Run Fast.

We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course.

thanks mom!!!

my boyfriend loves me! and apparently wants me to be very clean and fat. (hence the chocolates and 4 sticks of deodorant)

my boyfriend loves me! and apparently wants me to be very clean and fat. (hence the chocolates and 4 sticks of deodorant)

(nic escalada) As I sit minutes after my last blog update I turn to find my roommate Sevil giggling to herself. Per usual as of late, and I look up from my screen and say, “Exactly what are you laughing at miss?” She retorts, “What do you think?” And of course I already know. She’s in love. And she has a habit of sitting, staring off into space, and  out of nowhere just start straight up giggling like a little japanese school girl.  It all started two weeks ago when he came over for dinner. Sevil made turkish rice and salad, I made chicken. Kota came over and we all talked, practicing his english and going through my vocabulary flash cards. Sevil helping translate when my charade attempts would fail. Side note: Sevil speaks perfect japanese.  Once visiting hours ended at 10, Sevil showed him out and…. did not come back. And that was the last I saw of her for 4 days.   Monday goes by and I do not see her in the class we share. I text her making sure she hasn’t been decapitated by japanese samurai’s. She replies letting me know she’ll be back that night. She stumbles in after dinnertime and I demand an explanation. ” I am in love.” That was all. Flash forward to the present and she is getting changed, the giggling starts again. “Again?!” I exclaim, becoming more and more jealous. “Yes, he just asked me to move in with him.” Cue the love song playlist I made for her for this specific moment.  It will be on repeat until she makes a decision. To Be Continued….

(nic escalada)

As I sit minutes after my last blog update I turn to find my roommate Sevil giggling to herself. Per usual as of late, and I look up from my screen and say, “Exactly what are you laughing at miss?” She retorts, “What do you think?”

And of course I already know. She’s in love. And she has a habit of sitting, staring off into space, and  out of nowhere just start straight up giggling like a little japanese school girl. 

It all started two weeks ago when he came over for dinner. Sevil made turkish rice and salad, I made chicken. Kota came over and we all talked, practicing his english and going through my vocabulary flash cards. Sevil helping translate when my charade attempts would fail. Side note: Sevil speaks perfect japanese.  Once visiting hours ended at 10, Sevil showed him out and…. did not come back. And that was the last I saw of her for 4 days.  

Monday goes by and I do not see her in the class we share. I text her making sure she hasn’t been decapitated by japanese samurai’s. She replies letting me know she’ll be back that night. She stumbles in after dinnertime and I demand an explanation.

” I am in love.” That was all.

Flash forward to the present and she is getting changed, the giggling starts again. “Again?!” I exclaim, becoming more and more jealous.

“Yes, he just asked me to move in with him.”

Cue the love song playlist I made for her for this specific moment. 

It will be on repeat until she makes a decision.

To Be Continued….

photo cred to my new friend nicolas escalada.  Just one of the many wonderful people I have met while being in this country. This weekend was full of friends and fun, but today was particularly exciting. I met my home visit family, and they were just the sweetest. The home visit program are for students like me who live in the seminar houses and still want the benefits of being able to enjoy a homecooked meal and family events from time to time. My home visit partner, Chinatsu, speaks incredibly good english and invited me and her home visit partner from last semester, Laura, as well as her boyfriend Chris, Mitch, and Ted. We made it after an hour and a half and four train transfers, to be greeted by Chinatsu and her okaasan (mom) who picked us up in their toyota, that yes, has the drivers seat on the right hand side. We drove through Otori, and arrived at the family of five’s two story modern home. Laura said that the house was bigger than most japanese homes, and when we entered it was everything that I imagined.  You walk into the foyer and take off your shoes, of course. Each of the side rooms off of the main hallway and the kitchen are adorned with tatami mat floors, low doorways and high ceilings. The main room, the living room, has a floor table in the middle, next to a low couch and a GIGANTIC big screen (panasonic) TV. But here comes the best part of it all… under the table there is a fire. Now now, don’t be alarmed. The table has blankets attached to the bottom that you are meant to sit under. And as you place your feet under, your legs drop like you are sitting in a chair. There is a grate that your feet rest on, with coals underneath to keep your toesies warm! It is beyond me why there is not something like this in the states… I mean, a fireplace? Come on get with the times.  After obsessing over this for about 10 minutes, okaasan got out a huge bowl of rice along with raw fish, seaweed, mayo, wasabi and soy…. yes! We indeed did make homemade sushi. And then came the soup. Then the chicken. Then chocolates. Then coffee. Then drinks. Then cookies. Heaven on earth, and oisssshiiiiiiiii.  We played Wii and chatted with each other about Japanese customs, travel, and dreams. It was a delightful evening, and as we left I promised them I would return, but this time I would cook, Italian! I think they really liked that idea. I can already tell they will be something I miss when I have to leave this great place.

photo cred to my new friend nicolas escalada. 

Just one of the many wonderful people I have met while being in this country. This weekend was full of friends and fun, but today was particularly exciting. I met my home visit family, and they were just the sweetest. The home visit program are for students like me who live in the seminar houses and still want the benefits of being able to enjoy a homecooked meal and family events from time to time. My home visit partner, Chinatsu, speaks incredibly good english and invited me and her home visit partner from last semester, Laura, as well as her boyfriend Chris, Mitch, and Ted.

We made it after an hour and a half and four train transfers, to be greeted by Chinatsu and her okaasan (mom) who picked us up in their toyota, that yes, has the drivers seat on the right hand side. We drove through Otori, and arrived at the family of five’s two story modern home. Laura said that the house was bigger than most japanese homes, and when we entered it was everything that I imagined. 

You walk into the foyer and take off your shoes, of course. Each of the side rooms off of the main hallway and the kitchen are adorned with tatami mat floors, low doorways and high ceilings. The main room, the living room, has a floor table in the middle, next to a low couch and a GIGANTIC big screen (panasonic) TV. But here comes the best part of it all… under the table there is a fire. Now now, don’t be alarmed. The table has blankets attached to the bottom that you are meant to sit under. And as you place your feet under, your legs drop like you are sitting in a chair. There is a grate that your feet rest on, with coals underneath to keep your toesies warm! It is beyond me why there is not something like this in the states… I mean, a fireplace? Come on get with the times. 

After obsessing over this for about 10 minutes, okaasan got out a huge bowl of rice along with raw fish, seaweed, mayo, wasabi and soy…. yes! We indeed did make homemade sushi. And then came the soup. Then the chicken. Then chocolates. Then coffee. Then drinks. Then cookies. Heaven on earth, and oisssshiiiiiiiii. 

We played Wii and chatted with each other about Japanese customs, travel, and dreams. It was a delightful evening, and as we left I promised them I would return, but this time I would cook, Italian! I think they really liked that idea.

I can already tell they will be something I miss when I have to leave this great place.

i know this picture is really small, but it is the starving buddha with kate moss’ face. its one of the statues that we looked at in my zen buddhism class last night, and it really got me thinking. Can’t quite make out what message the artist was trying to send besides the obvious- kate moss is skinny. like zen buddhism, all of my classes have been interesting so far. Spoken japanese and writing japanese, though interesting, are just WAY too much right now. I can pretty much write paragraphs now due to the fact that i have had to memorize an insane amount. needless to say, i am very happy it is friday tomorrow. last weekend some friends and i visited Osaka (for my first time) and got to go the osaka castle, which was beautiful inside and out. we also went to this crazy club called giraffe, and i had my first sushi off of a conveyor belt. good stuff. More to come!

i know this picture is really small, but it is the starving buddha with kate moss’ face. its one of the statues that we looked at in my zen buddhism class last night, and it really got me thinking. Can’t quite make out what message the artist was trying to send besides the obvious- kate moss is skinny.

like zen buddhism, all of my classes have been interesting so far. Spoken japanese and writing japanese, though interesting, are just WAY too much right now. I can pretty much write paragraphs now due to the fact that i have had to memorize an insane amount. needless to say, i am very happy it is friday tomorrow.

last weekend some friends and i visited Osaka (for my first time) and got to go the osaka castle, which was beautiful inside and out. we also went to this crazy club called giraffe, and i had my first sushi off of a conveyor belt. good stuff.

More to come!

updateee

great way to start my day. videos and posts this afternoon!

Ohayoo!

That means good morning in Japanese. And learning phrases such as good morning, what time is it, excuse me and i dont understand has taken up a good portion of this week. What is unique about studying in Japan is that there is a niche for everyone. Always someone to study with, always someone to party with, always a place to be alone if thats what you need. But this weekend for me will be dedicated to partying, because this week my brain hurts from all of the new information!

So spoken japanese and written japanese have of course been the hardest courses since i have no previous experience. Japanese is easy to speak but completely ridiculous to write. There are three different alphabets if you will… hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana is all based off of sound and vowels, katakana is used for american and non-japanese words and kanji is the adopted writing from china that has specific meanings for each symbol ( I think). So confusing trying to learn which symbols go where and when is appropriate to use each. First vocab quiz tomorrow!

My other courses that I have been to so far- Intercultural Communication and Peace Development and Democratization are very interesting. I think both will benefit me greatly by the end of the semester in teaching me how to understand the world and its current events and communicate in that world.

More pictures and writing to come after this weekend, plus keep a look out on a video about japanese money (yen)!

New Delhi! One of my new favorite places.

New Delhi! One of my new favorite places.