Going to Calgary!

I'm going to Calgary for a week. Kind of need to take a break. We don't have spring break/reading week, just my classes happen to work out that my professors needed to cancel class or push it back a week!

So, I thought I'd go back.

I'll be gone from the 7th (so tonight) till the 13th.

If I take forever to reply, it's just because I'm with family and stuff. Love you all!

THIS IS GONNA BE LONG.

Just saying.

So, I have been promising Amandeep time and time again that I will post in this amazing blog of ours about the adventures and misadventures that I have had in the past six months. However, time did not permit me to sit down and just write what I have doing with my life because life itself was making me go crazy.

I have just started my spring break that will last until the end of March so I am hoping that I won't be as busy as I was in the last couple of months and I guess I am right. I have been sitting in front of the TV watching Twilight... until Breaking Dawn, which is the third movie (fyi). So much for a lazy start!

OH YEAH! BEFORE I START ON MY MONTH TO MONTH UPDATE!
LEMME GREET MISS AMANDEEP A HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SORRY TO CALL YOU SO EARLY IN THE MORNING LOVE >.<
I WISH YOU AN AWESOME BIRTHDAY AND AN EVEN GREATER YEAR (than the last) AHEAD!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

Ok, so here we go.

Kadonowaki Elementary School, Ishinomaki City Miyagi Prefecture, Japan; taken by my yours truly via iphone

So I went to do some volunteer work up north where the earthquake and tsunami was hit last December. The picture above was one of the places we passed by on the way to where I stayed and as unbelievable as it may seem, this elementary school was the burning school that I was watching on the news. I remember that night as if it happened yesterday and I can still feel the pain, the remnants that I saw brought it all back and the first night I was there, I ended up crying. Enough of the emotional part! The volunteer work that I did was for a canned good maker factory called KINOYA. Their canned goods were washed away by the tsunami but they were able to recover some it and while there were people who cleaned the goods so they can sell it again, I was part of the team where we had to clean the factory palettes (its like movable floorboards where you place the fishes before processing it). There were hundreds of them and they were smelly and dirty, covered in sand, in mud and in fish oil. We had to scrape the fish oil off it before brushing everything else so they can use it again. It was hard work but it paid off during lunch and during break times when we were given the chance to talk to the local people and hear their stories and all of it are heartbreaking, almost impossible to listen through all of it without tearing up.

There was this man, about maybe 50 of age, he told us how he was able to escape the tsunami and how he saved two people's lives. He also told us how he had to listen to all the screaming made by those people who were trapped in their cars while cold water filled it up. He had to listen to them die and it still hunt him every night. And I realized how there are still many victims with untold stories. The man's colleagues were there when he was telling the stories and they did not know about it. I guess they weren't able to share the stories to people who experienced that disaster because the sadness and the pain and the grief would pile up if they do. And I guess that is why they need people who would listen to them, people who have some space within themselves who can take part in carrying the pain. Helping them heal bit by bit, even at a slow pace is very important.

My days at Ishinomaki were one of the best experiences in my life and it helped me realize many things. Life, death, the importance of living everyday as if it's the last and keeping all the people you love close to you, not by distance but by the heart.

Here are a few more pictures.

More to follow :)

-J. from Japan

Skype Date Suckas?

We haven't had one in a long time. Let's have one sometime this week?

Pick a date and time bees =)

Just remember that Asyah, Tinu and I are in similar times zones (I'm just an hour behind Asu and Tinu) and that Joyce is like 15 hours ahead.

If we can involve Christa again, that would be fun. We can all gang up on Asyah-face again. Hehe.

Love you all so much

Miss you tons

HUGS

You guys suck poo

That's right, I said it.

You all suck for being so lame.

Start posting more often. OR ELSE.

=D

So because I am a jerk and my new years resolutions are way late.

I APOLOGIZE!!!!!!!!!

teehee:D I know you guys still love me and my post about my new years resolution's just in time for Chinese New Years :P Better late than never, right?

Ok I will name my FIVE new years resolutions for this year:

1.) BE A BETTER DAUGHTER, SISTER and FRIEND.

No, not girlfriend because I don't have a boyfriend so not mentioning that :P

TEEHEEEEEEEEE

2.) TRY TO LOOK FOR THE GOOD IN PEOPLE.

ALL THE TIME.

It's gonna be really difficult but I believe it's worth it.

3.) GET OVER THINGS THAT I HATE.

Remember what doesn't kill you.... makes you stronger.

4.) TO NOT STOP CARRYING EARS THAT LISTEN, LIPS THAT SPEAK OF LOVE AND WISDOM AND A HEART THAT LOVES AND CARES.

Dudes, too much drama? Eh, I know :P

5.)  TO NOT PRETEND I AM SOMEONE THAT I AM NOT.

I AM ME, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT.

But I know you guys love me so whateves!!!!

So stop calling me a JERK now. 

I MISS YOUR FACES BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!!!!!!

LET'S DRINK TO THAT!!!!!!

Love from Japan,

Joyceeeeeee

First Day, Second Semester

Hello all you beautiful people!

So before I forget, has anyone looked at the statistics for our blog? We have some viewers from different countries (e.g. Indonesia, Germany, etc). I suggest you ladies and Nico check it out when you get a chance.

Speaking of Nico...Nico you must post at least ONE blog. It is your mission buddy. Make me proud.

Finally the topic at hand; my first day back at school. I ended up accidentally missing one of my classes because I forgot we had switched it from Wednesdays to Tuesdays. Fail. I told my prof the truth though and she just laughed and took it in good humour. Which was nice. However, I can't skip that class now if something comes up because it's one that happens every other week and we're only allowed one missed class for those types of courses. If I miss it one more time I fail. So, I shall have to take extra good care of myself! Anyways, I was on the train when my friends from class started messaging me because they forgot I had changed my number and so they messaged my old number. Fun times.

Anyway, I caught up with them right as they finished my missed class and we went out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It was a new one that I hadn't been to yet. It smelt like pee but it had decent food for a reasonable price. There are a lot of Japanese restaurants near my school. I think about 4
within a 5 minute walking distance and like 6 or so within a 10 minute walking distance. That probably has to do with the fact that we're so close to the ocean.

Right now we have guests over from Australia. Yes, before all you ladies ask, the accents are beautiful. The boys themselves? Well, you know how I feel about that.

Basement search is still happening. Things might change now because my Aunt is pretty much close to an emotional breakdown because I'm trying to leave, even though my parents are taking the blame saying they want me to move.

OH!!! I finally got all my marks back for last semester and you guys will never guess what my GPA is! 3.917. I thought I would share that with you guys =) Hope you guys feel proud!

Love you all!

~Aman

New Year Celebration in Pamplona, Spain

New Year Celebration in Pamplona, Spain

 This is how people roll in Spain: all night and until the sun comes out.

I can attribute the word "intense" to almost every part of the New Year Celebration; intense, starting from dinner and all the way until I crawled into bed at 8:30am.

Dinner table was filled with food. Too much food for two people, I'd say.
"Eating" took more than 2 hours, because we also watched TV in the process and talked about everything possible.

Fun tradition: In Spain, when the clock beats the last 12 seconds of the year, people eat one grape every second. Susana cheated, buying the small type of grapes, which made it easy. I heard that people could even choke on the grapes sometimes!

At around 1:00am, we headed out into a bar nearby. It is one of Susana's friend's bar, where older (and according to mom, "Not that old") and more sophisticated (less sophisticated when drunk, though) people hand out. The friend is a Russian lady with a rough and crude outer shell, with a lovely person inside... Shame I didn't get to see that lovely side of her though.

I didn't know ANY of the songs, because they were from some prehistoric age... although everyone in the bar would sing along to each and every song! I had fun watching people, trying to understand, pretending to understand, and dancing away.

I also got a phone number. SCORE! And no, it wasn't one of the old men! XP
It was a guy that the bar-lady introduced me to, and he was the youngest I met there... which was still old-ish: 32.

In any case, at around 8am, and after several failed attempts at persuading Susana to go home, I told her I couldn't stay awake any longer. She wanted to stay until breakfast, and then head home at 10am...
...Breakfast... The thought alone of food after a sleepless night made me sick. I guess I'm so boring when compared to Spaniards... even the older ones.

I was in bed at 8:30am... Tired, full of orange juice, and very very happy.

How did you guys celebrate New Year's? Did you eat with family and then go crazy at countdown? Did you go out, or stayed up late with family or friends?

Post photos up! :D



Fun Fact: People in Pamplona dress-up for New Year's, just like they would for Halloween. Pamplona is the only city it is really practiced in, although it's slowly spreading into other cities and towns as well.

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