The Lost Blog entry

On Saturday I could have sworn that I updated all three of my blogs... well, I did... only I accidentally posted this update on my kids' blog! I'm a dork!! So, here's some infor about work and stuff that I posted on Saturday. :-)

Yay!!!

Yes, I was officially hired by a floral company that supplies Japanese weddings with flowers. Apparently, and I did not know this before, lots of Japanese people come to Hawaii to get married... not just to vacation or go on their honeymoon. Who knew!?! I sure didn't. Haha... I started yesterday... I got to meet a bunch of people that deal with flowers. :-) And got driven around to find all these places... eventually I will have to do these same drives on my own. I'll get it eventually... just need some directions as well as one drive... heehee! I'll be fine I'm sure. Then after we got back from that excursion... I got to help prepare some of the flowers (roses)for use. Wheee! I think I stabbed myself on the thorns at least half a dozen times. Haha!! I'm sure I'll get better at that. ;-)
The really GREAT bonus of this job is that everyone speaks Japanese. And that's pretty much all anyone was speaking yesterday to me or to anyone else... it was great! I didn't expect quite that much Japanese. But it was definitely a GOOD surprise. :-) Yay!! Here's to practicing conversation. Today I'm off... but tomorrow afternoon I work again. This is great... I'm FINALLY making some money!! Yay! Now I'm less stressed about things... ;-) Anyway... off to kendo now!

TTFN! A

Am bad...

I'm sorry!! Once again I said I was going to post on my blog more regularly... and then didn't. Boo on me!! Hahaha...

Well... I have a little good news to report... I HAVE A JOB!!! Yay!! Good news indeed, eh? So, I started on Friday and I go in to work again today. It's actually a tough-ish looking schedule right now. I just need to get everything sorted out with school and work... as far as making sure I get everything done. Haha! Soon it will be a non-issue.

Yesterday was great. I went to kendo in the morning... got thoroughly sweaty and exhausted... then came home and called my friend Ji yon back (she'd called me during kendo)... showered... then, because I had nothing planned, I called her again and we decided to meet up and go to Starbucks.

Funny thing... the Starbucks that we ended up going to... was full of our classmates from our Contested Issues in Modern Japan class... and we kept laughing about that. Heehee...

Then last night I met up with my friend Shannah (raced home on the bus actually) and we went to see Corpse Bride... which, to my complete surprise, was really enjoyable! Yay!! I love it when I am pleasantly surprised by things. ;-)

Anyway... I have a VERY full day today... church, meeting a partner for Japanese, and work!! Whew! Going to be a tough one! ;-)

Take care.

A

A great time...

Yesterday was a great day.

First, I woke up early and went to kendo... and had SO much fun!! I was completely worn out (and today I have battle scars...), but it was so good. I got tons of tips... and one of my sempai told me that I was actually improving... which is good coming from him because he's SUPER tough!

Then I came home, showered, started cleaning my room a bit... and got a call from Hikaru. So, we met up shortly after and headed for Ala Moana Shopping Center. The food court there is crazy big!! So I got a wrap and he got yummy Japanese curry... and we took it out to the beach and had lunch and a good chat. Eventually the sun got too hot and we went back inside to get a drink... and I needed to get some omiyage.

So... we went exploring the shopping center. I've never seen more name brand stores (Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, etc.) all in one place. The only one we went into was Coach... Hikaru thought they'd try to speak to him in Japanese... but they didn't!! ;-) Finally we found ourselves downstairs buying macadamia nut candy for me to send to one of my kids (I promised!) and were out of there.

We road the bus back to campus and when we got off he said he'd walk me home... not too long after we got to my place, the boys showed up... and we got roped into playing forever! I think Zach and Jayce have a new favorite friend... they loved Hikaru!!

It was just such a nice day... Today was good too... but nothing truly spectacular happened. Yesterday was definitely the weekend highlight!!

Good Morning Sunshine!!

It's sunny! Yup, you heard me... and as far as this week is concerned it's a surprise to have sun!! It's been raining every morning since about Tuesday. It's a VERY good thing because then I don't have to walk to kendo in the rain. I'd do it... but it wouldn't have made me all that happy.

Yesterday was pretty cool. I only had one class and so after I got home what did I do?? I napped! I was absolutely wrecked from this week. I needed to get some extra sleep.

Post-nappage, I got up and got ready to go to the Japanese Culture Club on campus. I wasn't too sure if I'd really like the club or not, especially since our Japanese professor kind of indicated the club might be full of anime geeks. (Sounds mean, but I'm sure most of you know what I mean when I say that.) I was pleasantly surprised that the meeting was pretty full and the events that were scheduled looked pretty good. So, looks like I might join. :-)

Anyway... I'll be off to kendo in a little while... but boy, am I tired!! Zzzzzz... but Em was right... 8:30am is nothing!! ;-)

Rainy in Paradise!

Yup... it started raining last night... and has been raining off and on ever since. Grrr... worst bit about it is that I forgot my laundry out on the line when it started raining last night. Assuming (as is logical) that it would STOP raining and my clothes would dry... I left them outside. It's still raining... Grrrr... have I ever mentioned the fact that I don't like rain? Yeah... not a fan.

In other news... I have a rough draft of a paper due in one of my classes today. It's been a LONG while since I've had to do the "writing thing" so I'm very glad that it's just a rough draft being turned in today. It's coming along... kind of.

Anyway, I hope you have sunshine and not rain today...

Tests

So, today was my first official Japanese test. I was so nervous beforehand that I was shaking and nearly made myself sick. Seriously... it sounds weird, but a couple times before the test I thought I'd be running to the nearest toilet! Why?? I can't really pinpoint it... but maybe it had something to to do with the fact that I haven't been in school for three years combined with the fact that I knew that our prof is tough. Making for an interesting reaction to the whole test "thing." I think I did alright. Though I know I'm going to need to work on a few things before the next test... mainly writing full, meaningful answers in Japanese. :-)

Anyway... thought I'd report on that... for now... it's bed time!!

KENDO!!! saturday part 2

Oh my gosh!! Kendo was AWESOME!!! I had the best time. There were 14 players and their sensei, Baba-sensei. They were amazing. It was so good to have Japanese kendo people around again. It was like home!! ;-)

And I got a lot of help from one of the girls who is probably about my level... a bit better and more confident... but around the same level. Oh man... it was great!!

It's hard to be more specific... but trust me... at the end I was tired and excited and happy. Just wanted to share!! Have a good one!!

Saturday Morning!

It's 8:30 on Saturday morning and I've been up for half an hour!! Yup. I may sound slightly crazy... but I'm only up for the kendo!! :-) Hahaha... THAT almost makes me sound crazier!?

Today is supposed to be really excitinng... we have 15 people coming to practice from an elite kendo school in Japan. Which means that I'll probably get smacked around A LOT today. But I'll feel better about kendo afterwards. Or something like that. We'll just have to see. :-)

I'll probably have an update later on.... stay tuned....

I'm a GIT!!

I meant to write this past weekend up AGES ago... but did I manage to?? NOPE! Of course not. So, there you have it... I'm a git. ;-)

Last Saturday, I went to the annual Okinawan Festival in Kapiolani Park. Which is a really nice park down near Waikiki. It was SO fun!! My friend Shannah and I met up with Hiroki and a couple of his friends (Akiko and Shige) and took the bus down there. The weather was hot and sunny... and when we got to the Festival the food was smelling SO good!!

So, what could you have?? Tons!! You could have pigs feet soup... which is a pretty famous dish from Okinawa. You could also have Okinawan soba (SO good! That's what I had for lunch!), yaki-soba and all sorts of other festival foods. Yummy!

After we had all stuffed ourselves with yummy food... we headed to the stage to watch some of the performers. We saw some amazing Okinawan drummers and a group that came all the way from Okinawa to perform... those were the highlights for me! I want to learn how to whistle like the guys from Okinawa!!

THEN after all that... we went and watched, and then, participated in the Bon dance. It was all the girls from the pictures... we decided to go dance... and since the guys didn't have any interest in dancing... they watched our stuff!! Haha... none of us knew what we were doing, but we just joined in. We made friends with this nice man who looked like he knew what he was doing... and followed him through all the dances! :-)

The rest of the weekend was pretty tame... Shannah and I met up on Sunday to work on our Japanese oral exam stuff... then went for katsu don at a really great restaurant near my house!

This week has been really busy... I've had two tests (small) in Japanese... I have an essay test tomorrow in Japanese and then I have the main unit test on Monday. EEEEK!! I'm a little worried... but so far I feel like I understand everything... I'll have to study some of the grammar stuff a bit more, but other than that I feel good. It helps to have a great prof!! He speaks Japanese the entire time... UNLESS there's a possibility that we might misunderstand something in the Japanese. :-)

Anyway... I promise to be better about writing on my blog! I'll talk to you all soon...

A

This is the whole group of us! Front row: Akiko, me, Mayumi and Orie. 2nd row: Robin and Shannah. Boys at the back: Hiroki (he's from Okinawa), what's his name, and Sho. :-) We had a great time.  

The Bon dancing girls!! :-) We had so much fun! 

We had a special guest for some of the dancing... a SHI-SHI! This one was so good... they'd do rolls and jumps and stuff. Really cool!! 

The drummers who were accompanying the Bon dance... they were so cool!! 

Bon dancing at the Okinawa Festival in Kapiolani Park near Waikiki! It was SO fun!! But this dance was a little difficult. ;-) 

Sorry...

I've been horrible about updating my blog!! It's not because I'm neglecting you... it's just there's really not much going on... at all!! I've got classes, I come home... do homework... etc.

The REALLY exciting thing is that I have been going to kendo since last Saturday. YAY!! I'm LOVING it! My stamina for kendo is completely decimated (which is what a month away from it does to ya), but by the end of next week I should be good to go. Or at least I hope it'll only take that long! :-) Haha!

Tonight I'm going out to dinner for the first time since I arrived in Hawaii... My buddy Hikaru and I are going out for Japanese food. He's craving it... as am I. Perfect, eh? The cool thing about him is that he's from Sendai!! How crazy!?! This world really is a LOT smaller than we like to paint it. :-) Anyway... he's definitely someone I can talk Japan with... without him getting annoyed with me. What's more... he's a teacher! Anyway... I can't wait to feel like a real grown-up again. It's been awhile.

Sad news from this week... my housemate that I like the best, Robert, got shipped out to Dallas for the next month. He works for a bank (not sure which one!?!) and the New Orleans branch is now in Dallas (the computer bits anyway), so people from all over the country were shipped in to help out. Which means I won't get to see my buddies, Zach and Jayce, nearly as much as I'd like. But I'll see them once in awhile.

That's about all for the time being... I'm still keeping on top of the ol' Japanese. It's actually been pretty fun... so far. First test is in the next couple of weeks. Eeeeek!!!

Take care...