Rob--I thought you'd enjoy this. (-:

Nothing like The Killers to make me homesick...

I can't believe I've neglected my blog for so long. I told a few people I was going to start a photo-of-the-day, but obviously that hasn't happened.

For now, I'll just post this video that makes me homesick for Japan. *sniff*

I'm out of excuses...

When I last updated you on my spring break trip , I told you about my overnight train ride to Kuala Lumpur. I've given up on giving lots of details and writing about the trip day-by-day, but I have prepared a very nice slideshow for your enjoyment with pictures from KL. (I still need to put up pictures from the Batu Caves--sorry!) So, without further adieu...



I know I've been horrible about posting my pictures from this trip. It really was incredible--and inspirational, since it made Maureen and I decide to plan our RTW 2009 trip! Since I'll be home soon (2 DAYS!) I can show you all more pictures. Just ask!

However, if you want to skip ahead and read someone else's account of our time in Ho Chi Mihn city (Vietnam) you can go here: Kyle & Dan's blog

They even have pictures that look almost identical to some of my pictures! (-: They are much more thorough writers than I am, but interesting, so if you have some time, you should read it.

Happy Birthday Georgie!!

It’s official…

Yes, I am moving back to Texas. On July 18th, I’ll fly away from the place I’ve known as home for the past 2 years and go back to my first home. It’s still pretty surreal to think about, but I’m slowly getting used to the idea of being back in the states. Most of you that I saw in May (when I was home for the Duke wedding) know that when I was asked, “Are you excited to move back?,” I replied with a resounding, “Umm, not really.” You’ll be happy (or maybe not) to hear that I actually am looking forward to being back home. I’m not excited to live in the states, but I am excited be back with family and friends. Of course, along with that, I’ll miss so many people that I’m leaving behind in Japan. It’s still a concept I’m getting used to…leaving Japan. It just seems like moving back to the states will be the end of all the fun of living somewhere else. Recently I was reading a book and the author (J. Maarten Troost) said something that perfectly explains how I feel:

“I had grown accustomed to life being interesting and adventure ridden and, rather childishly, I refused to believe that this must necessarily come to an end and that the rest of my life should be a sort of penance for all the reckless, irresponsible, and immensely fun things I’d done before.”

Of course, he ended up moving to a small island in the middle of nowhere…and that doesn’t seem like such a bad idea either.

I’ll be taking a few trips when I get back (to Austin and Minneapolis—in that order). I also really want to take a trip on the Amtrak. I think I should test out the good ‘ole USA train system. Of course it will be very disappointing compared to the shinkansen (bullet train), but it should still be entertaining, nonetheless.

Anyhow, I will see many of you soon—so get ready. I want some Mexican food!

Conundrum...

Do I open my birthday presents now or wait until my birthday? I can't decide--you do it.

Kevin and Lindsey's wedding

Of course there are a million more pictures, but I'm not about to try and put them all up here. If you just can't get enough, go to Lindsey's facebook page and you can see them all!

The first slideshow has pictures from my camera.
The second one has pictures from the photographer.

Curiousity killed the cat...and my taste buds

No matter how curious you are, don't buy this.



I also wouldn't recommend trying chili beer.

Don't go breaking my heart

In Japan, karaoke is completely different than at home. At home, you are singing to loads of people that you don't know. In Japan, you have your own room with your friends. That means no embarrassment...unless you put video of it on your blog.

Of course Maureen and I had to do a duet. We would have preferred to sing "At the beginning" by Donna Lewis and Richard Marx, which is the song that inspired this picture:



However, we had to settle for the next best thing.
**Warning: This video could hurt your ears.



Maureen and I never pass up an opportunity to take a picture together. There is always paparazzi (a.k.a. Amanda) around to snap our picture.


One of our many duets throughout the night


We love to ham it up for the camera


I had a hard time not getting really into the songs when I was singing...I mean, I think you should give it all or nothing at all, right?


I wish I could remember what song we had just finished


Miranda fell asleep.


At the end of the evening, I made Maureen feel very special by giving her some incredibly beautiful flowers (read: weeds).


Bonus: I know you don't care, but here is (the most complete) play list of our 5 hour evening at karaoke.
-Don't go breaking my heart
-Lose Yourself
-Mr. Roboto
-If it makes you happy
-Say it ain't so (x2)
-Loser
-That's the way I like it
-My Humps
-Britney Spears Medley (Yes, you read correctly)
-U2 Medley
-You oughta know
-Last Christmas (This was an accidental input, but we still sang it!)
-I just called to say I love you
-Are you happy know
-You're so vain
-Steady as she goes
-Stupid girl
-Californication
-1979
-Somebody told me
-Incomplete
-Purple Rain
-Me & Bobby McGee
-Pieces of Me
-Don't stop believing
-Creep (This was mine and Maureen's unofficial trip song, so we had to do this one)
-Black Star
-I think we're alone now
-Another day in paradise (ahh...good 'ole Phil)
-Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
-Don't Speak
-Cry me a river
-Bye Bye Bye
-Hero
-I would do anything for love (who can resist Meatloaf?)
-Can't get you out of my head
-It's raining men

Obviously this isn't 5 hours of songs, but we couldn't remember them all...and some of the songs were Japanese songs that I don't know the names of.

Please watch this video and ignore the fact that I haven't actually updated.

When Maureen and I were at the airport in DaNang, Vietnam, we saw this video on TV. We couldn't stop laughing. We had actually tried to video it with our cameras, but could never catch it at the beginning. Luckily youtube has everything you could ever need (and a lot that you shouldn't ever need).



Hopefully this video will distract you from the fact that I haven't actually updated lately. However, due to recent "threats" I do plan to try and update soon.
Here's what you have to look forward to:
-Pictures from Lindsey's wedding
-Karaoke night with the Green Symphony cracka' complex
-Maybe more pictures from my trip in March?

Ok, I don't want to get too ambitious. That's all I'll commit to for now.

My karate BFF

This is Masa.



He is 8 years old (although he was 7 in this picture--his birthday was today). He’s my best friend at karate, since Maureen has abandoned me. Masa has become my Japanese teacher. He’s awesome. We have some pretty deep conversations.
For example:

Me: Masa, Kyo wa nani o shimashitaka? (Masa, what did you do today?)
Masa: *insert words that I don’t understand* karuma (means car) *insert more words I don’t understand followed by car sounds* Wakatta? (Do you understand?)
Me: Oh, Hai, hai! (Oh, yes, yes!)

Another example:
Me: Samui, ne? (It’s cold, isn’t it?)
Masa: Oh, yes! (He’s so cute when he answers in English!!)

He also loves to watch me practice a kata and then say, "Very good, very good!"
I'm really going to miss him.

If I see reading glasses, I must put them on.

These remind me of the glasses I had in 5th grade...and I thought they were really cool at the time.

Survey time! Survey time!**

Write down what you see, hear, and are thinking.

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4.
--"His view of Japan, like that of most Americans, had been painted entirely by television and the movies." --Ugly Americans (Don't judge the book by the title--it's about a bunch of guys who raided the Asian stock market.)

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What's there?
--My journal, dental floss, and my cell phone

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
--Supernatural

4. Without looking, guess what time it is:
--10:00

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?
--9:50

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
--Jars of Clay and my dryer

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
--Last night around midnight--I was taking the trash out.

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
--My carry-on bag...I'm leaving on a jet plane in a few hours.

9. What are you wearing?
--My penguin pants and 'Somebody in Texas loves me' shirt--a.k.a. my pajamas

10. Did you dream last night?
--Yeah, and I remember it being strange...but that's about all I remember. I should start my dream journal again.

11. When did you last laugh?
--Last night listening to Maureen's stories almost drowning while canyoning

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
--Texas flag (yes, obnoxious--I know!) and some Anne Taintor postcards

13. Seen anything weird lately?
--Not that was memorable...

14. What do you think of this quiz?
--It's nice--b/c it's short (-:

15. What is the last film you saw?
--In the theatre-Spiderman 3; On DVD-Sometimes in April

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?
--Pay off my debt and the debt of family and friends...and then go to Africa

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know:
--Something about me that you don't know? Depends who is reading this...Maybe you don't know that I am completely terrified to move back to the U.S. this summer.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
--End disease

19. Do you like to dance?
--yes, when no one is looking

20. George Bush:
--no comment--I don't want to make any of my readers upset. (-:

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
--Not really sure, but I'd like the middle name to be Lorraine, after my grandmother

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
--Sorry, I'm not a typical girl. I have no names picked out for my non-existent children.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
--Umm, yes?

24. What do you want to say to God when you reach the pearly gates?
--I don't think I'll have much to say...that will be one of those speechless moments--very rare for me,but they do exist.

**Special shout out to Brandi for sending this survey to me! Arigatogozaimashita!

Spiderman 3 spoiler alert!

A good reason to see Spiderman 3:


Yep, Spiderman 3 came out May 1st here in Japan. I think it's the first time since I've lived here that a movie came out here before it debuted in the states. It was pretty good, considering I have very low standards for the Spiderman movies.
Worst part: James Franco's face gets messed up, making him pretty difficult to look at...luckily he dies at the end and you don't have to anymore.
(Of course, if you read the comic, you already know that he dies--right?)

MFFL

I was listening to this game online.

I was very nervous, but the Mavs managed to pull it off.



p.s. I love you Dirk.

People who like green...

Tonight at my adult English conversation class we were talking about adjectives to describe personalities. The book we're using right now has a listening tape, so they can listen to a dialogue and test their comprehension. The dialogue for tonight was about what a person's favorite color says about their personality.
I was laughing at the beginning...until it got to green, my favorite color. Here is what the 'color therapist' had to say:

People who like green are outgoing and they're also lazy. They prefer to spend time with people. They like to sit around and drink coffee and talk. They can be very talkative.

It's scary how that man described me so well.

Overnight train=fun pictures & bad sleep

So, being the cheap travelers that we are, we took a train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. (Never mind the fact that we found out later there was a really nice bus that was cheaper--with video games!!--that only took 4 hours, which is half the time it took us on the train.)

In the beginning, we were really excited to take the train.


The bunks were small, but the train had a nice homey atmosphere. We actually seemed a bit out of place, because we were surrounded by families, but it was fun to watch the kids climb everywhere (and stare at us).

Of course there was good reason to stare at us. We were taking an abnormal amount of pictures of ourselves in our bunks.



Maureen is a much better fake sleeper than I am. (Who is surprised I couldn't stop laughing?)






George, this picture is for you!


Something we weren't excited to see on the train


When you first board the train, they tell you not to go to sleep because you have to go through customs at the border of Singapore and Malaysia. Maureen decided to use this time to go to the bathroom. She came back and said, "You need to bring your camera to the bathroom."
Here's why.

Just so there's no confusion

What if it was intentional?

The bathroom was pretty disgusting. Maureen called it the 'Seven bathroom', in reference to the movie, but I've never seen that movie, so I just had to take her word on it. (Unfortunately this wouldn't be the first 'Seven bathroom' we would encounter on our trip.)


This sign was at the border check


After the border check, we did eventually get some sleep. It was actually pretty roomy after I sat my bag up.


The next morning, we arrived about 7 in the morning. We were tired and had one thing on our minds: Where is Starbucks? After finding a station map, we quickly found it and sat there for 2 hours drinking coffee and lots of water to rehydrate ourselves for the day ahead of us.


Obviously we look pretty sleepy still...train sleep is not the greatest, but we learned later in our trip that it's better than overnight bus sleep in Vietnam.

New Country/Same Shirt

This became my official trip shirt. It will forever go with me on every trip now.
The best thing about this shirt is that no matter how many times I wore it on the trip, it never seemed to smell bad...at least not to me.

Singapore


Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

(There is a great explanation for why I look so bad...that will be in a later post!)

Thailand


Vietnam


If you really must know what the shirt says: Cyclist are fast but at least they wear protection. (Hey-it was only $7!)

Amazing Audition

I know it's taking me a while to update, but Maureen and I were very busy our first week back making our amazing audition tape for The Amazing Race Asia.

Yes, we have officially sent in our tape and now we're just waiting. What are our chances? Probably not great, but we had fun making the video anyway. If you want to see it, just let me know and I'll email it to you. I don't want to post it on my blog because we say things that we probably shouldn't tell strangers--i.e. Our full names, where we live, etc...

Singapore or Bust

Day 1—March 14, 2007
We had graduation at school. I was really stressed out afterwards, because we had lunch with all the teachers and I didn’t know when it would end. Turns out I had reason to worry, because my school didn’t even eat lunch until 2:15. That’s a probably when you need to catch a train at 4:00 to the airport and you’re 20 minutes from home. So, I left school at 3:15, rode my bike as fast as I could home, changed clothes, grabbed my bag, and then we headed to the train. It was officially spring break.
We got to the airport and then proceeded to take care of business. After checking in, we had some fun at the currency exchange.



We got a little currency for each of the countries we’d be visiting, except for Vietnam. Why didn’t we get any Vietnamese dong? Simple: We were told it’s worthless and we should get US dollars.
After finishing with our ‘business’, we did what we do best: We went to Starbucks. We didn’t really have much time at this point, so we got our drinks and headed to security where we soon realized we’d have to chug our drinks before going through. Starbucks is not enjoyed when you’re forced to chug it, but we did what we had to do. I did my good deed for the day and gave an African guy next to us a plastic bag for his liquids. Of course, once through security, he was being questioned and tried to get Maureen and I to sympathize with him. We quickly escaped so we wouldn’t be accused of anything and headed to our gate.
Maureen and I soon realized we were the greatest travel partners ever. We both brought journals with us to keep track of all the details. Her’s became the actual detail journal while mine was the quote/music journal. She’s the ying to my yang…or so she says!
We were pretty excited about flying on Singapore Airlines since we had heard so many good things about it, but our excitement faded quickly when we found out they only had the Japanese meal left. We complained longer than necessary and I even refused to eat it, just to prove a point. What point that was, I’m not quite sure…
Singapore Airlines redeeming quality: They had a good movie/music selection. I finally got to see ‘Stranger than Fiction’ even though it took Maureen and me more time than I care to admit to get our movies synchronized. You see, Maureen insisted that if we were going to watch the same movie, we had to start it at the exact same time so that when something funny happens, we would laugh together and not give away any parts of the movie. Did we ever get them perfectly synchronized? No.
We both eventually slept until our arrival in Singapore at 1:30 in the morning.



So I guess technically this is now Day 2 of the trip.
We took a cab to our hotel (it was the only option at that time of night) and were surprised to see that it didn’t look half bad from the outside. However, after inspecting the inside, we soon found out why our room was so cheap. Oh the joys of traveling on a budget! We were so tired, that we fell asleep quickly…but not before Maureen put her bag in front of the door.

**Exact quote from the trip: I’ll sleep better with my bag in front on the door. (Maureen)

The next morning we started getting ready and soon learned our first lesson (of many on this trip) on electricity. Yes, we actually did know that you couldn’t plug 110v items into 220v plugs without consequences. So why did we do it? I have no idea, but I soon smelled my hair straightner burning. Today’s new goal: Find a power converter, not just a plug converter.
After checking out of the hotel (and saying good-bye to the hot guys working at the desk…twice, because Maureen thought she left her watch in the room—she later found it in her bag) we headed to the train station that we’d be leaving from later that evening. Of course we also took pictures of ourselves along the way...



We bought our train tickets to Kuala Lumpur and then put our bags in storage for the day while we headed out to explore Singapore.
First thing—eat western food. That, of course, meant eating at Burger King. I never eat at Burger King in the states, but for some reason, seeing it in other countries makes it appealing. We did have one rule for the entire trip: Eat as much western food as possible and don’t eat any Japanese food. We were well on our way.
We had varying experiences with the public transportation. We had taken the subway without any problems (other than figuring out the cryptic ticket machines). We had also managed to take a bus without a hitch. The bus driver was even really friendly and helped us find where we were going. I did, however, almost get hit by a taxi driver. And I swear the dude came back for more—we saw him on another street and he tried to hit me again!
Impressions/Observations on Singapore
-People wear colors—very different from black and grey Japan…
-English is EVERYWHERE!
-Lots of foliage—everything is so green!
-Lots of nationalities—we’re no longer the minorities!
-Be careful—Singapore is known for their strict laws
-A lot more cute guys than in Japan (So many, in fact, that we decided to make up a code word for when we saw a cute guy.)

We went to Chinatown later that day and decided to get a power converter. We found one (our first of three purchased on the trip!) and celebrated with some really good ice cream bars. We saw a few temples, but after living in Japan, none seemed to compare.



That afternoon we saw the infamous Merlion.



We also went to Boat Quay. It was so beautiful and colorful!



After wandering around Singapore (and getting stuck in the rain) we decided to head back towards the train station for dinner before our long ride to KL. Of course we choose American food—Subway! We actually have Subway in Japan, but it’s a little different and in Singapore they have a lot more choices.
We still had a little time, so we went to an internet café, which shows our slight addiction to the internet. We didn’t even last 24 hours away from it.
We walked to the train station through a somewhat sketchy area, but managed to stay safe. We took turns brushing our teeth and going to the bathroom before boarding the train. While I was waiting for my turn, a guy came and sat a couple chairs down that was obviously traveling around too. (It was obvious because of his backpack.) I decided to say hello and he ended up being a Japanese guy—what are the chances?! His name was Hiroki and we got to talk to him quite a bit before boarding the train. He was on the same train as us, but in a different car. (Which was just fine, since we planned on sleeping!)
Now, I could go right into the overnight train experience, but I think that’s best left for a new post. It will include vague descriptions and lots of pictures—and I mean lots. We are a little vain, therefore take an unreal amount of pictures of ourselves.

Yeah, I know...

Once I go through the 4 gigs of pictures we took, I'll start blogging.

Spanish word of the day

estallar, verb
to explode; to burst; to break out

The key idea behind estallar is an explosion of some kind, either literal or metaphorical.

For example:

La bomba estalló justo en medio de la mezquita.
The bomb exploded right in the middle of the mosque.

**This is not a joke. This was seriously the example sentence in my Spanish word of the day email. I love learning Spanish. I'm just sad I'm only learning this phrase now. It would have been so useful when I met those people from Spain in Vietnam...

I'm not with her.

If Maureen had seen this before our trip, I'm positive that she would have purchased it and worn it the entire time.