This is Moore Hall... every one of my classes is in this building...  

Me... on my bed! I still LOVE the sheets I picked. :-) Yay for palm trees! 

My room... the other side has my desk in it... but as per usual, my desk is a mess... so here's my bed! :-) 

This is my house... that scrap of red car is a nice Mitsubishi Eclipse belonging to one of my housemates...:-) 

Laundry Day!

Hello... today is my least favorite day of the week... not because it's Friday. No, I quite like Friday's as a rule. This day tends to rotate for me... sometimes it's Saturday or Sunday... often times it's Wednesday or Thursday... it's Laundry Day!!

Why do I hate this day so much?? It is SO time consuming!! You have to sort clothes, then put them in the washer... then wait until the wash is done... then you have to hang up the clothes... etc... the job NEVER seems to end! At least today I haven't let too much pile up. The main reason for that?? I don't have many clothes here at the moment!! I can't afford to let my laundry pile up on me. Nope. Must do it once I start running out of shorts!! ;-)

Ok... that's all I have to say about all that. Hope everyone is enjoying their Friday... have a good one!

A ;-)

Just a glance

I was browsing through some of my pics that I took in the last week I was in Japan... and realized that I hadn't posted a bunch of them... so here they are... even if my dad gets mad... I'll have pics of Hawaii soon. I forgot my camera at home today... yeah, I know... very smart move by me! Tomorrow's a holiday so I'll take a bunch tomorrow. :-)

This was a test shot... 

Takuma... trying to be cool has FAR too many sparklers in his hands at once! 

Careful with the fireworks!!! 

Why does Tomoki look scared?? I have NO idea! 

The big boy and the little boy at play, Dai and Shunsuke! 

How cute is this little guy?? Shunsuke!! 

Lauren, I did it!! When I went to the steak place for the LAST time... I asked if we could take a picture... heehee...  

So...

I decided that since I was no longer in Japan and since I'm trying to start a new life (if you wanna call it that...) in Hawaii... my website needed a change. So... ta-da! New layout. That's as much as I can do since really I don't know much about computers or anything like that. :-)

Anyway.. today's another gorgeous (if a bit toasty) day. But the thing I'm going to remember to do today is... take my camera to school. I wanna take pictures of campus and post them for you all. It's a gorgeous campus and I want to make everyone appropriately jealous... haha! Just joking. I want to make you intrigued enough to want to come and visit! :-) So... that's the goal today. That and laundry!! I have a LOT of it... and that's bad because I don't have very many clothes at all!!

Hope all's well!

A

Wednesday's adventure...

Today, I braved the buses!! Oh, yes... it was really easy actually. :-) Apparently the transportation system (buses) in Honolulu (not sure, it might be all of Hawaii... have no idea) has been ranked the best in the country before. I caught the bus and headed down to the big shopping area... how easy! Took like 5 minutes and I was within a few blocks of the Wal-mart. Yeah, I HATE Wal-mart too... but ya know... when you're a poor grad student it's a great place for things like... hangers, towels, and laundry detergent!!
Before hitting the Wal-mart, I went to the huge mall just a block down... and crossed my fingers hoping to find an Old Navy. I wasn't disappointed... I indeed found what I was looking for!! And bought an on-sale yoga tank top (green!!). Mainly, I didn't want to only have things from Wal-mart today!! Then I came home...
The only discouraging thing that happened today was the fact that I got a letter in the mail from the credit card folks... without a credit card in it!! ARGH!! Hate to sound desperate and poor... but I need a credit card right now!! Eeeek! Anyway... Had to send proof that I actually live in Hawaii now... instead of in Fairbanks... let's hope that the card comes soon...

Anyway... hope all's well with all you out there... ttfn!

Hisashiburi!!

So... it's been awhile since I wrote anything on this blog... mainly because I had NO time!!! I'm officially in Hawaii... have been for the past 3 days. It seems SO much longer than that! It seems like at least a month. Glad it hasn't been... but at the same time it's kind of nice to be a little bit settled in. Yay!!
What I've been doing lately...
Sunday: I walked around my little area of Honolulu. Found myself a RadioShack and got a keitai (mobile phone). I wish it did as much as my old phone... alas, even as the phones get better here... they get EVEN better in Japan. How is that fair?? ;-) Eventually found a grocery store (yeah, it took all day, too!)... bought the bare necessities... a couple apples, nectarines (man I missed these in Japan!), peanut butter, jelly, bread and Suave Shampoo!! What did I ever do without 99 cent Shampoo!?!?! Haha...
Monday: I went to the orientation on campus... it was actually helpful. And, even better, I met some other grad students! Which was nice... there were people who knew less than I did. Which I must admit kind of felt good. haha! Instead of the boring campus tour... me and my new friend Megan did the "Amazing Race" version. REALLY fun!! Ran all over campus in my flip-flops... now I know where most of the important buildings are... and where the Japanese garden is... :-)
Today: Went to take my Japanese placement test... my reading and grammar are lacking... Hmmm... not a HUGE surprise there. Too bad there's no speaking section! And then had to get a TB test so that I could register... next thing on my list... online registration!! Wish me luck! ;-)

Hope all's well with everyone out there... send me a message or leave a message on here! Talk to ya'll soon!

A

Japanese style picture! 

Haven't gotten on the red-eye fixer yet... but don't really care... but here's the last peace picture! 

A normal-ish picture! 

I taught the girls the proper way to pose for a picture in Japan... they thought it was funny! So, immediately adopted i!! 

This girls and bro-bro... who has the best goofy face! 

Pleasantville has come to Fairbanks!!! 

This house looks a bit out of place... but looks (to me) like it would fit in near New Orleans better than in Fairbanks, Alaska! 

Another log cabin... STILL not my house! ;-) 

Lauren... this one's for you!! This is a beautiful cabin on the river... but, no, it's NOT my house! 

Mom and Dad and I were driving down the road near Denali when i spotted this Mama Moose... what you can't see in the picture is the CUTE baby moose!! 

Lauren and my FAVE karaoke place! Gotta love pink ELEPHANTS!! 

There are even animals!! Hello! there!?! 

And this one's a BIG turnip!! 

Funny things about Japan... part 1: large fruit and vegetables at intersections! This is a big persimmon!! 

Weird Being Back!

Now that I've been back, I've been able to do a little thinking on "being" back. Really, it's very strange. Everyone was asking me if I was excited to leave... and I'd have to say that there was no point during the leaving process when I was truly happy to be leaving. It's nice to be here... but it feels very surreal... like I'll be heading back after a few weeks. When in reality I'm here for a bit of a long haul. Ick!

What's weird about being back...

So, I made a top 10 list of memories before leaving Ama-chu and gave them in my farewell speech. That's what I'm going to do now... Top 10 Reasons It's Weird to be Back!!

10. Fairbanks, Alaska is barely recognizable to me anymore!! So, many stores!! And more to come... (rumor is Old Navy... though construction is yet to begin!)

9. I've actually gotten used to scorching heat... and it's a bit chilly here... ;-)

8. Driving on the right side of the road... it's SO weird to me now!

7. Everything's in English... or Spanish! Weird... and I am understood by everyone! (Which was weird in Michael's today when I yelled out "I love Jack!" because there was a Jack Johnson song on...)

6. Food... the portions are BIG and there's variety. Though my first trip to the grocery store wasn't alone, so not nearly as daunting!

5. It doesn't get dark until 11:30pm... which was normal when I was a kid.

4. No conbinis!! (Can you feel me, Ro??)

3. No Japanese people at all... who knew that Fairbanks was so UN-diverse! (course there's plenty of other races... am just so used to and comforted by the Japanese!)

2. No speaking Japanese... after 3 years of Japanese... it's weird to be without it. I can't even speak it with anyone... and I miss that!

1. Even though I have pictures... it feels almost like I didn't have three years in a foreign country. People aren't all that interested in my life over there. They just see me as... well, me... and don't quite understand that I'm not the same me and I need to talk about my kids because I miss them desperately!!

Anyway... there's my top 10 list of reasons it's weird to be back... there will be other top 10s to follow as I take the journey from culture shock to reverse culture shock!! :-)

Take care.

A

Am back in America...

Hello!!

Well... I'm officially back in the US. It's really strange... Things are the same with the people here, but the place is a LOT different... new stores going up left right and center. Fairbanks will soon have an Old Navy and a Chili's but not until after I'm gone. I'm still recovering from the jet-lag (having just gotten in last night)... but should be fully recovered by tomorrow.

Will post more later...