Chibi Child

Mac GET!

2010-09-23T04:54:00.001+09:00

Today dad took me downtown to get my somewhat belated birthday present, meaning I am now the proud owner of a brand spanking new MacBook Pro! This is how happy I am:

Gorgeous, am I not? Photo: Muffe

I've named him Muffe (Muff), and he shall be mine and I shall wuv him!

I don't really know much about mac, to be honest, but so far I'm enjoying the ride. :) Any tips out there, let me know! (Kiyu...?) The reason I've decided to opt for a mac is that I'll be using it mostly for creative work (digital painting etc.) and in my art studies. Having a mac means less chance of a virus, no games (equals no time or GB wasted) and loads of opportunities!

Now to install Photoshop... <3

Location: At home

Mood: Delighted

Listening to: music from "Taiyou no Uta"

My plans are all set!

2010-06-02T01:19:00.002+09:00

Today I got the e-mail confirming my acceptance into the art school here in Oslo, meaning that my plans for the fall are all set! Art studies, here I come!

I'm halfway through my exams as well. It's been a busy few months, but in just about two more weeks I'll be a free girl for the first time since I was 6. I'll be the first to admit that high school can be a lot of fun at times (with all my crazy friends and day-to-day happenings), but I can't wait to start studying because I want to, not because I have to. It'll also be a great change of pace to think less about grades in all those different subjects. (And that is assuming my new school even has grades...!) I think that for the first time in my life I will genuinely be looking forward to school starting again in August. And it will not just be fun because of my friends or through the first two weeks.

If this is growing up, it's kind of glorious. (At the moment! ;P)

Location: At home, out in my garden (summer!)

Mood: Happily at ease

Welcome to England

2010-02-20T08:07:00.001+09:00

I've always loved to draw, and I love stories - so being able to work with that would be fantastic. Therefore, my current dream is to become an illustrator!

Yesterday was another opportunity to get closer to that dream - and a big one at that! There was a big conference in Oslo Spektrum where almost all the universities in Norway, including several from overseas, come to give you information and an idea of what it's like studying with them. As for the overseas art schools, they can even offer you a place on the spot; provided they like your portfolio.

I got accepted by Swansea Metropolitan University! I'm in! :DD

There were other universities there too, like Middlesex, Kingston and Falmouth. They were generally quite positive, but would not accept me at this stage. They did, however, give me many valuable tips and lots of feedback. Swansea, however, loved me. "I've written excellent here - you can see, I haven't written that on any other student up until now. You've got some things you can be really proud of there." I was incredibly happy!

I think I'll stick to my original plan, though - a foundation year here in Oslo first, to learn more of the technique and craftmanship and build up a stronger portfolio with some more time on my hands. If I could get accepted by a few more universities, I'd have a wider range of possibilities and choices. As of now I have fallen very much in love with the idea of studying art in Wales, though!

"You better bring your own sun"

しょうがない夢追い人

2010-01-04T05:33:00.002+09:00

After careful consideration I've made my decision: I've decided to quit the the school play choir.

I've made some really nice friends there, and it's been fun. Still, to tell the truth I've been pretty pumped lately, that with all the practicing, training and school work. My dream in joining this choir was to become a better singer, and if that's the case I realize now that I'll be better off with a singing coach. Sometimes pursuing your dreams means forsaking something in the process.

I said I wanted to keep pursuing my dreams. Well, this is one of them, and I know that in order to make those dreams real you have to get out there and do something. I'm not saying I necessarily want to become a professional. I just want to become a better singer and learn more about singing and using my voice. And I've realized that's not going to happen where I am now.

Location: at home
Mood: school tomorrow -eep!

Happy New Year! 明けましておめでとうございます！

2010-01-01T09:23:00.009+09:00

So, the year 2009 has come to an end, huh...
It's all gone by so fast! I can't believe that just a little over 5 months ago I was still in Japan.

This has certainly been an eventful year:

¤ I went to Japan for the first time in the summer of 08, and stayed there for 10 months.

¤ I celebrated my birthday, experienced Christmas and New Year's Eve 09 in another country with another family.

¤ I met so many lovely people and had wonderful experiences I'll never forget.

¤ I came home, went back to school and started in a new class.

¤ I made new friends and caught up with some old after a year on exchange.

¤ I saw Tori Amos live (but never got around to writing about it)

¤ My boyfriend went and came back from his exchange to Japan! (lol)

There's no way I could sum 2009 up in one blog entry! I think it has been a wonderful year in so many ways. Still, there's a few things I'd like to do in 2010:

¤ Tidy up my messy room (I feel more organized and efficient in neat surroundings...)

¤ Do more of the things I really want to do, and like.

¤ Keep pursuing my dreams, giving it my best! 頑張ります！

¤ Do my best in most things! 頑張りま~す!!

¤ Spend more time with my friends before they all go off to study at uni. :O

¤ FINISH HIGH SCHOOL!!

Now it only remains to see if I can keep up with all of this, haha!
First I need to finish my term paper for January 4th...

Location: Norway
Mood: *possibilities!*

Seeing red? So am I.

2009-12-18T05:46:00.010+09:00

Turns out that the card generator on the webpage from which I ordered all my russ things does not allow personal backgrounds. Meaning I have to go mainstream. Bleh.

Oh well... I'm still quite satisfied though, seeing as I found a personal quote and a decent picture. (Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a miracle. I hate having my picture taken because they all turn out horrible-looking.)

So, in all it's glory, I present to you:

The quote reads: "If you're not yourself, you're nobody."

I have not yet given up on a self-designed card, though, but I shall have to print them myself. This means it'll be a limited supply, probably just to be given out to close friends and family.

We'll see. Tomorrow's the beginning of the Christmas holidays! I need some time to breathe now.

Location: At home, in front of the fireplace.
Mood: Tired

Eating: Chocolate

Spread your wings and fly!

2009-12-15T01:35:00.005+09:00

I think I've found my inspiration for my russekort! ("russ card"? It doesn't really translate.)

Why? ...that I'll explain later!

Updated and stylish!

2009-12-08T00:47:00.014+09:00

I got sick of my old layout, so having no skills in webdesign whatsoever I chose a new template. I'm still sticking with blue, though. How do you like it? :)

Maybe now I'll actually get to writing those posts someday soon... I keep putting it off.

Eventually I might just decide to skip writing about some of it, or I'll never get started again.

Soon it'll be Christmas! I'd better make that list...

Location: School
Mood: Accomplished (finished a project I've been working on for ages!)
Listening to: Tori Amos - Welcome to England
Eating: ...chewing gum...?
Drinking: Oh, right! ...water

Loong time no write...!

2009-10-25T21:58:00.004+09:00

Yes, I know it's been ages since I posted anything here. Sorry 'bout that.

I've been busy as usual - especially since I got in on my school play. No, I didn't make the actor troop, but I'm in the choir. And hey, any excuse to learn more about singing! It's funny - I really love singing, but I've always just done it for fun, so I never really thought about how much technique you need to sing well. It's a lot of work, and I simply can't wait to start learning more!

I'm at my sister's in Kristiansand right now. I'm here for the weekend, and we're having a great time being couch potatoes and celebrating the fact that she finally got a pemanent job as a cellist! Congratulations, you've earned it! Also, we saw "UP", the new Pixar film. It was amazing!

I've realized there's still some posts from my time in Japan I never got to writing. I'm thinking of simply putting it all into one post, as a kind of summary. We'll see. There's a bunch of other posts I've been meaning to write as well. -.-;;

Location: My sister's place, Kristiansand
Mood: Sluggish
Listening to: TV
Eating: -
Drinking: -

Jazz hands!

2009-09-18T15:49:00.004+09:00

...I'm officially done with my auditions! 3 rounds of 'em too.

For the first round I had planned to read a poem in two different ways, but ended up improvising nearly everything, doing a tiny bit of Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and just talking.

In the second round I faced nearly all my demons at once by singing "Dreaming" from The Little Mermaid TV-show in front of a huge amount of people. Thank God for spotlights, I didn't see a thing! I was really nervous and felt stiff as a log when I stood onstage and I didn't manage to hold all the higher notes because I was so nervous. Still, it was quite fun! I got a really nice comment too, which made me very happy. (o^^o)

The third round was held yesterday. I teamed up with Andrea, a very talented and fun girl, and we did a modern dramatization of the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. It was really fun to do it onstage! I feel much more relaxed once I have someone alongside me, and we made the audience laugh, so it was all good.

Phew!

Now I will focus on my upcoming history test (today) and then go home and do NOTHING. Except maybe draw and be with my family. Being 19 and all.

I'm already looking forward to it, this week's been rather stressful. No more auditions. THANK HEAVENS! Now all that's left to do is sit around and wait for the results. Wish me luck!

Location: School
Mood: Relieved and tired
Listening to: my Norwegian teacher talking
Eating: forbidden :C

To do or not to do, that is the question...

2009-09-09T19:04:00.005+09:00

So I've decided to try out for my school's play this year, meaning....

AUDITIONS!

Tomorrow.

I'm scared out of my wits and have no idea what to do. Except some goofy Shakespeare or a little Chicago. I've never done an audition in my life. This will be... interesting.

Location: School
Mood: Nervous!

Homesick

2009-09-01T22:44:00.003+09:00

Ironically enough, now that I'm back in Norway I miss Japan - and maybe my friends and host family - an incredible lot! Much more than I can remember missing Norway - but then again I always knew I'd be back within a year. I'd made up my mind to go back even before I left Japan, but when that'll be I'm not sure. And I want to be back now.

日本、鹿児島、城西高校、皆．．．全部が恋しいの！帰りたい！帰りたい！(; . q)

Location: School
Mood: homesick
Listening to: LIFE - YUI
Reading: The Reader

Resurfacing

2009-08-30T02:52:00.012+09:00

So, after my initial shock concerning school I've decided to make the best of it and find what interests me in my subjects. Sociology looks like it can be quite fun too. Tough, but fun. Costume and scenography will probably be awesome - especially since my teacher was open for a cosplay project, including making the costume and a photo shoot! I never thought cosplay would make it to my timetable! My new class will still take some getting used to, I think, but I have some friends there now. It'll be okay - it has always turned out that way, and I see no reason why my lucky star should fail me this time. :)

I chatted with my hostsister Sayaka on skype for a long time today, and we decided to have a skype session tomorrow. I really look forward to being able to talk to them again! I haven't seen them for a whole month, and even if it's only on my computer screen being able to talk and see them again will be wonderful! <3>

My parents are away on a party, and so here I am at 3 minutes past midnight...and I still haven't eaten dinner properly. Haha, I don't see how I'll ever survive if I move out! (^ワ^) At least I've fed the rabbits.

I was looking at ebay and suddenly found the most wonderful things: Lion King plushies! I am desperatley in love with the laying Simba plushies! Especially the most used one, because he looks so soft and cuddly... behold!

Look at the one in the middle! Isn't he the cutest?

I don't want the warthog, just the lion...

Scar! Can you believe it? <3

Location: Norway, at home...
Mood: Happy nostalgia

Reading: Go Ask Alice

Listening to: Aishiteiru (Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou ED)
Watching: Lion King items at ebay (which causes nostalgia)
Eating: dinner at midnight...
Drinking: tea

...and my academical world crumbles

2009-08-20T20:46:00.004+09:00

We're so lucky we get to choose some of our subjects at my school. And among all of them there were three I desperately wanted to take:

Mandarin Chinese II
Theater group
Scenography and costume design

...then add to the equation that I can only choose two.
...and that these subjects all run at the same time.

I ended up choosing scenography and costume design. I'm crushed.

I had really thought and counted on that I'd be able to continue my Chinese along with my artsy subjects. Now all I want for Christmas is Hermione's time turner. I had thought I could go back to China this year and meet my friend Si Chang. I'd thought I'd be able to continue, tutored by one of the sweetest teachers I know. No. What I had to do, though, was pick another subject from a pile of the ones I hardly had any interest in at all. So I chose sociology because it's what I think I might find fun and be able to motivate myself to do - if I can get over the loss of my Chinese class.

I want to cry so they'll all feel sorry for me and correct this horrid mistake in my schedule.

..because there has to be one, right? Right?!

Location: school...
Mood: depressed
Listening to: the aircondition
Eating: -
Drinking: -

Tying up loose ends

2009-08-17T03:49:00.006+09:00

So, I haven't written here in a while, the sole reason being that I had so much to do that there was no time. I've decided to write a short summary of what's been going on - just so that you're all up to date and we're on the same page.

My trip to Kushikino island was amazing. The whole island was covered in greenery and the tops of the hills were hidden in the clouds making it misty and intriguing - to me it seemed almost Narnia-like. I also snorkeled for the first time in my life, and seeing tropical fish up that close was incredible! It brought me that much closer to my dream of being a mermaid. ^^

I held my farewell speech in front of the entire school...and I sang! My singing teacher told me, oh, about five minutes before I started walking towards the assembly hall! "I've arranged it so that you'll be able to sing!" "Eh?...you WHAT?!" When asking Matsuo-sensei: "What? I haven't heard of this..." then, while I was chatting oh-so-pleasently with Mr. Kamikawa, she came running. "Singing...now!"
...so, after I held my speech (which wasn't half as terrible as I thought it would be) I sang with Shun playing the guitar.

It was kind of nervewrecking, but I did okay, and so in the end it was fun and I felt very brave. Hurrah!

Also... my secret date for leaving Japan was... *drumroll* highlight: the 27th of July!
Meaning I'm now back in Norway. At first it was really weird. People around me spoke Norwegian, I spoke Norwegian, I understood everything... but I couldn't understand why they were speaking Norwegian! Inside my head there was nothing but English and Japanese. I think I've continued dreaming in Japanese a couple of times too. So yes, it is exciting and weird being home too.

School starts tomorrow, meaning a whole new class and new people whom I'll get to play with for a year before we go our seperate ways. I'm curious to see how it'll work out, seeing as they've already spent two years together and I've hardly met them until...well, now. At the same time I'm sure it'll be a year full of surprises and experiences! Exciting and boring at the same time, maybe...? (haha!)

Wish me luck!

I find this song fits rather perfectly for the occasion:

Location: Norway
Mood: "what now...?"
Listening to: 手をつなごう (Ayaka - te wo tsunagou)
Eating: cake! :D
Drinking: water

"Sing, sweet nightingale..."

2009-07-13T20:26:00.007+09:00

I've been really busy lately - kendo, swimming, the last weeks of school before summer vacation (but I never want school to end!) a trip to a lovely little island (that I'll have to write about later) and...singing! Midori-sensei has been giving me lessons every Thursday during lunch break. I also sing with Shun sometimes - he plays the guitar too, so it's a lot of fun! (I can't play anything, so if I'm alone it's all a capella...) He likes Avril Lavigne, and so we sing her early songs a lot - "Sk8r boi" ~~(God, I hate that spelling!)~~, "Complicated" and "Why". Especially "Why".

I started listening to it after Shun recommended it to me, and learned it by heart so I'd be able to sing it. It's a lot easier for me to sing without being so nervous if we're two performing. It makes performing in front of people a lot more enjoyable. (And if you know how much I love singing, you would hardly think that possible...!) Also, because he's playing the guitar, I have something to listen and orientate myself to.

*deep breath* So! Ladies and gentlemen, for your enjoyment and just to expose myself completely... wait, actually Shun is singing some too... OK! Here's our cover version of Avril Lavigne's "Why":

"Why" - download
...don't worry mom, it's safe.

Don't mind the guy at the beginning. We were three people in the music room, so we'd been joking around a bit before we started the recording. :P

(You'll need to download it until I find a better solution. Any recommendations?)

...would anyone at my Norwegian school notice if I just stayed here until we graduate?

Location: Japan
Mood: Happiness! ^^
Listening to: Ok, this is awkward... a recording of myself singing. (lol!) I don't get to hear my voice from "the other side" a lot.
Eating: White peach
Drinking: -

Why I like kendo...

2009-07-04T14:26:00.003+09:00

"Think of his head as a watermelon! Now cut it..."

Fufufufufufuu! |D

"I'm blue, dabadi dabadai...."

2009-07-04T13:52:00.009+09:00

OK, so technically just my clothes are...

On Thursday I had my first kendo training wearing full armor! It felt very strange at first - I could not see to the sides because of my men, moving my head was pretty much impossible and my vision was obstructed by all that...metal! in front of my face. Aaah!

Moving felt different too, and so I guess my newbie skills of doom might have gotten even more newbie. (Haha!) Still, it was a lot of fun - both for me and the people watching the training, seeing me stumbling about clearly unsure of what to do and how to do it. Oh well, if I can spread some joy...

I also got to practice with one of the senseis in a "fight" (meaning pathetically bash his head to the best of my efforts) which was very interesting. Because my face is covered and everything is borrowed, (the name on the front of my tare is very much Japanese) he came up to me, stood about 15 centimetres from me and peered into my men to see my face. (And also, presumably, so that I could hear him over the yelling.) "This is your first time, right?" "Yes."

Sensei: "When you cut, make it more like this:" *BASH*
Helene: "!" *ok, that was really cool hejusthitmeonthehead, hahahaaa!* "Hai!"

During the training he would sometimes use his shinai to lower mine if I held it too high when standing in kamae. Also, he would grab my shinai and pull it past himself, making me shuffle after it as best I could. I'm guessing this was to give me an idea of how to move after doing a men cut (and how fast to move). I really enjoyed it, although I am still very new to it all and don't really know how it all works yet. :P I basically have the word "BEGINNER" written all over me in glaring red neon letters, and my slight fidgeting and lacking technique gives me away no matter how much my face is concealed, lol! Still, my sensei praises me for learning fast and putting a lot of effort into it. I'll do my best, and try to get as good as I can in the amount of time I have left here. (No, Eirik, you may not know how long :P) Cheer me on as I shuffle my way towards greatness, will you? xD

Again, Eirik - when I come home, you. TEACH. ME. MORE. No excuses. ;P

Location: Japan
Mood: ...too hot to think...
Listening to: -
Eating: -
Drinking: -

逆転検事

2009-06-27T17:38:00.002+09:00

Gyakuten kenji - Turnabout Prosecutor (or "Perfect Prosecutor" as I believe it will be called in America?) - is released here! And I'm playing it!

Eirik: me>you Muahaha!
(^∇^o)(o^∇^)

I can't read all the kanjis, but so far I'm doing well enough to understand what's going on and I'm getting by. I'm even managing the "logic system". (=^∇^=)V Whee〜

I can feel my cool points gathering up.

All work and no play makes Helene quite happy anyway ♪

2009-06-24T00:01:00.002+09:00

...then again, some of you might argue that today's been the exact opposite - all play and no work. (^_^i)

Today my class had two lessons taken to get information about uni and so on, meaning i did 日本舞踊, Japanese dance, with the first year students in stead of classical Japanese. So listen to today's schedule of my dreams:

1st: Aerobics
2nd: Japanese dance (first years)
3rd: Japanese dance (second years)
4th: Japanese dance (third years)
〈 lunch 〉
5th: Judo
6th: Judo

After school: sit and watch the dance club/read Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy" until 5 o'clock, walk for about 20〜25 min. to the dojo, 6:00PM〜8:00 : Kendo!

I've done close to nothing but move the entire day and I'm in bliss! (*゜∇゜)ノ Japan is so much FUN! And my friends here are great too. :D Today is one of those days where I feel I could stay here until they graduate in April and be perfectly happy. (But I'd miss my family and friends in Norway, though.；) )

I also got to borrow kendo gear, so now I'm training in a hakama, and I look ferociously cool. XD

...And I danced "Sakura Sakura" in front of the first years today because Satsumi-sensei asked me to. That's +10 cool points for me. At least. ：P

Status report

2009-06-19T00:16:00.002+09:00

...don't worry - my toe was like that to begin with. :P

As I said in my previous post, I've started training kendo. 。o@(^-^)@o。 I came once on Thursday last week with my Rotary councelor to observe the training and try a little bit, trained on Friday (after calling my swimming to say something came up) and I've trained from Tuesday to Thursday (today) this week. (Tomorrow is swimming.)

My foot. My left FOOT. In two days I've managed to get more blisters under the sole of my foot then I think I've ever had in my life. I've got two rather big ones (or it might be five melted together?) that's causing me some trouble. I finally get my kendo-boyfriend's complaints. ：P On Tsuru's advice I've been poking holes in them with needles to prevent them from getting any worse, and the rest I'm taking care of with sport's tape and bandaids. Now if only my skin could get hard fast...At least this is proof that I'm "ganbatte"ing! Haha!

It's a lot of fun, though! Today I started bashing people on the head with my shinai (also known as practicing the men cut) or alternately hitting a shinai being held up by a partner. There's lots to think about, and I'm still trying to get my head (and body...) around it all with varying success. Lol.

I got to know a new girl at training today too - her name is Satoko, and she's a 3rd year student at Ijuin high school. She's really nice, and I like her a lot. She and her father even gave me a lift home after training, so we talked almost non-stop all the way. (I seem to have a habit of talking a lot no matter what the language... ・・(^_^i)・・ lol.)

Anyway: kendo is great!Eirik - you and I've got a job to do.(^。^)‐☆

Long time no see!

2009-06-13T16:41:00.012+09:00

I've been busy as usual, but I figured I'd finally take some time to write a bit about what I've been up to. So!

At some point in time, the date of which I can no longer remember, I went with my family to see 蛍 (hotaru) - fireflies! We stood waiting for a long time with a bunch of people until it finally got dark enough and they started to fly about, flashing their bums. (Hahaa! I'm so funny I kill myself... ehm.) It was really quite magical, and the first time I've seen real, live fireflies. The air was filled with the sound of frogs croaking, and it all created a very nice mood. I took some pictures, but they don't show very well... it looks like this:

"Look, a speck of light!" (Click for full size to see the speck.)

We also went to the Chiran peace museum for kamikaze pilots - very touching and sad. No matter what you think of their acts, I think you have to admire these people for their bravery. Not to mention how they were willing to die for what they cared about and loved - their country and their families. There were so many artifacts there - pictures of those who went out (some as young as me or even just 17), things they carried, letters they wrote, clothes they wore and remains of their planes. My host-grandfather read some of the letters to me - "Big brother has gone to become friends with the stars. I'll watch over you and see you grow up from there. Be a good girl and take care of mom and dad." He also told me that he had seen people sitting on board trucks, being driven to their planes for take-off. "They weren't smiling then." He also said that he and his friends had been asked why they weren't going: "Anyone willing to come, raise your hand!" "I didn't." I had no idea he'd experienced that...

Also, I saw the last remaining plane of the ones they used in their missions. The pilot flying it crashed it into a huge American bomber (and I think that plane went down), but by some miracle only the wing of his plane got torn off, so he somehow managed to get back home. By the time he got back, the war had ended and there was no need to go back out. The Americans later spared his plane in acknowledgment of his bravery. There were actually two who survived and came back - one died some years ago, but the other one is (if memory serves) still alive today.

Grandfather and his friend from Osaka in front of a model of the planes used.

Outside a restaurant by the museum. ...I like my green tea.

...but it's too heavy to hold alone!

The school excursion was a lot of fun! We went to a big park with some other kids from the same year, and to start it all off we competed in several different games -Tsuru forced down bread (the kind you use with hot dogs) in a eating-competition, and I threw a Frisbee off into nowhere in a "through and have your partner catch a Frisbee"-contest.Yeeeehaw ! After that we ran to the park's playground where we spent ages jumping around on a four-man teeter-totter while screaming and laughing hysterically.
"I'm gonna fall off! I'm gonna fall off! No, aaaaaaugh!"
"It's too high! Too hi- ...did you see the JUMP I just did?!"
...Never mind the people staring at us wondering what on earth we were doing. :P

Afterward we played in the river, me and Tsuru wading around, later being joined by the others and ultimately joining in on a water-fight and drenching Tsuru so we (or rather, Tsuru...) got yelled at by Matsuo-sensei (AKA. Matti). "TSURU!" (laughing) "What are you doing?! Look at you! I told you not to get all wet, did I not?" (takes out her camera) "...say cheese!"

The Rotary trip was great too. Nagasaki was wonderful and extremely sad - we went to the peace museum of the atomic bombing. Seeing everything from a student's lunch box with completely carbonized rice to a projected shadow of a man, a glass with the bones of a hand stuck in it, a helmet with remains of a mans skull, pictures, videos... writings... It was tough. Very tough.

We also went to the Dutch slopes, where we looked around and I had an ice-cream with rose-taste. Yum! :) The night in Nagasaki was spent with purikura and lots of chocolate at the hotel.

The "ninja village" was a tourist spot called Yumedori where you could see built models of old Japanese houses and get training as a ninja, take pictures of yourself wearing kimono and so forth. A lot of fun, though! Especially the house where you had to find the exit, and the guide-ninja decided we might need some help, so he came in after us, thereby scaring Jessa half to death and giving Francesco and me a good laugh - that scream was memorable! XD

In Kumamoto we went to Kumamotojyo, a castle first built in 1469 and the site of the Satsuma rebellion. (That's Kagoshima and the samurai, folks!) Seeing the exhibition of things from the rebellion there and being in the castle was amazing! :)

I've also been to a fairytale museum with my family, and it was a lot of fun -
look, mom, I even found Oz!

...but I forgot my green glasses.

...and this little guy, a story I know and love (and again, mom, made me think so much of you:)

As I last update, I can say that I have - finally! - started kendo! (I asked my counselor 3 months ago...) I'm training at a place taught by a guy working in the police, and it's full of children from 7 years of age and up - the oldest are junior high school-students. Of course they nearly all own me skill-wise, but that's OK. I'm currently learning how to do the steps (or as I like to refer to it, "slip-skipping") and how to hold the shinai, as well as the proper way to hit a straight "men" hit. Hurrah!

(Now wish me luck so I don't get hit by the other people's shinai as I'm skipping along the wall by myself...)

Location: Japan!
Mood: - blank -
Listening to: The Call - Regina Spektor
Eating: Lemon biscuits! Yum
Drinking: -

To be elaborated...

2009-05-25T19:08:00.006+09:00

* 17th of May post updated! *

This is partly for myself to remember what I must blog about and partly to let you all know some things I've not yet been able to write a novel about:

- I've seen fireflies! Live fireflies! In the wild!

- I've been to the Chiran peace museum for kamikaze pilots, which was a sad, touching and memorable visit. I also got to see the only remaining kamikaze-plane in Japan.

- Ensoukai! AKA. School excursion. Involves friends (especially Tsuru), a river, "splish-splash!" and lots of candy and laughter. Good times.

Update (4th of June):

- Rotary trip: Nagasaki, Ninja village, Kumamoto.

Location: Japan!

"Surpliiise!"

2009-05-24T17:50:00.006+09:00

Yes! I've done it!

(;＾◇＾;)♪

I had a long debate with myself as to whether to do this or not, but I decided I'd regret it more if I didn't, so...

I sang "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid solo at the charity concert today! And then "Beauty and the Beast" with the chorus singing the backing harmonies.

It was outside, and had an unformal feeling to it, so I wasn't as scared as I thought I'd be. I was even able to have some fun while on stage.

It was my first time singing solo like this, so I was pretty nervous. I think you could tell from my singing too, but it was a good experience, and I think it went quite well all things concidered. ：P

I didn't tell anyone about this before, because I wanted to decide this for myself...and surprise you. So...

(Mom, dad, I sing in your general direction!)

PS: the stage is that brown building there...

17th of May... in Japan!

2009-05-20T21:10:00.004+09:00

As I expect you all to know, 17th of May is Norway's national day. Oddly enough there was not much celebrating here in Japan(!), but I did tell the Japanese about it, so in a way I remembered the 17th even though I did not wear my bunad or have a Norwegian flag to wave about with.

I did, however, practice Japanese dance at my teacher's house, which was a lot of fun! It goes down something like this:

I practice at my teacher's house one weekend every month. It's a lot of fun and quite challenging (keep those heels and hips down!), but I think It's a lot of fun! I think it's one of the few dances I can do without feeling foolish or embarrassed. (Hip hop could be fun, if I had more self-confidence and didn't feel like such a failure, see...) Also, the choreography seems to be slower, so I find it easier to learn.

I gave my teacher a mini-calendar with pictures of Norway and a postcard with pictures of Oslo as a 17th of May present, and sketched national costumes on a piece of paper, explaining a bit about our way of celebrating. I'm also explaining a bit about the "russ" celebration, and feeling a bit sad that I can't graduate with all my friends. Awww.

Sometimes I kind of wish Japan could be a bit like Narnia, so that I could come back and everything would stay the same. But then again, I'm so curious to hear about the changes and what my friends will be doing now that I guess I'm happy it's the way it is. ...now if only I could take my Japanese host family, friends and some teachers with me when I go home... (Matti-sensei, say you'll come with me and be my homeroom teacher! Pretty pleeeease! There can never bee to many! You and Béatrice will be a great team! I'll handle the translations?)

*ahem*

Japanese dance. Yes.
Well, I'm practicing "Sakura Sakura", which involves a lot of waving about with my two fans (pretty-pretty!) and moving of pigeon-toed feet. But I swear I look really cute and professional! My teachers have said that they'll dress me up in a furisode when I've learnt the whole dance, and they'll take a picture of me that I can show to my Norwegian family and friends. Hurray! :D

Here's hoping I don't get tangled up in those long sleeves...

A quick update - list style!

2009-05-14T19:45:00.004+09:00

Now I know I have little time online! Haha! Bear with me.

- I will soon get to do kendo. I'll be practicing with a group of people trained by people who are also members of the the police (because they do kendo). Awesome! I'll have to walk there from school, though, but I'll survive.

- I'm still singing with Midori-sensei. It's so much fun! I feel I'm getting better control over my voice, and I'm learning technique, which is wonderful! I can tell I've gotten much more volume since I started. Hurray!

- I am learning Chinese. In Japanese.

- I had a ensoku (class trip) on Monday, which was a lot of fun!

- I have school for one hour on Saturday, because our parents are coming to see what our classes are like. Yay....

- I have a private lesson in Japanese dance at my dance teacher's house on Sunday!

Location: Japan
Mood: Guilty (I've been online for more than 2 hours.)
Listening to: Various Tori Amos songs
Eating: bread
Drinking: no

PS: Kiyu, why can't I read your blog? It comes up all wierd-looking on my screen, and no text! D:

This spring magenta is the new black!

2009-05-04T13:54:00.002+09:00

We're on our way to a farm in Kirishima. (My goal is to cuddle cows! And I'm dressed accordingly. Haha!) We stopped at a store called LAWSON (oh, the irony of names! Lol) and I grabbed a free magazine because it had Evangelion's Ayanami Rei on the cover... and I found this commercial inside! 逆転検事！ Gyakuten kenji - Turnabout Prosecutor! Edgey-pooh!<3 XD It's being released this month! AAAAAH!

...I went completely fangirl and squealed with joy when I found this. I think I surprised my host dad. Haha! Sorry, can't help it. Gyakuten Saiban is one of my greatest weaknesses...

And a Kingdom Hearts game is coming out for the DS! I wuv my DS!

Less internet means blogs from the cellphone...

2009-05-02T14:56:00.003+09:00

It's golden week in Japan now, and we're taking the opportunity to go to different places. :) Just now we stopped for lunch at a park. There was a guy from my school working at a yakitori stand there, so I said hello to him. That was nice! Also, I gave Sayaka a piggy-back ride just for fun (she's less afraid of it than you, Nuff! ;P) and bought an ice cream for dessert. It's potato mix! Sweet potato (purple) and regular potato. Yummy!

The second picture is from a purikura I took a while ago with a bunch of my classmates after we'd helped our Japanese dance teacher at a dance competition she helped arrange.

...WHOA! We just drove by a burning house...! O__o;; The firefighter truck came right after we drove by. I feel sorry for those people... I took a picture with my cellphone in true Japanese style...

New schedule! :D

2009-04-13T17:25:00.005+09:00

Yes, yes, I know I promised you pictures... but uploading them all will take some time. And I can't be bothered to re-size 'em all right now. Sorry. Will do at some other point.

I shall from now on only be online twice a week, a total of 2 hours. (Rotary rules re-read.) So there might be less updates. Anyway:

I've got a new schedule at school! :D
It contains gym, judo!, entertainment (where we study how to articulate properly, important for song and plays), singing, Chinese, design and craft work (making small accessories etc.), as well as some lessons I'm continuing (Japanese dance, aerobics, English) and some regular classes. For example biology and modern Japanese.

This will be a lot more fun! :D
...I still wish I'd get that call from Rotary about my kendo place, though... There's still nothing to do once I get home.

Location: Japan
Mood: Tired - long day at school.

Yesssssss!

2009-04-08T16:14:00.004+09:00

(No Wella was used during the making of this blog post) Haha, I'm so lame! xD

I'm really happy. School looks like it'll be a lot more fun now, and - hold on tight! - I might have found something to do after school as well!

A major school update - meaning lots of text:

I've started my new school year, meaning I've now become a 3 nen sei (3rd year student) and every body's senpai. Hah! This also means that there's more pressure to work hard and set a good example - but this is part of the school culture I don't really mind.

I think I've gradually and without realizing it gotten more used to the senpai-kouhai system now. It'll be weird coming back to Norway where nobody seems to care what grade you're in and it's all very informal. Now don't get me wrong - we never groveled at our senpai's feet, but people seemed to have a certain sense of admiration and respect for their experience. Maybe especially among the geibun course, where we performed and danced together with them. They were also spoken to a bit more formally (by the Japanese students, that is - I spoke to pretty much everyone in the same way, also because I didn't always know who were in what class). In return, I felt that they helped and to a certain degree taught us kouhais. And I quite liked that. (Again, there were 3rd years that I thought were utterly foolish fools, but for the most part they were cool.)

Other than that, we've changed classrooms (we're now up in the buildings further away from the main building, where the aesthetic people were last year) and also our tannin! Meaning our homeroom teacher. I. am. SO. HAPPY! No more stressed-out teacher running around like a beheaded chicken. Peace at last! (I wish her all the best and a few sleeping pills, though.) Our new tannin is Matsuo-sensei, the leader for the geibun course. (The performing and dancing guys.) She's funny, in control and pretty strict, but only when needed, meaning I like her. Also, I feel like she'll treat us all the same in a good way. And I'll definitely be told if I do something wrong. lol.

Apparently my schedule will change too, which is great. Up until now I've had cooking 3 times a week and cake baking the entire Thursday. Meaning lots of making food and eating. And no PE. (It's a conspiracy!!) Needless to say, I didn't enjoy that part very much. I'm the kind of person who needs to move during the course of the week or I'll go insane. It also gives me more energy and makes me happier. So now finally being able to participate in PE (which is also good for building relationships with class peers, I might add,) is wonderful! If I'm lucky I'll even get to take singing lessons, Chinese and art. Among other things. It'll be exciting to see how this turns out!

For the last couple of months (I think it's been months, I've lost track...) what I've done after school has been next to nothing. I came home. Period. My kyudo club didn't train anymore and my swimming course won't start again for a while, and so I had nothing to do.

Still, I've been wanting to try kendo, as I wrote in one of my previous posts, and my Rotary counselor has helped me find one! I don't know very much about it as of now, but it's a private dojo being taught by the police. (Apparently, Japanese police are required to train either kendo or judo. I haven't done a lot of research about this, though.) The people training there are of all ages and ranks, meaning they stretch from kids to grown-ups. Hopefully there will be more new beginners there too. My counselor was absent from the Rotary meeting today, so they said they'd call me with further information, and take me there so I could see what it's like for myself. I'm excited! :D

Location: Japan! Land of awesomeness.
Mood: Tired, but happy.
Listening to: the lap top's fan buzzing...
Eating: no
Drinking: tap water (chlorine taste yum!)

Sakura by night

2009-03-31T21:43:00.011+09:00

Today we had the real hanami - with the food. :P

I'll post pictures later - it was really pretty when the lanterns got turned on (and really hard to take good pictures, so they turned out kind of crappy - but I'm going to post them anyway).

Also, I went out shopping the other day - I bought the art book from Mushishi, one of my favourite anime. It's a real beauty, and the art is inspiring in itself - so I decided to buy it after some consideration. I don't regret it! <3

I also bought Morning Musume's newest album, Platinum 9 Disc. I really like it! There's some really good songs in there, and even solo lines for the pandas! Tsunku, gogo! /Momusu fangirling

Location: Japan
Mood: I think I've caught a cold... again. -.-;;
Listening to: TV

桜

2009-03-28T16:38:00.002+09:00

Yes! The sakura trees are in bloom! :D

I went with my family to partake in the hanami - flower wieving. We haven't done the whole thing with a picnic basket yet, but I think we will now during the spring holidays. Still, no food meant no ditracting me from all the beauty surrunding me. (Haha, I sound like such a glutton!) I'm not complaining - I needed all my senses to take in as much as possible. :)

The cherry blossom is Japan's national flower, and I must say I don't think they could have made a better choice! And with all the sakura trees here blossoming in perfect unison now, it looked like a veil of pink blossom clouds. It was really warm and sunny that day too, so it was a perfect day for a hanami.

I love flowers and trees, so a blooming tree is perfect! It was beautiful.

Without further ado, I bring thee: pictures! (click for larger)

Look! A chibi sakura! :P

Also, there's news on the bukatsu (clubs) part of things. I've decided to quit kyudo, as we hardly ever trained, and so I found little reason to stay. However, I had a good time when we did train, and I'm very grateful to both my wonderful sensei and my bukatsu friends. :)

Still, my goals in joining a club were to try something new, to have fun, make new friends and train so that I could get as good as I could withing a year. This cannot be achieved without training.

So! I've talked to my councelor in Ijuin Rotary club (for the first time, go me!) and asked him if he could pwetty pwease do a bit of snooping around to see if there's any kendo clubs close to where I live that would allow a cute little foreign girl to wave a bamboo stick around. (Since my school's kendo club will be history as of the new term.)

There's a junior high kendo coach that's said he's willing to teach me, though, so at least I know of one. Fingers crossed!

Location: Japan
Mood: um... hungry?
Listening to: Scarborough Fair
Eating: no
Drinking: cocoa!

Spring graduations and nostalgia

2009-03-24T17:30:00.005+09:00

I'm aliiive! ...and pretty healthy, too. At least I'm not as sick anymore. Just coughing a bit.

So today I went with my host mom to see the graduation ceremony for the elementary school kids. Which was the most enjoyable one to watch by far. (I've seen the one at Josei and my host sister Sayaka's at university). They all stood up and recited a kind of speech in unison, split up so that some parts we're said by groups and some by all of them. The 5th year students (Japanese elementary school lasts 6 years), who were there as spectators, also stood up and did the same thing, wishing the graduates luck and thanking them for these five years together. It was kind of nostalgic and reminded me of my last day as a elementary school student - not that I can remember any special ceremony being held that day. I almost wish we'd had one. Graduation from high school will probably not have a ceremony like that either. ~~Although there'll be plenty of opportunities to celebrate and get drunk as a russ. Joy.~~

...now I'm at home again, watching parts of King Arthur on YouTube and looking at pictures.

There are some quotes from a part of this movie that's stuck with me since I first saw it. Maybe especially after I knew I was coming here. They're said by Guinevere as she's speaking to Arthur while they're traveling. And I've come to realize they may be more true than I had imagined.

"I belong to this land. ...Where do you belong?"

"It is a beautiful country, is it not? (...)This is heaven for me."

Location: Japan
Mood: Nostalgic, "nature...horses...nature..." (YouTube fault I say...)
Listening to: Hold the Ice - King Arthur OST
Eating: Sakuramochi inside a sweet roll :P

School Days

2009-03-21T22:51:00.005+09:00

(@ Shadowleaf: Pun intended ;P )

This Wednesday (I think it was) we had our final day of real school before the spring break. Our music teacher had brought a koto to school, so we all got to practice a bit and play "Sakura, Sakura". It was a lot of fun! And I got praise for my playing, haha! Only thing was I didn't know how I was supposed to end it, because I only remembered the melody up to a certain point. :P The next class after music was self-study, so Sato, Yase and I stayed behind and practiced for about an hour. Great fun!

We also had a class match again the other day, basically a sports day where all the classes compete against each other in sports like basketball, volleyball, ping pong or othello. This time around I joined the othello with Tsuru, some of the other girls and Francesco. We lost, but it was quite fun. Also, it was a good opportunity to talk to everyone and just hang around.

Having spoken to Mr. Kamikawa and Rotary it seems like I might get to change my schedule for next year. Not so much cooking, yay! :D

So, on to the not-so-fun-part...
The last couple of days I've been sick. I've been really hoarse, so I couldn't perform at the charity concert with the chorus. I feel tired even though I've just woken up, and sometimes (like now) my head hurts. This is really blah. I haven't got a fever or anything as far as I know, it just keeps "simmering" like this. I just know I'm definitely not well. *sigh* I just hope this doesn't ruin my spring break or prevent me from going out on a picnic the day the cherry trees blossom. ;_;

Location: In bed (my futon, I might add. Momo, get out... or sleep. Stop the acrobatics!!)
Mood: sickly and tired (aaaawww!)
Listening to: Jeremy Irons interviews (Inside the Actor's Studio) ...he was the voice of Scar...<3
Eating: no, not feeling like it...
Drinking: should be drinking more water, I guess...

A natural craving

2009-03-11T23:16:00.004+09:00

Blame my Norwegian genes. Blame my culture. On second thought, blame my dad. Or my... 小学校...小学校... elementary school! teachers.

...or the Japanese for being totally weird.

But I miss nature. I miss it so much it hurts! I crave it! I miss moving more. (Although going to the pool today helped.) I miss walking, and especially going for walks in the woods, or somewhere involving woods or natural surroundings in general. I miss climbing random trees! I miss sitting in them! I miss nature.

This is not to say there's not a lot of beautiful nature around Kagoshima. Because there is! It's just that people don't use it. Upon asking my host family if I could go for a walk in the forest on the hill that you can see from our house, I was told that that I couldn't do that. Why? "Because it's someone's forest." Someone who, let me tell you, couldn't care less if I went for a harmless walk in there. Can I climb trees around here? "No, not unless there's a sign that says you're allowed to."

What is wrong with people?!

Taking a walk in a forest is not terribly dangerous. I'll bring my cellphone, I promise. For the second time: the people owning it won't care. I will not be cutting down "their" trees. Maybe just climb them. God, please let me climb~ Dazey has told me of these beautiful places around here that he's found while walking. And nobody's ever out there. I've never had anyone take me for a plain old walk here the same way dad would drag me out every Sunday if I let him. You'll never see anyone camp out here. And no, there does not have to be a sign. I just need to make sure nobody's looking.

In short: I'm going crazy. And I need to stop asking about small stuff like this. That way, if I get caught, at least I didn't know. My plan now consists of finding a way up to the woods and going for a walk "anywhere" which just happens to end up "there".

This is not me sneaking out to get drunk downtown at 1:00 AM. That would be a big thing (and one you'll never see me do). This is me surviving. This is the poor, deprived Norwegian seeking trees.

Dad - I'll join you when I come home, I promise! Walking, skiing... I'm in!
(And enjoy it while it lasts. ;P Eventually there'll be days when I'd rather stay inside drawing. But by the looks of it that'll take some time. I need rehabilitation! XD)

Location: Japan
Mood: nature deprived (and not moving enough!)
Listening for: the wind in the willows (or actually listening to "Colors of the Wind" - fitting.)

I wish...

2009-03-03T17:47:00.002+09:00

If I could play the piano, dad, I would play this:

I'd also play various Otsuka Ai songs - I saw a book with her music and lyrics in it, with piano notes. *sigh* That would be nice. At least I can listen to Momo practicing for her piano lessons. :P

This has very little to do with my exchange, but I'm posting it all the same. Also, it's my 120th post! Hurray~!

...Oh, and Dolle? Concider this a hint.

Location: Japan!
Mood: tired
Watching: Dexter (FOX Crime on TV, whoo~!)
Eating: bento
Drinking: water

Japanese graduation

2009-03-02T17:22:00.012+09:00

Yesterday I went to school to watch the 卒業式 (sotsugyoushiki) graduation ceremony...

(Now, this following example is typical of my Japanese school life. :P)

I'd asked Madoka and heard the bus driver mention it, so I knew the bus would take me to school like usual at 7:50 AM. Other than that, I had very little information. I knew I should probably go up to my classroom, because that was where Madoka said I should leave my bag, and I figured that was where I was most likely to find some of the other students from my class. So I put my cute black loafers (actually Madoka's, they're borrowed) in my shoe-shelf and exchanged them for my not-so-cute pink plastic slippers. They're kind of funky, though. (I think maybe Pet Hedgehog would like them <3)>Once I came up to the classroom, I found about two - three other persons there. So where were the huge mass of students? Weren't they all coming to school? My teacher's repeated shrieks of "Zettai yasumanaide! Zettai gakkou ni kite ne! Yasumi jyanai kara, ne!" ("Don't take the day off! Be sure to come to school! It's not a holiday, OK?!") combined with my wanting to see a Japanese graduation had made me come today... so why did I alone make up 25% of the attendants? Something was off.

It turned out that the entire geibun (the half of our class that studies performance art - dance, singing and so on) had been told there was no need to come because there wasn't room for everyone anyway. So I moved on to the next question: "OK, so when does it start?" "...Uh... I have no idea. Sorry." So after asking around I still had no clue - because nobody else seemed to know either. I didn't know when it started, where we were supposed to sit or... anything, really.

My saviours turend out to be Mr. Dazey and my tea ceremony teacher. Dazey told me it started at 10 (why the bus went so early and why we had to wait so long I do not know), and my tea ceremony teacher told me that the second year students should be sitting approximately in the middle of the hall. Information obtained!

So after hanging around and waiting for about an hour, I went into the hall trying to look for some of my classmates to sit with - not easy! Still, with a little help from Oosaki-sensei (my kyudo teacher) I found a place to sit by Mori, a girl in my class. Yay!

The graduation ceremony in itself was not spectacular in any way, but I'm happy I came to see it anyway. They did a roll-call, reading the names of every single student (all 300-something of them!) in the third year, and they all answered and stood up. Then a representative for each group would come up and get the diplomas. Then there were a million boring speeches. Somewhere along the line I dozed off and came to again - just to discover there were more speeches. Oh yes, the joy!

Still, I really liked when they all got up, and shouted "thank you!" to the teachers. And then turned around and shouted (towards the parents) "Dad, mom! I've managed to graduate! Thank you for these 18 years!" ...and then there was the obligatory amount of tears, of course. =p (Which, in spite of my slight mockery, I can relate to)

...so, all in all, I'm happy I went. And of course having today off was good too. =) Tomorrow there's another big round of tests that I'll fail impressively. So wish me luck flunking those tests! :P

Oh, and I found this at Maren's lovely blog (in Norwegian). It made my day, so I'm sharing it with all of you (who are also YouTube addicts, right? Right? o(>////<)o )

Location: Japan!
Mood: twilight~ (blame youtube, seriously. I want to see that movie. Now.)
Listening to: Momo jumping on a big sheet of bubble wrap. It's driving me crazy. D: So I'm turning up the volume of Tori Amos' "Winter" instead. <3>
Eating: No
Drinking: water

PS: blogger keeps killing my text format. (Which explains the text size here and at the "Sotsugyo kouen" post.) And I can't figure out why! It annoys the living daylights out of me. I even made a template for it! Grrr...

Weird conversations...

2009-02-22T00:10:00.006+09:00

Edit: remembered and added another one! (02.22)

Teacher: Geibun! There's been a lot of candy paper lying around lately... You might be peckish, I know you dance a lot, but bringing candy to school is a no-no!

Class: ...

Teacher: If I find sweets in the classroom again, I will take them! ...so please, bring candy to school! I'll be very happy!

Girl in class: (mumbling) ...you'll be taking a lot home, then won't you? Like, a bag...

Other people: *pffft!* ...you'll get fat!

Teacher: That's OK, I'll go on a banana diet!

...well. Apparently, the banana diet is the new It here in Japan. (At least it must be pretty popular, since even I've heard of it. And I'm busy stuffing my mouth with karage, yakisoba, onigiri, takoyaki, tofu... you get the picture. :P Not too much, though. Wouldn't want to start eating bananas, now would we?)
I think it works like this: One banana in the morning... And then eat regularly. Does it work? I have no idea! :P

Momo: (staring at my nose) Your nose is really big!

Helene: ... I know. (-.-);; I want to have a small nose like the Japanese. It's cute...

Momo: I want to have a big nose!

Helene: ...why?

Momo: well... because with a big nose you can draw in lots of air! Right? :D

Helene: ...um, I guess...?

Location: Japan!
Mood: tired! Must sleep! (Or watch anime...? It's saturday! XD )
Listening to: music on my mp3
Eating: ...not enough bananas! XP
Drinking: water. Or green tea... can't decide.

Sotsugyo Kouen

2009-02-17T18:30:00.011+09:00

I DID IT!! :D

Valentine's Day, Saturday, was the big day. 卒業公演 sotsugyou kouen. "Graduation public performance". The final performance with all the third years at our high school before they graduate. Francesco and I joined in performing Japanese dance, aerobics and a fast hip hop dance called "Matsuri", which was nerve wrecking and a lot of fun! And I made it!! XD

When I started the dancing lessons at this school here, I thought it would be hard - except for Japanese dance, with the first years, we always trained with our class. Meaning they had been training dance for a minimum of two years. "Well," I thought, "It'll be OK as long as I try, right?" I didn't know they'd be expecting me to perform those dances with everybody else in front of the whole school!

Seno and Wada posing!

Well, what can I say... from the moment I knew that we'd be performing this, and that Francesco would be coming to train once a week, I decided that I'd do my best and train too. So every Tuesday I'd show up at the dance club. Mai, Tsuru, Wada... basically everyone in our class did an amazing job teaching us the dances! (Mai basically taught me the entire aerobic one afternoon with the dancing club.) Matsuri was the one I had the most trouble with, and also the one I was most nervous about. (My mom knows all about this, haha!) There were lots of "no, wrong, do it again" and "yes, you did it! High five!" - so it was actually a lot of fun training for it! I got to know people in my class better as well, and it was fun working and making something together.

Tsuru and me. I'm wearing a yukata, and Tsuru a kimono.

Posing in the changing room!

Before the 14th, we'd been practicing for a week at Ijuin bunkakan, the place where we'd be holding the performance. Once the day finally arrived, we were all pretty stressed and excited. Our Japanese dance involved throwing and catching our fans - the catching part was what had us all worried. All the first years were stressing about it, while our teacher kept saying "it's going to be fine, so don't worry!". I wub my Japanese dance teachers. <3>

The Japanese dancing teachers and us!

Us and all the third years

We had two performances, one during the day and one in the evening. Before each one we'd all gather in a big room and the third year boy that Francesco and I have simply dubbed "Cool Guy" held a small speech, saying "since this is the last time for us third years, let's all do our best!" "Ei, ei, oo!" to which we'd all shout back "EI, EI, OO!". At the evening performance he called Hamasaki, a boy from our class, over and they did it together. It was great to lift the spirits and get us all "fit for fight". Also, right before going on stage, we all gathered in a big circle, put our arms around each other's shoulders, stuck out our right foot (since we couldn't raise our fists) and whispered "ei, ei, oo!". Great! XD I think it worked - I didn't drop my fan either time! What I did do, however, was slip in the middle of the aerobic during the day! We were supposed to do a turn, and my shoes (that I'd never worn on a rehearsal - lesson learnt, mom...) slipped. So while everyone else were turning and doing the next step, I was staggering sideways in the middle of the stage waving my arms, trying desperately not to fall. I managed to stay on my feet and jumped in a few steps later. "The show must go on", right? XD Dazey said he didn't see it, so maybe it wasn't that noticeable. A shame, really - I bet it would have been really funny to see! I know I laughed. :P Matsuri went pretty well - a few misses, but considerably better than any practice session I ever did. ^^

In the pause we were interviewed for a live radio show by a guy that called himself "Smiley". It was really fun being interviewed with all our Japanese classmates, and my second time on Japanese radio. I got a little stuffed bear - the radio's mascot - as a keepsake when it was over. He's wearing a seat belt and "does not allow drunk driving". I love my bear! XD

Reading manga in a kimono - true Japanese culture! XD

Random pictures, go!!

The evening performances went very well! I didn't slip this time, and except for a step that I did a little early, I managed Matsuri too! Yay~! At the end, we're all doing what looks like a karate punch and scream "HA!" before the stage goes dark. My definite favourite move! Okaasan commented it too: "I figured! I saw it and thought "Oh, I bet Helen likes that one!"" She knows me well! ;)

Receiving the applause afterwards was great! Once we all got out on stage and bowed... it was wonderful. I was so happy and relieved that I'd done it, that I'd made it after months of work. Whoo~! At the same time it was kind of sad that it was over, and all the third years were now finished. (The only time they'll be back is for the official ceremony.) Once the curtain had gone down people started crying. Heck, it even made me tear up! I could relate to it too - all my friends back in Norway will be graduating this year, too. And I know the feeling. But I'm super happy I get to do this! :)

Hamasaki and Francesco

Great random memories:

- Singing Avril Lavigne's "Why" and "Sk8r boi" backstage with Shun playing the guitar - wearing hakama! XD

- Tsuru being coached by Francesco on how to be a gaijin from a Spanish speaking country, followed by some pricelessly funny Tsuru moments of immitating and acting.

- Cool guy was fixing his hair in front of the mirror, so I walked up and fixed the hair on his dancing prop. Spontanious jokes relieves stress. ^^

- Taking random photos with everyone

- The dance teacher eagerly explaining to me how much Wada resembles a kangaroo and Hirase looks like the character Ganguro tamago-chan. "Right?! Right?! She does!!"

Me and the singing teacher

Cool guy, first year boy and a girl from our class

Hamasaki playing "Hama-chan". XP

Location: Japan
Mood: Tired
Watching: Dexter! :D

Mamemaki

2009-02-06T18:51:00.004+09:00

Note: the red label reads "fuku mame" - luck beans

On the 3rd of February ~~Febuary! The dictionary's~~ ~~wrong!~~ I joined in on the annual Mamemaki (bean scattering). What it is is basically a ritual to cleanse the house of demons and bad luck and bring fortune and good luck instead. Momo had drawn oni (demons) on pieces of paper that we hung outside, and we threw beans at them while yelling "鬼は外！福は内！" ("oni wa soto! fuku wa uchi!" lit. demon is outside! luck is inside!") After that we threw small bags of the same beans around the house - "福は内！" "福は内！" - to bring luck. (These were gathered later.)

Next we all gathered in my room, turned off the light and sat waiting with big plastic bags, and okaasan came in the room with a heap of candy that she threw into the room one handful at a time. Mayhem and joy ensued: "Itte! Itte!" ("Ouch! Ouch!") "Gaaaaaah!" "Iyaaaaah!"

...and then we ate some roasted beans. (Delicious, I might add!) We ate one bean for each year of our lives, and then one for good luck. So I got to eat 19 beans! ^^ Yum, yum!

A very flattering picture of self with an oni bag of beans.
(Which explaines my highly fearful expression of dramaticness.)

Location: Japan~
Mood: "soon swimming! Yay!"
Watching: a Doraemon movie!
Eating: mame!
Drinking: C.C. Lemon

In need of a cardboard box

2009-02-06T17:05:00.009+09:00

Take an exchange student who also happens to love Japanese sub-culture and j-pop/rock. Take her to Japan for a year. Place her in a Japanese music store. Watch her go crazy. Now place her in a second hand music/game store where everything is much cheaper. Watch her go insane. Let her do this sporadically for about 5 months.

Watch the stack of CD's grow...and grow.... and you end up with something like this:

...I put my DS in there for comparison.

I need a big box to send things home in. Now. Haha! p(^_^;;)q

On a different note, my kyudo club is nearly extinct. People hardly ever come to training, and as it is now it's Kuramura and me training outside. He' left the school's dormitory, and it now takes him 2 hours to go home... so naturally there'll be times when he can't come either. And we're trainig outside where it's cold. The other's won't show up until we start training in the dojo again, but that might take some time. And they all joined the student's council...

I don't know anymore. I'll keep trying for some time and see. It'll get better when it gets warmer too.

I've had this week off, because there were tests at our school for junior high schoolers wanting to get in to Josei. I've been doing basically nothing, so I've been a little bored. I don't get to move much, and I've come to realize I really am a sports freak. I love moving and learning how to do new, physical things. So sitting around all day makes me a dull girl. XD

I did, however, sing karaoke for 4 hours straight with my host sister Sayaka. Couldn't speak very well afterwards, but it was a lot of fun! I also discovered some new songs that are a lot of fun to sing; Ikomonogakari's "Sakura" and Aya Matsuuras "Ne~e". A lot of fun! (...and you can't beat the theme song from "Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan"! XD Pipirupirupirupipirupiiii~!

...random posts? Me? Never! ....

Location: Japan
Mood: kind of bored (but swimming soon! Yay!)
Listening to: MTV (in the living room with my family)
Eating: -
Drinking: -

Tokyo!

2009-02-02T19:49:00.006+09:00

From Thursday (29th) to Saturday (31st) last week, Francesco, Jessa and I went on a trip with Mrs. Kamikawa to Tokyo. It was great! It's not often that you get to travel half across the world to see these things in real life! I'd hoped that, upon coming to Japan, I might be able to see Tokyo. I always thought it'd be a shame coming to Japan for a year and not seeing the capital once. Goal accomplished! ^^ I can't be bothered to write it all out again, seeing as I'm currently writing three rotary reports (Two in Japanese and one in English), so I'm copy-pasting a bit.

The first day (29th) we met up with the Kamikawas at Chuo eki and were driven to the airport where we took a plane to Tokyo. Once in Tokyo, we got on a sightseeing bus that took us to see first the Emperor’s palace, the Sensoji temple and then the Tokyo tower. In the Tokyo tower they had small windows in the floor that you could look down through. Awesome! :D

Tokyo was so big! From the tower it looked like one of those clattered children rooms where you won't put your feet down in fear of stepping on (and possibly destroying) something. Except here those "somethings" were buildings. A lot of them.

In the evening we went to our hotel that was located in the middle of Shinjuku, right by the station (which was huge!). The hotel, too, was enormous – the reception was at the 20th floor! At the hotel we ate at an Italian restaurant that served delicious food. Francesco went crazy and ate tons, as did the rest of us I think, haha!

On the 30th we woke up around 8 AM and ate breakfast at the hotel before we all went out to look around and shop. We went around Shinjuku and to Shibuya and Harajuku, which was a lot of fun! Harajuku was a lot smaller than I'd thought, with only one line going to the station, but that just added to the appeal I think. It made it kind of...intimate. And yes, there were lots of people in cute clothes! :D Also - so many places and shops I’d never seen before! It was really interesting! And I found Closet Child, a shop selling second-hand lolita clothes from brands like "Baby, the Stars Shine Bright", "Angelic Pretty", "Metamorphose temps de fille" and "Moi-même-Moitié". Heaven!

The third and last day we had some time before we had to leave for the airport, so we spent some more time shopping and looking around. It was a lot of fun! At about 2 o’clock we went to the airport, where we bought omiyage (Rotary club, host family and classmates) before going home.

In short: great trip! I'd love to come back to Tokyo one day...

Tokyo Tower

All three

Tokyo - AKA. don't step on anything!

Tokyo by night

The famous temple in Tokyo

Location: Japan, Kagoshima
Mood: hungry...
Listening to: Kanon Wakeshima (Still Doll and Suna no Oshiro) She'll be releasing in Europe! OMG! :D
Eating: No~
Drinking: Water

Rotary-trip of awesomeness

2009-01-30T13:15:00.002+09:00

I'm currently sitting at a TullY's coffe cafe in Tokyo, having a maccha latte. Jessa and I found a shop called Closet Child that sells used lolita clothing to fair prices. 天国〜 Next we're going to Shibuya, then meet Francesco in Harajuku. I love Tokyo！ヾ(*⌒∇⌒)ツ

What I do when we have English...

2009-01-19T23:07:00.006+09:00

...I make gyakuten saiban fanart!

(Or Lion King. It depends.) I've been dying to do this particular one for ages, I'd say almost since I started playing Gyakuten Saiban 4 - Apollo Justice. *shudder*

Needless to say: Phoenix kicks Apollo's butt. If I was Capcom, I'd get back to Nick and Maya now.

...for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about: make me happy - get a DS and play the Ace Attorney series!

(Eirik - you should love me for this! ~~And you know you do!~~)

Keep your head above the water!

2009-01-17T17:00:00.006+09:00

Friday. I'd gone to sleep too late on Thursday again even though my goal was 10:30 PM (why I can't remember, but I think we ate dinner pretty late) so I was really tired... waking up at 7 AM and having dance lessons at school that day was pretty brutal, haha! :P

I'd planned to sleep some once I got home after school, but preparing pictures for my self introduction (I'll be going to school with my 8 year old host sister Momo the 29th) occupied me for such a long time that in the end I just grabbed my towel, swimming cap, goggles and my bathing suit...

...I thought. Once in the changing room, I undressed and pulled out what turned out to be my bikini. The bottom half of it. Cursing my luck I went around my row of lockers to find Madoka and announce the Failure of the Year. We left our bags in the lockers, sprinted for the car and raced back home.
I almost knocked my host brother over in the hallway as I sped around the rooms looking for my disappearing bathing suit of doom. It was not in the drawer. Not hung up to dry. Where the he- oh, Madoka found it - in the basket with all my other clean clothes. ..."Eagle eyes" is my middle name. *ehm*

Once we got back to the pool, I scrambled out of the changing room 15 minutes late and hurried to the poolside, bowing ans apologizing to the teacher, explaining that I'd forgotten something.

Helene: "Osokunatte sumimasen!" ("I'm so sorry I'm late!")

Trainer: "Aa, daijyobu desu." ("It's OK")

Helene: Wasuremono deshita..." ("I'd forgotten something..." lit.: was forget thing)

Trainer: *laughs* "...mizugi deshita yo ne?" ("It was your bathing suit, wasn't it?")

Helene: "..hai..." ("Yes...")

Great success. p(-.-);;

After swimming 100 meters to warm up and catch up with the others, I joined the lesson. It's basically a swimming course focusing on technique, so it's not like the swimming I used to go to, but it's still great training. I've forgotten some, and there's lots of things to improve. I swim first in my group, since I'm the fastest, but this time he also asked me to swim some in the course beside the others so I could practice more. I have more stamina then most of them (although I've lost a lot of what I had when I went swimming in club each week in junior high), and so I like being allowed to swim and train a bit more. (I miss moving! Here I sit a lot... there's not many places to go. :P)

The trainer would repeatedly smile and say things like "and then we'll swim 25 meters... Helen: dash!" or "Helen: speed! Up!" Also, he showed me how I was supposed to move - both by showing me using his own body and by taking a hold of my legs/arms and moving them to illustrate what he meant. (Which I often find a great help no matter how well I understand the language in which it's being taught - feeling what it's like when you do it right gives you something to compare with.) But of course, he'd only do that after saying "Maybe it's OK if I show you by moving your legs?". Very Japanese. :) It's fine, really - in such a setting and to demonstrate, please - feel free to borrow my arm any time! ~~I promise I won't scream sekuhara!!~~

Oh, and I still get water in my nose when I swim backstroke. I can close it, but it still tickles something impishly.

Location: Japan <3
Mood: "Must... blog! Update!"
Listening to: My host brother sniffling.. uh, yeah...
Eating: just ate. Too much rice. I'm gonna get fat, blargh. ><
Drinking: Probably not enough water (The pool doesn't count!)

...but my eyes are dry.

2009-01-12T18:24:00.003+09:00

My 110th post, yay~!

Kagoshima Josei Kokou, my high school, came second in the all Japan school competitions!
...so now there's crying and despair all over the place.

What's with people? Yeah, they lost, but... they're second in the whole country, for crying out loud! The changing room was filled with boys in blue uniforms sobbing. Ookaay...? I understand that they're probably disappointed that they didn't win when they'd worked so hard to get to the finals... but it still kind of baffles me. They say they're happy they got this far, learned so much and had fun, but they say it with a choked voice while stearing with tear-filled eyes into the camera. When these sport clubs do something, they go all the way.

...Still, you don't see a lot of people winning silver medals in the olympics crumbling into a sobbing pile at the finish line. "Those who get in second didn't win a silver medal - they lost a gold". The person who said this can never have won a silver medal.

People - be happy! This was friggin' well done if I may say so myself. Now let me see some smiles.

Location: Japan! In front of the TV...
Mood: O__o ?
Watching: soccer on TV

I love Book Off!

2009-01-05T21:21:00.005+09:00

Madoka was nice enough to take me to Book Off today - a big store that sells used books, CD's and DVD's at reduced prices.

I didn't manage to find any H!P CD's, but I found half a ton of singles for 105 yen, equaling about 8 NOK! Two of them limited editions: Morning Musume's "Ai Araba It's All Right!", that came with a mini photobook pamphlet. The other was "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari", complete with a set of photocards! :D Happy! I brought a total of 12 CD's (singles, mostly) to the counter. The lady behind it smiled politely and said "please wait a minute..." while she started beeping in CD after CD of H!P... Haha! XP

Limited first press releases. I'm so happy~ *^^*

The other singles I found included "Suki Sugite Baka Mitai" by H!P's DEF. DIVA, "Sakura Mankai", one of my all-time H!P favourite singles by Morning Musume Sakuragumi, "Lucky Cha Cha Cha!" by Mini Moni and a heap of older Morning Musume singles.

...and I bought Gackt's CD "Moon" and Otsuka Ai's newest release "Love Letter". And the other day I bought two CD's: "7.5 Fuyu Fuyu Morning Musume Mini!" and High King's "C/C Cinderella Complex". (It's really too bad this group will only be releasing one single. I like their sound.) My H!P collection is growing, and I'm terribly pleased. Especially since I'm such a good girl and even bought it at reduced prices. Mom, pet my head! ^^

...Being in Japan is great. XD

Location: Japan!
Mood: content~ (I had dinner, haha!)
Listening to: Morning Musume - various singles... :P

The start of my new year...

2009-01-05T20:31:00.003+09:00

New Year's Day I went to an onsen (hot spring) with my family and went to a shrine with them around midnight, where I was shown how to wash your hands before ringing the bell and doing the "bowing and clapping your hands" ritual. I also bought one of those notes where you can read your fortune for the coming year. Mine was "so-so", but second best. And "my wish will come true because all my friends are there to help me"! It was really nice. ^^

The 1st we went to the grandparents house in the evening and ate together with the whole family. My host dad got kind of drunk, so I spent a lot of the 2nd rubbing it in and teasing him. Haha! :P

I've gone to three shrines, so that's supposed to bring luck. ^^ I also bought a o-mamori (protection charm) from a shrine maiden. (Wearing the red and white clothes~). It's a buji kaeru, a "stay safe frog" that'll protect me and make sure I get home to Norway in one piece in the summer. ^^

Since Madoka turned 20 in 08, which is when you come of age in Japan, this January was her 成人の日 seijin no hi - Coming of Age Day. She wore a furisode (a kimono with long sleeves worn by unmarried women) and had her picture taken with all the kids in the family. Including me. ...so guess what? Yes, I got to wear a kimono! The real thing, with all the fastening and all the layers and one huge obi. The camera guy actually took some pictures of just me too. I don't really like having my picture taken, (lcontiniously looking bad in pictures tend to lead to that...) but it was fun! I'll post some pictures when they've been developed.

Location: Japan!
Mood: Starving! I want food~ hungry! XD
Listening to: Eg ve te Bergen - Knutsen og Ludvigsen haha! I started laughing in the back of the car listening to this. My host mom was probably wondering what the heck I was doing. XD
Eating: not yet~ T_T
Drinking: I want food. Not drink. Food~

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T19:52:00.003+09:00

Seeing as the clock has turned 00:00 here in Japan, it's officially time to say "Happy New Year"!

I can't believe it's '09 already! It's gone by so fast - and at the same time this has been the longest year. In a way it seems like Norway, my Norwegian school and my preparations for Japan...in a sense even my family and friends were all in another life, or somewhere really far away. And in many ways it is. Yet I keep them all as close as I can in my heart. I'm wearing my saami necklace I received as a present from my dad today, and the bracelet my boyfriend gave me. Just to be kind of symbolic. I usually always spend New Year's Eve with my family.

This year I'm spending it with my Japanese family instead. We're going to a shrine, which will be fun! And I'm having a good time with them too. <3

2008 has been a really exciting year for me. So much has happened! '08 will always be the year when...

- Si Chàng came to visit us in Norway (I can't believe that was that really in '08?!)
- I started my second year at school with all my friends <3 (and last with them)
- I had my second (and final) year of Japanese evening classes!
- The year I turned 18, but did not officially come of age (Japan, I love you!)
- The year I first came to Japan
- The year I went on my high school exchange to Japan (and met my wonderful Japanese family)!

So what will the new year bring? I'm not sure, but I'm sure it'll be exciting and wonderful too! "Just around the river bend..."

This year, I'll...

- work hard on my Japanese!
- do my best at kyudo!
- try not to put on too much weight while in Japan -_-;;
- buy and work with a kanji book (want to learn more!)
- in general "ganbarimasu~!"
- Enjoy myself as much as I can! :D

Again: Happy New Year!

Location:
Mood:
Listening to:
Eating:
Drinking:

Christmas (in Norway, anyway...) :P

2008-12-31T19:38:00.005+09:00

I was supposed to post this the 24th, but as you all know blogger decided to hate me that particular day. So here it is, posted from my computer instead:

メリークリスマス!
Merry Christmas!
God jul!

I'm santa!☆(≧▽≦)ゞ

Today is the 24th, meaning they're celebrating Christmas back home in Norway. Here in Japan they celebrate on the 25th, so today was my last day of school.

We're having an early Christmas celebration at the grandparent's house tonight. Eating onigiri, chicken and pizza by the looks of it. (・ω・)/

Tomorrow 冬休み, the winter holidays, start. I'm free for two weeks! Minus homework...guh. I think I'll shop for some more clothes, having heard that February is the coldest month in Kagoshima. My god, I'll freeze to death practicing kyudo outdoors... (→o←)

Anyway - to all my family and friends (since any cards you'll get are bound to be late, ahem...): Merry Christmas! ☆ And a happy new year!

I was going to post, but...

2008-12-25T17:34:00.003+09:00

Lately blogger has been refusing to accept the blog posts I try to send in with my phone, so I'm sorry there's been so few updates. Why, blogger, why~! T_T

There's a Christmas post waiting to be uploaded too... ;_; Now it'll be late, but please bear with me. m(_ _)m

In the mean time:

To all my family and friends (to whom any letters and cards are bound to be late... :P):

Meri kurisumasu!
Merry Christmas!
God jul!

Akemashite omedetou!
And a happy new year!
...og godt nyttår!

Yesss!

2008-12-18T23:40:00.002+09:00

I've done it! I've fired my first arrow with feathers!☆

Oosaki-sensei stood beside me the whole time, watching and helping me with everything from how to walk up to where I fire from to how to pick up my second arrow (while wearing the glove. Not as easy as you may think). They told me that usually girls have trouble getting the arrow all over to the side the target's on. Well...I got it over all right!

WHOOOSH!
"Where did it go?"
"I can't see it..."

Haha! XD I was far from the target, but Oosaki-sensei patted me on the back and said it was well done. And I fired my first proper arrow! So I've been happy the entire evening. ♪〜ヾ(*⌒∇⌒)ツ☆

Actually, I used Yumiba-senseis arrows since my red ones were at school. The feathers on these arrows are quite worn, so that makes them go a bit here and there too. Still - I won't say my technique is perfect either! ：P Tomorrow's training again! 。o@(^-^)@o。

The picture is of my teammates training. OK, so Kuramura is fixing his bow and Hamada is... ehm...well. Not. In this picture. Which is why I took it. XD He sat up in seiza when he heard a teacher coming, hehe!(^ε^)

Oh - I'm seriously attached to my bow now...

THIS...IS...SPARTAAA!

2008-12-17T19:08:00.002+09:00

Whew, I'm tired! In an effort to totally exhaust myself while on exchange, I've decided to take one day every week where I practice the dances we'll be performing sometime in February. (Or not, depending on if we pass the dancing test or not.) Anyway, I went there today, taking a day off from kyudo. It was actually pretty fun.☆ Even though it's really fast and I'm not good at dancing. But I'm starting to remember. I can even do some of it! Including the whole aerobic with some more practice.☆ It's not impossible! And you get closer to the people in class working with them. They're really patient as long as you do your best. I think I like working together like this.

So, my schedule until February will look like this:

Monday: kyudo
Tuesday: dance practice
Wednesday: kyudo (dojo)
Thursday: kyudo
Friday: swimming

...I must be trying to kill myself. ：P Still, this is temporary. Once it's done I'll train kyudo at school on Tuesdays again!♪

Watershow

2008-12-13T14:22:00.002+09:00

There's a watershow set to music in front of the mall every hour or so. And guess what music they used! ♪

I still love Jack. XD

Edit: ...And after posting this I realized that the video I took didn't make it and so it makes no sense... -_-; Anyway, it was a video of the water spraying up in tune with the music - the theme from my beloved movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl"!

It's H!P !

2008-12-13T13:42:00.002+09:00

OMG, OMG, OMG! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏー☆

I just found an idol shop! And there were Morning Musume,Mini Moni, W, Otsuka Ai and Hamasaki Ayumi pictures and goods galore! I bought lots of pictures of Mini Moni and W, things you'll have a hard time finding now that the groups have disbanded. My inner H!P fangirl is squealing with joy.

Nevermind that I cane up to the counter twice with large piles of folders pointing out different pictures I wanted. The guy there had to write down like a gazillion different numbers, haha! 。o@(^-^)@o。

I'm here!

2008-12-13T11:05:00.002+09:00

...I'm in Fukuoka!☆ They have the Lion King musical playing in the city theater! ...And Christmas decorations.

Grub, Nick!

2008-12-13T09:44:00.002+09:00

I'm eating my first Japanese hot dog! It's wrapped in a Chinese bao zi! (steamed bun.) Wo ai bao zi〜 I was really happy when I found a sign I could read the sign in Chinese. It said xiao long bao zi... (*゜∇゜)ノ

...food? Who, me? ：P

Sleepy Departure

2008-12-13T07:11:00.002+09:00

Right now we're in the car on our way to sowewhere...☆ Can you guess where? I think I mentioned it before…?

I woke up at 5AM today, so that we could leave by 6. But otoosan's clock stopped at 5, so he thought we had more time.(^。^)‐☆

In the end we left by half past 6 instead... so I got to rest some more〜♪

Now I shall proceed to catch a few z's. Later!
(￣_￣)zzZ

You've been WHERE?!

2008-12-12T19:45:00.002+09:00

Madoka and I just went to by some bread for tomorrow. I had fun trying to read all the French and Japanese labels. The lady behind the counter was impressed that I could speak Japanese and asked where I was from. "Norway." "Really? I've been to Norway!" "You have?!" "Yes, to Oslo." "I live in Oslo!!" "I have a friend in Norway, you see." ...WOW! I'm totally flabbergasted everytime I meet someone who's been to Norway or knows something about my country.↑ We're not exactly well-known around here. (^∇^) The most common question I get is if we speak English (understandable)and when I tell them no, we speak Norwegian, their reply is often something like "oh, is there a language like that!". Yeah.(^ε^)

So this was really cool!☆

道場

2008-12-12T16:29:00.002+09:00

The place where we bow before every training. I'm not sure what it all is, but it looks nice. :P

These things have fallen victims to my featherless arrows.

Where the cool guys fire theirs. (With feathers!)

This is the dojo where we train, or at least parts of it. (^ε^) I love this place! It's just beside a temple, and it's all in traditional Japanese style.☆ Wood! I think it's beautiful.

The first arrow!

2008-12-11T22:35:00.007+09:00

I'm in front of my computer, which allows me to type faster and tell you more about the amazing news:

~ I've officially fired my first arrow!! ~

It was a special practice arrow, like I said. And my target was not a mato target, but a makiwara. Now let me tell you - up until now kyudo's been pretty hard while doing nothing else but practicing to draw the bow. Now add an arrow....

The technique - it's so much to think about! And it's so much fun! I actually really like things that are technically challenging. As long as it feels like I'll be able to do it eventually. ;P

Oosaki-sensei (the actual kyudo teacher) took us to the dojo, and taught me how to hold the arrow, shoot and...well, everything. Holding the arrow - it's a lot harder than I'd thought. (Although I try not to say or think "pfft, that's easy!" because you never really know until you've tried. And as a rule it's always much harder than it looks!) You kind of just support it with your hand. Still, if you use too much strength, the arrow falls! So it's kind of the opposite of what your instincts tell you to do, right? "Hold on tight, don't drop it!" *cling* "...darn.." Haha! And to top it off, the bow is pretty heavy to draw for me still. Even though my wrist now bends as it's supposed to, it's hard to hold their position once you've fully drawn the bow. But I'll practice, practice, practice! Yaay~! v(*^^*)

Oosaki-sensei was really great and helped me, telling showing me (either physically by repositioning my various limbs or by mimicking the movements) what to do. The first time I let go of the string and fired the arrow, I was delighted by the power it released. I've felt it while practicing to draw the bow, but actually releasing it was really cool! I just stood there with my eyes popping going "Whoa! Whoa! Hee... hehehehehehee!" Oosaki-sensei smiled and laughed a bit at me when I did that. ^^ Oh, and my sensei looks freakin' elegant! Just the way he mimics how to pull the bow... I feel like I can see where the power goes and you can tell he knows what he's doing. And he's really supportive and seems like a really nice person too. It's a shame my swimming lessons on Friday collide with my second day in the dojo.

Once I released the string wrong so that, even from that short distance, my arrow went sideways and into the wall - missing the entire makiwara! XD I laughed while Oosaki-sensei went over and swiftly pulled it out. Well, actually I hit the protecting plate behind the target. There was a suspiciously round mark suggesting someone once hit the wall... :P

There's just a lot to think about. Even how to walk up to the place from where you aim have specific rules! And I haven't even started putting on my clothes yet... although I will next time! So I'll feel either really cool or really wannabee, haha!

Location:
Mood: Very sleepy...
Listening to:
Eating: doughnuts!
Drinking:

弓道

2008-12-11T16:11:00.003+09:00

Today's pictures are from where we practice kyudo at school, and of some of the guys in my club...eh, practicing!(^∇^)/

Yesterday I fired my first arrow! It was on a practice target, and I stood really close by so as to practice my technique. So my arrow was one without feathers. (Aiming comes later.★) This also means it's not shiny and red. Yet. There are a million rules to learn first. How to walk up to where you stand, for example. I've only practiced a bit of that. It's really challenging! Which makes it fun!☆ I'll write more about it if I can get to my computer tonight.↑↑

Pretty night light

2008-12-09T18:25:00.002+09:00

I'm waiting for Madoka to come and pick me up bythe school. She's driving me home now when it's getting dark so quickly.It's pretty cold standing outside waiting, but the starry night sky is really beautiful!☆

Can you tell there's a white and slightly rainbow coloured ring around the moon? Clouds! 。o@(^-^)@o。

Rain...

2008-12-09T17:55:00.002+09:00

It was raining today, so this guy was protecting me from it!☆ I love frogs! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

Luckily the rain stopped before my kyudo training.♪ If not there wouldn't have been one, see... But today it was fairly warm out too, so training (even though it was outside) was all fun!☆

鶴

2008-12-09T08:35:00.002+09:00

I've learnt how to fold cranes!☆ Yesterday was a very productive day at school...(^ε^)

We're making them for the soccer team. They'll be competing in the all-Japan championship, so we're folding a thousand cranes, writing messages inside them and hanging them in long rows. It brings luck.☆ v(^_^)v

Sweet Dreams...

2008-12-08T22:53:00.002+09:00

I'm gonna go to bed now.♪But I think I'll try to read some first. This one has furigana too!☆ ...and I think my chevalier recognizes it too...(^∇^o)(o^∇^)

Christmas Crazyness

2008-12-06T16:21:00.002+09:00

We drive by this shop sometimes. Today we went inside. And let me tell you - it's just as crazy there! Basically they've taken every single American decorational item they could find, smacked it on their shop and crammed it inside. There were some easter signs there that reminded me of those I saw outside a lot of houses while in Michigan. It made me miss the place. I guess I do feel American too, huh? (*^^*)

Evidence of Christmas Crazyness: "TAKE THAT!"

Autumn Colours

2008-12-06T13:33:00.002+09:00

The autumn colours in Kagoshima are beautiful!☆ Ant eater thinks so too. This picture is of him looking out the classroom window at the red leaves of the tree outside. I think he likes it, no?

I'm in front of my PC again!

2008-12-04T21:30:00.005+09:00

I've noticed I've already passed the number of posts I wrote all of last month. Hehe! I blame it on my re-discovered cellphone. Luckily connecting to the internet through your phone here isn't as expensive as it would be in Norway. It'll still be interesting when I get the bill. :P

The posts I post from my cellphone will be shorter, but they allow me to update wherever I am and tell you what's going on at the moment. Also, it means I spend a little less time in front of my computer in Japan. I won't stop writing from my computer, though, since I need to edit the ones I make from my cellphone (change the font and add tags) and because once in a while I'll probably show up with my enormously long posts again. ;)

Tomorrow I start my swimming course, which will last for 3 months. Wheee~! As I think I've said before, it's every Friday. That means that I can't train kyudo that day, but it's OK. I'll still train kyudo four days a week - that should be enough for imrovement, no? =)

Location: Japan
Mood: Content
Listening to: sounds from the TV

Otaku goes shopping

2008-12-04T20:07:00.002+09:00

First of all: Happy birthday, Nuff! 誕生日おめでとうございます！☆

I went with Sayaka to an anime shop today.♪ I found some gifts for friends and a some things for me (duh).(;＾◇＾;) They had tons of stuff! And music, too. I bought Wakeshima Kanon's "still doll", her first single and the ending for the first season of the Vampire Knight anime. And the official Vampire Knight fan book!☆

Nuff, did you know Wakeshima wrote her own lyrics and plays the cello? (*゜0゜) AND her music's produced by Mana! like her better by the minute.

Oh, and I bought some really cute paper at a sanrio shop! 可愛い！☆ Look forward to new letters! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

Pocket Sized Friend☆

2008-12-03T22:55:00.002+09:00

I found a small friend while I was out with okaasan and Madoka shopping.

I saw him peeking out over the edge of his little basket, his small, black eyes shining with curiousity and his nose sniffing out into the air. He stood out and was so cute that I had to buy him. He's an ant eater! (Not an aunt eater, for those of you who've read Roald Dahl...) His nose is as big as mine and he's got a bushy tail! Also, he's very shy. He doesn't like formality, because it makes him uncomfortable. Especially if the people are wearing ties.

I haven't decided a name for him yet. Any suggestions?☆

クリスマスが来た！

2008-12-03T20:02:00.002+09:00

The Japanese celebrate Christmas too, to a ceirtain extent. Well, at least they put up the decorations. And the trees. Oh, the trees! I'm suspecting it's all just an excuse to put up more キラキラ kirakira.

This one's from outside Amu Plaza in Kagoshima. It's...pink. And yes, that's a crown on top:

行って来まーす！

2008-12-03T16:00:00.002+09:00

Today I'm going with my host family to 鹿児島 (Kagoshima) to do some shopping.☆ We're going by car today, so I'm listening to music.♪ヽ(∩・∩)ヽ♪

We washed our car in a car washing machine, and I sat in the backseat laughing all through it.

We found some weird chairs that you can sit in!☆

Oh, today I almost forgot my blazer! So I had to run for the school bus.(;＾◇＾;) Hehe...

カレー☆

2008-12-02T14:03:00.002+09:00

幸せだな〜♪ヾ(*⌒∇⌒)ツ

Happyness is coming home from a day of tests at school and finding a big plate of curry for lunch. That's all yours!☆ Yum! After eating this my power level will be up enough that I can continue trying to read some of the Japanese manga I've bought.↑↑ Maybe even the ones without furigana. Not that I understand everything anyway, but...(;＾◇＾;)

いただきま〜す!★

Raigomaru

2008-12-01T12:39:00.002+09:00

This is my pet chicken. ♪ He can be found tied to a pole by where I train kyudo, poor thing. He's been given to the school because he (ok...she) doesn't lay eggs anymore.The caretaker says Raigomaru will eventually be eaten. In the mean time I loosen his leash, feed him his favourite food and pet him.☆

"The chicken loooves me!"

This was my first attempt at blogging from my cellphone... did it work?
(〃⌒-⌒〃)

Busy...

2008-11-30T18:15:00.004+09:00

As you might have noticed, the blog's not being updated as frequently now. This is because:

a) I've been quite busy lately with school, kyudo and Rotary
b) My main priority is to spend time with my host family and friends here, and not my computer. :P
c) To be honest, there's not much new going on at the moment.

Still, it's not like I won't keep blogging - don't worry! I think I might have figured out a way to blog from my cellphone too, so I might give that a try one of these days. Shorter posts, but...

I've decided not to take the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) here after all. Francesco and I had originally signed up to take the level 2 test (expecting to fail but wanting to see how much we could do), but because of some misunderstandings and a culture crash that caused a lot of stir, I thought it'd be best to take it once back in Norway instead. "And that's all I have to say about that."

My swimming lessons will be starting this December, which I'm really looking forward to! I'll be swimming again! Yayay~! That'll be the first time in... 3 years, maybe? I've missed swimming.
...but in Norway I just don't have time. So I traveled across the globe instead! :P

Also, I'm making a scrap book in which I paste random stuff that reminds me of my time here. ^^

And to all my family and friends: The reason you haven't recieved any postcards yet is because I've had a hard time finding them. Some of you have got letters - others I'm currently writing. Please be patient! It'll take time. ;) In the mean time, I'm sending you all lots of love! <3>

Dolphin Port at night <3

Location: Japan
Mood: ...um... hungry?
Listening to: Fate/Stay Night OST (got to rewatch it someday...)
Eating: not yet *rumble*
Drinking: Fanta Grape(!)

Cover You

2008-11-25T22:49:00.007+09:00

Morning Musume's newest album is out - "Cover You"! I bought it today while shopping (mainly) for some warmer clothes. On Hello!Online it says it'll be out tomorrow... but I have it now! XD I feel so cool: It's the limited first-press edition.

The CD's a tribute album to Yu Aku, famous for writing many popular hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s. One of the songs, "Dou ni mo tomaranai" was supposed to be W's 7th single... but it was cancelled when Kago Ai was caught smoking. I wish I could have heard W's version too, but now I guess that'll never happen. *sigh*

On the other hand, Aibon's back and her DVD, "Kago Channel" will be released soon! And then, in 2009, her mini albums! Can't wait for those! It'll be fun to see how she's developed since W.

And then there's photobooks and DVDs... @_@ Little by little. :)

PS: Oh, and I found "Breaking Dawn", the fourth book in the Twilight series! And Gyakuten Saiban manga! I'm happy~!

Location: Japan
Mood: tired
Listening to: Wild World - Cat Stevens :)

Black and white

2008-11-21T21:49:00.007+09:00

There are things that are annoying me right now, but I won't dwell on that. (Well, there have been small things all along. I've experienced both good and bad things here in Japan up until now - as I came to do, being on an exchange.) It's not all a dance on roses. It's just that I choose to write about all the positive things instead - they outnumber the bad by far, after all. It's more fun to read about, and more fun to think of too. A win - win situation. :)

Today was kyudo training again, and I practiced with my awesome bow of win! Last time I had a tendency to lean my body the same way as I pulled my string, because it's heavy and hard to draw. But today I didn't! The hand holding the bow still won't straighten out as it's supposed to, because the bow is still quite heavy to draw for me, but it's fun and I like the challenges! So I'll keep on doing it until I get it right! And then one day I'll shoot using cute, red arrows! Yay! XD

The guys in my kyudo club are great too. The freshman we teased the first time, Kuramura (who's name I now remember!) is really nice and funny. We practice together out in the cold every day after school, since he lives in the dorm and doesn't have much else to do anyway. And because we want to train (and I'm obsessed about those arrows, haha!).

Also, the singing teacher has arranged for us to meet every thursday during lunch so that she can give me singing lessons since my HR teacher won't help me change my schedule so I can go sing. The singing teacher is great, I love her! She plays the piano and I sing "Tonight" from "West Side Story" with her guiding me. I've told her I love singing and used to do it since I was a little kid. She listened to me sing for a while, and then commented "you always sang in a low voice, didn't you?". Well, yes...

I used to sit in the back of the car singing to myself the songs I wanted to hear (before I had an mp3-player, you know) and hear the music inside my head. Still, I'd stop if mom turned her head to hear. Yeah, I was shy. So I loved it if the radio was on and someone was talking, because then I could sing without being heard by anyone but myself. Still, I'd get really annoyed if there was music on, because then the melody would get mixed up with mine and I couldn't sing. XD

It's gotten better, but I'm still a bit shy singing in front of people. So I was taken aback when my teacher suggested singing a Norwegian song in front of everyone (meaning the school) on some occasion. "If you have a voice like that, I think you can do it." I'm very happy to hear that, but I kind of want to do this just for fun while I'm here. I won't say it for certain - heck, maybe I'll end up doing it, you never know - but I know I'd be so nervous that I'd be in pain for weeks. Haha! :P I think it'd be better if I could sing with someone. ("Oh, Shu~n!" XD) Anyway - I love singing, and it's great that I'll be able to get some lessons, just like I've always wanted. (Yes, really. I just never had time! 24 hours and 7 days is not enough.) So to my wonderful singing teacher: Thank you!

...and now I'll go to bed! :)

Location: Japan, baby!
Mood: Tired, slightly annoyed (but a bit too tired now to be really angry.)
Listening to: I noen timer - Odd Børretzen
Eating: Ochazuke (rice with green tea poured over it. Yum!)
Drinking: Green tea. Shiawase da na~

Yumi!

2008-11-17T23:54:00.003+09:00

A short note of joy:

Today I started practicing with a yumi (bow)! It is a lot harder than I'd expected, even though I knew it would be tough. Drawing the bow is a lot harder, and it's heavier. Plus that my bow is really tall - over 2 meters tall! - so I need some practice to be able to hold it up straight without wavering. And that's before I start to draw it. Phew! Still, I've learned to put on my glove, my...um... "breast protection piece of leather"?...and I'm happy!

Also, I don't have to buy my own arrows. Some that were bought by a student who quit before using them fit me perfectly. They're shiny and red and really short and cute!

In (even shorter) short:

Me <3's kyudo.

Location: Japan!
Mood: Happy and tired
Practicing: Kyudo!

Kyudo! (and get those girls!)

2008-11-07T20:30:00.004+09:00

I've officially become a member of the kyudo club!
(Kyudo is traditional Japanese archery, used by the samurai.)

Today I basically had a private lesson with Yumiba-sensei (23). ("Yumi" as in "bow", haha!) He showed me how to place my feet, hold the bow and how to draw (and release) the bow. (Although I'm currently using a rubber band fastened to something that looks like a plastic handle. I probably will be for the next month or two.)

Let me tell you - it's a lot harder than it looks! As is the case with most things, actually. I believe that you should never say that something's easy until you've tried it! It's just that skilled people can make it look that way. ;)

I think it's very fun - lots of challenges! Keep your arms up, shoulders down, align your hands, don't use too much strength, relax... I think hitting the target is the last thing you bother with! XD Or, if you manage a perfect shot, you'll hit it. So you aim for the perfect shot. Although me and ol' rubby will be friends fore some time before I go anywhere near a target! :P Still, Yumiba-sensei said that I was the first newcomer he'd seen that had the arm holding the bow aligned that well with the body when "shooting". I was happy to hear that! ^^ He also gave me his number and mail, so that I can contact him whenever I want to practice. He said he'd come over whenever he could. "And besides, if I have too much free time I'll get fat!" XD

Another guy from the kyudo club (a first-year who's name I can't remember yet) came to practice later. By then Yumiba-sensei and I were sitting down taking a break. He showed me a purikura picture of him and his girlfriend, so I told him about my boyfriend in Norway. I told him that he'd turn 20 this year, but think he must have misheard me, or I might have messed up. He smiled and looked like he was about to laugh. Then the conversation went about as follows:

Yumiba: Ano...Heren?
Me: Yes?
Yumiba: Heren?
Me: ...yes? (o_o;;)
Yumiba: Heren, that's the same age as me! O__o
Me: Oh! Ah, no, no, he turns 20!
Yumiba: Ah, 20! I thought you said 23... *phew*

He looked relieved to know that I did not date a guy 5 years my senior. XD Still it was quite fun, because our age difference is the same as between him and his girlfriend. And so the conversation went on, much to the dismay of the nexly arrived first-year, since the obvious question had to be asked: "so, do you have a person you like?" "Eh.. no." This, of course, was subject to much lament on our behalf. Yumiba-sensei was kind enough to explain: "There's a lot of cute girls around, but he sais he doesn't have interest in any of them! What shall we do with him? He's a nice kid, but there's no one who's fallen for him yet..." So we conjured up various ways in which to help him, including praying at temples, have him watch romatic TV-shows and painting hearts on the targets. (Amor, you know.)

Yumiba: So have you ever recieved any chocolates for Valentine's Day?
?: Well, from my grandmother and stuff...
Yumiba: *turns to me* What shall we do with him? *turns back* You like chocolates, don't you?
?: ...yeah, I guess...
Yumiba: *turns back to me again* A girl's sweet love, and sweet chocolate... that's the best!
Me: Yes! A girl's sweet love, chocolate and don't forget a warm heart!
Yumiba: ...Right? Oh, what shall we do with him? Heren, give him a friend chocolate (obligation chocolate) for Valentine's Day, will you?

The rest of the time was spent whispering and giggling with Yumiba-sensei teasing (in a friendly manner) the poor kyudo guy, who'd turn around now and then asking "what?" to which Yumiba-sensei would reply "Ah, nandemonai. Kochi no hanashi da." ("Oh, nothing. Just talking between the two of us." Lit. "here's conversation" ...I find this hard to translate well -.-;) Then we'd laugh till my stomach hurt and sensei'd be massaging his cheek. XD

After kyudo practice I walked back to the train station with sensei, and we talked some more before I got on the train home. Lots of fun! Tomorrow's bunkasai, culture festival, at school!

Location: Japan!
Mood: Elevated XD
Practicing: Kyudo!

PS: I can't seem to write a short blog post about anything, ever. -.-; Though I know many of you don't mind. (Dolle, Molle... I'm looking at you!) If you do - you're free to skip it. ;P

School trip

2008-11-04T20:36:00.005+09:00

On September 26th ~ 29th I went on a school excursion to Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka. It was great! I've never been to Japan before, so Kagoshima has up until now been the only "Japan" I've known. Also, ever since I became interested in Japan (and read Memoirs of a Geisha...) I've wanted to go to Kyoto - Japan's culture capital!

In Kyoto we stayed at a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. Here we were served lovely Japanese food in our room every morning and every evening. Kyoto was a fantastic site to see - although we went through it in typical Japanese-style speed. Our schedule was extremely tight! I now understand why Japanese tourists take so many pictures. I think it helps them remember where they were, what they saw and in a way spend more time at the sightseeing spots. For example, Francesco and I were rushed from a temple - where we spent 20 minutes because we actually looked at all the beautiful statues and read about them - so that we could sit in the bus and wait for 10 minutes... before being driven to a street where we spent four four! hours shopping! I could have screamed.

Roommates in Kyoto

Still, it was amazing to actually be in Kyoto and see so many temples and old historical buildings in the middle of a modern Japanese city. I even went to Gion, the most well-known geisha district in Japan, for about 10 minutes. Yeah! I did manage to see to geishas, though. I even ran after them and snapped two pictures! Go me. We also saw the Rokuon-ji (kinkaku-ji) temple. That was incredible! There was no sunshine that day, but it didn't matter. Wow!

The golden pavillion

Geishas in Gion!

In Kobe we went to a beautiful flower garden. Francesco and I got seperated from the group when we litterally took the time to smell the flowers. This lead to some panic on our teachers side, because we ended up ten minutes late... In the mean time, Francesco and I had met with some girls from an all-girl high school in Osaka, took pictures with them and walked down to the rope way station (we were transported up there by rope way) where our names got called over the PA system.

With school girls from Osaka

In Osaka we went to Universial Studios theme park. Francesco and I went with a group of guys from our school, and we went to several attractions together. Spider Man - the ride was amazing! It was all in 3d, and we sat in a sort of roller-coaster. I'd scream whenever it looked like one of the monsters were about to put their hand through my face or roast me to a crisp. (It actually turned hot when they threw balls of fire at you, and you got sprayed with water when the big water guy reached out to catch you. Uwah!) We also went to Jurassic Park, Back to the Future and E.T. the adventure which was simply cute! ^^ (I had to take it, being an E.T. fan.) I desperately wanted to take the enormous roller coaster, but we didn't have time to wait 55 minutes to try it... That was a shame.

Universial Studios - duh.

Oh, and the teacher (whom I just refer to as Onibaba, demon woman,) caught my friends and me staying up in our room watching Spider Man 3 when we should have been sleeping. We all hurried under our covers, and I hid my mp3 player and lens stuff under the covers with me. When she came in I made gave her my best "sleepy voice" act, looking at her with small, "oh-so-sleepy" eyes. Great success! ...Although trouble arose when she drew away my covers and I rolled around trying to shove my hidden things under my pillow... ahem. I'm almost certain she saw or heard something, but she didn't say anything except for the toothpaste I didn't manage to save. We apologized (OK, one of my roommates did) and got a retort along the lines of "that's just words!" before she marched out. This was followed by silent snickering when she'd gone and whispers of "onibaba~!". I was just dissapointed we weren't made to sit in seiza as the rumors had it we would be... That would have been an even better story to tell! XD

Otoosan's reply when I told him this story?
"Well that's what school trips are supposed to be like, isn't it?"

...I love my host family!

Location: Japan
Mood: Sleepy
Listening to: Snow Patrol - You Could Be Happy
Watching: Gunslinger Girl (anime) OK, so I just finished watching it...

H!P is doing what?!

2008-10-20T23:10:00.009+09:00

I just took a look at Hello! Online today, to see if there were any news... and I must say I'm kind of shocked. Suddenly, out of the blue.. H!P announces a mass graduation! What?!

"It was announced on the Hello Project website today (October 19th) that as of March 31st, 2009, all of the members of Elder Club will be leaving Hello! Project."
- Hello! Online

Well, I guess I can't say it's totally unexpected. These girls have been on stage since they were teenagers. Some joined H!P when they were still just 12 years old. I think many of them are still stuck with the same image now, maybe because fans remember them a certain way and expect them to behave according to that. It's only natural that these idols would move on after a while. But still, to have so many members graduating (or being fired?) at the same time, and with no previous warning... that took me by surprise.

I'm disappointed too. I'd been eagerly awaiting Tsuji Nozomi's comeback to H!P ever since it was announced that she was pregnant and engaged to actor Taio Sugiura back in May in 2007. She went on maternity leave sometime later, saying she'd return to the entertainment industry when things calmed down after child birth. Apparently, she's planning a comeback in the fall this year. (OK, so apparently she's appeared on stage on stage on "YUKO NAKAZAWA BIRTHDAY LIVE 2008" with a cake for Nakazawa Yuko on 19 June 2008... but I'd hardly call that a comeback! XD) There's still time, but I had hoped she'd stay a part of H!P for a while longer. Still, it'll be interesting to see what she'll chose to do now.

Kago Ai is working hard on her solo career, and has announced that she'll be releasing around four mini-albums consisting of self-written songs. And they'll be released while I'm in Japan! I'm buying those... finally we get to hear Aibon sing again! :D

Other people I'll miss are Yaguchi Mari (Morning Musume, Mini Moni) and Yoshizawa Hitomi (Morning Musume). Elder Club consists mostly of graduated members from Morning Musume - it goes without saying that I'll miss them being a part og H!P. Although some of them (Yaguchi included) apparently will remain part of Up-Front Agency. I could do with more information - it's all pretty confusing.

Yoshizama Hitomi and Ishikawa Rika have just started a new unit too, "Hangry & Angry". (Apparently they're collaborating with a Harajuku fashion store with the same name.) Their debut mini-album will be entitled "Kill Me Kiss Me", the same as their debut single. It is scheduled for release in November 19th. Depending on how I like it, I might buy a copy. Hmmm...

My next post will be more exchange-related and less about H!P. :P I still haven't posted any posts or pictures from my trip to the park with Francesco. And that deserves to be mentioned!

Next time, promise.

Location: Japan

A successful hunt

2008-10-18T12:33:00.007+09:00

I managed to get my hands (or fangs, or whatever you prefer...) on the two next books in the Twilight saga: "New Moon" and "Eclipse". I literally gasped and ran to the shelves when I saw them, clutching them to my chest and grinning like an idiot. Never mind that the back of the books were a bit worn (paperback). I had to know what happened. Now. The third book, "Breaking Dawn", isn't coming to Japan until January. Which sucks, since I've almost finished reading "New Moon"... in one day.

The movie will be in theaters at November 21st. Maybe I can see it here, if they don't decide to dub it... Ugh. From watching the trailer I can already tell that it will not be the same as the book - but I think it'll be a great movie nevertheless. Want. to. see. *_*

In short, I'm in love with the series. "Resistance is useless." And I'm afraid I'll finish it way to soon, which will send me out on a new hunt for more fantasy. (Kiyu, I'm looking at you. ;) ) Inheritance? Darren Shan? Artemis Fowl? Or I might try another book by Dan Brown... Just give me books!

I think I understand a vampire's thirst now. Only mine's got nothing to do with blood.

Mom, dad... if I may: Can I please, please, please have the series in hardback? Pretty please with sugar and honey on top? Oh, and like... fifteen new bookshelves to put all my books in?

On a completely different, vampire-free note: I joined the kyudo club! I'll start practice next week. Weee! The chorus concert (Harmony Family Chorus, the one I've joined with okaasan and Momo) is tomorrow... and I went to the most fantastic park with Francesco the other day. I'll post a blog once I'm..eh... finished reading.

Location: Forks
Mood: tense "what happens next??"
Reading: "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer
Watching: the Twilight trailer
Drinking: ...blood?

Twilight!

2008-10-16T15:18:00.003+09:00

I'm headed for Kagoshima station in a few minutes - I'm going to see if they have the rest of "The Twilight Saga" in the bookshop there. I have to know what happens next!

Ittekimasu~!

Morning Musume ~Resonant LIVE~

2008-10-12T01:18:00.017+09:00

Whoa! I still can't believe I've seen Morning Musume live! I've seen Tanaka Reina and Takahashi Ai on stage! o@(≧▽≦)@o

The 4th of October I went to Kagoshima Cultural Hall to see モーニング娘。コンサートツアー2008 秋　～リゾナント LIVE ～ (Morning Musume Concert Tour 2008 Aki (Fall) ~Resonant LIVE~). I went with my otoosan, because okaasan was still in England at the hospital with Madoka at the time. He was extremely embarrassed by the entire thing "hazukashii!". I can't possibly fathom why the prospect of going to a concert held by a group of girls jumping about and singing (mostly) happy bubblegum J-pop would put him off... but that's just me. ;P *cough, cough*

Still, I had endless fun teasing him for it on the way. I kept telling him how this would make a great memory, and how I should take pictures just to help him remember this special occasion. Lots of laughter ensued.

When we got to the concert hall, the first thing I noticed were the cars. Oh, the cars! On the back of one there was a huge poster saying "TANAKA REINA". On another there was a small picture of Michishige Sayumi in the left corner of the windshield, with "Sayumi Hime" (Sayumi princess) written on the right. Inside, drapes across the seat, was a towel with Sayumi printed on it. Well, what can I say... otoosan and I found that pretty funny.

Kagoshima Culture Hall (picture from the Japanese Wikipedia)

Outside the hall, my eyes popped again. Outside there were guys apparently all around otoosan's age, some trading photos (with me thinking "OMG! They really do! It's not just something I've read on the internet...") and a big Morning Musume poster. Security guys took my camera away from me at the entrance, so regrettably I couldn't take any pictures inside. It was a shame - I'd love to show you all the fans! XD To quote otoosan: "Ojiisan bakkari da yo, ne..." ("There's only old men here, isn't there...") Well, I saw some girls too, but we were sadly outnumbered! XD (Let it just be said, not all of them were that old. Some looked like they were in their twenties.) It was quite funny seeing so many different people attending the concert, though. Although I was quite surprised that these were the guys I shared my taste in music with... XD

What else should I say... It was heaven for any H!P fan. Along the two opposing walls there were tables filled with official H!P goods! Oficcial Morning Musume goods! CD's and DVD's I can always buy at a CD shop, so I headed for the other table. A short while later, I had bought Tanaka Reina's T-shirt, pictures, a Momusu tour T-shirt and a Momusu tour towel. ☆ All the while listening to Morning Musume songs being played over the stereo.

Then we headed in to the main concert hall. It was full of people - mostly men. Many of these men wore clothes in the official colour of their favourite member - for example, one who liked Takahashi Ai would be wearing her yellow T-shirt. The more extreme guys would be wearing a long, yellow coat-like piece of clothing, yellow pants, the yellow Takahashi Ai T-shirt, a yellow headband, yellow wristband and yellow shoes. They'd was also armed with yellow glow sticks and jump up and down and scream whenever her picture was shown, or she was on stage, or spoke... yeah. We even saw one with the animal ears from Haromoni@ (Morning Musume's TV show). It was hard not to laugh at these guys - we hid behind our program and snickered. :P

The concert was a lot of fun - they played some of my favourtie songs - like "Mikan", "Ambitious！Yashinteki de Ii Jyan", "Onna ni Sachi Are" and "Resonant Blue". They also played some songs I hadn't heard a lot before, but found out I really like - and some I didn't know. (But otoosan did, being Japanese and older than me. :P) You can see the concert setlist here. It was great - although I admit I was not jumping up and down. All the crazy jumping people were in front of the stage - we had seats at the back among the non-jumpers. The exception was for one very enthusiastic Sayumi-fan, dressed in pink in the fashion described above. *snicker* Still, I think I'd prefer the back - it was pretty close to the stage, but at the same time it gave me a view of the entire stage so I could see everything.

I enjoyed it very much, although I didn't understand everything they said when they were speaking. I did, however, get it when they were talking about their next album: "Cover You". Still, it was great just being there, seeing them all on stage! They hardly ever travel out of Japan to do a concert (the exceptions being Taiwan and Hawaii so far), and it's rare for them to come to Kagoshima. And I've seen them live! Hah! Yes, Kusumi Koharu is just as annoying to me in real life. o@(><)@o Reina and Ai are great, and I think they are among the best singers too. ^^ Oh! And Linlin even sang in Chinese! It was great!

On my way out I bought Ai-chan's T-shirt too, and the photoset of her, being such a loyal fan and all. By our car I caught sight of a man wearing Reina's T-shirt. I decided this was a chance I couldn't pass up - I don't often meet Momusu fans in Norway. XD So I went up to him and spoke with him. "Tanaka Reina ga suki desu yo ne?" ("You like Tanaka Reina, don't you?") "Uh? E-ee..." ("Y-yeah...") "Watashi mo!" ("Me too!") "Ya~y! High five!" I gave him a great big smile, high-fived him and climbed into our car feeling very accomplished. Otoosan was chuckling. :D

For the record: he said he enjoyed the concert too, so there! Hehe! ...and apparently okaasan knows one of the dances to one of the songs. (First performed by the 1976–1981 J-pop duo Pink Lady.) I'll have to get her to teach me that! :D

PS: Guess who else is coming to Kagoshima to perform... Gackt!! I need tickets... (/O3O)/

Location: Kagoshima, Japan!
Mood: Content
Reading: Just finished "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer in four days - am in desperate need of the sequal! I want to kno~w! o(><)o
Eating: Soon, I should think.
Drinking: Water. From the tap. Again. Vikings don't drink from bottles, bwah! :P

Rotary Orientation Camp

2008-10-11T22:24:00.007+09:00

The orientation camp was...fantastic!
Francesco and I took the train early to Kagoshima station, where we spent some time shopping. (I bought Tanaka Reina's (member of Morning Musume) photobook "Reina" and W's DVD "Miss Love Tantei".) We also went to take purikura. (Did you know boys are not allowed in alone? On a sign in front there's a sign with a lone blue male crossed over. Male w/pink female is OK, as is lone pink female. Haha!) Then we met up with Mr. Kamikawa and Jessa, the exchange student from Texas, USA, now living in the neighbouring prefecture Miyazaki. I can say we hit it off right from the start - she's the kind of person I find it easy to like. Outgoing and fun, while having a serious side. We discovered we were very much alike, but at the same time quite different - which I think is a great starting point for a friendship. Needless to say, we had a great three days together! I'll try to sum them up short here.

The first thing that happened was that Mr. Kamikawa drove us to an enormous building that I at first thought was our hotel. Kamikawa casualy explained that "No, you're staying someplace nicer. This is where we're eating lunch". My eyes popped! The view from the window was amazing - even though it was cloudy and raining, we could see out over all of Kagoshima City.

After eating we went to Kamikawa English School, where we read the "Rules of the road" paper out loud together. We started laughing when we all read a number differently. Mr. Kamikawa asked us to "please be serious about this, because I put a lot of effort into writing this, and I wrote this to help you". This made us feel bad, and we awkwardly explained that it was our mistake when reading the number, not the rules, that we found funny. He said he understood that, but it still felt kind of weird.

Next we were driven to the hotel we'd be staying at - the Sun Royal Hotel where we had lunch with Mr. Kamikawa's Rotary Club the first time. It. was. fancy! They had an onsen (hot spring) on the 13th floor, with an entrance on the 12th... and really nice rooms! The ones we stayed in were not really big, but clean and cozy. (I've always liked hotels rooms...) We unpacked and went for a quick shopping round at the mall close to the hotel. I bought a Hello Kitty skin for my pink Nintendo DS lite at a 100 yen shop. And of course we took the obligatory purikura:

Ichigo gaijin!

We also took a set that we gave to Mr. Kamikawa and his wife:

The text says "Mr. and Mrs. Kamikawa, thank you!"

Once we were done shopping, we went back to the hotel and hung out in Jessa's room before we headed to the onsen. It was lovely! Jessa and I spent ages talking and relaxing (it even had a steam bath!). From the large windows by the onsen we looked out over the city lights of Kagoshima City sparkling in the darkness. It was so beautiful! And it was really quiet and peaceful at the onsen too. I want to go back just thinking about it. *sigh* We finished soaking, got dressed in our yukatas and went back to Jessa's room where we crashed for the night. It was really late before we went to sleep.

The second day we (naturally) overslept, and scuffed down our breakfast in about 5 minutes before dashing to the waiting taxi that took us to Kamikawa English Shcool. We read the rules again for a representative from Ijuin Rotary, and he held a speech in Japanese (later translated by Kamikawa) about his hosting experience 20 years ago. It was very interesting, and to my surprise I understood most of what he said!

Later that day we had a radio interview too - a nice lady interviewed us a bit before we headed in to the studio to do the recording. It turned out to be a lot of fun, although I messed up on my age when asked, haha!

Radio lady: "How old are you?"

Helene: "I'm sevent... I've turned eighteen!" XD

It was all in Japanese, but she and her male co-worker (he's gone to Josei, haha!) were really conciderate and spoke clearly, explaining when it was needed. I understood almost everything that was being said, though, and felt pretty cool. v(^_^) It was a new experience for me, and it felt a bit celebrity-ish, actually. It was really fun! I recognized the artists and songs they played too! Utada Hikaru, "First Love", Ootsuka Ai, "Sakuranbo" and... I got to pick and introduce the last song: "I WISH" by Morning Musume!
I've always liked this song, and it was also sung on Nono and Aibon's graduation form Morning Musume. It's one of my Momusu all-time favourites. <3

The rest of the day was spent having dinner (tonkatsu, yum!) and shopping a bit again. I bought some "diamond" cross-shaped earrings that I've been searching for a while. They're reminiscent of those worn by Tanaka Reina and Nozomi Tsuji in some photos. ...yes, I know, H!P again... *cough* Once back in the hotel, Jessa and I went to the onsen again before going to sleep in my room.

Me outside an official Sanrio shop. (The guys responsible for Hello Kitty.) I actually managed not to buy the entire shop - I bought most of Kuromi, actually, which you can't find in Norway. And, OK... I admit it: a thing to make Hello Kitty-shaped rice! XD

The third day we got up and packed before eating breakfast... which lasted 15 minutes. We were late again, haha! Then we were picked up by Kamikawa, who took us to a newspaper interview. (Tight schedule, check! Interviews, check! Celebrity... oh, whatever... check!) I didn't understand this guy, though. He almost mumbeled in fast keigo, and I had to get translations from Kamikawa. Oh well.

Next we dragged Mr. Kamikawa to take purikura with us. We went in to the pinkest, most sparkling purikura machine we could find! (And I can totally see all the Rotary members going in there with their suits and ties, haha!) Decorating those was a lot of fun - I put a maid hairband on him, and the other two put him in a wig. We made Mr. Kamikawa decorate one too. Oh, the seriousness! XD It was wonderful!

After finishing the purikura, we met up with Jessa's councelor and had dinner (we chose Italian sphagetti, making a big point out of showing it to Francesco, haha!). Once we'd finished eating it was sadly time to say goodbye to Jessa. At first we bowed to each other. This was followed by a scilence during which we were both standing there, looking at each other before I blurted out "Oh, screw this!!" and we gave each other a big hug. The gaijinness provails!

Kamikawa brought Francesco and me back to Kagoshima station, where we (okay, I) bought some CD's: Utada Hikaru, Morning Musume (all singles complete) and Onitsuka Chihiro. This was followed by more purikura. At last we decided to take the train home, both of us exhausted. I, for one, did not feel like going back to school and bake cakes the next day. XD But I survived that too, of course!

Jessa and me being exhausted in the hotel's corridor.

Jessa and me looking terrible in a nice hotel - it was raining, and we couldn't resist the fun of running through the rain with closed umbrellas. *ahehm*

Location: Japan!
Mood: Tired
Listening to: the sound of the TV
Reading: "Twilight" (the first book in the "Twilight" series). Can't... put... it... down! Vampires~ <3!

Long time no update...

2008-10-07T23:39:00.003+09:00

The reason is quite simple: Ryotaro is sick, he's sleeping in the room where there's internet access, and I don't really want to disturb him too much. He needs his rest, and I take quite a while to write blog entries. (There's a lot to write now, too. Rotary orientation meeting and the Morning Musume concert! (which was really fun!)) So I'll save it for when I'm back home.

Until then - please bear with me! Gomen! m(_ _)m

Location: Japan <3
Mood: Happy
Watching: "The mask of Zorro" with Japanese subtitles together with Ryotaro

Tired...

2008-10-01T22:10:00.003+09:00

I just got home from the Rotary Orientation Camp today. It has been three fantastic days. I felt kind of like a celebrity during this time, for which I'll offer an explanation when I have more energy to blog about it. :P I'm really tired now. And I have school tomorrow. Ugh.

I've bought lots of new CD's too. Not very cheap, but I've been dying to buy these for ages... and surely it's cheaper buying them here than it would be buying them over the internet, paying for the shipping and all of that. ...and it's music. There's worse things to spend money on.

Location: Japan! <3
Mood: tired, but happy
Listening to: Various japanese CDs I bought~
Eating: -
Drinking: -

Testing Kyudo!

2008-09-27T00:49:00.007+09:00

Today was my trial day at kyudo. It was fun, although we only got to practice with rubber bands fastened to a small plastic handle. (Obviously, thinking you'll be shooting an arrow from a 2 meter long bow on your first day when you can't even hold it correctly is asking a bit much! XD) We went by car to practice in a dojo away from our school, since we don't have a dojo of our own. It was amazingly Japanese and really beautiful!

The teacher did nothing but sweep the floors(!), so we were taught by the students. Still, they were really helpful and knew a lot more than we did, so it was fine! They even stood behind me correcting my stance and way of holding the bow. ^^ And, OMG, physical contact!! XD (Still, I must say I'm surprised the teacher didn't even come to look at any of us...?) They were really nice and funny too - there was one boy we found out went a class beow us (or he's younger, can't recall), so he's our kouhai (junior at work or school etc.). He jokingly got down on his knees, bowing with his head to the floor. Then we realized that he's our senpai (senior) when it comes to kyudo - so Francesco threw himself flat down on his stomach while I repeated the low bow. All the while laughing and saying "onegai shimasu" repeatedly. XD

They're having a contest in a few weeks time, so up until then they're all practicing. After that, they don't really seem to know when the next training will be. Apparently they send each other mails on their cell phones when they have a training. What I'm worried about is that I might not learn as much if we hardly ever practice. In which case maybe I should just work damn hard ans start kendo? I might get bored of going home so early eventually too, although club activites every day will be tiring, I'm sure... I don't know. I'm confused again. :S What to doo~?

People who have tried any of this, or just want to give me a tip... you're welcome to leave a comment! :)

Location: Japan!
Mood: tired (thank God it's Friday...)
Listening to: my host dad snoring in the sofa XD
Eating: are you crazy?! It's past midnight...
Drinking: maybe some water before I go to bed. Bed~ m(_ _)m

Edit...

2008-09-24T22:13:00.006+09:00

OK, since kaa-san is leaving for England tomorrow (I don't get everything happening around here :P) I am now in the grandparent's house where I'll be living for roughly about a week. They do have internet, although I don't think I'll be updating my blog so frequently this week. I've got a Rotary orientation camp too...

I had today off from school since we had the taiikusai yesterday, when it was a holiday. I went shopping with kaa-san, and... well, I'm extremely pleased with my purchases! ^^ I'll make a post about it later, but for now... let's just say they include "Otsuka Ai" and "Kago Ai". <3

Edit: I've updated the two last blog entries with pictures! Take a look! :D

Location: Japan! ...in the grandparent's house for the time being. :P
Listening to: Sakuranbo - Otsuka Ai
Eating: -
Drinking: -

Taiikusai owari! ^^

2008-09-23T21:23:00.007+09:00

Today was the big day! Sports day! Man am I happy I won't have to practice for that again! XD It was fun, though. My team, aka gumi (red group) won! Haha!

I joined in the great fight for the tires again, although I was (sadly) not dragged through the sand this time around. I also wore a yukata and danced with the other girls. As you know, I have barely practiced it (maybe two times), so it was a little difficult even though the dance itself is quite simple. I also got to know that we'd be dancing while waving around some pieces of cloth - about 15 minutes before we entered the arena! Yes, I was very happy about that... haha! I did mess up a bit, but all in all I managed pretty well. It's quite fun for me sometimes being part of such a big group where we all do the same thing - it gives me a sense of teamwork. I think the west is more focused on the individual, while here you're supposed to be more like everybody else. (At least at school, it seems.) I like a combination of both, I think. I do sometimes miss the feeling of teamwork this gives me - even though marching up and down the square isn't my favourite thing to do. XD

Some pictures of the dance and the epic fight for the tires (I'm no. 7):

"On my signal unleash hell!"

Tsuru hits the ground - the rest of us ignorantly keep pulling...

...then she gets up and makes a beautiful recovery! Go, Aka gumi! Go, go, go!!!

I'm dancing. Notice how I'm the only one stepping forward with the right foot...

I look like a weird Japanesey gaijin being a blond and wearing a yukata. Tsuru's behind me, looking happy. :)

All the clubs also marched back and forth for a while to promote themselves. Francesco and I found the kyudo club after they were done and asked them if we could join in. Like I've said before - I would really like to try kendo too - but I figured kyudo might be the best and safest bet. I asked the girl (that I've never seen on training...) how often they train. She smiled and said "...whenever we have time!". That's promosing for me. I won't have to come every day, and I can do other things one day if I feel like it too. Still, I do want to learn something there, so hopefully the students there can show me. Should it turn out to be the wrong thing for me it won't be the worst club to quit either. Anyway, the first training is on friday this week. I think it'll be fun! The only problem is how I'll get home afterwards. The bus only goes to the train station. Hmm...

Madoka's gotten ill while on a school trip to England with her German class. It's probably her appendix (had to look up that word), in which case she'll need an operation. It's nothing serious, but kaa-san and Mrs. Kamikawa will travel to England to stay with her for a while and then go back to Germany with her afterwards (since her class will be leaving ahead of her). I feel really sorry for her! She was quite nervous about going to Germany for a month - and then she falls ill while on a school trip! I hope she gets well soon.

While kaa-san is in England/Germany for about a week, I'll be living with Sayaka and Momo in the grandparent's house. Ryotaro might stay here, at least I know too-san will. But since he's working, it would be hard to fix dinner and so on for everyone. So I'll have to take a different school bus and figure out how to get home from the kyudo club and... ugh. I wish I could stay here, it's so much easier now that I know my way at least to and from school. The grandparents are very nice, but I don't know them so well, nor their house, so I'm thinking it might feel quite awkward for me. :S Troublesome.

In any case, I guess next week will be an internett-free week for me, so probably no blogging.

Until then I'll keep updaiting as interesting things happen! :)

Momo took intelligent pictures of me eating! XD

Sayaka, the Tokage (Momo's favourite little friend, so officially a part of the family) and me. "The tokage loooves me!"

Location: Japan!
Mood: Tired (long day today...)
Drinking: Cold tea with milk and honey - out of a bottle!

Birthday!

2008-09-19T18:15:00.015+09:00

Thank you so much everyone who sent me congratulations on my birthday! (And all of you whom I know would have. Maybe you couldn't reach me (I know some of you have trouble commenting here. Why this happens I do not know.) Or, well, being bad at remembering dates myself... :P)

I went to school as usual, listening to W's "17 sai yo sayonara" and "18 sai ~ my happy birthday comes! ~" feeling a little old now that I'm able to drink alcohol and do all that uninteresting stuff in Norway. *sigh* (Except stealing a vote from FrP!! Yay!) Still, I got really happy when I came in the classroom door and the first thing I saw was a blackboard filled with "tanjyoubi omedetou!" (happy birthday!) and drawings (cake and character from Bleach). Francesco had contributed with "NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE PAPER CLIP", since we had a conversation a while back: "awesome Norwegians and their inventions". XD Several people came up and congratulated me. It was really nice!

Also, we got to go home from school early because of a typhoon warning. Hurray! No practice! The typhoon never came though, stupid thing decided to go toward Miyazaki in stead. Ryotaro and I were dissapointed! "We want to go to Miyazaki!" XD

My family had bought cake, and we ate it together. Madoka called from Germany to congratulate, and I got a call from the grandparents as well! I got presents too:

rice bowl with a white rabbit
cloth
chopsticks
Japanese-style teacup w/Kagoshima Hello Kitty
pencil
pink plastic-pearl bracelet ^^
Hello Kitty-figure to hang on your bag etc.
Norwegian chocolate! (Shared some with my family too. 0:) )

And: I got a hug from my host mother before I went to bed! A hug! I know - *gasp!* I was really happy that she did - it's not something that's too common here. :P And as we all know, I'm a person in need of daily hugs. Wether I give or receive them. XD

With my family behind my cake. I'm being all sweet and peace-promoting (or victorious, depending on what you've heard), Momo's trying to eat my cake(?) and Sayaka and Ryotarou are taking pictures. ...kaa-san realizes there's a picture being taken, though. XD

Me and ma cake!

...just ma cake!

Today was tough - we practiced for sports day outside in the sun all day! Fortunately we got to sit under the tents when we weren't doing anything this time. That did not mean there wasn't a lot of pointless sitting around in the blazing sun rehearsing listening to speeches and various people talk, though. Ugh! Still, today was pretty fun. I rehearsed a game where two teams (girls) try to gather as many tires as they can, taking them back to their "base". These big tires are lying on the ground in between the two teams, in equal distance to both. Then you run, grab a tire, try to pull it away from the other team and carry it to you team's side where it's safe. Red (my team) were up against blue. I grabbed a tire and ended up being dragged through the sand by three - four girls from the blue team. All the while screaming "iiiiaaaa!" and pulling in the opposite direction as much as I could, resultig on me falling flat on my stomach to everyone's amusement (myself included). Lots of laughter ensued as I was dragged through the sand on my tummy, still holding on to the tire for dear life and yelling. My friend and classmate Tsuru came sliding to my aid in a wonderful tackling grabbing hold of the tire, but we lost our tire in the end after a long fight. It was great! My teacher was laughing as I came back: "yoku ganbatta, ne!" (Something along the lines of "well fought!" Ganbaru is hard to translate, since there's not really an English equivalent to it.)

Francesco and the boys played a game where two teams hold up a bamboo pole each, some protecting it, and some running to the other team's pole to try and tear it down. They quite litterally climb on each other and climbe up on/launch themselves at the pole, taking it down with them as they fall. It looks like so much fun! I kept saying "I want to join in~!", but I can't since I'm a girl. Darn it! Let me tackle some Japanese boys, will ya?! XD

We also had this huge aerobic-thing where all the students stood out in the baseball field under the sun following the movements of a guy up on a small "stage" (platform, really). That felt pretty silly. Still, one of the most funny things had to be when we watched some of the other students practice and they started playing the music used in "Tetris"... Francesco and I took one look at each other before we burst out in hysterical laughter making my teacher jump where she sat. XD

Also, I've discovered that Tsuru and her friend love anime and manga just as much as I do! They've promised that they'll teach me the "Hare hare yukai" dance from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya! o@(^-^)@o They understand my quotes from anime too. XD (Higurashi and some Lucky Star. Heehee!) It goes something like this: "Hauu~!" or "Omochi kaeriii~!" followed by my them exclaiming "Kawaii! X3". Haha! We were quoting and singing what we remember of the Lucky Star opening on our way back to the school after practice when Tsuru suddely says "This is bad! People might think we're otaku!" well, we are... (Otaku is the term used to refer to anime and manga geeks. It can also mean "your home", so it ends up meaning something like "a geek that never leaves his/her house because they only watch anime." XD) In Norway anime fans use it proudly - in Japan it's more of a negative term. I told Tsuru this, and her reaction was "Oh, I want to go to Norway~!" That was fun.
BTW: Our official morning greeting from now on will be "Oharakki~!" X3

I've finally talked to my Norwegian family on skype too. Yayyay! I brought my Japanese family to the web-cam and we chatted a bit with each other (me interpreting what I could manage). It felt good talking to them again. My sister eventually came on the line too, so we were three people speaking. When I was done we'd been talking for 3 1/2 hours and it was 1:00 AM. ZOMG. The next call will have to be shorter! (Although, admittedly, being the first time we got to talk to each other for a month I guess it's not that strange...)

I've also been to the first Rotary meeting in my club, Ijuin Rotary Club. They weren't as formal, and I felt much more at ease doing my self-introduction this time around. Phew! They gave me my monthly allowance too, which was nice. ^^ I've got to save up to buy some Morning Musume goods at the concert October the 4th... Whohoo!

Location: Japan!
Mood: "it's so hot here!"
Listening to: Odd Børretzen (yes, I've added lots of Norwegian music to my mp3 player. Whoa!)
Eating: Salty plum candy, tastes a bit like "umeboshi". Yum!
Drinking: Water... and some more water. It's too hot... x_x

German for a month

2008-09-17T20:43:00.018+09:00

Madoka left for her one month exchange to Germany the 15th of September. The night before I'd helped her close her suitcase a couple of times because it was really full. (Nothing like the 20 kilos I was allowed to bring to Japan!) I told her she could leave her hand luggage in my room to the next morning too. "No problem!" *insert sweet smile*. Little did she know that I had carefully planned this out - she'll be having her birthday while away, and she'd wished for a drawing. I thought I'd make her a draing and try writing her a letter that I'd put in her luggage. (In the Japanese-German textbook in her hand luggage, as it turned out.)

Broken Japanese made to look pretty. Yay!

Admittedly, my Japanese in the letter probably had a load of mistakes. Still, I think she was able to understand what I wanted to say, so it's OK. I tried my best, anyway. :P The drawing I was really pleased with in the end. I especially like the position I drew me in, and mini-me's expression. XD I demand you click for full size:

By the time I was done and had fulfilled my Brilliant Master Plan, it was cloe to 2:30 AM Monday morning. We were supposed to be getting up at 5:30 to follow Madoka to the airport. 3 hours of sleep. Ugh.

Momo came in and turned on the light in my room at exactly 5:30 AM. My response was grunting and pulling the covers over my head to regain precious darkness, which resulted in laughter from kaa-san and Momo. I tried telling them I'd turn into stone if the sunlight hit me (being all Norwegian and related to the trolls and all), but it didn't have any effect. (Actually, I may have just thought this - I was to tired at the time to remember accurately, haha!) I got dressed, staggered to the bathroom, looked in the mirror and confirmed that I looked like a zombie (pale with red, sleep-deprived eyes and generally icky) before I ate a sweetroll and headed for the car.

We drove Madoka to the airport, me singing along to Mini Moni (Mini Hamuzu Ai no Uta) in the car. XD It was kind of weird seeing the airport again - it reminded me of first meeting my host family. I feel very at home with them now, so remembering how I felt the first time we met, being uncertain as to how to adress them, not knowing what they were like... it felt strange. Again, we were following a yellow brick road (so Wizard of Oz that I had to take a picture). Once inside we followed Madoka as far as we could, before heading up to to the floor above where we stood out in the pouring rain waiving to her as she borded her plane and then watched it take off. I'd told her to study on the flight over. Guess why?

Just follow the yellow brick road, and you'll end up in... um...Kagoshima?

Madoka about to leave for Germany. Iiiiiih!

After the plane had left we went to eat breakfast at a restaurant before we headed for Kagoshima City Aquarium. It was really amazing! They had all kinds of fish and sea creatures! We saw everything from small round things I have no clue what were (but they were animals...) to otters and dolphins. We saw the dolphin show as well! It was great - they were so cute! Afterward we went downstairs to see them in the dolphin tank, but I almost fell asleep in front of the dolphins, so since we'd seen everything we decided to go home to sleep. Although I didn't go to bed until the evening. Hah!

Weird, live round things that just happen to look like pretty, green glass balls.

Japanese crabs - the largest in the world!

Me demonstrating "fish".

Momo and me in front of the otter tank. (I stood here for ages!)

I found Nemo!

...and his parents. Even his home, I believe...

I ran over to this tank shrieking "Dory!"
...then proceeded to take loads of pictures. It's Dory!!

"B-Bubbles? ...Bubbles!!"

Momo and me wearing fish hats. (OK, so Momo's is a sea horse...)
I'm still demonstrating "fish". This would be "blowfish".

Dolphin show!! I kept saying "Iruka! Iruka!" XD

Vero-chan: this is for you. See what it reads?
...yup. "Itachizame"! XD

Location: Japan!
Mood: Slightly tired (now it's soon 11 PM...)
Eating: -
Drinking: -

Karaoke!

2008-09-17T16:32:00.011+09:00

On Sunday (I think it was) I went to take purikura with Madoka, kaa-san and Momo. Then I went to Japanese karaoke for the first time with Madoka and Sayaka! It was a lot of fun! I sang several songs, some English, but mostly Japanese. I sang "Sakura Mankai" by Morning Musume's sub group "Sakura Gumi" and made the rankings, haha! It was 80-someting, but it was pretty fun nevertheless! XD Some of the songs we sang included W, Morning Musume, Mini Moni (all part of Hello! Project), Gackt, Ghibli and various songs from anime. A few examples:

The Sore Feet Song (Mushishi)
Dokuro-chan theme (Dokuro-chan) This was filled with laughter throughout XD
Jyanken Pyon! (Mini Moni) I had trouble with this, seeing as the lyrics go faster and I don't know it too well, so Madoka sang most of it. :)
Daisuki da yo (Otsuka Ai)
Furusato (Morning Musume)
Koi no bakansu (W)
A Little Pain (NANA)

Having fun at karaoke!

We ordered food there too, udon in my case, and got it served in our room. That felt kind of luxurious. The food was really good too. *^^* I was kind of surprised that it went so well - I thought it'd have more trouble with reading the lyrics. Luckily there were furigana over most of the kanji, so I could read most of it without much trouble. (Except for when it went too fast and I wasn't familiar with the lyrics.)

After karaoke we went to take purikura again, this time with Sayaka. I've filled up the first page of my purikura book! ;D

I've also been eating out with my host family and the grandparents again. It was really nice, and the food was, of course, delicious as always. ;D Hehe! This is what it looked like:

Yes, I've been sitting at a lot of low tables lately. I love it! Feels very Japanese sitting in seiza in front of one of these. Last time we had Japanese dance, my feet didn't even hurt, so I guess this training's good for me, haha! (Although, admittedly, I do not sit in this position all the time. Because my legs do hurt eventually. ...and then they go numb, which is a pain. XD)

Location: Japan
Mood: Content (iIt's only 9 PM!)
Watching: A TV-show where a man is currently trying to overcome a line of obsticles called "Sasuke". With Naruto-music in the background. Haha! Oh! He just failed...
Eating: Ate onigiri, which were made by Momo and me. ^^
Drinking: Fruit soda

A short note of LOL

2008-09-15T16:20:00.003+09:00

I tried to open a link I got from my dad on e-mail today:

"Sorry! This content is for Norway only.

We believe you are in Japan."

Haha! Well, you got that right. Dagbladet.no only has the rights to distribute things in Norway, apparently.

Edit: There were some things I'd forgotten to mention in my Cooking equals tetris post. I've added another small paragraph to that post (no. 6 from the top).

Taiikusai practice

2008-09-13T18:02:00.007+09:00

Taiikusai is basically a sport's festival where everyone at school marches up and down the square. And play games. (Remember we went watch Ryotaro's? It's the same thing.)

Yesterday was our first day of practice. We practiced for about 2 - 3 hours out on the baseball field. This equals sitting and marching around under the blazing sun, in the sand, with no shade. Except for under the tent they've put up in case someone needs to rest or lie down. It. was. so. hot. The teachers kept talking (I fear there will be speeches on the actual day) and we kept marching, going back and then marching again because we couldn't get it right. The people who did were allowed to sit down in the middle. Francesco said he felt sick and went to sit under the tent. (He said he actually did feel a little sick. But I think he was pretty sick of marching too... ;) ) I refused to give up and "ganbatted" to the bitter, sweaty end! Hah! The Norwegian viking prevails!!

Dazey was impressed. He told me that we'll be doing this several times in the weeks to come. Sometimes the whole day. "Just pray for rain." ...yeah. This'll be fun . . . nooot.

We've been watching the weather forecast on TV, and it looks like we might be getting a typhoon here in Kagoshima! It's kind of scary, but I would like to see one too... X) I asked what happens at school if there's a typhoon.

Kaa-san: You get the day off!
Helene: ... ooh, what a shame~! ...now that we have taiikusai practice and everything...
Kaa-san: *laughing* You don't look sorry!

Well... I'm not! XD

Today I went for dinner with kaa-san, all my host siblings and the grandparents. It was really nice, and the food was delicious! I'll update with pictures later. ^^

Location: Nippon! Banzai!
Mood: Content
Listening to: A Japanese TV program. They're taking mini puppies out of a basket and guessing what race they are. The audience goes crazy squealing "kawaii~!"
Eating: -
Drinking: -