Writing the ending to my story, 4 years later. PART ONE.

It has taken me too long to finally bring an end to this blog. Four years ago, I went to Japan as an exchange student in high school.

I'll be honest. There isn't much that I still remember since. As I read back on these blogs, it brought back memories I've long forgotten and brought a smile to my face because of how little significance they have, but yet how strong of an emotion and warmth that they give me. It's still a shame that my old computer crashed because I think I had one or two more blogs just saved in Word Pad that I wrote right after my return, there was also the second part to the Akko blog saved. But what's done is done and I'll try to fit the pieces back together the best I can. I'm grateful for the schedule I posted in blog 73. Now I know what exactly that I'm trying to remember lol

I don't know how many parts I'm going to break this ending up into. I'll try to finish it up quickly though since I'll be focusing on my new adventure in Hong Kong very soon (blog link to the side). I'll definitely write a new post once a week on this blog though. Since I am putting an end to this chapter in my life, I really want to express my gratitude and the feelings from the last few days. So please hang in there with me. I'll try not to make it drag on longer than a month.

As for this post today, I want to try to recall the most I can when living with Akko. So, this is going to be the less detailed version of "Two weeks at Akko's, part 2". This is going to be the hardest to remember.


When I first moved into Akko's I remember feeling like things were different from the other families. Not in a bad way of course, but there was this one thing that stuck out to me. I would come home a few days by myself and her mom asked me if I wanted to go in the ofuro (take a bath). After walking up that GINORMOUS mountain to get to her house in that summer heat, YES, I wanted a bath. But then it occurred to me that I couldn't take one at night then. And that made me sad. I'm kinda picky with when I take showers/baths. Since in Japan (in families) everyone goes to the ofuro at night, and I had to get used to that since I prefer morning. But taking it before night left me with a time gap where I'm sweating again... so after realizing that I tried to avoid the ofuro question.

The family was so kind though, and I guess I didn't mention, but her dad supposedly knew English. He never spoke to me in it though which I'm so glad even now. I didn't see him as often, I don't know what kind of work he did, but we would all sit around on the floor around the table, drinking beer (I didn't but Akko did a lot lol, she loves Sapporo) and snacking on something. I stayed in this big tatami room, I was sleeping on the floor but I didn't mind. There was a day I remember a bunch of Kyuudou friends (Erina, Haruna, Eri(?)etc.) came for a sleepover and we tried to watch a scary movie, "Kuchisake Onna" (The Woman with the Slit Mouth). It was fun even though I can't remember exactly what we were doing but eventually when we decided to sleep I think we made a pillow barrier or I don't know. I know we did something weird but I don't want to type just anything.

Akko has an older sister but I never saw her much. She was a college student. I only met her when she came home for a few days for some reason, maybe it was a school break. I don't really know much more on that.

After I think a week of my stay, I was told that we were getting new visitors. A woman from Hungary and her younger daughter. Akko's family does this every year as far as I was told then. Through this business program they take in one foreigner and it's a home-stay (like me) for them. I don't remember the exact details on what those foreigners did with their program, because I'm assuming they left the house, you know? But I was worried about them having to take care of THREE people now. I felt terrible as if I was intruding on them, but her and her mom told me not to worry about it and that it wasn't a burden at all. I still felt bad.... especially when I had to move to Akko's room to sleep since the new woman and her child had to take the empty tatami room.

I slept on the floor in Akko's room. I didn't mind that.... but I'm sure she minded me being there. She never told me to my face, and it's not like I got any negative feedback from her, but I was invading her personal space. Even I would get upset if our positions were switched. Her room is really small too, so it's not like it was even convenient either. One distinct memory I have in that room was when her and Nozomi (not the same girl I went to the concert with) were making their costumes for the class match.

Another day there were a bunch of stray cats and Myuu was trying to converse with them through our door lol. It was kind of a sad moment though because we tried to help them out and stuff but I think we discovered that the one was hurt and something about we shouldn't touch them. Then I think another day we found the one dead...

While the other two foreginers were staying over, I was doing a lot of back and forth translation for them. Since the dad wasn't around entirely that much and well, they needed to communicate. Her daughter was around five or six I think, she was really young. One day we went to a place called Nikko with Akko's family. It's in Tochigi and it has all these shines and very beautiful temples. It's a huge and a very popular tourist attraction.

I wish I still had my pictures, the structures were absolutely fantastic. And I got to walk up to this grave (well, as close as they would let me) of a famous Tokugawa governor. I think it was Tokugawa times....

Well, here's a picture I managed to find online of one temple.

Sometime during my last few days with Akko's family, they took me with them to this campground-like area where there were more foreigners with that same business exchange program. I think it was like a goodbye ceremony though, I don't think the food was really good either and we didn't eat Japanese-fuu (style) food. But anyway, they made all the girls wear a yukata. It was a surprise to me and I remember them taking me in a room and dressed me. And we all took a picture :)

There was a girl I met there from Indonesia, and I friended her on Facebook during that time but she probably doesn't remember me. That day was a lot of fun too, but I remember just feeling a little out of place. That's really because other than Akko, there was no one there my age. All these people were on business exchange so they're adults near their 30s while I'm an 18 year old lol. I also remember me and this other girl had to wash something in a dirty garage while there.

Then eventually the day came when I had to leave. I was relieved but yet sad. I was glad to go there, me and Akko got to bond a lot more than I think we ever would have if it wasn't for me moving in. Even though we were in the same bukatsu (school club) and everyone in my grade talked to me, I was still on the other side of the room with Tomoka, Nozomi, Ikumi, etc.etc. It was just annoying when that day came. My first host dad came to pick me up, and it just so happened that he and Akko's mom went to the same high school together. Why was I annoyed? Because Rotary gave me such a hard time when I suggested moving in with them. First it was Rotary's fault for screwing me up by telling me one thing, which made me worry, and then it turns out it wasn't going to happen. And because of that, I imposed on Akko and her family.

Rotary told me that they had to find me another host family since four is usually the requirement. I was on my third with a fourth one no where in sight. And they said I would have to go back to my first family. I love my first family, but I felt like they were relieved to have the pressure of taking care of me off their shoulders. And I think the younger girl wanted her bedroom back ( I was staying in it). So I kinda felt very awkward about going back and then that's when I went searching for a family myself.

But Rotary was against it because Akko's family werent 'Rotary Club members' and then when I come back from school seeing my first host dad there laughing with her in the kitchen and then he told me if he knew they might have made my stay there longer. I was like WTF. You ARGUED with me, only allowing me 2weeks with Akko's family because of some bullshit reason and now it turns out it could have been ALLOWED???

I was just plain annoyed with that.

Then I was on my way back to the Takamatsu family, who still from this very day talk to frequently on Skype. I was glad to go back to them, but it was also nice to have a different environment for those 2weeks. And going back to Tajiri to join my main group of friends (they all live in that area of Hitachi) was exciting again. Bike riding to school again!! hahaaa


Well, that's the most of what little things I remember about being with Akko and her family. I'm pretty sure the school sports festival was that last week too.... I'll read back on the previous blogs to see I mentioned anything about the official day and I'll write about that in my next blog if I hadn't.

Once again, thank you for continuing to read! Check back sometime next week and I'll have PART 2 posted!! I'll summarize the events of my last week in Japan, which includes the fireworks at the ocean with all my friends; one of the most unforgettable moments, and one of my most cherished memories I have of my stay in Hitachi, Japan 2008-2009.

Japan Blog 74 (August 7, 2009) It just doesn't feel real.

It just doesn't feel real. I'm going through each day, well knowing that the days are counting down, each number becoming smaller and smaller. But the realization isn't sinking in. Like, it feels like I'll be hanging out with everyone at school again, laughing with them and talking, going to gym class with them and other boring classes, and whenever we feel like it we'll head to karaoke, take purikura, or something. Like, this is just a really long summer vacation. I had to remind myself at the dinner, "I'm not going to school with these people again", I had to remind myself at the fireworks yesterday, "I won't be visiting these people at random moments again", I had to do so many reminders just to get it through my head. But it's not working. Maybe when I actually start packing my last night. Maybe that's when it'll click and I'll finally be able to cry. But I'd rather much cry in front of my friends, because it can at least show that I cared. For all I know, they may think I didn't care at all about them (my classmates) because I didn't break out in tears like Pat did. I think Kyuudou realizes how much they mean to me, I've praised about them many times and in the school goodbye speech, I said a lot about them. I just want it to finally click. I don't want to keep having this feeling of it not being over just yet. It's such a lie.

In any case, after this blog I'm seeing about 4 more blogs and then this Japan adventure is over. I'll post one tomorrow on just random stuff, and I'll post that last Akko blog that I haven't done yet. Then a blog on my last night here and then my final one will be when I return to America, just to give my final thoughts on the whole experience and just random stuff. It's been fun. I was able to keep this up thanks to all the readers.

So, let's start it off.
I last talked about the Omika Matsuri that I went to with Asami, Tomoka, and Nojiri. Then I had 3 days of nothing. Boring, right? I was bored. But I had to make those towels for Kyuudou. Right, I said hankercheifs but at Daiso (a Japanese Dollar Store) they didn't have any plain ones, so I then decided to make them towels instead. I actually didn't finish until like 2 days ago (I became REALLY lazy) but they came out really cool I think (sorry, didn't take any pictures of them. forgot to) especially by the sound and words that everyone said last night when I handed them out. With the random fun with my 3 friends from the festival again on the 30th, we went to Daiso and took purikura then went to Maruto (a food store) and bought food to make Shaapin. Did I mention about that food in the last blog? It's actually Chinese but at the festival I ate it and loved it and suggested that we should make it. And so that was the plan♥ Go to Asami's and make shaapin!

We actually did a good job at that. It came out reallyyyy good. The plan after that was to go to the Batting Center but it looked like it was going to rain so we had to reschedule for the 6th before the fireworks. So, instead we watched a little bit of a Tohoshinki live concert DVD (Asami LOVES Tohoshinki) and then some weird anime called "The World Of Golden Eggs". It's not some normal anime that anime fanatics watch. This show was just sooo funny. It had English subtitles at the bottom, that's just how the show is, guess to make it seem cool or something. But I couldn't stop laughing. You have to watch ep.14 through 17. Wow. As I was reading the subtitles the word "fugly" came up. Pfft! Who uses that word anymore?? More to the laughter. That day was great♥

I got mail from Yuki and we decided to meet up in Mito on the 31st. I was glad that I actually got to meet her again before I left (Yuki is the the exchange student who went to America 2 years ago). We took puri, went to karaoke, and I must complain about that karaoke place. There was NOTHING, NO songs that I like/can sing in it. 9mm Parabellum Bullet wasn't even in it! What the hell kind of karaoke place is that?! But we had fun. And it gave me another day to get out. So I was pleased♥

Then the 1st was the Rotary dinner.
I quickly wrote down a speech, wore a yukata with Kayo and Mami, and went. I got to see Tonpi and Ai again which was awesome and I really enjoyed talking with Ai again. She can drive now, haha. I also got presents from them, a big Kapibara-san pillow (my Kapibara-san collection just keeps building♥yay!) and a picture frame. At the dinner 3 people came to play some traditional music using an old flute and the koto. The guy played the flute and the 2 girls played the koto. It was really pretty, the tune. I then got to try out playing the koto. I only pulled a string but it was sooo cool. Then I gave my speech, said goodbye, and made plans with Ai to meet with her and everyone (Ai's friends) again. I was really looking forward for that.

Tomorrow I'll say about the other days, and post up the Akko blog.
It'll be long and pictures included, so look forward to it!
And also I forgot to mention, recently I uploaded a new video to my YouTube account! It's just of me and Ikumi walking around our school on the last day, so it's kinda like a tour♥

Japan Blog 73 (July 27, 2009) Don't wanna be anywhere else.

むかつく。今の感じはむかつく。なんで私にもわかんない。でも今全部むかつく。
とにかく、また言う。帰りたくない。この夏休みはすーごい楽しい。みんなと一緒に遊んで、でもね　それはたぶん私もうつぐ帰っちゃうから。でも、その理由だったら、どうでもいい。みんなに会える。違う所でいたくない。ここでいい。それだけほしい。だからね、木曜日、いっぱいことを考えた。あとはね、アンドリューと私、ちょっと似てると思う。いや。似てないかもしれない。でもアンドリューは台湾に行くんだ。うちで帰らない。だからね、たまに同じことを考えるかもしれない。うちはどこ？うちは何？いつも好きな場所？そこで笑える？幸せ？楽？愛する人がいる？何それ？私うちがわからない。意味がわからない。なんで違う所ずっとがいたい？どうして？どこでもいい、韓国、日本、ィグリス、中国、ロシア、台湾、なんでも！でも本当のうちにいたくない。もういいか。いつも泣き言やるだよね。
日本はまだ私のうちじゃないけど　このじこうは幸せ。本当の幸せ。

                              
Starting from Thursday, my schedule:
July
23- BBQ at Asami's with Kyuudou friends
25- Tokyo with Kayo
26- Omika Hanabi Matsuri(firework festival) with Tomoka, Asami, and Nojiri
30- Random fun with Tomoka, Asami, and Nojiri
August
1- Rotary goodbye party
2-3- sleep over at Yumi's grandmother's house with others
5- party at Woody's(a restaurant name) with some classmates
6- fireworks at the ocean with Kyuudou Club friends
7- Sendai Matsuri
8- karaoke with Nozomi, Tomoka, Asami, and Nojiri
9- going to America

I think I'm also doing something with my host family on the 28th but it hasn't been made official yet. Then I have to meet with other people yet who want to go for karaoke. But I never got any texts from them yet on when. But I'm busy as you can see. And on the 8th, I can't be happier. The closest group of people I am with in Kyuudou and probably throughout my stay here, they are the last people I'll be seeing. It's really thanks too for how close they live to me though but Nozomi, on the 25th I went to Tokyo and I got a bunch of texts from her. We were just trying to figure out when we could meet again and do something. But like, it just really sounded that she really wanted to see me again. I was really happy. We had a plan to meet on the 8th but then I already forgot I was supposed to meet with Tomoka, Asami, and Nojiri that day to do something. Crap. So then on our way to the Omika Hanabi Matsuri yesterday I was trying to work around this with them. So, plans changed. on the 8th Tomoka and the others decided that Nozomi can join us in karaoke(karaoke was originally planned for the 30th but it changed for this). And I get to go to karaoke. I wish I didn't have to be home for 6 though for some host family party. I would rather stay with the 4 of them all night. Because, I love them.

I took pictures of the things I've received so far. I'll do that last.

Thursday was great. We were planning on shooting fireworks but Akane had to go to piano class early and since she wouldn't be with us we decided to reschedule that to the 6th. First it was the 5 of us, me, Asami, Tomoka, Nojiri, and Nozomi. We did our shopping and in about 2 hours everyone else showed up. Tomoka and Nojiri went to the station to wait for them and me, Asami, and Nozomi were bored at Asami's house. So, we decided to walk to the ocean. I got soaked, and we found a ball and we kept throwing it into the ocean only for it to come back to us with the waves. We were all screaming "Ganbatte!" so it would float to America, so they were saying haha. It was fun just BEING THERE. My cell phone is still alive somehow, pretty soaked when I took it out of my pocket. When we got back my shorts were bad so I had to change into this ugly pair shorts. When everyone came from the station they must have thought I had pretty bad style haha. When it was explained I changed everyone was like, ahh~.

I introduced everyone to smores. Can you believe they've never heard of them? I personally don't think they were too fond of them though haha. And I also received one last thing from them. They made me a poster board thing where everyone wrote a little something. An ichi-nensei drew the picture of me. It's drawn REALLYYYY good. But it's just wow. Kyuudou Club really... proper words I can't describe. I'm just reading them, going to tears. That day was really supposed to be our last meeting. Misaki, Ikumi, and Wakako gave me letters.Wakako was all shocked when we'd be meeting again 'cause then she was telling me to wait until I read the letter then. Gomen, I already read it. I enjoyed myself that day, really. I'm so glad I'm meeting them again. I'm making them all handkerchiefs (before you laugh people actually use them everyday here).

The next day I actually started packing. I have one suitcase done but kapibara-san is inside it... so I think I may have to repack it.

Then I went to Tokyo with Kayo to see some some-what famous person that she really likes in a drama. So I took my picture with him, held his hand, and that's it. But Kayo has the picture since I didn't need it and she wanted it anyway. The guy's name is Daisuke Watanabe. I know absolutely NOTHING about him.
I didn't even think about it at the time when I agreed to go that it would be my last time in Tokyo. In any case, I wanted to buy a backpack for the plane since I'd have a lot of stuff I'd want to carry for the 8 hour wait in Chicago. Found a cute one and I also ended up buying a used version of yes, the Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days DS game. Yes, I now have it in my possession and I am playing it. It's seriously just like the PS2 games. The graphics are great for the DS, it's great to hear voice actors(especially the Japanese ones^^), and I am amazed at the camera controls on the touch screen. You can be fighting or just walking around and stuff, all you have to do is swipe the touch screen and you control the camera position. It moves soooo swiftly and it seriously reminds you of the PS2 movements. Amazing. But I'm bored at the moment. I'm only still playing it because I want to move with the story because every time they show the flashbacks I want to know more! I'm tired of doing stupid missions(><)
The game play is a little different when it comes to leveling up and stuff. You don't just level up. You receive a level up thing then you gotta equip it to you and then you're officially leveled up. And then that stuff gets confusing 'cause there's a different thing of level up that you receive but it's not normal. Maybe it's just confusing to me since it's in Japanese. Can't read all the kanji they spit out at me and I don't understand ALL Japanese words.

I went to Shinjuku as my last stop since I've never been there before and wanted to see it. Shinjuku isn't amazing. But while there I won a Kapibara-san thermos from a UFO Catcher (woo!) and Kayo won Kapibara-san glass cups from another (yay!)
On our way home on the bus we saw some fireworks. That day Tokyo was shooting off fireworks and I saw some while on the bus. And that was my last trip to Tokyo.

Yesterday I went to Omika for a fireworks festival. That was fun. Super hot but still enjoyable. We did a lot of walking just to get there but I think I was the only person the most excited haha. Everyone got tired from walking by the time we got there. I ate the MOST DELICIOUS food I have eaten throughout my entire stay, in Japan. It's not even a Japanese food, it's Chinese. I ate it twice I loved it so much. And I had kakigori (ice cone) with everyone. That's a Japanese summer festival thing. Everyone eats it. And I ate it with my friends, happy^^. I got melon flavor and it was really good. I wonder how yogurt flavor would have tasted.

I wanted to buy a Yatterman mask but the lady said 1,000 yen. WHAT?! Expensiveeee~ And I saw 4 other friends of mine♥ 2 of them wore yukatas and they both were reallyyyy pretty. I was like wow, couldn't believe I knew them. Actually, pretty much everyone who wore a yukata was amazingly pretty. And today I realized how many Japanese people dye their hair. It's crazy.
I saw the fireworks which were great and then we headed back to Hitachi. Lots of fun, that's for sure♥

And now for pictures☆
The first one is of Ayaka and Yumi. I look like crap but aren't they pretty???? I was stunned.

















Since Friday I decided that everyday I'll wear these bracelets. Because they all have meaning.
left to right:
-This is a present from Wakako I received with her letter.
-I received this from Ikumi with her letter. She made it.
-This is the souvenir I received from my class last year when they went to Hawaii
-I received this from Banu, the India exchange student, on my last day of school
-And the bracelet with my name on it I received from English Club
















I got this from Kei on the last day. If you know the clothing brand/store Sex Pot Revenge they have a free little magazine you can take and I guess she's been collecting them. But she had 3 with An Cafe on the cover and so she gave the to me♥
















 This is also from English Club. Every member wrote something in each heart and then I received the mug.


The small picture frame is what all the san-nensei in Kyuudou received from the ni-nensei that I was talking about. The other big picture I received from my teacher of everyone from the class match. In the next Akko blog I'll be talking about the class match, it was ton's of fun. (I also received a video tape of my classmates giving small speeches about random topics. I think me and Pat were supposed to be in it too but we weren't around at the time. I can't wait to watch it when I get to a VHS player.) Then next to that I received from my classmates, everyone wrote a small message.


Then this is from Kyuudou, the san-nensei. The poster board with everyone's short message and then the huge photo album. I'm so grateful for the photo album. I'll never forget any of them♥


Asami, Tomoka, Me, Asuka (Nojiri) at the Omika Matsuri

Japan Blog 72 (July 10, 2009) Two weeks at Akko's, part 1

{From about 2 weeks ago}

Today will be my 5th night at Akko's house. Nothing THAT exciting has been happening here.I think I've figured out how most people here are so skinny. Depending on what club you're in and how you get to school, that factors A LOT. Take Akko for example. She hardly goes to club but when she does she walks there. Akko also walks to school. To get to club it takes about 15-20 mins. To get from her house to school, 30 mins. Not to mention, she lives on one of the STEEPEST hills I've ever had to walk on. Going home is troublesome just trying to climb it. Then she only eats a little. Her bento is tiny. At night she eats, but not everything. Now that I think about it though, when I get home after walking that hill, I hardly want to eat, too. You just become not hungry. But I already know that coming was a good idea. For one thing, I'm not fed as much as I was at my last house. And if she decides to give us a snack it's usually a fruit. Then I have to walk to school. Haven't done that as of yet because of rain and Class Match practice, but I've been walking home everyday. Not to mention, I decide to go to club. I ride my bike to club. Then I have to ride it back to school. From school I walk home. Exercise. I've already noticed my stomach became much flatter. Very shocked. I can't believe it took me like a year to get it like this! NO WAY am I going back to regular American eating habits. I'm not getting fat again. I'm sticking with salads for the rest of my life. No, I'm going to eat cabbage for the rest of my life.

There's a cat in the house, too!
She's not even  a month old yet and is sooo cute! She's a black cat and her name is Myu. Then Akko has an older sister, Haruka. She's a 2nd year student in college. I'm sleeping on the floor again, only have my suitcase, and Kapibara-san♥ It's nice so far though, can't complain much. Tuesday I bought the new Perfume CD, ⊿ (Triangle), and I went to karaoke with Asami and Tomoka. Let's talk about Perfume, it's a great album. You have the songs "Love the World", "Dream Fighter", and "One Room Disco" included on it and their song "Nigh Flight" from their Pino commercial. Then there's a remix of "Edge" which is great and an album version of "願い" which is better than the original on the Dream Fighter single CD. As for the other songs, I really only like 2 of them. "I Still Love U" and "The best thing". The chorus is sooo addicting but besides those 2 I don't like the others. It's hard to say which I like better. The GAME album or this album. This album has a great track list but I think when it comes to non-single songs the win goes to GAME. By the way, did you know Nocchi has a boyfriend? The singer of the band Straightener. I've only heard of the name, not sure if their music is any good or anything...
This is Myu♥ Isn't he/she adorable??!!



Yesterday was interesting I think. We had gym, after our exercise with the music we practiced class jump roping. It's for the class match. You run into a spinning jump rope, jump once, and get out. The whole class goes it and they count. Well I'm bad at it. I can get in and STAY in but for how fast everyone moves through this, I can't get out without getting caught in the rope. It's SUPER fast. So I decided to stand out with Ayami and count. The teacher came over to me and asked why I wasn't doing it. I told him I'm bad at it. He then tells me to follow him. He went, grabbed another rope and tied it to a railing, told me to practice. Embarrassing, right? He's not a mean teacher either, don't worry. He made me jump through it like 3 times before he told me to stand in line to jump with my class.And I couldn't do it there either except once, haha. Then we went outside for dodge ball. I didn't mention this before I think. For the class match you can decide whether you want to do dodge ball, volleyball, ping pong, or soft tennis. But if you're either in the volleyball or soft tennis clubs you can't do that for the class match. So, everyone isn't in dodge ball with me. I find it much easier to move around outside for dodge ball, I guess 'cause your feet slide easier in the dirt.

I was doing a lot better, too☆ I was the last person for my class standing in the one match. It's scary trying to avoid getting hit by a ball coming at you from all sides. I eventually got out but I put up a fight! Then, another match with 6 kumi, I'm not sure what I was doing but eventually 5 kumi started cheering me on! I only know liike 3 people in 5 kumi and only 1 of those people are in in dodge ball. Then when I got out everyone was like, "Tasha!" in that "aw~" tone. I thought something ws wrong at the time until after school when I gave Nocchan the Perfume CD. She's the only person in the 5 kumi dodge bal that I know. She says to me out of nowhere, "Tasha, I saw you playing dodge ball! Amazing! Did you hear 5 kumi saying your name?" That's when I figured it out that it was like cheering. Very surprised but happy(^^) And that was my day at school.

I think I might be going to karaoke with Akane and others. Not sure if she made it official that she's going yet. And this week is the last week of Kyuudou Club. Sunday is the last day and our party. Next week is the Class Match, sooo looking forward to it♥ Then in 2 weeks school's over for summer vacation. Tomoka was telling me how last year during summer vacation, her, Nojiri, and Asami, at least 2 times a week they went to karaoke. That sounds like so much fun! Still can't wait for the BBQ/fireworks. We've decided to do a BBQ too, and I think we're going to make yakisoba♥ I LOVE yakisoba, yummyyummy♥♥♥
☆I got a 21 on my math test☆Only 5 questions correct☆

Japan Blog 71 (July 23, 2009) The days are ticking away, and now it's summer vacation

It sucks. I wasn't even thinking about how much time I have left. Not until someone mentioned it to me. Then it really took me by surprise. Do I really only have like 2 weeks left? It really doesn't feel like that. Like, I know time is ticking but it just doesn't seem that SOON. I hate it. That's why I just want to spend my remaining days with everyone. I understand that it's summer vacation, people have to study, so I'll wait till we can. Besides, my schedule has already started to fill up. I'm already running low on free days, everyone wants to do stuff with me. Karaoke, purikura, etc. So, I'll be busy... not entirely sure that's a good thing.

In any case while at Akko's I typed up 2 blogs. I'll post them up tomorrow. I had so much fun there, I do regret not being able to stay there longer. Also for 3 days of my stay there another foreigner stayed at their house, a lady from Hungary. She's with some business related exchange program called EU. Akko's family does this every year, they take someone from this program for 3 days. The lady from Hungary though also brought along her 4 year old daughter with the program. So, there was me, plus 2 other foreigners in the house. I had to do some translating for the lady since she didn't know Japanese at al that well. She knows English because she said she studied in America for 4 years. I really did have a lot of fun at Akko's though. Explanations in those blogs.

As for today.
Simply... moved.

Today was the last day of school. I gave my goodbye speech. In my goodbye speech I mentioned that I thought going to an all-girls school would definitely not be fun because there were no guys. As soon as I said that EVERYONE laughed. This speech was said to the whole school. Yeah, on stage. Afterwards a few people came up to me and laughed saying how they couldn't believe I said that,  that you don't say things like that here (in a good way). I'm glad I got them to laugh though. I see that as an accomplishment. I brought my DS to school today and so did about 4 other people. We all challenged each other at Mario Kart. I was given a party with Andrew (the other American here. He's been here for 4 years with a help-teach-English program and he's leaving the same day as me, I'll probably see him at the airport (haha)). We were given a poster that everyone signed. I have yet to read what everyone wrote. We entered the classroom and party poppers exploded, surprising me (haha). EXILE was played throughout. Once again everyone said a little something just like they did with Pat. I hugged everyone afterwards. And I saw the solar eclipse at school today. Really amazing I thought.

I'm really impressed with Andrew.
He's going home to America but then he's soon going to Taiwan to study Chinese for I think 4 years. It's that just AMAZING? This guy, I'm just thinking about how much he's accomplishing, what he's accomplishing, and I'm so jealous (haha). I want to do the same things as him. My next stop would be South Korea♥ He wants to work for the NGO. Sounds like fun actually. I've met so many people here who really made me think. Made me think of how many opportunities there are out there to do such amazing things, you just need to work hard to get there. I want to accomplish what he is too.

The day ended with the Kyuudou ichi and ni nen-sei and then English Club. At English Club I received a bracelet, a mug, and a... I'm not sure what to call it. It's not a poster... poster board like foldy thing? In any case, everyone wrote inside it.
For Kyuudou the ni-nensei asked for all the san-nensei to meet in the garden area of the school. This is where I was truly moved. I've never seen such people before. This may just be Japanese culture but I seriously don't think EVERY club does this sort of thing. For the san-nensei the ni and ichi-nensei gave us all a picture frame with a picture saying, "Thank you for everything! We will miss you!" Then it had the initials of all the san-nensei. It's just WOW. Then the san-nensei had something for me and Yuka, the ni-nensei going to America this year for an exchange. Photo albums. Yuka's was pretty small, but mine is HUGE and it's completely filled with pictures of just everyone from Kyuudou Club, mostly taken from Kyuudou. The cover has the word LOVE on it and pictures are inserted in them. I... I just don't know what to say. I've never... my words can't possibly explain how much these people have become to me. Kyuudou... everyone is just amazing. Incredible. I don't know how many times I've already flipped though the pages today. Then I received an envelop filled with letters from the ni and ichi-nensei. Short, small letters, but I was still happy. I've read all of those already. I have to take a picture of everything.
Then puri at Yokado. It was raining really bad and was soaked by the time I got there to meet with Tomoka, Asami, and Nojiri. Stupid me had no umbrella.

Then later today (it's like 3 am right now) I'm meeting up with 10 san-nensei from Kyuudou and we're all shooting fireworks at the ocean♥ We're also doing a BBQ too so first we're out shopping, 3 of us that is, at 12ish. Then everyone will probably show up around 3. We're making yakisoba♥ Today, I can't wait. It'll probably be the last time I see everyone together like this again. Probably the last time I'll see about 5 of them. How many times now that I've said this? Joining Kyuudou has seriously been the greatest decision I've made here. These people, my friends, are unbelievable. I don't want to part. Summer vacation isn't supposed to be a sad thing.　さよなら。本当に言いたくない。みんなが大好き♥

Japan Blog 70 (July 6, 2009) Next Level

Ayumi Hamasaki's song "Next Level" just came on my ipod.

So, today after school I'm going to Akko's house for 2 weeks. My 4th time changing houses. Originally the plan was to be there for a month but Rotary went against it, only letting me stay for 2 weeks. Bummer. Well, I'm kinda happy about that though. 'Cause that way I'll be back in the Tajiri area for summer vacation, closer to my more closer friends. We can ride our bikes to do something if we want, go to the ocean for example. It's amazingly close to where I live right now. Unlike back at the Fukaya's where I took that hour walk just to get there. The ocean is sooo close. I can't wait for the day we do fireworks(^^)

Not much has been happening.
Just the tests, and well, here at home something happened (haha). So, the first day the tests started I came home early. Kayo and Mami were home and they started talking about DDR. They got so curious about it that they went searching for the dance pad, game, and playstation. They found the playstation and dance pad but no games. Real letdown for them. So they thought of going to the Book Market to buy it (the Book Market sells old games, CDs, and books). So we went there but there were no DDR games. I wanted to look for some Sailor Moon mangas while I was there. And I found one! They had volume 6 there! Not much at all but then they also had volume 1 and 2 of the Sailor V manga! So, I grabbed all 3 books. Guess how much for one book? 55 yen! That's like 50 cents people. I wasn't expecting it to be THAT cheap. But in any case, I then suggested this other book/old video game/CD/DVD store that was down the road, Book Off. We went there and we found 3 different DDR games, they bought 2 of them. Came home, and we played DDR. Wow, I really missed it. The only thing that sucks though is that there's only like 8 songs available on each game and the songs aren't that great. But still, DDR.

Then Mami brought out their Nintendo. Not a Nintendo 64, the very first Nintendo. I haven't seen one of those things since I played with one as a kid. Last night I was playing the Bomber Man game with her on it. I suck. Badly. I kept killing myself because I walked too close to my own bombs or I trapped myself next to my own bomb. Then I kept stealing her lives (haha). Actually, her and Okaa-san are downstairs playing it now (they should get some sleep haha). It's veryyyy addicting.

Nocchan got me into another band. I guarantee if any of you look up this band on YouTube or wherever you're going to hate them. When Nocchn gave me the CD I wasn't expecting what I heard. To be honest, even when I first heard it I didn't like it, but it's grown on me now. I guess because I really like screaming in music and they sure do it a lot in this album "Second". The band is called "Midori" and a girl is singing throughout. Their music is hard to describe. It doesn't quite follow a tune most of the time, it becomes heavy punk to then hearing the piano and her screaming tones down or stays high. It's quite insane. You should check out a few songs just to check it out. Quite interesting and they aren't indie, they're major. I like them at least.

Sailor Moon again.
Today I went to Fukushima with Kayo and Okaa-san to pick up the grandmother at the grandfather's house. While in Fukushima we saw a Book Off and me and Kayo wanted to go. I wasn't expecting to find as many Sailor Moon mangas as I did. I bought 10 Sailor Moon mangas today. The only thing was that each book was 105 yen. Not as cheap as the Book Market but still, that's not a regular price, can't complain. I have all the books up to 15 except I don't own 1, 2, 3, or 11 yet. At Book Off I saw a pack of wrapped books. First 30 books of Inuyasha for just 1,300 yen. Mouth dropper. Do you realize how amazingly cheap that is?? I got ripped. 10 books of Sailor Moon for 1,055 yen.

At school Tomoka was telling me how she thinks she has the goblet that Sailor Moon had in the Super series. 4 of them. And if they weren't all icky and stuff she'd give one to me. Exciting, right?(^^) Well, I got a text from her today saying that "she has something she wants to give me tomorrow. But it's BIG, is that okay?" The goblet came in my head but then when I said that she sends back, "there's that but also something else". I'm sooo excited for tomorrow! I wonder what it is^^(haha) I feel like such a little kid. And I must sound like an idiot to a lot of people reading this. Oh well. To be honest, I don't even care about anime anymore. Sailor Moon is like the only anime I'll ever hang onto through my life. I probably won't watch it when I return back since it's been so long since I've watched anime. I've lost my interest.
But seriously, the Sailor Moon manga is such a romance manga. I was surprised to see how much of a romance manga it is and not such as a kid's manga in that sense.The manga makes Mamoru and Usagi look so much closer with each other. They killed the anime by not adding the cute scenes with Mamoru and Usagi. And the anime made Usagi-chan look so weak.

Tuesday I buy the new Perfume CD, Triangle. I listened to "Night Flight" today. I like the song but I just have this really bad feeling that the CD isn't going to be that great. Like, the GAME album will be A LOT better. I'm hoping I'm wrong about that. It's just, 4 of the songs on the album aren't new and there's only 9 songs on the album. In any case, I'll know for sure on Tuesday.

So yeah, 2 weeks until my next blog. I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun at Akko's. I told her we need to have a scary movie party and Erina and 2 other Kyuudou friends said they wanted to come over for it. I'm looking forward for it^^ My current Sailor Moon collection^^

Japan Blog 69 Let's catch up on Things {PART 2}

弓道部 / Two weeks ago was our final Kyuudou taikai (for the san-nensei at least) we all went and I took pictures since it would be our last. The ni-nensei made this awesome star-goodluck thing that must have like 500 small paper cranes hanging from it. They even made us a heart strap to put on our bags or somewhere that says in Japanese to "goodluck, hit the target!" well, that's not the exact meaning but close to it. Really awesome (picture below). Thing is too, we won! It's been awhile since Hitachi Niko won into the finals. And since we won, that meant that our school would participate in that Sunday's taikai! If we didn't win we wouldn't have participated. But unfortually that had to be the following Sunday. That Sunday was me and Nocchan's trip to Tokyo, RIN TOSHITE SHIGURE!!! So, that Sunday me and Nocchan went but we had to leave early, like 1-ish. So we didn't get to see the entire thing. In the end though we didn't win the taikai on Sunday, but in Ibaraki-ken our school placed #6 (^^). At the Sunday taikai Akko brought in UNO cards to play. I wanted to build a card castle when they were done. And I did. You should have seen it! I used ALL the cards (except 2 but that can't be helped) and it was sooo tall and awesome. As I was working on it, messing up, rebuilding, people were watching me. Then the pictures snapped away when I was done. Look at this thing! I have some weird obsession with card castle building. I love doing it. And I can't stop. And that was my last 2 taikais. It was a lot of fun, and I'm going to miss them.












































ひろくん / Not much on this one. But after the Saturday taikai I met up with a ichi-nensei from Mito Ichiko, a reallyyy smart high school in Mito. His name is Hiro and he is CUTE♥ We took purikura together, and I surprised my friends who were still hanging around in Mito when they ran into me. I got a longgg stare from Yuka and her friends and then Nozomi (not the one I went to Tokyo with) asked me if he was my boyfriend when I stuck in the elevator with her and another friend. Embarrassing, haha. But I had fun^^ Picture of us in my album.

あっこちゃんの家、ひっこし / This coming Monday I'm going to Akko's house for 2 weeks. I probably won't have the internet at all. Two weeks with no blogs, no contact with America. I think it's going to be a lot of fun though so I'm excited. And I wanna be somewhere new for a little bit. Even the cigarette smoke is starting to bother me. Her dad knows English which is pretty awesome, but not really a good thing, depending on how much he wants to speak it with me. I say that now but in truth if he chooses to speak it with me I probably won't mind since he's the only one who knows it. Akko sure doesn't haha.

テスト / We have tests starting tomorrow. Yesterday I really felt like a student. I went to the library with Shiori (Lettuce), Kanako, and Ramosu to study. I tried to study math but yeah, I gave up after awhile and read Sailor Moon. Today Ikumi said she'd stay after school and teach me math if I wanted. YAY! So, Ikumi helped a bit today. Not sure if I'll fully get everything for the math test Tuesday but I'm gunna try. After the test I'm heading to Yokado to buy the new Perfume CD! Really it's to be released on Wednesday but since I preordered it I can get it a day early. Then after that I'm going to karaoke with Tomoka, Nojiri, and Asami (if others come, not sure). And some time after the tests we're going to the Book Market to find the Sailor Moon mangas! Exciting, right?

クラスマッチ / I mentioned about the Class Match awhile ago. I said my class was going to make Yattaman costumes and that I was super excited. A few weeks back we changed our mind because it would be difficult to move in it and the materials would be expensive. So we decided to do costumes from all different countries. We have a group of Cowboys, Arabians, Mexicans, and the Japanese who are wearing yukatas. I'm in the Cowboy group just because I wanna do it and it'll match me (haha). Kanako came up with the idea that we should have water guns with us. Not everyone is doing that but I agreed with her so we're doing it. It's going to be a lot of fun, only issue is that I've never sewn in my life. Making this costume is going to be hell. And Japanese dodge ball is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from American dodge ball. And I must say, for only throwing one ball around it's VERY scary. I'm doing dodge ball in the class match. When I signed up for it I didn't think it was different from American dodge ball. Japanese dodge ball is like American prisoner dodge ball. You have people in your area and then you send 4 people out to the other teams area on the outsides. The goal is to get everyone in the inside out. But if you're in the inside and you get hit out you're not "out", you move to the other teams area with the other outside people of your team and you try to get that team's inside people out. You're never "out" in this dodge ball. You just move to outside if you were inside. Sounds confusing, right? Just think of it as prisoner except when you hit someone from the prisoner's line you don't go back in.

And that was my 2 part blog catching up on a variety of things. I'll try for one more before my 2 week absence. YAY SAILOR MOON!!!