3rd Week of Classes- Tests and Shopping for BBQ

I had assumed Monday would be a terrible day from the get go. I had two tests for which I'd barely had time to study, and I was in a lot of physical pain. Don't ask what it was, because anyone who knows me, knows. In an attempt to counter this sure to be horrible day, I got up early to continue studying and finish the homework we had over the weekend. However, in the middle of studying I had to curl into a ball from the agony my body was causing me. I was more than thrilled when Jess came in to make breakfast, as that meant I could take my Motrin. I didn't even care that breakfast was scrambled eggs, which I don't like at all. Anything to fill my stomach. I stuffed my face and popped some pain killers to prepare for the day.

We arrived at school somewhat earlier than necessary, and I used the time to try to study more. I was nervous about the tests, but I felt I could pass. Good thing, too, because I couldn't concentrate on studying in Kato-sensei's English support class that day. I instead drew pictures of girls with pigtails in my notebook in an effort to make Duke also unable to study, heh. I'm a terrible person. Apparently pigtails aren't fair, especially low ones that drape over the shoulders. I was highly entertained. Dana not so much; she kept telling me I should be studying. I hope she wasn't offended by my lack of concentration. -_-;;;

The kanji quiz wasn't that bad, really. I knew right away that I only got two wrong. The annoying part is that they were only half wrong. I knew one kanji out of the two in each word, but if you don't get the whole word correct, then it's wrong. Oh well. That test turned out to be a 90 though. We also got back the grammar test from the previous week. 92, which would've been better if I'd paid attention to the two sentences using past tense, not present. I've made a note to always double check such things from now on. Class wasn't too agonizing, and I got all A's on my speaking quiz at the end. I made one mistake, and Kataoka-sensei complimented my accent. ^^ Turns out the day wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be. Thank goodness!

Tuesday we had Konno-sensei again. And thankfully this week we didn't have to do compositions. We did, however, receive the ones from the previous week. I was terrified by all the red marks on my paper, but when I saw the grade on the attached sheet, I was able to relax. It was a B-. We were told to correct the mistakes in a rewrite on new composition paper, and turn it in on Thursday.

Instead of writing at the end of class, we had to watch a muted scene on a DVD from the textbook, and make conversations out of it. It was pretty terrible. In the scene, clearly two businessmen who were friends met up and then went out to a bar. They chatted and then prepared to leave. Konno-sensei had three pairs try to do their conversations in time with the DVD. It was so bad, but oh so funny. After the 2nd pair had gone, the teacher asked who wanted to go next, to which Teiyan-san (one of the Korean students, whose name I'm spelling the way it's pronounced in Japanese) responded by pointing at me. He and Junso-san make a habit out of teasing me in class. Duke says they are flirting with me. I say they are evil. Regardless, my partner and I had to do the dialogue. It was pretty bad, but at least he threw in some entertaining lines. The two men pictured in the film were balding, so he commenting on my character not having any hair. Then when they were at the bar, he ranted about fighting with his wife and having to sleep on the sofa. I did not speak nearly as much as he did, though. Everyone had a good laugh, at least.

Wednesday we had another test, this time grammar. I'm not sure how I did, and I won't know until Monday, so here's hoping I get a good grade. Other than that, school wasn't too interesting that day. However, after class we all went to Shaky's again for all you can eat pizza. It was, of course, a blast. This time I got the large soda with no ice. Best idea ever. The guys, on the other hand, were having an eating contest. The winners, whom I think were Matt and Jay, ate over 20 slices. It was gross, but at least they sat at the other end of the row. I, conversely, enjoyed geeking out about Pokemon games with Duke, Jil, and Jess. We chatted about move limitations and what types sucked and why. Ah, I love it when others get what I'm talking about.

We went to an arcade after dinner. I'm not sure if anyone actually played any games, as I was too busy staring in either horror or amazement at prizes in the unending lines of crane machines. Some prizes were adorable, whereas others should not have been displayed in public places easily accessed by children. We didn't stay too long, and we got ice cream from a convenience store on the way home. Also, we passed through a park, and I decided that I had to play a little. I walked up and down wooden ladders suspended by chains, and then I climbed across a rope bridge. It was fun. I shall have to return during the day sometime to see if there exist monkey bars at that park.

Thursday was a fairly uneventful day in class, but there were adventures afterward! Duke and I raced to the vending machine to get cocoa. I won, but fell over in the process, reaching up triumphantly (although it may have looked pitiful) to hit the button for cocoa. He did, however, succeed in buying one for Jil. I wasn't sure what exactly we needed cocoa for that day, but whatever. Jess left ahead of us to get home and prepare for shopping with her classmates for the BBQ, while we waited for one more and spoke with a few other classmates about who would get what. We decided that Jil and I would accompany Duke to the supermarket for ground beef and burger buns.

Dropping our things off at the dorm, we were joined by Matt to head out shopping. We bought the beef  at the usual market, but wanted to look for real hamburger buns, so we had more stops to make. We put the beef away first and decided to walk to another super market. There we found plenty of good things, strawberry pocky in my case, but no buns. There was another super market somewhat nearby, but someone decided that it would be a good idea to go to Book Off, a great place to get manga and the like for cheap. As soon as we walked in, we found my favorite series, Ookiku Furikabutte (Big Windup! is the English title). It was a collection of the 16 volumes out thus far for a total of 4000yen. That's about $50 for 16 volumes, or approx. $3 a book. Heck yeah, I bought that! Sure, it's in Japanese, but these aren't available in the US because no company has decided to translate it (at least not yet). Also, it should be good for reading practice. I found what I wanted, but we browsed for quite some time before taking our spoils back to the dorm.

We did finally find burger buns at the third super market, but there were only eight. Thus, we decided to make some normal burgers and some small ones to be eaten on the dinner rolls. We returned to the dorm once more and formed the patties, placing them in plastic containers. Duke returned to his host family, while Jil helped me straighten my hair for the barbecue. She, Dana, and I had decided to make it a pigtails day as a bit of a social experiment. We wanted to see just how unfair they were to the guys. Heh.

Perhaps at a more decent hour I will continue with Friday's event: the BBQ. For now, though, I need sleep. Night, everyone!

Kamakura Overnight Trip- Sunday

Sunday morning we got up for an early breakfast, which was very unlike breakfast at home. I mostly ate rice. And had a lot of hot cocoa. Strangest breakfast ever. In any case, we finished and returned to our rooms to make sure we were ready to go. Futons were folded neatly in the corner of the room, and all our belongings were in our backpacks. Out we went. On the way out, we met the chef who cooked our meals and thanked him for the good food. Then we were out on the road again!

We traveled to the Hasedera Temple, which houses the Eleven-headed Kannon, a statue just over 30ft tall with eleven additional heads placed atop the main head. We were not permitted to take pictures there, but I have a mini brochure I can bring home. Not to mention, pictures exist on the web. There is also much more to the site than the statue. There are many different buildings, each with their own purpose, but my favorite part about this location was the observation platform that overlooked the beach and the long path of stairs to get a view from even higher up. I know I need to post pictures, and I will at some point. ^^ Oh, and I took a photo of a very funny sign, written in English, warning about "kites". Kite means hawk, by the way. Strange terminology.

Next on the list was the Daibutsu (Great Buddha)! The Great Buddha is a bronze statue that is 44ft tall (if you include the pedestal). For history on it, feel free to search the web, as I have not the time to put together a presentation here. Heh. In any case, it was pretty amazing. Plus, we got to go inside the statue! It was really cramped going up the stairs, but once you were up there was more room. It was pretty cool to see it from the inside. Again, no photos allowed in there, I believe. Either way, it was fun. Going back down the stairs was the difficult part. They were so steep and tiny, I clutched the railing until I got to the bottom. Side note for our time here... okay 2 side notes. When we first reached the site, I saw a huge butterfly just land on some lady's shoulder. I tried to get a picture but didn't have a clear shot. Then it flew away. Note number 2. Another US student in our group gave me a little Edward Elric figure b/c I was wearing a FMA shirt that day. Apparently he found it somewhere. I have cleaned it since then, but it's still a little scuffed up. Either way, it's adorable. XD

On our way back to the train station, we had a few minutes to shop. I was unfortunately distracted by the weapons store (knowing I could not buy one even if I wanted one). Weapons laws are very strict here. The only time a knife or something of the like can be on your person is if you just bought it and are taking it home or something like that. Very different from back home. In any case, I ran out of shopping time, and settled for buying a green tea flavored ice cream. Not terrible, but I won't do it again. The sweet potato one tasted good, though. Thanks to friends for letting me taste theirs. ^-^

Our last stop was Enoshima. First we ate, and our options were McDonald's or a slightly more expensive burger place. We took the cheap one, haha. This time I failed in ordering and ended up with a burger with no cheese. So annoying that the cheese one costs 20yen extra. Punks. We hurried to eat, and then we made our way across the bridge to the island. We walked on the pedestrian side and were grateful to not be stuck in the long line of cars on the vehicle bridge. The walk wasn't that long anyway. On the way across, a hawk came down really close before perching on a lamp post. They aren't afraid of anything, I swear.

There was plenty to do on that little island. The main street was full of shops on both sides, but we walked past them; the shopping would be done after the sightseeing. Here we took escalators to reach each platform, which all had many interesting structures, etc of which to take pictures. After the last escalator, we walked through a botanic garden, filled mostly with greenery as opposed to colorful flowers. Some beautiful flowers were there though. We then went to the lighthouse observational tower, my favorite part of the entire trip. We took an elevator up to the indoor platform, then climbed a flight of stairs to the outside part. It was fantastic. The view, the breeze, everything! And to top it all off, we were able to see Mt. Fuji, which can usually only be seen from there on the clearest of days. My pictures of it are nowhere near the best out there, but they are mine, and so I'm glad I took them. ^^ Also, there were a ton of hawks just riding the wind. I wish I could have gotten good pictures of them too. We stayed awhile, but eventually we had to leave, sigh. I followed Ryuuhei-san and Tanaka-san down the stairs instead of taking the elevator again. XD Jess came too, despite her fear of heights. Poor girl should have taken the elevator. Her legs were shaking long after we reached the ground.

Our time at the tower finished, we took the only way back down. A long and winding downhill path surrounded by greenery and, much to Jess' dismay, spiders. They weren't near us, but up in the trees with huge webs. It was rather fascinating. I've never seen spiders so large before, so I was enjoying myself during the walk. The bottom of said path was very steep and slippery, and I of course slid down it in a very ungraceful fashion. But at least I didn't fall. Some bystanders seemed concerned though, haha. We still had a bit of walking to do before we reached the street of shops, but the rest of the walk was fairly spider free, as it was down paved streets lined with shops. We reached the main street and darted in and out of most of the stores, browsing mostly. I bought a couple souvenirs, but nothing more. Spent less than I thought I would on that trip.

A walk back to the station, and a one hour train ride would take us home. I fell in and out of sleep during that time. But toward the end of the trip, a woman and her two sons were next to me. She was sitting with the younger boy in her lap, while the slightly older one stood. They were both under 10yrs old, and kept poking each other. It was rather cute. They were also fiddling with Pokemon stickers throughout the ride. At some point, Jess scooted over as far as she could, so I could too in order to allow the other boy to sit. At first the offer was refused, but when another passenger on their side left, all three sat in their own seat. The boys continued to pester each other, but they were quiet, so it wasn't at all annoying. Once it came time for their stop, they gave me a sticker of Pikachu before they left the train. It was so sweet. It is now stuck to the inside of my wallet where it will be safe. ^^

The Shinjuku stop finally came, and Ryuuhei-san walked those of us in the Ikebukuro dorm through the station until we reached the Shinjuku-sanchome station (which is on our commute route, so it didn't cost us anything to get home from there). We hopped on the first train to arrive, and rode to our usual stop on the way home. At this point, I believe only Jil, Jess, Ashley, and I remained together, but Gabrielle may have been there too. We were walking through the station to our exit when we came across Duke. So of course we stopped to chat and tell him how the trip went, even in our exhausted state.

I don't really remember quite what I did when I finally returned to my room, except that I fell asleep studying for the kanji quiz and speaking exercise that I had the next day. ^_^;;;

Kamakura Overnight Trip- Saturday

If anyone's wondering why I made no updates over the weekend, it's because I was far too busy taking the Culture Class trip to Kamakura. As it turns out, these culture class trip costs are included in my tuition, so of course I decided to go. We left the dorm early Saturday morning in order to go to the pre-departure lecture and find out more about the places we'd be visiting, such as the Daibutsu (Great Buddha). It was raining very slightly when we left. On the way to school, I bought a cheapo, clear umbrella at the Family Mart, because I forgot my own red umbrella in America. I'm so smart it hurts. Needless to say, it did not rain at all during the trip, so I had to carry that thing around for nothing.

Kato-sensei, who is the English support teacher, gave us a lot of historical information about Kamakura. Then she gave us pamphlets and asked us to form groups to make quick presentations on each place we would visit. The presentations were very silly and amateur, but we were all very sleepy. Jay drew many silly pictures for his group, and during my group's turn, I mostly just drew my "amazed tourist", as I named my character. However, as we were preparing for the presentation, I was threatening to randomly sing the parts I was supposed to read. I needed more coffee, seriously. 500mL of iced coffee from the konbini (convenience store) was not enough.

After the lecture, we were given time to get ourselves some lunch. A group of us went to the nearby Sukiya for the awesome beef and cheese over rice. Heck yeah! We quickly walked back to school to stuff our faced before leaving for the train. The main portion of the trip was the rapid express train from Shinjuku to Kamakura, which was about an hour. The three staff members to accompany us on this trip were Kato-sensei, Tanaka-san, and Ryuuhei-san. During the long train ride, Ryuuhei-san and Tanaka-san mostly slept. It was rather entertaining to watch Ryuuhei-san almost fall against Tanaka-san several times in his sleep, only to shift back into an upright position without waking. I could never sleep like that, I must say.

Once we arrived, we took a bus to our first destination. As a quick note, the buses in Japan are smaller, but we all fit pretty well on that first bus. The first stop for us was a beautiful bamboo garden, called Houkokuji Temple. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Small paths made of large rocks throughout the garden led the way between the tall bamboo stalks. We stopped to look around and snap photos constantly like the tourists that we were. It was toward the end of this almost maze-like property that we noticed a very large spiderweb with an equally large spider above us. Jess, being terrified of spiders, immediately stepped as far away as possible. Little did we know that we'd see many, many more like them throughout the entire trip.

We finished our exploration of the bamboo garden to catch another bus that would carry us to a shrine. This bus was much more crowded than before, but we somehow all still managed to fit. Almost all of us stood in a very tight line from one end to the other. I was struggling to hold my backpack in front of me when a passenger in a seat offered to hold it for me. I hardly got a chance to politely decline as she grabbed it and placed it safely on her lap. Again, we see the hospitality of the Japanese people. When the bus finally came to a stop, I took my bag back and thanked her before gladly stepping out of the congested bus and into fresher air.

The next stop was the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, where we had the privilege of witnessing a very traditional Japanese wedding. They are less common than they used to be, but they happen relatively frequently at this shrine. By the way, I will be using the terms shrine and temple throughout this post, so for those of you who don't know, there is a big difference. There are two main religious beliefs in Japan: Shintoism and Buddhism. Shrines refer to Shintoism and temples, Buddhism.

After that, we did some shopping. I really bought like nothing, sadly. We did go to a Ghibli store, inside which there was a lot of Jiji, the cat from Kiki's Delivery, merchandise. Everything I found, though, was too expensive given the quality of the product. I wanted to buy something there for the cousin, but the one thing I thought I'd spend the money on was plastic. Were it made of metal, I would have bought it. Difficult to explain, and pictures were not allowed, but I can probably find a pic on the internet somewhere. I shall have to look at some point.

We weren't given much time for shopping before we were led off to the inn where we spent the night. It was very traditional style. Shoes came off at the door and were placed on a shelf. We were given strange shoes to wear inside; they couldn't be called slippers, but same concept I guess. We dropped our backpacks off in our rooms, which each held a different number of people. I was on the second floor in a room with Jess and Jill, a room that was somewhat westernized in that it had a wooden door. Hooray for us! A lockable door! The doors on the first floor were the paper sliding doors, of which I'm not a fan.

Anyway, down to dinner we went. Dinner was great. We did have steak, but I also ate sushi. It was really good. The tuna one was my favorite. Squid and octopus were chewier than I liked, but they didn't taste bad. I was amazed. I did not eat the sashimi or raw shrimp (the shrimp still had it's head, so it appeared to be looking at you... GROSS). I did, however, grab a nice sized bowl of rice and chow down.

Bellies filled, we returned to our room for card games until bed. The staff had already come in and set up our futons for us, which we thought was pretty cool. ^^ So Jess and I taught Jill how to play Rummy, and we played like six or seven rounds maybe using Jess' Inuyasha playing cards. Fun. At some point, Kato-sensei came in to see if we wanted to do the morning walk to the beach, and she ended up watching us finish a round. She didn't understand the game very well, but having her observe was entertaining.

The three of us decided not to go to the public bath with the other girls, because that's not our thing. However, we did wear the yukata to bed. They were kind of weird to sleep in, to be honest. First of all, I had to pull the bow to the front because I frequently switch from lying on my back to my side in my sleep. Also, it was warm, so I kept kicking the huge comforter off (only to pull it back on later because I was too cold). I did not sleep very well that night at all.

That's all for now. I'll finish it later! ^^

The First Quizzes and Saitou-sensei's Song Class

Wednesday was another long day. While studying for my test on chapters 38 and 39 in the English support classroom, there was a lot of stomping heard from the floor above. Someone said it was probably the Japanese style dance co-curricular class. If it was, they sounded like elephants on stampede, and Jill even drew a cute picture to illustrate. I shall have to scan that to my computer somehow... In any case, I was convinced that I was ready for the quiz, and I was for the most part. However, there was one question I know I got horribly wrong, as it included kanji that I'd never seen before. Throughout most of the test, the reading of the kanji was above each one (this is called furigana). This kanji, though? Nothing. I should have just left it blank, but I've always been taught to write something as an answer, so I did. And now I know that what I wrote makes absolutely no sense. So again, one of my teacher's is going to think I'm a moron. Woohoo.

On another note, Wednesday was Duke's birthday, as I discovered in class the prior week, so I thought it would be a good excuse to buy him a hot cocoa in return for the one he got me on Monday. Unfortunately, right after class, I had to meet with Tanaka-san (along with Jess, Jill, Zack, and a few others) to hear about the overnight trip to Kamakura this weekend. We had missed the original trip orientation on Monday due to teacher meetings on class level. The meeting took so long that by the time I got downstairs, Duke was gone.

Honestly, the meeting was a waste of time. We'd already read over the information sheet we'd been given, and that was almost all Tanaka-san covered. The only useful bit was Tanaka-san's explanation of how to wear a yukata (casual kimono type clothing frequently worn after a bath at a traditional Japanese inn). The left side is pulled over the right side; the reverse is done when dressing a body for a funeral. Also, the sash around the waist is tied into a bow with the bow facing the back. Apparently a bow in the front signals that the wearer is a prostitute. Tanaka-san avoided using that phrasing, of course, but some of us knew already anyway.

Enough of that rant. On to Thursday! Thursday was the first day of the co-curricular class I chose, Japanese songs. The teacher in charge is Saitou-sensei, whom I've been told likes to tease. It was a great class though. We sang a song by Arashi, a group he seems to really like, called "One Love". Though painfully adorable, it was a fun song to sing. The music was very pretty as well. We were given a sheet of lyrics spelled out in hiragana and kanji, a wonderful reading assignment it was with which to sing along. The other song we sang today was Hanamizuki (Dogwood in English) by Yo Hitoto, a song that inspired new popular drama by the same name. Saitou-sensei gave a basic description of the movie's plot in Japanese, using dry erase markers as the characters. Very entertaining. XD At the end, we filled out slips of paper with potential songs we may want to sing and the media on which we will provide said songs. After handing mine in, I realized that my first two selections would be extremely difficult for anyone not familiar with the songs. Heh, I can't wait. XD

I was about as hyper as could be after that class, and my teacher for everyday class certainly noticed when I energetically responded to the roll call with "Hai, konnichiwa!" Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, but I was too happy about singing to care. Jill giggled because she knew why I was bouncing all over the place, but I had to explain to the confused Duke and Zack. Eventually the rest of the class will pick up on it, hahaha. Oh, also in class today it was mentioned that Duke's birthday was yesterday. I pretended to sing the birthday song, which led to Kataoka-sensei making him stand in the middle of the room for everyone to sing to him. We sang it in English, which surprised me, as a Japanese version is easy enough to sing. Whatever, it was fun. Teehee.

Today was another reading comprehension day, but it was surprisingly much less agonizing than last time, despite my confusion when I read the text this morning. There were quite a few kanji I didn't know, and some vocabulary that confused me. However, after reading it once more in class, I understood it better. Also, I found it easier to answer the worksheet on this week's reading than the one for last week's. Thank goodness, because I was nervous that I'd be horribly lost in class.

As a side note, the story we read last week was very cute and heartwarming, whereas this week's was about disease and death. What the heck? Although, it was also about finding a cure for the disease. The story was about Noguchi, Hideyo, a doctor from the 1900's who is known for his studies on yellow fever. The story we read was fairly simplified, but the point was that Noguchi decided at a young age that he wanted to become a doctor and help people suffering from disease. What we read focused solely on his work to cure yellow fever, and his eventual death caused by the disease. The internet gave a much more detailed biography; feel free to look it up, those of you who have never heard of him. ^^

Today after class, it was my turn to be quizzed on a speaking exercise that everyone had to memorize. A few students took the quiz each day this week. I did pretty well, only tripping over syllables twice. Kataoka-sensei complimented me, and my grade has A's for everything (for example, intonation was counted, as well as accent). Yay! So at least I've redeemed myself to this teacher! She's so nice, too! ^-^

Once finished, I ran down the stairs to buy Duke a hot cocoa as a late birthday present. However, the vending machine with the better cocoa was sold out. Still, I got one from the other machine and handed it to him. He tried to say no, but I owed him one anyway. XP Now we're even again.

Also, today I got my train pass for the commute to school, so starting Saturday, I don't have to use the Pasmo that I got when I ran out of tickets. The Pasmo is a card to which you charge money in order to get on the train without having to purchase the tickets each time. The money is automatically deducted from the card each time you use it, and it can be recharged whenever. When we arrived in Japan, we were given enough tickets to last us until we received the pass, but we've all used them up in taking extra trips on the weekends. We were planning on purchasing Pasmo cards to combine with our pass anyway; it's so convenient!

One final detail for today. I made Jess, Jill, and myself burgers for dinner! They rocked! XD Okay, so technically they were sliders because they were rather small. We each had two, though, so it was like having one normal sized burger. Ahhhh... I can't wait until the next time we decide to have them.

That's all for now! Hope you all enjoyed my insane ranting. Bye bye!

Compositions... Fail.

Tuesday's class started out just fine, with the hilarity of Konno-sensei. Several times throughout class, she felt the need to feel my nails, as the confetti nail polish gave them a funny texture. That made me giggle like crazy. Another time Konno-sensei walked by my desk, she pointed at my clock with the skull cover and started humming the Pirates of the Caribbean theme, which amused everyone.

Also on this day, we decided what our class would make for the school BBQ, to be held on Oct 28th in a park. Each class has a different time slot, so we only have to make enough for our class, but we of course have to buy the food ourselves. We split into groups of nationality, with my group being the North Americans (Duke is Canadian, so he does not wish to be grouped as an American). We decided that the simplest thing for us to do would be to make burgers, because that's what Americans eat at a BBQ. Perhaps we'll bring some kind of chips too? Anyway, the Korean kid who sat next to me that day, Junso, demanded burgers. He also said he wants to eat them all. Funny guy. XD

That was all fun, but the assignment for the last portion of class almost killed me. Composition. Composition paper here is a large sheet of paper with several rows of equally sized squares. One character takes up one square. Other rules apply as well, which I knew already. The first line is the title of the composition, and the first three squares are left blank. On the second line, the author's name is written such that the last character of the name is one square away from the end of the row. The actual writing starts on the third line, and one space is left blank as an indentation for a new paragraph. The problem with this style of writing is, if you notice a mistake later on, you have to either start over or erase everything from the mistake onward. This wouldn't be a huge problem if you knew exactly what you were writing ahead of time or if we were permitted to finish as homework, but it needed to be handed in before leaving class.

Our topic for this composition was something that holds memories for us. Rather broad, don't you think? I had no clue what to write about. I sat there rattling my brain for something, anything I could write a full page about. Junso-san kept telling me to just lie about anything. That was pretty funny, but even if I made something up, I still had no clue what to write. Eventually, Konno-sensei came over and tried to give me some ideas. I just picked Halloween and wrote some nonsense about how every year it reminds me of how I used to celebrate it as a kid and all that jazz. As a grammar-fixing, paper-editing freak, I wanted to bash my head into a wall at the terrible paragraphs I wrote. But there was just no way I was going to start over and try again. I was running out of time, and when I thought I was finished, I was told I needed to write enough to fill the whole page. Thus, I erased my makeshift ending sentence and continued to ramble nonsense until I finally wrote enough to turn in the horrid assignment.

I was already at least 20minutes late in leaving the class, and the teacher stopped me to ask if I'd received the kanji textbook. She wanted me to sign a sheet to show that I did receive one, but I was so flustered at the time, my brain was not processing the simple Japanese she used. It took a few minutes for me to pull out the text and sign the paper. Then I all but fled down the stairs, bright red from embarrassment. I met up with Jill and Jess, and I think my upset look startled Jess. I explained that my head felt like it was about to explode, and she offered some Tylenol, which I gratefully accepted. I explained to her and Jill what happened, and thankfully Jill had the same problem. Clearly her brain was fried too. I practically chucked my books into my backpack in anger at my stupidity. Konno-sensei most likely thinks I'm a moron. Oh well, maybe I can redeem myself on Friday when I have class with her again.

We talked a bit more, until Jill reminded Duke that he said he'd take her to a place where she could get a photo made for her school ID, because the ones she initially brought were too big. We all headed out together, and Duke told us the entertaining story of how he offered to show Jill the place. Apparently, Michiko-san overheard their conversation, and Duke's Japanese speaking sounded to her like he was proposing. She told him he should get down on one knee for that, and Duke was insanely confused. So the next time he "proposes", he will do it right. He told us what he said, and it didn't sound to weird to us, but what do we know? -_-;;;

In any case, Jill got her pictures, and we returned to the dorm, only to go out searching for hamburger buns. On Sunday, we'd purchased ground beef with the intent of making burgers for ourselves, as Jess and I miss them terribly. However, on the way, Jess saw a sign at the McDonald's saying that the Big Mac was on sale, so we caved and decided to eat there. We each got the medium sized set, which came with plenty of fries, but the soda was tiny. Weirdos. I've never enjoyed fries from McDonald's so much in my life. The sandwich, though, was odd. One, it was smaller than a Big Mac in America. Two, there was no ketchup on it, so I had to go back to the desk to ask for it. There were pickles, onions, and some honey mustard type sauce on the sandwich. I didn't care. I ate it all like the fat kid that I am at heart, despite not liking any of those things on a burger (or at all, if we're talking pickles). The taste didn't really bother me, surprisingly enough. It was a good experience, though, as the atmosphere is totally different from home. Classical music played in the background, and the customers quietly ate while working on laptops or texting on their phones. Nothing like at home, where there are screaming children. Interesting.

Our bellies filled, we left for the super market to continue our search for hamburger buns! I think the Japanese hate burgers, by the way. We could find hot dog rolls. We found a pack of rolls that included 2 hamburger buns and 3 hot dog rolls. What the heck. We don't want hot dogs, darn it! What is wrong with burgers??? Do we have to ask McDonald's to sell them to us? Whoa, getting carried away here. We decided to buy a bag of butter rolls that would only be big enough for sliders. Tiny burgers we shall have! And I hope these rolls are okay for them. I suppose I'll eat it either way, though. And that's the story of Tuesday. Ttfn!

2nd Weekend- Costume Party and a Study Day

First, allow me to mention that Saturday was the first earthquake for me here. Apparently there were 2, but Jess and I only felt one of them. The dorm building shook, but it wasn't all that scary. I just kinda felt like, "huh???" ^^;;; Anyway, on to that day's events!

We were invited to a costume party on Saturday by Jill's friend, Alex. Jill, Jess, and I decided to go (no Barb for this excursion, sad). The party was pretty exclusive; the only reason we got in is because Alex is a model, so she's got connections. And so that morning we got dressed up again (this time with proper footwear) and off to Harajuku we went. Turns out the place we needed to be was really close to the particular exit we took from that station. Lucky!

We first had to buy our tickets, which were 1500yen (about 20USD). Then we walked down the busy street of shops to the station where we would meet Alex. That was a weird day to be there. Throughout the street, there were black men who kept trying to get our attention. One even grabbed Jill's arm. We walked by them as fast as we could, so we never found out what they wanted. They may have been trying to sell stuff for all I know. I assume they wanted to talk to us because we spoke English, but the way they closed in on us was rather unnerving. Hooray for getting lost in crowds of people to escape them. And I say black because I have no idea what part of the world they came from. Their English didn't sound American, and it definitely didn't sound like "Engrish". If anyone does know, feel free to educate me. x.x Toward the end of the street we passed one who just called us beautiful. He didn't come up to us like a vulture in the same manner as the others, so I did not find him offensive or scary.

The three of us finally reached the station, only to be stopped for a picture. I suppose a group of Americans dressed in costumes in Japan is amazing to some people? It only continued once a fellow US girl came up to us in costume (she was the Mad Hatter) to ask if we were going to the same party. We were. And that girl even knew Alex. I guess as a model, she's met a lot of different kinds of people? So, now there were four foreigners dressed up together. And the pictures didn't stop. People kept walking up to us and asking to take a photo. It was rather amusing. We ended up waiting for over a half hour without even realizing it. At some point, the Mad Hatter's other friends came along too. They were also waiting for someone else. Once we checked the time, we realized Alex was late again. We hoped the reason was not the same. She did finally join us, but I don't recall any reason as to why she was so late. Meh. Her outfit was fun! ^^ I want the jacket part! XD

The Mad Hatter's group went to find food, while Alex led the rest of us to meet her other friend Tomo. Btw, he is adorable, almost like a girl. I wanted his outfit too. It was really cute. I shall find photos to post! So! Tomo in our group, we went to another Purikura (Print club) to take pictures together. They are very cute, and we tried to send one to Jess's email, but it so failed. Sigh. I wish I had a scanner here, but perhaps I shall try to take a picture of the pictures. -_-;;;

The party was about to start, so we hurried over to the h.Naoto, the place where it was being held. There were lots of yummy snacks and desserts. I loved the mini strawberry tart- thingamadoos (again, a strange word I like to use). I want more even now. Too bad for me, I suppose. Shortly after the party began, Midori-chan, a famous model, came out to greet us in an h.Naoto lolita outfit. The dress was very pretty, but what I wanted was the animal-shaped backpack.

A group of us then went upstairs to play a game for prizes. It was like a game of whisper down the lane, only with drawings instead of words. The first person was told what to draw, and each person after had only the previous person's drawing to look at as a reference. Also, each person had 30seconds to draw it. The final person had to guess what the drawing was. Our team's drawing went horribly wrong. x.x Jill was first, and she was asked to draw Goku from Dragonball Z. Her drawing wasn't far off, but I didn't realize who it was, so I just tried to copy as best I could. I ran out of time before getting past the neck though. The picture quickly became more and more different. The hair flattened, and someone added a sparkle near the eyes, so people kept adding sparkles. Thus, Goku turned into a female idol by the end of the game. x.x We soooo lost that one. The second team guessed theirs, but I had no idea what it was. Boo.

Next was a game of True/False. And open hand meant true, and a closed hand meant false. The host made statements that were either true or false, and we guessed. There were two American women, a fashion editor and a fashion photographer, who kindly translated for us, but we didn't know the answers anyway, so we guessed away. Jill stayed in the longest, but our team lost again. The winners got a small prize each, but we losers got consolation prizes (candy), so all was well.

We returned downstairs for individual photos with Midori-chan, which we will be able to pick up in the same place next month. Midori-chan was sweet, and she called my red and black dress cute. ^^ Tomo really enjoyed watching the taking of photos, and we all enjoyed looking at the clothes h.Naoto sells. However, they are all waaaay too expensive for any of us. I think all the clothing there was at least $200, while some bags and accessories were a bit less. I really wanted the backpack with bat wings, but I was afraid to even look for the price tag.

After the photos, there was a raffle, using the numbers on the reverse side of each of our tickets. Jill won a hair accessory that was black with ribbon, and white polka dots if I remember correctly, which happens to be her favorite type of accessory. To finish off the party, there was a costume contest. Three winners were chosen. One by Midori-chan, and two were picked by two of the party hosts. It was a lot of fun, but we were very tired at that point, so we returned home to Ikebukuro as soon as the party was over. We then promptly passed out.

Sunday was rather uneventful. It was meant to be a study day, but for me it turned into a hair-straightening, nail painting day. The confetti nail polish Aunt Lisa bought me back in September is very fun, but it distracts people with the way it reflects the light. Muahahahaha! Anyway, Jess and I did do laundry on Sunday. If I didn't explain this before, we have washers, but no dryers. We have to hang everything inside our room and on the bar outside our windows to dry. Yeah, I only put things like jeans out on that bar. Other residents have special hangers for smaller items like underwear, but I'm so not cool with hanging those articles outside my window. Thus my room was pretty filled with clothes hanging to dry. I also managed to at least finish my homework that day before Jill, Jess, and I went to the super market for more food. Yay!

Oh, what the heck, I'm throwing Monday in here as well. On Monday our co-curricular course sign up sheets were due. I signed up for Japanese Songs as my mandatory class, but I'll be attending the conversation class as well to improve my speaking skills in Japanese. Also, my placement in level 3 was finalized on that day. Hooray! Jill and Zack are also sticking around. Good for us! Jess is staying in level 2, so that's good too. After the meeting with the teacher, I ran downstairs to receive the rest of my books for class. Upon doing so, I was met with the sempai from my dorm. I shared the good news, and they wished me luck. ^^

While waiting for Jill, Duke decided to mention that he found a better hot cocoa from the other vending machine and bought one for me before I could beat him to it. Punk. Don't worry, mom; I did say thank you at the very least. Haha. It was very good though. Sweeter than the other kind, but less cocoa flavor. Might I say that it still amazes me to receive a hot beverage from a vending machine? Because it does. I love it. We need to have that in America. And just more vending machines everywhere.

That's all for the weekend and Monday! ... Oh wait! One more thing! We did go to the 100yen store on Monday night, and on the way, two Japanese guys rode by us on bikes. One of them called "Welcome to Japan", to which we replied, "Arigatou gozaimasu!" and about fell over laughing. Good times, good times. And now that is all! ^^

First Week of Class

Tuesday was the first day of classes. I am in the afternoon class for level 3 from 1:30 to 4:45 with Duke, Jill, and Zack. The first class with Konno-sensei was fun and confusing. She's the one who calls herself "KCP's prettiest teacher". I could understand most of what she said, but saying something back is a different story. x.x So my brain did hurt a bit after that first day. Poor Zack, who was in my class in the US, seemed to have a bit more difficultly than I. The instructions in class are fired off fairly quickly, so keeping up can be a headache.

The first grammar pattern we learned? I knew half of it. The order of lessons home and here are all kinds of out of whack. So I need to catch up on a few that I didn't do from level 2. Another mind-boggling detail. The order of the kanji learned here makes less sense than the order did at home. And that's saying something. There are so many simple kanji needed to make common words that aren't introduced until the middle or end of level 2, while some more obscure and complicated ones are taught earlier. I, unfortunately, have a looooooot of catching up to do on kanji. x.x I shall memorize until my brain explodes.

Wednesday was the 2nd day of classes. We have a different teacher on Wednesdays. I can't remember his name off the top of my head, so I'll look it up later and add it. He seems to be fun too, but not quite as wild as Konno-sensei. He likes to reference her a lot in class though, haha. So on that day, we finished the grammar for CH 38 and were assigned the appropriate homework.

Thursday was yet another teacher. She's nice, but not as crazy and fun as the other two. This class was the listening and reading comprehension class. I already have named it my least favorite lesson. Not for the listening. That part is mostly fine. But the reading comprehension? I can read a passage and understand it, no problem. But to explain why things happened in Japanese? Yeahhhhh... not so much. I suppose I'll learn, though. Even so, we were given a worksheet for it that was rather particular about the sentence structure for the responses. Luckily, we went over it with the teacher before having to hand it in.

Friday was Konno-sensei again, hooray! That was one hilarious day in class. I laughed so hard I cried. Besides the teacher's normal antics, responses from students were entertaining as well. Konno-sensei began a sentence meaning "because my lover was scary (looking)" and a female student (Korean, I believe) answered with "goodbye". Might I say that I love this teacher's responses to insanity. She makes some great faces. For another sentence structure, she pretended to invite a student out drinking with her. His response was simply "no". That does not happen in Japanese. Refusals are always polite, such as, "I'm sorry, but I have work to do." Needless to say, we all had a mild giggle fit when she asked him again, expecting a proper response. This time he just said "yes". He clearly did not feel like using the grammar pattern she had just taught us, heh.

The highlight of the day, though, was when we were put into groups and asked to create a conversation based on a picture. The picture was of an annoyed mother frowning upon her child's behavior of sleeping in past noon. Konno-sensei put a row of empty desks together as a bed, and asked Duke's group to act it out. Duke was paired with Zack and a male Korean student, as there were an odd number of students. Duke played the father, the Korean boy the mother, and Zack was their son. Zack, being extraordinarily tall, barely fit on the desks as he pretended to sleep. Duke began the conversation by yelling at his "wife" in Japanese, saying basically, "What is this? That is not my son! He's your son, so wake him up!" A pitiful attempt to wake Zack followed by Duke literally throwing water at him, and he was up and yelling too. Duke asked why he slept in so late, and Zack's response was too much drinking with friends. After the argument, Zack hopped out of the fake bed and pretended to pull up his pants to start the day. Duke, still in character, yelled about such indecency in front of parents. The class was roaring. We could not stop laughing for anything. That was the best day of class thus far. XD

Random tidbits that I missed during the week. Tuesday, I believe we went to a bookstore for English translations of the texts, then dinner out again. Beef and cheese over rice. Excellent. Wednesday we went to a place called Shaky's for all you can eat pizza night. I had a larrrrge soda to go with. But I should probably explain the pizza. It's very flat and tends to come with weird toppings, such as mayo and corn. Don't ask, please. There were also dessert pizzas, like apple cinnamon or chocolate and banana. Interesting place. Also, at some point throughout the week, Duke wanted a beverage from the vending machine at school. He didn't have any change on him, so I got him the cocoa he wanted. Hot beverages from a vending machine = brilliant! We all knew they existed, but it was still so fascinating. And tasty, too. Duke decided he would have to pay me back. Which he did the next day I think. He popped in 100yen and, at Jess' suggestion, hit the Pepsi button. One half liter of Pepsi for me! Not a bad price, considering most places at home charge almost 2 bucks for a 20oz.

And that's all I can really remember for now. Oh, that and Jill and Jess got lost coming back to the dorm from the 7 eleven around the corner. So precious. I will be going with them everywhere it seems. ^^;;; I shall update with weekend info later!

Monday- No School. To the Concert!

Currently Wednesday morning at about 8am.

Monday was a national holiday. Which one? Not a clue. I should really look it up. However, we had no school, so more adventures for us! Shortly after arriving in Japan, we discovered that Jil's favorite band was playing near us, and Jess, Barb, and I decided we would tag along. But what to do during the day before all that? Jil's friend, Alex (a girl), wanted to come too, so we decided to meet up with her at 2 to go shopping. The meeting place was the Alta building in Shinjuku, a popular spot for just that.

For Monday's excursion, we opted to wear our costumes that we'd bought the day before. Except Jess, who wore fairly normal clothes. I didn't have shoes to go with mine, though, and Jil lent me a pair. I had a feeling they'd start to hurt my feet quickly, but I wore them anyway.

We took the train to Shinjuku-sanchome and decided to walk from there. We had been given a tour of Shinjuku already and had some idea of where Alta was. Unfortunately, we walked in the wrong direction. The street didn't look familiar anymore, so I stepped forward to ask a construction worker which way to go. We tried to hurry, but we were definitely going to be late. We went a little too far and again had to ask for directions. The very nice gentleman walked us down the block and pointed directly at the Alta sign for us. We thanked him several times for his generosity.

It was almost 2:30 by the time we reached our destination, and we searched frantically for Alex. She was nowhere to be found. Not on the first floor inside the Alta building, not on the stairs to the train station beside the building. Train station? We looked at the stop number and cursed ourselves for not knowing to hop onto the Marunouchi line to the Shinjuku station. We were afraid Alex may have left angrily because we kept her waiting. Jil tried to call her using Barb's cell phone, but she didn't answer. Choosing to wait a little longer to see if she wandered off and may come back, we stood around impatiently.

Finally, Alex came running up to us. Turns out, her train was delayed due to someone jumping in front of it. Scary. She had to find another line to reach us. Good thing we got a little lost. Otherwise we'd have waited for 45minutes without knowing anything.

My feet were killing me then, and I asked if we could find a place that sold flip flops or something. Behind us was an ABC Mart, which sells shoes. Odd name for a shoe store. Peeking inside, I noticed how expensive everything was. I quickly found a 3pack of black socks and bought them instead. The cashier looked at our group and told us we looked good, to which I formally responded that we didn't. Oh, the overly polite things we must say. But it was amusing.

Five in our group, we walked around Shinjuku to find something to eat. We ended up at a ticket place, where you order your meal at a machine and take the ticket received to the counter for them to make it. It was pretty nifty. I went for curry rice, my new favorite food. X3

After our meal, we went to find a purikura (print club), which really means photo booth. Let me tell you, Japanese photo booths are way cooler than those in America. Also more confusing though. For 400yen, the camera snapped six photos that we barely had time to prepare for, and then we went to a separate section to add little designs and effects to the pictures. There were a zillion different menus, each with their own type of addition. You could add backgrounds, sparkles, shapes, words, etc. We frantically worked through the menus to find the most fun add-ons and printed the pictures. The best part? These photos are phenomenal. The brightness, the color, everything! They really bring out your eyes too. I can't wait to show everyone! ^-^

Photos in hand, we went back outside. Jess wanted to head back to the dorm to change out of her boots, so I accompanied her while the others continued to shop. It took awhile, and we both changed into jeans and sneakers because of our aching feet, but we arrived back at Alta about 20minutes later than planned. Bad planning, indeed. This time, Jess and I could not find the others. And I thought we had Barb's cell phone, so we could call them, but Jess had given it back. -_-;;; After checking all the floors of Alta, we waited a little bit longer before calling it a day. Just as we were about to had back home, Jill, Barb, and Alex found us. They had gone somewhere nearby to shop. Punks. XP

To the concert we went! We hopped a train on the JR line, and used the directions on Alex's phone to lead the way. We made it in time. The place was pretty tiny and packed with people. And there was American rock music playing overhead while the band set up behind the curtains. Interesting.

We stood close to the stage and waited for VII Sense to come out. VII Sense is made up of 6 members. The singer, the drummer, the bassist, and three guitar players. Jil's favorite is the guitar player Kazu. She adores his composing and guitar and piano playing skills. ^^

Before we knew it, the curtains were drawn, and each band member made their entrance. They were a lot of fun, and we had one hell of a good time. I really liked their music, and I shall have to bug Jil for it, teehee. In any case, Kazu was the one farthest to the left. He wears glasses, and he had the most refined look of the group. He was the smart, classy type. Good taste, Jil. There were only a few people between her and Kazu. I found her admiration for him rather cute.

My eyes kept bouncing from member to member, as I really enjoyed looking at the different outfits. The singer's pants amused me the most. They were cut to show almost all of his outer thighs, a look that would never fly on a man in the US. So funny. More on the singer. He had some wild hair. Also, his gaze into the crowd during a song was pretty amazing. Jess claims she couldn't look away, whereas I purposefully looked away. It was almost spooky to me. Muahaha.

On to the other members. The bassist had some long, pink hair going on, and the drummer's hair was more of a red than pink (although we could barely see him). The two guitarists on the right had brownish hair. The one to the far right apparently used to be the cross-dresser of the group, which made sense as he looked the most like a girl. The one second to the right, RayX, wore a top that showed his entire stomach. Again, a look that you don't see in the US. He looks kind of like a cute puppy, honestly.

The crowd did some bizarre moves during each song. Lots of head banging and hand gestures. And during one song, girls threw themselves against others who leaned over the rail in front of the stage. Seems odd for a bunch of Japanese girls. Also, they didn't cheer the way Americans do, so I made sure to throw out a "WOOO!" at the end while they simply cooed, "Kazu-sama!" Kazu has quite the fandom. Anyway, before leaving the stage, he through a guitar pick to Jil, and she gleefully grabbed it with both hands.

For the rest of the night, Jil was like a giddy schoolgirl. We were afraid she might faint. She left a present for Kazu with those selling merchandise for the band. And she bought a photo of a band member, which they made her pick at random without looking. She got Kazu. Again she about died of happiness. So cute. ^^

That, my friends, was our first Live in Japan. A good time it was, and we'll most likely be going again the next they come our way. ^^ Well, I need to get dressed and head off to class! Bye bye!

Sunday- Shopping and Karaoke Madness part 2

It is currently Tuesday at about 8am here. Now to finish the tale of Sunday.

We finished at the izakaya and split the bill evenly. Then our sempai (seniors) invited us to karaoke, a favorite of the Japanese. We headed downstairs to find that it was indeed raining. And me without my umbrella. Actually, none of us had one. In any case, some went home, but Jess, Barb, Jill, Ashley, Jeff, Bryce, Jason, the two Matts, and I stayed. At first, though, Jeff and Bryce wandered off to buy booze. -_-;;;

None of us, even the seniors, had ever been to this particular karaoke bar before, so upon checking out prices, one of our sempai decided to get a member card to reduce the cost. Let me give you the breakdown here. In karaoke, a group of people essentially rent out a small room for a period of time to sing their favorite songs. The price is determined by how many people there are and how long each person stays. Anyone who leaves before the rest of the group generally leaves their portion of the bill with whoever is left. The increment of measure is a half hour.

We initially decided to stay for one hour. I went first, singing Again by Yui. Everyone who didn't know me was pretty surprised, teehee. A half hour into our stay, Jeff and Bryce joined us. They seemed to enjoy selecting the American songs available, heh. Speaking of which, there were a ton. I must say, the Japanese love our language and our music. Once the initial hour was up, one Matt left as he was tired and feeling a little under the weather. The rest of us decided to stay another half hour. I sang some more too. ^-^

Okay, so at this point there were 9 of us left. After that hour and a half, 7 of us decided to leave. It was really only an hour for Jeff and Bryce though. So we used the phone in the room to tell the front desk how many were leaving, and we took the elevator down. Upon arriving at the front desk, though, it turned out that Jess had brought down the money collected by the 5 girls as our portion. Jeff and Bryce also brought their money with them, so we asked the gentlemen at the desk if we could pay separately. And so, hell began.

When we had entered, we were told the cost would be 400yen per person for each half hour. As such, the 5 girls who stayed 1.5hrs should have each payed 1200yen, and the boys who only stayed 1hr should have each payed 800yen. However the people behind the counter were convinced that each person owed 1625yen. We weren't sure if they were charging us all full price for 1.5hrs, or just charging us for 2hrs, or how they even got that number. Bryce, who was best at speaking in Japanese tried to explain to the man that they were charging us too much. However, Bryce was drunk, and the whole situation became so confusing. They were typing numbers on a calculator to try to justify the price, but they also kept changing it on us.

At that point, a rather drunk Japanese businessman came out of one of the rooms to ask for something at the front desk. He chatted me up a bit, asking if singing in Japanese was okay for me, until he noticed our struggle. He took it upon himself to try to help us, because that's the kind of hospitality you find in Japan. He was very kind, but also drunk, and the conversation between him, Bryce, and the clerk seemed to go on and on. He and Bryce became fast friends, as drunks tend to, but the clerk would not budge. The second clerk was even brought into the exchange. Eventually we said screw it, and paid the 1625yen each, but Bryce continued to argue about it in his drunken stupor. And again the Japanese gentleman, "Shuu-chan", as he told Bryce to call him, tried to help.

We still hadn't sorted things out by the time Matt and Jason came down to pay, meaning it had been a half hour of straight arguing. Unfortunately, Matt and Jason were drunk as well, Jason being the worst. He could barely stand on his own. It appeared Shuu-chan paid the rest, perhaps Matt and Jason's portion? I'm not even sure, but Bryce thanked him, and they both kept bowing lower and lower to each other. Then Bryce explained to us that Shuu-chan wanted us to come sing a song for his group, a condition we had not consented. Either way, Jason was sent home with Ashly, Jill, and Barb. That left Matt, Jeff, Bryce, Jess, and I to deal with the song. I took charge and said I would just sing Again by Yui once more to settle the matter.

And so, the five of us left squeezed into the room with Shuu-chan and his 9 or so colleagues. I took the small selection device and requested my song, asking for a microphone from one of the drunks. My back to the screen of lyrics, I sang to the crowd. It was clear they were surprised that an American could sing in Japanese, and they cheered and clapped along. -_-;;; Once the song finished, we excused ourselves, but getting Bryce back was difficult. As we left the building, Shuu-chan's group came too, and I was attacked by questions like "Where are you from?", "Do you speak Japanese?", and "How long have you been here?". They were amazed we'd only been in Japan a few days. Everyone kept shaking my hand; it was kind of baffling, really. Shuu-chan was kissing everyone's hands. Three times for me. Jeez. Then he felt the need to ask Matt and Bryce if either was my boyfriend, but we all insisted otherwise. He didn't believe us. Sigh.

We finally explained that we had to get home, and all but dragged Bryce away. The way home was also "fun". It was still raining, and the station we walked through to get to dinner and karaoke was closed, as it was 12:30am. We found the nearest koban (police box), and asked for directions back to our dorm. We thanked them and went on our way. The walk was long and exhausting. At some point, a young man we passed advised us to get a taxi- he must've felt sorry for us not having umbrellas and looking like drowned rats. But we were almost there at that point and told him not to worry. It was after 1am that we returned to our rooms. It took all the energy I had just to get the wet clothes off of me and put some kind of pajamas on. I flopped onto my bed and passed out immediately.

Soooo... we decided not to go to that karaoke bar ever again. And since then, our seniors have explained that that has never happened to them. They also apologized for allowing something like that to happen, but it really wasn't their fault. It was an experience, good or bad, and I now find it mostly funny. Hope you all do too. ^^;;;

Sunday- Shopping and Karaoke Madness part 1

Time now is Monday about 10pm.

Yesterday was the most exhausting day I've had thus far. For both good and not so good reasons.

Let's start with the shopping trip. Jess, Jill, Barbara, and I got up Sunday morning to go shopping in Shibuya. We took the Fukutoshin line all the way there, so it wasn't confusing. However, walking along the streets, we did sometimes get a little turned around. We took pictures and went to the biggest Starbucks I've ever seen for coffee. I got my typical coffee frapp, but Barbara decided to try something new. She ordered an apple crumble frapp. Sounds good, right? Not exactly. She described it as tasting like apples with a side of vomit. So, of course, we all had to taste it to find out. ...... Sure enough, she was right. Don't know how she finished drinking the stuff. Kinda yuck.

A bit more walking brought us to a very popular place called 109. It's basically a mall with almost nothing but clothing and accessory stores inside. Each floor was rather small, but there were about 9 of them. Above ground. It also had two basement levels. It was sooooooooo much fun checking out each floor only to take an escalator up to even more fun. ^-^ There were so many things I wanted to buy... until I looked at the price tags. Hmph. There is one coat-like, dress thing that I'd love to buy if it ever went on some super sale. I ain't paying 10,000yen for it, though, so I'll keep dreaming. X3 Barb, on the other hand, bought a pair of boots, and a hoody-dress-like thing. Both were expensive but awesome. Jess got some accessories, and I think Jill did too. ^^;

On one floor, Jill was practically dragged in by the salesgirl. Let me explain a little bit about Jill. She is half Chinese, and therefore has the Asian look, meaning everyone everywhere wants to dress her up. It doesn't help that she has a very adorable, yet slightly dark sense of style, too. Jess wants to raid her closet. >.> Anyway, the salesgirl kept calling us "nee-chan, nee-chan" or big sister in English. And while we all loved some of the clothes there, we were so not paying those prices. Thus, we politely backed off and scurried away.

It was sad to finally reach the top floor, as I got entirely too much enjoyment out of continuously riding the escalators up and up and up. However, all fun must come to an end, meaning it was time to ride DOWN all the escalators! Hooray! We went to the bottom floor, and worked our way back to the surface. I managed to behave and keep my wallet shut during the escapade of the 109 mall.

Shibuya was fun, but Harajuku offered even more! And so we took the Fukutoshin line back one stop toward school and hopped off at the Meiji-jingumae 'Harajuku' station. It took a bit of walking once out of the subway to get to the major shopping area, but once we reached that particular street, we knew it. The long stretch was filled with people, both Japanese and foreigners (especially the American type). Staying together was a bit difficult, but we managed. A few shops down and Jess and Jill had purchased more accessories.

We decided to find somewhere to eat at that point, so we walked until we reached the food court. Finding recognizable food there was difficult. We split up to go to a few different places. Jess and Jill went for Indian-style curry. Meaning slightly spicy curry, as far as we're concerned. Barb first headed for crepes but found the line to long and ordered some chicken wrap at the curry place.

I, being the crazy one, just had to have myself some noodles. I found the noodle place, and was almost completely confused by the menu. I knew enough to ask what one picture was: "Kore wa nan desuka?". And the response was Yakisoba, so I asked for that. The cashier asked if I wanted a drink, but they didn't have cola, so I declined. While I was standing waiting for my food, he tried to speak to me again, telling me I could sit somewhere to wait, but he fired it off so quickly I didn't know what he said until a woman behind the counter explained it in English. I felt like a noob. Once I got my food, I thanked him and darted off to find soda. I ended up at the crepe place, as the line had died down, so only two Japanese girls stood in front of me. I think I surprised them when I asked for a Pepsi in Japanese. The guy working their seemed amused, though, so all is well. XD

I returned to the group to eat, only to realize that there was seaweed on top of my precious noodles. It had a very fishy smell, so I cracked my chopsticks apart and proceeded to move the pieces onto my napkin. Finally, I could eat! Now, I know at home I've said my chopstick skills are fairly poor, but I'm better than I thought. Not thinking, I held them slightly differently than how I was taught... which is how they're supposed to be held anyway, it turns out (I found this out later that night)! Hooray for me, because that was easier.

Our bellies filled, we tossed our trash and headed for the exit. Upon doing so, we briefly met up with some fellow students who are staying in a different dorm than we are. We chatted a bit, and they seemed to be good kids with a great sense of humor. However, our destinations were different, so off we went again! We attempted to use the restroom on the upper floor of the building, but ran away as soon as we saw the line. Typical line for the women's room, I suppose.

Opting to use a restroom later, we continued our shopping adventure. Next stop, Body Line. That is the place that did us all in. It was basically a costume store. And there was a huge sale. We each bought an outfit and accessories to go with. Dang, and I was doing so well. Don't worry, my dress is freaking awesome, and you will all be jealous. ^-^ My dress is very pirate, teehee! Although, I guess it could be considered bar maid-ish? Meh. I bought a necklace to go with. It's a watch with a skull cover. Therefore, I am pirate. XD Anyway, got my dress for less than half the original price. ^-^ Huh, still need boots to go with. Later, perhaps.

That basically ends the story of the shopping part of the day. We got back and tried on our dresses, and may I say that mine fits insanely well. Then we met up with the other noobs and our 3 upperclassmen to go to dinner together. We ate at an izakaya, a casual type place where small dishes are ordered and shared by everyone at the table. Drinks too, but I only tasted a few. Most were kinda watery, but that's apparently the Japanese taste in alcoholic beverages. Works for me. At this Japanese equivalent of a pub, I tried takoyaki, or octopus filled, ball-shaped dumpling type things. I did not like it, but everyone else did. Oh well, at least now I know.

Sorry, but I'm entirely toooooo tired to finish. Good night, and I shall hopefully finish the story of Sunday night in the morning. Then on to tell about today's events. Bye for now!

Day 2- Orientation part 2

Again, the time is off, lol. Will I ever fix it? It's Sunday morning at 8am.

When the luncheon was over, we were sent to separate classrooms, depending on our level, to meet our teacher and receive our books. The desks were tiny, and I felt a little bad for Link, because he is super tall, lol. Now four of us in level three are being permitted to try it out (Link, a friend from Etown, is in the same boat as I am), so we only got one book and a photocopied packet of the other stuff. The teacher we have is Konno-sensei, who during the luncheon referred to herself as "KCP no ichiban kirei na sensei" or KCP's prettiest teacher. She seems fun. ^^ Speaking only in Japanese, she explained the materials we would be using and what to expect out of her class. It made all our brains hurt. x.x I understood most of it, but my brain was in overdrive to do it. I'll get used to it eventually. X3

Once again we were ushered up to the meeting room on the eighth floor to finish the orientation. At that time, Tanaka-san explained tips for daily life in Japan, such as proper ID to carry and what to do if said ID gets lost or stolen. First step, police! Really a no-brainer. There needs to be a police report for anything to be done about it. Second step is to go to the US embassy (if what was lost was a passport). Typically, these items are found, so replacement is thankfully not necessary. Next up was guns and blades. Carrying them without proper purpose is illegal. Taking a knife purchased from a store home, okay. Carrying one all the time, not. Weapons laws verrrry different here.

My favorite part of the daily life discussion was riding on the train. Tanaka-san drew a hilarious picture on the board that I wish I'd asked to take a picture! It was a front view of a train car with the seats on either side, along with the rack above the seats for heavy bags. He drew overly simplified drawings of people to show where they should sit (seat only, floor unacceptable) and where their bag should be. If sitting, bag stays on lap or on floor behind legs. If standing, bag may be placed on rack above seating. So he then had four people drawn: one on the seat on either side, and two standing and holding the bar. Finally he drew a person in between the two standing with devil horns and a hand reaching for one person's crotch. VERY FUNNY! He warned us about perverts, and how to avoid them. Tanaka-san also advised the boys to hold onto the bar with both hands, rather than leave them at their sides, to avoid being mistaken as a pervert should they bump into someone during the train ride. ... I shall draw a recreation of this picture. And then I shall draw one very detailed. >D

Ahem, back to some seriousness... Orientation was followed by a tour of the Shinjuku area. There was a ton of walking, and I was dying of thirst halfway through (as I had finished my water). I must learn to carry more water if I wish to survive this. The streets were crowded, typical of a Saturday afternoon, but sticking together wasn't too difficult. I unfortunately was too busy keeping up to pull out my camera, but next time I'll be ready. Muahahahah! >.>;;; Sorry 'bout that.

At the end, we all split off to go our separate ways back to our dorms. Jess and I grouped with some other girls from our dorm- Jill, Barb, Ashley and one other- to ride the train back to Ikebukuro. At some point the sixth girl left, so the five of us left spend the rest of the day together. We dropped off our books in our rooms and went for a nice walk around the area, finding all kinds of shops. My personal fave was the music and video game store. I will certainly return to buy much Japanese music... and perhaps a game. XD By this point on our journey our legs were tired and our tummies were rumbling. Thus, we ventured back to the shopping area that the senior students- Matt, Matt, and Jason, I think- showed us on the first night.

We unfortunately allowed Jess to walk in front for awhile. She first went the wrong way, back to the dorm area, until Barb and I corrected her. -_-;;; Once we found the shopping area, Jess wanted to keep looking for a different place to eat. The rest of us eventually decided we were too hungry to do that any longer. So I bought some chicken and beef dish from a nice lady who humored us while we tried to decipher just what else she was selling. Then we went to the super market and bought some general items like water, milk, bread, etc. After paying, we went right outside to a place with kabob-like food, and bought some for 100yen.

A short, but exhausting trek home with our bags ensued, and I had to ask Jill to carry the pack of tissue boxes  I'd bought because it was too bulky with the heavy items I carried. x.x We returned to our rooms, and I sent my refrigerated products to Jess's room, since her fridge was already plugged in. Then I sat down and ate the chicken and beef dinner I'd gotten. It was actually very yummy, even though I couldn't tell what one of the veggies was, heh.

And that was my second day! Tune in for more later! XD

Day 2- Orientation part 1

It is currently Saturday night, a little after 10pm.

Today was orientation. We were to be at the school by 9am. I was up at 6am, before my alarm even went off. I grabbed my melon pan and sat at the computer to give everyone an update and eat my sugary breakfast. I was on the computer for almost two hours before trudging down the stairs at 8am to meet up with the group for the commute to school. The guys ditched us girls while we waited for one more person, but we caught up at the station. Heh. Then they rode the train on a separate car, so we decided that they didn't want cooties. XP

Once at the school building, we took the elevator to the 8th floor again and waited for orientation to begin. Tanaka-san and Michiko-san were the speakers for the event. Tanaka-san first explained the syllabus and what to expect from each level, as well as the grading criteria! Thankfully, it's more lenient than at home, but the rules involved are adhered to strictly. For example, absentees take off points from the final grade, and students must pass each subject of learning in order to progress to the next level the following semester. The subjects are reading comprehension, grammar, kanji, composition, and listening. Certain sections only require a 60% to pass, but others 70%. It seems a little confusing, but I understand it. ^^

Much of the syllabus was very similar to one from the US: stress on attendance to make sure students don't fall behind, suggested study of 4hrs-6hrs a day outside of class, and emphasis on the importance of asking questions when needed and using the tutor session from the start.

The syllabus explanation was followed by a detailed description of the culture class's events, provided by Michiko-san. All outings for the class are required by those receiving credit for it, but those of us who aren't taking it for credit are permitted to join so long as we sign up for a trip in advance. ^^

At about 11:30, we had a luncheon at the school with all the teachers. Talking to them in Japanese was a bit difficult, especially when it was too noisy to hear the person to whom I was talking, but it was a lot of fun! I think the advisor for the anime/manga club liked us. Jess and I felt like she was saying "draw stuff and submit it to us!!!" even though she didn't use those words, haha.

Again, it seems I will be leaving in the middle, but I seriously need some sleep! I'll update in the morning most likely. ^^

First Full Day part 2

It is currently Saturday at 8pm, just to be clear, haha. I don't think I'll change the time on my computer yet.

So, to continue, the ceremony ended, and the students were moved to a classroom on the 2nd floor to take the placement test. This test, as described to me by a senior student, is hard, and we were expected to fail. However, the questions we were able to answer pretty much decided placement.

After taking the test, we went to a small interview to make sure our purpose was clear, such as whether or not we are taking classes for college credit, etc. By the time we finished that, the test was graded, and we moved to another room to speak with a teacher about the level in which we would be placed. I was told that judging by my test scores I should be placed in level 2, but they are willing to let me try out level 3 for a week to see if I can handle it. I'm going to be studying like crazy from here on out! ^^;;;

Shortly thereafter, Jess and I gathered with a few other students- Jill, Barbara, and Jay- to find something to eat. One of the faculty members, Michiko-san, kindly offered to lead us to a relatively inexpensive place, and she even helped us order food. We were extremely grateful! I had curry for the first time, and it was great! I did not get the spicy kind, though. XP It was a nice sized bowl, and it cost 330 yen.

Once we had paid, the five of us wandered around the area before heading back to the dorm. I bought some melon bread in a hyaku en store (similar to dollar stores back home). It was yummy. ^__^ On the way back we tried to walk our way to the Shinjuku Sanchome station in order to skip the first train ride, but we ended up at the Shinjuku Gyoemmae station anyway. In the Shinjuku Sanchome station, we accidentally went through the wrong ticket gate and wasted one of our tickets, but we'll be getting a proper pass soon enough that it shouldn't be an issue.

The walk back from the final station- Ikebukuro station- was pretty relaxing, and that was when I first noticed two matching trees that were giant evergreens, located at the nearby school, Rikkyo University. We all commented that they would be perfect Christmas trees. I vowed to get a picture of them the next time we passed.

Back at the dorm, we again spent time speaking with some upperclassmen. We discussed our placement, where we'd gone during the day, and then agreed to go out later for dinner. I, however, passed out as soon as I returned to my 4th floor room at about 5pm. Jess woke me up at 7 to ask if I was coming, but I was still too tired and stayed behind. I crashed again until about 1 in the morning, when I got up and unpacked my luggage. I then happily fell asleep again at 2am.

That was day one! I'll continue with day two soon!

First Full Day part 1

Yesterday was my first full day in Japan. I got up at 6:30 and finally got a much needed shower. Then I bothered Jess (my friend living in room next to mine) for something to eat. We had purchased some cheese and bread the night before, and I was huuuuungry. After that, I gave an update to fam and friends on fb before getting ready to leave for the entrance ceremony at school.

I bounced down to the first floor from my 4th (and top) floor room on stairs that are outside in the open air, and I flipped my room number tag to show that I was out. The group of noobs all met, and two senior KCP students were kind enough to show us the way to school for the first time. First up was a ten minute walk to the Ikebukuro station- Ikebukuro is the area in which I'm staying. There were plenty of people out walking or bike riding to work or school or wherever they needed to go.

We arrived at the station, and the two senior students showed us which way to go. We took the Fukutoshin line to Shinjuku-sanchome, then got off and took the Marunouchi line to Shinjuku-gyoemmae. This may not mean anything to a lot of people reading this, but try looking it up. It is actually a pretty simple ride to follow, especially since the stops are numbered. To explain we took the Fukutoshin line from stop F-9 to F-13, then transferred to the Marunouchi line and took stop M-9 to M-10. That made getting back easier to understand, although I feel Jess will not remember this very well. Luckily, we'll all be traveling in a group for awhile.

Once arriving at the Shinjuku-gyoemmae station, we walked the rest of the way to the school. Soon I'll post a picture of it to show everyone what the school looks like (which is not much like a school at all). The building is rather narrow but has 8 floors. Guess where the entrance ceremony was held? Yep, the top floor. The elevator was tiny, so only 4-5 people used it at a time. Some students decided to walk the entire way- I had to laugh at Jay, a student in my dorm who looked about to die after eight flights of stairs.

The ceremony was pretty interesting. Each part was translated from Japanese to Korean, Chinese, and then to English. There were four translators in a row, and they seemed to be good friends. Before the ceremony started, the Japanese translator was teasing the Korean one, and she proceeded to smack him on the arm in a playful manner. I had to suppress some giggles at that point. Once it started, it became clear that the ceremony was very structured: an opening statement followed by words from the principal, and then the vice principal, and various other teachers were introduced. My favorite part was the introduction of select clubs with students to show their work. A girl from the musical club played the recorder for us. A boy in the Japanese song club sang a few lines of a song by Arashi, a popular singing group in Japan. And another boy showed some works of the newspaper club and the anime/manga club. Anyone who knows me knows which two I'm joining. ^_~

That's where I'll leave this post, as I need to finish getting ready to leave for orientation. I'll be back to finish later! Note it is actually Saturday the 8th here. I just haven't changed the time on my computer. XP Bye for now!