hi. i'm in japan.

journal entries.

2010-02-09T03:42:00.001-08:00

so...

in case you hadn`t noticed, i`m pretty horrible at this blogging business.

but!

thanks to mucho long hours in the teacher`s room, i was able to keep a pretty decent hour to hour journal. in this journal, i was able to record some fun school experiences that i probably would have forgotten otherwise. so...if you don`t mind, i`m just going to write a couple journal entries for your (and my...and my posterity`s...) personal enjoyment.

19january2010

"you can`t be a lifesaver if you look like all the other swimmers on the beach."

so that`s a nice little quote that i just found written on one of the perforated edges of my notebook. i liked it and didn`t want to lose it. so now it has a permanent home. you`re welcome.

i LOVE my students!! i absolutely adore them! the more i do this, the more i think that maybe i`m cut out for this after all! like, to do professionally. i definitely want to come back here sometime. oh, i seriously just love them!

so we played a great game today. we played this game where the teacher put all these japanese words up on the board, like sumo and kotatsu and hinamatsuri and doraemon, et cetera. the kids had to explain them to me in english and i had to guess what they were trying to describe. it was a really fun game...for me, anyway. the kids too, i think. at least, they looked like they were having fun. japanese kids sure get competitive...but at the same time they`re still super polite. it`s pretty funny. i love looking out the window and watching the boys play soccer in p.e., because it makes me laugh. there will be those times where they all close in on the ball at the same time, and instead of there being a frenzied battle for who gets to kick the ball, the japanese kids all kind of hesitate and try to let the other person go first. it makes me laugh.

but anyways, back to this game...it was super fun. it was hilarious to hear the english phrases they`d come up with. especially when they were trying to describe sumo. the common ones were "two fat boys!" and "big humans!" but my favorite was when this girl exclaimed, "nude men!!!". i kid you not.

another word was otoshidama, which is which is the money that people give children on new year`s. most kids just said, "new year`s money," but this one girl, who had her head in her hand looking super duper bored, said, "give me money", without changing her bored expression. oh my stars, it was funny. ...maybe you had to be there...

anyway. i love these kids.

22january2010

some engrish i have encountered here in the school:

on pencil cases --

* comfortable life. good time must continue.

* smile & punch.

* i`m feeling very cheerful in my mind.

* i want to be a fairy and fly to a tropical island.

* my little friend is mushroom hair!

* gothic hour: we are happy in every respect!

on a notebook --

* primitive notebook: this is the most comfortable notebook you have ever run into. you will feel like writing in it every day.

things kids have said to me --

* i want to became a work.

* do you play kiss?

* do you flower?

* are you a human?

* [a slew of inappropriate questions i won`t repeat here]

* domestic violence!!!

* my dream to be an office man.

* i have your members in my family.

* (describing kotatsu) hot carpet!!

i know there`s more. i get tons more each day! i wish i could remember them all.

i just did some interacting with my favorite 9th grade class. i love riho and ayaka. they are my secret favorites. there`s another ayaka in that class as well who is super cute. but there is also a girl named yuki who scares me a little bit. she often tries to undo my buttons and steal my raincoat. today she chased me around whipping me with a rag. and she flipped me off. yeah, she`s a little scary to me. i`ll probably be avoiding that class now. it`s been a while since i played with the 7th graders... i need to go hang out with them more often. starting next break period. woo! avoiding 9th grade, chilling with 7th grade, ignoring 8th grade. i feel like i`m a judgmental junior high kid again. help , i`m regressing to the worst 3 years of my life!!! aaaaaauuuuuugggghhhh!!!

28january2010

yuki still scares me. i tried avoiding her today, but she found me. she flips me off all the time, but thankfully, she doesn`t know any offensive english. i`m so grateful that the most unsettling things she`s ever said to me are "go home, butt head!". the day that she learns the f word will be the day that i am reduced to tears.

speaking of cussing students, it intrigues me that one of the few phrases they know is taking the Lord`s name in vain. that`s one they say a LOT. but it`s so funny to me, because they never pronounce that last letter. not even the english teacher (who also really loves that phrase). it`s always, "oh my gah!" so i imagine a sh at the end and i feel better about life.

there`s this 8th grade boy who freaks out every time he sees me. he always yells, "golden colored hair!!! golden colored hair!!!" really loud, and then speaks a lot of really loud japanese. so i ask him, "how are you?" and he goes, "EH???" like i spoke swahili to him or something. it`s routine, i tell you. happens every time. that boy is really learning. he`s hilarious though. i have no idea what he`s saying, but he makes me laugh. he speaks a lot of really fast, really loud japanese to me, interspersed with "golden color hair!!" and (his favorite) "oh my gah!!" and "michael jackson!!" it`s a trip talking to him. i might miss him. then he points at his fellow classmates and says things in japanese and asks me to repeat, as if he`s introducing them to me. now, i learned my lesson the last time that happened to me (girls introduced this other girl as something, and i called to her in the hall and everyone laughed at me. turns out the "name" they introduced her with is actually a really crude word in japanese. bums.) so, instead of falling in his trap, i just point back at him and say whatever he called the other students. makes for grand entertainment, apparently. many much laughter happened. even from "golden colored hair!" boy. good times.

so i just got done with lunch. lunch was delicious today. i`m really learning to love rice. i really wouldn`t mind eating it for every meal. maybe i`ll make some for every meal when i get back to the states! always ensuring that i`m eating SOME thing healthy. it shall be done.

but anyways, i just ate lunch with class 3-1. i LOVE those ninth graders! they are my very favorites, easy. it`s so easy to make them laugh. that`s not the only reason i love them, though! that`s just part of it. :)

ANYway, after lunch, we played this impromptu game of musical chairs. i don`t think musical chairs has ever been so fun! i LOVED it! haha! they`re competitive, but they sure don`t get as rough as they would back in the states. these girls act a bit too delicate. i bumped this one girl just a little...the way she reacted, you`d think she`d been hit by a car. she went flying. they gave me plenty of room after that... i need to keep japanese "fragility" in mind next time we play this game.

29january2010

haha...the deputy principal (whom i love) just asked me, via the english teacher, if he could take a picture of me for the school paper. he looked really concerned. i smiled and said, "of course!" and he was so funny. he acted really excited after that. this man is so animated and so nice. one of my favorite people here. one of my other favorite people here is the p.e. teacher. she is a delightful lady, who wears tons of makeup and has a mullet. a mullet. this lady doesn`t speak a word of english, but she smacks me every time she sees me. "liz! 尾は世緒！　(good morning!)" she`ll say, and then smack my shoulder, and walk away. sometimes she pops me one on the head. and that`s all the interaction we have. i love her. one time, i dropped something and it made a lot of noise. she started to laugh at me, and then whacked me. so i laughed with her. and she whacked me again. and walked away. good times. i wish i could speak japanese. i bet she`d be a riot to talk to.

anyway, i told the principal that of course he could take my picture! and he smiled and said thank you a bunch of times. then he looked at me, gave me a thumbs and said, "so...no privacy?" with this big smile on his face. this is the man who told me i gave a good speech on my first day. i love his english best. i returned the gesture and said, "no privacy!" so he took my picture.

i haven`t really experienced any form of culture shock. i`ve gotten homesick, definitely, but no culture shock. yet, at least. but then, i`ve been here for almost a whole month now. you`d think it would have struck me by now. the only thing that`s really frustrating is that i can`t speak/understand japanese, natrually. but that doesn`t get me down, really. i`m able to pay attention to what`s going on around me and respond accordingly. (with MUCH help from above, i`m sure) and then, i just tune everything out. it doesn`t bother me. i have complete confidence that i can take care of myself, despite the language barrier. it`s a great feeling; and i know i don`t get it on my own.

it`s really interesting to listen to the teachers talk. however, it`s kind of bizarre when i hear them say my name. i totally know when they`re talking about me...i just can`t understand anything else. and they know i can`t understand anything else. it`s like watching people whispering to each other, but saying your name really loudly; you have no idea what they`re saying, but you know it involves you. i always assume that they`re saying nice/harmless things, because what japanese person would have the audacity to talk smack about me in front of my face, whether i can understand them or not? well, actually, i can think of a few -- yuki -- but no one i work with would do that. or, at least, i don`t think they would...

eh, i don`t really care. for reals.

so the vice principal came and showed me what the school paper will look like. the picture of me is really dorky, but oh well. as i said, i don`t really care. he pointed to my picture and said, "super star!!" and i laughed really hard in my mind.

2february2010

hey february. how`s it going? you brought snow with you, i see. i`m not terribly happy about that. but it`s okay. thinnest layer of snow i have ever seen. i`m amazed that it even stuck. naturally, the japanese are a little freaked out about it and keep telling me to be very careful and watch my step. nice people.

so i just finished lunch with a 3rd year class. they are just so much fun!! they taught me a couple japanese dances (henna ojisan...) and they went wild when i did the moon walk. it`s so easy to make them laugh. i just pretended to be a sumo and they thought that was hilarious. i now fully understand the meaning of the phrase, "roaring with laughter". i`ve reduced two separate classes to that state of being. onto the next junior high... haha, i hope they think i`m funny over there and they`re not a school full of yukis.

anyway, lunch. today, everyone arranged their desks in a circle. "party for liz!", the teacher said. i liked the circular arrangement. it was quite nice! they had me sit between two of the teachers, very nice people. i jan-ken`d for the last piece of carrot cake and lost, but they gave it to me anyway. yessssss. nice children. they also had this fried chicken sort of thing for lunch. it was delicious and not even greasy! i loved it. plus! there were heart shaped carrots in my soup! they must have a special carrot cookie cutter or something. i LOVED it! i want a carrot cookie cutter or whatever it was. want.

i love this school!! this is the beginning of my last week here. :( better live it up!

journal entries...finished. sorry all my posts are a million years long. :( i have a tendency to...oh my gosh, what is that word...babble!!! yes, that`s the word. i almost said blather, and then i almost said bladder, and those both sounded wrong. i need to go to bed now.

more to come, i PROMISE.

peace out.

erizabesu, queen of engrand.

2010-01-25T17:22:00.000-08:00

i have recently dubbed myself the queen of engrand.

because i`m queen of finding engrish in japan.

say hello to the latest selection of engrish, found in a shopping center in noda called jusco. this is my new favorite place because it has three levels of goodness, including clothing stores, 100￥stores, a pet store, a music store, post office, and a grocery store. and like two arcades. it`s like target, but on steroids and japanese. oh, and better than target. you know what? it`s actually its own brand of awesomeness so i don`t really have anything in the united states to compare it to. just imagine something awesome and you probably will imagine jusco. (post script: i actually love target. i miss it mucho.)

anyways, another reason that i love this wonderful place is because of all the engrish i saw there. i`m pretty sure the employees thought i was insane, because i was snapping pictures of everything and laughing my head off. but i don`t even care what they think.

now it`s your turn to laugh your head off and make people think you`re insane. enjoy the jusco engrish.

it`s a pretty hat, i just have no idea what it means. haha.

seriously. what is this supposed to mean??

i`ve always been taught to steer clear of the love traps.

cross my heart indeed.

i like my happy stockings to have bizazz.

i need some socks that will change me pretty.

uh...

no, thank YOU.

that really is a happy price for clothes. but an even happier price would be free.

goos quality sweatshirt.

i wonder why.

i wish i knew what they were really trying to say.

congratulations on your likable personality. (at least they spelled likable right)

sildfire.

i would also like to follow this example.

that`s what i would do if i saw you wearing that t-shirt. i would mutter in a small voice, wondering whether or not you have been officially diagnosed as crazy.

i have found the cure for heart disease!!

...what???

incomplete sentences are my favorite.

please don`t knock my heart. i don`t want anyone gripping my mind.

brilliant logic. (you can`t really tell from this photo, but the picture on that t-shirt is a little kid pushing a shopping cart. whatever.)

yes. that says break wind.

oh, the grory!!

more grory...

i sort of wish this said "recovering loveholic" because that would be funny.

i think they mean japanese...

oh, no wonder my music life isn`t happy...i have the wrong earphones.

i just love how they advertise themselves.

melodramatic earphones?? my favorite!!

i just laugh hysterically every time i read this one.

...why would you keep your underwear in a pouch...?

i just love the fine print on this one. it makes me laugh.

man, the engrish speakers are just so good at pick-up lines.

i wish this was a t-shirt.

i like the piggy ashtray.

that makes sense. i guess...

purely face. i love that.

i can`t imagine any gift that would require a rest before opening.

that is just so profound...

this one just made me laugh really hard when i saw it. just like most of the engrish i see...

thanks to the punctuation on this one, i read this with a frank costanza voice in my mind.

oooooh, so that`s how it works!!

even the pencil cases here are friendly...

this one gets a prize for being the most incomplete sentence ever.

yes, let`s!

there are a lot of tastes i have fallen in love with, especially since coming to japan. yum.

yes, it`s true. you would be VERY lucky to see that. haha.

if anyone ever wanted to know what it`s like to have dinner at the sandersons...it`s kind of like that.

no one should trust me with their deliciousness. i will devour their deliciousness, probably.

aw, how sweet. and convoluted.

this is probably my very favorite engrish ever. EVER.

more to come. i guarantee it.

sunday in kasukabe.

2010-01-20T02:45:00.000-08:00

こんばんわ！！

oh my stars, it has been an entire week since i last updated. i`m horrible at this blogging thing. sorry. :(

so, let me tell you about sunday and what happened sunday! because that sounds like a good idea.

if you read my recent post about trying to call the tokyo mission office, you probably have an idea of how difficult it was to find what ward i was supposed to attend. so i went on lds.org to the "find a meetinghouse" feature, and that gave me some trouble too. i found what ward i was supposed to attend, but i had absolutely no idea of how to get there. googlemaps refused to recognize my address, so it wouldn`t give me directions. poopheads. so i had to zoom into the map really close and find the train station that was closest to the meeting house. from there, i tried to find a route that would get me to the chapel...it mostly involved hoping that i would come across certain landmarks, like a 7-eleven and a ministop on the same street. so i wrote down some possible directions and prayed that i would find it.

well, i seemed to have gotten off at the right station.

so i began to wander around according to my makeshift directions. i walked for about half an hour before ending up right back at the train station. hooray for going in circles. so i abandoned my directions after that and just started looking for a 7-eleven.

after wandering up and down the narrow streets, i finally found the 7-eleven.

i have never ever been so happy to see that orange and green sign.

so i headed toward the 7-eleven, and that is when i saw the steeple! i wasn`t expecting to find an actual church. my experience of trying to find the church in tokyo made me wary of that. but luckily, this one actually looked like a church! such a delight.

so i went into the building, and went up some stairs to where a woman was corralling her children and a man was standing, appearing as though he was waiting to go into the door at the end of the hall. i was about twenty minutes late by this time, so i figured he was waiting for the sacrament to end.

when the adults saw me, they both got these huge smiles on their faces and started whispering to me in japanese. i got really flustered and said, 「日本語が下手です!」　which translates to, "my japanese is poor!" (one of the few phrases i know by heart. haha) and, so sweet, they started to talk to me in broken english. "what is your name? where are you from? where do you live?", et cetera. very, very friendly. which made me just so happy because it can`t have been easy for them to approach the big, scary american and try out their rusty english. i am so so grateful for the people that actually try to come and talk to me. i hope they receive lots and lots of blessings.

after talking to me for a few minutes, they started motioning at the door, nodding their heads as if to say, "go on inside! the water`s great!" so i peaked in the door, and they were very apparently in the middle of a prayer. so i waited a few minutes and tried again. i found an empty seat near the front of the chapel and made a run for it. i sat down next to a young girl, who looked quite bewildered at my appearance. i motioned to the chair and myself, saying "okay?", trying to make sure it was okay that i sat down. and she nodded, so i figured i was good! it looked like i really freaked her out though. haha. whoops.

so, despite my lateness, i apparently made it in time for sacrament! they were just about to sing the sacrament hymn. i was just about to reach for a hymn book when a little voice in my ear said, "do you speak japanese?" not seeing the speaker, and figuring she was japanese, i whispered, 「ちょっと｣ back to her, meaning, "a little!" then the voice said, "follow me." so i turned around to find...an american!! yessss.

so i followed this sweet lady back to a chair in front of her. after the sacrament, she began translating the talks in my ear. apparently i had shown up to this ward in time for ward conference! that was a really nice thing for me, as i was able to partake of the sacrament because of it! yay! anyway, the bishop spoke, and then so did the stake president, who turned out to be an american as well. i love americans. haha.

so after receiving a condensed version of the talks and singing out of the japanese hymn book -- which is delightfully much easier than i thought it would be, because it was all in hiragana, which i busted my butt to learn before arriving in japan (studying really does pay off!!) -- the meeting was adjourned and i was able to get to know the people around me. again, they were so friendly and nice. if they weren`t able to talk to me, they smiled and waved to me, letting me know they were there. the sweet lady who translated for me is named elyse, and she is the relief society president! perfect! so i thanked her profusely for translating for me, and stood around for a few moments while people milled around in the chapel.

elyse then turned to me and asked,

"do you speak spanish?"

now, when people here ask me that question, i tell them i do. they all seem fascinated by it and ask me to speak in spanish for them. so i end up bearing my testimony and telling them about the church in spanish, haha! i do that because that`s really all i can remember in spanish. plus, how often do you find a person that speaks spanish in japan?? it`s hard enough to find people that speak english! so they are completely unaware that i am preaching to them. haha, it`s the best.

anyway, when she asked me that, i told her "yes" with a sheepish smile, expecting to be asked to show off again.

i said yes, and she lit up.

"perfect!!" she said,

"you can translate for monica!!"

you know that feeling you get when you`re on a roller coaster and you`re going down that first huge hill and your stomach seems to jump up into your throat? i usually love that feeling, but whenever i get it when i`m not on a roller coaster, i get really really worried.

and i got that same feeling when she said that to me.

i tried to protest while she led me over to monica, but to no avail. she introduced me to sweet monica, telling her i speak spanish. monica lit up and began talking to me in spanish. and, by some wonderful miracle! i was able to understand her.

we talked for a few minutes, and i found out she is from chile and has been a member her whole life. i also found out another wonderful thing about monica: she speaks spanish, japanese, and english. spanish is her native language, and she speaks a little japanese and english. well, her english is infinitely better than my japanese is, so i was extremely relieved.

she led me upstairs to the bishop`s office, to where the ysa sunday school class was being held. again, they were so friendly to me. smiling, and asking my name. in that class, i found a young woman named tomoko, who went to byu, so was fluent in english. also, i found a young man who served his mission in roseville, california, who happened to know my dear friend shawn howell!! tiny, tiny world. he was also fluent in english and let me borrow his english scriptures. oh, the tender mercies of the Lord!! i felt them time and time again that day.

tomoko was sweet enough to sit by me and translate for me, and monica sat on my other side. and thus commenced a lesson taught by the bishop. they seem like a great group. i am very, very excited to get to know them all.

so, i was trying to understand as much japanese as i could...and i understood a couple things! mostly numbers, haha. and there were times that if monica couldn`t understand them, they turned to tomoko, who translated for me, and i was expected to translate for monica. so my brain was trying to process three different languages. i had the biggest headache by the end of that lesson!! i was able to translate for monica sometimes, but most of the time, she understood tomoko`s english, so my spanish wasn`t necessary. and i loved those moments. but the moments that i was able to translate for monica made me extremely grateful for senorita taylor and that special day where she taught us religious spanish. best day ever.

at the end of the lesson, tomoko and this other girl, yukimi, both gave me their phone numbers and i gave them mine. i thought it was so sweet that yukimi did the phone number exchange as well, since her english is limited and my japanese is even more limited. so, even though we may not be able to communicate easily, she still offered me that extra support. and i am so, so, SO grateful.

i wandered back down to the chapel, where the priesthood and relief society meetings were joined, since it was ward conference. i sat with elyse and monica. for the opening song, elyse handed me an english hymnbook. i thought that was so thoughtful and nice.

during the lesson, they showed a video in english with japanese subtitles. i think they were going to do it the other way around at first, but for some reason, they switched it at the last second. i don`t know what made them switch, but i am extremely grateful for whatever reason that was.

after that, we divided into groups and had group discussions about the video. it was when we were dividing into groups that a saw a cute cute lady in a kimono. it made me very very happy.

when the lesson was over, i wanted to hang around for a bit to see if i could get to know more people. luckily for me, they had a sort of munch and mingle thing after the block, with all the fixings to make your own sandwich. it was amazing; i sat in the chapel and watched them transform it into a picnic area. i`m sure that`s what they always have to do, since there isn`t much room for a cultural hall in the building. plus the chapel is made up of folded chairs anyway, so it was quite easy. they had this big curtain draped in front of the stand and podium, which i guess was supposed to make it feel less like we were in a chapel and more like we were in a cultural hall.

it was a special occasion, kind of to celebrate that the stake presidency made a visit, so it sounds like it isn`t something they do every sunday (dangit). while eating, i chatted more with monica. she is a queen sweetheart; she gave me her pocket translator to borrow while i`m here. "i don`t use it. it`s more for tourists!" she said. i am so so so grateful. apparently she`s lived here in japan for over ten years! crazy business.

in mingling around, i was able to meet bishop abe`s wife, who is one of the sweetest ladies ever. her english is very, very good. apparently she served a mission in nagoya, where she was able to pick it up from the american missionaries. she was also speaking spanish to monica! what a super hero. she is super duper animated and i loved talking to her. she also wanted my phone number; so she got out her hot pink cell phone with pretty disneyland charms on it. i tell you, no one is exempt from the cell phone charm rule in japan. EVERYONE has at least one, if not twenty.

so i had a lovely conversation with sweet sister abe. i also met a missionary couple, and the sister asked for my phone number and address. so so so sweet, as it was another demonstration of "i speak very, very little english and you speak very, very little japanese. so we can`t really communicate, but i want you to know that i`m here to support you if you need it." i just got warm fuzzies remembering that.

where were the elders, you may ask? well, they were there. however, they made a point to not talk to me, let alone make eye contact with me! one of them is japanese, so it`s understandable. the other looked american. i was a little annoyed by that. seriously, if he caught my eye, he looked away super fast. i concluded that he is a punk. i`ll be waiting to see if he proves me wrong.

i walked to the train station with monica. on our way out of the building, i met a young woman who told me she is korean. so i told her the only korean phrase that i know, which translates to "i`m a fool!" she seemed to think that was pretty funny. seriously. she was laughing hysterically. i hope we can be friends. haha.

i also ran into the man i met when i first came into the building. he asked me if i knew any japanese, so i told him the only phrase i can say fluently: ｢田中さんは面白い本を買いました。｣　　he acted like he was really impressed and complimented my pronunciation. i love my ward. (i also love that i am typing on a japanese computer, so it looks like i`m awesome and know kanji when i really don`t.)

so i walked to the train station with monica, thus showing me a much more effective way to find the church. and i came home and napped.

my sunday ruled, as you can obviously see. i love the church.

skool.

2010-01-13T01:17:00.000-08:00

so, let me tell you about my first day of school.

i was not scheduled to teach.

that`s right. i went to school and i sat there for a good hour until they told me i wasn`t going to be teaching. i would have known that before...had my computer been working and i could check my email for a lesson plan. but noooooo. so...i sat in the teacher`s room. for my whole life. pretending i was busy. it sucked, man.

best part of my day = eating lunch with the kids. holy cow, i love these kids. but yeah...i sat around all day long and then went home. it was rad. ...not.

i can`t even remember what i did after school that day...wow.

but the next day, friday...i actually taught two classes that day! two whole classes. of seventh graders. haha. the lesson plan for both classes was for me to introduce myself and then we`d have a related activity after that. the way i introduced myself was through a matching game. i wrote a bunch of numbers on the board and would have the kids pick two numbers. the numbers corresponded to questions and answers that i had written down. for example, 2 was what is your favorite color? and 4 was i like green. so they had to match the correct question with the correct answer to get to know me. ...make sense? haha, it`s so much easier to demonstrate these things...

anyway, the first class i taught was super into it. they loved it. and that was nice for me. that class was very energetic and lots of fun, which is a nightmare for some teachers, but it sure was a delight for me!! they`re my favorite class i`ve interacted with so far.

the next class, however, was the exact opposite. i had to twist their arms to get them to pick a number. and when they got a match, i was the only one that rejoiced. my heavens, it is so intimidating to be in front of an unresponsive class!! it unsettled me a little. but no fear! i got through it! and i love them anyway.

the activity after i introduced myself was different for both classes, because the teachers were different. in the first class, after i introduced myself, i became a human tape recorder. that is, the japanese teacher of english (from here on out, the jte) began teaching, mostly in japanese, and had me read dialog when she needed. just so the students could hear proper pronunciation and voice inflection and stuff. i didn`t mind it! i bet the kids were super bored though.

the second class`s activity was a lot of fun. after i introduced myself, the teacher passed out a sheet of paper where the students would write questions they had for me. that was the best...i can`t even tell you how many kids asked whether or not i liked tennis. how funny is that? i also got some great engrish questions like, "do you flower?" and "what best season is there?" i just love it. i am so happy these kids are willing to step out on a limb and try speaking english, whether it`s right or not. those are the kids that will go far in learning english.

wow, the teacher in me is coming out. hee hee. i didn`t even know i had one in there!

anyways...i love teaching those kids. they are so much fun. they are just so cute and i was overwhelmed with love for them when i first met them! and it really helps that they like me too. really, really helps. well, i hope it`s a like that will last. it may be because i`m just a novelty. a novelty with blonde hair and blue eyes and a geeky smile. but i have good fashion! at least, that`s what one of the other teachers told me today. she pointed to my sweater and said, "you have good fashion", and it made me so happy. one of my students liked my sweater today too! she kept pointing at me and saying something in japanese and i would just stare blankly at her. then she did the woman sillhouette thing with her arms...you know, the one that means curves? hahaha...i had no clue what she was talking about. but her english proficient friend helped her out and said, "pretty shirt". communicating with them is like playing charades. and it is the best.

but anyways...on the second day of school, when the kids actually saw me emerge from the teacher`s room, i got quite the response. i`m used to people staring at me by now, which is lucky, cause they sure do it a lot at this school, haha. when i would walk past them in the hall, the girls would say, "kawaii sensei, kawaii sensei!!" which means...cute teacher. hee hee! and now i get that all the time when i pass a group of girls. they look at me and say, "kawaii! kawaii!" they think i don`t know what they`re saying -- which is all too true sometimes -- but i know what kawaii means! wahahaha. they must have been daring each other to come up and talk to me. one girl walked up to me, bowed low, and said, "you are very pretty", and ran away laughing. similar things happened a couple times. my favorite though was when a boy came up to me and said, "i love you!" and ran away, laughing hysterically. needless to say, my self-esteem has never been so high. haha! and now that the students are getting comfortable with me, they will come up and say those nice things without running away and laughing. it makes me happy. they`re also starting to say cute in english when they see me, but it is always two very distinct syllables: "cute-to, cute-to!" it is very cute-to and i love it. whenever they say, "you are cute-to!" to me now, i say, "thank you! so are you!" and then their faces fall and they get this super blank look on their faces cause they have no idea what i said. i love it. sometimes they do, and they giggle; other times the jte will intervene and tell them what i said, and they giggle. hahahaha. lots of giggling at the school.

...i really wish i could take a camera to school and just film them all to show you, but sadly, that is strictly prohibited. very strictly prohibited. haha. i`m also not allowed to touch the students, which is hard, because i`m always wanting to pat them on the arm or something when they overstep their apparent shyness just to talk to me. i want them to know how much i appreciate it! and where i would normally do that with an arm/shoulder pat, i have to try really hard to restrain myself. really hard. i have to admit...some pats escape. but i am working on it.

so i am not allowed to touch the students, but i have one student who is very affectionate. in a good way. when she sees me in the hall, she yells, "erizubesu!!" and runs at me to give me a giant hug. i never know what to do. so i just kind of pat her on the head, haha. then she`ll just sort of hang on my arm, talking to her friends. while i stand there. haha. and then she links arms with me and drags me down the hall, asking me questions like, "do you have a dog? does your mom speak english?" and every student`s favorite question, "do you have a boyfriend?" or, as they say it, "you have boy-hu-riend-o?" very slow, and separated into distinct syllables. as i tried to illustrate...haha. when they ask that question, and i say yes, the unfortunate follow-up question always is, "do you have kids?" makes me sad those go hand in hand these days...but oh well. the point is! i love that little girl, and i try to return her affection with as little contact as possible. she must not realize it though, cause she always comes back for more! which makes me really really happy. :)

anyway...that`s enough for one school post. that`s largely what my posts will be about from this moment on, so you`ll hear plenty more! whether you want to or not. ha. :P

what are you sinking about?

2010-01-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

this is what happened when liz tried to call the tokyo mission office.

*dials number*

recorded message: *voice speaks japanese...liz gets the idea that she`s basically saying, "this number doesn`t work, silly gaijin"*

*hangs up. tries dialing the number without a couple of the first numbers*

recorded message: *same japanese voice...*

*hangs up. tries again.*

recorded message: *yet again. same japanese voice*

*hangs up, frustrated. then reads the webpage again: "just take the first 0 off, silly kid". dials the number again. without the zero*

*phone finally starts ringing*

japanese man: *greets me in japanese*

liz: "uuuuuhhhh...do you speak english?"

japanese man: "of course. this is japan coast guard."

liz: "uuuuuuhhhh...i think i have the wrong number."

japanese man: "bye bye."

*liz hangs up. cries out in humiliation.*

the end.

SOY sauce!!!

2010-01-08T05:52:00.000-08:00

kikkoman soy sauce.

ever heard of it?

i`d hope so. because that`s a famous brand of soy sauce. and guess what? i`m basically next-door-neighbors with the kikkoman soy sauce factory. hahaha! saddest claim to fame ever. buuuut, i`ll take it.

so, hello from noda-shi, chiba-ken! i currently live in a small apartment in a very nice, quiet town. it`s really quite lovely here. the only problem is...it`s very cold! quite a bit colder than tokyo! i was surprised by that...i figured it would be the same. but i`m waaaaay colder here than i ever was in tokyo. maybe it`s psychological, i don`t know. could i have thought myself into goosebumps and chattering teeth? possible. eh. maybe.

let me tell you how i came about living here. so, remember the day i came here? the day i came here was the day i had to drag my weight in baggage across tokyo, watch my internship coordinator as he dragged my weight in baggage across tokyo and was thus humiliated, and the day i received some training in a form that freaked me out and made me not want to teach anymore. so before i even left for my new home, i was pretty stinking frazzled.

i was taken to noda-shi by a sweet little japanese man that is a salesperson for the company i work for. his english is fantastic, though of course, there are a couple malapropisms here and here. i love it. plus you can tell that he`s working on phrases he`s learning. he seems so proud to deliver them. and then he smiles and says, "i just learned that one." haha, it`s the best. plus he starts most of his sentences by saying, "it`s like this..." and it`s great. well, this sweet man took one of my bags (again, humiliating me) and we took many trains to get to nodashi. actually, we only took three, really. and one was a "rapid" train that went faster than normal trains!! that was pretty neat. except i would absolutely love to go ride a bullet train, or shinkansen...but this was a decent substitute. you could tell we were getting farther and farther away from tokyo, because the train announcements no longer had english counterparts. they were delivered in japanese and that is all. that made me nervous. getting off on the wrong train stop is scary business!! (or so i have read). but, we made it to our stop, the entire trip taking a little over an hour and costing a little too much ￥。　　so then we got off the train and tried to find my apartment. that wasn`t fun, because i was so tired of carrying so much baggage and watching poor little man carry my baggage, and it was FREEZING. so naturally, while trying to find the right apartment, we got lost. it took us about fifteen minutes before we could find the right one. what i really wanted to do was plop down and take a nap, but no, i couldn`t do that either. japanese man and i had to fill out a checklist that had to be turned in, like whether or not everything worked correctly. so that took about another hour, because dear little man couldn`t figure out why the gas stove wouldn`t light. about a million tries, 10 minutes, and a phone call to the office later, we found out that they weren`t gas stoves at all, but electric ones. doh! but everything was figured out, the internet was set up, and everything was good to go. as soon as he left my apartment, i set up my futon and took a nap.

the next morning, i met dear little japanese man at the train station so he could show me where the school was that i would be working at. so we went to the school where i met the principal and the deputy principal in the principal`s office. they spoke about 3 words of english between them. so dear little man handed principal and deputy my resume with my picture on it and they all looked at it and discussed it for a few minutes. i just sat there smiling, looking clueless all the while. then they spoke a few words to dear japanese man and went into another room that was attached to the principal`s office. dear japanese man turned to me and said, "liz-san, it`s like this. the teachers are having a meeting in there, and you are going to introduce yourself to them. please use japanese." oh, okay. wait...what??? but wait a minute, i`ve been practicing an english introduction, complete with slow, easy sentences and hand gestures!! i felt like chris farley in that one skit.."i don`t speak japanese!!" however, i walked into the teacher`s room and i did my best. and my best basically translated to this: "good morning. im liz. i come from america. utah. i love japan. i like music. nice to meet you." it was pretty bad. so then dear japanese man did more talking and we left, with deputy principal escorting us to the door. we bowed to each other and he smiled really big and said, "good speech." i love that deputy principal.

after that, dear japanese man and i left for the noda city hall, where i had to apply for a "gaijin card", or basically gain license for me, an alien, to live in a japanese city. kind of odd, yes, but i`d like to be a law-abiding citizen, so okay. there i also met members of the board of education, who also received a copy of my resume. dear japanese man did all the talking, and once again, i sat there with a big smile on my face, clueless.

after receiving the paper version of my gaijin card and receiving all sorts of pamphlets and things about living in noda, dear japanese man and i headed to the nearby post office to set up a bank account. yeah, it`s not like the post office back home. dear japanese man and i were there FOREVER. honestly, we must have been there over an hour. we filled everything out and had to wait our turn and found out we did it wrong, so we had to do it again and then wait our turn and then i didn`t have all the right documents, and had to find out how to deal with that...that`s all i caught, anyway. i couldn`t understand exactly what was going on. but i kept dozing off in the waiting area and that was embarrassing. after that long and excruciating period, we headed to a shopping center to buy the correct garbage bags. my garbage has to be separated into three different types: combustible, non-combustible, and recycle. apparently garbage is a pretty big deal over here. like, i might get fined if it isn`t correctly separated in the right bags. i also have to write my name on my garbage bags. weird.

and finally, i was able to return home to prepare for my first day of school the following day.

now, i have to go to the convenience store to buy me some breakfast for tomorrow, before i forget. more later.

goodbye, asakusa... :(

2010-01-08T05:01:00.000-08:00

wow, i haven`t really updated since sunday. let me fix that! so on sunday, three of us interns were going to try and find a church to attend. thanks to the great lds.org, we were able to find a meetinghouse in the vicinity of our hotel. plus it was an english speaking branch! and best of all, it didn`t start til 1:00! can life get any better? i submit that it cannot!! so we decided that since our church was so late in the afternoon, that we`d take a little side trip on our way to church to a place in harajuku called yoyogi park. it was a lovely park indeed...i bet it`s way better in the spring though. it was pretty, but the trees were a little too skeletal. i`ll have to go back there when it starts getting warmer. so we heard that it`s best to visit yoyogi park on sunday, because that`s when a lot of people go to the park dressed up in crazy outfits, like their favorite anime character!! that sounded pretty neat, so we figured we`d go check it out. however, we didn`t see any particularly odd looking people there. aside from a group of girls that were really quite amazing at frisbee, i didn`t see anything out of the ordinary. well, by japanese standards at least. i did see some of my favorite fancy-pants dogs, all done up for their trip to the park. i bet the boy dogs were impressed. unless they were boy dogs. which wouldn`t surprise me in the slightest.

anydangways, after a lovely, albeit somewhat disappointing walk around the park, we started to try to find our meetinghouse. of course, none of us know our way around tokyo. so we figured that the best way to find it would be to jump in a cab and have them take us directly to the address. and so i had my first trip in a japanese taxi. i sat in the front seat, and tried to ignore the people staring at me from the streets. our little trip didn`t last very long, so we only had to pay about 130￥　each. that was pretty sweet. so he dropped us off at the address, and we had about 3 minutes to go until the meeting was due to start. of course, we couldn`t find anything that looked like the meetinghouses we`re used to. luckily, i managed to spot a picture of the angel moroni on a window. in my excitement, i cried, "look, it`s MORONI!!" to my travel mates. a couple steps later, we saw a beautiful sign that said, "the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints". and there was much rejoicing. until a man came out of the building, and in perfect english asked, "oh, are you guys here for the meeting? they actually combined with another ward today and they`re meeting out by the temple." awww, man! when are they meeting, sir? "well...right now." awwwwwww man!!!! we tried so hard to get to church... :( but we took a picture in front of the sign to show that we tried. very hard. we went back to our hotel after that, and rested up. then we went to celestia`s room and had a wonderful little devotional. we sang out of ashley and celestia`s japanese hymnbooks (which, delightfully, was a lot easier than i anticipated), and had our own little scripture and testimony time. it was really, really nice. i`m with a group of great people. well...i was. until we all separated. anyways, after our little testimony meeting, we were able to enjoy a viewing of the testaments, courtesy celestia`s collection of random dvds. it was lovely indeed! then, as girls do, we chatted for quite a while before retiring for the night.

then we woke up to another lovely day of training! this time, we were joined by newcomers will, olivia, and lisa! the (relatively) exotic foreigners of the group! will is french canadian (don`t worry, he`s a cool one), olivia is from england, and dear lisa is an irish lassie. and they were able to join in the insanity that is assistant language teacher training...with jody. jody rules. when we went over company policies, he made us read them in different accents. it was fun. plus he has a hilarious anecdote for pretty much everything. good times.

after training, celestia and i dragged poor jet-lagged lisa around asakusa looking in shops and things. and i actually don`t think lisa was jet-lagged at the time. we were all having a lot of fun. so don`t worry, no lisas were harmed in the galumphing around asakusa. we went into a bunch of lovely shops. there was this one that my mom would have LOVED. lots and lots of rhinestones and sparkles. i wish they sold brooches, but they didn`t; most of the glitterier pieces were hair accessories, which would go unused by my dear mommy. don`t worry mommy; i`ll get you something else that`s nice. :D we also went into a lot of shoe stores, because celestia needed a new pair of shoes. oh, how i wish my feet were smaller. those stores contained some of the cutest shoes i`ve every seen!! and, of course, some bizarre ones too. i mean, it`s japan. you`ll get quite the odd selection. we also went into a department store that i would have loved to spend more time in. there was this little accessory shop that had the CUTEST things in it. being poor, however, i could only look and admire. a lot of it made me think of my sisters; i wish they had been there to enjoy it with me.

a pair of earrings and very tired feet later...i wound up back in my hotel room, thinking about how i needed to pack up my bags. i was slated for one more day of training, and was going to leave after that. i went to bed though, thinking i`d get a chance after training the next day.

the next day, dear celestia left us for hiroshima. :( i miss her much, but i know she`s doing fab. i mean...she`s celestia. she`s probably queen of that place already. upon meeting the other interns, however, i found that i was going to leave not long after lunch that day. so i`d only receive half a day of training. that bummed me out, because i loved the training sessions, and i was so sad to split up with the other interns. :( we just had so much fun together, and now we`ll all be so far away from each other!! well, brooke, kellan, olivia, and i will be somewhat close to each other...all within an hour of each other. that`s still a ten dollar, 1 hour train journey though...just one way. round trip...ugh. and then celestia will be in hiroshima and lisa will be roundabouts there too, i think...and ashley is in osaka. i probably won`t be seeing them again til the end of the internship. :( i miss them all. i would love to have a skype meeting with them every so often, but oh yeah...computersaurus over here is too old and wheezy to support skype!! and i better not try and download it...i`ll probably break its hip or something. well, actually, i`ll give it a try. you just never know until you try. however, if this computer bursts into flames and sparks when i hit the install button, i will no longer have a dear sweet connection to the rest of the world via the world wide web. it`s a gamble. and i choose life.

anydangways. back to me. so i had to go back upstairs and pack up my veal pen...i mean hotel room (thanks dad. that was hilarious, i tell you). and so began...the journey of doom to the interac office with all my baggage and crap. it`s okay, i didn`t go alone. the superhero internship coordinator was there too. yeah, there were a couple points when he took both of my bags down stairs and onto the trains and things. i wanted to curl up in a corner and die of the humiliation. he was super nice of course to do that, and i was very grateful. very, very grateful. i just found it so terribly embarrassing. you know what i mean? oh, it was awful.

well, after dragging my weight in baggage across the city, i made it to the office in time to receive some very stressful training and break for lunch. after that...i was to head to my new home in noda-shi.

to be continued.

the system...is down...

2010-01-07T05:41:00.000-08:00

hello, precious friends!!

ahhh, so much has happened in the last couple days!!! so much to say...i would have loved to have written a chunk of haps yesterday, and i almost did, but noooooooo. my stupid computer wont start. and it makes me very frustrated. so now, thanks to the wonderful company i work for, i have been given a loaner computer. it is great and i am very, very grateful...however, its old. and it only speaks japanese. plus the punctuation marks arent where i am used to them being. so im sorry, but there will be no apostrophes today. try again tomorrow. but heres a cool aspect of my computer! check it out: にほんごですよ!！　　yes, i can type in japanese. cool.

well, im going to try and write a little bit in the time that i have. you see, it is almost 11pm here and i have to wake up early to commute to the school that im teaching at. it takes about...hmmm...45 minutes? to get to my school. walking, train and bus. woo!! actually, i have to say, i LOVE taking the trains here. i think its awesome. especially since im getting used to it. i had my first experience with a super crowded train today. there were like a million people on the train when it stopped at our station, but of course, a million more people piled on, including me. it was amazing. we were like a bunch of sardines. i was surprised that so many people were able to fit in there. so we were all mushed into this tiny space, and there was absolutely no complaint or protest from any passenger. i was so surprised. it was really quiet, and we all just crowded into together without a word. it was like we were moshing, but we were standing still. and not rocking out. to loud music. ...yeah... im pretty sure i was touching somebody elses butt with my own. that was pretty uncomfortable. but otherwise, it wasnt too bad. the other really scary part was when everyone was starting to get off the train at the next stop. i couldnt get off, because i hadnt reached my stop yet and i didnt feel like getting lost, so i did my best to stay on the train while the sea of people exited. yeah, that plan didnt last long. i picked up my feet to walk away from the door, but when i picked up my feet, i was basically carried by everyone elses weight. i pretty much floated to the door against my will. it was pretty weird. so i just left the train and got on again when everyone else left. why i didnt think of that before is a mystery. the goddess of prudence kind of left me in the lurch. anyways, yes. i like to travel on trains, even if they are crowded. i have to be in hyper-alert mode though. i have heard stories about women getting groped on crowded trains. luckily, it didnt happen to me. phew. im pretty much always in hyper-alert mode when the train starts getting crowded. we are taught that if we start feeling roaming hands, we are to grab the wrist of the perpetrator and yell, "chikan!!! (pervert/molester!!)" so i know what to do if such a thing happens, but i just really dont want to have to go through that. the end.

so anyways, the point is, i dont have time to write much. which is funny, because i took up all the time that i alotted for myself by going off on this train tangent. so, i guess ill end here with the promise that i will write more tomorrow. there may or may not be apostrophes included. i make no guarantees.

tokyo engrish.

2010-01-03T07:25:00.001-08:00

i expected it to be a while before i saw any of this, but no. i found them right away, and all in one place too! a great place to find engrish is in the 100 yen stores, which are basically dollar stores. and these are the gems that i found there.

okay, so i lied. they're not all from the 100 yen store. this is actually from my hotel bathroom.

and you see these signs a lot at convenience stores.

this is a j-pop band we found in the book-off. i need to look these guys up on itunes...

the toilet in my hotel room comes with a warning sign. yikes.

it's always nice to see some optimistic hair accessories.

now this is one you'll see all the time. they sell hair gum everywhere. and they call it hair gum everywhere.

see? hair gum.

you'll probably have to enlarge the picture to enjoy this one. it's one of my favorites though.

more stella.

this is a journal, i think.

shameless self-promotion of the memo pad.

good thing this notebook is easy to use cause most notebooks are really hard to use...

the conservationalist.

another notebook.

this is a hanko case. a hanko is a stamp that people use for signatures.

oh, the easy!

this was a little package of sparkly cupcake stickers.

this is a journal with a cute puppy on the cover. a well-trained puppy.

for some reason, that doesn't sound very pleasant...

i don't remember what this was, but i quite appreciate the brand name.

some elusive stationery...

toothpaste.

meet your beauty!

i can't tell if it's a happy hanger or if it's where i hang my joy.

make goods.

...huh??

the reason for presents.

my favorite kind!

this one says, "some paint pictures. some write poetry. i dress up and step out". i like it.

yay.

brilliant logic on a hand towel.

i have no idea what this is. it was with all the car stuff though. i'm guessing it's a defroster. hahaha.

i just can't leave that softness.

anyways, that's all for now! please forgive the stupid captions. it's late. hahaha.

gallivanting around tokyo 2!!!

2010-01-02T01:32:00.000-08:00

So! hello again, dear blogdom! this is your correspondent liz, writing in to report on the haps in japan! mostly i'm just going to let you know what else happened yesterday...yesterday was a huge day!!

so we met ryan at our hotel and he took us on a train trip to show us where the office was, where we'd be commencing our teaching training! after that, we were going to go up to shinjuku to find a place to eat. however, while we got off on the right train stop, we left the station from the wrong exit and therefore wandered around shinjuku for about an hour. it was pretty neat; we were right in the middle of the skyscraper district and saw a lot of neat buildings. however, by that time, we were all so tired and our feet hurt from walking and we were all staaaarving. so we didn't get to appreciate it much. i was getting a little cranky...haha. luckily though, after about another half an hour of hunting, we found a restaurant. haha, you should have seen us all plop down in our seats. we probably looked like we all fainted! we were dead on our feet, i tell you.

and thus commenced my first restaurant ordering experience in japan. they must be used to foreigners trotting in and out of their restaurant. there were pictures of every dish and it listed the main ingredients in english. i ordered a chicken miso soup with super loooooong udon noodles by pointing to the picture of it in the menu and saying "kudasai?" (please?). oh my stars, it was DELICIOUS. i didn't know if it was because i was starving and would eat a horse (which they actually have here) though. it was way good though. after that, we were all considerably happier. and from there, we went to a lovely place called shibuya. it looks quite similar to times square, except that it's japanese! shibuya is also where you'll find the busiest intersection in the world...as far as foot traffic is concerned. don't worry, we all crossed it. :) at shibuya, we wandered around, looking in shops. we actually went into a couple of them; we went into a cd/dvd store and then went into a "book off" where they sell used cds, dvds, and books. a lot in english too! i found a couple police cds that were about 250 yen (like 3 bucks!), but since we pretty much have every police song ever produced, i didn't pick one up. they also had the english and american copies of the harry potter books. it was kinda neat to compare those. there was a really friendly man who came up to us and spoke to us in impeccable english. he gave us his meishi (business card) and told us that he was writing a book and to look for it! yes, we found a friend. pretty neat.

after that, being exhausted again, we went back to asakusa where i was last typing, about to go into the festival again. i got my chocolate banana from a hello kitty booth. it was SO GOOD! except that the chocolate here doesn't compare to american chocolate, not even coming close to british chocolate. oh, what a nice treat it'd be in the uk!! i also got me a crepe with strawberries, chocolate, and cream. it was DELICIOUS!! mmmm, best crepe EVER!! however...it made me so sick. went right through me. :( i don't even know why. but it was so absolutely delicious that i'm more than willing to risk having a crepe again.

ooooh man, i keep running out of time! of course, i have more to type! however, we're going to go party at a karaoke box because it's ashley's birthday!! yaaaay, happy birthday, ashley! let's go sing poorly in public!

asakusa.

2010-01-01T07:28:00.000-08:00

these aren't pictures that i've taken. i'll post my own pictures when i have more time. this is just to give you an idea of what i'm experiencing.

say hello to the asahi dry beer company. or as we fondly refer to it, the great golden poo. it's a famous asakusa landmark and helps us know what side of the river we're on.

this is the beautiful sensoji temple. this is a little what it looked like when we went on new year's eve, except there was way more people.

this long line of people led to an altar in the temple where people would pray for a prosperous new year. we didn't participate...we didn't know how. hahaha!

this is what it looked like when we went to the festival during the day. like i said, i'll post my own pictures when i have more time, but here's an idea. except the banners didn't have cows on them, they had tigers on them. year of the tiger, i say! wooo! the hotel staff gave us these sweet golden tiger cell phone charms in honor of the new year. they're awesome.

gallivanting around tokyo

2010-01-01T02:25:00.000-08:00

after a very nice long rest, trying to navigate my room with my huge suitcases taking up all the space, figuring out the japanese shower, and having a kit-kat bar for breakfast, the girls and i decided to explore asukasa and get real breakfast. so we crossed the river and found a konbini (convenience store) and dug up some grub! finding food in japan is kind of hard when you have no idea what anything tastes like. so i went out on a limb and got a juice-box looking thing with a picture of a strawberry on it and a little pastry that looked like some long waffles. it wasn't until after i left the store and sat down to eat that i realized that the packages had english written on them too (facepalm). it turns out that i had purchased a strawberry yogurt drink that had a sweet retractable straw(quite tasty, but with an unexpected twang) and...cheese dogs. yes. that's what was written on the package. doh! luckily it was cream cheese and not something nasty. and thankfully, it was also quite yummy, except rich.

after stuffing our faces, we walked back to sensoji temple and did some more exploring. the temple was waaay more crowded during the day then it was the night before. so we had some fun navigating alleyways and other streets. at least, they looked like alleyways...everything is so narrow here that it was probably just another street. it was walking through the streets of asakusa that i noticed a really odd fad. there were some people that had strollers that did not have babies in them...but dogs. mostly the long-haired dachshunds. and that is odd in and of itself, but the dogs were also dressed up. one poor little puppy was outfitted in elaborate cowboy duds while another was wearing puppy-sized sunglasses and a geisha wig. we also saw someone walking a whole troop of puppies that were all wearing traditional kimonos. i wish i had gotten pictures, but they were all walking too quickly. speaking of pictures, i noticed at least two people taking pictures of us while we were walking through the streets. not to mention all the staring. i didn't expect that in tokyo, where gaijins are abundant. it makes me really nervous for when i travel to the city i'm staying in, which is reported to be a nice, quiet suburban town. hoooo boy.

during our exploration of asakusa, we stepped into an arcade that had the weirdest claw machine prizes i had ever seen. one of them was filled with multi-colored plushies that basically looked like stick men...except they were covered in embroidered blood. weird. and we walked past one that had these huge gallon-cartons that were full of coffee beans. there was a young man who was actually trying to win one of them. we didn't stay there very long.

after we had our fill of walking, we went back to our hotel where we met up with ryan again to tour more of tokyo. however...more on that later. we're going back to sensoji temple for more festival! i'm going to get me a chocolate banana and a crepe. :) and definitely more peach juice. LOVE that stuff. ja ne!

2010 = the year of the tiger.

2010-01-01T01:58:00.000-08:00

hello everyone!!

here is my first official post from japan!! how exciting is that?? oh my stars, i can't even begin to tell you all that i've been absorbing. let me start with when i left san francisco, eh? sounds good? good.

okay, we took off from san francisco in a boeing 777 which apparently is gigantic. HUGE plane! all of the stewardesses were so friendly and accommodating. go japan airlines! so, as soon as we took off, i took an ambien and i was OUT. best thing ever. i only remember about an hour of the flight and i couldn't be more grateful! my travel buddy was kellan. he knows binary. hahaha. he said i kicked him in my sleep. sorry kellan. :S

upon landing, it took us about half an hour to get through immigration and customs. and there was already a huge difference in japanese employees versus american ones! in japan, when the phone rings, they all run to pick it up. and, when my cute little piggy luggage tag fell of my laptop case, two people ran over to pick it up and hand it to me. i was very grateful. i'd be very sad if my little piggy was left in the airport. :(

after going through customs and immigration, we met our internship coordinator, ryan, who was waiting for us with a little sign that said, "interac". it made me feel pretty important. and thus began the awful journey of dragging all of our luggage all over the countryside. we went from train to train, up stairs, down stairs, up escalators, down escalators...we just went from one hellish terrain to the next. riding the trains was pretty fun though. but since it was dark outside, i didn't really get to enjoy the scenery. phooey. but our last train took us to a region of tokyo called asakusa, where our hotel is about a block away from the sensoji temple. i'll definitely be posting pictures of that one. so the hotel is really neat. i have a tiny, one-person room. i was kinda hoping i'd get to share with the other girls in the program, but we all have our own rooms. there's not even enough space for us to hang out in one person's room. they're that tiny. it's quite nice though! the bed has a great setup where it has controls for the air conditioner and tv, and you can turn the room lights off and on from the bed! there is also a radio and an alarm clock fixed in the headboard. it's quite nice! plus, they give you pajamas to use, and BOY are they comfortable!! and the bathroom comes equipped with a western toilet (YES) that has a bidet...haven't used it yet...it also has the deepest tub i've ever seen. another cool aspect of the hotel is that they the keys look like apartment keys and they have HUGE keychains attached. i thought, "sweet, i'll never lose this key!", but as it turns out, i don't even have to worry about it, because you're supposed to turn your key in before you leave the hotel anyway! and then you come and get it again when you return. kind of a sweet little setup! i appreciated it at least. one less thing to worry about!

after getting set up in the hotel, we walked down to the sensoji temple where the new year's festival was in full swing. oh man, it was so neat!! tons and tons of little booths set up with all the craziest food you can imagine; bananas dipped in chocolate, little fishies on sticks, GIGANTIC hamburgers, squid tentacles, et cetera. there was also this little booth exclusively for cell phone charms. the japanese love dressing up their cell phones...i saw a woman with three or four charms on hers! i didn't get anything at this particular festival...i'm going to wait a while for another festival. i did, however, employ one of the extremely numerous vending machines and bought some peach juice. it was SO good! there are tons of vending machines over here that dispense juice, water, cigarettes, beer...i haven't seen any food vending machines yet though...

we left the festival before 9:00 and we all came back to the hotel and crashed. we didn't even get to ring in the new year. we were SO TIRED! i went to bed at about 10:30, (6:30am utah time) and i woke up at about 5:30am (1:30pm utah time) and had THE hardest time going back to sleep!! but i forced myself to, and woke up again at about 9:00 and started getting ready for the day from there. today's activities to follow in the next post.

hey guys.

2009-12-27T21:19:00.000-08:00

well, this is my blog! this is where i'll write about my awesome adventures in japan. get excited.