Christmas and other happenings

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
This is Christmas Japan style. Kirsty and I are at an onsen, wearing yukata and about to enjoy a lovely Christmas Eve meal. Not anything that we'd be used to at home of course... but really very delicious all the same!






And here's the food... There's some shabu-shabu (hot-pot soup), tempura, sashimi, grilled fish, pickled veggies... it was delicious!! Much better than anything I've had in Japan since I came back. :-) Yum-O!!!







LOVE BEER??? You bet I do! And this was some really nice micro-brew from a local brewery. It was blueberry flavor... a nice mix of hopsy flavor and a bit of sweetness. Really delicious beer... though I was apprehensive at first. :-)










We had to go searching for some snow on Christmas Day because there wasn't any near where we were staying. So we drove up to the Naruko Gorge (a great spot for looking at fall leaves in October) and found some snow!! Here I am in my nice new hat, courtesy of Melissa. You rock girl!!!











Watch out!! Unlike Fairbanks, we can make snowballs in Japan!! And we did... ;-) But because we're nice we didn't actually throw them at each other. :-)



SO... there are some Christmas pictures. Just because I was having a good time here in Japan doesn't mean that I didn't miss Christmas at home. I'm becoming a firm believer in Christmases spent at home, in Alaska, with my family. :-)

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year!!

love,

A

things that make me smile...

Ok... most of you that know me pretty well, know that I'm generally a smiley person. Well... being in Japan is really interesting because I tend to smile here even more than in other locations. And here are some of the reasons why...

- Every day I see a dad and his son walking to school (probably pre-school/kindergarten). Now what makes me smile about them is that the dad is about 6' tall or even a bit taller and the little boy barely hits above his dad's knees. That picture is cute in and of itself... but then the little boy is so full of energy and spunk that it makes me smile.

- Little kids walking to school make me smile as well... they are so wrapped up in their own little worlds...

- A guy walking down the street today was wearing the coolest blazer... it was a checked blazer... and it showed that he was not conforming to Japanese boring black because it was a little darker than royal blue with light blue checks... he was definitely fighting the metrosexuals of Japan.

- Songs that I like to sing to. I generally put my ipod on shuffle... and sometimes even in the middle of being squashed amongst all the commuters on the train I smile when certain songs come on.

- The genki guys who serve up the coffee at Starbucks. I used to go to other coffee shops in Takadanobaba, but have recently started going to Starbucks because the staff is so nice! They just make me smile to go in there.

- Funny things that are green. As you all probably know, I'm a bit of a green freak. Maybe it's the fact that my hair is a bit reddish and my eyes are greenish, but I just like the color. So, whenever I spot something really cool and green - I grin!;-)

- Shinbo-kun (kun is a term attached to male names in Japan, used for people younger than yourself). At kendo, we are all supposed to cheer faito when we're not actually sparring ourselves. Well, Shinbo-kun has the loudest, most recognizable and consistent faito of anyone in the group. It's cute and makes me smile.

- The Iida's. They are a family that I was introduced to right when I came to Japan in September. They are amazing. The two sons played hockey, Yuto just finished his last season as a senior this week. They are so normal. AndI mean that as a compliment because they are normal by American standards and not Japanese standards. And I love going to their house because it's like I have a couple more brothers and a sister... and another set of Japanese parents. They are always SO amazing that I am always smiley and in a good mood when I'm around them.

Anyway... that's a "things that make me smile" list... hope some of them make you smile... or at least make you think of me! ;-)

love,

a

Japan is treating me well...

Lately I've been having some awesome Japan time. It's just all coming together. So much that I really don't even want to bother going back to Hawaii to finish my degree. BUT... I will. Because I don't quit things... even when it's REALLY tempting. ;-) Haha...
Last week there was a big kendo tournament that I went to watch... and I took my camera and took some really cool pictures... so I thought I'd share. :-)
This is an action shot.... a tiny bit blurry... but that's how you can tell they're moving. Haha... This pic is actually warm up between Yamamoto-sempai and Kawaguchi-sempai. They're both really, really good... very fun to watch as well.









This is a pic of the girls all lined up removing their men (helmets)... I just thought it looked cool is all. :-) The boys are further down in the blue.




This is a really cool, samurai-esque picture of our captain, Yamamoto-sempai. I just managed to click this one and thought it looked really cool. Very much like the lone warrior or something. Heehee... you get all sorts of funny ideas when watching kendo... but it is really inspiring at the same time. :-)













This next picture is of Toda-sempai. I just got this at the right time. It's just a really cool picture and I had to share it. :-) I may not be a great photographer.... but sometimes I get lucky.

This is the last pic.... it's a pic of the girl sempai (means older, wiser members). They just happened to be sitting around in their cool happi (ha-py; jacket things) in a semi-circle like that. I just thought it was cool. :-)

Anyway, there are my kendo pics. There's TONS more, but not enough time to post them all. ;-)

love,

a

does it get any better...

So... as all of you know... I practice kendo. The group I joined at Waseda has been a little, well, difficult to fit into. Not for lack of trying on my part (or on the part of my good friend, Shivani's either). Some days we were barely getting an aisatsu (greeting) in return to our rather genki greetings. We tried and tried... our last hope was the drinking party on Thursday. We figured if we made no headway there... we'd write everyone off and kind of stop trying...

Luckily... we won't be doing that... because the drinking party was a success! :-)

Thursday, we practiced kendo as usual... and afterwards, at 9:30, the nomikai (drinking party) would start. Shivani, much better at doing the Japanese thing, asked one of our sempai (older, more experienced kendo members) if we might attend. To which he responded, sugoi (wow! cool!). Always a good sign, I was chatting with some of the other girls at that time... and when that sempai passed me he also asked if I was going... and I said yes. Once again... favorable response. Yay!

Well, Shivani and I were both starving... so we followed the other girls down to the bar (turns out this bar is the "center" of Waseda drinking culture!) and headed to the McD's for a quick bite before starting to "binge" drink (in Japan they drink out of tiny glasses, so you can't really binge!).

We headed back to the drinking establishment and were met by Ito-sempai, who had formerly been rather unfriendly. But she got us sat down and situated with Kimura and Ichimura sempai. It was great... we started drinking and actually talking to some of the people we'd been practicing with for over a month... and the great thing was - they are SUPER nice people. Of course they wanted to know the basics... whether we like beer... where we're from... what we study... all that. And then they got us started trying to get others to drink!

Basically, that entailed taking a bottle of beer over to a sempai and saying, dozo (in this context that means, please drink!) and getting them to chug the remainder of the bottle. It was rather fun, in fact that's how I got switched to a different table... after forcing someone to drink I just hung around and talked a bit.

Then I got kidnapped by Matsugaki-sempai and two other sempai (one was Kawaguchi and the other.... I don't remember his name!). We got to talking about all sorts of things... mostly related to drinking. But they realized that I was quite strong (in comparison to Japanese people) at drinking. So as a consequence when anyone said something amusing, one would say "Love Beer!!" and we'd all finish our beer and pour another round. It was great!! And at the end of the night... I wasn't too drunk... if only I hadn't had to carry my bogu home... then I would have been ok...

Needless to say... Shivani and I have bonded with the kendo people... and we're definitely IN!!! :-)

one great day...

Yesterday was just one of those great days... that becomes great through no prior planning of your owm. It just is.
I had a test first thing in the morning. BUT... I studied and actually think I did pretty good. Yay!! Then I had Sonoda-sensei's class... He is this really genki (energetic) Japanese guy who it just fun to have class with. Plus, it's a class about cultures in Asia, so I find the subject matter really fascinating. :-)
After class I headed out the door to watch hockey!! THAT was fun... I watched Gakushuin and Jindai (two universities in the Tokyo area). The game was really aggressive and highly charged. The end score, 4-0, didn't really reflect the entire game. It was an overall good game to watch, even though the team I was rooting for lost. During the game there was a hotly disputed goal... that dispute took about a half hour to resolve, thus the game ended a bit late. So, I ran out of the game because I needed to get home and get my kendo stuff.
I got on the train... and shortly thereafter two elementary school kids, a boy and girl, got on the train. I was plugged into my ipod, so was only half paying attention. Suddenly, I see the boy take his little hat off and gesture in my direction with it, saying to the little girl, "Gaikokujin da!" (Look, a foreigner.) To which I take off my headphones and ask him, "Really??" (in Japanese of course) When I realize I've embarrassed him, I instead ask the two kids what grade they are in... they're first graders. At this point the lady next to me joins in and we end up talking a bit... the little boy was SO embarrassed that he buried his head in his hat... and soon enough my station came. Little boy had removed his hat... and I wished he and the little girl good luck in their studies (benkyo ganbatte kudasai!) and walked off the train!! Too cute!!
Then I rushed home, got kendo stuff, and rushed out the door again.
Kendo was really good... I was totally knackered so was happy that all the people I worked with wanted to focus on fundamental skills instead of running me ragged. And the thing is... I felt like I got a lot out of it. Yay!!
My friend Shivani and I headed home from kendo, saying out otsukaresama's on the way out. We got in the elevator at the 4th floor and made a stop at the 3rd to pick up a group of high school boys (4). The first two that got in the elevator were kind of timid, the second two looked at us and yelled "hello!! how are you??" It was hilarious. And, in true form, I said, "Good, how are you??" Everyone was good... and the first boy says "My name is Sho." And I shook his hand... we went around to Yuya, Kota and the last boy says... "My name is Eminem." Quickly followed by "American joke, American joke!" (He was actually called Hide.) We parted with the boys at the front doors of the sports center with a "Bye bye" and a "ki o tsukete" and were off.
My friend Shivani then asked if I'd ever met those boys before. To which I replied, "no." She found the whole situation really amusing and was astounded at how I reacted to the whole thing... mainly, without skipping a beat. :-) All I could say is that it happens all the time and I don't mind, especially when it's students. :-)

Yesterday was an exhausting day... but it was SO much fun!! I would gladly relive it... minus the loss at hockey!! Hope these little stories make you smile. ;-)

ttfn,

A

Tales from Japan...

I am daily struck by how amusing Japan is... it just is. I think the main source of my amusement is the fact that there are SO many contradictions that are inherent to this place. For instance, you have the history of the samurai... the warrior... there are still people who follow the code of the warrior (mostly in the form of martial arts)... and then on the flip side, you have some of the most androgenous human beings I've ever seen. Yesterday, for instance, in the grad student lounge there were two of the most girlie "men" (hard to really call them men as they were most likely somewhere around the age of 22 or 23) I'd ever seen. I even had to do a double-take to check if one was wearing make-up!!

SO... let this be a lesson to you all... men, be men.... and girls... just be! ;-)

More from that trip to Shonai!

Hey there... so awhile ago I promised some pics from that last trip I made to Shonai. And what a trip it was!! I got to see Chisato (don't have any pictures, sorry!!) and Hayashi-sensei. She's my Japanese mom (Lauren can vouch for that!!). And she totally takes care of me any time I'm in Sakata (as she did once again!!).
While I was in Sakata, Hayashi took me on a really cool walk around Sakata... the weather was gorgeous (it had rained non-stop since I'd gotten up there) and so we went for a really nice walk... and I discovered a whole new side of Sakata!
I lived 25 minutes from Sakata for 3 years and had never been to the rice warehouses!! Crazy... so Hayashi and I walked from her house down to the warehouses... and I got some nice omiyage (edible souvenir) for my host family.

Next, Hayashi and I in Hiyoriyama Park in Sakata... that ship behind us is a replica of the ships that took rice from Sakata to Kyoto... back in the day. Fun, eh???

Who knew that Sakata had it's own pagoda?? I sure didn't... not until Hayashi took me to what Sakata folks call otera machi (temple town). There were tons of temples/shrines (I didn't take pictures of them all...). But how cool is this?? I only thought Haguro had a pagoda!

This is the torii at Hiyoriyama Park... well at the shrine near there... I can't remember the name. But look how cool it looks!?! And you can just tell it was a beautiful day! And it really, really was. :-)

Lastly, a bit of humor...


So... I really like manju (sweet cakey thing)... and usually they're just serving size... enough to go with some coffee or tea. Yum-o!! Well... this is the FREAKING BIGGEST MANJU ever!! Holy cow!! It's the size of a saucer... and Hayashi cut it like a cake!! It was crazy!! So... I had to share this picture... she thought it was terribly amusing that I took this picture in the first place. Haha!! Anyway... hope you enjoyed the pictures... let me know!!

love,

alisha

More adventures up north!

Well, I couldn't resist going up north this past weekend. We had a 3 day weekend and I won't get up there for awhile yet... so I just took off and went. This time I took my kendo gear and practiced twice over ther weekend!!! I managed to get a few really great bruises... and slightly pulled my tricep. All should be well by the time practice rolls around on Thursday. Just gave the ol' arm a rest tonight. Thought that would be best...

Ok... I have a plethora (sp??) of pictures to post... so I'm going to do it in waves. The first batch is going to be playing AFTER kendo. Didn't get any kendo pics (as I was practicing) but did get some pics of kids afterwards.
These charming boys are Takuro (the bigger kid) and Ryutaro they were sitting behind me and my friend Kirsty during the lunch after kendo (imoni kai). They were fun to play with (ie tickle their feet) during the meal. Heehee... and were good sports about taking pictures!

And here's the same, spunky Ryutaro thumb wrestling with Kirsty. He was so cute... but very resigned to the fact that he was going to lose. So resigned that he didn't give much of a fight... but it was funny how he went about losing. :-) I could just take that kid home with me!! What a cutie!! ;-)


Proof that there are some games that don't cross the culture boundaries. Yup, you've got it... this game is basically a game where if you lose (at rock/paper/scissors) you get to pinch your opponents cheek... and ultimately "win." Geee... that sounds like... FUN!?!?!


The second picture there is what it really looks like when you lose and your opponent has ahold of both of your cheeks and you haven't got either of his!! Fun game, huh?? Had to take a couple of pictures of this one...

Well, there's your fun update from Japan. Classes are in full swing now, so I won't be jaunting off anywhere very cool for awhile. I'll probably have to confine my travels to the Tokyo area. That'll be good because I'm very unfamiliar with this area. :-)

Hope all is well wherever you are!
Take care!

Sunset in Kokubunji

Funny thing about living in Tokyo... you can't always take a good picture of the sunset. In fact, two days ago the rain stopped and the sun came out in time to give us a really nice sunset. Only problem?? I couldn't get high enough to avoid buildings and homes to get a view of just the sunset. I knew it had to be pretty... if only I could get away from the crowdedness of the neighborhood near where I live.

Unfortunately, I was not really able to get that far... but I did take some interesting pictures that will have to fulfill the "Tokyo at sunset" portion of my picture album. :-)

Me looking at the sunset. I thought this picture was kind of funny...
The next is the sun shining through the trees... and there you have the best pic of a Tokyo area sunset!! haha...

Things are beginning...

Well, things are beginning to settle down a bit. And in no time, things will start to actually become routine. (Funny that!?!) That will all start to happen once classes start next week. It seems like I've been here forever, time creeps by when there's no fixed plans... and as soon as you feel like your life is beginning... the time will begin to fly and in no time it's all over.... trust me... I've been here before. :-)
I took SO many pics when I was up North I thought I'd share some more with you... hope you don't mind. :-)
Believe it or not behind that huge white cloud in the pic there's a really nice mountain!! It's called Mt. Chokai and sometime next summer I plan on climbing it... again. I've tried to climb to the top a couple of times but have always been foiled. ;-)This is also a picture of the town where I used to live... and this pic is perfect because it highlights the rice and the mountains nicely.

I couldn't help but sneak in another great pic of Haguro. It was such a stunning day... I could have taken SO many pics! But decided to limit the number to just really cool pics... I hope I don't make anyone jealous. ;-)

Here's a novelty pic... I finally got to eat sushi when I was in Sendai. Now this is kaiten sushi, conveyor belt sushi. I just thought it would be funny to take a pic of ALL the sushi that was going round and round on the conveyor belt. :-) It amused me!!


I hope my pics have amused you all as well... Talk to you again soon.

love,
lish xx

BIG Yamagata update!

Ok... so last weekend/this week, I spent a lot of time back in Yamagata. Shonai to be exact. It was kind of weird in one way, because it kind of felt like I didn't belong. But in another way, it felt like I was finally home. i got to see some of my old students, I even got to help teach a few classes. Man, am I ever glad I'm not still doing that job. Filling in for a bit was fun, but 3 years of doing English lessons all day was quite enough. So... the following are some pics from my time up north... heck, north is always where I feel comfortable!

Me at Haguro on the red bridge... Ahhhh... I love that place!!
It also helped that the weather was absolutely gorgeous that day too!!



This is a pic taken from Haguro of the Shonai plain. Can't see it too well, but it's there... and you can tell that it was really nice and sunny that day too! Could hardly believe it. :-)
This one is a great Bond-girl pose, don't you think?? These little 4th graders were all playing with airsoft guns (surely they're a bit young!?!) so we had to pose like this. Was really funny seeing how these kids have grown up a bit. :-)

This last one is me and one of my old students, Naoya. He's currently studying to get into the pilot's program for the Japanese Self-Defense force (Jieitai). He's a really bright kid and I can't wait to see what he does next, once he graduates high school. :-)

These are just a small sampling of pics... there's LOTS more. May have to do an update part 2 or something. Hope you like this sample, I had tons of fun at "home."
Love you all!

Hockey in Japan!

So, the other day I was able to see a scrimmage between two university hockey teams here. It was a long cry from UAF-style hockey, but it was still hockey and I had a great time watching. I will definitely be watching a LOT of hockey this year. Yay!! I'm stoked. I had to rub it in with some pictures as well... ;-)
It was defininitely fun to be watching hockey again... :-)

Hope I made everyone at home a tiny bit jealous!!! ;-) Love you guys!!

Fun and Games in Japan!

So there's always something amusing about Japan. You've got this country with ancient culture, but HUGE highrises... you've got station wagons that are completely G-ed out because they are in fact the coolest mode of transportation and there's even coffee that is apparently trying to make people "deep-ressed." Go figure!?!
With the combinations of interesting and absurd, this country is a MUST visit. If for the sole fact that you want to see if the coffee will indeed leave you "deep-ressed" or not! ;-)
Hope these pics make you smile... :-)

First Japan update!

So, I made it back to Japan in one piece. No major issues... except for a HUGE epiphany about the Chinese language. It's UGLY and I don't really like listening to it. No more flights via Taipei for me!! ;-)

I've only had a few days and I've decided I like where I'm going to be living this year. Pretty lucky, eh?? ;-) It's a little ways from where I'll be going to university, but that's better because I'll be in the middle of Tokyo for school. It's nice and quiet out here in Kokubunji.

I have taken a few goofy pictures since I got back... so I'll attach the best of them. Don't worry... there will be plenty more pics being taken in the near future. And then I will post them right on here!

Anyone remember the Oz swimming star Ian Thorpe. Well in Japan he's famous enough that he gets his own sports drink!! In case it's blurred... it's called THORPEDO!! ;-)

Alisha's a REAL girl!!

I went to a wedding a week ago... and I even dressed up! :-) As you do when you go to a wedding. Much to the amazement of my guy friends... I am a girl... who wears dresses and heels and everything. :-) Here's some proof!
Dress is old... shoes are new... and there's a whole, new feminine Alisha... who knew!?!

Adventures in Alaska!!

So... these are pictures from camping with my Dad. We went down to Healy (near Denali Park) to work on the cabin that my parents bought (it was only half finished) last year. We've got the view... my camping face... and my Dad doing all the hammering. Too bad I'm too small and all I could do it measure the boards. Bummer!! More pics to come soon!! ;-)

Pictoral update!!

So, I know that I have been remiss in posting pictures of things and activities in my life. SO... here's the grand update with everything from pictures of Hawaii to me and Yo (my boyfriend!). I'll add commentary when needed. ;-)


This first picture is of the view (toward the mountains) from my apartment in Waikiki. It was quite the experience... but I would have to say I'll not be living in Waikiki whenever I do return to Hawaii. ;-)








This is my fantastic roommate Nicole! We were actually heading out for a great night out in Waikiki when we got one of our other roommates to take this pic. We had a blast that night and I miss her so much!!






This next pic is of Nicole, Mimmi and me on Easter. They wanted to come to church with me, so we all made a jolly group as we headed to church. After the service we had a fab brunch at the church. They were so impressed with church and the food afterwards. It was a great Sunday and I'm so glad we all went together.













Here's a picture of a beach that Yo and I went to. It was pretty, but windy that day.










And this next picture is also that day. Yo and I took a bajillion pictures... but for some reason I kept closing my eyes! (I took off my sunnies, you see!) So, we finally got a good picture in. ;-) Anyway, these are my updated photos. I just returned from an interesting weekend of "camping" so I'll be posting some of those pics soon!

*SIGH*

I've been house-sitting for the last couple of weeks. Living away from the ol' family. Driving their nice Toyota Highlander. It was GREAT! But now they get back tonight. Which means I'm heading home to be with the fam again and give up the nice freedom of NOT being at home. And so... I sigh. ;-)

However, I really need to start a countdown to Japan. It's getting close... I have 56 days to go!! Yay!! Am really, really, really stoked!! So, if there's anyone who has ever had an itch to explore Japan... now's your chance to come visit. ;-) I'll be there from September '06 to end of July '07. Exciting!!!!!

Hope all's well with everyone!

Have you ever seen....

a rainbow growing? It was SO cool. I left work the other night around 11pm and there was this bright sliver of rainbow off in the distance. As I drove along... the rainbow started to grow. It got to be about half a rainbow. And then I noticed I could see it growing as I drove along. I'd NEVER seen that before! As I got to the house where I was house-sitting the rainbow was full... AND HUGE!! It was so amazing! I've live in Hawaii... and seen a ton of rainbows. But the one the other night was by far the coolest!!

Just wanted to share! Hope things are well!!

Did a dumb thing...

So, I just had two days off... nice relaxing (relatively so) and then I had to work today. I made the silly assumption that I had to work at 7am. I thought it was pretty fair since I'd worked those hours last week. Too bad I didn't call work yesterday to check... I actually don't have to work until 3:00 this afternoon. Eeeek!! If I had just called, I would have known. Oh well... that happens sometimes. Grrrr...

Hope you're having a good day. I get to go through stuff in the garage today! Wheeee!!

ttfn

Back in Alaska!

So, I've neglected my blog as of late...

I was in Michigan right after school ended for a vacation/family reunion. I was freezing when I arrived there... but by the time I left I was more than ready. The 90+ degrees and 80%+ humidity made that completely clear.

When I arrived back home in Alaska last Wednesday I was in for a rude awakening. It was on 60 degrees!! And what's worse is that two days ago it snowed and it's been in the low 30s every morning when I drove to work. Eeeeek!! This is NOT June weather in Alaska. I promise.

I've been working since Friday. And on Saturday I started working 7-4. Argh!! I hate mornings. Needless to say, I am more than ready for the two days off than ever before. And I've only been working for the last 5 days. How is the rest of the summer going to go?? Don't want to even think about that!

Anyway... there's the general overview of things. I'll get back in the swing of my blog soon... I promise!

Hey all!

Things have been a bit crazy around here lately. Last week I went to Michigan for a few days to attend my grandma's funeral. I'm back and haven't had time to take a breath since I got back on Monday. I have a presentation today... two finals on Monday and Tuesday and then I'm done! This weekend should be TONS of fun. Haha... I will be able to go to kendo though!

Hope everyone else is doing well... I know I'm just trying to survive for now!

Take care.

A xx

This week....

Is going to be crazy hectic! Eeek! I have to meet with my research seminar professor to discuss things with my research paper tomorrow. I have to make some serious changes to the paper... but that's what happens after the initial rough draft.

Then I have to get to the airport by 5 on Wednesday to head to Michigan for my Grandma's funeral. On the way there I have to work on what I'm going to say at her funeral. It'll be nice to be around my immediate family... the extended portion... hmmm... not sure what to say about them. They are the epitome of dysfunctional and that's the just the tip of the iceberg! Lord give me patience.

That's what the week looks like for me... hope yours is a bit less crazy!

sad

I just wanted to let people know that my Grandma died yesterday. She was 89 and led a very long life, but it was very sudden and it's hitting my family pretty hard. So, if you would keep us in your prayers that would be great.

The birthday report...

Holy cow!! My birthday last week was great. I actually had more fun at my party the night before than on the actual day... but whatever that doesn't matter.

Thursday night a bunch of my friends came out for dinner at one of my favorite Japanese restaurants. Where we ate great food... drank far too much and just had a generally good time. And I got some great presents... not that that's what birthdays are all about, but that is a nice bonus!

From Yo I got some awesome Victoria's Secret perfume, bath gel, etc. He was on the mainland over Spring Break (we have no VS here!!) and brought it back. It's awesome and all smells good!!! I got cute earrings from Ji yon and some Hi-Chews (Japanese candy). I got a new Nike sports bra from Kenzo (weird coming from a guy, but whatever!?!).

Friday I got up and went to watch gymnastics with Nicole, which was awesome. Then I got back to the apartment and got a cool green Nike bag from Nicole!! Got a cute tank top from Mimmi and Emily that says "Miso Hot." And opened the package from my parents that had an awesome Patagonia capilene sports top, chocolate truffles and awesome eye shadow. It was GREAT!!!

Then we went to Tiki's for dinner (shhh... I had a better time on Thursday night!!)...

Also, big shout ot to Em and Jason who called on my birthday... it was GREAT to talk to them!

Hope you are all having a great week. :-)

One day and counting...

So tomorrow I officially turn the big 26!!! Eeeek.... I'll be on the older side of my twenties. Funny thing is... I don't feel that old at all. In fact I feel like I only graduated high school a few years ago... and that university was just last year. But... we all know how time flies while life is happening. Haha...

I am also very lucky because, just like Truman, University of Hawaii gives us a long weekend over Easter... SO... I get my birthday off!! That doesn't mean that I'm going to go crazy with the partying tonight or anything...

Hope you're all having a great day!

Once again I failed!!

After great intentions for my blog, I still managed to fail!! It's been a week since I updated it... :-(

What happened last week... It flew by!! Seriously, it went from Monday to Friday in about .5 seconds... I could hardly believe it! I got a lot of work done on my research paper and will continue working on it until it's due on Wednesday... whee! Gotta love papers... why am I in school again??
At least this semester I'm working on a paper that interests me... last semester was excrutiating.

This past weekend was my roommate Mimmi's birthday. So on Saturday we had a party and at precisely 12am Nicole and I started a rousing, slightly off-key, round of "Happy Birthday." It was a good night and the even better thing... when Mimmi and Emily came home... I kept right on sleeping... no 4am waking up or anything!!

So, Honolulu turns 100 this year. Last weekend there was supposed to be a festival helping to celebrate this landmark occasion... but due to the rain, it was postponed to this weekend. Nicole and I decided a few days ago that it would be fun if we went... and she wanted to go on the Zipper. Now, I foolishly said that I'd go on it with her... heehee... As a kid, I was never that adventurous... I only went on the egg roll ride at the fair once and that's because I was forced. Well, the Zipper was crazy... I just closed my eyes and went with it... Nicole and I both screamed like crazy and when we got off the whole thing had made our day.

So, if there's anyone in Fairbanks who rides the Zipper... take me too!!

The sun will come out.....

TODAY!!! Forget about tomorrow... the sun is actually out today! I went running this morning and it was GREAT!! Sun and everything. People were even at the beach in Waikiki!! Yay for sunshine!

And a BIG shout out to my runner girls!! I hope the half marathon went/is going well... I'm so jealous... maybe someday I'll live in the continental US and can join in the festivities. Wheee!! Here's to hoping anyway. ;-)

I'm going to do a bit of work on my research paper (rough draft... 11 pages and going strong!!). Wish me luck... I start back to classes tomorrow! Boo... spring break was such a bust because of the rain... but I'll try not to be too much of a downer... afterall I only have 5 weeks of classes left!

Have a BEAUTIFUL Sunday!!

Rain rain go away...

This morning...

I woke up at a little bit after 8am... got up to work on the rough draft of my research paper. Got up, fiddled around... looked out the window and saw it was still raining. Blah! Around 9:40 the rain was only barely coming down... so I thought, maybe I should go and mail my letters at the post office... then I thought, nah I can get more done on my paper...

So... round about 30 minutes later when I went to leave... it was pouring!! Within the first few minutes I was completely drenched... and a little over half an hour after that... I was looking like a wet rag and becoming very cold. Yes, cold... in Hawaii!!

If only the rain would stop... I'd be a MUCH happier person! And I'd look a lot drier while being that happy person! ;-)

Pray for SUN!!!

what a night!!

Ok... so Sunday nights tend to be pretty quiet... sit around at home... watch a little tv. You know... nothing much. Well... this past Sunday was a bit different...

Nicole and I are sitting on the couch... waiting for Grey's anatomy to start... at which point... she says "wanna go out??" and for once I couldn't think of a reason not to. So... we got up and got ready to go out.

We ended up at Duke's... started off on Corona's... we ended up talking to all sorts of people while we were there. John from Long Island... Ford from California... because we talked to all these guys... and I was able to talk to them all pretty easily... Nicole kept yelling at me every time we went to the bathroom "guys LOVE you!!!" Which was really funny... because I don't think that's really the case...

In any case, we ended up at the bar on two stools... and this is when things got even funnier. Nicole started talking to this older guy who wanted to talk to her about beauty and youth... or something like that. I got to talking to Colm. A guy from BC. What did we end up talking about? Hockey! And once we got to talking about it we just hit it off... and about 5 minutes into the conversation he's like... "will you marry me?? you're a girl and you can talk hockey... what more do I need?" Yeah... funny funny...

After closing down the bar... we headed to the Dawg House (I wish it weren't spelled that way!)... and the music was good and the company was good... we ended up closing that place down too. Then we said bye to the guys we met... all of them! And headed home... with a detour to Jack in the Box.

On the way home (see this is a LONG story...) we ran into some guys who were from Washington and Oregon and got to talking to them for ages... we only went home when it started raining too hard to stay outside... they walked us to our apartment at around 5...

And THAT was finally the end of our night! We slept out in the living room and woke up at 11... we made the greasiest, bad for you breakfast ever (hash browns and pancakes) and had a great day after that!!

;-)

More pictures!!

So... today is the first day of Spring Break!! Yay!! I have to say... it's kind of cloudy and not that nice, but hey... I still don't have to go to school on Monday... and that's what counts!! ;-)

The other day I was told I need to put more pictures up on my blog... apparently it's a bit bland. Well, I don't have that many pictures actually, but I found a few that a friend sent to me a couple weeks ago... this was just us goofing around in the cafeteria at school...

And here's a random picture of me... I didn't necessarily endorse this picture... it was either smile or frown... ;-)


This is a good picture of Kenzo and me... on the camera he looked like he was making a goofy face, but now that I see the picture bigger... I like it!

Anyway... I hope this is suitable for those of you wanting more pics... I'll try to start taking more pictures of things and people around here!

A xx

T minus 1 day...

Now, Hawaii is a great place most of the time. Recently the weather has been a cit inclimate, but whatever... it's still a pretty nice place. Then there's the university. I personally think that the chancellor's office has some seriously evil people working there. For example... the semester here is 16 weeks. Any smart person would think that Spring Break would be somewhere between weeks 8 and 9. That's what a smart university would do. Not UH... oh, no... we saw weeks 8 and 9 pass already and we're working on week 11. Oh yes... after this week we will finally get a spring break, but I've been ready for AGES!!!

Ok... got that off my chest!

This morning I got up and went running. It was a BLAST!!! It had been raining, so the likelihood that it would rain while I was running was pretty high. And it did... and not just sprinkles, but nice hard rain. The kind that makes people look at people running in it and they say "wow! you're nuts!" But man it felt really good! Yay for the rain!!

Anyway... I hope that your week has been cheerful and nice. Talk to you soon!!

A

HAPPY ST. PAT'S!!!

Hello!! Well... I hope everyone is having an enjoyable St. Patrick's Day! I will soon be enjoying the many pleasant things about St. Pat's... corned beef and cabbage (tonight!), green... everything, and of course a Guinness!! :-) Gotta have that on St. Pat's no matter what!

Have a great day and enjoy being Irish!! Or pretending you are... ;-)

So... apparently my posting skills are lacking... but in my defense... it's because things aren't that interesting around here. Sure, I'm in Hawaii... but on the other hand... it's not been very nice lately. We've had day after day after day of rain. Ick! I hate that.

Also... I've got nothing terribly exciting going on in my life. I've got school. School is good. I like my classes and I think I'm doing alright in those classes. I have to start writing my research paper this weekend. I've got an outline to follow that was approved by my professor, but I've got to do an awful lot of reading before I can fill out that outline. Luckily I've got a lot of books and have really begun hardcore in phase 2 of reading.

I'm being shamed into working out. Which is good since I'm a lazy girl and haven't worked out regularly in awhile. It started about 3 weeks ago I think and I've been going at least once a week, sometimes twice, since then.

The only really exciting news is that Jeff King has won his fourth Iditarod sled dog race in Nome, Alaska!! He won early this morning around 1 am. How cool is that?? AND... he's from Alaska! :-)

Anyway... hope this is a sufficient posting... I'll try to do better... and I'll try to have something good to talk about in my posts.

Great night!!

Yesterday was my roommate Emily's birthday... she turned the ripe old age of 23! Haha. We managed to celebrate her birthday in proper birthday style...
We went over to a friends for a bbbq... I made Japanese style bbq beef... with yakiniku tare and everything! And then we were heading home... and made a detour to Duke's. It's this really nice, but cool, beach bar. None of us really felt like drinking at first, but decided that we should order something as we were at a table.
So we ordered the Tropical "Itch." This is a cocktail that comes with a bamboo back scratcher stuck in it!! Yep, that's right! We had SO much fun with the back scratchers!!
And since no birthday is complete with a little Happy Birthday singing... we got the nice man singing in the bar to do Happy Birthday. It was so fun!!! From that, some nice random stranger brought us all leis and we felt super special!! ;-)

And the thing is... it's just after 8am... and I'm not feeling bad at all! That's what I call the perfect night out! :-)

Been awhile... again!

Hey there!

So, it's been awhile... again. I've been really busy with school. Argh!! Why did I decide that I wanted to do school again? I don't know!!!!!! ;-)

This past weekend was a really good one. Ended up having a nice Saturday night... just chilling with friends, eating okonomiyaki, watching the Olympics, and playing Winning Eleven. I've decided that playing video soccer is never going to be something I'm good at... but that's something that I can live with. :-)

I'm going to have a very busy week again... but I'll definitely be going to kendo on Wednesday. :-) YAY!! It'll be so good...

Hope you are all doing well. I'll try to do better with the blog!! Promise!!!

Morning!!

So... This week has been a WHIRLWIND!!! I have been reading my research stuff non-stop and locking myself away into my room in order to get more stuff read. ARGH!! This must be what grad school's all about, eh?

What do I get to do to de-stress? I take a break from reading my research stuff and switch to my class reading or translation. Heehee! Don't I sound like a sad case.

Anyway... forgot to send out an email... but if you read this regularly could you send me your phone number. My mobile phone drowned in orange juice last week and I lost all my phone numbers... so if anyone reading this ever wants a call from me... PLEASE send me your number.


Later... hope the end of the week is good to you all!

lish

ARGH!!!

Argh!! I am being irrational I'm sure. And I could possibly be accused of being a silly cow... but I am so irritated with two of my roommates.

This morning, in the middle of studying, my best friend Melissa called. So, rather than being courteous and soft-spoken they talked loudly in Swedish to each other and basically forced me out to the lanai. Then when I come in... all of my studying stuff had been "tidied" while I'd been in the middle of studying. VERY ANNOYING!!

Then I came home to get some stuff to study at Starbucks during the Super Bowl (had no vested interest, so therefore didn't find a need to watch) and our apartment is full of people watching the game. Apparently they invited people over to watch, thus the cleaning (can't call it that because it was such a half-assed effort) blitz this morning.

Now, I know this is silly, but I don't mind tidying up my stuff if people are coming over. In fact I'd be happy to... if I knew that people were coming over. And I get highly annoyed when my stuff gets moved without asking because no one decides to tell me that they're having people over. (Very circular logic, but that's how I'm feeing right now.)

What's even more annoying is that I am constantly cleaning up after them in the kitchen and doing the same things over and over again (is it that HARD to put the toilet paper ON the holder??)... and neither of them seems to realize that it's annoying! ARGH!!

Yeah, so there's my big, long winge about roommates. The only good thing... they didn't touch my kendo stuff! Haha... Anyway... needed a vent!

alisha xx

ps Guess this is what happens when you live alone for three years!

Kind of serious stuff...

Last night I had a long, tear-filled conversation with a friend. Tear-filled because ever since I lived in Japan, my tear ducts tend to get a great workout. Not sure why, but they just do.

This particular friend told me something that made me cry... not because it hurt my feelings, but because it is true. And only once he said it outloud did I realize how true it is.

He said to me that I have self-esteem when it comes to academics and friendship and work, but in the area of relationships I have a very low self-esteem. I'd basically poured out my heart to him (it was kathartic actually...) and so he heard the pain in my voice and face when I was talking.

And the things is, he's right. I have self-esteem to spare when I'm doing sports or studying, but when it comes to dating I feel hopelessly lost. And to make matters worse, I have few close friends who are in the same situation as I am. My close friends are all in stable relationships or are married. I know there are a few who aren't, but overall that's the picture I see.

So, that was the heavy conversation that I had last night... until the wee hours of the morning actually. And now I'm off to do something with self-esteem intact... KENDO!!

Talk to you later!

Week 2: Over and out!!

Last week was an interesting one... I've gotten started with working up at the university once in awhile. It's basically having conversations with students studying English. How hard is that?? :-) Not hard, but very fun!

Wednesday I went out with some friends from my really amazing class last semester. We had a really good night... except for me falling apart and bawling when I heard a song in one of the restaurants we visited. Argh!! Crying is BAD!!! Hahaha... overall, things ended with karaoke... and Lauren - I sang Cherry and almost started crying! I MISS YOU!!!! ;-)

This weekend has been pretty mellow all said. I played some pool last night with Kenzo. It was pretty fun... he's such a pool shark and he's giving me all sorts of tips and all that. Watch out world... I'll get those angles down soon!! ;-) And then I'll be unstoppable!! ;-) Hahaha!!

Hope all's well....

Back to the grind!

So, I've been back in Hawaii just over a week. Eeeeek! I'm not a huge fan... I liked being on vacation and not having to do school work. BUT... I have two mini New Year's resolutions. 1) Do more homework on the weekends so that I don't get overly stressed out. and 2) Start running regularly again.

The first one I've already made some progress with. I've been doing bits and pieces of studying ever since the weekend started and today I'll be doing some more. Yay!! The second, I've made a bit of progress toward... I bought some running shoes on sale at Footlocker yesterday... so now I have no excuses not to run. Other than the obvious: I'm a lazy git! ;-)

While I was home over Christmas I made a decision to go back to Japan next year to study... which means that I'll be heading over there in the fall if all works well. Let's hope that it does! ;-) Being in Japan next year would also mean that I'd be closer to one of my best friends that I've met here, Ji yon, as she's an exchange student from Korea and has to go back after this semester. :-(

So... it might be that people who want to come to Hawaii to visit might have to do so before next fall... so let's get a move on folks!! Haha... just kidding... it would be even cooler if you'd like to come to Japan to visit. ;-)

Other mini resolution, I want to keep my blog up a bit better. I've been really bad and I don't like that... so... kore kara ganbarimasu!! (From now on I'll try hard!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

First I should apologize for being so bad!! I didn't have much time during finals or during the Christmas holidays to put anything up on my blog. And there's so much to report now!! ;-)

Finals week was CRAZY!! It was all I could do to get through it without catching a cold during the middle of it all. But as soon as I hit send on my paper that was due on Friday... I got a cold!! Eeeek! I was sick about the first week while I was at home... but after that I was pretty good. :-)

The day after I arrived in Fairbanks, my friend Kirsty flew in. She came to spend an Alaskan Christmas with my family and I. We had SO much fun! Among the list of things that we did: snow-machining, dog mushing, watched 2 hockey games (YAY UAF!!!!!), xc skiied, played with my puppy, etc. It was really great! And now Kirsty is an unofficial member of the Smyth family. ;-) Seriously!! We had such fun!!

I arrived back in Hawaii after an amazing holiday and headed right up to campus for a meeting with my advisor. Basically I DO want to go study in Japan next year... after too much time has gone by some of the choice programs are full... but that doesn't put me out of the running. :-) Which is good to know. I've got to go meet with the study abroad coordinator tomorrow after I get done with my one class! (I tried to get all my classes to be on T/TH, but that got all messed up when one section was closed of the Japanese class that I need to take... the one that fit perfectly. Anyway... wish me luck with sorting all that stuff out. It would be really great to go back to Japan as a student. It'll be a totally different experience than before.

Anyway... that's the brief update! I'll try to be better about updating things on here...