My last day...

Technically Thursday is my last day, but today was my last day of school. A lot of hard goodbyes, but I made friendships that will last a lifetime. I'm even thinking of applying for a scholorship to Germany for next year. I may think differently a little later on, but I think being an exchange student in Germany for a year would be pretty cool. I know practically no German, but I can learn! I no longer really care about missing school, I can always do correspondence school again anyway. If I were to apply (December is the latest) and get accepted (I can refuse if I want to though) than I would be there from August '06 to September '07 (roughly). I'm seriously considering this. Anyone out there have an opinion on the subject?

I'm going to miss everyone. I'll remember all of you. And to the exchange students: you're all my wonderwall. You really did save me, no joke.

New Photos

If you haven't already, you should definitely take a look at all the new photos I posted on my Flickr account because I'm really proud of a lot of them.

Check out this comment I got within minutes of posting. It really makes a guy feel good to hear something like that. I've always been a Mac guy, since day 1, and I think that anyone who uses a PC is really missing out on a more productive and better looking way of life (PCs are ugly, you have to agree). That was not meant to offend anyone if it did, I still love you all, even if you use Windows.

Well, it's almost time to leave Japan. It's so sad that I have to leave so soon. And after making all these awesome friends (1, 2) too...

It's not like I won't ever see them again though. We're all planning a reunion next year in Germany. And really, in the age we live in you'd think that you'd never left. With AIM, blogs, email, phone, mail, etc. you can be in contact no matter where you are.

I know that it will never be the same again, even if I visit Japan with all of them. So I have to spend as much time as I can with them and cherish every single memory (not to mention take obscene amounts of pictures).

I love all you guys. You're always welcome to come to LA, just gimme a ring or an email or an IM, etc.

Ja ne.

Karaoke, Tokyo, and a camera

The night before I left for Tokyo I had an 8-hour karaoke session with some Japanese friends and exchange student friends (although I was the only exchange student who stayed all 8 hours). Amazingly, my host brother said I was the first exchange student to go to karaoke for that long; 8 hours is long even for a Japanese person. We (the current exchange students) are also the first ones to have gone to karaoke on our own. I'm telling you, it's seriously addicting! Although I'm told that you haven't really experienced karaoke if you haven't added alchohol to the mix.

Tokyo was a blast. First thing out of the 2 and a half hour bullet train ride (from Kyoto, find out how far that is and you will then realize the sheer speed of these things) I was off the Akihabara, the electronics capital of the world. I was in the market for a new digital camera as well and I happened upon one that I had seen on the net earlier. It was the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7. 5.1 megapixels, huge LCD screen, incredibly fast and easy to use, and one of the thinnest cameras in it's class. I got it in black too (which is limited to Japan and Hong Kong) so it looks super slick. It's been taking great pictures and I'm really happy with the purchase.

After I bought the camera I was off to Ghibli Museum, where they had real pictures drawn by Miyazaki Hayao and some really cool exhibitions. No pictures were allowed, obviously.

We then went to the 53rd floor of a building to have yaki-niku (literally, fried meat) for dinner, where not only was the food amazing (you cook the meat on a small grill in front of you and dip it in various sauces), but the view was spectacular as well; I was able to get a great view of Tokyo.

Next day I went to Roppongi Hills and had my picture taken with Honda's Asimo robot on the 52nd floor with Tokyo as the background. It was very spectacular. The contemporary art museum in there wasn't too bad either.

Next we went to Ginza to go to the Sony building which was a huge display of their technology. It was pretty damn cool. But possibly even cooler was where we went next: the Apple Store. I don't know why I wanted to go there so badly, but it was worth it to see the amazing architecture and design of the place. Again, no pictures allowed.

I had really good sushi for dinner that night too.

The next day (today) I took the bullet train back home and we all went out for revolving sushi, which was lots of fun.

Now it's back to school tomorrow, so I better get some sleep.

Ja ne.

Busy week

Today was the first day in a long line of days which make up my busy week. Four hours of karaoke today, shopping tomorrow, movie on Thursday, and I'm off to Tokyo for 3 days starting Friday.

I just borrowed Pirates of the Caribbean from my friend and watched it for the first time. I have to say, all that hype being built up by my friends was fulfilled. If you haven't seen this movie, do so at this very moment. I also borrowed Interview with the Vampire and What About Bob? which I'm also looking forward to seeing.

At the moment I ought to take a shower, read a little of Lord of the Rings, and head to bed. It's been a long day.

Oh! I forgot to mention that I had a kanji test today. More than half of it was simple, but the rest was impossible for me, I just can't cram all those kanji in 30 minutes. I guess I'll have to study next time. I did get an OK grade though by Japanese standards.

Ja ne.

Buddhist holiday

I woke up today to the sound of a crowd downstairs, which was a bit surprising. It turned out to be some kind of Buddhist holiday, which one I do not know. We all went to a temple (the entire family, including many cousins from all over Japan) and prayed. It was all very cool and interesting. We had an amazing lunch and an amazing dinner as well. Lots of sushi and lots of meat (there were good vegetables too though).

Tomorrow I ride the train again to go hang out at another exchange students house (not just me, but 2 others are going as well). The main purpose is to exchange photos and little videos and to teach them how to use iTunes (these are PC people). We'll watch movies too, so it'll be great fun.

Ja ne.

Karaoke

Yesterday I was way too tired to make a post and you will soon be informed why. I went to karaoke... for 5 hours. Now, you'd think that I would have run out of songs to sing, but by the time we left we still had a full list. We could have even stayed there for 3 more hours if we didn't have to go home. The story was that the 3rd year students got out after 3rd period (around 11:30) which meant that 2 exchange students were getting out early. So we got permission to leave with them to go to a karaoke place that was very near, where we bought 'Free Time' from 12 to 8 pm (meaning we could leave and come back), but only stayed from 12 to 5. It was a lot of fun though and the first time going without a Japanese person.

More to come if there is more to say.

Ja ne.

English camp thing

The English camp I went to over the weekend was kinda fun. I ended up being an English teacher to 11 Japanese Junior High students. All we really did was memorize some lines for a short skit to do in front of 100 other students and judges to see who did the best job (we didn't win anything except for one girl who won "Best Actress"). I got to stay at an onsen (public bath hotel) although I didn't take one. I made plenty of friends and I was totally wiped out afterwards. I took the train by myself for the first time as well! It's not very hard at all; everything is in English and they have instructions everywhere.

Now for something completely different...

Has anyone else besides me tried read Bram Stoker's Dracula and just couldn't finish it? Well, I found a blog very much like one that my mom likes (as in, it is the same style of blogging) that posts an entry everyday that consists of one letter out of the book. This is much more tolerable than just sitting down and reading it, this way I can enjoy it much more. The blog is Dracula Blogged and has an RSS feed for those of you, like me, that don't have enough time to actually visit each blog I like and keep track of what I've read and what I like. So if you're interested, it's a great way to get through the book.

Ja ne.

My profile pic

Those things behind my head in my profile picture are actually cat ears that we wore for our performance during Sport's Day. The real picture is on my Flickr site which can be accessed through my Flickr badge which is located under my profile. It's the thing with all the most recent pictures of me, you can't miss it.

Off to camp.

Ja ne.

Heading for camp tomorrow

I'm going to some camp thing tomorrow that my exchange program set up. I don't know exactly what we're going to do, but I assume it's to help other Japanese students learn English and to help me learn Japanese. Anyway, it should be fun. It's only Satuday and Sunday.

Everything looks good for the trip to Tokyo except one little thing: how am I going to manage navigating my way from Omi-Hachiman to Kyoto to the shinkansen that will take me to Tokyo. That's a tough one, but I still have about two weeks to figure that out. What's the worst that could happen? I miss my train. Although... considering the ticket costs upwards of 100$ one way, it's a bit annoying to have to pay again. The real problem is just that I'm going to go after school, which means I'll be on the train pretty late. Maybe I could just not go to school that Friday, and that way my host mother could take the train to Kyoto with me and show me where my train is that I need to catch in order to get to Tokyo. Who knows, it'll all work out later hopefully.

Ja ne.

Flower Day came and went

We dressed in our normal school uniforms, by the way.

I'm singing on stage and I turn the page, my song book commences to fall apart. At least it wasn't as bad as it could've been.

After that I went to karaoke with most of the exchange students and some guys from Moritz's class. It was probably the most fun I've had at karaoke because I really got into it and everyone was really fun. We then went to take photo booth pictures which turned out rather well despite trying to fit 9 of us in there at once.

So now I'm tired.

Ja ne.