Perfect Straight and Guest Houses

For anyone who has not yet been informed. I will be getting my hair straightened this week. It should last about a year and I'm really excited! I figured a new phase in my life needed a new hair style! I love being a girl...

Anyway, I did a lot of research on finding the best price at a place that was still reputable and I found a nice place down next to the station called Fleu[r] that had 30% off coupons so it would be about $170 and that was the best price so I made an appointment (which was kinda hard because they didn't speak English but we got it worked out).

Today I was walking to school to meet Kimi to go see a place (which I will discuss later) and on the way there is a hair salon that I inquired in called hippopotamus. (Really cute!) Well the gentlemen that runs the place speaks English and I ran into him and he told me that he would do my hair for free! I was so shocked! Before he had told me 20000 yen ($190 roughly) and now he was telling me I could do it for free, completely free! I was so shocked and all I could say was "for free?!" Apparently they've never done a "Perfect Straight Perm", they call it, and they said that if I would be be their guinea pig, basically, that it would be free. And me being the poor starving college student that I am was like, "Heck yes!" So Monday night at 6:00pm Tokyo time I will be begin the journey to a new me! Well at least a new hair style. I'll post pictures of before and after for you guys and you can tell me what you think. I'm so excited! God is so good!

And this brings me to the rest of my day. While this was going on I was actually late for my meeting with Kimi at the school so that we could take the train and go see a Guest House in Iidabashi which is not to far from the school. So we get there late and then we can't fnd the guy and then we get to the Guest House, which is in a nice part of town. We walk inside and up the 5 flights of stairs with the paint peeling off the walls and the sticky hand rails because there isn't an elevator and we get to the top and the smells smacked me right in the face. There was a medium sized table taking up the entire space and it was covered with junk from DVD and game boxes to trash to who knows what else. Then the manager opens up one of the dorms and we walk in and it is tiny. A 4 tatami mat room for two people. (Rooms here are measured by tatami mats which are the bamboo mats you see on tv in traditional Japanese houses. An average Japanese room is 6 tatami mats and that's small...) Then he tells us that we have to share one shower with the entire floor and that it's 100 yen for 10 minutes of hot water. Then he shows us the kitchen which is not that bad but is still a shared kitchen with the entire floor. And to top it all off, the only washing machine for the building is 200 yen a load and, is on the roof.

Needless to say Kimi and I will not be moving in there. But it was a good place to see to get an idea of what we would be living in if we were going to be extremely stingy with our money. I think we'll be a little more liberal from now on.

But God is good and when I was at the Johnsons house giving Hailey her guitar lesson Leese, Haileys mom, gave me a copy of one of the English magazines called Metropolis which has a nice section of available apartments. Now apartments and Guest Houses are two totally different things. Apartments are like apartments back home. Bedroom(s), living room, kitchen and sometimes a dining room and they're not over our budget so we will be going to see some of those which I hope will be much nicer then the place we went to today.

And so the quest continues...

Funnies

I love the funnies (comics) from the paper. At home I would read them every moring with breakfast. Because my Mommy loves me she has sent me the funnies everytime she sends a package. Thank you Mommy! So I thought these were really funny and that I should share them with you since I have the luxury of a scanner in the lounge. I'm sure I'm violating some copyright law so just to let you know, these belong to their respective artists, not me. Hope you enjoy them and a get laugh like I did!


Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

I thought this one was especially appropriate for a blog post. Although I don't seem to be suffering from this right now. It's still hilarious!

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley

I love Get Fuzzy and this one was just hilarious! "No! The gift bag is sacred! The gift bag is sacred!"

Jeremiah's Birthday

Friday was Jeremiah's birthday! We went to Mike's Mexican Food as you can see below. Here are a few pictures. We had a lot of fun celebrating at Mike's. Afterwards we went to Jeremiah and Geigy's house and had cake and ice cream (yummy!) and played Uno (which I won, thank you) and spoons except we used chopsticks instead of spoons! It was pretty crazy and a fun time. Gotta love it...

Jeremiah's Birthday

Mexican Food!

Hahaha! I have proof that there is Mexican food in Japan! Yesterday I went with Jeremiah and Geigy to Mike's Tex-Mex Style restaurant and we had real Mexican food! It was sooooo good and it wasn't the Japanese portions, there was actually a whole burrito and a whole taco on my plate with rice and beans with lots of cheese! Oh goodness was it yummy! So ya, there is Mexican food in Japan! I'm so happy...

























This is my mild beef burrito and fried chicken taco. I don't think I could have been happier last night. I will eat at Mike's again, you can bet on it.

Guitars and Mister Donut

I started giving guitar lessons to a young girl from church names Hailey today. She is doing really well and catching on fast and I think she is going to be pretty good. She is 8 years old now is really smart and quick. I think she'll be great.
It was a lot of fun doing that today too. It was cool to actually see her make progress and understand and get better at it. What an awesome feeling! So this is what it's like? I like it and I hope to find some more students so that I can do something I enjoy and make money. How awesome is that?!
To make it even better, there is a Mister Donut right inside the station where they live. I LOVE MISTER DONUT. There isn't any other way to say it...

Heck yes...

Curses!

Okay, so I'm walking on the platform to change train lines and I walk by this old Japanese lady and she starts waving her arm in the shape of an X and whispering something under her breath. I think I was officially cursed by that old lady today. Kinda interesting, don't you think?
Obviously it didn't bother me. I just kept walking and listening to my music but I though it was kinda funny and you guys might want to know about it.
(Just in case you're wondering she was probably cursing me because I am a foreigner...)

Pictures of Everyday Life in Japan

So here they are! As per special request from my Mommy below is a slide show of my everyday routine of getting to school as well as some pictures of the school. Now you can see what the real Japan looks like! Not the travel brochure pictures. It's a little long but definitely worth it.

Pictures of Everyday Life in Japan

Womens Dinner

Yesterday I went with some of the ladies from Horizon Machida and we went to dinner at the Food Coloseum. It was really good and had a great atmosphere. They had classic American 50's music and jazz and cool lighting.
The restaurant was set up to where you had a little plastic thing that you carried around to the different sections and when you ordered they scanned it and you gave it to the cashier when you were done and they scanned to know how much you owed. It was like a buffet because they had different sections like burgers, salad, Chinese, Japanese, pizza, coffee and desserts. It was pretty cool and futuristic the way it was set up.
I had the avocado terriyaki burger and fries and it was so good. I've never had a burger like that before and it was delicious! And in Japan of all places...
So they do these ladies dinners once a month and have a Bible Study every week beside that. It should be fun and a good time to make new friends!
Here are some pictures from the restaurant.



These are the booths. We sat in the blue one which was actually green when we picked it! Yep, they change colors!











This is all of us sitting in a booth, it's pink again! I can't remember everyones name but from the far left it is as follows: Leese (whose daughter I'm giving guitar lessons to), that one lady (sorry...), Sue (who's moving back to England in 3 weeks), Geigy, me and that other lady...
Anyway, here we are!

New Song

Yo my peeps check it out!~ I wrote a song! And I would like to think that it's pretty good. It's inspired by a couple verses in Psalms and it's pretty much how I've been feeling about being here.

I recorded it on my cell phone and e-mailed it to myself so I'm not sure about the quality and I had to break it up into two parts but here you go!

If you want the chords just e-mail me or leave a comment and I'll send them to you. Let me know what you think!

Here are the lyrics. Sorry it's a little hard to understand. These should help...

We Trust in You

Our soul waits for the Lord
He is our strength, our shield
Our hearts will rejoice in Him
We have trusted in His holy name

Chorus
As we hope in You (x3)
Fill us with Your spirit

Our salvation is from the Lord
He is our strength always
The Lord will deliver us
And save us when we trust in Him

We Trust in You Part 1

Click to Play

This is an audio of the first verse and chorus of a song I wrote called We Trust in You.? Let me know if you like it!

We Trust in You Part 2

Click to Play

Here's the second verse chorus and ending of my new song. Let me know what you think!

Cali's Cow Song

Click to Play

This is a little video made by Cali about the cute little cows on the wallpaper in the kids room at church.? These cows are so cute and Cali's song fits them perfectly!

The Boek kids

These are pictures of the Boek kids. They are some crazy little kids I tell ya. And they love Andy Griffith, woohoo! Hahaha...

If I got Jazz and Justus mixed up I apologize. No, they're not twins, they just look soooooo much alike! If I did get them mixed up I will fix it.~

The Boek kids

Pictures of me...

Okay people, I got a lot of comments about how you want pictures of me so here they are... I gave my camera to Jazz and Justus and Cali at church today and I think they did a great job. Those are some smart and really cute little kids...

Pictures of me...

SUMO!!!!!

Pictures and video of sumo! Check 'em out!~

Kotoosho

Click to Play

This is a match between some guy (sorry I don't remember his name but he's in the blue on the end away from you) and a wrestler from Bulgaria named Kotoosho (in the black).? It's a little long because I recorded the entire match, including all the ceremonial stuff beforehand.? They do this EVERY TIME before a match, every time...? It's a great match though.? Kotoosho is fighting for the grand championship and he's a great wrestler.? Watch it!

Sumo Match

Click to Play

This is video of an actual sumo match.? Pretty cool if you ask me.? Very exciting!? The beginning the guy gets all excited and the crowd goes wild.? It's all a mind game they do with their opponents.? Again, pretty cool.

Yukunuza (Grand Champion) Ceremonial Dance

Click to Play

This is the current sumo Grand Champion doing his ceremonial dance before the higher ranking sumo bouts, or fights.? It's not the whole thing but it's a good portion of it.? I thought it was pretty cool.

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by stephinjapan22 with a No license (All rights reserved) license.

Sumo Pictures

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!

As you read from my last post you can see that Kimiko and I just watched the Last Samurai. My last post was a little philosophical and this one, well it's not...

I love this movie! I know it's not historically accurate but who really cares? I have to say that my favorite line in the whole movie has to be when Tom Cruise is talking to his superior officer and he says:

"I would happily kill you for free."

This is so awesome! I love this movie! Just thought I would throw that out there...











"They are all perfect..."

Bushido

Kimiko and I just finished watching The Last Samurai. The samurai and there way of thinking is so amazing and I can't help but give my opinion. Gee, what a shocker...

In the movie, which isn't exactly accurate but close enough, Tom Cruise's character is captured by the samurai in a battle and comes to love and understand the "way of the samurai" or bushido in Japanese. As he is examining the life of the Japanese he says that the Japanese wake up in the morning and dedicate their lives to the perfection of anything that they do. This is so true.

Although Japan has changed a lot since the time of the samurai, they are still a people that work for perfection. Everything they do if for the betterment of everyone involved and everyone does benefit from this.

But the question you have to ask yourself is if the benefits outweigh the consequences. Obviously this way of life did not turn out for good for the samurai seeing as they no longer exist. So will this same thing happen again? Is it a problem that needs the influence of foreigners to be solved or are the influences of the foreigners the problem?

Some things to ponder...

7 & i Holdings

Some of you may be familiar with the store, 7-11. (Well everyone should know about 7-11 but that sentence sounded better.) Here in Japan 7-11 is called 7 & i Holdings due to the merger of 7-11 and i Holdings. There are also other differences in the stores besides their names. At the 7 & i Holdings in Japan you can do everything. From buying a drink or a snack to buying a full size meal to paying your phone bill. Yes, that's right. You can pay most, if not all, of your various bills at any 7 & i Holdings.
I just got back to school from buying a lunch of potatoes and cheese with some sausage and bacon (which they heat for you there as well) and while I was there I decided to take care of my National Health Insurance Bill.
Only in Japan could something like this happen. Just one more way in which Japan is proven to be very unique.

Cell phones and trains

So yesterday I went to the Meguro City Office in Naka-Meguro and picked up my Alien Registration Card making me offical and legal. I picked up my card at around 11:15am and at 11:40am I had told Bulldog that I would call and talk to him at everybody at church because it was Wedneday night at 7:40pm at home. So I fiugred, no problem. I'll just use my calling card on my cell phone and call from that. Well it kinda worked and kinda didn't. I was able to get through and talk but I couldn't hear very well and I still haven't figured out how to turn the volume up on my phone and there was apparently a huge delay but it was still really cool to be able to hear everyone and to talk to Bulldog. I'll have to set up another time to do that and use the phone in the lounge next time so I can actually hear.
After Naka-Meguro I headed towards Aoto to meet with a lady I met at Don QUixote while getting my cell phone(I'll get to that story in a minute) and of course I got lost and was late and ended up leaving late and missing math calss, again...
So this all leads me to the story of how I got my cell phone...
I went to this really awesome store called Don Quixote in Shibuya. It's like a Wal-Mart but much bigger, better quality and a lot more stuff. Their mascot is this little penguin dude...


I mean, how awesome is this guy? Who wouldn't want to shop at this store?

So I go to Don Quixote and it takes forever to get a contract set up because I don't speak Japanese and the guy helping me doesn't speak any English but we get it done and he tells me that it's going to take 30 minutes because he has to send all the information off to the headquarters to be approved etc. but I have to go to math class. So I tell him I'll come back at around 7:00pm and I run for school. Of course, I take the wrong train again and I miss class... So I just decided to go back to Shibuya and grab some dinner and then go get my phone. I went to Yoshinoya and sat down and ordered and started eating when this old, not that old but older, lady sits next to me and starts talking to me in very broken English. We get to talking about phones and she shows me hers and how she has tv and all that and then she tells me that she's come with me to go and get my phone.
So we head to Don Quixote and she translates for me so I understand the terms of the contract and all that and I get my phone. It was really cool that she helped me and we arranged to meet, yesterday, and have English conversation and she would teach me to cook.
We won't be meeting again until October and this time we're going to an all you can eat Chinese restaurant in Ikebukuro which should be a lot of fun.
And that is my adventure in getting a cell phone. Unfortunately math had to suffer but I just do the practice problems in the book and it's no problem. I figured out how long it takes me to get to school as well so I can manage my time better and not miss class.

Finally!

Alright folks! That's all the time we have for today. Especially since it's 12:14am. I have class tomorrow so I should probably get some sleep.
Remember to read the blogs from the bottom up! I'll post more tomorrow and maybe even put something intelligent on here besides noodles and sushi... Then again, maybe not...

Yokohama Bay

NOODLES!

Yes, that's right, noodles...
The school took us on a little trip to Yokohama, a little city not to far from our dorm. The first stop we took was to a museum dedicated entirely to noodles. Yes... It was so awesome! This place rocked and had some seriously yummy noodles. I will tell you the story with pictures...






Here's my friend Kimiko standing next to a giant display of the inside of a Cup O Noodles. 'Nough said...








Here we have a tower display of all the different kinds of noodles. How many different kinds have you tried?






This cute little chiken is the mascot for the ramen museum. This is the Japanese version.

This is the Australian version.

And here are all the ramen chickens around the world. You'll notice the cowboy chicken in the middle respresenting America.

These are the breads at the bakery. You can either get them coated in sugar or in soy bean powder which sounds really gross but is actually nice and sweet for only 150 yen. Kimiko and I each got one and split them so we could try both. You can also get nyun nyun (milk) for only 100 yen. Japanese milk is the best! I don't know what it is but it tastes like it just came from the cow. Good stuff...

Here's a close up. Again, good stuff...

Fuku-chan Ramen. This is the ramen shop we went to in the museum. Seriously good stuff.

This is the bowl of ramen that I ate for only 700 yen. If any of you ever go to Tokyo you HAVE to go to this museum and eat some ramen. Seriously... it's a must...

And that concludes my seriously long blog about noodles. Only in Japan...

Church

I love church! I found a Horizon here that I had heard about from the Huddle and I met the pastor who some of you may know, Jeremiah Boek, when I came to Japan in June. So the church was close and I went and it was so much fun! It's really tiny with maybe 20 people maximum but it is awesome. I've started doing worship for them and this Sunday we move into a newly renovated building that is much bigger then the last one. Not that the space is really needed too much at the moment but hopefully it will be needed.
One day I went to the new building which is in Chitose Funabashi and helped with the renovations. I spackled for 4 hours. I know, fun. It actually was. I liked it and afterwards I got free sushi so who could complain? We (we being Jeremiah and his family and another family from church) went to one of the rotating sushi bars. It was so cool!

The sushi chefs are in the back and they put the sushi on the conveyor belt and it comes around and you pick up the sushi and at the end they count your plates and that's what you pay. It's usually around 200 yen for a plate which is about less then $2 and there are 2 pieces of sushi per plate. I know, good deal. The sushi was really good and this conveyor belt thingy is really cool!





Here's some squid. It was really good. There was a guy here from California helping with the building and he had never had sushi before so we made him eat all the crazy stuff like squid and octopus. And the crazy and cool part was that he like it! We had a great time at sushi.






After sushi we went to Jeremiah and Geigy (his wife's) house and had iced coffee and crepes. It was so yummy! I've never had a home made crepe before and it was really good. We put some crazy stuff in there like grape jelly and corn flakes. They were really good.



This is Regina and Justice (Jeremiah and Geigy's son) putting some Ready Whip that Regina got on base (her husbands in the Navy, that's why they're in Japan) on Justice's crepe. He is one crazy little kid, let me tell ya...









Justice eating his crepe that he had to get a spoon for because it was so full! Kawaii! A new Japanese word for the day. It means cute!















Church had been really fun and a great blessing. The people are really great and it is so nice to be able to be plugged in and to have fellowship.
I'll put up some pictures of the new church on Sunday or Monday and also some pictures of the main church in Machida that I go to after the morning service.

Sake

Yes that's right, I said sake...
The school hosting a sake tasting party at one of the local clubs in Roppongi which is very much a geijin (foreigner in Japanese) place where the only thing to do is spend a lot of money and go to bars so I've only been there once...
So, sake party... I went with the people from my dorm and we had a blast! Of course I don't drink and they wouldn't let me anyway because you have to be 20 to drink here. They had a guy come that is the worlds leading specialist on sake and he's not Japanese. I know crazy.
They also had some traditional Japanese music called a shamisen. It's a stringed instrument. The pictures didn't come out and I haven't figured out how to upload video to this yet so that's under construction for now. But the guy was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
They also had a group from school that does traditional Japanese dance and then a hip hop/reggae/rap DJ from Zulu Nation played some music for us. No one was dancing so Jae and my friend Tori decided to dance on a table. It was good times, good times...
On the left is my roommate, Jae and on the right is Tori. They were doing some pretty awesome dancing and I had to get a picture.

After the party we were hungry so we went to 7-11 and bought dinner. (I told you, you can do anything at 7-11.) And then we went and sat in a thing that is supposedly a water park during the day and ate.

This is Tori with her Koala no Machi in the water park. If you have never had nor seen the Koala no Machi you have been seriously deprived. These are the best snacks in the world! Little koala shaped biscuits filled with chocolate with little pictures of koalas doing random things on them. It doesn't get much better then that...

Then we made our way home and had a good night's rest after partying like crazy college students. That was a fun day and I really enjoyed it. Maybe the college life isn't so bad after all...

Homesickness

Okay, I have to tell this story because it was a HUGE deal. It's sad but I'll tell it anyway...

On Wed. August 23 I made my first attempt at using a phone card to call my parents. Well I bought a phone card at 7-11 (you can do anything at 7-11 including pay your bills) and I went to the lounge to use the phone in there. (We have a lounge in our dorm with a phone, computers, printer, tv, etc.)
Well let me tell you, those phone cards are quite confusing especially when they're in Japanese... I tried using the card and it wasn't working and I started freaking out because I wanted to talk to my parents so I was not really sure what to do when Jesse came in. Jesse's been here for 2 years and speaks Japanese. So he used the card on his cell phone and helped and I got through. Yeah! Well not exactly, it turns out the card only 10 minutes on it! How the heck am I suppose to talk for only 10 minutes with my parents?!
So I talked with my mom and we heard this beep and right when my dad was about to talk to me it cut off! I thought I was going to kill something if I didn't die first.
We had orientation that day so I headed to school and figured I could buy another phone card and try again on the public phone at school. I bought the card and went to where the phone was suppose to be but as you've probably guessed, it wasn't there... That was it, the last straw.
I didn't really know what to do so I went and talked to my admissions counselor, Kirsten, and of course I was crying and she helped me figure out how to use the card on a phone two blocks down from the school and this time I had 20 minutes so I got to talk to my parents and say goodbye without being cut off so it was all okay.
Yes, a happy ending. And now I know how to use these ridiculous phone cards and I talk to my parents once a week.
I love happy endings... Of course this all started me wanted to come home and feeling really homesick and I actually got physically sick and was throwing up and stuff...
But again, the Lord is good and is taking care of me always and has helped me to adjust to living here and now I am enjoying myself and having a good time. Onto happier days!

And so it starts...

Okay, so here's how it's gonna go... Since I was a big slacker and didn't do anything for a month the next few posts are going to be just the big things I've done since I've been here the I think you guys should see and hear/read about.

August 17, 2006, Day 1: Here's what I wrote in my journal (that I'll actually let you see) as well as some pictures of my dorm and room.

I'm here! I am here in my dorm in Tokyo, Japan. It is so awesome and pretty here. I am so excited! We have placement exams today, not so exciting but that's okay.
I miss everyone so much but I've already made some new friends like my roommate Jae who's from Canada.
I'm excited to go out and explore and enjoy Japan. This whole being responsible for myself and being able to come and go as I please is pretty nice too.
And I am so excited about what the Lord is going to do! "With God all things are possible" Matthew 19:26b

Pics of my dorm:
Outside

I'm on the bottom floor in room #105.













Inside

I sleep on the top bunck and my roommate Jae on the bottom. There;s our tv where we watch our drama, Suppli, I love it! So ya, it's small but we manage and we're never really there anyway so it doesn't matter.









My bookshelf
There's the beautiful picture my Sasha made me before I left (I love you Sasha!) and my stuffed lion and hippo from the Wild Animal Park when we went with Grandmommy and Melissa and I bought eachother hippos and my Get Fuzzy daily calendar and the kitty Tachibana sensei gave me (see, it's on my bookshelf and I see it every morning!) and my books and journals and other things.





And that concludes Day 1! I hope it was informative and ya...

I have a blog! YEAH!

Hey guys! I finally got a blog! Yeah! Sorry it took so long but I was kinda trying to adjust to living away from home for the first time and going to college... in a foreign country! Cut me a little slack will ya...
So ya, this is my blog. I will be updating it a bunch in the next few days to get you up to speed on life here in Tokyo. I'll post some pictures and everything to. So keep checking back for updates!