Lotsa Stuff Going On

So like the title reads I have lotsa stuff going on. I realize that thankfully the book of copious notes I've written well here will have to be published here, to help give the blog more purpose as well as to share my stories so I don't have to repeat everything a million times.
So lately I've been swamped with class. I went out with my new roommate and her friends and her friends friends. It was very interesting meeting people from Oxford of all ages. I learned alot of interesting things that I wouldn't normally think about, and got to share my ideas as well. I spent a couple of weekends in a row actually hanging out with my roommate, since she's only here for four weeks.

Soyeon went back to Korea some time today, as she had problems with home or something important that wasn't able to be dealt with while here. I hope everything is okay for her, it is such sudden notice for everyone. She had sent my host mom an email saying the day before that she was returning to Korea. My host mom was a bit down I think, because she wouldn't be able to see her one last time before she went. I really wish that we could have seen her one last time.

I'm now planning a trip to Tokyo and found out today that one of my friends has also started studying abroad and now I shall make plans to meet up with her in Tokyo. Hopefully I'll be able to meet up with Ayu too! I'm quite excited actually, but nervous as per norm about the planning. This won't be like Taiwan where everyone is friendly and helps foreigners. This will be more of an everyone's afraid of foreigners and will try to use keigo. Ugh, keigo's so difficult that I've currently given up on it.

I return on May 13th as of right now and am deeply distressed I have to return to America and leave my friends here behind. Especially since I've finally gotten some really nice weird ones. I guess this just means I'll have to return, work uber hard so I can run right back. I just worry that they won't remember me if I am staying for a long period of time, because I won't be able to go back for at least a year or two. It's not fair. I want to stay, they're so fun and interesting. I'm going to miss our adventures and exploits, particularily since I'm the one that goes along with their ideas, instead of having to be the one who comes up with the ideas.

Made a new friend who's a Greek man. Super friendly and nice. I think he's one of the nicest foreign men I've met. He has a lot of ideas and works for a company in Osaka, but lives soo far from home I can't believe he commutes so much. The commuting for some people is insane, and I found out that where he resides, is a lot of foreigners in that area. So when I met my roommates friends and theirs, I told them that I will try to relay where specifically these little foreigner communities are by asking my Greek friend because he lives in one.

Also, I've only got 5.5 week left! There's so much I want to do and so little time, that I have to think of what I should do. I'm just really glad that on friday we get to go to the NHK Studio. I wonder if we'll be able to take any pictures, because a lot of tourist attractions like factories and museums don't always like people taking pictures, especially not with flash. Well... I'm tired and I'm sure it's well after 11pm, so I'm going to go to sleep. I'll definitely try to write more frequently to document these next weeks before I return, instead of having to post them later after the fact like I will have to with last semester.

Time in Taiwan

So when I left for the airport at 1PM in Japan on Sunday the 11th, I thought that I'd still be early to catching my plane at 5PM, barely squeaked by with getting to my flight with reentry forms and whatnot. Got to skip through security though. I landed in taiwan at 7pm Taiwan Time. I got on a bus that would take me to taipei from the airport. From there I got lost, wandering til I found a wig shop. I was soo happy I tried some on. @w@ <3 wigs. The wigshop man could speak english thankfully and helped call my hotel. Then he took me to the trainstation and the subway staff told me where to go. @w@ So taiwanese subways have walls and doors, preventing jumping, like elevators do. I think Japan should invest in it, since the subway's doors only open when a train is sitting infront of it. Then I got to the station where my hotel picked me up. Did I forget to mention I landed while it was raining? So the hotel picked me up by car. Took me to the lobby which was in one location, then drove me to the second. Didn't tell me that my roomcard powers the entire room, and if it's not in the special slot inside the room, nothing turns on. So after communication problems over the phone (they never told me there was a slot) they came back to the room in a faraaway place and showed me. Super tiny awkward room with awheelie chair. After that I go to the convenience store across the street to call my friend by payphone to tell him i was no longer lost, and this random old man wouldn't let me use the payphone. Made me go into a makeup shop to get change form my ten dollar coin (got like 15 one dollar coins) and then still wouldn't let me use the chump change to call my friend. Made me call my friend from pizza hut. After having hte pizza guy write down directions and instructions for me in taiwanese kanji (can't read) with the old man yelling the whole time. The old man delayed me enough that the pizza hut was closed for dinnertime (I arrived at hotel around 9 or ten, and was hassled til about 11 i think) then he asked a random young man if he spoke "eigo" and the old man translated. The old man prior to that got food for me from a homeless lady, I felt soo bad. The yound man explained that the man was worried I was lost and alone, unable to speak the language and worried i would go to a dark neighborhood (also a place where a lotta foreigners live) alone in a dress. Old man kept trying to zip up my sweater while I was sweating from the heat and running around. I pointed out from where we were standing that my hotel room was right across the street and I was verymuch so hungry. The young guy (cute) translated to the old man and he departed. I went to a convenience store while talking to the guy, and found out, they cook real food there for you. @_@ well more real than japanese convenience stores of the same franchise. Then I ate there, and left. Went back to my hotel room and passed out. Woke up at like 6am and went on a breakfast finding spree, cept most shops near my hotel were for clothes and didn't open til 10 or 12. I discovered day lunchtime markets, the cheapest bubble tea ever in large quantities and a dog that barked at birds in a birdshop. Then my hotel picked me up to take me to rebook another room, because i couldn't meet my friend til the day after. Afterwords at the hotel I found out about night markets and a few places of non-museum interest. I bought souvenirs before spending about 4 hours in the boutique right next door to my hotel. The women were soo nice (I took a picture with the one who spoke english) and I bought a loooot @_@;; Whoops. Then I went to night market famished from small lunch and bought a lotta unusual foods. Spent more money on super cheap souvenirs. @________@;; before going home from walking around soo much of the day that I all but passed out before eating dinner at 11pm. Woke up early and headed to the highspeed rail. Booked a ticket, but the guy never told me i had to switch trains at hte final stop. Got confused and lost and the informational desk helped me call/have my friend find me. @_@;; we rode on his motorbike and it was terrifying dipping between cars and making turns super illegal in the u.s. thought i was gonna die. @_@;; he's like "I'm a good driver." And I'm "Sure you are, I don't trust the other drivers." @_@;; then later i met his parents and they helped me exchange more money ^^;; at a bank. then we went out and I met more of his relatives, before his mother started feeding me when we went on a boatride. Everyone fed me a looooot. Then she booked me a hotel near his school. We went to night market with his friend Rock, who's cute I think. Super nice, and super good at english too! He's like "I wanna learn black english, It sounds soo cool, and is like it's own dialect or language almost." I was like "I'm kinda white when it comes to speech, but I can explain things from movies to you." @_@ so we had a great time, then my friend took me home because class pictures were at 12am for him and rock. I splayed my stuff around my room and passed out with several bottles of water. My friend pointed out that my hotel's room was super weird because there was a window inside of the bathroom (you could see the beds from it) really large that had curtains one could move. Thankfully he discovered that as we were leaving for night market. Then the next day he woke me up super early and we went to breakfast. He's super tired from long nights and early mornings as well as school. He takes me to trainstation and we run into to the informational women (and they all talk about me as I leave to go to his parents.) I take a normal train several stops to where his parents live. I did homework on the trains since I spent a lotta time on them. After a hectic run-in with the trainstaff at the station I got off at, I run into his parents. They take me many places (I think of their friends) The mom takes us all out to eat with a friend of theirs (they can't speak english and I didn't know they knew some japanese at that point) and we eat an unusual lunch. They help me take pictues and feed me soo much. They all were bigger than I but gave me soo much and indicated they expected me to eat so muuuuch more than them. @_@;; I couldn't do it. Then we drive around doing stuff. Not really sure what they did or why. We go to a few temples. We spend time at a mahjhong parlor, and drink beer at 1~2pm. Then we go to their home for a while. I do homework til it gets dark. then we return to beer drinking place for dinner. The dad socializes a lot while the mom just sits there. I just clock out til they make R sounds indicating they mean me. I took the dad and his friend's pictures. Then we go to the night market after I 'Stare down" the mom, with puppydog eyes. I just wanted to leave or sleep or not drink. Then she runs me through there, for food buying only, then return home. I freaked out after one lady vendor messes up an order because they're not letting me pay for anything and I didn't want to waste their money. They freaked out too because they had no idea why I was freaking out and it's hard for my friend to translate. then i hide in my room (my friend's sister's room) for a while, til they yell R sounds up to the third floor (Taiwanese standard houses are huuuuuge btw about 4-5 floors gigantic rooms too) calling me downstairs to say we're all going to sleep at 2am,which was hte time then. I couldn't be happier, sleeping quickly and easily. Then I wake up at 10am (couldn't get up at this point from fatigue) and we go out. I think we had a small breakfast, then went out for lunch. Then went to a temple and they dropped me off at the tainstation. (the night before they took me to the largest temple in Asia.) then i go back to taipei, and spend many hours at the highspeed rail station in ... i don't know where I was. The women there helped me confirm something with the airprort, book a hotel for the night and get directions to the airport for the morning and to the hotel that evening as well as find a night market nearby the hotel. Then I go on my way after giving one my name and email adress. I hope it's coherent for her (I've not been notified on facebook in a while). Then I get lost going from bus to hotel, in a japanese section of wherever i was. Then i go out to nightmarket (hotel staff worried I wouldn't return and get lost, gave me a map) I go and buy some things I desperately needed. I was also given a large container of alcohol to bring back to japan by my friend's mom for his host mom in japan. @_@ so I had to pay a little bit for extra baggage, but since I went on such short notice to taiwan during a busy time I didn't mind at all since he's done soo much for me (esp his parents with buying sooo much for me including souvenirs and keeping me at their home). I amused the airport staff with some stories of my travels in taiwan before departing. I think that covers sunday night through friday afternoon? @_@ I must go back!!!!

 

(this was copied and pasted from a message I IMed a friend, so ignore all bad punctuation and grammar until I go back and edit this!)

WAHHHHHHH

WAHHHHHHHHH I saw Ayu yesterday and took her to Namba and Shinsaibashi and Umeda. We ran into another exchange student from UST who's school I'm currently exchanging at. So awkward since Akiko (the other student) was with some of the girls from the other language program at OGU. We'd run into each other in America Town, and they chatted for a bit in Japanese before we split up. Then Ayu and I got lost for a while, which was a little normal for me. We walked for a while, just around trying to find the famous things in these areas before going out to eat Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki. We spoke of many things, and she deleted pictures of herself on my camera. So... Unless everyone wants to see a picture of her trying to hide under a table... I got nothing. Well off to do, start, hopefully finish homework.

Not Much Happening

Happened to find myself with a bit of free time and remembering I have this blog I should probably be attending to. Well I'm wondering what kindsa hats I should make and who to give them to. I've not got a lotta free time on my hands, but I still want to practice my hobby.

Also, I must share my unusual adventures in trainstations. Already seen a dead guy (heart attack I think, ambulances are too slow here) and someone else had to press the "help" button in the bathroom today at the trainstation I live at. The female workers came into the bathroom to check on the person, then had to break into the stall via an umbrella and a table to unhook the door from the inside and proceed to help. I get a lotta stares and once in a while people talk to me. But I suppose that's the price one pays for walking around in a purple cat hat. Tomorrow I see Ayu for the first time in a little under a year. I can't wait. I wish I'd see her for more than just one day. So I've asked grandpa to push my flight back at the end of my stay so I can go to tokyo to see her for a little bit.

Night. Cleaning room and sorting clothes.

Yeeeeahhhhhh



Here's just a few friends at a very large, crowded party.

Yeeeeaaaahhhhh I've been gone quite a while I know. And I'm sure that most of you are like "OMGS?! Is she alive?! Is she well?! What's she doing?!" Well I've come to let those that have this blog address know I'm fully well and alive. I've partied, visited a hospital for a minor burn, and gone shopping. Next weekend I get to see Ayu. She's gone home to Kyoto which is right next door to Osaka. So she was going to swing by and see me, since I haven't gotten to Tokyo yet T_T. I am soo excited, I don't know where to take her first.
I am taking a ton of classes that give me lotsa homework now that this semester has started and am taking some awesome new classes. I'm soo thrilled to have met my minorities teacher. He's soo awesome, he's going to help with Japanese practice too.

Participating in Kishibe-sai's wrestling tournament. Pretty sure they sought me
out for my shirt.  "We need an American Girl..." They asked at my stand.

The only downside to Japan is when I go out anywhere at anytime, I tend to come home smelling like smoke, either because a) I go out with my foreign exchange friends whom some smoke, b) smoking is allowed in restaurants and clubs, c) there are smokers everywhere just standing and walking around. It's usually c with a side of b or a. I made some interesting Osaka friends too. I'm not great at taking pictures, but I carry my camera always with me.

Train fun with Friends and Highschool girls we don't know.

I've sold a few crocheted items during break and learned many things about the Japanese that most foreigners don't get to experience. For instance, this includes watching close up the way guys try to pick up women, dating parties (I think they're called--not sure), Japanese who've studied abroad's impatience at other drivers, the Aquarium, run-ins with various mixed kids who all seem to have thrilled, surprised reactions to me. One in the aquarium stood behind me as I awkwardly gawked at the adorable giant ray for around 5 minutes until I turned around. My friend just kinda stood there waiting to see what happened. I turned around, startled at the proximity, said "Hi!" And she did too just as quickly. Then she ran off. She'd had the biggest smile on her face when she saw me, no idea who she was and never met her prior to then.

Melon-chan and Anpan Man wearing Makeup at the
All Girls' University Festival.

Riding the train is the most time consuming piece of the day. Occassionally I get too cold while sleeping, and wake up frequently. I don't talk enough in Japanese, but my grammar's greatly improving. My friend wants me to meet his family, I don't know why, but he wishes I'd speak more and become better at it so I can visit his place. Surprisingly, he lives rather close to my school, so I tell him that he should practice Japanese with me so that  I can meet his family. After all, he is a teacher anyways.

We study hard, we party together, 一組み

Also, just like in movies the schoolgirls skirts really are as short as portrayed. Even on the coldest days women wear miniskirts that would be illegal in the states. They're soo tough, they wear highheels and tiny skirts that hide nothing on the worst of days. They shiver like chihuahuas in the rain though. I've even seen the largest goosebumps ever on one's legs. From the distance we were at, I really shouldn't have been able to see em, but I did. @______@ I don't understand the high pressures to look like dolls. To look like a doll is a compliment.
I am going to try to update this more, especially before I go to the chicken ramen or cup ramen museums. I need to go to the manga museum soon too. I should talk to Rose. She's soo adorable and tiny. Next goals, go to Italy, Germany, Czech, Finland, Austria, Thailand, and Taiwan. Though I was considering Taiwan for spring break because I've been skyping my friend in Taiwan and met his family, and some extended relatives, and some friends of his, and they're all asking me to stay with them if I go. A round-trip ticket from Japan is only $300 at most. And I really miss him. T____T He's so funny and nice. Also got another friend to cosplay as Little Bo Peep at the International Chatroom at school for the Halloween party there. He seemed enthused to do it, and actually won first place. I was shocked, and happy. But now I must go finish the small mountain of homework the second week of schooling has provided me, so see ya later. :D