Pictures from Japan so far...

Here's some pictures from the Kyoto trip as well as some others I have taken since I have been here.

This sign warns women to not walk alone at night or else these dudes in black will kill you.

New Friends!

I think he regretted it.
Pouring Tabasco on Tomo's tongue.

Beerwulf practicing!

Squat toilets suck!

Blowfish is in this soup!

The best shrimp in the world!

All a part of the best meal of my life!

Tomo and a giant bottle of Sake!

Tarique and I in Kyoto

Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto

Tommy Lee Jones is the boss in Japan

Kyoto

At the train station going to Kyoto

In America deer runaway from you but here they want to hang out. This is no joke.

They take separating your trash here really seriously.

There's a sink on the back of my toilet! When you flush the sink comes on. When I first used this I thought I broke it.

There's these kids everywhere warning drivers to watch for the kiddies. The other day there were 4 kids walking home from school and there were 4 of us internationals walking and one of the kids counted us on his hand and screamed 4! and then ran away laughing with his friends.

There's a bunch of signs like these all over telling you what and what not to do. I thought this one was funny cos the big dog is yelling at the little dog about pooping and not cleaning it up but what it really says is for pet owners to clean up after their animals.

Kyoto!

I don't even know where to start. This will be a long post, just warning you. On Friday we met in front of school and they assigned us in groups to local students who would serve as our tour guides to Kyoto. It was me, this girl Ashley from Australia, dude Owen from Indiana and Tarique from Montreal. Then we had 6 Japanese students as our tour guides. Japanese people are so amazing. They are so polite, sincere, genuine and accommodating. They go out of their way to make sure you are happy and comfortable. It's so weird to get use to coming from the rude ass United States.

 It kind of makes me feel embarrassed about our country. Don't get me wrong, there are some great things about America but seeing how people treat other people here, well it makes us look bad. I feel like when some people in the States encounter a foreigner, whether they speak english or not, we're kind of rude to them and tend to have the attitude, "learn the language or don't come here." I personally have never felt this but I have encountered many who have. It's sad because people in general are curious creatures, which is we travel to other countries, so what if we don't speak the native language? As hosts we should be more helpful and polite. It definitely made me think a lot about how I treat people that might not be from the States. 

Anyways, we walked to the train station and they showed us how to use the system, which I was relieved because I haven't really been out of my dorm and school much yet so I was excited to see how to get the hell out of here when deemed necessary. Pretty easy, fairly cheap too. A few of the Japanese girls really took to me and were asking me a million questions about myself and about my life in America. Most of the Japanese students at my school are english majors but still have a hard time speaking it so they spoke in broken english a lot and I spoke in butchered Japanese seeing that I don't know a lick of the language. It was fun and was the first time I was around Japanese students cos up to this point I have only been around the international students. 

Once we arrived to Kyoto we took a bus to the Kiyomizu Temple. Kyoto is the old capital of Japan and was spared during WWII so I was glad to see a lot of old architecture still standing. The temple was breathtaking. We walked around for hours and it was so helpful to have awesome tour guides. Speaking of awesome, Aki and I were walking around the temple and I pointed to something and said that it was awesome. She stopped and with a confused look and with the cutest broken english ever said, "ahhesome?" I asked if she knew that they meant she shook her head no. So I said, "You know what excited means?" She shook her head yes. "Well, when you get excited about something or someone and it makes you happy, you can say that it is awesome!" She got real happy and said she would be using that often and then I told her that it was like a slang word in America and I thought the girl was going to pee her pants with excitement. Her face lit up and she screamed "slang!" and called for the other girls to come over and have me explain it to them and then they all got excited. It was quite the scene. 

I was told that Japanese students love talking to the international students for many reasons but one of them being to learn slang, they love it. Glad I could help. 

Meanwhile, I knew that my friends from Portland, Michael and Colby, were in Kyoto and I was trying my hardest to meet up with them after the tour. Aki and her friend from Kyoto helped me by letting me use their cell phone to call the friend Michael and Colby were staying with, Tomo, who kind of speaks english. One of the girls called him and they figured out a place for me to meet up with them. Then they all rode the bus with me to the meeting spot to make sure I found them safely. I saw Michael and Colby across the street and ran to meet the for hugs. I can't tell you what it felt like to see such good friends in a foreign city so far away from home. I felt all the anxiety and uncertainty wither away the moment I spotted them. What are the chances of seeing your friends on the side of the world? It was amazing. 

I met their friend Tomo and he was awesome. We then walked to Tomo's friends Scotch's restaurant where he was going to make us dinner. We walked in and they escorted us back to this private room that had one of those private Japanese looking doors. We sat on mats around this low to the ground table. There was already a massive bottle of Sake waiting for us in the table. There were no menus and then a knock came at the door and it was our first round of food. The restaurant was owned by Scotch's family so all of them were there serving and making our food. I had some Ahi tuna and tried squid, it was so good. Then we had some soup with some potato thingy, some delicious white fish, some veggies and some awesome tasting broth. Then came this bowl filled with some type of fish that looked gross but was so sweet and good. Then came some egg dish that I can't really describe but it was good. After that a piece of sesame tofu and a piece of shrimp that was amazing, I usually don't like shrimp but I could have eaten 100 of these. 

Lastly came the huge bowl of soup that sits in the middle of the table and everyone just grabs what they want out of it and outs it in their own bowls which are filled with soy sauce and this lemon sauce. The soup is boiling and always has different ingredients. In ours was the best tofu I ever had, the most delicious Japanese veggies I ever had and lastly...Blowfish!!!! yep, I freaking had blowfish. For those of you that don't understand why I am freaking out about this, let me explain. Blowfish is a luxury dish for it is very expensive. It also has to prepared by a Chef who is licensed to do so. You have to train for 2 years to even get a license. It's a dangerous delicacy and if it's not prepared correctly, it can kill you. I guess only a certain part of is edible so when preparing it they have to make sure to cut away from the poison. Crazy! This meal was the best meal I ever had in my life. It should been well over a 100 bucks but Scotch didn't charge us so Tomo told us to give him 1500 yen, which is about 15 dollars. I was blown away. 

We took our bottle of Sake to go and Scotch and Tomo had to meet up with Tomo's girlfriend, whose name I can't pronounce let alone write, they were having band practice. In Japan, bands practice in studios rather than in house because Japanese houses are to small and poorly insulated so the noise would travel right to the neighbors. The studios provide all the amps, drums, mics and cords, you just bring your instruments. Pretty cool. The name of their band is called Beerwolf, like Beowolf but not, clever I thought. They were awesome. Mike and Colby played a couple of songs and Beerwolf was so excited for them to play music. We drank the sake and a lot of beer and then headed to this Italian style restaurant to drink wine. 

This place was nuts, the wine bottles were bigger than the sake we had earlier. After we polished off that one, we ordered another. By this time I would say we were all drunk. Tomo's girlfriend kept ordering food and I tried some pizza and it was so good! We stayed there having so much fun with each other, new and old friends crossing language and culture barriers all in the name of fun. It was so nice to look over and see Michael and Colby. This trip helped me in so many ways. I was able to let loose finally, interact with some locals, meet some new friends, eat amazing food, drink awesome drinks, see how the trains work and see more of Japan. I couldn't have asked for a better night. It made me feel so much better about being here all alone and gave me some hope that I am going to make it just fine. Speaking of hope, the cigarettes Mike was smoking all night were called hope, I don't smoke but I needed some hope, so I had one. 

Killing time before Kyoto

Before I forget I wanted to tell you all a few more things about this place. Japanese people are so polite and hospitable. It's insane. They want to help you with everything. As an example, this morning I was in the computer lab in my dorm pretty early and the house mother came in and was cleaning. I was just about done with my emails and stuff so I started to head out. She didn't see me when she first came in and so when I started to get up to leave she stopped cleaning and bowed her head to me and told me she was sorry she didn't know anyone was in here. I told her not to worry about it because I was already done. Then she chased me down begging me to come back to finish what I was doing while saying sorry 50 million times. I really was done so I told her no apologies and that it was fine but then she kept bowing her head and saying sorry. 

That's just one example I can think of right now but they are always so willing to help you with anything and they don't make you feel stupid about it either. The elevators are funny here. They are small, actually everything is small here, but you know how when the elevator door is about to close and all you do is put your arm or leg in the doorway and it opens real quick? Well don't try that here cos you will lose your leg or arm. My arm almost got ripped off earlier. Once the door is closing it's too late, just push the button again. Oh and motorcycles and mopeds, yeah these people that ride these are insane. They drive like maniacs, swerving in and out of cars, not looking when they are turning and almost killing me on the way to school. Alright I'm off to Kyoto.

I'm a foreigner and an Immigrant.

 I have to go apply for an alien registration card in order to be legal in Japan. It's so weird to be a foreigner and an immigrant. I have traveled to Europe, Mexico and Canada but in all honesty I never felt like I was a foreigner and never really felt like I was in a foreign land. I do feel like a foreigner in a foreign land here. It's hard to describe in words what it's like to be here. I know I am a strong person and some of you may think I am being a baby by freaking out but how many of you can really say you've been out of your comfort zone 100%? When I have traveled I have always been with people that I knew or when I travel alone I am always going to see someone I know. 

When I got off the plane here, it was so weird not having anyone meet me on the other side. I have no comfort here. No one to call. There are people from all across the world here and I have met some cool folks so far. One thing that I think is interesting is accents. I know in the U.S. you have your Southern accents, East coast, Midwest and so on. Everyone always thinks I am from the east coast because of the way I talk. I used to talk with a Boston accent thanks to my dad but my school made me go to speech class in 3rd and 4th grade and by the end of it my accent was gone. But still, I always get asked if I am from the East or always get told that I have an accent. It comes out more when I get excited cos I talk faster or cuss more but I never really notice it. I met this girl from Australia the other day who told me I had the strongest American accent she had ever heard. I thought that was funny. It's weird that we have accents to other countries because it doesn't seem like we do, I guess maybe cos we're just used to hearing each other talk. 

Today our school is taking us on a tour to Kyoto, which is about 40 minutes away by train. I haven't been out of my school or dorm yet so I am excited to actually see more of Japan. I hear Kyoto is amazing. It is rich in history and I plan to take a lot of pictures. Two of my friends from Portland are in Kyoto till Sunday so after a brief school meeting tomorrow morning I want to try and meet up with them. It will be so nice seeing so familiar faces from home. Oh and I will probably starve here. I'm a vegetarian, well I kind of eat fish sometimes but not often, but I have barely been able to eat anything here yet. I am starving! I am going to drop like 20 pounds or something, which I don't need to lose so I am kind of worried. Hopefully once I become more comfortable with my surroundings I will be able to find more places to find food. 

I might have to have you all send me food, seriously I am not kidding. Since Monday I have only eaten a couple of times. The time difference here still trips me out. For instance right now it's 9:33 a.m. Friday but in Portland it's 4:33 p.m. Thursday. I'm almost a whole day ahead. It's so hard to get used to. I have been going to bed every night so early like 7 and 9 and then sleeping till 5 or 6 in the morning. I hope my jet lag goes away soon. I was also relieved to discover that I don't stand out here at all. People kept telling me that I would because of my blue eyes, red hair and how tall I am but I haven't really received any weird looks. We'll see what happens when I leave my school/dorm area but I think I'll be OK. I feel pretty homesick.It's so weird doing this all alone but I am hanging in there trying to adjust as much as I can. A girl named Maggie who is in the same unit as me has made me feel so much better. She was here last term and knows Japanese so she gave me a tour of the school yesterday and then sat with me last night for hours talking to me about Japan so it helped a lot. I'm going to head out for now. Maybe I will write again after I get back from Kyoto. Peace out!

Reality is starting to sink in

Yesterday was filled with orientation meetings and paperwork. They require so much paper work to do anything here, it's crazy. After a meeting we had to go to this room to draw a number for the registration lottery. Yeah, they do their registration as a lottery, so you put your hand in a box filled with numbers and hope for the best and then the next day you register in the order of the numbers drawn. Never heard of a school doing this and if you ask me it's pretty stupid. Of course, I drew number 284. The guy before me drew 13 and the girl after me got 24. Are ya kidding me? I think there was about 500 numbers so I guess it could be worse. 

My only problem is that I am here finishing up my last terms at my school back home so I need to only take history classes to fulfill my graduation requirements so I need to get into the history classes they have to offer. If I don't it would defeat the purpose of coming here cos although I am here for the life experience I am here first for school and credit cos this program is so expensive! It's going to suck me dry, pretty much already has. Hopefully it will all work out. I just need to be more positive about this whole experience. I'm sure I will start to feel better as the days past but right now the transition is hard. 

After I drew my "lucky" number I found a girl that's staying in my dorm and she invited me to go to the cafeteria to eat lunch with some people. There was about 8 of us and as we were in line to get food one of the guys, looked at me and said, "Oh my god we're in Japan, what the hell did I just get myself into, I don't know any Japanese!" I about gave him a hug because I was thinking the same thing. Turns out almost everyone in my group doesn't know any Japanese and were feeling the same way as me. This pretty much saved my ass yesterday. I just hung out with them all day in between meetings and I felt so much better than the day before. 

One thing that is crazy is that almost every person I have met is 20 years old. I was told this is because they are doing things the "right" way, meaning that most people study abroad their junior year of college because I guess most people go to college right after graduating high school. They are all amazed that I am 29. Almost in disbelief. I told this one guy how old I was his reaction was something along the lines of, "What! Are you serious! Oh my god!" and then I hit him and told him 29 isn't old and he said he thought I was about 25. Then he told me that I don't look young but I don't look 29 so that's why he placed me at 25. I kind of stood there wondering if I should say thank you or punch him. I'm not judging them because they are younger, I'm just not on the same level as them in some ways. I'd say academically we're all pretty smart but as far as the life experience that makes us wiser, well I have some years on them. 

I've also noticed that a lot of the guys I have met have made it seem like one of the reasons they picked Japan is to meet hot Japanese women. Oh yeah and whoever told me that Japan hates cleavage and boobs and to not wear low cut shirts and dresses is a damn liar. A lot of the girls, international and Japanese, are wearing short shorts, dresses and skirts and low cut shirts. I haven't really been out of my school's area yet so maybe it's a different story.

 Yesterday when I was in the cafeteria I was able to actually finally eat some Japanese food. The miso soup was amazing, I have never liked it before but this stuff was delicious. I was also able to eat some type of vegetarian dish and some soft serve soy ice cream. I'm going to have a hell of a time eating here, I can tell already. I don't eat meat and everything seems to be pretty meat heavy. I eat fish but haven't seem much of it yet. I was invited to out to sushi with one group and then for Karaoke with another group but I passed on both because I am still pretty jet lagged. I have no desire to party here or drink and it seems that's all a lot of people want to do here. I'm here to study not to party. The drinking age is 20 here so I guess that's where the age things plays a part. I've been able to drink for so long that partying to me isn't the same as it is to them because it's new. I kind of feel like I have been there and done that already, ya know? 

The cars here are insane! They are really small and look like boxes and the driver seat is on the other side. All of them have TVs on the dashboard and everyone watches TV as they drive. Japan doesn't seem like a very safe place to drive in at all. It cost 3,000 dollars just to get a license. Oh yeah and let me touch on bicycles. OK, this shit is crazy. When you buy a bike you have to register it. You must always carry your registration on you when you're riding your bike. If a cop pulls you over and you don't have it, they will impound your bike! Yes, you heard me right, they impound bikes here.

 Also, every place that you go, whether it be school, the grocery store, the bank, all of these places have designated bike parking areas that you must park in. So you must have a valid sticker on your bike while you're parked there because if you don't your bike will be impounded. If you get caught biking under the influence you can be arrested. I guess driving and biking under the influence is seen as one in the same. Crazy. Also, biking here is pretty dangerous because cyclists never have the right away, ever. I was thinking about getting a bike but I'm a klutz with bad luck so maybe I shouldn't. They also have quiet hours here. From 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. you are supposed to be real quiet whether you're inside or out. Japanese houses have no insulation so when you're walking outside of someones house talking loudly they can hear everything you are saying so it's really disrespectful to be loud after 10 p.m.

 My seminar house (dorm) is located in a small cute neighborhood. I plan to post pictures in this blog soon so you can see some of the things I am talking about. The houses are so awesome. My dorm unit has 4 rooms, two double rooms and two singles. I was lucky enough to get a single room thanks to my insomnia. So there's 6 girls including me in the unit. The unit consists of all of our rooms, a kitchen and a living area with a TV and couch. It's pretty cute. No alcohol is allowed in any of the dorms, if you get caught with it you can be kicked out. It's fine with me but it is pretty weird to have rules cos I have been living on my own for so long with no rules. But it's only for 4 months so I'll get by. There seems to be a lot of people who were here last term so it's been good to talk to them about what to expect. It seems the work load is heavy and they said your time here flys by. One thing I am nervous about is the Japanese spoken language and reading and writing classes that I am required to take. Japanese is a hard language but the older you get the harder it is to retain any language so hopefully I do OK. I'm trying to think if there's anything else I wanted to say today...This was a long one. 

I'm keeping this blog to let you all know what's up on my side of the world but also to help me get through this experience. I hope it's not too boring and if it is well, stop reading it! Ha! Till next time...Oh wait, they have a cell phone here that turns into a robot! I'm serious! Oh and vending machines are everywhere with anything from Ramen to soda to beer. And Japanese television is crazy. All they do is make fun of people and make bad music videos and soap operas and crazy commercials.

11 hours and 36 minutes, 5400 miles, 4 pilots and 12 flight attendants later...

I arrived to Japan. I started to feel sick in the San Fran airport but thought it was just nerves. I was lucky and got the whole row to myself and was able to stretch out the whole time. I tried to sleep the whole flight but I was so sick. Everytime I would lift my head up I felt like I was going to puke. Finally after about 6 hours, I went to the bathroom and puked my guts out. I have never thrown up in an airplane bathroom before, it sucks. After that I didn't feel much better. 

I haven't really eaten since Sunday night. Whose idea was it to get crappy mexican food as my last meal the night before I leave for an 11 hour flight anyways? Oh wait, it was mine. Bad idea. Upon arriving in Osaka I found some other students who were on my flight and clinged to them because I felt so lost and out of place. All three of them had been to Japan before, are Japanese language majors, 20 years old and were shocked to discover that I was 29 and didn't speak a word of Japanese. I had a feeling I was going to be the oldest person here. I haven't met everyone yet so there's hope that I'm not going to the grandma of the bunch. 

One of the guys was here last term and just went back home for winter break so I was able to ask him a lot of questions about the school and life in Japan. It made me feel a little better but then I arrived at my dorm and I felt like I was going to puke again. It's so hard to explain what it feels like to be here. I was so upset last night all alone in my room, all I wanted to do was take a taxi to the airport and come home. I'm serious, I thought about it. Everyone I have met so far seems super nice and helpful but I can't help but feel like an outsider. All of the international students know at least 2 years of Japanese and are able to communicate with people and I just stand there repeating that I don't speak Japanese like a jackass. 

When I applied to go to this school my advisor told me that I was a wild card because I didn't speak any Japanese but I am a Japanese history major so they might accept me because of the fact that I want to be a teacher and why not have me come here to study their history so I can teach it to other people. She kind of made it seem like it was a long shot but I had excellent letters of recommendations and good grades so they accepted me. I am thankful but right now I feel like maybe they shouldn't have. I know these doubts will pass after I get adjusted but right now I just feel so unsure. I know that I am a strong person and all but right now I don't feel like I am. Hopefully these feelings subside soon. 4 months seems like a long time right now. I'm definitely homesick. Maybe the next time I post I will feel a lot better. 

Oh yeah I need to touch on the time change. It's crazy. I left Portland on Monday at 7:26 a.m got to San Fran at 9 ish and left there at 11:30 a.m. and then arrived in Osaka Tuesday at 4:35 p.m. It's so weird. I have my watch set to Japan time and my phone, which doesn't work here, set to Portland time, it's such a trip looking at the difference. All night last night I kept waking up and looking to see what time it was in Portland. This experience is blowing my mind so far. I have never done anything like this nor will I probably ever again. I left my comfort zone and my heart in Portland.

Twas the night before Japan and all through the house...

After preparing for months the time has finally come for me to leave for my study abroad adventure in Osaka Japan. I leave tomorrow morning and I can't believe I'm about to do this. I am really proud of myself because I worked really hard to get to where I'm at. It wasn't easy but I am not the type of person who gives up but one who lives for challenges, after all my name means 'to never give up.' I feel really nervous, excited and scared. I have no idea what to expect and what is waiting for me on the other side but I know it will be amazing. The past couple of weeks I have come to realize how many great people I have in my life who really care about me. I feel very grateful to have an amazing group of friends and a great family. Thanks to everyone who came out to the benefit shows and to my going away parties. I appreciate every single one of you. I'll be posting on this as much as I can. I will not have a phone while I'm over there so don't try and text or call me cos it won't work. I will have a phone in my dorm room that only excepts incoming calls as well as an address to receive mail. As soon as I know them I'll post them on here. Until then, peace out!