Home Again

Didn't get to update during the last week of school because there was a huge influx of new students and now I can't remember what went on.

Other stuff

On the white boards we draw lots of weird stuff to see what the teachers' expressions are.

On Monday after class Manuel and I went to Hakata station to a large store because he needed camera stuff. On the top floor we found an arcade and dumped a lot of money into those games where you win prizes. We walked out with a bag full of Mario Kart related items.

Yesterday we went to a nearby park, but I left all my cameras and stuff at home because I was sick of carrying it all the time. I need to go back there on Friday to get the pictures. Later that night I went to the Canada Day Party at a nearby bar. It was okay, but the drinks were all really expensive and watered down. I saw the Tour GUides from my Canal CIty and Beach BBQ trips and hung out with them and their friends. If they didn't show up, I would have gone home early. I really wish I could hang out with them more because I always meet lots of people.

Lotsa stuff

Okay, I'm finding myself watching stuff on TV I would never watch at home. Everything from cooking shows, to weird make-over shows, to who-knows-what.

Friday was Karaoke and I sang Europe(the lyrics and music were not correct), Iron Maiden, MC Hammer, and I think another band. Someone else sang the song from Napoleon Dynamite and the teachers sang "Linda Linda". After that I ended up at Happy Cock again, which isn't really that great. The drinks are watered down,the place is really smokey, and full of American GIs. I told the others I'm not going there again. As I left I ran into some of the others and we ended up playing pool.

On Saturday I went to Fukuoka Tower with the others. But first we went to this Ramen place that was very impersonal. You buy a food ticket and fill out how you want the food prepared while you wait in line. When you get inside, the seating is all tiny booths and you hand the cook a ticket through a window. After the food is done they drop a curtain over the window. Fukuoka Tower is very tall, and my fear of heights got to me a little bit. From the tower you can see most of the city. On one of the walls was a child's art project that made the building look like it was on fire.
After that we went to a nearby mall and bought capsule toys and played with robots.

On SUnday my host mother took me to a cheap Yukata shop, I bought a couple Yukata for family members. Later on we went to play Pachinko, I didn't win any money, but my host mother and father did. They said they won because of the souvenirs I bought them at FUkuoka Tower. We rented movies and got food from Hatto Motto.

Riding around on my bicycle

I've been riding around on my host-family's bicycle pretty much everywhere. By the time this trip ends I better be an expert on bike riding because it's difficult to dodge all the pedestrians and scooters and other bikes.

A couple nights ago my host mother took me to the video rental store. I tried to find "Machinegun Girl" or some title like that, but couldn't. I really wanted to see that movie because the preview was relly funny. I ended up renting "Cromartie Highschool" the live action movie. There were no subtitles, but I could still followmost of the movie because it was exactly lke the manga and anime. My host mother rented "Little Miss Sunshine" which was pretty funny.

I don't really like afternoon classes here because by the time classes end it's starting to get dark and I can't explore and get a lot of good video. I went back to the Kimono shop yesterday, but didn't get anything because the one they held for me was too small for my niece, and the other ones that they got didn't look too good. I felt really bad about it.

Tomorrow is Friday, so that means Karaoke and bar/club crawling. In the "Fukuoka Now" guidebook there is mention of a big party at one of the nearby places, I'll try to see if I can go there. I also want to go to some kind of amusement park while I'm here. SpaceWorld is nearby, but I really want to go to the Ninja Village place. But it's like an hour or to away, and I don't want to go alone.

Rick Roll`D karaoke

Early on last week I went to a kimono shop to look around and get an idea of how much stuff costs, etc and the person there wanted to help me out so much she called up a guy who spoke a little English to come over and help me. I felt really bad about that because I was just looking.

On Friday was a an Okinomiyaki party at school, but I went to go eat with my host family instead. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe and then went around to Toys'R'Us and other stores to find Doraemon stuff, but had little luck. They did have Hello Kitty fireworks though. After that I went to the Karaoke party and inflicted Rick Astley, Journey, and Led Zeppelin on the other people. Someone stole 2 of my drinks though. As well as my seat, and one of my evil song selections(Numa Numa). :/

After that we wandered over to the club "Happy Cock". It wasn't that great, so I left.

Saturday morning was the school's beach party, and it was really rainy. SInce we were at the beach, I went into the water anyways. We ate BBQ.

Sunday the school had a trip to Nagasaki, but I forgot to sign up for it. So I went to Tenjin to pick up my host family's bike and a new phone card. Sunday night I watched some Baseball, and then Women's volleyball. It was US vs. Japan, and the game was very close, point for point. The US won and my host mother was like "Nooooo". It was funny. Then Raiders of the Lost Ark was on.

2 Weeks over

I now know my way around fairly well, but there's still a lot that I need to figure out. Like which buildings are shopping complexes vs. businesses/etc. TV has been pretty weird because almost every other show has Harrison Ford talking about the new Indiana Jones' movie. I've also been addicted to the weird trivia shows featuring comedians like "Brain TOwer".

Friday was another night of Karaoke plus bar crawling. It's best to start off with the karaoke bar because you pay $21 and get 2 hours of as many drinks as you can handle, as opposed to the bars where a cheapo beer is $4-5, and everything else goes up from there. The other students are from all over the world, not just the US. Switzerland, France, Canada, Holland, and Lyle from New Zealand.

I managed to get a haircut by pulling out my driver's license and saying the word for "same". On Saturday night I decided to go out, and took the train into Tenjin. There was a strange group that was scattered between a couple of the cars and it felt really odd. One old guy was wearing a tracksuit, but he didn't look like he jogged at all, and there were also a couple guys with business suits next to him. Further along there were a couple guys probably in their 40s who were wearing stuff that maybe 20year olds would wear, and a huge group of young guys. When then train stopped, this kid who was sitting nearby practically ran across the train away from them. Getting of the train all those people got into a huge circle shaped mob and went off together.

Yesterday I ran into a group of lost Canadians. It was pretty funny because I heard them talking "We need to find someone who speaks English other than us", and one of them turned around and saw me peddle up, and was like "Hey, do you know where we are and where the nearest bar is?". After a short time of establishing where we were, I gave them one of my extra "Fukuoka Now" booklets which has a list of bars, cafes, attractions and a map where all that stuff is.

One week + a couple days

A bunch of things have happened since my last post. I went on a tour of Tenjin a couple days ago. We looked at a shrine, which I got video of, but no pictures. Lugging around both my video camera, photo camera, etc would have been a pain. At the Shrine some of us got our fortunes and one of the student's fortunes was basically "If you travel far from home, bad things will follow". The tour guide fell over laughing as he read it. Mine was "Travel is good", and they mumbled through the rest. I can only assume I will get hit by a car when I get back home. After the Shrine we went to a nearby mall and looked around. We went into one of those silly pictures booths geared towards teenaged girls and it was scary. While we were waiting for the bus we noticed a bunch of nearby buildings with bright flashing lights and names like "Hot Lips" and "Cutey". One of our tour guides said that you pay for an hour long massage there, but 40 of the minutes nothing happens.

THere have been some pretty different things that I've noticed over here. Even though it's really hot out, a lot of the women are wearing long sleeved clothing, long gloves, big hats, and carry around umbrellas. Instead of getting tans, it seems like lighter skin is preferential over here. In the arcades here, the lighting is really good, instead of dark like back home. Also the people that go into them are different, throughout the day I've seen businessmen/women, teenagers, etc etc. Back home it's usually just teenagers. Also many people ride bikes around here, and I have no idea how many business people I've seen riding around.

http://s276.photobucket.com/albums/kk29/LJtheLost/

1 Week Later

Still no Japanese translations.

Every day I eat breakfast and dinner with my host family while watching TV. Some of the food is hard for me to eat like the seaweed soup. Last Wednesday I bought a watermelon for everyone, and this week I bought a melon and peaches.

On Friday night I went to Ramen and Karaoke with the other students and teachers. It was fun, I sang "Don't Stop me now" by Queen. I had to walk home though, because I missed the last train. On Saturday my Host family took me to a nearby island where there was some kind of park with flowers and some old houses.

Departure and Arrival

I left on Friday at 10AM from Providence, RI. I landed in DC and flew out to Tokyo and then to Fukuoka. I was terrified of flying at first, but by the second flight it wasn`t a problem. During my flight to Tokyo, I sat next to a guy from the State Department who was very friendly. He was headed to Indonesia with his family. It was a long flight.

When I arrived in Fukuoka I had to run around a lot because I had forgotten to get Yen when I was in the International Terminal at Narita. I was exhausted. I called my host family and they came to pick me up. After some unpacking, they took me out to dinner. I couldn`t eat much because I was feeling a little airsick.

On SUnday they took me sightseeing. FIrst to the park, then the beach, and then to the library. I took a few pictures at the park and beach. FOr dinner we had some octopus pancake balls. I couldn`t figure out how to eat them, so my host family gave me a fork. I couldn`t eat much because my stomach was still upset from all the flying.

Monday was my first day of classes and my host family made me breakfast. I couldn`t eat much of that either, and I felt really bad about not being able to. I didn`t want them to think I was avoiding the food because I didn`t like it. When I got to school we had a placement exam. I didn`t do too well. At the exam was my TA from Japanese class back at UNH. He`s only staying for a month though.

Because my class was at 2PM, I went exploring a little. I saw a McDonald`s and tried to see if familiar food would settle my stomach. It helped a little, but I couldn`t finish it. Class wan`t hard because we mostly practiced vocabulary. After class my host-mother picked me up and took me to the grocery store. I bought Juice and crackers. At dinner I was able to eat a lot more than the other nights. My host family is very nice.

Future posts I`ll try and do the Japanese translations and pictures.

Pre-Adventure Video

I'm headed off to Fukuoka, Japan to study Japanese. During my time there I will see and do a lot of things which will be noted later in future posts. There will be both English and Japanese translations.