Erika's life

I just remembered that I used to update my blog and wow, it's been so long since I updated last time... I even forgot I had a blog, haha.
It's very interesting to see how I've changed for two years. I did a lot of things within this two years. The big thing is that I became a RA after I got back from US. I lived with almost 100 students from all over the world in my university's dorm!! Every year, around 300 students are coming to my university to study abroad and I got this great chance to live with them. I had fantastic moments with them and it was a really really great experience!! The people I met and the memories we had is treasure for me.
What I found myself from olden blogs is that I was very negative to myself. I didn't like myself, I didn't like talking to people, I always compared with others. I was often depressed at myself. Now... I don't really care about other people. I just started to like who I am and my life. I think people who I met in this two years had changed myself and because there was myself who was trying to change, I could get over it. I think I've somewhat grown up and been an adult :)
Here is my future plans for now. I'm surffering from getting a job... so hopefully, I'll find one soon and work for years. After saving money, I'd like to work in different country, somewhere in Europe or America!

Since I came to the US, it has passed about 3 months. Everything has been going well and I'm enjoying my life. Recently I got to think about myself. When I was in Japan, I didn't have a plenty of time to think about myself. Besides I didn't want to think about myself. From I came here, I noticed some things. I really didn't like talking with people in Japan. I tried to avoide from talking with people. When I talk with classmates or co-workers in the group, I always feel like uncomfortable. I become more nervous when trying to speak about myself. I don't know why but I think I'm always comparing with other people. I persuaded myself I don't have an ability to talk with people.
And, I think I have two characters when I speak in Japanese and English. Before coming to the US, I knew that I became more active and felt comfortable to talk in English. Maybe I love speaking in English and can enjoy talking in English. Since I came here, I felt like much more. When I talk with some Japanese, I stop talking and switch to listen, however I can talk actively in English with Amricans. In my mind, there are two persons. That's very interesting for me to notice two myself. It's comfortable for me to speak in English.
But these days, I hesitant to speak English. I'm a little bit afraid of talking with Americans coz my English is poor and it's very hard to communicate with them. And, then I sometimes worry about how I look like... I'm not western, I'm Asian... I know it's a bad idea, but I sometimes feel like if I were Western.
I think this is a good chance for me to change myself. I talked these things to my Japanese friend and she said I should be like when I'm talking in English in Japan. I wanna be, I hope so. But I don't know I'm gonna be a different myself in Japan.

Hey, guys!! It has passed about 3 mothes since I came to the US. Sorry, I wanted to update my blog, but I didn't have a plenty of time... I was soooo busy to do many things, they are almost hanging out with my friends, though.
Anway, I'm enjoying Amrican life so far. I made some Amrican friends and am chilling out with them. I don't know my English skill is getting better or not, but I hope so.
Since I came here, I experienced many things. I can't say everything, but recently I went to the corn maze, clubs, see a MBA game and so on.


It was the first time for me to go to the corn maze. But it was so much fun!! Maybe there are no places in Japan. There are two big corn filds and we walk inside of the field. It's a little bit scary but we can absolutely enjoy it.

And, I went to the Amrican clubs with my Amrican friends. I'd never been to the clubs in Japan so it was the first time for me. I didn't know how to dance but I just danced and enjoyed it. It's fun to dance ;-) My fried is a gay so at first, I went to the gay club! Hum, all things were surprising for me but it was interesting. And then, I went to the ordinary club which was used to be a church. It was so beautiful and I was riveted to two sexy dancers.

Yesterday, I came back from my trip to Grand Canyon. I went to see Garand Canyon by car with my Japanese friends and Italian friend. It was sooo much fun!! We also dropped by the Meza Verde, Black Canyon and Four Corners. I was impressed with the grand natures. You should absolutely go see Grand Canyon during your life. We stayed at the hotel of the national park and saw the sunrise. It was pretty good!



I'll try to keep blogging if I have a time! See you, then!

Hey, evryone! Japan is so hot and I feel uncomfortable...
And, badly, my homecomputer was broken....

On Monday, I went to Mie prefecture with my dad, mom and mom's sister. I went to Mie as a junior high schooltrip but I forgot what I did. And, it's first time for me to visit Ise Jinguu.
Ise Jinguu has two shrines in Naikuu and Geguu.
At first, we visited Geguu. It was not so shinier and better than I thought...
But Naiguu was big and interesting to see surrounding.
Near Naiguu, there is a made town, Okage Yoko-tyou. In the town, there are a lot of stalls. You can eat local foods and buy suveniors. We ate Houjitya and Mattya kouri.
I wanted to eat Akahuku kouri which is a sweet we can eat only in Akahuku. This is a picture of Akahuku kouri. It looks very delicious, doesn't it? But there were so many people so I couldn't eat... I wanna eat next time!

And, yesterday I finally watched Pirates of the Carribean!!!
Did you see?
I really wanted to see it. Johnny Depp was really handsome and cool!
I love him♡ I'm gonna Los Angeles so can I see him!?
If you haven't watched yet, I recommend you to watch. I wanna see next movie soon.

Well, 4 days later, I'm gonna leave Japan! I packed my baggages at last. It's really heavy...
Um, but I don't feel so yet... See ya~!

I bought an Omiyage bon (souvenir book) to help introduce Japanese culture in US. The content is about Japanese culture, regions or food or clothes or events in English. That's very interesting and I found many unknown things.
I didn't know the clear differences of Kabuki, Noh and Kyogen.
Kabuki is said to have organized in Kyoto with a woman named Okuni at the beginning of the seventeen century. The word kabuki came from kabuku which meant eccentric or original. Their feature is having a Japanese umbrella and making white face up.
Noh is the oldest existing form of professional thater in the world. The expression "like a noh mask", means a person who never shows their emotion. They perfome with wearing a mask.
Kyogen developed at the same time as noh and the two were often perfomed together. Kyogen actors always carry a fan on stage.
I've never seen these traditional perfomances so I wanna see someday. But I think it's kind of boring... It's silent and slow.
Well, it's the Japanese style.

Yesterday, I bought a device to start skype with my parents because we can communicate cheaply when I go to US. Do you know skype? Skype is like a communication tool for nothing! If I buy the device for about 1000 yen($9), I can communicate with worldwide people!! It's amazing, isn't it?
Immediately, I tried to do it and found an American who is studying Japanese. I talked with him for about three hours. This is a very good material for me instead of English conversation school!! So if you want to speak a language you're learning, I recommend you to try this :-)

Hey, guys! How are you? Japan is getting hotter and I'm very uncomfortable...
My summer vacation just started!! Yey! But I don't have any special plans... Ummm, I wanna go see fireworks, go to festivals and go swimming in the sea!
Anyway, I recieved materials about the adress of dorm in Amrica and my roomie. My roomie seems to be American and is majorying in international education. Although I recieved the adress, I don't feel I'll leave Japan. I feel just stay in Japan forever. I thought before one month, I'd feel expectation and anxiety. But not! Maybe the day before, I'll feel these things!?
Well, to go to America, I bought a new laptop!! This is the picture. It is easy to use and has good function. I can keep blog by this!

BTW, yesterday, I went to a summer festival with my club mates! This is the first time for me to go in this summer. I was happy to eat a lot of food at boothes. I ate Kakigouri, Yakisoba and Hashimaki! I love Japanese festivals very much because it makes me exciting and I like the atmosphere.
Since we haven't seen for a long time, we talked about many things, our future or marriage. When I see and talk with my club mates, I'm always encouraged and given a power.
Next time, I wanna set off fireworks in the park!

Before, I said my Canadian teacher will go back to Canada and for him, we had a party at class! We considered what pereset is good for him and decided to buy Jinbei and give a message card from everyone.
For the party, we prepared cream puff with mustard to play a game! We planed to play bingo and as one of prizes, we have to eat cream puff like Russian roulette!! That's crazy...
Before starting a party, we gave him an invitation to the party. That's fun to surprise someone! When he came into our class, we pull a cracker and yelled "We love Peter!"
And then, we gave him Jinbei. He wore it and looked so cute☆ After saying "Cherrs", we played bingo. Yey! Unfortunately, I couldn't get a prize but it was fun for me to spend with my classmates. For the last game, we did a scary game. That's guessing who is eating masturd cream puff and who is not. I did it twice but didn't eat mustard! Lucky! I used up all of fortunes then!?
Finally, he convyed a message to us. That was emotional and warm. I could feel how much he loved our class and appreciated us. I feel really happy that I could meet him. I learned many things from him, the importance of studying, the difficulty and interest of writing ,and knowing own culture and other cultures. I can't say everything but surely, I learned a lot from him. I'm so sad that we can't take his classes anymore. But I hope he can also enjoy his second life in Canada.
After going back to home, I checked e-mail and noticed that he sent us an e-mail. It was really really long mail but I didn't feel painful. I read his mail and I was more impressed with it, how he thinks about us, how he feels about his future, I knew his bottom of mind.
Thanks for everything, Peter! Good luck in Canada!
It's one of intersts in my life to meet new people and get something. Meeting new people makes me mature and develops myself.