Kimatsushiken!! FINALS!!!

Well this week went by really fast. Monday, Japanese classes, and I don't think anything particularly happened. Met with my discussion partner for relationships class. Tuesday was Japanese and Relationships class. Volunteer work has been moved to next week. Wednesday, Japanese classes and Communication class where nothing is going on anymore. Thursday Japanese classes and Relationships. Friday was the final day of class... Japanese and Communication. Friday was my Spoken Japanese Oral Final. I prepared fairly well I think... and it went well I think. The time limit was 6-7 minutes and I was done in no more than 5... when I looked at the grading though time wasn't something apart of it so hopefully it's all good. Also, I met up with my speaking partner. We hit up Karaoke, purikura, and took random pics around the station. Today I went to Umeda to do Xmas shopping and picked up 4 gifts.

This week is finals. I have Reading/Writing Japanese Monday, Spoken Japanese Tuesday, and my final paper for Relationships due Thursday. Friday I'm heading out via night bus with a friend to Tokyo where we will tour around to places and hit up... TOKYO DISNEY LAND :D I'm so excited. AND! AND!!!!! According to the weather website I use, there is a SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW!!!! :D!!!! That would be so awesome!

Here are some pictures from this week:



Here is the "hen" (strange) photo taken with my Spoken Japanese class and sensei. I am trying to mock my Reading/Writing Japanese sensei's angry face when she was a child LOL



Me and Joel and my Reading/Writing Japanese sensei!



KGU's hidden garden



My Speaking Partner and I :D

I ♥ FESTIVALS!!!

Friday kicked off the Gaidai Festival which is the festival for the Gaidai students (the Japanese ones). The clubs and circles set up booths and sold various items, majority food, majority takoyaki. I did find a booth with AWESOME yakitori for 50 yen a stick :D I think they got 500 yen out of me total. I tried all the yakitori I found. That booth happened to be the cheapest and best! Also, there was a free hug booth from my red ranger <3



That's my new black jacket by the way!! The sleeve on the one I brought from home is ripping off >.< Oh well, this one is super warm :)

Friday I helped the dance booth prep the room for Saturday, the starting of the INFES (International Festival... the International student's festival... with some Gaidai students thrown in LOL). At around 2:20 I went to town, bought a CD after losing track of time... good thing though. I started heading to the airport to pick up my dad, and luckily I lost track of time, and by the time I got the SMS from him saying "I missed my flight" I had only hopped on one train. So I went back to the school. I talked to him and he said due to the political issues in Afghan he wasn't able to leave. But we talked it out and we decided he'd come Saturday. Shortens the trip though. Shikata ga nai!!!

I wasn't expected at the final rehearsal for the dance booth but I went anyways. Because I didn't have my costume (I wasn't expecting to be going) I was asked to watch... which kinda made me sad. I ended up leaving. I could be doing some homework or finishing Bloody Monday... something that is not sitting there. So I just left.

Saturday!

Let the INFES begin :)



Here's the dance booth...



More like a room. ANYWAYS... I went to the first performance and left right after our show and went to the airport. Takes like an hour and half to get there the cheap way LOL. I did find until I had to switch to the line that goes to the airport. I saw the red train thinking "oh limited express!" and hopped on this nice looking train... looks almost like a shinkansen. By the time I realize that maybe I shouldn't be on this train (I was like the only one who got on it, at least from my side of the platform) the doors had shut so I sat down and proceeded to turn off my mp3 player because I was sure about to get into trouble.

I was right... sorta. I tried to play the dumb gaijin card, but that doesn't work when attendant speaks English. This train is the rapid express... certain cars are 500 yen extra, the one I was in, 700 yen. So I told her I made a mistake and I was the free train. So I get off at the next stop and switch 15 minutes to the orange train. Picked up dad, headed back, met Kanako at the station and checked in to the hotel. The hotel isn't as nice as the one I had in Tokyo. In fact in the hallway part of the ceiling dips some and dad has to duck. He also had to duck through the doorway to get into the room. And the bathroom must be fun for him too LOL. It's decent and good price too though so no complaints.

After dropping the stuff off we went to Kappa Sushi by bus. Conveyor belt sushi... dad's face was priceless when he saw it. It was also priceless seeing him figure out which restroom was the mans. HAHA it was written in kanji! I was very entertained by this conveyor food place. I couldn't stop staring at it. And I was surprised when the "shinkansen" food passed by. There was a touch screen menu so you can order specific stuff and it came out on a track above the conveyor belt on this shinkansen looking like tray. I had some inari, hamburger steak, and chocolate mousse :D It was good mousse too! We went to karaoke for an hour afterward forgetting it was the weekend and more expensive >.< DOH! Oh well..

Sunday!

I wasn't planning on going to the festival Sunday, but after dad missing Saturday we decided to cancel Nara and head to the festival. I'm glad we did. I danced the first performance again and then we planned to go to Osaka castle... but not after seeing the cheerleaders first!!



Belly Dance! I PR'd from the second floor window and got 6 guys to come to the performance too :D Afterward I met Ryota's parents. They started telling me if I come to their hometown they would show me around and I should come and all this sweet stuff and I'm not sure which one of us, Ryota or I, were blushing more. His dad talked to my dad as well. And did I see a picture be taken of them too???

Anyways, back to the cheerleaders. So in America, there is this whole argument whether cheerleading is a sport or not. Well, I have the answer now. In America... no. In Japan... yes, heck yes. KGU's cheerleaders make every cheerleading squad I've seen in America look like amateurs. I got video of their whole performance. I never looked forward to or enjoy a cheerleading performance so much. And these girls are so sweet too... which I cannot say the same for a lot of American cheerleaders.



These girls are true athletes. And I love their attitude. Throughout the performance they encouraged and supported each other. Also, when I watch a performance in America, I can always tell who is the head cheerleaders. In Japan, if they have one, I cannot tell who it is. They all seem to lead together. They have great communication. I was so impressed. I've watch the video twice.



AND THEY MAKE KANJI WITH THEIR POMPOMS!!!! They spelled out 2009, Gaidai <3 (above), Joy !?, and Pairu-tsu (in Katakana). It was awesome. And it was so fast when they did it and so precise. Everything they did was so precise. They are so great. And I do not talk good about cheerleaders often. Then again I've never talked about cheerleaders outside of American ones. They are so dedicate in Japan. I actually didn't plan to watch the whole performance... I have that short term attention span, especially because it was cold and I was getting hungry, and I'm not really a big fan of cheerleaders... but I could not stop watching them. My friends and I laughed about cheerleaders from America who come here and see them and then question what they learned in America. Anyways... WOW. Sorry I cannot post the video... too big.

Afterward, I planned to go to Osaka Castle but it was starting to get rainy and more cold. So we head back to the hotel and looked at pictures and watched some TV, hit up McDs for lunch, walked around book off the rested at the hotel. I headed back early to study.

Monday is a holiday... we are headed to Kyoto. Fushimi Inari. Kiyomizudera.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday I'm volunteering and some Elementary schools :)

5 quizzes/tests this week!!! And a project due! AND A ROLE PLAY!

Goodnight ^.^

Yes, Yes, Yes :) No, No, No :(

Today was my rough schedule... I have a class at 10 am and a class at 2:30... LONG BREAK! So after Spoken Jap I took my make up quizzes and then ate lunch in the CIE lounge with Ash. I stayed around there doing my makeup/catch up work for Spoken Jap while hanging around with random people. At 2:30 was my Communication class where we played an awesome game... I would love to tell you all about it but I don't want to spoil the game for anyone. But basically I volunteered to try to communicate with people who did not speak my language and had a totally different culture than mine. I was to find out as much as I could about them. I was 1 of 5 and we all basically failed but I was sight chasing one guy around who would not communicate with me HAHA. I was so determined to get him to talk to me. I soon found out why he wouldn't. It was really interesting, I'm really starting to like this class. By the way the title of this blog goes with this little experiment.

After class I came back to the dorm to start dinner: mashed potatoes, yakitori, veggies, and Ash was making wings. I was making it for Kanako, my speaking partner. I found out why I struggle so much with peeling potatoes... I can't do it with my right hand... I have to do with my left. When I tried doing it with my right, I dropped the potato in the garbage. WOOPS. That's ok we had plenty of potatoes. So I cooked, luckily Ash got out of class early and got her wings done and we were done just in time for me to meet Kanako at the bus stop and get her to the dorm.

We ate in the lounge, one person commented that she wishes she were my speaking partner... Hiroki came in and I let him have some food... Eddy came in and told him that the food wasn't for him LOL. But Katie came in and ate some too. Ash and Katie and I heard some extra helped washed the dishes (I washed some while waiting for Kanako) and I washed the tables downstairs. Kanako and I and Ash hung out in the room for awhile. When I went downstairs to clean the table I asked Aki if she wanted to go to Hirakata with us to do Purikura and she couldn't but she wanted me to ask Hiroki so I asked him if he wanted to go and he did so about 10 minutes and fast costume change later we headed to Hirakata.

We did our Purikura, saw Kanako off, and went to Tsutaya to rent a horror movie. We didn't watch it tonight because someone wants to watch it and they aren't here right now. It was a good day :) Silver week has started which means NO SCHOOL FOR 5 DAYS! But I have plenty of work to do.

I have to learn to make Curry for Hiroki's bday. I'm cooking him dinner and he wants Curry... well I like curry :D Aki is going to teach me <3 yay!

Ooooh poopie...

I dub Thursdays Bento Day.

So I was going to "observe" the new Spoken class today at 11 and I had Reading/Writing at 12 and one afternoon class. So I leave here a little after 10:30 thinking if I'm a little late it's ok(I was trying to be constructive this morning and do laundry... and I forgot to do my homework and was rushing to get that done... and I woke up early and really wanted to go back to sleep...). I got there like 1 minute late. We just did some sentences, speaking with the person next to us... it's so nice. I actually understand what is going on. It's on my level now. Perfect. I left the class saying I loved it. I talked to the sensei after class to schedule make up work that I've missed while sitting in level 4.

After that class I went to Reading/Writing where we had a kanji quiz. This class is nice too... on my level. I love it. I am happy now because I know what I am doing! I'm looking forward to the end of class only because I am hungry and ready for lunch at McDs (I had no bento today) and some soft cream :D

..............I got out of my seat at the end thinking I have to eat fast because I have class at 1... and what time is it now? Well the class started at 12... so it hit me just then that I have 3 classes back to back. So I think to myself it's ok I'm not that hungry I'll go to McDs after class. So I got to my Psych class looking forward to lunch because by the time this 1 hr 20 min class is over I am hungry. This class gets out at 2... and being hungry, I forgot that McDs closes at 2. POOPIE! So for Thursdays, I must bring a bento unless I want to eat at the cafeteria... EWW. Yeah, Thursdays = Bento

So my debate: I can either spend 440 yen round trip bus far to go to Hirakata-shi and go to McDs and study there and find something to do to make the trip worth it besides eating... or I can walk toward the McDs near Midori, go to Midori and price the Denshi Jishos (electronic dictionaries) and I can even stop at the 99 store and get my water bottles. I decide for the walking. If I'm going to eat bad, I should do something healthy. So I walk... it's about a 20-25 minute walk. I wonder if when I get back home I'm going to walk to McDs... I bet the closest one takes that long at the most to walk to. But it's dangerous LOL. I'll revert back to my laziness when I'm in America for sure.

So I go to McDs and eat my 450 yen lunch (Shaka Shaka Chicken, Medium fries, Soft Cream) then head back toward Midori. I was told the sale ended. But maybe for some items it has, but my Denshi Jishos were still on sale :D So I find a good one snap a pic with my camera and leave. I decide against stopping at the 99 store because my case with my school stuff is heavy enough. So I just head back... about another 20 minute walk. These walks are nice when I have someone to talk to or my mp3 player <3

So I'm pretty happy with my classes... and silver week is coming up :D 5 day weekend!

Today was a Bento Day

So I woke up this morning determined to talk to my sensei about moving down to Japanese 3. I've already decided I want to move down. I haven't finished Genki II so it only seems like a good idea. So after breakfast I get ready and go thinking she might be there early (like by 10:30) since class starts at 11 but she's not. So I wait til she gets there which is like 10 minutes before class starts so I don't have long to talk to her. I tell her I want to move down, explain the situation, and she tells me I should observe the class because it may be too easy. It's not too easy, I know this already. I try to explain it and she tells me she will handle it this afternoon.

So I go to the computer lab. Why should I go to the class if I'm leaving? I sit down there buying time until my new Reading/Writing class starts. I actually didn't want to go because I didn't even have my materials but I went anyways. There's a quiz tomorrow. Good thing I've only studied this lesson's kanji. But i need to review.

After the class I met with Shohei. Well, while waiting for him I bought a soft cream (MMMM) from Makudo (McDs). So Shohei met me with my soft cream melting all over me and I'm trying to eat it as fast as possible. He was nice enough to give me some tissues. We met with his friend and ate lunch. WITH MY BENTO! Yes, I made a bento... in fact a JAPANESE BENTO! I put my leftovers from last night in there and took it to school and heated it up and actually ate lunch today without spending money on nasty food! YAY! I think I can keep this up... make a big dinner and save the leftovers for lunch somedays. Can't do it everyday. I'm going to attempt to plan what dinners I make during the week (not like daily just what I will cook during the week). It'll make budgeting and grocery shopping easier.

After my afternoon class, I got a note in my box from Abo-sensei about me moving down... she still wants me to observe (GRR). So I sat with Joel and his Japanese friends. Thought I'd be sociable. Shohei was coming to meet me too. At one point one of the Japanese guys asked me if I'd see Ponyo... I didn't hear him correctly the first time he asked... if you think you will know what I thought he asked. I was just like "WHAT?" like why would he ask me that... then Joel told me he said Ponyo HAHA.

I still laugh thinking about how many people I know in the US were wanting to see it in theaters... and here I can buy the DVD HAHA.

POLAR BEAR!!!!.........wait~

So it is Tuesday... and I haven't updated since Saturday.

Sunday, I didn't do much. Ash and I went walking around the other side of town stopping at Midori, and various other stores and lunch before heading back for study time. I feel like I didn't study that much. I had the review/replacement test for Reading/Writing Monday. I'm not sure how good/bad I did but as of today I had not heard anything. So I went to see my professor today and asked to be put into Level 3 for Reading/Writing which he has agreed to and would notify me by tomorrow morning about what section. SO NO CLASS AT 9 AM FOR ME TOMORROW :D WOOT WOOT! I think I can get through 4. I'm going to get into a routine for studying which will include studying the rest of Genki II grammar that I have not gotten to. That I can handle to tolerate Spoken 4. But I cannot, CANNOT, learn the kanji I have skipped that fast to stay in R/W 4. It's not going to work. So level 3 starts at Genki II L17 and carries through to the end which is perfect. I'm honestly still considering going to Spoken 3 though... but I don't think I'll benefit from it as much as Spoken 4. I was to talk to both my sensei at UWF and my sensei here... unfortunately if I want to speak to my sensei at KGU, I have to do it Japanese, or at least I'm expected to and I don't feel like it LOL

Anyways, Monday was just Japanese classes and then Ash and I went to Hirakata to get her alien registration done and 2 hours of karaoke and a little bit of shopping where I have held myself back from buying Beni's new CD until next month. I'm going to have a good collection by the time I get home. I cooked YAKITORI for dinner: chicken, onions, and carrots with rice. Tonight I'm doing it again except with gyuniku instead and adding potatoes... so yakiniku :D




Today was Spoken Jap and Cross Cultural Relationships. I love that class. It's awesome. I met with Takuma for a bit before going with Diego into town to help buy a shinkansen ticket to Tokyo. He's going during Silver Week... which is our long weekend coming up. I was going but all my friends are busy there so... changed my mind. And I cannot budget myself LOL. Heading back, I saw this dog... that I coulda swore was a polar bear... but hello, there are no polar bears in Japan, not walking on the roads anyhow... or on a leash... it was a big huge fluffy white dog. The owner musta heard my exclamations about it and he stopped around the corner and I got to pet the dog and even asked if I could take a picture and he let me!



Kumajyanaiyo~ Not a bear...

Sports Festival!

Well, I really really wanted to join the festival but as I might have said I was somewhere else when the signing up and meetings were happening. I received email telling me to come and maybe there will be cancellations and I can join. Well, I woke up at 8:30ish (I think the festival started at 9?), got on facebook, and was reading from other KG student's FB statuses that it was raining... I was too lazy to check so I just took their word for it until Ash woke up and told her I think it's raining. She checked... looked like it HAD been raining but not anymore. Our plans for the day were to go to the school, let her get money, and go shopping around.

Of course, plans change.

We walk to the school around lunch time, she gets money, we eat McDs (I hate whoever put that on campus), and headed to CIE for a moment. Inside and out Gaidai students are recruiting for the Sport Festival. Outside, I told them no, I was going out with my roomie and I had no clothes for playing sports. Inside I realized that because of the weather, it was moved inside to play games. I was still going to go off with Ash until, I think his name is Hiro, comes and tries his hardest to get us to participate. Ash didn't want to... but I decided to go for it. I get put on the pink team.

We play inside games: the chopstick game (relay race, run to a table, pick up a candy with chop sticks, and put it in the box), the balloon popping game (relay race, run to the chair, blow up your balloon, sit on it and pop it, and run back), the gesture game (charades), the whisper game (like telephone), and the chopstick game again to break a tie between our team and the white team. There were 4 teams total. Pink team got 3rd place. I somehow ended up with our certificate. Oh well, memories.



GO PINK TEAM :D

I was making plans to go to Karaoke with some of my teammates but they invited so many people so "OH DARN I REMEMBER" we have a Takoyaki (fried octopus balls) party at the dorm tonight... no, we really do, I just don't like takoyaki lol. So I tell them we will have to go another day. So I head back. In the rain. A good rain too. I don't sit long before deciding to go to the store to buy oil, salt, pepper, etc for cooking tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet). Going downstairs, I stop in the lounge to talk to Aki and.... and.... THAT OTHER GIRL! ;_; no I forgot her name. Anyways I ask about sauce to cook yakitori with and get the name before heading out.

*sigh* Another 2000 yen shopping trip. I FOUND MY AWESOME PIZZA THOUGH that I ate at Manami's house. So I bought 2 of those, butter, salt (which is not by the pepper), pepper, potatoes, oil, and................... oh the sauce of course. And I headed back and began cooking my tonkatsu. And Yuji taught me how to make rice using the rice cooker. I made enough to last me a few days. Cleaning the rice cooker is not fun. And I celebrate my success by cooking another meal telling Yuji "I can get married one day" and he tells me, as always "no, more" (I need to cook more food) haha.



Me cooking



Yuji making takoyaki

AND I COOKED AGAIN :D

Today was a pretty busy day. I'm glad the weekend is here...

I didn't have class til 12 so I got to laze around the room all by my lonesome. I ate my leftover mac and cheeze (tasted good actually... I usually don't like leftover mac and cheeze). I think around 10:45ish I headed to school that way I would sit and study. Today was the Japanese replacement test to make sure we were put in the right levels... sometimes I joke they are moving back to Japanese 1. But yeah, if anything Japanese 3... but I dunno. I think I did pretty good on the translating but not good at listening. I'm just bad at listening to those CDs or anything. It's one thing talking to a friend... but those CD... I've been through this before.

Anyways afterward I sat around with Vince and his friends, eventually getting tempted by McDs and going to get some (despite eating already). So I get some, eat, hang around using my computer. I didn't take my little brief case today... carried my books and took my laptop instead since I had a long day on campus. At 2:30 I had my Communications class. I think I will learn to like it. It will be important none the less.

After class and getting a copy of the reading because I was too lazy to buy the reading packet and now they are out, I went to the lounge and sat around with Jess and Diego before trying to find the clubs I want to join. Both the circle (that is just a fun circle) and karate club supposedly had meetings today but I never found them. Maybe they haven't started up yet. I sent an email to both parties. So I sat around until 6 pm when the Osaka trip meeting was. nothing much said just basically what we were doing.

Afterward, Ash and I went grocery shopping. By golly, I'm gonna cook something! SO bought meat, veggies, rice, and........yaeh that was about it. And cooking stuff (flour). AND I found precooked hamburger steak... just zap it in the microwave and it was done. So upon returning, I decided to make a hamburger steak (came in packs of four) and some mashed potatoes... I've never made mashed potatoes before but I've seen my mommy do it (before she began cheating and started buy bags of precut potatoes :p ) and it doesn't look that hard. Given, I did email her for directions.



TADA! Does that not look OISHII (delicious)? Shoulda done some sort of veggie. Oh well. Once I get cooking well, I'm going to plan my weekly dinners so I don't have to go out so much. That can also help me plan what to make so there can be left overs to make a bento if I need to the next day.

So I can currently cook:
1- Mac and Cheese (until I run out)
2- Hamburger steak
3- Mashed Potatoes
4- Tonkatsu

I want to learn to cook:
1- Yakiniku (cook chicken and beef)
2- Gyudon
3- sukiyaki
4- karaage
5- anything else good

Anyways Ash and I went down for kitchen duty and there was no one in there. So I start thinking we are off the hook when in the stairwell we see Aki and ask her and she says there is a party a lot of people went to (I'm not a big party-er) and if we want to clean it can only be the 3 of us so we did. I don't want to live in a pig sty, I don't mind cleaning.

Would you like GRAVITY with your rice? YES PLEASE!

So today was MY first day of classes since I had no reason to go to my class the other day. Technically I'm still in it. I haven't gotten my copy of the drop/add form saying I'm officially out and in my other class. I had Spoken Japanese 4 this morning. Just basic orientation, 50 minute class, what we will be covering. We only speak Japanese in the class. The teacher only speaks Japanese in class. Luckily I understand it. My problem is that I have trouble retaining what I hear in Japanese compared to me hearing it in English (I can recall it better)... but then again maybe I was just tired so I had trouble paying attention HAHA. I think I'm ok in this level but we'll see. We have a quiz Thursday and the review test on Friday... which if we make a low score on we may be asked to move down. I think I'll be ok though. Except for vocabulary, the 10 minute reading homework was understandable to me.

The second class of the day was Cross-Cultural Relationships. This class will be fun. The teacher is an actual clinical psychologist. But he seems like he is a good teacher. I think this will be a good class for me.

After classes I went to the LL (Language Lab for those who forgot) to listen to my reading and I ended up just email the files to myself to listen at the dorm (note to self, get my jump drive!). After sitting in there for 15 minutes I proceeded, I think the long way, to the 99 store (called kyukyu store) where everything is 104 yen with tax (so like a dollar store). They have my big water bottles I keep in the fridge for 104 yen (compared to 178 yen at family mart LOL). I also picked up some more food and snacks.

While walking to the bus stop (the bag was heavy so I thought that was plenty excuse to ride the bus back) I realized my foot was sore. I know I have like blisters from friction walking in my brown flats so I thought it was those... I look down and I have like this blister, liquid filled, bulging on the side of my foot. Looks like a second ankle bone! And it hurts. So I decide I'll return to the dorm and pop it. I'm not sure if this was a good idea... but it was painful and scary looking so I thought... why not?

Well... lets just say it became even more painful to walk afterward. So I try some first aid, use some neosporin, put on a hello kitty bandaid, and put some gauze on it too... THEN SHOHEI CALLS! Hey I haven't seen him since I got here... he's at KGU so I decide to meet him and go out to eat dinner. So I limp to the bus stop... the next bus isn't for 10 minutes. I could walk to KGU in that time. So i do... limp... and I dunno if the hello kitty bandaids suck, or if bandaids don't belong on that part of the foot... or maybe my first aid skills... or maybe it was the the heat and humidity... but both the gauze and bandaid were falling off (hence my limping). So, he better consider himself special... I went all the way back up there for him.

So we meet up, I try going to CIE for another bandaid but they said the clinic has them and so Shohei and I went there and it was closed... BUT I REMEMBERED! I put two bandaids in my purse that day I wore the shoes. So I pile those on so I have 3 bandaids... that eventually fall off. Shohei and I take the bus Hirakata where our first stop is the pharmacy to get better bandaids... which we get, bigger and stickier. So this one is working ^.^ Then we go off to eat. That boy can eat let me tell ya! He ate part of my meal and his meal and got two extra helpings of rice.

SO SPEAKING OF RICE! On his second bowl of rice, he poured an egg in with it. He asked me what we do in America because we don't put egg in our rice... I tell him we usually put gravy on our rice. Gravy? What's that in Japanese? Well my pocket dictionary was no help for that... was not help for a lot. So I ask him if he knows what gravy is... he thinks I said gravity! So I'm like "well yeah we have gravity on our rice too! it would be hard to eat if it was floating!" So that is our joke... rice with gravity. We seem to have a lot in common. I'm going to meet up with him and his friends next week. Tanoshimini~~~

Success! I have COOKED FOOD!

This morning after lazy-ing around, I finally decided to get up, get dressed, and go to school to take care of my class changes. I didn't know what was full. Upon arriving I saw just about everything that I could use is full. I tried to talk my way into a full class, didn't work too well, that option is there, but for now I have switched out of Labor, Culture and HRM (which was today) and into Intercultural Communication in Japan. No long day on Thursday now <3 Hopefully this is permanent and works out. Drop/Add here is a pain because you have to get this form from CIE and get the signatures from both the professor of the class you are adding and the class you are dropping. So much easier at UWF. Online.

So my new schedule looks like this:

MONDAY
10:00 - 10:50 Spoken Japanese 4
12:00 - 12:50 Reading/Writing Japanese 4

TUESDAY
10:00 - 10:50 Spoken Japanese 4
1:00 - 2:20 Cross Cultural Relationships

WEDNESDAY
9:00 - 9:50 Reading/Writing Japanese 4
11:00 - 11:50 Spoken Japanese 4
2:30 - 3:50 Intercultural Communication

THURSDAY
10:00 - 10:50 Spoken Japanese 4
12:00 - 12:50 Reading/Writing Japanese 4
1:00 - 2:20 Cross Cultural Relationships

FRIDAY
12:00 - 12:50 Spoken Japanese 4
2:30 - 3:50 Intercultural Communication

Today was also the day the clubs/circles (well only a handful of them at least) were setting up to give out info and invite you to join. The only one set up that looked interesting was Aikido. I might go but it's 3000 yen/month. The information table with the book with all groups was crowded the whole time but I heard that the book lives in CIE so I'll check it out tomorrow. Where is the Ikemen club???? ^.^

So that's all I did at the school today... switch classes, hang with Ash and her speaking partner, Tori, and ate lunch. Afterward Ash and I went to the grocery store. Time to cook, but we need some food.

I bought: 6 eggs, what I think are potatoes, milk, butter (took time to find), some chicken and fries that are cooked and I'll heat up later, some ore ida fries (YAY), and pancake mix... yeah I think that is it... OH and peanut butter... extra crunchy, no creamy here I guess. I didn't see grape jelly either. Oh well. I forgot maple for my pancakes ;_; I'll have to pick it up. I need to take a Japanese shopping with me because I want to make hamburger steak. YUUUUUM. And tonkatsu. YUUUM.

Tonight's meal is macoroni and cheese since I found milk and butter. I'm counting down to cooking. I have kitchen duty with another group this week at 9 pm tonight. Blaaaah. I guess it's ok. I rather not live in a pig sty.

I'm kinda typing this as the rest of the day goes on SOOO...

I started feeling sleepy and thought I'd go to Hirakata and buy a date book from the Pookie store (Kiddy Land) and possibly my bento and what not... so Ash and I headed down there, went to Kiddy Land where I did buy what I need and Book Off were I did a good job not buying 50 yen CDs LOL. We found 500 yen on the sidewalk. I split it with Ash... I saw it, she picked it up. Free bus ride home :D

We returned and I started to cook my macoroni and cheese :D



Start with my pot to boil water



Then at the noodles.....



BOIL TIL TENDER AND MIX AND WALAAA!!! You have made Mac&Cheese in Japan.

IN FACT I sold one of my boxes for 400 yen (~4$). I could start a business with Kraft Dinners. We have figured out what the mysterious switch underneath the light switch by door does... it turns on this mysterious grate on the other side of the room... I'm not sure what it does. Anyways, almost 9 pm, almost kitchen duty time. I'll end this blog for I think nothing fun will happen unless Yuji turns up.

"CHECK-IN!" *strikes Daisuke's pose*

I still don't get that joke... must be Nihon Joke...

So I am now officially checked in to my dorm. I took my sheets down and got in line to check out as a temporary orientation resident to a permanent resident. I got a paper to fill out about room damage and to make sure I have everything. So I get my set of keys to my room, the side gate and door, and the kitchen cabinet. Next to my room number it has the kanji for top/above （上）　and I was wondering why... I thought because I'm on the top floor or because I got the first set of keys...

So I go to the room and fill out my paper and check over the room noting first the stained curtains in front of the sliding door. Ash is standing in line at this time to get her paperwork so I go downstairs to the kitchen and check that stuff. I go to #41, the first one I see, which is on top... stick my key in, open, check, and return. When I talk to Ash I find out why I have the top kanji... I thought the whole time her and I share the one set of dishes in that cabinet but there are two cabinets and I coincidentally opened the correct cabinet, the one on top, hence the reason I have the top/above kanji on my keys. Her's is below mine. We scope out the room marking a few other little things and go down stairs to turn it in and get our hangers and new set of linens. I hate making my bed in America... and not only do I have to make up futon but supposedly I have to put it away every morning in my closet. Putting the sheet on the futon blanket is like putting a pillow case on a giant floppy pillow. I should get a video of me doing that. It's not fun you guys... not fun.

Here are some more pics and video of the dorm!



Entrance way, view from 4th floor hallway window



The park and library I pass every morning when I leave the dorm to go various places (school, bus stop, shopping)



Me and the beautiful view of Japan in the background :D



Seminar House 2 :D In the daytime.



I realized today 2 things about the dorm... 1) we have 4 bathroom stalls and 4 set of slippers for the bathroom and this morning when I went, 1 set of slippers were left... so that means 3 out of 4 stalls were in use. The doors don't stay open so I didn't know which one was not occupied so I returned to my room and fiddled before returning, hoping it was easier to find a stall. Well, I learned (after doing my business wondering why when you don't lock the door some "OCCUPIED" word doesn't show up on the other side) that when you lock the bathroom door, the lock color (it's a small dot i never noticed before btw) goes from blue to red. OK! So that won't happened again. Also 2) we have an all call in the dorm. Yuji just used it to announce our meeting is in 10 minutes. I heard this sound and was like "is that Ash's computer? a bell somewhere outside (we keep our balcony door open, it has a screen and such so no bugs get in... i like to think at least) and then I heard Yuji's voice... great he's like God, I hear him everywhere... but yeah, it's an all call system in the dorms.

We have monthly house meetings and monthly parties :D September is a yakitori party! YUM! Here is the video... not so much a tour... just me being silly I guess. I call the elevator on the 1st floor, change my mind and take the stairs, then call the elevator on the 2nd floor... I'm so weird :D



Oh, we have to fold and put up our futons regularly BECAUSE if you leave them down all semester, the tatami mat underneath will mold. So we should fold and put them away and lay them out to dry twice a month. Well... that is fun to do. I'm sure I'll become an expert and putting away my futon by the time this trip is over. I need a chair to sit at this little table. Right now I'm sitting on my pillow.

Seminar House 2!

Today, didn't do too much. Jess, one of my roomies left for homestay. Just Ash and I until the semester ends. We have room now to move our room around, futons and table. I set up earlier, looks super nice. Anyways, I laid around til about 10:30ish until Jess and I decided we'd go up to the school, eat lunch, hang around... So we left at 11:30.

We stopped at Hotto Motto for lunch... I remember eating Hotto Motto last year, I don't remember when, where, why, and what I ate, but it was the chicken. The chicken was so greasy but fries were yummy. We ate at the CIE lounge. Afterwards we checked on her cell phone (no luck) and I got some money out. It all came in big bills so I decided I'd go to Hirakata and break one for easier bus fare when needed. So I went to Tsutaya and bought Crystal Kay's Best of CD :D Pretty cheap for a Best CD maybe because there was no DVD. As much as I would like one, the price would have made me changed my mind. I've seen Best CDs go for as much as 8000 yen. I browsed and saw that some American TV drama sets such as Full House, Desperate Housewives, and House (called Dr. House here) range from 8000-10000 per season (House being the most expensive).

After browsing around Hirakata and buying some snacks and another big water bottle for the fridge to refill my bottle (I think I'm saving money... but maybe I only save money when I buy the big bottles from the 99 store... yeah, I should start going there more often) I took the bus (that was sitting at waiting for once) back to the dorms where I napped. For 3 hours. After moving furniture (we're not suppose to rearrange furniture but I don't think that applies to futons and the table in the tatami room. Oddly, we have our futons in front of the other person's closet. This is because when I moved in (I was first), there was a line of futons against the wall and I took the one near the AC (because I need to be cold to sleep and I dunno I just chose that one) and I sat my stuff on the desk right near it... but because the close on that side of the room was a bit blocked by futons, I took the closet on the other side. So, it's a bit weird. Oh well. No splitting this room in half HAHA. Here is my dorm :D



The Lobby. With the "Wel-Come" sign LOL. See the little doorway to the right? That is where I enter, you can't see but closer to me to the right is where I go and take my shoes off and put on my slippers.



Yeah I got 4 pairs of shoes in there...



Seminar House 2 RA's: Yuji (male) and Aki (female)... I'm pretty sure Yuji doesn't look like that underneath it all..




Lounge Area



Computer Room. Useful during orientation week when nobody can access internet through their own PC's/Macs. But if you have your own computer, once it is registered for internet, unless something happens, you will never set foot in this room again.



The "Dinning" room as Yuji refers to it HAHA.



The cabinet where hopefully I can start getting dishes tomorrow and start cooking. I'm so cooking Mac and cheeze :D



The fridge... I guess 6 people can share a fridge... just respect other's food. I try to, I put my water bottle in my family mart bag that way I know it's mine.



SNACKS :D Look my cookies are almost gone :(



Uh oh this pic is upside down LOL but do you see the bag? That's my big bottle of water to refill my little one



Microwaves. You can heat anything in these things. I make toast. Doesn't matter if it's wrapped in something or naked food... just pop it in here. No fires!



Cooking :D Gas stoves... i've never used one. Man, am I gonna have fun cooking ^.^



Washers and Dryers in the shower room... but I don't use the dryers. They suck



Shower



MEN NOT PERMITTED BEYOND THIS POINT~ I don't understand why we have this rule just on the 4th floor (and it's for girls on the 3rd floor that is all boys) because on the 1st floor (all boys) is the lounge and lobby and what not so girl can be there (have no choice) and all the 2nd floor (all girls) is the kitchen so boys have to be there so you can't have this rule but on the 3rd floor (all boys) and 4th (all girls) we have this no opposite gender allowed rule......... just strange.



Room 041 is mine :D



The room... the table is close to my futon because i was sitting my computer there and using it. Notice how my futon is on that side of the room... my closet is in front of Ash's futon haha



The closet



The Desk



Anyways I hung around downstairs, trying to be sociable, and met the two girls from Thailand and our two RA's. Yuji was trying to make a sign announcing tomorrow's house meeting, we will become official residents tomorrow. Yeah we are "checking out" and "checking in" tomorrow. I had a feeling Yuji would hurt himself trying to make that sign...



He misspelled "dining room" (dinning room... so now we have a pineapple? in the middle of the word) and he put the 7th when I kept telling him the 6th so we have this odd 6... I added the "@ 12:00" myself because Yuji was so confused.

Tomorrow after the meeting, I'm meeting with my speaking partner, Kanako, and she's coming here to hang out then I think we are going to try to see what this Shopping Street is on the map... has shopping in the word :D Sounds like fun.

BIKKURISHITA~

So a quick brief on KGU's Japanese classes... Level 1 covers Genki I, Lessons 1-9, Level 2 covers Genki I and II, Lessons 10-17... basically the classes go pretty fast here. Level 3 finishes up Genki II. My goal this summer was to study Genki II on my own and get into level 4. Well, I never finished it because Sophia's Japanese class was too intense. I got half way though on my own. So I figured I'd get into Level 3 which seems to be equivalent to Japanese 4 at my home institution. So, pretty cool, I will skip Japanese 3. I've only taken up to 2, then a semester this summer and last summer in Japan, then just speaking to people... my knowledge is all over the place.

Anyways... I was on the phone with my dad getting ready to head out to school to check my level then head to Hirakata, when I thought I saw a flicker of light out the window (I have the corner room so not only do I have a balcony but a window :D ). I thought it was lighting but figured it was my imagination or a car or something. I got off the phone with my dad soon after and I was getting my stuff together when I heard it... BOOOOOOM *thunder rumble*. Well... I have to meet Takuma... so I remember Yuki's advice: (when you do not/cannot drive) when you hear a storm coming, leave early so you don't have to walk in the rain. I mean I have to go, I want to go, and I hate to walk in the rain... so I just hurry. Honestly, I never SEE the lightning again but I heard some rumbles of thunder.

Anyhow, I make it to school, the darkness kinda creeped me out so I asked Jun to call me so I could talk to him. So for the last bit of walk I was able to talk to him. I go look on the bulletin board for the classes... and I don't see anything new... so i turn to walk away and I see them next to the board. I look... Level 4 Spoken and Level 4 Reading/Writing. I don't know how... I really don't. I musta done really good on all the parts of the test I took HAHA. I'm not sure if I will stay in Level 4 though, I never finished Genki II. We'll just see.

So basically my schedule looks like this:

Monday:
10:00 - 10:50 > Spoken Japanese 4
12:00 - 12:50 > Reading/Writing Japanese 4
2:30 - 3:50 > Labor, Culture and Human Resource Management in Japan

Tuesday:
10:00 - 10:50 > Spoken Japanese 4
1:00 - 2:20 > The Mystery of Cross-Cultural Relationships: Social and Psychological Influences

Wednesday:
9:00 - 9:50 > Reading/Writing Japanese 4
11:00 - 11:50 > Spoken Japanese 4

Thursday:
10:00 - 10:50 > Spoken Japanese 4
12:00 - 12:50 > Reading/Writing Japanese 4
1:00 - 2:20 > The Mystery of Cross-Cultural Relationships: Social and Psychological Influences
2:30 - 3:50 > Labor, Cultural and Human Resource Management in Japan

Friday:
12:00 - 12:50 > Spoken Japanese 4

Yeah, schedules here are pretty wacky. We can't have the class at the same time everyday. I love Wednedays (all Japanese) and Fridays (1 class)... not so happy about Thursday >.< All 4 classes.......... GRRRR. Anyways, I think I mentioned before... non-language classes start Monday (so just my Labor class) and Japanese starts Tuesday. This should be interesting.

KGU Orientation Week

Ok so I thought I'd actually post a few pics and talk about Kansai Gaidai University's Orientation Week.

I arrive Saturday, and Pre-Orientation activities started Monday. So as I wrote before I hung around and met my speaking partner on Sunday (for those who come to KGU, give this program a shot, it's a good program). On Monday, my schedule was to do L.L orientation, I believe I wrote about that. On Tuesday was my Japanese Proficiency Test which I also wrote about.

Wednesday started Orientation. Everyone is here, time for meetings and what not. Wednesday was the General Meeting. 30 minutes, short, I don't remember what we talked about haha. After that I paid my fees at the SHOMU office. I went to the Introduction of Faculty (non-language faculty) because I thought it would help me get to know my professors and the other professors and what they teach. In the end, this meeting made me rethink my classes (SORRY!). Right after was the Seminar House meeting which was largely about trash because separating trash is hard and we could talk all day... ie: what bin does tin foil go into? what do you wrap broken glass up with to toss away? can't be plastic.. because that belongs in the plastic bin... paper is burnable... haha, anyways. After that was a meeting for homestay, doesn't include me, and then the Health/STD meeting and Women's Safety meeting. I skipped those. Seriously, they don't take roll or anyway of knowing if everybody who should be at a meeting is there. And some of these (such as women's safety and info meeting) is probably useful for first timers here but it's not my first time... it would be a waste of my attention and I most likely know it all anyways.

Thursday was basically just the Opening Ceremony. I used the time before hand to rest, do laundry, and go do my alien registration. I take the bus to Hirakata, knowing I had a map that had directions from Hirakata Eki to the City Hall... but I can't find it. I assumed I dreamed that and use my Japanese skills to get there. I saw a map on the side of the road... but my problem with those maps is I stare at them and see the "You are Here" (in Japanese of course) and the City Bank... but can't figure out how to get there haha. I do find it eventually. I take a number and there is 17 people waiting in front of me. I ask how long it is taking per person and I am told 5 minutes, sometimes more, so I decide to get lunch. They won't miss me. So I hit up McDs and stop at Family Mart for a giant water bottle. They are like cheap so I see this as me saving money from buying a new one all the time. Just refill my little ones. I probably shoulda stocked up on the free ones from the hotel. I go to the opening ceremony speech thing. A lot of important people. DK got to make speech. She did a good job.



I skipped out on the free dinner because there is sooo many people so I sat in the computer lab and watched for a class schedules to be handed out. Today (Friday) was the General Briefing and Safety Issue Orientation. I want to say, I hate stupid people who do not read the orientation manual. I bet you 90% of the questions could have been easily answered if the people just read. Stupid people. No stupid questions, just stupid people. The General Briefing was so bad because the professor doing it could just say the main points and move on, that I lost all my attention span and ability to sit there and left... skipping out the safety issue meeting. I went with Diego and Jessi to get a cell phone. Then McDs for lunch. Then hanging around until the Kyoto trip. I did not go. Too many people, you are split into groups but I'm kinda in a mood today and I wanted to meet with Takuma and his friends tonight for dinner. So I came back to the hotel and showered so I wouldn't be a sweaty mess.

That's about it for Orientation week. Just check out of dorms tomorrow to recheck in as a permanent resident. Jess leaves for homestay and just me and Ash left. I guess Ash and I will have to locate and check out the shopping districts in the opposite direction of the school. Classes start Monday. I am taking "Labor, Culture, and HRM in Japan" and "The Mystery of Cross-Cultural Relationships: Social and Psychological" along with Spoken and R/W Japanese. I'm not sure of the level yet. I'm debating whether I should walk to the campus and check then hop on the bus to Hirakata or check on the way back (but they may be closed) or check Satuday... hmmm...

Yeah, anyways, my plans for the tonight is to meet with Takuma and his friends and eat dinner. No plans really for this weekend. My afternoon classes (non-language) start Monday, language start Tuesday. Monday after classes I'm hanging with Takuma again.

HERE ARE SOME PICS :D



My Shinkansen Ticket



Yuji, our male RA



Some curry at KGU cafeteria... why didn't I like curry last year??? Oh yeah because I smelled it and said I hate it... YUMMY CURRY :D



This is the map of the world in the CIE lounge... I don't quite understand it myself.... is that California detached for the US????



KGU, taken with my phone because I didn't have my camera charger



Engrish... classic. I found this shirt at a Japanese Ross (it's not Ross, but i could pass as one LOL... I bought my "HOT AND SPECIAL BOYS" socks there)