New Blog

Saturday, October 17, 2009

With a new chapter of my life comes a new blog:

Nina in Okazaki

Leaving Florida

Friday, September 25, 2009

I'm leaving the States on Monday. Check out my photo album again, I've added some more pics. Mostly of food ;)

CLICK HERE

Driving CM

Monday, September 14, 2009

Ok, maybe I like American commercials too...but only a little ;)

My Summer...

Thursday, September 3, 2009

So far (<--- link!)

It's Good to be Home

Monday, August 31, 2009

Some things have changed and yet some things have stayed the same.

US 19 and Interstate 275 are TOTALLY different but just as dangerous to drive on.

The radio stations play the same music they've been playing since I was in High School. What? Haven't heard something new in 8 years? It was like strolling through memory lane.

The house is different. New furniture and windows. New fixtures and upgrades...new TVs that take forever to turn on and change the channels but get HD cable so I'm not complaining.

Same old stuff on TV. Reality shows where people argue about some of the weirdest stuff. That's not normal people!!!

In some respects I feel like a Japanese exchange student walking into America for the first time. What?! People here are so much bigger and taller! I come up to everyones chest and it feels so weird and uncomfortable to be this short! Have I always been this short?!

It makes my skin crawl to even THINK about walking into a house with shoes on. And then I look over at my friend who not only has her shoes on but her feet are on the couch too! AHHHHHHHHHH

The food here is so rich and delicious! Much more delicious than I remember it (^u^)v

The rooms are so large. I could fit a whole family in my bedroom! But yet, it's still not large enough to relearn my Yosakoi dance. How did I ever manage to practice it in my tiny apartment back in Kochi?

I'm grateful to my friends for not making fun of me for this either. Wait, how do I text message someone? I just send it to their telephone number? How novel!

ATMs are open after 6pm? Well, what time do they open in the morning? They're 24 hours? How convenient!

I walked into Sam's club and just about fell over. A giant cake for $10? Where did it come from?! Who made it and were they payed well? Cuz that same cake would be well over $30 in Japan! It blows my mind.

People are so loud and in your face here. They're extra rude but super friendly. Neither of which I would find in Japan! I go into a grocery store and the woman working the register greets me with the most bored expression I have ever seen. I feel instantly bad for bothering her! But then we joke about the price of head bands and she tells me how I can get a discount if I do something or other.

In Japan, the cashier would politely smile with the warmth to melt your heart but then not stray from her set script because doing otherwise might lose her her job! Nothing but the utmost politeness and coldness.

It's good to be home and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel out of place and right where I've always been all at the same time. I'm happy to be here but I miss Japan all the same.

Can't I have both?

I heart Japanese commercials

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

This is my current favorite commercial. It's an advert for the new Daihatsu Move Eco car.




Personally, I just love that dancing deer. BAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

Packing

Saturday, July 25, 2009

I'm packing up my life of 3 years in this place. It's a pain in the ass to say the least ;)

Monday is my last night in this apartment and I'm crossing my fingers that my car will be packed at ready to ship out to the J-families house my that evening.

Anywho, check out how my summer has been so far!