the time I was sent to Disney for work...

yay for national holidays~ :) the 3rd Monday of every July is officially proclaimed "海の日" (Umi no Hi - aka "Ocean Day") and because it was a national holiday, I got off work for the day  - yay for oceans <3 I visited my friends at school and had a chill day seeing lots of familiar faces :)

But in relation to my post: yes, I was sent on a special mission for my internship one day; and that day's itinerary read: TOKYO DISNEYLAND :D Like whattttttt (O_o) - yea, that was what was going through my mind when I was told that I was going to Disney the night before. See, STA Travel U.S. and U.K. have this ridiculous internship opportunity called a "World Traveller Internship." Approximately 8000 people apply for a 3 month opportunity to travel around the world for FREE, and 2 oh-so-lucky applicants get chosen to blog about their adventures for STA. 

This whole impromptu trip to Disney began the day before when I was approached by my boss, asking if I was busy that day. I mean, I always have something to occupy myself with, but I'd never consider myself legit "busy, busy" all the time. But he told me about one of the chosen interns from STA U.S. and told me that I was probably going to meet her sometime in the near future. I, of course, got excited over this because: a) she was a college student from the U.S., and b) I get to speak English - WIN. Well the "near future" was really 2 hours from the time he first mentioned this topic to me... 

My boss sent me and another girl who works at the counter for STA Japan, on a special assignment for the day to show the girl from STA U.S. around Tokyo. Her hotel was right around the corner from Tokyo Tower, so we were told to take her there so she could get like a good panorama view of the city, and then to take her wherever she wanted. 

This is a shot from the viewing platform of Tokyo Tower - I hate glass floor windows... there were kids like legit jumping on the windows and doing cartwheels... nah dude, I'm fully satisfied with just put my toes close to the edge 

  

And this is a picture of Tokyo Tower's mascot: Noppon. He actually has a brother who sports a pair of blue overalls, but they didn't have him on display that day :(










Anywho, the girl had never been to Japan, so me and the other girl from STA Japan decided to take her to Harajuku and Shibuya before having to meet up with my boss in Shinjuku for dinner. We figured those places are easily recognizable for most people even if they're not knowledgeable about Tokyo (^_') For dinner we went to the Sumitomo Building in the west side of Shinjuku, and we had gotten there a little early, so we decided to go up to the observatory on the 51st floor before entering the restaurant. 

The Sumitomo Building has 3 sides like a triangle and goes 53 floors up... looking down the center from the 51st floor makes it look like a lonnnngggg wayyyy downnnnn (O_o) 










So while at dinner, we were talking about where the girl from STA U.S. had travelled before arriving in Japan, and asked if she was really eager to do anything in particular. She mentioned Tokyo Disneyland light-heartedly because she's been to Disney World in Orlando with her family over 20 times, so she said she thought it would be interesting to see compare the 2 before having to go on a Gap Adventures tour around Japan. Well my boss heard that and said: "Oh really? that'd be exciting" and then told me and the other girl from STA Japan that our assignment for the following day was to go to Tokyo Disneyland.


like what? just like that? - yup. The next morning, the 3 of us were on a train to Disney, which is only 20 minutes away from Tokyo Station, and were all still trying to grasp that fact that we were actually going for "work." 

We missed going on the monorail but look at the windows!!! They also have Mickey-shaped handrail-loop things inside <3
My 1st time going to Tokyo Disneyland, and it was for free? WIN x 10^(billion <3) :D


We thought it was going to be ridiculously busy, but we it was shockingly like almost "not busy" for what you'd expect for Disney. We aimed for Space Mountain first thinking it'd be a good way to pump us up - only 20 minutes!!! We made a complete circle around the park, hitting all of the sections (O_o) The longest we waiting in line for was 35 minutes, and that was for the special "Captain EO" movie for the re-release of Michael Jackson's mini-movie. 




I couldn't help taking a picture of this Monsters Inc. bread when I saw it :) It's Mikeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee <3

We went right before 七夕, which is the Star Festival in Japan. The traditional decorations for this festivals is stalks of bamboo and you hang pieces of paper on them with your wishes on them :) It's said the higher you can hang your wish, the more likely your wish is to come true~

Color strips of paper are normally used for people to write their wishes on, but  because this is Disney~ everything gets a little Disney-spin on it (^_') special Mickey-shaped pieces of paper for people to write their wishes on <3








I went home exhausted that night, but still in disbelief that I had actually been to Disneyland. Disney seems like such a regular activity here in Tokyo - I found it hard to get my mind around that when I would hear that some people would go to Disney like once every couple of months (O_o) But I guess it's a legit option since it's so close, and costs less then ¥250 to get there. And there's also this thing called "After 6," which is a discount on the entrance fee after 6 p.m. So you see high school kids in their uniforms running throughout the park once the clock strikes 6. Since when can Disney ever be considered an "after-school hangout?!"

Another thing I recently did was check out the new Venus Fort outlets in Odaiba. You might recognize the view a little from back when I posted a picture of the bay in the winter? Well this time you can see summer is in full-swing with the abundance of party boats out in the bay. It was really pretty looking out and seeing the city from a distance with the water dotted with rainbow colored boats :)

And this is just a shot of Tokyo Tower on my walk back to my apartment from the subway station. There's nothing special about the tower in this picture, but the overcast night just kind of made it stand out a little more for some reason :)


The rainy season finally ended this weekend~ ... but that led right into the start of the intense heat.... wooo ..... hopefully everyone has been having a good summer so far :) 36 days until I come homeeeeeeeeeeeee (>_<) I know I'll miss glancing over at Tokyo Tower on my walk home everyday... but Tokyo sights will be replaced by the smell of the ocean at home, and then by the ever-so-familiar night skies of Philadelphia <3 

Happy June, happy food :)

So after my last entry, I was like: “wow, I can’t believe it’s already going to be June in just over 2 weeks. That gives me plenty of time until my next entry…” Chyea… déjà-vu, it’s almost JULY (O_o) Like how did that happen!!?

Time has gone by so quickly, that I can’t even explain to you just WHERE the time has been going. I find myself getting SUPER excited for the week to start because: 1) the Monday night TV line up – 9 o’clock: the customary Monday night-9 o’clock drama comes on. And who is back to redeem his title of “Mr. Getsu (Mon.)- Ku (9)? None other than Takuya Kimura <3 <3 <3 And THEN following the 9 o’clock drama is the TV show called ‘SMAP x SMAP’ from 10~11, which is a variety TV show featuring the music group SMAP. And guess who is also in SMAP? Yup – Takuya Kimura. Homeboy is ALL over Fuji-TV’S Monday-night line up.

But I’m not going to lie… Takuya Kimura is needs to step up his game for his first romance-drama in 3 years in the Monday-9 spot… I mean it’s entertaining and keeps me tuning in, but it’s def not up to par for what it should be with ALL of the famous people they have casted in it.

2) And the other day I really look forward to is Thursday <3 But that’s a secret I’ll share another time (^_’) And then of course, the weekend～ After counting down and doing all of these amazing, new things makes me lose track of how I actually fit it all in.

Okay, but now for what I was originally going to write about; FOOD! Well, I don't know how qualified it really is to be classified as a "food entry," but there are pictures of food included (^_') 

So has anyone heard of a “bakudan yaki”? ‘Bakudan’ means ‘bomb’ and ‘yaki’ means to ‘fry’ or ‘grill.’ If anyone knows what “takoyaki” are, the grilled ‘octopus’ balls to put it into literal terms…. Okay so it SEEMS gross from just hearing about it – but it’s made from a thin batter and mixed in it are diced vegetables and a SMALL piece of octopus. The batter is then poured into a cast-iron semi-circle mold and then is flipped 1/2 way in order to create the shape of a ball. There are other foods you can put inside of course, like sausage or cheese, but trust me - the staple choice of octopus will always triumph.

Anywho, well the reason why I’m like all excited about the “bakudan yaki” is because it’s a takoyaki… the size of a SOFTBALL (O_o) Like it comes in a Chinese take-out container. And inside there are additional ingredients like cut up cocktail sausages and a quail egg. Soooo yummmyyyyy <3

And another thing I was SUPER excited about in relation to food was… DINO EGGS in JAPAN! I got a care package from mommy-dearest back home and seeing the Quaker Oatmeal Brown Sugar packets with cartoon dinosaurs on them only made my gasp with glee. Thank you Sho-chan for knowing that I still appreciate the simple pleasures in life like watching my Dino Eggs hatch into dinosaur-shaped sprinkles <3 

The legit made my morning <3 I don’t think I’ve had oatmeal for like maybe… 3 or 4 years? But my mom had sent me an extra box we had sitting in our pantry and I have no clue why, but it left me CRAVING for more. And since when do I legit like raisins? I never really minded them before, but would never voluntarily choose them if I were given a list of choices to pick from. But now, I don’t know… I find myself choosing things like bread with raisins in it and like having raisins in my granola… ( -_-)

I know I’ve probably said this like 3 times already, or at least implied it way more, but I can’t believe just HOW fast time has been going by. Like my last day of co-op is the 13th of August and my flight home is on the 24th. SO pumped, but still know that there is SO much more I want to experience. Like I feel like if I came home now, I would be satisfied with my experience and know that I loved my entire time I was here; but then again, I know I’d have “What If’s” looming in my thoughts… it’s a hard give-and-take I guess. All I know is that I am so thankful for being able to meet all of these amazing people here in Tokyo, and being able to go BACK to such amazing people at home <3

the time I was tricked into planning my own surprise party...

So I was going to write this in the last post, but I was super tired and the last post would have been super long. But all I can say is that I have some of the BEST friends in the world <3 And they're sneaky sneaky (^_')

Remember Hiro? The one who I said was the president of SISEC? Well we have the same birthday (which I was SO excited about) and I knew I wanted to do something that would get everyone involved. He's worked so hard trying to organize clubs events for the freshmen and new exchange kids, that you could tell the stress was getting to him (>_<) So the idea of throwing him a surprise party got thrown out there - I had looked up some places online in the past just in case we were to have an occasion where we'd need a big space for everyone to go to, and we ended up settling on the place we went to after the Sophia Festival wayyy back in November.

My friend Momoko was the other leader in this project.... only.... she was really the one in charge of everything in the end... She planned it so I would plan my own surprise party.

Look at everyone that turned out to wish me a Happy Birthday!!! Or well at least everyone who I had invited to wish Hiro a Happy Birthday - haha. While Momoko and I were discussing possible things to do for Hiro, we had decided that we'd just send a mass-text out to see who'd be able to make it. She asked me to send the mail, so I sent it out and was SUPER excited to see all of the people who said they could make it :)
I also made a Facebook event because I didn't have everyone's mail addresses for their phones (oh yea, btw's: Japan's version of "texting" is legit e-mailing, so that's why I keep saying "mail address"). But yea, Momoko said she'd make the reservation and get Hiro a present, so I figured the least I could do was be the one who sent out the details to everyone because I wouldn't be able to see people at school anyways... yea, everyone said me being at school made it SUPER easy to plan the reverse-surprise because they could talk openly about it haha.

Momoko said she felt bad making me plan the majority of it because after I had sent the mass-texts out and updated the Facebook event, she sent a 2nd mass-text out and changed the time that people were to meet up and the name of the person who the surprise was for - haha. I legit had NO idea though - like why would I ever think I was planning my OWN surprise party? I was so scared walking into the room though. We went to the front desk of the restaurant acting like the 2 of us were there early to check out the room before everyone got there for what I had still thought was "Hiro's" surprise party. So after the guy lets us know to go to room 202, I walk past it and see that: A) the lights are off, and B) there are people inside. I started freaking out inside because like DUDE - people were in OUR room (O_o)

So I run down the hall and tell Momoko, but she was so nonchalant was just like: "It's fine, just take a look inside. I'm sure they're just still getting things ready." And me not knowing about anything is like: "IN THE DARK?!?!??!" But she just opens the door and is like: "Just check it out" (Looking back, I should have suspected something after I saw she was pulling out her camera and was smiling madd hard) I didn't know whether maybe she had invited some of Hiro's other friends from school that I hadn't met before, but I was FREAKING out inside as I walked to the door... and then she pushed me inside haha.

I didn't know what to think of when I heard people saying "SURPRISEEEEE~!!!" In my mind, I was like: A) Why is everyone legit here already, B) Why are they saying "Surprise" to me - I'm not Hiro, and C) WHY IS EVERYONE HERE!?!? I realized after like a minute or two, but I was so in shock that I didn't know what to say :) <3

People said it was hilarious knowing that I was planning my own surprise because I was SO into it. I wrote things like: "THIS IS A SURPRISE PARTY so keep this is a secret from Hiro!!!" and like "DO NOT be late meeting up at the station because this is a surprise." And looking back at all of this, I also think it's hilarious to see all of the "fake" text responses I got from people leading up to the day of the party.

My friends are the best though <3 Like Momoko found out that Hiro wasn't going to be in town for his actual birthday that weekend, so we decided to make the party on the 13th (Thursday). And the plan I had found included a birthday special, which made the course we had gotten free for the birthday person. So I unknowingly chose a plan that made it free for me...

One of the main things I had had in mind when looking for a place, was is there was a microphone in the room because I figured that it'd be a big SISEC-oriented celebration in honor of Hiro. Yea.... that just turned into straight up 2 hours of karaoke haha.

And these are the mini-cakes I, again was tricked into, picking out for myself lol. But HOW cute are they?!?!? <3 <3 <3 The white one was a Berry Shortcake and the one on right was just normal chocolate cake <3 Both had a custard filling and were SUPER yummyyyyyy~ <3 <3 <3
But like the night before, Momoko had been asking what I thought we should get for Hiro. I had said: "I feel like Strawberry Shortcake is always a safe bet for people" and her next response was like: "Okay, cool. We'll get that." I said we could look around and see what else was out there, but was like adamant on getting some form of strawberry shortcake - I now know why, hahah.

Looking back at the week of planning leading up to the event, I can start to put the pieces together and realize why she had asked me certain things lol. It was also funny how on the day of, I had gotten to Shinjuku station later than she thought I was going to - and it ended up being the same time that everyone had been meeting up at the East exit. So she texted me asking if we could go to this department store outside of the Southeast exit, and then led us in the LONG way around the station to get to the restaurant haha. The surprise was SO good though - but I'm always going to be suspicious of things from now on (^_')

And on the day of my actual birthdayyyy~ we all went to a baseball game at Meiji-Jingu Stadium!!! :D  <3 My friend Akio had been mentioning that we should go to a baseball game sometime soon, and it just turned out that there was a game on my birthday~ :) The game was between the Yakult Swallows (home team) and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. Fukuoka ended up winning 2-0 that night, but it didn't matter; I had a super fun time with my friends <3

( -_-) So i'm sad that this picture turned out blurry, but these are my friends waving the Swallows flag :D I was cracking up seeing all of them wave it and scream out for the Swallows, hahah <3 My friends are the best - I don't think I can say that enough. I have met some of the most amazing people while in Tokyo, and I just wish I could introduce them to everyone at home <3
Whenever I go on these exchange programs or meet new people for the 1st time, I always wonder like "What if I had come here another time?" - like I wouldn't have met all of the amazing people that I did and I wouldn't have made all of these ridiculous, fabulous, wonderful memories that I have :) I want to say thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday and thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate my birthday. I felt SO much love and can honestly say I had an amazing 21st <3

dim sum, animals, sweets galore~

hi hiiii~ so yea... sorry I was MIA again.... April literally flew by though - so weird to look back at everything. Like everyone was starting to get back to Tokyo during the first couple weeks of April, and then classes started at Sophia again on the 12th. So of course we all went out to celebrate being back together <3 It also began the long string of birthdays that happened b/t the end of April / May. So needless to say - there has been LOTS of celebrating and LOTS of awesome memories~ (^_') <3

So this was when we went out for my friend Gea's birthday; I have 6 words: all-you-can-eat-dim-sum. This was only 1 of the many steamer towers that piled high throughout the night (O_o) My friend Tama is behind there somewhere - we were played hide and seek throughout the night haha. 
We didn't realize just HOW much food we had ordered at first because only the smaller, appetizer dishes came trickling out... but yea... all of a sudden we looked at our table and we started having to marry food onto plates in order to clear space for the continual parade of food that kept making its way to our table... it legit hurt to laugh after that meal (;-_-)


Anywho, the week after that started the extended holiday week called "Golden Week" here in Japan. It's called that b/c 3 national holidays happen in a row so everyone gets off from work during that time. I was SO pumped that I actually  got off and that I was able to spend time with my friends while on the same schedule~ :D I got to meet up with my friends and meet more of the newbies that had joined SISEC <3 


One of the things we did was go to Ueno Zoo. The zoo became famous for having giant pandas... unfortunately... the pandas are no more :( I don't know what happened to them, but I didn't get to see any pandas and the red panda that lives there decided to not come out that day :( :( 

Buttttttttttttt~ I did get to see my first capybara live in person :) And I got to see my friend Ryota impersonate a capybara - hahah. 

Ohhh Ryota, he's one of the 2 new vice presidents of SISEC :) I was really excited when I found out I had been grouped with him. The zoo was pretty nice though - I don't think I was expecting much, but it was really nice to be outside for a change. 

  And after the zoo, we went to a little like vendor market-ish thing called Ameya-yokocho (アメよこ). Its just like a long strip of vendors that sell pretty much anything you can think of. But the one thing I was looking for was a vendor that was famous for selling these bags of PACKED with candy and snacks for only 1000円 ($10-ish) - and hellz yes, I totally found it :D
Like DUDE: LOOK at all of the stuff I got for 1000円 (O_o) btw's - that box in the middle is a little hard to see but it's a FULL box of cotton-candy Hi-Chews (basically the Japanese equivalent to Starburts). I got 20 :) I took all of it to a picnic I had later that weekend, but like dudeee - I was so pumped to have had found it <3 And here's the picnic we had :) We went to Inokarshira Park on the Keio line. It's used often for shooting scenes for dramas and movies, so I was super excited to go check it out :) Riding Keio-sen was nice for a change but... legit RIGHT as i stepped off of my train to go to the park, I heard an announcement saying there was a "human-related accident" at Musashinodai station... that was my OLD station from when I lived at the dorm (O_o) Like Keio-sen, I thought I could think better thoughts of you....

Anyways, the picnic was really cute <3 There was a "bento" competition, and not going to lie, ALL of the food was super yummy. I just baked cookies and layed out my intense spread of snacks I had gotten a few days before after the winners were announced lol - thankfully ALL of it was gone so I didn't have to go home with an intense amount of candy and have it staring me in the face the next morning ( -_-)

<3 <3 <3 <3 meet my cow cake
<3 <3 <3 <3 he was delicious
- the body was a roll cake and its head was a cheesecake <3 the horn and bull ring were white chocolate~


There's a little town in Tokyo called Jiyuugaoka and it's famous for having an abundance of sweets shops - and one of those places is called the Sweets Forest. It's basically like a big food court of JUST desserts. There are like 7-ish shops inside, including a Coldstone-esque mix-in ice cream shop, a Hong Kong Sweets House, a souffle shop, a shop specializing in strawberry desserts... like need I saw more?
well actually speaking of the ice cream place, I got a limited-time Green tea and Sakura ice cream with azuki bean and mochi mix-in ice cream <3 And the last dessert I got was a custard / japanese flan base piled high with fresh strawberries and cream. <3 I did not eat dinner that night.

I finally went to Yokohama~!! :D It wasn't during Golden Week, but the weekend that followed it. My friend Masa graduated this year from Sophia and got transferred to Osaka for work :( And I wasn't able to go on the overnight trip with SISEC a couple of months ago b/c I had been working, so this was the first time I had seen him since February 1st (>_<) Masssaaaaa~
But he came back to Tokyo that weekend, so I was SUPER happy to have been able to hang with him. 
The weather was SO nice out that day - sunny, breezy, and perfect along the bayside <3 I always forget how nostalgic the smell of the water is :)
So I was going to post more pictures of Yokohama during the day, but it was too hard to choose from all of them. The night view was amazing as well - the skies stayed clear and we just enjoyed each other's company while looking out at skyline <3 I've been going through spurts of homesickness recently... but i think it's because I was just cooped up in the urban chaos of Tokyo. I mean don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade the liveliness of Tokyo for anything in the world. But I'm always reminded of all of the other places Japan has to offer when I do get out and explore outside of the 23 districts every once in a while. 

hi, i'm alive

soooo... yea sorry I've been MIA for the past 3 months ( -_-) but after winter break ended, we had 3 weeks of school left and then BAM - finals in my face. ugh... it was a lot coming to an end. Like not only classes, but my also my CIEE program. I had to face reality and ultimately say goodbye to people whom I had grown so close to <3 Of course we tried to make the most of the time we had left, but it just sucked having to be constantly reminded of "the end" coming closer and closer. But here's like the abridged version of what's been going on in my world up until now:

My friend Masa invited a bunch of us to his house and we cooked dinner!! :D Guess what we madddeeeee~? :)
gyozaaaaa~! :D yummmerrrzzz <3

And this is from when SISEC (that club thing I'm in) held a farewell party for the study abroad students who were only studying for the fall term. They ordered pizza and stuff like fried chicken and salad for lunch, and then we played a bunch of games together :)


My friend Scott found this like cork shooting game in Shinjuku, and like became pro at the game. He came in that day with 2 bags full of prizes - and these were like BOXES of prizes. Like remember back in the day when we'd have Tunnels of Fun/TW Sports or if you ever went to Chuck E'Cheeses'? (I never got to go to a Chuck E'Cheese ( -_-) but we had Tunnels of Fun&TW Sports in lieu)


Anywho, like he started showing his prizes, and giving them out to people b/c he had too many haha.

One of the games we played was like a mix between Whisper Down the Lane and Pictionary. Basically, the 1st person out of a team of 4 was shown a word and had to drawn that word within 10 seconds. And then the 2nd person can only look at what the 1st person drew and draw their depiction of what they think it is. And it continues for 1 more person, until the last person has to guess from the final drawing just what the word on the card was.


Some of the drawings turned out SO funny - like looking at the transition for some of the pictures just made everyone be like "WHAT? why?" haha. We also played Charades, and a game that was essentially Musical Chairs (minus the music). It was called "Fruits Basket," but you play it by all sitting in a circle with someone standing in the middle. The person in the middle then calls out something that everyone sitting in the circle may have in common, like: "Anyone wearing jeans." Then everyone wearing jeans has to get up and scramble to move to a new seat, and whoever is left standing is "It."


Ohh childhood.... I always forget how much fun simple games like that are. It reminded me of Thanksgiving last year when a bunch of us gathered at Tina, Lisa, and Liz's apartment and had Thanksgiving again <3 We played Charades after dinner, and it was surprisingly a lot of fun :) It also made me realize I have like 1 pose that I think translates for 5 different things... haha

So after the last day of finals, Feb. 1st, we all had a final get-together before everyone had to leave on the 3rd. It was so awesome having us all together just to enjoy each others' company. Oh yea, btw's - it snowed that day too. So it was FREEZING and Tokyo like flipped shits over the 2 inches it snowed. Thankfully I had gotten the key to my new apartment (oh yea, I moved out of the dorm into my own apartment <3 but I'll elaborate later) so I took the subway to get home. But like my neighbor when I was in the dorm, Naoko, had left right after and was like fine time-wise in terms of making the last train on a normal day, but Keio was again being "Keio" and they made the train she got on the last train, canceling the rest for the night. 

And of course, any night in Tokyo wouldn't be complete without karaokeeeee~ <3 This is my friend Mark belting out everything he's got for whatever he was singing :)


 I feel like Japan just has this way of bringing out everyone's hidden passion for karaoke. Like I usually hate singing around other people, but I don't know... I get like super-excited if someone suggests karaoke when I'm here. So as we sang our hearts out that night, said our final farewells, and also celebrated the beginning of Spring Break. 


Oh, so about my new place~ :D Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it... (;-_-) but it's a furnished studio located in Toranomon, in the Minato-ward of Tokyo. It's legit like 3~5 minutes away from the Kamiyacho subway station so the building is named "Kamiyacho Duplex C's",  but the address is technically Toranomon. It's located on the Hibiya subway line, right next to Roppongi - which is infamous for its ritzy clubs and high population of foreigners. 


But I basically live around a bunch of office/government buildings. My mom said I can walk to the State Capitol if I follow this one road apparently - I don't know, I'm not going to try. Oh but yea, on the 1st night I spent in my new place, I tried like "exploring my surroundings"... yea, I got lost and just kept going west apparently. B/c like at one point, I ended up coming across the next subway station over (Toranomon) and like turned in the direction that I thought would circle me back to my place... I don't know WHAT I was thinking, but I apparently just kept going west b/c I ended up looking at Shimbashi - which is not only on the JR line, but also located near the bay - fml. So I just turned 180, re-traced my steps, and thankfully made it home by myself. Needless to say - I have not explored west since. 


Another major thing that has happened is that I got a Co-op here in Tokyo!! That's also kind of the reason why I didn't update for February - b/c like I was in the middle of my dire search for a co-op and I didn't want to be making blog posts in my spare time (which is had like A LOT of... ) and just being like: "Oh hey, I'm just chillin instead of looking for a job." But thankfully I did, and I absolutely love it <3


My co-op is with this travel agency called STA Travel, and I work at the Japan headquarters in Ikebukuro, Tokyo :D I like didn't think I was going to even get a response from this company when I e-mailed them my cover letter and resume. I like legit had tears from joy when I did get a response. I also wrote my 1st Japanese-style resume, which I handed in when I went in for my interview. Just as a btw's though: Japanese-style resumes are SO different from the ones back home. Like they ask for your birthday, interests/hobbies (like why is it important for you to know that I like to bake?), and require you to paste a picture of yourself on it. SO WEIRD - but I did it of course b/c I was doing everything that I could to get a co-op. 


But yay for me getting one~!! \(^o^)/ I get switched b/t the Marketing and Web/Operations department during the day and I'm surprisingly doing a lot more than I thought I would have been. I'm helping like edit the English version of STA Japan's website, helping update certain web pages, and also helping make new webpages. Like you can see what I type for some of the pages online~ (O_o) 


Another job I have is inputting the prices and flight conditions for different airlines. So like when you search for a certain flight via the search option on STA's home page, MY data comes up (O_o) Both my supervisors in the Marketing and Web department laughed at how excited I got when I realized that like the work I was doing was legit going to be used. But like DUDDEEEEEEEEE~ It makes me feel like I'm legit helping out instead of like just doing busy work. 


So that's been everything that's been going on in Tokyo for me up until now :) The majority of my friends spent their time traveling around Japan or (legit) the world, so spring break was kind of quiet - but everyone has started to come back so I've been able to see a lot of people again <3 Working in that sense has been "blah" though... b/c like everyone is still on Spring Break, but I've had to work - so I've missed out on a couple of things they've done during the daytime ( -_-) But my friends are super awesome and have kept me in the loop, so I've still been able to meet up with them <3


I hope everyone has been having a great couple of months back home / wherever in the world you may be~! It's so weird thinking it'll be April later this week... so surreal... but I guess it just means that it'll only be 4 months-ish before I come homeeeeee~!!! :D I hope I won't be too lost with everything that has happened... I'll just be bouncing around trying to catch up with like the world though so expect to see me creepin in on your lives again soonnnn~ <3 

sum up of '09 & 初 (first) events of 2010

wow, I can't believe it's a new year. How did 4 months fly by so quickly? I've been getting a lot of flashbacks to Philly lately, and like what things were like exactly 1 year ago... so weird (O_o) But I think that has been due to a combination of the holiday season, me being abroad, and not being able to do the things I normally do during this time of year. 


I never considered myself to be a "holiday" person but after these past couple of weeks... I don't know, maybe I am? I missed being able to bake cookies on a whim just because I feel like it, the nostalgia of like "traditional" Christmas decorations with holly leaves and that golden glow from tinted glass light bulbs and such. Like Japan does decorations and illuminations like NO OTHER - but it's all made to look pretty and it doesn't embrace the "Christmas spirit" like I'm used to being exposed to. I guess it was all just really different this year, but that was also a good thing because I got to experience it all with new friends and make new memories~ <3

So this is my grandparents' house in Naruto, Tokushima. It's located on the small island of Shikoku in like the Northeast-ish section of Tokushima - you have to pass through it to get to Kobe & Osaka if you're going to go through Tokushima. But yea, it was nice to get a way to the countryside for a couple of days; it brought back a lot of memories =) And we had yakiniku (the cook-it-yourself Korean BBQ thing) the 1st night I got there. SOOOOOO MUCHHH FOOOODDDDD~

And this is a picture of a bowl of ramen from my dad's friend's ramen shop in Naruto. OMG - SO GOOD and SO cheap because it's in 田舎 (countryside) land. Like ramen is such a simple concept - noodles + soup + vegetables + meat; yet it is such a fine balance between all of these that it just makes me smile when I find a place that has taken the time to find that balance with their own unique flavor and flair =)
I also visited my uncle (my dad's best friend) in Kobe - well he actually works in the city of Arima, which is famous for its hot spring but close enough. We had a really awesome lunch (even though it took like the WORLD to be served... 2 and a 1/2 hours...) that consisted of 7 courses. I would post pictures, but formatting is giving me issues and the lighting in the place wasn't that great anyways. But basically, it was traditional Japanese cuisine inside of a converted Japanese-inn <3 

This is Kozi-senpai <3 (senpai refers to someone who has more experience than you do, so because he's been at Jochi/SISEC longer than I have, he's my 'senpai') and he retired as the president of SISEC at our formal meeting =( We signed a tiger-onesie-costume as a present <3 I didn't even know anything was going to happen at the meeting until Hiro (our new president) started talking and said that he was our new president. 

And here is a picture of Hiro in between the former vice-president Yuu (right) and Hitomi =) And guess what the best part is!??!? Hiro and I have the SAME BIRTHDAYYYYY!!! <3 <3 <3 
SISEC also like went under major changes because they were debating about how to change the club administration at the meeting... SISEC REVOLUTION


So SISEC participated in this Peace Festival in Yoyogi Park, and I would post a picture of it but I couldn't get there until the later afternoon. They lit a bunch of tea-light candles on the ground to symbolize peace and had some peoples perform on stage. But then on Christmas Eve, we had a picnic in the same park for my friends Yukari and Jenny's birthdays =) 

And this a picture from later that night for our Christmas Eve dinner~ <3 My friend Nick found this super cool Chinese restaurant that had like private rooms that looked like caves. My friend Tama couldn't be there with us for dinner so we drew a picture of her - so she was technically there <3

So anyone heard of Ninja Warrior aka Sasuke? Well they have like a mini-version of the course at this place called Muscle Park in Odaiba. My friends and I went to it and we got to do various activities and try to win prizes. This picture is of the Cliff Hanger challenge, which is the one where you have to travel across the red bar (which is 3 cm, so like 1.5 in) with your FINGERTIPS. Like dude, and you have to swing, throw, and catch yourself between those gaps... all of the guys who tried it said they felt like they were going to break their fingertips...

Okay... so I'm always being asked about the weird/crazy food in Japan... well here's one example. This was a special burger at Muscle Park... the Tobibako Burger. A tobibako is a series of stacked crates that stack up to like a parallelogram shape, and it's popular in schools in Japan for kids to jump over them during gym class. (so like the equivalent of a vault? ish?) But yea... so they just have like 3 different types of sandwiches stacked on top of one another in this box as their specialty burger.. ughhh... omg, eww....

This is a picture from Odaiba a little after we left Muscle Park. It's Rainbow Bridge + Tokyo Tower + a random rainbow party boat =) 

 
 New Years Eve~ \(^o^)/ We had a 鍋 (nabe = hot pot) party at my friend Shodo's place. We had 2 types: 1) Kimchi nabe and 2) sesame, soy nabe. Both were super yummyyyyyyy and it was so nice to eat something warming on a cold winter night <3 And of course we had dessert =) We got a caramel and strawberry rollcake that had purin (Japanese flan) in the middle - yummerrrzzz

And a couple of my friends and I went to 川崎大師 (Kawasaki Daishi temple) to do 初詣 (Hatsu-moude) this morning for a traditional Japanese start to the new year. It's when you go and pay our respects to your ancestors and pray for good fortune for the upcoming year =) It was crowded like NONE other with people of ALL ages; they had guys with megaphones partitioning the crowd into groups to get into the lobby of the temple. 


We also bought fortunes for ¥100 where you shake this small barrel that has a bunch of sticks with numbers on them, and you get a fortune according to which number you shake out.... I got number 25 - seems promising right? Nope - 凶 (kyo - misfortune, bad luck) My friend Shodo said it was rare so I at first I was like "oh, cool it's not like bad" ...Thankfully it isn't the worst thing you can get, but it's just rare to get something almost as bad as 'worst'... THANKS SHODO - false hope.... haha jk, but seriously.... 


But yea, so that is basically the run-down of how I spent the last weeks of 2009 and how I started off 2010 =) I hope everyone had/continues to have a super-awesome holiday season and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! wow... 2010... 


良いお年を迎え下さい。今年もどうぞ宜しくお願いしま〜す <3