Thursday, May 24, 2007
JET Placement
For those of you who are curious about where I'm being placed in Japan next year, here's the answer. Saitama-ken, Hidaka-shi. According to Lorenzo, I'm literally a bike ride away from TIU. That means I'll be able to see my TIUA friends and my WU friends who are studying abroad at TIU. hooray!
Monday, May 21, 2007
End of Vancouver trip and New York!
After an 8 hour stay at the luxurious Seattle/Tacoma airport and a 5 hour red-eye flight, I'm finally in New York. I'm probably going to be staying with my cousin, Erica, in Brooklyn (I'm not quite sure where I am in the city right now).
The last few days in Vancouver were just as amazing as the first. Thursday was mountains, Friday was ocean, and Saturday was city. On Friday a group of us decided to take the ferry to Victoria. Long story short, we were only in the actual city for about 2 hours, but the 1.5 hour ferry ride (for a total of 3 hours on the boat) was by far the highlight of the day. Again, if I ever figure out how to post photos, I will, because the view from the boat was absolutely gorgeous.
I also met a nice kid from Vancouver who was on a trip with his mother and her friends. I say kid because he's in 7th grade. I was outside enjoying the view and braving the cold by myself, and he simply approached me and started talking. We chatted about the usual; how pretty the view was, what we had done in Victoria, where we were from etc. Amusingly, he thought I was 25. When I corrected him, he stammered that "It's always hard for me to tell the age of... Hawaiian people."
That night we went out clubbing at this place called The Roxy. Our friend Jen was so popular that there were literally at least 3-4 guys checking her out/trying to dance with her at any point of the night. It was pretty ridiculous. The guys on the trip with us saved all the girls from the sketchy guys at one time or another.
After closing the place at 2am, we all went back to the hotel room for some well-deserved rest. I woke up early, as usual, so took a nap from 11:30-2ish. As a result, I missed the car that went to the Indian market, so I wandered around the shopping areas of downtown Vancouver. There were many familiar stores (AE, Gap, Body Shop, etc), but also a lot of really funky shops. Of course, it started raining just as I was starting the 10+ block walk back to the hotel. Usually, I'm not too thrilled when it rains, but for some reason, the cold rain felt really nice. I'm sure a lot of people in the area thought I was crazy since I was essentially walking around in the rain with a long sleeve shirt. I warmed up with a trip to the hot tub where I met four guys who were, ironically, from Portland. Unfortunately, they were all far more interested in the other guys than in talking with me.
After a failed trip to sing karaoke, we went to a bar in an area nearby called Yaletown. Again, Jen was hit on by a sketchy guy, and again the guys swooped in to her rescue. Highlights of the conversation include his attempt at a conversation starter: "Do you believe in reincarnation?" He also attempted to get her to recite the pledge of allegiance. My personal favorite is, "Why are you frowning? You look so much prettier when you smile" accompanied by him stroking her face.
We left early the next morning so Eric could catch his plane. The trip through customs took 1.5 hours, but Sean, Katie, Beverly, and I had some quality bonding time including a coffee accident and tales of a broken shot glass.
I then spent a lovely 8 hours in the Seattle airport in which I rode the tram thing around for a little while, then wandered around looking at artwork, and finally crashed at the gate. One red eye flight and a few subway rides later, and I'm finally somewhere that I can shower and nap.
The last few days in Vancouver were just as amazing as the first. Thursday was mountains, Friday was ocean, and Saturday was city. On Friday a group of us decided to take the ferry to Victoria. Long story short, we were only in the actual city for about 2 hours, but the 1.5 hour ferry ride (for a total of 3 hours on the boat) was by far the highlight of the day. Again, if I ever figure out how to post photos, I will, because the view from the boat was absolutely gorgeous.
I also met a nice kid from Vancouver who was on a trip with his mother and her friends. I say kid because he's in 7th grade. I was outside enjoying the view and braving the cold by myself, and he simply approached me and started talking. We chatted about the usual; how pretty the view was, what we had done in Victoria, where we were from etc. Amusingly, he thought I was 25. When I corrected him, he stammered that "It's always hard for me to tell the age of... Hawaiian people."
That night we went out clubbing at this place called The Roxy. Our friend Jen was so popular that there were literally at least 3-4 guys checking her out/trying to dance with her at any point of the night. It was pretty ridiculous. The guys on the trip with us saved all the girls from the sketchy guys at one time or another.
After closing the place at 2am, we all went back to the hotel room for some well-deserved rest. I woke up early, as usual, so took a nap from 11:30-2ish. As a result, I missed the car that went to the Indian market, so I wandered around the shopping areas of downtown Vancouver. There were many familiar stores (AE, Gap, Body Shop, etc), but also a lot of really funky shops. Of course, it started raining just as I was starting the 10+ block walk back to the hotel. Usually, I'm not too thrilled when it rains, but for some reason, the cold rain felt really nice. I'm sure a lot of people in the area thought I was crazy since I was essentially walking around in the rain with a long sleeve shirt. I warmed up with a trip to the hot tub where I met four guys who were, ironically, from Portland. Unfortunately, they were all far more interested in the other guys than in talking with me.
After a failed trip to sing karaoke, we went to a bar in an area nearby called Yaletown. Again, Jen was hit on by a sketchy guy, and again the guys swooped in to her rescue. Highlights of the conversation include his attempt at a conversation starter: "Do you believe in reincarnation?" He also attempted to get her to recite the pledge of allegiance. My personal favorite is, "Why are you frowning? You look so much prettier when you smile" accompanied by him stroking her face.
We left early the next morning so Eric could catch his plane. The trip through customs took 1.5 hours, but Sean, Katie, Beverly, and I had some quality bonding time including a coffee accident and tales of a broken shot glass.
I then spent a lovely 8 hours in the Seattle airport in which I rode the tram thing around for a little while, then wandered around looking at artwork, and finally crashed at the gate. One red eye flight and a few subway rides later, and I'm finally somewhere that I can shower and nap.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Vancouver and Grouse Mountain
So, I'm in another country... Vancouver is absolutely gorgeous, and the weather has been spectacular.
After a long drive from Salem, Oregon to Vancouver, B.C. (I drove the entire way, btw) that took about 7 hours (plus we stopped for lunch and for gas), we decided to go out to find somewhere to eat. Since it was my birthday, I requested Asian food of some sort (typical me). We found this really cute Japanese restaurant, had some Sapporo beer and sushi, and a tasty birthday dessert of brownies and ice cream with green tea powder sprinkled on top. My friends were kind enough to treat me to dinner, and surprise me with the tasty ice cream concoction. \(^o^)/
In true first-night-in-a-new-country fashion, we decided to stay in the hotel room. Why? Lost, of course. I can't wait for next week...
Yesterday, Beverly, David, Sean, Eric, Elena, Jen, and I went up to Grouse Mountain. The boys wanted to do this insane hike (2.5 miles one way, steep incline), but we weren't too thrilled about it. Ironically, the trails up the mountain were all closed, so we walked downhill (suburban hiking) to a really cool dam, then hiked down further to a river. As David put it, the area was very A River Runs Through It. There was even a guy fly fishing. With any luck, I'll figure out how to post photos, and I'll do that when I get home.
After a long drive from Salem, Oregon to Vancouver, B.C. (I drove the entire way, btw) that took about 7 hours (plus we stopped for lunch and for gas), we decided to go out to find somewhere to eat. Since it was my birthday, I requested Asian food of some sort (typical me). We found this really cute Japanese restaurant, had some Sapporo beer and sushi, and a tasty birthday dessert of brownies and ice cream with green tea powder sprinkled on top. My friends were kind enough to treat me to dinner, and surprise me with the tasty ice cream concoction. \(^o^)/
In true first-night-in-a-new-country fashion, we decided to stay in the hotel room. Why? Lost, of course. I can't wait for next week...
Yesterday, Beverly, David, Sean, Eric, Elena, Jen, and I went up to Grouse Mountain. The boys wanted to do this insane hike (2.5 miles one way, steep incline), but we weren't too thrilled about it. Ironically, the trails up the mountain were all closed, so we walked downhill (suburban hiking) to a really cool dam, then hiked down further to a river. As David put it, the area was very A River Runs Through It. There was even a guy fly fishing. With any luck, I'll figure out how to post photos, and I'll do that when I get home.
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