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!

Vlog #3 - Having fun with my dance crew!

Alright so here it is! Vlog #3! =D Happy Watching!



I hope yal enjoyed watching that Vlog of mine. =]

Continuing on, for some people who don't know, which is most, I am part of a dance crew, and we are called Genesis Krew.  We have 8 original crew members, but this video only showed three (me being one of them).  I wanted to make this video because it has always been fun hanging with my crew members, and I wanted to show how much fun we usually have.  Actually, we usually have even more fun than that every now and then. We currently don't have a place to practice so yal saw us practicing outside while it was raining. We travel from park to park, which ever one we are in the mood to go to and just start practicing.  I know I will definitely miss my crew members when I'm in Japan. I don't think anyone can replace them. If it wasn't for them, and my baby sis Keri (also part of the crew), I probably would not be that serious about dancing. They inspired me that I can become a better dancer. It just takes time and practice...and a lot of motivation. Hopefully we can atleast become inspirations to others and to become semi-popular.

On the other note, I am hoping that there are a few dance crews or dance performances that involve hip hop, choreography, or breakdancing at KGU, or even meeting people from around the world that dance would be pretty awesome. I would love to learn new dance moves and what not from international people! =D  Honestly, I don't think I am that good when it comes to dancing. I have a really low self-confidence when there is a crowd of people and I have to start freestyling. But then I heard different.  My friends saw me dance at the club before and they say that I was pretty damn good and that they didn't know I was that good. That really surprised me! XD It also gave me inspiration to keep on dancing and to just improve myself and gain more self-confidence little by little. If yal ever see me around KGU, or the dorms, or even around the parks with headphones on and see me moving my body all of a sudden, just ignore me or yal might think I'm retarded or something. XD When I'm in my own little world with my headphones on playing music, I tend to start dancing or doing dance moves out of nowhere. Hopefully I won't be too embarrassed to do it in public when I'm in Japan. Well that's it for this post. Don't forget to follow me if you haven't already and look forward to next blog/vlog, which will probably be about either the stuff that I will miss, or shopping/packing for Japan.

And if you like Genesis Krew's routines, it would be great if yal would subscribe and leave a comment on Genesis Krew's YouTube Channel. =D Please and thank you!

Ciao-su!