, Emmett and David to Miyazaki Prefecture. Man…most of the weekend was spent in the car…but we did get to see some awesome things! (yes, I have been slow at uploading pictures…they’re still in my camera…photo updates later…)
Then on Wednesday night, instead of Japanese class, we went on an outing. We went to a beer garden. Or so I thought but it turned out to be a “Maid ‘n Beer” garden. It was a mix between a beer garden and a Maid café. So…interesting…
*breathe*
Ok, where was I???
Oh right, so then on Friday night, I had an enkai with the teachers for the 1st years (enaki = business party). We had dinner and drank and had a jolly good time…despite the crazy rain going on outside! After the dinner, some of them were going to go karaoke and I soooooooooooo wanted to go with them but I had told Lupita and Julie that I’d meet up with them for our unofficial “nijikai.” (nijikai = it’s an after-party but usually associated with an enkai). So I got a ride from my JTE that was heading home (and it was luckily on her way). So I had my “nijikai” with the girls at our favorite place (well, at least for like Lupita and me), Son House. It’s an awesome family hamburger restaurant with an awesome owner who knows English and has traveled to San Francisco and whatnot. So we’re getting to know them pretty well now. ^^ So much so that we stayed until they closed…ehehe^^;; But the night doesn’t end there, we decided to go karaoke after that!
Then we took a taxi home (because it was raining yet again…boo) and slept in for Saturday. But in the evening, we ventured out to the mall to look for yukatas. Sadly, I couldn’t find a yellow one…but we got one for Lupita who, until now, did not have one. After we got back to my place, we ended up staying up until 5am again! But this time it was just spent looking up bands on youtube and general chatting…
Sunday morning though…it was raining cats and dogs!!! So some trains were stopped, some rivers were in danger of flooding over…but aside from huge puddles around my place, my area was generally ok… So once the rain stopped for a bit, my gals went back home and I just stayed inside all day.
…ok…this is pretty long…I’ll stop here…
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Mexi-Nite
Hello~!
So, I’m finally re-connected! Yatta!
(By that I mean that I finally have internet at home again. Woot!)
Long story short, from the time I got here until I moved to my new apartment, I bummed the internet off of my neighbor. He’s the one that told me the passphrase so it was really easy…and then I easily forgot it wasn’t mine… But anyway, I have it now and so I should be better about replying to e-mails and I’ll most likely be spending more time on myspace and facebook. Forgive me eyes!
Now for updates:
…um…nothing much…
At the moment, I’m watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Japanese (because it’s on TV and my TV doesn’t have the language button…) but since I own the movie, I know what’s supposed to be said so I can catch the Japanese and learn new words. :P
Last weekend, Lupita and me had our Mexi-Nite. It was our second time doing it and it took us just as long as the last time to prep and cook everything. Boo~. Actually, it was longer this time around… :/
We woke up around 7 in the morning, packed up pots and pans and other essentials from my place and took a taxi to her place (she had come the night before to bake the desserts with me and ended staying the night), cleaned her place, starting prepping, ate a quick lunch and then cooked cooked cooked until 6:15. That’s when I got ready really fast and then walked to the station to meet up with some friends to that were coming to the dinner (but obviously didn’t know where Lupita lives). But everyone came and it well rather well. This time though, we didn’t have a lot of left-overs like before (we had over-estimated how much chicken we’d need…). We tried to make our own corn tortillas this time but the mix we found didn’t work out too well… So our attempt at making enchiladas rather failed…and I got my finger tips a little burned in the process. Boo!
However, everyone seemed to really like it. We put the “tortilla” dough as the first layer in Lupita’s hot pan and then added the meat we cooked with the enchilada sauce (which we found cans of in an international food store). A little before we expected our guests, we added some spicy mozzarella cheese to half of it. The cheese side was the first to be eaten. It was all eaten by the end of the night. You know what the funny thing is? Lupita and me didn’t even taste it! We have no idea was it was like. But according to our friends, it was good! Whether or not it really tasted like enchiladas…we don’t know…
The Menu:
“Enchiladas”
Re-fried beans
Spanish-style rice
Flour tortillas
Steak-picado
Mole
Papas fritas
Salsa
Sour Cream
Guacamole
Margaritas
O-cha (cold tea for anyone who didn’t want to drink alcohol)
But all in all, it all went great. Even our late visitors (late because they had to work and they close at midnight) came, ate and 2 stayed until 5 in the morning! It was crazy but also great fun! :]
But of course, we were rather tired the next day. I didn’t wake up until like 1 (when Lupita came to wake me up. Hahaha. Oh yea, I spent the night at her place) and then I helped her clean up her place.
And then we took a taxi back to my place where we joined many friends (some again) for Carl’s birthday dinner. After eating, avoiding mosquitos, getting a little wet from the on/off rain, we had fireworks! So it really felt like the 4th of July. ^^b
Most of this weekend was spent on catching up on sleep. ;P I caught up on some on Sunday night and through out the week…but because I had to wake up early to go to work, I never felt fully rested. But ah, this weekend was great for that. Sleeping in is what I love about the weekends. x3
Alright. I’m gonna go hit the hay.
Can’t wait for Friday!!! Imma go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with my friends!!! ah~
So, I’m finally re-connected! Yatta!
(By that I mean that I finally have internet at home again. Woot!)
Long story short, from the time I got here until I moved to my new apartment, I bummed the internet off of my neighbor. He’s the one that told me the passphrase so it was really easy…and then I easily forgot it wasn’t mine… But anyway, I have it now and so I should be better about replying to e-mails and I’ll most likely be spending more time on myspace and facebook. Forgive me eyes!
Now for updates:
…um…nothing much…
At the moment, I’m watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Japanese (because it’s on TV and my TV doesn’t have the language button…) but since I own the movie, I know what’s supposed to be said so I can catch the Japanese and learn new words. :P
Last weekend, Lupita and me had our Mexi-Nite. It was our second time doing it and it took us just as long as the last time to prep and cook everything. Boo~. Actually, it was longer this time around… :/
We woke up around 7 in the morning, packed up pots and pans and other essentials from my place and took a taxi to her place (she had come the night before to bake the desserts with me and ended staying the night), cleaned her place, starting prepping, ate a quick lunch and then cooked cooked cooked until 6:15. That’s when I got ready really fast and then walked to the station to meet up with some friends to that were coming to the dinner (but obviously didn’t know where Lupita lives). But everyone came and it well rather well. This time though, we didn’t have a lot of left-overs like before (we had over-estimated how much chicken we’d need…). We tried to make our own corn tortillas this time but the mix we found didn’t work out too well… So our attempt at making enchiladas rather failed…and I got my finger tips a little burned in the process. Boo!
However, everyone seemed to really like it. We put the “tortilla” dough as the first layer in Lupita’s hot pan and then added the meat we cooked with the enchilada sauce (which we found cans of in an international food store). A little before we expected our guests, we added some spicy mozzarella cheese to half of it. The cheese side was the first to be eaten. It was all eaten by the end of the night. You know what the funny thing is? Lupita and me didn’t even taste it! We have no idea was it was like. But according to our friends, it was good! Whether or not it really tasted like enchiladas…we don’t know…
The Menu:
“Enchiladas”
Re-fried beans
Spanish-style rice
Flour tortillas
Steak-picado
Mole
Papas fritas
Salsa
Sour Cream
Guacamole
Margaritas
O-cha (cold tea for anyone who didn’t want to drink alcohol)
But all in all, it all went great. Even our late visitors (late because they had to work and they close at midnight) came, ate and 2 stayed until 5 in the morning! It was crazy but also great fun! :]
But of course, we were rather tired the next day. I didn’t wake up until like 1 (when Lupita came to wake me up. Hahaha. Oh yea, I spent the night at her place) and then I helped her clean up her place.
And then we took a taxi back to my place where we joined many friends (some again) for Carl’s birthday dinner. After eating, avoiding mosquitos, getting a little wet from the on/off rain, we had fireworks! So it really felt like the 4th of July. ^^b
Most of this weekend was spent on catching up on sleep. ;P I caught up on some on Sunday night and through out the week…but because I had to wake up early to go to work, I never felt fully rested. But ah, this weekend was great for that. Sleeping in is what I love about the weekends. x3
Alright. I’m gonna go hit the hay.
Can’t wait for Friday!!! Imma go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with my friends!!! ah~
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