Who Dared to Invent Studying?

So. My head hurts, I'm tired, and I should probably be studying, but I'm a little against studying all day. I just have to survive my Kanji quiz in a little more than an hour or so and I'll be fine (i.e., I'll be needing to study my vocabulary...) I'm always so tired because I work hard all day long and I can't really sleep well on a little less-than-an-inch-thin futon. So I feel like I'm spending a lot more time sleeping.

I don't know how my host family does it. I wake up around 9 every day (give or take an hour depending on class) and they've been awake for a while. I go to bed between 10 and 11 and they're still up watching movies and talking. I'm not really sure when they sleep. Part of what makes me so tired is that I'm always studying, and part of it is that it gets dark around 6:00 or so here. Japan has no daylight savings time so that just means as it gets colder, it will get darker earlier. It's really throwing me off (dark means I should go to bed in about two or three hours, right?).

The search for a cell phone is still fruitless and I still have no card-reader. I did look at card-readers yesterday and the ones at the Joshin store (not the 5 story camera equipment and electronics mall in Osaka, mind you) were not what I wanted. I just want one that plugs into the USB. I am going to the last place I know to look for a cell phone today and I now have the name of the station which I need to get to in order to visit the 5 story electronics mall. Now that I have a name, it shouldn't be so hard to get to by train.

Last night, I had a really good dinner that wouldn't be that hard to make. You start with one of those electric pots that heat the water without being over the stove. You put water in it, bring it to a boil, and then just put in whatever you want to cook while at the dinner table. Each person eats whatever they want but you can put anything in. Then, you take the item out and put it in a bowl of sesame sause mixed with water to dilute it, then eat it. You can put anything into this dish. Last night, I had shitake mushrooms, carrots, shrimp, pork, a whole lot of what looked like lettuce and tasted like a slightly spicy version of lettuce... You can put anything into this dish though. My family members also had tofu and something called fu. I, of course, did not eat the tofu because I don't like it, but I tried the fu. There is really no way to describe the taste except that it is soft and it really doesn't taste much like anything at all. I only had one for that reason. I'm not exactly sure of the name of the dish (I knew it last night but I forgot to write it down) but I really liked it.

I hope everyone is doing well!