ホストファミリー

This had to come some time.  I kept writing something for it and I just didn't like it and trashed it.  But right now I feel like I just need to write about my host family and maybe something will come to me or I can edit it later with something that I like better.

As of now I have been living with my family for about 5 or 6 weeks.  It really doesn't feel like it has been all that long to tell the truth.  One because the days are just so packed and go by so fast.  And second I thought I'd be improving a bit more that I have been.  More on that later in the post.

My family is so sweet and nice!  I have my Otousan (dad), Okaasan (mom), Kayoko (my younger sister), and Niango (our cat).

So Kayoko is only 15 years old, but she's been learning English for 10 years now.  So she is pretty amazing with English, even though she won't admit it.  She is also SO FREAKING energetic!  I swear she has the energy of at least 3 people.  But she is also super sweet and your typical teenager who wants to do things her way and not do what her parents tell her.  She's completely obsessed with Karaoke and Video games.  Both of which can be a good and a bad thing.

I never really thought Karaoke could ever be a bad thing, but lets just say if you don't have enough food to support you, and you much have sugary horribly unhealthy food, 8 hours of Karaoke is killer!  Not because you're singing almost nonstop for 8 hours(well that is part of it), but because it's super hard to keep coming up with more songs to sing!  And I was the only one singing English songs, not to mention a few Korean and Japanese songs too!  I really don't know who she does this, because I'm very sure this was not her first 8 house straight Karaoke session...

My Otousan, well I don't really talk to him all that much because he's usually either sleeping or at work.  But he's a cute little man, he enjoys a nice glass of beer or wine with dinner and is always taking pictures of what Okaasan cooks.  He also doesn't know a lot of English, and his Japanese is all  Osaka-ben so it's hard for me to understand when I could with Okaasan or one of my teachers.

The greatest moment with him though was when I was getting ready to go meet my friend Katie to shopping in Amimura, because she's the only one I've been able to find who will go to my punk/goth clothes shops and not get bored after being in there for 5 minutes.  And I always feel bad dragging people to these places when I know they won't like going.  But anyways, back to Otousan.  So Okaasan is making me lunch, because she just sweet and awesome like that, and randomly out of the blue he asks me if I drink alcohol.  Going with it since I don't get to talk with him all that much, I told him I have a glass with my mom every once in a while.  And 10 minutes later when I come back down to the dinning room, what do I find waiting for me...A steaming bowl of delicious smelling INSTANT RAMEN and a glass of RED WINE!  This was probably the greatest combination of a meal I've ever had in my whole life!

Last is my Okaasan, well there is also Niango but he's just a freaking cute can who likes to sit there and stare at people as they walk past.  Okaasan is so sweet, she actually knows quite a bit of English, just because Kayoko has been learning it for the past 10 years so she would obviously pick up some here and there.  She is also one of the best cooks in the whole world.  Back home even if mom or dad cooked it, I usually wouldn't try many new or different foods, but almost everything she has cooked I've loved, and I hated quite a lot of the things before I came to Japan.  Yakisoba is pretty much one of the best foods ever created and I have yet to find a bad Yakisoba and almost each one is just as good if not better than the last.  But non of them compare the slightest to Okaasan's Yakisoba!  I become a bottomless pit when I eat it.  Literally the other night when she made it I eat close to enough for 3 or 4 people!  It was just too good to let go cold and not be eaten with love!

I don't know how she does it though.  She wakes up before 6 everyday, works part time, keeps the house almost spotless, does laundry everyday, cooks, and stays up till 1 or 2 in the morning EVERY FREAKING DAY!!!  When I only get 5 or 6 hours of sleep at night even the excitement of being in Japan can't wake me up until about 2 in the afternoon...She is a truly amazing Okaasan!

Now about our house.  I live in Neyagawa shi(寝屋川市), by car it's about an hour from Kansai Gaidai, but I walk and take the train to school.  This way it takes about 40-45 minutes.  From the house I walk about 20 minutes, I go past a truck place, 2 huge shopping centers, and a long street filled with little shops and cafes and resterants and an arcade and about 4 Pashinko parlors and 4 karaoke places.  Then I take the train 4 stops from Kourien(香里園) to Gotenyama(御殿山), that takes about 10 minutes.  And from Gotenyama it a lovely 10-15 minute walk to school.  And by lovely I mean that at 7 in the morning I have to climb up a HUGE hill...

Neyagawa shi is so pretty though.  There are so many old houses and buildings.  And I think if I was back home I would hate doing this walk everyday, but I really don't mind it here.  Every time I take it I find something new!

Yay I'm finally getting aught up on my posts!!!  Only a few more left, can I get them all done tonight???

Gilli

9.25のコンサート

I have been meaning to write this since Saturday night, but I keep getting distracted and doing something else...

So Finally here it is!

This day started out like any other day that ends awesome, horribly!  First I try to catch the door before it slams from the wind and instead get my finger slammed in there and a lovely chunk of skin got taken off.  And right when I'm leaving the house I almost fell off a small step by the gate.  I'm starting to see a trend of days that i do see concerts...

Anyways, after the wonderful Yakisoba my Okaasan made for lunch I caught up with Meri at Hirakata shi station and we headed off to Shinsaibashi.  We got there with plenty of time so she wanted to run into Book Off.  Once again I was SO tempted to buy Kagrra's concert that they had.  I also found IRIS (Korean drama) there!!!  But the thought of Japanese subs rather than English made me turn away.  But they also had the first 2 disks of Kimura Takuya's Beautiful Life, and that is also very much tempting me, with or without subs of any kind!

After that we meet up with Sandra and Ebba and made our way to OSAKA MUSE for the concert!  I think there is something about us and concert halls that make them not want to be found.  Just like when we went to KYOTO MUSE for Kagrra, we couldn't find with when it was right there.  This time  though we walked right past it.  And to make it worse right at the spot where I though "Hey i bet it's right down one of these side streets", it was right down THAT side street...

OSAKA MUSE was even smaller than KYOTO MUSE!  It could probably only hold about 200 people and there weren't even that many there.

So first up was 2nd Dyz.  First off their outfits had lights in them!  So even before the curtain opened we could see them.  They had an awesome sound, they we're on of my favorite of the night.  They guitarist with the red hair was awesome and jumping all over the stage.  The drummer also had some sweet skills!

Best part about them, I got to talk to them after the show (when I say talk, I mean say a few random words in Japanese and make lots of big hand movements).  And they were so shy can cute!  One of them got kinda red in the face and turned away from us.  The guitarist and one of the others got big smiles on their faces and kinda repeated what we said then thanked us!

Lycaon was next.  They were by far the most entertaining band of the night!  Can you see the picture above?  If you can't click on it to make it bigger.  This is what they were wearing for the concert!  I kid you not, there was less clothes on them than it looks!  We got a strip show from Yuki, the vocalist (red hat).  You can't really see his pants in the picture, but there are no sides to them at all, had to have been about 4 inches or so of skin and the strings holding the pants on all the way down his leg, and to top that off he kept playing with his red thong...pulling it up and his pants down!  It was quite distracting, in a very good way!!!  Then there was the guitarist!  His pants were literally half way down his butt and he also had a thong on!  Between each song he had to pull them up.  And his shirt!  All that there was to it was the cloth on the front and 2 straps that crossed in the back.  And let me tell you he had an AMAZING back (thank god he kept turning around and playing backwards!!!)!

Anyways about their songs...They played all my favorite songs!  RED RUM was so awesome to hear live!  They were also super energetic and they kept calling out to us to sing along!  Yuki has such a great voice!  I love listening to it.  Both the guitarist had a little battle at the front of the stage for their solos.

Next on stage was EVER+LAST.  Along with 2nd Dyz, they were the other band I hadn't heard of before.  And to give them the props they deserve they were my favorite of the whole concert.  That is saying something, cuz I love Lycaon and Sel'm quite a lot!  It all had to do with their transformation.

When they first came on stage, I'm not kidding you I thought they were a couple of Hosts that picked up instruments and decided to start a band...I was really freaking out that they were going to be cheesy or try to hard.  But they were amazing!!!  The bassist (with the dreads) was awesome!  And the vocalist's voice was so good!  But the best thing about them was how they acted, the whole time where were up there smiling and playing around with each other!  The bassist got a solo in one of the songs and the vocalist and one of the guitarists kept smacking him on the head.  And the vocalist was head banging so much he fell of the back of the cage at the front of the stage and almost took out the bassist and drums!

東京ヒーローズ (Tokyo Heroes) after EVER+LAST.  They weren't bad at all.  The bassist (blonde guy) was VERY entertaining to watch.  And the guitarist on the left of the picture had an amazing voice!  I was surprised I almost liked him more than the vocalist.  They had some great songs.  But they ended on kinda a slow note.  The last song the played wasn't anything special.

However after the show I got to meet the bassist and drummer.  They were at the merch table selling their merch rather than having other people.  I had to buy something since they were out there personally!  So I got their new single and apparently it came with a free poster, I think they said something about it being signed but I haven't opened it yet to check cuz I know I'll never get it rolled up nicely again!

Sle'm was next!  This is about when the crowd started to get crazy!!!  When an adorable five foot tall Japanese girl dressed in a cute Gothic Lolita dress with matching headband starts growling, it is time to get scared!!!  You really wouldn't think someone fitting this description would be all that fearsome, but take my word IT FREAKING IS!!!

When the band started up there was lots of head banging and jumping around.  It was pretty energetic.  They were much more hardcore than the one before them and Kagrra.  There is this one move, it's kinda like moshing, you throw your hands up alternating them and start hoping one way then the other!  So fun!!!  UNTIL...Until the cute little girl next to you comes flying at you and sends you into the group of people next to you!  You really wouldn't expect that to come from her!

SHE SCARED ME!!!

The vocalist was pretty awesome to watch.  There was one point in one of the songs where he just fell backwards onto the stage and was just laying there singing and making his feet, which was about all of him you could see, dance.  So fun!

Awoi was the headliner and last to go on stage!  They had a stage presence that was epic.  I mean it was a small theater so being that close to any of them was pretty epic, but as soon as they came on you could feel the crowd waiting in anticipation for them.  Before this I'd heard of Awoi, but never really many of their songs.  They have a very heavy dark sound to them, but the songs are beautiful at the same time.  The Drummer was amazing, I usually don't pick up on the drums in a song, but I did for some of their songs.  And the Vocalist's voice was amazing.  He screamed a lot, but when he sang it was awesome!

They kinds ended on a bad/sad note though.  They were on one of their last songs and and the vocalist was sitting on the metal cage and was about to stand up.  But his foot slipped off the cage and he went crashing to the ground where we all were.  There was a collective gasp as he fell.  The girls in the front bent over the rail to check on him and some of the band members did to.  Now it wouldn't really seem all that bad, because it was only about a 3 maybe 4 foot drop, but there was a large metal pipe that I'm pretty sure he landed right on!

After a few moments he popped up and slowly crawled back up on stage.  He went to the back by the drums and in a few more moments he was back singing and screaming!  But I happened to notice there was some red stuff on his face that hadn't been there before, it was blood.  I think when he fell he hit his head on the pipe.  Because as soon as they finished that song he ran off stage.  The rest of the band did their thing, thanked us for coming and supporting them and they too left.  And that was it, they still had a few songs to go I think, but since the vocalist fell they had to end early.

Over all it was one hell of a concert!  I love going to the One-Man concerts, but going to see a bunch of smaller bands was so much fun!  After it was over and we bought a bunch of merch, I had to by something from TOKYO Heroes just because the bassist and drummer were the ones selling the stuff, we passed by 2nd Dyz out on the street.  I mean at the larger One-Mans you will never see the bands after the show just standing there in broad night light!

More concert recaps coming soon!

Gilli

手話

I know this isn't an update at all, but I wanted to share my new blog project that I'm going to be working on.

I haven't mentioned it on here, but I've been learning 手話(しゅわ), Japanese Sign Language, over the last three weeks and I've really developed a bit of a passion for it, so I wanted to make a blog while I'm learning it.

http://lifewithoutears.blogspot.com/

It's mostly going to be my experiences, but I also am going to post pictures and videos of myself doing Shuwa.

So if you're interested at all, take a look.

Gilli

Kagrra,のコンサート

Ok, so the next journal I was going to write was going to be about my host family, but after tonight I really can't write about anything but the concert!



So to start from the beginning, last Thursday Sandra, a girl in my Interculteral Communications class, stopped me as I was leaving after class and wanted to make sure she heard right that I liked Visual Kei. So we got started talking a little about VK, and she happened to mention Kagrra, was going to be in Osaka over the weekend. And of course I knew they were on a tour and that it was their 10th Anniversary Tour. I've known Sandra for a grand total of about 10 minutes and we're already making plans to go to a concert!

On Saturday we got together to try to figure out how to get ticket, but we couldn't really figure it out, so I had it in my mind that the plan was off. But later that night I get a message from her that her okaasan knows how to get tickets. Sunday we meet up again all ready to go to the concert, but when we go to buy the tickets they're all SOLD OUT!!! So depressing!!! But we noticed they where going to be in Kyoto in a few days. Even though it was a school night we said hell to it and bought the tickets. They were about 4700yen each, which as J-Rock concert tickets go is REALLY GOOD!

There was a slight mix up where I though it was yesterday and scared the crap out of both of us, but it was in fact today! Obviously!

The background is done so now I'm getting to today!

Well today started out like any other day that I really don't want to go wrong. I fell down the stairs. So Japanese houses have lovely skinny, steep, and small stairs. From the first time I saw these stairs I knew I was going to eventually fall down them. And that day was today! Thankfully the only thing I got was a painful blister on my hand and a soon to be 10 inch bruise down my left shin where I slid down.

But that was about the only bad thing today! Classes went super fast and there were all amazing! (BTW gestures are haunting me in EVERY class and in real life now!)

Finally Interculteral Communications ended and Sandra and I headed out. It's amazing just how close to Kyoto we are! It literally only took about 20 min or less on the express train.

We're all excited once we get off the train and start heading for KYOTO MUSE. We're walking and walking and still haven't found it, so we head back thinking we passed it. Only to find that if we had kept walking about 10 feet past were we turned around we would have found it!

While we were waiting in line we meet 2 girls from France who were going to the concert as well. One of them had an awesome phoenix tattoo!

Finally they called our number, this was amazing practice for listening to numbers BTW! And KYOTO MUSE is super small!!! There was less than 300 people in there! And we were nice and close to the stage!

The first thing we do when we get in of course is by some merch! Sadly there were already SOLD OUT of the shirts, but I will find it on ebay no matter what!!! So I ended up buying a fan and tour pamphlet. This fan is the best 4000yen (aka $45) I've ever spent!

So we move to the floor and are about 10-15 feet from the stage! And the first thing I look for and find is Sin's Koto!!! Sadly it's on the other side of the hall, but everyone else only comes up to my chin so I can see it fine!

The lights dim and...Kagrra, appears through the back curtain!!! First Izume(drums) came out, he looked so adorable! Next Nao(bass) came out. Akiya(guitar) was next, we were directly in front of Akiya! Then Sin(guitar/koto) came out and headed for is guitar, his hair looked amazing! Finally Ishi(vocal) wondered out of stage. At this point the hall is filled with people calling their names! It was so loud!

But then the most amazing thing, that would never happen in a thousand years in America happened. Nao hit one note on his bass and everyone went silent! It was so quiet in there!

After a few more notes, they started playing!!! And I think one of the most beautiful thing ever happened. Everyone in the crowd raised their fans and copied Ishi swaying them though the air. It was literally a sea of fans!

I don't know really any of the songs they played, but there were all amazing!!! And the dances that went with them were so fun! I kept watching Ishi to see what hand movement was next, but I broke away a lot to see what the others were also doing!

Sin was my first to look for, I really wanted to see him play his Koto, and when he did it was beautiful! He seemed to be having a few problems with his guitar through out the concert though, but he managed and sounded awesome! I think of all the amazing things I've seen and experienced since coming to Japan, seeing Sin play his Koto live has to be the most amazing thing!

But Akiya kept stilling my attention. As he was directly in front of us on stage it was easy to watch him. But I noticed he kept looking in out direction a majority of the time he looked out. I finally realized he was looking not in our direction, but at us!!! When you are a foreigner and stand nearly a head taller that everyone else you get noticed. Akiya actually pointed at me!!! And cheered Sandra along when everyone was jumping! I also thing I got a small wink like thing that came along with a salute, which I of course returned and received a big smile!!!

When they talked to us, I was happy in that I think I could understand about 30% maybe even 40% of what they were saying! Ishi seemed to be making fun of Nao for how he posed in some pictures, then Nao tried to bring Izumi in to pick on him!

When it came to the end, like all concerts must they left stage. It didn't take very long for the audience to start calling their name to get them back on stage. After Sandra and I spent a few minutes giggling over some REALLY high pitched voiced girl, they finally came back out!

This time though Nao cam out first and sat down at the drums. He was followed by Ishi who picked up Nao's bass and Izumi who took Akiya's guitar. After a few minutes of them playing on the instruments Sin and Akiya came out looking very shy! They both took up microphones, they were going to sing!!! They said a few things, well Akiya did, Sin kinda bounced around looking awkward. They all started up the song, which happened to have a good bass and drums and a semi messed up guitar(Izumi kept laughing). All Sin could manage was to keep saying "JUMP JUMP JUMP..." and even with my feet about to fall off I couldn't stop when ever he would start up! Akiya was actually pretty good!

After that song they all took up their normal places, only to have Ishi decided to play musical instruments again! Right off the bat Nao volunteered to play the drums again. But Akiya, Izumi, and Sin all wanted to play bass, so Ishi made them play Jen Kan to see who got to be bass. Izumi won! Which meant Ishi got guitar and Sin and Akiya were forced to sing again. Sin was so shy up there he couldn't manage more than a few words before cracking up! Akiya was almost as bad.

After Ishi said some beautiful things about thanking us for being fans and staying with them for 10 years (I totally though he was near tears!), finally they played one final song, all in the original places. And of course they had us all sing the chorus acoustic! Which was amazing!

As their all throwing their picks and drum sticks into the crowd, Akiya was totally looking at us and threw his pick strait for us. It grazed my hand and bounced off Sandra's head and someone else got it. I think he saw that we didn't get it and throw his next one for us too, but it was short and the girl in front of me got it! But it was so amazing that he tried to get it to us!!!

The whole was back to Hirakatashi we couldn't stop talking about it, and I couldn't stop smiling walking home from the train station!

So I didn't think anything could be better than Sacred Ceremony, but I think this beats it! The whole experience was just so amazing and unique that it was just so much better! I mean the way the crowd got silent from just one note from them and how everyone danced along almost completely in time with each other. Also how Kagrra, interacted with the crowd! And the fact that Akiya paid so much attention so 2 little foreign fans throughout the whole concert!

Next time I shall update about my host family, though I think I'll back date it so it seems like I posted it before the concert! tehehe

I'd post pictures, but I wasn't allowed to take any, but I might post some of my fan and pamphlet.

Gilli

奈良 (Nara)

They say if you can crawl through it you get luck. Gabe and Tan both went through, and Emmanuel the awesome spaz that he is actually went though twice, almost getting stuck the second time!

I got some pretty awesome gifts there. A change purse, but you live on change here! A pin with the Toudaiji on it, and a charm for strength and good health. I was very tempted to get the charm for love, but I thought I`d wait a bit before I got that desperate.

Since it was HOT and we were getting tired we stopped off at a little strip mall like in Namba and got dinner. The place we stopped at was called BABY FACE PLANET`S. OH MY GOD WAS IT AMAZING!!! Tan, Emmanuel, Gabe, and I split this thing called `popi omre raisu` (spelling is so off on that), which is basically a rice filled omelet. And it had some ham, spinach (hence the popi), and a cream sauce. It was to die for. The thing was for 4-5 people, and I could have eaten at least half of on myself. And after we had that we got a `choco banana parfait`. Chocolate ice cream, bananas, peaches, oranges, and corn flakes. TO DIE FOR!!!

Since we didn`t really want to leave yet we walked around the mall for a bit more. Emmanuel found this TINY manga store down one of the alleys. I wasn`t planning on buying any manga while I was here, but they had a deal I couldn`t pass up. ALL 10 RG VEDA (CLAMP`S VERY FIRST SERIES, OUT OF PRINT, SUPER RARE) FOR 1800 YEN!!! That is 10 RARE manga for about $2 each! I had to buy it! And I`s so happy I did, if I passed it by I would be kicking myself right now so hard!

By the time we got back all of us were ready to pass out. And it didn`t help that a lot of the people who went on the Kyoto trip got back at the same time as us. So the bus was full of hot, LOUD college students all the way back to the library stop...

Just as a side not for me, Tan was telling me about how the awesome xxxHolic was even so much more awesome in the latest few chapters. So now I need to start reading it again!

Tomorrow I`ll post on my host family.

And I got my laptop ordered so when I get it in a week or 2, I`ll go back and add pictures to all of these posts.

Gilli

お好み焼き (Okonomiyaki)

Not much has been going on the last few days, mostly all just orientation stuff. Which required a lot of walking back and forth to and from school.

But on Tuesday night a bunch of us decided to go out for Okomomiyaki for dinner. So we headed over to this little, and I mean little, place by Kansai Gaidai's East Gate. The people in there were so sweet. They all moved so we could sit together and they were helping the owners out by taking our orders and everything.

I got Okonomiyaki with pork on it, and HOLY CRAP, it was amazing!!! And so big, I couldn't finish it.

The best part was after we finished the old man who ran the place with his wife gave us some Sake, for free. I wasn't planning on drinking while I was here, but I have a fascination with Sake so I tried it. First sip went right to my head. I could feel it working right away! It was one of the sweetest Sakes I've ever had, which in reality isn't saying much. He also started giving us Japanese lessons, he said we didn't need to go to Kansai Gaidai he would teach us everything we needed to know. Then he showed us pictures of him and his wife on their wedding day, they were so cute!!!

After being here 4 days we found our hang out place!

Yesterday we went shopping. I only have one pair of shorts so I needed more. I can fit in Japanese clothes!!! But I wanted to get a pair of Chiko Chiko shorts (men's clothes), but my butt won't allow my in them. So one of my goals is to lose enough weight to get into a pair of them! They were so awesome!!!

Gilli

なんば (Namba) [pictures to be added]

Yesterday after I finished my blog Karólína (from Iceland) and I meet up with another guy to go wonder the streets of Hirakata before leaving for Namba. We found a shop with towels and I was so happy! I also found some slippers and sun screen (something else I forgot). There was also a grocery store below it so we got some food for dinner and a yummy potato thing that I can't remember the name for. On our way back we ran into the 100 Yen stop and I got a new wallet, because my hard wallet is just too heavy for my little kitty purse.

We got back to the dorm and hung out will people in the kitchen and the lounge. Somehow we got started on Harry Potter and how it had so much potential...But that is not going to be ranted about here.

At 1 finally the rest of ouｒ group of people who were going to Namba with us get there and we headed over to the bus. There were seven of us wilｌing to take on the heat and explore the train systems. Lawrence (from Neatherlands) had the directions to get there. We took the bus to Hirakata-shi Station and on the way I got my first look at Kansai Gaidai. It's so HUGE!!! But also very pretty too. We got there and the bus driver was so nice, he tried explaining the buses to us.

In the station there was this guy singing La Bamba in Japanese. It was so awesome!!! He saw us all taking pictures and pointed to us and tried to sing it in English, which he failed. After that we managed to get our tickets to Yodayabashi (I think that's where it was). When one of the trains passed is, and it passed SUPER close, it made Emmanuel jump out of his seat.

We got to Yodayabashi and found out way to our transfer train, with the help of a really nice old man! When we got to the train he was so happy that we made it! This train was only for 2 stops and we got off at Shinsanbashi. We turned 2 corners and were there! We found the GIANT strip mall that had to have gone on for a mile at least.

I don't think I've ever seen so many shops in one place before! There were cell phone shops every other store, tons of clothes shops. I swear there were at least half a dozen shops that were just for socks! We found a BOOK OFF, which is a used book/CD/DVD store. I told myself I wasn't going to buy anything until at least a week or 2 of being here, but they had one of alice nine.'s CDs for 950yen! I've been looking for this one and I can't find it under 3,000yen anywhere because it's out of print.

We spent the next few hours just walking around looking at all the shops, completely overwhelmed! We finally got down to Du...I can't remember the name but shall look it us river. I got a picture of the Gilco running man, it was so awesome! I also saw the giant moving crab sign. And there was even a giant Arashi sign for their new album that I just had to take a picture of.

It was about 4.30 and our feet hurt and we were getting hungry. SO we found this nice little traditional restaurant and got Yakiniku (pretty much the same thing as Korean BBQ) It's was amazing!!! The Kimchi was so fresh tasting and the meat was so tasty!

After dinner we decided to go into 2 LARGE fancy department stores. Where of course everything is SUPER expensive. One of them had the top 2 floors just for restaurants. It also had a beautiful view of Osaka from the roof.

By the time we got out of the second depo store it was almost dark. We got a bit lost/turned around trying to find the train station again. Emmanuel got this amazing cake/yogurt/parfait looking thing while we were waiting for the bus. It just melted in your mouth!

Finally got back to Seminar House 2 and just sat around talking in the kitchen for a bit. I decided to register for my classes, but couldn't remember which classes I put on my major class list. So I ran up stairs to get my laptop and look, only to find it broke...It would turn on and I could hear it making noise, but the screen wouldn't do anything. It's just flickered a little bit...So today I'm going to see if there is a place on campus that can maybe fix it, if not I'll have to send it out to get repaired or buy a new one...

Other than the laptop thing, yesterday was AMAZING!!! And today will be great too!!!

Gilli

Connecting flights

First of all I have to say that flying at night is so wicked!!! Seeing all the lights of the cities and stuff from the plane is amazing! LA was so big and bright! And I really don't think they had enough baseball diamonds...

Anyways, Thursday night I left Chicago and had a 3.5 hour flight to LA, wasn't bad at all other than the complete lack of leg room! I watched to episodes of MR.BRAIN. And of course as my battery is dying I end on a 2 part episode...Takuya Kimura is so amazing!!!

Next was the flight from LA to Beijing, 12.5 hours. I actually slept on a plane!!! I wasn't planning on sleeping, but they turned all the lights off and I found a yoga channel on the radio that had beautiful, relaxing Chinese music playing. I ended up sleeping about 9 hours of the flight. The food was amazing too!!! It's airplane food, but compared to American airplane food, this was like a 5 star meal!

BEIJING AIRPORT IS HUGE!!! I was so freaked out I'd get lost, and I did end up just standing in the middle of a big open area looking around for about 15 minutes...Security took my snow glob that I forgot I had in my bag. Funny thing is that Chicago didn't even catch it, LA caught it but said it was fine, then China takes it away! I almost got it to Japan... But going back to how big it was, I swear it took me 20 minutes to walk from the security point to the gate where my plane was! It just had to be at the farthest gate from everything! Not to mention I got a huge blister walking there and a blister plus boots are NOT fun at all! Got my laptop charged up and started looking over grammar from my Japanese textbook, don't know why I did grammar when my problem is with vocab...

The flight to Japan didn't start off all that well, we got on the plane ready to leave and end up sitting on there at the gate for an hour waiting for the traffic control tower to give us the OK... Finally got to Japan and watching the landing was amazing!!! It was so pretty! And Osaka is HUGE...Maps don't do it justice!

As I'm standing in like waiting to get approved to be let in, I decided to take a change and guess that the guy next to me who was also on the same flight from LA to Beijing and Beijing to Osaka might have been going to Kansai Gaidai too. And he was, and there also ended up being about 5 people on the Beijing flight going to Kansai Gaidai. We all bonded a bit while waiting for our bags. I made it though customs without any problems, unlike when I came back from Japan the last time...

Meet so many people just on the bus ride. From Hong Kong, South Korea, Netherlands, bunch from US, and someone from Iceland. The trip to the dorms was about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The dorm I'm staying in is very traditional, tatami mats and rice paper screens in every room! Once i got all my stuff put in my room, our RA lead a group of us to the store to get food for dinner. It's such a nice area around the dorms! Because we don’t have kitchen access I just got a bowl of Ramen and a HUGE jug of water! Over dinner we talked to a bunch of people and made plans to go to Namba today. I can't wait, probably won't buy anything yet, but I can at least look at the stores. I want to go into the SEX POT OSAKA shop so bad!!!

After a bit more talking I went back to my room and my other roommate was there. Even after only being here for not even a day I wish I would have stayed in the dorms rather than home stay, but that should be a great experience too!

Finally got to go to bed on one of the most comfy futons in the world! Slept till 6, wanted to sleep more but jetlag wouldn't let me. And so here I am writing this and waiting for a friend to get up so we can go shopping and just wander around before going to Namba this afternoon!

Gilli

...PS, I forgot a towel, so I have to find some place to get one and take a shower. I WANT A SHOWER SO BAD IT'S SO HOT!!!

Getting ready

So since I leave for Japan a week from Thursday I've been getting ready by packing, fixing somethings, staring off into the abyss because I'm so overwhelmed, and downloading a bunch of Japanese dramas (to help get me used to Japanese again).

As of right now I have an extra bag, 2 pairs of shoes, a book, and a HUGE pile of clothes siting on my floor ready to be packed. I can at least say that I got all my pants that were torn up fixed. And I'm almost done sewing my purse (tis a kitty with hidden pockets and chains! x3)

I have come across some interesting drams though. Like I mentioned in my last blog I finally finished watching all of Hana Yori Dango(花より男子) or Boys Over Flowers after buying it over a year ago! One of the first dramas I came across was Tsuki no Koibito(月の恋人) or Moon Lovers, it just so happens to have Matsuda Shota(松田翔太) and Tsuyoshi Abe(阿部力) who were both in Hana Yori Dango(花より男子). Matsuda Shota is starting to become one of my favorite actor, he's a wonderful actor and I like the characters he plays. It's also amazing how beautiful his Chinese is! I can't wait to take Chinese next year!!!

I also watched the first episode of Beautiful Love ~君がいれば~. Sadly it was only 10 minutes long, but it had Yoochun(유천) from DBSK(동방신기). After seeing their other dramas where they were all adorable and sweet, it was awesome to see him playing a stuck up jerk for the first time!

The other drama I got is a teen drama called Yankee-kun and Glasses-chan(ヤンキー君とメガネちゃん). Naka Riisa(仲里依紗) is so cute in it!

Now that I've put of packing I'm going to start up again...

Gilli signing off...

[PS]
Once I leave/get to Japan posts will start being in English and Japanese(and Korean if I'm up to it afterward...)

Band rant

I'm really pissed off right now!!!
I was looking around looking for Arashi 嵐 stuff, because finishing Hana Yori Dango 花より男子 got me wanting more Matsu Jun 松本潤 and Arashi at the moment. So I come to a site and happen to go too far and into the comment section, I just so happen to stop on one comment about bands breaking up.
Apparently this person seems to think that a band is judged on if their together or broken up. Now this wouldn't have gotten to me if they had a realistic comparison, BUT NO!!! They decide to go with comparing Arashi to DBSK 동방신기! I have a HUGE bias towards DBSK because I've listened to them durring a lot of hard times in my life, but that doesn't mean I don't like Arashi. In fact Arashi is one of the only Japanese Pop bands I will listen to (KAT-TUN and Koda Kumi are the others).
My bias aside, there is no way you can judge Arashi and DBSK by one being together and the other not! DBSK has been named the #1 Pop Band in Asia! And this person was saying that Arashi was better than DBSK because they haven't broken up!
What this person seemed to be implying was when a band breaks up that means their no longer good! There are so many AMAZING bands that have broken up. To name only a few: THE BEETLES, XJapan, The Police. While there are SO MANY shitty bands that are still together!
I wouldn't have minded so much if this person had said they preferred Arashi because of some reason or another but to say this...It's an insult...

And for that person's information, DBSK didn't want to break up, they were semi forced to! When and band is in a situation where their bastard of a company forbids them from having contact with each other at any time, AKA when half the members can't talk to the other half, and they are clearly unhappy with this situation and forcing smiles for the fans, it would be best for them to break up. Most bands perform for the music and their fans, when they have to deceive their fans in order to stay together, any fan who would prefer them unhappy and together is not a good fan! As sad as I am to see them apart, I'm happy they can continue on in a happier way!

And now I feel like doing a comparison for DBSK and Arashi! BEWARE!!!

* First off pictures:
DBSK
Arashi

* DBSK's voices are perfect with each other! Together they sound amazing and solo you can sell who's singing. While in Arashi I can't really tell who's singing, but together they sound amazing too!

* OK DBSK can't act to save their lives (well Yoochun and Jaejoong aren't too bad), Changmin hurts so badly to watch. But I've seen all Arashi (except Sho, and I don't have much faith in him) act and they are amazing! Nino makes me cry in Letter from Iwo Jima every time!!!


* Changmin(DBSK) is a personal bias. He has one of the most unique voices! Raising Sun's "Why" says it all, any 15/16 year old that can reach that is amazing.


* Yoochun(DBSK) is another personally fave. He has amazing range, both low and high notes! Not to mention his fashion sense is gorgeous!


* Matsu Jun(Arashi) wins! After playing Domyoji in Hana Yori Dango I have a soft spot in my heart for him, I don't think anyone could pull off Domyoji like he did!

* Comparing Leaders...I don't see Ohno as much of one, he didn't really wanna be the leader so all of them kinda share the role. While Yunho is so good, he looks after the others so well and protects them (I'm remembering a few depressing interviews from around last Xmas...).

* One thing they both have is someone with AWESOME HAIR and LIPS!!! I want to steal Yoochun and Matsu Jun's hair!!! So amazing!!!


* Two words..."Sexy Counting"... (Youtube if you are lost...)

* I HAVE A DEEP DARK LOATHING HATRED FOR ARASHI'S KITTO DAIJOUBU!!! I dare you to listen to the first 30 seconds of that song 50+ times a day, everyday for a month and tell me if you don't feel the same way...

That's all for now...I feel surprisingly better after writing that and looking though pictures!

Signing off,
Gilli Phoenix

---

There will be no Japanese or Korean translation for this...

Korean Class

Last week was my first week of Intensive Korean at University of Chicago. And after the first class I had the best time of my life! Of course the drive into Chicago at 8AM is killer and it's three hours of my day that I'm stuck in class, but I don't really have anything better to do.
But the class is just so much fun! My professor is amazing and its a nice small class, so its more personal. I feel like I've learned just as much if not more Korean in this first week than I ever learned of Japanese in even one month!

On a different note, my room is a disaster area. I'm changing everything around and getting rid of all the crap I've horded over the years! But it's getting to look like a room again.

Gilli

PS...Super Junior's 너 같은 사람 또 없어 (No Other) is pure amazing! They keep putting out one amazing song after another. I don't think I've ever liked an album so much as I have liked 미인아 (Bonamana)!

---

来週、一番週の韓国語のクラスにシカゴの大学だった。そして、一番クラスでからとても楽し刈った！シカゴに八時午前に運転して、一日に三時間はクラスがあって、でもぜんぜんがある。
でも、クラスはがとても楽しいね！先生がすごい。クラスが小さい、それから一身上のクラスだ。一番の週にもって多くの韓国語を習ってから、一月間に日本語を習った！

私の部屋は被災地だ。

歌う

PS...Super Juniorの너 같은 사람 또 없어が別のすごい歌を作てからすごい歌だった。CDが好きさらに미인아 (Bonamana)が大好きと思わない。

---

한국어 coming soon!

지희

Colorado

Last week we went Colorado! It was so beautiful here! I can't believe I didn't remember just how pretty it was. Of course it is dry, but there are so many colors.
The mountains look amazing! And the view from our balcony was breathless. The lake is there, mountains all around, I could see part of Beaver Creek. And there was still snow on some of the peaks.



Gilli

---

先週、コロラドに行いた！ここがきれいだ！きれいを思い出さないと信じらなかった。コロラドが乾いている、でもたくさんいろいろ色だよ。
山がすごいみる！そして、テラスの眺めがきれいだ。湖があって、たくさん山で、ビーバー・クリークを見られた。そして、山で雪があった。

歌う

It's official...!

Last week I got an email from CIEE. I'm going to Yonsei in South Korean too!

~Gilli




先週、CIEEからイメールをもらった。Yonseiの大学に韓国に行く！

～歌う




저번주는 CIEE한테서 이메르를 바닸어요. 욘세 데학교에 한국에서 가겠어요.

~지희

Japan!!! 日本!!! 일본!!!

It is official, I'm going to Japan! I got my letter yesterday saying I was approved!
Now all I have to do is finish the application for Kansai Gaidai and wait for spring term to be over, and send in my application for Yonsei in Korean.

~Gilli




こうにんです。日本に行く！昨日は私の手紙をもらった。手紙は「ＡＰＰＲＯＶＥＤ」と言った。今、かんさいがいだいの申し込みを終わって、春のがっきが持ってを終わって、よんせいの申し込みをおくる。

～歌う




공식의예요. 일존에 가갰어요! 어제은 나의 편지를 바다요. 편지가 "APPROVED"를 말했어요. 지금, 칸사이 가이다이의 지원을 끝내요, 봄의 기간을 기다리고 끔내요, 연세이의 지원을 보내요.

~지희

First

The countdown nears closer to the bottom and this blog begins to open...

---

Welcome to 夢が留まる [Dreams Stay]!
This is a place me to ramble about things. Until August it will be mostly random things - like music and art - to get into blogging. Then my about my times studying abroad in Japan and (hopefully) South Korea. I'll be making my entries trilingual, well attempting to...The Japanese and Korean parts may not the most coherent...But I'll be trying! >.<

-지희