OFF TO JAPAN

109, #6

2008-10-01T21:41:00.003-04:00

Hey guys ([I wonder who'll read this...?]), I was thinking about trying to take Marshall-sensei out to lunch again, and even if it's not allowed by the department I figure I could treat her. BUT, since I have a history of giving her valentines and wanting to wed her, it may be better (and more fun!) if you all join me so we can talk about our wonderful experiences in Japan (and inquire why she never called when she came!!!). Comment on this or send me an e-mail if you're in!

Uhhh...

2008-08-01T14:58:00.002-04:00

Hey... um... I don't know how you guys feel but... was I just in Japan for four months?

Integrating myself back home has taken no effort at all. It's really weird.

Fuji-San

2008-07-06T10:14:00.002-04:00

Come on cats, what're you doing?

FUJI. That's what. Saturday and Sunday. You can even go to class on Friday this time.

Take note, that's "san" with a CAPITAL S mothafuckaaaaas

5-Days-Before-Three-Months Post

2008-06-20T02:40:00.004-04:00

     I don't really have much to say that's not in my separate blog, heh, but I felt like I should add something. A grounds for discussion, perhaps...

     Who's ready to book it back home!? I'm a little over halfway to that point. Recently I've started missing things a lot and I've labeled class as nothing more than a nuisance as of now. The only thing that's keeping me from being totally overcome by the prospect of going home is how much fun I'm having with the friends I've made here. I don't really want to leave them (does anyone ever?), especially because, I think, that it reminds me of first year... how many of my best friends at UVA are people that I met first year and hung out with throughout the years. The majority of my friends are in this state now, and through circles and common departments, that's how I project them to be living their lives for the next few years, and I can't help but be a little envious and sad that I won't be a part of that with them. I think the time that I've served here has been significant enough as to where I can safely say that returning to Japan in the future to see these friends again is a must, much like it was with me and my fellow HSD members (HSD is the program that I did that brought me to Japan about four years ago).

     Other than that, I don't feel like I'll miss THAT much about Japan, honestly. Go see my list if you want... nothing really holds that much emotional attachment aside from the friends. It's amazing though, thinking about it now, how even the slightest things from home bring a flood of emotions. Mexican food? I attribute that to not only being awesome, but also to time spent with family and friends due to frequent visits and to the fact that I think that Mexican restaurants are a funny staple of Virginia Beach (and many other places, but MAN there are so many in Virginia Beach...!!!).

     Anyway, I'm going to leave it at that and go practice for my jazz one-shot tomorrow. Have a lovely weekend, ladies and the-gents-who-may-read-this-without-us-knowing.

3 MONTHS IN... nearly ^^

2008-06-19T02:50:00.000-04:00

HOWDY DOOOO BUCKEROOS

well... this blog has been sadly neglected for far too long.

somebody. give it the lovin' it deserves.

- T

UP AND AT'EM FOLKS!!!

2008-04-27T02:59:00.002-04:00

Uh... people?

WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR LIKE A MONTH NOW!!! w00t w00t!

I felt that since it is the anniversary of our coming, everybody should post their official evolved opinion about life in Japan.

Like Greg said, we need to hit 100 before we fly on back to the land of Americans.

Let's do it!

pc
- T

ps. I <3 internet cafes... ^^

Niiiiiiice

2008-04-07T10:44:00.002-04:00

Killin' with the Japanese levels, everyone. Y'all's class is gonna be hooooot! Special props to Natalie who actually had to TALK THEM DOWN A LEVEL, haha.

And by the way, this shit needs to get to 100 posts by the end of summer.

shiBOOYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Just a side post...I'm home!)

2008-04-02T06:01:00.002-04:00

I had to go out of the station and cross back over the street. Sorry to have made you guys all wait for me!! But now I know how to get home from school!!! haha. Hope you guys have a good evening :)

Skkyyyyy rockets ignite!

2008-03-30T20:26:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to wish everyone else safe journeys over here : ) Good luck, and let us know when you're around!

Teresa's Keitai

2008-03-28T07:22:00.002-04:00

Kk guys, check your UVA e-mail addresses, I've sent my number out and my e-mail address. E-mail me whenever, it's free for a month or so.

^__________^

YAY!

How did you guys fare?

Uhh... guys?

2008-03-26T22:14:00.002-04:00

Okay, Teresa needs help and she's somewhat stuck on her own. I went to the Nerima Ward office this morning already and applied for my Gaikokujin Card. They told me to come back April 6th to pick up the card, and I manage to score a photocopy of my application. Does anybody know if the photocopy is the temporary card or should I go back and try to ask for one? He didn't charge me 300 yen, so I don't know if my form works or not.

Also, I think I need help opening up a bank account and finding a prepaid cell phone. I know the Ninja-3 are out shopping for bedding today, but if you somehow get in contact with me I would love you FOREVER. Try leaving a message at my hostel or something if you can. I honestly don't know how to get in contact with you unless you guys have phones in your room and are able to receive calls from them.

Gah. I've been living on onigiri for my last couple meals. A GREAT START IN JAPAN!

- T

Brrrr!!

2008-03-26T13:19:00.004-04:00

This one goes out to Jen and Greg more specifically, if you have visited the blog tonight in cold desperation:
I don't know about you guys, but I didn't know... our air conditioners are heaters too, hooray! So stop using one of your room's curtains as a blanket and turn the heat on! =D I found this handy explanation of some of the keys on the remote...

自動： (jidou -you see this a lot in japan, like on auto-flush urinals)Automatic mode. I think this either heats or cools depending on your tempaerature setting, but I never use it.

ドライ：　(dry) A cool breeze

冷房： (reibou)Airconditioner in the traditional sense. Cold air comes out.

暖房： (danbou) Heats the room

送風： (soufuu) Just the fan

For the fan settings:

強：　Strong

弱：　Weak

微： Light breeze

You gotta press the top button til it gets to danbou (it shows up on the right), and press the arrows til they get to a higher temp, then pick your speed setting, and then you have to set the timer on for like a minute from now, and then press the button written in green! I have gone from too cold to sleep, to warm and happyyyy! I think there's an auto setting but I'm just going to turn it down when it gets too hot.. I'm afraid to mess with it now that I finally have it giving heat..

Happy sleeping sannin!

I'm HERE! I'm SAFE!

2008-03-26T06:49:00.001-04:00

Hey all,

Teresa has made it to Ace Inn Shinjuku. Safely. In one piece. With all her carry-ons. Her luggage will be sent tomorrow and she will be here to receive it.

I need to shower. ASAP.

pc
-T

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T14:39:00.000-04:00

ハリストス復活！ Христос Воскресе! Christus resurrexit!

You Caught Visa!

2008-03-22T18:50:00.004-04:00

VISA GET

Ok gang. I got my visa. Today. This morning. In the mail.

On the previous episode of Natalie Still Doesn't Have Her Visa: What the Heck, her COE had been issued in Japan and was on its way to America. Upon it's arrival last Friday, she and her mother scrambled to get it mailed up to the Chicago Consulate of Japan, Express next-day mail.

The consulate was closed on Saturday, but Monday was full of potential. Fate, however, was against the postal system that day, and for reasons unknown the application was not delivered on Monday. A notice was supposedly left, but as Tuesday dawned, a phonecall to the kind Mr. Kusumoto-san who had no knowledge of any notices or attempted deliveries proved that something must be awry. Full of distress, Natalie called every number she could think of and finally found herself in contact with the Dearborn Post Office in Chicago. They informed her that her express mail was out on the street and should be delivered (despite the tracking information's claim that after two attempted and failed deliveries, the parcel would be held at the post office). She was never to learn the reason for the failed deliveries and missing notices, but the documents were indeed delivered on that day.

The next day, Kusumoto-san assured Natalie that her completed visa had been shipped out on Wednesday in her pre-paid Express mail envelope, and expected it might arrive on Thursday. Natalie knew better, having lived in Southern Illinois long enough to understand the delicate complexity of backwater postal systems, and decided to hope for Friday instead. Friday passed, however, with neither sight nor sound of the anticipated envelope.

*Cut to Saturday morning, a groggy Natalie sits on her couch, weary from a night of funny YouTube videos and laughter with her best friend*

Natalie: Where the heck is my visa? The post office closes at 11.. I will call them and make sure it's on it's way.

Post office man: I have no idea, it's not here, maybe it's being delivered, I don't really know.

Natalie: ... I'll call Carbondale (the central mail distribution center of her area, about an hour away, where tracking said the envelope had arrived and departed at 1:46 am).

Nice post office lady: We haven't got it.. it left here this morning, so it should be in Harrisburg. By the way, did you know it says it's supposed to be delivered on Monday, and explicitly says not to be delivered on the weekend?

Natalie: .... oh my gosh... T___T I will call the local post office again...

Different post office lady: Let me check.. I think your mailman has it right now, he's probably going to deliver it soon.

In a bout of confusion, Natalie's father proceeded to futilely visit the post office to try and obtain the visa, but then successfully hailed the visa-bearing mailman and retrieved that precious book upon which the hopes and dreams of so many rested. After an ill-received farce of having lost the visa in transit was enacted, the visa and inside its surrounding passport was returned to its rightful owner.

And so the story went, that for every delay and problem that could have come along in the young girl's attempts to study in this foreign land, a problem came along, and for every last minute for a situation to be pushed until, the situation at hand was pushed. But lo, dear readers, what turmoils and foul-ups could await her in this new and mysterious land? Let us all wait with bated breath as she continues her quest to exercise every law of Murphy, to find the exception to every rule, and to slip through any and every crack that comes her way! Stay tuned!

Ah! Packing!

2008-03-20T22:17:00.003-04:00

So I've been packing and it's all adding up quicker than I thought... :/
I made a packing list and everything but deciding what clothes to bring is the hardest I think. I'm trying to cover different occasions and weather and whatnot. How many days/weeks' worth of clothing is everyone bringing? And has anyone thought of anything crucial that may otherwise be overlooked?

Also, I know we talked about it earlier briefly, but luggage...how much? I think I'll be bringing a large rolly suitcase plus a small one to check in, and I'll be carrying on a backpack and just keeping my laptop inside my backpack instead of a whole other carrying case. I'm worried I'm being excessive though.
And how much of stuff are you all planning to bring vs. buying there? Stuff like toiletries and things...I keep wavering on what to do.
Oh, I'm so indecisive.
Lastly, I just wanted to remind you all to not pack any wrapped gifts in your carryon. And be mindful of the liquid carrying guidelines and all that.

Oh, to the other 2 ninjas...I added a comment to the last post but I guess I'll just throw it in here too. When should I be expecting you on Monday? I just want to make sure I'll be all packed by then and to set up the basement for fun times and to plan out meals and when I need to go to the airport/be home. So just let me know! Thanks!

ah! quick...!

2008-03-18T06:38:00.001-04:00

Hey, I need to know how much money everyone is planning on bringing initially in terms of both traveler's cheques (I like that way better) and in terms of yen. Quick!

... thanks!

blog project update

2008-03-16T07:59:00.002-04:00

Hey ya....

Just a quick post before I have to go to a work meeting at 9 a.m. on a Sunday. Boo.

Here's a little update on the blog project. If you've listed a link to your blog I've added it to the main page. If you've listed a link and it's not there, please resend it to me and I'll add it. I'm going to e-mail the East Asian Studies department with the link to the blog project tomorrow so they can give it to their students. SO, it would be great if I could have everyone's link before then. I'm seeing some really good posts too, so keep up the good work everyone! Also, would anyone be willing to a) direct me to a great free image/illustrator program for macs or b) make a really cool banner for the destination: Asia home page?

It's a little more than two weeks everyone and I can't wait to be privy to all of your expert bedding shopping skills natalie/greg/jen. Now that all three of you and Teresa are on a flight together I kind of wish I wasn't traveling by my lonesome...

As for studying, way to rub it in Greg. Way to rub it in.

But I too have been studying and that JapaneseiPod101.com thing is pretty good. So thanks for suggesting it Natalie!

Spitzer Schpitzer

2008-03-12T22:27:00.004-04:00

So.

The wonderful Dr House emailed back and said bedding cancel equals OK! Except he was all, but is it okay that you'll sleep without bedding on a wooden-made bed? Aw he seems so concerned! And I'm good for moving in the 26th. Oh remind me guys, on top of buying bedding, I need to buy a laundry bag. I feel it will be useful for doing laundry and I don't have one already. Maybe we'll find a green tea colored one. Perfect!

Anyone been studying? Anyone? ...........

Oh! Pack bathing suits! Maybe we can go to a beach sometime...or something...I don't know what they do there. A pool? A water park? I got one for $10 today. Hahaha oh I love Target.

March 18th = Tornado Preparedness Day. Egad, we're gonna miss UVA's drill and not learn how to be prepared for a tornado.

So HOO'S EXCITED?!

Oh, I would like to take suggestions for a blog name! I seem to be behind in starting a blog...but really it's because I want to do something clever for the title and can't think of anything. But with a name like 'Doo' how hard could it be?!

And Dan is down for greeting us at the airport on the 26th! (Addressed to Greg and Natalie...) And I can't wait for our sleepover! Except I'll probably be just starting to pack the 24th...

This is a funny blog to check out: TokyoMango

ブブ　ブ―――――

2008-03-12T11:24:00.002-04:00

こんちわ～
はい、はい、私　BKA　レイはまたようていを変えた。

haha. kk back to English.

i'll now be staying at the Ace Inn hostel in Shinjuku. i kind of know how to get there, but i just want it out there in case anyone wants to stalk me. ^^

ooooookai, here we go!

1: from Narita, take the JR Narita Express to Shinjuku, 3,110 yen
- using the Suica&N'Ex card, it'd be 1,500 yen for the trip from Narita to Shinjuku, not including the price of the card, but the card can be reused like infinitely and all i have to do is drop money on it

2: from Shinjuku, take the Toei Shinjuku Line to Akebonobashi, 170 yen

hmmm... found a bunch of interesting websites that helped me figure all that out, especially this one: http://www.tokyo-subway.net/english/index.html

it'll tell you what transfers you need to make to get from point a to point b separated by price, time, and transfers *wink* NJOY~

that first journey listed is the most expensive but it also involves the least amount of transfers. what do you think? rather than pay someone to roll my suitcase over to the hostel, i'll just do it myself and save myself 2,000 yen. that way, i can travel with less hassles.

also, because we DON'T qualify for the JR rail pass, seriously consider getting the suica pass. it looks like a good deal. i'll report more later after i look up all the nitty gritty, yeah?

*waiting for my cable guy*

- T

Good Morning COE!

2008-03-11T07:39:00.002-04:00

COE GET!!!!!!

Expected arrival in 3~4 days. Disregard my last post!! XD

Still Singin the Direct Enrollment Blues...

2008-03-10T18:52:00.005-04:00

Hey gang. Today I'd like to talk about an issue that nearly everyone will be affected by at some point in their lives. It's an illness called Natalie still doesn't have her COE.

So here's the story:

*December~January*
Sophia: Apply for your COE!

Me: Ok, here you go!

*February*
Sophia: Hey thanks! You'll receive it by the end of the month, at the latest!

Me: Hey that's great! That will give me plenty of time to get my visa.

*March 4th*
Me: Hey.. where's my COE?

Sophia: Yeeaahh we don't have it yet.. But we're expecting it any time now, just you wait! School starts in April so it's pretty busy around here you know. Actually, you might have to end up entering on a temporary visa and changing your status to college student once you get here..

Me: Wait, what? Hmmm.. *checks Consulate website* But this says I need a COE for a temporary visa too! Let me give these fine folks a call. *calls Chicago Consulate*

Nice Consulate Guy: Yep, you're right, you can't get that visa without a COE. I've maybe heard of people going over under the visa exemption as tourists and then getting a visa later, but you'd generally need to leave the country to get it. But in my experience, Japan pretty much runs visa stuff to the very last minute, so just be a little more patient.

Me: *Thinks for a while...*

*Yesterday*
Me: It's only like two weeks til we're leaving.. I'm getting a little nervous about all this.. Hey Sophia, I can't get that temp visa, what should I do if the COE doesn't get here?

Sophia: Just tell Narita you're sightseeing, and then go to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau!

Me: That seems like a bad idea.. I'm pretty sure that nice consulate guy said it was pretty hard to do/unlikely to happen.

Nice Consulate Guy: That's right. The law technically says you can't really do that unless you're in unavoidable crazy circumstances. Otherwise you'd have to leave the country to get a visa. Oh, and btw, *long list of reasons why it's a horrible idea to try and pass yourself off as a tourist when you're actually a college student, including the possibility of not being able to board the plane or being denied entry to Japan to begin with* (BTW, didn't you just call here like last week?)

Me: Oh jeeze T_T

Chris Payne: And plus they could just look at your plane ticket and see you're staying way more than 90 days. This is bad news yo.

Me: Sophiaaa, what makes you think it's gonna be so easy to get into Japan with no visa and get DK to let me stay with no visa, and get the Tokyo Immigration Bureau to give me a visa? Send me my COE as soon as you get it!! And if you don't get it by next week, well... I think I'd rather postpone my flight than try and go with no visa.. T__T Two weeks is a long time right? It'll get here deshou? Hrmmm....

*TO BE CONTINUED*

ようていが変えた！

2008-03-09T15:12:00.003-04:00

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men~

It turns out that I won't be in Japan for an extra 2 weeks. My cousins will be flying in soon after I get settled and will be spending a week in Tokyo. From April 18th to the 26th, I will be running a tour of Tokyo. ^^
This will all happen between classes and family responsibilities. YAY! I just hope I don't fail them and they leave Japan thinking, "My goodness, that was the worst vacation ever!"

I will be picking up my visa tomorrow from the Embassy. Pick-ups are scheduled from 1:30 to 6:30 pm. Weird. It's quite a walk from the Dupont Circle Metro to the Embassy, but I just tack it under the umbrella of "Teresa really needs to work it out."

Hmm... I've got my tickets, my visa, my luggage, and clothes. Now that we are extremely close to take-off, what is everybody going to pack?

I don't know whether I want to take 2 large suitcases or 1 large suitcase + 1 large duffel bag. Which option do you think is better?

Also, my temp list of things to bring:
Clothes, textbooks, dictionaries, laptop compie, pictures of family, camera + charger, phone + charger, shoes (don't know how many pairs to pack yet), limited toiletries (i'm going to buy most of my soap and crap when i'm there to save myself some heft), 1 or 2 plushies to keep me company, mini pillow that i needs, and loooooooooove~

What else is there to bring?

Oh yes! Don't forget to get money via traveler's cheques! Keep it safe. Uhmm... the school recommends a grand for the first month you're there prior to getting all your bank stuff set up. I'm going to get a grand and a half for some safety padding.

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~

I nervous. *trembles*

- T

------ UPDATE 3.11.08 ----------

I didn't want to push off Natalie's posts, so here I am, adding a lil more to this last post of mine. Remember my earlier post about presents? Well, I've bought some but I don't know if it's enough. Drop me a line and tell me opinions!!!

Obviously, the left pile is for padre, middle = madre, and right = daughter. I'm most worried about the daughter. Is it okay?

Something evil has yielded unfriendly negligence....

2008-03-05T19:44:00.005-05:00

     AHHHHHHHH I may not get any money back from my taaaaxxxxessss!!!!!! (there goes my spending money in Japan!)

     So part of me is really disappointed that we're leaving when we're leaving. So many good things are coming up... Indiana Jones IV... the Marvel Comics Secret Invasion (soooo awesooommme)... the extra guitar for Rock Band... something else coming up that's most definitely a movie that I can't think of...

     Speaking of Rock Band, I'm going to come back to FOUR MONTHS worth of DLC (downloadable content) to buy, and you're runnin' buck wild if you think that I won't be getting a heap of it RIGHT when I get home. Unless, of course, I'm truly bankrupt, which would really suck and is quite possible.

     I subbed for a Japanese teacher today and will again tomorrow! It's really funny because I freaked out the classes by introducing myself in Japanese... one even applauded me =) But that doesn't mean my Japanese was good! I mean, it was OKAY, but lord I need to keep studying. I've been looking at embarrassingly old kanji recently... Anyway, I think I really helped the kids out (for the first time in my whole subbing career, even!) because the first class (sannensei) told me that my explanation of -ru and -u verbs (though definitely lacking compared to our professors') was a lot better than whatever their teacher was telling them (they pretty much didn't have any clue that such a difference existed... they kind of just learn the vocab). Yay! And then I taught two classes of ninensei about -tai form. It was fun, and actually the only real rewarding experience that I've gotten from this job besides all of the literature that I finished... and of course all of that wani wani shiteiru... (haaaaaaaaaa, jjjjkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk)

     On a side note, I played with Free Bridge Quintet drummer Robert Jospe at a local elementary school for some K-2nd graders yesterday! It was really cute working with the kids... Jospe basically taught them about some different grooves and I played some songs that fit in with those grooves. At one point we did one where Jospe made the kids do a call and response saying, "IIIII want caaaandy!" Haha, it was awesome... Some of the songs that I played were actually legit (like "Caravan" and "St. Thomas"), but I had to improvise some melodies over a couple of grooves because nothing that fit right in that I knew well came instantly to mind... At one point I started to inadvertently play the A section of Diana Ross's "My Guy", through which, though I probably was the only one out of the four adults in the room to know what I was doing, I was laughing to myself... I mean... out of all the songs... haha. Oh well.

Ooo! American Idol is on! Byyyyyyyyyye!

P.S.: Go to www.campusgirlsusa.com and give A+s to my friend!!! Click "Click to Begin", go to "ACC" and vote for Danna (she's near the bottom). You may recognize her from the jazz ensemble concerts/marching band for all you enthusiasts (Natalie).

ALSO, (Natalie), you're going to hunt for bedding when you get there, right?

DILEMMA!!!

2008-03-01T09:00:00.005-05:00

Okay people, it's PICKLE time!!!

The Ninja-3 are all at DK House, so them flying in early to Japan to acclimate their bodies and get a jump on life there is no problem. However, for the homestayers like me, Mia, and Sehyun, what do you think the problems could be?

I remember that Jeanette mentioned she'd be flying in at the appointed date of April 1st and thus has no pickles. Mia and Sehyun are flying in from Korea, which could or could not be pickly. I, however, am crashing at a hostel for a week and then have to somehow finagle my way to my homestay home.

What to do?

BTW, jet lag? SUCKS THE BIG TURKEY!!! I had no problems when flying over to China and Japan, but fly me back and BAM I am a turtle. I've been waking and sleeping erratically since I've been back so please expect little of what comes from me to make complete sense. *bows*

Oh yes! About gifts for your homestay family! IF you don't know yet, know this: BRING THEM PRESENTS!!!

It's not a like total expectation that you'll be getting them something, but it is a Japanese tradition of sorts. Remember all those phrases Marshall-sensei taught us and then Kawai-sensei refreshed?

Kore wa tsumaranai mono desu ga, douzo goenryo naku...

Use it!

If you need ideas for presents or plain ole forget until the last minute, airports have tons of random gifties that clear security like *SNAP*. Also, for all you DC people out there, D.C. itself is a fountain of cheap American paraphernalia. A couple of t-shirts, pretty pretty plates, or other random goodies will be nice. Be creative and don't forget!

I am actually just sitting here waiting for the post office to open so I can run down there and drop off a few bits of mail. Sad, but true. It's like 47F outside and I'm considering doing it in sandals because socks are just at the bottom of my "does Teresa care?" list.

Now!!! FUN FUN FUN NOTES!!!

To make my post just that schwidge longer and to have people truly enjoy reading it... *DRUM ROLL*.... *AIR GUITAR RIFF*... *ORCHESTRA STARTS TUNING UP*...

Personalized Replies to Random People:

JEN
Muchos gracias for replying to each individual note from EVERYBODY! I love reading your comments and they always make me smile.

NATALIE
Your knack for creativity never fails to astound me and I am always impressed by your delicate combination of both information and fun that is compounded into not only each post but also each comment.

GREG
Energy super ball to the MAX! I tend to anticipate your posts and comments because they are continously amusing and insightful. If everybody shoots from the left, then you toss it from the right. Oodles of good times allllllll around!

JEANETTE
I have no clue, but for some reason or another, I probably spell your name wrong on a very consistent basis. *bows* Gomen! You have probably the most mature posts of us all and when in need to cut away fluff, I turn to you. You seem very on top of life and the ball and the circus tent and all that cotton candy good stuff. Props.

MIA
Honey, you realllllllllly don't post or comment enough for me to say anything. I do miss your pretty face though. And your pretty smile. *grins* Post more! Pronto! This is a meirei from above! Chop chop!

SEHYUN
Dude, you're like, not even registered here. But, no worries, we all in the same boat and I hope that you're doing okay. If you have problems at all while in Japan or even here, feel free to drop a line here. I feel like we are a pretty coofy spoofy group of people who are very dependable. *nod nod*

OOOOOOOOOOKAI~

I need to start hanging up my clothes from my trip to China. *shudders* 40 minutes until the post office opens! Yay!

*duck dances away*

T

Hurrah!

2008-02-29T23:46:00.002-05:00

So my G's, call Operation: Change Jen's Seat a success. I will be in 40G now. It was so fun/cute clicking on the empty seat because I saw the little people in the diagram in the 2 seats next to it and I totally envisioned Greg and Natalie there and giggled.

Let me know if you do want to stay at my house the night before our flight and head out from there or if you're going to Dulles directly. And if that's the case, we should plan out when exactly we'll meet, as the time nears.

Visa : filed :: Citibank : shitty bank

2008-02-28T15:04:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure if that's the correct set up for an analogy or whatever you call it but those two things are what this post is all about. Do not get an account at Citibank. They're downsizing because they're not doing so well financially and there are fees for opening accounts and every time you withdraw from one of their own ATMs in Japan they charge you 1% of the withdrawal. WTF. I don't know if this is uncommon but I rather just keep the two accounts I have now and not get a third.
As for the visa. Filing for your visa is super easy. Just bring all of the proper docs, hand it over and you're good to go. It was cool to run into you at the embassy Greg, I thought you'd have gotten there before me, but it's always good to see a familiar face.

Going to get my Visa

2008-02-27T23:06:00.002-05:00

Hey all,

So tomorrow I'm going to put in the papers for my visa. I've already faxed all the housing and airport pickup stuff to DK and Sophia but I totally forgot about the language bit (bad sign) until I read Teresa's post. So thanks T for reminding me, haha.

Oh and Mia I just linked your blog to the destination: Asia website. It was so completely helpful! It makes me really excited to see all of the blog posts everyone's going to have in the future, yay :)

Ok, so I'll post tomorrow and tell you all how it went. BTDubs, I'm also going to open a CitiBank account tomorrow. When I went to Bank of America to transfer my funds for DK my dad and I asked the lady who was helping us about banks in Japan. She said I could use my B of Am debit card with any ATM but there would be a fee. She then advised to get the CitiBank account as those ATM fees will add up. Think about it: Say I withdraw money once a week, that's 2 or 3 dollars every time. Hmm, roughly 16 weeks, times 2 or 3 dollars. It may not seem like a lot but I think going to an ATM once a week is a conservative estimate.

That's my two cents. I'll be posting soon!

COE + Whaaaaaaa?!?!

2008-02-27T11:27:00.007-05:00

KOOOON CHI WA!!!

I am completely and utterly jet lagged and I need to drive back to Charlottesville tonight, bah! I ended up passing out yesterday after breakfast and slept from 8am til 5pm. Grossness.

Well, to the main point of this post, I've been trying to sort through all this getting a visa nonsense and I just wanted to make sure I was wading through properly.

1 - GETTING A VISA

Thanks to jen jen for her awesome linkage, I filled out the form, have extra copies of ole passport photos and think I am kind of set. Does the person whose getting the visa have to show up in person or can't I just ship my mom off to do it for me? She's the one who got my China visa for me, which allows me to enter and leave the country as much as I please for the space of 1 year. I'm also going to photocopy all of the forms just to make sure I have something to fall back on in case life gets wacky.

2 - THE FORMS THAT NEED TO BE MAILED BACK PRONTO TO SOPHIA

Okay, the first form pertains to whether or not I want to be language intensive. I think I do, but I'm not sure if that's what I want to do. I feel like just by being in Japan and taking regular classes, I'll be learning plenty plenty of Japanese. Also, when they ask you how many kanji have you learned, how many am I supposed to put down? I don't know how many I know. I can read tons but writing them out is a problem I will have for the rest of ever. Plus, we stopped with chapter 9 last semester, right? I'm still in Springfield and have none of my materials with me, so I'm just trying to fill out forms as much as I can.

3- AIRPLANE GOODNESS

Are we ALL going to be flying United? I know the Ninja-3 are riding in on UA803 departing on 2/25 from IAD. Me, too. What abouts Mia, Jeanette, + Sehyun bka Sean? Apparently, it's going to be a lovely 14 hours of fun at 36,000 feet for the majority of us. Remember to bring muchos distractions and lovely delicious Unisom to knock you OUT! I'm almost wishing that I am at DK now because of the whole letting you move in early and all that. I'll be crashing at the Yayogi Hostel. I am begging you now, please let hugabug you in Japan! The Hostel has a majorly weirdo rule that says I need to be out of the place between the hours of 9am to 5pm. That means I either live out my days at random cafes studying Japanese *yawn* or I play play play with you all. Because I totally *heart* the Ninja-3 and know the feeling is most mutual, OSEWA ni NARUUUUUU~ *grins*

4- GOLDEN WEEK AND RANDOM VACATION FUN
I know this is a bit early and all, but since we all will be enjoying the most lovely Golden Week and perhaps any other random bits of fun while we're in Japan. Do you guys have any activities you absolutely want to try? I for one kind of want to see the whole Mikoshi thing live and in the flesh. Men in sumo like thongs running around the seats with a thing on their shoulders and all that. Good fun for all in my opinion. I also want to take TONS of purikura! I don't care if it's not so in anymore, I want HUNDREDS!!! How about you all?

5- I'M JUST ADDING THIS HERE BECAUSE 5 IS MY FAVORITE NUMBER
Random, yes, I know, but who cares? I am beyond caring right now. Careless, schmereless.

*flies off to pack the rest of her stuff away*

T

P.S. Should we start discussing luggage nows or later? How does laundry work in Japan? I remember from my previous jaunt there that they hang dry all their clothes. How about coping with the rainy season? Humidity? A.C.? Does internet come with where we're all going? I bought a international cell phone and just need to get a SIM card for it. Where to?

If any of you have answers to the above, most appreciated!!!!!!!

El SCCCCORCHOOOO!

2008-02-25T18:29:00.002-05:00

     Whew, so last week was pretty crazy busy... this Saturday was the concert that I've been traveling up to UVA for, so, needless to say, with all the concert coming up and the guest artist coming in town (... and all of the social calls I had to make) I was constantly on the run. Tuesday I got into town a little early to see if I could get a little instruction on the bass clarinet from my teacher, but in the end it wasn't too helpful as I didn't have much time to work on it from Tuesday to Saturday. Lesse... the rest of Tuesday wasn't too exciting... Wednesday... Wednesday I practiced for a while... I don't know... then had dinner with first-year friends... but hey! I played trivia at Mellow Mushroom for the first time with some of my bus friends, and even almost got a question right! Wooooo! I had to ditch a little early to see the lunar eclipse with Julie Slater (and to eat her brownies... yum!).

     Thursday was the first rehearsal with the guest artist, who supposedly exclaimed afterwards: "John... are you sure you want to have this concert?" Luckily, he changed his mind after Friday's rehearsal XD (the music was REALLY hard!!!) Also on Thursday I drove a Late Night, which was were I had a lot of my fun time last semester, and traveled to iHop with the crew. We went up to pay at like, 3am, when pretty much a WHOLE Asian student group split us in half. Which means, three paid and then the Asian group jumped in while the other two were getting a problem fixed with their checks. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! They tried to say "Hey, you know, we're with them... and are only two people..." but the lady at the register ignored them so they just threw the money on the table and we left (I think they may have been short changed a little, but whatever, she was being a bitch by not even responding).
     Friday held some master classes and the rehearsal... a couple of parties... blah blah... Oh yeah, that morning I was on 106.1 The Corner advertising the jazz ensemble concert! And boy do I sound stupid on the radio! Maybe I always sound stupid, but good LORD...! I guess it worked, though, since supposedly this concert showed the highest attendance in 5 years or something. Craaaazy!

     On Saturday I had 9000 training (9000s are the new buses). Everyone had to train on them because they're 6 inches wider than all of the other buses we have. Why? I don't have a fucking clue. But that's the standard now, supposedly. They smell and handle nicely, but I still don't like the extra width. Hopefully I won't be forced to drive one anytime soon.
     I must have eaten at Bodo's seven times in a 5 day span. It was nuts. All of my orders had the Cinnamon Sugar and Butter on Plain included, too, which isn't too healthy. And I spent the last $3.50 in my wallet (seriously, I was scavenging for the dough) on Samoas. Curse you, Girl Scouts!

     I'm kind of afraid of my money situation in Japan because I'm becoming increasingly "aaahhh, what's $10?", 'cause I spent $10 on two things of popcorn from Great Scott's! Gourmet Popcorn (what an awesome name, huh???). They have cherry, vanilla, peppermint, caramel, butterscotch, banana, pizza, ranch, jalepino, etc. etc. etc. POPCORN! It was so awesome.

I'm falling asleep. Later!<>
- Greg

Plane Crazy!

2008-02-24T17:29:00.002-05:00

Everyone still go back and comment on Teresa's post! My mom just won't get off my back about this and it's starting to worry me too, so I gotta write about it x_x

Tomorrow's gonna be the one month mark from when we're trying to leave (less than one month with February and all), and we all know that's when plane tickets start to disappear and go up in price. Greg, is there any way you could try and call Chris directly tomorrow about if he's heard from Sophia/DK yet about if it's cool if you guys aren't there for the April 1st greet and pickup? I need to decide soon if I should go ahead with the D.C. flight and get a flight to VA also before that, or if I should try and fly out of St. Louis instead. My mom wanted me to make my decision and buy the ticket today, but I said let's give it one more weekday so Chris can get back to the office and respond if maybe he heard something over the weekend. She's just really worried we're gonna end up not being able to get a good flight, or it's gonna end up being way more expensive if we wait any longer, and I'm starting to worry too. I also need the itinerary to send to that scholarship so they'll send me my money and I can send financial aid their refund check.. sigh -_-;

Anyway, that's all for today's post! Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Greetings and LOVE from CHINA

2008-02-24T03:21:00.012-05:00

Hey guys!

Sorry it's been so majorly long since I've posted anything. Internet in Asia with Vista is iffy at best and in China, proper, there's major blocking of all blogs and even wiki!

My brother got the lovely Fedex box from Chris and while back and was even kind enough to nag the freak out of my Dad to wire transfer the money over for me while I was in another country.

I'm flying back to America tomorrow, through *dun dun dun* UNITED. It turns out that their Mileage Plus progam is pretty damn sweet and nice to live with. By the end of the year, I'll have earned enough miles to be a freakin' Premier member so that means free extra inches and all that, but I seriously digress. China has been an experience. I'm kind of regretting not choosing to study abroad here rather than in Japan because as everybody I've met thus far has been quick to remark, life in Japan is hella freakin' expensive. In Beijing, I went out with my little brother and all his Beijing University friends and we got teetotaled for under $10 or 70 kuai. But, I met this one Japanese guy here and he said that Japan is fun, majorly so, you just need to know where to look. He also mentioned something about having a friend of a relative that teaches at Sophia, which I called Jyouriku Uni as opposed to Jyoichi Uni because let's face it, I haven't spoken any Japanese in months.

I'm pretty positive I'll be put into the Japanese for Beginners class, and I'm also sure that I wouldn't mind it. ^^

Now, my only worries from living in Asia as a result of my time in China is this:

- manners? do people have them?

- money? where does it all go?

- bathrooms? no, really... need I go there?

Apparently, from my brother's 1 month stay in China thus far, he has become a rampant nationalist. I can't wait to see what Japan does to the lot of us. For better or worse, yeah?

KK, I need to pack up my suitcase and prep for a huge, blowout, final hot pot dinner.

I hope everybody's break has been awesomely amazingly aaaaaan-believable (i ran out of adjectives starting with a *shrug*)

Love love,

Teresa

- random update -

I just flipped through some previous posts and saw that jen is going to try for UA803 +804 for return flight. I think that's the same one I'm one. When you're booking through student tickets they don't tend to let you pick a seat, but you can get around that quite easily.

Oh, and the flight out of Dulles is run by ANA, so Greg! Don't pay extra for ANA! United and ANA are teamed up for certain flights and you save a ton by booking by way of United.

And back to the way around getting the seats you want. After you get your tickets bought and credit card charged, hop on over to United.com and check your itenenarary through the website. It'll let you secure the seats you want for free. No extra charge needed. No stress induced as to the uncertain nature of nefarious airline seat masters.

I hope that helps!

Hate to do this but...

2008-02-22T23:33:00.003-05:00

...it's time to move on to the 51st! Haha, I just hate to see Natalie's beautiful post complete with a celebratory picture get moved down.

Anyway I wanted to let you know that I will be trying to do the visa thing next week, and hopefully write about how that goes. Although I do already have some information: Visa applications (though available on the site, you can do at the embassy in person anyway) are only taken from 9:30am-12:30pm Monday through Friday, though when it's ready, you can pick it up outside of that time frame. 3-4 day turnaround time. Be sure to have the address of where you'll be staying in Japan on hand (I'm probably just going to bring my entire Sophia packet just in case I need other information)....or just fill out the application form ahead of time :) And of course whatever else the Sophia packet lists, though the site says we only need one 2x2 picture for the application form (I guess since one is on the COE already). Anyway, guess that means I gotta go take one...I hope it's okay if the picture's different from the COE one...

Check out the link here: Visa goodness!

50th Post!! And an important message..

2008-02-21T13:41:00.005-05:00

Sorry Greg! I have important information I need to post. We can delete this post and move it to 51 later on if you like =) But Happy 50th Post! We're pretty amazing at blogging..

So I just got back from wiring my first month of rent and guaranty money to Mr. DK House (he has informed me that normally, Sophia kids will pay all 4 months at once, but it's cool for me to pay one month at a time), and I was thinking "Hey I wonder if my Sophia Tomodachi know the ins and outs of wire transfer?" I'm not sure if you guys have had to pay any entry fees or application fees or all that jazz, so I'll tell you how it goes down! Without further ado, I present to you..

5 Important Rules of International Wire Transfer
or, Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before I Tried To Do An International Wire Transfer
by Natalie N. Wilson

Make sure you have the money you need in your bank account!! This is the number one important thing!! You can't just go in the bank with some cash and say "I wanna wire this to Japan." You need to have an account with the bank you'll be wiring from, and make sure you have enough money to cover the wire as well as any bank fees (usually $25-$50) in your checking account or savings account there. Also, the yen/dollar conversion rates you get off the internet aren't always accurate, so try and have some extra money to cover that. My first transfer ended up being about $50 more than I expected.
Make sure the money is in that account BEFORE you go to the bank! This equally as important as number 1!! If you go to a bank and put cash into your account, it takes at least 24 hours to show up and be usable. If you do it online, it can take up to three days! Personal experience: I tried to wire some money on a Friday, so I put the cash into my checking account there at the bank. Then they said "Oh, it won't be available for 24 hours." And the bank is closed on Saturday... so I went back on Monday, and they said "Oh, since you deposited that money after 2:00 on Friday, it won't be available until Tuesday." What?! So also if you deposit money into your account on a Friday, do it before 2:00pm! They were able to transfer money from my savings account to my checking account of the same bank instantaneously though, so that's a good route!
Don't try and get more than several hundred dollars out of your ATM account in one day. So the first part of that last anecdote goes like this: I needed to wire the money, but the money was in my local bank account and I was in NYC. So I tried to get a ton of money out of my local account using an ATM. First of all, they only let you take out maybe $300 dollars at a time, and after about $700 or $800, they say you've reached your daily limit and your bank freezes your card and starts calling you... so... just have that money!
Make sure you have all the information for the Japanese bank and person you're paying. I'm guessing they probably sent this with your housing/billing info, but you're gonna need the Japanese bank's name and address, account number, swift code, any other codes they might give you, as well as the beneficiary/payee's name and address. Bring these to the bank, and be prepared to explain stupid Japanese addresses... lol.
Receipts usually aren't available until hours after you've completed the wire process with your bank! Pretty much every transfer I've done, the people I've sent the money to have wanted a receipt faxed or e-mailed to them so they know the money is on its way. I think what happens at the bank is that they fill out all the forms for the wire transfer and then they fax it somewhere for processing, or it somehow takes longer to process. When I wired from Bank of America in C'ville, the lady I was working with offered to fax the receipt herself from the bank once it was available. Working with my local bank here, they've had me come back in about an hour or more to pick up the receipt. So allow for extra receipt-acquiring time!

I think that covers the most important stuff. It's really an easy process if you have all your bases covered, but it can be really annoying and stressful if you don't know what you're doing. But now you know! Just go find one of the bank people at the actual desk places and say you'd like to do an international wire transfer to Japan! I've found bank people to be exceptionally nice and helpful. Do your best not to wait until the last minute to transfer money or go do the wire transfer. If you have anymore questions, just ask!

Hoos in Flight

2008-02-16T21:21:00.002-05:00

Ok kids, I say we buy these tickets before they're gone. Greg, were you still looking into whether or not you'll need to be there on the 31st before we decide? There's some similar flights (although some of them have stops) if we wanted to play it safe and return August 1st instead of July 31st (the identical flight as the one for the 31st is actually cheaper, but only has 1 seat left). I really don't care one way or the other, since we won't have that much to pack to return so it shouldn't get in the way of finals too bad, but it might be nice to have an extra day not to have to rush. Don't forget to ask Chris if he knows/can find out if DK House would let you guys move in early like I am. I just found this site on Sophia's page that has some more info on Mr. DK. Check it out.

It looks like for individual days, if you're not staying for another full month, it's 2000 yen (about $18) a day, which is exactly how much our monthly rent divided by 30 is, so that's a pretty sweet deal =) Also, notice in the corner of one of the pictures... that's definitely a bed! This page also says payment/deposit must be made a month in advance, so I guess we need to get on that. But that was probably all in your handy housing materials I didn't get =P And guys, I don't wanna hear any laud voice during nighttime, you'll be nuisance to other tenants and neighbors. Come on.

Anyway, let's figure out what we're doing for serious on this flight and figure out a time maybe we can all meet up on aim or the phone and buy them at the same time so we're all on the same page and getting the right seats and all that jazz. Let's get this taken care of yo!

In other news, I'm in love with the dance crew Jabbawockeez. They're pretty much the coolest crew ever. I'm going to post their videos at the end of this, and you're all required to watch. The MTV page has full episodes! And Jen, if you search "Sophia University" in YouTube, there's aalll these hip hop dance groups performing at Sophia Fest (which unfortunately seems to be in the fall semester). Hopefully since there's a lot of foreign students in and out of there, we can join any club or circle we want? haha. I need to get flexible.

Jabbawockeez this week:

Jabawockeez last week:

Oh yeah.

WWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2008-02-15T19:11:00.000-05:00

NO CURFEW IN THE DK HOUSE, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Natalie and Gregory

2008-02-13T17:23:00.002-05:00

Hey guys, so incredibly I think I can use my United frequent flyer miles for my ticket. Right now I am looking at a nonstop flight (United 803, returning flight 804) from Dulles to Narita leaving March 25th (arriving 26th) and coming home July 31st. How does that sound to you guys? I know Greg wants to take ANA, but I'm definitely leaning towards this since I have the miles for it, why not? However, I don't know what the normal cost of this ticket is, so I don't know if it's within reason for you. But another bonus is, there are tons of seats open right now, including bunches next to each other (they have our names on them I swear)

Okay, I am going to look up the price of this flight normally.

Oh, crap. So prices for this and others like this are around $1921 and up. Which is pricey. Yikes.

So....I can't say that I will be booking with you guys, if you're looking for something else, because I know this is a lot to pay, but it works out best for me to use my miles since I've been saving them up for forever.

Wait, but that was on the United site, let me check student ticket cost...

Okay, student price is $1217...which may actually be comparable to ANA or something. So not as bad, but also not the $875 and $966 prices I've found for these dates as well (flying Northwest mainly though).

So alright, let me know what you guys think. Thanks for sticking through my whole thought/search process here haha. I'm still willing to work with you all because it'd be awesome to all travel together, but now my preference is United. But I guess my travel dates are also more flexible now since it probably won't make a huge price difference for me.

FedEx package arrived!

2008-02-13T16:51:00.002-05:00

(see title) I got me my Sophia infoooo! And boy, is there a bunch of stuff to go over...but this is exciting!

Natalie and Greg, shall we get on with the ticket-purchasing process? I don't know about GREG (ahem) but I'm going for inexpensive...

Do we set up another chat date or what? Cuz um...SOMEONE pooped out on it last time...

Link It

2008-02-12T10:55:00.001-05:00

http://gregintokyo.blogspot.com

Hopefully the title is adequate, unlike the URL (but I had to make it easy for my folks to remember!)

Make that one of three

2008-02-10T00:34:00.000-05:00

Hey all:

Like Natalie and Greg, I too have been working, reading, watching a lot of T.V. and not studying. I've read a couple of great books that I completely reccomed: Boomsday, Out Stealing Horses and Mysterious Skin. Top notch, all of them. When I'm not reading or sleeping I'm working. I work at this retail store called Charlotte Russe. It's pretty snazzy, my coworkers are cool if sometimes lazy and I get a 40% discount. I was going to get a second job working for this funeral parlor and the D.C./metro police to "remove" bodies, you know, to sort of put it on my resume as an example of someone who's not afraid to try new things or get her hands dirty. But, after watching a ton of Paranormal State on A&E, I decided against that. No need to bring the ghost of some murder victim home with me. Completely unnecessary.

Not much else to report. I do have a question though. What's the weather going to be like when we get to Japan? What kind of clothes should I pack, that is, spring clothes, or winter clothes or all summer wear? Will it really be the rainy season? Do I need Wellies? Plus, DK house: I don't know if you guys have looked at the pictures but there are conspicuously no beds in those pictures. Are we going to have fold out beds that you take out and put away? Thoughts?

And I did want to answer Jen's question about the blog project. You can definitely start your blogs now if you'd like, but a week or two before we leave is probably better since you'd have more to say about packing and such. As far as content goes, if you could focus on the process at first, the nitty gritty things that are tedious but need to get done (i.e. booking flights, packing, etc.) that would be good. Really, the blog should be a space where you can discuss any worries you have about the study abroad trip before we leave, problems you encounter when you get there and then awesome things you experience once there.

Hope everyone is enjoying their extended vay-kay.

I guess I'll make Natalie's bandwagon one of two

2008-02-08T15:50:00.001-05:00

     I decided I've give a little update on my life since last time I posted... sooo here goes:

     Mostly, I've been trying to earn money. I work about 6/7 days a week, substitute teaching on the weekdays and cashiering at Farm Fresh on the weekends. Recently, this schedule has deviated a bit due to me going up to Charlottesville Tuesday-Thursday two weeks ago, and for three weeks starting this week. And well, I guess it hasn't deviated too much as I have been picking up UTS blocks while I'm there, but really, that just pays for the gas to get there and the food that I have to buy if no one swipes me in. Still, I'm subbing Mondays and Fridays and am doing the Farm Fresh thing on weekends.

     Substituting can be really fun. Take for example, today, where two out of my three classes for the day had to act out a pretty hilarious play from their lit book, and where I just finished Dance, Dance, Dance some 3-4 months after we were supposed to for the JPTR Modern Cannon class. Also, you too can have mentally-handicapped middle school girls give you love notes (I'll tell anyone that story who wants to hear it in person).


Cashiering can also be really fun. I think I've said that I'm the fastest cashier at Farm Fresh before, but I'll reiterate that last week I was the fastest out of all the Farm Freshes worldwide. Granted, they only exist in Virginia and northern NC, but whatever. Worldwide is worldwide, baby!


Otherwise I've just been chilling, playing Rock Band and watching Arrested Development... and Lost. And American Gladiators (SOOO funny). And Terminator, and American Idol, and House.........


And finally, I'm going to Seven Springs Ski Resort in Pennsylvania to snowboard with my Boy Scout troop this weekend! It should be awesome as long as my body remembers how to snowboard after two years of not doing it. But, I figure I'll be alright.


I haven't been studying.


Now let's hear from the rest of you guys, yeah...?

Here it is!

2008-02-06T23:07:00.000-05:00

I said I'd do it and I'm doing it, darnit. I thought about just editing the old post, but I decided it'd be funnier to keep that one on there XD

So first I'll update y'all on what I've been up to as of late. I can't remember who all I mentioned the guarantor situation to, but I found one! So I don't have to pay Sophia a $5,000 just-in-case-something-bad-happens-to-me deposit! Cool! Over the past 3 weeks I've been working at the office for the mine where my dad works. They like to do big, over-the-top stuff for their employees, so I made all the Easter baskets, which go to all the employees' kids age 12 and under. But these aren't your normal Easter baskets, folks. This is.. Santa hijacked Easter and decided every kid needed $40-$50 dollars worth of toys for Easter...... wait, what? It was a little ridiculous and a lot excessive. Especially the part where I had to go buy the second round of toys (Did I mention there are 125 kids? 3 and a half shopping carts worth of stuff into my tiny '88 Mustang... by myself.. shopping blows).

Then I made some bags of Valentine's Day candy for the miners, and now I'm working on these really silly cards to go on the Easter baskets. You see, the ladies at the office are all really into stamping, like, using rubber stamp kits and paper and markers and pencils all from this one company to make cutesy cards and things. So I'm making 125 cutesy cards with little baby chickens on the front and blah blah blah it's dumb. But it beats flipping burgers! And it's sort of artsy craftsy and I like that sort of thing. I'm just not a fan of excess, extravagance, wastefulness, throwing money and time and craft paper around, etc.

Here, watch this video to break up this post a little bit, cause it's getting long. It's weird but talented pop/rock/former visual kei sensation, Miyavi, singing "Hit the Road Jack!" Check out some of his other videos for some guitar slapping coolness, and more Engrish covers!

Blogging will now recommence..

I've also been listening to some Japanesepod101.com podcasts on the way to and from work lately! They're really good and I highly recommend them! We super need to start studying and reviewing so we don't get put in the dumb class.. Which brings me to my next topic/first question: Did anyone else get an email from Sophia a few weeks ago with a survey about your Japanese experience, and asking if you wanted to take the regular classes or the intensive classes? I'm thinking of taking the intensive classes.. They're two 90-minute sessions a day, 5 days a week, but it's for 8 credits. And I need at least 12 credits for my financial aid to be valid, so I'd have to spend those credits somewhere! Anybody else get that email?

To Greg and Jen: We all need to make our flights for serious I think.. Let's have one of those webmeetings and definitely get this all sorted out, when we're leaving, if we're flying together or not, etc etc etc and buy these puppies! I was thinking, as far as getting there early, when you guys get your DK House housing materials or whatever Chris said you'd get, you might wanna see about contacting the DK and asking about arriving early. When I signed up I just put that I'd be there on the 25th and they were like, ok cool. I'm assuming if/when I stay later than July 25th but leave before August 25th (the next full month), they would have some sort of alternative payment process maybe so you don't have to pay a full month for a few days? That's what my mom thought maybe... I better email them.

Is that all I had to say in this blog? Really? Hmm.. I think we should all blog more often again, yes, that would be good. I still check the blog like 3 times a day, so the only thing that's really changed is frequency of posts, mine included mos def. Oh yeah, Jen I was gonna ask you to persuade Andreano-san to make a guest blog post here on our blog, maybe closer to time to start packing and leaving, with like.... a list of all the things he thinks we might like to know before we go to Sophia, or things to bring/not to bring, and then we can all annoyingly post comments asking things like "Does Sophia have a cafeteria? Is it any good? Like.. Newcomb good or O'Hill good? Ok but like.. on a Monday, or more like Thursday where they start putting a chicken patty on top of a bowl of pasta and giving it a foreign sounding name?" I think this is a great idea, and I'm suggesting it here.

I was going to sew a whole bunch of cute new summer clothes to take to Japan but...alas.. I've only gotten through about a fourth of a purse and gotten totally unmotivated! Work needs to.. not make a person feel totally drained for the rest of their free evening! On an ending note, let's all watch America's Best Dance Crew tomorrow night, because I like those kinds of shows and they're great, and who knows. Maybe we'll all fall on hard times someday, abandon our college educations, take to the streets and start our own Dance Crew. And then win that show. Somebody come up with a kickin' name for our crew.

This blog is too long now! I'd put some pics in but I'm feeling preettty lazy. Maybe another day. Goooooodnight!

Wait for it..

2008-02-06T09:15:00.001-05:00

I am so blogging tonight.

Blog Project! w00t!

2008-01-30T23:02:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

So you'll (hopefully) get an e-mail from Chris tomorrow, which will really be an e-mail from me. Like Natalie and Mia I received this scholarship that has a necessary service component. My service idea: a blog project. I'm trying to get all the Hoos studying abroad in Asia to create a blog to educate others about and incite others to study abroad in Asia. That being said, it'd be really cool if you all would jump on board, so to speak, and create your own individual blogs and then send me the link so I can put it on the main blog page for this project.

By no means is this an attempt to undermine the integrity and spirit and honesty of this here blog. It's just something I have to do. I'm sure you all understand. Just think of this as an opportunity to get really creative on your own page for (once again, hopefully) lots of study-abroad hopefuls, like your classmates and others in the Asia-centric departments.

I've already created the main page for this blog project and my own blog if you guys want to check those out: http://destinationasia08.blogspot.com/ and http://jeannetteinjapan.blogspot.com

I hope you all are enjoying your very extended breaks :) And sorry that I've been so M.I.A. on this blog. I will post more. Scout's honor.

D-elicious K-uisine

2008-01-28T19:02:00.001-05:00

So I spent about 6 and 1/2 hours today with my grandparents learning how to make lumpia... and my family didn't die immediately after consuming it.

In fact, they said it was delicious, so maybe all you fellow Kongs have that to look forward to when we get sick of Japanese food (as if).

... oh, and maybe Mia and Teresa can join us. I did end up making FIFTY-ONE lumpias in the batch today. And fried rice!

Housing!

2008-01-25T00:19:00.001-05:00

He finally did it! Thanks to you guys who went to see Chris! See, of course there's an explanation behind delaying notification to us!

So looks like it's DK HOUSE for me.

Did any of you all get homestays? And who else will be basking in the lovely abode of the Donkey Kong?

Also hey, has anyone been looking into the visa thing?

Rescue

2008-01-23T00:16:00.000-05:00

Hey! Let's not let this thing die!

As we anxiously await housing information, has anyone new purchased tickets? I'm thinking of actually just arriving the 1st of April instead of earlier...but still not definite yet (obviously). And coming back July 31st instead of staying afterwards. I think by that time it might be nice to just go home. And plus, Dan was saying since there aren't really 'exams' for the classes, we'll be done like a week before the 31st anyway and would have that time to just do whatever. Also, I believe housing would end that day, so that's another thing to have to worry/think about then.

Also, if you've thought about it, how much luggage are you planning to bring? I really don't want to have a buttload to lug around but I'm not sure how to pack lightly for 4 whole months. At least it'll just be plain hot when we get there (right?) so we don't have to pack different seasonal clothing or anything. I also want to have enough space to be able to bring back gifts, souvenirs, clothing. Sigh this is going to give me a headache.

Okay, peace for now!

OH SNAP v. 2.0

2008-01-18T15:54:00.000-05:00

Sooooo guys.
Dan told me that the guy at the exchange student office at Sophia said that one Chris Payne has our housing info.
Has anyone gotten it?
He better get on that.
Or else.
Yeah, that's right. I said 'or else'.

Have a great first weekend that we would be at school!

OH SNAP

2008-01-16T11:08:00.000-05:00

Guess what today is?

THE FIRST DAY WE DON'T HAVE CLASSES HIGH FIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess who's back...

2008-01-15T23:40:00.000-05:00

...Back again...

It's been great catching up with all of your lives since I've been gone. Hope everyone's New Years celebrating went swell.

Anyhoo, Korea and Japan were great! Though apparently, the friends and I brought the cold everywhere we went, so for all you wondering, that is why it suddenly got cold in ol' Virginia.

So whilst in Japan, I took a little visit to our soon-to-be University. Unfortunately I could only make it out on a Sunday, when it was about to close (5pm), so needless to say, it was really empty. I did walk down the main 'street', saw the buildings, used a bathroom, saw the 3 cafeterias, went into the 7-11. It is small, in case you haven't heard. They have a cheerleading team because they think it's cool because they see it in American movies. They call themselves the "Lollypoppers" which I find HILARIOUS. I also met a few of our soon-to-be classmates, by way of Dan. And heard some interesting stories about other classmates, and some teachers.

Also went to some good restaurants. And I have quite the collection of those cards they give you that they stamp, and you get some sort of discount or something after you've spent a certain amount of money, plus some coupons and the like. Plus a Mister Donut card. I really want a small stuffed animal lion. It's 500 points. I have 30, but that's beside the point. You guys will help me, right? There's this cheap bar in Shinjuku that I frequented (300yen/beer), but even if you don't drink, the atmosphere's kinda cool. It's a standing bar, that mainly gaijin go to, but Dan and I definitely met some interesting people, including these two old Japanese men (I got a business card from one of them!)

Also some cool places to go that will be even more AMAZING when the weather is nice: Fuji-Q (amusement park with some world record holding rollercoasters, though it will suck when the lines are long - I went when everyone was in school so it was great), Disney Sea/Land - I went to Sea and it was a lot of fun, though supposedly it's more for couples to go to because it has more shows and pretty views and things. Fun shopping area nearby too. Odaiba - SO much fun. There's this arcade open 24 hours with TONS of games, purikura (which OMG how did I forget about THOSE and how much FUN they are?), and sporting like baseball and bowling. Pretty pretty scenery too. Yokohama too. And then Karaoke. I'm not a huge fan because I don't sing, but I love hearing others sing! So you all better practice up! (Greg, could your last post's title have been a reference to Foreplay/Long Time?!) And izakaya restaurants are quite fun and enjoyable.

One last note, SAVE YOUR MONEY NOW. As you probably know, the USD does not go very far, and Japan is EXPENSIVE. Traveling, food, entertainment, shopping...it SUPER adds up. My friends who had Wachovia/Citibank cards had no trouble with withdrawing cash from ATMs, but you should check if there's some sort of international fee. Citibank is good though because there actually are Citibanks in the big cities, so if you needed to go to the physical bank, you can find one. Have some credit cards ready as well, though many places don't accept them, but for big purchases, they would be very good. But make sure to notify the company that you'll be abroad or they will most likely restrict the account after your first swipe. And beware that there's usually a fee to make international charges.

So anyway, it's time for me now to get a job or 2, and start studying up, and learning how to cook and such. And if you're curious about anything else, feel free to ask!

IT'S BEEN SUCH A LOOONNNGGG TIIIIIMMMMME

2008-01-13T23:31:00.000-05:00

Hey there homies... just wanted to give y'all a little insight into what I've been up to this break:

(1): Gregory Weaver has continued his job as a cashier at Farm Fresh and took back his title of fastest cashier in the store within the first week of his return. BAM! Free Starbucks, here I come!

(2): Gregory Weaver has been substitute teaching for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. So far, he has subbed for a middle school Japanese teacher, middle school science teacher who only needed replacing during her homeroom and planning bell so that the bright green Greg could read the large chunk of Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids that he didn't read in Japanese Lit class, French high school teacher, and two high school math teachers. Tomorrow he returns to the French school to teach Social Studies. He did in fact catch a really rich-looking white girl cheating on a math test. Cha-ching!

(3): Gregory Weaver has been playing video games. In fact, he's been playing a lot of Rock Band and is trying to push himself through expert level drums, which isn't going so well. Furthermore, he was SO EXCITED about the launch of Final Fantasy Tactics for the PSP that he bought a PSP and the game, raising this month's credit bill to over $800. Thanks so much, saxophone case!

(4): Gregory Weaver has not been following through with his goals for the winter.

(5): The last movie the aforementioned name saw was.................... huh. I don't know. But I did watch The Sarah Conner Chronicles tonight on Fox. Where the hell did Terminator 3 go!? Regardless, I've started watching Psyche and am hankering for some American Idol on Thursday. Ooo ooo, let's all bet when it comes down to the last ones!

(6): Tiring REALLY early. Have a fun night everyone!

2008-01-12T16:02:00.000-05:00

Hello!
I hope you all are doing well (and enjoying the fact that everyone else is getting ready to go back to school).
I just had a question for the non-dk house people.. did anyone hear from Payne/Sophia on housing or anything? Or do you know when we should expect to hear from them?
-M

I AM BOOKED

2008-01-08T12:46:00.001-05:00

kk minna!!!

~NEWS UPDATE~

i am booked into the Yoyogi Hostel from March 26 until April 1. they only allow for 6 consecutive night stays with online booking so that's what i'm doing. there are tons of conditions for staying there, BUT there is NO CURFEW. so, if i decide to stay out all night and go wild, i may. however showers can only be taken at night and you cannot be at the hostel between 9am and 5pm. weird, i know, but apparently that's how hostels run. i also bought myself a membership to youth hostel international for like $28 online. if i had chosen to stay at an actual hotel, the bill would've been about $950. and that's for the cheapest of the cheapest hotel. by staying at this hostel, it's only $150 and i may or may not have to be charged extra because of my nifty hostel membership. sweet, yeah?

turns out that i'll likely be flying on the 25th from Dulles. ANA has direct flights from there. Thai Airlines does also. i am determined to try and fly a 4star airline, so i have to decide between ANA or Thai. ANA has my current pick though.

the flight i really want will set me back $1923.99 on cheaptickets.com.

it's a direct flight via ANA

Tue, Mar 25
Depart:
1:13 pm
Washington, DC (IAD)
All Nippon Airways 7029operated by UNITED AIRLINES INC.

Arrive:
4:20 pm next day
Tokyo, Japan (NRT)

Fri, Aug 15
Depart:
4:00 pm
Tokyo, Japan (NRT)
All Nippon Airways 7028operated by UNITED AIRLINES INC.

Arrive:
3:34 pm
Washington, DC (IAD)

With this, I'll arrive in time to make my check-in and won't be hassled too bad.

Bah... i really hate this whole travel thinger.

-UPDATE-
i have been shotdown by poppa bear. i will be takin' UA. which is the exact same damn flight only $600 cheaper. hehehe. ^___________^

airfare.com

use it!!!

tickets that show up as $600 or more elsewhere are majorly discounted here.

my new airfare price is... *DRUM ROLL*

$1342.22

Airline
From
To
Departue
Arrival
Stops
803 United Airlines
IAD-Dulles Intl, Washington, District Of Columbia, USA
NRT-Narita, Tokyo, Japan
Tuesday25 Mar01:13 PM
Wednesday26 Mar04:20 PM +1

Elapsed Time 0 hr 0 min -->
804 United Airlines
NRT-Narita, Tokyo, Japan
IAD-Dulles Intl, Washington, District Of Columbia, USA
Friday15 Aug04:00 PM
Friday15 Aug03:30 PM

sweet, no?

- UPDATE PART II -
turns out that i will be heading to china pre-Japan. i'll be in china for chinese new year! wheee. I'll be flying over there on 2/4 and will be heading back 2/25. exactly one month before i'm due in Japan. should be fun times.

ちょう　がっかりしてんよ．．．

2008-01-06T13:19:00.000-05:00

こんにちは！私は今ちょっと大変だから休んでここに私の思い出を書く。私はMCATを受けた後のよていはまだまだ決まっていない。それはね、私の一番大変なことだよ。そして、集中できないし何もしたくないし仕事も探したくないし大変。どうすればいいかしら？

みんなは今何してんの？遊び？アルバイト？休み？

ああああああ～

ひまだな～

本当に勉強しなきゃけど私の頭はからっぽいよ。

写真がないけど．．．

さよう～
テレサ

Google Maps is the Best

2008-01-02T17:00:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to all! I hope everyone had a great holiday season! I'm back from the bowl game which we lost literally in the last two seconds.. oof. It was a great game to watch though! And Jacksonville was so super warm! I've got a few days before I ship off to NYC for a Media Studies trip. I'll be there for a week, and hopefully after that I'll get to start break for reals! It'll be high time for some job-workin, self-improvin, Japanese-studyin hima na toki.

This morning I got curious and managed to find Sophia and the DK House on Google Maps! Here's the map I made. I marked the Sophia Yotsuya campus, DK House, and the Nishi-Kawaguchi Station near the DK House. If you draw a straight line from DK to Sophia it's about 9-10 miles. I tried making a line along the train route and it's about 12 miles, although I'm not sure whether we'll need to switch trains or anything en route. It's no UVA, but it's not too bad if you ask me!

So my anime pic post for today is a continuation of pretty much every pic I've posted so far; the ever suteki na, Kaleido Star!
If anybody wants to watch this show, I'd be more than happy to burn copies of my DVDs and mail them! It's a great watch with a super-motivating main character! Jen, this would be a good starting-out anime for you =D I got season 2 for Christmas XD

And Greg, I would be honored to sit by you on the plane, should the opportunity present itself! =D

Ja mata!

HAPPY NEW YEARS

2007-12-31T12:18:00.000-05:00

hey all!!!

as my title states, i am present to wish everybody a wonderful NEW YEAR!!!! woot woot!!!

as to flights and other such matters, my father, who used to run a travel agency, is able to get me tickets to Japan on JAL or ANA for like $1,090 or so. i'm not sure if this is absolute or true yet because he tried to fax me the papers and my black ink cartridge is a bit wasted. i will see dem papers wen'z i hippity hop'z it hoooome'z. hahaha.

also, in referall to Natalie's question about visas and applications and all that. to my knowledge, we were all required to fill out the Certificate of Eligibility when we turned in our documents to accept our admission in Sophia. what follows next is lost to me, but supposedly they're supposed to contact us or something when we are able to retrieve our visas.

furthermore, greg, it seems like you'll be flying out of dulles. well, i find that prices and offerings are slightly better at reagan. also, a hint to all those who are flying, DO NOT PICK NEWARK AS A TRANSFER STOP!!!! EVER!!!!

Newark is like hell for transfers. All the people there are overworked and underpaid. They are also extremely short tempered due to the massive amounts of people passing through the airport. Construction is also a pain. Their security people are also muchos touchy. Pick ANYWHERE ELSE to transfer flights. I personally recommend Atlanta. I just like the airport there, it's really big and really clean.

Those are my two cents. *drops a couple pennies*

Oh yeah, Natalie, my picture of the post selection last time was actually about Saiunkoku. A more recent anime than Fushigi Yuugi. I recently got back into Fushigi and realized how freakin' old school it was. *sigh* Saiunkoku is my most recent addiction. It's about court life and the trials and tribulations of a poor high-blooded noble lady by the name of Kou Shuurei.

Jikan ga attara, zettai ni mitemite! Hontou ni omoshiroi kara!

Now, my next selection is.... *DUN DUN DUN*

This wonderful anime goes by Heroic Age. At first, it seems like another boring ole descendent of the whole Neogenesis Evangelion and Gundam ilk, but upon further viewing, it SUCKS YOU IN. Really good fun. I didn't watch all of it, mostly the beginning and end, but it's good times for all.

About buying tickets

2007-12-29T13:10:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

So here's what I know about buying plane tickets; it's not much but I hope it'll help you all schedule your flights.

1. Buy on a Wednesday: For some reason buying your plane tickets on a Wednesday gets you cheaper flights.
2. Check out studentuniverse.com: I got my ticket there for $1091 so it was kind of a steal.
3. ...It seems I only know two things about buying plane tickets, so....

Also, a quick question, do we need to worry about visas? And is anyone planning on getting a job in Japan? I think it might be fun/a good way to practice one's Japanese.

Flight

2007-12-28T13:28:00.000-05:00

Hey guys... I've been looking at some flights today and have found out that they're all DAMN EXPENSIVE. Being told that Japanese airlines are better in general, I first checked out ANA (All Nippon Airlines) and then I checked out United to see if there was much of a price difference. There's not. Here's what I did:

Depart: Dulles (IAD) March 24, 2008
Arrive: Narita, Tokyo (TYO) March 25, 2008
Depart: Narita August 2, 2008
Arrive: Dulles August 2, 2008

ANA Economy Class Roundtrip: $2,867.40
United Economy Class Roundtrip: $1,916.50
ANA Business Class Roundtrip: $10,171.40
United Business Class Roundtrip: $10,368.50

As you can see, there's an absurd difference between the economy and business class. My parents told me that they recommended business for some reason, but I definitely agree with them when they say that flying business isn't worth a semester of school. Dulles does have a few other airlines departing for Japan that day including Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International, but I didn't check their prices or anything.

Thus, I'll be doing an economy class flight. If you all are down with that, let's schedule our flights together. Otherwise, I guess I'll be flying out of Norfolk International by my lonesome =(:::

Soshite, there's about a $200 difference in leaving/arriving on a Thursday compared to a Friday, and an even larger difference compared to a Saturday. August 2nd is unfortunately a Saturday, so we could get cheaper rates leaving on the 1st and even CHEAPER leaving on the 31st. The 31st is in fact the start of break, but would it be too much of a hassle to end exams on the 30th and go straight home right afterwards? We could always leave on Monday, too...

I'm about to call them and see what their carry-on size is and if they have any instrument protection policies or something... although I'm 95% positive they don't since neither of my teachers have told me about ANY airlines that do...

Update: ... and indeed! No one supports instruments larger than 22 inches (my saxophone is a whopping 32... even the alto is 26 or so), so I guess I'm going to buy that $400 case and hope for the best for my poor wittle horn : ( (the agony...!) So, I'm game for any airline... especially ANA.

Sayonara! For now...

2007-12-25T23:36:00.000-05:00

So to echo Greg a bit, hope everyone's holiday has been and continues to be great! Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year as well!

I'm heading out in a few hours (catching an early flight) for my eagerly-anticipated and much-awaited Korea/Japan trip! I'll be gone until the 14th of the new year, and needless to say, I'm sorely going to miss this blog for that time period (though I'll probably be able to get online a few times...) It's tradition now for me to pack everything the night before (even when I head to college! though I feel I'll probably start packing for Sophia a biiiiit earlier. At least I should...) Right now I'm in the stage where I'm trying to figure out what I can actually leave behind to free up some room in my suitcase. Packing in winter STINKS because clothes take up so much more space. I'll just warn my fellow travelers that they will see me wearing the same stuff...

My goal is to not buy too much. According to mother, I really don't need so much clothing. I plan to spend my money mainly on experiences, like Disneyland (woohoo!) and seeing places and going out with friends. Let's see how this goes!

So goodbye for a while, keep up the blog! And now I leave you with...Detective Conan! What a cutie.

CAAAANDLES BURNIN' LOW...!!!

2007-12-25T23:11:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to say that I hope everyone has had a absolutely fantastic Christmas.

And that I think I'm going to buy a DS... what's that game? "Kanji no shou" or something?

And! Sorry that I wasn't on chat last night XD XD XD I tried to nap and wake myself up, buuuut I had an AWESOME Christmas sleep instead, waking up to the smell of breakfast. It was fantastic! Despite all of the feelings that it wasn't Christmas up until today, it was TOTALLY Christmas on Christmas day. The only thing was that I didn't go to mass (shame on meeeeee!!!!!!!!!!) ACTUALLY the truth is I was going to go to midnight mass and then I was like CRAP I HAVE TO CHAT WITH THE SOPHIA PEOPLE AT MIDNIGHT CAUSE I SET IT UP AAAAGGGHHHHH IguessI'llgoto7ammass. Wellll my parents didn't get up for mass, so guess who else didn't? Blarggg.

I thought I'd get some pretty harassing e-mails/comments, but actually I just got nice phone messages from Jen. It was very Christmas-y of her to be very pleasant as I dreamt of sugar plums and candy canes (... or at least I probably did... I don't remember my dreams from last night).

Anyway, hope it was awesome for everyone.

P.S.: Anyone get anything cool?

P.P.S.: Listen to the Stevie Wonder Christmas song before the night is over because it's SOOOOOOOO HOT!!!!

All Alone.. UNDECIDED

2007-12-24T11:01:00.001-05:00

i'm feelin' all alone now. it seems like everybody is headin' over to stoopid donkey kong house. stoopid dinky kurl house. booo.

i'm sick at the moment. and it sucks. apparently, i'm feverish and coldy-like. i am also deeply in charge of christmas dinner tomorrow. i am making tons of food. here's my yummy nummy menu:

cheese-stuffed mushrooms
garlic roasted potato skins
velvety mashed potatoes
smashed sweet potatoes
emiril's big bird
giblet gravy
mac 'n cheese with bacon
sauteed green beans with pancetta and mushrooms

i also bought a pie so i didn't have to bake that damn shit.

stoopid brother won't go and buy my ingredients while i wallow and rest. stoopid brother.

i hope everyone's holiday funs perks up like craziness. also, i hope that we will all be able to meet in an AIM box soon enough. it's midnight or noon or something yeah?

hahaha. i am following natalie's rec of posting random pictures. this is from my favorite anime at this time. full of yummy bishies and complicated plot twists. fun.

update. made everyone an admin. go crazy!

The Christmas Spirit

2007-12-24T00:54:00.000-05:00

      Tonight was excellent. I have been kind of down in the dumps with Christmas spirit this year... there were only two things that I can point out that really have brought it out so far, and they are Chris Plietz playing Christmas songs on the Steel Drum while standing on the steps of Old Cabell on the last day of exams, and then tonight. It was probably because I wasn't able to really "adjust" to Christmas time... or to my return to the real world where I'm not living in a box. Exams ending so late should be a religious AND just outright social offense. BUT...

      Tonight I went out and caroled with a bunch of my friends. Nothing big; all I did was print out the lyrics to a handful of Christmas songs, we sang through them once, and then at 9:00 headed out to sing. You'd think people would be more angry than anything since it was so late and since some football game was on. But nope! We went to the houses with lights on and probably sang for a good ten people. Not much, it seems, but we didn't really hit up that many houses. THAT'S the way to get into the "musical" side of the holiday spirit. The radio sure plays some awful versions of Christmas songs... But yeah, after that we came back to my house and watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas", which is not only about the REAL meaning of Christmas, but also about how corporate America's attempt at commercializing Christmas just sucks (did anyone else catch that in the movie? this was my first time realizing it). Also, egg nog and cider was passed around...

     With the weather being as warm and rainy as it is right now, you may not feel up to spirit. But, I guarantee you that singing to complete strangers-who-are-actually-neighbors with friends is a great way to lift your spirits.

     Oh, and mistletoe's a good way to celebrate, too. You all missed out... I had it last year ; ) I guess I'll just have to pretend me whoring myself can only take place every OTHER year (as I did it senior year, then 2nd year), so we both have a year to prep ourselves +]

See you all innnn 23 hours!

Isn't Natalie the Best?

2007-12-23T19:18:00.001-05:00

The answer is: yes.

Ooo, check out these random images from high school, all having to do with THUMBS UP!!!

I still support this campaign... just to let you know.

So much for being useful. IIIIIIII'm going caroling.

DK House Get!

2007-12-23T17:08:00.000-05:00

Hey gang. It sounds like the fine folks at the DK House are gonna let me in! =) But they want a copy of my visa, which apparently Sophia has to initiate with that Certificate of Eligibility.. so I asked if they could wait til I get that.

After talking with Mia and Jeannette about the scholarship, I've learned that they're apparently pretty laid back about the deadlines, so I'm just going to send them a tentative itinerary so we don't have to try and organize it over the holidays. Speaking of which, I hope you're all having a great break! I'm trying to see what of this scholarship app and Sophia app I need to take with me as my family leaves for Missouri after Christmas to see other family =)

I finally got a chance to see that site you posted, Jeannette. I really liked the one about Japanese husbands, cause that's something I've always thought is way messed up about Japanese society and is one of the big reasons I can't see myself living permanently in Japan and raising kids there or anything.

Is anyone on Verizon? We should all exchange cell numbers XD I just got a new phone and it takes pictures, and if anyone else has unlimited sending/receiving, we should totally start sending pointless pics back and forth. I mostly just want an excuse to play with my new phone...

Speaking of pictures, I've decided this blog needs more of it. No wonder Mia and Jeannette joined so late, this blog is booooorrriiiing to look at, aside from our icons. So here's another pic:
(She's saying "Super Lucky!" It's from my favorite anime, about the circus, Kaleido Star)

So I highly encourage the posting of random images in your next posts. Although it does look pretty classy right now with it's text and icons.. (well, not anymore, thanks to me).

I guess I don't have anything else to say right now except what I said early on in the post... so keep on having a great break minna, and don't forget to blog!

AIM

2007-12-22T00:27:00.000-05:00

EVERYONE LET'S MAKE AN AIM CHATROOM DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post your AIMS.

Mine is: DreamWeaver6x9

(don't tell anyone else, it's my SECRET one)

Kids these days!

2007-12-21T13:56:00.000-05:00

So, this may come across as...random...but Britney's sis Jamie Lynn Spears is freaking pregnant. Let me just say that she was born in 1991. And I'll add that if numbers could be written in caps, that right there would be.

On another note, how about for the holidays we all wish for a better dollar-yen exchange rate. More bang for our buck, if you will.

Anyone got New Year's Resolutions?

Anyone thinking of getting a job in Japan?

Happy 1st Friday of break! Look how prolific our blog is!

Tokyo Stories

2007-12-21T13:12:00.001-05:00

Hey all,

One of my friends sent this link to me. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/interactives/tokyostories/

Hello All-

2007-12-21T10:32:00.000-05:00

I hope you are enjoying your time at home.
I'm very new to this whole blog thing so bear with me.
I will be going to Korea previous to Japan and therefore will be flying into Japan from Inchon/Seoul.
Good luck on plane tickets and such.
And have a productive three months before Sophia.
And.. enough of single sentence lines.. Happy holidays!!

Of Scholarships and Flight Itineraries

2007-12-20T16:12:00.000-05:00

Hello friends. I, too, am home sweet home again! My computer's not set up yet, so Greg I can't make your avatar for a few days, and I have to use my old one for now.. I hope everyone is totally relaxed by now, and grades are shaping up nicely!

I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. I got a scholarship for spring, but they need to have all the acceptance materials back by January 2nd (LAME), and one of the things they need is flight itinerary. I really super want to fly with the rest of you guys, and I'm not sure how soon we all think we should try and get our flight set up. If, and only if, everyone thinks that soon is good, and very soon is not too soon, then maybe we could go ahead and try and set up our flights? The earlier we decide, the cheaper it will be, but it may be too early for some people to know what they're schedules will be and such, and we might want longer to do research on airlines and prices.

The thing with this scholarship is that since I'm already getting need-based grants from UVA for financial aid, every time I get a scholarship I have to report it, and they subtract the same amount from my grants. So basically, I don't see any of the scholarship money (it's a "wash", as my mom called it) and the only real reason to accept it is so I can say on a resume "I got this scholarship, I'm way cool." (But I feel like I could still say that even if I didn't accept it).

So basically, I'd be totally cool to not accept the scholarship so we can wait on making flight arrangements (we'd basically need to have it done by the time between Christmas and New Year's so I could get it there by Jan 2nd.. and I'm gonna be out of town for the bowl game that week!) because this scholarship really isn't helping me at all. But if everyone's ready and really really want to go ahead and get the flight planning out of the way and all, then maybe we could. I'm going to email Mary Jo Bateman and see what she thinks, cause she's way cool.

Anyway, comment back about what y'all think. Haaapppppy Holidays!!!

Home

2007-12-18T22:11:00.000-05:00

Finals done and whatnot, will this be the beginning of a new era for our blog!?!? Will our mysterious other compadres show their faces................?!?!?

I don't care how awesome school is, I love it here. It's going to be weird when I finally move out permanently... but I suppose that will make the holidays all that much more sweeter when I return for them...

(time to bag all of those comics that were in my room!!!)

SAYOONARA YOOOBEEAYYYYYYY~

2007-12-18T07:45:00.000-05:00

ohayoo! la la la... i have 15 minutes to kill before i get dressed and drag myself off to my LAST FINAL, and i wanted to mark this incredible moment by blogging, sad, but true. hahaha.

think on it guys! this is our LAST DAY as STUDENTS at UVA pre-Sophian era. when we come back, we'll be all internationally-linked/globally-awarized. we will never get back this last few tortorous days of finals, quietly biding our time until we can hop on a plane and go to a country where we have to speak in a foreign language or else be lost. *sigh*

i think all of us will be coming back as 4th years, so... yeah... i feel like this is a very "special" day for all of us. end of finals. end of 3rd year. beginning of the Sophian-era. beginning of 4th year. whooooooooot!!!

kk, that's all i wanted to say! good luck today everybody!!! *CHEERS*

love love

- T

Success!

2007-12-16T19:59:00.001-05:00

Coooooool!
So I really just wanted to try the icon thing...

But, good job to us for organizing and seeing to fruition a little gathering of future Sophians! I had fun, so thanks for all coming out! And I am now a proud owner of an ISIC!

Well, I hope everyone does amazingly on their papers and exams! Good luck!!
And then of course, have a fantastic and relaxing and fun winter break! ...er...3 month break.
I'm sad because I will be returning home to the land of dial-up Internet, meaning I probably won't be checking this or whatever as often as I can here, starting the night of the 18th. But we should definitely start keeping an eye on tickets! ...And start saving up $money$...

See yall, keep in touch!

Don't eat burritos right before playing a wind instrument

2007-12-16T13:34:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! Just wanted to post on the blog and remind everyone about CHIPOTLE this evening. I'm going to drive Jen to Peace Frogs so she can get there before five and we'll meet up at the place after that... hopefully you all don't mind an early dinner...

... I wish I had something awesome to post for you guys today, buuuuut circumstances being how they are...

OH WAIT! I have a story about my travel problems. So, the most exciting thing for me in Japan will be me doing my own field research for a comparative study on attitudes towards jazz between Americans and the Japanese. In short, this will require me to go to shows, do interviews, and, best of all, I plan to find some circles to play in around Tokyo! (sorry if I've mentioned this already to you all) Well, doing this is going to be somewhat of a pain on the plane, unfortunately, because I have to bring my horn and as you all know, airport staff isn't too with even the most fragile luggage. So that means I'd have to either buy this $395 saxophone case or join the Musicians Union (gag) or kick some ass until they let me take it on as a carry-on. Or all three.

RATS!

Assignments?!?!

2007-12-14T11:36:00.000-05:00

my brain has officially gone to muck sometime between 4am this morning and 11:30am, when my freaking chem final ended. i paid 4.50 for parking!!! 4.50 that could have bought me four freaking hamburgers, or a bunch of candy, or even a pair of those really ghetto headphones they sometimes make you pay for on airplanes. blahhhhh... yeah! this post is absolutely, completely and utterly RANDOM. pay it no mind if you don wanna. i won't chase you around with a firecracker or nothing if you don't. i just need to empty all that science from my mind until mcat season rolls around. btw, Jen, what assignments? you mean the internet stuff only right? there's nothing more that i need to do or anything that's do early is there? please say no so that my life doesn't get inexplicably shorter due to random stress caused by a foreign language spoken in a foreign country where i am due to go to sometime between snow and rain.

oh yesss... for all those who don't read our lovely comments section!!!

CHIPOTLE!!! SUNDAY OR MONDAY!!! sometime...
me have car. me can drive. me drive berry goot. 'cept when dropping people off from my movin' car. yep yep. no accidents. none. whoop whoop!

let's all go kk? we need to communicate and deepen our everlasting bonds of friendship, yeah? hahaha... like spongebob and patrick! ahhh... patrick, why is your tummy so fluffy and nice to lounge on?

oooh yeah. im a geek. i found an old copy of photoshop and decided to battle it out 'moticon wise with natalie. hahahaha. i was going to beg her to makes me a pretty pretty one like hers, but then... i was high as a kite this morning and needed to burn off my caffeine buzz, so that joyous lil flop of a tofu is what remains.

and yet, another transition,

does anybody know what that e-mail from Chris entails? are we supposed to be doing more? are we actually supposed to go to the nearest Japanese Embassy and get our visas from them? i don't really get's it. nope.

oh yeah! sad news! i may not be going to china this lovely break because my momma has to train new people at the restaurant. i could go alone but... frankly, i just ain't that brave. i have no clue what i am to do now. i do want to travel before japan time comes around, but if everything falls through, i may just be chillin' in charlottesville for a long long while, playing games and vegging like there's no tomorrow.

hmmm... i wonder if the last part of our group *cough* sehyun *cough* reads his e-mails. oh well, i hope he joins up soon. i also hope jeannette and mia write something soon.

la la la.... off to see a wizard. the wonderful wizard of england. the boy with the scar and can drive a flying car. i'm off to see a wizard! yes... i know...

inner monologue of all who reads this post: "omg... poor teresa!!! what happened to that girl? she's all... whonky..."

^________________^
*glomp* *chew chew chew*

bye bye for now!!!

love love
T

oooh yeah... here's a picture of the rest of my tofus. i had trouble picking one for me but i think sweating is a good summary of how i am right now.

Enoki Nun's Dorm?!

2007-12-12T19:24:00.001-05:00

First of all, if anybody wants a sweet icon for their posts, lemme know and I'll make you one. That way it's easier to tell who's writing right off the bat (I'm too lazy to scroll all the way down). Or if you think mine sucks you can make your own! I might change the size, it doesn't seem to be letting the text wrap very nicely.

Anyway, I was reminded that the Enoki Women's Dorm might be the one run by nuns... and it is! And it has a curfew! And it's closed on holidays! All of these things would probably = suck. Plus it's way more expensive than the DK House. Hopefully my application materials will get here soon and I can see what my options are... DK House is lookin' miiiighty fine. My mom's a super chef too, so I'd be really excited to harness the power of my cooking genes and learn to cook for reals in Japan.

I already asked Mia this one, but what are you all doing on your three month winter vacation? I'm gonna look for a job as soon as I get home and make some serious Japan money. And study Japanese I suppose.

Now I've almost run myself out of time to run to O'Hill for some Carved Ham and Macaroni & Cheese (not sarcastic, actually one of my very favorite O'Meals, if you will). But before I go, lemme throw a little math* at you:
This blog = my favorite distraction

Talk to you all later,
Natalie

*Natalie got a C- in Calc 131. Any supposed "math" may be nothing more than two terms with an equals sign between them. Don't be deceived.

Tacos

2007-12-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I just picked a random title, but now that I think about it, I'm sure going to miss tacos while I'm in Japan........ Let's eat at Chipotle for our friendly get together, ne? XD

I just wanted to add a useless post and tell you all that I'll be driving tonight until ONE THIRTY A.M. so come keep me company and study to your heart's content. You can ask the other drivers to track me. Hm? No? Egh...

Also... don't forget about your ISIC cards... they're really fast and easy to get at Peace Frogs.

DK House 2008 fo' life, suckas.

I'm in!

2007-12-10T20:25:00.000-05:00

Well, unofficially. My number's on the list of numbers accepted on the website, so hooray! I guess I should introduce myself first!

I'm Natalie, 3rd year Japanese/Media Studies major. I applied through direct enrollment instead of the exchange, so that's why I just found out that I'm going. It's been such a long wait, I'm glad I can switch over to I'm-really-going-now mode!

I think my housing info and everything will be coming in the mail with my acceptance letter sometime this week, and I'll start looking at travel options then. Flying over together would be amaaazziing and I know my parents would feel a lot better about it that way =) I'd seen some of the guesthouse sites before and it looks pretty cool, but my concern would be that we would only need it for like a week, but it looks like they mostly want people staying for at least a month. Maybe there are different ones that are more hotel-like that you can just check in and out of pretty quick.

As for what Jen asked about housing and meal plan contracts, I emailed housing last month about this, and they said that when I found out if I was going to be abroad to just e-mail them and they would release me from my contract (you still get your room next year if you did the housing contract last month though).

As for dining, I think maybe it's at this site. It says the deadline was September 4th, but I think that only means if it was changes for the Fall semester. I have written down somewhere that January 23rd is the deadline. It'd probably be wise to e-mail them too just to be safe.

This blog looks like it's going to be a good place to share resources and concerns and excitement, hooray! I'm asking for the kanji dictionary "game" for DS for Christmas. =D

One last thing! According to the site, since I'm non-degree, I'll be placed in:
Sophia Enoki Women's Dormitory
54-1 Minamienoki-cho,
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0852

I think this is the website of the company in charge of the dorm? Does anyone have the address for the DK dorms? I wanna find out how close/far away they are from each other! I hope they're not too far away from campus. Eep, now I'm too excited to study for finals!

Awesome

2007-12-09T13:54:00.000-05:00

First off, thanks to Teresa for organizing this (and Natalie for the blog idea)! Now we can still keep in touch over winter break and that off-time we have before heading to Japan.

Ah right, introduction. I'm Jen.

I was also going to wait for more information from Sophia before purchasing a plane ticket. We also need to find out when the placement test is, or if we schedule it ourselves or whatever. I remember Daniel Andreano-san taking off September 17th and I think his placement test was the 18th. And he did mention wishing he had had more time to un-jetlag and adjust to Japan before he had to take it. So that would definitely be a big determinant in when to go. But I'm definitely all for getting tickets and flying over there together. But we'll see how it works out.

In terms of what to do, it'd be awesome if we all just traveled all around, but logistics with all our belongings might get a little taihen. Issamu, who studied abroad at Sophia last semester, introduced me to these 'guest houses' that you can find pretty cheap and if we all roomed together we could probably have a whole house to ourselves. So we could find a place in Tokyo and then take small suitcases to travel with us. Even better, they let us in these homestays/dorms early so we can just drop stuff off and ride the rails around Japan, visit the campus, get used to Tokyo, etc.

Super excited! We should definitely do a dinner or some sort of get-together before winter break just to familiarize ourselves with one another. As with Greg, I'm also not leaving until the 18th.

Oh, for those in on-grounds housing and with meal plans, have you canceled the plans for next semester? Is there some official way to do this?

[Edit: I forgot to include the sites Issamu gave me about guesthouses...
http://www.sakura-house.com/ and http://www.oakhouse.jp/eng/ And now back to my paper!]

Off to Japan to PLAY

2007-12-09T11:10:00.000-05:00

hello friends and fellow journey makers,

i am Teresa and am one of the potential 7 heading off to Japan this spring semester from UVA to study at Sophia University in Tokyo. i have met everybody invited to see this blog at one point or another and you have been invited to either blog here as well or comment if you're part of the huge group running off to J-land.

i'll essentially restate what i put into my earlier e-mail.

i am very excited that such a large group of us are going together. that makes it major fun! i am pre-planning to arrive in Japan on March 25th, a week before we are due at campus. this is pre-planned because i seriously don't want to be in japan all by myself for a week. i could do it if necessary, but company always makes me feel more reassured.

please post your plans for Japan on this lovely lovely blog, kay? you can also do it through that earlier e-mail, but i figure if we do it here it'd be much much less crowded.

some fun websites i have found to help you plan flights and book hotels in japan:
http://www.bookingbuddy.com/
http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/en/

feel free to drop any comments ya want.

take care now,
T