Tuesday, August 15, 2006

   Drivers Lisence/ Japan Post #4
I finally took my drivers test yesterday. I absolutley hate driving, so I'd been avoiding it as long as I could, but I knew it really needed to be done before I left for college. By some miracle, I passed! I was so nervous that I could hardly write my signature afterwards because my hands were shaking so much, hehe ^^; I'm just glad it's over with and I never have to do it again.

Okay, now the final post on Japan. On our last night there, the Melton's took us out to eat at a traditional Japanese restaurant. I never heard what it was called, but it was absolutely awesome. The tables were low, and there were zabutons to sit on over a straw mat floor. They had paper sliding doors and windows as well. I ordered cheese pocky and it was so good! I really don't care for Japanese food, but this is an exception. I didn't like the green tea, and I wouldn't even touch the miso soup XD A few people ordered eel and said it was actually really good. Okay, now for some pictures.

Yes, this is a squid, and yes, someone ate it. It came with a little grill that he could cook it on. A few people tried it and said it really wasn't too bad, but you'd never get me to eat it lol.


And one last big group shot.

After having a great time at the restaurant, we went to a nearby mall to get some Baskin Robins ice cream. There was a Disney store right next to it (Disney stuff is very popular in Japan) and there was a little section of Miyazaki merchandise. I bought a little Totoro plushie and keychain. They are so cute ^^

We said our goodbyes and left the next morning for Nagoya airport. I already miss everyone so much! I really hope I can see them all again someday. It took a while to get through the airport because we bought some souvenir samurai swords that had to be thoroughly inspected. We got them home, though - they are so cool! Pastor Melton knew someone that made them so we were able to buy them for a really good price.

The flights went smoothly and we got home without any problems, aside from extreme tiredness. I had the hardest time staying awake during the drive home from Buffalo. I didn't have a convenient place to mention this earlier, but I did get to see some monkeys in Japan. This is the best picture I managed to get:

They only came out of the woods once while I was there. They were noisy, and pretty big! I was really glad I got to see them.

Okay, I'd better stop there. If anyone has questions about the Missions trip, feel free to ask! Thanks again for reading another long post ^^; Ja mata!
Comments (4) | Permalink

Saturday, August 12, 2006

   Japan Post #3
To blackwings - Yep, I'm in the group shot at Inuyama Castle. I'm the second one in on the right in the first row.

Okay, first I'll talk about Sunday. We went to two church services, both lead by Pastor Melton, one in English and one in Japanese. The Japanese service was first. The most amazing part was listening to the singing. I recognized most of the songs, but all the lyrics were in Japansese. It was just beautiful to listen to. Our Missions team sang a song (but in English) at both services as well, with me and another of our team members playing guitars. The second service was at a Brazilian church in Minokamo, and we all felt much less akward because we could actually understand the sermon lol. Everyone we met at the churches was so nice. I also went to a youth group at each church, lead by a guy named Kyohei that worked at the camp as well. He was really nice, and one of the most humorous people I've ever met ^^

This is one of the Meltons' dogs, Sasha, dressed in a kimono for Sunday XD

And now, onto camp week...

About 80 kids came to spend four and a half days at the camp. I was made a counselor for the oldest group of girls, along with a bilingual girl named Hitomi. There were 6 girls in our cabin, all in 6th grade or junior high. Their names were Juli, Nozomi, Haruna, Kaho, Miemi, and Aiko. They all had nicknames too, like No-chan and Ai-chan. Normally, I'm not very good with kids, but I got pretty attached to these girls during the week. They were all so sweet!

Here are five of them - Haruna, Nozomi, Juli, Miemi, and Kaho, going from left to right.


The other kids were all really adorable too.

The language barrier was tricky, but the girls in my cabin knew a little English, and when Hitomi was there she could help a lot. The kids loved it whenever I said something in Japanese. They all clapped for me! It was just adorable XD There were plenty of events going on all week. One was the Test of Courage. We took a hike up into the woods during the day, and Pastor Melton pointed out certain things to the kids. Then at night he told a ghost story and we walked into the woods again, but this time in complete darkness. There was one part where kids were supposed to go in pairs, and Miemi asked me to be her partner, so I got to go through all this too. Several of the other counselors were hiding in the woods to try to scare everyone. A lot of the kids were really freaked out. I had fun trying to figure out who the hidden counselors were.

There is a river by the camp that a lot of the kids (and staff) went swimming in. The water was pretty cold, but the area was beautiful. There was a huge rock that everyone enjoyed jumping off of.

And of course, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the boy with the AstroBoy towel ^^;

There was also a skit night which was a lot of fun. I was in a skit with the girls from my cabin as well as one with my Missions team. There were chapel services twice a day, which the kids seemed to really enjoy. They had Bible quizzes every night and the kids really got into it. I had been really nervous about camp week and about being a counselor, but I ended up loving it. It is definitely an experience I will never forget.

One last group picture for today. From left to right, it's Hitomi, Nozomi, me, Miemi, Juli, and Natalie.

Sorry this got pretty long, but thanks to those that read it! I'll finish the stories from Japan in my next post. Ja ne!
Comments (6) | Permalink

Thursday, August 10, 2006

   Japan Post #2
First off, responses to comments from last time:
-blackwings: Whoops. Sorry I freaked you out with that picture ^^; It's tough for me to guess how long the centipedes were...4 to 5 inches maybe? They were pretty skinny though. I was gonna put up a huge spider picture, but now I'm thinking I'd better not ^^; Thanks for the comment on my Deedlit fanart!
-cheerCHICK963: Yep, that's my cabin in the picture! It's on the left, and the bathroom's on the right.
-Night shade2: Our two main tasks were construction and helping with kids camp. About 25 kids were saved this year - it was really incredible. I'll talk more about the things we did in these posts, but if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

The first 4 days at Camp Raphayada were work days. Between the heat and the jetlag, the work our team did was pretty tough, but still fun because we could all work together. I did anything from cleaning to kitchen work to construction on the new chapel.

This is the chapel during construction week. One of my jobs was to organize all the tools laying around.


The guys put up a new roof over the soon-to-be handwashing station.

We also got to do some sightseeing during the first week. Pastor Melton took us out to a Japanese restaurant known as the Yakiniku. It was set up like a buffet, and there were grills in each table, giving you the option to cook your own food. It was really cool!

No, I did not try the squid XD

We also went to a place called Inuyama Castle. It is a castle from the Feudal Era of Japan. Inu...Feudal Era...you can imagine where my mind was wandering hehe. Here's a group shot in front of the castle:

We got to walk through the whole thing, in bare feet no less. The castle is on top of a mountain, and there was an amazing view from the top. It was a great experience to interact with all the Japanese people we saw when we were out sightseeing, even though we couldn't say much. I'll never forget it!

This is getting long already, so I'll wrap up post #2. I'm guessing there will be two more. If anyone's having trouble getting the pictures to load, let me know and I'll use less next time. Thanks for stopping by! ^_^




Comments (2) | Permalink

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Kingdom Bound and Japan post #1
Kingdom Bound was great yesterday! There were a few times when I got feeling pretty tired, but the concerts woke me right up. I got to see Audio Adrenaline for the second time and just loved it. I feel so bad knowing that it was one of their last concerts. The lead singer has throat problems, and if he continues to sing, he'll lose his voice completely. It was easy to hear that it was a struggle for him to sing last night, but he kept right on going. Such an inspiriation! I'm so glad I got to be there. Casting Crowns came on shortly after that, and it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Their songs all have such great lyrics, and their sound is fantastic. I loved it!

And now, onto Japan...

There's so much to say! I'm tempted to write about everything, but I'd probably bore you, so I'll try to cut it down. Let's see, even the Japanese airport was amazing! I heard some little kid call out "Miaka!" and couldn't help but think of Fushigi Yuugi ^^; Phil Melton, the missionary that runs Camp Raphayada, was there to pick us up at the Nagoya airport. The camp is about and hour and a half from the airport, in the city of Seki. We stopped at a Japanese discount store on the way there, even though we were all exhausted, but I'm so glad we did. I was so amazed by everything that I hardly bought anything lol. I did buy a manga, completely in Japanese (meaning I can't even read the title to tell you what it is ^^;), and these little Tsubasa boxes that come with stickers and tiles featuring the characters, as well as candy which I haven't been brave enought to try yet. We then went to the camp and got to meet the two Missionary Apprentices that were working there this summer, as well as some more of the Melton family.

Right before going to bed, Natalie Melton (who stayed in the same cabin I did for the first week), decided to warn myself and Mrs. Colton about the giant centipedes with huge stingers that could possibly be in the room. Needless to say, neither I or Mrs. Colton slept very much that night ^^; I got to see plently of these centipedes during my visit, but thankfully none were in my bed. Here's a dead one that I snapped a picture of:

Lovely, ne? ^^; Well, this is already getting long, so I'll continue in the next post. Thanks so much for the nice comments last time! And don't worry, blackwings. I've got some nice spider stories of my own to share lol. Thanks as well to Miss Anonymous for the comment on my Deedlit fanart. I was afraid no one was going to notice it. And thanks to anyone who read this whole thing, hehe. Ja mata!

Comments (3) | Permalink

Sunday, August 6, 2006

   There and Back Again
Japan was AMAZING! I got back around 5:30 last night. I'm not going to go into much detail in this post (cuz I'm updating pretty late and I have a lot to write about), but I'll do some updates in the near future to say more about the trip, and post some pictures!

For now, I'll just say it was an incredible experience. I have discovered that 12 hour plane rides are the ultimate form of torture, Japan has really big bugs, Japanese children are adorable, and it's really fun to drive on the other side of the road XD Not that I actually drove, but riding in the car was exciting enough. The roads are so skinny over there! And I have now experienced jetlag...ugh. I'm actually doing pretty good right now though - just feeling tired. It was going over to Japan that really got me. Another crazy thing over there was the heat. I was expecting it to be really hot and humid the whole time, and it definitely was. I got home to air conditioning and was completely freezing lol.

So, more about that later so this doesn't get too lengthy. I just got home from a Mark Schultz concert! He did it for free at the "floating stage" at a lake near where I live. He's a Christian singer, one of my all-time favorites, so even though I'm pretty exhausted I just couldn't miss it. I'm also going to Kingdom Bound with my family and a large group from my church tomorrow. It's a Christian music festival at Six Flags. Like they say, no rest for the weary ^_^; I get to see a Casting Crowns concert though, so it's more than worth it ^__^

Guess I'd better stop here. Thanks so much for stopping by! I missed you all so much! *hugs*
Comments (4) | Permalink

Sunday, July 23, 2006

   Japan

I can hardly believe it, but I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow! Our team is meeting at the church tomorrow morning at 7:00. We'll drive to Buffalo, fly to Detroit, and then get on the 13 hour flight to Nagoya. It's a good thing I like flying ^_^; As a refresher on what we're doing, we'll be working at Camp Raphayada, a Christian camp which is owned by a missionary and his family and is near a place called Seki. The first four days we'll be working on various construction projects at the camp, and then we'll work as camp staff when it is in session the next week. We'll also attend some church services and youth groups.

I'm feeling quite an interesting combination of nerves and excitement right now. One thing I'm worried about is the heat. From what I understand the humidity is crazy in Japan at this time of year, and the fact that we'll be working doesn't help either. Also, I'm hoping the Melton family will make lots of American food for us because Japanese food really isn't my thing ^^; (Except for pocky and ramen of course ~_^) All the same, I expect it'll be a great trip. Thanks so much to those that are praying for us. I really appreciate it! ^_^

Onto other things. I just submitted my fanart of Deedlit, so you can check that out if you get a chance. Since I'm going to be out of the country for the next 12 days, it goes without saying that I won't be around. I'm really sorry I won't be able to visit you guys for so long. Just make sure to catch me up on everything when I get back, kay? ^_^ I'll be sure to tell you all about my trip too, and hopefully I'll have lots of pictures to put up. I'll miss you all so much!

Take care! ^_^
Comments (3) | Permalink

Thursday, July 20, 2006

   Schedule
It's hard to believe I'll be leaving for college in less than a month! I'm majoring in graphic design, and I finally found out what classes I'll be taking the first semester. Looks like I'll have Intro to Art, History of Graphic Design, Drawing I, Digital Image/Illustration, Christian Life & Thought, and Composition. No complaints here ^_^ I was afraid I'd get stuck with a public speaking class first thing. That would've been awful >.< I still haven't heard who my roommate's gonna be. I hope I find out soon.

As I mentioned, I've been playing Final Fantasy X, and I absolutely love it. I really want to finish it before I go to college, but since I'll be gone for two weeks in Japan, I probably won't have time. I'm currently trying to fight Maester Seymour. Can anyone tell me (without any spoilers) about how far I am?

Good news about my grandpa. He wasn't doing too well for a while, but he's much better now and might even be able to come home today! Thanks so much to all those that were praying and thinking about him.

Well, our team leaves for Japan on Monday. I'm pretty sure I'll update once more before I leave, but in case I don't, you'll know where I disappeared too. I'm almost done with my Deedlit fanart, so I'm hoping to submit that before I leave as well. Has anyone else checked out Toonami Jetstream? I watched episode one of Prince of Tennis on it yesterday. It was great ^^ Well, I guess I'd better quit before this post gets any longer. Ja mata!
Comments (3) | Permalink

Friday, July 14, 2006

   Puppy
My sister and brother-in-law just got another pug puppy! She's so adorable ^-^ Her name is Chloe, and the one they got earlier this year is Charlie. He looks so big now compared to his new little sister.

Isn't she a cutie? ^^ In more serious news, my grandpa had surgery yesterday to remove 8 cancerous tumors from his liver. It sounds like everything went fine, but he'll have to be in the hospital for several days. Prayers for a speedy recovery would be much appreciated.

Tomorrow is Ashville Days, one of my favorite days of the summer. It's a town holiday of sorts, and even though I live in a very small town, a lot of people come out for it. There's a parade in the morning, special events and garage sales all afternoon, and then the best fireworks display ever at night. Honestly, I've never seen better fireworks then they have here. It's really fun. Let's see, I bought volumes 3 and 4 of Prétear on Wednesday. They were both great! It's becoming one of my favorite series. Other than that, I'm just counting down the days til I go to Japan. Only about a week and a half left! I can't wait ^^

Thanks for stopping bye! Have a great weekend!
Comments (6) | Permalink

Monday, July 10, 2006

   Walking the Path of Radiance

Thanks so much to everyone that's visited me! And naturally, I had to used a Fire Emblem picture, since I just finished Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance! It was a great game, I highly recommend it. The ending was really good, but I was disappointed that they didn't say what happened to each of the characters after the war was over. They did in both of the Fire Emblems for the GBA, and it was always one of my favorite features. Other than that, it was great ^^ Here are some pictures:

I also got to see Pirates of the Carribean 2 on Saturday! It was really good, but I liked the first one better. Just as a warning, this movie ends with a major cliffhanger. Here's hoping it isn't too long before #3 comes out ^^;

I just want to say thank you so much to everyone that has commented and voted on my Axel fanart. It got such a great response! I really appreciate it! ^__^ And thanks blackwings for the suggestions on my Deedlit picture! I've started it, and I decided to go with your idea and have her playing an instrument. It's going good so far!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!
Comments (4) | Permalink

Monday, July 3, 2006

   Thanks!
I managed to get my Axel picture posted over the weekend. Thanks so much to everyone who has voted and commented so far! I think I'm going to draw Deedlit from Record of Lodoss War next since I was planning to a long time ago but never got to it. Sound good? If anyone has any pose or background ideas I'd love to hear them! Here's a picture in case you don't know what she looks like:

My graduation party went very well! The weather stayed nice the whole time and a lot of people came. One of my friends got me the volume 2 DVD of Star Ocean EX, and my neighbor let me borrow his Final Fantasy X game, so I've been enjoying those ^^ My relatives got here safely from North Carolina. I'm sure I'll be with them a lot this week. We're all going to my grandparents' cottage by the lake tomorrow for July 4th. I'm not sure what we're doing about fireworks though. The place where we usually watch them isn't doing it this year. Some problem with safety regulations I guess. I'm sure we'll see them somewhere though.

Since I probably won't update tomorrow, have a great 4th of July! ^_^
Comments (5) | Permalink