So here's a funny anecdote about Kalamazoo College. At least, I think that it can be considered an anecdote. Anecdote: A short amusing or interesting story about a real person or event. Yup, this is an anecdote :)
So Kalamazoo College's nickname is Gay K--has been for a long long time because of active GLBT organizations and whatnot--and lots of people come out here. But anyways, so instead of recognizing just National Coming Out Day like the rest of the country, we have a National Coming Out Week.
So played golf today for the first time in almost a year. It actually went really well considering that I hadn't swung (spelling? for some reason that looks weird to me). I couldn't putt to save my life however.
Been seeing a lot of people and that has been really fun. I have been to the movie theater 3 times in 5 days with different people each time, and watched who knows how many movies at home. I saw War of the Worlds, Star Wars Episode III, and Batman Begins (in that order). The last was great, the first was entertaining, and the third was well...good...but still Star Wars. My mom even enjoyed Batman, though. I even got to finish the third season of Buffy! As well as watch the entire first season :) Now just the fourth season to go...
I've been pretty successful unpacking, but my room is still a mess with little things for people and presents for myself--I don't know where to put them yet. I miss my friends from Japan, and I keep thinking that I see them around Kalamazoo. It's so weird for me to realize like that that I will never see many of those people again (although sometimes I am thankful for that).
But there will be no more exciting Japan updates (for those of you who enjoyed reading them). For now, that chapter is closed. SIP is next...
How does 9.5 months turn into three days without your being aware of it?! I put all the rest of my stuff to pack onto my bed so that I absolutely HAVE to put it in my suitcase before going to sleep. But you know what I'm probably going to do??? THROW IT ON THE FLOOR!!!! So we'll see. I also hope that my backpack I am using as one carry-on doesn't do any permanent damage. It has a big hard-cover Bible and all 5 Harry Potter books (3/5 hardback--the 3 biggest ones) and whatever else I put in there.
For those of you anxiously awaiting my return, here are my flight details so that you can be ready with the big welcome home party ;) Fly out of Narita Airport 2:20 pm 6/27, arrive Chicago O'Hare 11:40 am 6/27. Transfer flight from O'Hare 1:15 pm 6/27, arrive Kalamazoo 3:00 6/27. I THINK those are correct times. I am not positive. I will have to check. I should also tell my parents (well, my dad since my mom will be GOLFING!!!--I hope you feel appropriately guilty, mother :)) But basically, I will be back in Kalamazoo Monday afternoon sometime around 3:00. I can't remember the exact flight details.
Why do I always pack so much useless crap? I am such a bad packer...hopefully I can make everything fit...why did I bring so much stuff from America that was absolutely unnecessary??? I brought my graphing calculator!!! I haven't used my graphing calculator since high school!! What was I thinking?!
So...on the 16th I was sitting in my room, and I realized, that the date was ringing a bell in my head for something. And I thought, "Oh! It must be Father's Day!" So I started to write my dad an email saying happy father's day, but then I realized that Father's Day occurs on a Sunday and it was actually Thursday. So finally I figured it out--it was my parent's anniversary! So Mom, when you read this, Happy 31st Anniversary! I think it's 31, anyways.
In other news...I am really really tired. Also have a project I need to work on but really can't find the motivation or energy to do any of it...頑張ります。
So I am going back to America in less than two weeks now. My how the time has flown. I haven't updated this thing in over a month and my mom was commenting on it so I thought that I would update really quick.
I am excited to be going home, but I had a really good time here and I know that I will miss a lot of the people that I have met. I will miss not being able to hang out with them every day and mix in Japanese words in my English sentences, and have everyone understand what I am saying. But I am happy to be going back to my house and reestablishing myself there and seeing how I fit differently into that life.
Also--the Japanese approach to doctors and illness is so annoying. If they have a tiny sniffle they skip work or school and go straight to the doctor. It's so unnecessary!!! I caught a cold at the retreat this past weekend (from partying and yelling and not-sleeping) and my host mom is saying how I should go to the doctor at Waseda and get medicine for my sniffles. It's a cold! I don't need to go to a doctor! Isn't this country constantly telling people to suck it up and deal with it? To がまん? Geez. Oh well, I have an exam in an hour and half and I need to go study since I didn't at all last night. Well, I did a little but felt so awful that I went to bed really early (which was a very good decision on my part). 頑張ります。
I'm still happy, will definitely be going to Portland as well as North Carolina and possibly St. Ignace this summer. So I'll get to jet all over the place :) Well...it will mostly be in cars, but that's okay. I haven't been to the cottage in St. Ignace for several years--my sister wants to go with some of her friends but my aunt doesn't want her there without any adults :) Haha. We would be driving back on my birthday...but I don't mind. I can always celebrate the day after :) Although maybe I don't get free drinks...hmm...ちょっと困るね.
So no more vacation, just school. But only a little over a month of that. How unbelievably crazy. I can't believe how soon I go home--I am ready to go home, I know--but I have come so far this last year and it has gone by so fast. It's funny to think about how difficult everything was when I first got here and how now, it's so much easier. So for all of you worrying about study abroad--don't worry. It does get easier.
I started reading a Japanese manga called Konan the Detective--it's fun. Time-consuming, but a lot of fun. I want to bring them back to America so that I can use them to practice Japanese after I get back.
The weather is so beautiful it's hard to be unhappy.
Hellooooo!!!!! I was debating between feeling hungry or goofy...but I am really really hungry and so that won out.
I have a roommate for next year! Whitney yay!!! So I get the apt to myself for most of the year and then a super cool roommate for the last quarter! And I now I just have to worry about graduating and actually getting my SIP ideas organized! I really hope I'm not the only senior with their SIP stuff still in the beginning stages...Oh dear...
At the church service I went to last night, there was a section where someone was praying over the rest of the song leaders sing "Ra ra ra" to the tune of the music instead of "La la la" since the L does not exist in Japanese. I thought it was funny :)
Went on a trip last weekend with my host family and Casey to Izu peninsula--place called Shizuoka. Right on the Pacific Ocean--absolutely beautiful. Although for some reason, some of my pictures turned purple when I imported them. This made me very upset because they were really nice pictures. We went to an onsen (public bath/hot spring) where you could soak in the water and overlook the ocean and the cliffs. Unbelievably amazing.
I want to go to Portland this summer. I am getting worried it won't work out. Oh well. It will happen one way or another.
I got a new picture! Isn't it fantastic?! It's from this boat tour in Shimane prefecture and I was really really cold :)
I am going to dinner at the program director's house in about an hour and am trying to kill time...heaven forbid that I should study. Save that for next year. Oh dear. Next year.
My sister is going to Middlebury in Vermont--supposed to be absolutely beautiful. And I get the car. Ahh...I see the world stretching out before me--miles of open road with Ushi :) A Japanese salaryman that I tutor in English thought it was hilarious that I named my car Ushi (means cow in Japanese). 牛. I am afraid that I will be unable to drive upon my return to the US--a friend of mine expressed the same sentiments. Like riding a bike right? Just much faster with much more room for causing serious injury to others.
awake
satisfied
groggy
cheerful
bored