Golden Week and Afterwards

Last weekend being a four-day weekend, I did what any typical college student would have done--slept in and avoided homework like the plague. Saturday I didn't wake up until 1, though I'm not sure why because I seem to have lost the ability to sleep in that late, and I spent what was left of the day doing absolutely nothing special. Such as, play chess against the computer, because I is a bit of a nerd.

Sunday, I was invited/coerced into going to my host family's cookout in their front "yard." Seriously, this thing is not a yard by any stretch of the imagination. It is maybe three feet from the house to the street, and about as wide as the house, and filled with plants so there is almost no walking space. I was also told we were having bbq. What we actually had was more like pieces of meat and vegetables cooked over a mini gas burner. I was expecting something resembling the types of bbq we make in the US, so I was vastly disappointed. When I figured out what Japanese bbq actually was, I was also vastly disappointed that there was no octopus. As strange as I’m sure it sounds to some Americans who actually read this blog, I do like octopus. And to top it all off, the only available drink was cheap, nasty beer. I personally would have preferred water, but alas…

Fortunately, the evening got better as it progressed because I went to Yawatashi's shrine for the lantern festival with Heather and two of her obaasans, who, by the way, are absolutely freaking awesome! I will have photos of the shrine up later when I'm not busy procrastinating. It was really beautiful, but I like fire so of course I would think so. The festival is actually the only time in the year that the shrine is open to the public. You can come on the grounds any time, but you can’t go past the main gate but one night a year. Inside this gate they had a place where you could write wishes and wrap them around a candle to create a sort of lantern. And then, because the main shrine building itself was under construction, we were allowed to actually go in the main shrine building and see all the architecture. Yawatashi shrine is definitely not a poor shrine. I was fascinated by the wood carvings (I want to learn to do that!) and they even had a support to the shrine that was made of “pure gold.” Considering how big the support was, I doubt it was all pure gold. But even if it were just covered in plates of gold, that still gives you an idea of how elaborate and wealthy this shrine actually is.

Two more random facts about Yawatashi Shrine before I move on; first, on the grounds of the shrine, there is a second minor shrine to… Thomas Edison! Yes, Thomas Edison is now a Japanese kami. Of light and electricity. Straaaaaaaaange. Second, pigeons are considered the messengers of the shrine, thus, I was not allowed to punt them. Made me sad.

On Monday, I woke up late again (probably because I was getting used to waking up late over the weekend), and then went to Osaka to go to a concert for a band I’ve never heard of before. Since the concert was in Nanba, there was definitely Mexican food involved. So my four day weekend was a success just based on the fact that I had Mexican food. And it was good. That’s one thing I can’t wait for when I get home—real Mexican food. The shop in shinsaibashi is as close as it gets in Japan, but still… I miss being able to get cheap Mexican food any time of the week. The concert, by the way, was fantastic.

So when I got home from the concert somewhere between 11 and 11:30, my ears were ringing so I had to stay up to wait until they stopped. So, I played a game of chess until the ringing went away and then went to bed feeling like I had cotton balls in my ears. That’s my only complaint about the concert. My hearing was back and mostly normal on Tuesday, but because of the concert, I got very very very little sleep. This is bad, because I had to wake up early in the morning to be at Osaka Station by 11 to go to Kobe.

Kobe was… Interesting to say the least. First off, I was in this half-asleep state for most of the morning, thus I did not object when we got on the wrong train and, in fact, did not realize that we were even on the wrong train until we got all the way out to Sanda. It’s gorgeous out there and I have pictures, but… This meant we didn’t actually make it to Kobe until 2pm. Sanda, by the way, looks like Ise from the train. I have decided that if/when I come back on the JET program, I want to live in a place like Sanda or Ise, etc. Somewhere that’s in the country but close enough to the cities that I can go there over the weekend. Since most people want to be actually inside the cities, I think it shouldn’t be terribly difficult to get what I want.

So, when we got to Kobe, we were starving. We went to the Mosaic building in Harborland, which is a shopping district near the tower on the harbor, incase you haven’t guessed. There, we had lunch. We thought about Brazilian because it smelled absolutely delicious, but it was 23$ a plate and we both said no to that. The next option was a shop that sold REAL hamburgers. Not the Makudo kind, I mean real meat, real cheese, real everything. The trouble was that the waiter didn’t understand us. So, we ASKED for a “Hamburger” and got a “Hamburg.” Now, the difference between the two is this: a Hamburger is exactly what we think of when we think of a Hamburger, with a bun, cheese, vegetables, and meat. A Hamburg is just the meat, usually with some sort of sauce, and for our particular hamburg, we got a cooked egg on top. Needless to say we were very disappointed. But since we didn’t have time to send it back (we were meeting a friend who was already on her way), we ate the hamburg. If taken out of context, the hamburg was actually rather good, but since what we had WANTED was a hamburger…

The rest of the day was spent wandering around in search of cake, since Kobe is famous for its cake shops. It took us pretty much the rest of the day to find one. We went to the tower in hopes of finding one at the little rotating café at the top, and they had cake… ONE plain cheesecake. So we decided to wait and find another shop. The shop we found on the map was no longer in existence, so we walked all the way to Sannomiya station in search of cake. And finally found a cake shop in the Motomachi-suji (a suji is a covered street), where, after much deliberation, we decided that instead of cake we would have parfaits. Because, you know, everyone likes parfaits. And these were really really good parfaits. I will be making some for myself over the summer.

Then we took the CORRECT train home, and I slept most of the way. I did NOT study for my vocabulary quiz on Wednesday, and then Wednesday night because I was so tired, I did not study for my lesson test on Thursday. And now I sit today, having actually finished my Japanese homework (I’m so proud!) and with a little bit of sunburn on my nose just from having eaten lunch outside yesterday. I now have the Japanese word for sunburn memorized.

Well, that’s about it kids. I have less than two more weeks of class and then something like five days of travel time before I go back to the US. Can you believe it? Personally, I’m ready to go home, but I’m also already ready to go back. Weird sensation, this is.

Sunburnt Again

Tuesday being Showa no Hi, a beautiful day, and a day in which I didn't have any plans, I did the exact opposite of what I should have been doing and did not work on my 15 minute presentation due today (I did that Wednesday morning, thank you). I instead spent the day of no class enjoying the sunshine--a bit too much.

Near my house, there is a river that you can walk down to (most rivers in Japan are banked just so to keep people from enjoying them) and so that's where I spent the better half of my morning, watching the local kids catch insects and fish. They weren't very good at it and eventually moved up the river. I was reminded of catching crawdads in Kingsport, but no such thing exists in Japan. Not crawdads, anwyay. I miss crawdads. And scaring the sister with them. Me? Evil? Naaaah.

Then I went and biked all the way to Kuzuha because it was just too beautiful a day to spend indoors (and remember, I was against spending money this weekend), so biking and exploring sounded like a great idea at the time. Not after the sunburn though.

So this week, the goal is NOT to get a sunburn but still have fun. Which, with my evil skin, I doubt that's going to work, but I'll at least try.

Toji Again

So, now that project one is finished, I still have two more to go. I have to (eventually) talk to my professor about changing my presentation in Issues in Contemporary Japan, then I have to research my new project. I also have to give a three minute speech in Japanese, but I figure after an hour-long presentation, it should be easy to put together a speech in Japanese. I may be screaming on the inside, but I've mastered the art of appearing well-prepared, confident, and knowledgeable. Now I just have to transfer that into my Japanese skills.

And of course, when I could have been doing this last weekend, I inevitably chose to slack off and enjoy being free of what was by far the largest of my projects. Because that's what weekends are for, right? I had entirely too much fun. On Saturday, I went to a Yukata fitting and Bon dancing session. Pictures will be up later on Facebook and (maybe) on the Because it's Japan blog. I got there a little early so I had first choice over the yukata and I chose a lavendar one. In retrospect, I should have chosen something a little darker, but I digress. It was pretty. I was happy. End of story. After being fitted in a yukata, we were allowed to wander around campus in search of pretty pictures and of lunch. The trouble was that wearing a yukata is something like wearing a corset--it forces you to sit up straight, stand up straight, keeps you from breathing, keeps you from eating too much. It also keeps you from being able to walk in long strides. I felt like I was taking baby-steps all day. And yes, I still want a yukata. Despite the fact I couldn't breathe, it was rather comfortable.

Then they taught us very simple bon-dancing. Bon-dancing is the traditional Japanese dance. It doesn't feature a whole lot of movement because you're in a movement-restricting yukata, so the dance deals a lot more with hand-motions and small feet movements. I liked it. I can now do some very simple bon dancing. :)

So, after that, you'd think I'd go home and consider my day over and done with. No. I went to Kyoto. That's right, I went to Kyoto and walked around the Shijo/Sanjo area. I met Krissy there and we had indian food, as is my tradition when I go to Kyoto. I had a pomegranate lassi (I simply MUST learn to make this for myself), and my usual curry and naan. I'm so horribly predictable. Then, we walked to Sanjo, where we found what has officially been titled my absolute favorite store in Kyoto. It's a bookstore in the BAL department store. This store has four stories of a MUJI, a famous store with everything from bikes to notebooks to furnature to clothing, but that's not my favorite part. No, my favorite part is that on top of the MUJI are four more stories of... books. It is simply huge. Imagine a bookstore larger in size than the Fayetteville Public Library. The only trouble was this: we arrived too late. So, I managed to find that they did NOT have the book that I am looking for (they had a slot for it but it was already sold), just in time for them to say "alright, we're closing." I was so disappointed! It is on my list of places to go back to. I need reading for the plane-ride and I have to go buy a few things in Kyoto on my last day in Japan anyway. I might buy some H.G.Wells. Such as, oh, say, War of the Worlds or Time Machine. Or maybe some Ayn Rand. You want to talk about long books? That ought to be enough to last me the 9 hour flight from KIX to LA. But, like I said, they closed before I could decide on a good book for the flight, so I'll just have to go back.

Then, on Monday I kept my promise and went to Toji Temple to buy a friend a kimono. I was a little disappointed this time though. Turns out my freaking awesome kimono was a fluke. I searched the whole area for a kimono that was just as pretty but had no stains. They don't EXIST! At least, not within my price range. The 3000 yen printed patterns were just as stained as the 1000 yen ones. So, I did the only thing I knew to do. I bought a really beautiful, higher quality fabric, but skipped out on the pattern (because they all had noticable stains), and according to my Japanese friend who went with me, since I am buying this kimono for someone closer to my mother's age, I should go with something more subdued. I compromised with my Japanese friend (because I know this friend enjoys color) and went with a very subtle pattern, no stains, bright light green. For an obi, I have something that is a funky shade of purple that looks fantastic with this kimono. Despite the fact this kimono has less of a noticable pattern, I think it's very pretty. Plus, it's higher quality fabric, so it ought to last her longer. AND it has no stains.

As for myself, I bought only two things. First, I bought dried strawberries (a must), and a new pair of flipflops. Did you honestly expect anything else? They've got a wooden base, hand painted with clear gloss on top, and they're purple. I wanted the blue ones but my foot was too big... :( I can't help the fact I have a big foot. It annoys me, especially here in Japan where the average foot size is about a size 6... But I like my new shoes. Purple is just fine with me!

Oh, and I also have a sunburn! It's not a lot (it runs across my face) but I have a sunburn. And no aloe vera in sight. This... could be bad.

Pocketful of Sunshine

I am finally finished with the Burma Presentation! I can't begin to tell you how relieved about this! It went very well. There will be more information about Burma later.

Tomorrow I am doing Bon Dancing, which is traditional Japanese dancing as taught by Heather's "obaasans" which are a group of older women whom she teaches english on Saturday morning. We'll be fitted in yukata, then we'll learn to dance. :) I'm looking forward to taking lots of photos!

You'll noticed that I have extended the "This Month in Japan" to include everything up until my last day in Japan. I can't believe that my last day is so close! It feels like I haven't got enough time to do everything I want to do in Japan. But, at the same time, I'm excited to see everyone again.

You'll also notice that I have recently seen the trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie... Oh it looks so wonderful! I can't wait! It comes out May 22, which, how fortunate for me, is RIGHT before I come home! I watched it in the makudo near my house and I think I scared some people there because I squealed with joy.

More information: Because its Japan is up to date, please visit. Also, my deviantart site is unbelievably close to 1000 page views! Not a lot by deviantart standards, but it makes me feel special. I'll probably draw something to commemorate it.

That's about it for this post. In case you're wondering, the next big project is a speech in Japanese. My speech will be on Bikes, Blues, and Barbeque. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go steal *ahem* borrow photos off facebook. Thanks Dad! :) I will give a speech about BBBQ in Japanese, and it will be teh awesomez.

(edit) Any information on the 2007 BBBQ would be welcome (statistics? Please?). :)

If I can just survive the week...

Then life will be so much better. I have already stayed up late for the past two nights and it looks like I will be doing the same thing for the rest of the week. This means waking up at the normal time (which is no later than 9:30) but going to bed at midnight or later. I just hope I don't get sick. But this is what I must do if I wish to really be able to finish the week. Friday is the presentation on Burma, which I will devote a small post about Burma later (or a series, it really requires that). In the meantime, I am struggling to catch up on my Because It's Japan blog. I'm doing my best. Trouble is, my best is essentially... blah.

So, check out the because it's japan blog, and be waiting for a post on Burma. My book-shopping trip has been postponed, which is probably a good thing because it means I won't be distracted with reading this month. Anyway, I have replaced it with bon-dancing, which is a traditional Japanese dance. We get a free yukatta fitting (a yukatta is a very basic version of kimono) and we get to learn bon-dancing, end of story. :) I am looking forward to it. Busy weekend? Yes! No rest? Nah, sleep is for losers!

US Consolate and a REAL Hamburger in Japan

So, Wednesday I visited the US consulate in Osaka and was officially on US soil for all of two hours. The talk was given by Lisa Curtis, who works for the Heritage Foundation, and it was over Pakistan-US relations and how Pakistan is going to be increasingly important in international relations (duh). The topics covered included the new regime in Pakistan, Pakistan’s safe-havens for Taliban members (and internal and external consequences of this, both of which are negative), the need for better US-Pakistan relations, and the key role Pakistan needs to play in the continued restructuring in Afghanistan. I took three and a half pages of notes. Ms. Curtis seemed optimistic about the new government in Pakistan and that it would recognize the steps it needs to take. Ms. Curtis also dodged some of the questions asked, especially if they were asked by Kansai Gaidai students…but I digress. All in all, I learned a lot. And I got to eat stale Goldfish snacks. :)

To top off my Americanized day, we walked (some of us in high heels, mind you), two stations down to the Hard Rock Café where I had an amazing REAL hamburger. It was fantastically delicious and fantastically expensive, but it was well worth it. Oh how I missed a real burger! Hence, American music and American burger and American music culture… I was happy. I forgot how much I miss American music (oh and Matchbox 20, who were playing there and made me happy)

Then I went home, propped my poor aching feet up and “studied” for a Japanese lesson test (that didn’t last long; I fell asleep). But the lesson test wasn't terribly difficult--I'll just get nickled and dimed to death as usual.

So since last Wednesday... Well, my life has been rather uneventful. I have been writing blog posts for the Because its Japan blog (look for those tomorrow), and I stayed up late last night working on my PD2 midterm. I just finished it and turned it in not but 5 minutes ago, actually.

And now I am going to talk about Baseball in Japan in my visual anthropology class and try my best not to fall asleep. Then its off to study for tomorrow's vocabulary quiz. This week is not going to be pleasent... No, I take that back, this MONTH is not going to be pleasant. At least I'll be compensated for my pain and suffering in May. I have lots of days off in May (a four day weekend, plus I have two weeks of finals that are largely empty because, guess what, I finish most of my final projects in April. I only have three days of exams! And then of course I have an extra week after class for traveling. I can't wait for MAAAAAY!

I is/are Cherry Blossom Ninja! :)

Please do not hold it against me that I am writing this while half-asleep. I apologize for any incoherent statements I could and probably will make.

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous. The sakura were in full bloom so I went trapizing across the Kansai area to get fantabulous photos of Japan and its beautiful sakura.

Friday, April 4th - Osaka Castle

So, after Heather had pulled an all-nighter on a midterm, we decided that it would be a great idea for the two of us to go to Osaka Castle, dispite the fact that Heather had had absolutely no sleep and I'd gotten up extra early to talk to the family via internet. So, we catnapped on the way to Osaka, got off the train, and walked all the way to the castle from Kyobashi. We were rewarded by plum blossoms (still in bloom), and absolutely gorgeous cherry blossoms. We found our own tree to sit under and sat there chatting while we ate our "picnic" lunch, which was a bottle of soda each and some version of chocolate (we intended to eat dinner in Kyobashi). Then, we went into the actual castle area just as the sun was starting to set. We each paid the outrageous 600 yen to go to the top of the castle just to get a photo of the grounds and the fantastic cherry blossoms.

Then after sunset we slowly headed back towards the exit and found 1) sakura in light-up form (sakura with lights to show you the colors at night), 2) a neat little party of people eating under the trees and were able to sneak some photos, and 3) a most wonderous thing called candied strawberries. It's like candied apples, only its made of strawberries, which makes it immensely better.

For dinner we had pizza and toast covered with honey, chocolate, and ice-cream (we split one)

Saturday, April 5th

Saturday I woke up late. My original plan was to go to Fushimi-inari in the morning and then do homework in the evening. Such was not the case. Instead, I woke up late, skipped Fushimi-inari entirely, and instead of doing my homework, I went to meet Heather in Shijo, where I saw more cherry blossoms and where Heather made me climb to the top of the mountain so we could see Kyoto from Shorain-in temple (assuming I'm spelling it right). The overlook was situated on top of a platform that they'd made, but the trouble with the platform was that it was raised up in the air over the tree-line and the slightest wind would make it shake. It took me a while to get used to the shaking (for a while there I was certain I was going to die) and managed to take some photos. We also met an elderly Japanese couple who told us as much as they could about sakura and Kyoto. Most likely, the husband just wanted to practice talking in english, but Heather and I got the added benefit of speaking in Japanese for at least 30 minutes. I was shocked by how much I understood! (it's moments like this that make me love Japan)

After that, we walked back down the mountain in near darkness (the sun was gone by the time we reached the bottom) and ran into some fellow kansai gaidai students. After speaking with them, we chose to have dinner at the only acceptable place within the shijo area--indian food!!! And it was delicious, as it should be. :)

Sunday, April 6th

On Sunday, Heather and I managed to get up super early and took the train all the way out to Ise. It took us two and a half hours to get there. I entertained myself by reading the names of the stops and chuckling to myself over their english translation. We passed such places as "red eye mouth," "east blue mountain," "south blue mountain," and we would later go to Toba, which is literally "bird feathers."

Once we got to Ise, we rented bikes (they had a bike rental center!) and biked to the inner shrine, which is the bigger, older, and more grand of the two. I was duly unimpressed by the actual building, but the surrounding area was absolutely gorgeous. The only trouble was that Ise features a gorgeous river with some of the clearest water I've ever seen and the Tennesseean in me was screaming "TAKE SHOES OFF! GO WALK THE RIVER!" Trouble was, I was pretty sure the priests would kill me if I did that since no one else there dared to get in the river. I guess walking up rivers is a truly south US thing. Thus, I was sad.

But, I was made happy again by beautiful sakura, so all was good. After leaving the shrine, we went biking all around Ise in search of more beautiful sakura pictures. We found plenty. Then, at about 5 it was time to turn in our bikes and head for Toba, where we hoped to see the wedded rocks (one of the top three must-see sights of Japan). Unfortunately, we never found said rocks because when we got to Toba, we discovered that we had gone too far and that we would have to come back another day.

I slept through the ride home. First off, it was dark and there wasn't much to see. Second, I was so tired I didn't remember falling asleep. Third, I was that tired. Aside from that, the trip back home featured the wonderful experience that all visitors to Japan must inevitably face--the search for a western-style toilet. There wasn't one in Toba station, there wasn't one in Iseshi station, there wasn't one in umehommachi station, and there WAS one in namba station but it had no toilet paper. Allow me to explain something about Japan. The japanese style toilet is a hole in the ground, essentially. I'm not exactly sure how you use it. And I don't intend to find out how to use it. And I'm almost positive that it was invented by men. Such toilets are common in train stations and shrine bathrooms. They stink something horrible and in both places they do not supply you with toilet paper. This is why all free handouts you get from advertisements on the road include one of those little tissue things. It's not for your nose.

So, after FINALLY finding a western style toilet (albiet with no toilet paper and no paper-giving advertisement person in sight), we grabbed a cheap dinner at McDonalds and went home. There, I caught the last few minutes of Flight Plan (host sister's fault), took a shower, and went to bed at midnight, all without having written a single word on my paper due today.

And now I sit, paper completed but late, relaying the awesomeness that was my weekend to you. I is/are tired, but I is/are happy and I would not change a thing about my weekend. :)

G'night!

How to Write a College Paper

Here

April Fools Day--Not Funny!

Please allow me a personal rant of about a paragraph long. I woke up at 3:30 AM today to sign up for classes for next semester. In order to get all the classes I wanted, I had to sign up at my allotted time slot and no later. Trouble is, that allotted time slot was March 31, 2pm ARKANSAS time. Dakara, I had to wake up at 3:30am April 1st my time in order to sign up. Good news? I has my classes. Bad news? I couldn't go back to sleep. So here I sit waiting on Ruth to finish class so that we can go to lunch, wishing that I had slept. My goal is to stay up as late as I can stand it (I never seen to be able to nap) and then go to bed at that time so that I don't screw up my sleep cycle too much. Still... Wish my time was earlier so that I could have signed up last night instead of this morning. Blarg.

That said, I should probably tell you the classes that I am taking, yes? I am taking Philosophy and Physics and Human Affairs + Lab, both of which are core requirements (philosophy is its own requirement and physics counts for a science). I am also taking Advanced Japanese Conversation so that my Japanese skills won't deteriorate too much and Popular Culture because I need another upper-level anthropology course. And lastly, I also have a core anthro requirement of taking History of Anthropological Thought, so I'm getting that little bugger out of the way too. This all amounts to 16 hours, plus working.

And now that I've said that, I come to the positive realization of today (and part of what was keeping me from going to sleep earlier). I may actually be able to graduate on time! This pleases me greatly! One less year of work and school at the same time. So, I'm sure you're wondering, is-ness, what are you going to do from here?

Well, provided I can get accepted, I hope to be back in Japan teaching English for the JET (Japan English Teaching) Program. This lasts for a maximum of 3 years and puts me in a rural area of Japan. Unfortunately, I'll get stared at more because most rural areas have a higher density of people who have never seen a foreigner before, but that also means that I'll have a steady job that pays well for 3 entire years. Well enough that I SHOULD be able to start paying off my student loans AND go visit the family during the longest break (whichever that is according to the Japanese school calendar). The goal? To have most of my student loans paid off, gain valuable teaching experience IN JAPAN, and to return to the US ready to start graduate school with a fresh financial background. Yay JET, because, you know, if everything works out, it'll be fantastic. UA usually sends 17 JET kids, so I have a pretty good shot at getting in. I be pleased. :)

Absolutely forgot about the visual anthropology midterm yesterday, and was considering skipping the class to go sakura viewing until I remembered (good thing I did remember, huh). So, that means I didn't study at all and guess what! The exam was insanely easy. I likes this.

And now it's time to tackle the multitude of April projects. They just seem to keep multiplying! It's just not fair!!

Other news: Hopefully there will be a new post on the because it's japan blog before Saturday (he never checks them until sunday anyway). The topic is art and entertainment in Japan and being the person that I am, I do not want to do traditional art or the stereotypical japanese art that americans think of (anime and manga) unless I do so with an interesting, strange, or quirky twist. Because I'm not stereotypical at all, nuh uh.

Midterms...

So, after returning from spring break (photos of kobe zoo and kobe port are on facebook--I will be going to kobe again, but not to the zoo as the zoo was a little depressing...), I just got finished with midterms. Yesterday was the speaking speaking exam, and today was the speaking written exam. I do not have any reading exams this semester because I dropped my reading class. However, I am not out of it yet, as I now have my afternoon classes to worry about...

And will someone please tell me who thought it would be a good idea to have my UA registration time be at 2PM March 31st local time?? Which means that I have to get up in the morning at 4AM on April 1st. Some April fools joke, ha ha, very funny.

And, in case you're curious, check out the "this month in Japan" for all of April's fun times... Seems to me the only good thing about next month is the Sakura. I am thinking of going to Ise to view them. We'll see. Depends on how much money I have.

Additionally, two new posts on the Because it's Japan blog, and only one new piece of news: I now has Kimono! This makes me very happy!

Halfway Through Spring Break

Well, it's halfway through spring break and you know how that goes. I succeeded in my mission to Kyobashi and am now only one Harry Potter book short of being caught up(they did not have the Deathly Hollows in paperback, and being the OCD psycho I am, it would annoy me to no end to have a set that didn't quite match). My weekend was thusly dedicated to Harry Potter. I can't help it--when I start reading, it is very difficult for me to put the book down until I'm finished.

I went to the aquarium yesterday (which was not as nice as the one in Chattanooga, TN, but was still a fun trip) where I saw a whale shark. I'm pretty sure it was a baby whale shark because I expected it to be much much bigger than it was. I also saw two asian small clawed otters (adorable), some sea otters (they were preforming tricks for food), a sloth, about a gazillion neon tetras and rosy barbs, which are apparently exotic in Japan, a manta ray (which was by far my favorite), some dolphins and penguins, and some fantastic jelly fish. Photos of the aquarium are up on Facebook. The most memorable part of the museum was actually the english guide, which was written in such horrible english that I consider it entertainment. For instance, it says on the front, "Ocean, you meet a whale shark." The rest of the english inside is so confusing and just... weird, that I've saved it as a more valuable souvineer than anything I bought in the gift shop.

I also road one of the world's largest ferris wheels in the world. It is the fourth largest in Japan at 110 meters. The largest one at the moment is in Singapore, at 165 meters and two more are to be opened in 2009, one in Berlin at 185 meters and one in China at 209 meters. The largest in Japan right now is actually in Fukuoka, but I figure that if China's building one at 209 meters, it won't be long before there's one at much larger proportions in Japan. Japan/China rivalry, you know how it goes.

Anyway, I personally was duly unimpressed with the Tempozan ferris wheel because it gave a rather annoying running commentary and the view wasn't that great because it was starting to get foggy when we road it. But, I can say I've been on one of the largest ferris wheels in the world, so I guess that counts for something.

So that was my day out on Tuesday. I was going to go to Nara today but it's doing the usual Osaka thing of "torrential downpour" to use Heather's term, and I don't really feel like going further than the Makudo two blocks from my house to upload pictures. But tomorrow is Kobe, so I hope it rains for all its worth today so that tomorrow is sunny.

Lastly: Updated the other blog. There are now two more photos of kitkats. Enjoy.

White Day

I suppose if I put White Day as a Japanese holiday in my "This Month in Japan" section, I should probably explain what it is, yes? White day is March 14, exactly one month from Valentines day. Remember when I said that Valentine's day was for girls to give all the guys in their lives some chocolate? Well, White day is when a guy who GETS chocolate on Valentine's day has to return the favor. The return gift does NOT have to be chocolate (hence the sudden explosion of womens underwear in all the malls across Japan). I personally shall not be receiving anything on White Day because I was did not bother to give anyone any chocolate on Valentine's Day. So there.

Spring Break

So! Spring Break has officially begun for me (YAY!) and now is the time to think about how I'm going to spend my week of freedom. Since I am obviously NOT spending my time in Tokyo, I plan to trapize all around Kansai Area. So far, either tomorrow or Sunday afternoon I plan on going down to Kyobashi Station. I'm looking for a book and I need it in English and the largest bookstore I know is in Kyobashi. If that doesn't work, then Amazon.jp. Sigh. Monday is still unplanned, but I'll think of something productive. Possibly a trip to Nara. Yeah, that sounds fun. I am going to spend my Tuesday in Osaka, eating mexican food, going to the aquarium and shopping. My Thursday will be spent at Kobe. Friday is the 21st, which means that Toji Temple is having their temple market (cheap junk!) and I plan to show up when it opens, have an all you can eat indian lunch at Shijo, and probably go shopping there too. And Saturday and Sunday should PROBABLY be spent studying for my midterms coming up as soon as spring break is over...

In other news:

1) Yes, I have gotten into Harry Potter. That is one of the reasons I am going to the bookstore in Kyobashi.

2) I'm getting tired of the repunzel look, so I might even be so adventurous as to cut my hair this spring break. Photos will be posted if I do indeed embark on this sort of quest for an english-speaking hair stylist.

Just incase I DO manage to get bored over the spring break, I have devised a plan (mwa ha ha). I actually got inspired off Deviantart. Many artists are doing a challenge called 100 Words. Put simply, you think of 100 words in no particular order and your job is to draw an entire art piece depicting each one of them. No time limit and you don't have to do them in order either. The whole purpose is to give you some art practice. Soooo, I put together a list of 100 words and will be starting on them during the days when it's too nasty and rainy and dull outside and I don't want to go out. Whee, art! :)

Bored

So, it's the week before spring break and I'm stuck studying for midterms that occur immediately AFTER spring break because I don't want them interfereing with my spring break as it happens.

Last weekend I was supposed to go to Osaka Peace Museum and Osaka Castle. I did not go. ALL my jeans were in the wash and I woke up late. I was not pleased. My jeans were STILL in the wash on Sunday, so I did not go to church. Again, not pleased.

So, in light of having a dull weekend, I have a lesson test tomorrow to study for, some readings to do before Spring break gets here, and preparation for my two Japanese exams (spoken and written exams for my one japanese class). Sigh. This week looks to be dull.

Spring Break is also going to be different than my original plan. My original plan was to go to Tokyo, but that fell through, so I am no longer going. In all honesty, I'm still not sure what I am going to do, but I might be going to Fukuoka. If not, I will be spending my week exploring the Kansai area with Krissy who is also stuck without much a plan after the 17th. There's lots to do in the Kansai area, for instance I can go to Kobe, Nara again, and explore the area nearby. There's plenty to do, so maybe this spring break isn't totally lost. We'll see.

And now I have homework. G'night.

Hoping for a Better Week

I haven't written since Wednesday because there hasn't been much to say. I didn't go to class at all on Thursday, and I went to campus for the sole purpose of turning in my homework on Friday, and I spent the day indoors on Saturday. The reason was because I was sick. On Sunday, I had just barely got better and was going to go to church but saw snow and thought it might not be the best life-choice to go and wait on the bus in the snow after just getting better. I instead went out later on in the day when most of the snow had melted and ate lunch at good ol' Mickey D's because I simply HAD to get out of the house. Monday was a lesson test, tomorrow is a vocabulary quiz, and tonight there's something about dinner with Ruth since it IS her birthday... So hope that everyone had a good weekend and wasn't as sick as I was!

Edit: Some information you might be interested in hearing about...

1) Fixed the link to the second blog (you'll find it in the side collumn). It should work now.

2) To the immediate family: I have spoken to my friends and we have agreed to help with "flat stanley goes to Japan" on one condition: in addition to photos for the school, we must be allowed to take a few for our own entertainment.

3) I recommend everyone read the Because It's Japan blog on Wednesday afternoon. I will be discussing Kitkat bars in Japan.

Not Much to Say...

Unfortunately there hasn't been much happening since Friday. I went window-shopping in Kyoto Station on Saturday with a light jacket while it snowed (it was quite warm when I left the house, thank you, I'm not completely crazy). I spent Sunday sleeping most of the day because I had a really bad sore throat, but I spent two hours out of the house anyway because I just couldn't stand it. Monday, Tuesday, and Today have all been spent on homework, and I suspect Thursday will be the same. Monday night, though, I did go out and have myself some wonderful indian food (Chicken Masala, pomegranate lassi, naan, etc).

Sorry for the dull, dull post. I officially dropped one of my classes so I am down to 14 hours and the workload is now bearable. Most of this week has been spent on work for class. For Peace, Developement and Democratization, I have been doing lots of research on Burma. For Issues in Contemporary Japan, I've got another presentation/paper thing to do, and I've been thinking about Disabilities in Japan or Elderly in Japan (since they sort-of overlap). For Visual Anthropology, I actually did not go to class on Monday because we were watching a film called Neighborhood Tokyo which I have seen numerous times and didn't think I could possibly sit through it again without going insane. Our big project for that class is the blog (shameless plug).

This weekend, I intend to sleep in and not do much so as to help with my being tired all the time, and I now have a very large new book to read that I shall endeavor to not begin reading until Saturday, and then do the typical Amanda thing of "drop everything and read non-stop until the book is finished." Oh, and church would be nice.

Valentine's Day in Japan

I now have a second blog for my Visual Anthropology class. If you are interested, it is linked Here and also in a new bar addition on the right.

In other news, Thursday was Valentine's Day in Japan. The day was actually rather dull for me because I didn't give or get anything but since such is usually the case, I was not expecting Thursday to be any different. But my host sisters were very busy giving chocolate away to their male friends and to their boyfriends as well. In Japan, the girl gives the guy chocolates on Valentine's Day but the gifts aren't just for the men that they like. These gifts are for all the men in their lives. Some are meant for romantic relationships, but others are called "giri-choko" which is best described as "obligation chocolate" but in this case it has no negative connotations that the word "obligation" carries in english.

Now, I'm supposing that you're thinking, hey, that's great for the guy, but what about the girl? Doesn't she get flowers or something? No, in Japan it doesn't seem to be normal for anyone to get flowers on Valentine's Day and Valentine's Day is strictly for girls to give gifts to guys. A month from yesterday will be White Day, when all the guys who recieved chocolate now have to give something (usually chocolate) in return. I won't be getting anything on White Day either because I didn't give anything on Valentine's Day. Not that I have anyone to give anything to anyway. But, because Valentine's day is so different in Japan, I thought I'd leave you with a post about it for fun.

And on a totally unrelated subject, I gave up caffinated drinks (with the singular exception of hot chocolate because it's still officially winter here) for Lent. Completely irrelated to this statement, I have found myself eating chocolate more frequently. Valentine's Day therefore became a sad excuse to buy more chocolate and eat more sugar which I should not have done but did anyway.

And I know this is dangerous to say but to those of you in on the joke, it's late February and I'm still in the club this year. We're getting close to a record for me! Hee hee.

SNOW!

Though you probably already gathered this from the title, there was snow this weekend! This resulted in me cancelling my trip to Kobe, among other things. But I’m fine with that.

Friday, February 8th
On Friday, I got up really early and went to campus to chat with the family for two solid hours. It was a very nice feeling to hear their voices! I was very pleased! But, all good things must come to an end, and so I got off the phone with them an hour before class because the computer lab was getting horrendously noisy and they could hardly understand me.

I then went and got some hot chocolate (though I have sworn off sodas, I do not include in their number hot chocolate, even though it technically IS a caffeinated drink… Reason being it IS winter here and I am not giving up a hot drink) with Reggie, who invited me to join him and a few others to a trip to Kobe on Saturday. They were going to go see the Chinese New Year going on in Kobe’s Chinatown, and naturally I wanted to go. After our walk to get his coffee and my hot chocolate, we went back to the lounge where I sat and talked until time to go take the test. Yes, I had a test on my first week of school. This was actually my SECOND test…

The test was alright. I feel like I did good on it because she didn’t employ very much vocabulary that I didn’t know. I also feel like I was more free for interpretation of the answer (when I have to write just one word, then that forces me to say things only one way. When I’m given entire sentences to translate, it’s much easier on me). So, I finished that and then went to my Peace, Development, and Democratization class. It was interesting. I then went home and immediately fell asleep. Without lunch.

Later that night I woke up and had dinner (which was smaller than I would have liked, but good). I spent the rest of the evening sleeping because for some reason I was REALLY tired.

Saturday, February 9th
I woke up, took a shower, blow dried my hair, and got dressed all in the expectations that I would be going to Kobe. I also ate, brushed my teeth, grabbed my purse, put on my shoes and gloves, all in the expectation that I would be going to Kobe. But when I opened the door to begin my trek to Kobe, I found that it was snowing. Soooo, I turned around and got my camera, took about twenty pictures, cancelled my trip to Kobe, and went outside to dance in the snow. After being near frozen even in my heavy coat, I opened the window to my room from the outside so that I could see out. I then spent most of the day sitting on my computer, facing the huge window so that I could watch the snow. I don’t have much a view of the street because there’s a row of about four bushes directly in front of my window, but I can see the car parked under the cover, the gate that Aki-chan left open in her rush to get indoors, and the persimmons that are orange as ever, giving this snow in Japan a very strange look indeed. Where I sat was at the much lower table so that I was seated on the electric mat, and I turned the little awesome heater so that it blew on my back. I was quite toasty in my room (a pleasant change) and enjoyed my snow. It was being downright serious about the snow. Snow was coming down in big clumps, about the size and shape of white Coco-feathers (one real Coco-feather of this nature somehow managed to stick to a shirt so I have it sitting here on my table like a prize). I’d say we had four or five cm by the time lunch came around.

It snowed on through the rest of the day, leaving what I later found out to be the largest snow in ten years. But unlike Arkansas snow (where it’s 6 inches of ice and a light dusting on top and has a tendency to shut the world down for a few days), this snow was perfect packing snow. I would have had a snowball fight too if I had had someone who knew how to play (Yoshi-chan said it was too cold to go out in the snow and I have no idea where Aki-chan was). Ruth and I met at the station but instead of playing, we took our laptops to Makudo and sat on the internet for a few hours watching the snow. We didn’t leave until after dark, when the snow finally stopped. I’m sure the people at Makudo hate us.

Sunday, February 10th
On Sunday, I set my alarm for church and it did indeed go off, but I overslept and missed the bus. By overslept, I mean I remember hearing the alarm, and I remember turning it off, and I even remember thinking “I need to get out of bed” but that’s the last thing I remember. This means I must change my alarm to some other tone so that I don’t do that again. I don’t want to be able to shut my cell phone alarm off in my sleep!

I slept until 1:15 without realizing it. Then I got dressed and was trying to leave before the Yuasa family had a visitor (my host father’s sister) because my host mother had done that typical Japanese thing of “I don’t want you interrupting but I don’t want to tell you not to interrupt.” I missed my chance by just minutes and therefore had to spend the rest of Sunday (which wasn’t much) in my room which is fine; I have many things in my room to entertain myself with so I was not in any way deprived of anything.

Monday, February 11th
Monday was one of those infamous Japanese holidays. If the holiday occurs during the week, then they move it to either the Monday of that week or the Friday of that week so that we all get a three-day weekend. Sometimes I wish the US did that so that all that crazy “random day off next Wednesday” stuff doesn’t happen. Of course, the US also doesn’t have NEAR as many holidays where this is a problem. I swear, Japan has at least one for every month. NOT that I’m complaining, mind you.

So, on my day off, I got up, got dressed, and went with Krissy and Ruth to Kyobashi. We ate at the pasta/pizza place there, and then walked through a few of the shopping places. We also stopped at this little “italian” café where they had “honey toast and chocolate.” This toast, I kid you not, was approximately a 4 inch cube with a scoop of ice cream in the middle and honey and chocolate just drizzled on top of it. And we’re talking real honey too (which is impressive for Japan). Ruth, most unfortunately, had given up sweets for Lent, so it was up to me and Krissy to finish it. It took both of us to finish the thing and I could not have eaten a whole one by myself. Oh but it was absolutely FANTASTIC! And pretty cheap when you consider the ingredients (bread, honey, and chocolate are all twice as expensive here as in the US). I’m pretty sure we’ll be going back…

Then, we went to Osaka Castle where the plum trees are blooming. Unfortunately, there is only a very few subtle differences between plum trees and sakura tree that all three of us poor Americans didn’t know until AFTER Ruth and I bought a tree to give to our host families (fortunately, both families love gardening and were glad to have the tree anyway). Difference 1: Sakura are usually taller than plum. We can’t help it if we thought they were baby Sakura, because not all trees start off tall. Difference 2: Sakura blooms later. Well, we thought it was awful early for the blooms too and that should have been our first clue, but we heard all the Japanese visitors there saying “Haiyai, Haiyai!” which means early by the way, so we were mislead. Difference 3: Plum flowers bloom on the actual branches. Sakura flowers have a stem that the bloom hangs from. While our two little trees only cost 1000 yen (10$), there were trees that were smaller but had more of an interesting shape and were potted in a special pot and were 50,000 (500$)! So, of course, when we brought the tree home, our host families freaked out thinking we’d spent so much on them and we had to calm them down and tell them that it was very yasui (cheap) because we found a bargain and as best we could figure it was because it wasn’t in a special pot and didn’t have any special shape. The really good thing that came out of the trip is that while we were shopping there, one of the guys at the stalls starts talking to us and I was able to understand the whole thing. Here’s a rough translation.
Shop keeper: this is (English) blooming. (starts waving us to some that haven’t bloomed yet)
Me: Oh wow, they’re so small! (to krissy) It’s bonsai!
Krissy: Wow!
Shopkeeper: (English) You like bonsai?
Krissy: (Japanese) It’s a gift for our host families.
Shopkeeper: Oh, is it okay if I speak Japanese (this was in Japanese)
Ruth: Yes, it is.
Shopkeeper: You live in japan?
Me: yes
Krissy: we’re living with homestay families right now. We go to Kansai Gaidai University.
Shopkeeper: Oh, you study Japanese?
Ruth: Yes, but we also study asian studies.
Shopkeeper: Do they teach you Kansai-ben? (this is Japanese with an Osaka “accent.” It’s actually a word that’s conjugated differently or an entirely different word to begin with.)
Ruth: A little. But at our home universities, they teach us Kanto-ben (standard dialect), and they don’t let us use Kansai-ben. But because of our host families, we have to learn Kansai-ben. You know, things like wakara-hen, ohaiyo-san, etc
Shopkeeper laughs. Ruth points to a very small bonsai tree.
Ruth: How much does this cost?
Shopkeeper: 3000 yen. The prices are written on the back of the tag.
Me: Huh? 3000 yen?
Ruth: But it’s so small!
Shopkeeper: Yes but see, it’s leaning over and it’s got this trait (I forget what he called it, but it’s where the tree trunk folds in on itself). That one over there is 50000 yen.
All three of us: WHAT? Really?
Shopkeeper: Yes, see it’s much older than the rest and not only does it have that folding trait but it’s trunk also does this curling thing (he had much more technical terms than that).
Ruth: Oh that’s so expensive! We’re just college students…
This went on for a good thirty minutes before we finally left the little stall disheartened because they were all so expensive. However, just around the corner was a stall that sold boring, unwanted plum trees (because they didn’t have the curl or the folding trunk etc), and that’s where we bought ours. But it was still nice to know that I could listen to a 30 minute conversation and understand all of it. I suppose you might be wondering why Krissy and I spoke so little, even though out of the three of us, Krissy is the highest level. Well, Ruth was the one with the quickest response, so we just stood there most of the time nodding and agreeing with her. She also has a host family that speaks absolutely no English, so she gets the most day to day practice.

So I went home, discovered my tactical error, but was pleased that the host family still liked the plant. My host mother loves gardening, so I knew she would like it anyway. Now for the weird part. As some of you remember, we eat tempura (fried foods) “for our health.” Well, Monday night we had tempura, but instead of the dipping sause made of soy sause, my host mother gave me a small pile of salt. For my health. And I sat there thinking just thinking to myself “for my health? But it’s salt. For my health. …okay….” But I ate it to be polite. Didn’t taste too bad, but I was really glad she didn’t give me a whole lot. I would have cried, I’m sure.

Tuesday, February 12th
Tuesday was much less fun than my weekend, partially because it meant I had to go to class. I was almost late to my Japanese class (because I almost overslept again; hey, I walked a whole lot on Monday). I then had lunch (curry rice) and went with Ruth to talk to Dr. Scott before class started. He gave us a whole bunch of books on Burma (our project for that class). I’ve already read one of them and I think I’ll be done with the other two fairly soon. It’s interesting but sad at the same time.

I then spent the rest of the evening doing the ever-so-thrilling activity of studying for a vocab quiz and a kanji test. Ha ha, whee…

Update on Internetz

ha ha, there IS free internetz at Makudo! The trouble is you have to sit upstairs facing a particular direction. I am posting at Makudo right now and this new news makes me very happy indeed. It takes me almost no time to get to Makudo and the internetz is free and all is well and dandy and I'm just so happy!!! So happy that yes, I am typing like an idiot. Please forgive my momentary lapse. Anyway, end of story = makudo does indeed have wi-fi and I missed it the first time because I was there at high traffic hours and could not sit where I was required to sit in order to get internet. But now we know... mwa ha ha.

Back in the Swing of Things--Sorta

Though I have not yet found internet access in Makino, there is one advantage to having a computer—I can type up an entry to this blog, save it onto the jump drive, then cut and paste the entry into the blog once I am on campus. No more hours spent trying to remember what happened; I can write immediately after the fact and then post later. This past week was surprisingly busy and so today’s post is going to be exceptionally long. I apologize.

Friday, February 1st
For the first of the month, I neglected to go on the Kyoto tour and instead went to Shinsaibashi with Ruth where we walked from the station there to Namba station in search of three things: 1) guitar shops in which Ruth could look at guitars, 2) a birthday gift for Heather, and 3) a pair of boots for each of us that did not have an impossibly tall heel. Why? Because tall boots are warm. So, we walked around Shinsaibashi for most of the day and were successful with the first two of the three objectives. The third objective was an absolute and total failure despite walking into every single shoe store between around Shinsaibashi and Namba. Apparently they were all out.

We ate at a little place just off the main street that was radiating with such a delicious smell that we actually turned around to find where it was coming from. We both had okonomiyaki and a fuzzy navel that was incredibly devoid of alcohol. After eating, we finished walking to Namba and then spent an hour and thirty minutes walking around in circles with horrible directions from two separate police officers and a very bad map within the train station. When we finally were back on track, we were across the street from where we started. What we were searching for was America-mura, which apparently runs parallel to Ebisubashi-suji (the covered street that connects to Shinsaibashi-suji). We never actually made it down to America-mura; we stopped for coffee and hot chocolate and then turned back around and went home because we had other things to do and other people to see and were both really tired of walking around.

The next stop was Kansai Gaidai where I finally got my official schedule with Japanese classes included. I love it. Mondays aren’t so great (all but one of my classes meet on that day) but all the other days are much better. I am in Japanese Speaking level 4 class A, Japanese Reading and Writing level 3, as well as the afternoon classes that I have already told you about. I have also realized that with all the credits I will have accumulated by the time I return, I will have my Asian Studies minor almost complete (I think I lack one class), and my Anthropology upper-level open credits mostly complete. This means that for my last two years of college (I have already come to terms with the fact it will take me 5 years to complete), I can focus on finishing my Anthropology requirements and the core credits that I have been neglecting for quite some time. This means I’ll be taking stuff like football physics, astronomy, philosophy, and crazy stuff while I’m a senior. I’ll have to look at all the credits once again to make absolutely sure that I’m right about all this, but that’s a personal assignment and so it will have to wait until all class assignments are finished.

I also picked up my unofficial transcript from Kansai Gaidai (I will get an official one sent to me at the end of this semester—no sense in paying for one now when it won’t have this semester’s work on it). My grades were a pleasant surprise! I have all A’s and B’s except for that Spoken Japanese. But, instead of a D as I was expecting, I got a C+, which I’m not sure how I managed but am pleased. I got B’s in Reading and Writing and Shinto (I chose not to write the extra paper that would have given me an A in Shinto because I had too much else to worry about and a B is perfectly acceptable), and I have A’s in Dynamics of Modern Japan and Culture and Everyday Life (another score I’m not sure how I got since I completely BS-ed that final project…).

Afterwards, I went with Heather and several other friends to a restaurant called Gasto in order to celebrate her 21st birthday. Gasto is a place not far from campus that can best be described as a Japanese version of Dennys. The food was fairly good, though a little greasy, and they had this wonderful invention that they like to call “White Hot Chocolate.” This little invention is just like hot chocolate only it uses white chocolate rather than milk chocolate. It is wonderful!

I went home at about 10:30 instead of going with everyone to Daddy’s Shoes (the bar) because my phone had died and I was pretty sure that I had dinner waiting on me because I wasn’t able to call and forewarn my host mother that I wouldn’t be eating dinner with her. Fortunately for me, dinner was quite small and part of it could be saved for breakfast. So I ate what could not be saved, saved what could be, and then stayed up a little later than I meant to because I can’t go to sleep immediately after eating.

Saturday, February 2nd
On Saturday morning, I woke up feeling rather sick (I attribute it to having a slight cold before coming to Japan and then allowing it to get worse by neglecting to sleep enough for two weeks). I slept most of the day because I wanted to go with Heather for the “official” birthday party (though she turned 21 on Friday, she wasn’t able to do much more than dinner and only one drink at Daddy’s Shoes because she teaches English on Saturday mornings), and in order to handle said party, I needed to sleep as much as possible so that I could go to the party and still be coherent for church the next morning. I woke up to hunger (how I could still be hungry, I’m not sure) and so I went with Krissy to the Tomato and Onion, which is a restaurant that’s maybe three blocks from my house. Then I went back home and went directly to bed. Thus, I missed the “official” birthday party, but it was probably for the best because I am still not feeling absolutely fantastic and its Wednesday.

Sunday, February 3rd
I woke up as late as was absolutely possible and caught the next to last train to Tanbabashi, and switched to get a train to Shin-tanabe, which is the stop for Kyotanabe. To clear things up, kyotanabe is the name of the town and the JR train stop, Shin-tanabe is the name of the kintensu line’s stop. Based on the kanji, it’s likely that Shin-tanabe is the newer station. The train ride was also more expensive than I remember it being. It was 645 yen just to get to Shin-tanabe. This makes me very unhappy…

It had been raining in Makino off and on for three weeks, but apparently it had been snowing in Kyotanabe. There was still snow on the ground but it was misting when I arrived. Outside at the taxi shop (which is where the church bus picks up attendees), I saw something that was really strange. There was a mom, a dad, and a 7-11 year old son standing near the stop. What was odd about this family was that the son was standing on the wet, near freezing pavement completely barefoot. Weirder still, it looked like the mother was holding him in place. The boy was alternating between whimpering in Japanese that I didn’t understand (partially because of the tone of voice) and screaming in an angry and gruff voice that sounded more like a cross between a growl and a roar rather than a scream. At one point his screams escalated into real high pitched screams. This went on for a good thirty minutes. Then, the mother and father traded places and she put the boy’s shoes back on. At first he looked like he was fighting her, and then he did finally put the shoes on. At this point, his feet were both entirely bright red. The family then walked into the train station with the boy screaming that angry and nasty sounding growl the whole way, stopping only to take a breath. I had no idea what was going on but it struck me as very strange indeed. I intend to ask my professors what they think of it, provided I remember in my rush to get everything taken care of.

Church was wonderful as always, even if Ruth was making fun of me because I knew the words to “When We All Get To Heaven.” Called me a crazy Babtist (Ruth is a Lutheran and not from the south, so she doesn’t understand) which I had to correct her and say Methodist. As for the song, the worship team wasn’t playing it fast enough but that’s probably because they didn’t want to get their Japanese friends (some of whom don’t speak very much English at all) all tounge-tied. You try singing that song with a thick Japanese accent and you’ll see what I mean.

Anyway, the lesson was on Noah and the promises God gave him after they left the Ark. One of the interesting points that the pastor made was that God put man’s fear into animals, thus making them more afraid of us than we are of them (see Genesis 9:2). This made me think of a pleasant memory and I’m sure God will forgive me for letting my mind wander…

When I was little, we had several parakeets and occasionally we’d let them out to stretch their wings, because, you know, if you were stuck in a small cage with 10-12 of your friends all day, you’d like a chance to get out too. They had been socialized to think of each other as a flock and we humans were not members. We were only bringers of the food. Anyway, after a few hours out, it would be time to put the parakeets back in. We couldn’t let them stay out forever because in case you don’t know, parakeets make quite a mess. But with the kitchen ceiling as tall as it was and the kitchen as big as it was, it was very difficult to catch a bird because birds are bundles of energy and they won’t necessarily just go in their cages when they are hungry. To remedy this situation, we invented what my sister and I liked to call bird-ball. Bird-ball is a great deal like tennis, except for the goal isn’t to hit the ball because that would just be cruel. Bird-ball is played with three people, two brooms, and as many parakeets as you can find. Two people stand at either side of the room, each armed with a broom. Their job is to startle the birds into flying around the room and never let them land on anything too high for the third person (usually me) to reach. The third person’s job, naturally, is to be armed with a hand towel and follow the birds from one end of the room to the other, waiting for one to land within reach. When that happens, they then catch the bird with the hand towel and then put it back in the cage. We eventually had to quit playing bird-ball because the parakeets eventually figured out that the broom wasn’t going to hurt them and would just sit still and bite at the bristles of the broom when you nudged them with it.

Lunch was curry (the church’s curry is really really good) and apples. After that, I went on the first bus home because I wanted to rest some more before going to class on Monday. I spent the rest of the day doing basically nothing, which was good because I felt much more rested on Monday.

Monday, February 4th
For the first day of class, Japanese classes for new students were cancelled. Unfortunately, I had heard that Japanese classes were cancelled for ALL students. Can we say oops? So I took advantage of this false knowledge, trusting it was true, and slept through the morning in the hopes that the rest would help. That would be an oops in my book.

So I went to my afternoon classes and found out about my mistake (oops). I attended Issues of Contemporary Japan and Visual Anthropology and both appear like they are going to be good. The Issues class has no exams (only papers) and the Visual Anthro class requires a second blog to be updated every Wednesday. This blog will be much easier to do than the one I try and keep for you guys because this blog has assigned topics and is purely intellectual (meaning I don’t have to write what’s been going on in my life). It’s like writing a paper but instead of doing all the editing and making it sound all good, you do more a stream of consciousness. I like this. I will give you the link to the second blog when I have it created.

Monday I just had time to check my email and write two replies. I didn’t even make it to facebook, which made me really sad.

Tuesday, February 5th
On Tuesday, I went to my speaking class, apologized for my mistake, and then played taboo in Japanese. I had lunch where I realized that it was Mardi Gras and that Wednesday would be Ash Wednesday. Which means that it was my last day to have carbonated drinks until Easter. So, naturally, I bought more than enough cola to last me the day and drank all of it (because that’s what you’re supposed to do, you know). I then went to Peace, Development, and Democratization, which, of course, is going to be a fantastic class because it’s taught by Dr. Paul Scott and it’s not just about Japan but all of Asia. This class also has an essay and a large group project at the end. Ruth and I are probably going to do Burma.

Wednesday, February 6th
Not much to say about Wednesday. Went to three classes in a row, scarfed down a lunch, and then went to a fourth class. I dislike Wednesday's schedule. Am considering dropping my Japanese Reading and Writing. Though I like the class, it's the only one I potentially can drop and I need to drop at least one of my classes for my sanity. Last night my assignments amounted to creating that second blog, study for a vocab quiz, complete kanji work sheet, take notes on lesson 1 for level 4, prepare for review test in speaking, prepare for review test in reading and writing and do all of that before 11. I managed to get the vocab quiz and kanji worksheet done. I have too much homework.

The good news is that I no longer have to suffer the cold while I do homework. For the rest of the winter, the host family has been graceous enough to give me both the electric mat and a small heater. This heater is not like my heating pad. Whereas the heating pad does nothing in particular, the heater does wonders when you set it on high. After running it on high for 30 minutes, I usually have to turn it to low to keep from burning up. It is a very nice heater indeed, but I have sworn not to use it while I'm out or while I'm sleeping, so it's the last thing I turn off at night and the first thing I turn on when I return from class.

Thursday, February 7th
Today was only slightly better than yesterday because instead of having three classes back to back, I only had two. Still, I feel overwhelmed by my two Japanese classes because I'm doing twice the work in both classes as I was last semester. This is not cool. And so after class I went and had lunch and am now typing away in the McDonalds on campus because they have wireless in this place. I will soon be going home to study though, unfortunately. I am once again reminded how I really don't like the Japanese work ethic. Sure, it's great for companies, but if this is just a small taste of it that I'm getting, then if I worked as hard as some Japanese do, I'd work myself to death. Stress=not fun.

Orientation would suck if I actually went to it

Just so that certain people (*cough* parents *cough*) don't worry, yes I am going to the parts of orientation that I have to go to. But out of a full week's worth of events, all I have to do is pay my fees and get a registration lottery number (did that yesterday), sign up for classes (did that today), and wait for them to post what japanese classes I am in. That leaves a lot of free time for the amanda.

So, there isn't much that happened since I last left you, but I shall try to be entertaining. So, what have I done with myself for the past few days...

Well, I went on a search all over town for some boots that are not high heel, now that I discovered that I can occassionally wear a size LL (this is a fantastic revelation to me because LLs are much easier to find than 3 and 4Ls). Boots without high heels are nowhere to be found. I did that Monday.

Then, Tuesday evening I enjoyed the ever entertaining task of trying to organize my photos and other stuffs that I transfered from the old computer to the laptop. It's still not finished.

Wednesday I started on an Indiana Jones marathon with Ruth, but that got interrupted because we were invited to Round1, which is this place where you pay 13$ for three hours inside the building. They have tennis, batting cages, basketball, badmitton, soccar, and mini-golf on the roof, and billiards, video games, bowling, roller skating, and a couple other games that I couldn't figure out how to play. We made a mental note of this place because though it is far away and wastes hours of your time, it was fun.

Mini-golf was depressing. It was literally a mini golf course, with coarse carpet for the rough, white carpet for the sand pits (they aren't sand and they aren't lowered so even if your ball lands there its no different than putting on the green), and green carpet for everything else. It was very very lame.

Other than mini-golf, I played billiards, failed at tennis, and played a couple of videogames. After we finished our three hours, we also got 20 tokens to go use in "gambling." But what gambing means is that you use the tokens you get you to earn more tokens so that you can play more. Works the same as using money only there's no real money involved. We didn't see any prizes either, except for the UFO catchers (DULL!!!! There were't any interesting prizes either). But we played our coins because hey, they're free, and then left.

I really have nothing else to say. I'm going to go eat at the cafe and either go home to sleep (I stayed out way too late last night at round1) or go fall asleep watching the rest of Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford Rocks!

Japan Semester II - Revisit the Craziness

So, I am currently back in Japan, which means this blog is no longer on haitus. It also means I should probably post something with some semblance of intellegence. So here I am.

I flew to Japan on Monday, January 21st and arrived on Tuesday, January 22. Though I had a seat on the aisle and originally no one assigned to the seat next to me, they assigned two standbys to the window and center seat. These standbys were Japanese so I listened to their convos occassionally in order to practice my comprehension skills. They also kept getting up every two hours so I was constantly moving. This was partially an annoyance and partially a good excuse to stretch my legs. The flight featured four movies: Ratatoulli, Artic Tale, The Seeker, and some movie about a book club that reads only Jane Austin. All were alright, but also fairly boring.

When I arrived in Japan, I went through customs, then left for the trains. I road the train for close to two hours and reached Kuzuha at about 8:30, where my host mother picked me up and drove me home. I then distributed the gifts that I brought them and went promptly to bed.

Since then, I ate lunch with Heather twice, went shopping at Kuzuha (I needed more hangers, that's my excuse), am now sitting in the CIE lab checking my email. Oh, and I'll be stopping by the campus bookstore to look at cheaper school supplies. I'll also be stopping by the McDonalds in Makino to see if they do indeed have wi-fi, as I suspect that they do. I might be eating at Makudo more frequently this semester if they do indeed have wi-fi. Anything to sit and chat on the computer and not use the host family's computer.

Orientation starts next week, so my assignment for the rest of the weekend is to check for wi-fi access and figure out what classes I would like to take next semester. I also need to register my laptop so I can use the university's internet. Le sigh.

More later.