Memoirs of Today: Wakayama (2007)

July 9th

2007

Naga High School, Wakayama, Japan

I feel like I should have tried to do this series years ago! For some reason I have more motivation to write about all my past activities this way-maybe I could have kept up regular posts if I had. XD

Ah, well, at least they're getting done now, right? ;)

This day in 2007 marked the first day we attended our sister school, Naga High School.

I should probably explain a little before I continue.

Students from Naga visited three schools in Washington State (USA) every March, of which our high school  and the high school of the other students we traveled with were two. It was because of this program that my friends and I asked our Japanese teacher if we could do a similar program in reverse. This trip was the second successful program for the American high schools :)

Aaaaanyway, because of this, we knew many students in varying grades before we ever arrived on campus. 

We were pleasantly surprised when a group of friends crowded in the doorway of our classroom during our break time! It was soooo nice to see them again--especially because so many of them had been our exchange students or exchange students of our friends!

 Throughout the day, we spent the morning in our own series of classes and then were invited to join our Japanese friends and host families in their classes. It was so fun to sit in with them and see what Japanese classrooms are like! At one point in a science class, a teacher surprised us all by throwing at egg at a girl!--only, it was rubber, despite how realistic it looked ;)
Once his joke had been successfully performed, he gave me the egg as a souvenir. xD


After thoroughly loving our first day of classes, some of our host siblings took us to karaoke! It  was the first time for us to visit a private-style karaoke room, and we had soooo much fun!!

After my sister's club activities had finished, she and my host brother and mother came to pick me up.

We went to a kaiten-zushi (conveyor belt sushi restaurant) place. 

It was DELICIOUS and it was so nice being able to end the evening with my host family after a thoroughly wonderful day <3

Memoirs of Today: Himeji, Kyoto, Nara, Wakayama (2007)

Hey everyone~! 

Did you all have a nice weekend?? 

Yesterday my roommate/coworker and I went out with some of our amazing students.

It was so fun!

We went to an 居酒屋 (Izakaya) with them and ended up talking, eating, and drinking together for over 4 hours! For those of you who only know me by these posts...I'm a very "kinetic" person. Generally speaking, I maintain my energy by moving around--so for me, sitting at restaurants for so long generally makes me want to fall asleep.

But, to my pleasant surprise, it was actually reaaaaally fun! 

The room we had reserved was a Japanese-style room, complete with tatami mats and a view of a Japanese-style garden~

And, naturally, we took puricura to complete the gathering ;)

Suffice to say, I wasn't able to do a 'memoirs of today' post---but I suppose I can make up for that now, seeing as my break today is longer than usual. ;)

MEMOIRS OF TODAY

(July 6th-8th)

JULY 6th
2007

Himeji Castle, Himeji, Japan

Kyoto, Japan

The 6th was the day we returned to Kyoto after spending the previous day in Hiroshima. We had already visited the famous temples on our agenda during the first few days following our arrival (which you can read about in detail here if you're interested), so we spent this day mostly walking around town, trying to revisit places we were sure we would miss.

Before arriving in Kyoto, however, our travels brought us to the infamous Himeji Castle, which is arguably Japan's most popular castle. 

Memoirs of Today: Hiroshima (2007), Tama (2010), Hiroshima (2013)

Goooooooood afternoon, everyone!

In honor of the fact that it was exactly 7 years ago today (ironically, my lucky number) that I first came to Hiroshima, I decided it would be fitting to launch my new long-intended series: "Memoirs of Today." These will be posts written about experiences that happened on the same day in years prior.

.... So in other words, this is my way to compensate for the fact that I posted absolutely nothing during my actual travels n the post. Whoops... :x

Since I have nothing from my actual *today* to write about (just going through the motions of work here!) I present to you this day in my history....

July 5th

2007 - Hiroshima city, Hiroshima, Japan
2010 - Tama, Tokyo, Japan
2013 - Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan

2007
Hiroshima, Japan

This was the very first day I ever set foot in the place that would eventually become my home.

We had spent our first few days in Japan in Kyoto, and had traveled into the city after a one-day, one-night stay on the nearby mystical island of Miyajima. 

Our first item on the agenda was to visit the Peace Memorial Park and Museum. 

Here we saw the infamous A-Bomb dome and tried not to grimace as we read about the horrifying facts about the after effects of the atom bomb. This, alongside visiting the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia a few years before, was by far the most sobering experience I've had.

After we were all thoroughly depressed, our guide decided that Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki was just the thing to cheer us up! Unfortunately, I was one of the only people in our group who actually liked it...
While we waited for all the members of the group, I spotted this adorable gyaru and instantly fell in love with her hair!

Aaaaaaaaanyway

Next we went to Shukkeien Garden with stuffed tummies and a need for some relaxation after all the sobering things we saw.

Once we had thoroughly refreshed our minds and managed to catch a glimpse of the resident turtle, we ventured into town to spend the rest of the day shopping and exploring.
Since there were only two girls from my high school on the trip, myself included, we decided, what better way to spend the rest of the evening than by finding good bargains and making new friends?!

And so we did. And it was glorious.

And that concludes this Memoir from this day in 2007. :)

2010
Tama, Tokyo, Japan

By this time in 2010, I had thoroughly settled into my position as a volunteer English teacher at a Christian church in Tama, Japan. I was staying with the pastor of the church, an adorable widow with quite the witty sense of humor! I had been there for a month already, and we decided to go out to eat since we hadn't done so together for some time.

Isn't she adorable?!

2013
Hiroshima, Japan

And, of course, last year marked my official move to Japan. 

I had arrived in Hiroshima the night before. It was my first full day in the city, so I decided to get the feel for my new house after a brief walk along Hondoori, the shopping area in Hiroshima's city center. <3






That marks the end of my memoirs for this day~
Looking back, what have your experiences been on this day~? :)

とうかさん (Toukasan Festival)

Starting with the kick-off of Toukasan on Friday, summer festival season officially commenced in Hiroshima!

Toukasan is ( I believe) the first summer festival in Hiroshima, honoring the god Touka Daimyojin. If you're interested in the history and activities of Toukasan, you can read about it here and here. Or, if you just want the basic jist: It's a festival that includes tons of food and game vendors lining the narrow sidewalks of Chuodori (one of the major streets, if not THE major street, of Hiroshima's downtown area). Tons of people crowd the streets, many wearing yukata. It's not a great setup if you're in a hurry because there are so many people packed into such narrow walkways, but it's great if you want to experience a Japanese festival!

Unfortunately, BECAUSE there are so many people it's almost impossible to take any good pictures of the actual event. However, I did manage to take a few from last night when my roommate and I wandered around in Yukata of our own after work. 

We ran into a few friends of ours, including Serika from an izayaka we frequent~ We talked for a few minutes before her friend Kanako joined us, and then we all decided to take some puricura together! :)

After taking puricura , Lie and I wandered off. We were walking to another part of town when all the sudden we were ambushed by the staff from Big Boss, a music (especially guitar/bass) shop we've been to a number of times. Now that they were no longer restricted to the constraints of professionalism, they goofed around with us for a while. Eventually, one of them dragged me into Donki to take puricura. He was a little tipsy, but absolutely hilarious! I motioned for the others to follow as he dragged me away. 

The puricura turned out to be absolutely PRICELESS, but unfortunately he said we weren't allowed to post them for the sake of job security. It's really too bad because they're probably the funniest puricura I've ever seen xDD

After that, I walked Lie to a bar where she would be drinking for the night (I have work today). 

Tonight we're planning to attend the festival with friends, so hopefully the few, sad pictures I took yesterday will be replaced with much better ones! See you soon! <3

If only all days were like this one... ❤

What a day.
Really, what a day.
And I mean that in the best way possible!

 It all started when I met with one of my students from my "granny" class this morning (It's technically my day off), which ultimately resulted in me getting an adopted Japanese grandma who wants to take me to cool places and make me awesome food!

I teach a special class twice a month for elderly women, the majority of whom have been studying English for decades. Most of them speak the language almost flawlessly, but there's one particular student who's a little behind the rest. She's an incredibly busy woman, but is so determined to study English, no matter how difficult it is for her. Even in class, surrounded by speakers who possess much more vocabulary and knowledge of the language structure than she does, she always does her best to communicate and explain things as best she can. She's adorable.

 Because of my contract, I couldn't accept her offer of payment because it was technically outside of work. However, she began telling me about her trips to places around Japan, and said she would love to take me to some places in Hiroshima sometime. I was ecstatic! Most of my friends work at nights or simply prefer nightlife to day-time, so I often end up exploring the day time world on my own. I enjoy bar hopping with my friends, of course, but I also love nature and taking long walks in back streets or new areas in the city. All the same, it gets a little lonely at times. I told my student that I would LOVE to accompany her, to which she seemed shocked. When I had reassured her that I was serious, she immediately began planning places we could go--some as far as Kyushu--on day trips. As it turns out, she often travels to such places alone, as well, and was just as excited for the company as I was. It was perfect! We have yet to make a definite first location to visit, but I'm absolutely looking forward to it! It was a perfect start to a wonderful day!



 Once our meeting ended, I had a photo shoot with the agency for my "official profile" (←weird !)
I was SO nervous at first. I've only ever modeled once, and that was for a friend--to be doing a full-out, in-studio, professional photo shoot for my own modeling profile just seemed like something out of my daydreams; something unreal and unattainable in so many ways. But it WAS real and it apparently went really, REALLY well. The photographer gave me a few directions, but almost every shot he would say really encouraging things about the shots he took. When we had finished (I changed clothing three times), he told me I had "nailed the shoot perfectly" and told me I was really good. While I don't believe him, it was still so relieving to hear.  I want to do well in this more than anything; after hearing that, I ended up smiling like a giddy moron to myself all the way home. xD

But, more than just give me an undeserved compliment, my agent also took the time to invite me to a work party this month AND offer to invite me the next time any of the staff or models went for lunch. I know he didn't have to, and just the fact that he did made the whole experience even more encouraging for me. It was the best feeling!

A crappy powder-room picture of one of the coordinates I used in today's shoot~♪

After returning home, I decided that all the excitement gave me enough energy for one of my "extended walks." On my days off, I often tend to walk for a few hours to get some fresh air and try and find places in the city I haven't been to before, but for the past month or so it's been way too cold for me. However, today ended up being much warmer than it has been lately, and I also got a lovely winter coat to keep me extra warm. So I headed out, blissfully unaware of what FURTHER excitement lay ahead of me.

On a whim, I decided to go to Aeon Mall. It was a good walk away, and I wanted to pick up a cookbook and a fashion magazine or two. I walked around the mall for a bit before heading towards the bookstore. On my way to the bookstore, however, I noticed a crowd gathering in a large opening in the mall. There was a stage, and someone was obviously holding a concert. But it wasn't just any local band...it was DAIGO.



DAIGO from DAIGO(freaking)STARDUST was prancing around a makeshift stage in full-out butterfly wings. No exaggeration at all, he was a fricking butterfly in the middle of a random mall in Hiroshima--and it wasn't even in the city center. I don't even know how I keep managing to find all these celebrities in such a rural place like Hiroshima, but needless to say I love my instincts. (So far I've run into MiA from Mejibray TWICE on the street by total accident, and I also stood next to Terry-san, the most stylish Tokyo grandpa/talent you'll ever see in your life, in Starbucks).

I REALLY wanted to take pictures of him, but unfortunately they had cops on every level patrolling for cellphone users. One even followed me up to the top floor to make sure I wasn't going to use mine because I was texting my friend at the time (you could see Daigo from the top floors because there was a circular opening from which you could see all the way down to the ground floor).


Since I couldn't take pictures, here's a PV clip for the single he was performing, so you can at least see what I'm talking about when I say he turned into a butterfly:

And, no, that's not CG. He literally wore those exact ginormous wings in the show. I'm pretty sure they're bigger than I am...


SO YES. I'm so sorry if I come off sounding vain or braggy in this post--I typically try to avoid writing daily posts because I always feel like I'm self-promoting or something when I do....but so much awesome stuff has happened this weekend that I felt like sharing... Forgive me? T_T

Anyway, I love you all <333


Sweet dreams or good morning, wherever you are the in world!
After a day like this, I am so ready for bed. ;)

Hiroshima Snap #1: A Day at the Beach

It's August here, which can only mean one thing in Japanese Summer: Blasted Heat. 

Heat. Heat and sweat and humidity everywhere! What's a person to do? Go to the beach, of course! :)

A friend took Lie and I to the beach at the beginning of the month to remedy the heat. Most of the day we spent in the water, trying to escape the humidity and sweltering hot. Towards the end of the day, when we were getting ready to head home, rain clouds began to work their way to where we were. The result was beautiful! :)

HIROSHIMA: The Introductory Puricura Post

Because this is Japan,  and awkwardly sneaking Puricura ("Print Club") throughout every post is what we do ;)

❤ Hey Guys and Gals ❤ It is now time for another round of Guess When the Next Sporadic Post will be! Any bets? Haha! Seriously, sorry for failing at timely posts ;) I figured I should post a little debrief about my time in Hiroshima so far, since I've contributed absolutely nothing to the topic since first announcing that I moved here!  I started work mid-July in the heart of the city, and have been loving my life here ever since I arrived. The city is certainly much smaller than places like Tokyo or Osaka, but it has a very relaxed environment and the people are incredibly kind and fun to be around. The city itself is beautiful--green rolling mountains, a beautiful bay, and colorful neon lights at night all contribute to the unique atmosphere of the place. In many respects, it reminds me of Seattle. :)

Work has also been fun! I enjoy working with my students, and I have the most adorable co-teacher/roommate/buddy in the universe to share all experiences with! It's startling how well we get along. We have all the same interests, but just enough variation in taste that we never feel like we have to compete. For example, we both love Japanese fashion--but whereas I tend to go for elegant, glamorous styles, Rai rocks the cutesy pop look. Our personalities also click perfectly, even though we're almost polar opposites in that respect. When we had only known each other for two days, everyone we met thought we had been friends for years. Getting along with her was by far my biggest concern before moving here, but now that we've met it's sincerely the most effortless thing in the world to adore her. xD

Also, Hiroshima boys are weirder than either Lie or I can figure out how to deal with, but that is a long, long story (rather a series of novels) that may or may not ever be told xD All in all, life here has been phenomenal so far. Now that things are starting to settle down here and there, it's been nice having moments to appreciate where I am and all the incredible experiences I've had so far <3 I don't know how often I'll have time for diary-like posts, but I'll do my best! In the mean time, I'll try to post outfit pics and at least weekly one-picture posts of things in the city--starting tonight! ;) Thank you all so much for your patience in dealing with my lame, sporadic posts!  I hope I can manage my time better and make it up to you someday ;)

SURPRISE!

Well hiiiiiiiiii, everyone :)

 It's only been wayyyy too long since my last post. Don't mind me.
 At least I have a very valid excuse this time!

 Apart from graduating, wrapping up my job at Disney, and helping my parents move to Florida, I officially moved to Hiroshima and started work as an English teacher about a month ago.

Surprise!

Although I don:t have much time to post about it right now, I've been loving my life here and I've already discovered so much to write about, including daily-life posts. I hope you'll all bear with me while I get used to my schedule and find some time to get some posts in ;)