May 19

My Homestay Experience| Weekly Post #55

“”by clothfairy is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Hello everyone.

Apart of my Japan Study Tour, I got to experience “living” in Japan (with hmskarli) with a student from HMS’s sister school, Keiai. 

After visiting their elementary school, we drove to the middle school and stuffed our big suitcase into a small room. You had to take off your shoes and wear these green slippery slippers. It was hard to walk up the stairs espcially when you’re wearing socks. After almost falling off the stairs multiple times, we sat in a library with all our extra stuff for about fifteen minutes. At about 1:00, our host families came to pick us up. 

A little story (you can skip this): Since I had a heavy duffle bag full of omiyage, my friend hmsreise offered to carry my bag. Being super excited, I totally forgot about that bag, so when my host parents were packing my bags into the car, my classmates reminded me that I forgot it. I had to run back and take off my shoes, not wearing the green slippery slippers. I finally got my luggage and then I tripped on the stairs going outside. 🙂

We drove to a street market in, I think, Kokura. I tried oden for the first time and the fried tofu was super good. I was super full and then we ate ic cream. They gave us a lot of food after lunch like takoyaki and watermelon. After all of that, we went home to prepare for the banquet. I had to wear a white shirt and a pink paku (I’m not sure if that’s how you spell it but it’s a Hawaiian skirt).

The stage was super small that I almost fell off when we were doing our hula. There were more people than I excepted which made me more nervous, but I thought we did really well.

After the performance, we went home. I was super tired and so I took a shower. The bathrooms are really different than the ones in the US. The shower is not connected to the tub. It kind of works like an onsen. 

The next day, we went to Kokura, Ichiran, and Shinamura. It was kind of cool because we took the train there. Kokura is mostly shops as I mentioned before. Ichiran is a ramen store which I think whenever you go to Japan, you should visit. It’s so good, you cannot miss it.  Shinamura is basically a Japanese version of ROSS. 

Then we went home and that was everything I did during my homestay. I really enjoyed it and my host family took really good care of me and hopefully, I see them again. Bye! ❤︎

Links:

A Guide to Fukuoka

Keiai Junior High School

Kokura Castle 

April 29

More (Un)popular K-Pop Opinions| Weekly Post #54

Picture By: Wiki via Creative Commons

Hello everyone.

Welcome back to another (un)popular K-Pop opinions. I enjoyed writing my other opinion post, so minus well do it again. Just like the last post:

These are just my opinions and if you can’t handle that, I guess you should leave. Don’t take it personally because these are just my thoughts.

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons

I prefer MOMOLAND‘s BAAM than Bboom Bboom.

BAAM just sounds more fun than Bboom Bboom.

Reasons:

  • The cheorography and finger guns 
  • Fun colors and music video concept 
  • Nancy’s green hair and Jooe’s pink hair
  • Daisy’s rap segment because it’s great

It’s just a great song in general and I don’t understand why people are saying it’s an exact replica of Bboom Bboom, it’s just MOMOLAND’s style and people need to accept that. And MOMOLAND is not problematic.

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons

NCT should have been four different groups

I honestly don’t stan NCT, but I think this is how it should have been. NCT has three subunits (not including the China subunit): U, 127. Instead of making subunits under an entire group, SM should have made three different boy groups.

I state my reasons:

One, you don’t have to worry about staying “loyal” to one member because you could have a bias from each group. I hear my friends often have lots of trouble staying loyal to their biases, so this would help them a lot. 

Two, NCT members wouldn’t have to travel for each subunit as they grow. I think that’s how it works, I’m not completely sure so don’t come after me. But as a member gets grows through their music, they’ll move to a subunit that fits the concept they are going for. 

Maybe, this is an even worst idea or a better one, but I just thought this could work. But honestly, SM has too many boy groups, so maybe not.

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons

You should stan EXID and MAMAMOO

I don’t even stan EXID and MAMAMOO that much, but I’ve been watching them on variety shows and they’re super funny. MAMAMOO’s 4 seasons 4 colors album series is really good and I highly recommend you listen to it.

MAMAMOO Songs You Should Listen To:

gogobebe

Egotistic

Starry Night

Wind Flower

Mr. Ambiguous

Picture By: Wikipedia via Creative Commons

EXID’s music is very different and unusual. It’s very colorful, quirky, but somehow it works. Their voices are really different, but somehow they compliment each other. I really like Solji’s and LE’s voice and hopefully, they make a subgroup together. My favorite EXID song is probably I Love You. The visuals are super colorful and I like Jeonghwa’s hamburger and when Hyelin is stuck to the wall with colorful tape. 

EXID Songs You Should Listen To (by the way Solji had some health issues from 2016-2018 so she’s not in some songs):

DDD

I Love You

Ah Yeah

UP&DOWN

HOT PINK

I hope you enjoyed reading my opinions. Tell me if you agree or disagree with my opinions in the comments. Have a great week! Bye.❤

April 29

Animals That Should Be Appreciated| Weekly Post #53

Hello everyone.

After watching a ton of animal videos on YouTube, I was thinking of writing a post about animals that are often forgotten and should be appreciated more, so here you go. 

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons

Wouldn’t you want this adorable thing as a pet? Aardvarks are such spledid creatures and they help with ant and termite problems. 

Aardvark Orycteropus afer

  • Can eat up to 50,000-60,000 ants/termites in one night
  • Tongues are 1 foot long and they can dig holes almost 2 feet deep
  • Found in “…grasslands, savannas, rainforests, woodlands and thickets throughout Africa…” (via Live Science)
  • They are also called ant bears which is pretty cool, don’t you think?

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons

Manatee Trichechus

Behold, the majestic sea cow. I think this animal (and walrus) would act like giant dogs that could squash you into a pancake at any moment, but they love cuddles. 

  • Go to the surface every 3-5 minutes even though they can hold their breath for about 20 minutes
  • Eats sea grass, mangrove leaves, and algae 
  • “…Christopher Columbus himself said that on the previous day he “distinctly saw three mermaids, which rose well out of the sea; but they are not so beautiful as they are not so beautiful as they are said to be, for their faces had some masuline traits.” ” (via Mental Floss)
  • Nearsighted creatures that can see blue, green, and gray but cannot see red, blue, green combinations

Picture By: Flickr via Creative Commons

Echidna Tachyglossidae

A similar creature to porcupine and hedgehog, the echidna. It’s kind of a mixture of different animals. 

  • Spines are actually hair with bits of fur in between to provide insulation
  • Has extreme low body temperature and slow metabolism
  • Lays eggs (just like a platypus)
  • Their brains are bigger than you think

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons

Water Bears Tarigarde

This is probably considered an organism, but those are animals too, right? Anyway, this is a water bear. They are super tiny and you can’t see it without a microscope. 

  • Discovered by a German pastor
  • Has sharp-like dagger teeth
  • Can outlive dinosaur
  • Eats bacteria or plant cells

I hope you enjoyed learning about different animals and please tell me any other interesting animals in the comments. Hope you have a great day. Bye! ❤︎

 

April 22

BTS’s Persona| Weekly Post #52

Hello everyone. 

If you didn’t know BTS just realeased their new album, MAP OF SOUL: PERSONA. The (mini?) album consists of seven new songs. The title song Boy With Luv (feat. Halsey) currently has about 192 million views on YouTube and 8.8 million likes. BTS did really well with this comeback and hopefully the MAP OF SOUL series is exceeds ARMYs’ expectations.

My Review Of  The Songs

Intro : Persona:  Ok, honestly, I don’t really care for this song since it’s just RM rapping for 2 mintues and 51 seconds. I love RM and he is really talented, but I don’t like songs of just rapping.

Boy With Luv (feat. Halsey): THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONG OF THE ENTIRE ALBUM. It’s super cute and happy and just makes you want to have a great day. I don’t think anyone else could do the “Oh my my my” part better than Halsey. I really hope they make more music with Halsey or other artists (Taylor Swift?).

Mikrokosmos: This song reminds me of merry-go-round, probably because of the beat and you can just imagine going round and round in circles. 

Make It Right: I really like this song as well. If you didn’t know Ed Sheeran wrote this song, which is pretty cool. I’m glad he gave the song to BTS to sing for their album. I espically like J-Hope’s part, probably because it’s super soothing.

HOME: This is probably my second favorite song from the album because you can listen to it while studying but also while running or excerising. My favorite part is when they say “Mi Casa”. It’s great that they include other languages other than Korean and English.

Jamais vu:  HOW DOES JIN BARELY HAVE ANY LINSE IN THIS SONG? There are only Jungkook, J-Hope, and Jin. Otherwise, great slow song. Don’t recommend playing this song at a party.

Dionysus:  My third favorite song, probably because I feel like it’s really in your face type of song. This is definitely a party song unlike Jamais vu, so play this to hype up people. 🙂

I hope you liked my review and tell me your favorite song in the comments. Bye. ❤︎

 

April 12

BLACKPINK’s Kill This Love| Weekly Post #51

Hello everyone.

Recently, BLACKPINK released their new album Kill This Love — EP. The mini-album consists of four new songs and a remix version of DDU DU DDU DU. The music video as of this moment has about 170 million views on Youtube and 6 million likes (including me). BLACKPINK recently has been releasing a short amount of songs then goes on a hiatus for almost half a year, so hopefully, we have a lot of BLACKPINK content this year. 

My Review Of The Songs

Kill This Love: Out of all the songs, this is probably the most intense song with the horns and trumpet fanfares and the heavy beats. My feelings for the song are really confusing because I LOVED IT then as I kept listening I was wondering why some parts were like this and other parts were like that. But as you keep listening to it, it’s actually really catchy. The choreography for the song is really well done and you can tell they put a lot of effort into the music video and clothing.

Don’t Know What To DoThis song is really upbeat but soft at the same time. It also lets you appreciate their vocals, but not as intense as Forever Young. I think they made a good idea making this the subtitle song because it compliments Kill This Love really well. 

Kick It: I honestly didn’t really care for this song. I don’t like the ending because it sounds children chanting, but I really like Lisa’s rap and the pre-chorus. This song had a lot of potentials, but it never reached it. This song honestly could have Forever Young‘s flow and be an even greater song.

Hope Not: THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONG AND NO ONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE. It’s so sad and the lyrics are so heartfelt and just like Don’t Know What To Do, you can appreciate their vocals and how much they compliment each other, so definitely a song that you must listen to.

This was my full review of Kill This Love. I hope you enjoyed reading it and respected my opinion. Bye. ❤

March 31

Shadow of the Tomb Raider | Weekly Post #50

Picture By: Flickr via Creative Commons

Hello everyone!

Today, I’ll be reviewing a game I’ve played over spring break called Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It is the sequel to Rise of the Tomb Raider and although I didn’t play that one first, I still really enjoyed playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider. 

Game Contains Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

A Little Brief Summary: You play as Lara Croft, a twenty-one-year-old treasurer hunter trying to take down a Christian militia called Trinity who is trying to recreate the world.

Instead of climbing the shivering mountains of Siberia in Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider takes place in the humid jungles of Mexico. Lara sets out on a journey. 

The game’s graphics are nothing short of beautiful. Sometimes, just walking around the jungle or climbing in a cave, you just have appreciated the beauty that the creators put into every single detail to the fur of a capybara or the makeover Lara Croft and Jonah got. 

The gameplay was amazing with the different tools you could use compared to Rise of the Tomb Raider. It made things more challenging like when you’d reach a dead end while climbing rocks and you’re like “What do I do?” when you’d just lower yourself with a rope so you can swing to the next wall. 

The puzzles were probably my least favorite part because say if you’re solving a puzzle and your climbing on top of an ancient structure, and since it’s Lara Croft (everything breaks when she’s around so the possibility of the structure breaking is 99.9% accurate). Then, you’re just struggling to quickly climb up onto the next structure before it crumbles into the abyss below.

My favorite part of the game was when you would have to take out the guards and sneak around. The idea of using mud to conceal your visibility better was a pretty clever idea. I liked how the guards could find you in the vegetation. It took a lot of brain power to plan out how I was going to take out the guys without another guard seeing and where I was going to move. The suspense when all the guards would be surrounding the one bush your concealed in is pretty nerve-wracking but exciting. 

I’d just thought I should bring up the Yaaxil and the Jaguars. 

I wish there were more things to do once you would finish the game instead of challenge tombs and quests. Since I really enjoyed the game, I would like to do more things instead of doing quests in Paititi. 

Overall, 10/10 game and I’m going to play it again after I finish Rise of the Tomb Raider. I’m really excited for the next game coming out. I hope you enjoyed my post. Bye. 

 

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March 31

A Guide To (G)I-DLE| Weekly Post #49

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons 

Video By Vimeo via Creative Commons 

Hello everyone.

Today, I’ll be introducing you to (G)I-DLE. I really enjoy their music and fluffy personalities, so I hope you enjoy. 

(G)I-DLE consists of six members from Cube Entertainment and debuted with LATATA on May 2, 2018, so they’re pretty new to K-Pop world.

Picture By: Wikipedia via Creative Commons

POWER VOCAL

Starting with the eldest member and my bias, Cho Miyeon. Her positions are Main Vocalist and said she was striving to become the Main Dancer. Her birthday is on January 31, 1997, and she was born in Korea.

Facts:

  • Used to be a trainee for YG Entertainment and was supposed to debut with BLACKPINK, but she left in 2015 due to dating issues.
  • Her father helped her develop her love for music.
  • Is apart of K/DA, a group formed by League of Legends.
  • Can play the violin and piano
  • Close with Jiwon and Seoyeon, members from Fromis_9
  • Favorite color is green

Picture By: Wikipedia via Creative Commons

(Minnie is the last member on the right. I couldn’t find a picture of her)

ATTRACTIVE VOICE

Second eldest member, Minnie or Minnie Nicha Tontararak. Her positions are Main Vocalist. Her birthday is October 23, 1997, and was born in Thailand. 

Facts:

  • Can speak Korean, English, and Thai.
  • Has twin brothers named Mic and Mac.
  • Likes shopping.
  • Friends with CLC’s Sorn and BLACKPINK’s Lisa.
  • Fan of Super Junior and Troye Sivan.
  • Favorite color is pink.

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons

PRETTY SPRING GIRL

Dance machine, Seo Soojin. She is the Main Dancer, Lead Rapper, and Vocalist. Her birthday is on March 9, 1998, and she was born in Korea.

Facts:

  • Nickname is Cherry
  • The “mom” of the group
  • Was the fox girl that appeared in multiple of Soyeon’s MV
  • The shyest member of (G)I-DLE
  • Used to date Pentagon member, Hui

Picture By: 위키백과 via Creative Commons

LEADER OF (G)I-DLE

The leader of (G)I-DLE, Jeon Soyeon. She is the Leader, Main Rapper, Lead Dancer, Vocalist, and Center. She was born on August 26, 1998, and was born in Korea.

Facts:

  • Likes watching anime, especially “One Piece”
  • Likes tangerines and corn
  • Hates vegetables
  • Used to do ballet
  • Was homeschooled
  • Composed and wrote the lyrics for many songs
  • Favorite color is yellow

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons

(G)I-DLE’S CUTIE

Song Yuqi is the Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer, and Face of the Group. Her birthday is on September 23, 1999, and she was born in Beijing. 

  • Can play a Chinese cithara called guzheng
  • Nominated for Most 100 Beautiful Faces of 2018 
  • Can speak English, Korean, and Chinese
  • A fan of Super Junior and her bias (favorite member) is Ryeowook
  • Likes dancing and rapping

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons

VISUAL MAKNAE

Yoo Shuhwa also known as Yeh Shuhua is the youngest member of (G)I-DLE. Her birthday is January 6, 2000, and she was born in Taiwan. 

  • Can speak Chinese and Korean
  • HyunA is her inspiration
  • Hates strawberries
  • Likes chocolate and Soojin
  • Participated in auditioning because of her friends
  • Aspires to be like HyunA

Check out their music and funny videos:

Credits

(G)I-DLE Profile and Facts

March 20

Japan’s Vending Machine Craze| Weekly Post #48

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons

If you go to Japan, you’ll notice the abundant amount of vending machines everywhere. But why? Why are there so many vending machines in Japan compared to America?

After doing some research and watching a Vox video called “Why Japan has so many vending machines” (which gave loads of information and explanations)

One reason why is because Japan’s labor market is expensive, so vending machines are basically robotic 24/7 store clerks.

Japan also is very advanced and has a fascination with being automatic/robotics. It’s to make things simple and easier such as ordering a meal and/or opening a door to a department store. But they are stores that still do things handmade.

Since Japanese apartments are very small and 93% of the population lives in them, they wouldn’t open a store that cost double their apartment’s rent. They’ll just buy a vending machine and gain a decent amount of profit.

Vandalism is also rare in Japan, so they can have vending machines without getting broken or spray painted by people.

Japan’s currency has an abundant amount of coin and everything is mostly cash based. So it’s easy to use extra change to get a drink or snack from one of the ten vending machines lined up on the street.

I hope you enjoyed learning about Japanese vending machines. And if you’re going to Japan, be sure to get orange flavored water. It’s really refreshing. Bye❤︎

Credits:

Why Are There So Many Vending Machines In Japan? – Oydessy

‘Why Japan Has So Many Vending Machines’ via Vox

 

 

 

February 27

My (Un)popular K-Pop Opinions| Weekly Post #47

Picture By: Wikipedia via Bing Images 

Hello my dudes.

If you’ve been on my blog for quite some time, you would know that I listen to K-Pop and that I have no ideas, so since I’ve seen this on YouTube (quite a lot if I do say so myself) and this would make a good post.

Also, these are just my opinions and if you can’t handle that, I guess you should leave. Don’t take it personally because these are just my thoughts.

Picture By: Wikipedia via Bing Images

Fashion that just makes me question my life

K-Pop idols are usually known for their stylish outfits, but sometimes, stylist provided by their companies dress them. That means hair, makeup, clothing, accessories, and etc. Sometimes, it doesn’t always look good. That includes:

  • Bucket hats
  • Mullets
  • Some hair colors/styles

*intensely inhales* Mullets are just so weird. It’s like there is a little rat growing on the back of your head. I just don’t like the look of them. I mean Taehyung’s mullet was ok. I’ll admit it, but he had better hairstyles in my opinion. I just don’t like the look of it. 

Another irritating one is bucket hats. Bucket hats just ruin the mood. Literally, if you were watching a stage and your favorite idol was wearing the nicest clothes and their dancing skills were 100/10 and you just stare at their head with the cone-shaped hat. It ruins the vibe, so people find a different hat.

This is probably number one in the fashion category. Some hairstyles and hair colors that just don’t belong. Like BOWL CUTS. No, no, no, no. Those are ugly. Stop. Including Suga’s hair in War of Hormone and Danger. Also, natural colors are ok and it’s ok to color it SOMETIMES

Picture By: Wikipedia via Bing Images

TWICE is The Only Girl Group That Makes Cute Concepts Work

TWICE makes great music and especially rocks it in the cute concept area. People mentioned that they are getting tired of doing that. I think that the style that you debut in is the style that you grow in and changing that is a big risk. But, TWICE’s music is so catchy because if you hate it, you’ll eventually like it. Moral of the story, TWICE is amazing, so keep up the good work!

Also, Dahyun and Chaeyoung should have more lines. 

Picture By: Wikipedia via Bing Images

BLACKPINK should have more comebacks or at least a full album

Ok, this I have STRONG feelings about. As of this moment, BLACKPINK only has two mini albums, a single, and Jennie’s solo single. I think YG confirmed that BLACKPINK’s next comeback is going to be a mini album, then Rose’s solo, Lisa’s, then Jisoo’s. I’m excited, of course, but I want a full album. So Papa YG, fulfill BLINKs with a BLACKPINK full album.

BLACKPINK aren’t talented no matter what anybody/video says

While we are on the topic of BLACKPINk I thought I’d bring this up. There are videos all over the Internet saying how BLACKPINK can’t sing. Uhm…

EXCUSE ME? I don’t think YG would just pick people that can’t sing or dance and waste money on them. BLACKPINK works hard and on one of the MR Removed videos of their DDU DU DDU DU comeback stage, I think they were either nervous or tired since they didn’t release anything in about a year. Also, they’re dancing is iconic.

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons

Red Velvet’s Velvet Comebacks are Better Than Red

Personally, I love all of there songs. Dumb Dumb is a good song because it’s catchy. There are times when it gets annoying, but overall it’s a good song. But Bad Boy and Peek-A-Boo were there most popular songs and I think they tried turning Bad Boy into a red comeback (which came out as RBB) when it would have been better as a velvet comeback. 

Senorita By (G)I-DLE is A Good Song 

I’ve read some Instagram posts and they said that Senorita was underwhelming and didn’t live up to its expectations like LATATA and HANN. Even though Senorita came out yesterday (as of writing this), I absolutely loved it and playing it on repeat. The visuals were absolutely stunning and the execution fo the music video was well-done. The only complaints that I have are Shuhua not having any lines with words and the end of the song shouldn’t just be Yuqi singing “Yuhuhuhuu.” That could have been fixed, but overall, 10/10 song and praise that they are back. 

Picture By: Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons

BTS is overrated

I’m going to get so much hate for this, but it’s MY OPINION. There are other groups other than BTS. I know there worldwide *handsome* famous, but ARMYs that just stan BTS and no other groups are not K-Pop stans. They’re BTS stans. I’m not saying I hate BTS because I don’t. I think they are amazing and hard working. Their music is inspirational and very catchy. 

 

Picture By: Wikipedia via Creative Commons

I Didn’t Like ITZY’s DALLA DALLA The First Time I Listened To It

I love the song and the choreography now, but when I first listened to it, I had mixed feelings. I was confused. Were they suppose to be a combination of BLACKPINK and TWICE with a hint of Red Velvet? When I saw the teasers, I thought it was going to be more of a BLACKPINK type of song, but JYP tricked us. The beginning was great and it was so EDGY, but as it continued, it changed from edgy to cute and back again. And the part when they dance on the cars and chant, I didn’t like it. It felt like a commercial. I think it was supposed to be like TWICE’s Like Ooh Ahh (since it did so well), but that’s just my opinion.

 

That’s all my thoughts that I have so far. I might make another one since I had fun making this. Tell me what you think and if you agree or disagree. Thank you for reading my post and I hope you enjoyed it. Bye❤

 

February 26

Why I Think Whale Sharks Are Amazing| Weekly Post #46

Picture By: Wikipedia via Creative Commons

Hello everyone. 

I’ve come to talk about my recently favorite animal that everyone should love, whale sharks. 

 

I actually have a stuff animal whale shark currently sitting with me(her name is Dot) while I type this on my kitchen counter (if you direct your attention to your left you will see my snack bag named Harry and his twin brother with an unknown name). <– literal nonsense

Whale sharks are actually amazing creatures. Here’s why:

  • They are harmless and gentle animals
    • Ideal animals to swim with
    • Also, enjoys warm water temperatures
  • Their spots are like our fingerprints
    • Just like a snowflake
  • They look interesting when they eat
    • Check out this video: whale shark feeding
    • They eat very small things such as plankton, krill, fish eggs, and tiny fish
    • Answering to if a Whale Shark could eat a human: “…they won’t even eat seaweed-soaked rice, which is much smaller than a human and at least smells like the food they eat.” (via ‘Can Whale Sharks Swallow Humans?’ by Azula)
  • Whale sharks can grow up to 40 feet long
    • More to love (づ。◕‿‿◕。)づ

I hope you learned more about Whale Sharks and here’s the stuffed animal I bought from Amazon: Vintoys Very Soft Blue Whale Shark Big Hugging Pillow Plush Doll Fish Plush Toy Stuffed Animals 27″

Credits:

6 Reasons It’s Not Impossible Not to Love Whale Sharks

10 Huge Facts About Whale Sharks

 

 

Love whale sharks: (bts’s new album title) hahaha 🙂 Ok, bye!