A Place

So thankful. ...where to start?

It's been a while since i last wrote. Almost a month- well duh, right ;p. but lets see. during that time, i hit the bottom. Honey moon phase ended. Now is like a test of character for me now i think. which direction will i go now, what will i take away from this experience? who knows right now? I don't.

LIVIN THE LIFE (recap of events i did since last post. see fb for photos)
*host sister's Udoukai (sports day)
* made beef stew, macadamia nut cookies, and Sweet Potato desert with host family and host family's cousins/relatives :D fun and delicious.
* met Uncle Masaki, got a new hair cut shortly after - short, cute japanese hair cut
* Bridging scholarship reception thing on a thursday night. Roppongi. Food. Met lots of people.
* Explored Akihabara. Bought an electronic dictionary. red.
* Went to Disney Sea with a few of my fellow JSP classmates
* A friend's 21st Birthday Party at their host family's house/restraunt. the place was Hawaii themed. unreal!
* Lunch Buddies for a couple days, then ventured to Crayon and Bunbun for lunch a few days later. Delicious
* Switched cell phones (using my own now. the pink one)
* Went to Nabe Party with friends I made at Tokyo International University
* Went with Host Family Cousin to a huge outlet mall for shopping
* Attended a Free Coffee making class. Making coffee w/o the coffee maker machine.
* Attended a Free Frozen Food bento making class
* Got extra help from the japanese language teacher.
* Met up with Randy and Brandy at shibuya for L&L and exploration. Ended up spending essentially the whole day with Randy. After Shibuya, Harajyuku, then to Takadanobaba. Village Vangard and delicious, spicy Chicken and Mutton Curry with ginormous Nan. yummmm!...
* Ate at another small, hole in the wall restraunt. Hamburger steak ^_^ so good. Explored the area around where i live. 

Reflection and thoughts:
That's a lot of stuff actually... and like, wow. perhaps this may turn out to be a thesis like project later on in a little less than a year. Mid terms are this coming Friday for Japanese language. I hear it'll b a 3 hour long test on basically every thing we've managed to cover in the 12 hours of class a week schedule. some in the class say it's not enough, so went to the teacher asking to speed up the pace and actually give us more usefull grammar that can be applied to every day conversations. More vocab that can enable us to talk and converse better with the natives here. I was reminded a little of christianity where ppl say that there's such a thing as becoming a fat christian child, continually only depending on mentors to give you what you need to grow, never trying to do things for yourself. learn of your own will. can call this preaching if you will, but nothing i say will make a dime's difference if you think you already have all the answers or have a closed mind. yes, danger, but reality will continue to be what it is no matter how you feel about it. Feelings are some thing, but not every thing in the world will change just because you feel it should. your out look and how you view things has a powerful impact on how it affects you.
So many things happen. This is really quite a semester on steroids. like you're here for a limited amount of time, so i want to do every thing and any thing under the sun. i know i can't, and i also want to spend time w/my host family too. they know so much. I am a child again. and again. lol, the walls of the candy store are slowly fading as curiosity grows in favor of adventure in the outside world i can see snipets of through the windows. Like just really living with my host family, and not just doing "Japanese" things with them. Taking the time to try learn/at least translate all the kanji i can make out on a portable cell phone charger, trying to write down all the vocab i can and review them each night, actually just getting an electronic dictionary for better, quicker communication, and being sure to spend time in the house trying to talk with them instead of just going out all the time. Best foot forward. Really trying to meet half way.
I was on a movie set. place: japan. character background: born and raised in Hawaii, stereotypical ukulele playing, rubber slipper wearing, tanned skin, japanese-american, just barely learning how to surf standing up, knew enough japanese to get buy, speaks "hawaiian english", always wanted to go to Japan, smiles with a hawaii surfer girl aura, and relationships that also seem to have come out of a picture-esque story from what other ppl could see. Now almost half way through, some thing has changed. I've known it wasn't always about the glitz, glam, fashion, hype surrounding someone, some thing, etc. setting: came from a summer filled with drama, trying to rebuild myself identity. Who i was to myself. I thought Japan was the perfect opportunity for it. It still is, and I want to take advantage of this opportunity, especially since there are things i need, like a new pair of sandals that don't give me blisters after like half an hour of walking in them. X_X not fun. but...ah this thing is long enough, an idk how to word things - put all the feelings i have right now into words. they need to sit and stew, mature if you will for a bit longer. ;p
Janelle is in japan, baby! yes!
She's such a tourist, but not that oh my gosh she's such a tourist, tourist. :D if ya get what i mean. ..yeah? (a friend was teasing me about how we say yea a lot in HI)