One Month Later...

Hi, I sort of fell off the blogosphere there for a while.

A lot has happened in a month, so I have an excuse! (not a very good one)
Well, as you might have gathered, I'm back in California...

Travelwise, my return went very smoothly - no delays or mishaps. My friends saw me off at the Akita airport, I flew to Tokyo (domestic), took a bus to Narita (Tokyo international airport), and flew back sitting next to my friend Lisa (who was studying in Tokyo for the year). My parents met me at SFO and we went first thing to sign the lease on my apartment in SF (and see my brother)!. Then it was back to Chico for two and a half weeks of R&R - mostly spent watching Michael Phelps win gold medals and wishing Shawn Johnson won more. Oh, I also went to Lake Almanor my first weekend with friends, which was great. On Aug 22nd, I went to orientation at SF State, and officially moved into my apartment. The weekend before we went on a MAJOR Ikea shopping spree and built furniture, so when I moved on the 22nd it was all ready to go.

Let's see, Ilana came down from Portland for some business in SF so she was my first non-family house guest and we had a really nice time exploring my new neighborhood together. (Good luck in France, Ilz!) The next day (8/26), I officially started my grad school career! I also made a trip over to Berkeley that week to reunite with some buddies.

Then, for Labor Day Weekend, I flew down to visit Sally in Camarillo, which was a blast. We hung out on the beach (Zuma Beach, in Malibu - apparently it's well-known? Looked like Bay Watch to me!) and got to see some wild dolphins playing in the water. We also went to Solvang, a bit north of Santa Barbara. Have you been there? It's quite cool! It's this little Danish colony/theme-town (like Epcot, but better!), so it was really neat and we went to the Hans Christian Andersen "Museum" (more a collection of his books, but still cool!). Since Solvang is also conveniently located practically on top of Mission Santa Inez (the 19th and best preserved in the state!), I convinced Sally to have a look at it with me (she doesn't enjoy Calif mission history - crazy, I knoooow! But she didn't grow up in CA and have to build a model mission in 4th grade, so it's okay). The gardens were really pretty.

Anyway, back in SF, last week was busy with classes (haha not really) and hanging out with former roommate Jean Louise in Berkeley (she was up visiting from LA). Good times! :D And after a weekend in Chico watching my students test for second degree black belts, now it's another week in SF. But, still no time to settle, because I'm due back in Chico on Saturday for Megan V's wedding!!

I wasn't kidding when I said I've been busy!!! In a month I've been in Akita, Tokyo, SF, Chico, Lake Almanor/Chester, SF, Chico, SF, Berkeley (3X), Camarillo, Malibu, Solvang, SF, Chico, SF...

On the SF apartment:
It's a "Studio Plus" -which means I have and area that can close off to be my bedroom with additional room for sitting/dining areas, plus kitchen and bathroom- in one of those cute looking "San Francisco" houses, located in the Inner Sunset district (one block from Golden Gate Park!). It's conveniently located in the same building as my brother's apartment... actually, directly below his! The neighborhood is great - safe, friendly, lots of restaurants/shops nearby, close to the park, etc. Also, it's a simple commute to school, as I just have to ride the train to 19th AVE and catch a bus to SF State. On a good day when the connections work out, it takes about 25-30min. The apartment itself was recently renovated so everything's clean, nice, hardwood floors, etc. I think I'm really lucky to live in such a great place. I still don't quite feel like I live here yet, but as you've seen, I haven't spent much time here, either! Hopefully I'll get settled in soon and I'm looking forward to enjoying SF life.

On graduate school:
I'm working toward a master's in Japanese at SF State. This semester, I'm taking three classes (full-time load), which all meet only one a week. That means I only have class from 4-7pm M/T/Th! But don't get too many ideas, the classes are pretty difficult and it seems like I'm going to have a lot of homework-type things to keep me busy. The classes are: Second Language Acquisition, Translation Workshop, and Consecutive Interpretation. They're pretty interesting, and the professors are really top-notch, but each class is challenging in different ways. Also, I am looking for a part-time job though, to fill up my days AND hopefully, my pockets (a little anyway, SF life isn't cheap!!!).


So, that's the update! My journey in Japan has come to a close - for now, anyway. ;) As much as I would like to give you all one lasting summary/opinion/etc on my life for the last year, there's no way I can put it into words.
Life isn't meant to be summarized anyway... I'm still living it! :)

I'll try to get some pictures posted up soon. I have ones from my Fuji climb and good-byes, etc. that I'd like to share with you all, so check back here for updates.

Also, I think I'll keep up this blog (no promises to posting frequency though!) with the adventures of my new experience living in SF. So, if you'd like, stay tuned! :D


Take care, and thanks for experiencing a taste of Japan with me.