chelshock, posts by tag: jet - LiveJournal

this is what i do with my downtime at the board of ed. scissors, tape, colored paper, and markers. also nino head curtesy of a cute little student who gifted me a ton of nino and jun magazine clippings today ♥

i went to the bon odori yesterday (yukata photos to come when daniel uploads them) and it was a lot of fun! we danced, we participated in a quiz, we ate ice cream and cotton candy, etc etc. i'll talk more about it when i have pictures to go along with my words.

for now, actual photos of my apartment! not those scary-dark ones i was sent from before.

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so that's about it for now. more photos as they surface.

ALSO i do have a text file on my desktop called "offline thoughts" where i typed out things i noticed before i got the internet. once i sort that out into coherent paragraphs, that'll be posted as well.

we went shopping in osaka today. chiemi knows i like nino, so she pulled me into a gift shop to look at the ~arashi gift sets~ for 310 yen. there were two nino sets (pencil board, stickers, a few photos). i think i got the better one. ♥

also sakaguchi-san caught me oogling a magazine with jun on it so we had a very embarrassing conversation about how cool he is. it was the longest conversation in japanese i've ever had. my life. so arashi-centric.

more of an update later when i'm not gross and sweaty and tired. rachel and daniel, the other two alts in the area, got here today so i went around with them (and chiemi and sakaguchi-san) to show them the ropes, as it were. i ate an assload of sushi and soft-serve ice cream. gdi japan, how am i going to lose weight this way?

AND chiemi has taken to calling me micchan. aw, cute.

AHAHA ALSO LOL MY MOOD ICON LOL FOREVER.

i saw this in the combini today and thought of neocopasetic and her curiosity about the first smap drink, so i bought one. it's... interesting. kind of grapefruit-ey without the bitterness. like sugared grapefruit, i guess. i'm not sure if "calorie off" means it's low-cal or if it's supposed to make me skinny. let's see how that goes.

my favorite part of buying the drink was the reaction i got from other jets. lindsay, the girl i've been hanging out with most of the time, saw me pulling it out at one of our breakout sessions and was like, "ahahaha do you know who smap are?" and we had a nice little conversation about embarrassing necessary things we buy. lindsay asked if the name meant anything and i could remember the "music assemble people" part but blanked on the "s". so the guy in front of me turned around just as i was saying "sports" and was like, "yeah. it's sports." and we did the "lol oh smap" thing. fun times.

my roommates have taken to asking me every question they can about japanese celebrities. we've been watching morning tv as we get ready and they were asking about popular manzai groups and popular boybands. leslie went to the pop culture breakout session yesterday and we were talking greeeen. at one point, i switched the channel to yatterman (cartoon, not movie) and fielded a whole new range of questions. ew i felt like a nerd.

whatever. at least i'm not like some of the people here who have to ship an extra bag to their placements because they bought so many figurines in shibuya.

jet orientation day 1 went well. i'm still in chicago. i leave for o'hare (which is, like, a foot away from the hotel) in exactly twelve hours. awesome.

observations:

* there's a lot of asian jets. even more, there's a lot of japanese jets. like, born and raised. i was talking to one at dinner and she had to give up her citizenship to be a jet. this is her second time in the program.

* every jet needs japanese experience now. somehow, my limited knowledge was good enough. huh!

* my placement is a hot commodity, apparently. or at least anyone who i told i was going to wakayama started singing the praises of the area. we have a great shopping center, delicious food, lovely scenery, and surfing good enough for all of kansai to travel here. maybe jun will visit on his time off. i need new surfing photos.

* the former jet from wakayama who i was talking to at dinner was elated that i'm taking pottery classes in gobo. he started gushing about how ~natural~ japanese pottery is. i'm excited.

* someone smiled and waved at me today when she was going up to grab her medication form. i can't place her at all. omg.

* i don't have to stay in my apartment if i don't like it! it's apparently in my power to bug my supervisor until he finds me a better place. and he's a pushover, i've been told.

* the program is really pushing for all of us to stay for 2+ years. i'd like to, but... the suggies! D:

more later, i'm sure. just wanted to do a quick update for those interested.

i leave home in four days. i leave the country in five. i'm allowed to freak out now, right?

my room's a mess because i'm trying to do laundry and clean the glider cage while i'm also trying to pack up my life. it's kind of overwhelming, actually. what clothes will i need? how many purses do i really need? (all of them.) do i have everything squared away? what if i can't find a car? what if i can't communicate with people? what if i run out of lush?

anyways. it's a lot. boo and i did a "best of arashi" video night after the party, which was really just the sho/ohno memory game and sugoroku. and then, somehow, we watched russell brand's "doing life live". i don't know either.

... okay, i typed that hours ago. i might have fallen asleep. it's all a blur. but the point of this (other than my freakout) is that i did my nails twice during the course of the video fest. you'll see why.

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i leave for japan in 13 days. i'm still kind of freaking out about everything, but at least i got my criminal background check in. so i'm definitely going. i'm definitely going! omgomgomg. mom's been taking it really hard, especially since she wants me to be constantly sad about leaving for a year. i am sad. i'm sad to leave the family. but really? honestly? i'm not sad to leave illinois. i'm EXCITED to go to japan. i know she wants me to be visably upset, but that would just make me back down and give the spot to someone else. i don't know why she has a hard time seeing that.

ugh, on to happier things. booie and i are going to mitsuwa and woodfield tomorrow! it's my last time until i get back, so i'm not sure what i want to eat. the spicy ramen is so good, but i really love the katsudon. and, despite what other people say, the gabutto burger with egg is amazing. i wish i could eat them all. ♥ (and i wonder why i need to lose 5 pounds?)

i've been occupying myself with nail art, as usual. i know it's really all i talk about anymore, but it's so much fun. i spent the better part of today reading through nail art blogs (and rp-ing out a matsumiya wedding but let's keep my not-so-secret shame out of this) and, well, one thing led to another. i found konad-style nail plates for less than a buck each on amazon. so i bought a 21-plate value pack. oh god, someone take my stamp away from me.

it should be in by the 20th. expect more of this.

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clearly i am late to my own party, but i got this e-mail two days ago:

Re: Placement on the JET Program

Dear Michele,

We are pleased to inform you of your long-awaited placement in the JET Program:

Prefecture: Wakayama-ken 和歌山県
Contracting Organization: Hidakagawa-cho 日高川

OH MY GOD GUYS I GOT PLACED IN KANSAI. I AM SO AMAZED JUST LIKE THIS WEIRD LITTLE DUDE OH MAN OH MAN OH MAAAAAAAN HAY THERE SUBARU: