During summer over here they have tons of different fireworks festivals, called Hanabi! Today we went to one of the biggest ones at Sumida River. Damn! The fireworks lasted for 1,5h!!! And there were SOOOOO many people. INSANE! I’ve never sweated as much as I did today. I promised myself to never complain about being hot ever again if I just made it out there alive. (I think I’ll take that back now though…) It was so packed w people! And apparently some had been there all day, drinking, eating and camping to get the best spots. Kinda like Valborg back home. 

Now on to the less important. We went to Disneyland today! One can never visit Disneyland too many times! It’s the happiest place on earth! :D

We bought our tickets a few weeks ago through school and got a nice discount. I had been dreading walking around there in the extreme heat… but instead it rained! In this case I’m actually happy it did! Felt like 10C colder than normally. 

We spent 10 hours at the park! And I didn’t buy a single disney merchandise! And man, my body hurts from all of the walking. Good day, good day! Now sleep! Good night! 

My hair today… was insane. It’s never had to endure such extreme humidity and wind. I walked around looking like a clown all day. Ffs. 

W00t today we started w kanji! And a ton of new stuff. Was so lost during the last hour of class. Thank god we have 2-3 weeks off after tomorrow! :D 

なつやすみ! (summer break) 

ps. my false teeth fell out when I took the pic. 

So today I had money again and wanted to go buy the backpack. And guess what, it was gone. Sold out. I went to two more stores of the same retail chain (Tokyo Hands), in completely different areas of Tokyo. Nothing. They’ve stopped making it, it’s out of production! Just my luck. Fuck you world. Don’t ever look forward to something, I tell ya. 

We had the best view ever from our karaoke room! Daaaamn! On the 7th floor, so fucking awesome! 

Trying to learn some new words. Here are some examples of how I initially get my brain to memorize them. Usually remembering just the first sign makes me recall the rest of the word.

• しずか　　[shizuka] - QUIET

“Sscchhhh, be quiet!” - the word starts w shi.

• にぎやか   [nigiyaka] - LIVELY

Ninjas are livley - the word starts w ni.

• ゆうめい [yuumei] - FAMOUS

All young ppl want to be famous - the word starts w yu.

• しんせつ [shinsetsu] - KIND

The word ‘cheek’ is ‘kind’ in swedish, pronounced ‘schind’, but spelled exactly like the english word ‘kind’- the word starts w shin.

• ひま [hima] - FREE

Being free makes me go “hihihihiihihihihi”- the word starts w hi.

Any better ideas on how to effectively try to memorize 50 new words at once?

I found the most awesome backpack today. The one I use atm, I’ve used every single day for the last year. Fell in love w it right away. Now I have a new (another) crush. It’s PERFECT. The colors, the size, the materials… AAHHH! PERFECTION! ANYBODY WANT TO BUY IT FOR ME?? Buhu…

No I’m not crazy, it’s just perfect!

Just watched Cat Shit One. Loves it! lol. Anime and manga is definitely NOT what made me fall in love w Japan. I just don’t get it. I’ve never liked animated stuff. The anime I’ve come across so far is either about samurai or Gundam robot type fighting shizzle. Hate both. This however was all nice and fluffy AND interesting. Bunnies in war w camels, what’s not to love! Made me want to play MW2 baaaad!

It’s been ages since I’ve actually had to FORCE in new information like this, like actually remembering specific words, words that don’t even look like words. When I’ve learnt new languages in the past, I haven’t had to think like I do now. When I learned german I lived in germany, when I learned english I lived in the states and it came more natural. And I was a kid. Now I’m 23 and I think I’m starting to run out of memory. Japanese is fucking different, I can’t relate to any other language I know.

I’m really enjoying the process tho. This year here is gonna create a really good foundation. Learning a new language has to be one of the hardest things to do. Really. A completely new way of interacting w ppl. My brain is gonna super evolve! Damn I’m gonna be so smart once I actually get into the flow and start to understand what ppl are saying.

It’s a real challenge tho, I tell ya!