last post from Japan

Sunday, 4:20pm July 25 2010

I cant believe its over. Three months ago I was just getting settled into my Japanese lifestyle and now Im getting ready to leave. Honestly I dont really think its hit me yet even though I am mostly packed and ready.
These past two or so weeks were really rough because I was not in the best mood. Part of me is really excited to be home and to see my family and to be in a place where I understand things, but another part of me is really not ready to go.
Today after church they had a going away party for me which I didnt know was happening. I was walking around the sanctuary after lunch and the pastors wife brought out a blueberry cake and a cheesecake. I was really excited to see the desserts that we were having and Heyben (one of my friends from Korea) said "Yeah, they are for you" I had no idea till the pastors wife said also said "Dont go anywhere courtnie because we are having a Going away party for you" She proceeded to make me sit at the head of the table and she went around and told every one to say something to me either in Japanese or English. After everyone had said their goodbyes I was sung multiple God Bless you songs and prayed over in Korean/Japanese/Chinese and English (they sat me in a chair and everyone put a hand on me and prayed out loud in their own language) it was REALLY cool. I received flowers and a card that everyone had signed in their own language which was pretty neat. I finally got everything packed the best I could, I still have toiletry things to pack yet but I will do that when I clean tomorrow. Tomorrow they are coming to shut off all my electrical type stuff (gas, water, electric, Internet etc...)
Friday night we went to Fireworks (hanabi which means flower fire) we were wearing our Yukata and it proceeded to Pour down rain. We got soaked! Saturday we went out for sushi and I attempted to start packing (didnt really get anywhere, but I tried).

Last weekend (the 17th) was Nadines Birthday.We went back to the historical village with Laura Bre and Gisele After we spent the entire day there we went out to dinner and they went and saw a movie that they really wanted to see, instead of going home like I had planned i decided to go see Toy Story 3 in 3D which was a lot of fun. My main reason for going was so that I wouldn't have to walk home by myself. There is a lot more stuff that we've done but right now I cant remember it all... Class is over (for me) Monday I have to go to the ATM to get money so that I can pay bills and clean and I will be set to leave. I REALLY hate flying so I'm not really looking forward to spending the entire day on a plane on Tuesday but I'm really ready to see my family and Darlene is coming to the airport with them so that's exciting :-D pictures and videos are on face book and I'm sure I will have stories a plenty when I get back.

SEE YOU TUESDAY!!!!!!

Court

Should be writing my paper...

Thursday evening, 6:07, July 15th 2010

I cant believe how fast this trip is going. I have about a week an a half left in Japan and still so much I want to do. I have yet to eat my fill of sushi here so that is the number one thing on my list of stuff to do. I also want to go to the brewery museum and to Moss Burger before I leave.
The past couple weeks have been interesting. Last weekend I spent Friday night downtown at the DK house with Bre and Gisele. It was a ton of fun. The plan was to go out to sushi on Friday night and to the shrine in our yukata. That didn't happen. We ended up going to the sushi place and realizing that it was a very long wait, because Gisele doesn't like sushi I decided it wasn't really worth it so we ended up going to another restaurant. The restaurant served sushi so I got it and was greatly disappointed. It wasn't very filling and somewhat expensive. After our not so successful dinner we needed more food so we went looking for dessert. We found this place that served Pancakes so we decided to check it out. I wasn't really feeling pancakes so I ended up getting Tirimisu and mango sorbet. Bre and Gisele ordered what they thought was going to be a stack of 4 pancakes with toppings and were surprised when they got a stack of 6 gigantic pancakes with mounds of Chocolate and whipped cream. These things were gigantic and they both had a hard time finishing them. We were so full when we left that just the mention of more food was enough to make our stomachs hurt. After walking back to DK house and getting situated we watched Inglorious Bastards and had a fun filled girls night. The next day the plan was to check out a school festival, go to the beer museum and get sushi for lunch... That didn't happen. We went to the festival and ended up staying there most of the day. I was not very happy with the drastic change of plans mostly because the festival was at a high school. Being back in a high school reminded me of how much I dont like being a foreigner. We were constantly stared at by the high school girls and talked about like we didn't understand. It was just a bit annoying. the good thing about the day was that we got a lot of free/cheap things.
The rest of the week was filled with classes, homework, and annoying professors that like to wait till the last minute to tell us what the heck we are supposed to do for a paper that we should have already had done and turned in. This weekend is Nadine's birthday and we are going back to the historical village and out to dinner which will be lots of fun, If it doesn't rain. I got information today about what needs to be done before I leave. I still need to figure out how the heck Im getting to the airport, Im not really ready to leave Japan just yet, but at the same time Im ready to be home.
Court

My first 4th without fireworks.

monday night, 10:15, July 5, 2010

Well last time I wrote I had left you with the notion that I was going to the chocolate factory the next day. That didn't happen and I cant remember why. This weekend was crazy fun. Friday after class was nothing really special (not that I can remember anyway) I dont think we did anything friday night. Saturday we got up early and went to meet Bre and Gisele downtown to go to the chocolate factory. We got there and Teren was with them, which was fine by me. We went and got our cards for the saturday special thing where you can ride the subway all you want for 5 dollars and headed off to find Chocolate. We walked into the chocolate factory, which I decided to call the Japanese Willy Wonka, and payed our entry fee thing and set off exploring. It was a ton of fun, and really cool. More of a museum than a plain chocolate factory. We saw the Japanese oompa loompas, what we called the workers because we thought it was funny, and wondered around the gardens for a few hours. We were later joined by Teren's friend Fumitaka aka Tommy. He had been an exchange student at BSU like my freshman or sophomore year? and so he was very americanized. We decided to change his name to Tommy and convince people he was from California. After we all left the chocolate factory we had about an hour or so before we had to meet Bunkin for shopping. Teren was so tired and didn't really want to go shopping with the girls so he decided to go home and take a nap. After figuring out what everyone wanted to do Teren ended up separating from the group and the girls... and Tommy... went shopping for Yukata (yes, we managed to take Tommy with us). It was SO funny. He had us laughing so hard when he held our bags and stuff for us. He was trying to be convincing so he butchered Japanese saying Ari-ga-to go-za-ma-su in a southern type accent and trying on flowers and things when we went shopping. We almost made him try to tie the Obi (the belt part of a yukata) but he wouldn't :-(

After shopping we decided to hang out downtown and go to dinner later with everyone. We went back to DK house (where Bre and Gisele live) and hung out for a bit. After we dropped off Tommy at Terens room, Bre did our hair and makeup and we ended up borrowing her clothes (which was surprising that we all fit into). We met up with Teren, Todd, Tommy and Brandon ( The Irish Guy) and we all went out for dinner. We had our little room and everyone was trying to get Brandon to talk because we loved his accent. It made all the girls happy when he said "Shame". I sat by him at dinner and had a Beer with him. We went to an all you can drink/eat place and kept ordering food and drinks. I could tell that Brandon was Irish and I wasnt because when I was finished with my first (and only) beer, he was starting his third. By the end of the meal there was SO much food left over that we couldnt finish it all because we were SO FULL, but more food just kept coming and coming and coming. ... Tabehodai is dangerous And that is the piece of advice I will leave you with tonight.

Court