A clip from a great movie. This is exactly how I feel right now:
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
What will I miss?
I keep planning this week like "what will I miss while I'm in Japan?", trying to get in all the things I don't think I'll find in Japan. But this is what I expect to miss and not miss while I'm abroad for 9 months.
What I think I'll miss in Japan:
5. My family. This gets number 5 just because it is a big duh! It would be number 1 times infinity because it's a big deal to me. My sister is starting her freshman year in college too, so I'll miss learning about a lot of her life. Along with this also is my home, home cooking, etc.
4. My school. I feel like I might be missing a lot by taking a year off. Many of my friends are graduating, and it looks like my school will grow a lot in this year that I'm away. I also have always been a year younger than everyone in my year, but taking a year off will finally use up that "extra year" and put me at the right age for graduation (22 instead of 21). It makes me sad to part with my youth, but I suppose this is one of the last times that age really aligns with year anyways.
3. American pop culture. While I was in Kanazawa last summer, I missed the coming of Soulja boy. I'm sure I'll miss a ton of other things while I'm in Japan. What I'm bummed most about missing is the election. This will be the first presidential election I can vote in and I'll miss the entire race.
2. American fashion. *Stereotype alert* A lot of Japanese people ultimatley get away with booty shorts, and some can rock V-necks, but this is possibly because of the tendency for flatchestedness and butt lackage. Unfortunately I'm not really like that... so I've been shopping like crazy for coverups and understhirts for my halters and spaghetti strap dresses. I don't like the look of layered clothing, but I'm gonna have to give in and become a clothing conservative for a year.
1. Heterogeneity. No matter how amazing at Japanese I get or how familiar I become with Kyoto, I will always be seen as a stranger, tourist, and foreigner. It'll make me smile when random people practice their English with a "hello" to me, but I wonder if I'll feel lonely, being always singled out.
What I think I won't miss in Japan:
5. American food. Japanese food just feels so much healthier, yummier, and even cheaper. I had my final meals of peanut butter, ribs, chicken tenders, cheese, and American hamburgers, but I won't be missing any of that. Cooking at home was generally Japanese, so Japanese food is fantastic for me.
4. American television. I'm sorta curious how the next seasons of the Office and Heroes will be, but American TV is full of such junk these days. A couple of months ago while working out at the Davenport gym, I remember watching "I Know My Kid's A Star" and realizing I was finally sick of all the reality TV and ready to move on. Even with just basic channels, Japanese tv is great - hilarious variety shows and addictive dramas.
3. Transportation. Though the DC metro is pretty awesome, public transit can still take forever. Kyoto looks like a compact enough city for me to be able to use my newly learned biking skills everywhere - and if I'm lazy one day I can still take the bus.
2. American epidemics. ADD, obesity, anorexia, terrorism paranoia, religious fanatacism, emo culture, hip hop culture. I'm happy to leave these behind for a year in exchange for freeter, hikikomori, aging population, otaku culture, and ganguro culture.
1. American boys. I'm excited for all the Japanese hotties! Psychh - I love men from all around the world! Still, not complaining about being forced to mingle with Japanese guys for a year. ;-)
This post may become a video blog post later on. I'm going to be in Boston for a week but I wanted to get these ideas down, so this is why it's all text!
What I think I'll miss in Japan:
5. My family. This gets number 5 just because it is a big duh! It would be number 1 times infinity because it's a big deal to me. My sister is starting her freshman year in college too, so I'll miss learning about a lot of her life. Along with this also is my home, home cooking, etc.
4. My school. I feel like I might be missing a lot by taking a year off. Many of my friends are graduating, and it looks like my school will grow a lot in this year that I'm away. I also have always been a year younger than everyone in my year, but taking a year off will finally use up that "extra year" and put me at the right age for graduation (22 instead of 21). It makes me sad to part with my youth, but I suppose this is one of the last times that age really aligns with year anyways.
3. American pop culture. While I was in Kanazawa last summer, I missed the coming of Soulja boy. I'm sure I'll miss a ton of other things while I'm in Japan. What I'm bummed most about missing is the election. This will be the first presidential election I can vote in and I'll miss the entire race.
2. American fashion. *Stereotype alert* A lot of Japanese people ultimatley get away with booty shorts, and some can rock V-necks, but this is possibly because of the tendency for flatchestedness and butt lackage. Unfortunately I'm not really like that... so I've been shopping like crazy for coverups and understhirts for my halters and spaghetti strap dresses. I don't like the look of layered clothing, but I'm gonna have to give in and become a clothing conservative for a year.
1. Heterogeneity. No matter how amazing at Japanese I get or how familiar I become with Kyoto, I will always be seen as a stranger, tourist, and foreigner. It'll make me smile when random people practice their English with a "hello" to me, but I wonder if I'll feel lonely, being always singled out.
What I think I won't miss in Japan:
5. American food. Japanese food just feels so much healthier, yummier, and even cheaper. I had my final meals of peanut butter, ribs, chicken tenders, cheese, and American hamburgers, but I won't be missing any of that. Cooking at home was generally Japanese, so Japanese food is fantastic for me.
4. American television. I'm sorta curious how the next seasons of the Office and Heroes will be, but American TV is full of such junk these days. A couple of months ago while working out at the Davenport gym, I remember watching "I Know My Kid's A Star" and realizing I was finally sick of all the reality TV and ready to move on. Even with just basic channels, Japanese tv is great - hilarious variety shows and addictive dramas.
3. Transportation. Though the DC metro is pretty awesome, public transit can still take forever. Kyoto looks like a compact enough city for me to be able to use my newly learned biking skills everywhere - and if I'm lazy one day I can still take the bus.
2. American epidemics. ADD, obesity, anorexia, terrorism paranoia, religious fanatacism, emo culture, hip hop culture. I'm happy to leave these behind for a year in exchange for freeter, hikikomori, aging population, otaku culture, and ganguro culture.
1. American boys. I'm excited for all the Japanese hotties! Psychh - I love men from all around the world! Still, not complaining about being forced to mingle with Japanese guys for a year. ;-)
This post may become a video blog post later on. I'm going to be in Boston for a week but I wanted to get these ideas down, so this is why it's all text!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
My first test blog
Sorry for the low quality video! This is me preparing for my trip, still in Maryland.
Preparing for my trip
So I'm not new to the blogging-about-a-trip thing - last summer, I blogged about my trip to Kanazawa, Japan, sponsored by the Light Fellowship. This time around, for the next 9 months, I'll be blogging about another Light Fellowship trip - this time to Kyoto! I'm very excited for my trip.
However, I realized that just simply writing a blog felt sort of limiting. It takes a lot of time to put a pile of words down and to add in photos and such. So I decided to try to do a vlog - or video blog - where I can easily express my feelings, show my environment around me, and also allow you to see how things change over time. Who wants to read a huge chunk of text anyways?
So here I present my video blog for my trip to Kyoto.
-Wilma
However, I realized that just simply writing a blog felt sort of limiting. It takes a lot of time to put a pile of words down and to add in photos and such. So I decided to try to do a vlog - or video blog - where I can easily express my feelings, show my environment around me, and also allow you to see how things change over time. Who wants to read a huge chunk of text anyways?
So here I present my video blog for my trip to Kyoto.
-Wilma
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)