The Lighthearted Wanderer

I am totally going through one of those times where it`s like, I`m on the train and can think of some totally awesome thing to post about, but a couple days later I`m at school with internet and can`t even remember what it was going to be about. Anyway, at them moment all I can remember are a couple images...I was walking through the streets of downtown Kobe (Sannomiya), looking at all the crazy expensive merchandise...shoes are like $50 minimum! Everything is so cute and looks expensive haha. Realizing how little language ability it can take to get your point across, but on the other hand how little a gap in understanding can be a chasm that`s hopeless if one isn`t careful. Sitting in the lobby of a hotel simply because they have an unsecured wifi signal, skyping with my mom on my phone looking like a silly young girl, but then being offered water by the hotel staff because they probably think I`m a guest. And not just normal water either, but lemon water ;) And later taking pictures...

At the Keio Plaza Hotel in the Shinjuku Area of Tokyo...I couldn't believe there are over 700 people here, and that's only about half of the total new JETs this year! Just when I thought I was getting a handle of the people from LA and the people who were going to be in the same area (Hyogo) as me, a whole flood of people from different cities and countries make remembering people's names that much more difficult... Thank goodness for nametags! The view from the hotel is pretty intense. The buildings just keep going on for miles and miles (kilometers and kilometers?), and there's no end in sight. How am I going to explore all of this in the three days I'm here? I already decided that it can't be done and I'll just have to come back sometime...perhaps when a certain special boy takes the train down from where he is, I can take the train up to meet him and we can explore together ;) Yes, those are little stuffed animals, and yes I wanted to stop and try to ge...

1. Watching How I Met Your Mother I never get tired of the gang's antics...it's funny that the series starts when they're in their late 20s...kind of like a reminder that the future still holds lots of adventures 2. Watching Grey's Anatomy If my mom knew I was watching it so much she might still think that that I want to be a doctor someday... 3. Researching upcoming life in Kobe-shi and Nishi-ku :) It's mildly terrifying that I'm going to be there in a couple days, but I'm excited to get moving and start being busy again. Very uneventful really...notice I didn't say anything about packing...whoops, now I'm in trouble :(

Quite possibly one of the coolest things I've done :) After a morning of titas and titos fighting it out from indecision and uncertainty of what to do, the cousins and I took some initiative and decided to go scuba diving.   I asked the front desk in my broken Tagalog-English if they knew of a good place, and the lady promptly handed me a pamphlet and called the place for me. Even though it was raining, we were in luck! Open for business :) My 4 cousins and I (ages 22, 22, 20, 14, and 14) were the only ones going on the actual adventure, which we were promptly reminded of by our parentals who were so worried for our safety that they were trying to decide between them who would have to face their fears of drowning and claustrophobia to join us. In the end, we were able to convince them that we would be totally okay. After a corny 20 minute video about diving safety, our lead instructor Ben, a short muscular man with an awesome gold hoop earring, talked us through our lesson and what...

It's pretty wonderful here... Even with rainy season storms that prevented us from going outside, I still think this place has been amazingly wonderful. Almost too much so, because now I don't want to go back to real life...

I realized that I've been on a good number of planes on the past 4 years. Obviously there's a whole range of experiences--the giant 747 to the dinky commuter planes that only have 1 seat on one side and 2 on the other. Anyways, I took another one of those giant planes over to the Philippines last Wednesday (and already it's Sunday...whoa). Back to the land of mango trees and banana leaves, as one of the Archi girls would say. It's the 4th time in 3 years, so my closer friends knew that I was kind of ambivalent about the trip. So when I got here I decided to try to spice it up a bit with a few games...more like a check-list really...and I really do love my lists :) 1) Eat as much local food as desired: the wedding's over now, and for the next year I'm going to be mostly cooking my own food. So I'm taking this opportunity to fatten up and enjoy all the food the Philippines as to offer. I have a lot of old favorites, like Buko pie and mango shakes, but of cours...