So... do you speak Asian?

flying waffles!

Saturday (almost sunday), July 17th, 2010
23:56 PM Asaka’s/my room
[oh no only 5 more days ):  ]

today drove to some temple outside of Osaka for a YFU meetup and meditation. On the way there Haru and I ate breakfast which was pre-packaged magical waffles because they already had the maple syrup built into them and they tasted delicious. I called them flying waffles because Okaasan was just throwing them to us in the back seat and Haru thought that was hilarious. We finally got the the temple & Ended up seeing Molly, Barbara, Dwaine, & Dennis. And of course Jojo & Shiori, but Haru and I are always with them. @ the temple we got to do Zazen meditation which is really cool, but really difficult because you can’t move otherwise you get hit with a stick by the master.(i am not joking, i got hit) then we had lunch and some pointless discussion, but barbara and i agreed that California owns all because we have In-and-Out Burger.

Then drove home and Haru and i feel asleep. got home, and i continued my nap. Then we had dinner which was seriously never ending because we just kept eating and eating and eating, and i even ate raw egg!! it was goood though… then otoosan brought out some A LOT of picture albums, and it was major bonding time with the family looking at all the pictures of the girls when they were younger. Asaka kept hugging me today and it made me feel special cus Japanese people arent very affectionate. ): im gonna miss her..

Karaoke Count: 4

Friday, July 9th, 2010
9:22PM roooooom (:

Today, today, today… I was late to school haha, only because i woke up kinda late and i did my hair, so i left the house late, missed my 1st train, thereby making me miss my 2nd train=no bueno. Finally got to school, headed to the library, did make up with steffie & jojo, talked to some sensei’s, finally english teacher, vicky and peter came. had an english lesson and talked about pirikura haha.

Sensei invited us to her house for cake after school, so at around 11:30 (classes got out early this whole week because of midterms) we headed over to her house to eat cheesecake and listen to her horror stories. her house was very big and cool and she has the cutest puppy everrr! (: her stories completely scared the shit out of me, at the time, haha, and made me almost pee my pants [technicallly school uniform..].

Then for lunch we went to revolving sushi (count: 4) for lunch, changed there, and by 2:30 met our friend Yuuki at McD’s haha. We didn’t really have plans for the day, so we ended up going to karoke. but getting there meant walking the rain for about 30 minutes. not fun. finally we got there. our room was literally decorated with a pot leaf as inspiration. bob marley was on the wall. haha. karaoke was suuuuper fun, we sang loudly & horribly, but i got to talk to yuuki (: haha thenn i had to go home ): (but yuuki was on the train with me, so not that bad )

so here i am now, eating a bag of M&Ms because i told my mom i would eat dinner before i came home but i didnt have time. typical.

USJ

Thursday, July 8th, 2010
9:20 PM Living Room

today was pretty fun (: Jojo, Haruka, Shiori and I went to Universal Studios Japan the whole day instead of me and Jojo going to school ahha. It was so much fun! all the rides were super intense and awesome.

after USJ, me and Haruka went to dinner at this Chinese restaurant and it was prettty okay. im really glad we went out to eat just ourselves though because we got to talk a lot and really bond (: im glad i got such a great host family, haruka is someone who is really easy for me to talk to and its really cool how we are pretty similar.

after dinner, Haru and i were walking home and ran into a couple of her friends. they were all super nice and all were talking to me. it was soo awesome! i love talking to other teenagers here, they are all so nice and chill, and they are very easy to just joke around with.

well, i need to take a shower now because of school tomorrrow.

おやすみ。 

Chinese Take-out

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 (Happpy 17th Birthday Paigey-poooo (:  )

wennnt to lunch/buffet thing with Jojo (another exchange that i hangout with allll the time here) her host mom & host sister, my host sisters & mom, and my host sister’s friend and her mom, and my younger host sister’s friend. [i hope that all made sense..] the place we went to for lunch was sooo cool! it had like all my favorite foods, and even had a crepe stand. it was like one of my food heavens.
thennn, we went to Pirikura, (pirikura count on this trip:7) and then went on to karaoke (karaoke count on this trip:3). all in alll it was super fun(:
after this whole shindig with other exchange peoples, we went home, and ordered Chinese food. this is probably one of the best things i’ve experienced since coming here; the Chinese food is delivered to your house and is delievered in actual plates. not that styrofoam or paper crap. plates. and later, the restaurant people come by again to your house to pick up said plates. god i love this country.

20000 Yen.

July(!?!) 2nd? , 2010. crap i think its the 2nd…

6:30AM, wake up, turn on computer, run downstairs to put in contacts. run back up stairs to start doing hair. FB while doing hair is very difficult.. and time consuming, but manageable(:

6:55AM, mom callls me to breakfast,but im still not done with hair so i eat breakfast with little sister looking at me like im crazy.

7:20AM, somehow finished hair/makeup/uniform putting on/packing of bag, to shout ITEKKIMASU! and run out the door.

7:32AM, after walking, finally make it to the station on time, and proceed to sweat profusely before entering the train at

7:37AM, with 4 business pressed up beside me because i take a rapid train for 20 minutes and it sucks. a lot. but still cool because i blend in!

7:58AM, hop off the train, somehow everyday i run into Yoshizawa (kendo friend) and his friend whose name i can never remember, and we walk to the Kyobashi Keihan Railway Station together.

8:02AM, Yoshizawa’s friend takes another train, Yoshizawa and I board our train to Sekime, spend 6 minutes in semi-awkward silence, but it’s okay because he gives me candy (:

8:10AM, get off that train, meet up with a Kendo sempai whose name i can’t remember either, but hes really funny and has glasses, so i just refer to him as ‘the really funny kendo sempai with glasses` and everyone knows who i am talking about.

8:25AM, arrive at school after walking for 15 minutes. during that time we also run into another Kendo sempai named Nobu. & then i feel awkward for walking with 3 boys, because that is like offical ho-ho status in Japan.

8:40AM, class officially starts,& depending on the class, it is also offically nap time for Nicole/Mei whatever you want to call me.

12:35PM, chat time with all my girls<3 Chii, Noriko, Yuii, Shion, & more, but everyone moves around during lunch and i stay with them the most because i laaaveee them (: we eat our obentos and talk about cute boys in our class, Orlando Bloom, Zac Efron and HSM.

1:20PM, nap time.

3:20PM, my class always gets out 5 minutes later than the other classes because my teacher just talks and talks and talks.

3:25PM, meet up with Jojo, Vicky, Steffanie, go hangout somewhere, usually either McD’s, revolving sushi, Umeda, Namba, or Belfie. pirikura is a given. (some days Shota joins us, or Yuuki, and earlier in our stay Rafa was always with us too, & Peter too actually..)

6:00PM, time for me to head home so i get dinner!

6:57PM, stagger into the house sweating and tired and yell TADDAIMA, and obaasan(shes so cute) always answers back okaieri!

7:20PM, eat dinner like a starving African child because everything is so good that i’m sure i have gained 20 lbs here.

8:45PM, shower. then read/watch TV/ try to get Asaka to exercise/ talk to Haru/ never comprehend what okaasan is saying.

9:45PM, say Oyasumi! and head up to room to FB and reply to emails.

10:30PM dead asleep on my bed. (sleeping mates include: monster, bear, cow & a real live cat)

(this is a typical day)

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i’m bad at blogging

only because i have been writing everything that has happened here in a journal.

Saturday, June 26th(?), 2010 10:10 PM

My host family is so cute. We spent the day at home today, which was really nice because this whole week i have been at school, and then after, hangingout with friends. i leave home at 7:20AM, i usually didnt get home until 7:30PM or sometimes 9, so it was nice being with the family the whole day today. Today i didn’t wake up until 10 AM, so niiiice, way better than 6, and after eating breakfast, which was Japanese hotdogs (made with hotdog buns, cabbage, and hotdogs; don’t question it, its delicious), we walked in the rain to the movie rental place, crap i dont even remember what they are called at home.., and borrowed ghibli movies! they were soo cute. and good, one was called Whisper in the Heart, or some trite title like that, but it was really good, and showed Japan very well.

After our movie fest everyone just kinda stayed together in the house, Haruka and I both went on the computer, and Asaka made a cake, and we all joined together again for dinner. Dinner was amazing too.( BTW, every meal is amazing in this house, my okaasan is the best cook ever) it was tonkatsu with her special sauce, japanese pizza,(again, dont question it), and pork and cabbage soup. for dessert, we ate Asaka’s cake, which was to celebrate my arrival and Haruka’s return (like 2 weeks late, but Asaka’s 10 years old so she is forgiven). We all just sat and talked for awhile after dinner, and then played UNO!. Haruka won once and then had to go study, so me, Otosan and Asaka kept playing and i won twice, otosan won once, and Asaka didn’t win. lols. but then we played some japanese toranpu game, i forgot the name, okaasan joined us and i ended up losing once, and okaasan lost the other. we then retreated to our own activities, me to a book, otosan to the newspaper, asaka to bed, and okaasan to the TV.

i really love living here, and i was really lucky to get a host family so nice. they make me laugh and i can’t believe 2 weeks has already passed by with them.. oh well, i have to make the most of my time here, and i’ll actually make an effort to maintain this blog now.

goodnight Japan (&America),

Mei

いま

okaay, well as of now, i am in my room, which is actually my little sisters room. shes reading over my shoulder haha. they are very nice to me, and i dont want to spend too much time on the computer. today, we almost missed our flight here, but thankfully made it on time. i didnt really say goodbye to my friends from orienation, i figure i will see them again soon.

im gonna go..

play wii with my little sister (:

byee!