4.

jebus! its hard to keep up with this!

the time flies by so fast in Japan! i can't believe i only have a week and a half left before I have to leave. just gonna mention a couple of key adventures before i forget them all.

$5 coins. The smallest bill here is 1000 yen, which is roughly $10, so if you hear a coin drop out of your purse, YOU BETTER GET ON YO HANDS  AND KNEES, because you might've just dropped $5.

Japanese schoolboys. i love how they make the schoolboys dress in uniforms up through high school here. it's jsut so charming!   from the little safari hats, square backpacks, and awkward length shorts of the elementary schoolers to the ties and blazers of the high schoolers, mmmMmmm... STAY BACK, PEDO THOUGHTS! STAY BACK I SAY!!!!
 

akihabara. otaku haven. this is where i first discovered that they sell kebabs here in Japan, which is about as close to juicy American savory food as it gets here. SO GOODDD. we even wandered into a maid cafe, but quickly left when we realized the "maids" who worked there werent even cute

kabuki. apparently, the only kabuki-za theater is scheduled to close down next year, so we wanted to grab a performance while we could. The costumes were beautiful, but to be honest the story went a little to slow for me. Everything was in Japanese too, so I had to rent a little translator box for $4 in order to get the gist of what was going on the entire time.

bakeries. the japanese are KU-REEE-ZIEEE about their bread. at every train station, there is sure to be a bread shop that taunts you whenever you enter or exit with the most delectable smell OH GAWD. it is a battle between me and The Little Mermaid bakery every morning at the bus stop for school... and defeat is oh so delicious and carby~

baseball. i went to a baseball game for the tokyo giants! haha, what a coincidence with the SF giants the game itself was pretty ineventful -the scores were tied at 0 for the first 7 innings UNTIL A FOULBALL CAME STRAIGHT TOWARDS ME. i reached~ and reached~ but it came about a foot out of my reach and bounced off the row behind me and towards a bunch of lucky sarariiman instead

ghilbli museum. WAS FREAKING MAGICAL. they dont allow pictures, so you'll just have to go see for yourself! you get a frame from an actually ghibli film as part of your ticket and mine has a scene from spirited away!


disneysea. was fun because they had novel rides. but i prefer disneyland. more magical, you know?

 
sunshine city. one of the top spots in tokyo for looking at scenary. such a date spot though; there is a 360 view and as i went around all i saw were couples cuddling by the windows T_T

tokyo auto show. i have never seen so many beautiful cars and perverted men concentrated in an area my whole life. sammie and i were posing next to a car for a picture when in a second we were surrounded by the flashing cameras of overzealous men who thought that we were modeling for the car. it was mainly sammie, but needless to say we booked it right outta there.


halloween. the party i want to was half halloween party and half birthday party for alex. since the japanese dont celebrate halloween, sammie and i were the only people dressed up on the train. awkwarddd~ met lots of new people i'll never see again, and went clubbing afterwards because the drunken party boy guilted us into going despite the fact that he wasnt going to remember any of it the next day anyway. after we left the club, we loitered in mcD's while waiting for the trains to start running, and the guy next to us drew a character that looked eerily like me in my costume on his sketchpad and then tried to give me a mood ring . i made katelyn help me give it back before we were kicked out of mcDs by the rudest employee in Japan.


school festival. the schools in japan hold their own festivals in which clubs perform and the paths are lined with club stalls selling all sorts of japanese treats (yakitori, kebabs, yakisoba, smores, tayaki, etc...) i performed for koto club, and even though i messed up like a mofo, at least i got to wear a kimono!

2.
shopping shopping shopping. in tokyo is ridic. some of the malls are so jam packed with people i dont even want to go in. but sammie and i did anyway, HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR . here, the malls often go up 10 stories, with each story occupied by at least 5 boutique-sized shops WITH NO DOORS. that's right, you heard me, the stores here DO NOT HAVE DOORS , and sometimes they even lack WALLS.  and unlike american cities that usually have 2-3 big malls, tokyo has 2-3 malls PER DISTRICT.  *goes nuts* my wallet cries out for help. we've already shopped in: ginza (for expensive shizzz like gucci, prada, tiffany's...), shibuya (for youngsters), shinjuku (for everyone), harajuku (for hipsters), and ikebukuro.


at the ballah street in ginza

Diana. ahhh~ my very own namesake shoe store. it's a popular brand here, and the store in ginza had 7 floors. OF SHOES. kureeeezieee. yea... i bought a pair of bootiful black heels i just HAD to. they had my name on them!

groceries. the portions are so freaking tiny i want to kill myself. i bought this tiny box of cereal for $4 and guess how long it lasted me. guess.... 2 DAYS. that's right, i went through that tiny box of honey coated deliciousness in TWO BREAKFASTS. gvskhrgfvrwtvhfkesrtbkhebtkhrgbekrt *sigh* . for some reason, fruit here is also off-the-charts expensive and oOOoooo the grapes are different too. the grapes have super thick skin so you're supposed to just suck out the insides and throw the empty skin away (i find it easier just to eat the whole thing anyway)

phones. the best ones can go for almost $1000 if you dont do a contract. i got a $50 phone with a phone company called softbank, the japan equivalent of t-mobile, i.e. it was HECKAAAA cheap . the plan is pretty sweet because you can text other softbanks unlimited for free and call other softbanks for free most of the time too~

purikura. sticky pictures are wayyyy cheap (about $4 a go). sammie and i did 3 of them in one day yesterday, zomg T__T... AND WE DONT EVER PLAN ON STOPPING. kakakaka~

9/4. barbeque. the japanese guy who helped us get cell phones was holding a barbeque that was free AND delicious. there were clams, chicken, beef, veges, weiners, and this apple juice that was HECKKAAA goodd. there were international students from all over there.

       clubbing. we went to a hiphop one called harlem in shibuya. we were each given a ticket when we entered and it wasnt till we left that we realized they were for drinks XDD. the dj's were BUMPIN' and played all the right songs for only about 2 minutes each so before you could get sick on one beat you were already dancing to another one, wheeeEEEeeee. the scene was a little different than america clubs because near the front there were a bunch of people just facing the stage and goovin' along to the music including some SINGLE LADIES (put a ring on it! XD). i was like, "boysies, ya'll gotta GET ON THAT SHIZZ YO!"

9/7. karaoke. because we missed happy hour and went at night, it was pretty expensive, but it was NICEEEE. we had to drop $20 a person for 2 hours ($3/half hour plus each person was obligated to buy a drink), but the room looked like a fancy hotel it was sooo different from the janky places in sf with the duct taped chairs XD.

ok, posts should be smaller from now on because school's started today. MY PROF WAS SO BORING. *slit slit slits wrists* T____T. after class, i asked the guy sitting next to me if we had any required textbooks and he said, "i dont think so, but im going to drop this class anyway so...." T_________________T

^let's just say it took me a week to finish :X. the only scenes i cared for was the restaurant scene with the young girl and the party scene in the end. i think it was because the movie didn't feel very cohesive to me. First he's here with these people and then he's there with those people, but why do i care about any of them? i couldnt figure it out

dude, its almost been a year (since my last post). i think the recent boom of studying abroad blogs sparked my withered xanga candle. im not cool enough to make a blogspot, so i think i'll just be updating here when i go to japan. JUST KIDDING. im totally cool enough to make a blogspot! im just wholeheartedly attached to xanga! i try to stop. but i just keep coming back XD

let's see, some updates.

this summer. about 30 hours/week. it doesnt sound like much, but at the end of most days i am WIPED OUT. i even lost my voice today cuz im so unused to the workload! seriously, i am working 10x's harder than i ever did at school. it's like finals week every day! X____X. all the cute kiddies are worth it though. now all that's left is to win over their hearts, mwahahahhaha, FO JESUS of course! I teach 2 english classes and lead fellowship as well. i do feel a little underqualified for fellowship since i dont feel my faith is that strong, but you know what? as long as i lead them with an eager heart, i think Jesus will be proud. someone's gotta show these little lambs what its all about!

warren poker tournament. some time winter quarter. i emerged victorious out of almost 100 players and walked away with a new Nintendo DS, no strings attached! sha-weet. then some time in the spring quarter there was another tourney and i won a sigg bottle for 10th place. not too shabby~

poker. sammy and liz (my roomies) got me into it this year. it started with just the 3 of us around our kitchen table, then to watching every poker event that came on tv (including poker after dark every weekday at 2-3am), and finally to live games at keiichi's house where i lost more than i won, boo! you pay for the experience i suppose .

church. korean united methodist church (KUMC). liz would drive me to church with her every friday for fellowship and sunday for service. some of the people there were so ON FIYAH for Christ it was a little intimidating. good thing they were super nice ... until they found out i wasnt korean... JUST KIDDING XD. some mentionables: jaekwon, paul, jin, karen... oh wow those are the only 4 who come to mind :X. everyone was super kind, but after going there for a year, something just didn't click. next year i need to find me a church with some 4th dimension kind of thinkers!

camp. i went to camp with kumc and they introduced me to the most intense game of mafia i've ever experienced. seriously, you had to BE THERE. the twists, the close calls, the betrayals, the backstabbing OH MAFIA, i thought you were so simple before! the view there was stunning as well. rolling hills as far as the eye could see, forming a nice gradient as they faded further and further into the horizon. seriously, there were some nice hills.

bang. mafia with cards. came after poker and completely OWNED it during spring quarter. we were all so engaged in our new obsession that poker just fell to the wayside. sorry poker :(. it all started when i borrowed amelia's deck, and now i own 4th edition bang deck of my own. LETS PLAY. BANG! BANG! BANG! :3

4.0. winter quarter. my first and probably my last . i tried to get another one spring quarter but Econ2 was hard x_x.

double major. because one is too easy! no, just in case psych really can't bring home the bread, i figured i should study some econ too, just like every other kid. so now i'm a declared double major in psychology B.S. and International Studies B.A. (with concentrations in Economics and Japanese Studies). why japanese studies? this brings us to the next point...

and i saved the best for last...

STUDYING ABROAD. it is SO happening. i know because i bought non-refundable plane tickets kakaka. the plan: 8/25 US to Japan. 11/21 Japan to China (for family). 12/29 China to SD (booo!). sammie and i applied for the same program and we also requested to be neighbors in our apartment complex there. the EAP people are super nice and helpful i pestered them with so many emails because i didnt want anything to go wrong, and they remained patient and gracious throughout! i even got some extra money from the feds this year for doing EAP shaweet!

ok this post is getting a little too long. maybe i'll follow it up with another massive update some other day. *bamf*