Studying Abroad in Oita

Short and Sweet

2011-03-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

Given the opportunity to do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing. Enjoy yourself and never linger on negativity for too long because it'll just take away from the time you could spend smiling. It really does go by in a flash. So fill your days with happy thoughts, lasting memories and inappropriately hilarious stories. But most important of all, remember to fill it to the brim with amazing irreplaceable people who will bring an overflow of joy and positivity into your life.

Soak it up bitches, because it'll be over before you know it.

Cindy, the TV's leaking!

2011-02-25T00:20:00.000-08:00

During the break between Fall semester and Spring semester (February-April), the students who've only applied to stay half a year make their return home to their native countries. For the students who were staying for Spring semester, most of them spent their break traveling around Japan or nearby countries. Unfortunately that leaves Kaikan practically empty and it can get pretty spooky there all by yourself! And so there I was, the only person left on 3rd floor... all of the 4th floor residents had either gone home or were on vacation. I think most of 1st and 2nd floor was also partly if not completely empty.

At first I was fine with it, but then I started hearing noises like thuds, bumps, and footsteps and it scared the shit out of me because those floors were supposedly vacated! To make it worse, at the time I was living there, the 3rd floor of the building had dim lights that flickered on and off constantly. The Kaikan is also located next to a cemetery and sometimes the gate would be left open, oh god! I was never bothered by any of this before, but just being the only person on your floor can be terrifying especially when you're a big chicken like me. I was so afraid and paranoid of every little sound, I even had trouble sleeping for awhile. I mean I love watching J-horror but I'm a total wimp when it comes down to it. I just kept imagining scary stuff happening like... something from the Grudge pop-locking out from beneath the blanket and grabbing me while I was in bed. Don't even remember how many times I burned my eyes because I was too afraid to close it while shampooing my hair ahhh.

Eventually though everyone came back and we even had new students moving in. But I never forgot how spooky the Kaikan could be given the right circumstances and an overactive imagination. That's actually the main reason why my friend and I decided to film a "scary" movie there. It was the perfect location. Hey the best way to face your fears is to laugh at it.

Pop, lock and drop it!

Toilet Diaries

2011-02-21T22:12:00.000-08:00

Never, and I mean NEVER!! eat food from the hostel's communal refrigerator.. haha I've learned my lesson. I think having food poisoning might just be the worst illness to have while traveling. I could not make it more than a few minutes without running to the bathroom. OMG it was so awful. Just traveling from Kyoto to Osaka was pure torture, I felt so sick.

Our first night there, we slept over at Popeye's Media Cafe. It was pretty nice and very cheap, we got unlimited access to drink machines and a shower, plus a private booth to sleep in. The only downside was we had to be out by 5am. So you know what? After leaving Popeye's my friend and I went into the Osaka train station and slept in the bathroom stalls, yea that's right! true bums. Hey don't judge us! it was cold outside and there were no chairs in the station (Kyoto station had no toilet paper and now Osaka station has no chairs?? wtf JAPAN!)

Anyways the only seats available were the toilet seats so yeaaaaaa. I was certainly in no condition to walk, or sight-see, or even try new foods. We decided it'd be best to just take it easy that day and get a room. Thank goodness for J-Hoppers! best hostel ever, they had a room available for us so we checked in right away. And I have to say, many thanks to my friend who got me crackers and medicine because they really helped quiet my stomach down. Luckily most of my illness had passed by the next day.

So yea kids, if you're traveling always bring toilet paper, medicine, and crackers... and stay away from questionable food and condiments left in the fridge by other travelers.

June 5th 2009

2011-02-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling a bit lethargic lately. I'm not quite sure why, but it has been eating away at me. Perhaps it has something to do with the gloomy weather these past few days. Or maybe it's because I know I'll have to return to America soon. Either way, I don't like having this feeling looming over me; it's not good to let negative energy linger around for too long. I'm trying to figure out what it is, but I can't quite put my finger on it. It feels like a mix of frustration, disappointment, and anger, what a lovely combination of emotions huh!

The hell happened here!? apparently this was a draft that I never finished writing. Geez I can see why! just reading it is bringing me down! I'm still not sure what this was all about but I'm feeling a bit down right now so I suppose I can relate... with myself? o_O

I've been sick for the past 2-3 weeks and it's making me feel miserable, both physically and emotionally.

Anyways!

Dear Diana, SNAP OUT OF IT!

Life's too short for this nonsense. Stop listening to sulky music. Stop focusing so much energy on things you can't control. You did what you could, and it wasn't good enough so move on. Stop kicking yourself over the small stuff. It's been fun but all good things must come to an end. Leave the past as it is, and look forward to the future. And please get around to washing that robe you've been stewing in all month long.

P.S. Hang in there!

Ode to the 自転車

2011-02-17T16:29:00.000-08:00

One of the luxuries of living in Japan is the abundance of bike paths and pedestrian friendly streets. Being able to just hop on your bike and get from one destination to the next? Awesome stuff. Riding along the river in the late afternoon was so therapeutic for me. It was very calming and it really brings me back to being a kid again and not having to worry about anything. The smell of the grass and the buzzing of insects, agh! I miss it.

I always tried to get as many people to come biking whenever possible, the more the merrier right? Oh man, the lines I would use in order to sucker people into coming along. I think my personal favorite was “oh it’s really close, only 10 minutes away” sure yea it’s only 10 minutes away if you bike at 80mph, so technically it’s not a lie.

Sometimes when I woke up late and had to bike extra fast to school, I would pretend I was being chased by zombies in order to go faster. I’d always get to school drenched in sweat from head to toe so I eventually learned to keep an extra pair of clean clothes in my backpack.

Biking back from school was always a joy though haha! If you’re fortunate enough to attend Oita University you know exactly what I mean. There’s a HUGE hill leading out of the university and it’s such an adrenaline rush to ride down it after a long day of class. I dreaded biking up that hill every morning but loved seeing it in the afternoon, definitely a love-hate relationship there – Rihanna needs to write a song about that! Instead of “Love the way you lie” she should call it “Love the way you ride” hah! get it!? Oh I’m soooooo clever…

Miso Ramen

2011-01-23T01:35:00.000-08:00

I remember my first day at the kaikan dormitory. Walking in and setting my luggage down, it hit me! I am finally in Japan and this is going to be my room for a year. It was one of those surreal feelings, even now I always wonder if it happened or not. Luckily I have pictures to prove my sanity.

It was around afternoon time when my tutors dropped me off there. I had barely begun unpacking yet and my stomach was already growling. I wasn't too familiar with the neighborhood yet but I remembered passing by a 7-Eleven just down the street from the dorms. So I walked over there and stocked up on some munchies. Now forgive me but I had never cooked in my life before. Sure I'd fried myself up some eggs every now and then but I had never actually "cooked" a meal before unless nuking food in the microwave counts as cooking. Needless to say, my food choices were limited given my lack of cooking skills. But! at least I knew how to boil water, and I had a pot! hah! so I thought of preparing some instant ramen, the meal of champions!

I grabbed a pack of miso ramen, along with a bento box in case I failed at boiling water. Thank god I bought that bento box or else I would've starved that day. No, I didn't fail at boiling water, even worse, I failed at turning on the gas stove. Sad. REAL SAD. I also didn't know that in order to heat your bath water you have to set the control panel located besides the bathroom. So yea, that was just about the coldest shower ever. So my first day living on my own was pretty much a fail. There was no miso ramen for lunch that day, however! there was a lot of miso hungry and miso cold.

But in spite of all that, I just remember loving every second of that day and I made sure to never let myself forget that even when I'm cold and hungry, who cares? I'm in Japan!

Room #302, nothin but love for ya!

When Life Gets You Down…

2010-12-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

While studying abroad I learned a couple key things about myself. I love being told that something is difficult or impossible; it’s like music to my ears. I crave a good challenge. I’ve learned to never let anyone tell you that something is impossible for you to achieve, because the only person who has any real say in that is you. Life is not a spectator sport, and you can’t always trust the ref’s calls, so get in there and try it out yourself! :) Get your hands dirty, make mistakes and don’t ever stop learning new things. Remember that failure is only momentary; take it as a sign that you’re actually putting effort into achieving your goals. You may be down for the count, but that doesn’t mean you’re out of the game just yet.

Understand that some people you meet in life will only want to take you down to their level because they are unhappy with their own lives. Those are the people who try to build themselves up by knocking others down. Know your worth and let the haters hate.

Life isn’t easy. It’s not fair. Sometimes it’s damn right cruel. So that leaves you with 2 options. You can choose to be bitter, or you can choose to be better.

I’ve chosen the path of bitterness before, and it’s never quite worked out for me. Nope, it’s not a very productive use of time.

So now I’m choosing to be better. I’ve decided to go back to school and get a 2nd degree in something more marketable. This time around I’m going to do all I can to graduate with Magna Cum Laude… *giggity* XD sorry I can’t help myself! Anyways I think it’ll be a fun challenge to work towards.

The Descent... into Stupidity!

2010-11-10T00:49:00.000-08:00

Ever seen the movie The Descent? It’s about a bunch of females who go on a cave exploration and become prey to the cave creatures lurking deep inside.

Living in Oita, there are a lot of fantastic undisturbed natural landscape, as well as a bunch of historic sites that still remains intact. So you’d be a fool not to take advantage of it and go exploring right? RIGHT!? Of course.

Along the path towards school, there are a couple of Buddha statues over hundreds of years old, carved right into the rocky hillside. Annnnd slightly to the right of that is a cave with a giant sign saying "Do Not Enter" blocking our entrance to a totally awesome adventure!

We had 1 good flashlight and a fail light from the 100 yen store (which was completely useless!) My friend Danielle went in first. The cave was small, narrow, and damp. It had to have been less than 6 feet tall and no more than 3 feet wide. We get pretty deep inside the cave before the ceiling starts to drop really low. By this time we’re both crouching by a pool of stagnant water blocking our path forward. Danielle hands me the good flashlight as we try and figure out what to do. So I start shining the light around to get a better look at the cave, and that’s when I saw it…

At first I didn’t quite know what it was, so I go “hey umm.. Danielle, what’s that thing by your face?”

Right behind Danielle, just above her shoulder, merely inches away from her head was this thing…

Ugh just looking at it still makes my skin crawl.

The thing was at least 7 inches long! It was spiky with many legs and it was glowing neon green/yellow and staring straight at her with hungry eyes!

At this point I tell my friend “it’s time to go!” and without thinking I turn around and start running, totally forgetting that I’m holding the good flashlight. As I get closer to the cave entrance, I realize my friend is nowhere in sight. From the darkness, I can hear her shouting “Diana, don’t leave me, come back! I can’t see! You have the good flashlight!!” ooops! Haha I’m so terrible.

When my friend finally makes it out, she’s completely covered in dirt from banging into the walls frantically trying to escape that bug.

So what's the moral of the story? The moral is that when the shit hits the fan, I will be the first to run and leave you by yourself in the dark without a flashlight.

Night by the Shrine

2010-11-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

This one night in summer, some friends and I decided to go to the shrine to check out the fireflies. So we set out the mats and had a little picnic there. At first things were pretty fun. It was really cool and quiet out, and we were all having a good time. But then things started to get weird.

Around midnight we started to hear strange sounds coming from behind one of the buildings. It came quietly at first but then the noise got louder.

To me, the noise sounded like that of a child's laughter, an evil demon-seed child. My other friends thought it sounded like an old crazy lady chanting, or someone crying. At this point I'm pretty damn scared because whatever it was it was coming closer.

It was exactly like one of those situations straight out of a horror movie. And just like the movies, my 2 white friends suggested that we go and "investigate" the noise. I kid you not! that stereotype is so true.

Now.. there were 5 of us in all, 3 whities and 2 asians.

And me being the cowardly lion that I am, I started running towards my bike which was parked way across the bridge. The other asian ran too, we know better! I know my horror flicks, minorities always die first! As for the 3rd friend, she felt torn between fear and obligation. She wanted to run, but felt compelled to stay behind and clean up.

So what was the noise? they said it was a bunch of feral cats fighting. Demonic shrine kitties. Ok so I got scared off by a bunch of wild cats. Would it make me seem like any less of a wuss if I mention that I'm allergic to cats? no? ok T_T

Afterwards we stopped to eat at Jolly Pasta because nothing gets your appetite going better than fear. What an awesomely random night.

Power Outage

2009-08-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

Whenever the power is out do you find yourself forgetting about the little things you can no longer do until the power comes back on? You try to entertain yourself by turning on the TV.. or perhaps microwaving up some food... oh yea no power. So you figure if you can't watch TV then you'll just pop in a DVD! oh yea that requires power too huh? oh well movies are boring anyway, how about playing some console games?...oh yea riiiiight.. no power.

Adjusting back to life here is like living through a power outage, except the power is never coming back on. I keep thinking that I can message someone and we can go hang out and go for a nice bike ride, sit by the river, or just go eat somewhere. But it's impossible to do those things anymore, and everytime I come to this realization it makes me feel a whole lot worse about being here. We're all back in our respective countries, thousands of miles apart from one another - tell Vanessa Carlton to write a song about that!

Home

2009-07-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

I've just been bumming around since I've been back. It feels miserable being back. I'm lacking energy and motivation to do anything productive. One of the reasons for wanting to study abroad was to leave Charlotte, and just to get away from the place and the people here.

The situation in Charlotte is still the same, unfortunately. Same people, same excuses, same bullshit, all of which are still glaringly obvious. Nothing here ever seems to change for the better.

I know I shouldn't let myself wallow in this self-pity and that I should be proactive, but just being here in my room makes the whole study abroad thing feel as if it never really happened. I have to snap out of this or else I might undo everything that studying abroad has taught me which is that if you want something bad enough you will do whatever it takes to make it happen.

So what is it that I want?

I want to get the hell out of Charlotte and see my friends again.

Leaving

2009-07-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

And so the day to depart from Kaikan finally rolled around. It rained the day I left, of course. I was unable to get any sleep for the 2 days prior to leaving because of exams and packing and I did not wish to spend my last hours in Japan asleep, rather I wanted to spend it with the people I might not ever get to see again.

The airplane ride was definitely a nice preview of the America I knew so well. I flew on United Airlines and those flight attendents must have big furry hamsters shoved very far up their asses because they were bitchy and irritable as hell. Seriously those United Airlines flight attendents were rude and snapped at everyone and acted like sunshine came from their ass.

"CHICKEN OR BEEF!?! HONEY WHAT CHU WANT!" God Bless America.

I'm back in Charlotte now. It feels as if the whole study abroad thing never happened, and that it was just a dream. I met up with some friends the first night I got back, and things feel the same, yet different, I just felt so very out of place. I'm sure the jetlag doesn't help my emotional state either.

I miss everyone at the Kaikan so very much and wish we didn't have to go our separate ways after becoming such close friends. It was never this hard leaving my friends in Charlotte when I went to Japan, and I've known them for so many years. So why was it so difficult to leave some folks I had only known for such a short time period? Because...

A goodbye isn't painful unless you're never going to say hello again

Keep that thought in mind and let us definitely plan to meet again sometime in life.

All Aboard the Emo-Train

2009-07-19T00:28:00.000-07:00

Today is never the same as yesterday and tomorrow will never be the same as today. Sometimes you have a really shitty day and hope to never experience that day again. But then there are times when it’s great and you wish those days could go on forever.

I’ve done a lot of growing up while here in Japan. But in some aspects I’ll forever be a kid when it comes to goodbyes. I spent most of today bawling my eyes. I'm such a child.

Whenever it comes to goodbyes, you can always keep in touch through letters and such but it will never be the same again. You can never meet up face to face to just shoot the breeze. You can no longer talk about the plans on what to do for the upcoming weekend, and what to cook for dinner that night. Conversation slowly becomes more difficult and few and far in between. You soon find yourselves only talking about the past and reminiscing together about the good times gone by. But life still goes on, and you eventually become just a distant memory to one another.

Blame it on the circumstances of life.

I know this post is such a downer so I'll end it on a positive note. It doesn't matter where you are, or what you do, it matters most who you are with. This whole experience abroad would not have been as meaningful as it was without everyone here.

2 Weeks

2009-07-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

No matter how full each day is it still doesn't feel like it's enough to stop me from feeling sad about leaving. In a way, I'm ready to leave Japan and go back home. It has been an amazing experience to live in Japan these past 10 months, but the time is coming for me to go back to America.

It's the little things which I will miss so dearly, like the bike rides out to the aquarium to get ice cream, or just bumming out by the river at night with the picnic mats. Even the bike rides to and from school were enjoyable regardless of the rain, wind, or the extremely freakishly hot weather.

But what made these outtings enjoyable were the people there. Being able to hang out with you guys is what I will miss the most about Japan. The memories I've made here will definitely stay with me forever.

Saganoseki Bike Ride

2009-06-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

So on Sunday a group of us decided it would be a good idea to bike from Oita city to Saganoseki. We set off from the dorms around 6am and returned home at around 9pm. BEST. BIKE RIDE. EVER. Did the unnecessary usage of capitalized letters and periods emphasize the amazing experience enough?

At first we were a bit unsure of how things would turn out since the weather forecast predicted rain (of course..) and none of us had biked to Saganoseki before. But we made it! I believe we covered the distance of about 80 km (50miles) that day. We even made it as far as Usuki, by accident of course.
I've never biked so much in my life, we were practically on our bikes the entire day, except for when we stopped to eat and take photos and.. collect rocks/shells by the shore. The scenery there was really beautiful. The weather was nice as well, scattered clouds with light winds. It did rain briefly though, which is expected to occur during most if not all of our outtings.

And of course, we stopped by the local restaurant and got some ice cream! ice cream by the ocean with good friends just never gets old for me.

No indians, no chiefs, no drama! just friends.

Never Have I Ever

2009-06-13T02:13:00.000-07:00

Never have I ever gotten drunk and decided it would be a good idea to toss noodles onto the walls, floor and ceiling of my dormitory apartment complex.

Guilty!

There's a good reason why I don't drink often, and that would be one of them.

This is the second time I've gotten really drunk in Japan. The first time was actually one of my first nights in Japan. It was at Mr. Kimura's izakaya; Geoff, Danielle, Mike, and Tuan were there. That night was pretty wild, we got lost trying to find our way back to Kaikan and I remember Tuan tossed up on the streets. Good times.

It feels like I've come full circle in my study abroad journey in Japan. I know it sounds silly to come to such a conclusion from a booze night out with the girls, but there's definitely some irony I find in all of this.

Allow me to elaborate without revealing too much information; It's the same game, but with different players. Sometimes its a swing and a miss! sometimes you swing and its a fly-ball, whooosh, right over their heads!

Anyways I spent this morning hung over the toilet bowl throwing up. Fun!

On a random note, the same jerk that threw noodles around the hallways also snuck into my room and spilled drinks all on my floor! RUDE! haha

Revenge of the Monkeys!

2009-06-09T04:05:00.000-07:00

So I went to visit some of my relatives at Takasaki Mtn last monday. I'm the one on the far left, can ya tell? The one in the middle is my Aunt Bertha, she's busy picking the clumps of shit out of Uncle Dave's fur, he's the one lying down, probably drunk again no doubt. Oh that Uncle Dave!

Ah it was really fun to revisit Monkey Mtn, the last time I went it rained and the monkeys smelled funny. This time we biked there along the ocean instead of taking the bus, and happened to spot some dolphins.. being.. dolphiny, yunno when they jump in and out of the water? yea that!

Later on that day we bought some ice cream and enjoyed the ocean view. It's the simple things like this that I'm going to miss so much when I leave.

After that, we took random group photos. We're supposed to be like monkeys... FAIL.

Not so Joyfull

2009-05-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Last Monday, right after the Mt. Aso trip, I had to do an all nighter to study for a test on Tuesday. A test that I did not study for during the weekend like I should have. So I went with a friend to a restaurant called Joyfull which is open 24hrs a day.

We went there at 11pm, ordered their drink bar(which allows you unlimited access to their drinks) and stayed there till 9am. It was a very productive study session, except till around 6am when your brain gets a little crazy from the sugar/caffeine and lack of sleep. We kind of just stared at each other with glazed over eyes and started laughing for no reason at all.

When 7am rolled around, we ordered breakfast and then my friend left for 1st period. That's when things started going downhill. I could not stay awake at all, my eyes would just lose focus and before I knew it I was asleep and drooling all over myself. I'd catch myself nodding in and out of sleep, and the coffee didn't help, it just made me anxious and jittery. Class didn't start for another 2 hours and I couldn't trust myself to stay awake for much longer. So I packed up my stuff and headed towards school. I ended up sleeping at the bench near school like some kind of bum. It felt really great to lie down and shut my eyes for just a couple minutes, the shade was nice and there was a cool breeze blowing. As I laid there I felt like I was floating, what a trippy experience brought on by too much coffee and lack of sleep. I slept there until my friends came and woke me up.

The test went well and I'm glad I stayed up to study for it. The rest of the day was pure hell though. Around 11am the after effects of the coffee began to kick in and I started feeling really tired, hyper, and sick. My head was spinning and I wanted to vomit over everyone and everything.

Staying up late and having an all nighter is nothing new to me, I'm a gamer, it's what I do on most weekends which sounds incrediably nerdy, I know. But Sunday night I did not get any sleep either because I had to get up ass early for the Mt. Aso trip. So 2 nights back to back without adequate sleep, add in unhealthy amounts of coffee, and there you have a slice of my life here in Japan! The good, the bad, and the ugly, gotta love it.

Mount Aso

2009-05-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

Went on a road trip to Mt. Aso on Monday. For once it did not rain, but in place of the rain was strong winds that prevented us from going to the top of the mountain peaks. The wind was blowing the volcano gas around so they closed the path. The strawberry picking thing didn't happen either because they chose to randomly close for the day... and we did not make it back in time to the other strawberry picking location. Great day at Mt. Fail, opps I mean Mt. Aso :)

In all honesty it was still a lot of fun, I think. The ramen and ice cream there was delicious. Even had a goofy photo shoot taking advantage of the strong winds.

Goes to show ya, certain things are out of your control, but you shouldn't let it stop you from enjoying yourself. It's all about having a positive mindset on the situation, though it also helps if you're with good company.

**On a slightly random note**

While traveling through Japan I've realized it has rained 90% of the time I went out anywhere. It rained while I was in Taketa for the bamboo lantern festival, and then Hita, Sapporo, Tokyo, Kyoto, Okinawa and Yufuin. Twice while biking towards Beppu it rained, and the day we went to Monkey Mountain it also rained. And this didn't even happen during the rainy season!

Seriously, I must have angered the rain gods at some point in time. Perhaps an animal sacrifice shall appease them.

Tick Tock

2009-05-22T07:43:00.001-07:00

Only a couple weeks left and time is still flying by at 100mph. I blink and 8 months have passed. I'm trying to make the most of the time left by hanging out more but I realize the more I get to know people, the tougher it will be to say goodbye. I hate saying goodbye, it sounds so final. Does it really have to be a goodbye? Why can't it be a "see you sometime later in life!"

Am I just being too unrealistic by thinking it's actually possible to maintain long distance friendships with people half way across the country/world? I have friends back in the States that I lose contact with and they live right down the street from me! It's sad but it happens. We all get caught up in our own lives, and before you know it you start to drift apart from each other, eventually becoming complete strangers. Sure Facebook will say you're still friends, but you know the truth O_O!

Life takes us in all different directions but I'll be a childish optimist and trust that our paths will cross again, it has to! I want to believe there's more to this life than just random occurances in time and space and that we're somehow connected. Because if we are connected then we can ultimately follow the threads back to one another. It's just too sad to think otherwise.

Grocery List

2009-05-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ever since I have been in Japan I have pretty much eaten at least 1 banana every single day. Considering I've been here for 8 months that's a lot of bananas. It's definitely the cheapest fruit all year round in Japan and it does have nice health benefits for sure. I've trained myself to stick to a strict diet in order to save money while still staying healthy. It's definitely possible to spend less than $20 USD on grocery foods each week in Japan. If you're really short on cash you can also survive on just $15, or even $10 per week.

Here's my list of weekly grocery items :

Natto x3!
Chicken
Eggplant/Tomatoes/Cabbage/Soybean sprouts (I usually just pick 2 of those 4)
Bananas
Onions
Eggs
Tofu

And that's definitely less than $15! yes if you notice.. I don't have any junk food listed. Why? it's not that I don't like the chips and candy but it's a bit pricey and doesn't benefit me healthwise. Let me tell ya, it takes a lot of willpower to stay away from the snack aisles! You can also save money by just drinking tap water here, it's safe and best of all it's free.

Now I do occasionally eat out with friends and if I'm really hungry while I'm at school I'll buy a quick snack (usually onigiri) but other than that my diet is pretty solid. I've dropped pork and beef from my diet, except when I eat out. It wasn't the easiest change to adapt to, but I'm glad I did.

Living in Japan doesn't have to be expensive.

Back on Track

2009-05-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

I finally got myself motivated enough to start doing my ANKI flashcards again. I was really active with it up until March when I went to Vietnam. When I got back from vacation, I knew my flashcards had piled up and would take me forever to do, so naturally I did what any other college student would do, which was to ignore it and let the flashcards continue to pile up. When I opened up the program today there were about 470 neglected cards waiting to be reviewed. I was so tempted to just turn off the program and goof around on youtube but I managed to do about 50 of the cards and surprisingly still remembered a lot of the vocabulary and kanji. If I keep at this for a few more days I can finish all the reviews and start learning the new cards in queue and then start adding new vocabulary and kanji into the program.

Baby steps are better than nothing. I have to get that ball rolling again somehow, right?

Living Without a Car

2009-05-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

I decided to compile a short list of things I've noticed while biking.

1.) The bugs that would normally splatter all over your car windshield will now splatter all over your face.

2.) Sharp turns + loose dirt and gravel = bad times

3.) Expect to get awkward tan lines (especially if you wear glasses) of course this doesn't apply to you if you bike naked. Please do not bike naked.

Other than that, life without a car isn't so bad after all.

Stranger Danger Part III : The Conclusion (hopefully)

2009-04-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

Ok so after the incident that occured in part II, that guy raised the bar to a whole new level of creepiness. He kept calling and left a bunch of voice messages for me all week. So I got curious and actually listened to one of the messages and it was a little unsettling. To be blunt, he said he loves me and used the word 恋人. Ewwwies!

I tried to let him down easy prior to this by saying I had a boyfriend, but to that he responded by saying to keep it a secret from my boyfriend, what a great guy huh? When he asked if he could continue calling me I told him it's not good to call me anymore because it's expensive. So then he asked for my address so that he could mail me letters... O_o yea I'm not falling for that one. I've already removed my name from the door and was very tempted to put my name on room 303.

Luckily a friend of mine was kind enough to pretend to be my boyfriend and call the guy up and yell at him in Japanese. I had to admit that was pretty amusing and should've been done a long time ago. I haven't gotten a single call from him yet. Thank you Japan for teaching me how creepy men can really be.

弓道クラブに入った

2009-04-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

Joined Kyudo Club (Japanese Archery) 2 weeks ago and I totally love it! It's the first time I've ever really participated in a school sport. The people there have been super kind and helpful to us. I would highly suggest all future study abroad students to join a club or circle because it's a great place to practice your Japanese and meet awesome people. I regret not joining sooner, especially during the Fall Semester.

Kyudo is really fun and I want to be able to get good enough to practice on the shooting range before I return home. Right now we are on bows, we've moved up from the "stick and string". It's a little challenging because though the bow itself isn't heavy the force of the draw string is and you must maintain absolutely perfect form in the process. Everything has to be まっすぐ！まっすぐ！(straight) that word has become permantly etched into my brain now.

I have a feeling I'm going to have giant beefy arms by the end of this semester from practicing Kyudo. Maybe that will help even out the proportions of my thunderous thighs... my Thighs of Thor!

Stranger Danger Part II

2009-04-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I went on a dinner date with that guy from the supermarket. Don't worry! a friend came with me! At first everything was fine, until he asked if he could come to my room to play... yeaaaaaa.... no. And then after dinner he offered us money, I heard him mention 五千円 which is about $50. Let me tell you guys, nothing in this world makes a lady feel more like a princess than when she's offered cash money after a dinner date. That's so very classy. And no we did not accept the money, that would've been a very whorish thing to do.

Concert 2009

2009-04-17T07:44:00.000-07:00

I was finally able to see Gackt live in concert. It means a lot to me because 8 years ago I was in the 9th grade daydreaming of how amazing it would be to see him in concert.

It was more than just a concert for me, seeing Gackt was something I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do and as the years went on, it seemed more and more unlikely to ever happen.

But hearing his voice echo throughout that concert hall made this whole study abroad experience in Japan feel more real and for that I am entirely grateful of life playing out the way it did. Both the good and the bad things that happened in my life has brought me to where I am today, which is exactly where I want to be.

Stranger Danger!

2009-04-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago I was doing some grocery shopping and all of a sudden this guy looks at me, then does a double take and then proceeds to profess his love for me. Dead serious. I look at him confused and started looking around for hidden cameras thinking this must be a joke. I never expected Japanese guys to be so straightforward.

Is this normal? Back in the States random strangers never came up to me and professed their undying love. It is flattering and creepy at the same time, it would've been a little less creepy had he not suggested to go to an onsen together.

Long awkward story short, we exchanged numbers and will probably go get dinner next Sunday.

I'm not good at saying no! What's the harm, right? right!? It'll be a good chance to practice my conversational Japanese.

I hope I don't end up at the bottom of Oita River... haha.. hah..

I forgot to mention that this all happened in the alcohol section. Curse that delicious green tea sake!

3 Weeks in Vietnam (March)

2009-04-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

Returning to Vietnam after 19 years is quite an adventure. It was the first time I experienced culture shock, and it was in my own homeland. Everything was just so different and I was totally caught off guard. I think what got me the most was the lack of toilet paper. This may sound silly but I actually have nightmares about unclean toilets that are either clogged or overflowing, and especially toilets that don't flush properly. I'm super anal about clean working toilets, no pun intended - just kidding I love poop jokes. To make it worse, I ended up getting a stomach virus which was very uncool given the toilet situation.

Being in VN and visiting my relatives made me realize how undeniably American I really am, and will always be. Growing up in America you naturally develop certain levels of expectations for things such as sanitation and it's difficult to adjust so drastically to Vietnam's sanitation level (or lack thereof).

If you go to Vietnam, bring toilet paper and anti-bacterial soap! and don't drink the tap water unless you want the muddy-buddies to pay you a visit.

Keeping the Dream Alive

2009-02-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

This is a long post so if you have a short attention span and don't like bedtime stories, stop reading now!

Where is Your Dream Vacation Spot?

That question put a smile on my face because it's one of those secret questions you must answer to retrieve a lost password. It came to mind while I was filling out my FAFSA(which is highly depressing to fill out by the way) because I had forgotten my pin. So where is my dream vacation spot? Japan of course! :)

So I am living in a place I once considered a "dream vacation spot"? I'm living a dream!? no way! Now that's fancy stuff right there. Reality is going to come and wake me up in 5 months though. I wish there was a snooze button, or a time machine!

So how does one keep the dream alive? I know what I personally need to start doing from now on, I need to be more proactive with school. I lost motivation during my err.. not-so-happy years and it really showed in my GPA and I had given up on trying to improve it.

Then in the fall of 07' on a whim I decided to go to a study abroad information panal my Japanese teacher told me about. I fell in love with the idea of being able to escape from reality and live out my dream. So even though at that time I had 2.49 GPA which is .1 shy from being eligible to even apply for the study abroad program, I tried my best to improve my grades that semester so I could apply for the fall of 08'. By January 08' I was able to get my GPA to 2.51 and turned in my application for the study abroad program.

Let me tell ya... the wait for the acceptance/denial letter was pure agony. It made me so crazy emo waiting for it because in the back of my head I kept doubting myself all over again.

Why did I even bother applying? my study abroad advisor said because my GPA was so bad I wouldn't have a chance at being selected, "waste of time" she said.

If I can't study abroad in Japan then what's the point of even trying to improve my GPA anymore?

Because of those persistant pessimistic thoughts, my GPA did not improve that semester. For 7 months I waited for an answer. Those months would've been a lot more productive had I just believed in myself and kept a more positive outlook on things.

But needless to say, I got accepted! that's why I'm here in Japan! and writing this blog to encourage those people who are having second thoughts to go ahead and apply. The application process is not all that difficult and certaintly NOT a waste of time.

Even if things don't turn out in your favor, don't let it get you down, just know that when one door closes, another will always open, you just have to keep holding your head up high enough to see it.

Go 'head gurrrrrrrl! Do the damn thing!!

haha ok /ghetto_mode off

Being here has definitely revitalized my motivation for living and learning.

Vietnamese Vs. Japanese

2009-02-21T04:11:00.000-08:00

When I was 3 years old my family moved us from Vietnam to America. My parents always worried about me having an accent that would affect my English so they did not place me into any Vietnamese language classes. The only Vietnamese I ever heard was from my parents and a couple poorly dubbed Hong Kong TV shows. Several years later, in spite of never taking a single Vietnamese language class, I can speak it fluently.

This is nothing new or unique, a lot of children grow up bilingual, or even trilingual. But what always amazes me is that children can learn language without having to sit through a single class.

Now the only downside to not having a formal education in Vietnamese is... I can't read. In fact looking at Vietnamese text gives me a headache. It's just an explosion of letters.

As for Japanese, I can read, write, and speak it, but I am nowhere near being fluent. But the upside is I can actually use a Japanese/English dictionary, whereas I could not do the same with Vietnamese.

So where would I rather be lost? in Japan, where I can read/write/speak but not on a fluent level? or in Vietnam where I could easily speak but would be unable to read a single word?

To be honest, I would prefer the former. Because not being able to read is a scary thing. Reading is an extremly important aspect of language. Because if you can read, then you can write, and once you can write, then you can speak the language with ease and confidence.

Sure I could always go back and take a Vietnamese language course, but I'm a bit biased against it. Since my parents were the only ones that spoke Vietnamese to me, they often used it to belittle and yell at me or at each other, so I see it as a harsh oppressive language.

But putting childhood drama aside, I think Vietnamese is a very simple and efficient language. Every word is 1 syllabul. There are no counters. There's really no past/present/future tense, there are only markers to indicate the action has been done, is being done, or will be done, etc. And last but not least, there is no kanji! thank the Frenchies for that one.

Fall Semester Done!

2009-02-15T04:29:00.000-08:00

I've only been out of class for a few weeks and I can feel my Japanese slipping already so I've been doing extra studying. But lately I find myself being distracted by silly ghost hunting investigations around Oita(I'll explain later). I realized learning a language takes time. Whenever I feel frustrated at my inability to understand Japanese I just remind myself that even the dumbest person in the world can grasp at least 1 language! They don't necessarily have to be that smart or have a formal education, but just being around that language long enough they will be able to speak it. You don't have to be a genius to speak a foreign language, you just have to put in time and effort into actually learning it.

so yes back to the ghost hunting!

I'm not sure if this place is haunted or not, but I've been thinking about it a lot. If a ghost tries to contact me... will it speak to me in Japanese? 日本語をできない!.. will there be subtitles at the bottom? do ghosts in other countries follow different "rules" of haunting? I suppose Japanese ghosts would be of Shinto/Buddhist origins, so therefore.. Christian/Catholic holy water won't work right? the whole "Power of Christ Compels You!!" thing won't work here!

Either way I think I'm covered, I have rosaries and a room protection scroll. It pays to play on both teams *ahem* I meant this in regards to one's religious affiliation!

BUT! I'm glad I don't live in room 103. buahahaha!

Biking to Beppu

2009-02-12T07:08:00.001-08:00

A group of us biked to Beppu last Monday and it was amazing every second of the way there. It felt so nice to be in the warm sun again after hibernating all winter long. It's exciting to feel the cool ocean breeze blow through your hair while you're biking! I've never been able to bike around so freely in my life. Back in America I never bothered getting a bike because I don't live in a very bike friendly area at all. But in Japan, especially in Oita, some of the best places can only be reached on foot or by bike. It's extremely convenient to be able to stop anywhere you'd like and just take photos or enjoy the view, and best thing is you don't have to worry about finding parking!
We stopped a couple times just to take in the scenary and to play in the pirate ship. Yes! there is a random pirate ship at one of the beaches we stopped at. We hung out there a bit and then continued on to Beppu where we planned to meet up with Tuan and have a group picnic on the beach. It started to rain though so we couldn't do the picnic on the beach. Instead we went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of half priced meats and made dinner at Tuan's dorm. It was really fun, good food, good people, perfect day despite the rain.

I definitely plan to go back and have that picnic on the beach though.

Semester or Full Year?

2009-02-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

It's really quiet here now, so many students have returned to their home countries. I do miss them greatly and wish they could have stayed for the full year duration but it is nice to get their stuff when they leave :)

I felt a bit down in January because if I had gone for a semester I'd be back in America by now and my dog Ein would be sitting beside me begging for attention and love. But emo-time ended really quick because I look forward to the next 6 months of my stay here in Oita. There is so much I love about this place, and still so much more for me to see and experience. My time here is not done yet! and I will not spend the remainder of my stay day-dreaming about being back in America.

My return to America will come soon enough, but I'm not ready to go back yet. I feel as if I've finally settled in, perhaps getting Molly's blanket helped :) no more cold toes at night! But really.. my diet has also adapted to the smaller sized meal portions. I can no longer stuff my face in 1 sitting anymore. I realized this while at the buffet last week. I had this strange feeling in my stomach, I think people refer to this feeling as "being full." Nonsense! what?! me? full?? I was unable to eat much more, but I did manage to cram in a couple dishes of dessert before I left the battlefield in defeat.

One day I shall be able to eat like an American again, and when that day comes, I'm going to clean out that buffet! ... REVENGE!

When it rains, it pours!

2009-02-02T03:44:00.000-08:00

The rain in Japan is pretty amazing, there's really no scattered showers, or partial rain here in Kyushu. When it rains, it seems to rains all day! I love lying in bed watching the rain fall outside my balcony. In fact, my first few days in Oita I experienced a week of non-stop rain so it really brings me back. However! the rain is a bit unforgiving if you choose to go outside, but if it's a school day and you're like me (can't afford to buy a train pass) the other transportation option is biking... so yea...

Exhibit A!
see that bit of light blue near the top? that's the original color of the jeans. The dark blue is what it looked like due to the rain water soaking into my pants.

Exhibit B! that's the result of biking in the rain for 40 minutes but hey! I saved $5 by not taking the train :) I miss not having a car during times like this, but I wouldn't trade my study abroad experience for anything in this world. Also it would be wise to listen to the weather reports, it's actually more accurate than the fickle weather I get back in North Carolina.

Winter Break

2009-01-17T06:09:00.001-08:00

For Winter vacation we traveled to Sapporo, and then Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and finally to Kobe. 17 days to travel Japan! It was definitely a fullfilling trip.

Sapporo had lots of snow and great food. The Hokkaido milk and ice cream was fantastic. I miss it already!

Tokyo was very busy and packed with people. Never before in my life have I ever seen that much porn in 1 city. I got to see Tokyo Tower! it's always been one of my childhood dreams to see Tokyo Tower. Why? because don't cha know!? that's where Sailor Moon lives! and we were lucky enough to see Mt Fuji. On my last night in Tokyo we got stuck on the last train leaving Shibuya station. HOLY CUPCAKES. It's insane how many people they can cram inside that train. It was so tight in the train that I could feel the air getting squeezed out from my lungs. What an experience that was. I also saw a drunk business man touching himself on the train, and then fly across the train because he was too drunk to keep his balance when the train stopped.

Kyoto was by far one of my favorite places, the temples and shrines were breath-taking. I wished we could've stayed there longer. Unfortunately quite a few temples and shrines were closed or under construction, but we still got to see a bunch of stuff. Fushimi Inari Shrine was fantastic and definitely worth the hike to the top.

Now.. as for Osaka and Kobe.. I can't say I did much. Not that they weren't great places, however I got some kind of stomach virus or food poisoning and.. yea.. that was very uncool. It was also very uncool to find out that a bunch of toilets at Kyoto Station did NOT have toilet paper! They weren't out of toilet paper, the bathroom stalls did not even have toilet paper holders. Needless to say while in Osaka I got to know their public toilets very intimately. We orginally planned to sleep at an Love hotel and Manga Kissa while in Osaka, but we were only able to do the Manga Kissa. My friend and I even ended up taking a nap inside the bathrooms for a bit since we did not have a hotel room and since we had to leave the Manga Kissa at 6am. Nothing was open and we couldn't find a nearby McDonalds and it was cold! so yea, into the bathroom we went!

We were only in Kobe for half a day, it was where our ferry to Oita was leaving from. Not much to say but we did happen to catch an awesome street performance by a local musician named Satoshi Yajima, I bought his CD and got his autograph!

So what did I learn from this trip?

-I knew a lot more Japanese than I realized, but there's still many more things to learn
-It's probably not a good idea to eat free mayonaise left in the hostel's fridge...
-Tokyo is not as expensive as everyone says, food is really affordable and you can easily spend only $3 for food per day. 99yen cup noodles work wonders!

-Always O_O carry toilet paper with you

-Even though everyone we met along the way was super nice and helpful, Kyushu folks are by far some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet.

The Continued Benefits of Natto!

2008-12-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

Before I go on a glorified rant on my love for natto, I want to explain a bit about myself. Back in freshman year of college I went on medication, and after about a year or so, I stopped taking it. Shortly after I started experiencing an annoying sensation in my legs and arms when I tried to sleep at night. It made me want to get out of bed and start running. Later on I found out it was Restless Leg Syndrome.

It's hard to explain but it kept me up all night long and I'd lose out on a lot of sleep because of it. I'd wake up feeling super tired because I spent more than half of the night kicking my legs and flailing my arms around so the sensation would go away. Doing this helped but it's hard to fall asleep when you keep having to consciously move your limbs around.

This continued on for about 3 years. It only stopped after a few weeks of being here in Japan. And so it made me curious as to why it suddenly disappeared. So after doing a bit of quick internet research(lame I know) I figured out that for most people, after taking a B-12 vitamin shot, their RLS went away. This B-12 is a tricky vitamin. It's found on a lot of things, and foods, but it can be difficult to find it on a reliable and edible source. Why? because B-12 is a bacteria, which during most cooking and food preparation processes is removed. However, on more naturally (fermented) prepared foods B-12 still remains.

Now I wondered what have I been eating in Japan that contains a reliable source of B-12? Yup you guessed it, natto! I've eaten natto at least twice a day, on a daily basis since being here. I sleep so well at night now, it's just great! I no longer wake up at random intervals through the night tossing and turning.

I'm sure my research methods teacher would yell at me for making such a silly statement without sufficient evidence to back up my theory. Once I get back to America I would like to continue this theory with more official research.

Although it has only been 2 and a half months since my RLS has gone away, it is said that the symptoms are often intermittent and may disappear and reappear after a couple months without reason. But for now, I will enjoy my undisturbed sleep at night.

Snow in Kyushu

2008-12-07T05:38:00.000-08:00

Let me begin by saying, field trips are awesome and I wish schools in CMS and other schools in America would allow field trips again. These Japanese field trips are so much fun, they allow you to visit historical landmark sites and see the beautiful scenery that only the locals know about. Also on 2 separate field trips they let us try their locally made alcohol, YAY!

This Saturday I went on an optional field trip to Ono River and around the nearby area. It was a cold day in Oita city! But after last Wednesday's weather I falsely believed I would be fine wearing a short sleeve shirt underneath a cloth jacket (it wasn't even a real jacket!). Our first location was a waterfall and river, it was windy and cold, but bearable still.

Then we rode further up the mountain where it began to snow. The picturesque view of snow falling onto the sleepy mountain town reminded me of a snow globe. While the scene was very lovely and breath-taking, I knew at this point I was officially screwed, because I was going to freeze my butt off. And indeed I was right.

Being cold had an upside though, when we stopped to have lunch, the hot food combined with the view of snow falling outside the window was just perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything more than to be there in that cozy room eating Japanese noodle soup with a hot cup of green tea (although a jacket would've been nice too!).

Next we went to a town that makes sake. It was pretty cool, but I was too busy keeping warm to pay attention. Then we went to a park at the foot of a mountain. Needless to say, it was quite cold but also very beautiful and serene.

Throughout the trip, there was a little kid probably 11 years old that had on nothing but a long sleeve shirt and a pair of ripped jeans and he wasn't cold at all. It made me remember when I was a kid, even in the coldest weather I would rarely ever wear a jacket because I never felt that cold, and my parents would always get mad and yell at me to put a jacket on. Geez that kid makes me feel so old! what I wouldn't give to be him at that moment, because at least I wouldn't have felt so unbearably cold.

Just thinking about that day makes me cold. I did have gloves though!...

First Onsen Experience, いい　だな！

2008-11-29T19:55:00.000-08:00

Let me start off by saying I'm terrified of the nudity thing, I'm even embarrassed to be in a bathing suit. But to let that keep me from experiencing the Onsen would be such a shame, especially since Beppu is well known for hot spring resorts. I had to do the Love Hina hot spring thing at least once before leaving Japan! These hot springs are all over the town, varying in modern, to old style traditional resorts. The older ones tend to be hotter in temperature.

So on Saturday we went to Beppu to check out Hyotan hot spring. It was 700JPY($7) for an adult admission and 200JPY($2) for the yukata rental so we could do the sand bath too. So yea.. back in Highschool even though I took gym and had to change in the locker rooms, me and a lot of other girls managed to avoid the social naked awkwardness by changing in the showers (don't worry it was clean! ... apparently people in my school never showered, now thas nasty!). So I never experienced the room full of naked others, until yesterday O____O. For once in my life I was happy that I have bad vision because I quickly took my glasses off so I wouldn't have to see a thing!

While the naked part is still bizarre and I would prefer some clothes over complete public nakedness, I guess it's not as bad as I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, it's still bad! but not THAT bad. I would definitely do it again.

Oh and on 2 completely random notes, in Japan, the food you order off the menu looks almost exactly like what they bring to you. It's awesome, even fast food items comes out the same way. This can also be a bad thing too, because if you see 4 slices of green beans in the picture, that's exactly how many you're going to get. The quality and quantity matches the photo. That Mega Muffin was delicious by the way.

and before we went to Beppu I went to buy a towel for the hot spring, and I accidentally left my towel in my bike basket at the train station. When I came back 6 hours later it was still there undisturbed! how great is that?? that kind of thing never happens in America, you blink once and somebody might snatch the panties right off you! the low crime rate is definitely one of the many perks of living in Japan.

Bamboo Festival in Taketa

2008-11-16T02:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday there was an amazing festival taking place in Taketa, just an hour and a half away from Oita city.

We went there early enough to participate in lighting some of the bamboo lights. That was pretty awesome to be able to light up the candles. The sun was still out so we decided to walk around town a bit and check out Oka castle ruins.

While walking towards Oka castle ruins it started to rain so the lady selling tickets lent us free umbrellas! her generosity took me by complete surprise. Little things like that just makes me love Japan more and more.

The view from Oka castle ruins is fantastic, you can see the mountains all around you. A lot of skeeters there though, I got chewed up!

It was starting to get dark so we went back to town hoping all the lights would finally be lit. Unfortunately the rain picked up.

It wasn't raining that hard, but just enough to put out most if not all of the candles.

We were feeling a bit down about the rain and ready to head back to the train station when we decided to dry off, warm up, and get some hot ramen and tea at the local restaurant.

The steaming bowl of ramen made everything feel much better. I love eating hot noodles and soups on cold rainy nights.

It definitely made me feel better about the rain situation. Upon leaving the ramen shop we realized there were people still determined to relight the candles inside the bamboo in spite of the pouring rain. They laid the bamboo down so the rain wouldn't get inside. It was cool seeing everyone trying so hard to keep the festival going.

The atmosphere of everything was pretty indescribable. It felt like looking into a sea of stars. The whole night made me reflect and remember that even though things might not go as planned, if you focus on the negatives too much you can easily miss out on up side of things Who's to say that just because its raining that the festival has to end? I believe the rain added more to the whole awesomeness of being there and definitely made the ramen taste 10x better.

Field Trip to Hita

2008-10-31T03:41:00.000-07:00

So today we went on a field trip to an old ninja village hidden deep in the mountains of Kyushu island!...

Ok so it's not really a ninja village, it's actually a pottery town, but ninja village sounds so much cooler don't you think? The town was so peaceful and chill and they specialized in hand made pottery.

It was nifty, I love seeing Japanese style towns like this.

They use the current of the stream to fill up the logs which lift the arms up to pound the clay. So cool! Walking through the town all you hear is the stream rushing by and the echo of clay being pounded.

And God said "Let there be rice!"

2008-10-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

Blasphemous I know but after a month of having to manually cook rice, I was so happy to finally get a rice cooker. The rice I made was either too soggy, or not fully cooked, it was a very time consuming process. I definitely recommend rice lovers studying abroad to invest in a rice cooker. Good thing Tuan found a recycling shop that sells refurbished cookers, it works great and at a fair price too! When I took the cooker out of the box, I hugged it for awhile and.. well I won't disclose any of the other more intimate details between me and my rice cooker. No, really. When I heard the beep~beep~beep signaling that the rice was done cooking it felt like Christmas morning.

Today I took some folks to the Violently Cheap store. This store is so violently cheap that I saw the price tag leap out and punch an old lady in the face, now that's the kind of bargain prices I want. It's actually one of the cheapest stores I've seen. 10kg of rice for $23.50, and 2liters of Aquarious for $1.37, compared to $1.79 at other stores.

ah on a random note, Japanese cows are delicious. They're like walking slabs of melt-in-your-mouth butter. *drool* but it is a bit pricey. So most of what I can afford is veggies, fruits, and chicken or fish and eggs. A healthier diet is always a plus, and biking everywhere has done great things for my thunderous thighs.

It's starting to get cold here in Oita, yay winter clothes!

Language Barrier

2008-10-16T01:35:00.000-07:00

I've been in Japan for about 3 weeks now and I feel my actual grasp of the Japanese language isn't progressing as quickly as I would want it, so I've been asking around for advice as to how to improve my language skills. So I will be taking their advice and let you know which one works.

Get a Japanese boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other(lol)

Read Japanese often and outloud

Do something involving the language that interests you (karaoke, manga, anime, etc!)

Strike up random conversation with the locals

Replace English words with Japanese words you already know and integrate it into your daily vocabulary

Make Genki book your bible, pray to it, worship it, and practice its teachings!

And I had to get the bike fixed today, because all the frequent nostaligic childhood bike rides along the river totally killed the back wheel *cough* or it could've also been because I accidentally rode onto gravel. Anyways! I went to get it fixed today and everything went pretty smoothly, the shop keepers were really helpful. Luckily I had written up a Japanese translation so I could say "can you fix the bike's wheel? it's flat, I think there's a hole in it." ( It was a lot more efficient and a lot less embarassing then just pointing to the back wheel and saying "dame desu! tasukete kudasai!" though that would be so much funnier.

Oh and on my way back I greeted an old lady and she started conversating with me but I had a hard time understanding her accent, so I had to give up the charade and told her that I wasn't Japanese and that I was actually an international student. She looked amused and smiled and said either "kowai"(scary) or "kawaii"(cute) but I'm going to go with kawaii because that will help me sleep better at night haha. Either way I did a little bow and thanked her and said goodbye. I'm socially awkward regardless of what country I'm in, or what language I speak :)

Darkness is Coming!

2008-10-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

Ok so today around 5pm I decided to take a lovely bike ride along the river again. The weather was fabulous and the atmosphere brought on by the setting sun made everything feel just right. So I rode a couple miles down the river when I realized that it was getting pretty dark even though it was not yet 6pm, but I wanted to ride a bit further to get a better shot of the mountain so I kept on going. Before I knew it, the sun had set, and I was far far away from the dorm. So I turned on the bike light and proceeded to turn back when my legs started to stiffen up. Yea at this moment it was kind of like an "oh crap" switch turned on in my head. I was miles away and too tired to get back in time before total darkness sets in. It was a pretty painful ride back (my head felt like it was burning!), but still a really fun experience. It reminded me of that part in the movie Silent Hill when the siren sounds for people to get inside the church before things get dark and the scary monsters comes out. Not the most comforting thought when biking through the dark.

I finally made it back to the dorm around 7ish, limping of course, yatta! The walk up the 3 flights of stairs to my room were killing me though. I'll definitely have to remember to plan out the bike rides a bit better, so I'm not stuck out in the dark frantically pedaling to get home.

I need a lot of practice with biking. I still walk the bike to the river before getting on. This week I plan to attach the gorilla pod and camera to the bike and record my awesomely horrible riding skills.

Learning to Ride Again

2008-10-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

The last time I remember riding a bike was in Elementary school and it was the kind of bike that you had to pedal backwards in order to stop. So I assumed it would be easy to just get on and ride a bike again without any practice. Geez was I wrong, I was so scared to get on the bike again! So I wanted to practice riding it around before I took it on the road with the cars but I didn't want to ride in the day time when people could see me being goofy, so I did it in the dark of night by the river! (by the way this is completely random but Oita has a lot of bats! at first I thought they were birds, but the way they were flying, I realized they were tiny bats.)

anyways I walked the bike down to the river, embarrassing I know. But once I got to the river I felt like a kid learning to ride a bike all over again. It was just so indescribably fun and freeing to ride alongside the river at sunset. When it's not raining, the weather feels fantastic! the cooling breeze blowing through my hair, it was incredibly enjoyable. Even after the sunset I kept riding back and forth along the river. I would've stayed longer had I known the bike had a light on it.. hehe... I'm a dork.

I love it here.

2 Steps Backwards

2008-10-09T00:32:00.000-07:00

Today after Japanese class my teacher asked me and 2 other students to stay after so she could talk to us. To make a long story short, she was outright discouraging us from taking her class because she says it would be too hard for us and we would most likely get a bad grade, and that we should take the easier route and take Japanese level 1. Now Japanese level 1 is sort of an insult to me because it is introductory Japanese, they are learning Hiragana/Katakana and some very basic kanjis. Of course it would be easier, thats like going back to elementary school, it's easy but there's no challenge and it would be a waste of my time and not going to benefit me at all. It's a step backwards and did I mention it's slightly insulting? I've been studying Japanese for 2 years, there's no way I'm going to take Japanese level 1. I don't want easy, I want a challenge, it is why I'm studying abroad in Japan, I'm not here on vacation, I'm here to get a better grasp on the language.

She was telling us that we probably wouldn't be able to keep up in class and end up getting a bad grade. I completely disagree, I know myself better than she knows me, she's known me less than 2 weeks. I know I can push myself to learn new material, it's just over the summer I didn't study so it's taking me awhile to remember the reviews in class. I spent my summer learning new kanjis, instead of reviewing grammar. But by no means should I go to Japanese level 1 just because I forgot some minor grammar that I can easily catch up in my own time. No I don't need extra help from her after class, in fact I've never bothered wasting a teacher's time because I didn't understand material from class. I'm the one responsible for my studies.

She asked us, what mattered more, being challenged or having a good grade. Who cares about grades? what does that grade say about you if you already knew the material being taught in that class? it could say you did good on test and turned in your homework on time, or it could also say that you cruised through an easy class and at no time were you challenged to think.

While I do respect teachers/advisors for their words of warning against taking a difficult course or program, I don't believe they should ever discourage a student from trying something challenging, because challenges are more rewarding in the end and provide better long lasting results. The process is more rewarding than the result! never ever forget that. Because though the result may not be what you originally wanted, the process you went through is undeniably valuable and that's where true learning takes place. Had I listened to my study abroad advisor I wouldn't have even applied to study abroad because she discouraged me from even bothering to apply because she said I wouldn't even be selected and that there were so many other better students more likely to be picked over me. If I listened to her, I wouldn't be in Japan right now living it up. It was my Japanese teacher that encouraged me to apply in spite of the slim odds. Always prepare for the worst but hope for the best and work towards your goals.

If in life we always took a step backwards and took the easy route, then what is there to learn? What is the point of life if you don't challenge yourself to succeed in difficult or perhaps even unattainable goals?

Not trying is to have failed already and to lie down and accept defeat and mediocracy.

Today is by no means a bad day, her words have just fueled the fire and motivated/encouraged me to do even better in that class and prove her wrong.

The Deal With Natto

2008-10-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, what is natto? it's actually fermented soybeans. Comes in little containers and is super cheap in Japan and also extremely nutritious and in my opinion delicious! I did not like natto the first time, but I loved it the second time I had it. I usually eat it with a nice warm bowl of rice and veggies and a little bit of soy sauce. Every time natto is on sale for .80 for a pack of 3-4 I make sure to stock up my fridge with it. It's quick to prepare, cheap to buy, and taste great and it's so healthy for you, so I definitely suggest you give natto a try while in Japan, or if you've already tried it and dislike it, try it again on a hungry day with warm rice and keep trying till you're in love with it.

I hear a lot of people complain about the smell. Honestly I don't think it smells bad at all, it barely even has a smell. Maybe smells a bit like roasted coffee beans but that's it. No it doesn't smell like feet, so quit being immature and making over-exaggerated faces about the smell! In other words, quit being a little bitch and try it! :) The slimy/gooey factor may turn you off but okra is slimy too and plenty of folks eat that without hesitation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfZO_CugfxM

I guess growing up in a Vietnamese household and having been exposed to different foods at an early age, I'm a lot more open to trying new things and actually enjoy trying delicacies of other countries. I'm glad my parents forced me to try strange foods as a kid, of course I wasn't so happy about it when I was little because I think the Vietnamese phrase they used to say was "eat food or eat a spanking" so yea.... I chose the food haha.

Rainy day

2008-10-05T03:32:00.000-07:00

On Friday after school orientation, my tutors were kind enough to take some of us to karaoke, it was fun. It cost about $10 for karaoke till 6am and unlimited refills of drinks. People were falling asleep way before that, so we called a cab and went home.

I was finally able to check out the river yesterday and it's really nice, there's a paved road for joggers/bikers. I walked about 40 minutes in one direction only to realize I wouldn't be able to make it back in time before sunset. opps! Oh well it was still a really enjoyable refreshing walk.

The other day while at school I noticed that crickets in Japan sound noticeably different than crickets in America. I was walking past a bush at school when I heard what sounded like a bell tingling in the wind. They're actually called suzumushi which roughly translates to sleigh bell bug. They sound soooo pretty at night. I can't wait till Summer when the lightning bugs come out!

So today was a rainy day, which was fine with me, I wanted to check out the river again and walk in the other direction, but I suppose that can wait till another day. I didn't get much done, just straightened up some things in my room and made breakfast. I mainly read manga, but don't ask me which ones because I won't ever tell you.

About to do homework and study Japanese

ouchies

2008-10-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

My body is not used to walking around so much, even though it’s really fun and good for you. So my body is aching pretty badly in some areas, like shoulders, ankles, and knees. But it’s hurting less as each day passes so that’s awesome. So a few days ago we had a typhoon advisory but it passed over Kyushu Island. My tutors helped me finish some paper work and then there was an orientation at school.

Blah blah.. and then we took a Japanese placement test but yea I won’t go into details on my pitiful score, nonetheless I shall be taking Japanese level 2.

Oh oh! The other day I missed the train! Bah, I got to the ticket counter only to realize I didn’t have change to buy the ticket so I had to go buy some delicious smelling pastries to break my 10,000Yen, but by that time the train had already left, luckily there was one 20 minutes later.

Speaking of Japanese pastries… holy jizz cakes they are DELICIOUS. They smell sooooo good and taste exactly how they smell, like a slice of heaven. I’m going to have to hold my noise while passing by bakery stores or else I’ll go broke. Food is great here; the school cafeteria has nice homemade stuff.

The 100 Yen shop is all you will ever need, so I’ve bought most if not all of my supplies there thus far. Folks back in America expect to get a crap load of 100 Yen nick-knacks! I love that store, they got really cute ceramics.

So I’m trying my best to live cheaply and I think it’ll be possible, but requires a lot of discipline because everything taste and smell so good. Walking by shops and restaurants you can smell the aroma of the food wafting out and it’s so damn irresistible. Let’s see… 5 kilos of rice cost me about $16, and instant ramen is about .95-$1, natto is less than $1 for a pack of 3, that’s pretty awesome

Now if you don’t know what natto is… I’ll post videos/pictures of it soon. It’s just fermented beans that are super super sticky. First time I had natto in America, I didn’t like it! The smell wasn’t bad, but the taste was so dull and plain. But I had natto the other day with really warm fresh rice and it tasted frickin oishii! I’ve had natto twice so far and I actually enjoy and prefer the taste of natto. My mom teased me about being able to force myself to eat natto because my first try of it almost made me gag. But really, if you have a chance give natto a try, and try again and again until you like it because it’s really good and healthy for you, and most importantly it’s cheap!

I made rice for the first time in my life yesterday! I’m so proud haha! Ate it with natto, and then for breakfast I ate it with eel! Yummy.
Fruit here is really expensive but they do taste really good and sweet. I bought a bundle of small bananas for about $2.10. Small bundle of grapes for about $2.89.

I’m actually excited and looking forward to cooking fish and meats! I’m having a lot of fun, it’s like playing house. Every day I think to myself.. what I will attempt to cook and I wonder how it will taste. Oh mayonnaise is great on everything, it taste sweeter than American mayonnaise.

I haven’t had time to check out the river yet, or upload pictures/video but I swear I’ll do it soon!It’s almost 8pm here, a group of us are about to head back out to the convenient store to snag the marked down pre-made lunch boxes. They mark down the price at night to sell it all because they want to sell everything fresh every day.

September 28th!

2008-10-02T03:08:00.001-07:00

This post is a bit late but I guess I’ll post it anyway and start updating regularly again

So I woke up at 6:45am, isn’t that currrazy!?
Ah its raining.. and I’m in Japan.. watching it rain.. you think rain would be a downer but I love the rain, and it’s great to be able to open the door and let the breeze blow in while listening to the rain hit the roof tops. So awesome! So yesterday was uber fun. Tuan and them invited me to come along to the izakaiya and wow, what an experience! It was really cool meeting the other American/UNCC students, Michael, Danielle, and Geoff. It’s comforting to know there’s others going through similar experiences as you. Anyways back to the izukaiya thing, it’s like a Japanese bar. Our bartender was also the shop keeper, and he’s pretty awesome, his name is Mr. Kimura and the guy does magic tricks!! Dude that just blew my mind away, I’ve never seen those slight of hand magic tricks close up, but it’s so trippy! Really friendly guy and the other patron was nice as well too. We were there for a good bit, and then Mr. Kimura and the bar patron (Mr. Hentai?) suggested karaoke, and luckily Mr.Kimura’s wife owns a karaoke shop nearby so we went there. First time doing the Japanese karaoke thing, it’s so much fun once you get to a comfortable level of drunkeness. Speaking of drunkeness… the way your drinks are constantly refilled before you finish it… oh man that’s a recipe for liver disaster and party fouls waiting to happen. You can’t keep count of how much you’ve been drinking and you’re most likely constantly staring at a glass filled to the top and it feels rude or strange to not drink and let the beer get warm, so.. I feel the need to keep drinking/sipping. Awesome nontheless, the beer has a really strong after taste and I think I’m way too lightweight to take on the soju(sp?) it’s strong stuff. No chasers either! Ack. We were there until 1am when the karaoke place closed, and they gave us these tangerines? Awesome stuff. Oh and we got lost finding our way back to the International dorms.

Today (Sept 28th) I didn’t get much done, I attempted to cook earlier this morning but didn’t have food so I went to the market to get some eggs and ramen and drinks and went home to cook it. But I didn’t know how to work the gas stove.. so I went back to the store to get a torch igniter thingie and bought some pre-made sushi rolls in the highly likely event I would be too incompetent to work the gas stove. Luckily I bought food because indeed I did not know how to turn it on even with the igniter. Bleh! So I finished unpacking and cleaning up the room a bit more, and then Tuan messaged me and helped me work the stove haha, yokatta! So yea I was finally able to cook some fooooood. Hm I need to buy a rice cooker, and perhaps a microwave, and a whole list of other stuff. Sigh but it’s raining and I forgot to buy an umbrella haaaah… daijoubu! Genki desu, like I said earlier, it’s really chill to check out the rain and listen to some music.

First days in Japan!

2008-09-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Japan yesterday and got into Oita later that night. I spent about 30+ hours either at an airport, airplane, or riding in a bus. I spent the night at my tutor Narumi-san’s house, because she accidentally dropped my apartment key in the crevice of her car seat hehe. Daijoubu daijoubu, Narumi-san! After being on a plane for so long, I’m happy to be anywhere.
So even though I don’t know how to access the internet yet I’ll just go ahead and type this blog entry now and post it later before I forget about all the wonderful experiences!

There’s so much to say, where do I begin? The plane ride was ok, JAL flight attendents are awesome, I think they fed us 4 times! The flight was about 14 hours long. Upon flying into Tokyo I looked out the window and saw the breath-taking scenary that I had been dreaming of seeing since I was a kid and all I could think about in my head was… “thank god we’re landing, now I can go to the bathroom!” I was on a time constraint my entire trip and had to rush to get to my destination so I did not get to take many pictures. While I was transferring between Narita to Haneda airport I met a really nice American lady who is stationed to work as a nurse at a military base in Okinawa. Oh, dragging 2 bags around isn’t so bad, it’s the 40 lbs of junk I have strapped around my shoulder and back that began to wear down on me. So getting to Oita was easy enough I met my tutors, Narumi and Minako, at Oita Station and they’re awesome and really nice.

We went to Narumi’s home town to get help in fishing out the key that fell between the car seat. Narumi invited us over to her house and her mother cooked a meal for us, that was really nice of her, I wish I knew more proper Japanese to thank her. Sakai is really beautiful, it looks so peaceful and chill, and the mountains are beautiful!... if I were part of a ninja village.. that is where I would totally live haha. It really is gorgeous! The weather is great, so cool and breezy.
For a moment while returning back to Oita, I forgot what Charlotte looks like. It’s so strange, I searched my mind to try and remember what the hell Charlotte looked like, but I just couldn’t! it took me awhile but now I remember. It feels like Charlotte is just a distant memory now.

Ah my tutors were kind enough to take me to the store to buy some supplies and showed me the local shops near my apartment. Living alone is going to be so much fun and a challenge, because while at the store I had no clue what supplies I would need because I’m so used to having my mother buy everything and take care of the house and cook all the meals, so this will definitely build character and help me appreciate my mother a lot more.

At the moment I am in my apartment and there’s an opening in my door where the mail flap thingy is supposed to be, but it fell off so now there’s just a whole there and it’s kinda creepy. I’ll have to cover it up with something soon. People can just peek in and see me! Ok I just went to fix it, I taped some newspaper over it, yes that will keep you peeping toms at bay!.. except now I can see the newspaper blowing in the wind… scary!

I’m so lazy to unpack, so all my clothes are sprawled on the bed. I have a feeling my apartment will look just as messy as my room back in America, panties and clothes just thrown everywhere.
The sun is about to set and I’m very excited, I can see the sun setting behind the buildings outside my balcony! I love watching sunsets! I can see the mountains from my room as well, and the river is right down the street, that’s so awesome. I’m very glad I chose to study at Oita, the scenary is amazing. Who needs Tokyo? :)

Time to go

2008-09-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

2 hours left before my family drives me to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, from there I shall be heading up to Chicago O'hare? and then straight to Narita Airport, Tokyo. Then transfer over to Haneda Airport and theeeeeen fly to Oita Airport and then take the bus over to Oita Station where my tutors will be waiting. But as for now I'm still sitting on the computer watching my doggie sleep on my bed. Oh Ein! little do you know I'm leaving you for almost a whole year! that's 7 doggie years.

To be honest, now that it's so close to crunch time, I'm really starting to miss family and friends. I get homesick a lot, but what helps me get over it is to not think about family/friends/home and focus on getting to go to Japan, and living in Oita and learning Japanese. Hehe.. so forgive me in advance if I ever act a little cold or distant, I'm just trying to avoid the homesickness. I definitely won't forget about anybody while I'm gone.

...I just hope I don't get randomly strip searched at the airport! because then they'll find the 5 kilos of coke I got stored up there. Just kidding! it's only 2 kilos.

Alrighty guys, I'll post something again soon as I get internet, I'm such an internet-crack-fiend! I'd totally turn tricks if it got me internet access. SRSLY O_O

Picnic With Friends

2008-09-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Had a little picnic get-together with friends this Saturday and it was awesome. I'm so happy that you guys could make it, it means a lot to me. So much food and ice and drinks, oh my! And the weather was really nice out too. Later that night we went to the bar. Well.. there was an unplanned bar hop though, because the first bar was anal about letting those under 21 in after 10pm. I felt the need to swear just now, but I stopped myself, hah! anyways we ended up going to a pool hall just down the street. Great company + drinks = fun, what more could you ask for? and thank goodness for designated drivers, we were there until 2:30'ish eek.

I'm gonna miss you guys! I'll be back before you know it, and by then we'll have a bunch of amazingly inappropriate stories to share with one another.

Hello stalkers and swim-fans!

2008-09-07T01:44:00.000-07:00

I have decided to create a blog to record my experiences as a study abroad student in Japan. I will be studying there from October 08 to August 09. I never expected I would get accepted, but in the end, I got in! ^_^

Special thanks to all that believed in me.

Anyways, I shall *try* my very best to keep swearing to a minimum, but I can't promise anything! You've been warned! I have a colorful choice of language and strange sense of humor.