Journey
So I will try to collect some of my thoughts on my long journey I took at the end of summer. There are obviously more important things I should be writing, but I figure this will be a good way to warm up, ne?
So let me start with the first hurdle in my trip: delays. Now, going from Guam to Georgia takes an extremely long time, we're talking in the realm of almost one whole day, so nearly any delays that happen make things all the worse. The flight from Guam to Hawaii was delayed by quite a while which in turn caused all the other connecting flights to go off schedule for us. It was really hectic and I would rather not talk about how frustrating it was. Sitting in a plan for an upwards of 7 hours not once but twice with barely anything to do.
As soon as I got to Atlanta's airport I was relieved. My feet could walk, my arms could sway side to side, etc. I was glad to be off an airplane.
Now, it's fairly hard for people to imagine how different things are when I travel because they have never been here but let me try to help with that: Guam is an island in the middle of nowhere. There are no free-ways, there is no tax, and parking is always free. From top to bottom Guam is no more than 35 miles and its width is about 15 miles. That's it. On top of that, the only part that is worth going to is the northern half. Things south are boring and nothing but farmland. So that leaves very little land in which to do things. However, this means that everything is close together. The farthest I usually need to go takes about 15-20 minutes by car on a good day. The arcade here is barely a 5 minute drive from where I live. The university is 10.
With that, I think anyone can imagine that going from here to anywhere in the US was a big change for me. There are free ways and whatnot, you can't park wherever you want, and I obviously have to think about the tax that gets put on things I purchase(Seriously though, I appreciate the fact that the dollar menu means you give the cashier a dollar and they give you a burger :U). Also, the demographic was very different. Nearly everyone on Guam is some kind of Asian and it's rare to see Americans out and about. They are definitely the minority. I found Georgia to be the exact opposite. I rarely saw anyone even half Asian looking. That was probably one of the strangest parts of the trip. In no way do I mean to say this in a bad way or anything like that, because I'm sure people would say the same if they came here. No racism intended at all here, just simply stating facts :D
Also, big ups to kurowkirishima for taking the time to take me around some places when I was there. :D Honestly man, I have NEVER seen a Korean girl speak in a Southern accent before. The Japanese book store was also very cool but creepy, only because it looked so much like Japan. Did you catch the cashier talking to me in Japanese at first then reconsidering I wasn't and talking to me in English? WUT So thanks, since I haven't been able to say so. I will take you around Guam or something when you get here.
So after being in Georgia for a few days I said goodbye and headed for my next stop, Hawaii. My uncle is a really cool guy and has been living there for some time with his wife but I have never visited them there. Actually it's been years on years since the last time I went to Hawaii. My uncle always told me that there were a bunch of cool places to go to in Hawaii so i was looking forward to going there a lot.
After perhaps the most grueling wait ever in Houstons airport(I think it was like, 5 hours or something, maybe more) I got to Hawaii just as the sun was starting to go down. Hawaii felt a lot more like home right off the back. I always say that it's more of a Guam 2.0. There are a lot more Asian people(Japanese in particular :3) like Guam and the scenery is definitely like it is here with palm trees and whatnot everywhere. While there I stayed with my uncle instead of a hotel(duh!) which was great. He really wanted me to be at home and well, I definitely felt like I was. It didn't take me long to get used to living in Hawaii...
Ok, to be politically correct, Oahu. Hawaii is the largest island in the chain and is also where I got to go after staying a few days in Oahu. Hawaii is just a short flight from Oahu so there were no troubles there. Hawaii is a lot more rural and touristy than Oahu. The time there was mostly spent indulging in touristy things like seeing sites and whatnot. I got to see a live volcano while there and after we got to go to up a mountain. The mountain was freezing cold(erm, elevation, of course) but it was something I think everyone should see. When you get to the summit it's literally over the clouds at around the same elevation some airplanes go. I watched the sunset from there and it was nothing short of breathtaking. The cold made things especially miserable there, but otherwise, it was awesome. Hawaii is also in a few "parts". The part I spent the first half of my time at was Hilo, which is more peaceful and more "local" if you will. The other side(the name escapes me...!) was very strange. Honestly, whenever I try to bring up the memories I had there I get this empty and almost chilling feeling about it. I'm not sure why. Anyway things of note from there, yes. We stopped at a small plaza with a few eating establishments there and I saw a bunch of Japanese girls walking around. I think they were on a school trip or something(yes, they all looked cute and oshare :3). At this part of town it was much more cold, so there was quite a chill. Also, it seemed as if I saw less and less local people. I suppose many Americans ended up settling in this area.
On a trip to a coffee farm on the day we were leaving I encountered one of the most amazing people I have ever seen. The most beautiful girl in the whole world! Yes! For some reason we ended up rather lost and stopping at this UCC coffee farm run by an older man and younger girl(possibly her dad, but I don't know for sure). She looked like she was in her younger 20's or something like that, was definitely Japanese(or part, maybe half?), and was perhaps the cutest girl I had seen, or will ever see, in my life. She wasn't drop dead gorgeous or anything, but she had this perfect balance of being cute and pretty and not knowing it. Even the way she explained things was witty, but not to the point where I thought she was trying way too hard to win over a few passers by. She was so pure, sincere. I probably will never see her again but...I don't know. It's rather insignificant to mention it but I felt it was necessary. It's really hard to describe it in words.
Before the train got derailed a few stations >_> So I left Hawaii fairly disappointed, mainly because there wasn't much for myself to do there. It was...fun, but I think the majority of things I did would have been more enjoyable if I had friends or a girlfriend(uhhh) there to share it with.
I tried to do the rest of the things I wanted to do when I got back to Oahu. It was fun spending time with my uncle, eating at some really good places, and just seeing how it was to live there. On the last day I got to go to Book Off a second time, and I picked up some manga and more cheap CD's. Earlier that day I also got to go to Hawaiian brians to play some Bemani. I must have stayed there for hours on end playing drummania and Guitar Freaks as well as some IIDX(the new timing SUCKED though, so I played like 2 games). I was glad to this before I left since I was seriously bemani deprived my entire trip. I felt that I rounded out the trip really well. It would have been nice to stay in Hawaii longer doing things I wanted to do but it was ok, I think I had enough fun for a vacation. When I got back to Guam I was happy to be home(ok, sort of :/)
There are a whole bunch of little side storys on my trip but I think I've trudged on with this for waaay too long. I did take a few pictures but for a majority of my trip I just enjoyed relaxing and taking in everything I was doing. Would I go back? Sure, I think Hawaii is somewhere I would be content living.
(on a side note, I got a lot of great CDs at Book OFF! So there hasn't been a shortage of things to listen to lately. Especially when they include music I've always had an interest to purchase like Quruli/Going Under Ground albums and Cd's from Going Steady and 100s)
Aside from the trip I took, there have been a lot of things going on lately. I've started college, realized that I am definitely obsessed with Japanese girls, and started to sleep early. Some good news is that I can connect to the network at school so I can start Last.FMing and things like that(basically everything I said I couldnt do in my last post). But all of this is for a more organized and thought out entry I plan on writing soon. (I've noticed my writing is HORRIBLE lately and I think it's just because I haven't been reading or writing as much as before. My own fault T___T)
~hideki~
So let me start with the first hurdle in my trip: delays. Now, going from Guam to Georgia takes an extremely long time, we're talking in the realm of almost one whole day, so nearly any delays that happen make things all the worse. The flight from Guam to Hawaii was delayed by quite a while which in turn caused all the other connecting flights to go off schedule for us. It was really hectic and I would rather not talk about how frustrating it was. Sitting in a plan for an upwards of 7 hours not once but twice with barely anything to do.
As soon as I got to Atlanta's airport I was relieved. My feet could walk, my arms could sway side to side, etc. I was glad to be off an airplane.
Now, it's fairly hard for people to imagine how different things are when I travel because they have never been here but let me try to help with that: Guam is an island in the middle of nowhere. There are no free-ways, there is no tax, and parking is always free. From top to bottom Guam is no more than 35 miles and its width is about 15 miles. That's it. On top of that, the only part that is worth going to is the northern half. Things south are boring and nothing but farmland. So that leaves very little land in which to do things. However, this means that everything is close together. The farthest I usually need to go takes about 15-20 minutes by car on a good day. The arcade here is barely a 5 minute drive from where I live. The university is 10.
With that, I think anyone can imagine that going from here to anywhere in the US was a big change for me. There are free ways and whatnot, you can't park wherever you want, and I obviously have to think about the tax that gets put on things I purchase(Seriously though, I appreciate the fact that the dollar menu means you give the cashier a dollar and they give you a burger :U). Also, the demographic was very different. Nearly everyone on Guam is some kind of Asian and it's rare to see Americans out and about. They are definitely the minority. I found Georgia to be the exact opposite. I rarely saw anyone even half Asian looking. That was probably one of the strangest parts of the trip. In no way do I mean to say this in a bad way or anything like that, because I'm sure people would say the same if they came here. No racism intended at all here, just simply stating facts :D
Also, big ups to kurowkirishima for taking the time to take me around some places when I was there. :D Honestly man, I have NEVER seen a Korean girl speak in a Southern accent before. The Japanese book store was also very cool but creepy, only because it looked so much like Japan. Did you catch the cashier talking to me in Japanese at first then reconsidering I wasn't and talking to me in English? WUT So thanks, since I haven't been able to say so. I will take you around Guam or something when you get here.
So after being in Georgia for a few days I said goodbye and headed for my next stop, Hawaii. My uncle is a really cool guy and has been living there for some time with his wife but I have never visited them there. Actually it's been years on years since the last time I went to Hawaii. My uncle always told me that there were a bunch of cool places to go to in Hawaii so i was looking forward to going there a lot.
After perhaps the most grueling wait ever in Houstons airport(I think it was like, 5 hours or something, maybe more) I got to Hawaii just as the sun was starting to go down. Hawaii felt a lot more like home right off the back. I always say that it's more of a Guam 2.0. There are a lot more Asian people(Japanese in particular :3) like Guam and the scenery is definitely like it is here with palm trees and whatnot everywhere. While there I stayed with my uncle instead of a hotel(duh!) which was great. He really wanted me to be at home and well, I definitely felt like I was. It didn't take me long to get used to living in Hawaii...
Ok, to be politically correct, Oahu. Hawaii is the largest island in the chain and is also where I got to go after staying a few days in Oahu. Hawaii is just a short flight from Oahu so there were no troubles there. Hawaii is a lot more rural and touristy than Oahu. The time there was mostly spent indulging in touristy things like seeing sites and whatnot. I got to see a live volcano while there and after we got to go to up a mountain. The mountain was freezing cold(erm, elevation, of course) but it was something I think everyone should see. When you get to the summit it's literally over the clouds at around the same elevation some airplanes go. I watched the sunset from there and it was nothing short of breathtaking. The cold made things especially miserable there, but otherwise, it was awesome. Hawaii is also in a few "parts". The part I spent the first half of my time at was Hilo, which is more peaceful and more "local" if you will. The other side(the name escapes me...!) was very strange. Honestly, whenever I try to bring up the memories I had there I get this empty and almost chilling feeling about it. I'm not sure why. Anyway things of note from there, yes. We stopped at a small plaza with a few eating establishments there and I saw a bunch of Japanese girls walking around. I think they were on a school trip or something(yes, they all looked cute and oshare :3). At this part of town it was much more cold, so there was quite a chill. Also, it seemed as if I saw less and less local people. I suppose many Americans ended up settling in this area.
On a trip to a coffee farm on the day we were leaving I encountered one of the most amazing people I have ever seen. The most beautiful girl in the whole world! Yes! For some reason we ended up rather lost and stopping at this UCC coffee farm run by an older man and younger girl(possibly her dad, but I don't know for sure). She looked like she was in her younger 20's or something like that, was definitely Japanese(or part, maybe half?), and was perhaps the cutest girl I had seen, or will ever see, in my life. She wasn't drop dead gorgeous or anything, but she had this perfect balance of being cute and pretty and not knowing it. Even the way she explained things was witty, but not to the point where I thought she was trying way too hard to win over a few passers by. She was so pure, sincere. I probably will never see her again but...I don't know. It's rather insignificant to mention it but I felt it was necessary. It's really hard to describe it in words.
Before the train got derailed a few stations >_> So I left Hawaii fairly disappointed, mainly because there wasn't much for myself to do there. It was...fun, but I think the majority of things I did would have been more enjoyable if I had friends or a girlfriend(uhhh) there to share it with.
I tried to do the rest of the things I wanted to do when I got back to Oahu. It was fun spending time with my uncle, eating at some really good places, and just seeing how it was to live there. On the last day I got to go to Book Off a second time, and I picked up some manga and more cheap CD's. Earlier that day I also got to go to Hawaiian brians to play some Bemani. I must have stayed there for hours on end playing drummania and Guitar Freaks as well as some IIDX(the new timing SUCKED though, so I played like 2 games). I was glad to this before I left since I was seriously bemani deprived my entire trip. I felt that I rounded out the trip really well. It would have been nice to stay in Hawaii longer doing things I wanted to do but it was ok, I think I had enough fun for a vacation. When I got back to Guam I was happy to be home(ok, sort of :/)
There are a whole bunch of little side storys on my trip but I think I've trudged on with this for waaay too long. I did take a few pictures but for a majority of my trip I just enjoyed relaxing and taking in everything I was doing. Would I go back? Sure, I think Hawaii is somewhere I would be content living.
(on a side note, I got a lot of great CDs at Book OFF! So there hasn't been a shortage of things to listen to lately. Especially when they include music I've always had an interest to purchase like Quruli/Going Under Ground albums and Cd's from Going Steady and 100s)
Aside from the trip I took, there have been a lot of things going on lately. I've started college, realized that I am definitely obsessed with Japanese girls, and started to sleep early. Some good news is that I can connect to the network at school so I can start Last.FMing and things like that(basically everything I said I couldnt do in my last post). But all of this is for a more organized and thought out entry I plan on writing soon. (I've noticed my writing is HORRIBLE lately and I think it's just because I haven't been reading or writing as much as before. My own fault T___T)
~hideki~