Friday, January 21, 2011

The Blakanese Brothers. (Me and Malaika)

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Osaka Pride!

彼女はめっちゃかわいいね。

A girl we spotted in the subway. :)

FOR THOSE WHO CANT READ JAPANESE GOOGLE TRANSLATE IS YOUR FRIEND! :)

Hey yall! I'm back!

I realize I've been constantly putting my blog off. ごめん!I actually could not think of a direction for my blog. I don't want to just ramble on about my life. I want something informative. And even though Jade thinks that it doesn't think it makes sense because of the title of my blog. HOWEVER, I want this to be thought of loosely as GAY GIRLS GUIDE TO JAPAN.

But I digress...

I just got home from the WETTEST pride parade, and the FIRST I've ever walked in. レインボーパレードいきました!すごいでしたよ! とてもたのしい!!:) It rained on us boohoo. But it doesn't matter we were still proud through the drops!

So, because it was raining instead of going slutty, I dressed down and tried to butch it up a bit. ;)


It was SO RAINY. It was such a crappy day that we lost some members!!! (obviously they weren't dedicated gays. ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE AND YOU MISSED IT BECAUSE OF RAIN? coughcoughbrandoncoughcough) Anna and I walked ALL THE WAY TO THE STATION IN THE RAIN. Her in flip flops! It was a bad idea. :( But when we got to the station, once I was ready to buy my ticket I REALIZED I FORGOT MY WALLET! But Anna was sweet about it and spotted me money (I'm going to give it back to you very soon love!)

So we went on the train HOPING that it wouldn't be raining in Osaka.
It was.
But we were げんき none the less!

(Corey is a hot ass tamale. Photo Cred: Jade)

So we get there and the crowd is pretty scarce, but we were like two hours early. By the time we were ACTUALLY supposed to be there it was a really nice sized group そしてたくさんレズビアン!I didn't think there were going to be that many girls showing up, but I was wrong! ^^

(I took pictures of cute couples! ^^)


かわいいですね。 (I had more, I don't know where it went!!! :'( )

Before we started walking we saw these men cosplaying pokemon, but in a Rainbow Parade kina way! ;)




They were dedicated!!! They were filled with pride! :)

First we formed like a few lines and started walking... It was terrible through the rain, but we were PROUD THE WHOLE WAY. At first it was kind of boring, but when we fell back to the DJ float we danced the two hours away! :)

I had a blast. We made friends! I befriended beautiful ladies.


From left to right: Chris, Adeline, Mayu(?), and Olga! (Adeline was the only straight girl! :P Photo Cred: Olga)

After wards we went for Ramen in しんしゃいばし because we were all hungry. きれいなまちでした!
and little Miss Adeline couldn't hang. She was drunk (at 5:30pm no less!) And had to go home! :(

Eventually we all went home though. It was super おもしろい.

Yeah so that's it! It was great. We danced we loved. We're actually going to Lady killer tomorrow (with our new friends!! :) ). It is the last party of lady killer, and our first! So we're trying to have a good time. my next post will be on going to Explosion... and then after that I'll talk about how it was when we went to Lady Killer.

またね!

Friday, September 10, 2010

The Flight and the First night! < 3

Ahhhh!

So, I've been frightfully neglectful of my blog WHERE IT COUNTS. I am IN JAPAN and yeah... that was the whole point, wasn't it?


Anyway, I'm gonna try to break this up into a few sections so they are easier to read, because I hate long streams of consciousness with no organization (i.e. most other blogs that show up in my searches). I want to have an informative blog so that if you guys want to go to Japan (specifically Kansai Gaidai) maybe I can help you out in places where I was very lost.


The Flight
So, 14 hrs seems really long and daunting, but it really isn't all that bad. Especially if you fly on the airline Renelle and I flew, which was ANA airlines. We didn't even know that we scheduled a flight with ANA through American Airlines, but we lucked out and got pretty sweet deals. I mean first class would have been nice.


Um, yeah. I'm not even messing around. First class you can actually SLEEP on this flight. (obviously I don't know about other first classes, but even economy seating is freaking high tech) It was pretty sweet. Ms. Renelle was asked if she wanted to change her seats, and for some reason she said no... There is still some bad blood between us for that one! :P


Economy seating was really cool. I paid about $1400 for round trip, so i would hope so! Actually being in the ANA terminal already made you feel like you were in Japan. People were speaking in Japanese before you even got on the plane. And ON the plane the flight attendants did NOT really speak English. It was very difficult for them to understand you, but they were very attentive none the less. We had this awesome tv and free headphones (which i thought they stopped doing). You can check the services here. They had awesome games A LOT of movies ( I saw slumdog millionaire! It was beautiful) and your menu on there. There was free alcohol, which isn't the best decision while you fly (nausea), but we went for it anyway. Being the drinking age is sweet. :)

They also gave us food, which i wasn't too excited about Renelle loved it, but it was just ok.


In Tokyo -> Connecting flight

When we got to Tokyo (which is where our connecting flight was) we just kind of followed the throng of Japanese people getting off the craft. On the flight they gave us these two forms that were in Japanese that we needed to fill out to get through customs. When we got to customs we filled these things out and gave them to the tellers. The tellers took out CoE's :( and the I think they gave us a sticker, but it doesn't matter. lol Well it does, its really important, but who cares. Remind me to put the video of us landing later? Okthanks. ;)

Anyway, sucky for us we have to pick up our luggage and RE CHECK IT IN. Wack, but at the luggage carousel we found Corey!

This is Corey holding her first can of her beloved grapefruit chuhai. The beginning of the end. :P

We got REAL food here. Most of which i could stomach, however i was still nauseaous from the flight.



In Narita Airport (NRT), Osaka


Instead of being intelligent people and exchanging our gobs of cash in Tokyo (which i knew had banks out the wazoo). We waited until we got ALL THE WAY TO OSAKA and realized that NRT airport did NOT have currency exchange. And after we got our bags (met Matthew) and found our pick up service (whom we had to pay $25 to) we were instructed to (quickly) buy groceries to sustain us for the night, because places in the area were to be closed. It was not very pleasant. So, Renelle being the trooper that she was, ellected to be my ATM as i had loads of money in Cash and Money Orders (and dollars are not accepted really anywhere in Japan. You need Yen). Good job Renelle! :)

So we bought some TakoYaki and fried rice. (not my picture)


Yum. It satisfied us for the night.

Seminar house ho!

Then we took all of our crap and loaded it into the bus. We met around 15 people (but the cool kids sat in the back aka us). It took us about 30mins to drive to the dorms... Which are pretty freaking sweet. We zoomed by tons of Love Hotels and everything was in Japanese. But we still didn't feel like we were in Japan. I still don't really feel this way. It feels like I'm stuck in Little Japan in NYC. We get to our "neighborhood",registered in seminar 2 (others in seminar 4), and then we went to our rooms.

There I met Helen. :)

She's a really cool girl and she was just willing to hang out with me, even though she just met me. Love Helen! Our phones didn't work in Japan, and neither did our internet (if i remember correctly). The first night was quite miserable. We had a curfew (10 or 11 pm I cant rememeber). So I couldn't visit any of my friends (Both Matthew and Helen lived in Seminar house 4), but Corey lived in Seminar 3 (where I lived!) so Helen adn I went to go find her,because we were sort of miserable and bored.

We met a few people awkwardly, and that was that. I spent my night wondering why i was in Japan and crying off and on. The time difference and the jet lag was EXCRUCIATINGLY depressing. I heard that some guy from my school couldn't take it and flew back to NY like the next day or two.

What a NOOB because it got WAY better after that one painfully depressing no phone or facebook in my room having night.

But here I am today! Happy as a Clam! More information in later posts... I think this one is long enough, ne? :*

Monday, August 23, 2010

Update: Scholarship, Buying plane ticket, Getting a Visa

So, It's been a while since I posted something else. ALMOST FOUR MONTHS! I'm sorry I've been so neglectful. This is what I've been up to.


1. Getting my stipend in the mail.
2. Buying my plane ticket.
3. Getting my Visa
4. Practicing Japanese (and for some reason Spanish)
5. Eating a lot and being lazy

Scholarship
I talked about scholarships a bit in a previous post. If you want to study abroad its a important to have enough funds. If you're like me, you don't have 10k in your piggy bank. Being rich is boring anyway. THERE IS NO CHALLENGE TO IT. What is nice about going to Japan, is that you can apply to Japan specific scholarships. One such scholarship is the Bridging Scholarship. You can go to the website and read about the application process. I received 2.5k from them! This covered my plane ticket expenses (1.4k) as well as gave me some pocket change to spend in Japan (as well as NY, unfortunately)!

Plane Ticket
Buying one's plane ticket is a delicate process. You need to be QUICK and you need to be thorough. It is important to check MORE THAN ONE DISCOUNT SITE. I realized that travelocity, expedia, and orbits all have different lowest prices. BE CAREFUL WITH THESE COMMERCIAL SITES. I'm sure they're being bought out somehow. There are also various different student travel agencies, I'm sure they can help too. BE A SMART SHOPPER. I actually found my cheapest tickets on www.cheapoair.com.

Going abroad is expensive, be sure to save as many hundreds of dollars as you can!

Steps for getting a Visa
First you need to wait to get your CoE. This is an example of what one looks like. You can see I've gained a few lbs since I last wrote here.
Second, you need to take your certificate to the Japanese Consulate in your town (or mail it I presume) along with a 2x2 picture of yourself and your passport. Requirements may vary depending on the country/city/etc. For the 2x2 photo DON'T SMILE. God forbid you look pleasant when taking a photo. The meaner the better. This is a perfect example.


In NYC the Japanese Consulate can be found between 48th street and 49th and Park avenue. Building number 299. If you don't have a passport size photo of yourself you can buy two for an arm and a leg (I mean $10) near the consulate at the RiteAide(?). Ask the desk person where to purchase such wares.

Thirdly, you follow the nice security guard up to the Japanese Consulate floor and go through metal detectors. Then you take a seat and wait about 3mins for the window to call you. (There was virtually no one there!) You fill out your application, hand them all the documents, and then leave. They'll have your Visa ready for you in less than a week! ^_^

Lastly, go back and pick up your VISA! It's basically a sticker they put into your passport. And don't worry! They staple your CoE to your passport too! Congratulations, you have your Visa!! Hopefully, you look as close to a serial killer as possible!


But seriously though, be prepared to take A GOOD PICTURE. You can't have the people at the airport thinking you're not photogenic. They'll totally talk about you behind your back. Fer sure.


STUDYING!
Studying not only the language, but the culture you're about to immerse yourself into is important! Take the time out to review some useful phrases like. "Do you understand English?" or "'I don't understand" or "Help!"'

英語がわかりますか?Eigo ga wakarimasu ka?
すみません、わかりません。Sumimasen, wakarimasen.
助けて、(ください)。Tasukete (kudasai)! or ヘルプ。Herupu (Literally, help with a Japanese accent)

Also! If you're going to Japan, you should at least learn Kana. Kana is the shortened term to describe both Hiragana and Katakana writing systems together. Japan has three (there is also Kanji, which will be discussed in a later post). Hiragana is used to write Japanese words that you don't know the Kanji for, or that don't have Kanji. And Katakana is used to spelling out foreign words. It's pretty simple to learn. It took me about a week to learn how to read the 94 characters. Just kind of stick with it for 7 days and then practice a bit. It's fun to practice reading! There are a few games that help. :P But really, studying from a text book helped me the most ($60 spent!).

Chilling
It's totally important that after you get all your busy work done (which includes the packing that I haven’t done), you relax a bit. You're about to go to a totally different world (I'll be there in four days! Eek!). Hang out with your friends, eat a lot of food, and try not to go broke. OH and make sure you start a relationship, I know I did! That way if culture shock isn't tormenting enough, the long distance relationship will surely pummel you into a submission worth medicating! :D!

Anyway, that's all for now!

じゃあね!Bye!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Japanese for Gangstahs!

Although I was little upset about Dipset stealing my title, instead of becoming violent and sending them a lot of hate-mail and robbing people, I decided to make another episode of your favorite kids show JAPANESE FOR GANGSTAHS!

Have you ever said to yourself "Yo son. I would love to learn Japanese, but none of these videos really speak to a homie." Well here is the answer to your prayers!

This is a video with some useful Japanese and Ebonics for those of us who are trying to become multilingual but have set backs. I know if you're like me, you think in Ebonics and then you have to translate everything into English. And by the time you translate what someone says from English into Ebonics YOU MISSED ALL THE JAPANESE. SO, this is for you. :)!




My one regret: I did not have one single video hoe. smh

Side note: I realized I actually DON'T KNOW that much about Harlem etiquette. I had to ask my friend and my cousin. i was like "How do black people introduce themselves?" This is a fail because I need to represent!

Note to self: Go outside more.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Dipset Steals My Title.

I'm not sure if everyone has heard of Dipset. I know I have because I'm from Harlem. I think Kam'ron knows somebody who knows somebody who shot somebody that baby sat me...or something. Nevertheless this is one of their CDs.

"This CD was inspired by a recent Dipset / Purple City trip out to Japan, where DJ Head does his thing for this thing called hip-hop."


Those Bastards.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

How to Apply to a SUNY Study Abroad Program

So yet again I should be doing homework this fine spring break, but I like making videos & blogging better! xP


This video and subsequent blog post is about how to apply to the study abroad program, specifically Kansai Gaidai, in the SUNY system. Enjoy





As promised in the video, I'll give a little more information that I neglected.

PS. For those of you who are not a SUNY student, FRET NOT! A lot of this information can be applied to you, just get the specific details from your advisor. OR TRANSFER. I don't see a point in letting a school keep you from getting from point A to point B. Also, this type of stuff looks BOMB on apps. :)

Steps for Application

1) You want to have a solid idea of what you want to study, where you want to go, and when you want to be there. That way when you're given all of these options you have a little bit of direction. If you can't decide on some things, go to the study abroad fairs at school, or talk to an advisor. Just get out there and educate yourself!

2) Search in the SUNY system and pay CLOSE ATTENTION to what courses they offer, the time of study, price, LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS, etc. What i neglected to show in the video is the actual arduous task of reading the FULL DESCRIPTION of the programs, but it's very necessary. Luckily, I went to my study abroad advisor and she found Kansai Gaidai for me and they have amazing psychology classes IN ENGLISH (or at least they claim to) and I was sold.

3) APPLY APPLY APPLY. Don't be afraid of the rejection. Envision yourself in a new country, you may never get this experience again. YOU MIGHT NOT EVEN HAVE TO PAY. Just get it over with and forget about it.

4) That brings me to my fourth point SCHOLARSHIPS ARE EVERYWHERE. Your advisor should show you some... there are some sweet ones for non-traditional places (i.e. Japan, Nigeria, Turkey, etc). And some, maybe, specifically for your country! I know there's one for Japan. APPLY FOR THOSE TOO!

5) Be punctual (to your ability). Have confidence. Envision it. Do your best. Achieve your dreams!


I hope you enjoyed the second post. More to come. Any ideas? :)