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!