Thursday, August 22, 2002

Well considering I haven't blogged or the last three weeks, I've been dreading trying to catch everyone up to date and have put it off a few extra days... heh heh.. well k I'm hungry and this will take a while so let's get started. So three weeks ago I was running on practially zero sleep because I can't sleep when it is soooo hot and when I was coming back from a concert in Omiya a huge thunderstorm came up that knocked out power. But trains are run on electricity so I didn't get home until one-thirty, and had karate the next morning at nine...*groan* but evidently I fight well when I'm bone tired... I geuss it causes me to just methodically go through the forms, so I had really good form and I won a match! ^_^ I was soooooo happy! THen the next day was my birthday, but karate was cancelled so I spent the day at the second-hand manga store reading. That night there was a really little matsuri in the park next to my house. I wore my jinbe (traditional males clothing but seeing as mine is bright pink, it's not terribly masculine). And I scooped goldfish and was this time successful in scooping a fish who I named Yuka to replace my old one *sniffle* Then I discovered ramune! Many of you have probably heard of this legendary Japanese novelty drink, but I will explain it as much to dispel myths about as to introduce it to others. So it comes in a glass bottle that has a bubble like thing where the neck of the bottle should be (kinda makes a hollowed out snowman). So you take off the plastic wrap around the top, and there is a pushie thingee on top of an O-ring that keeps it from pushing. So you remover the O-ring and jam the pusher into the mouth of the bottle and push a marble that has previosly been jammed into the mouth of the bottle keeping it shut down into the top part of the snowman. Now the drink fizzes and spills all over the place, and it is ready to drink. I kept the bottle of course. ^-^ It sits next to my totoro alarm clock. ^_^ Then Okaasan had me get my yukata and took me to a kimono teacher's house who put the yukata on me. Then I got to dance traditional dances! It was soo cool but my stupid geta (shoes) ate a whole through my foot... The next day I went to an AFS camp with a whole bunch of exchange students and japanese students I had forgotten what it was like to hang with people who speak english with and where I am not automatically both an idol and an idiot. It was really fun. And there was a dance! Oh how I've missed dancing! But then after the camp the short stay students went back to America....*sniffle* I'm going to miss them. Then on I went to Harajuka and Shibuya with Chris and Emily (two exchange student buddies). They have the sweetest goth and punk shops there! Everything is really expensive, but it was sooo cool! And I found a bracelet that if you look through one of the beads, you can see Hyde's beautiful face scowling at you. ^_^ *drool* The next week I went to another matsuri with my host-family. It is so frustrating sometimes with pictures. I want to look at all the cool stuff but I never can because everything cool has to have a picture taken of it which means I have to stand in front of it while it passes so I can never look at anything! I've always lived under the philosophy that you look at something first, then if it's cool take a picture. With Otoosan, everything needs it's picture taken and there always has to be someone in the picture.... *grrrrr* but either way it was a cool matsuri (what I saw of it anyway). Then I went on a bus tour with my host family and host cousins etc. That was fun. It was geared toward younger children, so we went on an old coal powered train, and picked tomatoes and egg-plant, and painted mugs, and went to a place right off the ocean (not that I could see the bloody thing) and ate sushi from these crazy conveyor belt restaurants. There are all different kinds of sushi on plates going around on a conveyor belt and the different color plates indicate their price. So you take what you want to eat, and the waitress adds up the plates when you're finished. Chris loaned me a book on Japanese culture when we went to Harajuku which I was reading on the tour. And there could not be a culture more different than America than Japan. It was a really sweet book "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword", it explains soooo much about Japanese culture. And it is another book Robert Jordan has ripped off by the way. The whole Aiel Ji-e-toh is a watered down version of Japanese honor (yes I did say Ji-e-toh is more mild than Japan). And Lan's saying (was it a warder thing or from his homeland? homeland I think...) "Duty is heavier than a mountain, death lighter than a feather." is straight from Japan but the saying was originally "Giri is heavier than a mountain. death lighter than a feather" and giri is more of ... umm... well read the book and you'll understand ("The Sword and the Crysanthemum", not Robert Jordan). So that takes me to this week. On Sunday I went over to a cousins house to bake my birthday cake. I thought I was done with culture shock, but the Japanese don't own ovens! My cousin though is really into cooking so she does, but it is really a microwace oven combination, and is about half the size of a standard American microwave.... that made things difficult, they don't use any sort of measuring tools either... but in any case I turned out a delicious Funfetti cake ^_^ and shared in with karate club the next day... that was the day I also knocked Maiko's tooth loose... praise the Lord it didn't fall out but it bled...oops... but I got hit in the jaw today hard enough to make my chin go numb for about half an hour. That'll turn pretty colors tomorrow I'm thinking. ^_^ We've been doing a lot of sparring lately. YEAH!!! Happy Happy... And yesterday we learned how to throw people. ^_^ Everyone is afraid of Rei now... just because I get all excited when I get to knock people down and then when I do I am so pleased I jump up and down and forget to give the final punch (you don't get points for throwing, only punching/kicking, but once they're on the ground it's hard for them to block well. K well I have the next kan...eigo de...series... manga...wait is it that simple? I have the next manga in a series that I am currently obsessed with. It's sooooo cool! So I want to go home and read. The stupid thing is for Highschool/College students though so it doesn't have furigana (I don't feel like explaining this, basically it's difficult japanese). I can only read about half... oh well. The art is pretty, and I'll be able to read it someday. ^_^ And geuss what I've discopvered while typing this? I can touch type! I've always looked at my hands, but I've realized that I don't need to anymore. ^_^ I'm a little slower without looking. But it's mainly a confidence thing. If I don't think about I can get it right. ^_^

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 12:50 p.m.

Saturday, July 27, 2002

So I'm on summer break now. I went to a matsuri (festival) on....sunday. I scooped goldfish and turtles... well ok so I didn't actually catch either (hey it's harder than it looks) but the goldfish lady was nice to me and gave me three pretty little goldfish anyway *^_________^* (so I stole Hana's smiley...not quite right though... I still can't find all the symbols on this keyboard). The turtle man on the other hand was not very nice and although I tried three times I couldn't get the knack of it (although I never saw anyone other than the owner scoop the turtles succesfully). So I returned home with my three goldfish which I had named Yuka, Kabe, and Tenjou (floor, wall and ceiling). And challenged Tsuba (my teddy bear) to a game of Monopoly and to the winner would go ownership of the fish. Most unfortunately though Tsuba won (drat that bear's luck he landed on Free Parking three times when it was really full of cash... I'm thinking of confiscating his lucky piece of cardboard... and I did get rid of the Free Parking cheat...), so now the fish are his. I challenged him to a rematch and he won... again... but I am learning some better strategy (from a stuffed bear...) ANd then tragedy struck! I cam home from karate the next day and found Yuka (floor) on the yuka (floor)... *sniffle* he jumped out... Maiko says I cursed him by naming him that and I will come home to find Tenjou and Kabe dead in their respective places as well... this has yet to come true though.... so I've been to karate every day. I'm the only one other than the captain who has showed up for everything too... and yesterday I made the lovely discovery of a used manga and cd store! I was in heaven! You can get very recent cds for really good prices and ... *sigh* it was cool... well I think I'm going to wear my yukata to the matsuri tonight and I need to pick up a .... thingeema bob for putting it on on the way home (these things are soooo compliacted!) Oh I almost forgot! I got a ... a... hakame?... maybe... a really old traditional male outfit. It's formal and silk and soooo cool! It was my host grandfather's grandfather's! I'm forming evil plans for next years TWIRP. ^_^ The only problem will be finding a date short enough to wear the Japanese clothes which are just about perfect size on me... maybe I'll get a girl to come with me... or stick my datwe in my yukata which might fight someone bigger... no that would be funny *cackles* but I don't think that anyone would get the joke in America being unfamiliar with Japanese clothes... but my yukata is bright pink.... and no one got the joke last year... they thought Ken was my Amish boyfriend (we were dressed from the thirties)...heh heh... not quite the look we had intended... I'm sure some people understood... hmmm.. must ponder this further (amd find something to eat...)

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 12:53 p.m.

Friday, July 19, 2002

Right so I have completely and totally mastered the technique about laughing at my own stupidity... a uselful talent to be sure but I think it might creep my friends out sometimes... so this was the last week of school before summer vacation. Tuesday and Wednesday was Spootsu Taikai (Sports Day) where the homerooms compete against each other in various games. On Wednesday we played dodgeball or the Japanese version of it (which is very different) and both the guys and girls team from my class lost our first games (against the frosh no less...) so after a water balloon fight we played against each other for about two hours until we were all so tired we just started attacking unfortunate victims. Thursday however was soccer and basketball and since I've never played soccer before I joined the soccer team. In the first game no one scored so we jan-kened and won (... oh wait thats Japanese isn't it.. rock paper scissored). Then we resolutely won the next two games taking us to the semi-finals. In this game we were playing against third years and again no one scored so we had a shoot out. Two goalies and a shooter one shot. There's went in, ours didn't, they won, but it was a sweet day. How's that for my first time playing soccer? ^_^ And despite my 50+ sunblock I STILL have blisters across my nose... So today we stood in neat little rows in sweaty little uniforms for TWO HOURS for the closing assembly. Not fun... and today is Megu's last day. She's going to America for a year. Her going away party is today. We had one with the class earlier. That was sooo sad! Not only was one of my best friends leaving, but it remeinded me of my party. Mel and Chrissy you were so cute by the way. *sniffle* but maybe I'll be able to visit her when I go to America. We'll see... she's in West Virginia... Is she going to learn how to talk crazy there? heh heh heh... I can make fun of her for that... ^_^

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 03:01 p.m.

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

K well...I have had a very traumatic morning... brain freeze times ten... must study Japanese... so this is my last week of school before summer break. Which will be nice, but I have karate everyday and a ton of homework (yes of summer break, cruel huh?). Yesterday and today are testing then wednesday and thursday are sports days of some sort where we'll play dodgeball and soccer and stuff... hope the rain that is in downpour at the moment will clear up by then... sunday I went into Tokyo for an informational meeting on the summer camp the first week of August that I'm going to for AFS. Very boring. I got to see some old friends, but I dodn't get to talk to them and I didn't get lunch because I live in Saitama (equivelant to the boonies) and they all live in Tokyo. So they could come after lunch while I had been on the road since 10. Kinda a drag, but Iwill get to see them all in two weeks or so, and that will be a blast. I was going to copy in another journal entry, but I left that journal at home (not that I am without a journal but I finished the one it was in, I am NEVER without my journal, believe me)... yes well now I must study my brains out to try to get some handle on this insane language.... ooh..head-ache...

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 09:38 a.m.

Monday, July 8, 2002

Well I am dripping ni sweat from the bike ride to school and still only have about 15minutes to blog due to various distractions along the way... so thursday after school Aya cut bangs in my hair. Kinda short right now but they'll grow.... my host family laughed when they saw me...^_^o I figure it's good for my humility. My friends say I look Japanese now. On saturday I went out with my friends and saw them for the first time out of their school uniforms. I barely recognized them.... THere was a super huge sale at the shopping center of Saitama. Unfortunately my anti-shopping sentiments have gone out the window... I figure it's for two reasons. One, Japanese fashions are seriously sweet, and two EVERYTHING fits me! You don't even try things, you're not even ALLOWED to try things on, but they ALL fit! YEAH!!! Happy Happy! So I got a ton of name brand $50clothing for $10. ^-^ Fun Fun.... k well I think that's about all that's been happening... In karate on friday it was too hot to condition so Iwaikawa-kun, Fumi-kun, Maiko and I just sat around and talked. I could understand almost everything, but they were talking about people in Fudooka I didn't know so I could jump in much. But then we started talking about the school trip and I could jump in then, but my Japanese is still pretty broken... but they all stopped talking and let me fumble around until I said something coherent which was nice. I finished a manga last night completely without the aid of a dictionary. Admittedly I only understood about half, but I got the plot and the important stuff, so I was very excited. K well I'm going to end so that I can fan myself before I sweat to death....

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 08:31 a.m.

Thursday, July 4, 2002

And it is a lovely 33 degrees celsius here with really high humidity, black school uniforms, knee high socks, and no AC.... and it will be worse next month *shudder*... hey did I mentiont the presence of another American in the school? He's from Iowa if I remember right... mid-west in any case. And he's a band dork with plans of world domination. Very sweet. I totally don't respond to my name anymore though. I'll occasionally respond to kooleesheetah, but not Krista. My nick-name has been upgraded from "Miss Muscles" to "Mister Muscles" because Buchou declared me the strongest in gyakuzuki (a punch)... stil not sure if I loke this nickname.... Mayu has taken to squishing my biceps too... much like Julie does (although Julie gets an evil grin on her face and starts muttering "squishy... squishy gerbee..."...lol amusing memories). Luckily today I am NOT going to karate in this heat. I have home-ec homework to finish. I'm making a bag with a totoro stencil on it. Very cute.....hmmmmm... anything interesting recently?....... oh yes. I'm reading this awesome manga where this girl, Mizuki, falls in love with this high-jumper dude, Sano, so she disguises herself as a guy and enters his all boys school and ends up rooming with him. He discovers really early on she's a girl but doesn't says anything to her. And the health teacher also figures it out and he acts as her consoler type. She got accidently knocked unconcious by Nakatsu, and Sano had to carry her to the health room so both he and the teacher figured it out, but Nakatsu who is a dramaticly boisterous character from southern Japan and speaks this crazy dialect was sobbing and freaking out and has no idea Mizuki is a girl. But later he gets a crush on her and then starts freaking out 'cause he's strait and .... well... It's reallllllly funny... They had a drinking party at one point (Nakatsu's doing) where every eventually fell asleep and Sano accidently swigged a cup of sake thinking it was water and got drunk (yes from one cup...) and kisses Mizuki who freaks and punches him in the eye. But Sano doesn't remember what ahppened so he just wakes up with a black eye, but Nakatsu almost figures it out, but thinks that Sano kissed Nakatsu instead of Mizuki and then Nakatsu starts crying and freaking again because his first kiss was with a guy. Nakatsu would be my favorite character. Perfectly hilarious, I feel sorry for him most of the time though... k now that I've freaked everyone out by my reading material... (it really is funny, you just have to see for yourself...) RON IS GOING TO INDIA?!?!?! Someone get me his e-mail PUH'LEEEEEAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEE... k well I should get to my homework.

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 04:13 p.m.

Saturday, June 29, 2002

Right so I spent over three hours scanning in pictures for my site. I'm trying to save the money I spend on making doubles, but the amount of trouble I have to go through to scan here might make the money justifiable... I dunno... but I'm hungry...it's nearly four and I haven't gotten lunch... k well I'll move on so that I can get home and eat the bread that Kazumi bought for herself (how was I supposed to know? I was home alone and hungry and it was the only easily eadible food in the house). Right so I have blisters across my thumb from my dictionary. Take that... Although one of them got pretty badly infected and was aching up my arm yesterday... not a good sign... I think it's getting better though... K well I listened to an American news interview the other day and was cringing as they interupted each other. I'm not sure if it's part of Japanese culture or because I have trouble in Japanese, but I am completely broken of my interrupting habits. K well I saw Gackt on Tv on Monday and Tuesday this week and that man is completely insane. I suppose it comes with being an artist, bt seriously. He doesn't like lights so his house is lit by a single candle and he just remembers where everything is and he has a heart shaped bathtub in which he reads books on Spanish by his candle....right... there was another show where he had a pool match with this "kIng of Billiards" chap. THat was really interesting but my LP called my right in the middle of it and would NOT stop talking! Luckily I was taping it... that man is very full of himself it is most amusing. K so my friends were asking me about American jokes the other day and so of course I started with my Panda joke. ^-^ They are convinced that all American jokes are really strange and stupid. I tried to explain to them that it was only MY jokes that were like that but I couldn't figure out how to translate any normal jokes for them... Knock Knock Jokes are generally puns and so I was left only with Dead Baby Jokes. But being INCREDIBLY docile people they didn't get those AT ALL... *sigh* so I tried... In karate I quite innocently got the name of "Miss Muscles" See we were supposed to be doing push-ups on our fists and so I was doing push-ups on my fists and soon I hear gasps because evidently I'm the only one that can do them. The guys can't even I don't think... weird... so they call my "Miss Muscles" now. That and "Baba" because I wear "Baba Shatsu" "Grandma Shirts".... They are NOT Baba Shatsu.... I was cold so I put on a shirt underneath my white dress shirt... grrr... then Mayu will start attacking and punching me so I grab her wrists to keep her from hitting me in the face and she runs off screaming that I'm mean and hurt her wrists... that girl has a mean streak in her.... ^-^ Hey Katie! We have a TA here and he "relaxes" as you call it ALL classes. This means that he always holds his left elbow at a ninety degree angle and lets his hand droop down. It's soooo creepy! And he does this funny little head shake and hip twitch too... luckily friday was his last day ^_^o Hey my teacher was on TV. He's my Japanese literature teacher and he was on a Kanji Gameshow of sorts. Most amsuing, didn't win though... Hey the other day the two girl leaders of karate weren't there so geuss who got to be leader? ME! BWAHAHAHAHAHA I got to call out the steps and stuff like that. I did that again yesterday but I'm kinda spacey lately and called out "1...2...3...4...6..........um...5...7...8...9...10" and later I started punchig when we were kicking...right...ANYWAY... hey geuss what! I have dimples! They're kinda faint and don't always show up but I have a dimples on either side unlike my mutant sister who only has one dimple. ^-^ Hey and since I told you about my speaking mistakes last week there is one that O'kaasan said that I will never forget. We were at the zoo and there was a monkey with a cut on his lower back/butt and O'kaasan looks at him and says "His butt is sick."... heh heh heh... k geuss you had to be there... and now I am going home to scrounge around for something edible....onaka ge suita yo!

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 03:38 p.m.

Monday, June 24, 2002

K so it's been a while since I've blogged, but things have been busy on this side of the world. After my last entry there was a party for the people in my homeroom where we went to Korean Barbeque. yummy... after we finished eating for some reason we created nasty concoctions from the left-overs and rock paper scissored for who had to drink it. I won the first one and chugged the glass in one gulp. THen I one the second... I chugged that in one gulp to. I thought about this later and for someone who is as picky of an eater as I am why on earth can I play these games without a grimace? I've gotten really good at it now that I have to eat lots of strange food every day. THe third glass though we rigged and Linten had to drink it. He nearly threw up. Most satisfying. ^-^ That friday and saurday there was a karate meet. Rather uneventful except for a good sized earth quake that led me to jump into Maya-chan's lap, but she's really ticklish so she dumped me on the floor... The next day I went in to Tokyo and met a friend from AFS in Shibuya. We spent the day wandering around. We had intended to go to Jibli Studio (the makers of Tonari no Totoro and many other movies) but we couldn't find it and the policemen couldn't help because we didn't have an address. But we had a blast anyway and visited a three-story manga shop and I got a Glay cd and a Hyde single (Hey Julie which one is which in Glay? The only cute one is the blondie in my opinion). Then Emi-chan (AFS buddy) loaned my 15 Hanazakari no Kimitachi E mangas and gave me a Yami no Matsuei manga. I knew she was going to loan me some mangas but I expected like four maybe... either way I am painstakingly making my way through those. There is a guy in there who speaks kansai-ben a southern dialect and I can NOT understand him, and everyone uses pretty heavy slang so I can't understand everything they say without help... Speaking of Japanese difficulties, I have made some pretty funny errors in Japanese. After Bunkasai Mie^chan lost her voice and I said "Kao nai?" instead of "Koe nai?" which means "no face?" instead of "no voice?". Then the worse mistake was when I tried to say "onna ni..." but said "onani" which means "masturbation" instead of "for women"... heh heh heh ^-^o... Yeah and the reason I haven't blogged for a while is because the third years have dropped out of karate to study for "examination hell" (college entrance exams) so now there are my nine close friends, Fumi-kun and the leader in karate club. AND one of the third years sloaned me her doogi (karate uniform) so I don't have to borrow one every day! YAYAY!!! Happy Happy! And then on Wednesday Gackt's (a singer) new cd came out. ^-^ I got it on Tuesday. It's really cool! And he ahs a concert in the fall. I wanna go! ^-^ But tickets might be hard to come by... I might have to join his fan club to get them... well I'm working on that in any case. Then Saturday karate club went to another highschool to practice with them. Their club is really hardcore... I hurt... I had a knickle sized blister rip open on my foot and one of the girls took and sanitized some scissors for me to cut off the skin and then cleaned out my blister and taped up my foot for me... kinda embarassing, but she was really sweet... Then yesterday I wentover to a friend from church's house. Her little brother is in hip hop dance and he is really really really good! There recital looked prfessional and he was a solo dancer. And then they showed me stuff from when he was seven and he was dancing with highschoolers and keeping up! Oh! Rei is VERY jealous!!! That was soooooo cool! I was glued to the TV seriously.... I think he's afraid of me though... heh heh... am I that intimidating?

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 08:20 a.m.

Monday, June 10, 2002

Well Bunkasai (school festival) is over as of today. We had two days of people coming in and then today we cleaned up the school and took down all the decorations. My class did Making Couples where we would get guys and girls to come in and do a self-introduction in one room, go to the next and play a game, and go to the next to confess who they liked and see if any couples were made. It sounds kind of weird but it was super fun. I wore a yukata (a summer kimono, which I put on all by myself a feat few Japanese can do, they're really complicated) and walked around trying to get guys to come to our room. They normally just laughed at my Japanese.... then yesterday we had a concert at the end of it all... or I'm not sure what it was but there was a band playing and I crawled up on stage and skank danced for a while then threw myself out onto the crowd and crowd surfed. I know I know! I can't believe it either, but I seriously did that! And it wasn't like there were other people on the stage either. Just me and the band.... heh heh....I was insane I think.... then we had a few games including one where we all stood in a circle and clapped and then ran to the center and slammed into each other. Most amusing really. ^-^ Afterward my class (a generally hyper group) took water ballons and tossed them back and forth until one broke and we had to clean up the water from the wood floor and then moved outside where we continued the game until our teacher made us go home. Highly entertaining. they were big water balloons to. We all got pretty wet... Yeah so those who are scared that I'm changing to much you will be comforted to know that in karate the worst wound I have gotten was self inflicted. I went to kick Mayu with a moshigiri kick (similar to a roundhouse in kickboxing) ad she was bringing up her arm to block and I caught her elbow dead center of my foot. It swelled up and turned purple and I hobbled around for a a day or two. yeah.... and the other day I accidently let out one of my dolphin squeels... I normally keep that under control... I just wasn't paying attention. My friends jump and stare at me "WHAT WAS THAT?!" and I turn bright red and fall down laughing.... right... Right well I'm not sure what else to tell... so much happened it would take a year to tell it all so...I think that's about it with the interesting things that I can tell in a shortish amount of time... I'll be able to tell more with the pictures... but you'll have to wait on those... not sure how long it will take to get them to the States... I might not have enough money to pay for the doubles this month anyway.... I'll work on it.... k love you all!

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 03:17 p.m.

Thursday, June 6, 2002

K well first there are some pictures up now, click on the dog on the right to see them ^-^ K well this has been a blast. On Tuesday preparations for the school festival started with a pep rally where we got to pelt each other with water balloons during random games. Then all wednesday was spent preparing. And I mean all Wednesday. Attendance was taken in the morning and then we all worked until we were kicked out at seven. Today was Sports Day. It was a blast!!! It started out with the principle speaking of course and then this guy with a soccer ball hat got up on stage and started to beat a guy in a dog costume with a really big stick and soon you hear screams from the back of the crowd and who comes running through? The Power Rangers! Dressed in the colors of their respective teams. Power Rangers are really big in Japan... So then each team came in and the leaders do something up on stage. Ok little background. the school is divided into ten teams each with a color and a letter. I was in H which is blue. So my team when we came in the leaders ran up on stage wearing shirts with all the letters on them but H and they got everyone cheering for their letters and then ripped the shirts off and revealed the Hs that were painted across their chests. Most amusing. So then after some more Power Ranger silliness the competitions started. I was in Nininsankyaku a three legged race. We came in dead last. ^-^o But that wasn't our fault really. We were pretty fast, but it was a relay and we were given the baton late... oh and I have blisters across my nose from sunburn again.... I am wearing 50+ sunscreen and to no avail... the sun is much more intense here... so there were all sorts of games like chicken fights and a very violently amusing version of capture the flag and each team danced. Oh my gosh I have never seen so many cross-dressers in my life. They seem so sane when they are all wearing their school uniforms, but when they don't have to... maybe it's supressed creativity or something. But they are REALLY REALLY REALLY good at cross-dressing. I can never figure out if it is a girl or a boy.... so there were some creepy dances. There was one where six guys or so all dressed in black spandex put on cat ears, cat tails, stuffed balloons in their shirts put on makeup and ran around pouring milk on each other and molesting each other with shaving cream... yeah one of the guys is the leader of Karate club.... or maybe it was his twin brother.... they're both crazy though.... Yeah well in the end our team was dead last ^-^ but we were enthusiastic about it! And we had fun! ^-^ ...pathetic I know... Yeah well I better get back to work on the school festival.... I took an entire roll of pictures and will probably take another at the festival, so you'll get more details when I explain the pictures... there's kinda too many things to tell about all of them... ^-^ k well I'll try to write later, but I don't know if I can cause I have eight days of school this week.... but I'm haveing a blast... running through sprinklers, skank dancing. I don't think they've ever seen skanking before...^-^ hee hee hee (for those of you who are horrified skank dancing is not in the slightest skanky, it's punk dancing with kicks and stuffs)

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 04:28 p.m.

Thursday, May 30, 2002

Right so this was testing week and since I haven't been able to take the regular tests, I've been writing essays. Three essays a day for the past four days.... *growl* And they were questions like "Compare and contrast Japanese and American schools and students" and " Compare and contrast Japanese and American school life and club activities" and "Compare and contrast Japanese and American home life and family interaction" right.... almost shot myself... full essays on each of those and then several more as well... then today being the last day of testing I thought it would be like every other day where we went home at lunch, but no this was not to be the case... After we finished tests we ate lunch (which I did not have but had luckily bought myself an onigiri this morning and went down to the cafeteria to get the latest rage in bread Melon Pan. It's actually extremely yummy) and then had a two hour assembly on sex education and I was front row dead center so I couldn't sleep and I understood far more than I wanted... the speaker was rather graphic... so now I find myself in the sauna that is the computer room writing to all of you. K well I was always told that the first joke you understand in another language is always incredibly funny no matter how stupid everyone else thinks it is. this is very true. I'll explain but for non-japanese speaking people it might not make sense, and you really do have to see it to think it's funny at all. So you have these three people eating these little chocalate doo-whops and talking an eye-exam where you cover one eye and stand behind the line and read the letters. So the first one munches on her chocolate bar and reads a the letter the doctor points to, then the next person reads the next letter pointed to, then it comes to a guy and the docter points to a "ma" character with ten-ten. For non-Japanese speaking people this is not a letter but is kinda close to "bo". He looks, double-takes, leans forward un-covers his other eye then looks around and says "MBA!". I have no idea what it has to do with the chocolate bars, but it is soooooo funny! You really have to see it though... k... so moving on... speaking of funny things on television. The pop-stars here humilliate themselves regularly on TV. Like there's one group SMAP, they sound a lot like backstreet bopys and have the same image to, but they also have a TV show and on this TV show they do highly amusing things. We have the two of the singers and one, Shingo, runs around and plays Dad for a kid that doesn't have one for a day. Really cute, but that's not the funny part. The other guy dressed up like a woman and went with four middle-aged women to be come "beautiful". He seriously got lipo-suction! And then he went to this place where women sit on these chairs with holes in them (kinda like and old fashioned mid-wives chair) that had incense below that was suppose to clean out the birth canal etc. and he sat on it. You should have seen his face! Then what else did he do?.... he got a massage and a face mask and stuff. This was perfectly hilarious. When he was getting lipo-suction he was screaming and finally ripped off his wig... yeah so then once they had both finished doing this they had some sort of clue and they hade to figure out which of these two doors to go through. They figured out the clue, but only one person can go through each door so they did Jan-Ken-Pon and Shingo won so he got to go through the correct door and the other guy had to go through the wrong one. So they go through and the camera scrolls to the other side showing that they were in phone booth sized rooms with a door in and a door out. Shingo's is unlocked so he goes into a garden thing but the other dude is trapped in his room, and soon a ballon starts blowing up inside. And this is a VERY LARGE balloon. He was plugging his ears and smashed brutally against the wall as the balloon filled th whole room. It popped and it sent him flying to the ground where he crunched up into a little ball with Shingo laughing outside. They call SMAP "comedy in clothing". I can't believe that they willingly do this stuff, but it IS really funny. K so sunday there were some Indian priests at my church. It was soo cool! I talked to them and we exchanged addresses and I told them I wanted to come to India and stuff and they're all excited. It was really neat! I learned a song in Temali, one of the 26? official languages? Not sure how many, but a lot. It's soooo pretty though! ^-^ Then after church the lady who had me over to her house last week for tes had me over again and let me try on one of her Kimonos. She has 16! So I have a ton of pictures of me now partially asphyxiated in a formal silk kimono. ^-^ hee hee I can't wait to get those developed. Yeah so other than that, I've been doing squat because of these dumb tests. Very boring. But I did catch Boy Meets World on TV last night. I love that show! ^-^

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 04:31 p.m.

Friday, May 24, 2002

K....I forgot something yesterday...I think I've forgotten again...give me a sec... I found another spider on me today... but this one was little and walking down my sleeve so I could just brush him off...I don't get it I do wash... that wasn't it though...In art today we were looking at everyone's comments about a painting that evaluated last week. And mine was written in english so the teacher tried to translate what he could but didn't understand most of it... most amusing... but that wasn't it either... I want Pocky.... mmmm yummy... have I ever mentioned the Pocky game? Well I won't on the web but I might if you ask me later... Geuss what I was watching last night? TOTORO!!! That has got to be the best movie ever made. It's soooo cute! And *melt* I love Totoro. I think I'll buy a Totoro DVD even though I don't have a DVD player. I'll have to get one eventually anyway, and the videos aren't compatible between here and Japan....yeah I think that was it actually... well everyone who knows Krysti Ostapina can kick her and tell her to e-mail me. I'm dealing with a crisis! ME NEED KRYSTI!!! K well I'll go now... maybe I'll look for O'jamajo Doremi sites. I suggest you do the same. It's really cute ^-^

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 04:37 p.m.

Thursday, May 23, 2002

OOOOH! AOL is so frustrating. I try to send people messages and they all come back. I haven't been able to send a single message since coming here. All I can do is reply to messages. So I'll have to write them out by hand I geuss... grrrr..... Well anyway. I saw my host family all together in public for my second time on Saturday. We went to Nikko (I think, or something similar sounding). IN any case we went to the temple with the three monkeys, Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil. But it was raining so I didn't get to see them. But I did get to see temple priestesses and I got my picture taken with one ^-^ She was wearing her cool priestess garb too. ^-^ This was also the the day I gained some wisdom on umbrellas. See EVERYONE here uses umbrellas. They're a really big thing I geuss. Instead of drawing little hearts around couples' initials, you draw an umbrella. Anyway, I wanted my hands free so I was wearing a rain jacket instead of using an umbrella. Children do not try this at home! First everyone in the family tried to share their umbrella with me. They really don't believe in rain coats I geuss. So I couldn't get them to stop giving me their umbrellas. Then I finally got them to leave me alone and I noticed another problem. For some reason, although they use umbrellas enough, no one is at all careful with them. So I had to keep dodging from getting those little spikes in my eyes, especially since most older people come up to my shoulders and everyone else is the same height as I am. So I finally gave in to carry an umbrella because at least I wouldn't get blinded.... Then that night geuss what! I woke up to shaking, and with my sleepy reasoning I figured there must be an evil man under my bed shaking it (must have been having a weird dream but this was my first thought) then I heard the windows rattling and didn't think that an evil man would go to that much trouble to get a bunch of people to shake the wondows too (this was seriously my train of thought) so I figured a wind must be blowing, but then I realized that that didn't make any sense because the windows were between my bedroom and the hallway, not outside and my bed was still shaking, my next thought was that I was having severe muscle twitches, but then that wouldn't explain the windows. So I drifted off into foggy confused sleep. Then at a decent hour when I was having my morning bathroom break I realized. WE HAD AN EARTH QUAKE! Cool huh? Kazumi-san confirmed this later. K... well it excited me in any case... Then geuss what I got? A yukata! Yatta! Yukata kata! ^-^ A yukata is a summer kimono made of a top and bottom instead of a single piece and it's made of cotton instead of silk so it's an affordable expensive (Kazumi-san could have bought a car with the money she spent on her kimono). I can't wait for it to come! I ordered it from a magazine. It's pink. ^-^ I'll wear it at Bunkasai, my school festival. Which *groan* by the way I have a story about. Well it's actually part of nininsankyaku...or is that awaht I'm doing in it... ok well there's a sports day the same week as the school festival and I got innocently conned into running a three legged race with a guy.... They were like "Wanna do it?" and I was like "sure, whatever" and then I discover it's the event that NO ONE wants to be in.... and I'm running with a San-nen-sei too. That's a third-grader, equivalent to a senior. But in Japan you have to treat seniors with an incredible deal of respect and they have all power and you don't talk to them unless spoken to etc. Yeah so there were two san-nen-sei and they're fighting over who runs with me and I'm sitting there turning bright reda dn trying not to look at either and they're trying to get me to choose between the two... *waaaaah* Popular opinion is the hotter guy won but I wasn't looking at either so I don't know... he's a whole lot taller than me too...how will that work? *waaaaaaaah* I don't wanna! K so next week is exam week so this week and next there is no club activities and we go .... betsu betsu... on our own?...everyone goes alone to and from school. I'm going to shoot myselfr I'm so bored. My only amusement has been getting my money stuck in gatcha gatcha... gumball machines...but not for gumballs what are those called? Well toy dispensers I'll call them. I got my money stuck in a toy dispenser and a nice man came and let me choose which toy I wanted while he opened it up to fix it. They have the cutest toys in those things. I'm currently trying to collect all the characters from O'jamajo Doremi. And ultra cute television show about first ..well now there third grade girls....but in any case little girls who are training to be witches.. It's sooooo aadorable and there's this little ditz Hana-chan who everyone is trying to raise (they raised from a baby, but she's not human so a year later she's only a little younger than they are). She's soooo sweet and cute. And then there's Momoko a New Yorker who doesn't speak Japanese. She makes me feel less stupid. ^-^o You know what's weird? I forget that I speak a language properly and can communicate freely in America. Like I'll be thinking "Oh that was a cool movie how he said `blah blah blah`"and then I'll be like "wait how did I understand what he said, I don't know how to say that" and then I'll realize it was in english and I speak english. I really have trouble remembering what it's like to communicate freely. 'Cause even when I speak english here I have to use a very limited vocabulary, and they often don't understand etc... It's hard for me to remember saying everything I want to as soon as I feel like it... I'll get that way in Japanese soon too. Buyt it's so frustrating. It's like learning two languages, the polite and the casual. If I use polite with my friends they make fun of me (well they do whatever I do but either way) and if I use casual with my teachers and upper classmen it's very rude. I normally just end up being rude and then smacking myself because I've forgotten again. And what makes it even more difficult is I'm expected to speak formally to them while they speak casually to me, which makes sense, but it's just really hard to remember. K well I think I'll head home before I sweat through my uniform. My shirt is already quite wet, but it get's washed.... It's really hot and we don't switch to summer uniforms til... two weeks from now... but that's soon enough. And that's when my yukata comes ^-^ Happy Happy Happy I'm going to wear it to Bunkasei...did I say that already? I think I did...ooh breeze...kimouchi...hmmm... might not have spelled that right and I'm too laz to dig out my jisho...dictionary... hey Hana can my next layout be O'jamajo Doremi? Pretty please? Loves, Minna-san!

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 04:11 p.m.

Friday, May 17, 2002

There is soooo not enough time to e-mail after school. I jot everyone I could quick lines and the longer e-mails I'll try to respond to later, but I still haev to blog and the computer room is already technically closed. I think I'll have another 15 minutes or so before they physically drag me from here....ok last week I totally forgot to tell you guyses about the coolest alarm clock in the world that just happens to be MINE! It's a totoro alarm clock with the second hand the little white totoro and when it goes off it plays the totoro theme song on a music box you can see behind a little tree that grows and totoro dances with an umbrella and there are little dustbunnies in the background too! It's sooooooo cute! Speaking of totoro a friend gave me two totoro pins (the little and medium totoros) which now adorn my uniform lapel. ^-^ K Kata rocks! I finished my first kata (routine?) on wednesday. I was the only one to finish until yesterday too. Evidently my ballet training does come in handy, but I think mainly I just care a WHOLE lot more then the other girls. They just are there for the heck of it I think... who knows.... K I was traumatized (again I know) but this week...wednesday maybe... I kept feeling something crawling on me in class. I wrote it off to an over active imagination, and continued studying. Then I reached up to scratch my head and felt something fall onto my collar. Odd I think but can't figure out what it was...then I feel something crawling again and look down to find a good sized spider on my shirt collar....right...so I try to brush him off but he did that annoying rappeling trick and went down the front of my dress and try as I might I couldn't get him out. So I'm still sitting in class wondering if I should go to the teacher "ummm, excuse me, but I have a spider down my shirt"...finally I decided to tighten my belt and pray for it to be a friendly spider and was going to wait the next fifteen minutes until class was over to try to remove my little "friend". But thankfully God was merciful and had him crawl up my neck where I could swish him to the ground. But being rather paranoid at this point I had to kill him too. *crunch* he spills his bodily juices on the floor. End of story, but let's examine this. I am a friend of bugs, I like them, but this was highly unnerving. I'm still paranoid and have the crawly feeling all day. Sooooo not cool...that was very traumatic.... Two I CAN'T KILL THINGS. THis was arguably the most traumatic part of the experience...I can't handle killing anything other than flies and misquitos much less a good sized crunchy spider. I felt sooooo guilty..... Three, where did he come from? Are there more? This one has the most unnerving effect. He was big enough that it is a highly unneerving question of where'd he come from? *shudder* and that night I discovered bites across my stomach and neck..... ICKY!... well in less traumatic news, there are chinese exchange students here for two days. That was sweet because for the first time, I was not the foreignere barging into peoples lives. They were. For once I belonged and they were the outsiders. It was sweet. Oh and I spoke more japanese than they did too. ^-^ K well I have to run. LOVES

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 05:09 p.m.

Saturday, May 11, 2002

OK, sorry peoples that got one liners or no messages at all, but I didn't have much time on the computer yesterday. It is a long a and highly embarassing story but also terribly funny so I will copy it for you directly from my journal no sensoring or anything. This is what I went through for the REALLY hot guy in my karate club. He's called Fumi. Clarification will be put in brackets...k here goes... May 21 Saturday 10:52 Right I think that last entry indicates my need for a life ... OK so this is highly embarassing, but absolutely hilarious. I think God was playing Candid Camera. OK so yesterday after school I went too pick up a newspaper from Megan-Sensei [sensei means teacher][she's an english teacher from LA], and I stopped and talked with her and Lena-Sensei (the german teacher)for a bit, then headed off in search of a computer. But since it was raining ALL the clubs were practicing in the halls and I admit I was looking for Fumi-kun [kun is a suffix for boys the same age or younger than oneself] so I did go a little out of the way. Well the normal computer room was closed so I had to try to find a way to get to the opposite corner of the school to the other computer room. I finally got there at 4:30, but it closes at 5:00, so I only had time to print things out 'cause AOL was acting really slow on top of it all. So I got everything printed out headed down to the lockers to wait for Tomo and Maiko etc. I was waiting in this cold, dirty, crowded place so when Funi-Kun came to go home I'd attack him. [wow I'm really embarassing myself, but I have not changed a word...] So I read my e-mails on the cold dirty floor, but I soon finished and tucked everything away dusted myself off and stood up to wait around 5:30 a quarter to. And I waited and waited and watched the baseball players change their shirts. It's a dumb game, but they have really nice bodies. ^-^ [AAACK!!! I had forgotten I wrote that down! *dies of embarassment*..well at least I'm being honest...I could have pulled that out and no one would have known...how embarassing...] So at six I was STILL waiting and I had discovered Japan has misquitos [that's missing a letter but I don't know which] too... about a quarter after Maiko-chan [chan is the suffix used between female friends] and Mai-chan came down. But Fumi-kun was STILL nowhere too be found... so Maiko-chan and Mai-chan started looking for his locker and [I'm] sitting there thinking great he's going to walk up while their doing this but he didn't, and they did eventually find his locker, but his school shoes were in it and that could only mean he'd gone home. I needless to say was ticked and had probably caught a cold waiting so long in the cold. I had seen him changing for karate (I looked away, it's not my fault he changes in the hallway) and practice wouldn't have ended befoer five but his shoes were there and he wouldn't be in the school without them. So there was nothing to do but to go home but first I had had to pee for a while so quick stopped at a bathroom. While I was in there I heard screams from outside I immediately understood and sure enough Maiko-chan soon burst into the bathroom yelling that Fumi-kun was outside. *groan* this is not how things were supposed to work...I thought. But was soon skittering out of the bathroom with as much dignity as I could muster and wiping my hands on my uniform (they don't have paper towels in bathrooms). So he's standing there looking confused and embarassed maybe I'm not sure...but there was no way out now "O'namae wa?" I asked [What's your name] "watashi no?" he asked confused [a formal way of saying "mine?" ...is that how he said it? I dunno, but everyone is kinda formal around me, being the American and all that rot] "un" I nodded then he rambled some long and confusing garble (why can't people ever just give me their first name?) I blinked at him blamkly "Nani yonde?" [what should I call you] again he gave me something weird, but I'll just call him Fumi-kun like everyone else. So I pointed to my nose which is still peeling from sunburn and said "Rei desu, shashin ii" [in Japan when indicating yourself you point to your nose not your chest, "Rei desu" means I'm Rei...again formally..crap..."shashin ii" is informal for "can I take you picture"] he looked unsure but agreed "niko!" [smile] I told him "niko! niko!" finally he smiled *click* [what is with boys and smiling for pictures?] Then Maiko appearded from behind a locker where she was probably laughing her head off and offered to take a picture of the two of us. I decided I had abused the poor boy enough for one day and nixed the idea thanked him and let him go then collapsed against the locker shaking and laughing. I had waited over two hours and the two minutes I was in the bathroom he shows up... I have to go to the bathroom at terribly inopportune times... On thursday I came out just as he was running through the halls but I was far too flustered to say hello. That was the first time I'd seen him during school too.[sue me, I'm well hydrated] Yeah so then it was still raining but I had to bike home. Have you ever tried biking at night in the rain with the extra resistence of one of those bike lights especially after a rather traumatic experience through stop and go traffic accross bad narrow roads with rice paddies on either side, AND HOLDING A UMBRELLA IN ONE HAND? Well it is VERY difficult. I know God was holding me up at times I came so close too riding off the edge too many times and then I'd steer away with a little too much force and hit Maiko-chan and scare both of us half to death and then we start laughing which set me swerving even more. I did make it home in one piece though. A most amusing but highly pathetic day. That picture better turn out or I'll cry! Stupid boys... Right so if I hadn't embarassed myself enough yesterday I will now with this. Wow that took a really long time to copy out of my journal. I use a shorthand so which is fast to write but kinda slow to read and typping and losing my place and ick...it was a mess...ahhhh...I just cracked my back I feel so much better... K so on to other news. I have discovered the wonders of soccer. This game rocks!!!! Daddy close your eyes, but it's better than football! So for the first time in her life Rei is watching and enjoying watching a sport. I watch football occassionally but really don't care that much. And the World Cup is being held in Japan too. Americans don't know what their missing! Yeah so I sit here in Japan trying to explain why Back Street Boys and Britney Spears aren't popular in American Highschools. Well I suppose guys like Spears, but dude! They just don't get it! I caught a Britney Spears concert on TV and she was going on and on about how much she loves Japan, it's 'cause people actually like her here. And I mean adults a lady in church asked me if I liked Britney Spears and then proceeded to tell me about her concert which she ahd gone to see. She was around forty I think! I've found that culture shock doesn't come from what they do here, but that they don't realize that it's not done everywhere. Like it's fine that they eat seaweed and fermented soybeans, but when they don't believe me that we don't in America is where I get the culture shock. Oh and back to the lady who likes Britney Spears. She invited me and the other teens in the church over to her house next week to get me hooked into the church. Praise the Lord! Hey do you know what the coolest thing with the language is? French class. It is soooo cool to transflate between two foreign languages without using your native tongue at all. 'cause the classes are held in japanese and french I work between those two without english at all. That is super neat! K well I've been online FOREVER so I gotta run. But hey does anyone know Sara Saunder's e-mail? I haven't heard from here forever and I con't remember her e-mail....thanx

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 03:57 p.m.

Saturday, May 4, 2002

Ok, I keep forgetting. First Andrea! Where are my FIA updates? Ok. Geuss what I saw on TV the other day?!?!?!?!? A special about Nepal's Kumari! It was soooo cool! It showed her temple and I was lik "I've been there! I've been there!" and then I showed her during the yearly festival where she comes out of her temple once a year. This is the only time you can take pictures of her. It was soooooo cool! I don't know if it was the same one I saw or not though. If the show was old than it would have been but if it's current then it would be the new one. The Kumari was getting old when I saw her and that was nearly two years ago now....but she wasn't that old. I bet it was the same one when she was younger...I dunno. Oh for peoples who aren't cool and didn't go to Nepal. The Kumari is a small girl selected at the age of 3 or 4 (I think) and believed to be the reincarnation of a Hindu Goddess. And then she is placed in a temple for all of her childhood coming out twice a year I think. When she has her first menstrual cycle, it is believed that the goddess leaves her and she is kicked out of the temple and lives the rest of her life without marrying. When I went to Nepal I went to her temple and visited her several times and painted a picture of her when I came home. Speaking of Nepal at the Karate Competition they played the opening song for the RS drama! I was highly tempted to do a one man version of the drama, but when my friends would decide I had lost my mind, I wouldn't be able to explain to them what I was doing...dumb language barrier.... But my Japanese has improved a ton. I can now understand about half of what's going on and can say generally what I want to in. Things are still rough, but thats definite progress. My friends make fun of my Japanese all the time though...it's not 7cause I'm saying anything wrong really, just that they think me speaking Japanese is funny or something... I dunno, everytime I ask them what's so funny they tease me for that too... But I figure you don't make fun of someone who can't speak at all, just someone who can but makes a few mistakes or get's the emphasis weird...really I think they just think I'm cute when I speak Japanese and then when I scowl at them for making fun of me...>_< oh yes...cleaning day..gotta go

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 04:34 p.m.

Saturday, May 4, 2002

yo, I'm sore, my nose is blistered with sunburn, my feet are so raw and blistered from karate I can barely walk, the knots in my back audibly crunch when I rub them and when trying to calm a cramp in my leg I gave myself bruises, it's a four day weekend, and yet I have karate practice three of those days in the afternoon heat, I'm dehydrated, exhausted, and seriously having the time of my life! The Karate competition on monday and tuesday was soooo cool! And now after karate practice every day, the third years (seniors) are teaching the second years (juniors, that would be me) kata. The karate forms, the things you need to test for higher belts. So practice doesn't let out until around 7:30 every day. Then I bike home. When I can walk again I'm going to be soooo buff. And sunburned...O'kaasan said I look like an apple. But today they let me spar!!!!! (that is fight) THat was soooooooo cool!!!! And I'm not that bad really. Not great either...I can't figure out how to block a gekkazukki punch... but I've watched long enough to be able to hold my own.�@^-^ Sooooo fun! And we were beating up punching bags and I got to practice with a third year who isn't afraid to punch. That was cool actually, to take a real punch instead of them punching the air in my general direction. But she kept hitting by chin and throat *cough* no it was fine...soooooo fun!!!! And I think I did something right in Kata 'cause all the third year guys crowded around and watched....or maybe they just think I'm cute...who knows...(I'm "blond" and therefore automatically gorgous). I got to spar!!! hee hee hee finally, and I'm starting to fit in with the other girls I think. Really they make fun of my japanese horrendously, but then I throw them on the ground. ^-^ (Thanks Craig for teaching me wrestling, not that you come to this site or even know I'm in Japan, hey Mommy tell the Schuff's K?) So we were running around being crazy today, while the third years had taken off their belts and were trying to lasso each other with them and then they started tying pads and punching bags on the ends and wacking each other. Most amusing. I'm so enjoying everything....hmmm....I think there was some embarassing like story I need to tell...oh yes. I started going to school by bike, but I wasn't entirely sure how long it would take to get there, so I was timing it out on Sunday. It takes about a half an hour there I discovered and then turned around to come home, but I couldn't find my turn to get back to Kisai, so after wandering around terribly lost for a while I finally had to stop. But then the problem would be if I asked someone to help me get home, they wouldn't know how to get there, and if I called home to get directions, they wouldn't know where I was, so I decided to ask where I was and call home, but I was more lost than I thought, so the very nice man called home for me and then Kazumi came in the car to lead me home. So she would go ahead giving me basic instructions and then meet me on a street corner and give me the next set. It was soooo funny. But then when I got home O'kaasan thought it was a little too funny if you ask me, 'cause she called up my friend Maiko-chan and told her about this. If a mothers job is to embarass her children, O'kaasan is being an excellent host mother. Then at school the next day Maiko-chan told everyone in karate.... grrrrrrr.... *sniffle* they're so mean....wow, I'm really sunburned....my nose is a sight to behold....I need some heavy duty sweat proof sunblock, but getting some would require my going out in the sun again, which would be counter productive....maybe tonight...did I mention my�@bike has a light on it? It's so neat. ^-^ yo geuss what I found? A Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne manga. It's soooo pretty! I am laboriously trying to read it...It takes a long time wwhen you have to look up every single word in the dictionary and you can only find half of them because you don't recognize the forms and the ones you do find don't give you enough to understand the sentence. But I look at the pictures and read even though I haven't the foggiest what is happening. K well my room is dusty and I have instated Saturday as cleaning day so I better run...well limp

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 03:35 p.m.

Friday, April 26, 2002

yo ok now I remember fun things to tell you. I was in Tokyo again this week-end. I went to and AFS orientation. I have an awesome friend staying in....Tokyo suburbs. So it's awesome to see her and we chatter at a million miles an hour because we are always crippled with our japanese or speaking reeeeaaaaaalllyy slowly in english. Then on the way home my host mother and host father took me to this touristy temple smack dab in the middle of Tokyo...ok so it's on the west side but either way. Lot's of shops etc, but it was raining so we didn't stay long. Dude Julia, this will interest you. I learned how to cut japanese bangs ^-^ fun fun I'll send you a picture when I lose my self control and cut bangs. I will soon. ^-^ Then yesterday inbetween classes I quick ran to the bathroom. The next class was homeroom, but when I returned to my homeroom EVERYONE was gone! Everyone was there when I left and the was no trace of them when I returned. I was NOT in there very long...so I wander around very lost for a while without the foggiest idea of where they've gone. Finally I go over to the teachers office with the hope that maybe my homeroom teacher was in there. Of course she wasn't she was wherever my class had vanished to. So I got help from the english teacher from LA and another teacher. So they ran around looking for them and calling around laughing hysterically the whole time and teasing me about how long I must spend in the bathroom. I seriously wasn't in there that long....*grumble* Finally they found out that they went to a last minute assembly and directed me to the assembly room. On the way there I met my homeroom teacher who was looking for me. They were all looking for me actually and had hgeld the assembly until I was found. So I hget into the assembly hall and EVERYONE their second year of highschool (about 500 I think) were sitting down waiting for me and I was in the front stinkin row! So I had to walk all the way up to the front to sit down. Most amusing *sigh*....yeah well tonight there is a really cool TV show on that features Japenese singers. Gackt and the Kinki Kids are on tonight. ^-^ Did I mention I take back what I said about Gackt Hana? hee hee

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 05:39 p.m.

Friday, April 26, 2002

Yeah, it did work! K so first let's answer questions....Have you taken your bike out much? No, I'm afraid I'll get lost, and I don't know how to get to school or church yet, so I can't ride it there either...I should pay more attention on the bus.... Are you buying lunch? No I have this wonderful little thing called an o'bentou, which is a Japanese lunch box that my mother packs with goodies every morning...well she thinks their good... no their not that bad...usually...^-^ Computer Access? I use computers with the Japanese version of Windows on it. So I can't read it, but I'm familiar enough with Wondows to find my way around. Then I get on the internet and aol is still in english but the pop up emergency windows aren't, that's ok I never read them anyway ^-^ My main problem is the keyboard, and actually an American keyboard would solve the problems. The keys are genrally the same except they have japanese characters next to the english ones. the main thing is just that the asterik key is "shift" "7" and other changes like that. The really annoying one is the shrunken space bar that has right next to it a button that makes the computer type in japanese characters but you can't just push it again to make it go away...most annoying. So this explains my many typos, especially the 7 that frequently appears instead of asteriks..so sorry....Yeah well I've decided this week that I do like it here. It's a blast. And there are lots of boys in school uniforms *droo...heh heh...moving on *blushes*... I finally figured out how to tie my karate belt ^-^, and on tuesday I get pulled out of school to go beat people up. fun fun uggghhh..I'm tired...but I have a three day week-end ^-^ Hey you guys I found Sailor Moon on TV! Every sunday 6:30 ^-^ and we got a native french speaker too. I am most pleased, the old one was a pronounciation demon and had horrible pronounciation. He kept yelling at me for pronouncing things correctly! But I've forgotten a ton of French *groan* Well, maybe not too much, but I'm slower and I couldn't understand the new teacher. It was soooo sad. But then I was pleased because I mangaged to explain this tragedy to my friends in Japanese. That was cool. Speaking of French ANDREA! Where are my French in Action updates? I haven't heard from anyone from the Mind Frame crowd except Julia. Do you not love me anymore?�@*sniffle* hmmm.....not sure what else to say? Do people have questions? or something? E-mail me please! And Laina, you're in the dog house! you're being busy and ignoring me. *sniff* I heard some stuff from Mom and Dad, you're evil with the girly smelly stuff. ^-^ Yeah....well...I geuss I'll go...but keep me up to date on junk back home k?

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 05:03 p.m.

Friday, April 19, 2002

K I forgot, Julia don't forget to send me the MF cd, and Vid would you kindly explain to me the politics behind Ender's Game. I'm completely clueless when it comes to politics. Like the Warsaw Pact and the Hegemon and the Polemarch etc. And if Vid doesn't check my site, Chrissy kick him and tell him to, or maybe you can explain it to me, thanks. Sorry about typos and crap on my site, these Japanese keyboards are set up differently and I miss the keys a lot.

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 05:34 p.m.

Friday, April 19, 2002

right...this is my first time blogging directly to my site...I hope I can figure out how to do this....ok first let me explain the quote at the end of my last entry. Julia has a website (linked on my site) the I was looking at with my friends from school who don't really speak english. And I saw a quote the Julia had put on... "Happiness is like wetting your pants, everyone can see but only you can feel it's warmth" and I started laughing hysterically upon reading this and my friends wanted to know why and I tried for a very long time to explain with their limited english and my very limited Japanese..yeah they still don't get it as far as I can figure...someday I'll have to explain. Yeah... well next I need to quick explain/apologize to people for being rather distant (emotionally). I've been on the receiving end of this and didn't understand until now, and it hurts when you don't. OK well I am a very long way from home as you know, and so I have to seperate myself emotionally or I'll never adjust and be majorly homesick. So understand that it's not 'cause I don't love each and every one of you, I just need to keep my focus here right now. k enough of that.... did you guys know they have squatty pottys here? Lots and lots of squatty pottys. Only in really new areas can you find anything but. All my school has is squatty pottys, so I get lots of practice with the Nepali Squat...hey and every morning my host father does the Nepali Hack (what a pleasant wake up call) and on top of that my house smells like incense when I wake up every morning. Good old memories, 'eh Ken? About school I found out more about my class. It's a special class that focuses on foreign languages. Everyone takes english, sometimes we have as many as three different english classes in one day, and then everyone has to take another foreign language too. They have the choice between chinese, french, and german. Yeah so I sit in class and study Japanese mostly, but I don't remember what class it was, but at one point I attempted to pay attention, but that got old real fast so I started writing quotes in my assignment notebook. Hana-(how Hana will smuggle cherry tree seeds out of Japan) I'm going to take my socks, and then I'm going to sew pockets in my socks, and then I'm going to put the seeds in the the pockets in my socks, and then I'm going to put socks with the pockets and the seeds on my feet, and then I'm going to put on my shoes over the the socks with the pockets and seeds, and THEN I am going TO WALK!!! Carrie and Meredith-(7th grade during math class taping flies to the window and singing) That's so sad, that's so sad, that's so sad (would insert some poor bystanders name here) Julia-(While trying to inconspicuously eat a peppermint patty, this must be read is a higly thoughtful voice) It tastes kinda....stringy....oh nevermind, I'm eating my hair. (Another great one by Julia) Jackie-can you pass me the scissors? Julie-(chucks a roll of duct tape to her) Jackie-...or the scissors? Julia- oh,I thought they'd come with (After several minutes of near suffocation from laughter it was finally discovered that Julia believed the scissors to be stuck to the tape...) (this was a creation during the terrors of APUSH) (This one doesn't work so well without the picture, but there was a huge scribbly ball on the paper with an "start" on one side and an "finish" on the other, sitting at the "start" was a cute little bunny and at the other end a carrot, written above was "Help the bunny fiund his way through the maze to the carrot before he starves to death and DIES!!!") Yeah so none of those are funny if you weren't there, but watch me not care. heh heh heh....right well I7m gonna go now...my ‚½‚¢‚â‚« is calling me. ^-^

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 05:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 16, 2002

Hi again peoples!

K so where did I leave off....no clue...but either way, my host sister came home 5 days ago and I've seen her a wopping three times since then...Don't ask me I haven't the foggiest...
So I had a lovely little tour of Kisai when I tried to go to church on Suday. Most amusing. Mrs. Whelan got a letter while I was sitting waiting for various buses. You see the stop that church was at did not exist so I had to ride the bus back and forth a couple times trying to find the alleged stop before I gave up and found myself some icecream treats instead. ^-^ Then yesterday i discovered the wonder of ... palaculo...pelacalo...well the consenants are right anyway...they're these little phone booth like things where you take group pictures and decorate them and print them out as tiny stickers. They're super cool! And then you go around and trade them. ^-^ most amusing.
Then today instead of sitting through biology I got put into a choir class, had to dust of the vocals chords but we're singing Sound of Music so I teach pronunciation. It seems that I either have no idea what's going on in a class, or I'm teaching it. Well it can be fun at times but other times I want to shoot myself when we spend 60 minutes on a page of a book it took me 60 minutes to read cover to cover. Well right now I'm getting out of World History, and during Math I sit in my desk and study Japanese. Next is Japanese class...like I'll understand that...last time we were given a packet to read and I had just figured out the jist of what the title said when everyone else had finished the story, or whatever it was.

Now on to Japanese food...I've decided I like Chinese food..heh heh..ok not all Japanese food is bad. I'm still generally afraid of seafood, but I like onigiri and nato and yakitori and yakisoba. But don't touch the o'dangos! I like nato the dreaded thing by just about every other American (nato is fermented soy beans, very very sticky) but the o'dangos are the nastiest things! It's supposed to be a dumpling (as in o'dango atama. Dumpling head) but is closer to a condensed marshmellow covered with this caramelly mushroomy sauce. *cough* nasty... but I like onigiri ^-^ (rice balls) aaaack! bell I'll be late! Gotta run.
By the way Julia do you have any idea it took to explain to my friends about your wetting pants quote? I'll explain later AAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 06:29 p.m.

Saturday, April 13, 2002

Hey peoples! I started school this week and my generally boring existance exploded into a whirlwind of activity. I had to do a speech in front of the whole school, and it went fine... I think...Then tuesday I joined karate. I met a ton of people, but have forgotten most of their names, heh heh... but I have some friends and everyone is super nice and they help me with my Japanese and try to explain a little of whats going on during our 90 minute class periods (and I thought APUSH was bad...at least I understood). I have perfected the art of sleeping while sitting up, now if only I can learn to do it with my eyes open....there was one class I understood. English Pronounciation. We have this cool machines that we push a button for attendance and then put on headsets and listen to a tape and record somehow and there's a screen hooked up to a video camera up front where they put a book in front of it. Then the teacher broke into the middle of my "fill...fell...bill...bell!" and talked to just me and I helped him with his pronounciation. Then we got partners so there was suddenly someone else in my headset. It was really cool....

So hmmmm....I think I'll start trying to answer the million questions I have been bombarded with...ok the gifts for my host family were very well received. Everyone who comes over is shown the Wisconsin picture book. Showers I already answered (way to pay attention Mom) I take a shower in a little stool turning on the water only to rinse, and then once I am clean I crawl into a big hot bathtub to soak. (These next questions are from Grandma so someone make sure she knows about this site, or print it out or something please) The slippers I wear around the house are extras that they have. Everyone has extra slippers because you always wear slippers indoors (with the exeption of stores) and people aren't going to carry around slippers with them so people just have extras. The weather here is much like spring in Wisconsin, it rains every other day and is freezing cold and then boiling inbetween. It's crazy.
Their tea is great! And I get a ton of it, every meal and then tea time twice a day. I don't mind a bit....okay I hope you can follow all of that...

Well I have a lot of time to blog so...I'll run down an average day. I wake up at 6:15 and get dressed in my uniform and those crazy slouch socks they wear here (I don't understand them but I'll go along with it). Then I do mornign things like Bible study and breakfast and am out the door by...7:40. Then I have to walk to the bus stop and get there around 7:45. Then I take the bus to the stop nearest school which is a good 10-15 minutes away. I get to school and change my shoes and head up to homeroom. The classes are 90 or 50 minutes, but we have 10-15 minute breaks in between t just hang out or talk. For lunch I go down to the cafeteria to eat, but most people have o-bentoo (packed lunches) and I will as well once my host mother comes home. She's in Australia now to bring Kazumi home. Then after school I go to a classroom and try to decently change into my Karate uniform ('cause people are coming in and out of the room...maybe I shouldn't be saying this where my parents can read...) and then we go up to the roof to practice. Afterward I get home around 7:30 and eat supper and generally collapse into an exhausted heap. Today and yesterday my class is getting tested so they sent me to the library to read yesterday and today they are allowing me on the computers....So I got an X manga ^_^ and a Asuka one (which is a phone book sixed collection of mangas) and a BOA cd. She does "Every Heart" for those who follow Japanese music. Sunday I went to Yoyogi Park with AFS, and Yoyogi Park is the ... kinda Freak Street of Japan. As Jeff said "It's where all the wackos come so they can feel normal." There were the Japanese goths, wow they were interesting and the 50's people, you wouldn't believe their hair! And they play Grease and dance around and....yeah... and then every sunday there is a huge street dance. This sunday all of the Hippies were there. Dreads and marijuana in great quantities. It's a really interesting place to go...really...yeah...well thank you everyone who sent me letters and stuff I really appreciate them. Sorry I haven't responded personally...

Hey I ordered Tare Panda! I'll get it soon! yeah ok ... un well Mommy and Daddy there's a letter in the mail...well it will be soon you should get it Tuesday or Wednesday, I think...yeah I think that's it for now.

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 09:13 a.m.

Tuesday, April 9, 2002

Nothing has happened really since I last blogged. I sit and study Japanese just about everyday. And yes I'm sick of it. The book I received is a very welcome break. Although yesterday (after getting my communion wafer stuck to the roof of my mouth, is that a bad omen or something?) I made my first friends. They're some relation to O'kaasan (my host mother) but I have not clue what it is. There was Mami (mah-mee) a 15 year old sophomore guy, and Kazuki (kah-zoo-key) a college girl who spent a month in Oregon. We played Dance Dance Revolution, a video game where you step on the squares on a mat. I'm completely and totally, pathetically awful. *sigh* It was most embarrassing. Especially after Mami who is insanely good, he got the hardest dance perfectly. . . *cough* most embarrassing. But then Kazuki lent me some mangas in Japanese and English (in the same book) . . . those will be useful. They're for learning English but they'll work just as well the other way I'm sure

School starts next week, my school uniform is *cough* a little short. . . it's 'cause I'm tall :-) Hey we have a milk woman! hmmm. . .yeah. . . oh! I have to do a speech in front of the whole school! @___@ In Japanese too . . . or should I say Kah-lee-soo-tah (how the Japanese say Krista). It's frighteningly similar to Kah-lee-soo-toe (Christ).
Oh yeah, the town I'm in is Kisai, it's near . . . Kazo? maybe, but I'm in Kisai. Yea I think this should conclude my rambling post, I want to go to the park but I don't feel like being bombarded with children...*sigh*

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 03:54 p.m.

Monday, April 8, 2002

Hey peoples, sorry I don't have e-mail/ internet access until the 12th (Hana is doing the blogging for me for now). I will now tell you a random story born from sheer boredom and creative withdrawl...

So I was sitting there with snails in my socks and not being very happy about it, and the snails didn't particularly like being in my socks either and were therefore getting slimier and chewing on my toes. I, being very unhappy about this, started hopping about (on my unsnailed foot to avoid the feeling of crushing slimy bodies under my other foot) screaming bloody murder. Yet for unknown reasons no one seemed to be taking me seriously. So being the independent thinker I am, I decided to solve this problem on my own.

So I hopped into the kitchen, found a very large knife, and hacked my foot off just above the ankle. Then I placed it into a properly sized tupperware and hopped to the phone to call 911. After quite a bit of explaining (they just didn't get it) the people decided to come, so while I waitied, I used some rags to make a tourniquet to slow the blood pouring onto mommy's nice wood floors. Shortly, some nice young men in clean white suits, buzz saws and blow torches came to take me away, tearing down the house, burning up the neighborhood, and letting armadillos and black eyed peas take over the neighborhood while they were at it.


There ends my proof that green tea does have opium in it.


Speaking of pop stars, I saw Gackt on T.V. He is not attractive, Hana, I'm sorry. :P
And I saw Glay, they have...interesting eye makeup. Oh, and I saw a guy from Da Pump in Tokyo...did I mention my school has a rock band as an extra curricular activity?? ^_______^
Oh, and can someone explain why Greg was pelting me with juggling balls and saying it would make sense after I read "Ender's Game"? I don't get it...also what was the point? I was severely jet-lagged and the book seemed to be leading up to a truth or moral that I missed...

So Hana how do you like WoT (Wheel of Time)? I know how you like angsty boys and Rand would definately qualify.

Hey everyone please send me some snail mail, k??

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 04:52 p.m.

Tuesday, April 2, 2002

Ok everybody, just so you know, I'm not dead! The host family's house I'm staying at has a computer, but nobody knows how to work it except for my host sister who's in college right now, and isn't coming back untill mid-April. So I'm going to be computerless and email-less until then.

So, I'm here and settled in (more or less). I'm in a "super rural" area which seems comparable to Oconomowoc. There's a playground right next to the house where the children bombard me with questions.
The house is pretty normal but all of the doors slide except for 3, I think. The front door slides too. The dog is very cute, but he humps everyone's legs. . . :'-) heh heh.
The food is very different and at first I nearly threw up everything I ate, but PTL I was able to eat everything last night without gagging at all. Even the "hamburger" which consisted of fried vegetables and eggs (I think) without any sort of bun. But my family is very, very nice and they help me with my studying. We called Kazumi (the oldest, in college) last night, she seems really nice, I can't wait to meet her. Oh and you should see my school uniform, it's really cute! Dude! They have serrated spoons here? Those are painful. And my toilet has a remote control. I don't want to know what all those buttons do . . . and the sideview mirrors on the cars fold up!
My studying is going very well. It's amazing how much I have already improved. You would love the bathing you clean up and then you sit and soak in a hot, deep bath. I'm going to see my school tomorrow :-) I can't wait for school to start. I still haven't met anyone my age.
You wouldn't believe the styles here. Lots of leggings under short skirts, especially black lace ones. And then lacey skirts over jeans and the crazy slouch socks too. . .
Okay, they never wear shoes in the house so we wear these slippers, but we take them off to go on carpeting and tatami mats, and there is a different pair you wear in the bathroom and another for walking on the balcony. Speaking of the houses, they're freezing. It's warmer outside than inside. hmmm . . . well I better get back to my studying!

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 05:08 p.m.

Sunday, February 4, 2001

Commencment of psycho babble. ^______^

Krista glomped Tare Panda @ 12:58 p.m.