Happy Halloween! Work begins...

Happy Halloween!!
Actually, Halloween is not that big of a holiday here... So nobody really dresses up. But, some people I know DID get in free into Tokyo Disneyland because they dressed up as Disney characters. And there were some people in Shibuya dressed up going to parties. I'm not that big into Halloween though.. PLUS it was my first day of WORK!

Today I taught English to 6-12 year olds. IT was soooo fun!! I really think I'm going to like this job!! I taught them about opposites..and then the older kids I taught about prepositions (on, under, in, out, etc)... Japanese kids are sooo cute :)

Crazy Baseball. 7 kilos (roughly 15 pounds) of meat, and EARTHQUAKE!

Well its the annual Kei-Sou Sen.. The battle of Baseball between Keio University (YAY) and our eternal rivals.. Waseda University (boo!)

Well, we lost.. he he he But that doesn't mean the game wasn't a BLAST!!!! Actually, its really crazy going to a baseball game here because NOBODY watches the game!! The entire time all you do is cheer. The baseball players could be running around stark naked on the field and no one would notice. If you're an actual baseball fan, I wouldn't recommend going to that game.. I was the ONLY one actually watching the game!!!!!!

Anyway, we all went with KOSMIC.. which stands for I don't really remember.. but its an organization run by Japanese students FOR international students. So it was one big Gaijin (foreigner) group.. with a few Japanese sprinkled here and there. It was a blast! I went with my conversation partners too... Mako and Rina! They are sooo sweet! :)

I took a bunch of pics of the crazy cheer boys and the cheerleaders... God are they insane... All in all it was a ton of fun!

Afterwards I went to Kouta's for a Yakiniku party with our friends Kazu and Sayaka, and his brother Yuuki and his girlfriend Chika. We ate... and I still can't believe it approximately 7 kilograms of beef, pork and chicken. IT was disgusting the amount of meat we ate!! Kouta's parents own a butcher shop in Kyuushuu, and they sent him a package of DELCIOUS meat! IT was probably hte best and only REAL meat I've had since I got here. I also ate....... HORSE!! RAW HORSE!! It's apparantly a real delicacy anywhere except Kumamoto where Kouta is from. It's called Bashimi... and honestly.. it was pretty good. We ate it with avacado and soy sauce........ yeah.. I ate horse.. I was really reluctant at first, but since everyone was watching for my reaction I just sucked it up and ate it. IT was pretty good! Anyway, the six of us, over the course of about 3 hours managed to polish off about 7 kilos of meat..... 7 KILOS!!! That is a DISGUSTING amount of meat!!!!!!! Thats like a small dog... 15 pounds or so! We were so full..... man....

After that, me and Kouta had the hugest food coma ever and took a nap until about 1 a.m.!! he he he When we woke up we went watched TV and talked.. and then it happened............. there was an earthquake! It was a really tiny one but it still freaked the hell outta me!!! The light started moving back and forth, and things around the room were shaking..... I was freaked out and Kouta laughed at what a baby I was being....

Seriously, it was freaky. And to think... the big one is going to happen any day now! It scares me to no end. Anyway, lets stop thinking about it.

What? More cheering?!

More cheering.. he he he no baseball!

More cheering from the Cheer Boys and girls!

Mako, Francois, and Me.. Our hats are actually megaphones too and we used them to cheer during the game!

Keio Cheerleaders!

Cheerleaders and Cheer Boys!

Mako, myself, and another exchange student

Tabea and Daniel... who is drinking beer that you are ALLOWED To bring into the GAME!!

Flag ceremony for our school before the game started

Crazy Cheer boy holding up a sign of what we're supposed to yell!!

Meiji Shrine and Yakiniku with old friends :)

So today was like a Madison reuinion. Sarah and I met up with a lot of our friends that were exchange students from Madison today! Kohei had an interview in Tokyo and flew up here from Fukuoka in Kyuushuu (The southern island of Japan.) So we all met and hung out in Tokyo today. First it was Sarah, myself, Kohei and Butsurin.

We decided to meet in Shibuya and go for a walk to HArajuku. Harajuku is about 20 minutes by foot from Shibuya. Too bad the weather sucked and it rained the whole time, but ANYWAY... When we got to Harajuku we decided to go to Meiji-Jinguu, which is a Shinto shrine built in the honor of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shouken. Apparantly though, this shrine was destroyed during the fire-bombing of Tokyo at the end of WWII and was rebuilt. It is the most authentic rebuilding of a shrine after the war. (What great information this Tokyo guidebook provides.. he eh he) In short, it was a pretty breathtaking place. Aside from all the tourists and cameras and such, looking around it felt like I was transported back into the past. IT was awesome.

Also, its the start of Shichi-Go-San. Shichi is the number 7, Go is the number 5, and San is the number 3. And what happens on this day is that parents get dressed up in kimonos and stuff and take their dressed up 7,5,and 3 year olds to the shrine to be blessed for good luck. The little kids were soooooo cute. They were all being mauled by old ladies pinching their cheeks and grabbing them for pictures... After I had been polite and asked the parents if I could take a pic with their child, these four old ladies pushed me aside and grabbed the little girl and took a pic. Then when they were done, I reluctantly took mine... poor little girl looks so scared.. but she was so cute and pretty. And so were a lot of the other kids too!

Also at the shrine, we got to see a traditional wedding!!!! I took pictures as best as I could, but it was really hard to take with them moving. They had just finished the wedding ceremony and were marching to the part of the shrine where you pray. It was a very cool place, and I'd like to go back on a sunnier day to take better pictures!

After the shrine, we all walked to Yoyogi Koen (Park), and met up with Keita there. He studied in Madison last year. We walked around Yoyogi Koen chatting and watching the various "Street lives" which are typically high school bands that perform on the street hoping to catch a deal... After Yoyogi Koen, we walked back to Shibuya to meet up with Tomoko, David, Yuka, and Yuka.. he he he yes there are two Yukas.. he he he Anyway, we hung out at Hachiko (the meeting place in Shibuya) until everyone showed up. Kohei had to leave on a flight back to Kyuushuu and Keita had a big paper to work on so they left. Butsurin, Sarah, David, Tomoko, and I all went to this really cheap coffee shop where they had a bread shop, and chilled there until Yuka and Yuka got to Hachiko. Then we met in Hachiko again and went to the Yakiniku place.

Yakiniku.. another case of the Japanese's love for gathering around a fire and cooking your own food with friends. Basically they just bring you plates of raw meat, and in the center of the table there is a small grill. Everybody cooks what they want and eats it straight off the grill. It's amazingly fun and I loved it.. The food was amazing. The only drawback with Yakiniku is that because beef is so expensive here, it was a little expensive for the small amount of meat that you got. But the company more than made up for it! We all had fun, drinking, eating, reminicsing, and making fun of each other. IT was a great time! I love my friends from Madison!

Here are some pics from our night out :)

Me and a scared little girl that just got attacked by old ladies... She's sooo darling in her kimono with her bag full of candy :)

Yuka, Tomoko, and Myself.. We're cheesin.. he he he

Yuka and Tomoko <3

Group Shot! You can see the grill in between us.. That's where you cook your meat!

Yuka, Butsurin, myself, and Tomoko @ the Yakiniku place :)

Sarah, Yuka, and David preparing to order our first round of Yakiniku

Me and SUPER SHY David at the Coffee Shop!

Butsurin and Tomoko at the Coffee Shop.. She's stylin in her Burburrey Shirt (Is that how you spell it?)

Sarah, David, Butsurin, Keita, and Kohei at Tokyuu.. We're waiting for Tomoko :)

Keita, Myself, and Kohei at Yoyogi Koen (Park)

Traditional Wedding Ceremony: The Bride and Groom are in the middle.

Sarah and I next to some huge flowers.. I forget their names (><) but they were beautiful. They are the Emperor's flower.

Butsurin, Sarah, and Kohei

Butsurin and I at Meiji-Jinguu

Butsurin at the Gate of Meiji-Jinguu

Mmmmmmmm Nabe!!!!! Starting from the top going clockwise... Some green onion thingie, these weird long white mushrooms that are delish, some more onion, udon noodles, chicken, beef wrapped in cabbage, bean sprouts, and in the center is an egg... SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!! I'm hungry now... he he he

Nabe Party~~~

Ok, so the one thing I love about Japanese people, is that they love to eat.. and they love to eat good food... Today, Kouta had the lovely idea of having a nabe party. "Nabe" in Japanese means "pot" and NO its not marijuana, but like a pot that you cook in. So what you do, is you get a nabe broth from the store, and everyone pics out what ingredients they want: veggies, meats, noodles, etc etc... and you cook it all in a big nabe, place it on a hot plate in the center and everyone digs in and takes out what they want. What better way is there to get over my hangover from our time last night in Shinjuku??? he he he

The people that were there were Kouta, myself, Jina, Kouta's brother Yuuki, his girlfriend Chika, and their friend Taisuke. None of them speak any English, so it was a good chance for Jina and I to use our Japanese again :) Everyone is so nice, I really like them a lot and I'm glad that I am becoming better friends with them! :) Anyway, Kouta took the helm and did most of the cooking... MY God, he is like the best cook ever! he he he I'm a very lucky girl to have a boyfriend who loves to cook for me :) he he he ANYWAY, the food was delish, and the company was awesome. We had a blast. Here are some pics from the Nabe Party ~~~

It's really really sad when you think you're thin, but your boyfriend is thinner than you.. he he he These are pants that Chika wanted to give to me but my butt wouldn't fit into them... but somehow, Kouta managed to fit in them. I guess I'll just have to live with this big ol' butt.. he he he

Taisuke.. yeah I don't know what to say about this pose... But that Charlie Chaplin shirt is dope.. he he he

Yuuki and Chika... Yuuki is just like his brother and always makes crazy faces for the camera...

Kabuki Cho is AWESOME!

So today, all of us Ryuugakusee (international students) went out in Shinjuku! Thank God! I've been going out in Shibuya so much it's nice to go out somewhere else for a change. We all decided to go to an Izakaya called Arata on Kabuki-cho (the original redlight district of Shinjuku). It was AWESOME! The place we went to is so cheap. Izakaya are probably the greatest things ever and if they ever had them in the states they'd probably go out of business. I think I explained what an Izakaya was before in an earlier post, but, I'll tell you what it is again.

An izakaya is a cozy bar/appetizer restaurant type place. You go there with groups of friends, you get your own private little room where you take of your shoes and all sit around a table and drink and eat and laugh and have a great time. Some Izakaya have what they call "Nomihoudai." Nomihoudai is where you pay a set fee and have unlimited drinks in a certain time period. Now if that isn't awesome, I don't know what is. Because the set time period is usually one to two hours.... and you know us college kids.. Fricking.. awesome! Also, if you're really lucky, you'll find a place with "Tabehoudai" also. Tabehoudai is unlimited food for a set time period. Double bonus. Unfortunately, Arata was only a Nomihoudai plus one appetizer. So, for about $18 bucks, I got unlimited drinks (beer, cocktails, shots.... though I only drink cocktails.. he he he) and an appetizer (Kareage = fried chicken.. he he he thats soooooo good!!). It was pretty awesome.... and later on, Kouta joined us as well. It was the first time he had met all of my international student friends. IT was so much fun and everyone got along great. IT was extremely helpful that everyone could speak Japanese too, because Kouta was really nervous about not being able to speak English. Anyway, poor guy, it was his first time hanging out with a bunch of loud, obnoxious, college Americans and one English girl. he he he The way Japanese kids party and the way we party is pretty different apparantly and Kouta had a blast laughing at how silly we all act!

Anyway, after Arata on Kabuki Cho in Shinjuku, we decided to head back to Shibuya to go to a dance club. And where did we end up? Gas Panic.. again... Remember that post about a month and a half back about the hip hop club? Yeah... that one. Well we ended up there again, which is fine because they play great music... EXCEPT... those Japanese B-Boys are like gremlins... Somebody must have fed them after midnight and put some water on them because their numbers multiplied over the last month. There were about 3 times as many wanna be B-Boys there this time and like no girls. So of course all the girls in our group were being prayed upon..... h aha ha Some random guy from Taiwan or something just comes up to me and is like "Hi, I'm from Taiwan." and then tries to grab me and get me to dance with him... what a weirdo he he he After a while, I got sick of fending of the B-Boy wannabes so Kouta and I left early and walked to his house. Luckily, he lives 15 minutes by foot from Shibuya... Everyone else had to stay out at Gas Panic all night until 5 in the morning when the trains started running again....

So anyway, a little about Kabuki Cho.. Apparantly, Kabuki Cho is Tokyo's red light district. Although I didn't see any red lights anywhere... ha ha ha :-P ANYWAY, there are a bunch of "massage parlors", love hotels (where people shack up for a few hours or a night), peep shows, cabarets etc etc.... But it also hosts a variety of cheap Izakaya... i.e. Arata. There are always a bunch of men and women standing around shouting out "Come to this Izakaya" "come here for a good time" etc etc.. which makes it kind of hard to get where you wanna go without being annoyed.. but surprisingly, it is extremely safe there. Just like it is everywhere in Tokyo.. ha ha ha That's what I love about this town. So huge, and SAFE!!! No huge worries! Although, I have heard that the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) like to frequent Kabuki-cho... But I didn't see any white-suit clad scary looking gangsters around... If I did, I would have asked for a picture.. h aha ha Just kidding mom don't worry I'm not wandering around looking for gangsters.. he he he All I'd really have to do is stay out in Ikebukuro after dark.. or so I've heard... he he he

Anyway, here are pics from our night in Shinjuku!

Poor Kouta, amidst all the crazy, tipsy Americans!

I love unlimited Screwdrivers! What about you? Arata is a great Izakaya fo sho...

Mei Lee, Kenji (a.k.a. So-Kal (he's from SoCal)), and Evan on our wonderful night in Shinjuku

The perfect pic of me and Kouta. It expresses our personalities perfectly. Oh my sweet shy boy <3

Me and my best girl Jina.. She is in all of my same classes and we're together all of the time

Inokashira Koen (park)... Romantic Boat Ride.. ha ha ha NOT!

So Kouta and I went on one of our many trips to Kichijoji today... again... We love to eat Bubuka Ramen... The best ramen one could EVER eat.. and then go for walks through Inokashira Koen. Today, was an especially nice day, so we decided to rent a rowboat and row around on the huge pond that's in the middle of the park. That was all well and good until we were out there and I got freaked out by the huge Koi fish that are as big as my leg, and the catfish as long as my arm. They may just be fish, but they're really scary close up and the koi fish like to come up right next to your boat and jump out of the water to catch flies and stuff.. ewwwww!! If anything, my dad would have really liked the boatride since he is the fish king. Love you daddy! Miss you! he he he

Anyway, we're riding around the boat and feeding the ducks... when we see a cute little turtle swimming around our midst. I really wanted Kouta to catch it for me, but he was opposed to touching it... whether or not he was scared who knows... he he he. Anyway, earlier when we were feeding the ducks, he was getting a kick out of throwing the piece of popcorn above the oar which was underwater, and then when the duck came near he'd pull the oar out of the water and scare the crap out of the duck. Interestingly enough, the ducks all learned from this and would always approach the food tentatively. Only the stupid duck that hadn't seen what happened to previous ducks would fly in and try to get it and then get the crap scared out of it. It was an unofficial science experiment I guess.. he he he ANYWAY, Kouta decides to try and catch the turtle using the oar. Now you all may think that its easier than it really is... But pushing down on the oar in the boat to get the paddle part to rise from the water is no easy feat..... but SOMEHOW, he managed to do it in one try. It was so surprising that we laughed really hard about it! When the Japanese get something.. like if they catch something, or recieve something... they have this crazy "English" phrase called... "(whatever it is) get!" The sentence is completely grammatically incorrect, but to me its hilarious. Since the word in Japanese for turtle is "kame", Kouta yells out "Kame GET!" ha ha ha ... Maybe some of you will find it funny.. maybe not.. but I was laughing pretty hard.. he he he

Here are some of the pics from today... :)

Kouta at Inokashira Koen on our Boat.. I love the foliage in Japan.. It's so pretty to me.

One of the ducks that followed our boar relentlessly in search of any food we might throw its way.....

View from our boat in Inokashira Koen :)

Kame GET!

Me at Inokashira Koen on our rowboat <3

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!~~~)@#(#@$@)$#(@

Yeah, I missed it. I was in the one place I DIDN'T want to be while there was an earthquake... And that was on the train. But apparantly those things are pretty sturdy since I was in it when a 5.1-er hit outside of Tokyo........ Somehow I still don't feel very relieved. Apparantly Japan is expecting the big one any day now. It's supposed to happen every 80 years and the last one was at the beginning of the 1900s............................

So yesterday, I had a HUGE migraine in class. I had to leave early and I barely made it home before I my vision started getting blurry. I slept the ENTIRE day after taking some meds... I woke up at like 9 and went to meet Kouta in Shibuya. Nothing will stop ME from a night out.. ha ha ha Don't worry mom, I studied ALLL day today to make up for missing class :-P plus, Kouta and I didn't stay out too late.. we were back home by like 11 pm where we watched movies with his brother Yuuki and his girlfriend Chika.

Today Kouta made me the BEST curry rice I've ever had in my life. It had onion, carrots, eggplant, beef, and potatoes. SOOOOO good. After that I rode the train home... during which the earthquake struck at about 3:30.... (~.~;)

Today I just stayed home for pretty much the whole day... I did laundry.. cleaned my room and bathroom... and studied. I also washed my hair. This is making for a SUPER interesting blog I'm sure.. ha ahh a

I did notice one funny thing about Japan though... Kouta and I were in the convenience store last night... and I noticed that the music they were playing was kinda familiar... As in.. Ying Yang Twins familiar... as in "The Whisper song" familiar... unedited..............uncensored.......... Talking about what the Ying Yang twins ALWAYS talk about... And I look to my left, and there's a mother with her 4 year old kid....... Doesn't appear to bother them... As the song starts talking about "slapping this" and "smacking that" I look over at Kouta who is deciding which drink he wants... He didn't bat an eyelash... Here I am, in a convenience store, in Japan, with probably one of the MOST perverted songs ever blaring on the speakers... and I being the only one who understands it... Am the only one slightly shocked.... Go figure.

By the way, the Mini-stop convenience store by my apartment loves to rock Missy Elliot and T.I.... YES!!!!

Shannon, me, and Kouta in Sangenjaya (Shannon's a VJ, a friend of Kouta's, and Australian) (^^)

Kouta and I out in Sangenjaya

My precious little baby niece... I miss you my Tavia Bumps!!!

SHIMBASHI! You NEED to see my MySpace page to understand :-P See the link on the navigation bar to the right ;)

I LOVE McDonalds Hotcakes, Welsh Corgies, and little children.....

Ok.. so not really too much of a hangover today. YAY! But anyway, Kouta and I woke up early because I had a huge craving for McDonald's hotcakes.... mmmm were they delicious!!!

Afterwards, he and I went to Kichijouji.. which is a neighborhood .. actually I have no idea where it is... I thought Los Angeles went on forever, but Tokyo's got it beat hands down. Basically, we took a train in some direction for a half hour and got off. There.. that's all I know.. he he he

Anyway, we went to Kichijouji and walked around the arcade (not a video game arcade, but a shopping arcade)... We went to a few different record shops and some clothing and shoe stores. We then ate lunch at a super famous ramen shop that is about as big as my mom's living room. This place apparantly has the BEST ramen in Tokyo and even has microwaveable Cup Ramen made after it. The ramen noodles were freshly made.. not that dried crap that Maruchan makes.. he he he all in all.. it was probably the best ramen I ever did and ever will have!!!!

After that, we went for another walk through Inokashira park.. looking at the CRAZY HUGE crows that can eat you alive... and the Koi fish that are probably as big as my leg... Scary!!!!!!! We also were watching all the adorable children playing, and we petted some of the cute dogs that were being walked nearby. It was all so nice. The weather was beautiful and the park was too...... We then got some ice cream and sat next to the huge pond/lake thing and just chatted about this and that. After that, Kouta had to go to work and I came home and started updating this blog. All in all, its taken me about three hours or more, to update this entire thing.. blech.. h ehe h I should keep it more up to date and not let things pile up like this.. h aha ha

Anyway, I have a kanji test tomorrow that I haven't even started studying for yet, so I'm gonna go do that. I hope everyone at home is doing well, and I hope that everyone else is enjoying this blog! I'm enjoying writing it!!!!!

Inokashira Koen (Inokashira Park)

Me @ Inokashira Koen (Inokashira Park)

Convo Partners, Drunken Foreigners, 18 dollar drinks, Balls, and Karaoke

First things first, MY BACK FEELS GREAT!!! I woke up today and it felt a little bit annoying.. like it was stiff, but it didn't really hurt. So for those of you who worried.. I'm OK NOW!!! :) <3

So this afternoon I went and met my conversation partners for the semester. Their names are Lina (ha ha ha, coincidentally my nickname too) and Makiko, and they are two really sweet girls. They don't speak any English though, so I guess I'll be the one who really benefits as far as language girls. I think it's cool that they want to meet an international student, and I feel lucky to be that person. I will do my best! ;) Anyway, we are going to be meeting every Thursday in the morning... which kinda sucks because its my day off and i still have to go to school... but on the other hand, I'd just waste it sleeping all day anyway. We plan on going to the Keio-Waseda baseball game at the Tokyo metro dome together. I'll be sure to take lots of pics for ya Uncle David ;)

After that, I went home and Sarah, Daniel, Kylee, and I watched a Rahmens tape before going out for the night. Like I stated before.. I'm OBSESSED with Rahmens!!! After that, we went to Roppongi to meet some people that we met at the International Student Welcome party at the beginning of the month. So we (Sarah, Daniel, Kylee, myself, Jina, Nanae, Tomoko, and Jess) all get there and we go to this bar called Heartland..

From the looks of it, it was a pretty posh place... But i couldn't believe how expensive it was!!!! I ordered a double Malibu and pineapple and a regular Malibu and pineapple for Sarah... and it was 2800 yen!!!! Thats 28 bucks!!!!! I wanted to cry.. but I didn't... I handed the money to the smirking bartender who had OBVIOUSLY caught the look of surprise on my face and walked away sullenly with my drinks that cost twice as much as a bottle of malibu itself... BLEH...

So anyway, we're chilling with Nanae (a girl we met at the Int'l party) and her friend Tomoko and its a pretty good time. THEN, out of nowhere.. some crazy drunken Aussie guy asks me for some of our "chips" (french fries) for his other drunken Korean friend while the other Aussie guy continues to stare at me creepishly... Well Daniel soon starts cutting in saying that they're not "proper chips"... they're french fries.. and the two go off into a chips vs. fries discussion... It was quite interesting to watch.. Anyway.. I'm making that 18 dollar drink last as much as I could... And then we decided to go someplace else... in other words.. someplace CHEAPER!!!!!

So we did.. we went to this place called tamaki something or other... all I know is that Tomoko translated it for me and I almost peed my pants in laughter... We were going to a place called "Balls"... yes... THOSE kind of balls.. lol lol ha ha ha ha
Anyway, everybody in Roppongi must love balls, i mena Tamaki - something or other.. because it was packed and we couldn't fit. So we went someplace else. I don't remember the name...

But, for the same price as that 18 dollar drink... I was able to get two screwdrivers that knocked me off my ass(they were literally orange flavored vodka drinks), some kanagare (friend chicken), some weird egg, fish egg, and seaweed thing, and this cheese filled chicken katsu (fried chicken again) thing. Screw you Heartland. I got pretty drunk though... he he he Sorry dad :-P

After that everyone decided to go home, but me and Jina decide to go to Shibuya. I was just gonna meet Kouta there and crash at his place for the night. So we went to Shibuya, and Jina and I went and did Purikura (the little sticker picture thing) and then Jina went home. Kouta wasn't going to be out of work for another hour or so so I just hung out in Tsutaya which is this huge CD/Video/Video Game purchase/rental store... I played Super Mario Brothers on the Gameboy Micro and got all the way up to level 6 when Kouta called and said he'd meet me on the first level. After we met up, we were walking towards his place when he got the idea to do some karaoke. I'm ALWAYS up foir karaoke, SO, we went to Don Quixote, picked up some malt beverages, a Kit Kat, our favorite salad cracker snack that we're both addicted to, and went to Karaoke-kan. We did karaoke for about 2 hours.... we sung everything from Coldplay, to Goo Goo Dolls, to Madonna, to Disney Songs.. you name it.. I even sung some Sakamoto Maaya. After that, we just went to his place and crashed... I was in for a massive hangover...........

I LOVE me some FRIED CHICKEN!!! ha ha ha

Yeah, I'm kinda drunk.. he he he

From Left to Right.... Kinda.. Nanae, Daniel, Sarah, me, Jina, Tomoko, Kylee, Jess (the guy on the right

So I went to school even though my back is still killing me....

Not only that, but it's the longest day of my week. I had class for all five periods today... from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. And what's worse is that the chairs in all of my classrooms are probably the most uncomfortable, painful chairs I've ever sat in with a hurt back... ugh Anyway, I made it through the day...

Sarah and I cooked this beef dish today. It was delish.

That's about it for today.. BAAAAAH MY BACK IS KILLING ME!!! :'(

HOLY CRAP MY BACK IS KILLING ME!!

HOLY CRAP MY BACK IS KILLING ME!!! I couldn't even walk today. I had to miss school. I could barely stand. From all that damn dancing... ha haha Seriously.. what the hell?!?!?!
I called Kouta.. he took me to the chiropracter.. Even though I took a hot bath last night and everything, I woke up and my back hurt more than ever.... IT was like someone was trying to pull it apart.. it was TERRIBLE!!! The chiropracter just gave me some muscle relaxents and a massage and said that if it wasn't better by the end of the week to come back. God I hope it gets better... I feel like I'm going to die :'(

NAGISAAAAAA!!!!!

NAGISAAAAAA!!! So can we say Tokyo is by far the coolest city ever? I think we can!!!!! We all know how much I love me some electronic music.... Well... They have this music festival every year in Odaiba.. a suburb of Toks. It's an electronic music festival which draws in some big names every year... Among this year's bigwigs that I saw were: DJ Krush and David Morales. I also saw DJ AKi.......... DJ AKi.............. HE is God's gift to Paulina.. ha ha ha He is a drum and bass DJ.. and apparantly the number one Drum and Bass DJ in Tokyo. I see why.

Not only did he have the liveliest and loudest stage/crowd... but he cause me to dance so much and so crazily that I danced soooo crazily that I hurt my back. umm yeah.. I'm a dork.

So anyway, the festival was all great and wonderful and all except for one thing. It rained.. the ENTIRE day!!! And it was cold.. it had to be like 50 degrees... We arrived at around 12:30 , and all I had on was a tshirt, jeans, and my jean jacket.. and my Pumas... which.. by the time the puddles had formed, I had realized was the worst idea ever! Cute shoes, but not at ALL waterproof. So by 2:00 I was completely soaked... My socks and shoes and my pants up to about my knees felt as if id been wading through a small stream or river.... So all day long it rained and rained.. we walked around the muddy surroundings waiting for time our fave DJs were coming on... IT sucked... but.. all was almost forgotten when DJ Krush came on.. but the huge 4 hour gap between him and David Morales felt like a lifetime... Eventually Kouta and I got slick enough to steal some poor soul's umbrella.. but hey.. EVERYONE was doing it :-P It was too late anyway.. the damage had been done.. I was officially soaked and headed for "Head Coldsville"... Anyway.. when Aki came on.. I didn't care about anything anymore.. I was a dancing machine.. for an hour straight.. I danced right in front of him.. lol It was awesome.

What was even more awesome is that I got to meet him after his show... He's really nice and was impressed that I could speak Japanese. He had lived in New York city for like 7 years.. so his English was fab too. Later on, Kouta and I realized that EVERYONE was there. All the DJs that I had begun to see more and more often, DJ Keita, Yui, Dj Velocity (Vero-chan)... everyone. Kyouko, who is Aki's girlfriend, was there too. I met her once before at one of Aki's other shows. She's so sweet and what's even better is she remembered who I am! ha ha ha It's nice to meet people who actually remember who you are.. no matter how cool they are.. ha ha ha

Anyway, Kyouko said she would cut my hair. She is a stylist for some big TV celebrities here and is supposed to be really good. So I'm friggin STOKED!! But first I have to wait until I get my relaxer... then I have to color my hair.. THEN I'll get it cut ;)

So all in all.. Nagisa was great.. aside from the rain, and slight back pain. Ooooh.. I can rhyme... I should be an MC................................. he he he Wait until November (wink wink).

The crowd at one of the five stages at the Nagisa festival... feel the love....

DJ Aki.. The best drum and bass DJ I've ever heard... EVER!!! Seriously, he had probably the liveliest crowd out of the whole festival! Aki-san!!!!!!!!