I'm Home

Well, I made it home. I'M SO HAPPY. I'll write a proper update later about the travel home and such. For now, though, I'll leave you with an entry I wrote early Saturday morning:

Okie dokie, at the moment I’m sitting in some sort of semi-outside service room at Osaka Itami Airport at 5AM. Um, it turns out the airport doesn’t open until 6AM. Yeah…who knew that airports closed at night? I’ve never heard such a thing. And apparently neither have Seiko, or Otōsan, or the guy at the CIE who called the taxi for me, because no one thought to tell us that we’d be standing outside the airport doors with our luggage for an hour! Bizarre. Luckily we found a security guard who informed us that no, we are not lost, the place just doesn’t open for another hour. I’m so glad Mariah is with me; I’d be terrified, but at this point it’s just hilarious. I’m so happy to be going home that it’s not gonna faze me.

Anyway, we found this little empty room that was open, so we’re sitting here on the floor waiting until 6:00. We’re right across the street from the police station, so that makes me feel good. I’m just hoping somebody doesn’t discover us and kick us out for trespassing; I have no idea what this place is. Probably just a service entrance for something. Anyway, there’s no heat, but it’s closed in and considerably warmer than outside. Things could be worse. I even have a bottle of Coke and a pack of Choco Chippu to tide us over. I’m very entertained by the whole situation, to tell the truth.

Mkay, I guess I’ll just play some FreeCell for the next 55 minutes.

Twelve hours to go!

Today was my last day in Japan, and I'm pretty tired from it. I sold back my bike to the place that sold it to me--the shop where I asked for a vegetable bike. I bought it from them for 6500, and sold it back for 700. Not such a great deal, but that's okay; it was a good bike, and it was orange and had a groovy basket. Then I walked to school and had lunch with Saho at the round cafeteria, where I ate one last curry rice.

After lunch I got a nice man in the CIE to call a taxi for me; it'll be here to pick me up at 4AM. I also took my final exam for Japan in Western Film and Literature, which was a little more difficult than I expected, but not a big deal. When that was over, I met with Yukari, and she gave me some really pretty chopsticks as well as a luck charm. They're really cute.

I got some hot chocolate and walked home; it was cold, but a pleasant evening. I was a little sad to be leaving campus and seeing the neighborhood for the last time, but I'm so excited to leave, too. When I got back to the dorm, I did some last minute cleaning before my room inspection. I had heard that they were really strict about things being clean, so I went all out. I even took wet Kleenex to the corners of my closet so I got all the dust up. Okaasan seemed pleased. Apparently I was one of the few people who passed the inspection the first time and didn't have to go back and vacuum or do dishes, and she was so overjoyed that she gave me a hug. Weird.

Anyway, after all that cleaning I took a shower, and now I'm sleepy and ready for bed. Aww, my last time with my beloved futon! How sad. I really, really do love that thing. So comfortable! Oh well.

It's not even 9:00, but I'm waking up at 3AM, so I'll be going to bed now. Goodnight, and wish me luck with the travel.

The Dessert Viking

Mkay, so after that last frantic post I continued to freak out, talked on Skype to Cara, and had a massive cry. It's not that big of a deal, I know, but I got really upset for some reason. (TMI WARNING: Part of it, I'm sure, is that my hormones are playing fun games with me right now. Did this incredibly stressful travel have to come at this particular time of the month? Honestly.) But anyway, after a nice nap and part of a delicious chocolate bar from Leslie, I was feeling better enough to finally start packing.

At 6:00 I met Shoko, Leslie, and Jamie and we headed to Shinsaibashi in Osaka to eat at Sweets Paradise. I swear, I've said like four times to myself, "Oh, this is my last time in Osaka! How sad," yet I keep going back. Anyway, Sweets Paradise is a "dessert viking," which is an image that makes me smile. I think of some pale blond guy holding a sword made out of Twinkies or something. But "viking" is the Japanese word for buffet--I think it has some relation to our borrowed word "smorgasbord." At least, both make me think of Scandanavia. But I digress.

The dessert viking was delicious. You pay about $15 for an hour and a half, and it's all you can eat yum. Mostly it's different kinds of cake-like things, but they also had fruit, ice cream, sno-cones, potato chips, pasta, curry rice, soup, and gelatins. I found a tomato and eggplant pasta that I loved. I realized later why I liked it so much: it didn't taste remotely like fish. Oh Japan. Also there was an Oreo cheesecake that made my life better. Like I said before, a lot of Japanese desserts seem to have a sugar-free flavor, so most of the other sweets were so-so, I thought. Still I really enjoyed the pasta, and I'm quite full. I'm not sure it was worth the full $15, but it was a lot of fun. And they were playing this Christmas music in a music-box style, which made everything meccha whimsical and stuff, especially with all the Christmas lights and snowflake decorations and all. It was like living in Candy Land, especially the area with Queen Frostine and the root beer float sea or whatever it was called.

I always liked Queen Frostine, but it bothered me that on my Candy Land board, she looked a little bit different than she did on the instructions. I think it was just her dress that was a bit different. Still, how come Gloppy or Grandma Nut didn't change clothes? Weird.

Anyway, after we had eaten all we could, we headed home. And this really was my last time on the train, I think. It was a good train ride; I talked a lot with Shoko, which was fun. She's a really, really sweet person. Turns out she's from Kobe, and she'll be living there again next semester because her contract in the seminar house was just for the fall. She had a two and a half hour commute (one way) every day! I couldn't do it.

And then I got home and finished packing. Everything actually fit, and I didn't even have to sit on either suitcase. Weird. I still have a few more last-minute things to put in there, like my pajamas, but it shouldn't be a problem. I'm very, very glad to have the packing done, though. That's a relief.

I haven't been able to get ahold of Seiko, my RA, who is going to help me get a taxi. But that's okay, I can do it tomorrow. And I can always get help from Saho or Yukari tomorrow, too.

So, tomorrow I'll try again to sell my bike back, dust off all my stuff in my room so it's ready for inspection, and run the sweeper. I'm to meet Saho for lunch at 11:30 at school, and I'll chill there until my 2:30 exam. The final shouldn't take more than an hour, tops, so I've got free time after that. At 4:30 I'm meeting Yukari, and we're going to hang out until 6:00, at which point I'm coming back to the dorm. At 7:40 Otōsan comes to inspect my room and give me the go-ahead to check out. Then I plan to take a final shower, and nap until about 2 or 3AM. The taxi should come at 4AM to take Mariah and me to the airport. At least, that's the plan. We shall see.

In any case, I'm feeling much better about things than I was earlier, because if nothing else I know all my stuff will fit in my luggage. And now I'm going to shower and go to bed, because I am so drained right now it's not funny.

Grrr

It's only 1:30PM, but today has not been going as planned. I enjoyed talking to my family on Skype this morning, but after that things have been downhill.

I went to go sell my bike back, and on the way discovered that Sachi hadn't opened for lunch, so I couldn't get my okonomiyaki there. And when I arrived at the bike shop, it was closed too. So I rode to another bike shop farther away. They said that they didn't buy used bikes, so that was a useless trip. So I just had to come home, and I got some take-out okonomiyaki for lunch. I still have my bike now; I'll try to sell it back tomorrow, and if that doesn't work, I guess I'll just have to recycle it.

Then I got to talk to David on Skype, which was really nice, and he's doing well. But I found out that I won't be able to see him until after New Year's, it seems. He offered to come meet me at the airport and visit for a day or two after that, but I think I'll be way too jet lagged to be any fun and I don't know that my family would want to share, so we're not going to do that. Our original plan had been for him to visit from the day after Christmas until the 30th, but now that won't work out, either. His family has changed their plans to be in Virginia at that time, so no visit then. His mom invited me to spend New Year's Eve with them in Columbus, but I've already got plans to be at Alex's party, so that's a no go. I guess he'll come sometime the week of New Year's. That'll be nice, but I have a bunch of doctor's appointments and errands to run that week, so I'm not sure how it'll work out. It's really frustrating. I hate having to change my plans, especially this one. I had been looking forward so much to seeing him soon. Oh well. It's already been since August; what's another two weeks?

Anyway, I'm not a happy camper at the moment. I'm gonna take a nap to try to sleep it off. ;_; apsdoiwvn I'm so mad!

Final Plans

Mkay, it's midnight and I'm finally starting to feel a little sleepy. I took a nap today and woke up at 7PM, so my clock is a little off. But I'm not really concerned because I'll be so jet lagged out of my mind in a few days that it doesn't matter.

Today I had my art history exam, which went very well. I also turned in my psych paper, so I'm done with that class too. I cancelled my bicycle registration and got my $100 deposit back. This afternoon I also studied for Film and Lit class with Ayumi, which was a bit boring, to tell the truth, but now I've got all my studying done, so it's okay. She was very appreciative, too, and that made me feel good.

I have cleaned out all my foodstuffs except for supplies to make a last minute egg sandwich if needed. I've slowly been working on getting other things disposed of, too. I do have a lot of stuff. I really hope everything will fit into my luggage.

Tomorrow I have no exams or anything, so here's the plan:
Get up early to Skype with my family, then David
Sell back my bike
Eat one last okonomiyaki at Sachi for lunch
Nap
Pack
Go to Sweets Paradise at Shinsaibashi with Melissa, Daniel, etc. and pig out
Pack some more/organize
Shower
Bed

So tomorrow should be pretty sweet.

Exams and Socialization Plans

This morning was my final exam for Spoken Japanese. I had been pretty worried about it, but I feel like it went really, really well. There are a few things I know I messed up, but overall it was much easier than I expected. And there were some sections that I know I aced. Yay! Well, I say that now; we'll see what the grade actually looks like. But I'm hopeful. Also today, we got the results of the oral part of the exam, and I got 27.5 out of 30--much better than I had hoped! So things are looking really good.

Tomorrow I have my art history exam, which will be a breeze, assuming I can get it into my skull that the Momoyama period came after the Muromachi period. And that I can remember the difference between Shubun, Sesshu, and Sesson. Really, though, studying for that exam has gone much better than anticipated.

Part of my problem is that when two words begin with the same letter, I often mix them up. I had a terrible time reading some of the Jane Austen books because so many characters have names that begin with the same letter. All this Shubun/Sesshu/Sesson/Sotatsu stuff really confuses me.

Before I go to bed tonight, I plan to finish my take-home essay exam for psychology. That would mean that I could turn it in tomorrow, well before the Thursday due date, and I wouldn't have to go to campus at all on Thursday. Thursday, I think, will be a day of packing and tying up loose ends. I need to sell back my bicycle, for instance. So many little things to do.

This afternoon I got to talk on Skype with Alex and Cara for quite a while! It was a lot of fun. Except we mostly talked about how Navy sonar confuses whales, and the legal and environmental ramifications. Debbie Downer, right? But hey, talking about dying whales with friends is better than talking about chocolate cake with people you don't really like, I guess. ^_^ Anyway, it was nice to talk to them.

I'm so excited to go home and see my friends over the break. I think Nikki is going to come visit me soon after I get home. She's practically family anyway, so I told her she could just come into my room and wake me up whenever she wants to visit, because I expect I'll be sleeping off the jet lag for the first few days. I'm supposed to go on a nice dinner date with Cara, with Derby pie to follow. Erin and I are thinking of getting facials. It'll be good to be home.

And for New Year's Eve, Alex has invited me to her house for a party with crafts included! Her parties are always the best; I can't wait. At past events, we have roasted marshmallows, baked cakes, and whacked the living daylights out of a multicolored piñata shaped like a bull. (That last one was my favorite.) I'm already trying to think of where I have put my leftover acrylic paint from Art 101 so I can contribute to the craft supplies. I'm not sure what we're making--the mystery is part of the fun--but I'm confident that a good time will be had by all.

Okay, now to finish this psych exam. Almost done; almost home!

Observations and Other Things

• The other day I saw a blimp, but somehow I forgot to mention it. I was coming out of class and heading for the bicycle parking lot, walking across the green sand ball courts, when I looked up and saw a big white blimp flying away from me. I couldn't see the side of it, so I don't know what it was advertising. But it was super exciting! Blimps always remind me of Derby. I have this great memory of playing outside in the back yard with Grandma, probably on Oaks Day, and we were watching for the Shamu blimp to fly over. Good times.
• Today I found a ¥1 coin on the ground, and I relized that it was the first money I have found here. For being a totally cash-based country, people sure don't drop their coins. Or at least, they don't leave them on the ground.
• You know how most Americans pull into a parking space? How we drive in and back out? It's the opposite here. People always seem to back into parking spaces, and then pull out forward. Interesting.
• On Saturday when I was coming back from Osaka, I saw my first Japanese soldier in uniform. (At least, I think he was a soldier; some of the security guard uniforms are really elaborate.) Are they called soldiers? I'm not sure, because technically Japan doesn't have a military. So if soldiers make up a military, who constitues the Self-Defense Force? Anyway, I had noticed the lack of Self-Defense Force people in uniform, because at home it's not uncommon to see uniformed people at the mall or whatnot. But that doesn't seem to happen here.
• Do the flowers ever die here? It's gotten to about freezing a couple of nights, but apparently there's been no killing frost. The geraniums are still going strong. And you should see the roses! It's ridiculous. If they have flowers like this year-round, I'm not really sure what all the fuss about the cherry blossoms is; you'd think they'd be used to it.
• The trees still have their leaves, too. The mountains are really pretty in the distance because of the fall colors. Is this as bad as winter gets here? Surely not.

Today I had my final for reading/writing, and I think it went really well. Tomorrow morning is my speaking final, which will be pretty brutal. I'm okay on the keigo, but I don't know my vocab, and I'm terrible--really, really bad--with passive, causative, and causative-passive constructions. But I'm not too terribly concerned; I've got an A in the class right now, and it's not like this semester impacts my GPA or anything, so whatever.

This evening I met up with Saho on campus, and she gave me a really nice bag full of parting gifts. I got chocolates, a New Year's wall hanging, chopsticks, two chopsticks rests, and a chopsticks box. The chopsticks are my favorite. I was born in the year of the dragon, so Saho found me dragon chopsticks! Except it's not a dragon like we think of--it's a seahorse! Seahorses are called "dragons" in Japanese. So now I have chopsticks with cute little red seahorses on them. It was very thoughtful.

Today was my last linen exchange day here, and my last medicine refill day. I have started sorting through things to throw away so I can pack fairly quickly.

Last Sunday in Japan

Well, it's less than a week to go, and I can't wait. Today I started throwing away small things that I won't need anymore, like a used cookie tin. Exciting!

I also have been studying all day. (By all day I mean since 12:30 when I woke up, and not counting lunch or supper or my nap.) Seriously, though, I've been really productive. I made all my art history flash cards and I studied a fair amount for my writing exam in the morning. Really, I'm not concerned about tomorrow's test.

I'm so hungry. Really, really hungry. But I only have two eggs, butter, okonomiyaki sauce, pepper, creamer, fish-flavored powder, sugar, olive oil, and three packs of noodles. Not a whole lot you can do with just that. I've eaten everything else. Tomorrow I'll swing by the store and get some bread so I can at least make a sandwich out of the eggs. But I'm trying not to overbuy because I get to COME HOME soon.

I decided to walk to the liquor store around the corner this evening to buy some cookies, but they were closed because it is Sunday. I hadn't thought of that, and I was very disappointed standing outside in the cold wanting my Oreos. So I didn't get cookies. It was too cold at the time to bike to the convenience stores farther away, so I fried up a pack of tater tots I found in the freezer. I've been wondering for a couple of months if they were mine. Normally I write my name on my stuff but sometimes I forget, and no one else has expressed any interest in them, so by the hunger vested in me they became mine. They were delicious. But I'm still hungry.

My schedule this week is so weird as far as when my exams are. Kinda nice, though, to have some variety.

Umeda Sky Building

Oh my gosh I am so tired out from the day it’s not even funny.

I slept in until 11:30, which was glorious. I got up, showered, walked to school, bought some tape so I can make my art history flash cards, and ate lunch while I studied for my art exam on Wednesday. At 2:00 I met Saho at the CIE, and we walked to Hirakatashi-eki. Thank goodness the weather was beautiful today—sunny and in the high 50s—because I did so much outdoor walking today!

We took the train to Shinsaibashi and did some shopping there. I really like that place; it’s the third time I’ve been, and each time I’ve been amazed by something. This time, on the main bridge, there was a wonderful mix of people. There were all the regular shoppers, and of course Glico Man triumphant in the background. There was also a street musician with a didgeridoo, and a bunch of monks out begging. One of the monks had a digital camera and was taking pictures of his colleagues as they stood there with their little bowls. Super cool.

We stopped at a little cake shop in the area, too, which was fun. It had this neat rustic French theme going on, so I felt like I was in Beauty and the Beast. Anyway, I got something called “Shortcake New York Cut,” which was a really nice strawberry and whipped cream concoction with some chocolate cake. I have always heard that Japanese desserts are lousy, and I can understand where that idea got started. It looked totally decadent, but it tasted like some low-sugar, low-calorie, sawdust-instead-of-butter dessert we’d have in the States. It was still good, just needed some more sugar. Of course, being from Kentucky, if it’s not fried, chocolate, and covered in salt and sugar I don’t think it’s worth eating. Anyway, I was pretty impressed; it was tasty without being overpowering. Verdict on Japanese cake: meh. (Note that the small sample size of 1 may have impacted the survey’s outcome.)

After the cake, we were off to the Umeda Sky Building. We got a little lost and wandered around Umeda for a while trying to get oriented, but eventually we found our way. In the plaza at the building’s base, they were having this big Christmas festival, and the theme was Germany. There were all these booths set up selling German foods and trinkets, and there were a lot of German people there. Also, there was a big Christmas tree with lights and everything, and a stage in front of it where there were performers.

Anyway, we paid our 700yen entrance fee to the building. First we walked across this glass walkway three stories up, so you could look down and see all the people walking around looking at the booths and all. Then we got into the glass elevator that took us to the 35th floor; the ride up was way cool, and we went so fast it made my ears hurt from the pressure changes. At this point it was about 5:30 and the sun had gone down, so the city lights were pretty. After the 35th floor, we took an escalator up to the observation area. It’s hard to describe the escalator, but it was glassed in and took us diagonally from one part of the building to the other so we were suspended in midair. Way cool, anyway. At this point I’m not sure how far up we were, but there was a restaurant and all these chairs in front of huge windows so you could look out on the city. There were even these elevated booths that couples seem to like, and there was sort of a museum-like display of the forerunners of the Sky Building. It included everything from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to the ruins at Tikal to the Empire State Building.

The best part, though, was the open air observation deck. It’s a circular platform stuck between the two legs of the building, and there’s paint splattered on the floor and black lights to illuminate it, so it looks like you’re standing on stars. And you can just walk around and look at the lights for as long as you want, and they were playing Christmas music. It was so neat. Absolutely amazing, though, was the moon. The sky was overcast, so you couldn’t tell where the mountains surrounding the city started and the sky stopped. Except we arrived just in time to see a bit of orange peek out over one of the mountaintops in the east, and that part of the sky cleared just enough to see the full moon rise over the mountain. It was absolutely amazing. We stayed up there for quite a while looking at all the lights and buildings and people. I especially liked the trains; they look like little centipedes running through the city.

It was so, so cool getting to see Osaka from above, and I’m glad that I went just before I’m leaving. It put me in a sentimental mood, especially watching the planes take off and fly away over the mountains. But all the Christmas music and lovey-dovey couples made me really want to go home, too. Anyway, if you’re ever looking for a great date spot in Osaka, go to the Umeda Sky Building at night.

At that point we were hungry, so we took the escalator and elevator and walkway down to the ground level. This part of the building contains a lot of restaurants, which would be ho-hum except that it’s been decorated to look like a Showa Period street. It’s so cool! There are all these wooden buildings with tile roofs along narrow streets, and power lines going across above you, and there are even details like an old bicycle left leaning up against a tool shed, and a pump well like the one in Totoro. If you’ve ever been to the New York, New York casino in Las Vegas, you’ll have an idea of what I’m talking about, although this was much, much better than that casino. New York New York is totally overwhelming and claustrophobic, but this was just cool. We stopped to eat in one of the restaurants, and I had some shrimp tempura ramen in soy-based sauce with brown rice and carrots and shiitake mushrooms. Yum!

Before we left, we walked around the plaza a bit and looked at all the things for sale. Santa Claus was there, and we took our picture with him. Also, there were two bands that we stopped to watch. The first was a group of salarymen from the Sky Building who had a Beatles tribute band, which was awesome! I mean, they weren’t that good at all, but they were a blast to watch, and it was so cool hearing the Beatles in Japan. The next group was just bizarre; it was a Dixieland quintet, and I’ve never seen anything so strange. They were dressed in these old-timey clothes, and the leader sang the Japanese lyrics with a very strong south Alabama accent (“uh-shee-tuh gah ah-rrrroo”). Weird! Their mannerisms were over the top, and they played twangy tunes with silly lyrics. Basically, it was a minstrel show, and if I hadn’t been so perplexed by the whole experience I probably would have been offended because really the only thing they were missing was the paint for blackface. Anyway, there was this group of little kids, probably ranging from ages three to six, who were standing directly in front of the stage and dancing wildly to the music of both groups. Saho and I just stood there and laughed hysterically at them for minutes. At one point two boys were attempting to breakdance, and later on they were leading a sort of patty-cake game to the beat of the music. The whole thing was a total blast.

Saho gave me a cute little cell phone charm of Hello Kitty at the Umeda Sky Building, which I thought was very sweet. It’s now hanging on my purse until I get back to my cell phone at home. She also called her house and let me talk to her family members to say goodbye. They were so nice to me; I’m going to send them a really nice letter once I get settled back at home.

I didn’t get a seat on the trains or on the bus on the way home, and after so, so much walking today my feet are completely killing me, and I’m about to fall asleep as I write this. I treated myself to a Snickers bar when I got home, because chocolate is a cure for everything. And now it's time for bed.

Seven days. (Geez, I feel like Frank from Donnie Darko.)

Last Day of Classes

Today was really nice. I slept in, did some laundry, and chatted with Alex and David because I didn't have any morning classes today. Art history was mainly a review, and in Film and Lit we finished watching Fear and Trembling, and I've decided that it's a really good movie. I think I'll try to find it in the States; it's a movie I would watch many times. I ate a really late (4PM) lunch of curry before heading home and napping. The evening has been low-key, with a grilled cheese sandwich and lots of computer solitaire.

Tomorrow I'm going to Osaka with Saho, my homevisit partner. It should be nice. I really should be studying a lot this weekend, but at the moment my motivation is nil. Meh, it'll get done. The only test I'm worried about at all is my speaking test on Tuesday. Other than that, it should be a breeze.

Not much to say today, sorry.

終わった！

I finished my paper a little after midnight, as planned. Tomorrow should be epically awesome--sleep in, have a Skype date with David, eat lunch with friends, go to my two favorite classes, and that's it! Yay!

I got an email from Saho asking if I wanted to do some sightseeing in Osaka on Saturday, so I think I'll do that. It'll be fun. I want to go to the Umeda Sky Building; I think that would be a nice way to end this trip.

I took a shower about an hour ago, and my hair is drying really nicely. Too bad I'm about to go sleep on it and smush it against my pillow and mess it up. Oh well; I'm very lucky in that my hair is super low-maintanence. And I think that I am, overall, super low-maintanence in general, so I'm not sure I'd care even if it needed a lot of styling. Okie dokie, it must be getting late: I just wrote about my hair. Goodnight, all.

Khaki Narrator and the Herd of Amorous Wildebeest

I'm taking a quick break from writing my Film and Lit essay to update.

Sometimes I love to write. It was unbearably painful to force myself to sit down and write this essay, but once the words start to come I have an absolute blast. I like trying to make things a little more interesting for the teacher. I love big words, but I also like to throw in the occasional Ridiculously Offbeat Statement to keep things light. In this essay, about how several films use animal imagery to dehumanize Japanese people--bit of a heavy subject, right?--I have just typed the following: "John Huston and the Japanese are as different as Khaki Narrator and the herd of amorous wildebeest." And that I why I love to write.

If I ever start a rock band, that would be our name, by the way. Khaki Narrator and the Herd of Amorous Wildebeest. Grammys, here we come!

Today I found someone to share a taxi with to go to the airport next Saturday! Yay! Now I'll only have to pay half of the exorbitant fare. I was so happy. And I have signed up for a time to have my room inspection for checkout. Things are winding down, and I can't wait.

This morning I had the oral portion of the final exam for my speaking class. The scenario was that I was going in for a job interview at a coffee shop. It didn't go as well as I had hoped, considering how much I had prepared for it. I just got in there and had a few times where I just stared at Sensei and was like "Um, what? Oh, yeah, I'm supposed to be saying something." It was one of those things. Oh well. I certainly didn't bomb, but I could have done much, much better.

An observation: Figure skating seems to be really popular here. Recently there was an important competition in Hokkaido, and it was all over the television. Also, there have been frequent news articles about figure skaters. It's strange for me to see figure skating news taking up as much newspaper space as football news. Cool, but weird.

Mkay, back to the salt mines. I'm trying to get this essay knocked out before midnight. We shall see. Two out of six pages down in the last hour, so things are looking good. Wish me luck.

Filmmaking, Chocolate Nerds, and Ticket Machines

Today was nice and warm and sunny, which was nice. In speaking class, Japanese students came in and helped us prepare for our speaking exam tomorrow, so I'm feeling pretty confident about that. And I've had a good time chatting with friends today, too. So it's been a good day. Plus, I've made progress on my Film and Lit paper, and I finished my art paper.

I forgot to mention this and it happened like forever ago, but since I included it on my list of things I've done, I figure I should explain. Way back in September when I first went to Kyōto with the Japanese students to see Yasaka Jinja and Kiyomizudera, we were walking through a street in the eastern part of the city when we came across this camera crew. There were a man and woman on a motorcycle, and the cameras were filming them getting ready to drive downhill. Turns out they were Thai movie stars making a film. Go figure.

There's a kind of candy here called Walky-Walky. I have never tried it, because who names a candy something silly like "Walky-Walky" if it's delicious? But my friend Daniel assures me that they are amazing and are like chocolate Nerds. So, David, I think, in honor of your love of Nerds (which, by the way, you have spilled all over my car), I will try some Walky-Walky and bring it back for you if it really is good.

When I was coming back from Osaka last weekend, I was standing at the ticket vending machine at one of the stations buying my ticket. There was an old lady at the ticket machine next to me, and as I was turning to leave, she asked me for help. ^_^ It made me so happy! I mean, I was scared out of my mind because I knew I should be using keigo and stuff but I was too nervous. But I was able to tell her that that machine was card only, and to use coins she needed to use the machine I was at. After that I ran off. I was so excited, though, that a Japanese person had asked me for help! It made me proud. And she was an adorable little old lady.

I'm hungry, but I don't know why. I've eaten what I think should be enough, but my tummy feels empty. Strange. I'll wait it out; it's bedtime now anyway.

Today I started looking into baggage restrictions and stuff for my flight home. I still need to get a taxi, but I think I'll start investigating that tomorrow.

"Just 2 more weeks until you feel brilliant again"--Mom

Today was considerably better than yesterday, which is funny, because as I was riding my bike to school I passed a Japanese student whose jeans (yes, jeans--I don't think American pants talk to us; usually we leave that to witty t-shirts) said "Today will be a better day." Apparently Japanese blue jeans don't lie.

This was my last regular Tuesday, for which I am grateful. Tuesdays are always long, as a feel the need to mention every week. Sorry, I get really repetitive, I know. My Japanese classes are winding down, which is good; if I had to learn one more verb form I think my head would pop. In reading/writing today we played a Jeopardy-like game, which my team lost miserably, although it was fun.

After class I found out that a good friend and his girlfriend of about two years have split up, so that was a bit of a downer. (;_;)

I thoroughly enjoyed lunch today. I got the really good curry rice from the round cafeteria. I like to sit up on the second floor and look at the garden outside and read while I eat, and that's what I did today. It was nice. I wish the thing I was reading hadn't been research on the life of Ogata Kōrin, but what are you gonna do?

Psychology today was pretty boring. I've just lost interest. In Film and Lit, though, we watched a French comedy that I really, really enjoyed called Fear and Trembling. It's a hilarious movie about a young Belgian woman who goes to work for a Japanese corporation as a translator and through a series of mistakes works her way down the corporate ladder to the position of bathroom attendant. I can relate. After class, Dr. Hollstein asked me to help one of my classmates study for the final exam because she's having trouble with the English. That made me happy, that now I have something to do to help somebody else, and that he thought to ask me to do it.

I've got two big final papers due on Friday, and I haven't started really writing either one, although today I got a good pre-writing start on both. I stopped by the library this morning to get books on the Rimpa school for art history, where I'm writing a paper on Red and White Plum Blossoms. I also went to the language lab to watch Rising Sun for my Film and Lit paper, although I didn't get to finish viewing it before the lab closed. I'll continue watching tomorrow morning.

I'm really not looking forward to doing the papers; they shouldn't be bad, really, but I'm totally uninspired. My only exciting thing is the title for the Film and Lit paper: "Wesley and Sean Go On Safari: Rising Sun, Animal Behavior, and Dehumanizing the Japanese." I thought that was clever; I like fun titles. Now if I can just squeeze seven pages out of that. Luckily, the art paper is only three to four pages, so I can probably BS my way through it to a large degree, especially because we can include a section on our opinions. Not that I would ever slack on a paper. I am a good student and always try my hardest. Except when it's the end of the semester and I want to go home and I don't feel like writing. ::headdesk::

One year ago today I made it official with David on Facebook, so I consider this our first anniversary of being together. (^_^) That makes me happy. We'll have to go on a nice celebration date when I get home; the Skype dates are nice, but they just don't cut it for a big event like this.

"It's been a bad day, another bad day"

Today has downright sucked. It was cold this morning—really cold, frost cold. My legs were partially numb by the time I got to campus. At least it was sunny. And my kanji quiz went very well, I think.

I had an hour between my two classes this morning, so I decided to go grocery shopping during that time. But when I went to get my bike from the parking lot, I started having big trouble. I couldn’t get the kickstand to budge. I had been able to unlock the lock and wiggle the bike out of the crowded part of the parking lot so I could have room to work with it. But no matter how hard I pushed or pulled or leaned with all my weight, I simply could not get the kickstand up. I tried holding the kickstand still with my foot while I pushed as hard as I could against the handle bars. I flipped the bike over and tried pulling from another angle. I stood on the other side of the bike and tried the same things. I kicked the bike in several places and even punched the seat a little. I made grunting sounds like the ones tennis players make on TV as I pulled and pushed. For fifteen minutes I wrestled with that stupid kickstand. For fifteen minutes other students walked by, staring. Nobody offered to help; that bothered me.

Finally, one of the security guards came by; they occasionally patrol the parking lot to make sure Rude Bicycles don’t cause trouble or anything. The guard, thank goodness, asked if something was wrong. I said I couldn’t get the kickstand to move. (Well, I couldn’t say that in Japanese, but I think he got the point.) And then he gave me this look like “How incredibly dim are you?” He flipped this little switch contraption on the kickstand, and it was fixed. Apparently there was some sort of parking brake mechanism that I didn’t know the bike had, and I had accidentally put it on when I parked this morning. Yes, I spent fifteen minutes literally wrestling with an orange bicycle because I didn’t know its parking brake was on. At that point, I wasn’t even terribly happy that my bike now worked, I was just pissed off and embarrassed. I just looked at the security guard, who had this expression of, “Well, is that all?” and thanked him. It was all I could do to load my books into the basket and pedal off a bit before I burst into tears.

Everything I do here is humiliating. I’m really sick of it. I’m tired of being the tourist, the one who doesn’t understand, the fat American, the foreigner, the only girl not wearing makeup, the one no one will sit by on the train. (Really, you should watch how the train cars fill up; people stand before they take a seat next to me.) It’s not fun anymore. I want to go home.

I’m just not very good at living here, and I hate not being good at things. I don’t like feeling stupid, and Japan makes me feel stupid. Like, really stupid, all the time. Today I remembered that, back at home, I'm really smart--at least in the school sense--and that surprised me. I had forgotten that I am capable; that's not a good thing. I need to go home.

Anyway, I made it to the QQ and did my shopping, and quickly headed back to school for speaking class, which went well. I had a Skype date with David set for 12:15, so I grabbed some McDonald’s to eat at home after class. By this time I was feeling all tingly because of going in and out of the cold so much, but I just wanted to get home, basically.

But when I got online, David wasn’t there. I checked my email, and had a message from him asking if everything was okay, because he hadn’t heard from me in a long time. A long time? I emailed him last night! I have suspected this for a while now, but now I know: my Internet connection eats emails. It picks and chooses which emails of mine it wants to deliver. So I’m really sorry, but I may have been sending you emails all semester that you didn’t get. Apparently like none of the four or five emails I sent David last week arrived at their destination. That meant that he didn’t know that I was expecting to see him on Skype, so the date was off.

So now, in addition to having ridiculous parking brakes on bicycles, this place also sabotages communications with my boyfriend. AND tomorrow is our first anniversary, which it’s bad enough that I have to miss. Great. Just great. I totally lost it at that point, and frantically tried to get ahold of David using Skype, Skype Chat, meebo, email, and Facebook. I also tried to reach some of his fraternity brothers to see if they could go down the hall and find him for me, but that didn’t work. Luckily, I was able to contact Michael, David’s brother, via Facebook. I got Michael to call David and ask him to get online.

Finally, then, we got to talk on Skype. And that was good. Things are going well for him. I felt much better after our chat.

Well, that was the major trauma for the day; nothing else really terrible has happened. Oh, but last night I had a dream that I stabbed myself in the stomach with my vegetable knife. I still have two big papers due on Friday that I haven’t really started on. And tonight when I was cooking supper the kitchen was a total mess and all the small skillets were dirty because other people don’t do their dishes like they should, so I had to use a big skillet so my eggs didn’t cook as nicely as I wanted.

And that has been my bad day so far. Hopefully nothing else bad will happen. And in the grand scheme of things, nothing bad really did happen. I was delayed for a few minutes by the bike I could afford to buy to use to get to the conveniently close grocery that always has food and stable prices that I can also afford to pay. And then I had to wait a few minutes to talk to a fantastic guy who loves me from halfway around the world using amazing technology and a computer that I received as a gift. Oh, boo hoo. I guess I really can’t complain too much. At the end of the day, I’m warm and fed and safe; much better off than many people can say.

I’m going to go take a nice hot shower before I buckle down on the homework.

What I did on my study abroad

Today being Sunday, I slept in until 11:00, which was glorious. And when I checked my email before lunch, I was happy to find a really sweet message from David waiting for me. ^_^ That made me happy. For lunch I had pumpkin croquettes and grilled cheese, and afterward I made the marinade for my fish and let that soak for a while. This afternoon I took a shower and a nap, then I cooked the fish and had supper. This evening I did a little bit of homework, but not as much as I should have, probably. I also snacked on some peanut butter crackers because the fish wasn't very filling. It's been a pretty uneventful day, as you can see.

I guess the most exciting thing that happened was when I was re-stocking my medicine for the week. I have so little medicine left! My pill bottles have acted as something of an hourglass for me throughout the semester, and the sand is getting very low. I can't wait to come home. Just one more time refilling my pill organizer here, and then I can do it sitting at the kitchen table at home in front of SNL, like I used to do. Ya-freakin'-hoo!

I really, really need to go to the grocery tomorrow. I have no bread and no potstickers. This is not good. I'm trying not to over-stock on the food, though, because I get to leave in like TWELVE DAYS so I don't have that many more meals to cook.

Can you tell I'm excited about going home?

There are still so many things I haven't done here that I probably should. Like:

• Riding the Shinkansen, or Bullet Train
• Seeing Lake Biwa
• Going to Hokkaido and seeing Ainu stuff
• Going clubbing in Osaka
• Eating whale
• Seeing the Studio Ghibli Museum
• Going to Tokyo Disney
• Seeing the monkeys at Arashiyama
• Visiting the Umeda Sky Building
• See a kabuki or noh or rakugo performance
• Be in a small earthquake

On the other hand, I've done a lot of stuff; a lot more that I had given myself credit for. I have:

• Seen Mt. Fuji (from an airplane)
• Been to a middle school culture festival
• Been invited to a Japanese dinner party
• Eaten okonomiyaki and takoyaki in Osaka
• Taken a picture with the 10-yen coin in front of the Phoenix Hall
• Stood on a 1500 year old keyhole-shaped burial mound
• Held pottery shards from the Jomon, Yayoi, and Kofun periods
• Seen maiko going about their lives in Gion
• Done karaoke with Japanese people
• Gone drinking with friends at an izakaya
• Learned to cook various things for myself
• Eaten raw horse meat
• Eaten curry for the first time
• Seen manta rays and whale sharks up close
• Been squeezed onto one of the famous man'in densha, or super-packed train cars
• Tried Mos Burger
• Gotten stuck, alone and intoxicated, at a train station at night and made it home safely
• Ridden my bike while carrying an umbrella
• Learned to ride my bike while balancing school books and a week's worth of groceries in my goofy little front basket
• Been to a tea ceremony in Uji
• Seen (and appreciated--yes, I'm weird) more types of moss than you can imagine
• Gotten lost in a train station and asked for directions in Japanese
• Made friends from places including Singapore, Malta, Tasmania, South Ossetia, Germany, and Michigan (^_~)
• Stood naked and freezing outside at a mountainside hotspring at the peak season for colored leaves
• Bought beer from a vending machine
• Been to a middle school band concert
• Climbed up seven floors of a 700 year-old castle in a jeans miniskirt (poor choices, I know; at least I was wearing cute panties that day)
• Seen the world's longest suspension bridge
• Drunk straight from a sacred waterfall
• Visited the same buildings as Ernest Fenollosa
• Seen a Thai film being shot
• Gone shopping for secondhand electronics in Den-Den Town
• Bought an anime figurine out of a gachapon
• Experienced the remnants of a typhoon
• Using Japanese, given my seat on the bus to an obaasan (grandma)
• Sat in zazen in a small Buddhist school in Gion
• Seen the biggest bugs you can imagine
• Learned to use a squat toilet
• Used keigo to ask strangers for favors
• Had the lamest Thanksgiving dinner ever: dollar-store pre-made potstickers
• Stood in a room full of people from around the world and cried tears of joy with them when Barack Obama was elected president
• Watched hosts out recruiting at train stations
• Seen a Sweet Lolita girl on a bus
• Been really, really perplexed by game shows
• Done purikura
• Watched a woodblock artist at work in her Kyōto studio
• Picked up a little Kansai-ben
• Attempted to nap on hot rocks at a spa
• Watched sumo on TV
• Taught English to small children
• Stood inside the largest wooden structure in the world
• Been attacked by sacred deer (messengers of the gods my butt! They just wanted food.)
• Seen some adorable kids at a shrine for Shichi-Go-San
• Watched a kyūdō practice
• Stared for a really long time at a plot of sand with some rocks in it
• Walked the Path of Philosophy
• Eaten breakfast at a train station noodle shop surrounded by salarymen during the Ōsaka morning rush

And that's just the stuff I can think of right now. I guess I've had a pretty successful trip, ne?

Today I made what was probably my last trip to Osaka. I went to Tempozan Harbor Village to do some souvenir shopping at the big mall there. Last time I was there it was ungodly hot; today was freezing. I don't think it got out of the 30s today, and being downtown and right on the water without a coat was not very pleasant. But it made curling up in my futon when I got home all the more pleasant, I suppose.

One thing I've noticed is that you don't see a whole lot of Japanese flags here. Every once in a while you'll see one, and they seem to appear mostly around national holidays. But people don't fly flags outside their homes, and it's not like American businesses where every Thornton's gas station in the US has a big flag flying. Interesting.

Tomorrow will be a big homework day. I've got two final papers due on Friday, and a final oral exam on Thursday, plus a lesson quiz on Monday. Busy week. But that's okay, because it means I'll be coming home soon!

Two more weeks. Wow.

Thunderstorms and Vertigo

I was woken up this morning about half an hour before my alarm went off by a really loud clap of thunder. It was so loud, in fact, that my first instinct was, “Oh my gosh it’s an earthquake.” I guess being in Japan is starting to get to me. Anyway, the thunderstorm continued throughout the morning. It was a cold rain, and very unpleasant, so I decided to walk instead of bike to school. I arrived basically soaked and freezing, but riding the bike would have been dangerous in that weather.

The last lesson test for Speaking class was today, and it was over the vocab and grammar from the Marriage Simulator movie we watched. For as worried about the material as I was just two days ago, I went into the test feeling really confident, and for good reason; I think I did very well. The questions were really straightforward, and there were even two fill-in-the-blank sections with word banks! It’s probably been years since I’ve had a word bank test. It was very nice.

I had a nice McDonald’s lunch with Jessica, Shane, and Jacinthe today. It was nice to sit inside and eat hot comfort food. Afternoon classes were good. We learned about Edo Period woodblock prints in art history, and in Film and Lit we watched some of Rising Sun and some of Gung Ho. Rising Sun looks like it would have been a really fun shoot-em-up movie to watch, but now that I’m paying more attention to all the anti-Japanese stuff in it, it would be hard for me to just enjoy it as an action flick.

I got some hot chocolate from the Seattle's Best on campus to keep me warm on the way home. As I was walking, I heard this neat classical piano music coming out of one of the neighborhood houses, and I stopped for a while to listen. After that I walked more slowly and looked around to notice things I had been ignoring for a while. I really will miss the way my neighborhood here looks, I have realized. I want to go home so badly, but today was the first time I really found something I know I'll be sad to leave here.

I’ve been having some dizzy spells throughout the day. They started this morning while I was taking my test, and I thought I just needed to eat something. But this afternoon, when I lay down to take a nap, I felt like I was going to fall off my futon. (Boy, that would have been some drop—the whole four inches down to the floor.) It was weird; I was really, really off balance. And it’s come back a couple times this evening, too. I hope I’m not getting an ear infection.

I had thought about going to see the monkeys at Arashiyama tomorrow, but it’s supposed to be really cold out. Instead, I’ll go to Tempozan in Osaka, one of the entertainment and shopping districts, and the same area that has the aquarium. They have a really cool mall there where I want to pick up some last minute souvenirs, and I might ride the really big Ferris wheel.

Do I do anything but complain in these posts?

Today in Speaking class we performed our skit, like we were supposed to yesterday, and it went really well, I think. I only recall having messed up once, and it was at a part in the story where my character is getting flustered anyway, so I don't think anyone noticed. In any case, I'm very glad to have that no longer hanging over my head. Now I'm studying for a lesson test in the same class. My grade is a little too close to the B borderline for comfort for me, so I'd like to pull off a high grade one this one. I'm studying a lot, which is a good thing, because there is so much new grammar and vocab on this one! I'm zettai ni isshoukenmei doryokushite ganbaru. (That was a probably terribly ungrammatical and intentionally redundant way to say "definitely going to try my very hardest." At least, that's what I was going for.)

I have zero motivation for anything at this point, other than a strange burst of caring about this particular test. Lately, when I've received homework I've kinda rolled my eyes, stuffed it in a far corner of my binder, and tried to ignore a nagging sense that stress is gathering on the horizon. I just don't want to do it anymore. Of course, I haven't actually not turned something in; I'm still too much of a teacher's pet for that. But darn if it isn't hard to make myself study these days! I just need a break, especially from Japanese. Unfortunately, I have three papers and several tests to go before it's all over.

I've stopped taking notes in psychology class. This isn't as bad as it sounds, because he emails us the powerpoint slides with all the info on them anyway. Plus, he's already given us the essay prompts for the take-home final exam, so I already know what's important for the final and what's not. Plus, at the point that the professor made a serious reference to the Mozart Effect, I decided that most of what I learned in that class was probably rubbish anyway. What ridiculous poppycock! I have very little respect for that class at the moment. But ask me in a few weeks and I'll probably be able to tell you lots of good things about it.

So, tomorrow is Friday, and I still haven't figured out what I'm doing for the weekend. All I know is I need to buy some bread and potstickers at some point tomorrow.

The Skit that Didn't Happen, and Other Tales

This morning I got up a little early so I could go over the lines for my Speaking class skit a few more times. But when I got to class, my partner never showed up. That was really strange, because he's really responsible and a very good student, so everyone was afraid that he had gotten into an accident on the way to school or something. Turns out he overslept--first time all year it's happened, and it was on the day of our skit! Oh well, I'm not mad at all; he's been a great partner to work with. Sensei is letting us perform it tomorrow, so it's been nice to have an extra day to review the lines!

I talked on Skype to my parents today, which was a lot of fun. We're all giddy that I'm coming home soon. I also talked to David, and he was in a really chipper mood too. Seems like everyone had a good day today. ^_^ I was having so much fun talking to people that I went back to campus too late to have a proper lunch, so I grabbed some McDonald's and quickly ate it during art history. Really rude, I know, but I was so hungry.

Today my gift from St. Nick came in the mail; it's amazing how he can find you even if you're in another country. I got some candy, good lip balm, and really good hand lotion. These things will come in handy once the cold air starts to bother me on my bike rides. My cheeks are already pink from a little bit of windburn.

I've gotten an invitation to go clubbing in Osaka with some friends on Friday. I'm not sure I want to do it, though; I rather have my heart set on karaoke. Clubbing here is pretty hardcore, too, not like going to Masque for an hour and coming home. The clubs don't open until about midnight, but the trains don't start running again until 5AM, so for those five hours you're stuck at the club. You don't get back until about 8AM. Somehow I think I would end up crabby beyond belief. It's probably really a public safety issue that I don't go! I'll think about it, anyway, but probably I'll do karaoke on Friday and go see some Arashiyama monkeys on Saturday. Sounds like a better plan than listening to deafening techno for five hours.

Another boring post

Nothing much to report from today, except that I got really excited when I realized how soon I get to come home.

Tomorrow in Speaking class I have a skit that I'm performing. Yuck. I have a lot of lines to remember, and it's going okay, I guess.

I realized today how much I'm ready for a break from school. I have so little motivation right now, it's not even funny. I'm so tired of having Japanese every day of the week. I haven't had a long break since the summer; these three day weekends just have a different feel to them than a nice long Thanksgiving break or something. Oh well, Christmas is coming soon.

Today I got a card in the mail from Aunt Doris and Uncle Joe; thanks very much!

This weekend I plan to go out for karaoke, and go to Arashiyama to see the monkeys. I think. We'll see.

Why is my nice American bed on the floor?

My writing test this morning went surprisingly well; even though I hadn't really prepared at all, I was able to finish within the time limits. I'm sure I made some silly mistakes, but I was glad to have been able to write for fifty minutes in Japanese. That's pretty cool, I guess.

In Speaking class today we finished watching 結婚シミュレーター (kekkon shimyurētā), or Marriage Simulator. It's a really cute kind of short movie from the late 90s about an engaged couple that gets to use groovy new science to look into their married future. Totally predictable, even in a language I don't understand, but really cute. The ending made me cry, too. But I'm such a sap at this point, I'll cry over anything. It didn't help, too, that I knew that as soon as I got out of class I'd be rushing back to the seminar house for a Skype date with David.

So, I grabbed some McDonald's quickly after class and took it back home, and ate while I talked to David. I miss him so much. I can't wait for January to come so we can be back at Witt together; it'll be the first time since May that we haven't been long distance. ;_; I need a Subway-and-Dirt-Mall date.

Anyway, after lunch, I took a nap. It was a good nap, but I had an unimaginably cruel dream. I dreamt that I was safely home and unpacked and not jet lagged. It seemed so real, too. When I woke up in my futon I was actually really confused about where I was. Dang dreams go messing with my head...

After I had firmly established that I am, in fact, still in Japan and will be for another 18 days (18--that's all!), I decided to go take a walk because the weather was nice today. So I put on my scarf and jacket and took a walk around the neighborhood, which was nice. I like getting some exposure to sunshine, and the fresh air did me good.

For supper tonight I had plain udon and a vegetable croquette. It was the first time I had made udon here, believe it or not; usually I just buy it. It was so-so, but it's dirt cheap, so whatever.

This evening I practiced our new kanji, which are really hard this chapter, and finished my psychology paper about Morita therapy journaling. (That last part is important, because it's due tomorrow. I procrastinate so much.)

Today was a very good day. And now it is time for me to sleep. Hopefully when I wake up this time I'll know what country I'm in.

It's just a jump to the left...

Time today has been all funny. Well, I guess it's my own fault for sleeping at weird times. But still, it's been strange. I woke up at 8:00 and decided that was way too early to get up on a weekend, so I dozed until 9:00, when I got out of bed. I had some curry rice for brunch (breakfast of champions, you know) and was back in bed for a nap at noon. Next thing I knew it was 3PM and I hadn't done anything, so I got up and did another load of laundry. I also started on my Japanese homework, and piddled around until 5:00 when I was starving, so I had some grilled cheese. After supper I was totally ready for bed, except that it was only 6:30. So to kill time I went to the grocery so I won't have to do it tomorrow afternoon. I got back and it was still only 7:30, so I took a shower. After that, I really couldn't push off the homework any more, so I made myself do it. Still, it was super early. But then all of a sudden I realized it was 11:30, and I could finally go to bed without feeling like an old lady. Anyway, it's been weird.

Speaking of time, it is now 12:06AM on December 1, 2008, as I write this. That means it's now officially my Last Month in Japan. I...can't believe I survived this long. I only have two more weekends to go sightseeing; how weird is that?! Totally awesome, too. I can't wait to get back home. But there's a lot to do between now and then: sell back my bike, empty out the fridge, find out about airline regulations for baggage, take final exams, etc.

Tomorrow I have an essay test in reading/writing. I should have prepared more, but I didn't. Oh well. This is one of those tests that you can't really study for. The only thing that worries me is the time limit.

And here is a fun article on toilets in Japan.

Personal Hygiene Day!

Today basically everything I did was related to personal hygiene. So be warned, this might be a Too Much Info post.

Woke up at 8:00 this morning because I had gone to bed so early last night. I did the usual morning routine and gathered my stuff together to go to Kurama for the hot springs, which is located north of Kyōto, about two hours away total, including waiting for buses and such. The ride there was not a whole lot of fun; the train to Kyōto was packed and really hot, and by the time I had transferred to the small Eizan Line train, I was wondering if I should be getting out my little plastic bag for wet things in case I got sick. But my stomach settled and I didn't have any problems. I was really sleepy, though, and I dozed on the way. I feel so Japanese when I fall asleep on the trains.

Right as I arrived at the station, the free shuttle bus from the onsen arrived, so I hopped on that. The driver was really nice and gave me a brochure in English. ^_^ He took us up this crazy narrow residential street winding up the mountain. When we arrived at the resort, I was a bit disappointed. All the literature had made it look like this grand hotel affair, but it wasn't like that at all. It was a little gravel parking lot with some nondescript buildings. But the setting was beautiful: the mountains were so steep, and you could hear the sound of a waterfall nearby. It was really cool.

So I bought my ticket for the outdoor bath for ¥1100 and proceeded to the bath house. You had to walk up this pretty awesome stone staircase under the tallest cedar trees I've ever seen. Right next to the stairway there was a little stream rushing down to meet the big one with the waterfall, with these big ferns along its banks. And the forest smelled wonderful. I hadn't realized how much cleaner the air would seem even just this little bit away from the city. But it was a beautiful clear day, and with the nice fresh cedar smell and musty earth smell it was great.

This onsen was much, much different from the one I went to with Yukari. First, it's small. The outdoor bath is one pool, just the one you see in the pictures. And the shower area was small as well. But this was nice, because it wasn't at all crowded. This is what I had thought an onsen would be like. It was such a nice little rustic place. I mean, it's probably totally contrived as a tourist trap, but I sure fell for it. Beautiful.

The changing room wasn't heated, so I was careful to plan things so I'd spend as little time exposed to the November air as possible. After shoving my things into a little locker, I rushed outside and fumbled with the showers to get the water temperature hot enough. I washed, rinsed, and was totally ready to soak.

I stayed in the water for about 45 minutes, I think. Not 45 minutes straight, of course; it's much too hot for that. But I'd dip into the water for a while, then get out and sit on the side of the pool and just look around. It's peak leaf season here right now, but I was a bit disappointed because the cedar forest around the onsen was quite green. Still, the sun kept coming and going behind the clouds, and the mountains were beautiful. Plus, there was a small garden in the bath area, and the maple tree was a lovely red.

After a while I couldn't stand the heat and steam any more, so I got out and showered again, this time washing my hair. Then I got dressed quickly, used the blow drier, and left the onsen. I felt so refreshed!

I decided to walk back to the station instead of waiting for a bus. The weather was great: I was perfectly comfortable in my jacket and jeans, and sky was really interesting. There were those heavy grey clouds that look like snow, but the sun was also out. This made the fall colors even brighter than they would be normally. The road down the mountain followed the waterfall stream the whole way, so there were all those babbling brook sounds. And so I walked through a little neighborhood down the mountainside, taking lots of pictures of pretty scenery along the way. As I got close to the station, I stopped in some souvenir shops and picked up a few things. At that point it also started to drizzle, so I was glad to have beaten the rain.

On the ride back I stood by the window and watched the scenery. Absolutely gorgeous. It reminded me of the mountains in Kentucky, except that the forests were a mixture of cedars, deciduous trees, bamboo, and palm trees. I half expected to see a Totoro somewhere in those woods. At one point, the sun came out while it was still raining. In Japanese folklore, this means that the kitsune, or fox spirits, are having a wedding. I don't doubt it; Kurama is the kind of place where that could happen.

When I arrived back home smelling all nice from the bath, I did some laundry. Today I also clipped my fingernails, exercised, and did some eyebrow maintenaince, which makes it a Personal Hygiene Day.

And now, to continue the theme, I'm going to brush my teeth before bed. Goodnight.

Not much, again

I've had something of a headache for about the past two days, located above my right eye. It comes and goes, but this morning my vision was a little funny, so I think it's a mild migraine. I get those sometimes. Oh well.

Let's see, nothing spectacular happened in class today. Today the sky looked like snow, but of course it was too warm. We got a little bit of rain. I bought another bar of soap from the 7Eleven because my other one is getting small.

I have a lot of homework this weekend, but at the moment I have no motivation to do it. Hopefully by Sunday I'll feel a bit more inspired.

Tomorrow I'm going to go to an onsen north of Kyōto called Kurama Onsen. I'll go early and try to beat the crowds.

Blah. I want to come home. Three more weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Few people here seem to care about the holiday, strangely. I mean, I didn't expect the Japanese to be serving turkey sushi or anything, but I was amazed at how many people had never even heard of it. Yesterday I had to totally explain it to Yukari, who seemed completely amazed. And the seminar house Otōsan had never heard of it, either. A large portion of the Americans, too, didn't realize that today was the day. I got a lot of, "Oh, is that today?" responses in class today when I mentioned Thanksgiving. I guess it's easy to lose track of time.

For lunch, though, some of my friends from the seminar house and I went to the campus McDonald's and binged on fried things. Yum! Oh, and Mom made me some cookies that arrived in the mail today, so I've been celebrating with those.

Anyway, classes today were nice and nondescript. Afterward, I went to tutor the kids in English. Again, it was a blast. I wasn't looking forward to skipping my afternoon nap, especially because I'm still exhausted from the onsen. But once I was there and teaching, I had a great time. Tomoko, the lady who runs the school, even gave us mochi (sweet rice cakes, basically) to snack on because today's topic was food likes and dislikes. Yum! Mmm, hot tea and freshly warmed mochi really do hit the spot on a cold, dreary day like today. It's the Japanese equivalent of cookies and milk, I'd have to say. The teaching was fun and the kids were amusing, as usual. They were amazed that I don't like sushi, and they had trouble wrapping their minds around the fact that the English language word for "okonomiyaki" is, actually, "okonomiyaki."

I got home kind of late and was wet from the rain that surprised me on the bike ride home, so I decided not to particpate in our makeshift Thanksgiving meal. A bunch of the Americans in the dorm pooled their monetary and culinary resources to cook things like a glazed chicken and apple pie. It looked really good, but I decided not to have any because I didn't contribute anything, and besides I was quite content with my potstickers. Sounds like a terrible Thanksgiving, probably, but it wasn't. I had a good day.

Like I said, I'm totally beat. So now it's bed time, and I hope tomorrow won't be as draining.

Kristen and the Miracle of Onsens

Today I went to an onsen with Yukari, my speaking partner. From now on, every bath I will ever take is hereby declared a disappointment in comparison to today’s. It was totally sweet.

We took a bus from school to Hirakata-shi Eki, then another bus to Ibaraki-shi Eki, then another bus, this one a private shuttle, directly to Sumireno-yu baths. The building looked like a standard, boxy building. But you walk inside and everything was suddenly very posh. It was amazing, a two-story affair with a restaurant, massage parlor, and sauna-type things on the first floor. The second floor had a snack bar, library, and men’s and women’s baths.

Now, the Japanese word for bath, “ofuro,” can basically be a play on the word for “twenty-six,” so apparently on the 26th of each month they have special deals. That was a nice surprise. So we got a discount, and they gave us bottled water when we entered. For two hours, my grand total came to ¥1000—about $10. Not bad at all for two hours of anything, really; just wait and hear all the great stuff I got to do for those ten bucks! In America, those two hours would have cost me probably $200 at a spa, I bet.

We had left our shoes in a little lock box in the entranceway and got our little ID bracelets, towels, robes, and the bottled water from the lady at the desk. We went upstairs and got other lockers, where we left all of our things. And by all I do mean all. I was left with a hand towel, my glasses (I forgot to put my contact lenses in this morning, which was unfortunate because the glasses kept fogging up), and a bar of soap. Totally naked in front of God and everybody, including some very old women who may well have been animated prunes for all their wrinkles, a little girl probably about six years old who kept staring at me as the lone white person in the place, and my beautiful little waif of a speaking partner. Yes, the awkward turtles were spawning.

Okay, I make it sound terrible. It wasn’t a big deal at all. After living in a dorm for two and a half years, you really do become indifferent on some level to people seeing you naked. I think Yukari was a bit shy about things, actually, but I sure wasn’t. Dang it, I don’t get to frolic around naked from pool to pool very often, and I was going to enjoy it. Plus, my glasses were so foggy that I eventually took them off, so I really couldn’t see anybody else, which made things considerably more comfortable, I think. Anyway, it’s kinda fun to stand naked outside in winter. I’ve never done it before.

So, my Witt friends, anyone up for streaking the Hollow, followed by a nice bath?

Anyway, we rinsed off before getting into the baths. You are supposed to be clean before you enter the water, so it’s not like you’re actually sitting in anyone’s filth, which is much better than one can say about American baths. Really, sitting in a bubble bath is just a “you soup” when you think about it…gross. But this was freakin’ awesome.

First, we went to the outdoor section. It was surrounded by a high wall and had some very nice little garden plants. There was even a plasma screen TV showing the news, so you can sit and soak and get your weather forecast all in one. There were also lounge chairs that would be lovely in the summer, and a nice canopy covering the pools. The water was hot, though no hotter than a hot tub. They had thermometers set up at each pool so you knew what you were getting into; most of the ones we used were about 40°C (104°F). The cold outside air made the water steam, which was pretty cool. Anyway, after chilling (well, I guess “warming” would be a better term) in the main pool, we got into these really cool big urns that were overflowing with water. It was really cool, like swimming in an ancient fountain or something. It also reminded me of that story called “Two of Everything” where an old couple finds a big pot that doubles anything you put into it, which is great when you put in money but bad when you accidentally fall in.

Then we went inside and sat for a while in the bubbly pool, which was basically like a regular hot tub. We also tried the steam sauna, which I didn’t like too terribly much. It was just hard to breathe and kinda smelled funny, and I don’t like being sweaty anyway so saunas are lousy for me. Oh, by the way, none of the waters here smelled like sulfur or anything; some of them did have a bit of a smell, but it was pleasant. After that we decided we wanted to do some non-water things, so we washed off at the shower stations and put on our nice pink robes. I say robes, but they were really capri and tunic sets, I guess. Very comfy cotton, though.

We went downstairs, and it was nice to be fully clothed, I have to say. It was weird seeing the men walk around in their orange robe sets; I had rather forgotten that there was a whole other half of the building that I couldn’t enter because it’s men only at the moment!

Okay, we’ve all heard about Japan’s capsule hotels, right? Those places where you basically rent a drawer to sleep in for the night? The concept might have come from an onsen, really! There was this wonderful, wonderful room that I want to recreate in my sprawling, creepy mansion when I become a billionaire eccentric who frightens small children. You enter and it’s hot—again, about 40°C (100°F)—and very quiet, and fairly dark. There’s a wooden walkway leading through the room, and the floor around the walkway is covered with smooth, dark stones like the ones they put in those nice calming nature-sound fountains at stores like Brookstone. And there are these small dividers every few feet creating little cubicle or stall areas. What you do is take your onsen-provided towel, lay it down on the black rocks, which are heated from below, lie down on top of it with your head on the little wooden pillow they give you, and take a nap! All the while it’s warm and comfy, and there’s water rushing just under your head so it sounds very pleasant. It was great. Any place that actually provides a designated napping area is automatically amazing.

Unfortunately, the heat was too extreme for me to actually fall asleep. Still, it was a great concept, and if I could have turned the temperature down a bit you liketa died getting me out of that place. Then we went into the cold room, which was like an anti-sauna. It was fabulous, with these walls with a thin layer of bubbling water behind them, so it was like being in an aquarium. A pleasantly cold aquarium. Next we sat on these little hexagonal stools that I think were supposed to warm your butt, but I don’t think mine was working. I was underwhelmed, in any case.

And imagine this: You know those ball pool things they have at places like Chuck E. Cheese and places? Okay, imagine that scaled down, with a nice ledge to sit on on the side. And the balls aren’t germ-covered plastic things, but heavy, round pebbles in the colors of your standard Dippin’ Dots ice cream (probably also covered in germs, but I don’t think about that). And the Dippin’ Dots ball pool is heated from below, and you put your feet in and wiggle your toes under the rocks and it’s a lot of fun.

One thing I didn’t really like, though, was this suspiciously oven-like device that made me feel like Gretel in the witch’s house. It was this dark little one person-sized domed structure that you crawled into and lay down on the ground. And then there was this heat lamp shining down on me, and I felt a bit like a forgotten French fry stuck between double cheeseburgers at a McDonald’s. I didn’t stay in there long. It was just weird.

Then we went back to the bath area, did the outside thing, did the inside thing, and took showers. We got dressed, and used the really nice vanity area to blow dry our hair, and Yukari did her makeup again. I was amazed at how much planning they put into this place’s design: they provided everything you could need, from canned Cokes to Q-tips. (You had to pay for the drinks; the Q-tips were free.)

And then we were done, and we took the buses back to Ibaraki-shi Eki. Then Yukari suggested we do purikura, so we did. Purikura is basically this photo booth that Japanese young people tend to go nuts over. And it’s really fun, actually; much better than those American photo booths at amusement parks where it draws you in grayscale and charges you like $17. (Not that I’ve ever actually used one of those; Mom and Dad had the good sense to convince me early on that they are a waste of money, and I still hold to that. But I digress.) So you go in and it’s this fairly large space with nice lighting, and you put in your ¥400 (so it only cost me ¥200 because we were sharing). You use a touch screen to choose the different frames you want, then the insanely peppy teenage girl voice encourages you to strike different poses and it takes pictures of you goofing off.

When you’re finished, it asks you to go to another section of the photo booth (perhaps it should be called a photo mansion, really), where you doctor the photos. You can digitally write things on them, add effects like sparkles and hearts, and even give yourself princess crowns. You choose the size of the pictures, and it prints them out in sticker form so you can post obnoxious photos of yourself surrounded by dancing mushroom people anywhere you please. It was a total blast! My favorite picture, actually, is one that makes me look really, really awful, like a confused hybrid of a pig and a turtle. But I ran with it, and now there are some really funny comments, and a little mushroom man sitting on Yukari’s head. It’s one of those “you had to be there” things.

I was very pleased that Yukari and I were able to find enough conversation to fill most of the day. That had worried me more that anything, honestly. Still, I was nice to be on my own after the draining day of new experiences. When I got back to Hirakatashi, for supper I had a chicken sandwich from Mos Burger, which was delicious but overpriced. And I came home and wrote this monster entry, which has sapped what little energy I had after the onsen.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I am a little bit sad. I want to be home with my family eating hamburger dressing and going to see some terrible movie that no one actually wants to watch, just because it’s tradition that we go to the movies. But that’s okay, if missing this one meal is my greatest worry in life, I figure I’m doing pretty good. Anyway, I’ll be celebrating in my own way. I’m going to McDonald’s and buying all the stuff I want and not feeling guilty about it. And I will eat as many chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers and fries as I want, and if the Makudo workers look at me funny, whatever. It’s Thanksgiving, and I’m going to celebrate.

Also tomorrow I go to tutor for the last time. It should be fun, but I’m so tired right now that I’m not looking forward to it.

Excuses, excuses

Sorry I didn't update yesterday! At about 4PM the Internet went down in the dorms, and it didn't get working again until sometime after I went to bed.

What to say about yesterday, then? No classes, because it was a national holiday (Labor Thanksgiving Day, I think). It was really terribly rainy and dreary, so I stayed in, napped, and read.

Today, though, the weather is beautiful and the Internet is working. It's been a great day. I woke up to find confirmation in my email inbox that I got a single in Polis to live in for the spring! I'm so, so excited. I've never had my own room before, unless you count my nursery before Erin was born. Also, I got two Thanksgiving cards in the mail today: one from Aunt Louise and her family, and one from Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks, everyone!

It's going to be a crazy busy week, so I've got a lot of homework to do tonight, probably. But for now I'm going to take a much needed nap. I haven't had a lot of energy lately. But that's okay, because sleeping is fun.

Cool Art and Another Rant

For as unsure of what to do with myself as I was last night, when I woke up at 7:30 this morning to go to the bathroom I sure had some plans. So, according to the schedule I had apparently set in my head in my sleep, I went back to bed until 10:30, when I woke up, set up my computer in the downstairs lounge, and made some curry rice for brunch. I ate that during a nice, long Skype date with David. Then, about 2:00, I left the seminar house to go to the Kyōto National Museum.

I timed the trip just right. I entered the museum with two hours to explore before it closed, and it was exactly the right amount of time. The museum is really, really cool. I was amazed at how much super-famous stuff they had. My favorite room was the first one, which contained prehistoric artifacts all the way up through the Kofun Period. Several of the pieces on display were things we had studied in art history, so that was cool. I also got to see this incredibly famous—and way cooler in real life than in pictures—Portrait of Minamoto no Yoritomo. I think I’ll be writing my next art history paper on this work. And I was fascinated by the display of works by Qi Baishi, a Chinese artist I had never heard of before. His paintings are amazing; I love their sense of humor. They’re all very clever, and one of my favorites was this Song Style Landscape. I love it. Also, there was a really cool display of swords and samurai armor. It was super awesome to get to see the armor up close. I had no idea how many knots there were in those suits! Crazy. Really, really intricate stuff. Anyway, I finished looking around right at 5:00 when the museum closed.

Okay, everything below this should probably be considered rated R, and some of the links might be Not Safe For Work, just so you know. Really, it's probably not that bad, but this is more explicit than the stuff I usually write about, so I thought I should warn you.

One observation: a lot of stuff that’s totally permissible here would be completely scandalous back at home. I don’t know, maybe we’re prudes in the States. But my Catholic school alumna, never kissed anybody but my boyfriend, Bible Belt-born self is just amazed sometimes. The extreme shortness of girls’ skirts and the extreme highness of the boots they wear with them, porn shops lining the streets of Den Den Town, the mere existence of maid cafes and host clubs, teenagers wearing t-shirts with sayings in English that you don’t hear on cable at 3AM, pachinko parlors with barely-dressed cartoon women on their advertisements, gachapon machines in toy stores selling teeny sexy naked dolls, chikan, love hotels everywhere. It’s very different.

I know in America a lot of people—me included—like to worry about the increasing sexualization of our culture and stuff. But I don’t think I’ll complain as much anymore after Japan. There are some things that the Japanese are totally chill about that I think we should be too. And there are some things that make me think, “Wow, Paris Hilton really isn’t that extreme.”

Take the love hotels, for instance. They’re not all that sleazy here; they’re clean, safe places where couples go. It’s not like some creepy back alley pay by the hour and bring your own hooker place like we have at home. Not that I’ve been to such places either in the US or Japan; this is all hearsay and my own imagination. But when you can see from the train station a neon pink high-rise love hotel called "Hotel Chapel Coconuts" and their employees hand out discount coupons on the street corners, you know there’s a certain attitude of acceptance about the whole thing. My friends tell me they even have things like arcades and karaoke and stuff at love hotels. A very interesting idea, I think. If such places were to become widespread and acceptable in the US, I imagine the average germ content of the back seats of many American cars would drastically decrease, in any case. Think about that next time you rent a car.

Some of Japan’s sexual stuff, though, just absolutely needs to stop. Really. Like, right now. I am all for cultural diversity and political correctness and all—just ask Mom, she’ll tell you how much fun it is to get me started at the dinner table. But honestly, Japan, this chikan thing has got to stop NOW. A chikan is, basically, the term for a pervert. Specifically, it refers to men who grope people on crowded trains. When your language has to FREAKING CREATE A WORD FOR “MEN WHO GROPE PEOPLE ON CROWDED TRAINS” you know you have a problem. But don’t get me going on my chikan rant; that’s a whole entry of its own.

Anyway, it’s been interesting seeing things from a different point of view. In Film and Literature we’ve talked about how the chivalrous, self-congratulatory West likes to see Japan as a country of sexually deviant heathens who don’t know how to treat women properly. I don’t want to perpetuate that at all. Okay, so Japanese people don’t generally freak out about nudity. That’s cool. And really, if Japan is okay with having a major chikan problem, whatever. Just make sure I can get a spot on the Women Only train car during the morning commute.

What to do?

Today I did absolutely nothing. Slept in, surfed the Internet, napped, ate when necessary, showered, and that's about it. It was glorious.

Except that when the people got back from the Mount Hiei hike, I was really sad that I hadn't gone with them. Turns out that just about all of my friends had gone, which would have made it really fun. They're all excited now about being warrior monks and all. They all talked about it in awe and said it was beautiful, and from the pictures I've seen it seems so. I really do feel like I missed out.

But they also said it was really strenuous and some of the hiking points were actually really dangerous to get around. I heard about numb toes and slipping on rocks. They all looked exhausted, so I know I made the right choice not to go. Still, I'm a little disappointed.

I'm thinking of going by myself maybe on Monday and taking the cable car up the mountain. I don't know.

I'm not really sure what to do with this weekend. The trees are beautiful so I feel like I should go do sightseeing. But the rest of Japan has the same idea, so everywhere is really crowded this time of year. We have Monday off and I have little homework, so I think I should get out and about. I just don't feel like it, though, honestly. I've been thoroughly enjoying my naps. I had wanted to go to Spa World on Monday, but after reading their rules and regulations it looks like I'll have to wait a few days before I'm allowed in the water. So, I've just kinda been hanging around, which is fine, I guess. This is going to be a very busy week for me, so it's nice to rest up.

I forgot to mention the other day that I saw Gackt on TV! There's this really funny show I watch when I can where this group of four comedians in drag and one guest celebrity try to pick out which items on a table are worth ¥100 and which are ridiculously expensive although you'd never know it. The other day, Gackt was the special guest. He's so pretty...too bad his age is starting to show, and badly. He's looking a bit Botoxed, unfortunately. But for someone who claims to be over 200 years old, I suppose that's expected.

This morning I walked to school instead of biking, and on the way chatted with Olga, my friend from the seminar house and speaking class. That was a lot of fun; she's really sweet, and I love her accent. She's from Ossetia, which is cool.

Today I had lunch with Jacinthe, Jessica, and Shane from psych class. We had some conversations that were...interesting. I learned some new words in Japanese, although I can't repeat them here. ^_^ Should come in handy, though.

In Film and Lit today we watched a Shirley MacLaine movie from the 60s called My Geisha. Kind of offensive in that you had this white woman with her eyes taped back talking about "honorable palents," but kind of really cute and romantic too.

I have decided that I will not be hiking up Mount Hiei tomorrow. The cold and strain probably would not do me good. I'm not sure what I'll do intead; perhaps Arashiyama. This is probably the peak leaf color weekend, so I feel like I should go to Kyōto, definitely. I'm just not sure what to do there yet. I don't know. In a few minutes I'm leaving to have dinner and go to the izakaya with some friends, which should be fun; we'll see how I'm feeling about sightseeing tomorrow at the end of the night.

Three Weird Classes and Some Complaints

I leave to come home one month from today.

Classes today were kind of unusal. In Reading/Writing we did a practice version of the Level 3 Japanese test that they use in things like grad school placement and job interviews and stuff. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. I wonder how I'd do on the Level 2, which is the next level up.

In Speaking we got our tests back. Turns out I didn't bomb! In fact, I pulled off a low A. >.< Often, when I say that I think I did poorly on a test, it's a lot out of modesty, but I really and truly thought that I failed this one. It was a nice surprise to get the friendly bunny stamp and some swirls of approval/votices of manly accomplishment on my test. That class was fun today, too, because since we've finished our textbook we'll be doing new and interesting things. Today we had a bunch of Japanese students come in, we broke up into pairs, and just chatted with them for the whole class. It was a lot of fun, and I exchanged email addresses with Chiaki, the girl I talked to the most.

In Psych today we learned about Jung and his fascination with mandalas. We even got to draw our own mandalas, which was great! I love coloring, and getting to sit for half an hour in a usually frustrating class and color was awesome. My mandala doesn't look like the example ones, but I guess that's okay. We're going to discuss them next week, so maybe I'll figure out all its deep meanings then.

Tomorrow is Friday, which means that I'll have lunch with Jacinthe and the girls from Witt, and I'm going back to the izakaya with William in the evening. But this time we're going earlier, so I'll be able to take the proper bus back home.

Tomorrow is also supposed to be a bit warmer, which is good because it's really, really cold even inside the buildings here. Remember how I said that they don't have air conditioning in the hallways of buildings? Apparently they don't have heat either. Every time I go down the hall to the bathroom I have to put a cardigan on and run down the hallway before I get frostbite or something. Okay, it's not frostbite bad, but it is lousy when you have to put on a jacket to go pee. Oh well. I'll pretend I'm Laura Ingalls Wilder or something and it's a grand outhouse adventure.

So Japan, here is what I say to you: Either freaking use technology or don't. You're giving me Oto-Himes and Warmlets (heated toilet seats) in the toilet and eraser vacuums in classrooms, but there's no wireless Internet or heated hallways. WTF? Are we super high-tech or really archaic? Pick one.

Technology

It got cold. Like, actually cold. Like, I don't want to ride my bike in 40 degree weather with a strong headwind. ::sigh:: Oh well. At least we haven't had a killing frost yet. Still, even though it's Wednesday and I have a four hour break, there's no way I'm biking back home for Skype today. My ears might fall off or something.

So, something that's been bothering me since the beginning of the year was these little boxes at the front of all our classrooms. They are about the size of a breadbox, light brown, and plug into the wall. I didn't know what they were for until yesterday. Turns out they clean the dust off erasers. You flip a switch and it starts a vaccuum thingy on the top, and you run the blackboard eraser over it and it cleans it for you. It was a lot of fun to play with.

Still, I'm concerned that no one gets the class job of having to go outside at the end of the day and clap the erasers together. I have so many memories of choking on dust in the third grade, or writing my name in chalk dust on the side of the school building.

It's interesting, I think, how we find little devices to do small tasks for us. Like this chalk dust vacuum; do we really need that? How much money and time do we spend producing these things, when we could just as easily whack two erasers together, get some exercise and fresh (though chalky) air, and save all that metal and plastic. Same thing with Oto-Hime. I love the things, but I wonder how bad our carbon emissions are because we're producing them. And I wonder what experiences like eraser-cleaning I'm missing because I let machines do it for me.

Just something to think about.

This is My 100th Blog Post

In the morning I have a test in Speaking class over chapters 22 and 23 of our Genki textbook. These are the last chapters. I have completed elementary Japanese. Yay!

Yay? There’s still so far to go, so much I don’t know! There are many things that Genki doesn’t include, and I certainly don’t know the Genki content nearly as well as I should. I’ve just scratched the surface, and it was, sometimes, a halfhearted scratch at that.

Sometimes I wonder if I want to keep studying Japanese or not. It’s a beautiful language, but it’s really, really hard. I think about how well I could communicate in Spanish by the end of high school, and this seems really pointless. I can’t even read simple children’s books in Japanese; I just don’t have the vocabulary to understand them. Why should I spend so much time on a language when I’ll probably never even be able to read a newspaper article? It’s frustrating. And having been here and used what skills I have, it would be lovely to go home and never utter another te-form verb again.

Of course I won’t quit. I really, really love Imai-sensei’s class. It makes me work and makes me think in fun new ways, Sensei is brilliant, and the people in it are so much fun. Kanji is so much fun to practice, too. I could sit down with a nice gel pen and paper in front of a movie and practice kanji for hours. And the sociological applications of the language are cool beyond cool.

I think I’m just a bit burned out from the whole Japan thing. It’s occupied so much of my life for the last two and a half years, since I started at Witt. Now I’m here in Japan, surrounded by Japanese people, taking five classes about Japan, using Japanese toilets, watching Japanese TV, eating Japanese food, and going to an hour of Japanese conversation practice every morning. It’s overkill. It’s been great, but I’m totally ready to go back to being an American in America. Dang it, I want my Taco Bell and South Park.

In other news, I have been sleeping a lot better lately, though I’m still having some weird dreams. Last night I dreamt that I was supposed to take Erin to school at AHS, except that we were on Witt’s campus. We were about to leave when the Isings arrived to drive us there, just like when they would take me to school. Except Mr. Ising was driving this car that was kind of like a hayride wagon and kind of like the Cat Bus from My Neighbor Totoro. Very strange.

Now I’m a bit chilly and tired, so I think I’ll be off to bed early tonight. Maybe I’ll dream about the Cat Bus again.