JORDAN IN JAPAN SUMMER 2010

Half Year Anniversary

2011-01-15T01:24:00.000-05:00

I felt that I left this blog "hanging" in a sense, and since it is the most popular of my three (I'll list my other exchange blogs at the end of this post), I felt that it would be best to sum up how I felt when I got back from Japan.

To say that Japan changed my life would be a major understatement; it changed my life, it changed me, it changed everything. I had always wanted to go to Japan, ever since I was 10 years old. I had a major appreciation for this very different culture.

Before I left for Japan, I had a lot of pent-up stress and frustrations. However, after being 7000 miles away from home, I realized that those problems I had were small, solvable, or not worth my time at all. Now back in America, I feel that nothing has changed, yet everything has changed. I see the world as a bigger place, and I want to explore it all.

In Japan I made lasting friendships, a lifelong bond with fellow exchangers (from Brazil, California, Virginia, and Ecuador), have a bigger view of the world, and now have the confidence to do anything. After going to Japan I realize that ANYTHING is possible.

When I got back from Japan, in a sense, I died inside. It was the happiest/calmest time in my entire life. However, I know that I will be back again, and I know that I still have all of the world to explore and fall in love with.

So what's next? Well, I am graduating from high school in June, doing one semester at college, and I am planning to do a year long exchange to South Korea. "Why South Korea?" you ask? Well, you can find the answer in my new exchange blog: http://jojogoeskorea.blogspot.com/ .

My advice for future exchangers is that if you even have the opportunity to go abroad: do it. It will CHANGE your life for the better. If you are ready to jump into the unknown and experience a world of opportunities, then do it. I can guarantee that you will not regret it.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain

Going back!!

2010-09-03T09:55:00.005-04:00

This month long exchange to Japan was so amazing and life changing, that I have decided to go back! I want to experience more things that Japan has to offer, and I am also doing this for my health. I will be going back September-November. Here is the link to my new blog: http://jordanbacktojapan.blogspot.com

And here are all the public facebook albums of my Summer 2010 Japan pictures, so you can see them without having to read my whole blog...unless you want to, then I'll be happy ;)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=484130&id=720825102&l=8bc7fa192a

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=484148&id=720825102&l=2fe217f890

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=484175&id=720825102&l=141f744461

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=484385&id=720825102&l=7705337320

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=484400&id=720825102&l=05d3009926

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=484407&id=720825102&l=0fc0f70973

and here is a slideshow of all my pictures:

Two Family Marts? Well thats unfortunate...

2010-07-13T22:37:00.000-04:00

This morning I was quite tired, as I didn't sleep well for some reason last night. So by the time I was in the non women’s only train (Aka: the dude train) it was too late. I was trapped...between a bunch of men. No wonder they make only women’s train carts!!! I felt totally violated haha as I was crushed between these 2 old guys, this really tall, tan, and handsome otokonoko (man) steps in and I'm like "...whoa (￣▽￣)" it made the ride a whole lot better xD

I walked to school with Kana and her tomodachi (friend)/Mei and her host sister and I told them the dramatic Kokurin story from yesterday xD but I'm not really mad at him, I haven't actually really gotten mad at anybody here because no one has done anything against me per say, or if they have I was totally expecting it so it didn't really matter. Most times I'm not angry, just disappointed. But because this is just such an amazing experience in itself, nobody can really hurt me =) there are too many amazing people here for just one person to ruin my day.

Japanese classics: I slept/made a going away gift for my Chinese friend Hiro (he's going to china for the summer)

Break: Kokurin was acting quite...crazy （－＿－；）I was attempting to talk to Hiro but Kokurin kept saying all this strange stuff. Oh and he did this really cool fan trick and refused to teach me （；＿；）but I will practice on my own!! (｀へ´) oh and I gave hiro his going away present and he loved it :)) it was some starburst (American candy), a Scooby doo comic book, and one of those Japanese animal paper machete things that you blow up.

Understanding of English: I just doodled and talked to Hiro. The teachers are getting a lot more lax because it's the last week of school before summer vacation. They basically just leave you there to talk and socialize xD
I saw the Germans today and attempted to help them and horribly, horribly failed (￣▽￣;)

Suspein go (Spanish):
We watched the movie "spirited away" in Spanish. It was...interesting xD Oh and I got back my Spanish test, I passed it =)

After Spanish Yanagida sensei found me and said that me, Mei, and Steffie could go to cooking and make the meal with them =D my friend Kenta was there too so I talked and laughed with him. He's really good at eigo (English)!! I met Tai-chan, he's really sweet, and pulled out a chair for me to sit on and said "layyydias firstu (*^◯^*)" hahahaha so cute xD

The food was...AMAZING!! Much more deluxe then the food we make in class back home. It was cold somen noodles and pork salad.

Me, mei, and steffie started up this "happy birthday" song for a girl in class too :)

I talked to one of the German boys, but he doesn't seem to like his host brother >_<

After school Kokurin was being a total jerk!!! >:O Hiro said "I think Kokurin is jealous of me hehehe" but whatever haha xD

Shota taught me and Mei at kendo. But he was a lot stricter than the other sempai (upperclassmen). We missed the other funny sempai ;( Mei hates Shota with a burning passion, but I don't mind him, I think he's nice xD

I bought Shota a banana juice, and everybody smiled at me really creepily, it's just juice though...haha xD

After kendo I gave Shota a hug but I was like "that wasn't a very good hug! >:/" so he gave me another and said, "was that better?? ;)" and Mei was in a corner gagging and saying "Ewwwww >XO" hahahaha xD

I tried to walk to Rafa’s house alone and in the rain, but I got horribly horribly lost....

But Vicky came to find me thank god (>_<) but there is quite a funny story...I was at a Family Mart, but Vicky was at another Family Mart, so when this boy walked by:

Me: uhmmm gomen nasai (excuse me)!!??
Boy: oh...oh!! Herro herro (hello)!!
Me: hai hai (yes yes) mmm Family Mart wa doko?? (where is the family mart)
Boy: *looks at Family mart behind me* *looks back at me*
Me: oh uhmm wait no!! The other one!! >.<
Boy: *totally confused*

Hahahaha because I had been talking about the other store, but he was just like "What the heck....it's...it's right behind you (ﾟoﾟ;; hahaha xD

I got home at around 7:50 and okaasan fed me some really good food :DD it was like a pork chop, fried shrimp, rice, and salad. It was super oishii (delicious) (^o^)b

Her and Shiori told me about their spaz attack when they saw my room though (￣▽￣;) I need to clean it tomorrow xD

I emailed Peter some back and forth and then I went to sleep.

We're going to a festival in Kyoto on Thursday!! I'm super excited! ♪（ｖ＾＿＾）ｖ

Me with seat mate

Class zzzzz
Purikura I did with Hiro, Yingfan, and Vicky

Spirited away in spanish class

Kenta, me, and Tai-chan

Chef vicky xD

Somen noodles and pork rice, YUMMM

Cooking group :)

Rafa's room

Temple near Rafa's house

JAPANESE BOWLING!!! with the chinese kids..?

2010-07-12T22:31:00.000-04:00

Well, today started out a little...rough, and involved a few tears, but after talking to Vicky (serious the most amazing person I have ever met, I have only known her for a few weeks but it feels like I've known her for my whole life), one of the other exchangers, I felt instantly better and got back into the groove of things.

It had been decided that me, Vicky, and all the Chinese kids would go bowling after school today, but of course Kokurin and Jun had to ruin it (T^T) Jun all of a sudden is like "my computer...she's broken" and then Kokurin just haaaad to go with her to get it fixed!! Those meanies!!!!!
Everybody was acting strange today though, even takoyaki guy. We kept saying "takoyaki!!" but he was just like "...hey". Does everybody hate us now or something??? It was a very random day.

Anyways, Yingfan was getting really angry so we just decided to go without Jun and Kokurin. But me, Vicky, Yingfan, and Hiro did have an amazing time :))

First we went to sushi and then we all did purikura together. And finally, JAPANESE BOWLING!!! It was quite the experience, but I didn't get to bring my camera today so no pictures =(((((

6 games of bowling = hilarious fun :) I lost of course, but I got 6 strikes so I was quite happy ♪( ´▽｀)

I got home about 9 pm, and had a little...moment, with okaasan but we made up later so everything is alright :) I'm really glad Shiori is here! I wish she was my real sister, she's so cool (>.<)

Tigger...Why on earth are you on top of Pooh?

2010-07-11T22:01:00.000-04:00

Me and Vicky woke up late so we had to rush like crazy to meet my host sister at Osaka station. There were a bunch of mix ups and confusion today regarding different plans, I won't go into too much detail....but what ended up happening was a pretty fun time with my host sister, Vicky, and Rafa :)

When me and Vicky first met with Shiori we went to the cinema to see about movie times, but the line was wayyyy too long, so we went to look for a 7/11 to get food. That search for the 7/11 lasted for about 30 minutes because everybody kept giving us different directions.

Once we finally did find the 7/11, we got our snacks and went to eat at a bench (which was another long journey because I guess the Japanese don't believe in stopping to sit?).

We ate while sitting at a bench and then I went to practice my Japanese on a nearby store clerk. Me, Vicky, and Shiori rehearsed my lines, basically I'm looking for a gift for my 54 year old husband. The look on the store clerk's face was priceless xD but I was happy because he actually understood me ^-^
We met Rafa and then went to this food café; we were supposed to go to Subway but...

Me: oh look there's Subway! Let's eat there
Everybody: ok!
Me: *rushes into subway* OH MY GOD *falls out onto sidewalk
Host sister: eh?? Are you ok??
Me: OH MY GOD It....it smells like DIARRHREA IN THERE!!!!
Host sister, Rafa and Vicky: *on the ground laughing*
Hahahaha it was funny but I was being dead serious!! How could those people be in there eating so happily when it smelled SO BAD??? and it wasn't just me either, rafa and everybody else tried going in and they couldn't get more than 2 steps in there xD

And of course you can't have a group outing without doing a little singing ;) so on to karaoke we went! ♪（ｖ＾＿＾）ｖ we had to pay $2 to only go 1 stop on the subway, but karaoke was super fun(ny)!!

I sung," and I am telling you" by Jennifer Hudson. If you have ever heard the song I think you would know how hilarious it would when someone like me sings it. Vicky was mad because she didn't record it xD they were all like on the floor laughing xDD

Now, last time our karaoke room was bob Marley/shady/cigarette themed but this time it was a really cute "Winnie the pooh" theme ^^ although the diorama made it look like Tigger was doing inappropriate things to Pooh (￣▽￣;)

After karaoke we all went to Mos burger, and I got another toy ;) and then a random Portuguese song came on, I swear these Japanese people are trying to cater to Vicky xDD

Karaoke!

New kids on the block

2010-07-10T22:52:00.001-04:00

4 new German kids (3 boys and one girl) so me and Shiori went to their welcome party at school. It was pretty elaborate, they love their Europeans, us Americans didn't get a welcome party when we came T^T but all of the Germans were pretty nice. 2 were kind of aloof/shady but I'm guessing that's because they were tired (they arrived in Japan last night).

The party was fun! There were a bunch of free goodies and I love free ;) oh and we made takoyaki!! Double win \(^o^)/

After the party (so I guess it would be an "after party", get it? :D) me, Rafa, Vicky, all of the Germans, and their Japanese host siblings went to Umeda. It was lots of fun, and I did purikura with my favorite classmates so I was happy (^-^)b

I went with Misato and her German host sister (I think her name is "Madja"...maybe...you know how bad I am with names xD) to find her a skirt for school.

Yuuki called me and said he wanted to hang out, so he met us there and we met his Chinese girl friends. They were so nice!! And they said my hair was beautiful hehe (*^o^*)

After Umeda I went back to Vicky's house for our....
SUPER AWESOME AMAZING SLEEPOVER!!!!!!! I was super excited!!!!!! And I had right to be, it was amaaaazing :)))

Vicky's host family is so kind! We all made takoyaki together (takoyaki twice in one day = pure awesomeness :))

Vicky's host family lives in the mountains, I thought it was awesome! But she doesn't think so because it always takes her so long to get to school (about 2 and a half hours).

I was super confused because Vicky's host mom kept getting up and coming back, but it turns out she was "feeding" her brother. Well more like her brother's spirit. He died about 7 years ago, but they have his shrine in his house. I don't remember what she did exactly, but supposed she has to wait 15 minutes to eat, then put offering on the shrine ledge, then go back and get it, then wait 15 more minutes, and then save rice. And then clean up again. Every meal/snack. Every day for the rest of her life....it was intense. It was kind of eerie though because Vicky stays in his room...and uses the desk he died at *shudder*. But I thought it was cool going to her house because I experienced a different side of Japan, and I love it when I do something culturally different without even having to travel more than 2 hours.

On a lighter note, I (well technically both me and Vicky, but he didn't know xD) talked to Kokurin on the phone for like an hour. And we've made one conclusion: He. Is. CRAZY.
Hahaha. I still like him regardless though because I'm a bit "zany" myself, but Vicky was really shocked because she thought he was quiet/normal xDD

I joked around with him and said he was a "pretty boy" in American standards and he said "oh...I'm a pretty boy pretty boy pretty boy teeheeteeheeteehee pretty boy. I'm prettyyyyyy" It was awkward. And then:

Kokurin: Jojo, do you think I am kakkoih (handsome/cool)?
Me: uh...yeah, you're kakkoih
Kokurin: really?
Me: hahahaha yeah I guess...
Kokurin: heheheheh I'm kakkoih
Me: you're not very...modest xD
Kokurin: *quickly types "modest" into his translator*
*silence*
Kokurin: I do not understand...
Me: uhm...well I guess the polite thing is to deny it? Haha
Kokurin: Jojo, NO. YOU said I was kakkoih and I said "REALLY?" and YOU said "yeah I guess". Therefore, I am allowed to say I AM.
Me: ......sound reasoning.

Hahahahaha it was quite a "riveting" conversation xD

After talking/killing off all the country bugs in Vicky’s room, I had the best sleep since I have been in Japan :)

Takoyaki :D

All the exchangers with new german girlMe, my cotton candy, and chibi :)

Vicky trying to win the toss ring game and she did! :O

hahahahah our own japanese star xD

Me and favorite japanese teacher :)

Vendin machine that takes all my money (ToT)

Chibi and her new German host brother Nimar

Takoyaki!

Me and Vicky making Takoyaki! \(^0^)/

Me and Vicky's host parents :)

Vicky's room xD

Chiisu Kaikii ^^

2010-07-09T23:54:00.003-04:00

After school all of us exchangers went to our Japanese sensei’s house for homemade cheesecake. It was really good and I thought it was very sweet of her to invite us over. Did you catch my pun? While we were eating she told us some (actually VERY) scary stories, and at the end of one of her stories she reached out really fast to grab us and we all freaked out xD

We then went to our usual sushi place, and then to do karaoke with Rafa’s friend Yuuki. I’ve realized that singing “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne will only result in a severely sore throat and two broken eardrums J

After everybody else left, me, Rafa, and Vicky went to Mos Burger. It was cool because this was my first time going. Everything tasted pretty similar to Makudo (McDonald’s), and I got the kid’s meal so I also got a toy ^0^

Steffie with Sensei's totally adorable doggie =)

Mei, Sensei, and Peter

oishii chiisu kaikii :D
Me with cutest dog ever ^0^

Peter and Steffie and cutest dog ever :)

Sensei telling scary story O_o

Exchange besties :)

All of us exchangers and sensei

HAHAHA this sums up our whole relationship xDD

Vicky, Mei, and Rafa

Mei, Steffie, and Yuuki

Me and Vicky :)

Yuuki singing

Mei and Yuuki

Me and rafa at Karaoke (Note: all the karaoke rooms are themed, our theme was...bob marley?)

Rafa violating my kids toy >=/

Mos Burger kids meal toy :D

USJ!!!!!! \(^0^)/

2010-07-09T01:38:00.000-04:00

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!!!!!!!!! Today was the coolest day ever!! I went to Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan with Mei, Haruka, and my oneesan (sister) Shiori! On the way to USJ me and Shiori took this awesome train, but it was like all decked out with USJ type stuff on the outside, it was awesome and excited me even more xD

Like the Universal Studios here in America, we had to go through CityWalk first to get to the actual park. We took pictures with the woodpeckers at the entrance and then all of a sudden me and Mei both look up and there it is… a GIANT TAKOYAKI!!!!!! We started freaking out/getting really excited and I think Haruka and Shiori were scared xD

I’ll make a list of all the awesome-y rides me rode:

Spiderman- SUGOIII (cool)!!!! It was actually really intense. For some reason me and Mei had this mindset that all the rides here would be less intense then the ones back in America, but boy were we wrong, they were VERY (if not more) intense!!! Throughout this whole ride though I was laughing and crying at the same time because Mei’s scream was so funny. I thought it would be like this high pitched screech, but it was more like a low pitched baritone roar xD hahaha.

Back to the future- This one was a lot of fun too; it was pretty much the same as the one back home except there was a lot more smoke/the car jerked a WHOLE lot more. I couldn’t feel my neck and Shiori said she felt car sick. We all kind of wobbled out of the ride after it was over xD

We took a little break from the rides and got turkey legs (OIIISHIII [delicious]). They were twice as expensive (and twice at small) as the ones in America but they were like 94230482304830 x delicious so it was ok (^0^)b

JAWS- SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME!!!!!! >o<>

Hollywood Dream- This roller coaster was pretty cool (and it’s not in America) . You could pick what music you wanted to play while riding it. I wanted to pick this Eminem song but I was too slow and it automatically chose what sounded like the Japanese version of “Barbie girl”. It was intense haha

After that we took a picture with the Pink Panther!! I always love character pictures so I was super excited :D But it’s kind of funny because after I put my arm around him I was like “Wait a second…” and then I realized there was probably a really awkward/shy Japanese guy inside of the costume, so I hope I didn’t scar him. Because when everyone else took a picture of him they never touched him, just stood politely next to him with their peace signs up, I’ll have to remember that for next time…

Snoopy indoor roller coaster- IT HURT!!!!! And it was so narrow that me and Mei kind of just…fell inside of the cart xD The whole time I was like “AHHHH ITTAI!!! (it hurts)” haha

Waterworld- This was actually a show. First they splashed excess amounts of water on the crowd (me and Mei were in the no splash zone ;)) but it seemed like a bit of a waste, all those perfectly made up Japanese girls with full on make up and nice expensive clothes being dumped by gallons of water. It didn’t seem…right xD Oh and me and Mei noticed (actually around the whole park), that all of the non Japanese people working there were…blond. Japan is obsessed, it’s scary (;-__-) The show was actually about this lady who gets kidnapped, there was a lot fire/special effects too. It’s funny because in America when there is suspense or lots of action people are quiet but here the Japanese were all “OOH” and “AAH” ing and gasping, it was quite amusing/cute seeing all of their reactions xD Oh and at the end this random plane crashed in onto the set….they didn’t really explain how it was a part of the show, it was just a random plane. Random..

Space Adventure- AWESOME!!!!!! We actually rode this twice. It was that much fun!!! It was this really intense indoor roller coaster (if you’ve ever been to Disney world, it’s like space mountain on Japanese ecstasy). The first time we rode it me and Mei rode it backwards (which is why is was probably so intense) and bit spun around like a gazillion times in pitch darkness. It was pure awesomeness J

After all of these intense rides/long walking, we decided to get ice cream J At the Baskin Robbins in Japan they have this thing called “Challenge the Triple” where you can get a triple scoop ice cream cone. However, at USJ they turned it into “Catch the Dream”, pronounced , “Katchu ze durimu”. The ice cream was reaaaally good though.

After USJ we went on a bathroom adventure (it was my first time using a public bathroom so there was a lot of yelling between stalls at Mei:

Me: Meeeiiiiii

Mei: WHAT??

Me: how do you fluuush??

Mei: *sigh* do you see the little squiggly line??

Me: nooo…..

Mei: LOOK HARDER

Me: oh ok I see it!!

Mei: press that one!

Me: okaaay…..

*flush*

Me and Mei: *sigh of relief*

Hahahaha), then went to the takoyaki “museum” (wasn’t much though, just a bunch of takoyaki shops…), the jump store (pretty awesome, a whole store filled with shonen jump stuff ^0^), and then of course, Purikura!!!! ^^

Cool Universal Studios Train :D City Walk

GIANT (and very adorable) TAKOYAKI!!!
USJ entrance

Snoopy :)

Hello Kitty themed tickets...oh japan xD

Inside

Guy with giant Spiderman hand These sesame street hair bands xD

They were obsessed with sesame street there...don't ask me why xD

JAWS puppets (a lot less scary than the ride)

Me and the pink panther

Hello kitty of course :)

Frozen pineapple!! oishii~~

Waterworld show

Katchu-ing ze derimu!!! ^o^

Space mountain character hats. sugoi ne? ;)

All non-universal studios characters xD

Jumping picture!! It worked!!! and I look like a spaz...but it worked!! xD

Me and my sister

Shonen Jump Store

Entrance of takoyaki "musuem"

Takoyaki boat!

Scary purikura lady O_o

Jurassic park

Umeda in a new light

2010-07-08T01:12:00.000-04:00

Today we all went on quite an exciting adventure. But I’ll get to that later ;) I got to school early so when I got to the library no one was there. I walked around a little in the dark before a sensei came up behind me “OHAYO!!!!” and I tripped out of horror and fell on my face (-_-;) But I think the sensei was more scared than I was xD I just stared out the window of the library (which looks directly to our school courtyard) and waited for everyone to get there. We played the 2 truths and a lie game again and Peta got all of our answers wrong so we were like “What the heck Peta you don’t know us at all!!! >:O” haha .

After gakko (school), me Vicky and Steffie talked to these 2 guys Hiroto and Tomoya, they were so funny!! And Tomoya, in the middle of the conversation, looked at me and went “Your hair is….WONDERFUL!!!!!!” hahahaha I was like “…thank you?” I told him that I love bikes, so he said he’ll borrow his brother’s one so we can ride it together tomorrow. He’s so kind :D We exchanged numbers, and then a sensei told us we were being too loud so we had to leave..

After school me, Shota sempai, and Vicky went to Umeda to meet Rafa and his friends, and this is where our adventure begins J When we got there Rafa and his friends (I only knew Shogo and Kenta), were trying to figure out where to eat and we decided on Ramen. However, Ramen was like a gazillion miles away…but luckily for us, Shogo and Kenta bought their bikes so me and Vicky hopped on xD Kenta was so fast though!! I was scared for my life!! O_o And I know you’re not supposed to hold on (I guess its inappropriate?) but I grabbed onto Kenta for dear life and wouldn’t let go xD He would turn his head around every five seconds though and go “I am good rider, ne?” And I just had my head buried into his back like “KOWAII!!!!! (scary)” haha xD It was a lot of fun though J But very scary riding through the busy streets/intersections/sidewalks. But very cool (^-^)b

When we were finished with the ramen (DELICIOUS!!! By the way xD) Shogo and Kenta sniffed out purikura for us to do :D There were like a bazillion people (Rafa and his friends plus me Steffie, Vicky, and Shota) so it was a lot of work trying to get us all in, but it came out pretty good in the end! (^o^)

Me, Rafa, and Vicky didn’t want to go home when everyone else had to go so we stayed in the arcade to play some more cool Japanese games :D On my way to the soda machine though the manager walked up to me looking like he wanted to say something so I was like “Oh no…what did I do?? (>.<)”

Manager: Konbanwa (good evening)

Me: oh! *bows* Konbanwa! (>o<)

Manager: *sticks out hands* Omiagay (present)

Me: eh??

Manager: *hands me umbrella* for you!

Me: Oh!! Oh wow!!! Tada (free)??

Manager: *chuckles* hai, tada J

Me: Oh wow!!! Arigatou gozaimasu!! (thank you very much) *bows*

Hahahaha Mei and Steffie are going to be so angry!! Because they say I always get free things for no reason. At first I didn’t believe them…but now I realize I do haha xD But that manager was so nice!!!! I guess he realized that I didn’t have umbrella before?? Well whatever the reason I’m very happy (*^o^*) When I came back Rafa and Vicky were like “Uhh Jojo…why do you have umbrella? (-__-)” Shota says I get this stuff because I’m nice but I don’t think so, I think its because of the whole “gaijin (foreigner) effect” xD Because Rafa had taken his bike Me and Vicky had to take the bus to get to his house while he rode his bike.

On the bus Kokurin called me and I was really surprised haha:

Kokurin: Jojo.

Me: Uhh…Kokurin. (-_-?)

Kokurin: I just finished being somebody (Basically means he just got finished with hanging out with his girlfriend)

Me: Oh, congratulations haha..

Kokurin: We fought…

Me: eh?? About what??

Kokurin: well I called her a..*mumble*

Me: what??

Kokurin: I called her a *mumble mumble*

And then my phone cut off. *sigh* I guess I’ll never know what he called her but now I’m really curious (T^T)

We got to Rafa’s house kind of late so once I got there I immediately took the bus back to Osaka station. I took it alone, but Osaka station is the last stop so I couldn’t really miss it xD I got home in time for dinner! Yayy :D

After dinner shiori went upstairs to watch a new drama (which I figured out was a manga I had read before “Hotaru no Hikari” so I thought that was interesting ^^) and then okaasan went to sleep so I watched this Arnold Swartzenager movie with Otosan and Kengo. There was a lot of cursing and violence though so I didn’t really like it (;-_-) but all their voices were dubbed in Japanese so it was pretty funny to watch xD

School Library

View of courtyard outside of library window

Shota and friend..? I'm so bad at names xD

Me and friend haha

Vicky riding with Shogo

me posing with Kenta

Kenta, Shogo, and Rafa

Me and Shota in the Ramen restauant

Oishii (delicious) Ramen!! ^0^

eating said ramen :)

Arcade

creepy taiko video game lady

me being creepy taiko video game lady, see the resemblance xD

Purikura! :)

I just love those symbols~

2010-07-07T00:34:00.000-04:00

“Jojo I…Jojo I…”

“What is it my dear??”

“Jojo I…I don’t know what to do…”

And that sappy dialogue is how my morning started J Basically Kokurin walked me to the library in the morning because he wanted to thank me for his penny and candy (for his testing) and then all of a sudden…he dead stopped and started off with all this “Jojo…I…I..” and I was like “what what???” until I realized it was an “Anime” type moment so I decided to play along. He then kind of started going back and forth from English-Japanese-Chinese to back to English again so I was super confused. But I could tell it was something about is girlfriend. I’m not sure what though but it was kind of fun having an anime moment :D Wind blowing dramatically/Cicadas blasting/Japanese school bell ringing/sun shining. Super fun (^0^) Anyways, my otaku moment is over xD

At the Japanese lesson we all realized we had all watched “Moon Lovers” the night before and we were all getting excited about the romance, so when Sensei came she wanted to talk about romance too so we all had this romance talk and didn’t learn much Japanese. I think Peta was very tortured xD

After school I used my (very limited but slowly improving) Japanese skills to talk to Symbol guy, and he let me try out his symbol :D After that Rafa came to the school and me, him, Vicky, and all his Japanese guy friends met up to go to Makudo (McDonalds xD) together. We all talked and he told us about his trip to Hong Kong with his host family. And he gave me and Vicky souvenirs :D

After that we walked like an hour to Rafa’s house (it usually only takes about 30 minutes but it was nice enjoying all the nice quiet parts of Japan…that, and we’re all really lazy xD) I met Rafa’s host parents and I played a bit with his little brother Monan, who is totally adorable J I really liked Rafa’s neighborhood, it felt very…”neighborhood” like if that makes any sense. Like everything was walkable to. We walked to the convenience store and the video store. The video store was so cool!!!!! There were like a gazillion floors of just all movies!! I got separated from Rafa and Vicky though and this really creepy guy came up next to me and started speaking fast Japanese so I was trying to figure out a way to escape but then the store manager guy passed by us and went “Hmm…*stares at me* Daijobu? (Are you ok?)” and I guessed I looked not ok because then he led me back to (a much panicked xD) Rafa and Vicky who thought I was abducted haha.

We ended up buying a Jim Carrey movie and watching it in Rafa’s sister’s room. It turned out to be this kind of depressing movie about his memory being erased though..(’-_-) So me and Vicky said “Rafa when you go back to Ecuador don’t erase us from your memory!!! ><“ haha.

There’s a bus stop really close to Rafa’s house so me and Vicky took that to Higashi Umeda station. There were a lot of people on the bus but it was dead quiet so it was kind of…eerie o_o Especially since everyone was just staring at us. Once we got there, we realized that we were on a different side than we were used to so we had to ask a Policeman for directions and he led us in the right…direction. Does that qualify as a pun?

Back at home I watched TV with Kengo and okaasan and I was really amazed cause Kengo kept laughing like really hard, and that’s something you don’t see often (; - __ -) So it was nice ^0^ and even though I had no idea what the comedians on TV were saying I laughed along J

All of us with our Japanese sensei :)

Me and symbol guy! (I'm so bad at names ^^;)

Rafa came back from Hong Kong...with dinosaur hair O_O

Oh Rafa...so kawaii xD

Vicky and Rafa :)

Walk to Rafa's house

Rafa's dog, he makes the most hilarious faces xD

Love it haha xD

Happy ending :)

2010-07-06T02:00:00.000-04:00

I knew everybody had testing today so I decided to give everyone pennies for good luck. I guess pennies mean good luck in America? Well not really but it felt right so I decided to give them out (^0^). I gave my ototo (little brother) Kengo a penny first, the shiniest one actually so I hope he liked it. I think he did though cause when I gave it to him he smiled J I happened to see Shogo sempai (suffix you give to upper classmen) at the station so we walked to school together, and it was quite omoshiroi (funny). Mainly because Shogo continues to talk in all fast Japanese because he doesn’t seem to understand my very very limited Japanese haha xD But it’s ok because I enjoyed talking to him anyway. He seems kind of like a…bad boy though… If that makes any sense. But he has a bunch of earrings and he doesn’t tuck in his shirt. Ok so the latter doesn’t sound very “bad” but it contributes to his image xD

Once I got to school all the exchangers got ready for a field trip! ^0^ But me and Vicky had to walk to the 7/11 first. We were in a rush so we forgot that we had on our slippers, all the Japanese people were staring at these gaijin wearing uniforms and indoor slippers xD Once we got back, me, Vicky, Rafa, Steffie, Mei, Peta, and Shota all went to the junior high school together. On the ride there it was hilarious because we were all talking and then all of a sudden we heard a Japanese lady speaking Portuguese. Yanagida sensei had decided to start playing his Portuguese language CD, random right? xD

The junior high school was so scary though!! We had to give a speech in front of all of them and I totally choked, my Japanese came out soooo bad (>.<) I think Yanagida sensei was mad…but then he got happy again cause everyone else’s good Japanese made up for my blunder ^-^ We played a game first to break the ice. Basically you hold hands (yes, with the super shy and awkward junior high school boys), and then we sung a song, clapped our hands, and someone yelled out a number. Whatever number was yelled out you would go and hold hands with that amount of people. Like if they yelled out “3!” then you go find 2 other people to old hands with. It was actually a lot of fun! And all the kids warmed up to us :D The last number yelled out was 7. This was when all the exchangers got into a group with 6 junior high students and they interviewed you. I got all the boys haha xD

My group was so adorable!! Very awkward, but adorable :D They all liked my excess high fives and loud happiness. Basically they asked us questions and then they drew our picture. After they drew it they were like “Jojo is very bu-ti-ful!!!” hehe ^^ Me and one of the guys had this connection (friendly, not romantic :P) so our goodbye was really dramatic and involved a hug, it was sad L but kind of funny at the same time haha.

On the ride back I sat shotgun up front with Yanagida sensei and we tried to play some CDs but they didn’t work, I think I broke it (;- __ -) Once we got to the school I rode Shota’s bike to Mr. Donut and we all ate donuts together. Mr. Donut is so good!! But they wouldn’t let Mei and Steffie eat stuff they got from a vending machine outside so they were mad xD

At home I asked Kengo how his tests went and I expected him to give me a blank stare but he started to laugh and was like “Nooo!! I did so bad xD” I was so excited/surprised! He actually responded!! :D

After dinner we watched the series finale of my favorite drama J The one okaasan bases on me and Kokurin xD IT ENDED HAPPY!!!! This made me super happy!!!!! \(^0^)/ They kissed at the end, but it was really quick so if I had blinked I would have missed it, it’s not like the gross American dramas where the people like jump on top of each other, it was nice :D The show ended at like 1 AM so everyone had passed out by the time it was over. I was like “ YAYY!!!! Watashi wa ureshii!!!! (I am happy)!!!)” and they all jolted awake like “EH??? Eh???” and I was like “What the heck guys you missed it!!!! (>o<)” but I think they didn’t care too much, they just wanted to get to bed xD

Overall today was a pretty eventful and fun J

Best japanese class ever :)

hahahahahaha very awkward language cards sensei gave us xD

Japanese class

T for takoyaki!!! kinda...xD

Vicky and Takoyaki guy :)

Car ride there, steffie me and vicky

Me and Petaaa

Yanagida sensei wearing a...American graduation cap? xD

All of us and our snacks they gave us xD

Shota, me, steffie, mei, vicky, and peta :)

All the kids we had to talk in front of KOWAII (scary) O_O

Mei's group presenting

Most awkward picture ever xD but this is my interiew group

Me and Shota

Less awkward picture with the boys :D

All the exchangers

Yanagida sensei (I think he's grieving over the CD player...)

Takoyaki donuts, omnomnom

Favorite Drama :) I think it's called "Moon Lovers"

Weekend Activities~

2010-07-04T03:12:00.000-04:00

On Saturday I went to a restaurant in Umeda with my Okaasan, Shiori, and Mei's host family. It was a really good restaurant! It was set up like a buffet, and it had a chocolate fondue fountain :) It was really funny though because Mei's Okaasan asked us if we were full (cause we had had dessert and everything) and we said yes. 5 seconds later I'm like "I want some steak..." Mei: "I want a crepe..." Her Okaasan was really confused xD Basically we said we were full but then we came back to the table with steak and more dessert, my sister thought it was hysterical though haha.

After lunch we went to the Umeda mall to go do Purikura, it turned out kind of bad cause there were so many people but it's good because now I finally have purikura with actual Japanese people! \(^0^)/ After that we sat around for a long time in Umeda (which me and Mei were kind of confused about), and then they decided to go to Karaoke. It was fun (^-^)b

Once me Okaasan and Shiori got home we all kinda died~ Shiori on the couch, Okaasan on the floor, and me at the Kitchen table (it's what I like to call "kitchen table nap time" :]).

On Sunday Okaasan and my Otosan weren't home so it was just us teenagers. We watched TV for about 3 hours, there was this one show where Nihon's (Japan) most famous comedians sit around at a table and tell funny stories. I didn't get it but Kengo was cracking up, it suprised me to see him laughing so hard!! 8O But when that show went off it was back to silence, and then Shiori went upstairs so it was just me and Kengo sitting at the table. Now, the whole time we had been watching TV he had been eating candy, and I wanted some. So I went "Kengo *kengo nearly jumps out of his seat* Kyanday :O" Now it didn't hit me how random it was until after, Ok lalala sitting silence for 3 hours "KENGO!! *intense stare* CANDY >:O" So it was no wonder he was suprised XD But he did give me some after the third time I asked so that's good (^0^)

After the whole candy fiasco me and Shiori biked to the mall. It's so cool that everyone bikes here/takes the train instead of always using cars!! It makes everyday seem more exciting/adventurous and makes the world a bigger place, I like it a lot (^-^) There were a bunch of cute stores, so we browsed for a long time and then got some ice cream. I got my favorite flavor, Green Tea Matcha! It's like heaaaven~ X] We then took a quick stop to the 100 yen shop and then headed back home.

I called Kokurin once I got home and we made up from our fight! ^0^ But then he made ME angry this time so I hung up on him...But it was a really good/funny conversation until the last part. He said some...interesting things xD

Kokurin: Before you go back Amerika I buy you gift. What do you like?

Me: eh?? you don't have to...

Kokurin: no no daijobu (don't worry), what do you like??

Me: I like...everything xD

Kokurin: that's too much (;-_-)

Me: hmmm...I'll think about it! But if you get me a gift I'll get you one too!

Kokurin: No that is ok!!

Me: nai nai daijobu, what do YOU like?

Kokurin: I like....nothing.

Me: ....how can you like..."nothing"? (-_-)

*silence*

Kokurin: *creepy voice* I liiikeee.. myseeelf

Me: umm..wha...

Kokurin: I like...maaaiii smiiilee ^^

Me: uhm wait...

Kokurin: I likeeee maaaiii hairrr...

Me: that's going a little...

Kokurin: I liiikee MEEEE

At that point I was hysterically laughing, but only because I couldn't believe he said something like that xD

After Okaasan got home we made sushi!! I don't like the sushi in America, but it is sooo good here!!! The raw fish is amazing! d(^0^)b

Oh and I totally forgot it was Independence day, I'm a bad American xD

Korochan eating my breakfast as usual xD
Mei wrote "konnichiwa" in the fondue chocolate

Sister's friend Maaya, Mei's sister Haru, my sister shiori

Mei's little sister and little sister's friend

Me and oneesan on the train

Me with Korochan, he's so chisai (small) and kawaii (cute)!!!! (>_<)

Karaoke Lobby

Karaoke! (^-^)

Me and Mei

Okaasans singing

"Comic Paradise: If you just relax, you can feel yourself. If you just enjoy yourself, you will be happy." Huh...

Randomness : Boob pudding....in the souvenir shop...out in the open. Gotta love Japan ;)

New TAKOYAKI cell phone charm!!! \(^0^)/

I love Japanese TV :)

Sushi!

Omnomnomnom

Umeda + Yakiniku = Lots of Pictures :]

2010-07-02T03:23:00.000-04:00

Today were the start of tests for people at Asahi high school so me and the other exchangers just hung out in the library, it was fun though, we all just talked and laughed/used the computers. And the library is air conditioned thank god XD

When me, Vicky, and Peta were waiting outside the school for Mei and Steffie Kokurin came out with Hiro so we were all talking and laughing about random stuff and the all of a sudden Kokurin goes, "JO...JOJO!!! Wh...WHY DID YOU LIE?????!!!" And we all took a step back away from him, cause it was so scary O_o Then we talked back and forth for a bit and me and Vicky told him it was just a joke...that nothing was meant but I don't know if he forgave me or not, my goodness that boy has a temper!! (;-_-)

After school me, Vicky, Peta, Mei, and Steffie went to Umeda (but first of course our Makudo trip to change out of our horrid uniforms ;]). It was the best Umeda trip ever!! And the most action packed haha. Mei and Steffie went off to do their intense shopping so me and Vicky and Peta just wandered. We had some of this really intense parfait/cake which was like heaven in your mouth. It was funny though because Peter got some cake too and we were like:

Me: wait...you don't have an money Peta...

Vicky: Yeah! How will you pay??

Peta: *stare*

Me and Vicky: *sigh*

Me: I'll pay half (;-_-)

Oh Peta, poor broke Peta hahaha XD After the cake we went up to the arcade and we decided to try one of the rides they have there. They basically have these virtual reality rides everywhere up there, I don't know how they fit all this stuff but it's really cool!! We decided to do the sonic 3D scary movie one. It was hilarious because it realy wasn't all that scary, but there was one part where they shot air out of your seat into your air and I freeeaked out. I jumped like a foot in the air/screamed/fell out of my seat. Peta was laughing hysterically and Vicky looked and said "wait, how'd you get all the way over there???" hahaha xD

We played air hockey (me and Peta totally destroyed vicky >:D) and then Peta like growled at us cause we went into this cute store and looked for way too long for a man to handle xD

When we met up with Mei and Steffie again there was this guy sitting outside and he was dressed up like Mario from the games, but he claimed he wasn't, he said this other long Japanese name that none of us knew. But Vicky told him he was Mario and he reluctantly agreed haha. He sang and he sat in a box and danced though, it was quite entertaining XD

When I got home for Shiori's coming back dinner we went to Yakiniku!!! It is basically a Japanese barbeque, but it was so cool cause we got out own room and everything!! It was pure awesomeness (^0^)b Basically they bring you raw meat on a plate (but very decorated and pretty), and you fry it/eat it. It was soooooo oiiishiiii (delicious), just thinking about it is making my mouth water xD But it was funny because I was stuffed and every time I thought we were done more and more platters of meat would come! It was funny, but we finally did get the bill, and then me and Okaasan made Kengo and my Otosan pose for pictures outside xD I wanted to get in but Kengo was making it kind of awkward cause he stood like ten feet away from everybody (￣▽￣;) But I think they came out good anyways~

Random door in the middle of the subway. no walls, just door XD
peta me and vicky in Makudo :)

Hiro and Peta, Peta was a bit freaked out though because Hiro kept pointing at Peta and saying, "She's my girlfriend" I think we were all freaked out xD

In the library

MARIO GUY!!!! Life of the party!

Before our sonic movie. I'm so excited I'm shooting lasers

"scared" before the movie ;)

Just a small part of the arcade

oishii (delicious) dessert~

Yakiniku!! Table/grill

Me, Okaasan, and Otosan in our room :D

Me and my oneesan (big sister) shiori :)

random cute guys wanted a picture with me and vicky

Oh how I love purikura~

better view of yakiniku grill

frying it up :d

Me helping!! and not burning the place down :D

Me Okaasan and Shiori

My otosan, kengo, and oneesan (no Kengo doesn't smoke, he grabbed my otosan's cigarette for the picture for reasons unknown (;-_-)

Whose idea was this again?

2010-07-02T01:50:00.000-04:00

Today was a weird schedule because of testing so we only had 4 classes and school was over. I got my Health test back and I got a 100%!! It was really strange though, I just wrote down random words in Kanji/Hiragana but all the answers turned out to be right. Me and the teacher were both amazed/shocked XD

Math class was…interesting, but not because of the Math part…I totally forgot about the whole Kokurin thinking I was leaving for good thing. When I walked into Math and got this look on his face and then did this…this extreme glare, I was scared for my life (;-_-) I noticed he had messaged me when I had went to the infirmary with Vicky and this is how our conversation went:

Kokurin: Where are you now?

Me: Behind you! Haha (^0^)/

Kokurin: …

Me: *about to type something*

Kokurin: I know you no leave. I know.

Me: *about to type something*

Kokurin: *throws cellphone into book bag*

Me: *oh…oh my…. (￣▽￣;)*

Yeah it was a little scary…but we ended up KIND OF making up later…not really though, I asked him if he was mad and I thought he was going to be like “no of course not silly!!” but he said “What…what do you want me to say?” *sigh* I will try to make it up to him tomorrow, but all my girl friends in class were like, “He is evil! Forget about him Jojo!! (>_<)” Haha I love them xD

After school me, Vicky, Mei, and Steffie went to one of those revolving sushi restaurants again and and ate an unbelievably big amount of food XD But we burned if all off afterwards cause we took this hour walk to this mall around Steffie’s house. It was a nice mall but a long walk, me and Vicky were kind of dead after xD And then Kokurin called my keitai (cell phone) and said he wanted to talk, and Vicky said he must have really wanted to talk cause you could hear the train in the background and people NEVER talk on their cell phones on the train here, but all he did was talk about his girlfriend (-0-)

We went shopping and of course did Purikura :] After that me and Vicky played the Taiko drum arcade game! It was so much fun!! But very intense, our arms were sore afterwards! But I think that’s because I accidentally pressed “advanced” haha.

Me and Steffie with out gigantor plate stack xD
Taiko drums!!

"X" for Vicky...? xD

Off to Tokyo~

2010-07-02T01:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday me, Otosan, and Okaasan headed out at about 5 AM to Tokyo to pick up Shiori. About 10 minutes into the car ride I was really cold and I guess Okaasan noticed cause she put a blanket on me, it was a very nice "mom-like" gesture :] I tried to sleep on the car ride there but everything was just so...so pretty!!! All of the scenery and stuff was breathtaking, so I didn't really want to sleep. On the way there we stopped at a rest stop where my parents bought me Matcha ice cream (my favorite!!) (^o^) It was really nice though because the guy giving it to me gave me extra because he said I was nice teehee ^-^ Okaasan pointed at it and said "Extra service! ;)" haha XD Okaasan went to the bathroom so it was just me and Otosan. He doesn't speak much English, and me only a little Japanese, but we actually had a really good conversation! We looked at the map and pointed out Mt. Fuji and other different places on the way, It was nice, a very good bonding experience (^-^)b

It took about 6 hours to get to Tokyo Narita Airport, and once we got there we also had to wait for a bit so me and my parents looked at some shops and ate some oishii (delicious) udon! Ureshii katta~ (I was happy~) Oh! And there was this really cool observation deck where you could watch all the planes take off, it was really cool!!! They don't trust you enough to have those in America (T^T) Then Shiori came!! She's really cool I like her a lot!! Basically we talked/slept on the way back. When we got home Korochan got SUPER excited, he did this intense fast run all over the place to the point that he was just a blur, it was kowaii (scary)!!!! Haha but cute at the same time XD Kengo was still waiting up for us when we got back but he didn't seem as excited, not much brotherly love going on there (;-_-) Anyways after that I kinda took my shower and died XD

Tokyo Tower, sugoi (cool), ne?

Tokyo

Observation deck!! :D

Me and Otosan :]

In the car

How could you sleep with a view like that outside your window??? :O

Karaoke Daisuki (^-^)b

2010-06-30T01:45:00.000-04:00

Morning:
Well I forgot my phone so I came back home after I had already left
and Okaasan got really angry. She has this obsession with me being
on time, and I like always am so I don't know why. And she was like
"cell phone not important!!! You have to be on time!!!" says the person
who nearly called the police when I forgot my cellphone before -_- So
I was kinda depressed for a bit, but actually the whole being late thing
turned out to be good cause I saw Kokurin while I was walking to
school. He's always late XD I helped him a bit with his English, it
was kind of hilarious though:

Kokurin: ok jojo I will say word and you will tell me if it's right. I
want to test my pro...pro...pronack...pro...nack
Me: pronunciation :D
Kokurin: yes!
Me; ok go! (^o ^)
Kokurin: ok! Cha...Cham...champiyonshap!!!
Me: championship??
Kokurin: yeah yeah!!! :D
Me; like basketball championship??
Kokurin: yes!
Me: hahaha you really like basketball XD
Kokurin: ok next word! Uhmmm prefa...pref *mutter mutter*
Me: uhmmm....Eh???
Kokurin: pref*mutter mutter*
Me: eh???
Kokurin; nevermind!!!
Me: eh???? No tell me!!!!!!!
Kokurin: no nevermind!!! >_<>:O
Kokurin: NO!!!!
Me: SAYYY ITTT!!!!!!!!!!!!

(at this point everyone on the street was staring at us cause we were
like on top of each other yelling XD)

Kokurin: I don't want to!!! >_<>:O
Kokurin: *sigh* prefa...Shay....nail. Like you are a prefayshaynail
baskeetball playa
Me: OOOOOHHHHHH PROFFESIONAL!!!!!!!!
Kokurin: yes. My English...so bad T-T
Me; no no it was my fault!!! I have a hearing problem!!!! (^0^;)

Hahaha it was intense. Even though I was late for school it was
totally worth it, that was one of the best conversations I've had
while here XD

Japanese Classics:
Zzzzz :)

Understanding of English:
Back to the girl with her arm eaten -_-; this time they were talking about how they stitched up her stub of an arm. *sigh* so random and gross....

Spanish:
Actually today there was a big test for all of the language classes so
we did not have the actual class. Me, Bob (Bob), and Kokurin walked together
to another building in the school, and I was confused cause I was like
"where are you guys taking me? -_-'" I was worried haha. But it was
funny cause I sighed and Bob was like "what's wrong?" and I was like
"kakkoih (handsome/cool) ne? (￣▽￣) *looks at kokurin*" and
Bob was laughing so hard/doing such an intense japanese slap on my arm
that he almost pushed me down the stairs, haha. And Kokurin was like
"eh?? Nani nani (what)?? <:O" and Bob did this really creepy evil laugh. I think Kokurin thinks were plotting to kill him XD Cause me and Bob just laugh evilly whenever he says to repeat something haha. I actually took the Spanish test. The parts in Spanish were really easy, and the parts that were written in hiragana the teacher had translated so it was actually quite easy (^o ^)After the test Kokurin came up to me and we had quite an...interesting...conversation:

Me: Hey :D
Kokurin: you are *b-word*!!!!! >:D
Me: (°▽ °;)
Kokurin: is that how you say it??? :D
Me: ooooohhhhhh ok....why do you want to know? (￣▽￣;)

Haha I was really surprised, I was like "who taught you that??". But
supposedly he learns a lot of curse words from American TV shows. But
he wants me to teach him how to use them "correctly" (-_-;)

PE (Dance):
We performed our dance today! I really wanted to record it but I
forgot my camera!!! NAN DIA NEEEEEE (why)???!!! But I think I did
pretty well :D I just copied what everyone else did and tried to smile
haha. It was hilarious though because we were rating each others and
at the end the sensei was like:

Sensei: Jojo *blah blah Japanese*
Me: eh??
Jun: which dance did you like??
Me: oh I liked the first group!! Mai's!! :D *point to mai and mai
starts clapping/gigigling happily*
Sensei: *blah blah japanaese*
Jun: no no!! What did you think of OUR group dance??
Me: oh...it was nice!!!! (^o^;)

Hahaha I felt kinda bad. But Mai's group did like this amazing dance
XD Ours was good too, but Mai's was sugoiii (cool) haha.

As me and Mai went up to the closet to put the radio we used for the
music upstairs, I had a takoyaki moment XD There is like a balcony and
me, Mai, and the teacher were all talking and laughing about the way I
speak engrish (english and Japanese put together) and then:

Me: oh yeah haha I say...
Random Voice: TAKOYAKIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: eh???? doko doko (where)???
Mai oh jojo!! Over there!! *points to field, so we all lean over to
look*
Takoyaki guy #1; TAKOYAKI!!! :D
Me: ohhh TAKOYAKI!!!!! (^o ^)/
Takoyaki guy #2; TAKOYAKI!!!!
Me: oh!! Oh wow you're there too!! TAKOYAKI!!!!! again XD
Mai and sensei: >:)
Me: what??
Mai: you have soooo many boys jojo!!!!! >XD
Me: eh??? Nai nai!! Tomodachi (friend)!!!!

But of course nobody believes me haha. It was kind of awkward though
because the two takoyaki guys were in the middle of gym playing rugby
so there were fifty something boys that just stopped and were staring
at me yelling a random type of food out.

Lunch:
Lunch was pretty exciting. Vicky came up to have lunch with me, Mai,
and Bob. I was trying to show Vicky how I taught Bob "Yo what's up
dog?" but Bob was laughing too hard to do it. After that me and Vicky
decided to show Bob and Mai how you "hit on" somebody. So I started
walking up/swaggering slowly up to Bob’s desk and I leaned down and said:

"konnichiwa Iwa-chan (what I call Bob
now)" in this really deep voice and he almost fell out of his chair he was laughing so hard XD then kokurin came up cause he was curious as to what we were doing and I was like "ohayo (morning) kokurin darling >;)" and he fell against the window he was laughing so hard. I guess my seductive Japanese lines don't work? Oh and later on I was talking about who my favorites
were:

Me: oh Bob, Vicky. And Mai are my favorites! (^o^)
Bob: yay!! Ureshiii (^o^) (happy)
Vicky: cool!!
Me: ya! :D oh but I don't like you Kokurin, you're mean ;P
Kokurin: *looks up* eh??
Me: you're mean so you're not my favorite :P
Kokurin: *intense stare*
Me: uhmmm...
Kokurin: ohhhh I see now I see!!!!!! >:O *turns around*
Me: no no jodan jodan!! (joke) XD

And then he got really mad and slapped my arm, what's up with these
Asian people and slapping arms??? Even if it's a joke it hurts! And I
already have enough random cuts on my legs, I don't need bruises on my
arms (ToT)

English expression:
Today we presented our interviews! It was bad though cause I think
mine was the worst in the class and I actually speak English XD I felt
bad for my partner haha. But I helped my friends Hiro and Yingfan with
theirs. And theirs turned out the best so I was proud of myself ;) my
person was Justin Beiber so I talked in a high voice and said "yo
shawty" a lot, everybody was cracking up. My partner Yoliko did
Johnny Depp, and when she said "oh yes and last year I won the sexiest
man of the year award", I said "yes well you are pretty sexy ;)" but
only the teachers and a few people understood XD

World history:
I'm not allowed to sleep in this class anymore. Well I am, but the
teacher asks me questions about America so I try to stay awake. Today
he asked me if there are lots of poor people. I didn't really know
what to say to that. I guess...? I was happy when the bell rung XD
Speaking of that, the bell here to change classes is so intense!! Like
it goes on for at least 15 seconds, I'll have to take a video of it.

Understanding of different cultures:
I was kind of fading and about to get into my intense (and a bit
painful...) nap position but sensei asked me to read the story. It is
the same one from before about the Nike company before it was Nike. I
like this English class better though because we are not talking about
peoples arms being ripped off by man eating sharks :) But it was funny
because the teacher asked me how to spell "entrepreneur" and I had no
idea, but I was able to help her with a lot of other stuff. She said
"I don't want you to leave! You are my assistant (>_<)" After school: Me and kokurin were walking with the teacher and I told him to tell sensei I was going to Tokyo tomorrow. He had this spaz attack and asked why and I joked around and said I was going back to America. I never really told him it was a joke though...I hope he knows that it was, or else he's gonna kill me. (￣▽￣;)

Me, Vicky, Rafa, and Mei all met Shota at McDonalds to plan what to do
next. It was funny because I changed in the Mcdonalds bathroom (we all
usually bring a cute change of clothes cause we hate our uniforms).
After I changed I saw Bob in the line so I went up to talk to him:

Me; Iwa-chan!!! Hiii :D
Bob: oh jojo hii...you...you changed :O
Me: eh? Anyways, what are you going to eat?
Bob; you...changed!!!!!!!
Me: yeah...so what are you gonna buy????
Bob: YOU CHANGED!!!!!!!!!!

And then I was laughing too hard to try and respond. I guess I look
really different in regular clothes? XD

We all decided to walk to karaoke after that since it would be Rafa's
last chance to go. Mei had to go home though so that she could eat
dinner, it doesn't matter with my family because they are night owls
and eat pretty late XD I got to ride Shota's bike! :D But I don't
think he really trusted me to ride with both of us on it cause he only
rode on the back for 5 seconds and then jumped off (￣▽￣;)

Karaoke was fun as always!! We sang a bunch of songs, but our singing
is like screeching so my ears and throat hurt afterwards haha. I got
pretty tired towards the end too so I used Shota as a body pillow. I
hope he didn't mind XD

We sang for about 2 hours and then all headed to our different places.
I wanted to go eat with Vicky and Rafa but I had to go home cause it
was getting kinda late. I kissed Rafa goodbye and then headed to the
subway station . I'm going to miss him (T^T)

When I got home Okaasan told me that we have to wake up at 4AM
tomorrow and then we’ll head to Tokyo Narita Airport to pick up my sister Shiori.. I thought she was kidding, but no she was dead serious XD

I'm very excited for tomorrow though! I can't wait to meet my oneesan
(sister)! \(^o ^)/

body pillow XD

rafa and rafa's body pillow hahaha

Rafa getting really into his song XD

Makudoooo (McDonald's)

Amusement park!!! Just kidding, it's time for school.

2010-06-28T03:35:00.000-04:00

Morning:
So I was supposed to go to the amusement park with Victoria, Mei,
Rafa, and Peter today but my Okaasan said no (ToT) but that's ok, I had
a pretty good day regardless.

Math II:
Slept XD But I can actually recognize what the teacher is writing,
It's kind of cool how math is so universal.

PE Badminton:
Haha...well I got really into it XD We went to the gym upstairs, did
some stretches (but I could only do a couple because I forgot my
exercise clothes) and then I thought we were playing basketball so I
was like "aww man, I can only watch :(" but then the teacher opened
the closet and all this badminton stuff was in it and I was like,
"YESSSS!!!!! >:D" I don't think my tomodachi (friends) were used to
seeing me so competitive, they were probably scared XD but it was so
much fun!!! We did 2 (me and Jun) on 2 (Mai and Misato) and kind of
switched off. I actually got a really good workout, but I was in my
uniform so I probably smelled really bad for the rest of the day haha.
After we were all badmintoned out and hot, we just sat outside in the
shade and talked/gossiped (again, girls gossiping is universal, who
knew? :]) Me, Jun, and Yingfan were talking about Kokurin, and we were
trying to figure out how many different girlfriends he had because
they thought his girlfriend’s name was Mika but he has his girlfriend
in his cellphone as "Ming". It was kinda funny though because they
like hate him with a burning passion (because he's very...bipolar.
Sometimes he'll be nice and other times he's like "why the heck are
you talking to me?" and yeah, they can't stand him) and were like "we
don't care", but after I told him I thought he had a different
girlfriend from Mika they were like "eh??? Ask him Jojo!!!" haha. I
found out later what the whole Ming thing was about, and I guess the
saying "curiosity kills the cat" is true (;-_-)

Japanese & Japanese classics:
Zzzzz ;]

Japanese language study:
Kokurin walked me to the library and I was like "so are you
happy?? :D" and he was like "eh why???" and I told him cause he got
back together with his girlfriend and he said "ohhh yes!! I love her
very much :)" bleh ~_~

Well since Mei, Peter, Rafa, and Victoria were at the amusement park,
it was just me and Stephanie and the teacher. We played this fun game
though, it was similar to "2 truths and a lie" You had to say
something about yourself in Japanese and the other people have to
figure out if it's "honto (true)" or "usso (false)". I wasn't very
good at it though XD Stephanie and sensei (what you call your teachers
here) are very good liars O_o

During the game though I dropped a 100 yen and sensei did this intense
run over to it, slammed her foot on top of it and went "ohhh jojo look
over there!!! Beautiful bird!!! >:D" hahahaha it was hilarious but
scary at the same time, sensei is very... energetic, haha.

Integrated study:
This class varies apparently, but today it was basically like a long
homeroom where sensei talks about what's happening with our grade. I
had no idea what they were talking about so I went to sit with Kokurin
and we talked the whole time. Supposedly they are all taking a school
trip to Singapore in October, what the heck??? I wish we did that in
my high school in America >_< "oh hey guys, let's go to SINGAPORE".
but no, we just get...wait what do we get? -_-; not Singapore that's for sure >:O

But Kokurin says he doesn't want to go cause he will not have fun cause he doesn't have "friends". Not really though, he talks to a lot people who seem like his friends so I'm not sure. But I’m glad I am friends with him, even though no one else seems to like him too much (^0^;) something about him just makes me want to be his best friend. Maybe cause he's so
pretty? XD

After school:
Me and Stephanie sat around with the kendo guys (Japanese testing
starts in a week, so there are no club activities) trying to figure
out what to do. We went to see the takoyaki guys, they are always good
for a laugh or two XD and then we happened to see Shota sempai too. So
we all talked for a bit, and I got to ride Shota sempai’s bike back to
the school :) I really like his bike, haha. I think he thinks I only
invite him to hang out with us because of his bike XD

At the takoyaki shop we also happened to see Jun, and she had asked
Kokurin about this mysterious "Ming" person. Basically, "Ming" means
"life" in Chinese. So she's his life, so he named her that in his
phone. Yeah.

Even though I was super tired when I got back I decided to join my
host family's night owl tradition. Seriously, they stay up till like
2. Not really doing anything, just watching TV/hanging out. Although
it was a good thing I stayed up cause I actually bonded with kengo.
Like it's not like we became bffs but he is definitely more used to me
now. So we have a quiet connection :D but even though he seems a
little antisocial sometimes I know he means well. Cause Korochan kept
trying to climb up on me and Kengo got reallyy mad cause he thought I
didn't like it, he was like "KOROCHAN!! Down!!" and yeah, so he's
kind, just very shy.

Osaka Jojo

2010-06-27T03:00:00.000-04:00

Oh my gosh today was SO MUCH FUUUN!!!! In the morning me and Okaasan
snacked on the Japanese grapes (which are amazing by the way, they
are like tiny and really sweet/oishii (delicious).

After we were all dressed and handled Korochan (dog gets crazy when we
leave!!!!! I had the duty of picking him up and putting him in his
cage [fun...not] and he basically killed my arms, dog can scratch -
_-' Everyone at school is gonna think I have abusive host parents
haha, I'll have to explain it was the inu (dog) XD) we left for Senrioka station.

We took 2 trains to Osaka Jo (castle) park. Once we got to the park I
put on my sunglasses cause it was so bright but then these people came
up to me and asked me if I was in American movies so I had to take
them off. Okaasan calls them my "supa sta" glasses now haha.

Before we went to the castle we took a boat tour around Osaka. It was
super cool, and there was actually a lot of wildlife around in the
water, like turtles, birds, and fish. Although the water was really
dirty.

We then walked to the castle. We had to climb this like mountain!! But
it was worth it, the castle was AMAZING!! So pretty, like out of a
fairytale. It was hilarious though cause once we were at the top I was
like "oka *pant* sannnn *pant* pic *cough* ture *collapse*" haha. She
asked me if I was ok through her laughter XD

We walked through the castle and then went to the top where there is
this observation deck and you can see all of the surrounding area, it
was breathtaking. The inside of the castle was pretty cool too, there
was a bunch of exhibits/movies to watch.

Okaasan bought me some of the Matcha ice cream again, it is sooooooooo
gooood and when I went to throw out our cone wrappers:

Me: lalala
Random voices: JOJO???!!!
Me: eh??? *turns around* OMG Stephanie hi!!!!!

Turns our Stephanie was there with her host parents too!! What a
coincidence! So we all talked and ate takoyaki together, it was fun ^o ^

Then on our way out I saw more exchangers!!!! But not like Stephanie
who goes to the same school as me, these were ones from the California
orientation who I never thought I'd see again! So we all kind of had a
spaz attack and hugged and exchanged quick stories.

After making our way back to Osaka station, me and okaasan parted ways
because I was going to meet Mei, Shota, Victoria, and Rafa at the
McDonalds near the school to go to Namba (a really cool shopping
district).

I had planned the whole thing but I was like an hour late so I felt
bad, but they didn't seem to mind cause I'm always late XD

After I got there we all talked and laughed and waited for Rafa. It's really funny
though because we all look totally different in real clothes (at
school we all have to wear uniforms) XD especially
Victoria, I didn't even recognize her! Haha it was interesting.

When Rafa got there we sat for a bit more and joked around (while this
random old guy was looking at us and laughing, he thought we were
hilarious). Of course I made Shota ride his bike with me first
though :) I love bikes! \(^0^)/ I'm definitely going to get one when I get
back home. Although there's probably going to be no place to ride it...or
any random Japanese guys to force to ride in the back XD

We took a train to Higashi Umeda and then another train to Namba. I
couldn't use my pass on the train though which made me mad
(ー^ー）But Shota helped me buy a ticket so it was ok. It
was kinda funny cause he stuck by me the whole time so Victoria and Mei
think he likes me but I think he was just worried that I'd get lost or
something. And I don't blame him, for some reason my clutziness/
clumsiness/spazness/just plain awkwardness is increased by like 100
times here. I've been tripping and a falling and a stumbling so that's
probably why I always have at least one Japanese person in tow, cause
they wanna make sure I don't die XD And I do appreciate it, I almost
walked into the street when the light wasn't green a couple of times (^o^;)

Oh and interesting story, in the train station there was this kind of
candy store/little trinkets and toy store that we all were looking in:

Shota: *sneeze*
Victoria: bless you
Me: GOD bless you! Ha I one upped you >:D
Shota: *stare*
Me: god bless you (^o ^)
Shota: do you believe in Jesus?
Me: hahahahahaha random... But yes I do, do you?
Shota: No I am going to hell.
Me: oh....I see (-_-')

Yeah, wasn't quite sure what to say to that...but it's ironic cause he
wears a cross around his neck.

Namba was a lot of fun! It was basically this humongous outdoor
shopping palooza. It was really cool. And there was this one shop that
was going out of business so everything was $10, even the $300
watches. So Shota and Rafa bought a lot of stuff. While they did that
me and Mei looked in the shoe store next door and then Demi Lovato's
song "here we go again" came on so me and Mei kinda had a spaz attack
and started getting really into singing it, the store clerks just
looked and laughed haha. Namba was a really exciting place, lots of
flashing lights and the like, I liked it a lot (^o^) I hope I get to
go back.

Namba!

I love that running guy

Shota, Mei, me, and Vicky

The gang's all here :]

Random guy juggling in front of Osaka jo...he was really good though XD

In front of Osaka jo

View from top of Osaka jo

This sign was made for clumsy people like myself :)

inside boat :D

Boat we toured around osaka

Kawaii Shopu = LIFE

2010-06-26T03:58:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning to no one being home. It was kinda creepy/
eerily quiet. The doorbell rang like 5 times but I was like "no, I've
seen the horror movies I am not opening the door! >:O" and Korochan
had this barking spaz attack and then ran into the wall. He was quiet
after that XD I basically watched TV (Japanaese TV is the best thing I
have ever seen in my entire life, when Otosan or Kengo try to talk to
me at night Okaasan's like "Shhh it's Jojo TV time" haha. I probably
look scary cause I get really into it, one night I almost fell off my
seat. It's so colorful and exciting!! And my host family has this humongous HD TV so it makes everything even more pretty! ^o^), and surfed the web.

Okaasan got back around 4, and she bought me dessert :D Tiramisu to be
exact! She is so nice >_< So we ate our sweets and then while she took
a nap I played with Korochan some more.

After she woke up we headed to this mall thing. Best mall I've ever
been to :) We passed by this one store and it was like Kawaii (cute) heaven...I
didn't get a picture because I was so mesmerized by the cuteness. I'll
get a picture the next time we go back. But I spent a lot of
money there, I was like, "everything is so kawaii (cute)!!!!! NAN DIA
NE???? (why)" and Okaasan started cracking up XD I bought a bookbag,
some presents for people in America, and a pencil case and some
pencils (doesn't sound too cool, but after you see a picture you will
realize it's amazingness).

Then we went food shopping and Okaasan got me some Japanese grapes.
Grapes suki desu (I like grapes) ^o ^ I also got some slippers, the
shoes I were using everybody laughed at and called them "Jesus sandals"
(-_-;)

We then went to the Video store underneath the 100 yen shop. It was so
cool!!! And we got a Michael Jackson CD, okaasan was impressed cause
when we played it in the car I knew the words to all the songs. I
looooveee Michael Jackson, so I'm super ureshii (happy) that we can listen to
him now in the car :D

Although we hardly ever take the car, you can take the train ANYWHERE
here! It's ridiculous. Although one thing I do not really like is how
everyone here feels the need to rush. Like I can tell when some people
are late, but when they have a lot of time they still rush like their
lives depend on it. Like when me and Okaasan were going to Kyoto she
was like "oh my god run!!! We have to catch THIS train!!!" and I said
"but...they run every 6 minutes...., we don't have to try and kill
ourselves to get on this one..." and I just got a blank stare -_-'
this whole "gotta rush" thing is something I don't understand, but
maybe that's just because of my relaxed/lazy American spirit XD

Parties & Bicycles (^o^)

2010-06-25T04:03:00.000-04:00

So I was mad at Kokurin for the first half of the day so I ignored
him. But since he was going to be hanging out with me, Yuuki,
Victoria, Mei, Rafael, and Peter after school I had to talk to him.
During lunch me, Yuuki, and Victoria were trying to figure out what to
do for Rafael's going away hanging out party.

After school I told Kokurin we had to go to the party the sensei
(teachers) were throwing for Rafael first:

Me: hey Kokurin it is time to go! :D
Kokurin: uhmm I...I do not think it will be possible for me to come
Me; eh????? Naze (why)?????
Kokurin: *collapses on knees* um um I am very tiyad!!
Me: eh??
Kokurin: no jojo, I cannot lie to you. My girlfriend she mail me she
want to see me today.
Me: eh???
Kokurin: well yesterday I call her and...hmm how do I say in
English...I say "oh hey honey you know I love you I cannot live
without you", and things like that
Me: *crack* (sound of my heart breaking :])
Kokurin: but I do not know what to do!!!! *bangs head on desk*
Me: eh??? If you want to get back together with her then you
should....uhmmm....you should....uhmmm
Kokurin: *stares intently*
Me; I don't know! What do you want to do??
Kokurin: Well part of me wants to go with you, and the other part
wants to see Mika.
Me: eh???
Kokurin: Jojo. *gets really really uncomfortably close to my face*
Will you hate me if I go?
Me; eh??? Uhmmm no! Why would I?
Kokurin: really??? Here...let me think for moment.

And not even exaggerating he stood there for 10 minutes straight
just looking out the window. It was awkward. Then he said he had to
talk to Yuuki first so we headed over to the party together...in
dramatic silence...hahaha. And then once we got there he spent another
10 minutes talking to Yuuki and then he asked me again if it was ok if
he could go and I was like "yeah...go! Go! I want you to go!!" but I
don't think he believed me, Victoria said my eye was twitching as I
said it hahaha XD but I eventually grabbed his book bag for him and
shoved him out the door. Yuuki said him and his girlfriend did end up
getting back together. It was hilarious though cause Jun was like
"EH???? That *b-word*!!!!" even though she hardly speaks any English
XD I love all my girl friends here, they are really funny/cool. It
still really shocks me though when they throw out the random curse
words/English slang.

I didn't think it would be, but the party the sensei threw for Rafa
was so much fun!!!!! :D All of my favorite classmates were there
(Misato, Lyu (bob), and Mai) and so were the exchangers, so we had a
really good time ^o ^ It was funny because Shota (kendo sempai who
went to America and speaks really good English), came and sat down
next to me and me and Victoria were like "whoaaa nooooo, that's Bob’s
seat! Bob gets very angry when people steal his seat, you won't like
him when he's angry O_o" meanwhile bobs just standing looking at us
with a pleasant/happy smile XD

After the party me, Rafael, Yuuki, Mei, Victoria, and Peter headed
over to Umeda to have fun, but first I rode on Shotas bike :) MY DREAM
CAME TRUE!!!! Yay!!!!! It was kind of scary though, I hope Shota
doesn't have any bruises/cuts cause I like dug my nails into his side
XD but he was very nice about it, haha.

Umeda was a lot of fun, we got pizza and then did Purikura, we wanted
to hang out more but me and Mei had to get back by 9 and it takes us
each an hour to get home so we had to go back early, but I think we
are doing something tomorrow or Sunday before Rafa goes home for good.
We all are gonna miss him a lot =(

Me and Okaasan talked and laughed for about an hour when I got home,
I'm glad I'm really making the effort to learn some basic phrases of
Japanese during school, because even though they may seem basic it is
usually something used a lot, like "doko (where)". So I can comprehend
a lot of what my Okaasan is saying so we are becoming closer ^o ^

I'm not sure though if my cellphone is a good thing or a bad thing, I
stay up late texting someone every night (>_<) Although I guess it is ok tonight because tomorrow I can sleep in, like really sleep in to my hearts content :D Okaasan has work, Otosan is going to a funeral (I think), and Kengo has basketball until late, so it's just going to be me and Korochan until 3PM. I also realized that one of my windows open and I get a great view of my neighborhood/town so I was just leaning out the window kind of meditating/thinking for a while too. It was really cool/peaceful. I haven't been listening to any music lately either, I love the different "sounds" of Japan. Even the quiet :)

Purikura! Purikura daisuki :) (I love it!)

Peter, Mei, Vicky, Rafa, and Yuuki

Me, Vicky, and Shota :D

riding shota's bike!! (^0^)

other way around XD (it's funny cause I actually like giving rides more than receiving...)

me being mysterious with chibi (mai) XD

Misato me and BOB!!! They're my favorites (^-^)b

fieldu trippu :)

2010-06-25T02:04:00.000-04:00

Today my international understanding class went on a field trip! No
one was all that excited but me and the other exchangers though XD
Kokurin said he had been there twice before already and it was not
much to do, but I thought it was a lot of fun!! There was basically
this huge life size replica of an ancient Japanese town and you got to
walk around and look at stuff. It was soo cool! And also they would
set the town to day and night and sunset so it would get darker and
lighter as you walked around.

I walked around with my friends Kokurin, Jun, and Hiro, and then once
the other exchangers got to the museum we all walked together. Even
though Kokurin had been there already before he said it was like a new
experience because I seemed so excited at everything XD And everybody
thought it was hilarious because I forgot my bag so he was holding all
my stuff in his, I felt kinda bad.

Oh and funny story. All of a sudden (out of the dead quiet) there was
this huge/deafening "POP POP POP BANNNNG!!!!!!" sound so out of reflex
I ducked and went "what the hell?????" and Kokurin was like "oh my
god you curse????" and I was like "uhmmm no it's not what you think I
was suprised...>_<" kokurin: "that is so....COOOL!!!! you are so cool teach me curse words too!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D" haha it was awkward cause I didn't want to XD although I'm surprised at the amount of American slang everybody knows here. People will come up to me and be like "wooow your hair is the *s-word*!!!" and I'm like "oh....thank you...I think?" I wonder who corrupted them...

I said I wanted to see more of the town and Jun shoved me into Kokurin and went "he will show you!!!! :D" and then we went all around together. We went to the back and he was like, "I have something SUPER COOL to how you Jojo >:D" and he opened his door and went "It's a toilet!!" hahaha I love him XD He's pretty cool... sometimes (will explain that).

After we got back from the trip we had lunch and then two more
classes. *sigh* I really don't understand Kokurin sometimes though. He acted like
he had a really good time but then when I asked him back at school he was like "ummm
it seems like you had more fun with YOUR friends than I did". I don't
think breaking up with his girlfriend was good for him...he's been
very nice sometimes, but then other times he only talks bad about
people behind their backs (-_-;)

After school me, Rafael, Victoria, Mei, and one of Victoria’s
classmates went to KARAOKE!!!!! It was soooo cool!!!! And a lot of
fun :D We sung a bunch of English songs first, and then we all
attempted some Japanese songs XD everyone was impressed cause they
thought I could read the hiragana cause I sung this one song perfectly
but I had just memorized it back in America, haha. When I went out to
get a drink though I forgot which room we were in, it was awkward
because I opened this random door and this couple was kissing. But I
was proud of myself because I used my Japanese to ask the front desk
where my room was :D I have learned a trick: memorize big question
words (for example: who, what, why, when, how, where) and you can
pretty much tell what is going on in a conversation or what someone is
trying to tell you. Memorizing those words have been the best thing
for me so far and has made understanding people a whole lot easier! (^-^)b

Jun, me and kokurin :)

resting haha

KARAOKE!!!! Sugoi!!!

Me attempting to ride Victoria's classmates bike to karaoke XD

exchange besties :) <3
giant thing...we couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman though

rafa and vicky

Me and Kokurin :]

"YOU-NEEDA-SIT!!!" eh??

2010-06-24T01:34:00.000-04:00

Morning:
Woke up at like 6:40AM and had a spaz attack, I'm supposed to wake up
at 6:00 and leave at 7:15. So yeah...but that's probably only cause I
couldn't sleep last night, the rain outside sounded like a freaking
meteor shower/earthquake. It was freaky :O

Train and walk to school:
These really nice girls from Asahi high asked me to walk with them to
school from the subway, everybody is so nice :D

Before class:
I was laughing and talking with Jun about how Japanese guys are cute,
but Korean guys are pretty. And then she gave me a strawberry cake
snack!!!! My first real omiagai (present) from a classmate! I was
super excited ^o ^ but I refused 3 times first to be polite, which she
thought was hilarious. I really like Jun and Yingfan, they're the most
"down to earth" people in the class. Oh speaking of Yingfan, she
invited me to her birthday party!! I thought that was really sweet of
her. And it's going to be very interesting, a Chinese birthday party
in the middle of Japan XD although I’m kind of mad at Kokurin now. He's
so antisocial >_< and when I tried to talk to him about the plans for
Friday after talking and laughing with Jun he gave me the....look. Like
that "ummm ok whatever I know" look. >;O But it's ok cause we made up
later.

Math II:
Kind of died in this class. I fell asleep in such a way that I
actually almost fell off desk. But actually (and the other
exchangers/students in class will agree with me), sleeping in class is very relaxing. Like the
teachers voices here are so soothing. And they seem to encourage my
sleeping XD Me and Mei feel super refreshed afterwards. When I asked
Victoria (whose been here for two months) what she does she was like
"well for the first few days I was really alert and now...sleep." haha.

Spanish:
Sadly I cannot sleep in this class, because I actually know Spanish.
Even though I thought my Spanish was very bad, I am able to converse
with the teacher in all Spanish almost perfectly, who would have
thought, I am in Japan and I am not communicating through English or
Japanese, but Spanish. Kind of cool. Oh and I was looking in my wallet
for a 100 yen coin (equivalent to a US dollar) so I could buy a drink
and a quarter fell out. They all had a spaz attack like "what the heck
is that?????? Kore wa nan desu ka????" and I explained. I love the
excitement here, When I bring back this excited attitude to America
I'm gonna seem like I'm on some happy pills or something.

English expression:
At the beginning of class there was something near me and everybody
turned around like "ahhh!!!!" and I was like "WHAT??? what is it????"
because I didn't see anything. Then all of a sudden this bird flies
onto my desk. No, not a tiny little pigeon, one of those Japanese crow
looking things which are not actually the size of crows, but about the
size of an eagle. But there was just this blur of black and yellow
eyes so I thought it was a demon or something and was like
"gahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! What the *bleep*?????!!!!!!!" and fell out of my
chair as everyone still gasped. Then I hink I scared it cause it flew out of the door. It was pretty intense. After all that excitement I needed another nap. So I slept for the
rest of the class.

Lunch:
I ate with Victoria and all of our Japanese friends in my class. She
calls them chibi (tiny) because they are so short and kawaii (cute) XD
I also met Lyu. I can not pronounce his name for the life of me. Here
it is not pronounced how it looks. Like my friend Moi's name is not
pronounced "moiii" but "my". And my friend's name Moe is pronounced
"moi". Now the "L"s get harder. They are pronounced like "R"s. So his
name is pronounced "Lrbu". Well actually I'm not sure. Anyways, I
cannot pronounce it so I call him "bob" XD but he is really funny/
nice. And of course I got his "digits" haha. But he had this really
cool anime folder so I grabbed it and Victoria went "bob!! Look over
there!!! *in Japanese*" and then I pretended to run away with it, he
thinks we are a "comedy duo" haha. It's kind of funny though, because
even though very few boys and girls interact with each other (or it is
kinda rare, at least like we intereact in America with touching and
stuff), boys and girls drink off the same straw/bottle all the time
and there's no problem. I asked Bob if I could have a sip of his milk
tea and he was like "hai :D" and everybody was like "so, did you like
it???" not like "omigod what the heck why did you just drink off the same straw
as him????? It's very interesting. After talking with Victoria, Lyu
(bob), and all of the other girls I went to sit with Kokurin. He
doesn't seem to like it when I talk to anybody else though...but at
the same time he doesn't care. I'm not sure, he's very hard to read.
But we had a good time. Towards the end of lunch I asked him what we
were studying in the next english class and he said "you-need-a-sit."
so I was like "ohh...ok. Bye." and was about to get up and go to my
seat and he just stared, but something told me not too:

Me: *stop* wait a second...what did you just say?
Kokurin: you neeta six *points to paper*
Me: ohhhhhhhhh "UNIT 6!!!"
Kokurin: oh yes yes yes!!! U-need-a-sicks"
Me:...mmm not quite.
Kokurin: eh??
Me: it sounded like you said "you need to sit"
Kokurin: eh???? *writes on paper "need"*
Me; hai!! Yes!!
Kokurin: hahahahahaha nai nai nai!!! *struggle* "youuuuu-neeeed-aaa-
siiickkkssss"
Me: u *between giggles*
Kokurin: u haha
Me: nit, NIIIIIIT.
Kokurin: NIIIIITTTTTTT hahahahahaha
Me: Siiiiixxxxxxxx
Kokurin: siiixxxxx
Me: hai hai yes yes!!!
Kokurin: ohhh "you-needa-sit!!!" wait...no
Me: hahahahahaha it's ok!! Your accent is very cute I like it XD
Kokurin: hahahahahaha "you needa sit!!! You needa sit!!!"

It was pretty hilarious, I'm glad I decided to turn around and say
"wait a second...what did you just say?" haha it means I am getting
better with understanding accents.

Understanding of different cultures:
The teacher had me read the "you needa sit" story. It was actually
kind of an intense story, words wise. It was about Nike and how they
used to have a business relationship with a Japanese shoe company and
then something about bitter relations. I really enjoy helping though,
I love the English sensei (teachers) that let me read :D there are
about 10 different English sensei for my class alone though, they are
very intense on English here and nobody sleeps during any of the
English classes.

Understanding of English:
I guess today was "English mania" day? We had like 3 English classes
in a row. This one was the one with the whole shark bite off the arm
thing. No more peppermint patties and roses and fragrances. Now we get
to the gorey stuff. Bleeh. I'm actually glad I don't have to read this
stuff out, I would cringe -_-' But he actually made me wake up in this
class. It was hilarious, cause some other people were sleeping too so
he says your name in a really soothing way but repeats it over and over until
you put up your head: "Misato san (btw "san" is a prefix at the end of
a name, it's kinda like "mr(s.)" and it shows formality. My host mom
calls me Jojo "chan" which shows affection.) Misato San *misato slowly wakes up so he moves onto me*...Jojo San...Jojo San....Jojo San...." ad it took me a while to realize he
was talking to me XD everybody kinda started cracking up.

Japanese:
I honestly don't remember this class....wow....maybe i slept? I am not
sure XD

After school:
I stayed in class for about 20 more minutes talking to Lyu (bob),
misato, and Mai (it‘s spelled “moi“ but I‘ll just spell it how it‘s said for easyness‘s sake). I have been teaching them some English "slang" :) And at the end me and Victoria are gonna record it/make a song XD

Lyu: yo, whazup dog? *Gansta hand sign*
moi: oh no you didn't!!! *snaps and head/neck in circular motion
Misato: oh ma goood oh ma goood. Lameeee
Yuka: nahhh bra. Like whateveeerrr

Watching them say them makes my life. Like seriously, it is the best
thing I have seen in my entire life XD I can't wait to make the video,
they're all sooo cuuuteeee. And then me and victoria are gonna say the
name of a town/subway station in the background. It's kinda hard to
explain, but the name of the station is very long and on the subway
the intercom says it like a song, so we’re gonna be doing that in the
background XD

After that I met Victoria, Rafael, and Mei in the front of the school
and we went to one of those revolving sushi restaurants, it was so much
fun!!! I love them all with a burning passion >_< It's really sad
though because Rafael is going back to Ecuador on Saturday T-T that is
why me and Mei are not going to Kendo practice this week, so that we
can hang out with him everyday before he has to leave. Besides I think the Kendo guys need a break from our constant chatter, w're kinda ruining their quiet/respectful routine XD

vicky being a japanese yakuza
(mafia/ganster) and rafa being...strange XD

rafa your hair it's like...vickys!

me and mei :)

looking at the really really really (x100) bad pictures they took of me (;-_-)

Umeda is where its at ;)

2010-06-23T01:45:00.000-04:00

Morning:
Woke up at like 6:45 and I freaked out. This waking up at 6 and taking
a 30 minute walk, a train, and a subway is getting hard -_-' but I am
loving every minute of it. I had some of my "intense cereal and grape
juice (like eating 10,000 grapes at one time, it is so gooooddd).

Train and walk to school:
I made it all the way this time!!! No mistakes!!!! Let me rephrase
"all the way", I walk a mile to the Senriokaue station, then I take
the train 5 stops to Osaka station. Then I make my way all the way
through Osaka station and go out and across the street to Higashi-
Umeda station. Theeen I make my way through Higashi Umeda to take the
Dainichi subway 5 stops to Sekime-Takadono. And theeennn, I get off,
exit the station and then take the 15 minute walk to school. It's
intense, when I finished I was like "wow...". And everything is written
in Kanji/hiragana/romaji.

School:
This morning I decided to actually try and memorize my classmates
names, so I went around and said their names and gave them a piece of
candy. Everyone seemed very excited so I was very ureshii (happy) ^o ^
Oh and kind of interesting observation. There are girls at this school
who do the whole "face full of make up and short skirt up to their
butts" thing and they are always glaring and look really scary but
when you talk to them/say hi they are SO FREAKING NICE!!!!!! It freaks
me out a bit. Like it goes from *glare* to "*smile* ohhhh jojo!!!!! My
name is...!!!!!" they're all so cute >_< class="yshortcuts">handsome guys. It seems like they might not like you, but
they are all soooooooo shy. Just look at kengo. I feel kind of bad,
these boys act so shy and were in a public space/school but with kengo
we actually live together and bump into each other frequently. Lord
knows how he feels.

Japanese classics:
No. Freaking. Idea. My chinese friend Jun was like "oh jojo us Chinese
kids must go to learn somewhere else because it is hard to understand"
and I'm like "what the heck, TAKE ME WITH YOUUUU!!!" haha.

Understanding of English:
We read a story about a girl getting her arm bitten off by a shark.
Seemed a little morbid to me....but I don't think anybody realized she
was bitten by a shark and she could "see all the water around her red
with her blood". It was actually pretty graphic.

Spanish:
Rafael is in my class!!! So it was a lot of fun cause he could
translate for me. And what we had to do was relatively easy, just
translate "ser" and "estar". I tried to help the girl next to me by
saying "oh yeah!! Estar...hmmm you use it when...well in America
there's this rhyme: how you feel or where you are always use the verb
estar!! :D" and I got this blank smile XD

PE (dance)
This was really interesting. The girls make up dances in groups to a
certain song (it seemed similar to radio exercise) and the boys do
Judo. I think we all know what I really wanted to do, but I was not
allowed >;/ but dance was kind of fun. The song we are dancing to is
kind of hilarious, I have to get a video of it :D Oh and because of
color guard my ability to brain suck (learn the dance/dance by copying/
watching) is amazing. Everybody was really impressed haha. But the
dance is pretty easy and the girls in my group are very nice so that's
probably why I was able to pick it up so fast too.

English expression:
Officially my favorite class :) me and kokurin walked down together.
Jun was with us too but I looked up and she was gone :O these guys
passed us and went "OOOOOOOO kadashii (boyfriend)!!!!!!!" and I
pretended I didn't hear them though and was like "huh??? What?? :O"
and kokurin was like ":) haha nothing, nothing. ^-^" The homework
assignment for the class was to interview a celebrity and write out
information about them. So I proofread Kokurin's for him and we talked
about Kobe Bryant. Boy is obsessed.

In class I met Mike. Coolest guy ever. He's one of the like English
assistant teachers. Oh and the sensei is so nice!!!! She's not like
the other English teacher, she was happy that I was in my class and
loved for me to help!!!! I was super duper excited :D so they told me
to go around and proofread everyones interviews, so I did for my
friends moi and misato. Misato was doing Miley Cyrus, so I was like
"ohhh cool!! What songs are her do you like??" and then we both at the
same time started singing "you get the limo out front...every style
every shoe every color, yeah when your famous it can be kinda
fun!!!!!!! :D" and we had a spaz attack and my one friend Yuka was
cracking up XD So I helped everyone and was like "just call me jojo
sensei!! Muwhaha >:D" and they were all loving it haha. Although i
kept having to ask Mike if it was right what I was saying because as I
said before, I have a really strange accent going on now, and I
couldn't really tell what grammar was right anymore.

World history:
I was listening to my iPod in one ear (secretly), and the teacher
walks over and says "Nap blah blah blah" and I was like to my friend
megumi, "eh??? I can tale a nap??" and she was like "nai nai!!!" it
took the teacher repeating "nap" about 5 times for me to realize that
he was saying we were learning about napolean. And I was like "ohhhhhh
Napolean!!!" and he was like "hai! That I say: Nap-e-le-an" and I was
like "yeah...sure...napolean" XD

Understanding of Different cultures:
It was with the same teacher as English expression so she had me read
stuff out loud :D And it was funny cause I gave the girl next to me,
Yukio, all the answers. Although it was hilarious because some of the
answers I actually didn't know. No wonder foreigners have such a
difficult time learning English!!! It's very hard, and a lot of stuff
they are learning is very formal, so most of the answers I gave were
"slang" even though I didn't realize before that it was considered
"slang". During this class I also wrote a gift letter to Kokurin in
Chinese. It is not a love letter, just a "tomodachi (friend)" letter,
although no one believes that. I don't think I believe it either XD
but it basically said I hope he gets better, he has good English, I'm
glad we're friends, etc.

After school:
I gave the letter to kokurin and it was kinda awkward (at least for me
anyways), but he seemed delightfully surprised.
Now we get to the fun part :))) me, Rafael, mei, and Victoria hung our
with Yuuki for a bit and planned Rafaels going away party for Friday,
and then we went to umeda to the Ferris wheel!!!! I seriously thought
Victoria was just messing with us, I was like, "what the heck, there's
no freaking ferris wheel in the middle of umeda, I'm there everyday I
would have seen it >:O" but nope, there was definitely a ferris wheel,
an awesome special super cool amazing ferris wheel to be exact ;) and
you could also play music from your iPod on an ihome that was built
into the car, it was awesome :D I got a lot of good pictures/videos.
Oh and there was a mall thing attached so of course we went
shopping :) Me and mei both bought really cute dresses for Friday. We
feel kinda like nerds going places in our uniforms ~_~

I got home on time, and kengo kinda glared at me and said in Japanese
that I have "too many boyfriends". Yeah. I guess kengo has a crush on
me. Cause he takes secret pictures of me at dinner on his phone. I
don't really mind though, I'm used to it. And it's better when he does
it rather than the shady/creepy guys on the train. I really wanna be
friends with kengo, but okaasan is kinda like...discouraging it.
Whenever I want to invite him somewhere she's like "oh no!! He's very
shy" I'm like "yeah...I know...that's why I'm inviting him...oh forget
it -_-" but I think I'll just do it. I mean I got nothing to lose, and
I mean I am not going to go home with just one picture of him and no
conversations to speak of. Defintely not >;O

Oh and kokurin liked his gift. He just emailed me and said "I just
finished the work. Thanks for your present. It's very good I like it.
The Chinese which is written by you is wonderful". Not even kidding,
I'm definitely bringing him back to America with me. He is too
freaking cute!!!! ><

shopping ^_^

ferris wheel :D

Amazing Exchangers :)

2010-06-22T00:57:00.000-04:00

Today was...amazing. School was not too exciting, aside from lunch and
Japanese language studying with the other exchangers. Who I by the way
am in absolute love with :)

Morning:
Woke up, ate yogurt, pineapple juice, and this intense cereal. Like it
has everything in it...granola, raisain, cranberry, carrot, grains,
beans, and the list goes on.

Train:
Now we get to the "fun" part :) Everything was going super well, I
made it to osaka station with no problem. However when I got to the
Higashi-Umeda to take the subway to school, things got a
little...iffy. I am supposed to take the "dainichi" train to Sekime-
Takadono, but I took the...i don't even remember, but it was not
Dainichi. I was actually really freaked out, cause after 6 stops the
intercom said "ok, this is the last stop. Please take all of your
belongings :D" and I was like "ohhhh crap...." I was pretty calm about
it though, I waited for the next train, and it was kind of hilarious
because I ended up seeing Kanachan and her friends because I was
delayed. So I guess this still makes us morning buddies XD i thought I
was calm about the whole taking the wrong train thing, but then I saw
one of the Asahi high school girls and was like "oh thank the lord
sweet Jesus!!!!!!" and they were like "jojo!!! Ohayo :D" *sigh* it was
quite the experience though.

Math II, PE (swimming), Japanese:
All pretty normal. Although I guess I shouldn't say normal since I am
an American in the middle of Osaka, Japan attending high school, but
everything feels pretty "normal" already. Which is really good I think.

Japanese classics:
The teacher very kindly gave me the translation of what they were
learning about. It was a story was called "Tiger-Poet". I actually
really liked it a lot. It was about this poet...that turns into a
tiger...so he's a tiger poet. Yeah. I would go into more detail but it
was a bit of a complicated story, mostly about Karma.

Japanese language class:
I had this with the other exchangers, they are seriously my life. They
are all so amazing and funny! I met Rafael from Argentina. I had
started to believe he didn't exist because I hadn’t ever seen him. He's
really funny though, and he speaks like fluent Japanese, because he's
been here for 10 months. He didn't know anything when he came, so I
think it's really amazing that he learned to speak fluently by being
here.

So me and mei decided not to do kendo, and we all went to go get cake
instead. The "healthy" alternative to exercise. Not, haha. It was a
lot of fun though, and the sweets here are so good!!

We also met who I like to call "bike buddy" and mei likes to call
"boyfriend number 25". Haha It is like a joke, I talk to most of the
guys that I see, and I get their numbers so everyone automatically
thinks I like them. But I really just like getting peoples numbers XD
one of the guys I got today was the basketball captain's, so everyone
was like "ohhhhh sugoiii (cool)!!!! :O" but I just think it's funny.
All of the guys here are super funny, everywhere I go in the hallway
there is a "boyfriend" and all his friends are like "ohhhhhhh togeza
togeza!!!" but anyways, yeah I met "bike buddy". I was so ready to
fulfill my dream of the whole bike riding thing but sensei said it was
not allowed/appropriate. What the flagsnard!!! >_<>:D but they are always
watching. So that may not be possible...

Oh we also met Yuuki. He is very...interesting. He's really adorable,
and he can speak very good English, but he is quite full of himself.
Kokurin is jealous of yuuki’s English abilities though. I was telling
him how good yuuki is and he was like "jojooo please teach me >_<".

which I'll be more than happy to try and help him...but I don't think I would

make a very good teacher right now. My English is like deteriorating. I have

a Portuguese (Vicky)/Spanish (Rafael)/Japanese accent going on right

now. It is very...interesting. Even I don't understand what I'm saying anymore.

I was having so much fun with all of the exchangers that I didn't wanna go

home, but I did eventually XD I’m happy that kengo gets home so late, so

I seem like an angel compared to him and even when I walk in at like 8pm

okaasans like "hey whatevs, now tell me about your boy toys :D" haha

Bike buddy!! :D and sensei haha

victoria, mei, steffie, me, and rafael <3>

Lion-hamster

2010-06-20T23:45:00.001-04:00

Phewwww another jammed pack (but super fun) day!! Today I had the
choice between shopping and the aquarium, and of course I chose the
aquarium :) we took a train to Osaka station and then my favorite
means of transportation, the bus. Seriously, the buses here are
awesome. The bus ride was kinda long (we were the last stop) so I just
listened to music. Oh and me and Kokurin have been emailing a lot back
and forth too so i did that also.

The aquarium was AMAZING. I was suprised at a lot of things. Some
animals/fish looked exactly like the ones back home, but others looked
so different. It was like I was on a different planet!!! Like there
was this one...thing. It looked like a guinea pig/hamster, but it was
the size of a lion. Let me repeat that: HAMSTER the size of a LION. It
was freaky. And then there were a bunch of stingrays/fish in this
giant tank and I was like "ohhh cool" and then all of a sudden this
gigantor fish (maybe it was a whale) came out of nowhere up to the
glass and I was like "gah! Where did you come from???" So yeah, it was
very different, but super cool. And okaasan bought be a phone strap
after :D I think I'm going to be a collector of these nihonho/Japanese
phone straps...

There were also a lot of places where they would take your picture. Me
and okaasan went to one where you could sit on the dolphin. The camera
man looked at me and started speaking really fast japanese and I was
like "uhmmm what?" and then okaasan said something about english to
him and he said "ohhhh gomen nasai (excuse me). I say 'KYUUUUTE!!!!'"
me: cute?? "YESSS!!!!! YOU ARE VERY KYUUUUTE!!!!" me: oh...oh!!!! Um
thank you!!! I mean arigatou!!! Thank you...*blush*

And yeah haha, I liked that camera man ;D

After the aquarium we went to this restaurant called Cocoa and had
pizza and pasta, yeah not very Japanese I know, but I was starving and
it was delish ^o ^ I also tried some more Japanese soft drinks. This
hot strawberry milk tasting thing, then this grape soda/juice. All of
their non tea drinks are so sweet, it makes my taste buds happy XD We
then looked at the shopping mall afterwards. There are soooo many cute
clothes here!!! >_<>

spider crabs, freaaky

Takoyaki squid
takoyaki batter

adding the ingredients

me helping :)

oishii (delicious)!

riding the dolphin XD

gigantor fish

HAMSTER the size of a LIOOON

outside of aquarium

Doko Kyoto Station???

2010-06-20T00:37:00.001-04:00

Oh my goodness today was jam packed!!! But very omoshiroi (fun) :D

Today, me and okaasan took a train, a subway ride, annnd a bus to
Kyoto. It was so cool!! Even the bus was exciting XD it was set up
like a subway. We went to this park which holds the famous golden
pavilion. It was probably one of the prettiest things I have ever
seen!!! I also got to ring a bell there. There was a lot of walking,
but it was worth it. There was also a lot if vendors giving out free
food which is good. Tada suki desu (I like free) ^o ^

After the golden pavilion we went to this really cool gift shop down
the road. I bought a kendo keychain. Well actually 2, I will give
the other one as a gift to one of the sempai. After that we walked and
walked...and walked, and just when I was thinking "oh my god okaasans
trying to kill me", we turned the corner and bam!! Amazingly huge red
palace!!! It was soooo cool!! We washed our hands with the cleansing
water before we entered, and then we went and prayed. It was very
beautiful, I liked it very much.

If I thought that that mile on a flat surface was hard, I didn't know
what was really hard. We walked up this mountain top (not even
exaggerating), it was intense, but there were a bunch of shops on the
way so it was cool. Oh and guess what!!!! We found a J-pop store!!!!!!
Now I only like one j pop band, and that is Sug. I love them with the
burning passion of a thousand suns. So when we walked in and okaasan
was like "oh look, there is NEWS (another band)!!" I was like oh yeah
sure....and I couldn't find anything sug so I had lost hope. However,
I decided to use my (very limited) japanese and ask them if they had
anything Sug. The lady gave me a doubtful look and said (in Japanese)
"hmm...all we have is..." and BAM(!!!!) she pulls out these humongously
gigantor beautiful amazing breath taking Sug posters. I started
shaking/hopping/gasping for air. Not even kidding. I was so
excited!!!!!!!!!! And of course I bought them :) Actually first I
bought 1, and then on the way back down I made okaasan stop in again
so I could buy another XD she seemed to think my fangirlness was very
funny.

We then stopped to eat at this restaurant and had another intense meal.
It was veryyyy good though. It was cold udon, fish, and these sweet/
sugary dough balls.

At the top of the mountain, there was another really cool temple, and
I picked up a fortune. Bad luck....no love...yeah, it was kind of sad.
It probably had to do with the fact that at the golden pavilion I tried
to throw a coin into one of the good luck rock cup thingies, but it dropped....2 inches in front
of me T-T; Okaasan burst out in laughter XD And she did that thing
that a lot of Japanese women do, they like slap your arm. Like in a
playful way, all my friends at school do that and so does my okaasan
but it hurts. I'm gonna come back with bruises on my arms because they
all think I'm too funny -_-'

Another thing at the mountain top temple was this "path of love". It
was in the middle of a busy vendor section, but it you walked safely
from one rock to the other with your eyes closed, your true love will
soon be realized. Yeah, sounds dangerous I know. Especially for a
clutzy spaz like myself. I didn't fall/trip/die, but I didn't make it
the straight line either. More like a spazzed out zig zag. So
apparently my love will not be realized for many years to come.
Although I don't really have a "love" right now, so I guess it's ok XD

Me and okaasan then took the path back down and she got me ice
cream :D green tea matcha to be exact. It was actually really good. I
really wanted sprinkles, but when I asked they all looked at me like I
was crazy so I let it go.

The walk down the hill was fine, and then we took a bus (these get
packed!!! But I've already gotten used to the whole "personal bubble
being popped" thing in public spaces. However, after the (very short)
bus ride, okaasan pointed at the map and traced her finger over about
15 bus stops to Kyoto station. I thought she meant that we would take
a bus, but no, this was why we wore sneakers. It was time to walk :)

After 5 minutes: whew, I'm ok. This walk isn't so bad

After 20 minutes: huh, my bags are getting a little heavy, but walking
is good for you

50 minutes: *pant* *gasp* "okaaaasaaaan. Doko Kyoto station?????"
okaasan: walka walka some more

And yeah, we did make it eventually though, I was really jealous of
the people with bikes.

We got home and just relaxed, neither of us were very hungry (and god
knows where kengo was) so I took my shower, played with Korochan, and now it is time for bed :) Korochan has been trying to sleep with me, but he spazzes and kicks in his sleep so I kicked him out XD

walking back to kyoto station

me with my oishii ice cream :D

at the top of the hill

washing my hands before entering the temple

wonderfully amazing apple juice

golden pavillion

me ringing the bell :D

awesome bus XD

Moving sushi + delicious crepes = happy Jojo

2010-06-19T01:00:00.001-04:00

Morning:
I had some bread and yogurt, I'm glad okaasan has downed it down a bit
with breakfast, because I am usually not that hungry in the morning
anyways. And this morning I had a stomach ache. After I told her she
gave me this look like I was dying or something, even though I kept
telling her "daijobu (don't worry)"

Train/subway:
Today was my last day going to school with Kanachan, so I attempted to
memorize all of our steps and turns. Which was kinda hard because in
Osaka station, there is no direct turn, but a long walk across a huge/
very busy open space. But something very interesting is that even
though there are a lot of people, there is next to no noise. The
Japanese people are very polite/shy, which is good I guess, but the
intense quiet in such a huge open and busy place freaks me out a bit.
Like something out of the matrix. Oh, and I also gave kanachan a gift
to thank her for helping me this whole week, she seemed very happy.
She did this very intense "gasping for air" sound. XD I hope she liked
it, it wasn't much though. Just some candy and one of those crazy pens
from

America

. I hope she liked it though :D I never got a chance to
ask her.

Walk to school:
There were these random guys handing out stuff (first I've seen) so I
grabbed it. But it turns out it was for cram school, so I tried to
give it away but everyone was like "naiii!!!!! Cram-a school dame
(don't like)!!!!" haha. And supposedly it's expensive too.

Japanese history:
Although I don't really understand this class, I have to pay attention
because the teacher will always randomly incorporate me into the
lesson. But he's really funny (the one who acts everything out) so it
was ok :D and it was hilarious because he asked me if we bow before
class in America, and I was like "umm no" and then he said "ohhh so
you do this.." and then he started shaking this girl in the front's
hand XD I don't really know what we do in America. Just say hi and
continue the lesson I guess. It's kind of interesting though, I never
thought that they would think we do the same thing.

Math II:
For some reason they made me stay awake today ~_~ I don't know why
though, they let me sleep yesterday <:O but maybe cause they thought I
was sick because of the mask. I wasn't really paying attention in
this class. I actually (discreetly) put in one headphone and just
wrote out the lyrics to a Paramore song. And then memorized some more
Japanese phrases. I have learned so many already!!! And not just
learn, I know them and I can use/recognize them in everyday
conversation. Sugoiii (cool)!!

Japanese:
I had NO idea what the heck was going on in this class. I couldn't
tell what the sensei was talking about or what the point even was. And
my iPod died, so I had to actually watch. The sensei is nice, but she
kinda has a....well a very "interesting" voice. A mix between a
Chihuahua and a hyena. It's kawaii (cute) when she talks to me outside,
but when forced to listen to her speak rapid Japanese for an hour, it
gets a little touch and go. But I dozed off towards the end so it went
by relatively quickly.

Walk to next class:
Before me and my tomodachi (friend) Moi (pronounced "My") left the
class, I asked Kokurin to come along. He attempted to explain to me
what had just happened in class, but to no avail, I'm wondering if he
even knew what was going on XD So moi said she had to go to the
"bathroom" (likely story) and then winked and told me to walk with
kukorin. Haha I don't really see it as awkward, they're all so cute.
Ok, now gets to the fun part. so now me and Kokuri nwalk some more and
then:

Me: so how are the lakers doing?
Kokurin: eh?
Me: the lakers, you like them right? :D
Kokurin: my girlfriend...she...break up with me
Me: oh...wait...EH????
Kokurin: She...she break up with me.
Me: oh...I'm sorry =( *pats shoulder*
Kokurin: I am trying to mask my pain
Me: awww <:O why did she break up with you????? You're so cute!!!
Wait...well yeah, whatever. I meant what I said ~_~ (awkward is basically not in my vocabulary here XD)
Kokurin: eh? Why? Well because...*thinks for a moment* I work very
long job. 5 hours everyday.
Me: ohhh!!! So you could not spend time with her
Kokurin: *nod*
Me; oh...hmmm...well do you want to get back together with her?
Kokurin: *shakes head* :)
Me: wait....I'm confused -_-

And yeah, i don't know why he told me all of that (we just met like
yesterday...), but I felt bad =( But I was confused. He said he was
trying to mask his pain, but then again he doesn't want to get back
together with her and smiled. *sigh* wakarahen...(I don't know [just
in Osaka-ben though, which is the Osaka dialect]).

Calligraphy:
I sat with Moi, and we pretty much talked the whole time and told
funny stories. There was no painting today, they were organizing their
old paintings/new assignments. I taught Moi how to play "I spy with my
little eye something...(and then a color and then the person has to
guess the object)". Moi is so adorable XD and she speaks pretty good
english too with is cool. I tried to teach the game to Yuriko, but she
said the line "I spy with my little eye" was too much English for her,
haha. After the game Moi taught me the Japanese vowel sounds. For
example, "ka kee koo kay ko" or something like that. But they have it
for every letter of the alphabet. Kokurin was like "what are you
doing?" haha XD but after I told him he told me to "fight", which
basically means "try your hardest/don't give up". He is very nice, and
surprisingly outgoing considering how shy all the other guys are, I
like him a lot.

Lunch:
The first 10 minutes of lunch I ate with Moi and her friend, but then
they had to go down to a student council meeting. I'm going to go
check it out next week :D After they left I ate with Misato (the
hilarious "you crushing him" girl), she's really cool, I like her a
lot too XD And sometimes her English is very surprising, but I'll
explain that later. I finished pretty quickly, so I asked Kokurin to
show me where the vending machines are, but Misato had to translate
"vending machine". And then she gave me a wink/thumbs up. And I'm
pretty sure I saw her mouth "not too much crushing jojo". Haha I love
their English, it's so cute.

As we walked to the vending machines I asked Kokurin if he wanted
someone new, or if he liked any of the Japanese girls in our class,
but he said no. Not really "no", but it was more like "thanks, but I
do not like ANY Japanese girls". Ok, whateva floats his boat...

We went to the vending machines in the cafeteria, and there we saw
Hiro and Peter (Hungarian exchange student, whose also in kendo with
me). Hiro said something to Kokurin (probably something awkward about
me and him) and Kokurin kinda spazzed out. He then had to go see his
teacher so he left. It was kinda awkward at the vending machines
alone, cause I could feel stares. Even though everyone here is used to
exchangers, it seems like no one has ever seen hair like mine, so they
are all very fascinated. Sometimes it's flattering (girls/obasans
(grandma) screaming "ohhh kirei!!!! (pretty)") and other times it's
creepy (guy in subway grabbing "secretly" grabbing a braid). I thought
I'd have to walk back alone, but hiro came over and said "jojo, walk
back togeza? :D" And I was very relieved/surprised at his kindness ^-^
me hiro and peter walked back and drank our juice outside of the
classroom (btw, the juice here is FREAKING AMAZING!!!!! it tastes like
the actual fruit. No extra sugar or anything, like the real fruit.
It's soooo goood. And after all that bitter green tea, my taste buds
have a party at the apple juice). I asked Hiro about himself some
more, but then my friend Jun told me he had a girlfriend, and pointed
at Yingfan, who was fiercely denying it, but in girl talk that meant
"back the heck off, he's ma man". So I’m only gonna talk to hiro when
we are all "togeza" XD and I'm gonna help Jun try to get those two
together, they do make quite the cute couple :) <3

Understanding of English:
This class kills me a little bit inside....the teachers English is
very...well, I can't tell when he's speaking English and when he's
speaking Japanese. And all they're learning is about fragrances and
peppermint bathes and roses and gaaahhhh. But I had to watch/listen
the whole time in that class too. I guess yesterday was my only nap
day? :( Although other people (including kokurin) were sleeping, but I
was scared to.

Swimming:
Ok, it wasn't nearly as bad today. Actually kinda fun. Me and jun
stayed off to the side and swam (very lazy/slow) laps with the boogie
boards (mini surf boards) :D And then we gossiped XD Its funny, because
even though there's a language barrier, we are still able to gossip
just fine. I guess girls gossiping is universal? But were talking
some more about Kokurin (I don't really like him in that way
necessarily, but I don't want to say either way to them because if I
say no, then it'll spread around and Kokurin won't talk to me, but if
I say yes, it'll spread around, things will get awkward, and kokurin
won't talk to me. It's a no win situation, so I just stay kinda
neutral). Oh and supposedly he doesn't have a girlfriend. Never
did...yeah. Don't know why he said he did...or that this imaginary
girl broke up with him...random. Or maybe he does and they just don't
know. I don't know, I am just baffled by the whole thing. I think I'll
just go along with all this for now XD

Short homeroom:
At the end of swimming we all go back together to homeroom class
(there are no lockers in Japanese schools, only for your shoes. So you
leave everything in homeroom so you must go back and get it after your
last class). I got Kokurins number so we could keep in touch over the
weekend, but he seemed to be acting a little weird. I found out why
later. And then Yingfan pulled me aside and whispered, "jojoooo, if
you like him, you should email back frequently >:D".

Kendo:
Well of course amazingly fun =) and me mei an Victoria met this really
awesome sempai. Kendo is like a tv show, a new character (aka sempai)
shows up everyday, it's hilarious XD And he just got back from a year
exchange in

America

so he speaks very good English. It was kind of
hilarious because me Vicky and mei had gotten used to talking about
people as loud as we wanted because no one understood but now someone
was there who knew exactly what we were saying. But it's ok, he thinks
we're hilarious xD And he's really funny too. In the middle of
practice he went to go get juice and he came back with it. It had a
banana on the front so I wanted to try some, so I drunk off the same
straw as him. And everyone in kendo dead stopped (except for me, shota
(sempais name), mei, an Vicky). I was like "oh!!! Tomodachi (friend)
and pointed to shota but I don't think they bought it. *sigh* now I'm
gonna be known as a hussy, what the heck -_-

Especially cause after practice I had my shirt half opened (I had a
tank top on underneath though, an what I was wearing would have seemed
nun-like in America) because it was so hot and Takahiro sempai stared
and then did this awkward turn/blush thing. Me mei and Vicky find this
all quite humorous though. We did this test, I asked all the guys if
they wanted candy (with my shirt open) and they all fiercely refused,
and then I buttoned my shirt and asked again and most of them said yes
that time XD But I feel bad cuz me and takahiro sempai were becoming
good friends but I don't think he's gonna talk to me again ~_~
Speaking of the kendo sempai, I love them!!! They are all so funny,
especially this one little guy. Although he looks little, he is very
good/strong though. Oh and horror story, I put on the full armor today
and we all took a picture together, but then I wanted one without the
helmet, so I took it off. Just took it off, and they all went
"ohhhhh." with their deep disapproving Japanese accents. Yeah. It was
bad. There's this whole ritual thing that you're supposed to do before
you take your helmet off, but I forgot. And they all take their
rituals very seriously. It's kind of hilarious though because you can
see the change in the pictures.
Picture 1: ahh all smiles and me with my helmet on
Picture 2: helmet swiftly off, one sempai staring at me, one moves away
Picture 3: they attempt to smile, it turns out very awkward with a
noticeable distance between me and the sempai

I apologized to one sempai afterwards (the one who speaks the most
English) and he said it was ok, and then we did our secret handshake
but I still felt really bad...I'll have to apologize again on Monday.
But i don't know, they've seen my bare neck (gasp!!!), so I think it
would be illegal for them to talk to me...nah they probably would have
forgotten by then. Hopefully...I'll find something to apologize.

After kendo:
Me, Vicky, and mei went to this AMAZING crepe place, it was so good!!!
We got this cream and chocolate one, it was like heaven on earth ~O~
oh and I was texting (or here they call it emailing) kokurin. The
reason he was acting weird was cause he hurt his back very badly
while playing rugby in gym class, he said he's gonna go to the doctor
tomorrow. I hope it's nothing serious...

Home;
I found my way to Osaka station all by myself!!!! It was intensely
amazing, although because of what takahiro sempai said about it being
"dangerous", everyone looked shady to me. But I made it home ok :D
After i got home, Me, otosan, okaasan, and kengo went to one of those
moving sushi restaurants. It was so cool!!! Basically this conveyor
belt goes around and around with a bunch of delicious sushi on it and
you can just take a plate off once you see something you like (and you
can do this all while sitting at your table booth). It was a lot of
fun. Oh and kengo laughed!!!!!! I didn't know he could!!! :O but
basically okaasan and otosan told me to try an order something by the
speaker in the booth, and it didn't work out too well xD supposedly
when I said "tiramisu", I said it too Americanized and they thought I
said this other thing (pudding-y type thing), it was quite funny. They
all had this spaz attack laughing haha. They are all very friendly,
and otosan kept giving me this very sentimental father look, I can
tell he misses Shiori a lot, so I hope my presence as a happy go lucky
teenage girl is helping a little >_<

Oh and funny story. Kengo said he wanted to get something to drink out
of the machine (instead of the free water), so okasan pulled out her
money and told me to go too. But then kengo was like "I don't want
anything (in Japanese)" so okasan kept pushing him to go with me (he
is very shy, but nice), but she was saying it in a nice way. So it
really didn't mean to come out this way, but I said (in a very deep
and menacing way): kengo. Juice. So basically:
Okaasan: come on kengo, go with her
Kengo: *mumble* I don't want anything
Okasan: come on, stop being shy
Kengo: but I...
Random foreigner (me) jump into conversation: KENGO. JUICE.

He jumped right up after that. It took a while for me to pick but he
waited which was nice, I didn't think he would. But I ended up just
getting the same thing as him. Fanta soda, but it was green melon
flavored. It was pretty good. And then I had my tiramisu (okasan
ordered it for me XD) which was really oishii (delicious).

After sushi, we were all super full/ tired, so I took a quick shower
and now I’m about to go to bed~.

me and okaasan in the sushi resturant

kengo and otosan
victoria and mei in the crepe place

honoka and me

me and mei with our oishii crepes :)

me and mei with the sempai

shota sempai and me

Lookin like a japanese gangsta

2010-06-18T00:38:00.000-04:00

It's kinda hard to remember everything off the bat, so to remind
myself I'll go by my schedule.

Wake up:
Ok so I woke up at 6, and then I remembered that okasan told me last
night that I could wake up at 6:15, so I close my eyes. Big mistake. I
opened my eyes again (in what felt like a millisecond) and the clock
said 7. I leave at 7:20. Me = ohhhhh crap. So I rushed to get dressed,
and ran down the stairs, tripped (of course), but kengo caught me. Boy
is strong. Then we had an awkward "sumi masen!!! Gomen nasai!!!
Arigatou!!!" moment. Basically just a bunch of apologies, it's okays,
and excuse mes. Today, instead of getting an intense meal I told
okasan I'd settle for a donut XD So I had a donut, pineapple juice,
rice, and some tomatoes mixed with ham. Most random breakfast I've
ever eaten, but daijobu (it's ok) cause I was rushing.

Train stations:

I met kanachan at the train, we did our engrish talks, and I told her
about all the funny kendo guys. Ohhh and I sneezed/coughed (because I
have allergies) but I wasn't able to explain that to Okasan so she
gave me one of those neato masks that people here wear when they are
ill. It was uber cool :D I kept trying to tell kanachan and her
friends that I looked like a yakuza (Japanese mafia people) but it
took about 5 minutes XD They finally got it, but they don't get "jinx!
You owe me a soda!" at all. I think they thought my "cold" was getting
to my head.

Homeroom:
I get to school, change my shoes to slippers (I still wear the guest
slippers though, which are way too small, so I'm slipping and a
sliding all over the place) and then say my hellos as I make my way to
homeroom. There are a lot of stairs at my school, and it is very humid/
hot (last time I checked: 99% humidity and 93 degrees farenheit) so
yeah, I probably looked like a scary yakuza gone mad when I walked
into class. Once I walk in everybody gets excited and yells "herro!!!"
which makes me feel special :) cause they are very used to exchange
students, so this means they like me :D After I sit down, everybody
did their "do you remember my name???? :D" thing. And of course I
don't... But I am able to play it off with a joke:

Them: remember my name?? 8D
Me: uhhh tomodachi!!! (friend)
Them: hahaha noooo namaaaeeee!!!
Me: uhhh tomodachi-chan!!!! :S
Them: *dying of laughter* I am....

And yeah, hopefully that joke will not get old...but Yuriko and Megumi
(seatmates) helped me write out a name chart of everyone in the class,
which actually really helped a lot :D Then I gave out candy (japanese
this time, the one I bought from the convenience store near my house
yesterday).

Health:

I didn't know what the heck was going on. This sensei just walked in
and started drawing things on the board, then he gave out this sheet
about what babies in the womb look like. But it was interesting
because everyone was paying super close attention. It's segregated by
the way, just like swimming, there are only girls in the class.
Although I didn't know what was going on, I did pay attention the
whole time.

Math II:

Haha funny story with math...but first, Kuriko (the loner kid who
turned out to be nice) story. I was very suprised because he turned to
me and said "you like NBA????" and went on to talk about Kobe and the
Lakers and all the playoff stuff. Of course, I have no idea about any
of that stuff, but since he took the initiative I felt it was my duty
to ask interested, and he is very very nice. And very very kawaii
(cute). sorry, had to throw that in there :3

So at the beginning of math class Mie turned around and did this "put
your head down" motion and I was like "eh???" and then everybody
motioning me to do it, including the teacher (haha XD) so I did. And
boop. Out like a light XD I slept the whole class, which I guess is
encouraged for gaijin? They don't want me bringing back all their
Japanese math secrets. Fine by me :) After class Kuriko said "haha
jojo you sleep whole time! I watch you." Didn't really know what to
say to that last part, but I laughed along. Sometimes the Engrish
comes out a little strange XD

International understanding (2 periods):
After Math we had this class. Mie said something about nursery rhymes
and said I could stay in homeroom, or I could go do mother goose.
Confused? So was I. But I followed. Basically we sat in the computer
lab, and looked at different nursery rhymes, and then had to make up
our own. The sensei kept trying to ask me if I knew some, and I do,
but by being put on the spot I forgot:

Sensei (teacher): Jojo, nursaray rhyames?
Me: uhmmm...jack and Jill
Sensei: hai.
Class: *intense/eager stare*
Me: uhmmm *clears throat* humpty dumpty?
Class: ohhh sugoi (cool)
Sensei: Prease reciite.
Me: uhmmm Jack and Jill fell down the...wait that's not right...uhmmm
humpty dumpty had a great fall...uhmmm
Class and sensei: *lean in/stare*
Me: ummm wakarahen...(I don't know)
Class and sensei: ohhh *disappointed*

And yeah...lots of pressure for a nursery rhyme. But of course now I
remember a lot I could have recited ~_~ In the middle of class sensei
told me that I was to give a speech to all of the teachers (52) after
school and it had to be memorized. Kinda late notice, but I practiced
for the rest of the period:

Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Jojo desu. 2 nen B kumi desu. America no
Philadelphia kara kimashite. Juroku sai desu. Sakino kamoku wa suspein
go desu. Kendo ga suki desu. Yorushiku onegai shimasu.

Nice to meet you/how do you do. My name is Jojo. I am in class 2-B. I
am from Philadelphia, America. I am 16 years old. My favorite class is
Spanish. I like to practice kendo. It is a pleasure to meet you

Lunch:
My friend Jun showed me the lunchroom, but we (like most people) ate
in the homeroom classroom. Victoria came up to eat with us, so of
course it was a very good time :) she is really funny, I was choking
on my Obento (lunch) the whole time XD It was someones birthday, so
half the class bought in cake and sung to her when she walked in. It
kinda tempted me to want to say my birthday is next week (it really
isn't), but I decided not too XD About halfway through I decided to go
and sit in the back of the classroom with Kuroki (by Victorias
encouragement):

Me: obento?? *point*
Ku: ohh hai hai!! Oishii. *points to me* did you eat??
Me: ohh hai hai hai, I am fullll XD
Ku: ahh I see haha XD
Me: so, doooooo yoooouuu *speaking slowly*
Ku: you can speak English to me :)
Me: eh??? Eggo?? I mean, you speak English??
Ku: yes, I am actually from china.
Me: ahhhh sugoi!!! I mean, cool!!! We can talk!!! Like actually
talk!!! :D
Kuroki: yes :)

And talk we did, actually for the rest of the lunch. He is very very
cool and nice. He's quite old though, 18. I think it's with the way
the school year works out. But it was sooo amazing that he knew
english!!! :D I didn't think that I would be able to connect (not in a
romantic way, JUST TOMODACHI [friend]) with anybody here in such a
way. It was very awesome. I can't wait to talk to him again tomorrow :D but as
I was walking up to the front of the classroom one of the girls
innocently stared at me:

Her: :O
Me: haha hiii :D
Her: ehehehe *creepy smile* >:]
me: eh??? (basically Japanese "what")
Her: jojo, you crushing him? >:D
Me: eh????? Nai nai nai nai nai!!!!!!! Just tomodachi!!!
Her: ehehehe >:D

And yeah. Awkward haha. But her creepy smile was like the best look
I`ve ever gotten in my life. I made her do it again after school so I
could get a picture XD it was kinda messed up though cause she started
laughing, but it still gets the "you crushing?" point across.

Japanese history:
The teacher in this was HILARIOUS. He like acts out everything, it's
really funny. And he actually kept incorporating me into the lesson
which was cool. Although I get the sense that he does not approve of
America, at least history wise. And he seems to make me
"America"...but we are on 1861 now. As long as I get the hell out of
here before they get to world war 2 I think I should be ok. Things
might get ugly once we get to that unit ~_~

Long homeroom:

I thought that this was a free period, like in America, but sadly
no...we had to sit in our seats and talk about ideas for the sports
festival. Which I won't be here for :( But they were asking me about
American songs that would he easy to sing. And then they made me sing
High School Musical, "were all in this together". The whole thing.
Kokurin took a video of it ~_~

Speech:
My speech went pretty well, and the other exchangers, Mei and
Stephanie did it too. We exchanged our boy/class stories after XD

Kendo:
Kendo was fun as always, and after we all walked together again. And
as we were walking this random guy on the street took a picture of me. On his cell phone. I
think he thought he was being discreet cause we weren't paying attention but after that I was like "umm...did that just happen?" mei: yep, it did. Kinda more than a little creepy

This time is was me, Nobu, Takahiro sempai, and the other girl Mayuna
going to my station together. I feel bad cause Mei has to walk with
most of the boys, and they just look in the kendo shop for forever ~_~

I exchanged numbers/emails with nobu and takahiro sempai too, I think
mayuna (who seems VERY shy) was about to have a heart attack XD
Takahiro was my escort to Osaka station today. Even though I know
where it is and kept saying "Daijobu daijobu!!! (don't worry don't
worry)", he said "Dane-ja-russ (dangerous), I walk jojo. Final. >:O"
even though he, like my other 2 escorts, are in the totally opposite
direction. *sigh* I'm gonna miss all this chivalry when I go back home
~_~

After he walked me (AND made sure I was all the way to the actual
train) then he left. So nice >_< st="on">America, everyday after school. Boy has the right idea.

Now it's time to sleep. I heard kengo wake up and okasan scold him
though. But whatevs, daijobu (or as Mei likes to say: "daijobes" XD).
Oyasumi~

my speech

my japanese history book, can't understand anything but it had nice pictures

my friend misato's "jojo you cruuushing?" face hahaha

classmate name chart, there are so many >_<

chisato, mie, jun,and me at lunch

computer lab

random gash/cut number 1

health class, not quite sure what he was drawing though...

me and kana-chan!!! and my yakuza mask :)

jojo san vs. sempai

2010-06-17T00:06:00.000-04:00

Ok, kendo is seriously my life, I love it with a burning passion. It
is by far the BEST thing I have EVER done!!! And I am getting quite
good too :) I could tell because there were two sempai (upperclassmen)
who were training me and Mei (other YFU exchanger from America), one
we were hitting with our bamboo swords (I think the name of the swords
are "kyudai"? I am not quite sure) and the other sempai was watching.
I hit really really fast/accurately and the sempai I was hitting went
"ohhh!!!!! Sososososo!!! (So basically means, "that is right!") sugoi
(cool)!!!" and then the other sempai who was watching said (in nihongo
(Japanese), "I can go faster than you jojo-San!!!!! >:O" and stole my
sword. I felt really special hahaha XD We basically hit this guy the
rest of the time, me and Mei felt bad because we had to keep hitting
his helmet, I hope we didn't give him any brain damage -_-' After
practice (which seemed a lot shorter than yesterday cause me and Mei
were having so much fun XD) then we sat around and talked with
yoshizawa, nabu, and...I forget -_- but he is very nice, and he knows
the most English. We were just joking around, and then me and Mei
decided to show them how to play Ninja. Now for those of you who don't
know what that is, it is very easy/fun to play (that is why we were
able to play in less than 5 seconds even though there is a language
barrier):

1. Get into a circle
2. Bow
3. Jump/strike a ninja pose
4. One person goes at a time
5. The objective is to try to hit one of the other players hands to
get them out of the game.
6. You can only move/step once/one time in your turn

We all had a lot of fun playing, I love all of the guys' sound
effects, they're so funny XD Like "ohhhh" in a deep voice/Japanese
accent, every five seconds. It's very kawaii (cute).

After we played ninja, yorushiku taught me and Mei how to play
"monster". Which is basically like "tag! You're it" but with a lot of
funny hopping/Japanese sound effects XD They are all so fast!!! But I
caught yorushiku (fastest kendo player) so I felt special :3

After we all packed up we all walked to the station together again,
and this time Katotakashi (sempai who I practiced hitting) walked me
to Osaka station. He was very nice to do so, since he was going in the
opposite direction, and it takes a while to walk there. All the people
here are so friendly >_< st="on">Osaka station was like too. They looked once.
Ok whatever gaijin. And then they look again really fast like "EH?????
Why is she with Japanese boy??? Why they laugh??? And WHY SHE WEAR
UNIFORM????" Hahaha their faces are very obvious. Usually I only get
stares when I'm in my uniform though, and even then it's very rare
here in Osaka. Like it's either one extreme (they don't look at you or
if they do they don't care) orrr my favorite (they stare until you
feel uncomfortable). Yesterday on the subway I felt like this guy was
mentally undressing me, it was awkward/creepy. But most people, even
if they are surprised, they don't show it. Probably the whole polite
thing again.

Oh and on another note, I saw the school infirmary today!!! :D These
random cuts/bruises keep appearing on my legs/arms. I'm not quite sure
where they are coming from or how they happened though. The nurses in
the infirmary were soooo sweet and kawaii though!!! ^o ^ and they
liked feeling my hair, like everyone else here XD After they get past
the whole "oh hi where are you from what's your name?" then it's
what's i like to call "hair touch time" XD People seem to be very
fascinated by/like it. First day of kendo they all surrounded me and
started grabbing it. Although I don't really mind, it's flattering
cause they are all like "ohhh sugoi (cool)!!! Kawaii (cute)!!!" :)

Before I got home, I stopped at the convenience store. I mean, I love
Japan and everything but their green tea is so bitter!!! >_< class="yshortcuts">taking a
nap. Boy has the right idea, I want one too <:3 haha. *sigh* I really have to figure out a way to bond with him ~_~ Me and okaasan ate our dinner (noodles in a really tasty sauce with potatoes, beef, and carrots, rice, and fish.)3 Oishiiiiii (tasty). Then we just talked about boys XD It was fun, I really like my okaasan, she's really funny/cool. Now I took my shower and it's time for beeed. Oyasumi~

Loner boy not so loner anymore

2010-06-16T13:17:00.000-04:00

So there's this boy in my class who sits all the way in the back and
doesn't talk to anyone, so I thought he was antisocial. But when math
started, some people went to another class, so we all moved our chairs
up and he was kinda just staring at me.

Boy: >:O
Me: ohayo!!! :D (oh god he's probably gonna just glare)
Boy: *blush* *look down* ohayo (o^-^o)
Me: eh???? Kawaii (cute)!!!!!!! XD XD
Boy: eh??
Me: uhhhh nai! O namae wa nan desu ka? (what is your name)
Boy; *whisper*
Me; eh??? *puts ear up mouth*
(at this point everyone is class is staring in amazement ~_~)
Boy; Kokurin :)
Me: ohhhh ohayo!!!! ^O^
Yuki: hahaha hai, ohayo ^o^

Who knew? It seems that even though people here might seem unfriendly,
they are just very shy. I am gonna try my best to say hi to everyone
no matter what :D (although I probably won't remember their names...~_~)

First Day of school

2010-06-16T00:50:00.000-04:00

Today was a lot of fun!!! I woke up at 6 on the dot, without an alarm
clock so I felt special :) But that's probably only because I like
passed out yesterday and never came down again, I think okaあsan was
worried XD then I came down and took a quick shower (don't worry,
okasan told me to, I'm not a bad gaijin). Then ate breakfast
(elaborate again XD but it's ok cause kengo was sleeping, and otosan
was at work. He works at Osaka station and leaves for 24 hours, it
doesn't seem very fun). After breakfast/after I was all ready okasan
and torochan walked me to the senriokaue station, where I met
Kanachan. She is soooo adorable!!! >_< we then met her friend (whose name I don't
remember T-T) but she was equally as kawaii, what's up with all these
kawaii high school girls??? I think it's the whole polite/uniform
thing. We rode in the "womens only" part of the train. I can see why,
the train is PACKED!!!!! It's kowaii (scary). But there is a couple of
mirrors in the women only train, seems a little sexist XD and the guys
check their hair more anyways. Anyway, Kanachan was very suprised when
I told her that I drive to school every morning. She was like "WHA???
no traaan???" haha, so kawaii XD Once we got to school we parted ways
since her and her friend are in a different class from me. When I
walked into my class everyone was like "ooooohhhh herrro!!!! Ohayo!!!"
and they all laughed when I bowed and politely said "ohayo gozaimas."
I gave out some more candy (I'm glad I bought a lot!!!) and introduced
myself to a few more people. But my greatest fear happened, everyone
said "do you remember my name???? :D" with very eager an excited
faces..and no, no I did not. I felt really bad T-T So everyone had to
reintroduce themselves...

It's kind of funny the different dynamics in the class between boys
and girls though. They don't...talk. I said "ohayo!!!" to this boy
Hiro and gave him some candy and everybody gasped like in horror. But
then after I did that my friend Moi gave the boy behind her candy so I
guess I'm setting an example/trend XD maybe by the end of my stay they
will all be able to even *gasp* hold a conversation!!!! Don don
doooonnnnnn.

The classes were pretty boring, especially english ~_~ the unit is
called "the wonderful word of smells". No, I am not messing with you,
that is really the name. But the English teacher did ask me questions,
in English, although it was hard to understand, but since this is like
his lifes work I was trying my best. There was a story about a guy who
smelled this guys eel (fish) and the other guy said "hey, because you
smelled it you got the sensation that you were eating it. You owe me
money." and the other guy took a bag of coins and rang it by the guys
head and said "why don't you assume you have been paid by hearing my
coins?" and yeah. Hahahaha. I think I was delirious but I thought the
story was hilarious. No one else got it though....I don't think they
actually understood. And then the teacher went

Teacher: JOooooJoooo. Questiooon for yooo.
Me; eh? ok! Hai.
Teacher; did you reyaaad da storay?
Me; hai!
Teacher; then prease tal meh, did the mahn phay the eeeerr owna
Me; *thinks for a second* uhh nai
Teacher: that is correcket.

And yeah, it was intense haha. After English my friends walked me to
calligraphy, which was a lot of fun. I practiced writing my name, and I
also met some more people and "learned" some new names -_-; The
teacher didn't want me to get dirty, so she put this bib type thing
around me and said "babay". Hahaha I did appreciate the thought
though, okasan would not be happy if I came home with a big blog of
ink on my shirt.

After calligraphy, we had *dramatic pause* swimming. It was raining
though so I thought we wouldn't have it cause the pool is outside.

Me: *looks out window* ahhh rain!! :D
Friends: eh?
Me: ame! (rain)
Friends: ahhh hai!
Me: ame, nai oyogu? (rain, so no swim?)
Friends: ohhhh nai nai nai!!!! Still swim!!!
Me; ehhh?????? (yeah, I'm turning into a excitable manga like Japanese
person, just so that you know) puru mizu otsuii??? (pool water hot)
Friends: nai nai!!! Samuii!!!! >_< (cold) Me: nai nai!!! Nai suki desu!!! (no like) Friends: ahhhh saaahm >_< st="on">America where the boys swim with girls, it's all
segregated. The girls screamed when I told them we all swim together
in America. Also when I said that I think Japanese guys are very
kawaii XD

There are parent teacher conferences at school now, so the days are
shortened. So after swimming school was over. This exchange girl who's
been here for two months said she`d show me the way to kendo, so I met
her in her class and we walked over. I am so glad I met her!!! She is
soooooo coooll, and very down to earth. We were laughing a lot ^o ^
She is also very good at Japanese, so she was working as my
translator. Which was cool so I got to know the people in kendo on a
totally different level because we could actually communicate. And now
I can see why they say to join only one club, I made so many friends
in just one day!!! And I remembered their names!!! :D There are mostly
guys, but there is one girl, manayu-chan who is very (you guessed it)
kawaii and nice :) she is full of energy too, and very touchy feely, I
was suprised :D First Yorushiku (upperclassman guy) showed me
all the different moves, he was very patient and nice. And very
energetic too XD I am like in love with all their engrish. When he was
trying to tell me to step with my left foot he said "Styand on
your lefto foto" It was kawaii ^-^ All the guys were super nice and
funny, especially the 3 Tigas, haha.

I bought out some starbursts in the middle and offered everyone, and
yoshizawa caught it in his mouth, cause he didn't realize there was a
wrapper XD At the end of practice, everyone sits around. Victoria
calls it the "big talk" haha. During the big talk I saw shoroku was
holding things that looked like cards so I was like "ohhhh sugoi!! Can
I see??" and they all were like "nai!! not intraresting, just pokemon"
but I grabbed one anyway and there were two busty anime girls in a
very suggestive position. So I was like "eh????? Echi
(perverted)!!!!!! Otaku (term used for nerd that likes manga girls/
cosplay)???!!! *points to shoroku*" and then everyone started cracking
up and calling him shoroku otaku. It rhymes haha XD

And then I found out me and Glasses Tiga were on the same train so I
said "ohhh we walk togetha???" and all the guys went "ohhhhh
togetha??? Ohhhhh woootwoot!!! Walking togetha!!! *kissing noises*"
haha it was awkward. But I explained that me him and Victoria were
going to walk together, and they all seemed disappointed XD

Since it was raining, most of the sports clubs were practicing inside,
including baseball, who were across from us. Now, when I tried to talk
to them before when they were walking alone, then they look at you
like you're crazy, but when I said hi to the whole group, they went
INSANE!!!!! Like jumping around doing these crazy dances and yelling
"herooo babay wha you furum?" hahaha it was hilarious. So it seems you
have to approach the shy ones in big groups.

Kendo went for a VERY log time. From the end of school (11AM) to 6PM.
It was intense, but I learned a lot so that was cool, and i made
friends with guys (which is something I thought would have been hard
because of the whole segregation thing they got going on here. But I'm
worried because Victoria (brazil) will not be there tomorrow to
translate, so hopefully I will still be able to communicate.

After practice, we all walked to the subway station together. But I
totally forgot how to find Osaka so I spazzed out and went "Doko (where)
Osaka???? Doko Osaka?????" and Tiga was like "caalmmmmm douuyoooown!!!
Jojo I show I show" and he walked me all the way there even though he
was on the opposite direction, so nice >_< id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">otosan and okasan seemed very relieved/suprised. I
don't think they thought I was gonna make it., haha. Although okasan
did message me during kendo practice, but it was all in kanji for some
reason....she knows I don't know any kanji..it was random...but
Victoria translated, an then I got shoroku to respond for me.
Victoria thinks he likes me cause he's usually quiet/shy but hes
always licking his lips at me. I just think it's creepy/funny.

For dinner we had this smorgasbord of food, it was really good though.
Like teriyaki fish, rice, miso soup, beef, fried pork, and somen
noodles, very oishiiii (delicious).

And then we watched some world cup soccer, everyone here is very
excited because japan has won one game so far. I showed okasan some
pictures, took my shower, and now I am about to go to bed. Exchange is
tiring!!! But worth it. Can't wait till tomorrow :D zzz

tiga putting on his kendo helmet

me with all the kendo guys

me in my kendo uniform :))))) sugoi ne? (cool, right?)

yes, they are learning about "the wonderful word of smells"

me with painting with my baby bib on :)

my many attempts to write my name in Katakana (jojo)

my friend Moi

my classroom

my date with big boy

2010-06-14T21:00:00.000-04:00

After breakfast, me and okasan walked to the senriokaue train station
(about 10 minutes) and she bought me a ticket. Then we took the train
(5 stops) to Osaka station. And theeeeen we took a subway 5 more stops
to I'm not quite sure, but it's about a 15 minute walk from my school.
I love okasan though, she is so funny. On the subway there was this
very handsome guy across from us and I had my cellphone out and she
whispered, "get a picture!!" hahaha so I did XD he was very kirei
(pretty). Most Japanese guys are, it's very interesting. YFU
emphasized that japan is not one big anime/manga but it definitely
is!!!!! Every guy I've seen looks straight out of a Japanese cartoon,
same with the girls. Most of the Japanese people I've seen wear very
colorful/flashy clothes and all the guys check their hair constantly,
it's very interesting XD but I like it a lot. Nihon (japan) is my
favorite place, I'm very ureshii (happy) here :)

After the subway, me and okasan met up with my area rep and the other
exchangers and their host parents. The sensei settled us all in and we
chose our electives/club. I am going to do kendo :D then we were
seperated to our different classes. At first I was disappointed that I
was going to a school with other exchangers, but as soon as I saw them
I felt this rush of relief. It's nice having someone there that
understands what you are going through because they are in the same
position, we all shared many stories XD

In our class we had to introduce ourselves, kowaii (scary) ;-_-; but
everyone in the class was very friendly, but some were quite shy.
Everyone liked the "amerika cayanday" though XD they said it was very
oishii (delicious). And then my tomodachi (friend) Mie gave me some
Japanese candy too, very oishii :D Although everyone shot their names
at me at once, so it's gonna be very hard to remember T-T most are
easy one syllable names, but there were so many!!! >_<>_<>_<>

Senrioka pet clinic

me with my boyfriend "big boy" i know you`re jealous

mei`s host mom and my host mom

me and mei :)

THE LOVE OF MY LIFEEEEEEE

isn`t he the cutest thing you have ever seen???

Gaijin treatment :)

2010-06-14T13:00:00.000-04:00

Ahhh ok, turns out we are not leaving till until 10:45AM. When we get there I will give a speech to the teachers and then the student in my homeroom. Or maybe for the whole school...I am not quite sure. On another note, I have noticed that for breakfast, okasan is definitely feeding the gaijin better XD kengo got pudding and bread, I got miso soup, salad, and rice. I feel bad ^-^'

oh noes T-T

2010-06-14T09:47:00.000-04:00

Ok so I'm kinda here alone...I was sure okasan said to wake up at roku (6) but now it is roku shihachi (6:47) and no one seems to be awake..I don't wanna wait downstairs cause I guess that woud be rude if no one is down there? But I do not want to wait in my room because then okasan will think I overslept. Oh dear T-T

NIHONGO PHONEY!!!!!!!

2010-06-14T00:36:00.000-04:00

Today was quite eventful. I woke up (by myself) at around 6:30AM, I was quite proud of myself ^-^ and then I got dressed, made shioris bed, looked at all her cool japanese boy band posters, and then made my way downstairs. Kengo was lying on the couch, and I've noticed he does exactly like me. That is, flip your phone on in an awkward situation. He never really types anything, just looks at it. Okasan then made breakfast, which was egg, miso soup (AMAZING), rice, and green tea (side note: Japanese people drink green tea ALL THE TIME. And I was mislead to think that it was sweet because of the cheap over sugary kind it America, it is in reality very bitter. Like water, but with a bitter taste. Although it takes getting used to, it is very refreshing since I'm sweating buckets here, very otsuiiiiiii ;-_-;) Although the miso soup was good, I did have some problem with the egg (which actually led me to believe I'm allergic). So the way the eggs were
cooked, the yolk in the middle is still very...yolk-y. And the way chopsticks work is that you put the yolk in your mouth all at once. Yeah, I almost threw up. Partly because the yolk felt like all squishy and gross, and also because okasan had stuffed me the night before. I'm not sure where they are all fitting all this food!!! It's sooo much, and they eat it in a millisecond. Not to say it's not good though, everything (aside from the egg yolk) has been very oishii. And I think I'm finally used to my chopsticks :D I thought I had already known how to use them, but there are so many rules associated with chopsticks!! I had no idea, and I guess no one does really until a real Japanese person tells them XD

After breakfast Kengo bolted for his basketball game. He has basketball every single day for 4 hours, it's crazy!!! And okasan says there are no holidays are breaks because the coaches are kowai (scary), haha.

Now we get to the fun stuff :) after break okasan spoke really fast Japanese and kind of motioned to go so we jumped into the car and went. We drove through suita for about 5 minutes and then pulled into a KFC parking lot. My stomach did this turn and I felt something coming up because I thought she wanted us to eat there, right after being stuffed at breakfast. However, we walked into the store next to it, "docomo", which is basically a phone company (like verizon or AT&T). She shows me otosans old phone and says we are getting it reactivated for jojo (ie me). Oh course I am very excited, because I'm here for such a short time and it was very thoughtful of her to think I needed a phone. She kept saying otosans was old model though, although I didn't really mind. It is a bit bulky and gray an kinda beat up, but it is nihongo (Japanese) after all, and anything nihongo is sugoi (cool) :]

Me and okasan look at all the cool phones until it is our turn. When we get up there, her and the sales lady start to speak very fast and the Lady-San seems stressed. Turns out you can't renew an old model so obasan made me choose a new model!!! SUGOIII!!!!!!! I chose this amazingly awesome pink one, and it even came with a free phone charm!!! :D :D (note: pretty much everyone in japan has phone charms. Doesn't matter how old young small or big, ALL. like for instance, yesterday I saw this very intense old business man looking guy and when he took his cellphone out of his pocket there was this huge disney stitch doll hanging off of it. Everyone. Phone charms don't segregate)

After thanking okasan about 50 gazillion times and saying how sugoi my new phone was, we were off again. This time to the Japanese gardens. It was veryyy sugoi and kirei (pretty). However, it was raining pretty hard, but we had umbrellas so we were ok for the most part. We first looked at the rose gardens, then the rock gardens, and then obasan took me to this really cool tea place. We had matcha (like very hot green tea with a lime foam on the top), and Japanese seed cake (was very reminiscent of jello, but tastier/richer). These really nice ladies in kimonos served us our food an let me take a picture on the tatami mat/with them, which was very cool :)

After that we walked some more and then okasan treated me to this AMAZING OISHI-TASTIC obento. My tastebuds were in heaven. I then showed her many pictures, and we pretty much bonded :)

Then we walked some more and left to go to another 100 yen shop, so sugoi!!! They are very nice, and I found lots if souvenirs :D although okasan had to burst my bubble/make me put stuff back because most of my omiagai (gifts) said "made in china" -_-' we laughed our way through the rest of the store when we realized pretty much everything was made in china.

After the shop, we came home and just hung out all together. Because it was raining today, it was not as otsuii which is good :) I attempted to show otosan a few pictures from the Gardens, and then he helped me get on yahoo ego. Which is not an easy feat for a Japanese person mind you, so I was very grateful. We then had dinner (salad, curry with potatoes an beef on rice, and you guessed it, green tea :]) I washed the dishes, okasan kindly ironed my uniform (I think she has the same wrinkle phobia as my USA okasan XD) and then I took my shower. Without the bath...but I think okasan is on to me, when I stepped out she went "whaaaa???? Finish??? And brush teeth???bath???" "me: uhhhhh...hai!!! <:D" so I guess I'll have to be careful haha. But I don't wanna stay in the bathroom for too long, cause the order goes me, kengo, okasan, and otosan. But supposedly otosan likes going last cause he can relax for as long as he wants. Which is cool, but I'm definitely going to let okasan go first tomorrow night. If not, I feel kind of bad...

But tonight kengo didn't take a shower...or come up the stairs. I don't know why but I hope it wasn't my fault. I didn't mean to scare the poor boy down two levels -_-;

Ok time for bed, I start school in the morning!!! I am nervous, but very excited. And I practiced my introduction a few times on okasan too, hopefully it does not come out weird XD

Mata ne~ (see you later~)

my beautiful nihongo phone =)))

japanese gardens

my awesome phone strap, I can now join the nihongo phone strap party :D

this very oishii/intense obento box at the japanese gardens resturant. it was sooo goood :D

me with very nice kimono sans

japanese seed cake, reminded me of gelatin but better, very oishii :D

me sitting seiza style ^-^ short time is ok, but long time makes my legs give out XD

me and okasan with my awesome new nihongo phone :D (bad pic of me, but very good picture of my phone :)

Hosutu famarie

2010-06-13T02:30:00.000-04:00

Ok, this is by far the most intense thing I've ever been through.

I guess I should start from the beginning. So the plane ride from Tokyo to Osaka was super short, and after the Osaka area exchangers (about 6) got out, we were all super nervous. My stomache was doing like flip flops. When we walked out of security there was a bunch of people there holding signs with our names on it. I met my area rep, and then I met my family!!! :D They made this really pretty sign for me, and contary to Japanese policy, they both gave me big bear hugs. They told me to call papa junji, "otoosan" and mama tanako, "okaasan". They are both very nice. We walked to the car, trying to speak awkward engrish (okaasan knows more English than Shiori [host sister] let on). We then drove to their ie (house). I have my own room downstairs, but until shiori gets back I'll sleep upstairs in the room across from Kengo (host brother). So we got back to their ie and then I met Korochan!!! He's so cute >_< Hes this tiny furry adorable weiner dog. But he is very...excitable haha XD But it's ok cause he's so kawaii and small he can't cause much damage XD after playing with Korochan and using google translator to try and figure out what me, otosan and okaasan were trying to tell each other, okaasan made lunch. It was verryyy oishii (delicious). It was udon (omg it was like ecstacy to my tastebuds) with this mixed rice. Although I ate very slow compared to okaasan and otosan. And okaasan kinda hinted for me to hurry up XD but I'm more used to chop sticks now, which is good so I can eat faster. They don't seem to be very formal with me which is good though, cause I would feel more awkward. But my job is to wash all the dishes, which I actually enjoy cause I feel like I'm being helpful.

After lunch okaasan took me to the 100 yen store, yayy!! It's only like 2 minutes away, I was very "excite" as okaasan would say. We bought an obento box for me (very cute) with a matching fork. Then we went to the grocery store to get food for dinner. It's kinda cool, cuz at all the stores there's a place for you to put your own stuff in bags, so it makes the line go a lot faster. Also, pretty much exerything in Suita is a discount store so we get a lot of stuff for less money. All the ingredients for dinner and drinks only cost 830 yen (about $8).

When we came back, we walked Korochan around the neighborhood. Okaasan introduced me to a few people, and one of her tomodachi (friend) was very entranced with my hair.
On our walk, we also went to the elemenary school in the neighborhood and watched the little kids practicing kendo, they were so kawaii (cute)!!! And then we watched the coach people do a demonstration, it was intense. It involved a lot of screaming like crazed monkeys, but it was really cool nonetheless. And the ladies who were there watching (the parents I presume) were very sweet too, but they (like a lot of people) assume I speak nihongo (Japanese) which I don't...only basic phrases so it gets really confusing XD

When we got back I started to help with dinner, we were making something very similar to fried pork chops, but okaasan called it "tempura". While we were helping, the mysterious Kengo came. Now, when I asked okaasan about him, she described him as "shy chotto (small/short) basketball player". So I imagined this tiny nerdy Japanese kid with glasses, so when he stepped into the room my jaw dropped. Chotto? Chotto my butt!!! Boys like 6'2, much taller than me. And shy? Scary antisocial. But he seems sweet, and he laughed at my attempt to train Torochan so he seems cool. After dinner, where I ate too slow again XD, and after Kengo took his really long shower (styling his hair, lots of Japanese guys seem to be really into that. Speaking of him, he has this awesome collection of manga, I'll attempt to bond with him over that :D wait this parenthesis is too long) me, kengo, and otosan went to the movies. We were late though so we had to run, but otosan (former
track star) and kengo (basketball star) were too fast for me, I was wheezing by the time we got to our seats XD but in Japan you have assigned seats, which is cool. Kengos hair was styled really cool, and I wanted to get a picture but I forgot my camera <=\ and okaasan says he hates pictures, she takes them while he sleeps XD We watched iron man 2, but since it was in ego (English) with subtitles (which really don't get the point across), I was the only one laughing at the funny parts...and yeah. By the way, I liked it. It was very action packed. So the whole just me otosan and kengo thing was a tad bit awkward, but I think that's just cause I was sleepy. After we got back I took my first Japanese style shower :) there's a room with a washer and sink, an connected to that is a small room with a bath tub, floor that drains all the water, and a movable shower head. I am kinda scared to use the bath, partly cause it is scorching "burn your skin off" hot
and also I don't want to dirty it since I'm first. I'll use it at some point, but not this...early on in the game I guess is how you would put it XD

Ok better get to bed!! Seems like there are plans for tomorrow, I'm not exactly sure what those are though because of the whole language barrier, but I am excited. Oyasumanoi (good night)~

kendo coaches demonstrating a game to the little kids

100 yen shop, very sugoi and colorful :D

Korochan, KAWAIII >_<

my very nice welcome sign =)

okasan, me, and otosan :)

Waking up in Tokyo

2010-06-12T13:00:00.000-04:00

This morning me and my roomate Julianna woke up early so we could explore a bit. We saw this really cool looking park from our window so we decided to go see what it was. We picked up Emily along the way and off we went :D It was a bit of a walk, with lots of stairs, but it was fun. We saw a couple of cool sculptures, and we named them XD the lady bugs were bob and sheri. What I love about japan is that pretty much everything you can touch. Especially in the musuems, I have only seen 1 don't touch sign so far. It's very good for gaijin (foreigners) like me who love taking pictures of everything XD now we are on our way to the airport, I am very nervous. And I'm gonna miss all my exchange friends >_<

cool temple within the park

me doing radio exercises in shinjuku park in the heart of tokyo!! :D surreaaal

me and emily riding bob and sheri XD

insane waving gaijin :)

2010-06-11T17:33:00.000-04:00

Well, at the moment we're all in the bus waving at random people, it's very fun :) some people get super excited and wave back, and others just stare/glare blankly XD

Today, we went to the American embassy in Tokyo first, and then we went to the Edo Tokyo museum. It was very cool, and not at all like the museums back home. You could touch almost everything, and they had a bunch of interactive exhibits and you could take a picture of anything. There were these really adorable school kids running around too, and they were all like "Herrrooo!!!!!! :D" sooooo kawaii (cute)!!! XD I basically talked to everyone we saw too, all my friends thought i was crazy, but hey you only live once right? :P Most of my "conversations" consisted of "otsuii ne??? (hot, yeah?)" and some people got into it cause a lot of Japanese people love talking about the weather XD it was a lot of fun!! And i was excited cause even though most of them were laughing at me, they did understand what I was saying!! :D like I asked this boy, "doko Kara kimashite ka (where are you from)??" and he responded, "blah blah blah *fast Japanese* blah blah Kara kimashite :D" so he understood ^-^

After we got back to the hotel, we all really wanted to go out and wander Tokyo again, but we weren't allowed, which really sucked <=/ So me, em, Sarah, and Rowena went to the top floor of the hotel (with this AMAZING view of Tokyo!!!) and played cards with Nathan/took pictures for about 4 hours till we were kicked out cause this party was about to happen. But when I say "kicked out", I don't mean like in America where they're like "YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED HERE!!! MOVE!!!" but this Japanese lady came up super nice and gingerly said "Gomen nasai (excuse me), but this may not be best place play cards, sumimasen (sorry) ^-^" and yeah, they're all so pleasant and nice! :D I love it. And after all this we wandered this cool comviencince store in the hotel for a bit and I bought tights and candy :D and then we all kinda just died cause we were so tired/bored/disappointed that we couldn't see more of Tokyo :( but it was fun nonetheless, I'm super excited to meet my host family!! I fly out tomorrow >_<

Edo Tokyo museum: me showing my amazing strength (not really)

me with the security guards :) took about five minutes for them to understand I wanted a picture, but it was worth it XD

very kirei (pretty) garden in the hotel we went to after the embassy

lunch at the hotel: curry rice and vegetables. oishii ^-^

yeah, I require an escort

me and fiona in the bus. check out my nihongo peace sign :)

US embassy, very official :D

BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE

2010-06-10T08:09:00.000-04:00

So what you've all been waiting for...I made it to Tokyo!! And we got to explore once we got to the hotel (basically an amazing ritzy super expensive hotel by the way, so cool!!!!). The toilets have all those...buttons. But I don't think I'm gonna press any, I might hurt myself. Here's some pictures of my very eventful day/night :D (they're out of order by the way~)

Me and Emily in our Yukatas!!! :D

My first Purikura!!! (basically photo booths, but you can edit pics to make yourself look cuter, for some reason it made my eyes bigger...but it's still amazing!!)

Us trying to figure out how to edit pictures. It was intense, there was a timer, and the machine was speaking really fast Japanese

Store we went into, it was so bright!!! and colorful, and kawaii (cute)!!

Tokyo tower on way to hotel

Tomorrow we visit Tokyo Embassy, and a few other goverment places. I'm very excited :D And then the next day I'm off to my host family in Osaka!!! ^-^

In da skyyy :)

2010-06-10T07:56:00.000-04:00

The flight wasn't too bad, and I had a lot more room than I did on the plane to Cali so that was nice :D It was a pretty eventful 11 hours. I made best friends with this Taiwanese guy sitting next to me. And I had a semi conversation with the Japanese guy sitting on the other side on me. Speaking of him, we kind of ended up on top of each other. Not even kidding...Basically we both fell asleep, and I guess we're both spastic? When I woke up, I was sprawled out across his personal table (basically on his lap), and his chin was in my shoulder. I kind of panicked, and this random other guy said "Ohhh you gonna have hard time getting out of that!! Like TWISTA!! Ohohoho". And yeah...I ended up coming up fast, and he kinda hit his head/glared at me. Awkwardness :)

Tv that showed where we were/how much time was left on the flight (pretty cool)

Our Japan tickets!! :)

Orientation in Cali

2010-06-10T07:45:00.000-04:00

The orientation at Berkley was SO MUCH FUN!!! Sometimes it felt a bit slow, but overall I had a wonderful time and met a lot of wonderful(ler) people =) I especially liked the group I was placed in (GO BLUE KUMI!!![kumi=group in japanese]). We mostly did group activities, and had a language course. Here are some pictures:

Blue kumi! :)

Us all playing this intense Ninja Game

Alex, Danny (kumi leader, really nice :D), me, Emily, Sarah, Rowena

Me being panda

Me and Fiona playing on our Taiko "drums" aka trash cans haha

The gang

$13 dollar post :)

2010-06-06T12:12:00.000-04:00

Yup, wifi on the plane ride costs $13 (RIP!!), so this is quite the expensive post so I’ll have to get it all in ;) A lot has happened in the past day (although it's felt like a lot longer), so I'll start at the beginning, because it's not pretty and gets very confusing/bipolar when I ramble aimlessly. So yesterday my parents dropped me off at Camp Maria (Fun fact: it’s named after Maria Carey) in Fishkill, NY for the Regional orientation. When we first arrived, we had to check in like you were really in a different country. Everyone was pretty nice, except for the Germans who had to check your fake passport. I walked up and they went “*blah blah really loud German Blah blah PASSPORTO” So I gave it to them and when I walked away I said “Danke!!! :D” But they just glared…Anyways, the orientation was a lot of fun!! I met a bunch of really cool Japanese exchangers (Emily, Alyssa, Fiona, etc). I also met a bunch of people going to other countries, sadly I’ll never see them again L I’m especially going to miss this really cool Japanese girl who was here in New York on exchange. She was very nice and gave us all a bunch of good tips. (Say “no” 3 times when offered something!)

Basically, we had a bunch of sessions where we talked to past exchangers and it was really cool to hear all of their funny Japanese stories, I hope I have a bunch of great stories when I get back too J Towards the end of last night, there was a talent show and at first I was like “oh no so awkward! People put themselves out there too much! >_<“ but everyone who went up had SO MUCH TALENT!! This one guy jumped over two 6’ tall guys, it was awesome. Of course I didn’t go up though J There was also this Chinese guy who sung, he was so good! And he could play the guitar. I couldn’t understand anything he said but it was cool regardless. Which leads to a funny story:

So after the show, I wanted a picture with the Chinese singer. So me and Emily go up and…

Emily: Hi! We both really liked your singing, and my friend here wants a picture :D

Chinese Guy (whose American name is Bobby): What?

Emily: *repeat*

Chinese Guy: *looks at us* Ummm One sec! *walks away*

Me and Emily: um…is he coming back?

Chinese Guy: *knocks on bathroom door around the corner*

Me and Emily: ok what the heck…?

*random other Chinese guy comes out of bathroom*

Chinese Guy # 2: OHHH he can’t speak English!!!!

Me and Emily: Ohhhhhhh ok! Sorry!

And yeah, there’s my story haha XD It was kind of awkward, but I got my picture J

It makes me laugh cause he checked his hair first and like “touched it up”

It’s not a very good picture because it was taken on Chinese Guy #2’s iPhone, but you get the picture J (ha! Punny.) They were both really nice, and said it was "flattering/inspiring" being asked for a picture :) So after that I was talked up by this lady about hosting an exchange student for the following school year, and I am actually really interested. They said they can find someone specifically in band and who likes skating/ice hockey so I thought that was very cool. Hopefully my parents will think about it J

So in the list of stuff to bring, it says YFU would supply sheets, pillow, and a blanket, but I got to my cabin late (due to a carnivorous hill we had to climb) so I didn’t find any…Thank god I bought a pillow and a small blanket. It was still probably a sad sight in the morning though, me shivering with no bed sheets or a real blanket haha. So us Japan exchangers had to wake up at 5:30AM this morning. No, you are not misreading that. I didn’t even realize I was awake until I started talking to Fiona.

We left for JFK around 6:15AM, and when we got there it was SO EASY!! It’s great having a YFU person (Marianna) here to help us every step along the way. I think the baggage claim lady was annoyed however, because I freaked out at the touch screen menu (which is supposed to be easy) and kept pressing backspace and saying “WAIT! It says here I have to pay!! I though baggage was free!!!!” and at one point she just said, “Miss, you want your bags on that plane right?” But it turns out it was free, I just misread XD Anyways, we just hung out in the airport until it was time to go.

Now back to the start J I am on the plane to California. I’ve been to California before, but I forgot the whole 7 hour flight part, but I’m managing haha. Although we’re only about an hour into it T-T The bad part is that all the exchangers are mixed up, so we can’t sit next to each other =/ But I’m in a pretty good seat. I’m in between this guy and this really nice lady with a 5 month old baby. I know what you’re all thinking, but no don’t feel bad for me!! The baby is soooo cute. And very well behaved so far =) So when we get to Cali we’re going to have dinner with Kumi. Yeah, I have no idea either. I’ll do another post about the Cali Orientation either at Berkley (if there’s wifi) or on the way to Tokyo. Which by the way is only TWO DAYS AWAY!!!!! I am so excited!! Especially since I’ve met most of the other exchangers and they are so nice! And no clichés or anything either, you can just walk up to anybody and say “Hey, whose your host family?” and its cool. We’re all in the same boat so I guess that automatically makes us all friends J It’s cool to have so many people to relate to. Whoa this post is getting quite long…but I know you all read the whole thing because you love me J Oh and my host sister emailed me(!!) so I’m going to go and email her back before my computer dies~ I found out that they have a weiner dog, whch is amazing. And her brother's name is Kengo. She also said her family speaks no English except for her, but she’s on exchange in New York so we won’t meet until June 30^th. So it’s definitely going to be an interesting/very gesture-filled exchange until she gets there XD But I am so ready :]

HOST FAMILY!!!!

2010-06-03T17:40:00.000-04:00

So the title of this post explains it all, but in case you didn't get it: I HAVE A HOST FAMILY!!! YAYYY!!!!! :D I thought for sure that I would be the one to not get a host family until the California orientation, but it looks like God had a different plan! =) Without further ado, I shall give my host family information~

I'm going to be living in Suita(shi), a northern city in Osaka, Japan. Here is a map of Japan, and then a more specific map of Osaka:

I have a host dad and mom. It says that they are complany employees, but that could be anything so I'll probably have to ask XD I also have a host brother (15) and a host sister (18), but the letter I got from YFU didn't say their names. It did however give their phone number, so I think I'm gonna call after I write out a script in Japanese (just in case they don't speak english)~

Japan List O' Things

2010-05-12T18:05:00.000-04:00

So today I got a package from YFU, and I thought it was host family info/departure date but sadly it was just info about insurance =( And also, I don't need to get a visa! So that's one less thing off my list which is cool :D Speaking of lists, that's what this post is about. Before I leave (less than 25 days!!!) I have quite a bit of things to do, so I've compiled a list. The list was about 2 pages long before, but me and my mom got done quite a bit the other night so it's a lot shorter now XD Anyways, here it is~

Set up finals plans with teachers (exact dates)
Get Japan-English Electronic Translator
Mini Photo Album
Capri Tights
Netbook
Webcam
Set up skype
Rainbow flip flops
Get navy skirt/white shirt (if I visit a Japanese high school this will be my mock uniform)
Transfer money to yen
Get July 4th stuff (to show to class)
Thank you letter from real parents to host parents
Brownie mix/blueberry muffin mix/microwave popcorn/graham crackers (for host fam)
Regular candy (staburst, skittles, etc)
Post cards

NOTE: Red = done =)

And yeah thats about it! It's not too much, hopefully I can get it all done! :)

Wonderful Weather and Wonderful(ler) News!

2010-05-07T15:39:00.001-04:00

Sooo there was a bunch of confusion, because I got an email talking about a scholarship but I hadn't received any packages in the mail. But today, my dad checked the mail at our old house and it turns out that they sent the info there and...

I GOT A SCHOLARSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

The JUSSE (Japan-US Senate Youth Exchange) scholarship to be exact!!! So exciting! So now I'm going to Japan officially! :] However, turns out the trip leaves June 5th (as opposed to June 15th) and school doesn't let out until June 18th, so I have to get permission from my principal and my counselor to take my finals earlier than all the other juniors. Hopefully they'll let me take them, but there shouldn't be too many problems considering the circumstances, I mean this is JAPAN we're talking about!!! Once in a lifetime opportunity!!!! On a side note, hopefully I get my host family info soon! I'm dying of anticipation to know where I'll be placed XD But patience is a virtue, and now that I know that I'm definitely going, I'm a lot less antsy :)

Scholarships Galooore

2010-04-03T12:57:00.001-04:00

Just. Got. The. Best. News. EVER!!!! Marianna just told me that I am still eligible for a scholarship!!! 2 full rides (wow!) and 2 partial (still wow, every little bit helps ^-^). I just have to answer 5 essay questions, but they seem pretty straightfoward so hopefully I'll be okay. Well, this is the best news I've gotten all spring break! I'm gonna go get cracking on the questions, they're due by Wednesday! (it's Saturday! O_O) I feel so blessed that God has given me so many opportunities so I'm gonna try my best (x a million gillion percent =]) Wish me luck!

:(

2010-04-01T23:33:00.000-04:00

So after months of anticipation and working on my application...I was rejected. I guess I'll never get to Japan =(

APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!! I just got my acceptance package!!!!! I'm going to Japan!! :D

So basically what came with the package was a YFU T-shirt, a student handbook, a parent handbook, and an acceptance letter (*squeal*). Now all that's left is to send the payment :) (which was technically due today...but I didn't really wanna pay if I didn't know if I was accepted or not, but now I do so my mom's gonna be sending it sometime next week) Yay! I hope everything works out...

Now summer just has to hurry up and come faster, although today it was high 73 and sunny so we're getting closer! =)

Monthly Update

2010-03-14T18:47:00.000-04:00

Well, I think I got accepted...? Marianna (my admissions counselor) called me and said, "Oh hey! Everything looked wooonnnderful except we're missing pictures and the payment." Although I did send the check and pictures, but they were at the bottom of the envelope so I'm guessing it got thrown away :( but I sent the check, and I'll send new pictures this week and I guess everything will be "wooonnnderful" for real! ;)

PS: SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!! Where I am (Pennsylvania) it has been so cold and we've had record blizzards, but now it's going to be 63 and sunny for most of the week. I'm so excited :) One step closer to summer! And one step closer to Japan! (I hope T-T)

PPS: Oh and my memorization is going...interesting. Haha..I haven't had much time to memorize so I still only have about 6 memorized. I guess I've gotta step up my game!

In the meantime...

2010-02-11T18:33:00.000-05:00

and to distract myself, I'm going to be self-teaching myself Japanese =) Or more specifically, useful Japanese phrases. There is a Japanese Language School around my house, but it's quite expensive to do a class and I don't want to burden my parents with more costs, so I think this'll be cheaper :) And hopefully effective.

Here's a list of what I'm learning:

Hello: Konnichiwa

How are you?: O genki desu ka?

I'm fine, thanks. And you?: O Kagesama de genki desu.

Where's the toilet? (haha funny, but will probably come in handy): Benjo wa doko desu wa

Thank you very much: Domo arigatou (mr. roboto, haha just kidding but that's how I memorized this phrase)

I'm sorry: Gomen nasai

Excuse me: Sumimasen

How much is this?: Ikura desu ka?

I don't understand. (something I'm probably going to use a lot ^-^ haha): Wakarimasen

Please speak more slowly: Yukkuri hanashite kudasai

Do you speak Japanese?: Nihongo ga hanasemasu ka?

Yes, a little: Hai, hanasemasu.

Have a nice day: Yoi ichinichi o

Good luck: Gokoun o inorimasu

Good bye: Sayonara

Good night: Oyasumi nasai

Pleased to meet you: Hajimemeshite

Welcome: Yokoso

What's your name?: O-namae wa nan desu ka

My name is Jordan: Jordan desu

Where are you from?: Doko kara desu ka?

I'm from the USA: Watashi wa U.S.A. kara desu

And yeah! I think that's all I need to focus on now. So far I've memorized about 6, and I've watched a few Japanese dramas (with English subtitles) to get the right pronunciation, so I'm off to a pretty good start! :D Although I don't even want to think about the Kanji for all those things O_o *head spins*. But I think this is a good list so far, I'll add more if I think it necessary ^^

Konnichiwa!!

2010-02-11T18:29:00.000-05:00

Hi! My name is Jordan and I'm currently 16 years old and I go to school in Pennsylvania. I've always been interested in Japanese language and culture because of my numerous Japanese friends, and I've always wanted to go. At first I was looking into a program called "People to People", however that program is very expensive ($8000 for only 17 days! >.<). So I did a little more research and found a program called Youth for Understanding (YFU). 'They have a bunch of great scholarships, but I applied too late to get one :( However, I instantly fell in love with the concept of the program. Basically, you stay with a host Japanese family for 6 weeks and the cost is under $8000! :) So it took some convincing my parents, but I am going to try and figure out how to raise money... So long story short, I had my interview (nerve racking!! ><) and I'm going to send in my full application (plus the application fee) tomorrow. And then I play the waiting game, the hardest part :( But I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get accepted! :)