Pura Vida!

Hey guys, its been a while. Its Finals week and things are quite hectic. Thankfully I have one more final and then its no more school!

So as you know, I have been nominated to go to Costa Rica on a 9-day tour with my school. Well I decided I would take it. This is a once in a lifetime offer that looks stellar on a college transcript. I will get to go zip lining over rain forests, see baby sloths, kayak next to a volcano, bathe in natural hot springs, and much more!

I know what you are thinking, "isn't this a blog about going to Japan??"

Well, yes. It still is. I still have my eyes on Japan only I won't be going for a whole year. Instead, I am going to save up on a trip to Hekinan, Japan with my city's Cultural Exchange Club. My city is sister city's with Hekinan, Japan. Every year the commission takes a few high schoolers that are local to Hekinan for two weeks to sight see and practice language skills. It is way less than the year-long exhibition that I planned on going to. It is roughly $1,800(give or take) to go on this trip.

I know it isn't what I had in mind when I started this blog, but this way I get to go to two countries for less than the cost of one! It will be way too much fun for me to handle, but I can't wait!

Costa Rica! :D

Hey guys, so as you know, I am saving up for an exchange trip to Japan. However, my school just nominated me to go on a trip to Costa Rica. Being nominated for this means I am top 7% of the 1650 students nominated at my school. Its a pretty big deal that could look even better than Japan on my transcript..

I am so confused now. I don't know if I want to go to Costa Rica where I don't have to have such an if when if I go to Costa Rica I am almost guaranteed to be able to go. I just have to sign up early enough and I am guaranteed to go. Its a hard choice. I will be sure to post back when I have decided..

My Doors

So as you all know I got turned down from the T.I.P.S. internship. This has been bringing down my hopes and making me scramble to find something else as the end of the school year is rapidly approaching. I have applied for the movie theater job and I am waiting for a response. 

But one thing that has stuck out in my brain is something my mom always says. She believes that when you start out in life, you have infinite amounts of open doors. Every choice you makes closes doors. Every choice you make narrows down your paths. But I believe something else about that to be true. I believe that every choice opens doors as well. It adds experience or just makes you consider more options. 

Don't be discouraged when you don't get something you really want. It could really just be saving you for something better.

Go Fund Me!

Here is the link as promised!
http://www.gofundme.com/2za618

Comment "Good luck Pinkie!" if you donate please!

Thank you so much!

I have some good news and bad news

Hey guys I have some good and bad news.

Bad news is that I found out about my paid-internship...and I wasn't accepted. Bummer, I know. But what can change it? Nothing, so no use to be sad about it.

I have three pieces of good news. First bit is that I am starting a GoFundMe.com page to help with my fundraising! I will post a link once it is created.
Second bit of news is that I applied for a job at AMC theaters. They don't have a 16+ age requirement to apply! So I applied for that for the summer and I hope I get it.
Lastly, I calculated all of the money that I have raised so far and I have $571!!! That makes me so happy! That is approximately 1/26 of my total goal!

I may have a long way to go, but I am a tiny bit happier with every dollar that is added to my fund.

Thanks!

Sorry about the wait

I have some minor news today :D
I applied for a paid-internship with an organization called T.I.P.S.
I don't know if I got in yet, but I get to find out by May 1st(just in time for my birthday ;D)
I hope I get in! Crossing my fingers!

Applications

I know I keep complaining about these things, but AFS won't let me apply for the exchange trip yet. :c It has applications open up till 2014. However, I want to go starting 2015. So I have to wait till this year's kids ship off.
*grumble grumble*

Flash Cards

Flash cards are a truly amazing study resource. I have probably made at least 200 flashcards for my Kana practice alone! However, those pieces of paper have not gone to waste. Oh no, they have insured my confidence in reading Kana.

That and the lovely Google Translate. On Valentine's day, my family and I went out to a local Italian restaurant named Spiro's. We had all finished our food and were waiting for the check when out of nowhere we started translating random words into Japanese. Somehow, we ended up calling each other "baka" with bad pronunciation and grammar. BUT, it helped me learn how to call someone something.

For example, (please excuse the fact that it is in Romaji and not in hirigana)
"Anata wa baka desu"

To make a point out of that silly anecdote, I am constantly learning Japanese even when I am not thinking I am! Its like all languages. For example, the show called "Dora the Explorer" sneaks in Spanish words that are added into one's daily conversation. Like "hola" or "gracias". Without realizing it kids learn how to say hello in many different languages. To this day I still remember how to say hello in Spanish, French, and German.

Arigato!

*tumbleweed*

Yeah it has been quite a while since my last post...in fact it had been too long. I have nothing new though so here's a cat :D

Finals

 Sooooooo it has been quite a long time since my last post hasn't it? Well I do have good and progressive news! I met with my counselor this week and she said that all of my credits would transfer from my year over there! :D That means I don't need to stress about the darned problem of my graduation requirements!

Word of the post!:
atsui
ホット
It means "hot"
   

No fresh news on the homefront

Ho Hum, yes. It is another day with no new progress. Its been really hard to balance my ambitions with finals week at school. I have project after project with hours of extra homework. However, I shall not be dismayed! Next week is my last week and then I will be in the clear and back on track till June :D

I also have been listening to my audio books like CRAZY! I have been making sure to listen to them with any second of my spare time. I may only be in the introductions section but I have learned a ton. I have learned how to say good morning, good evening, hello, nice to meet you, etc etc.

I am really happy among all of my sleep deprivation. My dream is becoming clearer and clearer every day

Happy dreaming!

ありがとうございます!

Reasons why I love Japan's culture. Today's topic is food :D

I am going to start a post topic series called "Reasons why I love japan's culture". Just to simply express some of the reasons why I want to go so badly.


Today's topic? Japanese food! :D

I really love Japanese food. I realize that it is a broad subject, but trust me i will be doing many posts about their cuisine. I am bringing up their food because I was assigned a project for my chef class at school to make a 3-5 course meal. I had to have a theme, a plan, and a time I am serving it. I'm not going to go too much into detail about it, but I decided that my theme would be a mix of classic and modern Japanese cuisine. I am making Tofu Miso soup, a California Roll, Japanese Pickled Cucumbers, Chicken Teriyaki, and  Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream. Its going to be so delicious! I love all of the household dishes as well. I love rice. I love seafood. I especially love sushi(even though it isn't as common in Japan as it is in America). However, this doesn't mean I like all foods. I haven't even tried all of the foods they have there! I can't wait to try them though!

ありがとうございます!

My favorite resources~~

So recently I have given up having music on my ipod and it has been replaces with Japanese Audio tapes...

If this doesn't show how much I am committed to learnin Japanese, I don't know what does ._.

Also! I have learned the "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" song in Japanese!
Atama= Head
Kata= shoulders
Hiza= knees
ashi= feet

Thank you GenkiJapan! That song has been stuck in my head for a week or so now. I can easily say what my head, shoulders, knees, and toes are in Japanese now thanks to them. It is an awesome website! Just so you know, I am not being paid or anything to say that. They are awesome. That's fact. They do advertise to buy this book and poster pack, but don't give in. He gives free weekly emails of new vocab, inspirational words, etc.

I also recomend Japanesepod101.com

Get the podcasts from Itunes, and sign up for the 7-day trial. It is AWESOME!

Listen to Audio tapes on your walk/car ride/subway ride home. You'll be able to say many phrases and know what they mean while being bored out of your mind by traffic or the same ol' scenery on your walk home.

Fo' shizzle


Anyways,
Arigato Gozaimasu!

The year or not the year? That is the question T^T

Ok, so for the last month or so(at least pre-2013) the AFS USA website had the Semester long trip tuition atr "TBD" (or to be determined). To check the delivery date for the catalogue(nothing regarding it is posted T^T) I was looking at it. So I went to the Japan Trip portion of the website and I noticed a price on the website for the fall semester trip. Guess what? It's $12,500. (minus the other fees including student visa, passport, airfare to L.A., etc.)

Not even $1,000 less than the year long trip....So I have decided on doing the year long instead to get my money's worth and my highest amount of experience possible! :D
 Five months more for an extra $700 *thumbs up*
So just a little update for you.

Arigato gozaimasu!
Thank you!

Not much going on..

Sorry for not updating for almost a week. I just haven't really had much going on since I am still enjoying my Winter Break. Well, for another day.(I go back on Monday)

The Catalogue STILL hasn't come. It's been almost three weeks I think? Yeah, three since I ordered it before Christmas.

Anyways, I basically haven't done much besides study Kanji (hardest part of Japanese, BY FAR) while I wait for it. I also downloaded a whole bunch of podcasts targeted towards teaching us gaijin (foreigners) about Japanese. I also found a program where I can write sentences in Japanese, post it to the website, and have someone who knows japanese correct it for me! Its super cool! At the same time, I can correct user's English sentences to help them learn English and improve THEIR grammar. The website is called www.lang-8.com

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Earth!

I would first off like to wish every single one of you a very prosperous new year! May all of your resolutions come true!

Now I am not going to break my promise about telling my current tuition count.

It was $15,196

It is now $15,016!! That's right! I have made a total of $254 for Japan! (that is now including my bank account as well though, but I earned $185 of that total)

Since 2012 was memorable as being the start of my endeavor towards my exchange trip I hope 2013 marks the year that my application is accepted! That sounds like I have tried already, but I am still waiting for the catalogue. Yes, the catalogue has not come yet.(SUPER AGGRAVATING!) But my exchange year hasn't even opened for full application yet. It's still in the pre-applications since I have 2 WHOLE YEARS until my departure date.

Regardless, I hope your 2012 was as memorable as mine, but I hope all of our 2013's are even better!