Monday, December 26, 2005
Call of the Season:Well, I figured since I hadn't posted since I got back, now was a good time to do so. But I guess you people can't complain since I did make a post for every single day since the day I arrived and left Japan. And if you know me and how much I love to update my blog...well yeah...
I went to my grandparents house on the 23rd to celebrate Christmas with the extended family on my mother's side. I got a lot of clothes, most of which I will wear...surprisingly. I guess my relatives do know something when it comes to fashion these days. Well then again, I guess I can’t talk because the only thing I like to wear is whatever is comfortable…most of the time. Yes, I’m a tomboy and everyone and their brother knows it. But even so, I do like to be a girl every now and then…gasp. We stayed the night at my grandparent’s, and I was just happy enough to actually sleep in a bed this year. Last year I got the couch, and even though I can pretty much sleep anywhere, if there are better options, I will take them. The next morning we had breakfast and then left for home.
I had to go to church in the afternoon, which I wasn’t too thrilled about, but at least it was the “children’s themed” service, so it wasn’t that bad. They usually dedicate one of the services to kids in which they read a children’s book related to the Christmas story. I saw a few people at the service whom I hadn’t seen since I left for Japan, so it was nice to catch up for as social as I am.
As tradition, every year we get to open up one present on Christmas Eve. This present is pre-chosen by the parents and usually contains pajamas and something else. Well, I got some new pajamas and the Volume III series of Family Guy…sweet. I stayed up all night playing video games and chatting online to random people before I finally decided to go off to bed.
I was awoken the next day by my sister and we went out to see the presents “Santa” had given us. After that we opened gifts from the family. I got some clothes I’d probably never wear, but there were a few I would. I also got a few games for PlayStation 2 and X-Box that I had asked for. PlayStation 2: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Shadow of the Colossus, and Soul Calibur III. X-Box: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and Castlevania: Curse of Darkness.
I am currently playing Call of Cthulhu and it’s been pretty good so far. Damn you editors of Game Informer telling me that it was crap! Liars! Well, it has parts that could’ve been improved on, but so does every other game. I haven’t played enough of it to give it a rating, but I would recommend it to any gamer.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
12/10/05After my hour nap, I decided that I needed to go off to the post office as soon as I could before we left. A few things couldn’t fit in my luggage, and it was just best to send it separately. Also, if my bags were over a certain weight limit, I would have had to pay the equivalent of $230. Not my idea of fun. So, I went to the post office and mailed my package and walked back to the dorm. For some reason I noted that the walk to the office and back seemed to be not quite as long as usual. Maybe I was finally getting used to living at Mukogaokayuen. Too bad that once I really got acquainted with it, I have to leave.
I packed up the rest of my things and re-arranged my bed back to how I first found it and then waited downstairs for Ben, Michael, and Thomas to meet downstairs around 9:00 a.m. The R.A.'s and a few other people woke up to see us off as well. On the way out Thomas forgot that his slippers were still on his feet and forgot to change into shoes. After that we thought we were finally off, but as soon as we reached the bottom of the hill, Thomas realized that he left his passport and money back at the dorm. We waited a few more minutes for Thomas to return and then walked to the station. I was just glad that I sent my huge bag off to the airport before-hand. It was already a pain in the butt to carry everything else.
We rode the Odayku Line one last time to Shinjuku. We somehow decided that we wanted to go up a level to reach a certain side of the station. So since we had tons of luggage with us, riding the elevator seemed quite logical. Well, the elevator was only big enough to fit two of us and our luggage. Michael and Thomas rode up first and then Ben and I followed. Well, somewhere in-between that time, we got split up. So, Ben and I just decided to continue on ourselves. We rode on the Yanamote to Nippori and then took the Keisei Line to Narita Airport. That train ride was about an hour or so. We actually got on a local train at first, but noticed the problem and switched at another station. The ride all-together took about three hours or so by train, but at least it was the cheapest route.
I picked up my big bag at the delivery service and then Ben and I checked in our things. It was quite nice at the time because no one else was checking in and we got in right away. I had to have one of my bags hand inspected and the lady inspecting my bag noticed that I bought a kimono. After a pleasant talk in Japanese about my study abroad and my time in Japan, Ben and I finally checked in at the counter.
Our next step was to find something to eat. We walked up to the food court and found some deliciously cheap yakisoba and some melon fanta. After eating we decided to sit outside on the observation deck since it was such a nice day. While we were sitting there an airplane otaku (a person obsessed with planes) was there taking millions pictures of the planes taking off and landing at the airport. I can’t even imagine how much film he used just to take pictures of planes. I looked over at him once and could have sworn he took a picture of me, and I gave him a funny look. He was also taking pictures of people on the observation deck as well, so I guess I wasn't the only one.
It started to get a little windy and cold so Ben and I moved inside and collapsed on one of the tables in exhaustion. Our flight wasn't until 5:50, and we had about three hours to go. After we got bored with sitting at the table we walked around the airport a bit and eventually ran into a few other UNL students, including Michael and Thomas.
The four of us re-united and went through the gate were our carry-on luggage was checked. When then made our way through customs and then made the long trek to our gate at the airport. At the gate I set up camp by an outlet and plugged in my laptop to play Step Mania. When I got bored with that, I played War with a few other people.
After some War, it was time to board the plane and prepare for our twelve-hour flight. We boarded the plane and did a little seat arrangement with other people so that we could sit closer to each other. We then taxied out to the runway, and flew over Japan. It was extremely pretty to see the ground all lit up. There were lights as far as the horizon stretched. Sure there were empty spots here and there, but was interesting was that I could even read some of the neon signs on a few of the buildings. Finally after ten minutes or so, we came to a band of light that stretched far into both directions. After that, there was darkness. We had finally left Japan, but I know my memories will still remain.
Soon afterwards, I fell fast asleep. Woke up and fell asleep quite a few times. I think I made a grand total of three trips to the bathroom. We landed in Chicago about an hour ahead of schedule. I called my mom on the phone and talked to her for awhile and waited for our next flight to Lincoln, and I waited longer each time they changed the time of departure. It was snowing up in Chicago, and visibility wasn’t so good. So as a result, flights were delayed or cancelled, and people got pissed off.
Eventually, we left the airport 30 minutes after we were supposed to have arrived in Lincoln. When I arrived at the Lincoln airport I was greeted by three of my mother, father, three of my sorority sisters (Pam, Kate, and Kimberly), and one of my good friends (Becca). It was nice to have such a warm welcome from everybody. I really appreciated it.
My parents drove me home back to Omaha. We had planned on getting some steak for dinner, but thanks to the snow, it never happened. We ordered pizza back at home, which was nice to have since I never ate since I left. Pizza in Japan is really expensive for some reason, about $30 for just a medium, so yeah, I just passed on that and waited till I got back home. After pizza, I handed out souvenirs to my family and passed out on the couch, and was later relocated to the bed.
Friday, December 09, 2005
12/9/05Around 9:00 a.m. or so, I got an announcement over the intercom to pick up the phone because my host-mother was on the other line. This kind of thing makes me wish my cell phone still had service. I had asked my host-mother if she could help me put on my kimono, and she agreed. Soon afterwards, I was informed that it was alright for me to join the other girls that were being fitted with kimonos for the completion ceremony today.
I went back to bed for a little bit and woke back up around lunchtime. I took my big bag downstairs so that the delivery service could come pick it up. I grabbed my kimono and other effects and walked up to Building No. 9 to the International Affairs Office to be fitted with my kimono. As I was being fitted, my host-mother showed up and lent me a few pieces of Mamiko’s kimono eventhough I already had them. I wasn't about to say no, so I put them on. She also brought some really pretty flower pins to put in my hair as well.
After being fitted, I walked up to the 7th floor where the first part of the completion ceremony was to begin. There, the teachers gave a little speech and presented us with certificates and a few other things. After that, we went down to the cafeteria to continue the ceremony. My host-mother met up with me once again and after a toast, the next part of the ceremony began.
At the ceremony the host-families that attended were asked to give a little speech, and the Senshu Exchange Students as well. My speech was rather simple, and I only wish I knew more of it to have given a better thank you to everyone. But I think they got the idea. After the speeches and a few skits, I went back downstairs to take the kimono off. When I got there, they said that since the kimono was mine and not the schools, I could wear it for the rest of the night and return the things I borrowed to wear the kimono.
There was a tea party back at the dorm, but I wanted to hang out a bit more with my host-mother one last time. I told her that the manager of the store where I bought the kimono mentioned that she wanted to see the kimono I had bought there on me. We walked to the store and the store manager was delighted to see me again. She took a few pictures and said that she would hang them up in the store to show them off to the customers.
After some picture taking and chatting my mother decided that she wanted to take me to a coffee-shop. We went to a coffee-shop that was right above the 99 yen store. My host-mother and I had a pleasant conversation and I had mentioned to her that I wanted to buy a certain present for my father, but I couldn't find it. She said that she would help me find it and then we went shopping at Daiei. We eventually found what I wanted to get and my mother insisted on paying and paying for it to be wrapped in gift wrap.
After waiting for the gift to be wrapped, my host-mother got me some taiyaki with sweet beans and cream cheese inside. I actually happen to love taiyaki, but never tried it with crème cheese inside. We decided to get two of them and then walked all the way back to the dorm.
Back at the dorm I took of the kimono and remembered what it was like to breathe again. My host-mother and I had another pleasant conversation down in the T.V. room while munching on our taiyaki. After the talk, it was time for my host-mother to return home. We exchanged farewells and then I went back upstairs to finish packing.
When I finished packing all that I could pack at the time, I started to work on making a card for Saizeriya. It was all of us who decided that we needed to make them a card for all their trouble with having to deal with us all the time. I finished the card, had people sign it, and waited around for Ben and Michael to finish packing.
We left for Saizeriya around midnight, and while on our way there, we ran into Justin, Nick, Yuki, Tai, Kengo, Murasaki, and the rest just after they got out of karaoke. They decided to join us for Saizeriya one last time as well. All ten of us ate our last feast at the awesomest Japanese-Italian restaurant and then presented them with the card. They were quite surprised and thanked us. We also explained that we were returning tomorrow (or today rather) and that this was the last time we'd visit there. After exchanging farewells once again, we walked back to the dorm.
Back at the dorm I did a small load of laundry and then took a shower. Ben, Michael, Murasaki, and I then decided to play on my Super FamCom until 5:00 a.m. I had planned on staying up all night, but I just couldn't take anymore. I also had to mail a package home since I didn't have enough room in my luggage. I was happy to find out that the post-office is open 24 hours, so I decided to mail it in the morning before I left. I then finally decided to go to bed and take a nap.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
12/8/05We only had two sessions of Japanese class. We got our tests back and reviewed them in class. I did better than I thought I did, which was a little bit of a shock. After class we celebrated no more classes with a vest session. When we finished vesting we went to the au store to cancel the service on our cell phones. After we did that Ben and I went and got some ramen downtown by the Book Off.
I needed some shoes for my kimono that I was going to wear for tomorrow's completion ceremony, so I then went to the Daiei to try my luck finding some shoes. I went up to the kimono section and bought some zori and tabi (sort of like socks) After that I did some more gift shopping for people and then returned back to the dorm.
When I got back I started packing and that took a couple of hours. Dinner time rolled around, so Ben and went to get some Hiroshima-yaki, which is Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. After dinner we did some more vesting and I finally got up to 300 or so points. When we finished vesting I got some drinks to mix with the left over alcohol I had.
I got back to the dorm and did some more packing. I finally finished later on, di some video game playing, and then went off to bed exhausted.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
12/7/05Today we had our final examination. I was happy that it wasn't cumulative, but it was still hard for me to do none the less. I stayed up most of the night studying for it, so it sort of seemed kind of like a waste. The test went alright of course, but after the test I realized that I made a lot of stupid mistakes. Oh well. I get a grade from the university, but it doesn't count towards my G.P.A.
After the test I went with Ben to Akihabara. We ate a late lunch at that awesome ramen place and then searched around for a Super FamCom, which is the Japanese equivalent of a Super Nintendo. I eventually found one and bought seven games for it. It ended up being about $100 for it all, so I consider it an awesome deal.
While we were shopping, we got stopped by two college students doing a survey for a class. They asked us a lot of questions about Akihabara and what we thought of Japan. The interview was pretty fun and when it was over they thanked us for our time.
After shopping around, we rode back to Mukogaokayuen and then to the dorm. I decided to try out my new, used Super FamCom. A few of the games worked, but many of them didn't. Ben discovered the problem of the game cartridges being dirty, so we borrowed some rubbing alcohol and q-tips to clean them. This fixed the problem and then we played and tested out the games.
After playing a few games I went downstairs to do one last project for class and chatted online for awhile. After having my fill of fun on the internet, I got ready for bed. I decided to return back to the second floor classroom and started a new game of Super Metroid. I then finally went off to bed an hour later around 3:00 a.m.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
12/6/05I woke up late again thanks to my alarm and only made it to three sessions of Japanese. We reviewed for the test tomorrow and took a kanji quiz. After class we went to Mos Burger for lunch. When we finished lunch, we returned to the dorms and I took a nap. A few of the others went out vesting, and I thoroughly enjoyed my nap.
I woke up and made an awesome dinner of gyoza (pot-stickers) and cereal. After dinner I decided to study for the test tomorrow and somehow fell asleep. I was re-awoken around 1:00 a.m. when I got a call from Ben saying that he, Justin, and Michael were going to Saizeriya, and that I was required to come along.
We went to eat and then returned sometime around 2:00 a.m. and I continued to study for the test, with a few breaks of Step Mania here and there. I threw in some laundry and I eventually went back off to bed around 6:00 a.m.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Picture Update:Picture from more of my adventures around Japan, my home-stay family, the slumber party, and other funny and random pictures HERE
12/5/05
This morning we didn't have our regular classes because we had our final Japanese presentations. My presentation went fairly well, and I did a lot better after I reviewed and studied it last night. There were also a lot of funny presentations as well. Michael's presentation was on zombies and Justin's was about ninjas. It was just right since we had too many of the standard, boring presentations. I thought that my home-stay family mentioned that they would come, but I wasn't for sure. In the end they never showed up, but that’s probably my fault for not telling them the exact details. I'm pretty sure I would have been a lot more nervous had they showed up as well.
After all the presentations were over, a few of us walked back to the dorm to drop off our things and then go vesting. We could only vest for a short while because eventually everyone got out of classes, and a lot of people started showing up. After vesting I did a little grocery shopping and headed back to the dorm.
Back at the dorm I took an afternoon nap and then woke up to make some dinner. After dinner, I joined a few of the others to watch "Snatch" in the T.V. room. By the time the movie was over, it was 11:00 p.m., and I had to study for our kanji quiz the next day. After doing some studying and some journaling, I watched the rest of "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children," and then went off to bed.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
12/3/05I slept in late today. A few of the others wanted me to come along with them to the giant book off in Nagayama, but I decided to stick behind and hang around the dorm. Eventually the group returned, and I joined them for some ramen down by the station.
After dinner we went back to the dorms. On our way back we ran into a headless Santa in front of a pharmacy. I swear, we didn’t do anything to it. So we decided to take various pictures with the headless Santa and many of them turned out to be quite hilarious. Back at the dorm, I hung out for awhile with everyone until a few of us decided to watch "The Big Lebowsky" together in the second floor classroom. After the movie was over I went off to bed.
Friday, December 02, 2005
12/2/05We didn't have our regular Japanese classes this morning because we went up to Building No. 9 to practice our final Japanese presentations. For the time it took for all six class members to finish their presentations, we had two sessions left. Instead of going back up to Building No. 2, we went up to the 5th floor to the International Affairs Office to have class. Other classes were up there as well working on their projects as well. It was kind of interesting to have all different kinds of classes all meshed together. Instead of having actual class, the teacher talked to us individually about our presentations and gave us suggestions. She talked to me for about fifteen minutes and then said that my presentation was fine as it was. So I basically surfed the internet and talked to my mom online for awhile as I did the reading assignment the teacher passed out to us.
After class I made some dinner and then watched "Hot Shot Part Duex" in the T.V. room. After that we had a small get-together in the dorms with some alcohol, but nothing too serious. I like the smaller parties, they are much more interesting…and less noisy. Most everyone else went to Shibuya to go to dance clubs to celebrate their last free-Friday in Japan. I really didn't want to spend that much money and hate socializing in large groups, so the small get-together was just right for me. After talking together all night, I finally went off to bed.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
12/1/05We had the regular four sessions of Japanese in the morning and had the rest of the afternoon off. When I got back to the dorm I played Step Mania for awhile and then decided to take a nap. I then woke up because people were leaving to go to Saizeriya for Ben's birthday today. We had to wait around for a few people, so I played a little more Step Mania while I waited.
We then finally ventured off to the restaurant and had a birthday feast at our favorite restaurant in Japan. I find it quite ironic that it happens to be an Italian restaurant. After dinner we walked down the street and did some birthday vesting and then walked back to the dorm. Back at home I worked on my Japanese project and my massive amount of Japanese homework. I eventually completed the task around 2:00 a.m. and then surfed the internet awhile before going off to bed.
The Dego Diva:
Date Of Birth: May 24th, 1984
Location: Wouldn't You Like To Know
Occupation: Student
Masters: Forensic Anthropology
Major: Anthropology
Minors: Art History & Japanese
Primary Hobby/Intrest: Video Gaming
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