| New Orleans!! // PART THREE |
[05 Jan 2009|05:39pm] |
Sunday, December 21, 2008
The last day, was spent on two more tours. First, we woke up early in the morning to go to a cemetery tour at 10am in the morning. The tour went well and our tour guide was very informative. It was kind of cool how much history can be told from such a small cemetery.
  
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/cemetarytour/
After that, we did a swamp tour-- I should mention that it was VERY cold that day as opposed to the warm weather we've had all weekend. Cold for California residents, anyways. I was freezing at the swamp tour, but it was so neat to see the wet lands of New Orleans. Our tour guide even had snapping turtles in captivity and was pulling them out of their giant buckets without fear. Even though those things can bite of a human arm very easily. We even got to pet a baby alligator! Here's a couple of snap turtles and alligator videos:
Also, I found out that alligators' favorite snacks are marshmallows!
 
 
Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/swamptour
|
|
| New Orleans!! // PART TWO |
[30 Dec 2008|12:39pm] |
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Giselle and I managed to roll out of bed so we can make it to our Oak Valley Plantation tour at around noon. Miraculously, we had time to stop by the famous Cafe Du Monde before our bus was to leave. I had my first taste of their beignets with an ice blend of the cafe au lait. That donut was pretty intense... and very messy to eat!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/cafedumonde/
Then we settled on about an hour and a half bus ride to the Oak Valley plantation; a mansion famous not only for its history but for being used in several movies (i.e. Interview with a Vampire). The area was beautiful and very refreshing. The air was so clean!
  
Before we headed back, our bus driver stopped the bus again so we could enjoy the view of the Mississippi river away from the city. I'm really glad he did that!
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/oakvalleyplantation/
That same night, we did a ghost tour of the French Quarters hosted by the Haunted Mystery tour guides who offer several kitschy tours about vampires, ghosts and voo doo. Even if you don't believe in the paranormal, I think most people will find these tours entertaining and pretty historically informative.
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/ghosttour/
In fact, before our ghost tour, we ate at a restaurant called Muriel's which has a room that has a table set up for its resident ghost. Apparently, the restaurant's former owner committed suicide by hanging himself and began to haunt the place. He made food and silverware disappear. Now that he has his own private table, he no longer bothers the other customers and employees. His table gets refurbished with food and wine everyday; supposedly, the food and wine disappears every day! People can actually visit the room with the table, but no one else is allowed to dine on it at all. Just Mr. Ghost himself.
|
|
| New Orleans! // PART ONE |
[29 Dec 2008|07:37pm] |
Thursday, December 18, 2008
We arrived at our hotel, the Maison Dupuy, in the French Quarters in the early evening. Already, I was loving the environment– the old buildings, the gas lamps, the obvious presence of history on the surface of the streets...
We had dinner at the Court of Two Sisters where I had my first taste of barbecue shrimp, New Orleans style. We gave Giselle a hard time on her last night in the state of 'under 21', even though our waitress was generous enough to allow her to partake with a glass of wine anyways. The people there were the friendliest, warmest people I've come across in the United States. It made the whole trip quite pleasant.
Giselle and I wandered around for a little bit after dinner and found a cafe that served white chocolate pumpkin flavored gelato. It was delish!
Friday, December 19, 2008
  
We woke up and got ready for our breakfast/lunch and made our way to a restaurant called Brennan's. Their breakfast was a three-course meal! We also ordered a round of gin fizz for everyone, which looks a lot like milk so it suited our morning meal. It is officially Giselle's birthday and she is 21 years old. She opened up some gifts from her mom and aunt before our food were served.
  
After we ate, we rode a horse buggy whose driver doubled as a tour guide around the city. I barely listened to him as he talked though and just took loads of photos of the areas we visited. That night, we had dinner at Bacco's where I ate more barbecue shrimp! Giselle received more presents and I got some too! Her mom and her aunt are both so sweet!
Then, we parted ways as Giselle and I got ready to go out for the night to celebrate her birthday hardcore style. We met up with my friend, Hai, and started our venture on Bourbon St. in a bar called The Dungeon. It was somewhat suiting for Giselle's first legal bar adventure (though no one really checked for ID on Bourbon St...).
We went to Pat O' Brian afterwards, where we ordered our first Hurricanes after we were already loaded with three drinks. That drink is killer! The rest of the night was a big, fun blur! We made friends for the night, too, and they were really nice and fun. We all ended up at a gay bar/club and much shenanigans happened which I probably shouldn't talk about in this public journal. Haha. :)
It was a really cool night though and I'm glad I got to experience the night life on Bourbon. Even though I definitely can not do that every night since I am an old lady at heart.
Photo links:
Photos of when we first arrived:
http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/sets/72157611534146176/detail/?page=24
Giselle's flowers:
http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/gisellesflowers/
Maison Dupuy:
http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/maisondupuyhotel/
Breakfast at Brennan's:
http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/breakfastatbrennans/
Horse buggy tour around the French Quarters:
http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/thefrenchquarters/
Giselle's birthday dinner:
http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/gisellebirthdaydinner/
Our night on Bourbon street:
http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/bourbonstreet/
|
|
| New Years @ San Francisco |
[03 Jan 2008|06:11pm] |
Dec. 29, 2007 - Saturday
At around 10 a.m., the crew managed to gather themselves at my house. We threw our luggage into the trunk of my car and set off on our journey. A little after noon, we arrived at Santa Barbara and had lunch at the pier. I had a calamari steak burger since I've never had one before-- I had to try. It was pretty good, though I think the sauce on it was a little weak. Our resident Brit-Boy decided to try fish and chips to "compare"... After we ate, we wandered around the pier a bit, looking at all the tourist trappy stuff and ate some ice cream.
This is Simon and Nancy's couple tourist shot
We wanted to go inside the museum on the pier but we had trouble finding the entrance since we were all kinda slow. When we did finally manage to spot the front door, we realized that the dinky museum was not free and decided against it.
Instead, we found a ship cruise that advertised itself as a Pirate Cruise-- ultimate tourist trap, but we went for it ($10 bucks a pop). It was a 25 minute boat ride and they took you to see some sea lions and Pelican Island. It was pretty cute.
The rest of Santa Barbara: http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/santabarbara/
A little after 3 p.m., we left Santa Barbara and made our way to the Madonna Inn, which is this tacky hotel and each room has a different theme. Our room was called the Pony Room. Despite the tacky decor, the hotel was actually really nice. Our room was the size of a one-bedroom apartment and we loved it.
big beds!
After all the driving for that day, we relaxed in our hotel room and turned on the television. We watched a little bit of a Bourne movie, eating sandwiches that Nancy packed for the trip, before deciding to explore around the hotel a little. We poked around the hotel shops (all full of tacky but expensive crap) then waited to get a table at their cafe.
The wait was pretty bad and when we finally got seated... no one served us, except for the girl taking drink orders. We stared at the menu for a little bit, and after almost half an hour of waiting for a waiter to take our orders, we decided to leave. We went to little bakery in the cafe and bought two slices of their chocolate cake. We took our loot back to the Pony Room and popped in Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back into my laptop. Then it was lights out.
Madonna Inn photos: http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/madonnainn/
Dec. 30, 2007 - Sunday
We woke up pretty early the next day and reluctantly left our beloved Pony Room. Giselle got on the driver's seat for the day and we made our way to the Hearst Castle via highway 1. We scheduled ourselves on one of the tours and learned what one can do with too much money...
And the rest: http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/hearstcastle/
We enjoyed our tour guide a lot. I felt like he should be in a movie or something, as the awesome-old-guy. We dreamed of a day when we would be rich enough to build our Geek Castle and have parties with our own heroes like Kevin Smith and Bruce Campbell.
We left the castle after our tour and got on the 101 freeway again to get to our final destination, San Francisco. Oh yeah-- for some reason, there were a lot of dead skunks on the freeway. Go figure. It was really smelly though.
For lunch, we stopped by a small town called Greenfield and found a small Mexican restaurant. Inside, one of the locals chatted us up and all of us Southern Californians squirmed in suspicion at the small town friendliness. We got through it though and then made the rest of the way to San Francisco. I fell asleep in the car and got my picture taken, which seems to be a solid law of action when one falls asleep among good friends.
Around 5 p.m., after getting a little lost and confused with all the one way-no-left-turns streets, we pulled up on the Travelodge on Market St. Our room was disappointing in comparison to the Pony Room. First off, it smelt kinda funny. Second off, the beds were tinier and wrapped in plastic. We sucked it up and managed ourselves, then went to the Stinking Rose for dinner. After dinner, we called it a night since most things were closing and went back to our hotel room. We vegged out and popped in Clerks II for the night's entertainment.
Dec. 31st 2007 - Monday
We woke up at a good hour and investigated the public transportation, figured out a way to get ourselves to the Fisherman's Wharf. Once we were there, we found yet another cruise around the bay. Originally, we wanted to take a cruise to Alcatraz Island, but the official cruise was sold out and there didn't seem to be any other ferries that would drop us off the island. We opted for a cruise that took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and went around Alcatraz a couple of times. The ship's narrator was Captain Nemo, who claimed to be a pirate of some sort.
When they dropped us back on the mainland, we immediately went hunting for lunch-- since we were at the Wharf, we wanted clam chowder in sourdough bread, of course. The weather was cool that day, but when we were out in the water, we freezed our asses off. We settled to eat indoors in Boudin's and had a yummy lunch of clam chowder and some gourmet mac and cheese.
From where we sat in the restaurant, I spotted Museum Mecaniqee, which is an arcade, but also a museum of old penny arcades. It was really interesting and funny to see some of the old games people had.
I also decided to play some old school Tekken 3 and was kicking butt until the 7th or 8th stage. I'm out of practice.
Since we were completely doing the tourist-thang, Giselle hunted down the wooden trolleys and we rode on one to get to Union Square. When we got there, we went inside a Borders store and the kids gorged on some books and comics. I only bought one thing, the graphic novel version of Artemis Fowl. Afterwards, we hunted down the H&M store. Spent some time inside the store trying on clothes but in the end, I only found one sweater I wanted to buy. One of my fellow ex-JSP friend started texting me, knowing I would be in NorCal that day. We arranged to meet-up for some New Years Eve celebration later that night.
Nancy and I are pretty old-lady and were tired pretty quick. Shops were closing pretty early that night and so we made our way back to our hotel. We stopped by a cute cafe/bakery by our hotel to pick up some dinner. Once inside the room, we popped in 28 Weeks Later, which wasn't really a good movie to watch while eating, but we survived. After the movie, Brett and his friend arrived at our hotel room (and laughed because I had changed in my pajamas). We chilled for a little bit, talking and watching Project Runaway.
When 10 p.m. rolled around, we emerged into the streets again and walked towards the direction of the Castro district to see if anything was going on there. A block from our hotel, we discovered a comic book store (closed for the day) and laughed at the irony since the whole day, we were looking for a comic book store and found none, without realizing there was one next door to us the whole time.
Brett gave the kids a little point-and-look tour of Castro. The crowd seems to be settling inside bars, clubs and theater shows for the night, the first two we couldn't really do because we had a under-21-individual with us. Finally, we jumped into a cable car going to the Fisherman's Wharf. The ride was free for the night and we got dropped off a couple of blocks away from the Ferry Building. The road was closed off for the event.
Jan. 1, 2008 - Tuesday
The crowd was huge! And drunk! And stoned (much to Giselle's excitement)! All sorts of people were there-- from families with kids to unruly college students. When midnight struck, there were fireworks. Our view was blocked by trees, unfortunately, but we saw the ones that were higher and bigger than the trees.
The fireworks went on for about 20 minutes and we hung out for a few more minutes after it, just being silly and whatnot. I was definetely getting really tired by then but we still had to get back to our hotel somehow. Taking public transportation back was almost impossible. We began trekking up the 17 blocks to the hotel... I think we were too tired to even challenge our own crazy decision by that point.
We managed to get back somehow-- said goodbyes to Brett and his friend and promptly collapsed in bed to prep ourselves for the drive the next day. Even though we exhausted ourselves, it was a good way to celebrate the new year!
The rest of the photos: http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/tags/sanfrancisconewyearseve/
|
|
| New York October 2007 |
[15 Oct 2007|04:47pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 cold |
] |
My friend, Missy, invited me to accompany her in New York to stay at her cousin's house in Brooklyn. I decided to go because it's been a while since my first visit in the Big Apple. Mostly, we spent a lot of time with her relatives. Her cousin, Jenna, and her husband, Jhon, were awesome.
On our first night, we went to an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. The restaurant's manager took an interest in our table and gave us free wine (I think each of us had at least one bottle of wine each........), free appetizers and desserts. Holy crap. They had the best pumpkin cheesecake in the world. It was AMAZING. *____*
Bryant Park
Our second day, Friday, turned out to be a very full day. We woke up and got ready to hop on a bus and spend the day and night in Manhattan. First, I went to Hachette Book Group USA's office to meet up with the people of Yen Press. Yen Press' founder took me out for lunch and a few drinks. After lunch, he decided he wanted to go to karaoke and more drinks that night. He sent me off and went back to work, while Missy and I went shopping in SoHo for a little bit. I bought a couple of cute dresses and some pieces from Uniclo... they had the best skinny jeans ever!
Around 6pm, we met up at a karaoke box called Duet 35. Unlike the karaoke boxes in California... this one serves alcohol and food like in Japan! DUDE! Why is the east coast way better than the west coast?!?! Missy was with me, and so was my friend Branden. Kurt and Tanya from Yen press were there and a couple of new people showed up later, and so did my friend, Sean. It was really fun and Kurt was generous enough to pay for the whole thing~ Free things adds to the fun XD XD XD YEN PRESS IS AWESOME!
After karaoke, Missy, Branden, Sean and I ran off to find Serendipity to meet with Missy's friend, Oscar. After about a 45 minute wait, we finally got seated and had some crazy frozen hot chocolate-- I know. The concept confused me too. But all that really mattered was that... it was quite tasty.
Serendipity's frozen hot chocolate
Oh, and the main reason Missy wanted to go to this restaurant was because it was central to that John Cusack movie... they had good clam chowder soup at least.
We staggered back home that night and woke up the next morning to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After struggling with public transportation (aka: buses not showing up), we made it to the museum later than we planned (which didn't leave us much room to do anything else afterwards :( ). We did have hot dogs at the steps of the museum so we could have some energy-- that was the only morning we didn't have bagels. Again-- why do the east coast have BETTER bagels with cream cheese than the west coast?? L.A. sucks!!!
art for the sake of art? to be or not to be??
After the whole bus incident and no breakfast we got to the city feeling hungry. The hot dogs helped bring our spirits back up and we enjoyed ourselves some art for the rest of the afternoon. We couldn't hang out in the city that night because Missy's grandparents wanted to take us out for dinner back in Brooklyn. We went to the dinner; went back to Jenna's house and had some wine... then went to pick up some dark and white cookies, chocolate cake and Italian ice... then we settled down in the living room and watched Will Ferrel's Stranger than Fiction until we were tired enough to go to bed. Though we spent a couple of hours gossipping in the bedroom, of course.
The last day, we saw more of Missy's relatives and did some shopping in Brooklyn until we got picked up to go to the airport to catch our 6pm flight.
I should mention that when Missy and I boarded our plane, Will Ferrell was sitting in the executive business class. Missy and I were amused because we were watching his movie the night before... and suddenly, there he was. We both looked at each other and went "OMG It's Will Ferrell LOL" XD I wished that happened every time I watched a movie and got on a plane.
The rest of the photos are in my flickr account!
http://flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/sets/72157602438551683/
|
|
| Japan Trip 2007, Part II |
[06 Jun 2007|08:29am] |
DAY TWO CONT.
Karaoke!!!
( click here for more pictures )
DAY THREE
Namja Town and Izakaya
This is a shot of Gene's apartment, where we stayed for the most of our trip.
( click for more pictures )
When I lived in Kawagoe during my study abroad time in Japan, a band named "Futari Boshi" played live weekly at the station near my house. I visited my host parents on day four and guess who were playing there still...
here's a link to my last post about them:
http://gulong-itlog.livejournal.com/6218.html
DAY FIVE
Failed journey to Jackson Hole, Harajuku Cosplay bridge, and Akihabara
Just to explain, Jackson Hole is a bar/restaurant that has been featured in mine and Missy's favorite manga series, NANA. Since we are insane and think of each other as Nana and Hachi, it was our mission to find Jackson Hole and eat there during our trip together in Japan. It was a hard place for us to find... but we did find it... and it turns out, they don't open for lunch on Sundays. D'OH!
Re-enacting some NANA because we are geeks...
( click for more pictures )
|
|
| San Francisco, September 2006 |
[08 Sep 2006|12:55pm] |
On Labor day weekend this year, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) stcolapop, her boyfriend, Saul and I drove out to San Francisco and stayed at miss_elisa's and her roommate's apartment. A very awesome apartment, may I add (perhaps because awesome people live in it!). It was a whoooole lot of fun. The intention of the weekend was to mainly do a lot of shopping-- I wasn't personally interested in going sightseeing, because that's all I ever did the last couple of times I was in San Fran, but we ended up doing a little bit of that too. Which wasn't bad at all (got to see seals!)
Elisa and I heart-ing San Francisco!
We had a late start Friday night, at around 9:30 PM, we left my house for the city. Saul did all the driving and by 5 am (getting a bit lost, but not too badly), we were at Elisa's apartment. We ended up crashing in her living room and sleeping in until about 11am. I wasn't in any particular rush, so we managed to drag ourselves out of the apartment around 1pm. We went to Union Square, and walked around looking for a place to eat. Saul asked to San Fran natives who were sitting around at the park for a good recommendation and we ended up at Mocca and ate some of the BEST sandwhiches I ever did taste. Elisa and I also shared a fruit tart, and Saul and Lisa had a slice of cheesecake.
( click to read more )
Lisa and Saul show off their San Fran bags, haha!
Second day, we woke up earlier that morning with the intention of hitting up H&M at Union Square, since we missed the opportunity on the first day. I have fallen inlove with that store! It has so many awesome clothing and I wished I bought more. At the same time, I'm glad I didn't spend all that much XD I got some new tops and a skirt. yummycoffee, ziggybecket and Brett met up with us again at the store. Brett ended up shopping as much as we did... actually, he spent more than any of us... but poor Meg and Oscar had to wait on us, plus Elisa's roommate.
Oh, before H&M, we went to Castro and had breakfast at Cafe Flore, at the suggestion of Elisa's. It was a good breakfast and a nice place to eat at. We got this cute, Asian, gay waiter-- it was great.
When we finally managed to get ourselves out of that store, we headed for Haight and Ashbury, where there were many more stores to shop at. I just ended up getting leggings and arm warmers at this kooky party store. Half of us were hungry, and Meg suggested a place called Asqew Grill-- I had some thai BBQ beef and it was DELICIOUS!
( click to read more )
The pictures are incomplete because I ran out of bandwidth room on flickr X_X If the photos doesn't show up, actually, go to my flickr account to look at them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/
But that was my San Francisco trip... lots of fun and I definitely want to go again!
|
|
| Hong Kong 2006 |
[19 Aug 2006|01:07pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 listless |
] |
Like I said, i went to Hong Kong with my uncle's wife and her friends at the beginning of July while I was in the Philippines. I've been too lazy to put up pictures since then. Currently, I am back in Southern California, and next week, I start classes again at USC... and I really don't want to go back. I don't want to be here, I want to be out somewhere again. XD Haha.
But, now I decided to put up some of my Hong Kong pictures.
It's not much, since we don't visit the city to sightsee. All we do is shop when we're there. X3 I love shopping there. Even though it's mostly designer clothing I'm not really into. I am amused to find a Vivienne Westwood store, right across the Versace store, and things like that. Hong Kong is such a fun place to shop though-- the electronics are cheap!
The hotel we stayed in was attached to a giant mall. So the moment you walk out of the hotel, you're already inside the mall. We spent most of the time exploring that one mall, especially since it was raining too, so we had no incentives to go elsewhere. So much fun!!!
( click to see more pictures )
|
|
| Odaiba again and sayonara party |
[06 Jul 2006|11:46am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 bouncy |
] |
Oh, the Ikebukuro station. I knew it well. It was our portal to the other parts of the city from Kawagoe. It also has a lot of good stores and things to look at. There's that giant mall called Sunshine City, Namja town, a street that's full of anime/manga/doujinshi related stores starting with one of the best Animate building ever. Plus, a little cafe known as 80+1 XD My favorite cafe eeeever~~! I'm going back to Japan and I'm going to OWN that cafe. Mark my words... MARK MY WORDS!
Odaiba Again!
A couple of friends and I went to Odaiba because I wanted to see more of it, and I thought the train ride there is always pretty cool. We ended up spending our short time there in Palette Town, mostly, and really realizing there's not much to do in Odaiba really. XD
( click to read more )
Sayonara Dinner
I had one last dinner with my host family, and they made my favorite. Sashimi! The good stuff. Oh man, it was soooooo good, I was so stuffed T3T Also, my host brother and his wife gave me a summer kimono/yukata as a goodbye gift. So we all played dress up and took pictures.
I don't really know what else I can say about my host family-- they're awesome. I want to see them again, as soon as possible. :]
( click to read more )
|
|
| Closing Ceremony |
[04 Jul 2006|09:37pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
listless |
] |
Well, we had closing ceremonies on June 24th, Saturday morning, starting at 10:30am. My host parents, my host brother and Meg came with me-- we were about five minutes late, and we're the last ones to arrive. But no one seemed to mind, except for Lorenzo who wanted to roll us into the room as fast as he could. I could tell. XD I love that man. Haha.
There were speeches from JSP/international staffers that I wasn't really familiar with. They weren't hand ons and directly involved with all of us-- but I'm sure they did a lot for us behind the scenes. At least I am assuming so. XD
Takaki did a speech to represent all the PAs, and he talked about how when they first left us JSP kids to our own devices, they felt like parents-- worried and nervous for us. It was a really sweet speech. We had the best four PAs possible, all of them. Thank you, Takaki, Takuya, Yayoi and Minami-- you guys mean so much to me and my experience in Japan.
Then Mike and Lindsey motherf*in'-Nelson did speeches to represent the JSP group. Lindsey gets a motherf*in' before her last name because she's THAT awesome. XD Our lone E-class girl.
One of the sensei did a speech, and so did a couple of host parents-- Chris's and Katie's host parents.
Somewhat, it made me realize that I didn't really involve my host family with my friends too much-- when their host parents started talking about the other JSP kids they knew. I feel a little bad about it, but I was never quite sure how to go about it, really... I think they really wanted to meet my friends, but at the same time, I wasn't sure. I think it's more fun when your host parents get to know your other JSP kids, so I hope future JSP students read this and keep that in mind. ^_^
After all the speeches, we received our certificate saying that we've completed our JSP studies. When the official ceremony was over, we were all ushered outside and we got our group photos taken. I wonder if we're going to receive copies of those?
Then I filmed Gene run through the school fountain. :D At least we accomplished ONE of the things we had on our list-to-do...
They fed us lunch after that, and we had a kanpai. My family and I sat with Brooke and her family and Sean and his family. It was fun. Even though Brooke's parents thought Meg was Toru's wife... HAHA!
Most of the time was spent taking pictures... which I will now share with all of you!
...JSP Angels? Lorenzo's Angels. Haha!
( click for more pictures )
And thus, that was the last I saw of an izakaya in Japan... FOR NOW. XD
Things I'm Missing...
- Izakaya, with all the JSP kids. It'll never be the same without all of them filling up an entire room and getting loud and drunk.
- getting to watch NANA every Wednesday at midnight, in my little television in my room at my host parent's apartment...
- Karaoke, where I can sing REALLY bad and no one cares! :D
|
|
| Geeking and Kamikochi! |
[02 Jul 2006|06:08am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 weird |
] |
Jump Shop
This is for my fellow fans of manga-- namely, manga found in the wonderful world of Shounen Jump. The Jump Shop by the Tokyo Dome is worth visiting. It's a small store, but they have some merchandise that you can't find at your local Animate. X3 I went to the store with my friends from the US, who came to Japan the last two weeks I was there. At least, Christy and I especially geeked out.
oh yeah, we're hot.
Kamikochi
My friends and I went on a bus trip to Kamikochi with my host parents. My okaasan and I were afraid that it was gonna rain during the trip, since it has been raining every past weekends. But amazingly, the weather decided it would be nice to my friends and it rarely rained while they were there. On the way to Kamikochi, it was raining a little, but before we entered the area, the sky suddenly cleared... and it was an amazing blue sky the whole time we were there!
... a giant bug on the bus window.
( click to see more pictures )
I left Japan on the 29th, my plane left on 9:30am. Currently, I'm in the Philippines-- I'll be posting up pictures of the Closing ceremony and my last days in Japan next.
Things I missed...
- Akihabara, there's still so much to buy there. SO MUCH. Next time, I want to get doll things. And more video games. And mangas. >_>...
- Harajuku and Shinjuku. Need I say more?
- My host brother's silliness.
|
|
|
[15 Jun 2006|10:02pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 peaceful |
] |
The next two weeks is going to be incredibly busy for me. I have finals next week, and a whole lot of things to do before I leave Japan... while getting ready to leave the country, too! I'm trying not to think about it too much, or else my brain would probably explode. I'm sure things will go smoothly in the end and everything will be fine, and I'll leave Japan unscathed. Got tons of updates for this post though, so I'm gonna try and do this really fast so I can sleep.
Kabuki Trip
JSP took us to see a Kabuki play, and it was amazing. Photos weren't allowed inside, unfortunately. People told me it was gonna be boring, even my host mom! Though some of the stories were a bit boring, I enjoyed a couple of them. They were a lot of fun to watch, and I was pleased when I understood some of the lines of the actors.
I highly recommend this trip to future JSP kids. I think it's really worth it... of course, I love anything that is bright, colorful and moving, so...
JSP Dance Party
Well, the dance party was certainly interesting. It felt like a high school dance-- but with alcohol and people getting extremely wasted. Haha. I was mostly disappointed that the music wasn't that great, but I can dance to anything. It was actually pretty fun, I thought.
Although, it was so hot in there and I just sweated so much, it was gross. ~_~ But watching Japanese kids go crazy and dance is the best.
But before the dance, Katie, Angie and Melissa and I went to an Indian buffet restaurant in Shinjuku after class for lunch. It was the BEST! For those who looooove spicy, yummy curry, the Raj Mahal is the place to go. Japan's opinion on what is spicy doesn't exactly align with mine or the other girl's... we like it SUPERSPICYHOTBABY! We enjoyed ourselves in there and certainly stuffed our faces, while watching Bollywood movies.
 
( click to see more pictures )
Onsen Time!
Chris invited Mike, Melissa and I to visit an onsen park in Gunma with his host parents. It was a three hour drive and we took two cars-- though the four of us were still smushed into one car. Haha, why? Who knows. His host mom told us to do it.
( click to read more )
More Japanese Elementary Kids
This time, everyone in JSP had to go and we didn't teach English. It was a chance for us to just interact with 5th graders this time-- practice our Japanese with them. Man, it's harder to talk to kids their age in Japanese... but it was a lot of fun. We played games and they asked me questions that I answered very badly. I'm sure they think I'm pretty strange... I hope they were amused by me, at least.
playing a game where you pick up small dried beans with chopsticks... try it sometimes. XD
( click to see more pictures )
The World Cup!
Brooke and Takuya invited a bunch of us to go to the Saitama Stadium and watch the world cup game, Japan vs Australia, that was broadcasting live from Germany onto the big screen inside the stadium. I thought it would be good fun, so I agreed to buy a ticket and go. The game was on at 10pm in Japan time, so it meant we had to miss our last trains... crazy sounding, right?
Japan news team decided to interview the gaijins, of course XD
( click to read more )
Studio Ghibli Museum
Our Japanese movie teacher took the class to a field trip to the Ghibli museum, which Katie, me and a bunch of people were very happy about. The museum was on our list of things to do, but it was even better if the school paid for us to go there!
I loved it.
it was a small museum, but you could spend a whole day there. It was a lot of fun, and the rooms where the walls were just covered in Miyazaki's sketches and paintings were amazing. I could have spent the whole day in those three rooms. the way the museum was constructed was a lot of fun, because you can't go into a direct route and you have to pretty much "loose your way" in there. It's very cool, and it's right next to this beautiful park that felt like it was straight out of one of Miyazaki's films.
I felt like such a little kid!
it makes me want to watch more of his films. Admittedly, I haven't seen most of them, and I only REALLY enjoyed a couple of them so far-- plus the short film we got to watch inside the museum. I really liked that one. I love Howl's Moving Castle the most though. I think I need to watch Totoro one of these days... I feel like I fail as an anime fan since I haven't watched that one and it's a classic. XD Haha.
( click to read more )
I hope I can update again before I leave the country... otherwise, my next update will be when I am back in California!
|
|
| Nikko to beer fights |
[06 Jun 2006|06:07am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
calm |
] |
Nikko
Brooke invited me to go to Nikko with her host family this past Saturday-- I wasn't planning on going anywhere that saturday, because i wanted to work on my paper for film class... but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity either. So I dragged myself out of bed and met Brooke and her host parents at the Kawagoe station at 7:15 in the morning. Brooke and I were both very sleepy XD
We rode the trains until we met with Brooke's host brother, whom she never met, since he lives about a good two hours away. He lived an hour drive away from Nikko. So he picked us up from the station whose name I've already forgotten, and we rested a bit at his house. His wife and son weren't there because his wife is currently pregnant so she went back to her hometown to have the baby there. After talking and resting a bit at his house, we went off to Nikko.
Unfortunately, the weather was pretty bad that day and it was rainy and foggy, so we didn't get to see much of the sights. But I still had fun getting to know Brooke's family-- her otoosan is so funny. Her parents were really silly, and her host brother was really nice.
We also talked alot during the trip-- even found out that Brooke's all time favorite movie is the same as mine... which was Ever After. We both spazzed when we found out because it's hard to meet people who says Ever After was their favorite movie... let alone enjoy watching it at least three or four times a year XD I knew Brooke and I were meant to be.
( click here to read more )
Basketball and Beer Fight
Then, on Sunday, I had to play basketball for the art club. There was this event where all the cultural related clubs had to play basketball against one another, and the art club asked me to show up. The other clubs, such as the dance club and the Tiny Love music club had most of their members show up, so they were able to rotate players on each game.
Unfortunately, the art club had exactly five people show up for it, so we all had to play all three games we were in. Of course, we lost all of it because we were so bad XD None of us really knew what we were doing, and since we never practiced for the event, we had no team work whatsoever. it was awesome. But we had a lot of fun.
Afterwards, the Tiny Love club put on a show in one of the cafeterias. I was hanging out and talking to Anna, who is a member of the club, when they were setting up and Anna warned me that there was going to be a beer showering of some sort. Hence, why the ENTIRE cafeteria was covered in cardboard and tarp. I'm not kidding-- I've never seen this before so I was fascinated. I've never seen a whole room covered in cardboard, you see...
At first, they gave each club gifts and did little speeches and whatnot, then they set up for the great beer showering.
And let me tell you, there is nothing like Japanese people going crazy and spraying each other with beer.
After that, the beer showering crowd became a mosh pit as the Tiny Love bands started to play. It was mostly the sempais playing (oh, and how beautiful some of them were, let me tell you me... <3_<3). I was hoping Anna was gonna sing that night since I want to see her perform, but she didn't. But I did get to see Takako sing and Oskar play the drums, which was awesome. After they performed though, I decided to leave and go home. I did participate in the mosh pit for a bit, and got showered in beer a little. Though Japanese girls in mosh pits just plain out scare me, because they get really violent and are stronger than you think. The Japanese guys just tend to strip down to their underwear, drenched in beer and slip and slide all over the place.
It was quite an experience. ;]
 
I also find it funny that girls in school fangirl over the Tiny Love people. Though, admittedly, some of them are rather "kakkoi" (translation: "cool" in that it implies they're awesomely hot and whatnot). XD
|
|
| No, June, why |
[04 Jun 2006|11:15pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 tired |
] |
( click to see random pictures at school )
Japanese Class, Happyokai
On the last weekend of May, we had our happyokai, which is pretty much how TIU tortures JSP kids--- by making us perform skits or speeches infront of our host family and other willing Japanese people and students. It's good fun, I tell ya... but not really. XD My class, the B2/B3 class, consists of Angela, Sarah, Jonathan, Oskar and I. For most of the semester, we had this "inside joke" in class... well, we had several of them... but the main inspiration for our skit was Jonathan's class nickname: Banana-chan. Hence, there was, "The Tale of Banana-chan"
In Japanese it was, バナナちゃん物語り (Bananachan Monogatari)
And in the skit, we just threw in all the stupid things that has been mentioned or has happened in class... plus, taking inspiration from the movie, Female Convict Scorpion, which we watched a part of in our movie class. You need to see the opening of that film to even remotely imagine how we parodied it. It'll be difficult to go into too much detail about our happyokai, because it really won't make sense... I'll just say that it was a big hit and people probably think we're hella weirdos. XD
...and we had a giant banana.
( click for more pictures )
Ninja Restaurant
I decided to tag along with a group and we went to the Ninja Restaurant in Akasaka. It was so cool XD The restaurant people were dressed like ninjas... and you had to go through crazy passageways before entering the actual restaurant. the place looks like a ninja village.
The only not so cool thing were the prices. My one drink cost 1000yen, and the food were all over 1000yen. x_X You definetely do not go there to pig out, unless you have much money to spare on ninja food.
ninja napkin and chopstick.
( click for more pictures )
Elementary School Volunteer
Eight of us JSP kids got to volunteer to "teach" English at a local Elementary school.
It was a lot of fun, though I think the whole thing could use some improvements. We got to play games with sixth graders that lets them practice their English, but not really... First, we played Rock, paper, scissors. Before we play, they introduce themselves like: "How do you do? My name is Minako. I like soccer."
But when I try to take the conversation any further than that, or even say something simple like: "I like books too!" They get these deer in headlights look and doesn't say anything more. You could tell they don't really understand English when they hear it. Which I think is really weird, because when I was studying English back in the Philippines, at the THIRD grade level, I can at least say more than three simple sentences. Plus, I understood more and could probably hold a conversation.
Which is why I'm somewhat interested in WHAT THE HELL Japanese education is doing wrong with teaching English. I would consider the fact that maybe Philippines are more exposed to American culture, but I think that may be a wrong assumption... considering that Japanese kids love American pop culture. But I don't know... I find it slightly strange.
After, we played fruits basket!!! I was so excited about that one actually. It was a lot of fun, and the kids got to practice yelling out fruits' names in English then. Then when that was over, we had lunch with them in their classrooms. They have a set, cooked meal and the kids get into hats, masks and a little white serving uniform and serve the food. It was really cute and awesome. The food was so-so, I thought, but it was a neat experience. The kids didn't talk much, especially not in English, that's for sure. Ari and I were sitting with the same group, and the most amusing part was when the kids were teasing each other about their crushes, one of the girls flipped off the boys. Ari and I were both shocked and amused, then tried to tell the kids that they shouldn't do that, but I don't think they understood... or really care. XD;
I really wished we got to work with the younger grades. We saw them when we were leaving, and they were so much more enthusiastic about trying to talk to us in English. The sixth graders, I thought, were a little cold. A lot of them warmed up when we were leaving though XD Especially the group I was in during Fruits basket. Ironically, I was in the Banana group. Haha.
Even though the games are fun, I think less time should be spent on them and more time actually sitting down with the kids and encouraging them to use English with us. It might help erase their fears about using the language at an early age when they see that foreigners aren't going to eat their heads if they happen to make mistakes.
( click to see more pictures )
|
|
| Thoughts, part 2 |
[31 May 2006|12:05am] |
Right now, I'm working on my final paper for one of my classes-- and it seems, old habits die hard. I can't write papers without getting distracted on the internet. This paper, thankfully, is proving itself fairly easy to write-- though I'm sure it's not the best paper in the world, but at least I'm actually working on it.
Well, it's less than a month now till I have to go back home.
A part of me is completely ready to pack my bags and head home.
A part of me is ready to say YES! if someone offered me a chance to live in Japan a little longer.
It's a terrible mental dilemna to be in right now, and I believe most of the JSP kids are dealing with it. My closer friends out here tend to notice when I'm not quite myself (it's actually kind of scary, because even some people I've known for years would never be able to tell when I'm feeling down), and lately, this has been the case. I have the thought of leaving everything I have out here riding on my mind; having to go back home, getting back on track on my education and career; and many other things.
Right now, I'm not quite sure what I've learned about life out here. So far, I've learned the joys of drinking for fun, but I still have way too much pride to allow myself to get drunk. I've had my "heart broken"... but not really-- but I think I learned a little more about men that would help me find a better one on the next round.
I do know that I learned a lot about Japan and the Japanese people. They are wonderful and I will be sad to leave them behind.
Naomi - this girl is a SWEETHEART. Out of all the freshmen girls, she's the most... laid-back and down to earth. Although, a lot of the girls are VERY nice and down-to-earth too, Naomi is different in a lot of ways. I can't explain it, but I can just feel she's honestly a good person. The kind of person I can possibly open up to.
Suiza - she's half-Filipino, half-Japanese. She can speak Tagalog. We were instant friends-- we just had that connection right away. I enjoy taking a break from my broken Japlish and being able to communicate in a language I am comfortable in. I wished I had met her earlier instead of just this past weekend. She's so great.
Yoshio - this kid is so cute. Lately, all he does is fall asleep on the couch. He's the nicest guy and lets me borrow his expensive Japanese music CDs.
I will miss those kids and a whole lot of other people.
Sadly, I have regrets. things I wished I could have said or done earlier in my time here... but I think all the experiences and the good times I had on the path I chose that led me to where I am now are stronger than those regrets. Which makes me very content and happy about all the decisions I've made.
I only gained while I was out here, and I haven't lost anything. I've grown up a bit more, learned more, made more friends, and made memories that I can treasure. I lost nothing to Japan-- not my self-confidence, not my beliefs and good judgements. I haven't fallen into any traps and I've kept my stance against any pressure that will lead me to regret my own actions.
And to be honest, in ALL my life, I've never been so pressured to smoke marijuana until I came to Japan--- Japanese kids are so silly! XD They honestly can't accept the fact that I'm just not into puffing anything that's been rolled up in paper-- whether it be tobacco or weed. No thanks, guys, no thanks. I'll take the sake, but not the crack.
When I first came to Japan, I was afraid because I didn't think anyone would want to be my friend because I am not foreign looking enough. I read so much about the stereotypes and discrimination against Filipinos in Japan, and I know Asian people will always be divided by their self-identities... but in the end, I realized, that I've never been cooler than I am out here. So many people out here think I'm the best thing since sliced bread, that I'm beautiful, that I'm actually fun, that I'm awesome--- I still don't think I'm all that great, but it's nice to know that some people actually think I am. I'm more than flattered, and all my negative expectations have been shattered.
I know this is because I didn't give up easily, and I put myself out there.
which is what I think JSP students shouldn't be afraid to do so. Sure, there's a language barrier and everything-- but it's not impossible to get past those little complications. I think it's important for the gaijins to take a deep breath, push all their fears away for even a second, and just step up into the light and say... "BRING IT ON JAPAN!"...
... or something like that. XD
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
satisfied
