Went to Kyoto~ 京都行った！

Had a pretty cool day in Kyoto today. It was only a day trip, so I didn't do TOO much stuff, but it was very nice nonetheless. Except for the rain. It would have been nicer if that wasn't there. But you know, whatever. It was neat. =]

Woke up at 5:40 just to go, too. The bus ride was about 2 hours long, but it probably could've been shorter if we didn't keep stopping for breaks. I guess it's cause it's a bus of a 30-some people. Someone's bound to have to go to the bathroom at any second. But whatever, it's fine ^^

Our first stop was Kiyomizudera, a temple overlooking the city (beautiful views, although I didn't get many pictures of it). It's a UNESCO World Heritage sight, which is pretty cool ^_^ And dates back to 778! Except... the buildings we walked around in were built in 1633. Still pretty gosh darn old, though.

I didn't take this picture; found it online ^^
I was there though!

I had lunch here. Nat-chan, me, and 3 Japanese girls walked down a narrow road and found a modern ramen shop. It was delicious!! I couldn't stop thinking about my diet though xD It should be okay. Ramen doesn't have too many calories, and there was a bunch of meat, egg, and vegetables in it. Should be fine! - I really wanted to take a picture of the ramen, but I forgot Y__Y It was my first Ramen-eating experience, haha. Not including... the instant ramen.

After lunch, we boarded the bus and went off to a big shopping "mall" (term 'mall' here is completely different than an American mall. Think.... strip mall... but completely covered and in a grid shape ^^). We went into a little sweets shop and learned how to make yatsuhashi, which are these biscuit things one puts in, for instance, ice cream or parfaits. It is supposedly one of the best souvenirs one can take back from Kyoto.

I might add pictures of the making of these yatsuhashi. Or... you can check out my facebook. The latter is preferable, but maybe if I got some comments asking to post these to the blog, I'll know you actually care. But as of now, the only feedback I'm getting is on facebook, AIM, or e-mail =] I can't hear you!

Anywho! After that adventure, we wandered off to Nijou Jou, which was the first Shogun's castle. Ieyasu, anyone? It was built in 1603 and is an entire work of art in itself. The castle's a historic relic, and a National Treasure. So it was pretty amazing getting to walk through the place, (shoes off, as per custom.) The most notable part of this palace - besides its amazing garden - is the way they designed the floors. Wherever you walk, the hallways make loud squeaking noises, kind of like the chirping of birds. This was done on purpose, to awaken anyone in the castle if there were an ambush or attack. It was pretty cool ^_^

I enjoyed the garden so much, though. I transformed into "emotional Lori" and found everything so beautiful that I tried taking pictures of everything that was amazing to me. I love Japanese gardens. The way the shapes of everything come together. It's wonderful. I try to capture what I see on camera, but I am not a photographer Y__Y Nor an artist. I always wish I was though!

So after that... we boarded the bus and went home. =] So even though it was just a day in Kyoto, I feel like I did quite a lot! ^^ I even bought some souvenirs. Some traditional okashi, candy. I don't know what its called and I can't explain it very well at all ^__^; It's like... a very, very soft flour dumpling with anko, sweet bean paste, inside. They're amazing. I was continuing to be emotional Lori on the way home on the bus, and I ended up eating HALF of them!! OH man. So much for my diet.

Speaking of my diet, it's going good. The only time I've "splurged" is today, with eating half of those candies =/ Its okay though! I did a lot of walking today. And, I've been exercising. I didn't jog yesterday, Friday, because I already hurt so much from Thursday and I was afraid if I did, today - my trip to Kyoto - was going to be unbearable. So I'm going to continue jogging again tomorrow and Monday. I wanted to tonight, but my friends say I shouldn't after dark - I think its totally fine, but if I do end up getting mugged, all I'd hear is "I told you so!" and I don't really care for that... so I'll keep my jogging for the daytime. But! I am doing ab exercises. Sort of. I can't really do crunches - mainly because I don't have the muscles there to begin with. Mostly because it destroys my neck and back. Certainly my scoliosis doesn't help the back part - hopefully neck pain will go away in time.

And tonight's dinner is 2 hard boiled eggs, and a can of corn. Today I've eaten... 2 sticks of bread for breakfast (230 calories), a bowl of ramen (?? calories), random pieces of Japanese candy (too many calories probably!!), and corn and eggs (?? calories). So... I dunno. I did ab exercises for about 20 minutes. And walked all day.

We'll see what happens. I really want to get into that 5 small meals a day thing, instead of 3 or 2 meals. Not quite sure how to make a "small meal." How can it be a meal if it's small? =/ I also find it really hard to eat breakfast, and that's supposed to be the largest of all 5 meals. Guh. I need a professional!

Okay well that's all for tonight. ^^; Hope everyone's having a good summer!

Haven't been Updating

Ahh...
I'm sorry, followers! I haven't updated in about a month Y__Y I suck so much! Don't hate me. (I'm actually more worried about hating myself, 20 years down the road when I want to re-visit my semester in Japan. =])
Updating has become some sort of chore for me. Especially! adding photos. You guys really need to check out my Facebook, hehe. The photos come with captions and everything! It's very special. ^_^
Anyways, not much has happened since my last post. Except that's a total lie. I went to Osaka & Nara for Golden Week (the beginning of May). It was tons of fun ^_^ Dad bought us a super awesome hotel because he's the BEST, so I got to save a lot of money. I think that trip might be one of the things that sticks with me.
Another "exciting" thing that happened - perhaps - was last weekend, I went to stay at a Japanese family's house for "homestay." Only, it was really just a sleepover =] It was a lot of fun. I think I'd learn Japanese 10x faster if I was in homestay my entire semester, but... I do like my solitude at the dorms. They both have their pros/cons...
This weekend I'm visiting Kyoto! Just for a couple hours though. I'll be sure to try to update, haha ^_^
I have to be in a good mood... Lately I've been depressed, but not because I'm homesick anymore. I'm having a huge problem with my weight. I'm 5'4, maybe 5'5, and weigh 130lbs, which isn't awful, but none of my clothes fit when they're for 100lb girls, and it's really bringing me down. I can't wear anything without having a huge muffin top. Also, my stomach is ultimate beer belly. It's awful. And it definitely doesn't help that every Japanese girl here is stunning and slender and fit.
So instead of "hoping" I'll lose weight just by existing in Japan, I'm gonna try to start working out and eating healthy. It's Day #1! I woke up early this morning and jogged for 15 minutes (a lot for me! I was so dizzy afterward), and then tried a 10 minute ab exercise via youtube. I don't think my body was made for abs or exercise at all. I somehow managed to destroy my shoulder(!) and had to lie on the ground for like a whole 5 minutes before I could move again, haha. OH man, I'm going to kill myself. I need to find a personal trainer. I don't think I have the abs to do any exercise with them... I need help xD
Anyway, the jogging and the abs took about 30 minutes. I'm gonna do it again later tonight, so that'll be a full 60 minutes of activity a day. And I'm also cutting out all junk food, including soda and alcohol. I have an "occasionally" only rule. Meaning, hey if my friends have money & I'm out, then go ahead and drink. -- Oh and I'm gonna try not to eat anything after 6pm, because of ... science ...
So, hello month of counting calories and destroying my body! I really hope I can keep up with this. I really want to be skinny again. I really hate myself whenever I eat anything. I feel so huge ><;
Okay! That's enough of that. Total non-Japan related. Sorry! I'll try to update more often ok ^^;

Chinpunkanpun

Posts are slowing down =] a bit more obviously now. I've been doing a lot of things, but nothing really post-worthy. I don't want to bore anyone ^_^ But I suppose yesterday was uber-Japan related. We woke up super early (on a Saturday morninggg) for a Field Trip to Osu. Osu is basically a little town on the outskirts of Sakae, the main city/district where I live. We went with my Japanese Culture class - the one that doesn't speak any English. It was pretty cool, apart from the rain. We went to second-hand kimono shops and looked around. Some people bought things, but I'm saving my souvenir shopping for when I come home.

By the way, let me know what kind of gift you want for when I come home. =] Comment or facebook or whatever. I already have a list of things to give Sean. I keep running into Pokemon stuff! Like today - pokemon bandaids. Can't find this stuff in the States! Will definitely want to take that home ^_^ But yeah, let me know. If it happens to be expensive you can send me money through PayPal.

Back on subject. I didn't bring my camera to Osu because I'm retarded, but I did use Nat-chan's video camera the entire time. ^_^ I'll see if I can make something out of the video footage, once I've got my hands on it.

The field trip ended at around 11am and we were supposed to meet up with two Japanese girls from school, but everyone decided to leave except Nat-chan and I. We had a TON of fun of them though. We didn't really do anything except PuriCura... They showed us some supa kawaii stores in Osu. And then we sat in a coffee shop and talked and talked and it was a lot of fun. I spoke in Japanese that entire afternoon ^_^ A great experience, really. I feel more confident with my speaking ability and my desire to study more has been heightened. So yay for that.

Last night we didn't do anything at all, which sucks cause it was a Saturday night. I was dead tired anyway from being out all day.

Today I haven't done anything either, but thats okay. I need a break. I've been doing nothing but homework today... which is actually a lie. I've only gotten 2 assignments done. The rest of the day has been spent watching anime. Yay, productivity. I'll finish the rest of my stuff sometime this week ^^.

Ooh Golden Week starts on Friday~ I wonder what we could do. =] Traveling will be so expensive, but supposedly there will be a lot of sales going on. Shopping in Sakae, anyone?! Oooh but I really do want to visit Nara before I leave Japan... Dilemma...

Well anywho. Until next time, minna <3

Things are Better

I am going to go ahead and blame my emo on sleep deprivation. I'm not necessarily deprived, but I have been very sleepy recently. That generally causes me to be... well, upset. About things. So! More sleep in the future. Kay ^^;

Genki janai...

The depression has started to sink in its shadowy fingers. I'm not too happy right now. And I wasn't too happy yesterday. Classes have begun and I'm not busy doing exciting things anymore. Yeah, the weekend was a lot of fun. Sunday was spent recuperating, and since then I've been spiraling downward. Not sure where I'm going, I can't really control things anymore.

I really don't want to sit here and write an emo heavy post, but I'm afraid that's what it has come to.

Little things are setting me off. I feel responsible for each and every individual, making sure everyone is satisfied with me. I feel a pressure of doing things just right, or have my life get fucked up. And when something goes wrong, I get 50lbs of earth lodged in my chest, and I can't breathe.

I have no willpower to do anything. I've run out of clean clothes, and everythings just scattered on the floor. I have a pile of school papers next to my desk that have yet to find a home anywhere. But I can't bring myself to care.

I've also pretty much decided that there is very little I'm going to learn here. My classes are so low level, I have no will to self-study, so I'm just going to stay where I am the entire time. How hopeless.

It's not that I want to go home. In fact, I don't want to. I like it here, and I love Japan. My friends are so nice and I'm always being given the opportunity to do something, or go somewhere. So - I'm not homesick. Just... generally... depressed.

It's really very awful. I want to spend the rest of the day in bed, but I am going shoe shopping. Hopefully that will cheer me up.

A Lil Update: Classes...

Allo~! So I'm not as stressed as was in the last post. My second culture class was pretty awesome. The 2nd "international student - designed" class. The Chinese and the Koreans and the Thai and etc. were not in this class, just us English and French and Polish. And a girl from Malaysia & Australia whose name is In-chan and is new to all the other classes I'm in ^_^

But the class was pretty cool. Instead of talking about the history or government of Japan, we started talking about the actual "psychological" culture of the people - such as behaviors, gestures, traditions, etc. There was a neat graph on the powerpoint that showed where an American vs. a Japanese is "allowed" to be touched (friendly touch!) by other people. The Japanese were not to be touched pretty much anywhere, but the Americans touchy zones were highlighted all over. Apparently, because I'm American, I am comfortable with a friend of the opposite sex touching me virtually anywhere except my shins... I find something wrong with this study...

This class was in Japanese, but easy Japanese, and she reviewed everything with English afterwards. =] Very helpful.

At lunch it kind of dawned on me that I need 16 credits this semester to keep my scholarship. And I'm only taking 12 I think? Feels like enough already! But I'm trying to add two more "bull shit" classes to complete my requirements... Classes that shouldn't require too much work. So far I've added an American Culture class taught in English, which should be a lot of fun. Secondly I'm trying to get into an English class to see if I can get any experience teaching, or at least tutoring, and by getting some college credit out of it. That would look great on resumes, don't you think?

I haven't been taking too many pictures lately, if I've been taking any at all. Nothing exciting has been happening. And I'm kind of scared to say, my blog posts might start dwindling away soon. Today I got my cellphone (w00t?), and tomorrow I am going shoe shopping (because I finally got my scholarship!). I don't know what we're doing after that but I'll be sure to bring my camera along just in case.

^_^ Sore ja... mata ne, minna <3

(PS. I hit 2,000 page views! Hooray~)

A Little Overwhelmed... Again...

Ehh. Okay. Things have been really nice here at Kinjo. But it's really starting to get to me that Chelsea and I are the only two "first semester" English only speakers here. Nat-chan is kind of in the same boat, but has a lot of experience learning different languages (uwa~ she knows Polish, English, French, Russian, German, and learning Japanese. Sugoi desu ne...). Oh and by first semester, I mean not having previously learned Japanese in a.. Japanese environment. At Kinjo.

So... the three of us... mostly Chelsea and I, I suspect... can't really speak Japanese that well.

So we were put into really beginner level Japanese classes. As in, we're re-learning "te-form" and particle usages (such as when to use 'de', when to use 'ni', etc). Which in all fairness is helpful I guess... I am learning some new words as we go along. And we're practicing reading & listening comprehension, which I'm pretty awful at. The conversation teachers also give us hints on how to be informal.

Okay so the language classes are fine. I shouldn't have any trouble at all.

Then there are the Culture classes. The three of us are taking 3 culture classes at the moment. One of them I've already talked about - it's for Japanese students who want to practice their English. The class is in English. Very nice. Not what I'm in Japan for, but whatever.

Today I had my first culture class that is designed for international students, and the only other classes available to us. Unfortunately... it was completely in Japanese. Completely. Because! All the other international students are so good at Japanese already, they follow her pretty easily. And it's fine for them. But I sat there the entire class so entirely lost, trying to write down anything I could catch, anything I slightly understood.

Yes, it's the entire reason I'm in Japan. To be immersed in the language. I understand that. And I'm extremely grateful not all of my classes are taught in English. I wouldn't be able to learn that way. It wouldn't be fair for the Chinese or Korean girls, too.

But when they put me in a class I have no choice in taking, that's in an entirely different language, and expect me to pass it - as in, write 3 page papers about "what I've learned" every 2 weeks - that's when I get a little emotional. And extremely overwhelmed.

I just don't understand why they put us in a Japanese class that doesn't teach us Japanese (exaggeration; I mean to say new material, stuff I don't know), and then put us in another class that's way too advanced for my comprehension.

I'm this close to asking my neighbor for a smoke. I won't. But it's extremely tempting...

Ehhhh I'll get over it eventually! It was my first class, and it's my second week in Japan, I suppose I'm expected to not know what's going on. (My plan to pass this class is to write down what I can in this class, and wiki it for the papers I need to write. Beat that, system!)

No pictures today, which sucks, because there was this gorgeous scene earlier today and I didn't have my camera! Despair. We walked out of the train station and the Sakura was falling like snow~! It was the most beautiful thing...

But that is all. Hope everyone is doing well ^__^ <3