So, Willy and I have made the top story on the recent UWF News webpage. Its actually pretty exciting, and I was really happy that they asked me to answer some questions. I’m hoping that this will bring more readers to my website, and more activity. Sorry, had to throw in some kind of publicity, its the perfect opportunity. ha ha. In all seriousness, I do hope that people who read mine or Willy’s blog do get some helpful information from it. More comments, of course, are a good way for me to continue topics and even answer questions. I hope you read the article, I think Megan Tyson has done a great job, and I thank her for the opportunity to let everyone know about my experiences. Willy, how does it feel to be home? Oh, I almost forgot. Here is a link to the article for those of you who only follow my blog. The article is the first one and the title is “Oh the places you will go” which is also my favorite Dr. Seuss book.
For a post on my website this is actually kind of random. I normally just talk about things I do, but today I thought I would give you a little lesson. As we are all aware of a new year has come upon us. 新年明けましておめでとうございます（Happy New Year). More importantly this year, according to the zodiac, is the year of the Ox. Having been born in the year of the Ox this is pretty cool to me. So, I decided to share and give little history. Where I seem to fit more of the negative qualities than the positive ones when it comes to the Ox, it is still fairly close. In the western zodiac I am on the cusp of Scorpio and Sagittarius, and the description fits me almost perfect. Its all just for fun though. So, here is the story… Continue reading “丑年。。。This is my year”
Ok, I know its a little early, but it was staring at me and I couldn’t pass it up. I went to Akihabara today with my friend from Finland, Tuuli, to do a little random shopping. The picture is the rewards that were reaped from my shopping. There are, of course, more games that will be bought in the near future, but for now I will enjoy my FF games. I am starting with the first one (Final Fantasy IV) and I am going to work my way up. I played it for about 4 hrs already and I have a headache from reading it and trying to figure it out. Good practice I figured, and its enjoyable. I have a few more pictures to post from earlier events, and speaking of earlier events, I guess I can do a shout out to someone who probably wont even read this. lol. TERUAKI, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I have pictures from his party that I will post later in my FlickR. Anyway, enjoy looking at my new gaming system, I want to keep playing but its really late and I have class tomorrow. YAY Christmas break is soon. I also have some translation homework that I have put off for over a week and a half and its due on Wednesday.
Ok, so it has been a really long time since my last post. From now on I will try to keep them more regular. Since I went to the sumo match I have done a lot of small things, nothing big. I would say the biggest thing I have done since then is stayed with my host family. Unfortunately the stay was only for 1 night, but my host family has invited me to come back again. My host mom is one of the nicest people I have met in a long time and my host father is really cool and laid back. Their son, though busy with studying for the entrance exams for college, is in a band and he plays the guitar. I will have pictures and stuff up on my FlickR so check them out there.
Oh, yeah, I went to the Kawagoe Matsuri (かわごえ祭り). Kawagoe is a city that is just a few stations from mine, and a matsuri is a festival. There is lots of festival type foods. Everything from grilled squid and takoyaki to cotton candy and chocolate covered bananas. Its really really crowded and they carry a moving shrine that has people dancing and playing instruments, and the different shrines will battle as they meet at intersections. It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait until the next festival. I want to go to Hokkaido for the winter festival, but we will just have to see how that goes.
There are a few more things that I have done which are just sightseeing and hanging out with friends. So, yeah check out the FlickR.
Yeah, so today my roommate and I went to see a sumo match. We got up really early because we wanted to make sure we could get tickets, because they wouldn’t let us reserve them. So, we woke up at 5:30 and headed to a place, I don’t remember, close to Akihabara. We got there and got our tickets thinking it started at 8:30. Well, it didn’t. We went in thinking it was going to be really really packed… we were the only ones there. So, we decided to sit and watch the ones who aren’t really in the big leagues yet. Continue reading “I sumo’d …”
I finally got all the pictures from when I was in Osaka and Fukui uploaded to my photostream. Go take a look, I know some of you have been asking for them. I’ll be having another big post coming up soon.
So, I am now in Japan and I have been here since the 1st of Sept. Well, as soon as I get to Japan I am told that my luggage was elsewhere. Then after the I take the guy at the airport, who spoke little english, to talk to Taka we find out that my luggage is in Amsterdam. Yeah, how that happened I have no idea. So, I now have no clothes, no underwear, not much of anything. Well, we are supposed to go to a ryokan (Japanese style inn), so I had to buy some new clothes and underwear when we got there. That put a little hole in my spending money, which makes me a sad panda. Continue reading “Oh, so much has happened”
Ok, its 11:37pm and I only have 4 and a half hours until we have to leave for the airport. I am way too excited to sleep so I decided to make my last post from America. It seems like today has been one of the longest days of my life. Each hour that passes seems to go by slower. I have waited this long… what is a few more hours, eh?
I do want to say thank you to the International Department at UWF. They gave me a wonderful farewell and I will miss working there even if it was for free. ha ha. Thanks everyone.
As for the traveling part of tomorrow. I leave from Pensacola and have a layover in Memphis. Then I fly from Memphis to Detroit, where I have a 4hr 20min layover. Then from Detroit to Osaka, 13hrs of crying little kids, people getting sick, and not getting any sleep. You know you are jealous now. I am now going to go try to find something else to occupy my time with. The next time I talk to everyone will be from Japan.
Oh, good luck with the storm and stay safe! I’m leaving just in time.
Thats right. Very soon I will be on my voyage to Japan. It is now less than 2 weeks away. I am very prepared for the trip and have everything in order. This week I have a lot of students to pick up from various countries. They are coming to UWF for the semester, or year. It will be very very busy, but it will be fun. Willy and I will be getting the new Kansai Gaidai students on Thursday and doing orentations on Friday and Monday. This will be our last volunteer work before we leave. Willy leaves a little bit before I do, good luck on your class lottery, Willy, and hopefully I will see him during the few days I’m in Osaka. Well, I will see some of you soon and will say bye to the rest of you. lol.
I have a few Blogs that I read regularly. My favorite being Tofugu. Through that Blog I came across Lang-8. I have only been a member Lang-8 for about 4 days now and have already found it very useful. It is a site where you can write in the language that you are studying and people who are native speakers of that language will correct your writing. You, too, can correct other peoples writing to help them out as well. Tofugu has a much better explanation of the site, and it is in video form. I really encourage anyone who is studying a foreign language to try it out. I will soon be using it to correct my Japanese for my upcoming posts in Japanese. Was that confusing? Good luck to everyone. Study hard!
