花見 (Hanami) and the finale of Cherry Blossoms in Mishima

So not much to say really. Only two friends and I did Hanami Sunday.  The other guy couldn't make it because he had track practice. All we did was play soccer and chill. Today, started the first full week of school and classes were interesting and fun. After school ended, I walked home and decided to take some final pictures of the Cherry Blossoms in Mishima Shrine before they fully fall. Well, the pictures will explain everything. If you want to see more photos please look under the "links" section up top.

First up is the park we went to for Hanami.

Kids playing an intense game of dodgeball.

Cherry Blossom at school...

more at school...

and again....

and again...

and done.

Cherry Blossom at Mishima Shrine

That is it for now. The next blog update will be done in Japanese because I will have to start keeping a diary entry twice a week for my Japanese class. Until next time, じゃね！

First week in Japan!

What a pretty amazing week it has been, but towards the end it got a little crazy. So lets begin this long post!

Monday
After leaving the hotel on Monday, I had to walk to the train station to meet up with the people from Nichi Dai so they can bring me to the dorms. From the train station we took a taxi straight to the dorms. When we arrived to my dorm room, they just gave me a brief tour of the room even though the room is pretty small. haha After dropping my stuff in the room,  we left to Nichi Dai. When we arrived at Nichi Dai, it was orientation day for the freshmen. There were quite alot of people and there were club tables set up outside to recruit new members. I walked with the two people that picked me up to the office and there they introduced me to the staff members of the office. After a brief introduction, we went into the L.L. room (language lab) where they gave me a bag full of stuff about Nichi Dai and Mishima.  After explaining all that they told me I had until 11:00 a.m., about an hour, until the other foreign exchange students will come, where then we will talk about the course schedule. During that short wait, I got food from Moss Burger, a popular fast-food chain restaurant like McDonalds. It was actually my first time eating at Moss Burger and I got to say, the burger was delicious! It is pretty much like a tofu-veggie burger instead of beef patty. When 11:00 came around I met up with four of the other foreign exchange students in the office. From there we went back into the L.L. room to talk about the course schedule. There are not many options of classes to take at Nichi Dai. In total, there are only 13 English-speaking classes that you are able to choose from and most of them deal with studies in Japan or international studies.
The way we register for classes are different in Japan compared to America. What happens is that when class starts (April 6) you have until April 23 to officially decide on the classes we want. Until then we can hop around different classes to see if we want to take it or not. Since there aren't really many classes that over-lap with each other, there is no stress into deciding which class to take. After we finished with the little session, the other foreign exchange students and I went to go eat lunch. After eating and talking a bit, we walked back home from school. The walk takes about 20 minutes and is not really that far. On the way back, we was talking about what to do that day since it was still daylight. We got back to the dorms for about five minutes and left again. This time we decided to go to Mishima Shrine and see the cherry blossom and what a gorgeous view it was. However, the cherry blossoms were still blooming and were not in full bloom yet. I was able to get some magnificent pictures despite the cherry blossoms not being in full bloom. After about 30 minute or so of taking pictures, we walked back to the dorms and sort of rested for later that night. I unpacked and settled down and try to get everything in order. At about 18:00, one of the foreign exchange students and I went back to Mishima Shrine to look at the cherry blossoms at night. I was hoping to see some awesome lit-up cherry blossoms but there were not much light since the cherry blossoms were not in full blossom yet. After a few pictures, we walked to the super market and bought some stuff for my dorm. Afterwards, we just returned back home and called it a night.

Tuesday
So on this day, I woke up to a very beautiful view of Mt. Fuji! This totally made my day already because it was such a magnificent view. After waking up and washing up, my friends and I decided to go to Sunto Moon (yes it is spelled that way too), which is a mall in Mishima. In order to get there, we had to take bikes or it would have been an hour walk or so according to my friends. We were able to borrow bikes for free from the Mishima Shrine, but they just had to be returned by 16:00. The bike trip there took about 10-15 minutes. During the trip, I was able to get a magnificent view of the whole Mt. Fuji. However, I did not take pictures because I did not really want to stop so much and keep taking pictures. When we got to Sunto Moon, we walked around.  We went upstairs to the Sega Arcade and played Mario Cart. It was fun! I won first place the first game and got second the second game. After we finished playing game, we walked around some more and I saw this cute panda pillow and couldn't help but buy it!  We walked around some more then decided to go back home. On our way home, we stopped by the 100 yen shop and I bought some household stuff. After returning the bikes back to Mishima Shrine, we went back home and called it a day.

Wednesday
First day of class! My first class was at 10:40 and it was International Relations I. I met up with my friends in front of the dorm and left to school at 10:15. I don't really want to go much into explaining the class because it is pretty much taught the same way as in America. After the first class, I met up with my friends and went to go eat lunch. There was a 20 minute wait for rice because there were so many people wanting to eat lunch. I decided that I wasn't going to eat then. After eating, my friends and I had to go and take the Japanese language placement test. The test was multiple-choice with 100 questions. It was easy until question 50, then it just got really hard because of the kanji. After finishing the written part of the test, we had to go talk with the lady for a bit for the spoken portion of the test. Overall, the placement was not too bad. After finishing the placement test at about 14:00, I had to wait until 16:20 for my next class. Two of my friends were done for the day so they went home. One of my friend was hungry so him and I went to go grab some food to eat at the cafeteria. After we finished eating, he, too, went back home and I was left alone at school. >_< it was a little lonely but I got time to myself and explored the school a little bit. I went to the 6th floor of the main building and on that floor there was a cafe restaurant. There was also a fantastic view of Mt. Fuji. I stayed there until it was almost time for class. The class I had at 16:20 was International Relations III - International Law. This class seems like it will be really interesting since we will be studying present day problems and laws that apply to the problems. After that class, I walked back home. After dropping off some stuff, I walked to the supermarket to buy some food and drinks. I returned back home and called it a night.

Thursday
On Thursday, I woke up at 10:00 and had planned a day with no classes because there were no classes that I were suppose to take that day.  However, at about 12: 40 my friends called me and asked if I was ready for class and I was like "huh? what you mean?" She said that we had a Japanese class at 13:00 and that we had to attend it. The night before we supposedly got an email saying that one of our Japanese classes were changed to Thursday 13:00 and 16:20. I didn't received that email. I was still pretty in bed when my friend called me. I told her that I probably won't attend since its a little late because I would have to take a shower and get ready. So, my friends left off to class. After she gave me a call I decided to take a shower and get ready for class at 16:20. My friend texted me and said that even if I was late I should just come to class late, so I left at 13:00 and got to school at 13:20. It was such a hot walk there because I was sweating. The way the Japanese class is set up is different than what I am used to.  We each had a T.A. (teacher assistant), who helped us with our Japanese. The class doesn't really count as Japanese I or Japanese II because each of us are at different levels of Japanese. After the first class, we went to the common area in the main building and chilled for a little bit until next class. I met two of their friends and chatted for a bit. After the second class ended at 17:50, we went to Ita Yokado, a big department store with a grocery store inside. We went to buy some food and went back home after. We each bought pizza and decided to eat it together and watch tv in one of our rooms. After that we pretty much called it a night. One thing did happen though. I experienced my first earthquake! Apparently it was a big shake than usual. I was sitting in my room watching dramas on my computer. I saw something move from the corner of my eye. My curtains were shaking a little. I was like "whoa why are they moving." Then I sat still a little bit and start feeling the room move a little. I couldn't really decided weather or not I should have gone out the room or not because it did not feel dangerous since it was a small shake. The shake did not last long either. Probably for about 50 seconds or so. My area, Mishima, did not feel the full blunt of the real earthquake, which was 7.1. On the scale, we measured a 2. I did decided to step outside of my room to see if anyone else was leaving but seemed like no one else left their room and the shaking had stopped too. It was a little frightening, but overall, a good experience since I know what it is like to experience an earthquake.

Friday
Yesterday, we decided to go eat lunch at a yaki-niku restaurant that had a 500 yen lunch set. Yaki-niku pretty much means meat and that was what the restaurant specializes in.  We went their by bike and it was such a rough journey because it was really windy yesterday and it kept blowing at us. After we arrived and sat down, we ordered our food and it came out in less than 10 minute. We were really hungry too. This was also my first time eating yaki-niku. What you do when eating yaki-niku is you get a plate of raw meat, either beef or pork, and you put it over this platform with a burner under it to cook it. There are also different kind of sauces you can either dip the meat in before or after. The lunch set came with a bowl of rice, sad, miso soup, either 100g or 150g of raw meat, and yogurt. It was such a great lunch for a cheap price! After we finished eating, I had to go back home because I had to get ready to meet up with a new friends to go to Shibuya, Tokyo. The train ride to Shibuya  took two hours and a half hours! It was such a long train ride. After we got to Shibuya, we met up with my friend's other friends at the famous dog statue that I always forget the name of. I didn't bring my camera at night because I did not feel like carrying it around. After meeting up with everyone, we had a brief introduction and walked around Shibuya. I was thinking about buying stuff, but the guys wanted to go nomikai, or nomihodai (all you can drink), then go clubbing afterwards. I did not feel like carrying stuff around the whole night since we won't be returning until the morning. Pretty much the whole night, we went drinking and hopped around from one club to another since we either couldn't decide where to go or some of us couldn't get in. There was also a little trouble with the cops with the other guys. I don't know exactly what happened because during the time that incident happened I was inside the club and the others walked outside to take care of one of the girls because she was wasted. Also, the right back side of my jeans ripped because I sat on something sharp and when I got up it ripped. One of the new guys that I met also kept pulling on it and making it even bigger. It was really annoying that he kept doing that. Good thing I had a jacket to cover part of it up even though you was still able to see some of my leg. In the end, everything was settled and we all went back home safe and sound, even though the train ride back home for me was two and half hours. >_< I pretty much fell asleep on the train. Good thing I was worried that I would miss my train stop so I kept waking up. When I got to my train station, I took a cab back to my dorm because it was a 20 minute walk to my dorm and the fact that I had ripped jeans. By the time I got home it was 9:00 and I knocked out once I got into my bed.

As for today, I pretty much slept through half of the day. Not much progress today with anything except updating my blog. Tomorrow I plan on going Hanami at some park with some friends. Hanami is a picnic during the cherry blossom season at a cherry blossom area. I might update again tomorrow with more pics from the Hanami, but lets see how things go. Until next time, じゃね、and enjoy the pictures.

View from top floor of my dorm

You can see Nichi-Dai. It's the blue sign in the far distance

Cherry Blossoms at school!

Fountain at school

Mt. Fuji from the cafe restaurant

Yaki-niku lunch set

This is how you cook the meat

Ate everything but the miso soup. It had too much seaweed taste

Our bikes fell because the wind was strong

My favorite pair of jeans ripped! T_T

My Panda Pillow!!!

Moss Burger at school

Toilet control in the restroom at my hotel room

Dorm building

Entrance (rice cooker in the cubby)

Closet

My room

My "no-space" bathroom

Shoes rack and pantry! haha

Mishima Shrine

Turtles sunbathing on the rock island in the middle of the pond in Mishima Shrine

Cherry blossom getting ready to bloom!

Bloomed Cherry blossoms!

Cleansing water before you enter the shrine.

Post up your wish here

Deers in Mishima Shrine

Night shot

Cherry bossom at night!

More pictures located under the "Links" tab on the top navigation bar!

The View!

Another quick update. I just wanted to mention how I woke up to such a gorgeous view this morning!

Mt. Fuji!

Until next time, じゃね！

No New Update

Alot has happened on my first whole day at Mishima, however, I will not be making a full post until the end of the week. I just wanted to create this post to inform any readers that a new picture section has been added to my links on the top menu bar. It is called "Japan Spring 2011." Feel free to browse my pictures. Until the end of the week, じゃね！

日本！ただいま！！！

めんどくさい！Troublesome! That pretty much sums up half of today.  Ok, well it was not as bad as I am making it. Three good things happened today: 1) My girlfriend came and saw me off! It was really sad and tearful, but I am happy that she was pretty much the last person I saw when I left. 2) I had the window seat PLUS and empty seat next to me so I had a whole section to myself! Oh how the space felt. 3) Took me a good old fashion Japanese bath! For some of those who don't know, its pretty much washing your body, then entering a hot tub of water! Felt so good after all the trouble I went to.

Now onto the troublesome parts. So, as Nihon Dai tells you, I had to take the Narita Express to the JR Shinigawa station. However, there was some sort of accident so the Narita express was closed down. woopty-doo....What this meant was that I had to find another way to Mishima from the airport. Luckily, there are employees that speak English, not good, but enough. One of the employees told me I had to take the Jr Narita Terminal directly to Tokyo. So, I listened and went to go get a ticket for that train. Unfortunately, when I was buying the ticket I had less than 2-3 minutes to go through the ticket gate and get down the escalator. Oh yeah some people would have been like "You should have ran." Well, I couldn't have because I was rolling around two nearly fifty pound suitcases and for some odd reason (because the airport doesn't want carts downstairs) the airport decided to put bars by the escalator where you can only roll one suitcase at a time. Then I had to go down the long escalator. I was too tired and lazy to carry the two suitcases down the escalator because what if I tripped and fell?  That would not be a pretty site. Now here is the good part. Right when I got down the escalator....the train left.  Yep...it left. Now I had to go right back up the escalator with two suitcases and go through the bars again to go talk to the ticket booth employees. Here is another good part. The next train wasn't going to come until an hour later. Great! I had nothing to do besides stand by the ticket booth and look like some odd person. Well, after I got onto the train, I was on my way to Tokyo, which took another whopping hour and a half! But then I chose to take the train instead of the bus because the train only cost 1,280 yen, while the bus would have cost 3,000 yen, but would have been faster to get to Tokyo. I'm on a budget so what can I do? Go for the cheap one of course. However, after I boarded the train and got comfortable, some ticket lady came up to me and asked for my ticket. Apparently, I boarded the first class train cabin. She was about to move me to another cart, but before she could, I asked her how much it would cost to upgrade. She said "1,000 yen." I thought it would have been more expensive but I got lucky somehow. So after that incident and an excruciating hour and half of wondering why it was taking so long to get to Tokyo because we stopped probably a good 10 stops. I was starting to get nervous that I got on the wrong train. I finally arrived at around 4:30 at Tokyo. From there on, my journey of excruciating agony continues. So, yeah...I took the wrong train THIS time. I was suppose to take the Tokaido Shinkansen (bullet train) which would have led me directly to Mishima. However, I ended up taking the, I guess, local Tokaido line. It stopped so many times and guess how long it took to finally get to the last station, which wasn't even Mishima? It took a whole two hours! After finally arriving at the last station, Amita, I finally decided to ask someone which train I should take to Mishima because I was pretty scared and nervous that I was lost. But, I actually wasn't lost.  At Amita, I just had to walk straight across to the next train on the same platform. Yay! When I got on, this time I made sure and asked a local Japanese man if the train stopped at Mishima, IN JAPANESE! Woohoo! I feel a little accomplished because whenever I had to communicate earlier with anyone I always asked if they was able to speak English, which they were able to, then I spoke to them in English.  But not this time. He understood me perfectly. =D I feel so accomplished. HAHA well after another hour train ride from Amita, I finally arrived at Mishima. What was odd during the whole trip was that I just walked straight to the next train and not go through any ticket gates.  When I had to go through Mishima's ticket gate, I had to adjust my fair, but I let the ticket booth employee do that because I did not know how to do it. In the end I only had to pay 1,900 yen. Totaling my trip up to only 4,780 yen.  If I would had take the Tokaido Shinkansen instead of going through all that trouble, it would have cost me around 7,000 yen according to Nihon Dai.  However, the whole time consuming and cost less money was worth it. It is an experience that I would never forget and mistakes that I could learn from. It was stressful, but hey, thats not really an experience you can get back home, especially with no phone or internet to google map your way through. I am pretty tired now and will update again tomorrow or another day. But until then, じゃね！

T-Minus 5 hours....

So here I am at the five hour mark before my flight.   I feel pretty nervous now more than ever, more than even the last time I left for Japan.  Two reasons why: 1) I keep having the feeling that I am forgetting stuff, and you know how that feels. 2) This time when I arrive in Japan I won't have anyone to pick me up and I would have to find my own way to Mishima from Narita Airport. Hopefully, when I arrive at Narita Airport I will be able to re-activate my pre-paid phone from last semester.  As for packing, I pretty much was able to pack up 3/4 of my clothes. haha The reason why is because I don't have much clothes to begin with.  With all the clothes I needed I just made the 50 lbs limit. My second suitcase is half-packed with noodles.  My mom was worried that there would be food rationing like during Hurricane Katrina (because I am from New Orleans) so she wanted me to pack food. I got noodles, spam, and vienna sausage. The other half of my second suitcase is filled with everyday needs like shampoo, body wash, contact solution, etc.

I will arrive at Narita Airport at 1:05 p.m. (Japan time) on Sunday.  From there I have to take the train to Mishima.  When I arrive at Mishima I will have to stay at a hotel overnight because Nihon Dai is closed on Sunday and the people will pick me up on Monday at 9 a.m. By the time I get to Mishima it should be around 3 or 4 p.m. After dropping my stuff off at the hotel, which is nearby the train station, I will probably go roaming around and explore my surroundings.  Look forward to lots of picture. hehe I am going to be taking plenty of scenery shots.  Well, I'm not sure what else to talk about. I am going to be staying up all night and knock out on the airplane. I'll update when I settle down at the hotel. Until then, じゃね！

Emotional Rollercoaster

So ever since the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami and "nuclear meltdown" it has been pretty hard for me to keep calm with everyone here at home exaggerating information that they are hearing from other people that heard from the news. Yeah usually stuff like this are called rumors, and these rumors tend to morph by the time it is passed down to the third or fourth person.  Mainly my family has been getting the worst of me because they are doing things without consulting me. I am pretty much the baby of the family because I am the youngest (for my mom) and she still treats me like a little kid.  She pretty much try to force me to stay by exaggerating information from an email that I received from Nihon Dai.  The email clearly states that "spring semester is going to  start as scheduled" and " there still are possibilities of cancallation or suspention of the semester that may occur at any time after your arrival." I had to point out the fact that there are only possibilities of cancellation or suspensions, not that the school will cancel for sure. My parents also called my school last night and Nihon Dai said that there was a high chance that the spring semester will be cancelled. Well, look here, it's not. My mom started going on like some splurge and trying to see when to book my flight to California so I can attend my old brother's wedding (yeah I know I should go but I will go into detail later) and to get a tuxedo for the wedding. My step-dad also has a brother in Japan that he called and talked to my mom.  I am pretty sure they over-exaggerated a good amount of information because my mom was telling me that everything in Japan is in a state of crisis and that it was super dangerous and that Japan is getting non-stop earthquakes. Seriously now? Are you serious? It is not as bad as it seems. I have been able to contact people in Japan, both from Osaka and Mishima and things are not that bad.


As for my brother's wedding, I really wanted to go. However, because I would have to buy another plane ticket and skip out on classes in Japan I decided that it would best not to. My mom tried to pretty much force me into cancelling this semester because it was so "dangerous" and what not and that the Fukushima power plant "WILL" go into a meltdown.  And againt, are you serious?! Has she been looking at the news...besides CNN? No! I have been looking at news from all over the world to look for information pertaining to the Fukushima power plant and what not. Things have started to stabilize a little bit and a chance for a meltdown has been lowered greatly.  What the people at Fukushima power plant are worried about now is to find out where radiation is being leaked and how to stop it.


In the end, after being super hard-headed and stubborn, I was able to convince my mom that I will be ok in Japan, that nothing bad will happen to me. The worse thing that could happen is the Fukushima power plant going into a meltdown, intense amounts of radiation will be released, or another earthquake will happen. If either of those happen, then my semester will cancel and I will just be on my way back to America. 


I will be leaving for Japan this Saturday, at 6:30 a.m. on April 2, 2011 and will arrive at Tokyo Narita Airport on Sunday, April 3 at 1:05 p.m. From there I will check in and take the train to Mishima, stopping twice. Now the countdown and packing commence.


Until next time, じゃね！

Random

Hey there all of you, if there is any at all, readers! I don't really have much to talk about because I still do not know when I am exactly leaving for Japan yet. However, I would like to let you know that I have uploaded some pictures from Japan onto my photobucket. You can find the link to that album above under the "Links" section.  I have almost over 1,000 photos, if not more, on my computer that I need to upload, but it would take a really long time.  When I have time, which I do have alot of now, I will use my other computer to upload all the pics onto photobucket. The pictures are all from last semester when I studied abroad at Kansai Gaidai University. If you have any question feel free to leave a comment or contact me via e-mail.

Until next time, じゃね！

What? I'm not going to Japan anymore?

Haha fooled ya didn't I? Well it's not like I'm not going to Japan, but I have to reschedule my flight due to the current situation in Japan. By now everyone should know that Japan was shaken up by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and many of Japan's cities were destroyed or effected by the tsunami caused by the earthquake.  There is also worsening fears of one nuclear power plant, the Fukushima Daiichi plant, that has been releasing high levels of radiation.  Workers are trying to cool down the power plant as fast as possible. However, almost 800 employees were evacuated. Only 150 of those 800 people decided to stay back and help with the situation. Those 150 people are real extreme heroes. These heroes are risking their lives in order to save Japan from contamination.  If the cool-down does not work, there is a chance that the power plant might go into a meltdown, which will cause high levels of radiation spreading over a 30km (50 mile) distance. Ok, enough with the information that yal have probably read off the news 100 times.

So like I mentioned earlier, I will be rescheduling my flight because Nihon University - Mishima (Nihon Dai for short) does not know for sure if they will begin school on April 9.  I was originally intended to leave America this Sunday on March 20 and arrive in Japan on March 21. My parents decided to call Nihon Dai (my step-dad can speak fluent Japanese) and ask them what I should do because of the crisis happening in Japan. Apparently, they advised that it is best that I do not arrive in Japan just yet and that they will most likely reschedule the orientation to a later date, which was suppose to be for March 23. They also said there is a chance that school may not start April 9 and I should wait until I hear news from Nihon Dai.  I was really looking forward to coming to Mishima early so that I could explore the city a little bit and get settled down. I also wanted to experience the stuff that the Japanese citizens have to face.(rationing, forced power outage, messed up train schedules, etc.) It's not like I want to experience every single thing, but I just wanted to get an idea of how the Japanese citizens are feeling, even though I most likely know how they feel. If you don't know by now, I live in New Orleans and I dealt with Hurricane Katrina. I did not lose everything but my house was damaged, mainly my room (-_-").  Because I live across the river from New Orleans, my house did not get any flooding.  Because of Katrina, many of my friends were either misplaced or moved away from New Orleans. My family decided to stay back after Katrina and recover with the rest of New Orleans. It was a really tough times, especially having to evacuate, then coming back and seeing literally everything destroyed, roads filled with debris, and cities that have been pretty much turned into a ghost town. I'm sure many people have helped out New Orleans through donation and I am hoping that you are willing to help donate to Japan. Some people might find my blog one, two, or even five years from now, and Japan should be recovering quickly, but whoever comes across this blog, I am hoping that you could show some passion and donate to Japan. There are many organizations to donate money, but the best way is through Red Cross.

Donate to Japan through Red Cross

I have provided a link for yal and I am not sure if the option to donate to "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami" will still be there years after this post. Anyone that does donate or have donated already, I am really grateful and I hope that everyone would try to spread the word to others to help donate money. 

To all those Japanese people, don't give up fate and keep on fighting!　頑張って！

To all those Non-Japanese people, pray for Japan and hope for nothing worse to happen! (in Japan or anywhere else in the world) 日本の為に祈りを！

Until next time! じゃね！

Another shot at Japan!

So I have been given another shot at Japan! This time I will try my absolute best to update on a weekly basis when I arrive in Japan. I will also be re-editing my blog slowly when I have time to this week. My layout will stay the same but I will be editing alot of information. But until then, じゃね！

I've made it!

I have arrived safe and sound in Japan! I do not have internet access on my laptop yet because the school needs to set up a proxy for it. This probably won't be a full blog post because I'm not too comfortable writing on my blogs at the computer lab. So ever since I arrived yesterday, so much has happened. It's pretty crazy, but exciting at the same time. I've met some awesome people and got a pretty cool British guy as a roommate.  I'm not sure what else to say since so much has happened and I rather blog on my laptop. Well I guess I just wanted to say that I am pretty much safe and sound now that I am in Japan. More to come within the next week once my laptop is hooked up to the internet.

Ciao-su!

T minus two and a half days....

So much has happened since my last post (sorry for the last one being off topic and unimportant).  The past few weeks have been really fun. This month, there are at least 8 birthdays this month for my friends, and one of those birthdays was mine.  Most of my friends all threw a birthday party, and I also had one too...well a family one. =p This second half of the months I went through so many first times...and I don't mean anything nasty. -_- So this month, for the first time, I got to see Poreotics (ABDC Season 5 Champions), and I saw them at Metropolitan (a Dance Club) which I was able to get in for the first time.  I also had my first LEGAL (emphasis on the word "legal") at 12 midnight on the 18th, which was my 21st birthday.  My first legal drink was a sake bomb! =D I love me some sake bombs. XD Also, on my birthday, I went to the casino for the first time. Lost about $20, but that's what you get for gambling (which I don't like to do).  On Friday, I chilled with my friend after work and we watched Pocahontas! She also took me out to a French restaurant, where I had my first tastes of French food. ^_^ It was pretty awesome!...except for the blue cheese...which I hated. >_< Speaking of work too, Saturday was my last day at work! I'm glad I am finally out of that restaurant, but I will surely miss the employees. They were like a second family to me. We would all get along and have fun. I pretty much grew up in that restaurant for the past four years I worked there. One of the older co-workers bought me a cake which was to celebrate my birthday and my last day there.  He was the most nicest person there and pretty damn fun to be around.  It's sad to leave, but also happy to be leaving some of those bossy ass people (not naming anyone). So on, this past weekend I went to Masquerade (another Dance Club, this time located inside a casino) for the first time! And I had a blast! We was mainly celebrating one of my friends birthday before I left, but she wanted to celebrate mines at the same time since it just passed. Before the club, we ate at this sushi/karaoke place called Little Tokyo. It wasn't my first time eating there, but it was my first time doing karaoke, even tho I didn't sing. XD Well...I can't really say it was my first time doing karaoke because growing up in a Vietnamese family, my parents (especially my dad) loved to sing karaoke). Even now he has a whole karaoke machine at this house.  The same day as I went to Masquerade, I had a movie night with my dance crew members, which was before I went out clubbing. It was the first time the actually whole crew got together while I was still hear. We had a lot of fun because we had a mini session, then watched two movies, Kick Ass and Zombieland, and also ordered pizza! I'm glad that I was able to spend time with them because they are like family to me and they are pretty much my closest friends. =] More importantly, I spent a lot of time with my family the for the past month. My mom's side of the family and I went out to eat  for my birthday and my aunt got me ice cream cake! =D It was delicious. On Sunday, I went to the temple after eating out once again with my mom and her side of the family. This time my oldest brother came along to eat too! This temple has pictures of my deceased family members. My aunt, two uncles, and grandma from my dad's side of the family.  I also went over to my dad's store a few times to play with my baby brothers and sister and to visit my pops. My dad threw a little dinner this past Sunday and a couple of my uncles and aunts came over. It wasn't the whole family as I was hoping for, but at least I was able to see someone from my dad's side of the family before I left.

Eating out with my mom's family for my birthday.

My birthday cake, which I only had one slice of! >_<

We relighted the candles because my baby cousin wanted to blow them out. So cute! <3

First cut!

Watching Pocahontas! =D

My friend's dog! 

My friend's really big dog, Zuri! I will miss this big lovable pooch!

Her other dog, Mochi, sleeping. I'll miss him too! They are so cute and cuddly! XD

French Appetizer

French-style steak

French-style fish

My other friend wiping her face off after I caked her for her birthday! =D

Chilling with my dance crew.

More members.

Karaoke!

Sushi!

More sushi!

Side of the Vietnamese temple

Front

Center piece inside

Left piece inside

Right piece inside

My cute baby sis Emily! <3

My two baby brothers, Steven and Henry. 

Cute baby cousin on my dad's wife's side of the family

The older sister. (Their mom likes to dress them up alike)

D'aww my cute baby cousin from my dad's side of the family

Packing
Onto the progress of getting ready for Japan...I am pretty much ready and set to go. I am allowed to bring two luggage weighing atleast 50 lbs each. One luggage is mainly for clothes and the second one has items that I will be using plus winter clothes. I was pretty much able to pack my most of my clothes into two suitcases which was pretty surprising, but then I don't have that many clothes to begin with. For present and future students that might need help packing I will list the items and number of each item in each suitcases.

My two luggage (open)

Luggage 1
Mouthwash
Toothpaste
Eyedrops
Tylenol
Deodarent
Grounding adapter plug
Bandaids
Imodium (meds)
Comb
Nail Clippers
Lent Roller
Adapter plug set
Running shoes
Body wash
Slippers
Pants (6)
Loofah
Duffel Bag
Contact Solutions (2)
Shampoo
Q-tips
Hairdryer ('cause I am an Asian guy with a somewhat long hair)
Hair Straightener
Laundry Bag
Jackets (7)
Adidas shoes
Aldos shoes
Hi-top shoes
Genki II (txt/wk books)
Contacts
Brush
Electric Shaver (plus charger)
Sonic care (toothbrush + charger)
Alarm Clock


Luggage 2 (Mainly Clothes)
Thermals (3)
Boxers (9)
Socks (9)
T-shirts (12)
Long Sleeves (7)
Shorts (7)
Pull-Overs (2)
Jackets (2)
Jeans (3)
Long pants (2)
Dress pants (1)
Dress shirts (2)
Tie (1)
Muscle shirts (10)
Belt (1)
Towel (2)
Small Towel (8)
Headphones
USB for camera
IPod USB
Batteries
Genki I CD
Mouse for laptop
External Hard Drive
Webcam
おみやげ (souvenirs) (3) - these are for my speaking partner, Ayumi.


I know it seems like I am packing a lot of stuff but honestly I was still underweight by a couple lbs for both suitcases. I still have some room inside each bags too put more stuff in too, but I want make sure I still have enough room for souvenirs and what not that I am hoping to get in Japan. It may also seem like I am bringing a lot of clothes, but I really do not like wearing my clothes twice a week. I packed a few extra just incase I needed them.

My two luggage (closed)

Money
So today I went to the bank to pick up some Yen that I ordered last week and to purchase some traveler's checks. When exchanging American currency into foreign currency, you want to give the bank time to be able to process the money orders. For me, it took a little bit less than a week for the money to come in, but it could vary for different banks. I exchanged about $250 worth and got 20,000 yen for it. As of now, the currency rate from dollars to yen is $1 for 85 yen. I was suppose to get at least 21,000 yen, but eh close enough. Traveler's checks can be purchased and received at the same moment. It cost me about $1 dollar for each check and only came in increments of either $50s or $100s. I heard that getting international post money orders have the cheapest exchange fee, but I was too lazy to go to the post office since I was already at the bank; and traveler's check have the second cheapest exchange fee...from what I heard.  Hopefully, I will be able to exchange the traveler's check before orientation in Japan. I'm not even sure exactly where to exchange them at...either a bank or post office I believe. >_< My main concern is that I hope I bought enough to last me until atleast the end of September when the banks accounts are all set in Japan and the stipends for my meals plans finally come in.

20,000 Yen

Front of the Yens

Back of the Yens

Time is running out and I really hope I don't forget to bring anything. With a little bit less than two and a half days remaining now, time has been going by so slow! I still have a few things left to be done. I got to wash my car tomorrow and try to see if I got everything I need and if I need anything else. I really hate that feeling that I am forgetting something...it happens every time I go traveling. I made a list of everything that I am bringing, items packed in my luggage and items packed in my carry-on. Oh! I forgot to mention, my flight has been changed. Instead of leaving on Thursday night at 7 pm, I will be leaving at 5:30 a.m....Friday morning! My mom wants to leave the house by approximately 3:00 a.m. so that means no sleep for me until I get on the airplane. I will probably be pretty restless while travelling.  I will be making two stops, one in Houston, TX, and another in San Francisco, CA. At the San Fran stop, I will be meeting a few other KGU students that I have met through a facebook group and will hopefully group up together and try to find our way around. XD By the time I get to the in Japan, it will be 3:30 p.m. there and 1:30 a.m. back home here. The time difference will be 14 hours. I don't believe I've had any anxiety or any serious feeling of nervousness...just yet. I do have a feeling that I will start to get nervous and what not when I am about to leave because I am afraid I might get lost or my luggage might get sent to the wrong place and what not. I haven't felt any butterflies in my stomach yet either. Maybe it's due to the fact that I keep believing that this is just all just a dream and I will suddenly wake up. >_< I just haven't fully accepted the fact that I will be leaving in two days. Hopefully, this whole preparation and trip will go as smoothly as possible. Sorry for such a long boring post. I just felt that I had to release all the excitement I experienced over the past two weeks into this post. This will probably be the last post until I get to Japan, so wish me luck and see you in Japan!

Ciao-su!