It's 7am, I've slept barely 9 hours the past three days, my bags are all packed, and I'm leaving for the airport in four hours. Katie in Japan is about to become Katie NOT in Japan. Thank you, Lord, for all the great and mighty things You have done and have shown me. Thank you for Japan, for the beautiful Japanese people, and for allowing me to serve You here in this incredible and unique place. I'm not sure what I accomplished while I was here, but I know You are here and that You had me here for Your purpose. "I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God." Isaiah 61:10 See ya on the other side of the pond.
10. I never even knew Korea had tv dramas before I came to Japan. I've only seen one complete season of one Korean drama, but I do have a little bit of a fetish with Koreans now. They are sooo romantic and passionate but they keep their tv programs pure and clean. This here is a picture is a Bae Yong Joon who is a famous Korean actor. I totally think he is adorable. My mission is make Korean dramas popular in Tennessee.
9. Japanese girls are the most feminine girls on the planet. From the tops of their heads to their pinky toe, they are dressed to impress. And here, nail polish is not just your standard shades of reds, pinks, and purples. They use multiple colors on one nail, add stickers, add diamonds, even use paint to draw pictures on their nails. I'm addicted. I'm totally loving having blingbling on my fingernails.
8. Ed-a-ma-me! These soybeans are soooo good and soo healthy. I eat them like candy. I only hope I can find these cheap in Tennessee.
7. Favorite food ever in Japan: OKONOMIYAKI! This cabbage pancake filled with beef, pork, or shrimp is so yummy. I'm going to miss it soooo much.
6. I love my keitai, that is, my cell phone. It's pink, it's bilingual, I decorated it with flowers and Hello Kitty cell phone straps, it takes pictures and movies, it has over 100 icons to use when emailing (texting)...despite the fact I only get 25 free minutes a month, I love my keitai more than any cell phone in America.
5. When I visited Chi-chan's family in Niigata in September, we took a two-hour ferry to Sado Island. Sado Island is the creepiest place ever. There are no people anywhere, it's mountainous, for some reason the sun doesn't shine there...it's an eerie place. We went gold digging on the island, and we did find like the smallest pieces of gold possible. I'm not sure what it is, but every time Chi and I get together, if we mention Sado Island, we bust out laughing.
4. Hands down the best thing about Japan is public transportation and the use of bicycles. I rode my bike and the train almost every day. I can do various tricks on my bike now...like email on my cell phone while riding, ride while holding an umbrella, ride in a skirt and heels. And I can run in heels now to catch the train. I will definitely miss the trains and using my bike in America. It's great exercise.
3. Shiona and I became Geisha last year. It was so fun to pick out our kimono and get dressed up and then pose for pictures. We got professional picture taken, and I framed one and gave it to my grandma. When my grandma opened it, she was like "Oh, a Geisha girl". She didn't even recognize it was me. I think I'm turning Japanese. I really think so.
2. Best birthday ever...my 24th birthday on top of Mt. Fuji. How many people get to see the sunrise on their birthday from the top of Mt. Fuji? It was actually a terrible, difficult, frustrating experience, but one of my favorite memories of Japan. We almost killed each other climbing to top, but now we can laugh about it. Shiona even made a movie documenting our trek to the top...Mt. Fuji: Giver of Pain.
1. So actually this isn't Japan, but I went with two Japanese and it was a vacation from Japan...GUAM!! Guam is an American territory in the Pacific Ocean. It's nice, but it's totally ghetto. Our "mountain view" hotel room required you sticking your head out the window and looking right to see the mountain. Our rental car broke down TWICE. And then there is Talafofo Falls. Twenty dollars to see a museum made by second graders in 1950, to see the cave the Japanese WWII soldier lived in for 30 years that is actually a hole in the ground, and to see Guam's famous Talafofo Falls...it should be called Guam's famous Wet Rocks. However, the world's largest K-Mart, a Polynesian dinner show with Shiona and I dancing on stage, a jar of bread and butter pickles, and spending five days with Shiona, Kaori, and Koni on an island totally make up for the lackluster performance of Talafofo Falls.
The other day I read my entire blog...I was getting sentimental. Blogs are like techno scrapbooks. So, as my Japan scrapbook comes to an end, I must have the mandatory Goodbye Party entry with the mandatory slew of pictures. My party was supposed to be a surprise, but Japanese are too honest to keep things a secret. Nonetheless, I was surprised and touched and sad that my sweet friends here threw me a Bye Bye Party. When I came in , the living was decorated with a banner and balloons and flowers. And the food!!! It was quite the feast. Shiona, my long lost American buddy who fled to Washington and got engaged, had secretly made a DVD of me in Japan and another DVD chronicling our climb to the top of Mt. Fuji...she is going to be a famous producer/editor someday. And then we went to karaoke, my most favorite pastime in Japan and sang songs like "Ain't to Proud to Beg", "You Raise Me Up", and "Good Riddance/Time of Your Life" (the most appropriate song ever for moments like this). I'm really sad as I write this. Only six days left.
And the Goodbyes have started...sniff, sniff. The English Club at Kansai University, aka The Ducks, threw me a little Bye Bye Party last night. I totally thought we were just going to go out to eat, but when I walked into their club room and turned on the lights, they jumped out with confetti and shot off those little popper things. It was totally awesome and sooo sweet. And then they gave me a going away present...a photo album with a picture and note from each club member. I'm soooo sad...
