have you ever ate squid jerky?

I got home late last night from our (yumis Yukas, and mine) very educational, wet, and exhausting three day trip to Kyoto. Kyoto is a place of tradition, natural beauty, and is filled with the remains of ancient Japanese history. It`s common for young girls to tour the city in the geisha getup viewing cherry blossoms weaving threw the cobblestone alleys that lead to majestic temples at the top of hills stopping every now and then at the little shops of cute old couples who serve bitter green tea and Japanese sweets made of cherry blossoms or ancho. I didn`t know to much about Kyoto before visiting but Ive always been intrigued by it, possibly by nothing more than the fact that its just the two characters that make up Tokyo to and kyo backwards to make Kyoto. Japanese are funny like that. Needless to say I was excited for the trip.
We went by skinkansen (or bullet train). I was pretty pumped for that It was my first time and it was cool shooting along a 200mph, but my eyes kept being drawn to the window despite yumis warnings and I soon had one of the dizzy headaches she described. We stepped off of the train in to the icy wind and the beginnings of a three day long rain storm. Come on- you knew that was coming right?... And so for the next three days we trudged slopping wet, teeth chattering from temple to temple to shrine to gold budha to ancient castle ect. ect. We tried our best at enthusiasm posing in front of the mot surrounded castle of some ancient shogun or whatever it may be with two very cold fingers forming a piece sign, my pink cheecks forcing an unattractive smile but really it just ended up getting my camera wet and honestly most the picutures look like crap cuz a gold budha just doesnt look that cool in the rain.



We did get done up like geisha though but only for pictures we didnt pay the extra to keep the clothes for the day obviously that would have only made the treks to the sites more miserable, although alot of other girls must have had thier hearts set on it cuz we watched as they slipped and wobbled on thier wooden shoes up the steep paths. The process of being turned in to a lil china doll was long, but fun and I was laughing the whole time at the strangeness of it all. By the end of it I was ready to whip out one of those bango lookin japanese instruments I was definitely about to start belting out some traditional japanese music and dance in that way that wearing a kimono inspires, you know flailing your arms about with the flowing material. I kept cocking my head and doing that lil giesha smile in the mirror and then laughing my ass off cuz it was so weird. You try looking yourself in the mirror with an asian starrin back.



With all that said my Kyoto experience was not the ideal one but I believe that we, being aesthetic young people made the best we could of it.

my itchy neck

I havent left the house in two days-I know how lame that sounds but hey right now taking care of my skin is like a full time job. Who would I be if I didnt get a 3rd degree sunburn while in Hawaii to ruin it all. Luckily it doesnt hurt anymore its just at that really really itchy stage. It was so bad that I couldn`t even bring myself to upload any post sunburn pics. This is the freckliest ive ever been. but I like sprinkly freckles not big blobby freckles that merge together and make ur face one big freckle only thats the kind I have now. Also now my back and shoulders are covered in freckles ive never had freckles there before... i still dont know what I think about that yet.
Last wednesday I missed a test at school so my teacher asked my host mom to give it to me at home. I put it off till like 6 today but once I finally finished the hour long multiple choice test and we graded it, it turned out that I actually did okay; only im sure not as good as Anto and Emmi they always got to one up me ;)
Other than that ive just been studying, listening to the reggae mix my host mom gave me the other day that I really like except for this one song called proposal that basically says will you marry me over and over again in a really annoying way, and just generally mopping around.
Its stupid cuz I just found out that besides the sat reasoning test you are required to take 2 sat subject test in order to apply to a few of the collges I want to apply to. So I chose the world history and Japanese test. The world history is gay because 50% of the questions are about before 500 ce its like seriously i thought we were talking more like 19th or 20th century because i have a pretty good grasp of that. Im bummed about having to learn about ancient history:( Another reason why Im becoming a study freak is although Im really good at understanding spoken Japanese and even ok at writing it reading it is really hard for me. I took a practice SAT Japanese Subject test and got all the listening questions right but then on the multiple choice I only got half. Its like I doubt the universitys will take into consideration that some students might have studied Japanese for years at school and by default know more kanji (japanese symbols) than me.
so this is my sunburn and sat rant. But on a better note im almost finished reading The electric koolaid acid test and its really intresting. Its funny cuz I was originally going to buy a book by aldous Huxley book barnes and nobel was all sold out, Then the electric koolaid acid test caught my eye because its so bright and ive been wanting to read that for over a year so I got that instead and It has a lot of refrences to aldous Huxley in it and now I really want to read the doors of perception

I want to run away to Maui and swim with big smiling sharks

dumbeldore dies!???

Today it was so shunshinny and nice! We had final exams for the year today so school got out at noon then I ate lunch with Anto and Emmi at Freshness burger; its technically against school rules but the guys that work there let us all the time. Its so crazy what a difference sunshine has on my mood.
Emmi and I had got these free coupon things for a museum in Rommpongi so we decided to use them before they expired. It took us a while to get there but it was so nice outside I didnt mind and some really nice guys helped us find it. It was a kabuki museum kabuki is traditional Japanese theatre. After that we did a lil exploring. We found the U.S embassy and I wanted to go inside or something but it had tall walls all the way around and big gates with guards that were looking at me like I had a bomb or some shit so I gave up. Next me and Emmi stumbled across a place called the foutianhead of miracles. This wacky guy claims to be the incarnation of god. It was so bizarre but he must have a lot of followers because the building was big and fancy.

We hung out downtown a lil longer people watching and such before we headed our diff ways. It was fun but to be honest I just finished watching harry potter with yuka and ill im thinkin right now is what the fuck dumbledor dies thats bs!


Cheers,kelsey

Today was fun, and school wasnt so bad either

｛They have crispie kreme donuts in JAPAN｝

Today can be described in one word; productive
I:
*vacuumed my room
*studied for a good 4 hours (SAT) :(
*ate a crispy kreme donut
*organized my binder
*watched a movie
*talked to my mom, robbie, AND colleen all for a long time
*plucked my eyebrows
Hey I didnt say it was interesting I sad it was productive haha. My mom wants me to write in this more even though Im not doing anything exciting. Ill try to do something funny so I can write a witty story in here soon.
Oh and if my moms making u read this at gunpoint not only am i a little embarrassed but I feel sorry for you.


hittin the sack BEFORE midnight :) YES
四日ﾊﾜｲｲまで行く　only 4 days till Hawaii
so many possibilities, kel-chan