Its snowing!! Yay!

I know I know. For some, it's no problem or nothing new, but I'm from Southern California where it barely rains and if it does it makes the news next to the Iraq War. My roommates had to work, except for Hisako-san. She went out and went shopping. Many have to work today and tomorrow because they have to take part in the ritual cleaning of the offices and such. That's tough. Not the cleaning part, but the work. I mean, my roommates work 6 days a week and 10 hours a day. hisako-san said she's use to it. They would feel great in the US. I told her and she said that would be good. I'm glad we all get the 3 day holiday coming up. It's for family and getting ready for the rest of the year.

I'm making this short and including my snow pics. You can see all white where I can usually see the mountains. and one pic of this electronic shopping center in Hakata. If I read it correctly, it has 12 floors of electronic goods. I couldn't take the picture, but they have a TV thats as thin as my video ipod. That's not even an inch. Wow. I was looking at the electronic dictionaries. They have this one where if you write, with a stylus, the kanji you want, it will pull it up and give you the kana and the english translation with examples. Cool. but it was 60000 yen. Thats right. Almost 600 bucks. I'll stick to paper and asking someone. haha.

Day 14

Wow it's been 3 weeks in Japan. cool. Its kind of weird and I do have those homesick moments, but it's more when I don't know certain things or want to drive somewhere to get something. Otherwise, I'm having fun. I missed a party yesterday. Mark, from Texas, went back home. For some reason, I thought he was staying longer. They went to the Yatai's so I missed out. dammit again. That's why sometimes I wish I had my phone working and I had my truck.

In a way driving here is something to get use to. I've been a passenger in the car and I know I would be goin nuts if I drove. I thought I would be able to switch sides of the road in my head so easily, but as I observed, I want to say, "You're in the wrong lane." or "The lights red". But the funny thing is, drivers here will keep going until the last second. If it's red then they'll keep going instead of slamming on their brakes. They don't slow down when it's yellow either. I almost saw an old lady get hit, but she literally ran fast enough to get to the other side. The driver didn't even flinch. haha.

It might snow Sunday. That's the rumored weather report. I want it to snow since I barely see it in California. We were making postcards in class today and then ending up mailing them. Of course, we had to practice our speaking ability by talking to the post office clerk. I did pretty well. So now my sister and mom will be getting postcards. We even wrote in Kana. So that'll be cool.

Wait, i forgot to complain again. haha. in my new beginner class, we have a new student from Mexico. And I have to say, this complaint is not against the school. they're actually the coolest teachers around. Anyway, this guy seems to come into class anytime he wants, so even after the teacher has started the class for everyone that already made it on time, he expects the teacher to still give him the attention he needs by going over what we already did when he was late. Did that make sense? ok, let me tell you what he did the 1st day. He went shopping. We didn't know this of course, but when he came wandering in 15 mins late. the teacher was in he process of having us go over past tense and making us say what we did yesterday or earlier. He of course says he was shopping. Then the teacher says, "Really?" Then he pulls out these things he bought. haha. Me and the other guys looked at each other and laughed. Then today, he wandered in a class and a half late, in minutes, that was an hour and a half late. WTF? So the instructor, being nice because they are, started reviewing with him what we already did, so me and my friend had to sit there and watch him write his postcard. We then had to wait for him to practice what to say to the post office clerk too. Then while he was asking dumb questions, he tells us he was in Kyoto earlier. WTF? that's like 3 hrs away on the Shinkansen. Alright enough complaining.

So Mark left yesterday, now Rommel, from the Philipines, left. Chris from France will be leaving this weekend, and the guy James left from Australia, but he was Intermediate anyway. I think he was passing thru. wow. And my Austrailian friend moved up to Beginner 2. He was smart anyway. He's getting ready for the lvl 4 JLPT. Oh well, I'm done. See you.

Day 12 and 13

Im losing count of days so the title could be wrong. The last two days have been fun and difficult at the same time. WE started the Beginner 1 class and it's difficult for me to stay in Japanese without asking, "How do you say this in Japanese?" Other times my verb is conjugated wrong or something like that. I'm better written, but this is a conversation class. ha.

I've been talking to the new guys and they have a better knowledge of Japanese. One's from Australia and the other is from New Zealand. Cool guys, they've actually have been around Japan for the past few months. Lucky.

They actually help me out a lot since my vocab is limited. I do like all the teachers in Genki JACS. They all are very helpful and they don't look at you badly if you don't know the word or if you are grammatically incorrect. I feel sorry for them, when they are trying to pull out the word from me. When I get it, they very happy. It's cool. So I make an effort to really study when I get home.

The picture on top is from Fukuoka Tower. The first one is from the way walking to the tower, the second is from the top of the observation deck. It's really tall. But I did notice that this was the time for couples. haha. Probably because of the holiday, but most things to do were for couples as I noticed I was the only single person there. Well, there were a bunch of girls together, but at least they were in a group together. haha. I took more pictures but I'l load them in my photobucket.

After school today, thursday, I went with the Aussie and New Zealander to this restaraunt called Eiyo(?). It had a three floors seperated by the kind of dishes you want. 1st floor was for Japanese pasta dishes, the 2nd was for Udon and Ramen, the 3rd was for Rice Dishes and the fourth was something else, I forgot. We went to the third and I got the Kastudon(?) the pork cutlet fried with eggs and onions on top of Udon noodles. mmmmmm. I wanted to take a pic but my dumb battery was dead.

Afterwards we went into an arcade where they had horse racing. Tiny toy horses racing on a tiny track and everyone bets on it. I think if you have a card you can load your horse in and you raise your skills for your horse. kinda cool. also they had four floors of video games. Next time, Ill bring my camera.

Christmas Day!

Yay. I get to say I spent xmas in Japan. Though, the Japanese do not celebrate it like Americans do. From the various points of view, I hear xmas is for kids and couples. Even though they say that, they decorate the city very nicely. Puts some cities in America to shame. They have xmas trees and decorate them, but they do not place presents under the tree. That's either given to their significant others or placed by the kids bedsides. Otherwise, you go to work or school. haha

First day of beginner class and my head is spinning again. Three new students in the class and their vocabulary is better than mine. It may just seem that way, but from the sounds(?) of it, they are better. I gotta catch up. this time the class is in full Japanese. If you don't know the word, look it up or ask the teacher and then you should be using it in Japanese afterwards. We made mini speeches today. Mine was about five sentences. :P We have to make another speech tomorrow without referring to a paper. So, I'll be talking to myself tonight just to get it right. So as you can see, lots of homework.

I have to mention this too. I've been watching a lot of TV to try to help my listening skills. It is difficult, but I get to see some cool TV programs. I've noticed, there isn't the same program nighty or even weekly. Sometimes. One night I caught a sports program where about 20 kids tie their legs together and then sprint against another team for about 100 meters. I thought it was just for fun, but then they show them train for it. And when they win or lose, the kids cry and even the coaches cry. crazy. I want to know the name of it.

Then there's another program that put celebrities against these guys who go after them like a big game of tag. It took place in an amusement park. The time counts down for the full hour and each minute counts for 100 yen. The amount of money started at 10000 yen, i think. it's pretty cool. And I have to mention this. There's really no trash talking in this game or any other game show I've seen. Like America has it in every game show they have just to win. But the Japanese contestants help each other and even cheer each other on. It's great. No wonder there's so much animosity in America. Now off my soap-box.

I'll try to remember other programs and mention them. Today is a nice day. I took a few pics of the Acros building. cool architecture, but the observation deck was closed. damn.

Day 10

yay! I'm moving to Beginner 1. hey that's a lot for me don't laugh. I started in Foundation Japanese which helps with basic grammar and a small vocabulary base. But beginner now gets into more vocab, conjugation and more grammar. And the great thing is...no more wacko. hahaha. He'll stay in foundation while i move up.

I have to mention this before I forget. this past week with him, he likes to jump the gun alot. Meaning, when the teacher asks you a question in Japanese, you are to answer in Japanese. No problem. So the teacher asks me a basic question like, "What did you do this weekend?" Before I could answer, he cuts me off and says, "She said weekend. What did you o this weekend?" And points at me. WTF? Did I look like I wasn't paying attention? Ha ha. My friend Helmut, would say, " He knows. Let him answer." Ha. then he would do th same to Helmut. Helmut would give him this look like, 'don't'. Later, helmut asked me how come he does that. I told him, I don't know, that's how he is, I guess.

Too bad Friday was the last day with Helmut. He was a cool guy. He had a good open mind even though he had difficulty in the language. He did better than he gave himself credit for because he had to interpret from Japanese to English to German. He told me how he improved his English while learning Japanese. See. now thats an open and positive person. He's gone home to celebrate xmas with the family then take more japanese classes in Germany.

Since this was his last day, we had a dinner party at a chinese restaurant. it was really nice with as much as you can eat and drink. Besides Helmut, Lisbeth from Holland, and Mitsuko (who I didn't get to really meet) left. They made really good speeches in japanese. And from the looks of it, I have to do the same when I leave.

But I'll worry about the weekend since I have two chapters to read with more grammar and a good 100 words for vocab to learn. yay!

I may try to go to Daizafu Shrine wih someone from school. She wants to go on the 2nd of january but I have to check my school schedule. Otherwise, I'll have to go alone. I've been bad in trying to take more pictures and travelling. Maybe it's a money thing but my 5000yen card is almost done with so I have to buy a new one next week. I pulled some money already for groceries so we'll see. I've been budgeting, but I feel i've been penny pinching. So maybe next weekend, i'll go somewhere.

Like Lisbeth, she was here for three months and travelled to a few places in Japan. She went to Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo. I want to at least try to make it to Tokyo. Hello, I'm in Japan. haha.

We have school Tuesday, xmas day. Well it is a Catholic Holiday. but I hear xmas cakes are given to people besides presents sometimes. I may buy a cake for my roommates and for the school. maybe I'll take pictures then. I promise. More pics soon.

It's been at a steady drizzle since Friday. (I'm writing this on Saturday.

Day 9

ok ok ok. I was trying not to write about his, or really my opinion on this but its been bugging me. not about Fukuoka or Japan, but about one of the students. So let me apologize ahead of time. This does not reflect the school at all. The school is great, but this guy finally got to me. So think of this scenario. The teacher is going over the verbs to come, to go and to return. So we are going over examples using ourselves as subjects and different destinations right? So here comes crazy, he blurts out when the instructor asks if we have any questions,

"Sensei, how do we say in Japanese, ' I want to punch you in the face?' This is an important question." hahahahaha

Just kidding I'm exaggerating and changing the words, but he's like this. Even the other student in the class asks says in a german accent which makes it funnier,

"what does this have to do with anything?" hahaha. I laughed out loud. I couldn't help it. But the thing is he keeps doing this. The other student then goes on, "You keep coming up with these things. why? what are you trying to say?"

I kept laughing. This guy keeps asking weird questions and asks how to say weird phrases that have nothing to do with the lesson. and then he says, "This is important to know."

I literally had to excuse myself because I kept laughing and then I started to think how he's either trying to pick a fight with someone or trying to pick up on girls, but his questions are crazy.

Oh, he is intelligent to the point of being able to speak more than 5 languages, but he keeps trying to say stuff as he knows more about your own language or puts down the Japanese language saying its too complicated and why do they do this and why do they do that. This brings me to our first meeting. I was standing outside of the school waiting for it to open, then he comes out of no where (no lie) and says to me, "Asalam a lakum" sorry for the bad spelling. I looked at him and said, "What?" and then he says,

"Oh I thought you were muslim. Didn't you say you're muslim?" WTF? He literally just came up to me off the street and said this. I even asked him, "Do I know you?"
So this kind of tells you what kind of guy he is. One more week with this guy. God please help me not push him in front of the subway.

So let's start my day. I went to a tea ceremony with my friend Helmut and Lisbeth. It was cool. We dressed in Yukatas (?) and learned how to take tea and how to serve tea. Too bad I couldn't take pictures, but our sensei did, so I hope she posts them or gives me a few copies. We learned how the tea ceremony was for men, samurai at that, only. Now more women are involved and can take part in both serving and taking.

Class was fun, even with the exchange above with this guy. I'm not mentioning names, but if you know me from the school. you'll know who I'm talking about since there was only three of us in my class. Sorry I have to complain again, but he always asks each teacher, "How long before we learn kanji? I don't know If I can do this?"

After class I went to Kego Park and took pictures of the xmas lights. Really nice.

12/19

its wednesday and I finally got home. i went to the Loft to get a highlighter and notebook, but I really wanted to see this place. it has almost everything. Especially cute girls. haha. But let me start my day...

This morning was a late one. class did not start until 11:00am so I was able to walk around and get to know the other parts of Tenjin. I went to Kego park but I should've waited until nighttime because the lights of course would look better then. So i walked around the stores to see if anything is buyable. I need sweats or something to sleep in, but the store I wanted to go into was closed so I went to the Mister Donut nearby.



This is what I got. The sign said Best Coffee in the World. Eeeeehhhhh! I really just wanted the donuts and the coffee was pretty good. I included a pic of what I got. the chocolate one was ok, It was more of sugar bread. I couldn't taste the chocolate, so I just assumed it was for being healthy. The other donut was better in the sense it had more sugary flavor. This was a french creme and strawberry. Mmmmm. I guess this is why American donuts are so unhealthy. We're all fatties because of the transfat. Mister Donuts are good donuts, as Mcdonalds in Japan is good because of the oils they use to fry the food. If japanese people would try the stuff in America, they would drop dead because of all the transfat and stuff. Time to get off my soapbox.

I'll try to load the picture of the lottery lady who watched me eat all my donuts and drink my coffee. I don't think i was dressed funny or had a lightbulb on my head, but she watched me the whole time. maybe she was trying to hypnotize me to buy lottery. But I had to take a picture.


I also took a picture of the street at the end of the day. the sidewalks reminded me of new york. the rush of people is crazy sometimes. I walked behind my friend because he's taller and bigger, so everyone stepped out of his way. haha. Oh well. I'll try to upload the pictures later. dumb blogger.

Day 6 and 7

well its been a fast two days because of all the studying. The vocab is piling up and so is the new grammar. The Japanese language is very logical. plug in the right word (noun verb) into the correct slot and you can start communicating. Plus the proper way is very proper. Probably to get you to learn the structure, then you can start dropping off words. Japanese is a language used for implying what you mean instead of being too direct.

The food is sooo good here. Funny as it sounds, but i want to go to McDonalds here. the commercials are showing a few special burgers and they look actually healthy. haha. though there is this commercial showing the super tomato and super egg burger. It's almost like in the states that has Carl's Jr with the six dollar burgers. here they are three patties high with an egg or thick sliced tomato to throw on top. mmmmm. I saw a Mos Burger when i was on the bus, but I'm not to sure where so I'll ask my instructors.

I was able to get takoyaki and the famous Hakata ramen. My cool roommate, Ko-chan, bought me takoyaki. And he referred me to the Ramen place, Ichiran. Good place. a good bowl of big ramen costs about 500 yen, then before you drink the broth, you can add for about 80 yen, more noodles. mmmmmm. Also the bento boxes here are really cheap and good. I'm using good a lot because i don't want to sound educated and use a thesaurus right now. But you can have anything from sushi rolls and curry bread to spaghetti and tonkatsu. Plus they have all these desserts. I'm getting hungry now. haha

One last thing. I forgot to mention that I watched Detective Conan recently. Reason why I'm mentioning this is because for a full hour they showed the anime version, then right after they show the live-action version. Funny. I've also been seeing a lot of commercials with American stars. Cameron Diaz does a Soft Bank commercial. Brad Pitt does two, a car one and a Soft Bank one too. I also saw my favorite Anna Tsuchiya on a Soft Bank commercial. I also saw Yuki and Aya Ueto. My roommates get a kick out of me knowing a lot of the actors and actresses. they know I'm an otaku. haha.

Tomorrow I'm going to see if i can hide my tattoo so I can go to the onsen. ha. Jaa ne.

weekend

this is a quick one. I just wanted to say how much the people I am sharing the apartment with are just too kind. It's great. Sometimes I feel like an ass and feel I'm getting in their way so I go out of my way to do chores and stuff. What's funny is that I have to do it without them knowing because they'll stop me from doing it. They'll tell me it's someone else's job. So I ask a lot of questions, mainly in practicing my vocab in japanese. Then I learn when they take out the trash. where to take it. that kind of stuff. haha.

Oh yeah, last night, ko-chan's mom made him and us oden. mmmmmmm. home-made oden. very good. I want to find it in the states. hisako-chan is around more since she work normal hours, still long to me though. But she's the one I converse with the most. we rented movies and I watched die hard 4 in japanese. so ironic that i needed an interpreter on some parts for an american movie. haha. hisako-chan told me to visit daifaiku shrine and go to the museum nearby. by the pictures she showed me, it looks beautiful. i can't wait. It'll take a full day so I have to wait for the following weekend. I'm making a plan to go to Fukuoka Tower sometime this week. I'll take plenty of pictures.

Oh well, time to sneak off and do my chores. haha.

Day 5

Yay! Christmas Party! This was fun. They actually had my classes start late in the day and end right before the party. Of course the school couldn't provide us students any booze, so they said bring your own. When I first bought a 6-pack of Asahi, I thought I was the only alkie. Then Sake, vodka, more beer just started appearing. Yay! I'm not alone.

There was a very nice spread. Pizza, onigiri, platters of Japanese and other finger foods, booze, and Rommel brought adobo he made himself. He's from Cebu City and is working here in Fukuoka as he attends school. Cool, huh? I met a lot of people here that I just saw in passing. I actually thought I was here a long time. One guy has already been here three months and will be here until March. Another has been in Japan for 4 weeks and will be here a full year. It makes me think how restrictions on Americans are really tough.

Anyway, we played bingo and I won a prize. It was loud so I didn't know I won until I looked at the board. I took a sake set. Ha, go figure. It was kind of funny. Some people started wearing their prizes like a wrestler's mask that looked like Nacho Libre, a raccoon mask I think, that everyone passed around to wear. Mika-sensei wore a samurai knot head piece.

Another cool thing was Host Families came to the party. Also the owner/caretaker of the dorms. I have to mention how everyone was concerned about the California fires whenever I mentioned I was from California. Nice. I told them it wasn't that close to me but how ashes were around for a day or two. And I also had to tell them, not all people from Orange County is rich. Damn those MTV shows!!!

I was having so much fun, I forgot to sign up for the Kago Shrine trip for this Sunday. But that's okay. My roommates want to rent movies, so I'll hang out with them. Hisako-san is always nice to me. I think she was invited, but she didn't come. They all work too much. She's actually working today and only has Sunday off. People at my job should shut the hell up about hours and days off.

But I am going to sign up for the tea ceremony for Thursday. I'm going to ask about the onsen trip. I know most hot springs won't let me in because of my tattoos. Damn Yakuza! There's a few more trips but I have to check my school schedule to see if I can go. I really like how they move our school times around so we can attend these culture classes. There's one when they make mochi but that's the one I think comflicts with my time. I'll check Monday.

Day 4

Here i am again finishing up on my 4th day of school. I like the immersion program. You even force yourself to think in Japanese, culturally, because you understand how they speak and respond. There's a student with me who keeps saying, "In m country...." blah blah blah. Shut up. Why are you here? I sometimes remind him where he's at, but it gets old. Anyway, I had my first experience washing my clothes in Japan.

What do you mean? you ask. Well, washing clothes is just a little different. One thing is the measurements. I have to get use to the metric system. Damn America uses the standard system which if you think about really has no value. If I have to educate you, then remember a foot use to be measured by the King's foot, literally. And a yard use to be from the king's nose to the tip of his finger. Anyway, I digress. So I have my measuring cup from america and trying to convert so I don't use too much soap to the amount of water for a medium load, which is about 50ml here, I think. I got thru that without an "I Love Lucy" incident. Here's the big change. Well, I shouldn't say that because my grandma use to wash her clothes in the bathtub and then hang dry. But I the dry cycle is just a spin cycle that uses the centrifugal force to spin your clothes dry. So in short, my clothes weren't snuggily warm when it finished. It was still wet and some were still in need of wringing. I had to hand my clothes outside where it had been about 30 degrees F. So it took a full day and a half to dry. Yay!

I gotta mention another funny thing if I haven't done so already. I took the bus again and noticed that the bus driver shuts the bus down at stop lights. Right. Completely off. The lights don't take long, but they shut it off. I think that's why there is a sign that says the bus is environmentally friendly.

I have to go back on the comment i made about the depressed kids. I'm not taking it back, I just want to add that they are also very stressed. I almost wanted to say something to this kid who had to run and catch the subway. When he got on, he was clenching and unclenching his hands wringing the hell out of his pants. So picture him sitting on the train. His hands on top of his knees and he's crushing the material of his pants, his eyes closed tight, and just breathing hard. Now I know thats not from his little sprint. He look like he had issues. Like i have seen people run and barely make it on the subway, and all they did was let out a breath of fresh air. No, this kid was like regretting he didn't jump in front of the subway, or not wanting to get to school or something.

Continuing on this train of thought. I watched this girl. Cute, but too young for me. :P She was sitting and just looking at other people, women mostly. She looked at them for a couple of seconds, sighed, (at least in my opinion), then made a quick evil eye. I swear. I almost laughed out loud when I saw this. So I kept watching her to make sure. She did it again. Mostly to the women who had the nice dyed hair who had the nice designer shopping bags. Yeah, not the bag itself, but the shopping from the store. Evil eye. So I got scared and made sure she didn't look at me and give me the curse.

Oh, here's another funny thing. My sister will know when I mention the Wallflower manga. But there were a bunch of guys heading home I think cause they were all walking together in the mall and they had that look the guys had in Wallflower. There were about five, but they had that thin waif look with the rock star hair, dressed like they work at the Host Club. They had a lot of young girls watching them and doing the whisper whisper whisper after they passed kind of thing The real funny thing was they were like in their own world as f they were picturing themselves walking down the red carpet and they had their eyes on the prize. They didn't look left or right just forward into space. I swear they flipped their hair too a few times.

Oh yeah, I went to the IMS building in the middle of Tenjin. It's like a South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, but 13 floors up. Very beautiful building. I'll take pictures next time. I forgot my camera anyway. I mean all the stores had the workers say "Irrashaimase" with a 3/4 bow and very understandable. This is compared to the AM/PM people who say it and you think they're saying "Sumimasen" All the customers were wearing fashionable attire and here i was in my jeans, polo and giant backpack. I went to the rainbow plaza on the 8th floor for foreigners. No not for gay people. They have a floor for foreigners who are living or visiting for a long period. They have things from internet to books in your native language. They even have books ou cn check out to use for your stay. Very helpful people. Anyway. I gotta study. Jaa ne.

Funny things I've seen

This is more of a list I kept in my head of all the funny things I've seen in Fukuoka. Don't get me wrong. I love this place, but the things touch me, in my opinion, as strange or funny.

1. Yes, alot of the women are hot, but they ride bicycles while dolled up and in high heels.
2. Everyone texts everywhere. I mean sitting and passing time on the subway is fine, but driving, riding their bikes, eating with people (who are also texting), and walking. I actually saw a man walk into someone because he was texting.
3. Toilet handles have a choice for a big flush and a small flush.
4. the bathroom stalls are enough for the toilet and you. I couldn't hang my backpack or jacket.
5. Even though there are signs to give up your seat for older people, handicapped, pregnant women, and women with babies, I saw people pretend to sleep or look the other way when they see anyone that qualifies. Though this is probably everywhere in the world.
6. this is not strange, but a little funny. When asking directions, most people here would rather show you by taking you to the place rather than give you directions.
7. Most smaller markets make you bag your own stuff.
8. Everyone runs for he subway even if they have one almost every fifteen minutes. Also, there's a sign thats says don't rush.
9. The ambulance drivers apologize for turning on their sirens and lights and for u-turns.
10. Salarymen, well most of them, smell like alcohol. Even in the morning.
11. This isn't funny or strange, but a lot of the kids seem so depressed. You can feel like a dark cloud over them. =(
12. It's true how salarymen let loose after work. So far it's been a few times I've seen them at the yatai's and just get loud.
13. All the women look like Ayumi Hamasaki or Boa or have some kind of ganguro look.

That's all I can remember. I'll post another list when i remember.

Days 2 and 3

Whew! what a rush and I haven't even finished my first week. I have to say that its going to be tough for me but I am learning a lot. It may be because its hard for me to be placed on the spot. But thats good for me. Well, I'm having fun.

We did a lot with structure and the vocabulary keeps building. Plus they want us to speak only in Japanese when we are at school. This makes it tough for some, but I feel a necessity if you want to learn by total immersion. I must sound retarded sometimes, but the staff there is great. They always find a way to help you with a smile and encouragement. The school is great. We met more teachers which, for me, helps me in my listening skills on different ways the language can be spoken. The ones that are very energetic are Mika and Chihomi. They make it real fun. Yujii is fun too, he's quite young but very knowledgeable. On tuesday after classes, we went on a tour of Tenjin, the main city of Fukuoka. We walked and rode the 100 yen loop bus. We visited a very cool temple. What's cool is the giant Buddha that's at least 2 stories high. No pictures can be taken. But I did take others that they let me. Forgive me on posting pics, i'm having trouble inserting them where i want so I'll post them with a comment, maybe.

We also visited a shrine. I forgot the names. A lot of people were around making their year end wishes, but our guide, Taka-san, said New Years will be the busiest. I forgot to mention, I met another student cause she came along for the tour. She's a week ahead of me. Maria from Italy. She'll be here for 7 weeks, too. It made me think, when my current classmates leave after 3 weeks, will I be alone? Oh well. After feeling spiritual, we decided to go to two shopping areas. One was the Hakata Kilometer Shopping street. Like it says it's kilometer long and it's like an indoor swap meet. The other was the Canal City. Very cool place.

This is a 6 level mall that's shaped like an open auditorium facing the canal by the city. Near the canal are the yatai's that Fukuoka is known for. These are street cart mini restaurants serving mostly yakitori and ramen, but there were other foods. All of them are crowded so you usually eat standing up. Delicious and cheap. The pics I took are cool, but I'm going to revisit during the day because the flash did not help to light up the area. They had this one place we went to where you get a group of people to take a picture and then you can draw on it and stuff. Funny. They had a room with costumes wherer you can dress up as anime characters. Kind of kinky if you saw the costumes.

Finally we went back to school and then a few of us had dinner at a place called Gusto's. My way of describing it is Western food made Japanese style. Very good. Here's the pics.


This is the wish tree

The monks each get a statue

I was bad and took a picture inside. I didn't know until the monk told me.


The monk is ringing the giant bell

That's Taka-san washing his hands the way you're supposed to at the shrine.

lost on my 1st day

Yes. I got lost on my 1st day to school. Luckily, I brought enough money and left early so I was not late to class. I trust the subway more than I trust myself on the bus. If I could understand better, than I maybe would not have gotten lost. So it is my fault. The bus system is based upon how far you travel. It starts at 100 yen. they even have a 100 yen loop as long as you stay in that area/loop.

Anyway, I could not read the signs. This time I could only see they were in Kanji. I saw later that there was romaji, but they listed all the places they go to, not just the stop. So I tried to listen for it. Ha. All I heard was Charlie Brown's teacher over the loudspeaker. Plus I was on during rush hour. Sheesh. It was so crowded, that I let go of the bar at one point and let myself stay upright with the amount of people on board. Funny, huh? So, this is how the bus system works, i digressed, When you first board, you take a ticket. The ticket will have a number on it. Mine was 15. So now you just watch this light board up front. This board has your number with a price under it. This starts at 100 yen on this route. so as it progresses in distance from when you pulled your ticket, it goes up 10 to 20 yen. I has 500 plus yen on me. Side note: it costs me only 320 yen to take the subway. As time went on, we took a whole different route that took me to the beach. Ehhhhh? I saw a lot of cool stuff but nothing familiar. So this is the part I panicked. From my spot, I could not see any familiar landmarks, nor a sign in Romaji, nor hear the driver. So I asked the guy next to me, "Tenjin wa?" He just nodded. I took that as a yes. I got off then looked around. There's a sign that says "Tenjin North". So I thought, Damn which Tenjin is it? So I head South. I hit the next stop that said Tenjin South and no luck in finding anything Familiar. I went up to a traffic person, they look like cops without the shiny leather. I asked him "Nishitetsu Hotel wa doko desu ka?" I asked for the hotel because its more familiar to other people than the school. He then tells me pointing kind of east, Tenjin Meiji. Damn. That sounded familiar because its one of the stops for the subway. So I walk. and walk. Then I finally hit a subway station. This I know. So I look at the station map. These maps are just like the mall maps in CA. They tell you where you're at and show where everything else is at. I overshot my stop by four. So I paid about 200 yen to the right stop and walked to school with a half hour until class. So I thought, I'm sticking to subways even during rush hour. So until I'm better acquainted with the area I'm sticking to walking and the subway.

Class Time. We had a quick orientation. there were six of us who started today. and a whole bunch of others who speak so well, I thought they have been here a while. Only one other person, Erin form Australia, is staying for 7 weeks. She understands better, though, so she's in a different level class. Even though I know basic phrases and grammar, I stick to newbie. It makes me look smart anyway. I'm in class with someone from France and another from Germany. Classes are a blur, but I did get the basics. They are fast pace and almost all in pure Japanese. I have homework to do now. Sorry no pictures. tomorrow maybe. I have Pop Culture class tomorrow. Woo Hoo!!

Zero Day

Here I am already in Fukuoka, Japan. I'm going to be attending the Japanese Language and Culture School called GenkiJacs. But i want to start this with going over my travel day because it was 'special'.

LAX will never fail to amaze me with it's employees. When i first arrived in the Tom Bradley terminal, I started my own line in front of the ANA booth, if thats what you call it. The gentleman working there was very nice and told me I had an hour to wait before they opened. Cool, no problem. Thanks for my sister for dropping me off, i was set. While I was waiting, I had two TSA employees that looked like wanna be security guards tell me, separately, that I was in the wrong line. I even showed them my printout that I was taking ANA. I didn't want to argue so I humored them and did a circle of the area that brought me back to the area the ANA employee told me to go. Anyway, when the time came around, I checked in to my flight and loaded my bags through security x-ray machine. While I was walking to the gate, one of the security guards from before said,

"See that was easier right?"

What!? Anyway, I just smiled and walked away. Now another funny incident...

As you go through the checkpoint where they scan your carry-on and you yourself, there was an employee blabbering with no-one really listening. It's like he was making a speech to his own followers. Not one of us was paying attention. I loaded my bag and shoes on the belt to be x-rayed. After it went through, it stopped. The employee blabbering asked me 2 to 3 times in an incoherent manner if I had certain electronics in my bag. I told him my lap top, camera, and camcorder. Then he said in a rude way, (sic)

"you're my first one, but you won't be my last."

What?!

I asked what that meant. He said that no one pays attention to him and they slow down the line because of it. I looked behind me and there were three people still untying their shoes. Okay...So I said he needs to speak clearer and no one understands him while I was taking out my laptop to be scanned separately. This is the funny part.

He yells out, "Who didn't hear what I said about laptops?!"

All three who were untying their shoes raised their hands. Hahaha. Then they all had to stop and take their own laptops and then put them separately. Needless to say, he shut the F up and let us all through.

fast forward to the plane.

ANA is the best airline I had experience with. First off, all the stewardesses where beautiful. Ha. Notice I said stewardesses and not flight attendants. All female staff. But thats not the end of it. Their customer service shames all of ours. I had one 'A. Nakamura' (?), who kept checking on me cause I had a headache and she gave me aspirin. All 12 hours, she asked me numerous times. Did that sound right? anyway, they went around right after take off if we wanted slippers, headsets, and masks for the flight. Slippers? Yup. I took a mask and a headset. Even though I took some airborne before, I wanted to be safe. Besides, almost everyone took one and we all looked like doctors. I looked at the movies they were having and found "Bourne Ultimatum", "Stardust", "Perfect Stranger", and two flicks in Cantonese that I watched for the flight. Nice huh? I also watched music videos from Japan. Funny to see Yuki on there.

Okay, now the food. 2 hours into the flight they served lunch after a drink and snack. The two choices were Cream Crouquet Chicken or Grilled Eel over rice. Nice! I took the eel and it tasted just like the bento boxes you get at the market. Yummy. then for dessert they had Haagen Daas vanilla ice cream. I had to laugh because i remember SouthWest giving me, well, nothing for dessert. then for the next couple of hours, they constantly walked around checking up on everyone and they opened up their center 'bar' for anyone to go to if you didn't want to sit around and wait to be served. nice touch especially since most people didn't want to be sitting for 12 hours straight.

Finally, two hours before reaching Narita, they served another late lunch. This time we had no choice, but it was still very good. It was soba noodles with a side salad with a strawberry yogurt from Dannon. I was happy to eat because the next stop and connecting flight was hectic.

After being spoiled on that trip, I literally hit the ground running in Narita. Our flight in LAX was delayed due to congestion. (Thanks LAX). So that gave me 45 minutes to go through immigration (picture, fingerprints, and custom declarations), baggage claim, and sprint to the next flight. Thanks to me and 3 others, we delayed the next flight. I felt sorry for the girl helping me, she literally sprinted with me to pull me out of line, fast check me through the x-ray, then sprint to the gate. Man, could she run in heels. Really. I was sweating like a dog. I hated it. The connecting flight to Fukuoka was uneventful, both good nor bad. Did I mention all the ANA stewardesses are hot. The one doing the dog and pony show with the belts looked like Ayumi Hamasaki. Literally.

Upon landing, I have to give big kudos to Fukuoka and to GenkiJACS. They sent me directions to my accommodations that were spot on. If you couldn't follow the directions, then you should not bother leaving your house. I mean the detail was perfect, down to the left and rights on the street since I walked a lot of the way. In addition, the sign posts for each subway stop were labelled in romaji, kanji, kana, and a colored picture. I'll try to include a picture. And while you're on the subway, the announcements for each stop is in Japanese and English with a chime. That chime was important. I was about 20 hours running on fumes.

Now i have to mention this since I'm a male pig, that the women here were all beautiful. The subway and walkways were packed. I guess because it was a saturday and everyone wanted to get home. But there were lots and lots of pretty girls. If I had to put a ratio to it, it seemed like 8 to 1. Really. I didn't want to leave the mini mall that I had to cross through to get to my next subway. but the subway was full too. Woo Hoo!!

Finally, after a good 20 minutes walk with all my dumb luggage, i reached the apartment. I was greeted by one of my roommates, Takayuki, very nice guy. He gave me keys and the GenkiJACS packet, showed me my 6 tatami room (picture later) and even made me tea. We talked a little bit, but I was tired and he had to work next day very early. Get this. I shouldn't complain. He works as a social worker for older people and he was going to be out for 24 hours. What a work day! 24 hours. He said as if in passing, I'll see you Monday. Monday! I have employees who complain of an hour OT. Jeez! Well, Let me close this one so I can get on with Day 1.