Alright, so I'm addicted...
Alright people. No one said how addictive this thing is. Casey spent a good bit of time on the computer tonight and it was driving me nuts because I wanted to write more. However, now I am glad that he took so long, because I got to watch this TV show that I am now addicted to.
Keep in mind the show is completely in Japanese. I have no idea what the title even is. That doesn't give you much to work with, but please take my word for it. These people must be great actors or something, because 3 out of 3 times of watching this show, I have cried. Okay, so I have also cried during commercials before. Nonetheless, the plot has totally sucked me in to the point where at about 9:45 tonight when I realized it was Wednesday AND the show would be on at 10:30, I got pretty excited. I don't know if I can easily sum up the plot for you, but the fact that I even know the plot is kind of a miracle in itself. Simply put, the main male character is this older man, and he finds out he is dying. It goes through the process of his family and friends finding out. The kicker is that he and his oldest daughter have apparently just found each other after a long time of being apart. (Heck, maybe he's not really her dad, but it sure seems that way!) It seems like she had a pretty bad childhood, and he wasn't around, so now that they've found each other, they are trying to 'repair' their relationship. She helps him with his three younger children. So blah blah blah, people find out he is dying, everyone cries. In comes the sappy music. Ashley cries once again. In this episode, the guy finds out that this will be his last Christmas (or maybe he won't make it much past Christmas, I'm not sure). The guy and his daughter walk by a church and see a wedding and the daughter is dreaming about getting married, and I think probably having her dad walk her down the aisle. At the end, the girl goes to the church to pray for her dad, and then he walks in and ends up walking her down the aisle. And you probably guessed it... at the end -sob- the guy died. Multiple tears, guys. :*(
So how sad is that? Or is it more sad that I got so wrapped up in something that I can't even understand verbally? I will just say that I think they were that good of actors and it has nothing to do with how incredibly sensitive I am. :P
In other news, I thought I would update on the past weekend since I have a little more patience at the moment. It was the last weekend for the REU students to be in Japan, so there were a bunch of farewell parties. I went to 2 of them, so I'll sum them up as best I can.
Karen, one of the Grad students from the University of South Carolina (who also works with Casey and will be watching our house until I come back in March) had a farewell party that was pretty funny. First of all, they found the coolest animal crackers I have ever seen. They were very detailed and had the animal name in English. I have got to find some of these!! But the best part was when... wait for it... we found one that said Cock!
(For the Gamecocks, of course!)
Another funny moment happened when one of the guys from the lab walked into the party when Karen was hugging everyone and saying goodbye, and he didn't know what was going on. Karen said something to the effect of "I think they want you to say something" so after this long, awkward silence, he said, "I had a meeting..." :) Poor guy. But it gets worse. Karen had made soap (when she was in America) and handed them out with candy as gifts. The tardy guy mistook what it was and ended up taking a big bite out of the soap! I just remember walking into the room and he was rinsing out his mouth in the sink and everyone was laughing. I really felt for the guy!! Kind of a bad night, don't you think?
Casey and I attended Gopal's farewell party (or at least we went out with he and a few of the guys from his lab). They were really funny and knew quite a bit more Englis
h that most of the people I have met here. Turns out that Gopal had taught them a lot... and it was stuff you probably wouldn't say to your mother (although I'm sure they probably asked him... he wouldn't volunteer all of that information, right??)... but Friday night consisted of going out with these guys, drinking, and saying funny words in Japanese and English. Oh, and trying strange food. I ate something and I don't know if they ever figured out what the actual word was for it in English. It was really difficult to bite through and kind of salty, and it's amazing that I not only ate it, but sort of liked it. What's happening to me?! :)
So the bad part of the weekend comes on Saturday. Casey and I were supposed to meet the REUs at a train station close to our apartment around 9:30 a.m. to say goodbye to them before they flew to America that day. Well, at 9:00 a.m., Yanagi-san (my Japanese teacher whose picture is in my last entry) called the apartment. She was lost looking for Gopal's dorm because she had wanted to drive him to the station. She said she was close to our apartment, so Casey and I crawled out of bed and went down the street to find her. (Keep in mind also that we got maybe 2 hours of sleep the night before.) She pulled up, and we both ended up getting in the car. I had a feeling that I shouldn't have, because we were supposed to meet the students so soon. Well, we ended up driving to Gopal's dorm, and he had already gotten a ride with someone else because they only had a small window of time before the limo bus would take them to the airport. We turned around and went to the station, only to see the bus pulling away and some students from Kuboi-sensei's lab (where Gopal and Angel worked) waving at the bus. We tried to turn the car around and follow the bus, but we got stuck in traffic. When we finally got to the airport, Yanagi-san parked illegally and we went running down the street to try and catch the bus. We never made it- the students got out before we arrived. So, I didn't get to say goodbye to them at all. :( I'm still sad about that. Yanagi-san felt terrible! She called me later that evening and was very apologetic, and the next thing I know she's at my door with a bunch of amazing bread from a bakery. She gave me fruit today at my Japanese lesson because she still feels so bad. Of course I wasn't mad at her, just disappointed that I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone. There is a chance I won't get to see a few of the students again, and if you know me, I am pretty big about goodbyes, so that was rough. However, we do have e-mail, and as long as they still answer, it is all good! :)
I guess that's about it. I have written a bunch already. I feel like I should apologize, but then again, what else is a blog for, really? SO heck. I wrote a lot. Deal with it. You didn't have to read it all, now, did you? ;)
I'm slap happy now and need to go. I'll probably write more today. :P
-Ashley
Keep in mind the show is completely in Japanese. I have no idea what the title even is. That doesn't give you much to work with, but please take my word for it. These people must be great actors or something, because 3 out of 3 times of watching this show, I have cried. Okay, so I have also cried during commercials before. Nonetheless, the plot has totally sucked me in to the point where at about 9:45 tonight when I realized it was Wednesday AND the show would be on at 10:30, I got pretty excited. I don't know if I can easily sum up the plot for you, but the fact that I even know the plot is kind of a miracle in itself. Simply put, the main male character is this older man, and he finds out he is dying. It goes through the process of his family and friends finding out. The kicker is that he and his oldest daughter have apparently just found each other after a long time of being apart. (Heck, maybe he's not really her dad, but it sure seems that way!) It seems like she had a pretty bad childhood, and he wasn't around, so now that they've found each other, they are trying to 'repair' their relationship. She helps him with his three younger children. So blah blah blah, people find out he is dying, everyone cries. In comes the sappy music. Ashley cries once again. In this episode, the guy finds out that this will be his last Christmas (or maybe he won't make it much past Christmas, I'm not sure). The guy and his daughter walk by a church and see a wedding and the daughter is dreaming about getting married, and I think probably having her dad walk her down the aisle. At the end, the girl goes to the church to pray for her dad, and then he walks in and ends up walking her down the aisle. And you probably guessed it... at the end -sob- the guy died. Multiple tears, guys. :*(
So how sad is that? Or is it more sad that I got so wrapped up in something that I can't even understand verbally? I will just say that I think they were that good of actors and it has nothing to do with how incredibly sensitive I am. :P
In other news, I thought I would update on the past weekend since I have a little more patience at the moment. It was the last weekend for the REU students to be in Japan, so there were a bunch of farewell parties. I went to 2 of them, so I'll sum them up as best I can.
Karen, one of the Grad students from the University of South Carolina (who also works with Casey and will be watching our house until I come back in March) had a farewell party that was pretty funny. First of all, they found the coolest animal crackers I have ever seen. They were very detailed and had the animal name in English. I have got to find some of these!! But the best part was when... wait for it... we found one that said Cock!
(For the Gamecocks, of course!)Another funny moment happened when one of the guys from the lab walked into the party when Karen was hugging everyone and saying goodbye, and he didn't know what was going on. Karen said something to the effect of "I think they want you to say something" so after this long, awkward silence, he said, "I had a meeting..." :) Poor guy. But it gets worse. Karen had made soap (when she was in America) and handed them out with candy as gifts. The tardy guy mistook what it was and ended up taking a big bite out of the soap! I just remember walking into the room and he was rinsing out his mouth in the sink and everyone was laughing. I really felt for the guy!! Kind of a bad night, don't you think?
Casey and I attended Gopal's farewell party (or at least we went out with he and a few of the guys from his lab). They were really funny and knew quite a bit more Englis
h that most of the people I have met here. Turns out that Gopal had taught them a lot... and it was stuff you probably wouldn't say to your mother (although I'm sure they probably asked him... he wouldn't volunteer all of that information, right??)... but Friday night consisted of going out with these guys, drinking, and saying funny words in Japanese and English. Oh, and trying strange food. I ate something and I don't know if they ever figured out what the actual word was for it in English. It was really difficult to bite through and kind of salty, and it's amazing that I not only ate it, but sort of liked it. What's happening to me?! :)So the bad part of the weekend comes on Saturday. Casey and I were supposed to meet the REUs at a train station close to our apartment around 9:30 a.m. to say goodbye to them before they flew to America that day. Well, at 9:00 a.m., Yanagi-san (my Japanese teacher whose picture is in my last entry) called the apartment. She was lost looking for Gopal's dorm because she had wanted to drive him to the station. She said she was close to our apartment, so Casey and I crawled out of bed and went down the street to find her. (Keep in mind also that we got maybe 2 hours of sleep the night before.) She pulled up, and we both ended up getting in the car. I had a feeling that I shouldn't have, because we were supposed to meet the students so soon. Well, we ended up driving to Gopal's dorm, and he had already gotten a ride with someone else because they only had a small window of time before the limo bus would take them to the airport. We turned around and went to the station, only to see the bus pulling away and some students from Kuboi-sensei's lab (where Gopal and Angel worked) waving at the bus. We tried to turn the car around and follow the bus, but we got stuck in traffic. When we finally got to the airport, Yanagi-san parked illegally and we went running down the street to try and catch the bus. We never made it- the students got out before we arrived. So, I didn't get to say goodbye to them at all. :( I'm still sad about that. Yanagi-san felt terrible! She called me later that evening and was very apologetic, and the next thing I know she's at my door with a bunch of amazing bread from a bakery. She gave me fruit today at my Japanese lesson because she still feels so bad. Of course I wasn't mad at her, just disappointed that I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone. There is a chance I won't get to see a few of the students again, and if you know me, I am pretty big about goodbyes, so that was rough. However, we do have e-mail, and as long as they still answer, it is all good! :)
I guess that's about it. I have written a bunch already. I feel like I should apologize, but then again, what else is a blog for, really? SO heck. I wrote a lot. Deal with it. You didn't have to read it all, now, did you? ;)
I'm slap happy now and need to go. I'll probably write more today. :P
-Ashley
posted by Ashley at 12/14/2005
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