Pictures of my first week in Tokyo...

My new home sweet home...

Welcome to TOKYO!

At Narita Airport, waiting for the bus to Shinjuku.

My apartment complex.

A jinja (shrine) in Fuchu.

Me... in the rain.

Such a beautiful place to walk...

Me next to the Hachikou statue in Shibuya!

SHIBUYA.... too much people.

My aunties.

Daniel and me.

A random horse in front of my train station... oh, the Japanese.

Tokyo Tower!

The view from the tower... hello Tokyo!

me ( ^_^ )

My aunties and me.

Kinda scary...

A little note I wrote and left at the tower... it says, "I'll do my best!"

Me and my note.

Tokyo Dome!

Another jinja... this one is in the middle of Tokyo.

Amazing.

After 10 days in Japan....

After 10 days in Japan I've realized.....

1. Life is so fast paced here in Tokyo. If you aren't walking fast or aware of your surroundings, you're going to get run over, literally. Everyone is trying to run to make their train, riding their bike like they're racing in a triathalon, walking so fast that if you bang them it will feel like you hit the great wall of China... you get what I mean. Sometimes I just walk to slow and let my train pass me by because I can't handle the feeling of being rushed.

2. I'm going to be skinny when I return to Hawaii. My train station is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment, so both ways is about a 30 minute walk. I do this at least once or twice a day - more than I ever walk in Hawaii! With no car, my legs are my new means of transportation! The first few days, my legs were sore when I woke up... so I know I'm getting a good workout. Also I'm eating super healthy here... I buy lettuce from the nearby store and have salads when I feel like it, and when I go out and eat I never really eat rice - just meat or whatever else. My clothes are starting to get loose I noticed!

3. I can get around by the train system! It was kind of hard at first, but it's actually quite easy once you understand the different lines and directions of the trains. I bought a PASMO which is a card that I can use on any train line instead of always buying one-way tickets. So when I get to the gate to enter the station, I just swipe my card and when I reach my destination I swipe it again. It's pretty easy, but the only thing that bothers me is how crowded the trains are, especially rush hour like in the mornings and after work. I felt like a sardine in a can a few times... not a good thing. But on my way home from dinner on Friday night, I was riding the train at around 11pm and I saw a drunk guy throwing up right when he got off the train and a few others laying on the ground. Japanese drunks are so funny.

4. I enjoy teaching English! I started work yesterday and I teach toddlers, around 3 or 4 years old. We sing songs, go over flashcards, read books, etc. The kids are so cute and I'm enjoying what I'm doing. I hope I can make an impact on them and they actually learn something fro me - that's my ultimate goal!

I don't have Internet yet, but I'm planning on getting it soon so I'll post pictures soon. I'm doing fine so far :) until next time....

The Time Has Come!

I will be moving to Japan TOMORROW! 

Thank you to everyone who took part in my going away parties and who have made these last few weeks in Hawai'i the best! 

I will be updating you all on my "new life" in Japan so please come back and keep in touch with me! I will miss you all...<3

Good News!

I will be moving to Japan in 3 weeks! 

I leave Hawaii on June 26th and arrive in Tokyo on June 27th. I'm so excited, yet so nervous at the same time. I will be updating this site frequently to tell you all about my new life in Japan. Until then, I hope to see you or talk to you all before I leave!

Keep in touch with me...

email: sharilyn.k@gmail.com

twitter: sharilyn_mari

skype: sharilyn.mari

My Vegetable Garden: 1.5 months later.

The beans have grown! I've picked them and I'm gonna cook something yummy with them soon :) I'm so happy that we (the garden and I) have gotten this far! It's so exciting to see the outcome of such hard work and planning. All the other vegetables are still steadily growing... I hope they produce something soon too! I'll be patiently waiting and tending to them in the mean time. 

The beans!

The whole garden.

The onions and bell peppers.

The carrots.

The cucumbers.

My Vegetable Garden: 1 month later.

The vegetables are growing, growing, growing! No signs of any real produce yet, but I can see some budding and signs of early stages of the real product! In about a month, they will be growing their actual edible products, so I'll be waiting patiently for that day! Here are some pictures I took today:

The whole garden after 1 month.

The giant green beans!

The carrots and cucumbers, nicely growing.

The slowly growing bell peppers and onions.

Recent Happenings

Just wanted to update you all on my life :)

First of all, I had the AEON Corporation interview this past weekend. AEON is a company which has established English schools all over Japan and is a very popular and respected English learning school in Japan. Saturday was the initial interview, in which I had to prepare a 30-minute lesson plan and then perform 5 minutes of it in front of a group. I passed that stage and had a follow-up interview the next day. That went pretty smoothly as well so I hope I impressed the recruiter and they consider me to be a teacher! I have to wait 2 weeks for the results. If all goes well and I am accepted, I will most likely be teaching English in Japan as early as July or August!

In the mean time, I now work at Nordstrom in Ala Moana selling desinger handbags: Burberry, Versace, Marc Jacobs, Car Shoe, Chloe, etc. It's such a different job than I am normally used to, because of the commission and selling aspect, but its a great learning experience. I also get to use Japanese a lot because we get quite a lot of Japanese tourist as customers so I enjoy communicating and exercising my Japanese language knowledge. If any of you shop at Nordstrom (in any department) or want a designer handbag, please let me know and I will be more than happy to assist you!

My friend from Japan, Kohe, will be visiting me for a week from April 6-13. I'm excited to do touristy things and show him around Oahu. We are lucky enough to stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village the whole week so that should be relaxing and fun, as it always is when I stay there. 

I've never felt this happy and positive in my life before. It seems like everything is finally falling into place. Last year, I came up with a word for the year and that word was "patience". I was patient the whole year in all aspects of life: work, school, family, friends, and life. And now, it seems as if that patience has finally paid off and everything is blending together smoothly. My outlook on life has definitely changed. I am much more positive, confident, motivated, grateful and outgoing than I have been in the past few years. I am so appreciative of God, my family, friends, and my life. I'm definitely a "brand new me" and I'm so ready to take on the world!