technical difficulties

I worked hard on the batch of photos from my homestay weekend.

And Flickr *refuses* to upload them. This makes me hate our super security-laden Internet connection even more.

So here are some pictures of an impromptu trip to Sakae in Nagoya. I love clothes shopping in Japan, but it's hard to find stuff that fits well.

Sakae is so full of good shops (shopping at Oasis 21 is a must) and restaurants, I really wish that Chubu was closer to it.

Here are some pictures from today, courtesy of my camera phone:

Stephanie and Megan went to a salon, which was really cool to see.
I didn't get my hair cut. I wanted to get a picture of Steph's stylist (not pictured
because he had a really crazy hairdo. All but one of the stylists was male, but
they all dressed really cute and snappy.

Part one of lunch at a place called Canaria. Salad, soup and coffee!
All of it was really good, too.

PASTA! A tomato sauce with some tuna on it. Very interesting and tasty.

I tried to get a picture of Canaria's rocking interior, but camera
phones only go so far. I guess I'll just have to go back ^_~

This was in the fitting rooms of one of a few of the stores I went to.
わからない〜〜〜〜
(wakaranai~~~~)
*trans.: I don't get it.*
But I watched Lucky Number Slevin recently, and that was definitely
the first thing this reminded me of. Creeeeeepy.

This is a coat I bought last week at Honey's. It's reversible and very warm.





And then.......

here's my haul from today

Yes, I've found the PokeMon store. I bought the stuffed Pikachu
with part of my cell phone rebate. The blue card in the bottom corner
was a free gift I got with my purchase. Probably because I'm a foreigner.
I'm definitely keeping that cute bag, too. My room key is also pictured
because I bought a Stitch key cover for it a few weeks ago at the dollar store.
In Japan, you can decorate anything to be cute. You just have to pay a bit. ^_~
The white "Free Diary" book that you can kind of see behind Pikachu
is my planner (also a dollar store purchase).

Total gigabyte usage of pictures/video
I've taken in Japan to date: 12.39 GB

Still trying to get Flickr to upload. I'll be so sad if it doesn't.

brief post on bebop

This last week I finally got my package from home, which was packed with clothes, snacks and the treasured discs from my Cowboy Bebop boxed set. I watched a few episodes tonight with some of the American students, and I found that after having lived here for about two months, I was able to pick up on some little things in the show. Little things that were distinctly Japanese, but I never would have noticed before.

The biggest "aha!" moment came from the first episode. Spike, Cowboy Bebop's main character, walks into the bathroom to wash his hands. He runs into one of the criminals he's chasing at the sink, says something snarky and sly, as Spike usually does, and then walks away while he's wiping his hands on a small towel. And then he tucks the small towel into his back pocket.

You see, public Japanese bathrooms typically don't have paper towels or anything to dry your hands with. So everyone carries handkerchiefs and small towels with them.

Still, it was weird to actually notice that seemingly insignificant detail. I've watched this episode at least 3 or 4 times back in the States, and never even noticed this.

But, there are still some things in Bebop that just don't make any sense no matter what culture you're from. Like when Ein, Spike and the Bebop crew's dog, jumps from a very, very tall bridge and is rescued by Spike who catches the dog with the front windshield of his spacecraft. The dog has fallen very far at this point. Spike is driving at top speed. How the dog landed on the windshield without so much as a "plop" or terrific splattering sound, will forever be a mystery to me.

Thanks for the awesome care package, momma. I'm off to continue my personal rebellion against the amount of homework here. (Seriously, we went on a field trip to the pottery museum today and we got TWO sheets of homework from it. Gaahhhh.)

homestay!!!

The homestay

was

AWESOME :D

I really want to visit my homestay family again XD

I will edit this post later, and upload some photos to Flickr. But first, I have to trudge through the mountain of shukudai (homework) that we have this weekend. My 小学校訪問 (shougakkou houmon = elementary school speech) preparation is due tomorrow!!

残念 (too bad)

Our group of American exchange students have been here for almost two months. So we've definitely figured out some of the tastiest places to eat at on campus. A group favorite--a dish with a name that can literally translate as "heaven chicken bowl"--is located only 2 minutes away from our dorm. It's in a cafeteria, which means you buy a ticket for which meal item you want from a ticket vending machine and then give it to the workers at the appropriate counter.

I wish I had a picture of the "heaven chicken bowl" to show you, but I don't and probably won't because even though it's delicious, I probably won't be getting it again. I've been laying down for the past 2-3 hours because I felt so sick from it. I even had to miss ultimate frisbee and meeting with a friend early in the evening. So I'm a little unhappy now.

It was the 2nd time I've had it too. Seriously, what's so harmful from some tempura-fried chicken with cabbage and rice? Maybe the mayo sauce was bad? I dunno. Anyway, I've finished writing an article over at my old family-friendly videogame blog and need to write some e-mails home at some point. I need to get back into the groove and back out of this room. What an "ugh" afternoon. I really hope it doesn't happen again anytime soon.

love to all of you at home :D

the nihongo log

Today, November 12, 2008:

+ 2 classes : about 3 hours of Japanese
+ another meaningless meeting at the CIP
about an unknown someone stealing
food from the community fridge: 30 minutes of Japanese
+hanging out and talking with a friend: 1.5 hours of Japanese
+going to the arcade and dinner with
the conversation partners: 3.5 hours of Japanese

GRAND TOTAL: 8.25 hours of listening to
and speaking Japanese

Holy sushi, Batman, no wonder I'm tired.

I almost didnt make it into this picture XD
This is from one of the photobooths that are usually
at the arcades! They're so much fun!!!!

another reason the internet teaches you everything you need to know

Remember that Kotaku scavenger hunt that I briefly mentioned in the last post? That surprisingly kind of came in handy today.

We have a class called "nihon jijou" (literally "Japanese conditions" or "Japanese reasons"). Jijou is the class where we learn general information about Japan and Japanese culture, from really basic things such as how to sort the trash and use the bathroom properly (no, really, that was a whole class's worth of information) to food and weather patterns. Today we covered the many forms of Japanese theater and the ideas behind them. In the handout was this picture:

My first thought was, holy crap, I've seen that lady in the bottom left corner before! I know I have... but where?

And then I remembered...

image from kotaku.com

While I was digging around on my scavenger hunt, I stumbled across a post reporting that a musical production of one of my favorite games, Phoenix Wright, was in the works. And that it was being performed by an all female cast. Usually, this kind of stuff wouldn't excite me, especially because the use of "cross-dressing" in this post misled me into thinking this was just another outlieing instance of weirdness in Japan, but now that I know what that the female-only theater is an actual type of theater, I'm kind of interested. This female acting troupe is famous, too. I might be looking for tickets to the February peformance :3

On a side note, this confirms that I'm finally becoming able to differentiate between and recognize Asian people XD. I know it sounds terrible, but it was really hard to do when I first got here and was meeting tons of new people. I guess we look the same to them too, because two of the American guys have beards and sometimes wear glasses and the Japanese students constantly confuse them.

amidst confusion about gifts, a bounty of warm winter things

The weather.com report for Kasugai, Japan says the low is somewhere around 50 degrees Fareinheit every night.

However, I know that to be a lie because I had to sleep in two shirts and sweatpants (with socks) underneath a comforter and another warm comfy blanket. And the dorm parents haven't turned on the heater yet.

So I was joining all of the other the American students who were getting dinner, and I notice two red coats hanging up on the far side of the room. Still groggy from a nap, I go pick up my dinner and then find myself in a flurry of Japanese as the lunch ladies goad me towards one of the coats, telling me to try one on. I understand, but I pretend like I don't to see if I can get out of the embarrassment of trying on the coat in front of everyone else. No dice. I have the coat on, and they say "kawaii" ("how cute") a few times, but then I hear the verb "ageru"--to give.

I consult the other ryuugakusei, "Are they trying to give me the coat?"

The general response is no and that they probably just want me to use it for dinner to keep warm. I'm still really confused and still sleepy, so I just take off the coat, telling the lunch ladies I don't want to get food on it. (I have never known myself to be a graceful eater of any sort)

I attempt dinner, the main course of which was a hamburger patty and a few fatty pieces of chicken because the Japanese do believe in serving chicken "parts," and then go to rinse off my dishes at the lunch counter. Before I can say the expected "Ogochisousamadeshita, arigatou gozaimasu" (It was a really good meal, thank you very, very much) and skidaddle out of the cafeteria, all four of the cafeteria ladies cluster around. The one who had me try on the coat before says a phrase with a verb I've never heard before, and then I hear it again--the "ageru"/to give verb. I try to politely decline, but they call over a Chinese girl, who literally grabs me by the hand and takes me over to the coat, and clarifies yes, it is a present.

It is a nice coat, but I feel bad for accepting it for some reason. And now I feel like I should give them a little something in return, but am afraid of the never-ending cycle of Japanese gift-giving that could be perpetuated.

Anyway, I have a new second-hand coat! It's a little big, but it looks pretty warm and goes nicely with the black-and-white scarf I bought in Osu this weekend. Thank you lunch ladies! (I'll remember your names someday, after I hear them more than once, I promise!!!)

the red coat in question.

Oy, vey, Japan. So very confusing. All the time.

But, as far as Japan hating heaters, there is a bright side to that frigid situation: I now have an excuse to buy all kinds of warm, cute accessories and clothing from Japan! (or just wait for the lunch ladies to give me matching scarves and gloves with this jacket, whichever comes first ^_~)

I went to Osu with two Japanese friends this weekend. It was really fun, and now I know some of the cheaper clothing stores in that area! I'm always interested to see what new words I'll pick up just by hanging out. Like this weekend, I learned "niau," or it fits you well, or it suits you very nicely. It's a good word to know, especially when you're shopping with your girl friends and want to tell them something really looks good on them. (We spent forever trying to figure out the best color of scarves for each other XD).

Here are the scarves I picked up. The black and white (made in China*) one was about $9.80 and the blue and black one was $10. The lighter blue one on the far right was one I brought over.
I also got a super-cute, super-expensive pair of fingerless gloves (made in Vietnam*).

to lazy to rotate these, sorry ^^;;
I really like the zipper/pocket detail on these

Never thought I would drop $26 on gloves, but lucky the rebate from my cell phone covered about $20 of that. And because I didn't have the remaining $6 in coins, I had to pay with the paper bills I had. I used this:
The elusive 2,000 yen bill that is somewhat of an oddity in Japan. When I presented this to the cashier, both my friends and the cashier did the Japanese "rehhhhhhhhhh?" confusion/surprise gasp. Of course, this sometimes mean you did something "dame" (bad; essentially a taboo), but my friends reassured me it was just a little weird to see those bills. If I understood correctly, Japan printed these bills for the year 2000, and so in that year, people used them all the time. However, because they were only used in that one year, none of the vending machines, ticket machines, etc. used in daily life here accept them. So they're a little inconvenient. And no one has really seen them a lot since 2000, so the Japanese are surprised when they see them. It's like the $2.00 bill in the States, except not as rare and not as valuable as a collectible kind of thing. But when I go to change money, I get these 2,000 yen bills all the time. My friends said this was probably because I was a foreigner. I seem to get that a lot here though.

Another long post ^_^ I really need to stop putting off work. I've done my fair share of relaxing so far today: a scavenger hunt contest on Kotaku.com for a chance at a free DSi (because there is NO WAY I'm paying for a region-locked Japanese one--puh-leaze, Nintendo) and reading an English-language book until I fell asleep. Back to the grindstone!

p.s. I really need to post pictures from the daigakusai (university festival). That was way too much fun.

*I remember you were wondering about this, Mom; so far it seems like a lot of the littler accessories here aren't actually made in Japan.

Obama ftw!

It was lunchtime and most of the foreign exchange students piled in to Chubu's study abroad office for our homestay meeting. I had seen earlier in the day that Obama had loads more votes than McCain, but at this point people were saying that it was over.

And after the end of the meeting, we were watching McCain concede the race. I had been worried about missing history-in-the-making, but a little school-owned laptop was keeping me in the loop with what was happening about 6,000 miles and 14 hours away. By the time I got back to the dorm, I was just catching the last 8-10 minutes of Obama's victory speech on the New York Time's site. They had a live feed right on their front page.

However, all the foreign exchange students have been talking about the rate going down again, which sucks because I already changed $100 again today for a mere 98 yen/1 dollar. I have to hope for something good on Friday because that's going to be my next chance to change money (crazy Japanese banks open at 9:30 and close at 3:00-3:30... what kind of hours are those?). I think I might change a good chunk of money if all the doomsaying is true. Our economy has to get worse before it gets better and all that.

But still, to be able to see the first black president step up live from halfway across the globe... it was a really cool feeling. A couple of people have expressed concerns about assassination attempts on Obama, which is sad, but definitely a thought. I read there had already been an assassination attempt on him while he was on the campaign trail.

I received a survey from a Japanese student about Martin Luther King and his work, which makes me wonder what the Japanese's perception of race in America is. Some of them really do think we all carry guns. One older Japanese man I met said that's why he won't go to America.

At any rate, I'll be watching the new presidency and other political events from abroad.

Or at the very least trying to catch the parodies The Daily Show or the Colbert Report serve up. I miss Comedy Central XD

久しぶり、ね？ (transl.: it's been a while!)

So, yeah, I've been a loser and definitely haven't updated. In a while. I haven't even uploaded all of my pictures to my Flickr account yet, and the last ones I have uploaded aren't really complete as far as details and descriptions. Oh well. しかたがない.

It's been tough trying to find time to do other things I want to do because of the constant stream of activities here. It's incredibly fun, but incredibly exhausting if you're not careful. I ran out of steam today and watched another new episode of the Office, which was relaxing. But 2 minutes in to the third episode, I got a call to go play ultimate frisbee at the soccer field.

Now, back in Avon, I don't usually go out to play frisbee. I know there are lots of people who are faster than me, and I can be quite the butterfingers sometimes, and everybody there knows it. So usually when I play, I don't actually get to play a lot because no one will pass me the damn disc. I was kind of tired and feeling kind of down when I got the call, too, but I figured I would give it a shot.

I headed out to the fields, and we had just enough people to do 3-on-3 game, which meant my teammates had to pass to me, regardless of my actual ability!

And I found I wasn't terrible. I mean, I had a streak where I dropped like 5 passes in a row, but other than that I didn't do that bad. ^_^ I knocked one of the guys over a couple of times, actually ^_^;; Whoops.

After our first game, a couple of the OU students left. But by that time, an English Chubu professor, Patrick-sensei, and a female teacher from the nearby high school had come to the field to toss around a frisbee by themselves. The high school teacher didn't really speak English, and when we asked her if she had played ultimate before, she said no. After they had warmed up a bit (and from their warm-up you could see this was something they did often), they joined us for another 3-on-3 game, which was just as fun and exhausting. About an hour later, we wrapped things up and as we were agreeing to meet again next week, Patrick-sensei told us the high school teacher is on Japan's national ultimate frisbee team. Whaaaaa? No wonder she never dropped the frisbee.

We took a picture at the end of our game. Hopefully I can snag a copy from Patrick-sensei ^_^