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

1 Week Later

You know... I envy Joel, being able to write in his blog everyday. It's not that I have a boring life and can't... just have such an exciting life I have no time LOL

This week has to be one of my most relaxing weeks in awhile. I had a lot of assignments but NO tests/quizzes. In Spoken Japanese we finished watching the drama, had a conversation day with Gaidai students, did our skits, and then reviewed for a test Monday. Our skit went well :) I hate that we have to vote for the best... some people take it to heart. No, my group didn't win, but I just want a good grade... I don't care about cross-dressing people and making something funny, as long as I get a good grade. We got to eat cake :D I have it on video too. That will be some good memories.


CAKE <3 from the 99 store haha

In Reading and Writing Japanese we just continued on with kanji study. We did sing karaoke in class one day HAHA. In my relationships class we are just continuing on with lecture. In Communication we are just doing presentations. Communication class is basically over. I did my presentation Friday... nothing else to do except show up and listen to everyone else! WOOT! Relationship class I have a short paper due Tuesday then my final paper due next week. Japanese classes I have some final tests and assignments and Oral test at the end of this week and written tests next week. I'm done with classes next Tuesday.

This past Tuesday I went back to Tonoyama Daiichi Elementary school. Teaching plan was "I am ...ing". I feel like it was pretty difficult for the students to learn all the vocabulary that fast. I go again this Tuesday for the last time and there is a workshop at Komatsu Friday but I'm not sure if I am going there yet.

It was a pretty awesome week :) Sunday I watched Angel and Demons with a friend, we also watched Liar Game together and rented Eurotrip and 1 Month to Live (a Japanese movie) to watch. Have watched the 1 Month to Live yet... Excited to see it though <3 Friday was karaoke with the dance booth members.





Rocking out to lord only knows what XD

It was fun :) Saturday I went to Kuzuha to hang out and go to a pet shop to shop for my kitty and the new addition to our family... our dog Toto. Toto got a pillow and my kitty got a new toy.



I saw this puppy... I so want it <3 KAWAII!!!

I was suppose to go to Takuma's for a Nabe Party with his family but... well long story short... I was running late (blame the cute puppy!) and I got his message too late and went off to Yakitori and Karaoke instead. Shikata ga nai.

Status: not motivated to study (is that even a status???)

♥ LIGHT UP ♥

Sounds Christmas-y doesn't it??? WELL IT'S NOT! Light up is when temples light up the trees. Because it's fall now, the trees are pretty fall colors, red, orange, yellow, etc. It is very pretty. So many people go and see the light up. Today I went to Kyoto with my friend Ryota and we walk around and went to a temple at night to see a light up :) Here are some pics!



Mountain with fall colors





Crowd of people from the front and behind us going up to Kiyomizudera



LOOK KANJIS! Can you read the pictures??? ;)



Sakura tree! But no sakura right now :(



Pretty tree :)



Pretty view going up to the temple



Light up in the zen garden



Light up with some SPIRITS =ooo!!!



A bunch of fall colors :)

Note: for light up, 1) wear comfy shoes, 2) get to the temple early unless you want to stand in an uber long line!, 3) don't forget your jacket if it's cold, 4) don't forget your camera!, 5) bring a good friend ♥

We met at 11 at school, got some lunch, then headed to Kyoto. We walked around for awhile, a long while, walking to many temples, including Kiyomizu... we didn't go in, but walked back to another temple to get in line for tickets for light up. This was like Disney World if you stretched the line for Splash Mountain! At least it moved fast. My feet were killing me from my boots, I kept trying to sit, but the line kept moving. The light up was pretty. I'm glad I got to see one!

Current status: tired!!!!!

Adventures in Volunteering and Modeling

This week was filled with awesome activities... and some not so awesome activities *cough* tests, quizzes *cough*

Tuesday, I had a test in Spoken Japanese, went to my teaching meeting and received the lesson plan, went to my relationships class, then to Tonoyama Daiichi Elementary school! We taught "I like..."/"I don't like..." using mainly school subjects. Speaking of school subjects, here is a schedule of a class at Tonoyama Daiichi. Subjects include: Reading, Japanese, Social Studies, Calligraphy, Integrated Studies, Math, PE, Music, Math, Science, etc etc



Wednesday, I had permission from my Kawano-sensei to go to an intercultural exchange at a kindergarten rather than going to class. I found asking the teachers and telling me what I am doing and I why I find it important and a great opportunity etc etc works very well. So, I went with a small group to Konoike Kindergarten. Note: This seems a lot like a preschool, meaning kindergarten is in preschools here, and also I'll note here elementary schools are 1st-6th grade.



This is Konoike Kindergarten. Looks like a castle eh? Pretty cool! We played with 5-6 year old kids. When we got there, we went up to the room and the kids were playing just some indoor games (tag, jump rope... wait those don't sound indoor LOL) and I jumped in and introduced myself and played with kids until they left temporarily. Basically here we played head, shoulders, knees, and toes with them and taught them Rock Paper Scissors in English. No matter what language I play this game in, the Japanese kids always win. I'm not sure why they are so good at! Moving on, I had a test that day in Communication. While studying, I was sitting in the lounge by myself when a guy came up to me and started chatting. Then he got to why he wanted to talk... he has a friend at a fashion school who needs someone to model clothes... well been there done that, guess I'll do it again. I gave him my email to pass on.

Thursday I had a quiz in Japanese, started watching a drama called "Kekkon Simulator" (Wedding Simulation) and we did our role plays in relationships. Ours was so-so. The other groups had some great ideas. My group had an idea but when I was trying to work on the script, I was finding it too short, so I started thinking the idea was too simple and slept on it... and wrote up a rough idea and new script which we adopted. This past Monday the group put it together. I guess because it was so hastily put together, it wasn't so good. It worked. At least I'm not the only one who feels the role play didn't act the actions perfectly...

Today, Friday, I woke up early and Skype'd with my family for Thanksgiving! It was nice to see them and talk... even though it was 5:30 am >.< I have decided to buy one of those tiny fleece blankies to wrap up in. Given they are worth the price.

This morning, another quiz in Japanese and continued to watch the drama. I took my work due in Communication to my professor since I was taking another holiday to do an intercultural exchange at an elementary school. Before going, I met up with Takuma and his girlfriend in the lounge near the atrium. We talked for awhile, his girlfriend and I trying to get him to stop smoking. It's a funny conversation. She is very pretty :) I'm going to his house next weekend for a Nabe party. His girlfriend will be there too.

I went to Kasuga Elementary with a decent size group of Japanese and exchange students. It took 4 taxis, free for us, to get to the school.



There is the school. We arrived and the kids were so excited to see us... constantly saying hello... in fact some started yelling "HISASHIBURI" (long time no see) and I was thinking "Hisashiburi???? Have I met you before???" haha. We made name tags and visited two classrooms where students made various booths and taught us about various aspects of Japanese culture such as places, pop culture, sports, etc. Afterward we played dodgeball outside. Not as scary as the dodgeball game from hell that we played at Meirin.



Mai and I sitting at the tiny desks :) Oh elementary school... to be young again!

After volunteering I broke the Amber record from walking to the station from the school. Today I was meeting Junko, the design student, to model clothes in the a photo shoot. I was only a few minutes late thanks to my fast walking. I didn't realize the school was so far away so that messed me up.

The school is in Shinsaibashi and originated in Paris. A very good school, very pretty. The guy who took the photos designed the clothes and the photos are for a competition, if he wins he gets to go to London. A girl did my make up for about 15 minutes before doing my hair. I wore 3 different outfits. Took a lot of photos. Modeling is harder than it seems, but it was enjoyable :) I was paid too, a bit more than I expected... I do not mind them paying for my travel expenses and buying a drink for me... but anymore just makes me feel weird. I understand though from the previous stylist I modeled for in the fashion show that even as students they take their work seriously and it's like a business to them. I hope the guy does good! His clothes were awesome! He is going to mail me pictures as well. I'm excited to see! I kept hearing good compliments during the photo shoot, and I laughed inside when he said "STAY" and took the picture of my pose from every angle.

Tomorrow, I'm going to hang out with Ryota. Looking forward to it :) This week has been pretty good.

Current status: PooPeD!!! as in tired...

Time to layout my schedule for next week to see what to expect! Going back to Tonoyama Daiichi :)

Kyoto: Fushimi Inari and Kiyomizudera

Monday my dad and I finally traveled somewhere: KYOTO! My usual Monday alarm went off, waking me during my REM sleep and my eyes were still REMing when I woke up >.< I got dressed, almost forgot the big duffel of my clothes my dad is taking back to the US for me (my suitcases were packed when I came here... and after all the things I bought... ZETTAI MURIDAYO!), and met my dad at the hotel. I had to run to catch my bus. Lately, I've been using the bus schedule to get to the bus stop just in time... and I look at it and the next bus is in 10 minutes, which is plenty of time if I go right then. And with the big heavy bag on my shoulder I had to try to run a bit faster.

I got the just when dad was trying to figure how much it would be if he didn't checkout by 10, which he didn't have to worry about after all. We planned to go meet my friends at 11 at the Fushimi Inari station so with time to spare we hit up Starbucks before hopping on a train. For the record, no express trains go to Fushimi Inari... I think the fastest train was the blue train. Which is almost no better than a local train HAHA.

So we start riding and I get off at the wrong stop... in fact I exit the station at the wrong stop! We got off at Fushimi Momoyama (I think is the name). I check my train map in my schedule book (I have the entire train map of Tokyo and Osaka and subways from all over Japan... did I mention these maps are entirely in Japanese? Kanji too), and we buy a 200 yen ticket and continue on to the correct station. Where we meet Mai (we volunteer together). Mai's friend, luckily had my email address because I forgot to write hers down, also had traveling problems. So it all worked out good. We all waited for each other.

Fushimi Inari was awesome. So many toriis!!! I wonder how many there are. We didn't climb all the way to the top though. I guess we took the weenie route down 1/3 of the way up LOL. We did run into TWO pet-able kitties :D I haven't pet a kitty since I left home! The cats here are wild and just run away :( I bought a torii (a little one) and my cell phone charm + a soft Inari cats eye charm! I mean so sooooo soft too! Super cute :) Here are some pictures!!



Inari the fox. His temple!



Seeing double? Both paths went the same way by the way.



Toriis! Feel like you are in Memoirs of a Geisha yet?



Me and the toriis



Fall leaves!!!



The second of two kitties I got to pet :) This one was comfortably sun bathing.

Afterward we went to Kiyomizudera. I decided to go to the Kiyomizu Gojo station... after walking to the temple I started thinking the Gion station that we went to when I went with the dance booth members was closer. Not sure if I am wrong or right... I got a little lost trying to go back the way I went with the dance booth members. I knew I saw a Family Mart and I hadn't eaten really the whole day and I wanted to find it. Anyways, at Kiyomizu we walked around... it was really crowded. I bought an omamori :) AND GOT A GOOD FORTUNE FOR ONCE!! YAY :) I drunk from the fountain... I'm not sure what kind of luck I drank though LOL. I could use some luck no matter what kind it is.

After Kiyomizu we headed back on an overly crowded limited express train. Next time, I'm just going to take sub express. It's not like we were in a hurry. Sub express wouldn't have been so crowded. I was so pooped by the time we go to back to Hirakata-shi. We sat in the atrium of the station and I tried to think of something that to do that involves sitting since we had time to spare before needing to go to the airport... come on... what did I choose to do???? Shouldn't be that hard to figure out... What is something fun to do that involves sitting? KARAOKE!!! So we hit up karaoke for an hour before heading to the airport. It was fun :)

I took dad back to the airport, an easier way that when I went to pick him up. It may not have been cheaper, and may or may not have taken as long, but it was sooo much easier. Hirakata-shi to Kyobashi on the Keihan line, Kyobashi to Tennoji on the JR Loop Line, Tennoji to Kansai Airport on the Airport express train. Then do it in reverse!! I didn't get back to the dorm til almost 11. I hate how much I have been eating McDs lately but I've been so busy. I think starting today it is back to cooking and packing bento.

I'm trying to remember what day of the week it is LOL. Holidays throw me off. Festivals too. And we just had both!

Current status: hungry, sleepy, but mostly hungry.

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 ^.^

Celebrity for a Day... almost

Today was the fashion show in Umeda. The plan was to meet at 8 AM at "Phil's Gate" (main gate at campus) and the guys would drive us to Umeda. So I get there a bit early (thinking we should be on time, and thinking breakfast... mostly breakfast) and go to 7/11. I get to the main gate just a couple minutes before 8 and no one is there. In fact after 8 still no one is there. Then the other 2 girls come, and right when i start SMS'ing Rae because Phil was missing, he came. Of course the guys picking us up were 30 minutes late.

So yes, the guys (who are the designers) pick us up and we ride an hour to Umeda... me recognizing every song being played in the car. I'm not sure if it was a CD or MP3 player going... but it was all my favorite singers! Went from Shion to Aoyama Thelma to Dohzi-T <3

Anyways, we get there and us girls go to a girls room where everyone was getting into wardrobe, and getting their hair and make up done. We got dressed, got our make up (just eyes) and hair done. We all looked great. It was my first time wearing fake eye lashes.

So we went for pictures (which we do not get a copy of because they are professional and expensive I am guessing), finale rehearsal, lunch (which one of the guys tried to turn into something difficult because it may have been taboo I guess if one of the judges saw us in our clothes before the show, so we just wore jackets, ran to get food and ran back), redress, check, practice, then stood in an outside staircase for the show. We were 6 out of about 16 groups I think? We did awesome. We stood around then went on to the finale where we stood scrunched on stage, everyone, all groups, then waited til 5 for the award ceremony. Unfortunately, our stylists did not win :( But they did awesome <3 They are super sweet.

It was like being a celebrity today though... we were the only foreigners around (besides maybe 5 others who showed up, 4 friends of Phil LOL). Every time we went somewhere we had our pics taken. Everybody wanted our picture taken. By the end of the day I was tired of it. Celebrity is not for me...

Best Day EVER

Trip to Umeda

This was suppose to be me and friends... but it ended up just me and Joey. And I'm ok with that. I wouldn't have it any other way. It was the best day ever because of him.

So we left on the bus, separating from Ash and Katie for me to get money. The plan was they go ahead to their Anime Museum show and we would meet up around lunch time. So it's just Joey and me, I get money, we go to the station, take Keihan to Kyobashi, JR to Osaka. We are using the JR Loop Line... because Joey is tired and I'm thinking Katie and Ash need time, we got on the train going the longest way(Osaka is 3 stops from Kyobashi, but we went the opposite way so it was like 10-11-12 stops??). It's a loop line, it's all the same. Still 160 yen. I get a text on this ride they they will be there for a few hours and will most likely meet up for the Umeda Sky Building at sunset.

So it's just Joey and I. We walked around some expensive malls (you know a department store is expensive when there is not one but TWO elevator attendants in one elevator LOL). We went to HEP 5 which is a pretty awesome mall, has the not so awesome Joypolis (compared to Tokyo) but we did get to play in the UFO Catchers WHERE I WON MY BUNNY :D IN.ONE.SHOT! I got so cocky i kept trying for more things and lost prolly 1000 yen. Joey, please stop me next time... I know you were trying... but try harder next time LOL. We went to this one game center that had little critters walking around! Like I guess they run off batteries and they hobble and walk around... it was so cute, I wanted one LOL.

Joey ate lunch around the time we got there. About 2-3 hours later of walking, I saw my Sukiya... I've been wanting and looking for one for awhile. And I saw it and gasped, pointed, grabbed Joey's arm and ran like it might disappear if I didn't get there fast enough... I scared him. He thought something was wrong. I got there, got my gyudon, and was a happy girl. We walked around more, went to Yodobashi camera. Then met back with Ash and Katie to go to the Umeda Sky Building for sunset viewing.

We meet at the North Central exit and walk for about 20 minutes to the building. When we get to the intersection crossing in front of the building... Joey and I notice the underground path that basically cuts our walk time in 2/3 LOL. We didn't see it on the otherside. Well we got our exercise right???



Here is the sky building



Me and the view AND MY BUNNY :D All that is missing is Joey.



3 of the 4 favorite people here. Yet again... Joey is missing. One day, Joey, I'll get you HAHA.

Beautiful sunset. I was freezing up there. I didn't have a jacket and of course it's cool here at night now. I was being held by Joey most of the time. He tried so hard to keep me warm up there. It was worth freezing for though. Watching the sunset up there was beautiful. Beautiful ending to a beautiful day. Joey didn't do anything special, but he was the one friend that stuck by me, and I appreciate that. Best friend ever. And so many good things happened and I'm going to pretend it was because he was there. I won my bunny, found a Sukiya, saw a beautiful sunset, survived cold winds without a jacket...

My feet hurt now, I'm tired, and I am on dorm arrest tomorrow. Must get work done.

Osaka Castle

Well, tomorrow is the last day of Silver Week... wait??? REALLY!?! Yep... I thought today was Monday, too. Tomorrow is Wednesday and the last day of my 5 day vacation.

Saturday: I was suppose to go to the INFES party, but fell back asleep which is OK. I don't remember exactly what I did instead that day... oh well.

Sunday: I was suppose to go to Osaka with some friends but decided to go to Karaoke on my own and just stay in Hirakata. I bought 3 CDs, 2 which had bonus DVDs, for 750 yen at Book Off. It was a good day :)

Monday: I was lazy yet again. I was trying to find a place to get money when my guardian angel, Taka-san (yes, I shortened his name), took me to find an open ATM. Double riding his bicycle. I always wanted to do that :) And it went a lot of faster. So I got some grocery shopping done.

Today, I somehow fell back asleep and slept til 2 pm... waking and rushing out to meet Vanessa in Osaka. We were going to meet at Osaka Castle. The castle closed at 4:30 and because it takes me an hour at least to get there. Let me comment on the trains here in Osaka (yeah, you know this was coming).

This was the first time going on my own on the trains here. I've only ridden them once before too and that was with Kanako. All these Osaka people are always like "Amber, if you can navigate Tokyo, you can navigate Osaka, it's easier" !!!!! NO, IT'S NOT! There is like 5 different trains... the local, express, super express, limited express... and Osaka has thing not caring to have maps and English maps available for me to tote around! I navigate Tokyo good because I had a map for a long time... eventually it got embedded in my head. And the local train of course stops at all stops while the express trains... I don't even know the difference between them... if I had an English map, I probably could tell you. I guess some stop at some number of stops and the more faster the train the less stops it takes. So you have to make sure your train stops at your stop. Very complicated and confusing. Not easier than Tokyo.

But something I never saw in Tokyo... is a double decker train. In fact I stopped mid Japanese direction asking to go "OMG!" I made sure to ride in this car too. Just because.



So yes, I did manage this by myself... taking the Keihan Line to Kyobashi, changing to the JR Line (WAIT! I STILL CANNOT USE MY PASMO HERE! Osaka is SOOO weird) where I rode to Morinomiyo. I met Vanessa and her friends from Nagayo at Osaka Castle. I got there 8 minutes before it closed so I just hung around the gift shop. I've made a note to go back there later.



After resting, we decided to go to Osaka Tower. We stopped at the shrine, I gave some money, did a little prayer then bought a fortune. Mine was a so-so fortune... not sure, but I hung it on the tree anyways.



So 2 subway stops later, switching lines, 3 stops later, we arrive to the Tower. The wait to tour the tower is 50 minutes. I've made a note to go back there too. We walk around, there are 3 Pachinkos at least in this area (Osaka... you guys have a bad addiction) and finally a small arcade with some purikura which we do. Supposedly there is no Purikura in Nagoya. The best Purikura I've been to was the one in Makino... with the monkey bars <3



So after that, I headed back on my own... taking one subway line 3 stops, switching lines, going 2 stops. I get off the subway and notice... the escalator isn't moving... there is a train stopped with all the lights off O.O This isn't a power outage... I start worrying that it being a holiday maybe the trains stop running early... but at 7??? So panicking, I ran out the wrong exit... >.< So I go out exit 2 and ask a lady which direction the JR station was and walked in a heavy rain (good thing I grabbed my umbrella just in case this morning :D) by myself at dark. It was a little depressing. But I found it and everything was running so no worries.

I got by to Hirakata on my own a little early so I stopped at McDs for a fast dinner and went to Ring with Taka-san for Karaoke :) It was fun. We seem to sing the same types of songs too. I like singing with him. Ring is a bit expensive though. I kinda like my Smiley Karaoke better.

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.

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.