Star In Japan

Another late entry that'll probably be buried under hundreds of other entries...xD

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 07:18:21 GMT

Alrighty...so...my last 2 weeks here in Shinjo has officially started. T_T That's so depressing.

I'm at my last host family. I arrived just a little bit ago. And they seem REALLY nice. I think it'll be a nice stay. They have 6　family members. Their oldest daughter goes to the same school as my first host family brother. xD In fact...they are in the same class. LMAO! I find that extremely amusing.

My last host family was pretty freakin' amazing. It was just a older couple but I met the wife last year. Mathias stayed with her. But they were so nice that I felt like I was taking advantage of their kindess. But they had a HUGE ASS HOUSE. But I think I've mentioned this before but I'm not sure.

Anyway, Naoko Takeuchi who we all know as the auther of Sailor Moon is married to the manga artist Yoshihiro Togashi who is best known for his work of Hunter x Hunter. Guess where he was born? SHINJO! And where am I again? SHINJO! Yeah...both him & Naoko-san lived in Shinjo for a while. And guess who's house that was?　MY HOST FAMILY'S. That's right kids...I lived in the house that BOTH Naoko-san & Togashi-san lived. And both my host parents met them. And apperently still talk to them because they still get gifts from the two. HOW FREAKIN' AWESOME IS THAT?! I got to eat this expensive looking chocolate that was apperently from them. O.o And it was DELICIOUS!

Oh man...I'm tired. I fail at this updating thing. *sigh* Hopefully things get better once I'm on Tokyo. I still haven't heard from Ken yet if he found me tickets. I'm assuming he didn't. Oh well...that's alright. I get to see Nakashima Mika so that makes up for it. :D Yay!

Be safe everyone. Love you! :D

(p.s. ANNIE!! Friend my other journal too!!!!!!)

OMG She's alive?!

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:31:54 GMT

Ok people...I swear I'm not dead. ^^; Just...insanely busy &/or exhauseted. >.< But I am updating since I have time & I don't want to go to bed since my Arashi show that I've been wanting to watch since I've gotten to Japan is showing here in Yamagata (its normally only shown in the Tokyo area...^^;), I'm staying up until midnight to do so. ^^; Right now I'm watching one of my favorite music shows Hey!Hey!Hey! & afterwards is a J-Drama that I've been obsessed with since I've gotten here called "Proposal Daisakusen - Operation Love [プロポーズ大作戦~Operation Love]". It has Yamapi in it. If you know who I'm talking about, then you should know that's all the reason I need to watch it. ^.~ But its very interesting. For real! But I'm sure none of you want to hear about that. I mean...I could go on & on and fangirl for hours but I'm sure you guys want to hear about my time in Japan. ^^; If you're really interested in the show, you can google or wikipedia the show & learn about it. And I'm sure there are sites that have it up for download. I know I'm going to look for it so I can find the earlier episodes. Tonight is the Finale!! *sqeaul*

Anyany...you guys are going to have to wait on what happened the first 2 weeks hear. I'm going to have to sit down with trip intinary & really think about what happened since SOOOO much did in 2 weeks. So I apoligize. Instead, you guys will hear about my month of teaching in Yamagata Prefecture. :D This may take a while to read so you might want to bookmark this & read this over a period of a couple days. Gomen ne!

I have to warn you...there may be random rambles & rants &/or whatever since its kind of late and I'm not fully fuctional...though I did take a 2 hour nap after school today so I'm not entirely that tired.

Ok...I'm done rambling! On to the good stuff....^^;

Schools:
Elementary Schools
Teaching english is seriously something I want to do when I graduate. And Japan is definitely the place I want to do it. :D And these kids make my time here so much fun!! I'm not sure if I want to be an Elementary school teacher but I do want to teacher Elementary school kids...if you get what I'm saying. ^^; Anyway, Elementary school kids are just so...元気！[GENKI}. Its the only word to describe them! I've been to quite a few elementary schools & I'm exhausted when I get home. I respect those elementary teachers like no other man. I mean like...FOR REAL. They have to deal with them EVERYDAY ALL DAY & I'm only with them for one class period & only for a couple days. ^^; But that's OK...those kids are just FUN!! I'm suppose to have break periods where I'm suppose to just rest & relax but NO! The kids are always Asonde! Asonde! which means "Play! Play!" in Japanese. And they just don't say it....they pull on my arms & clothes and hair & anything they can get their hands on & push to where ever they want to go. ^^; And we play games like dodgeball & Fruits Basket, which by the way is now my favorite game! I don't care how childish it it. ^^:

If you don't know what fruits basket is, its a game here you make a circle with chairs. There is 1 more person than there is chairs so there can be a person in the middle. Basically there are 4 or 5 fruits & everyone is one of the fruits. So basically the game is the person in the middle class out 1,2 or 3 fruits and the people who are called have to change seats. And the person who doesn't get a sit is in the middle. If you say "Fruits Basket!" everyone has to get up & change seats. It cause chaos. Its insane! But its sooo much fun! Some schools, if you are in the middle 3 times, you have to do a "batsu" game which is basically an embarassing punishment. Sometimes its writing your name with your butt in the air or something else equally if not more embarassing. ^^; Luckily, I've only been in the middle once so I never have to do the "batsu" game. ^^; But yes...ITS SO MUCH FUN! You can basically do it with colors, animals vegetables, etc. And then you can make it a combination so like animals with colors or something. I think its great for kids to say english words outloud in a fun way. It can get dangerous at times...kids like to dive head first into their chairs & those chairs aren't soft. ^^; And the floors are wooden so yeah...^^;;; I tell the kids everytime before we play "危ないですから、気をつけてください！" [Because its dangerous, please be careful!] (Random squeal from watching show: *OMG! I WANNA MARRY YAMAPI!!! Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!!*) Okay...anyway, I told Beecken-sensei we should play it in class. LoL! She said we could if we can find chairs...and a big enough room to do so. xDD Yosh'!

So yes...and they ALWAYS want me to sign my name on things. First of all, I have to say that I spent COUNTLESS hours/days writing my name over & over again thinking one day, I'll be famous so I need a cool signature prepared. Every girl went through that stage....don't deny it! xD Many trees were sacraficed as I wrote my name over & over again on pieces of paper thinking of cool ways to write my name. WELL!! All that time was NOT wasted since I have been signing things left & right. Its like I'm a celebrity....no joke!! I've been signing basic things like pieces of paper. Then that upgraded to notebook covers & plastic things they use to put inbetween pages when they write things. Next were pencil bags & backpacks. But then...arms & hands. O.o What? Yeah...kids want me to sign their arms. WTF? O.O One kid wanted me to sign his forehead but I stared at him like O.o. The teacher came right after & took him out of line to talk to him about that. ^^; Poor kid...but seriously...that was weird. But yeah...I keep signing things over & over again. Every time I get ”すっげ！" [Suge!] which bascially means "SUPER WICKED RAD!" LoL! Ok...maybe not that but its another way to say "awesome!" ^^; The way the kids say it makes it seem like its "Super wicked rad!" though. xD I write my name first in regular print then I bust out my awesomely rad super wicked signature with loops & twirls & all the cool stuff. xD I'm super カッコイ～～ [kakkoi] which means "cool". That's all I hear when kids see me. xD Its kind of a self-esteem booster. ^^;

And they teach school spirit to kids in elementary schools. But its not in a bad overbearing way. ^^; They have like-pep rally assemblies which are so damn cool by the way. Its just...AGH! So cool! You just have to see one to know what I'm saying. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it is. I'm not even going to attempt to explain it to you...you'll just have to youtube Japanese cheerleading for yourself. ^^; I think that's what its called. SO. FREAKIN'. RAD. PERIOD. xD I think its more exciting than our cheerleading. I seriously got soooo pumped just watching these elementary school & middle school kids do it! I think we should form a Tradiational Japanese Cheerleading group for the CSU football team. LoL!! I wonder how well that would go over. xD

(more random squeals: DON'T CRY YAMAPI!! I'LL MARRY YOU!!! T_T *says the girl who said she never wanted to get married...dang you Japanese boys!! xD It doesn't help that Yamapi's character is named Ken...LMAO!!!*)

Middle Schools
At first, I was kind of upset that Tiffany got to go to more Middle Schools because I thought that Middle Schoolers would be cool to talk to & hang out with. Nope. I forgot that Middle Schoolers DON'T TALK. At all. -_- Its kind of frustrating & lame when I just stand up in the front of the room & they just stare at me which blank looks on their faces. *sigh* They get so flustered when I just say "Good morning" to them. I can't even wave without them turning red & look away or walk the other direction. They are so shy its not even funny. I guess its understandable when you have a foreigner in your class teaching you their language & you're afraid to make a mistake they will make fun of you or whatever but still! At least talk to me! Even when I speak to them in Japanese to make them feel more comfortable they just clam up even more. *sigh* I can't win with these kids. (random squeal #3: OMG WHAT KIND OF ENDING WAS THAT?! T_T I guess it could have been worse...*sigh* But still...) But I think Middle Schoolers are like that everywhere. ^^; But still...I just want these kids to talk to me. *sigh* Oh well...

Teaching in general
Teaching the classes are just a blast. Even in middle schools. This definitely gives me great ideas of what I want to do when I become a teacher. And I don't want to be an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), I want to be a REAL teacher. To be able to be in charge of my own class & teach the language how it should be taught. Because lets face it, when we learn a foreign language, we want native speakers to teach it. Of course there are certain exceptions like Varner-sensei who is an American teaching japanese but she kicks butt at it so its cool. And Aoyagi-sensei here in Shinjo teaching English...she's great! But for the most part, the people teaching english can't speak the language...at all. *sigh* Its kind of sad. And some of them refuse to listen to us native speakers when we correct them outside of class. Sometimes we have to do it while they are teaching because they are making blatant mistakes that can't be overlooked. We don't go out & say "THAT'S WRONG!" We'll casually correct them by saying "I think it would be better if you said ~" or something similiar. But Beecken-sensei talked to education board & told them a lot of our input like teachers need to be open-minded to us native speakers because we are here to help THEM with OUR language. So far, most teachers have been OK with everything we've told them but there are some who just don't get it. It gets frustrating but that just means there's really nothing you can do about it & just move on. I'll take everything I learn from these experiences & use it for when I become a teacher. :D Also that they need to get rid of writing sentences in katakana because they will never learn how to spell correctly nor pronounce things like they should be pronounced. Its fine for some things but for entire sentences...no. Yes our alphabet is kind of useless at times since each letter has a bazillion ways to sound it but still...writing it in katakana does nothing to help them either. I plan to ban that in my class room. ^^;

But still...this is such a wonderful experience. I can't be any more greatful to be given this opportunity. This is definitely something I want to do once I get out of college. I want to do it so bad that I just want to forsake college all together & just stay here and continuing teaching. But since Beecken-sensei is an amazing resource with an incredible network, I think staying in college is the best route. I'm on Beecken-sensei's good side too. ^^; She's an incredible teacher who will go out of her way to help you if you ask for it. And I know that if I want to be an English teacher here in Japan, she'll lead me straight to the greatest resources available. Its insane...she knows EVERYONE in Japan it seems like. And she graduated from Tokyo University which is like our Harvard or Yale here. When we tell people that here, they gasp & are so impressed that they want to meet her. ^^; If we wanted to be on Japan TV, I think she'd have no problem doing so. XD But yes...no matter how much I want to stay here, I should probably go back & do it the right way. But if an AMAZING opportunity shows itself & I can't turn it down, you know dang well that I will not be coming home. ^^;

Host Families
Kumagai Family
I LOVE MY FIRST HOST FAMILY! Its a shame I only got to stay with them for 2 weeks. T_T I didn't want to leave them. *sigh* But they were just so...awesome! The mom was sooo funny. She reminded me a lot of my own mother...except she didn't get mad. ^^; But she complained about how lazy & bratty her kids are & how she would like to take a break from her kids & how messy her house was. EXACTLY like my mom. I think that's why we got a long. But she was one of the worst Japanese housewives...ever. xD I'm not saying that in a bad way. But for the most part, all of my host mom's from last year & this year have all been your typical housewife...can cook, keeps the house tidy & clean and basically runs the house. But Junko...she can't cook to save her life. xD She hates cleaning. xD And she just wants her kids out. LoL!! She's so wonderful! I love her! And her kids even dislike her cooking. xD Of course I like everything so when she did make something, I thought it tasted fine. But when she cooked food, her kids would be all "Mazui! [basically that means 'gross']" and they get up & cook their own food. xD Its funny. :D She has 4 kids...3 still live at home.

Her oldest is a son who is 22 years old. She wants him out but I guess he has no money (& I think depressed...but he totally didn't seem like it) so that's why he's living at home. He has 2 jobs...works at a daycare in the day time & works at this restaurant which is more like a glamourized bar with booths & waiters. I know there's a name for it but it escapes me at the moment. Basically it has mostly alcoholic drinks & their food is mostly food you have with beer & stuff. So yeah...he works both everyday. He's not in school since he's either done or dropped out. I don't remember. ^^; But he's funny. And I thought he was good-looking which was a plus. xD

Her oldest daughter doesn't live at home. She lives in Saitama which is near Tokyo. But she came up & visited for a day. SHE'S ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS and I'm jealous. ^^; She is soooo pretty that I was drooling. ^^; We're the same age. But then again...Miss Universe is from Japan & we're the same age...and she's enviously gorgeous as well. Damn...there goes my self-esteem. *sigh* But she was pretty nice though we didn't really talk much.

Her youngest son is a 2nd year in High School (equivalent to a Junior in H.S. here). He makes me want to go back to High School. *drools* And he looks great in his uniform. ^^; I swear I'm not a perv or anything...I can't help it! If I was in high school again I'd SOOO be all over him. ^^; But he wears his uniform ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME. I'm not kidding! I've only seen him in something over than his uniform 2 twice. And even then, when he went out to rent more episodes of Lost (yes....you read that right...the american show Lost...^^;), he changed OUT of his regular clothes into his uniform JUST to go to the movie store. O.o WTF?! But I guess I can't complain...he looks really good in it. xD And he EATS ALL THE TIME. Every where i look, he's eating. And when I mean eating, its not just snacking...he's TOTALLY chowing down. And he eats things that aren't for him! Even when I wrote notes that said "REISUKE...DON'T EAT!!" in English AND Japanese, he eats it anyways. xD What a funny guy...but he's cute so I forgive him. LoL!!

Her youngest child is a middle schooler girl. That should explain it. She barely talked to me. And she gave her mom attitude the whole time I was there. ^^; But I think all girls were like that so its wasn't that big of a deal. She's in that stage of rebellion & talking back. She just entered teenhood so I think some of you understand what that's like. xD

Living with different families from foreign countries is definitely an experience one needs to experience once in their life. Its so interesting so compare lives & to appreciate what you have or what you wished you had. Every family in the US is different. And families in Japan are completely different. With my first host family, I felt right at home with them. I was extremely bummed to leave them. But I go over there sometimes still. :D Reisuke (the H.S. kid I have a crush on) waits up for me when he knows I'm coming to visit. *sigh* What a good kid...LoL!

Right now I can't say much about my 2nd host family. My 2 weeks with them is almost over. Its been a little hard but I don't want to say much now. Hopefully I can give you a better report sometime later. :D

Just My Time Here In General
I love it here. Japan is just....such a great country. Most people are surprised I'm not home sick. I don't get homesick easily. I do miss my family but I talk to my mom quite often. In fact, she calls me all the time. At 6:30 in the morning on Saturdays....xD But I don't really miss a lot of things. Friends yes but again, I try & keep in touch with just about everyone I care about. :D People have been emailing to my phone emial whcih makes me soooo happy. :D I LOVE ALL THE EMAILS I GET GUYS!! <333 Living here is definitely something I can do. I adapt well to my surroundings & so far, if I never went home, I think I'd be fine. I would never give up my US citizenship though. That's just retarded to do. I'm proud to come from here but I think Japan is the place that needs me. Its where my calling lies I believe so that's why I want to live here.

But I have been eating great Japanese food. *drools* Katsudon is seriously my favorite food here. Sushi is great also. I think the sushi you get a convenience stores here is WAY better than all the expensive sushi back in the States. I haven't really encountered anything that I absolutely hate. Food is food in my opinion so its all great. :D But I do miss Mexican food. Man...what I would kill for a Chipotle or Quedoba burrito. *drools* Or a big fat steak (random squeals #4: NO FAIR!! *watching my Arashi show & they are eating a DELICIOUS LOOKING PRIME RIB* I WANNA EAT TOO!!!!!!!!!!!! T_T) or a double cheese burger with cheese, lettace, tomatoes, pickles, mustard & onions. I need to find a mexican restaurant...or an American restaurant. *haha* Yeah right...good luck with that. xD

I have bought a lot of mangas. I guess I can't give Marlena crap for that. ^^; I bought the whole series of this Shinjo Mayu series called "Love Celeb" that I have been reading online but they are only halfway through volume 3 translated & there are 7 volumes total. So I just bought all 7 in one go. In America, that over 70 bucks right there. But not in Japan! I barely spent 20 bucks on 7 of them. BOO YA!! xD Shinjo Mayu is a the queen of hot/smutty works but this one is SOOO funny that its cool. Though the smutty parts are still nice (xD), I just had to buy it. And anythng by Shinjo Mayu is a must for me. xD And she crosses over with 2 other stories she wrote in this story too! Kaikan Phrase (or Sensual Phrase in English) & another one called Haou Airen (It just got licensed by Viz to but I don't know the English title nor when it will be released). Both are extremely hot & the men are SOOOO good looking that it makes me melt & fantasize. xD Haou Airen is more angtsy though...that was a little rough to get through. But Kaikan phrase is amusing. :D All her stories aren't the most plotful but the guys are hot. xD That's all that counts in my mind, xD But "Love Celeb" takes place after "Kaikan Phrase" but before "Haou Airen" though both series have been completed before "Love Celeb." (random squeal #5: I LOVE ARASHI!!!! They are so stupid it makes me happy!! xD I am SOOO meeting them just to hang out before I die! xD) Though they are in Japanese, I'm actually pleasantly surprised I can read & understand about 90% of it. I think its all thanks to not only my kick ass Japanese lessons but also due to my AMAZING DENSHI JISHOU I scored in Akihabara (XDDDDDD) when I was in Tokyo the first 2 days I was in Japan. I love it. I take it every where & its extremely handy. I think I've used it so much that I've already paid off the $375 I spent on it. xD

Everytime Tiffany & I go out into Shinjo, we get stares. But that's not surprising since Tiffany is tall & bleached her hair blonde. She stands out pretty well. But its funny when everyone waves & says "Hello!" or "good morning!" Of course we smile & wave back and ask "How are you?" & get the response "House are you?" back. xD So we answer "I'm fine/good/great/hungry/etc." & they say "I'm fine too. Thank you." The basic greeting taught in their classes. And sometimes we get "You are sexy!" afterwards but we think they don't know what that means. xD We get "I love you", "Very Beautiful", "Sexy" & "Baby" a lot. None of them understand what any of that means so I feel bad when I burst out laughing as soon as they say it. xD It didn't help that when Beecken-sensei came up to see what we were doing, we went out to eat & were standing in front of a pizza place debating if we wanted to eat there when we for some reason that I don't remember started cracking up for like 5 minutes in front of 3 different groups of High Schoolers. xD I heard the group with the guys say "かわいい [kawaii]" at us while we were clutching our stomachs & trying to breath. Afterwards, we decided on the restaurant next to it & one of the high school boys came up & was all "Ramen!" And we, (Tiffany, Beecken-sensei & I), still with the air or laughter around us just nodded & say "Yes! Thanks you!" And he kept saying "Heart Ramen!" WTF?! I thought he was saying he already "HAD" ramen. Beecken-sensei said she thought he said "HOT" ramen. And Tiffany thought he said "HARD" ramen. xD And it was just funny that he walked all the way up to us to say that and none of us understood what he said. xD That was funny. Oh man..that's basically been what its like here the whole time. xD Its been so much fun. Japan just rocks. xD

I apologize for my rambles, bad grammer &/or spelling. Its late here & I'm a little tired. Apparently I've been here for so long that I'm not speaking English anymore but actually Engrish. xD I'm too tired to go back & double check everything. I need to go to bed. ^^; I hope everyone is doing fine! I'm thinking of you all!

And those who like Hana Kimi: J-DRAMA OF HAMA KIMI STARTS ON JULY 3rd!! YES!!! I'm SOOO watching!!!

Day 1: LAX

Mon, 21 May 2007 16:54:47 GMT

Day 1! Yay!

Day 1 started off extremely early at like....4:00 am. ^^; And I didn't sleep one wink. xD Merlena came over at about 11-ish (I wasn't even home. ^^; I was taking Amanda home) & hung out & talked while I did last minute packing & stuff. She eventually knocked out at about 2-ish to get some sleep while I decided to putt-putt away trying to entertain myself so I don't sleep. xD

Anyway, at about 4:15 am, my dad drove Merlena & I to DIA and dropped us off at the American Airlines drop off place thingy. Merlena hung out near the desk while I checked in for my flight. I'm flying standby so I had to make sure I checked in early & got to my gate. But we got to DIA like, 20 minutes earlier than expected so I hung out with Merlena for a little bit before I had to leave her by herself & wait for everyone else to show up at 8:00 am. They don't fly out until like....11 or something. かわいそう！T_T Anyway, after I left Merlena, I went to security which didn't take as long as I thought it would. Since I'm wearing my super kick-butt boots with the stiletto heel & pointed toe (its the only shoes I can wear with my nice dress pants. I have to wear basically a business suit since I'm flying First Class AND standby so yeah..if I had cute, smaller non-boot shoes to wear with these pants, I so would. >.< My pants would drag so bad on the ground if I didn't wear these boots. *sigh* The cost of looking good...LOL!!!!), I thought it would be a major pain to take them off & put them back on again. But it was fine. Security wasn't so horrible. After that, went to my gate & just waited for about an hour before they boarded.

I was the 2nd to the last person called & I didn't get first class. T_T It was full. But the guy they called afterwards got the last first class seat. WTF?! ^^; I got put in the very back. Literally. It was kind of depressing. It was next to a family of 4. I eventually fell into a nice, comfortable light sleep as we took off but was abruptly taken out of it when one of the flight attendents woke me up & told me they would be moving me to the front of the plane (right behind First Class) so the family in the back could be together. So that wasn't so bad. I got to my new seat & went back in to my sleep where I slept for about an hour. Enough where I can feel rested but not exhausted while I'm at LAX and also to be able to fall into a nice deep sleep as soon as I get onto the BIG plane off to Japan. I should have no problem getting First Class on this flight since First Class tickets Internationally are ridiciculously more expensive than Domestic flights which means First Class will not fill up & I get to sit there. ^_^ Yay for Aunties who work for Airlines!! よし！

Anyway, when I woke up from my sleep, I looked out my window & saw one of the most beautiful image in my life! We were flying over the mountains of California when I saw the clouds covering the city. And it was magnificent! It looked like a white ocean & the mountains made their own little islands. Some of the clouds were kind of floating above each gave it a look like a wave crashing against the steep sides of a cliff. God...I don't think I'm actually doing justice for this amazing image I saw with my words. I totally suck at expressing things like that. But OMG it was beautiful! The worst part though; MY CAMERA WAS IN MY BAG IN THE OVERHEAD BINS!! WTF ARLET?! Seriously!! I couldn't believe I missed a beautiful opportunity to show everyone it! ARG! I'm so mad at myself! It was moments like these where I LOVE flying! The people behind me were complaining about not being able to see LA! Dude....seriously. You get to see something as beautiful as that everyday. And LA sucks anyways. :P

So yeah....I landed at LAX at about 8:30 LA time. I went straight to the bathroom. LoL!! But the "cool" part was when I exited the bathroom. So as I walked out of the bathroom, there was a small convenience-type store thingy there & guess who I saw there? Kobe Bryant. Yep. And his wife. Kind of cool but I really don't really care but it was still really cool. He's still a celebrity so it was just cool to be able to see one at the airport. Anyway, after I shrugged it off, I went to my gate & that's where I am right now. Just sitting around, will be waiting for about 3-ish hours before I start boarding. I'll be boarding at noon & the flight is at 12:40 pm. And I'm starving. ^^; There is a Chili's 2 near by so I think I may go grab a bite to eat since well....this will be my last time I can eat a REAL BURGER. So I think I may go get something to eat. Hmmm....burgers....*drools*

So yes...I'm going to go grab a bite to eat & fantasize about who may be in First Class with me. *cough*Gackt*cough*Arashi*cough* ^^; Oh man...I'm going to Japan!!!!

CELL PHONE # IN JAPAN!

Sat, 19 May 2007 17:20:19 GMT

Hey guys! This is going to be my cell phone # in Japan. SO...if any of you are willing to spend the crap load of money to call me (^^;), you can do so here:

+81-90-5006-5469

I don't know the email address for it yet though...I'll let you all know what that is if you want to send text messages/emails since those are cheaper. ^_^

And check out the model I'm getting:

Pretty niffty, huh? Not sure what color I'm getting...probably black but that's still cool! I won't know until I pick it up at the hotel's front desk.

Alrighty, gotta make that email list & bake that cake. :D Catch ya'll later!

Haven't Heard From This Journal In Awhile...

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 04:20:56 GMT

So yeah...this journal hasn't been written in for awhile. 1)I'm not in Japan anymore & 2)I completely forgot to post all the journal entries I wrote to put on here. ^^; Oops...

Anyway, since I'll be going back this summer, I'll be going back to this journal to *hopefully* do a better job at showing you guys things & writing stuff. ^^; I kinda didn't do that good of a job last time but I'm hoping to be a little better.

I may go back & post some of the entries I wrote up here just because. :D

I'm so excited to be going back!

PICTURE POST #3!

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 15:24:20 GMT

And now for the grand finale!!! *drum roll*

So I was only able to get pictures of my top 3 Classes since I didn't have enough time & a lot of them were busy with tests & stuff. ^^;; It was very hard for me to pick just 3 but I managed. So here are my top 3 classes starting with #3:

These kids are in their 3rd Year & are in Class #2. These kids are pretty awesome! Yuu-kun was in this class. I had them on the first day I was there. They were really funny & every time any of them saw me walking in the halls, they'd ALWAYS say HI & smile. Yuu-kun was in the Clinic quite a bit & was definitely a sweet heart. :D

This class was my very FIRST class I went to. This is the class with the kid that ALWAYS smiled & smirked at me like he was hot stuff when he saw me. Well...he wasn't bad looking. He's in the center in the first row...he looks kinda retarded in this picture but in person, he's actually kinda hot. ^^; But I remember them being really eager to meet me & talk to me. One guy (I think he's at the bottom right in the front row) always tried talking to me & wanting to give me high fives. He wasn't that smart of a guy & I could never understand what he said but yeah...^^; Kishi-sensei said he's a bad student but a good boy....XD But they even wrote on the board. You can see it in the background.

This is what's written on the blackboard behind them. All the girls in the class went up & wanted to write stuff so they did before we took the picture. I totally almost cried reading it & watching them write it. Can you SEE why I didn't want to leave them??

Now this class is my FAVORITE class....EVER!! They are seriously the COOLEST KIDS IN JAPAN..PERIOD. This was Maki Kishi-chan's & Hisato-chans class. They were the ones that made Yakisoba for the festival. Two of the boys dressed up as Nurses to promote their stand Friday before. XD I mean, how cool is THAT? Any guy willing to put on a Nurses Outfit to benefit their group is kickass in my book. XDD I just can't decribe to you how cool these kids are. They ALWAYS cracked me up & ALWAYS made me smile. They were so easy-going & willing to learn everything, it was just awesome!! Aoyagi-sensei is in the picture too. She's on your right side. I'm sure you can figure out who she is. :D

I don't remember his name....^^;; All I know is that EVERY TIME he saw my digital camera or video camera, he was ALWAYS waving, smiling or doing whatever! He was pointing at the girl next to him as I was trying to take his picture. ^^; But he always has a nice smile on his face when I see him. He's in Class 3-1 so see if you can point him out. ^.~

This was taken on that Saturday of their school festival. These girls were selling whatever their class chose. Aren't they cute? Aren't their yukata's pretty? I want a yukata...^^; Some girls wore those, other girls wore the shorts outfits (I forgot what they were called....I TOTALLY forgot that I had one because Kei-chan bought me one as a gift so I didn't get to wear it...-_-*) or they wore whatever. Maki wore jeans & stuff. But yeah, it was fun! :D

English club was in charge of putting together a fun english class thing. The first part of the day, little kids came in & they played some cool english games. The day before, I helped set up the room & they asked me to write a message. They also asked me to draw a picture of myself but since I can't draw worth a CRAP, one of the girls did & I wrote my message. You can see it on the bottom left. :D

Some of you might have already seen this picture but I'm gonna post it anyways...^^; Yuu-kun is the short haired one & Hisato is the one with the glasses. These kids are SO FREAKIN' HILARIOUS!! (Yes...Hisato-kun is wearing two pairs of pants...the one underneath where suppose to be too short but he didn't want anyone to see them until he was on stage thus the other pair of pants he's wearing...^^;) They are my 2 favorite guys at Shinjo Minami. They won the Comedy Contest AND I think the Kings of the Festival. They were just so freakin' awesome! I taught them how to tie a tie & we took pictures together. :D I unfortunately don't have those pictures but I'm hoping I'll get a copy of them. :D They are just too awesome.

Woa! What's this? ^^;; Well...I was in the Yamgata Prefecture Newspaper for doing my TKD at the Friday Opening Ceremonies. ^^; That's the article. ^^; Its says "Shumitto-san kakoii!!" which means "Shumitto-san cool!!" ^^; Yeah...

*sigh* I miss these kids already...;_;

PICTURE POST #2

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 14:44:36 GMT

And now for the Middle Schools! :D

*WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY!! NOT DIAL-UP FRIENDLY!!*

Tsunogawa Middle School:

1st Years (All boys...^^; There are NO girls in that class....weird, huh?)

2nd Years

3rd Years

Tozawa Middle School:

1st Years-Class 1A

1st Years-Class 1B

2nd Years-Class 2A

2nd Years-Class 2B

3rd Years-Class 3A (this is the class with Shinjo...the kid I think likes me...^^; Can you pick him out? XD)

3rd Years-Class 3B

That does it for Middle Schools! Enjoy!

PICTURES!! POST #1

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 14:35:38 GMT

Hey guys! I'm gonna try & start posting some of the pictures I have. The 1st ones I'm gonna show you are the WONDERFUL kids that I got to work with. On the last couple of days I spent in Shinjo/Tozawa, I went around to all the schools I visted one last time & took pictures of the individual classes. I didn't get all of them unfortunately because some weren't there & were on a trip or I ran out of time. BUT, there is a lot so I'm gonna seperate the post by elementary school, middle school & high school. :D First, let's start with the elementary kids!!

*WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY! NOT DIAL-UP FRIENDLY!!*

Furukuochi Elementary School:

Ichi(1)Nensei's

Ni(2)Nensei's

Go(5)nensei's

Roku(6)nensei's! :D

I couldn't get pictures of the San(3)nensei's or the Yo(4)nensei's---they went somewhere to go swimming. ;_; Oh well...maybe next time. :D

Jinden Elementary School:

Ichinensei's

Ninensei's

Sannensei's

Gonensei's

Rokunensei (^^;; Oops...that one kid's face isn't in this picture...^^;;)

Tozawa Elementary School:

Ninensei's

Sannensei's

Yonensei's

Gonensei's

Rokunensei's

Tsunogawa Elementary School:

Ichinensei's

Ninensei's

Sannensei's

Gonensei's

Rokunensei's

ENJOY!! :D