Picture Time!!! - Part 8

My friends and I had a beach trip in Odaiba. The beach was filthy, but we had a lot of fun. We ate delicious Mexican food! And saw the Japanese statue of liberty!

Here we are on the Tower of Terror at Tokyo Disney Sea. Note that Yong has his face buried in my shoulder while he screams. Good times! Disneyland in Japan is amazing!

Genie!!! Aladdin is my fav old school Disney movie. I bought a Genie plushy charm for my phone. ^_^

Tokyo Disney Sea at night, right before the fireworks/fire/water show... which was amazing btw!

I threw a surprise party for my friend Yong's 20th b-day. We went to Red Lobster for a fantastic 9 course meal!!! Look at how full and happy we are, lol.

My besties and I!

Success!!!

So many good things have happened since I last updated... where to begin...

The week before last week's Wednesday Yong and I met with an activist and scholar here in Tokyo who introduced us to all of his friends. Can you say connections?! That was kind of an amazing night, we left there so informed and so elated! Then we ate burger king which is sinfully good here, and my favorite guilty pleasure in Japan...

The week before last week's Thursday was cRAZY. I'm walking to the train station around 8am with Yong and we see Anna heading in the opposite direction. Turns out the Keihin-Tohoku line (the one I take to school and the only one at my local station) was stopped completely because someone jumped onto the tracks about three stations away. If you remember from one of my previous entires, this is actually a pretty common tragedy in Japan. And its really annoying. I was waiting at the train station for about an hour and 15min before I finally got on an actual train. By that time, school had already started, and I have an hour commute. I have to give mad props to the Japanese people, however. They stood there patiently waiting. Everyone was going to be late for school and work, and yet the stood there, in perfectly formed lines, without any sort of guidance. In america there would have been rioting, complaining, yelling, pushing, and fighting to say the least. I ended up making it to like, the last 30min of my first period, which is full of people who live in the same dorm as me... so it was mostly empty. Most people didn't even bother to go to school that day.

Then last week's Friday me and all my friends hit up the mall for sushi and a mini shopping spree. I got all the accessories I need for my concert for like... $17. That was super fun! Then we went to a cafe that we are pretty sure had never had foreigners in it before... The waiter stared at us like we had antennae sticking out of our ears. It was a bit awkward, but pleasant once we finally got settled...

Just this last weekend a few of my friends and I hit up the beach in Odaiba. I think the best part was that we got to eat at an all you can eat Mexican food place. I have missed Mexican food SO MUCH since I have been here. It was amazing. And delicious. We ate ourselves silly and then passed out on the beach.  We also played a lot of cards and Frisbee to pass the time. Beach going in Japan is a lot different though... most people were fully clothed and barely went near the water... Ah well.

That night Yong and I met up with some other friends at a club for nomi-hodai (all you can drink). I made a lot of new friends that night... there was a crazy chain of friends of friends of friends who brought friends. Haha. Good times though! It kinda funny how I can meet someone from a different country and our mutual language is Japanese. Though everyone knows at least a little English... America fails at languages.

This week my friends and I checked out a new place for lunch. Once again I ended up eating myself stupid. So much delicious food. Japan loves to have tabe-hodai (all you can eat) specials during lunch. ALL restaurants do it. Its a beautiful thing for a college student on a budget, haha.

On Tuesday I had a job interview with the Tokyo Global Society. The woman who interviewed me loved me! So not only did I get a job where I get to work with kids and teach them English. But I think I will also be making a lot of really beneficial connections here. Networking is fun!

This weekend I have choir activities alllllll day on Saturday (11:30am - 8pm ish). The concert is coming quick! I am excited, but a little sad because once its over, there are no more practices. But I already have plans with some to go and hang out, so thats good!

Well... thats all for now. More pictures later!

Ja! Matta!

Picture Time!!! - Part 7

Don't forget to check out the update below first, so you know what these pictures are from!

Dinner with the SAfro FAmily altos! A night all in Japanese.

Me singing a small preview concert with just over half of the choir... I'm easy to find, huh?

Me with Shawn and Alexis when they visited me in Japan!

The Tuesday night bar-hopping gang! We were all paired up too!

Building epicness at the toy store...

Izumi Sensei!!! As cute as ever!

I should probably update this thing...

Oh! Sorry, it's been a while, huh?

Honestly, I don't have too much to say... school is school, choir is choir, and weekends are fun. Since I last updated I have sang three solos in choir practice... two of which we awesome and one of which was fail. But I've started to make more friends in the club. I went out to eat with all the Alto's one night and spent the entire evening conversing almost solely in Japanese. It was hard, but its good to know that I can do it!

What else.... Oh! I got to meet up with my Japanese teacher from high school, Izumi Sensei. The woman who taught me the foundation of my Japanese and first took me to Japan exactly four years ago. We went for Thai food (yum!) and coffee. Despite the slight rain, it was a pleasant time out... I hope I get to see her again before I leave...

I was also visited by two friends of mine who just graduated from LMU. I spend the day shopping in Harajuku with them, and then we went bar hopping (on a Tuesday night (>_<) ) in Shinjuku. It was really fun! I think they really enjoyed themselves, which is nice. Its fun to have people visit!

In the social circle that I am in, me and my friend Yong have been interviewing some of the Japanese members about the differences between our cultures. Last weeks interview of the club president and his friend was a riot and a half! We barely understood each other, but we were laughing so hard we cried. That was super fun!

I think that that is about it... Oh! I sang in a preview concert with the Safro Family choir (that's the name of the choir that I am in) last Thursday. That was super fun! Its gotten me really excited for the big concert in July (only a month away!!!). I am also planning on going to  karaoke with a bunch of safro people sometime soon... that should be all kinds of entertaining!

Okay.. that's all for now. I am going to go study for midterms. Class is so easy here, but midterms are going to be impossible!!! I can only image how badly I'll die for finals...

Ja! Matta ne!

Picture Time!!! - Part 6

Kyoto Pictures!!!

 In Nara, there is a park where Deer will come up to you for food. You can pet them, and they bow to you. Its really fun, unless a lot of them are hungry, then you gotta watch your back!

Todaiji temple, in Nara. Big, and beautiful. My favorite...

The Buddah in Todaiji temple. This picture does not demonstrate how huge that thing really is. Remember his ear is bigger than you...

Its said that if you can make it through the hole in this pillar (the same size as the pupil of the Buddah's eye), you will be prosperous in life. I didn't fit (stupid boobs), so I ended up buying a good luck charm to offset the bad luck...

Me at the silver pavilion, ginkakuji

The Wabisabi of ginkakuji

Ninja cafe! I couldn't get a picture with the real ninja... they were too fast, it came out blurry.

Outside the door to our youth hostel.

kinkakuji, the golden pavilion!

Asuka and I in the mountains.

I found about a million tanuki in kyoto. They are good luck charms! And adorably creepy.

Kiyomizudea temple!

Being in kyoto makes you feel like you've been transported to the past...

Well, that's it for now! Vblog to come... eventually about what I have been up to lately. Thanks for reading... I'm off to go do homework.. maybe... probably... hopefully...

ja! matta!

So last weekend I went to Kyoto...

Kyoto is the ancient capital of Japan. Its where the old imperial palace is, and its full of shrines and temples that are thousands of years old. Its probably the most historically/culturally rich place in Japan and I saw it all in two days...

Asuka and her friend Noel planned the whole thing. Yulia, Kerry and I just came along. We took the night bus from Shinjuku station at about midnight and slept the whole trip there. It was just under seven hours. When we got there we changed in the train station bathroom (super classy, I know) and then ate a quick breakfast at McDonalds.

Then the real fun began. I met up with my friend Leah from High School back in KC and we all went to Nara to visit todaiji temple. Todaiji temple is located at the back of this long park that is full of deer. Tame deer that will bow to you in order to get food. They are adorable! And aggressive... haha. Todaiji temple in its self is breathtaking. It has a gigantic Buddha who's ear is 50% bigger than I am. His EAR.

We went to a few other places in Nara and even ate lunch there. Then we headed back to Kyoto station and took a bus to ginkakuji (the silver pavilion). The was what the Japanese call wabisabi, which means simple beauty. After that we met up with my friend Travis from LMU and some of his friends and went out to eat at a ninja cafe. It was tabehodai (all you can eat) and half of it was sweets. Oh... and it was ninja themed! Kinda awesome. Very delicious. After that we headed to our hostel for the night.

The hostel was nice. Very traditionally Japanese. We meet some nice buisness men on a vacation there. One of them had been a missionary in Uganda and told me that he felt very close to me and wanted to be friends because.... well, I'm black. Awkward.... but he meant well, haha.

The next morning we were up bright and early and headed for kinkakuji (the golden pavilion) which is REALLY gold, and really shiny... Its pretty, but I much more prefer the wabisabi of the silver pavilion. Kyoto is very close to rural Japan. So we took a train ride to arashiyama, which is this beautiful countryside mountain town. We took a scenic train ride through the mountains. It was breathtaking. My pictures do not do it justice. Then we walked down the mountain through a bamboo forest. Gorgeous. We stopped at a really nice temple too, on the way down.

After all that excitement in arashiyama, we ate lunch and then returned to Kyoto. There we went to kiyomizudera. The most beautifully scenic temple in Kyoto. After we wandered around that for a while, we went and got dinner. Then it was almost time to go home, but not before going to an onsen! Onsen is a traditional public bathhouse. We found a nice one near by kyomizudera (which is also where our hostel was). It was very relaxing. My favorite bath was dark green because it was full of tea. There was one that was slightly electrocuted... but we agreed that apparently only old women can get in that one...

Then we took the night bus back and arrived in Tokyo on Monday morning at like... 6:30. Kerry and I did homework in a KFC for over an hour while waiting for school to open. Then I went to a full day of school and choir practice and didn't get home again until 9:30ish on Monday night. I was tired and sore all this week, but it was so worth it!

Pictures and an update about my week to come later...

matta, ne!

Picture Time!!! - Part 5

I still don't feel like doing homework... so Golden Week Pictures!!!!

Golden Week

Golden week is when there are three Japanese national holidays in a row, so its three days off of work/school bumped right next to a week. Also, Japan having an emperor, his birthday is also a national holiday. The current emperor's birthday happens to be the Thursday before Golden Week. So This is how I celebrated...


Thursday - Emperor's Birthday
Kaitrin came over to DKH for lunch. We went out to LaLa Garden, the local mall, for sushi. When we got there, there were guys outside running a booth for children where you could shoot at a target while balancing on a bucking "horse". The prize was candy! So Kaitrin tried it and hilarity ensued. They also had a taiko drum up there for show, but of course I wanted to play it. So I did, and they were really surprised that I knew what I was doing.... that was fun! We had sushi and shopped for a bit, then left to meet up with Bryce in Ueno.

In Ueno we went to the national park there, and hit up the zoo. Animals in Japan know how to put on a show! They all came right up to the bars and looked at you and acted out... it was fantastic! I took a million pictures... most are on facebook, but I will make a picture post here later (after I finally do that homework that I am currently trying to ignore).

After the Zoo closed, we went out for dinner. While at dinner, the girls (not me, I was sitting with the boys somewhere different, most Japanese places can't handle large groups) starting chatting with some college boys sitting near them. They ended up inviting us all to go drinking. We agreed, but then they found out that the party they were going to was invitation only, and we weren't invited. Oh well, easy come, easy go. When just wandering around Shibuya, Mary runs into a friend of hers, and  at the same time I run into two of mine from SAfro (choir). We end up forming two little conversation groups across the street from the station and talking for about an hour and a half. It was fun! That was it for Thursday...



Friday - not a holiday, but I made it one
Woke up and went on a bike ride with Mary and Meghann to pick up our alien registration cards. We got lost and went in a big circle, but it was a nice day, so  we really didn't mind. We then went out for lunch. The rest of the day was just spent laying about and relaxing. It was much needed, and much appreciated.


Saturday
Woke up early and took the train with Bryce, Yong, and Pricilla to Yokohama. Yokohama is the 2nd largest city in Japan, is right next to the ocean, and was about an hour away to the main station. Once we got there we met up with Haga and some others from the social circle I joined at school. Then we rode the seaside train to Sea Paradise. That was quite an amazing aquarium! We walked through the aquarium, then saw a sea world esq sea mammal show, then went to the petting zoo (yes, at an aquarium), and finished it off by chilling out at dolphin fantasy. All in all it was a great day. We headed back to the main part of yokohama and got ramen and just hung out. Then it was back home.


Sunday
Kerry, Yong, and I went exploring Kawaguchi, the next city over from where we live. It was really pretty. We wandered aimlessly until we found these two cute guys performing on the street. We stopped to listen and they were REALLY good! All three of us bought an album, had them sign them, and took a picture with them. It was pretty great. They made their first American fans! That was pretty much it for that day, another lazy one...


Monday - Constitution Day
Monday we went to Ome and met up with Moeko in her home town for a Matsuri (festival). It was a celebration of the twelve villages of the city that are protected by this one Shinto Shrine. So there were vendors everywhere selling food and what not, but then there were these twelve floats that each had its own oni (demon) and taiko band. They were being pulled up and down the street doing a sort of battle of the band against one another. It was fantastic. But dangerous, I had to save an old lady half my size who got wrapped up in the giant roped used to pull the floats.

The strangest thing about the matsuri was the fact that clearly Ome is not used to foreigners. I was there with a lot of gaijin (foreigners) and we got a lot of double takes. But Meghann and I were getting blatant stares, pointing, people sneaking pictures of us when they thought we weren't looking, and even people coming up to the two of us asking to take our picture! We were more of a spectacle than the actual Matsuri for these people... it was surreal. I still don't know if I liked it or not....

After the matsuri we went to Moeko's house where her mom had created a Japanese feast for us. We all sat around the dinner table (it was a bit cramped) and talked about the cultural differences between us gaijin and the Japanese. It was really fun, and very interesting! We taught them american slang and they told us about Japanese stereotypes for americans. Apparently we eat hamburgers all day every day.

After dinner we went home together on the train. They were close to empty for a better part of the way, so there was a lot of dancing and climbing up onto luggage racks and what not. It was hilarious. That was definitely my 2nd favorite night of the week!

Tuesday - Greenery Day
Kerry and I met up with Bryce and Yong and we hit up the Tokyo Dome City amusement park. Roller coasters baby! Every ride was lots of fun. Waiting in line was also really fun. We played hand jive games and cards and were generally really giggly the entire time. We ended the night with a ride on a huge ferris wheel... priceless.

Then we met up with Pricilla and went for nomihodai (all you can drink). We ate and drank and played drinking games and sang Karaoke and danced. Our waiter (who was super cute) was drinking with us and the two other groups of two in the bar, so by the end of the night we were all just a giggling mass of bad singers belting out lady gaga and random Japanese songs at the top of our lungs.... Good times.

Then it was time to try and rush to catch last train home! Kerry, Yong and I didn't make it. So we took a taxi to Katrin's place and crashed there until the trains were running in the morning. Of course I don't sleep well (snoring keeps me up) and by the time we get home, I am on my 2nd wind and can't sleep anyways. I ended up taking a 3 hour nap or so today... so I am good to go for now.


Wednesday (today) - Children's day
Grocery shopping and homework.... I got school tomorrow!

Picture Time!!! - Part 4

So since all I have been doing really is going to school... I don't have much of anything to say. Here are a few pictures of random adventures after class and what not.

No one has class on wednesday afternoons, so one week we went to asakusa, and pretended to be tourists!

This is my main group of friends at DKH and Sophia... (from left to right: Kerry, Meghann, Mary, Yong). They are kind of amazing.

This is me waiting for a friend at Hachiko. Its a very iconic spot in a very busy location. Here is the story of hachiko, incase you aren't familer.

Samantha Thavasa is a popular Japanese brand... so my name is everywhere!

Lions pride all the way in Japan!!!

Apparently I had to go all the way to Japan to have more than one black friend in a group at once... This is me with my son and law and long lost sister. Also, I may be really short with them... but in Japan, I am average height!


That's all for now... But its Golden Week, which is a week long holiday. So there will be a big update of my escapades during this week sometime next week... lol