I can't believe that I let so much time pass before posting!
Sunday night was the bishop's son's farewell party that he didn't actually come to. We made okonomiyaki with more egg and flour than at the pro's house--I think it tastes much better without all the cabbage. We also cooked yakisoba and fried tofu. The other kids teased us with the cow liver--which we weren't actually afraid of eating--but we never even opened it. There was also lots of candy.
On monday we met our new classmates. Apparently we caught up to one of the other students. His name is Linus (I think, the japanese pronunciation is really weird) and he's from Chicago. He's over forty and really nice--he even offered to buy our ramen on tuesday.
We also met Irene, she just arrived this week and she is from the Philippines. All the japanese people think that she's japanese and are confused when she doesn't explain to Shell and I how things work. Irene is 22 and loves shopping, so that's what we did with her on Tuesday after school. It was really fun, but by the time we left the book/dvd store, the yukata shop was closed.
But back to Monday, for FHE we had to meet at the stake president's home which is located under the Fukuoka temple. Getting there was really easy and it was fun to meet all the people from the Fukuoka Central Ward. The missionaries were particularly happy to see us which was pretty funny. We met a guy who will be attending Snow College after getting off his mission.
On Wednesday we went to Marine World where we got to see a dolphin show and tons of different kinds of fish. It was actually pretty neat, but my favorite part was trying to get there.
Shelly had copied instructions off the website that were completely wrong, so we had to make our own way there. Transportation was pretty expensive even though we got a day pass because there were 3 different kinds of trains.
While waiting for one of the other trains, we stopped at AM/PM (a convenience store) to buy lunch and some snacks (which was really smart cause the food at Marine World was really expensive). We stopped in the park (located right next to the station) to enjoy a small breakfast. There we met some friends.
I don't know their names, or really anything about them, but I do know that they were very interested in us. One boy in particular was really funny. He asked us "what" we were. First by calling us "daigakuin" (college students), I corrected him by saying ryuugakusee (international students). We then introduced ourselves as americans. Which completely confused the poor thing. He kept saying the wrong place with an incredulous tone. The other kids knew what we were saying, but he couldn't understand what county we were from.
Shelly said, "genki desu ka?" (which is basically, how are you?) And he adamanlty replied, "Genki ja arimasen" (not good at all), we thought his answer was hilarious. I think that he was surprised that we knew what we said. Several other pleasantries passed between us, the most memorable being "you should go buy a japanese teacher."
Finally, we finished our food and were able to leave the snot-nosed brats behind us. However, I will probably count the encounter among my most favorite.
After Marine World, we went to Wonder World. It like Lagoon times 10. It's huge and has a zoo in it. We saw the monkeys, pet the capibara, admired the pony ride (the guys incharge of the ride were really excited to see us and weren't shy at all, but they were on duty, so we couldn't talk), teased the goats, and saw tons of other semi-exotic animals.
Then we went on the ferris wheel, truly admired the size of the place, bought some shaved us (melon flavor with milk stuff on top). Then Shelly went on the rollercoaster, I voted to stay behind and watch the bags. While Shelly was gone I noticed that almost no one stared at me. It was like they couldn't tell that I was a gaijin. I guess it's because my hair is kind of the weird red-color that is so popular here. Only 3 kids noticed what I truly was while Shelly was gone.
Then we went through the haunted house that was actually pretty scary. I didn't understand the stories behind the scenes, but getting attacked by blown air will make anyone jump.
Today we have nothing to do, so we are currently "napping." I can't wait until next week though, because the school is hosting a Mt. Aso trip. We had to pay extra, but it's an overnight trip so it was totally worth it.
Anyway, good bye for now!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
2nd Week in Japan (pt. 3)
Thursday was a really long day (or so it seemed). Shelly and I really wanted to buy some yukata, so during our 1 hour lunch break, we did just that. I bought a light pink yukata with light purple and bright pink flowers with a matching obi (one side of the obi is neon pink, the other side is dark purple). Shelly got a white yukata with light blue, dark yellow, light pink and light green flowers. She has a matching yellow/green obi. But we didn't get geta there because they were too expensive.
We went to Claire's (yes they have Claire's here...) and got some accessories for our yukata. I got a bright red flower thing and Shelly bought a daisy flower thingy. They're perfect for our yukata.
We got to school just in time for class. After class we talked to Mai-san who knew of an even cheaper yukata store that sold you the yukata, obi and geta in a package deal, but first we had to get through culture class.
Culture class was a maid cafe (which only boys go to), but first we stopped at a Johnny store. Johnny's is a store where you buy the pics of hot japanese guys. It was really awkward going there (mostly cause I had no idea who any of the guys were) and the japanese girls that were there thought we were hilarious. Shelly bought a Johnny's calendar for Sara's omiyage (gift) so she had to carry around a huge, bright yellow Johnny's bag.
At the maid cafe, you have to call you're waittress with a bell. The waitresses wear french maid outfits and have special maid nicknames, they also speak in really high voices. Maki-san (our culture class planner/chappereon) made us ask our waitress at least one question. I asked how she made her voice so cute (she said that it was natural and that she only had one other voice--her angry one).
While we were there, the whole rest of the school showed up (picture 20+ foreigners in the cafe that holds less than 30 people). After they showed up, most of the other customers left.
When that was over, we went to the super cheap yukata store where I bought some geta and Shelly bought a whole new yukata set (this one is dark purple with yellow flowers and pink cherries).
After that, we went shopping for tabi (only later did we learn that you don't wear socks with yukata).
On friday, we had to pinky-promise our sensei that we would study. It was embarrassing, but she does have a point. We haven't studied at all (so far).
I think that we continued our yukata shopping after school, but I can't really remember. We were going to do Okonomiyaki with the ward, but then we realized that we didn't know where it was. So we stayed home. Later, Atsuko called to tell us that the time/place had been changed so it was good that we didn't try to find it.
On saturday we went back to Canal City where I bought some presents. The Pokemon shop there is amazing. It's definitely something you should see at least once in your life.
Then we came home and took a 3 hour nap. After that, we had a picnic at the park--but it was really cold so we didn't stay long. We bought some more hot chocolate and some sugar on the way home. Took a cold shower (all the hot water was gone) and went to bed.
So far today, we have gotten really cute and gone to church. It was stake conference so curry was served after church. The little primary girls invited us to come sit with them on the little chairs, but we decided to eat with the big people. There we tasted pickled things that you put on your curry. I actually like the weird skin colored ones better than the little red ones.
The people around us asked us about the kinds of food we liked and were surprised that we like unagi (eel), sushi, red beans (although I don't really like them in donuts), fish in general, umeboshi (pickled plums are pretty good in moderation), the weird curry pickles... The only thing that they asked us about that we didn't like was natto (fermented beans) and we haven't actually tried that. One guy commented that we were definitely nihonjin (japanese). It was pretty funny.
We also set up a date to try on kimono, there's a professional kimono lady that really wants to dress us up. We're going to meet at the church on friday at one (which means that we'll have to skip the second half of class, but it's just review, so it'll prolly be okay). We don't speak very good japanese though, so we have to have a translator to help us.
Tonight we are going to the bishop's son's mission going away party. For whatever reason, we were also invited. I'm excited, but feel kinda awkward. The ward is including us in everything that they're doing even though we're leaving in less than 2 weeks.
But, that's it for now. Sorry for taking so long with this update.
We went to Claire's (yes they have Claire's here...) and got some accessories for our yukata. I got a bright red flower thing and Shelly bought a daisy flower thingy. They're perfect for our yukata.
We got to school just in time for class. After class we talked to Mai-san who knew of an even cheaper yukata store that sold you the yukata, obi and geta in a package deal, but first we had to get through culture class.
Culture class was a maid cafe (which only boys go to), but first we stopped at a Johnny store. Johnny's is a store where you buy the pics of hot japanese guys. It was really awkward going there (mostly cause I had no idea who any of the guys were) and the japanese girls that were there thought we were hilarious. Shelly bought a Johnny's calendar for Sara's omiyage (gift) so she had to carry around a huge, bright yellow Johnny's bag.
At the maid cafe, you have to call you're waittress with a bell. The waitresses wear french maid outfits and have special maid nicknames, they also speak in really high voices. Maki-san (our culture class planner/chappereon) made us ask our waitress at least one question. I asked how she made her voice so cute (she said that it was natural and that she only had one other voice--her angry one).
While we were there, the whole rest of the school showed up (picture 20+ foreigners in the cafe that holds less than 30 people). After they showed up, most of the other customers left.
When that was over, we went to the super cheap yukata store where I bought some geta and Shelly bought a whole new yukata set (this one is dark purple with yellow flowers and pink cherries).
After that, we went shopping for tabi (only later did we learn that you don't wear socks with yukata).
On friday, we had to pinky-promise our sensei that we would study. It was embarrassing, but she does have a point. We haven't studied at all (so far).
I think that we continued our yukata shopping after school, but I can't really remember. We were going to do Okonomiyaki with the ward, but then we realized that we didn't know where it was. So we stayed home. Later, Atsuko called to tell us that the time/place had been changed so it was good that we didn't try to find it.
On saturday we went back to Canal City where I bought some presents. The Pokemon shop there is amazing. It's definitely something you should see at least once in your life.
Then we came home and took a 3 hour nap. After that, we had a picnic at the park--but it was really cold so we didn't stay long. We bought some more hot chocolate and some sugar on the way home. Took a cold shower (all the hot water was gone) and went to bed.
So far today, we have gotten really cute and gone to church. It was stake conference so curry was served after church. The little primary girls invited us to come sit with them on the little chairs, but we decided to eat with the big people. There we tasted pickled things that you put on your curry. I actually like the weird skin colored ones better than the little red ones.
The people around us asked us about the kinds of food we liked and were surprised that we like unagi (eel), sushi, red beans (although I don't really like them in donuts), fish in general, umeboshi (pickled plums are pretty good in moderation), the weird curry pickles... The only thing that they asked us about that we didn't like was natto (fermented beans) and we haven't actually tried that. One guy commented that we were definitely nihonjin (japanese). It was pretty funny.
We also set up a date to try on kimono, there's a professional kimono lady that really wants to dress us up. We're going to meet at the church on friday at one (which means that we'll have to skip the second half of class, but it's just review, so it'll prolly be okay). We don't speak very good japanese though, so we have to have a translator to help us.
Tonight we are going to the bishop's son's mission going away party. For whatever reason, we were also invited. I'm excited, but feel kinda awkward. The ward is including us in everything that they're doing even though we're leaving in less than 2 weeks.
But, that's it for now. Sorry for taking so long with this update.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
2nd Week in Japan (pt. 2)
Tuesday was pretty uneventful. We went to school, didn't make bentos, bugged the busy store dudes (Mika-sensei made us do it!!) and then went to culture class. It was tea ceremony so we got to dress up in really pretty yukata. I don't have any pics cause we used Shelly's camera. So maybe I'll send some later.
Tea ceremony is very intricate and detailed, you have to do everything perfectly. I think that a lot of it was symbolic, but I don't know what of. Tea ceremony is the most kata-ized part of Japan (that I have witnessed). We also got to try our hand at making the o-cha. The sensei had to help me cause I'm apparently a bad o-cha maker. Shelly had inherent skills, of course.
Then we tried our hand at making yakitori (again). This batch wasn't very good because we didn't use enough sauce (but we didn't know that until we got to school today cause it was our bento).
Today, Mai-san gave us some herbal chammomile tea which is really yummy! It smells like sweets and when you add a teaspoon of sugar, it tastes like them too! Mai-san is really nice to us, I guess she has a Mormon friend. She even chased down the missionaries for us so that she could get the address of one of the churches.
We had okonomiyaki class for culture. Okonomiyaki is called japanese pizza, but it is nothing like pizza at all. It's more like an omelet. The key parts of okonomiyaki are the cabbage (you use tons), the egg (we used only 2) and some flour (approx. 1/2 cup). You can put anything you want into it after that. Our okonomiyaki had onion, bacon and beef in it. Then you top it off with a special sauce (oyster--I think--sauce mixed with ketchup--just like takoyaki sauce) then you put some mayo on it (the japanese love mayo) and lastly, we added bonito flakes (which are kinda gross and move around after you put them on your okonomiyaki). It was pretty good, but it's not one of my favorites. Shelly and I will be making it again on Friday with the ward.
After that we went yukata shopping because we are convinced that we need some before Dontaku (a festival in May). Shelly found a store that sells used yukata that we can definitely afford. Now it's just whether or not we can still find it.
The church was holding an english class for anyone who wants to come. The missionaries are in charge of teaching, but they had us help explain "I might as well." Which makes perfect sense to me, but when I try to explain it, I can't. A lot of the japanese people could catch the meaning. Then we introduced ourselves once again and helped a lady translate her class schedule. Later, we played "Do you love your neighbor?" which was pretty fun (but since we were helping the lady, we were late and I didn't want to join half-way through).
Afterward, I was forced by Elder Orths (from Australia) to say the prayer. Lots of people thanked me. We made friends with this ojiisan (grandpa) who said that his name was "Andy." He is really funny and asked Shelly and I out to the next english class (after we let him know that we would be there). Apparently he really likes Country Music.
Then we rode the subway home. I bought a flan thing on the way (I'll send a pic later) and Shelly bought a grape jelly one. I thought they were both good, but Shelly hated hers.
But that's it for the past two days. We really haven't done anything beyond what we always do.
Tea ceremony is very intricate and detailed, you have to do everything perfectly. I think that a lot of it was symbolic, but I don't know what of. Tea ceremony is the most kata-ized part of Japan (that I have witnessed). We also got to try our hand at making the o-cha. The sensei had to help me cause I'm apparently a bad o-cha maker. Shelly had inherent skills, of course.
Then we tried our hand at making yakitori (again). This batch wasn't very good because we didn't use enough sauce (but we didn't know that until we got to school today cause it was our bento).
Today, Mai-san gave us some herbal chammomile tea which is really yummy! It smells like sweets and when you add a teaspoon of sugar, it tastes like them too! Mai-san is really nice to us, I guess she has a Mormon friend. She even chased down the missionaries for us so that she could get the address of one of the churches.
We had okonomiyaki class for culture. Okonomiyaki is called japanese pizza, but it is nothing like pizza at all. It's more like an omelet. The key parts of okonomiyaki are the cabbage (you use tons), the egg (we used only 2) and some flour (approx. 1/2 cup). You can put anything you want into it after that. Our okonomiyaki had onion, bacon and beef in it. Then you top it off with a special sauce (oyster--I think--sauce mixed with ketchup--just like takoyaki sauce) then you put some mayo on it (the japanese love mayo) and lastly, we added bonito flakes (which are kinda gross and move around after you put them on your okonomiyaki). It was pretty good, but it's not one of my favorites. Shelly and I will be making it again on Friday with the ward.
After that we went yukata shopping because we are convinced that we need some before Dontaku (a festival in May). Shelly found a store that sells used yukata that we can definitely afford. Now it's just whether or not we can still find it.
The church was holding an english class for anyone who wants to come. The missionaries are in charge of teaching, but they had us help explain "I might as well." Which makes perfect sense to me, but when I try to explain it, I can't. A lot of the japanese people could catch the meaning. Then we introduced ourselves once again and helped a lady translate her class schedule. Later, we played "Do you love your neighbor?" which was pretty fun (but since we were helping the lady, we were late and I didn't want to join half-way through).
Afterward, I was forced by Elder Orths (from Australia) to say the prayer. Lots of people thanked me. We made friends with this ojiisan (grandpa) who said that his name was "Andy." He is really funny and asked Shelly and I out to the next english class (after we let him know that we would be there). Apparently he really likes Country Music.
Then we rode the subway home. I bought a flan thing on the way (I'll send a pic later) and Shelly bought a grape jelly one. I thought they were both good, but Shelly hated hers.
But that's it for the past two days. We really haven't done anything beyond what we always do.
Monday, April 20, 2009
2nd Week in Japan
So on Sunday we prepared to go to church, figured out exactly where the easier to find church building was, left 2 hours early just in case, rode the subway 3 lines down, saw a church on our way there, found that there was no church where it was supposed to be, went back to the church we had seen earlier, found it was the right one, met the sister missionaries, realized we were an hour and a half early, took pictures of the river that has no water, went back to the church, accidentally sat in the priesthood, met all the relief society ladies, had an awesome time in young adult's class, had sacrament last and finally returned home.
The people there were really friendly, and if I went into detail, it would take forever to tell exactly what happened.
We also went shopping that day cause we needed leggings for the tea ceremony (apparently we have to take off all our clothes in the same room as everyone else so that we can put on our kimono).
We had a huge lunch/dinner of cold noodles (I can't remember what they're called) and tempura donburi. It was really good, but the noodles were really slippery, plus the dude in the next booth over watched our pathetic attempts at eating slippery noodles with chopsticks.
On Monday we went to school and got out at 2:30 cause it was early day! Yay! But we had to buy a bento cause we didn't cook on Sunday. Then we went shopping (again). I got some more leggings (everyone has them here, there are whole stores devoted to only socks/leggings) and we ate sakura mochi that had cream in it and some other stuff that wasn't very good. For dinner we had dumplings and gyoza. Which isn't really good for you, but tastes really good.
Then we met Atsuko (one of our friends from church) at Starbucks (after getting confused by the 24 hour clocks) who guided us to FHE. At FHE we had to introduce ourselves and listen to a lesson that Atsuko translated for us, laughed at the missionaries (they're from Pennsylvania and Australia), played jenga and ate awesome food. In America we have brownies and drinking fountain water for refreshments (unless we're at something nice). Here we had chips of all kinds, mini doughnuts, assorted chocolates, sweet potato sticks, rolls, icecream, icecream in the rolls (one of the funny leader guys said "aisu hambaga!" to us), chips in our icecream, egg salad in the rolls, sausage and egg salad in the rolls, and tons of other stuff. And there were no paper plates. Everything was either china or plastic. The spoons, of course, were metal.
Plus, Shelly totally has the hots for Miyamoto-san. I can't remember his first name and I only know his last name cause Atsuko was nice enough to tell us. And on Wednesday, Atsuko invited us to join them for English class. I asked whether or not it was okay that we already knew English and she assured us that they would love to have us. Plus, we are going to the cooking class that they are having on Friday, we will be making Okonomiyaki. Little do they know that we are learning to make that on Wednesday at school and will therefore be pros.
The people there were really friendly, and if I went into detail, it would take forever to tell exactly what happened.
We also went shopping that day cause we needed leggings for the tea ceremony (apparently we have to take off all our clothes in the same room as everyone else so that we can put on our kimono).
We had a huge lunch/dinner of cold noodles (I can't remember what they're called) and tempura donburi. It was really good, but the noodles were really slippery, plus the dude in the next booth over watched our pathetic attempts at eating slippery noodles with chopsticks.
On Monday we went to school and got out at 2:30 cause it was early day! Yay! But we had to buy a bento cause we didn't cook on Sunday. Then we went shopping (again). I got some more leggings (everyone has them here, there are whole stores devoted to only socks/leggings) and we ate sakura mochi that had cream in it and some other stuff that wasn't very good. For dinner we had dumplings and gyoza. Which isn't really good for you, but tastes really good.
Then we met Atsuko (one of our friends from church) at Starbucks (after getting confused by the 24 hour clocks) who guided us to FHE. At FHE we had to introduce ourselves and listen to a lesson that Atsuko translated for us, laughed at the missionaries (they're from Pennsylvania and Australia), played jenga and ate awesome food. In America we have brownies and drinking fountain water for refreshments (unless we're at something nice). Here we had chips of all kinds, mini doughnuts, assorted chocolates, sweet potato sticks, rolls, icecream, icecream in the rolls (one of the funny leader guys said "aisu hambaga!" to us), chips in our icecream, egg salad in the rolls, sausage and egg salad in the rolls, and tons of other stuff. And there were no paper plates. Everything was either china or plastic. The spoons, of course, were metal.
Plus, Shelly totally has the hots for Miyamoto-san. I can't remember his first name and I only know his last name cause Atsuko was nice enough to tell us. And on Wednesday, Atsuko invited us to join them for English class. I asked whether or not it was okay that we already knew English and she assured us that they would love to have us. Plus, we are going to the cooking class that they are having on Friday, we will be making Okonomiyaki. Little do they know that we are learning to make that on Wednesday at school and will therefore be pros.
2nd Saturday in Japan
Okay, so I have gotten very lazy and haven't posted anything in the past few days. Gomen ne!
On Saturday, Shelly and I spent a long, lazy morning getting ready. It wasn't until 10(ish) that we finally left the dorm. We took the subway to Canal City where we went shopping. I bought some studio ghibli totoro slippers (now I can finally give the dorm lady back the slippers she lent me). Canal city is known as "the city within the city," but is really just a shopping district. It's not as big as people make it out to be, but the mall/building has many floors.
There are all kinds of stores from region gift shops to clothes to restaurants or every kind (chinese, mexican, traditional japanese, KFC, Wendy's, Dipper Dan's). We accidentally ordered grapefruit icecream (Shelly said grape, register Dipper Dan girl heard grape, other ice ceam scooper Dipper Dan girl heard grapefruit).
Basically we spent the day shopping, without actually buying anything. Apparently there was some sort of spring celebration going on so many stores were having sales. We also watched a magic/pantomime act and listened to a few local bands.
Through our existance in Canal City were drew lots of attention, some say kiree (pretty) others say gaijin (foreigner), instilled fear in children and were defeated by a door (it was locked, you're supposed to use the other door). We had unadon for lunch and had a bunch of boys say "hi" and attempt to introduce themselves in english.
Then we went to a park that was nearby where we met Karim. He's french and wantd Shelly and I to visit him one day in Paris. He spoke with us until his friend (also called Karim) arrived. While at the park we witnessed the awesome phenomenon of a hand-stand while peeing chihuahua. One leg was not enough.
At 4ish we escaped the frenchmen and got home just in time for dinner. Chicken with some weird sauce (whose name escapes me at the moment) and of course, rice. We also had some strawberries.
After all that we had a very lazy evening and that is where I'm going to leave off. You see, it's almost 11 and that is one of the latest times I have eve stayed up here. Plus I'm gonna have a busy morning. I still have to do tomorrow's homework and take a shower. Anyway, bye for now. I will catch you up later. ^^
On Saturday, Shelly and I spent a long, lazy morning getting ready. It wasn't until 10(ish) that we finally left the dorm. We took the subway to Canal City where we went shopping. I bought some studio ghibli totoro slippers (now I can finally give the dorm lady back the slippers she lent me). Canal city is known as "the city within the city," but is really just a shopping district. It's not as big as people make it out to be, but the mall/building has many floors.
There are all kinds of stores from region gift shops to clothes to restaurants or every kind (chinese, mexican, traditional japanese, KFC, Wendy's, Dipper Dan's). We accidentally ordered grapefruit icecream (Shelly said grape, register Dipper Dan girl heard grape, other ice ceam scooper Dipper Dan girl heard grapefruit).
Basically we spent the day shopping, without actually buying anything. Apparently there was some sort of spring celebration going on so many stores were having sales. We also watched a magic/pantomime act and listened to a few local bands.
Through our existance in Canal City were drew lots of attention, some say kiree (pretty) others say gaijin (foreigner), instilled fear in children and were defeated by a door (it was locked, you're supposed to use the other door). We had unadon for lunch and had a bunch of boys say "hi" and attempt to introduce themselves in english.
Then we went to a park that was nearby where we met Karim. He's french and wantd Shelly and I to visit him one day in Paris. He spoke with us until his friend (also called Karim) arrived. While at the park we witnessed the awesome phenomenon of a hand-stand while peeing chihuahua. One leg was not enough.
At 4ish we escaped the frenchmen and got home just in time for dinner. Chicken with some weird sauce (whose name escapes me at the moment) and of course, rice. We also had some strawberries.
After all that we had a very lazy evening and that is where I'm going to leave off. You see, it's almost 11 and that is one of the latest times I have eve stayed up here. Plus I'm gonna have a busy morning. I still have to do tomorrow's homework and take a shower. Anyway, bye for now. I will catch you up later. ^^
Friday, April 17, 2009
6/7th Days in Japan
On thursday we had class as usual, but today we were to be taught by the school's only male teacher. Yuji-sensei is kinda creepy (to be blunt). Really funny. But creepy. Really good teacher. But, again, creepy.
Anyway, class went well. We learned how to actually say things to people. Things that you might actually use in public. Oh and we tried to beat him while putting the hiragana in order. We lost.
After foundation, we had culture class. This time we were painting hakata dolls. These dolls are actually quite famous and were the first Japanese doll to be designated by the Nat'l Government as a traditional arts/crafts industry.
The dolls that we painted are very cute and make a bell-like sound when you shake them, but I worry that they won't make it home as they are very fragile.
Once we got home we made sticky rice and stir fry for our bentos. Right around then I got my first migraine while in Japan. In fact, this is the first full on migraine that I have had in a very long time. I can't really explain why I got it. I had had a good lunch, sure I had some candy for snack, but... Basically, it must have been triggered by something I ate. Probably the soy sauce, but again, I don't really know. Not only was this the worst headache I'd had in months, it was also the fastest growing migraine I think I've ever had.
Generally, I know hours before I get a migraine. Or rather, I know whether I have a potential migraine. Kinda like the weather man telling you that there's a 20% chance of rain. I noticed that I might get a migraine while I was at school, but I ignored it (which I always do unless it gets worse). Then, while cooking, I noticed that it had indeed gotten worse and I decided that if it progressed, I would take a pill after I finished cooking. Basically, yesterday was no good.
Today was our last day of school for the week. After next week, we start intensive language training (that means that culture is replaced by another 2 hours of language). Monday and Friday are short day, so no culture today. We went home, started our first batch of laundry (which is still drying outside) and while I watched the washing machines, Shelly bought and cooked chicken for tomorrow's bento.
At 5:30 we left to go back to school for the Shabu shabu party. It was awesome! Shabu shabu is delicious, and plus the waiter guy totally made eyes at Shelly and I. ^^ At about 8, Shelly and I left early to explore the mall. We got lost (after touring the mall) in the red light district. I don't know how we got there, we just did. It really isn't that much different from the rest of town except that it smells like beer. And there are tons of guys. And a few scantily clad women. We saw a love hotel sign and a club that cost 100,000 en (about $100) for 40 mins. (an hour was 150,000 en).
We asked the 7/11 man which way Ohori Kouen was--the opposite direction. He was really nice and even tried to speak to us in English. Then we found the subway and asked the subway lady which subway to take (of course the one a ten minute walk away--still in the opposite direction of the red light district). Then we asked a random convenience store girl which way to go before we recognized the Daiei sign. From there, getting home was easy (but still about 15 mins by bike).
We didn't get home until 9:30 (our dorm's curfew is at 10). Anyway, this is the latest I have stayed up while in Japan, so I'm exhausted.
Anyway, class went well. We learned how to actually say things to people. Things that you might actually use in public. Oh and we tried to beat him while putting the hiragana in order. We lost.
After foundation, we had culture class. This time we were painting hakata dolls. These dolls are actually quite famous and were the first Japanese doll to be designated by the Nat'l Government as a traditional arts/crafts industry.
The dolls that we painted are very cute and make a bell-like sound when you shake them, but I worry that they won't make it home as they are very fragile.
Once we got home we made sticky rice and stir fry for our bentos. Right around then I got my first migraine while in Japan. In fact, this is the first full on migraine that I have had in a very long time. I can't really explain why I got it. I had had a good lunch, sure I had some candy for snack, but... Basically, it must have been triggered by something I ate. Probably the soy sauce, but again, I don't really know. Not only was this the worst headache I'd had in months, it was also the fastest growing migraine I think I've ever had.
Generally, I know hours before I get a migraine. Or rather, I know whether I have a potential migraine. Kinda like the weather man telling you that there's a 20% chance of rain. I noticed that I might get a migraine while I was at school, but I ignored it (which I always do unless it gets worse). Then, while cooking, I noticed that it had indeed gotten worse and I decided that if it progressed, I would take a pill after I finished cooking. Basically, yesterday was no good.
Today was our last day of school for the week. After next week, we start intensive language training (that means that culture is replaced by another 2 hours of language). Monday and Friday are short day, so no culture today. We went home, started our first batch of laundry (which is still drying outside) and while I watched the washing machines, Shelly bought and cooked chicken for tomorrow's bento.
At 5:30 we left to go back to school for the Shabu shabu party. It was awesome! Shabu shabu is delicious, and plus the waiter guy totally made eyes at Shelly and I. ^^ At about 8, Shelly and I left early to explore the mall. We got lost (after touring the mall) in the red light district. I don't know how we got there, we just did. It really isn't that much different from the rest of town except that it smells like beer. And there are tons of guys. And a few scantily clad women. We saw a love hotel sign and a club that cost 100,000 en (about $100) for 40 mins. (an hour was 150,000 en).
We asked the 7/11 man which way Ohori Kouen was--the opposite direction. He was really nice and even tried to speak to us in English. Then we found the subway and asked the subway lady which subway to take (of course the one a ten minute walk away--still in the opposite direction of the red light district). Then we asked a random convenience store girl which way to go before we recognized the Daiei sign. From there, getting home was easy (but still about 15 mins by bike).
We didn't get home until 9:30 (our dorm's curfew is at 10). Anyway, this is the latest I have stayed up while in Japan, so I'm exhausted.
School Blog
Shelly and I made it onto the school's blog on only our 6th day in Japan (that would be our 4th day of school)!! Here is the link: http://www.genkijacs.com/blog/index.php/item/348
I guess that no other students have ever brought home-made bento to school before. Ours were just egg, rice and carrots the first time. But today we had stir fry (with only beef and peppers) and rice with an umeboshi (pickled plum--but maybe it was a pickled cherry?). Anyway, it's a special honor to be included in the schools blog and now you can see our growing fame! ^^
I guess that no other students have ever brought home-made bento to school before. Ours were just egg, rice and carrots the first time. But today we had stir fry (with only beef and peppers) and rice with an umeboshi (pickled plum--but maybe it was a pickled cherry?). Anyway, it's a special honor to be included in the schools blog and now you can see our growing fame! ^^
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
2nd/3rd Days of School
I am already starting to get lazy with my posts! Luckily, I forced myself to write this last night. ^^
On Tuesday we went to class as usual. We had foundation from 9:30 until 11:20 and then we have an hour break for lunch. We went shopping and bought some really cute bento boxes. After shopping, we were almost late for class and didn't have enough time for lunch so we bought soda from one of the vending machines along the way (there were at least 6). Unfortunately, in our hurry to get back to school, we turned at the wrong street. We ended up being 10 minutes late.
After our second block of foundation, we have culture classes on Tues, Wed and Thurs. Tuesday was calligraphy. I am really bad at calligraphy, so my name stamp looks kind of awful at the top. I got better by the end, so the last character in my name is nearly perfect.
We also painted the kanji for dream--after practicing a dozen times--on really nice paper. But first we had to make the ink, which is a long process of scraping an ash stick thing around in water. Shelly and I both put the kanji off-center, but our sensei told us that it was okay because where we signed our name and put our stamp fixes it. It is not a word, but a work of art.
Then we went home, and had dinner in the cafeteria with the other girls. No one talked to us, but one student in particular kept smiling at us. Unfortunately, we didn't know that you are supposed to use a card when you go in there--and no one was brave enough to tell us. So we got in trouble with the dorm lady, who is actually quite scary.
After that we were going to give the dorm lady a present when I fell asleep. Shelly came into my room and scared me half to death, and then I didn't wake up until 6.
Today, we went to school, weren't late at all and learned tons! We had Wendy's and crepes for lunch. It was delicious but quite expensive, so we won't do that again. We also signed up to go to the Shabu Shabu party on Friday--which was also expensive--but I am sure that it will be well worth it.
Culture class today was pottery. We went to a pottery master's home where he taught us that pottery is a fun art, unlike kendo and judo which requires "serious students." We won't get our cups until next month though, so maybe Maki-sensei (the teacher in charge of planning the culture classes) will have to mail them to us in America.
After getting home we made our first meal--onigiri (rice balls) with sake (salmon) in the middle, scrambled eggs and chopped carrots. It doesn't actually sound that good, but before we put everything in the bento boxes (and totally smashed our huge onigiri) it tasted quite good. I'm rather excited to show Mai-san (the receptionist at Genki JACS) our awesome, however untraditional, bentos.
Then we made friends with one of the other dorm girls. Her name is Ayumi (she specifically asked us not to use any honorifics with her, which you only do with good friends in Japan). She is studying American/English Literature at Kyuushu University. She was quite excited to meet us and she even complimented our Japanese (obiviously flattery as we are completely horrible!!).
Now we are getting ready for bed, even though it's only 8. Changing time zones is actually very difficult, especially without any sleeping aids (beyond benadryl).
On Tuesday we went to class as usual. We had foundation from 9:30 until 11:20 and then we have an hour break for lunch. We went shopping and bought some really cute bento boxes. After shopping, we were almost late for class and didn't have enough time for lunch so we bought soda from one of the vending machines along the way (there were at least 6). Unfortunately, in our hurry to get back to school, we turned at the wrong street. We ended up being 10 minutes late.
After our second block of foundation, we have culture classes on Tues, Wed and Thurs. Tuesday was calligraphy. I am really bad at calligraphy, so my name stamp looks kind of awful at the top. I got better by the end, so the last character in my name is nearly perfect.
We also painted the kanji for dream--after practicing a dozen times--on really nice paper. But first we had to make the ink, which is a long process of scraping an ash stick thing around in water. Shelly and I both put the kanji off-center, but our sensei told us that it was okay because where we signed our name and put our stamp fixes it. It is not a word, but a work of art.
Then we went home, and had dinner in the cafeteria with the other girls. No one talked to us, but one student in particular kept smiling at us. Unfortunately, we didn't know that you are supposed to use a card when you go in there--and no one was brave enough to tell us. So we got in trouble with the dorm lady, who is actually quite scary.
After that we were going to give the dorm lady a present when I fell asleep. Shelly came into my room and scared me half to death, and then I didn't wake up until 6.
Today, we went to school, weren't late at all and learned tons! We had Wendy's and crepes for lunch. It was delicious but quite expensive, so we won't do that again. We also signed up to go to the Shabu Shabu party on Friday--which was also expensive--but I am sure that it will be well worth it.
Culture class today was pottery. We went to a pottery master's home where he taught us that pottery is a fun art, unlike kendo and judo which requires "serious students." We won't get our cups until next month though, so maybe Maki-sensei (the teacher in charge of planning the culture classes) will have to mail them to us in America.
After getting home we made our first meal--onigiri (rice balls) with sake (salmon) in the middle, scrambled eggs and chopped carrots. It doesn't actually sound that good, but before we put everything in the bento boxes (and totally smashed our huge onigiri) it tasted quite good. I'm rather excited to show Mai-san (the receptionist at Genki JACS) our awesome, however untraditional, bentos.
Then we made friends with one of the other dorm girls. Her name is Ayumi (she specifically asked us not to use any honorifics with her, which you only do with good friends in Japan). She is studying American/English Literature at Kyuushu University. She was quite excited to meet us and she even complimented our Japanese (obiviously flattery as we are completely horrible!!).
Now we are getting ready for bed, even though it's only 8. Changing time zones is actually very difficult, especially without any sleeping aids (beyond benadryl).
Monday, April 13, 2009
1st Day of School!
I have to take a shower in 20 mins or else I'll be late for school, so this is gonna be short and sweet.
Yesterday we had our first day of school. We were 15 mins late due mostly to stupidity.
It was the first day of school for 3 other students as well, all of which were definitely past their 30s. Their preliminary tests were rather long. I was kinda worried, but not terrible. I mean, how worried can you be when you already know that you're gonna fail horribly, right?
Finally it was my turn and I could answer the first question, and then I had to admit my inability to speak the language.
Then, we were placed into classes. Shelly and I are the only ones in the beginner level. Mika-sensei was our teacher that day is she is incredibly nice. I'm so glad that we came to school here and that we finally have homework!!
We learned basic greetings and how to introduce ourselves. Today we have a vocabulary test, but it shouldn't be too difficult.
At the school, we rented some bikes for the rest of our stay here, a phone and a cooking set. Overall, it was kind of expensive, but I am very glad that we have bikes. Even though they are hard to ride and avoiding peds is nearly impossible (in Japan bikes ride on the sidewalk with the peds).
We also went to Daiei which is like a mall with a produce section. It is huge. We bought a bag of rice and tons of other essential food items. But we forgot to get salt. I really want salt. And we also didn't get bento boxes so we can't take a box lunch to school. We will start cooking today.
We had takoyaki (octopus dumplings) for dinner and they were amazing. We watched a movie called Nana so that we wouldn't fall asleep before 9. Shelly cheated and slept during the movie. I didn't notice until she started snoring though. Of course I woke her up.
In the end, we both went to bed at a reasonable hour. But I still woke up at 4:30 this morning. But hey, that's 30 mins later than yesterday. And a whole hour later than Sunday morning! Yay!!
Oh and japanese cream puffs are awesome. We bought a pack of frozen ones for Easter and then forgot that we had them.
Yesterday we had our first day of school. We were 15 mins late due mostly to stupidity.
It was the first day of school for 3 other students as well, all of which were definitely past their 30s. Their preliminary tests were rather long. I was kinda worried, but not terrible. I mean, how worried can you be when you already know that you're gonna fail horribly, right?
Finally it was my turn and I could answer the first question, and then I had to admit my inability to speak the language.
Then, we were placed into classes. Shelly and I are the only ones in the beginner level. Mika-sensei was our teacher that day is she is incredibly nice. I'm so glad that we came to school here and that we finally have homework!!
We learned basic greetings and how to introduce ourselves. Today we have a vocabulary test, but it shouldn't be too difficult.
At the school, we rented some bikes for the rest of our stay here, a phone and a cooking set. Overall, it was kind of expensive, but I am very glad that we have bikes. Even though they are hard to ride and avoiding peds is nearly impossible (in Japan bikes ride on the sidewalk with the peds).
We also went to Daiei which is like a mall with a produce section. It is huge. We bought a bag of rice and tons of other essential food items. But we forgot to get salt. I really want salt. And we also didn't get bento boxes so we can't take a box lunch to school. We will start cooking today.
We had takoyaki (octopus dumplings) for dinner and they were amazing. We watched a movie called Nana so that we wouldn't fall asleep before 9. Shelly cheated and slept during the movie. I didn't notice until she started snoring though. Of course I woke her up.
In the end, we both went to bed at a reasonable hour. But I still woke up at 4:30 this morning. But hey, that's 30 mins later than yesterday. And a whole hour later than Sunday morning! Yay!!
Oh and japanese cream puffs are awesome. We bought a pack of frozen ones for Easter and then forgot that we had them.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
2nd Day in Japan
Today was equally eventful as yesterday, however, I am much more tired than yesterday. As I mentioned earlier, I have been awake since 3 am. That means I have been concious for the past 16 hours.
First order of business was once again a shower. It is very humid here, in fact it is very warm every day. The weather is perfect. So far it has been cloudless and somewhat hot, but always with a nice breeze.
After our shower, we ate a quick breakfast of rolls with butter and some pocari sweat. Then we headed out to go to church. We expected to find some more breakfast along the way as the church was a very long ways away. We got about half way there before admitting that there was in fact no hope that we were going to find it.
Just before we decided that we were lost, we were stopped by a local who apparently wanted us to come to his beauty shop (hair/make-up/ect.). We took his card, but I doubt that we will go there. But, this was our first encounter with a local who wasn't required to care about us.
As we came home, we found that there was a grocery store about 2 blocks from our dorm (much better selection than Lawson's). We bought some icecream as it is easter, 2 hamburgers, lots of discount onigiri, noodles and some spagetti sauce. Until tomorrow, we still don't have any cooking utensils, but it is good to start getting some of the essentials now.
After eating the 3 pack of onigiri (seaweed, hamfried rice and pickled cherry flavors) and almost dying of grossness, we set out to find the Nishi Park. It took us about 5 mins. We passed 2 shrines on the way, the bigger of the shrines makes a sqwaking sound as you drop money into the prayer box.
The Nishi Park is more of a forest trail than a park. It has several playgrounds within it, but none are visible until you are almost on top of them. The best part about this park is that no one actually goes into it. We were almost completely alone and therefore, not stared at.
We headed home for a quick study session (we still needed to learn the katakana before tomorrow). Then we went to the Ohori Park once again, as there was nothing else for us to do. There we say tons of children! We had missed them yesterday because we had fallen asleep. We also saw many gaijin.
The funny thing about the other gaijin is that they are all men. The other weird part is that they don't acknowledge our presence beyond giving us a double take as they walk by. However, one of the gaijin did stop us and we had a pretty pleasant conversation about the weather, why we are in japan, why he is in japan, ect. He was a rather loud speaker, but in the end it was rather nice finally speaking to someone other than Shelly. Even though I do love her dearly.
Lastly we went home, attempted to eat our discount onigiri (mine turned out to be okaka flavor which is fermented fish--I gagged and had to spit it out), asked when dinner was, got told that there was no dinner on sunday (or any other meal), pouted, went grocery shopping, bought lots of drinks, tasted some milk, bought a butter knife (which we definitely needed), got some salmon for making good onigiri with, and finally came home once again.
Now I am going to sleep. ^^
Oh, yeah and no one will accept my debit card. The internet says that the major store chains should accept my plastic, but so far no store has (including Lawsons, 7/11, ect.). I am starting to feel very upset about it. But there is a post office right across the street from us.
First order of business was once again a shower. It is very humid here, in fact it is very warm every day. The weather is perfect. So far it has been cloudless and somewhat hot, but always with a nice breeze.
After our shower, we ate a quick breakfast of rolls with butter and some pocari sweat. Then we headed out to go to church. We expected to find some more breakfast along the way as the church was a very long ways away. We got about half way there before admitting that there was in fact no hope that we were going to find it.
Just before we decided that we were lost, we were stopped by a local who apparently wanted us to come to his beauty shop (hair/make-up/ect.). We took his card, but I doubt that we will go there. But, this was our first encounter with a local who wasn't required to care about us.
As we came home, we found that there was a grocery store about 2 blocks from our dorm (much better selection than Lawson's). We bought some icecream as it is easter, 2 hamburgers, lots of discount onigiri, noodles and some spagetti sauce. Until tomorrow, we still don't have any cooking utensils, but it is good to start getting some of the essentials now.
After eating the 3 pack of onigiri (seaweed, hamfried rice and pickled cherry flavors) and almost dying of grossness, we set out to find the Nishi Park. It took us about 5 mins. We passed 2 shrines on the way, the bigger of the shrines makes a sqwaking sound as you drop money into the prayer box.
The Nishi Park is more of a forest trail than a park. It has several playgrounds within it, but none are visible until you are almost on top of them. The best part about this park is that no one actually goes into it. We were almost completely alone and therefore, not stared at.
We headed home for a quick study session (we still needed to learn the katakana before tomorrow). Then we went to the Ohori Park once again, as there was nothing else for us to do. There we say tons of children! We had missed them yesterday because we had fallen asleep. We also saw many gaijin.
The funny thing about the other gaijin is that they are all men. The other weird part is that they don't acknowledge our presence beyond giving us a double take as they walk by. However, one of the gaijin did stop us and we had a pretty pleasant conversation about the weather, why we are in japan, why he is in japan, ect. He was a rather loud speaker, but in the end it was rather nice finally speaking to someone other than Shelly. Even though I do love her dearly.
Lastly we went home, attempted to eat our discount onigiri (mine turned out to be okaka flavor which is fermented fish--I gagged and had to spit it out), asked when dinner was, got told that there was no dinner on sunday (or any other meal), pouted, went grocery shopping, bought lots of drinks, tasted some milk, bought a butter knife (which we definitely needed), got some salmon for making good onigiri with, and finally came home once again.
Now I am going to sleep. ^^
Oh, yeah and no one will accept my debit card. The internet says that the major store chains should accept my plastic, but so far no store has (including Lawsons, 7/11, ect.). I am starting to feel very upset about it. But there is a post office right across the street from us.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
First Day in Japan
Welcome to Bike Land!!
Okay, so I should have blogged yesterday's events this morning when I woke up at 3 am. Unfortunately, I was trying way too hard to go back to sleep (I never did get back to dreamland). It is now 3 pm and I have only had one 30 min nap.
Yesterday, Shelly and I basically explored the area. First we tried to find the ocean, what we really found was the marina. It's cool, they are definitely real fishing boats there (none of those joy boats that everyone in south jordan owns).
Then, we headed toward the Ohori Park. It is huge!! You can't believe how pretty it is! There is an entire lake in the middle of it. Around the lake is a track that lots of people walk/jog on. Along with their dogs so you have to watch out for piddle.
The Ohori Park is actually quite famous, and after seeing it, it isn't hard to see why. It's a borderline national park! There are tons of things to do in it. You can take the swan boats onto the lake, play baseball, play on the huge playground, walk on the track, explore the foresty areas and go fishing in the designated fishing areas. There are also free theatre productions every once in awhile.
Everyone here stares at us. I did not realize that we were Fukuoka's only gaijin (foreigners). Actually, there are 3 other foreigners in our dorm but they are all asian.
Shelly and I are sort of a novelty here at the Wings Nishi Koen Dorm. Everyone knows that we can't speak english, so they don't say anything to us beyond "konnichiwa" (hello) and "ohayo gozaimasu" (good morning).
After a rather sad breakfast of riceballs and soda from the pluthera of vending machines (they are literally on every corner) we decided to once again find the ocean. Unfortunately, we went the wrong way.
Luckily, after touring a greater park of the inner city, we stumbled upon our school!! Huzzah! That was easy to find . . . Anyway, touring was not very fun, mostly because I was quite tired.
Then we went shopping! Not actually that exciting. We bought butter, some chips that taste like Kudos, milk, grapefruit juice and Pocari Sweat (like Gatorade).
Now, after getting lost several times, we were ready to find the ocean. And we did, after a very long walk. We went under the free way and along a really long road. It must have been over 10 blocks from our house.
But, it was all worth it! The beach was kinda overgrown with grass. I don't think that people actually swim in the ocean because we found lots of washed up jellyfish. And even saw one that was still in the water. Ew.
There were a few other people at the beach, of course they all stared. As we were making our way home, we found the Yahoo! Dome. It is very large. It is where the Fukuoka Hawks (Fukuoka's baseball team) plays. They actually had a game on the day that we arrived.
We found a fruit/vegetable store on our way home and bought expensive strawberries, but we were soooooo hungry! It was definitely worth it. Especially since we ate them for dinner too.
After buying the strawberries, we happened upon a 7/11, here we bought dinner and the rest of our lunch. We stopped in a park and finished off some more riceballs and gyoza.
Finally, we arrived home. We decided to take a nap and that we wouldn't sleep more than an hour. Shelly slept for 6 hours before waking me up. By then it was bed time. Hence the reason I woke up at 3 this morning.
But today we have vowed not to sleep at all! Not until at least 9pm, otherwise we will be very tired at school tomorrow.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Our Journey to Japan
Okay, so I am definitely in Japan now!! First off, airports are not actually that difficult to navigate. With that said, on with the story...
The SLC airport was a breeze, except for security where Shelly and I held up the line. But the people there are really nice, so it was okay.
LAX was hard, but mostly because we had to take a shuttle and Shelly thought we were supposed to go one way while the shuttle-man told us a different way. And because we are obviously smarter, we got lost finding our own way, and in the end, found that the shuttle-man was right.
Then we sat for six hours. It was really boring, so we browsed the stores. And watched people. And slept in our chairs outside the terminal.
Finally, we boarded. We were fed really gross noodle things, but there was tons of soda so that was good. I didn't go to the restroom the entire fligth, which is actually quite amazing because the flight to Tokyo was approx. 13 hours. I don't know how I did it.
We watched 3 movies on that flight and slept the rest of the time.
Finally, we were in Japan. Here we were herded to quarantine, which was a breeze. Then immigration. Then customs. And then, security once again. The Tokyo airport is nice because there is only one way to go. There is no chance of getting lost.
We got to our terminal with 30 mins to spare, and sat some more. The flight to Fukuoka was horrifying because Shelly and I did not sit next to eachother. But it was okay. The men on either side of me kept to themselves (aka, slept).
Once in Fukuoka, we got our bags and hailed a taxi. The taxi doors open by themselves, so you should never touch them.
20 mins later, and after asking a few people on the street, we found our way to our dorm. The taxi man was very helpful, even though he spoke no english at all.
Then the dorm lady greeted us and gave us a tour of the dorm. She was really nice too, even though she doesn't speak english either. The other dorm girls are all japanese--they don't speak english--and they think that we're funny looking, but I think it's gonna be okay.
Shelly's and my room are right next to one another.
Figuring out the gadgets in my room was interesting. I can work everything very well except my remote control for the heater/air conditioner and the lamp on my desk. I successfully made my bed, which is harder than it sounds. I am completely unpacked and ready to head out on the rest of today.
Anyway, sorry for being so long/boring!! It's only 7AM here (on Saturday), so I haven't woken Shelly up.
The SLC airport was a breeze, except for security where Shelly and I held up the line. But the people there are really nice, so it was okay.
LAX was hard, but mostly because we had to take a shuttle and Shelly thought we were supposed to go one way while the shuttle-man told us a different way. And because we are obviously smarter, we got lost finding our own way, and in the end, found that the shuttle-man was right.
Then we sat for six hours. It was really boring, so we browsed the stores. And watched people. And slept in our chairs outside the terminal.
Finally, we boarded. We were fed really gross noodle things, but there was tons of soda so that was good. I didn't go to the restroom the entire fligth, which is actually quite amazing because the flight to Tokyo was approx. 13 hours. I don't know how I did it.
We watched 3 movies on that flight and slept the rest of the time.
Finally, we were in Japan. Here we were herded to quarantine, which was a breeze. Then immigration. Then customs. And then, security once again. The Tokyo airport is nice because there is only one way to go. There is no chance of getting lost.
We got to our terminal with 30 mins to spare, and sat some more. The flight to Fukuoka was horrifying because Shelly and I did not sit next to eachother. But it was okay. The men on either side of me kept to themselves (aka, slept).
Once in Fukuoka, we got our bags and hailed a taxi. The taxi doors open by themselves, so you should never touch them.
20 mins later, and after asking a few people on the street, we found our way to our dorm. The taxi man was very helpful, even though he spoke no english at all.
Then the dorm lady greeted us and gave us a tour of the dorm. She was really nice too, even though she doesn't speak english either. The other dorm girls are all japanese--they don't speak english--and they think that we're funny looking, but I think it's gonna be okay.
Shelly's and my room are right next to one another.
Figuring out the gadgets in my room was interesting. I can work everything very well except my remote control for the heater/air conditioner and the lamp on my desk. I successfully made my bed, which is harder than it sounds. I am completely unpacked and ready to head out on the rest of today.
Anyway, sorry for being so long/boring!! It's only 7AM here (on Saturday), so I haven't woken Shelly up.
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