Hello!

  Woah Everybody! I noticed that I have not written on my blog for quite a while!
  First I should tell you that my summer vacation has gone to an end, yesterday that is. Today was the first day of this school year for me. On my last day of my summer I went school supply shopping at Wal Mart and school clothing shopping in Denver! On Sunday morning I was able to rent two dvd's from City Market's redbox. The movies were 'Morning Glory' and 'Blue Crush 2'. I really love the original 'Blue Crush' and so I watched 'Blue Crush 2' before I went to bed yesterday night. It was an ok movie though. 'Morning Glory' was a funny movie that had to do with a morning news show.
  Todays classes were only 20 minutes since it is the first day and the learning schedule started at 1-ish...that made me happy. I ate a cheese stick for breakfast since I had to make sure that my summer reading book review assignment was emailed and my sketch project was finished. Many syllabus' were handed out to me for each and every one of my classes for me and Chris to sign tonight. I ate some raspberries before dry land began and so I accidentally smeared one of the syllabus' with hands covered in raspberry. Another one of them got wet from the kitchen counter that had water on it!
  I was really tired yesterday night (Monday) so I saved this draft and went to sleep. Right now I am writing all on a new day and sitting in my language class of spanish. There isn't much progress going on so everybody is on computers. The teacher has to set up accounts or something, I am not very sure.. Even though my summer is over doesn't mean that is fall yet so I will still be writing on my blog and possibly change to the title too! I still have tons of pictures that I haven't gotten the chance to import into my computer yet but I will do that tonight. I MISS MY SUMMER VACATION! Today is only the second day of school..sigh.. Also I will put pictures on super soon in the next few hours so hold on!

Flight entry back to America!

Compared to the happenings of yesterday to today, today was a whole other story. Just because it was a different story doesn’t mean that it was full of bad luck though. It was actually filled with ok luck or maybe today was just better than expected as a surprise, at the moment I’m not sure but sooner or later I will figure out. My Thursday morning (in Japan time) started out by going to sleep a little after the clock hit 1 am. I got to rest myself from a stressful day from the night before for seven and a half hours. My grandma really wanted us to make it on time to the hotels breakfast before it would end at 9:30 am. Before we went to get breakfast I took my last shower in Japan this summer. I know right, the last one…not a shower that I thought would be the last one but that very last one while in Japan! You must know what the means, I was able to get on the plane (not like yesterday)!! My aunt was very, very generous enough to take a bus to Osaka with my passport. THANK GOODNESS that my grandmothers front door to her apartment was unlocked so that her brother could get inside to retrieve what both my grandma and I had forgotten all about! Thank you so much Auntie Emiko, you are a true-life saver!! Trust me, I know…we were morons not to bring my passport! I completely agree too. My aunt certainly thought that we were morons! At least we both learned a lesson for what not to do next summertime if I come… My grandma and I met up with my aunt at a bus station. I thanked her many times for bringing me back my key to exit out of the country! Before we all had to say goodbye we ate soba for lunch on the fifth floor of the station. I was able to fill my stomach up before my grams and I took the bus to the airport. The bus that we took to the airport had a total of 31 people aboard that is what I heard the driver call out to one his co-workers. Oh and +1 (the bus driver) makes 32 people! When my grandma and I got to airport we went to get my huge big suitcase from the suitcase storage in the airport with our claim ticket. I think my shoulders just about fell off of my body, seriously! I took turns with my shoulder holding a huge bag, which is why. After a man gave us my big bag we went to wait in the UNITED line. The wait wasn’t fast but it also wasn’t long. Once it was our turn we went to a booth that stated the number of 18 over the desk. We got my ticket and filled out some form that had to do with me being an unaccompanied minor. We were grand to go to! Plane ticket, check. Passport, check. Bags checked in, check. Me, check. Wonderful! Then all we had to do was wait until 16:15 to go back to where we checked me in since I would have to go with somebody to my gate. From within the spare time that we had we walked around the airport shops. Grandma bought three postcards for under grand to go to! Plane ticket, check. Passport, check. Bags checked in, check. Me, check. Wonderful! Then all we had to do was wait until 16:15 to go back to where we checked me in since I would have to go with somebody to my gate. From within the spare time that we had we walked around the airport shops. Grandma bought three postcards for under ¥300 that I am going to mail to both family and friends. At four fifteen we went back and followed behind a lady to the airports security check. Right at this very moment that I am writing this I am on my flight back to America! There is also another unaccompanied minor on this same flight who is the same age as I. The differences from the other kid to I are that he is a boy and doesn’t speak any English. When he was talking to the lady that took us through security check on the mini train I understood that he was flying to America to visit his grandmother. OK now back to the moment of the airports security check. Once security check was finished, all three of us took an escalator down to where there were a few lines. We waited in line with both our plane ticket and passport. The purpose of what the people were waiting for in the line was so that whoever was sitting at the desk that they were going to get to was going to stamp your passport with the date that the traveler departed from Japan. After our passports got stamped is when we took the train that would lead us to our plane gate. I didn’t have to wait for more than fifteen minutes before I boarded the plane. I am sitting in row 36 in seat __ right by the window with two others right exactly to my left and eight in the whole row! On my TV screen right in front of me on the top right corner it says that flight time remaining. Right now it reads exactly 7 hours and 27 minutes but I now that it is less because its said that for a while now! In the movie’s category the selections include Arthur, Cars, Catfish, Hanna, Raising Arizona, Source Code, and Thor. I finished watching both Hanna and Raising Arizona (90s) so far. I might watch Arthur and Cars even though I have already seen them but I haven’t seen Cars in a long time. Right now I am listening to the TV’s zune on UNITED (music station.) It contains all sorts of music categories but I keep on switching back and forth from Top Songs in Zune to Contemporary Pop because all of the other categories contain some pretty strange songs. When the airplane was still not that high from the surface and only a few minutes from take-off the view of the ocean from the window was gorgeous! Just gorgeous and amazing! The water was moving in one direction’s from the wind with teeny mellow waves as the shine from the sun reflected off the blue. There were also boats on the sea and thin fog like clouds in the sky above a mountain that was off to the ocean. Sadly I forgot to snap a picture of the beautiful sight but I did happen to of taken one around when the sun looked like it was setting down. The view from the window to my right is pitch black at 7:00 am Colorado time now! I think that the plane ride is half accomplished and half unaccomplished! Woo… oh my sausages, this is crazy!!! I will be in America in about five or less hours after spending about 61 days in Japan!!! Overall my day at the airport was a success with my passport in hand and ticket to go! I had such a magnificent two months of my summer vacation in Japan and thank everybody to whom made my stay so special and full of fun!! I can’t wait until next summer! I should land in SF, Ca around noon and should be in Denver before 17:00! X’s and O’s, Em

PS: Pictures will be pouring in very soon!

To the airport! Wait...did we forget something!?!

Boy oh boy! Today was very a very non-worry free day for both my grandma and I! The morning was an early start for me compared to when I have been waking up and also mellow. It was more towards the afternoon that was unbelievable. I woke up at around 6:30 a.m. so that I could take of what I thought would be my very last shower in Japan. Yesterday night I finished packing a huge majority of everything that I brought and bought. This morning all I had to do left that was related to packing was gather up all of my shoes and then I put them into my second check-in bag. Grandma was kind enough to put my bags in her car for me while I was reorganizing my carry on bag. At 8ish grandma and I drove to my great grandpa’s home. Since today was the last day that I would get to see grandpa Esamu, we took a picture together along with his kitty Tora. After my great grandpa and I said our goodbyes and he wished me good luck on my journey back to America, my grandma and I got back in the car to go to the Tottori bus station. Grandma purchased two tickets for us. She bought a ticket that said I was eleven or under because it saved a lot of money. The first bus ride from Tottori was from 9:40 a.m. to 12:30ish pm after noon. Then we took another bus ride that was much, much shorter compared to the first around 40 minutes. Just about right at the start of the bridge that takes people out to the Osaka Airport on water is when I suddenly had a realization. I asked myself where my passport was in my mind. After I tapped my grandma on her shoulder so that she would open her eyes and then asked her. She took a second or two to think and then finally noticed that she hadn’t grabbed the passport. We both went silent and panicked!! WE FORGOT MY PASSPORT!!! The second bus got to the Osaka Airport a bit after 1 pm and as soon as we got off we called my mom a.s.a.p.! On the bus no one was really allowed to be on their cell phone, let along talk to somebody on a phone so we had to wait until the ride ended! I almost started to cry since I realized that there would be no way in hunky that I would make my plane in four hours when it took over four hours on bus to get to my grandma’s home in Tottori!! Grandma and I each took our turns talking to my mom in many different phone calls back and forth. Thank goodness my mom was so understanding and said that we would learn from the mistake so that hopefully it wont happen again next summer I come! We went to the UNITED station booths to get somebody to help us right away after my mom told my grandma to over the phone. The lady that helped us, changed my ticket to tomorrow afternoon at the same time that I would have been in the sky today! Woo hoo, everything will be fine! My aunt Emiko is going to fly to Osaka from Tottori at noon with my passport tomorrow. At the moment my grandma and I are staying at a hotel called the Best Western Hotel Kansai Airport in Hineni. Our room has one twin size bed so I am going to lay out some blankets on the ground for me to nap on tonight. We got some groceries soon after we rode a train to check into the hotel at Jusco. I ate some egg sandies and sushi pieces for dinner. I also had some Lemon Tea and custard pudding since tonight will be last night staying in Japan. It will be just as long as we don’t get bad luck at the airport tomorrow, I will be crossing my fingers dearly praying that the day revolved around good luck for each of us!!! Also I would like to add in how I am able to post on blogger right now: ). I am currently using the network called ‘corega’ that has one of four bars on my computer since it is the only network that doesn’t require a password. Let us all hope that tomorrow at the airport will be mellow, stress free, and that I have a safe trip on the plane ride!! X’s and O’s, Emily

PS: There are pictures too! : )  ------->

My great gramps, his kitty Tora, and I. This was the last time I will get to see him this summer : (. I will miss you grandpa Esamu!! I will miss you too Tora!

Esamu and Tora, super cute!

Here is the IKEA furniture store in Osaka. I took this picture on the bus on a bridge! This is especially for my mom and Christopher to look at, I know they like this store!

Here I am on the train on my way to the hotel in Hineni while my grandma is taking my photo.

My yummy EGG SANDIE that I ate for dinner tonight!!

Ocean view after aquarium!

Kinosaki Marine World!

 Small fish friends

 Here is a sea lion heading back into the water, his back is arched.

 Starfish covering up the wall!

 An octopus and his little curious eye staring at the camera or me

 Penguins…ah so cute!! I loved how they were all in a line except for one penguin! :)I love those penguins

 Blue lights through a circle of water. There were clips throughout the room on the square screens like the dark blue one at the top of the picture, it was great!

 A big square glass tank that had all sorts of fish inside!

 A bunch of blue fish and what I think is an eel! I think my cousin liked the eel the most at the aquarium

 I absolutely love this picture that I took because two sea-lion’s were jumping into the water at the same timing while there was another on the big rock!! The sea lion on the right is a bit blurry but thats alright.

 “Splash!” (Made by a sea lion)

 I got to see a dolphin show, it was so entertaining and the dolphins were brilliant and they are super smart too!!!

Here is a picture of a sea lion that was balancing a beach ball.

 This is outside of the aquarium that I saw today. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The ocean is to the side of is to the right and to the left is a mountain!

My cousin Chika, Shiho, and I each got one donut after shopping was over on Saturday. Oh boy, the day was super long…but also full of fun! I got a green tea bear donut because I thought that it was adorable!!

A little bit of Japanese Fashion..

 Long dresses

 I have noticed that many people wear tank tops under shirts like the one above with other patterns and colors.

 I absolutely loved these green shorts when I saw them and still love them! I am thinking of saving up money, hmm...

 These are pants that only a couple of people wear (casual wear) like when they are going to the grocery store.

On Saturday there was a huge summer sale going on at many stores! Sadly though, Saturday was the last sale of the summer for many of the shops…

Animal origami my great-grandma made for me!

My great grandma loves making origami. I have been going to visit her at the nursing home next to the hospital this summer about twice a week or less. Practically every time I go and see her she has something new that she has made me. She must get bored which is probably why she spends much of her time creating or learning origami but I don’t blame her, I would be doing the same. That’s one thing I adore about my great-grandmother, is that she is always looking for some new origami animal or item to make. Now overall I have quite a lot of created origami by great grandmother to take back to America with me from throughout the many summer visits! Who knows how much my suitcase will weigh?! Lets all hope that it won’t go over the weight limit so that there won’t have to be any money owed! Here are a dog and cat that she made and gave to me, there very cute and look like their also difficult to make! Thank You so much great grams! :)

Sparks in the dark!

My oldest cousin and I lit small fireworks today at a park! Here are a few photo's of the miniature blasts :)

 Colorful bouquet of fireworks

 A line of fireworks in the sand :)

 This firework scared me since at first it was small and then all of sudden blew up bigger!

 A candle in the sand

 

Update: Mouths that meow..

 Pau, the curious troublemaker surrounded by tissues that were shredded/torn apart by her..

 A daydreamer in the land of sleep.

 Shuro and Pau lying in one of their many favorite resting places, the pulled out couch.

Kitty grin