Back in Japan~!

Ok... well I'm back in Japan and I'm gonna try to give this blog thing another go.  Hopefully I'll be more successful at it this time than last.  For the most part, this page will be my usual daily ins-and-outs kind of stuff, but I shall now announce that *drumroll~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* I have started a new blog!! Yes, I know, you are wondering how I can keep up two blogs when I couldn't even handle one before, but I can do it! Because my second blog is meant to be all about the funny (and mildly embarrassing) cultural mistakes that I make.  So, scroll to the top and check out the "Confessions of a Gaijin" tab :D

Moomin Cafe Adventure

Adventure Time

Lately I've been having lots of adventures with Macee~~

Yesterday, she and I went to Shibuya to apply for jobs at an English school.  Afterwards, we got coffee from Starbucks and walked around for a little bit.  While we were walking, we discovered a pet store.  I'll let the following picture speak for itself....

After freaking out over finding a Meerkat for sale, we decided to go shopping since Macee had never been to 109 before~  Then we came home and cooked dinner together and planned future epic adventuring times!



Today, we walked together to Toyo's second campus because we both have classes there this semester and wanted to be sure that we remembered where it was.  When we got there the sakura were just too pretty to pass up a chance to take pictures~!

On our way home we took a cute little back street and went up some super steep stairs and figured out another way back to school~  It would be an awesome short cut if it weren't for having to climb the staircase of doom.

Registering for Classes

Today Macee and I went back to the school together and I had my advising appointment.I really like my advisor.  He's super nice and he likes to just sit there and chat with me during our meetings haha  For the moment, I have decided on 4 classes in addition to the 5 Japanese classes I'm required to take.  I don't think I will be able to take all 4 of those classes but I wanted lots of options to work with during drop/add.

Ok I'm going to take this opportunity to explain how signing up for classes at Toyo works for exchange students.  So if anyone interested in studying abroad there in the future reads this blog it might be helpful for them.  I don't know if this is the typical way schools work for foreigners in Japan, but this is how Toyo Uni does it:


First of all, we had to take a placement test at the beginning of the year that split us into three levels: J1-beginner, J2-intermediate, and J3-advanced. Unless you test out of all three levels, it is required for you to take 5 Japanese language courses: Integrated Japanese, Kanji Literacy, Listening Comprehension, Reading and Composition, and Project Work.  These classes are taught between 9:00am and 12:10pm Monday through Friday.  This is the set time for everyone regardless of level. 

After that, there are two packets of classes that we were given at orientation.  Timetable A is all the classes offered that are taught solely in Japanese.  Timetable B lists the classes that are taught in English or with partial support in English.  Unlike most classes in American universities, which require you to attend the same class multiple times per week, classes taken at Toyo are typically taught only one day a week.

You decide what classes you want to take and then write the class information (ie course code, course title, teacher name, etc) on the Registration Form.

Then for the classes you want to take, you also must fill out these permission forms to give to your teachers that basically explain that you are an exchange student and you want permission to take their class. (We were given these forms at orientation as well) They are really simple to fill in. You just write the course title, the day and period of the class, and the room number.  All the other information is already printed onto the sheet.

After that, you take your registration form to a meeting with the advisor that the school assigns to you and your advisor signs off on it.  Then, you take the registration form and the permission forms to the GIO (Global Initiatives Office) aka the study abroad office.  They file the registration form and give you a copy to keep.   They also make copies of your permission forms for their own records, but give the originals back to you to give your teachers on the first day of classes.

The first week of class is a "trial period" or what we call "drop/add" at home.  If there is any class that you want to change, you just go back to the GIO and make the change on your original registration form.  


And that sums up the registration process!

Blowin' in the Wind

Well... it's 6AM and I can't sleep....
I have been sick whether from allergies or a cold I'm not quite sure, but either way I can't breathe and it's preventing me from sleeping so I decided to take the spare time to post a blog.

Yesterday was interesting.  I went with Macee to the school because we were both supposed to have our advising appointments.  Hers was scheduled for 1 and mine was scheduled for 3 so we were planning on just hanging out at the school.  However, while we were sitting in 4th building, one of the teachers from GIO found us and told us that all advising appointments for the day had been canceled and that the school was being closed because a bad storm was coming in.  This really freaked me out because...well let me go off on a side rant for a moment:

When Quaff stayed at my home in the U.S. it stormed.  Nothing super crazy just a normal thunder storm, but it really freaked them out and I didn't understand why.  Now, having lived in Japan for 7 months, I think I kind of understand.  Thunderstorms don't really happen here unless you count typhoons and even with the one typhoon I encountered here there wasn't a whole lot of thunder, just lots of rain and really strong winds.  Since being here, I have only experienced two of what I would view as thunderstorms.  One was in November, the other was last night. 

So now back to my original point: Japan doesn't really have bad storms very often so when the teacher told me they were shutting down the school because of an approaching storm, me and Macee decided really fast that we needed to get home and stay there.  I was really glad we made that decision when I was sitting in my room later that evening listening to the wind shake my door.  Yet again I feared that a part of the tree outside my window was going to fly into my room.  There was even a tornado warning (which answers my frequently asked question of whether or not Japan has tornadoes) and apparently it was the strongest storm Japan has seen in decades according to this website.

But all is well now and the sun is coming up.... I should be asleep.  I hope to go to the doctor soon so I can get over whatever this is that has me feeling so bad.  Also, I have to worry about rescheduling my advising appointment.  Only a few more days until school starts back~

ワッショイ!

Last night I went to Gevil's last live show at Club Seata in Kichijyoji.
I took the train to Kichijyoji by myself and somehow managed to get on a train that went past my stop so I had to backtrack some and ended up being late, which meant that I had to ask some 14 year old girls to help me find where Kazuma was waiting for me. Once I met up with Kazuma, we went to Mister Donut and met Haru, Ukisemi, and Takuma.  It was really great getting to hang out with them.  I miss my big brothers a lot.  It was also fun to realize that I can almost follow their conversations in Japanese now.
When we got to the venue, I had the realization that it was the same place I saw Quaff perform for the last time and it made me a little sad, but the show was really great! Also I got to meet Takuma and Kazuma's mom and hang out with Hiroka~ So I was happy!

"sealing" Gevil

encore~

After the show, we hung around for the after party and I got to talk with Taka for a minute.  He gave me some sort of strawberry cream filled pastry that looked like Totoro~! It was so cute I felt bad eating it, but it tasted just as good as it looked and I was super hungry by that point haha I intended to stay until first train, but since Haru and I were both dog tired he and Uki were super sweet and paid for us to take a taxi home <3  So I was able to make it back in time to actually get some sleep~

Taka can never pass up an opportunity to make fun of me lol

Today, I had to be at the school by 11:00AM for Spring Semester Orientation.  Basically we just had to go get the necessary paperwork and the list of classes and find out when we meet with our adivsors and the let us leave.  The -interesting- part of it was outside the buildings.  All through campus were two never-ending lines of people handing out flyers for their school clubs.  It was like nothing I have ever experienced before.  It was so loud and as you walk in between these two lines of people to get into the school building there are people on both sides of you trying to get your attention and holding out papers that they are begging you to take.  It was the strangest feeling! I imagine it to be a lot like how rockstars feel when they get done with a show and are walking back to their tour bus or something.  Now I'm happily back in my bed where I intend to stay for the rest of the day because I'm not feeling so great and I want to get plenty of rest and make sure I'm healthy and ready for school to start back on Friday~

Here's a LINK to a video that Emily took at the school today.  You see me attack Macee in a hug at one point in it ^^

Oh yeah... I have a blog....

So lately I have been doing a whole lot of nothing.  But I've been really enjoying the whole lot of nothing I've been doing.  My sleep schedule is terribly off and it's going to suck when school starts back, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

If the last month of my life was a book the title would probably be something along the lines of

The Epic Cooking Adventure 

Part 4 of the on-going Elle and Lauren series

Yeah, I never thought I would be able to list cooking as one of my hobbies, but lately I've developed a love for it.  It all started with me and E trying to get creative with the spaghetti because we got tired of eating the same thing every day.  It became a game to see what all we could actually manage to make with the limited ingredients we had available.

Taco Ring

Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti

Horchata

Hayashi Rice

4AM On-a-Whim Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

Also added to this list would be a chocolate cake for Daiki's birthday, biscuits and gravy, chicken and dumplings, chocolate truffles, chicken soup, cheddar garlic biscuits, and what E and I call 'Mexican Spaghetti' which is basically like eating spaghetti noodles with queso poured over it.  We get desperate for Mexican food fixes around here haha




The 'Short Stories' of this month would include:

30 Minutes Without Air

"Wearing a Kimono was everything Lauren dreamed it would be 

until she realized she couldn't breathe..."

Actually in all seriousness, this was a fantastic experience.  We went to the school and were able to wear real (rather expensive) Kimonos. But I'm not lying when I say that I had to learn to survive with significantly less oxygen than normal while I was wearing it.  There was SO MUCH padding to the outfit, but this padding is meant to suction you in and hold the fabric in place.  I don't think it really -pads- anything.  I am convinced that the woman dressing me was not going to give up until she achieved giving me the appearance of having a bust size equivalent to that of a 13 year-old.  Once we were dressed, we were allowed to walk around in them and take pictures for about 30 minutes before the next group had a chance to try them on.  After we were back in our normal clothes, we were able to take part in a mock tea ceremony as well.  However, I think mine and Molly's most excited moment was discovering the traditional Japanese sweet that was basically the equivalent of a Fig Newton.  The little things make us happy.

Three Sexy Ladies

"Shinjuku didn't know what hit it when these three women came out to celebrate White Day."

In Japan Valentine's Day is celebrated a little differently than it is in the U.S.  On February 14th, girls are expected to give the guys they like chocolates, then on March 14th the guys return the favor.  But since E, Macee, and I have no guys to return the favor we decided to celebrate White Day in our own style: a girl's night out!  We got dolled up and headed to Shinjuku for a fun night of drinking and being with friends!  I'm so glad I have these two around <3

A Gamer's Guide to Birthdays

"Nothing says Happy Birthday like chocolate cake, presents, 

and a good competitive game of Super Smash Bros." 

Daiki's birthday was on the 19th so me and Elle celebrated with the guys a little early.  We baked a super yummy chocolate cake and cooked chicken soup for everyone~  And naturally after we ate, we had to have our usual game of Super Smash Bros.  Having a big group of boys sprawled out in the middle of my living room playing video games is such a typical sight for me and I love it.  I always have such a great time with them, even if I still lose every time.

A Night With The Colonel

"Two girls spend the night at the home of one of the most famous colonels in history: 

Colonel Sanders" 

E showing the lack of people in the restaurant with us.

A chicken sandwich, a chicken leg, a large french fry, and a drink: each. SO MUCH FOOD!!

Yep, that's right.  Me and E went to KFC from about 1AM until 3:30AM for no other reason than we couldn't sleep anyway and we were tired of sitting in my dorm.  We spent about $20 but it was the most meat we had eaten in weeks and it was -fantastic-! It was also made even better by the fact that we were the only ones in there so we could be as loud as we wanted and listen to music on my iphone.

The Fuzzy Hat Duo

"The story of two friends and their hats"

There really isn't too much of a story to this other than we were going grocery shopping and we realized that we were wearing the same kind of hat.  We also noticed that our hair colors matched our jackets.  And naturally we couldn't just take a normal pretty picture.  It's just not our style haha

Journey to the Live House of Kashiwa

"Three young women set out on a journey to Kashiwa 

that puts them on a path toward old and new friends."

Ok really that's just a long way of me saying that Macee, Elle, and I went to see Daiki's band perform.  The venue was in a section of Tokyo called Kashiwa, which as E repeatedly pointed out was in the middle of NOWHERE.  It's a good thing Daiki and Kazuya met us at the station or we never would have found our way there.  We had a great time hearing Daiki's band perform covers of X Japan and Luna Sea.  Also, during their set I made friends with a Japanese girl behind me and she and I rocked out for the last two songs together <3 Her name was Monica and she was so sweet!  After we saw Daiki's band we decided to hang around for a little while.  We were the only foreigners there so -naturally- we stood out so I didn't think much of it when E told me that there was a guy who kept eyeing us and kind of hovering.  However, eventually this guy got the courage to talk to us and informed us that he was the brother of one of the guys in the band we had just watched.  He was really sweet and adorable so we were happy to stand there talking to him and he eventually introduced us to his brother.  At first I was totally stoked that there was a cute guy standing there being obviously flirty with me.... until.... he told me that the guy in the band was his older brother.  Upon asking said older brother his age, a huge neon flashing "I DON'T THINK SO KID" sign went up in my mind because the OLDER brother was 19.  Dude trying to flirt with me: 16.  While I'm flattered that people often think I'm younger than I really am.....that was just ridiculous.  

These Boots are Made for Cross-dressing

"The story of how one pair of boots will forever haunt the boys of I-House..."

So... I have these boots... they are thigh-high, 5-inch heel, rhinestone studded, REALLY AWESOME boots.  And for some reason these boots fascinate the guys who visit my room, particularly when they are intoxicated.  I'm pretty sure that before I come home most of my male friends will have tried on these boots....usually at Molly's suggestion.  It's mine and Molly's evil plot to have blackmail on all of them (not really, but I guess we do accidentally haha) Shou didn't know what he was getting himself into tonight when he said he wanted to come hang out in our room.  He should consider himself lucky that this didn't end up as my facebook profile picture haha  This was the eventful part of the night.  The rest was spent playing Mario Kart.

O-O-O-O-O-Osaka~~~

December 20: MAGICAL BOX

This blog is going to be all out of order....but I guess that's ok.  I'm pausing in my re-cap of November/December to talk about my day today.  After starting out the morning with kanji class and finding out that I made a 63/100 on that IMPOSSIBLE kanji test I took last week, I wasn't feeling so happy.  But not even kanji class can keep me down for long when Taka's around.  He met me for lunch in Takadanobaba and we had ramen.  I was fully prepared to be made fun of for my failtastic ramen eating, but I was actually able to do it right this time (much to Taka's disappointment haha)! Anyhoo, after we ate, he gave me a late birthday gift (<3) Lots of bath salts that smell aweeeeesoooome....AND....a box.  Not just any kind of box mind you.  A box that makes things disappear.  While we were at the restaurant, Taka put a toothpick in it and demonstrated it for me and I was baffled.  He had to show me how to do it and even then I still wasn't sure exactly how it worked! So needless to say when I got home it provided with amusement for much longer than it probably should have, but I was trying so hard to figure out how it works! I'm still not sure I completely understand..... but anyway on to the .....

*drumroll~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* 

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

勉強 - studying

My brain hurts....

I think I have done more studying today than I have in the entire last month.
Not to mention I am pretty sure I consumed enough coffee to keep me awake for days O_O''
I lost count after 5 cups....
But the important thing is that I got some serious studying done.
I'm pausing for a break now before I go get food and then continue for another couple of hours.

I've been such a good student lately!
I even went to the library and figured out how to check out a book!

The library here really scares me though because it has the bookshelves that move and I have this terrible fear that I'm going to get trapped and squished in between them.

There are still kind people in the world

Ok so I haven't updated in forever.
I really intended to keep a regular blog, but I just don't seem to have the time.
What free time I do have I tend to spend it sleeping or going places.
But today I feel like writing and I have something specific that happened that I wanted to talk about.

Whenever people ask me why I like Japan one of my common responses is "because people in Japan are so kind."  Yesterday, I experienced a perfect example of that.

In my classroom where I have my Japanese language class almost every morning, the desks have a cubby where you can sit books or your papers or whatever.  For me personally, it's a place where I sit my cell phone so I can access it easily to check the time (which is frequently because I'm usually starving and dying to be done with class).  Yesterday when Molly and I got to the cafeteria after we were done with class, I realized that my phone wasn't in my purse and we determined that I most likely left it in the classroom.  Instead of rushing immediately back to the room in a panic, praying that no one had found it and stolen it already, I remained sitting and talking with my friends until 3rd period was almost over.  Then Molly and I made our way back to the classroom and waited for the class that was in there to leave.  When the bell rang, we went in and began looking in the desks, but my phone wasn't in the desk I usually sit in.  As I began to retrace my steps of where all I had gone that day in my head, a guy walks over, reaches into another desk and hands me my cell phone.  This guy had not only walked away from his group of friends to help me, but also stopped in the middle of a phone call to show me where my phone had been moved to.  In America, my phone would have more than likely been gone long before I ever even realized it was missing.  And I -highly- doubt it ever would have been hand delivered back to me when I went looking for it even if it was still there.  That guy probably has no idea just how much he made my day.

I realize that there are good and bad people everywhere, but I feel like in general people in Japan just care more.  I've seen a woman drop her wallet as she was getting off a train and a man pick it up and chase her down just to give it back to her.  In the cafeteria everyone finds a seat and then leaves their purse or bookbag there to hold their seat while they walk away to go buy food without fear of someone stealing it.  There can be no one sitting at a table, but if there is a single folder sitting in the middle of it no one will sit there because it is claimed already.  In the dining halls at UGA you would come back to find your folder, purse, bag, whatever shoved off to the side and four people sitting at the table you were hoping to save.

There have been several times since I got here that I have been lost or confused about how to do something and had a complete stranger come up and, despite language barriers, attempt to help me.  It amazes and inspires me every time.  And I just wanted to share with everyone one of the many reasons I love this country so very much.

November 20th

We went on a "Tour of Shitamachi" with Kenji.  Shitamachi is the area we live in. Kenji and one of his previous teachers took us around and showed us lots of fun things around I-House like a puppet museum, a traditional sake shop, Nezu Shrine, and the cemetery where Yoshinobu Tokogawa is buried.  My favorites were the shrine and the cemetery~  The Shrine was gorgeous and Molly and I had fun running around looking at the koi fish and the turtles haha  When you go to the shrine you go to the alter, throw in a coin, clap, then say a prayer, which I got to do :)  We also got to run through the red gates! Poor Kenji hit his head on them and, despite our concern, Molly and I couldn't help but laugh.  I'll post a video below~  When we went to the cemetery, we all got into an in-depth conversation about why Japan would be the safest place to be during a zombie apocalypse because everyone is cremated here so there are no bodies to become zombies.  This theory held up great until Kenji informed us that during the time of the Samurai bodies were buried and we realized we would have to fight samurai zombies... haha

 

November 18th

This day started off with me and Molly being even more tired than usual, so for some reason we thought it would be a good idea for us to both drink two coffees before class..... Needless to say we will never make that mistake again.  We were so hyped up through the entire class, which resulted in a tower of coffee cans on our desk that our teacher questioned at one point, but never actually got mad at us for, as well as some interesting additions to our Japanese books.  That night, we had a "Takoyaki Party" in Eddie's room (Takoyaki are balls of cooked dough with octopus inside them).  Eddie did a great job cooking and I had a GREAT time at this party.  We had a giant tickle fight, taught my boys how to dance the macarena (for the record any time I refer to 'my boys' in this blog it means Daiki, Naoki, Takuto, and Masaki), had a chance to hang out with Akira again for the first time since the very first big I-House party, met Daiki's friend Kazuya, and watched creepy Japanese ghost movies.

November 16th

This was a REALLY rough day for me.  I won't go into details because it just plain sucked.  I'll just leave it at some things didn't work out the I had hoped and I was really upset.  However~ because I am blessed with some fantastic friends and the #1 roommate of all time, it turned into a pretty great day.  Molly went out and bought me a big chocolate birthday cake then Nick, Trevor, Eddie, and Alex came over to help eat it~  Nick even came in his Pooh PJs so I could cuddle with Pooh Bear and feel better \(^_^)/ We had fun and it made me feel so much better!

Pooh bear cuddles!

awesome yummy cake that Molly bought me in Nippori

November 13th

Molly and I were SUPER lazy for about 90% of this day.  It was a Sunday so we didn't have to be anywhere or do anything really so we didn't even change out of our pajamas until the evening when we decided to venture to Nippori and try out the "Renoir Cafe" that we pass by all the time.  This turned into an adventure of us being at a place that was WAY too fancy for how we were dressed, where we laughed at the terrible English on the menu and gagged on a 600 yen (aprox $6) scoop of vanilla ice cream that had some gross jelly stuff on it.  While we were at the cafe, Daiki texted us and asked if we wanted to go to an izakaya (a Japanese pub for those of you who might not know).  So we rushed back home to actually dress decently then headed to Shinjuku to meet Daiki.

the vanilla ice cream would have been lovely if the other stuff hadn't been on it.

fantastic Engrish

Izakaya time with Daiki

November 12th

I went to Shinjuku with Daiki, Takuto, Naoki, and Masaki.  Just an evening out with my boys haha We went to Burger King because here in Japan Burger King has an "as many whoppers as you can eat in 30 minutes" deal.  I didn't even try because I do good to make it through one hamburger! But I had fun watching them do it.  I'm pretty sure four was the most any of them ate, but to me that's super impressive.  After we went to eat we wandered around Shinjuku for a while in search of an arcade, where we played air hockey (I lost terribly) and played a zombie shooting game (I was pretty good at this much to everyone's surprise) and then took purikura (this part was per my request of course). I think we had a little -too- much fun decorating our pictures though haha.  It was such a fun day and honestly one of my favorites in Japan thus far.  We weren't doing anything super special but I have so much fun just hanging out with the guys. We are always so goofy and silly and just have a good time, it's great~ :)

air hockey~~

Takuto looks like Mario lol

November 9th

This day was just an average day in the life of Lauren and Molly really, but it just happened to be the start of the running "poke vs pork" joke we have with Kenji.  We were all sitting at lunch having a discussion about how the two words sound exactly the same when you same them like a Japanese person would.  Which resulted in me thinking Kenji was calling me pork when he was saying poke so I asked him if he was calling me fat.  So now we "ポーク" each other all the time :P   This was also the same day that Kumba and I were throwing paper airplanes at each other across the lunchroom and teaching everyone how to make "cootie catchers" and paper snowflakes haha

 Our kanji writing/drawings with Kenji

Just chillin' out in the cafeteria after class