Once Again, A Week for Which to Speak

I would like to say that I will start keeping up with my blog like I am supposed to, but I do not have faith that I will actually do it, so let us go off of what happens.

On the last episode of my blog, Michael was relaxing on his spring break. Let's see what he did...

Wednesday
Today, I got to meet a new friend who I met through the website I registered with awhile ago. Yusuke, in addition to the other Yusuke that I knew, was also a student at Kansai Gaidai, but was a traditional Japanese student instead of being a study abroad candidate.

We planned to go to the Ring, the entertainment center from last Friday, in order to kick off our friendship. I took my usual means of reaching the station via 40-minute walk. Once arriving at the station, I took a short rest while waiting for our meeting time to arrive. Like clockwork, Yusuke appeared and we headed to the Ring. This was apparently his first visit since he was not sure where it was. Fortunately, I was able to recall where the building was. After our ascention to the sixth floor, Yusuke went through the registration process in order to receive his card while I simply gave my card to the people.

We began with playing pool. Yusuke had expressed that he had not played pool before and he was interested to learn. It became immediately apparent that whatever skill I posessed last Friday had disappated since then and I was left with a skill level in between my first and most recent time playing. The lowered skill was just as well since Yusuke seemed to be having trouble even hitting the ball. We played two times, both of which I came out victorious. I allowed him to sink all of his remaining balls for practice after each game. By the end of our second game, he had become able to claim he could play. After our second game, we returned the materials to the staff and went for karaoke (also in the Ring).

This was officially my second experience with Japanese karaoke. Since it was a different establishment, there were different songs to choose from apart from the most popular songs. As I perused the song book, it became apparent that the Ring had a more suitable song selection than the other place I went last time. Yusuke kept alternating between a Japanese band and the Backstreet Boys. It was clear that the Backstreet Boys still held their popularity in Japan, even with the guys. I went forth singing songs from many different bands that were not available in my last singing extravaganza. I even got to sing some DragonForce, which was totally unexpected for me to find. Once karaoke was over, Yusuke and I headed back to the dorms where we played some Nintendo DS until he had to go home.

Thursday
Thursday was one of my days with no plans, so I decided to dedicate it to something that I had been putting off for way too long: a haircut. Nabil had told me about a place that he went that he was pleased with, so I made my way in that direction.

I was very nervous about going in, but I made my entrance anyway. I was immediately greeted and asked to take a seat as the barber took my coat for me. He began asking about 'class.' I wasn't sure how to answer since there could have been different classes of service that was offered. After he decided that I didn't understand, he used the Japanese word for school lesson and asked if it was over. It became apparent at that point that he wanted to know if my classes were over for today. From there, I explained that it was spring break. I found it amusing that I could understand him better in Japanese than in English.

From that point, he spun my chair around and leaned it back and began wetting my hair. He shampooed my hair about three times, just as Nabil said he would. After the washing was complete, the part I had been fearing came when he asked what I wanted done. I never have an answer for that question even in English. Fortunately, he whipped out a book and turned to a page. From there, I picked the best looking hair-do I saw and he went to work. The entire time he worked, he used only the scissors and comb. He never touch any electric appliances, but did the same job that an electric razor does. After cutting my hair, he passed me a mirror so I could see the back of my hair. Next, he asked me if I wanted a shave. I had shaved a little over a day ago, so I didn't think that it would be very successful, but I opted for the shave just to see if he could do it better than me. I enjoyed the warm rag he put on my face, but I wasn't quite so pleased with the razor he ran across my face. Once he was done, he rinsed my hair out again to get rid of the excess hair and put some kind of stuff in it so it would be styled.

Once I got home, I inspected the job thoroughly. The haircut was nice, but the shave was very unprofessional. It may be due to the hairs not having grown out enough. Either way, he cut me a lot more than I have ever cut myself. Overall, the haircut cost about $23. In America, this may be perceived as a ripoff, but in passing other salons and barber shops, I found that the average haircut price in Japan was closer to $40, thus making my experience a very good deal.

I was graced with an offer from Nabil to revisit Round One, the amusement center that we went to with Kenji. We were misfortuned with not knowing how to get there, however. After asking the information desk, we determined that we had to take bus #1. Once we found the bus, we boared and rode for awhile. After it became aparent that the bus was not going to Round One, we got off in hopes to find a way back to Hirakata. We were lucky to run across a train station after only a few minutes of wandering. Once arriving back at Hirakata station, we called Kenji to find out where to go. Apparently, there was more than one #1 bus. Having found the correct bus, we made our way to our destination.

Upon arrival, we went though the process of buying our tickets to enter. Then we went forth to have fun. The experience was not as exciting as the first time since we already knew what to expect. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our time in the game center. After about an hour, we went to the sports area where I got to try more archery. This time, they had these silly little short arrows that were much harder to use than the long ones. After archery, Nabil and I played some basketball, but we just shot goals instead of actually playing. Then we played soccer where each of us kicked the ball at each other trying to get a goal. Lastly, Nabil showed me how to hit a golfball and then we played mini golf until our time was over.

At Round One, after your play time expires, you get a ticket for one free try at the crane game. I took my try by peeking around the machine in order to see how far the crane went back. By doing this, I was able to lift one of the prizes. At that point, there might as well have been an earthquake since the crane shook violently once it reached the top, hence dropping the prize. Still, I was able to pick something up, which is more than most people who play the game can say.

Friday
Friday I got to meet my decided favorite Japanese person, Kazuki. Kazuki is the perfect portrait of the stereotypical 'apologetic' Japanese person. He has a certain clumsiness about him that is tempered just right to be amusing. Call it bad luck if you will. His history of such luck has forged his personality to be very kind and considerate as well as teaching him to expect things to go wrong. Mixed with his Japanese upbringing, it becomes very amusing to be around him while also generating a feeling of peace. Despite these characteristics, today he was going to show me where he does his part-time job: a boxing club.

We met halfway between our two houses at the KS Electronics store. I grossly overshot the time it would take for me to walk there, so I wandered around the store for awhile while waiting for our meeting time. Once we met, we began walking to the boxing club. Kazuki had made me, as promised, some warabi mocchi, a Japanese confection. Along with the treat, he included directions of how to make it. Since we had a while to go before I returned home, I had him hold onto it for me. We talked as we walked. As expected, we eventually arrived.

When we entered, I was introduced to the manager as his friend and was hence granted free admittance for that particular visit. The main attraction of the gym was the boxing ring where two people were practicing with styrofoam gear. There was a timer that went off every three minutes and then in thirty seconds before starting over. After Kazuki greeted his collegues, we went to the locker area where we began our adventure to find me some shoes. Kazuki offered me some of his old shoes. I could barely fit into them, but I was able to squeeze in, though uncomfortably so. From there, he took me through the first through steps of the gym's daily routine. He showed me some boxing moves and had me practice in front of a mirror. At that point, some of the children in the gym asked Kazuki to let them practice with him. Since he worked there, he was somewhat obligated to oblige them, so he left me to practicing while he taught some. It turned out that more people than he expected asked for help and he began his apologies for having us stay there for so long.

Once we finished with the club and I was reunited with my properly sized shoes, we dropped by a supermarket where he bought drinks for both of us. Then we went to a Japanese confection shop where he likes to go. Finally, we made way to a restaurant. We chose to go to Gusto's since it was about halfway between our houses (though I think it benefited me more).

In Gusto's, I found Taka eating with some other Kansai Gaidai students. After sending him a wave, I sent him a text message that said 'hi' just for fun. Kazuki, Taka, and I got a laugh out of it. We ordered and talked while waiting. At one point, Kazuki received a phone call which I had to grant him permission to take. Once he was done, I asked him if it was an authoritative person due to the way he was talking. He seemed impressed that I was able to recognize the difference in speech and he was indeed talking to an authoritative figure.

Once dinner concluded, we went in search for a bus stop so Kazuki could go home without having to walk so far. On the way, we set up another meeting for karaoke on Sunday. We reached the bus stop and found that the upcoming bus was the last one before a long wait. Once the bus came, we said our farewells and I went on my way back home.

Before I got home, I received a message from Kazuki that he had forgotten that he had to apologise for his car accident to the family of the person he hit (apparently a practice in Japan). The message took a turn away from the usual in stating that he would have to make our meeting later than expected instead of just plain cancelling it. I had no problem with the idea since we would still go for singing.

Saturday
I was again faced with a day that had no plan. I again decided to dedicate it for a necessity I had. My haircut didn't look very good without having some sort of styling product added to it. Unfortunately, getting a hair styling product was nowhere near as interesting as getting the actual haircut, so there really isn't much to report for today. Kazuki had suggested that I look in a drug store since it would be cheaper than a convenience store. After obtaining my product, I went home to apply it.

I bought some sort of wax for my hair. It wasn't quite what I expected it to be. It had two sections, a cream and something that looked like wax. The picture showed that I had to rub the cream through my hair and then shape my hair with the wax. Although it was different than I expected, it did what I thought it would. My hair dilemma solved, I spent the day relaxing.

Sunday
Nothing of particular interest happened before meeting Kazuki, so I will skip to that! I reached the station as Kazuki was sending me a message that he reached the station. As soon as he sent it, he saw me and came over. We went to the Ring, where Kazuki also had to go though the registration process. For this outing, we started and ended with karaoke. Three hours of singing split between two people. Kazuki had a much better singing voice than Yusuke did as well as much better pronounciation for English songs. He decided to sing all English songs for practice. I decided that it was time to grant my Mom's wish and record myself singing some songs that she knew. After three takes on singing a Brian Wilson song, I finally had something that I could claim as my attempt to sing something she knew. After awhile, I decided that the song didn't portray how I sang properly, so I sang a Beatles song as well. Since today's theme was singing songs people knew, I decided to try a Japanese song by Kana for my sister. I did not opt to record this song since I knew that I couldn't keep up with the words. It is very difficult to read hiragana (Japanese writing with no Chinese characters) at singing speed, just as my friend Jeff from the US had told me a long time ago. I sang what I could and muttered the rest. I think I will practice the lyrics at home so I can record it for my sister next time.

After karaoke and both of our voices dying, we went to eat. We talked about various things while we ate. When it was time to go home, Kazuki walked with me about halfway before taking the bus back home.

Monday
Today school resumed. Class started out looking like most people were rebelling against having to go to school, but eventually most people showed up. At lunch, there were many Japanese students, reportedly new students for orientation. By the time I was finished with lunch, line for food was looping around the cafeteria and was out the door for McDonalds. I guess I had better prepare well for when all of the Japanese students come back.

After class, my Human Resources group met to plan the next phase of our project. I was asissigned (or more assigned by myself) to work with Yuu on the youth issues of employment since Yuu had already started reading a book on the topic, and Yusuke was assigned with Albert to do the aged issues of employment since Albert had already started on the topic and Yusuke could read Japanese information on the topic. After our meeting concluded, I went to meet Keisuke for our planned bowling trip.

Keisuke and I waited for Chiaki and Saki until eventually finding out via text message that they were waiting outside of us! And so we began our journey over to Makino, which was accentuated by our female company's slow walking. Eventually, we reached our destination and began our adventure. As usual, I was made to kick off the game. I was doing a little bit better than I was last time, which doesn't say much. It became apparent that I was not too mismatched with the others though. Poor Saki had a lot of trouble reaching the end of the lane. The end of the game ended with Keisuke being first, Chiaki being second, and me being third, each with one point difference from the other. The second game became more interesting when Saki realized her potential and started off with a strike. It was as if she and Chiaki traded skills since Chiaki suddenly found it very difficult to stay out of the gutter. Keisuke became a super-bowler all of the sudden and got strikes and spares all over. I maintained my thrid place bowling, while Saki advanced to second and Keisuke came up on the distant top.

They had a special contest at the bowling lane where each lane had a yellow pin. The contest was to leave only the yellow pin after the first shot and then knock the pin over with the second shot. As I expected, I just so happened to end up with just the yellow pin. Also as I expected, I missed the yellow pin. I find it interesting how I can predict such things from time to time.

After the game, Saki and Chiaki went to the arcade section to look for something to play. I was surprised that they chose Time Crisis 4, a shooting game. I was amused to watch the two girls shoot at people when there were much less violent games to choose from in the area. After we played two games, we all set off to go home.

For dinner, Nabil gave me a call as I was walking home from bowling. He said that he would treat me since his scholarship money had come in today. We met at the dorm since he would take longer than me to get back. Once he arrived, he invited Todd and Einar to come as well. We went to the restaurant we call "his place" since Nabil found it; also my favorite restaurant in the area. Nabil kept insisting that we buy whatever we want. I decided to go easy on him since he was paying anyway. After dinner, we all returned home and went on our merry ways.

Tuesday
After class and lunch, I was greeted by Yusuke who wanted me to join him for lunch so he could show me pictures from his trip to Thailand that he went on for spring break. He started off by giving me a souvenier that he picked up while he was there. He bought a bunch of doll-like charms to give his friends. He forgot what they were called though. Then I looked at the pictures he took. He got to do some sky surfing over the ocean and ride an elephant. After he and a friend thought about what the dolls were called, they came up with voodoo. I am skeptical that that is what they are called, but they seemed to agree. From there, Yusuke, his friend Mitsuya, and I went to the library for studying. After they had to go, I went back home to catch up on my laundry and homework.

As a bit of extra news, I made an 87 of my culture test. A fine achievement for someone who neglected to read or pay attention in class if I might say so. No wonder I never took anthropology.

Wednesday
Much like any Wednesday, I went to class, ate lunch, and then hung out in the lounge for five hours. I was trying to catch up with my reading for negotiation from the past week. I decided that studying for midterms was more important than reading back then, so now I had to make up for it. After reading all I could, I retired to my Nintendo DS. I was joined by one of my classmates, Giovanna, who eventually asked me for help with Japanese. She was in Japanese 1 and did not understand how to change verbs into different forms. After Giving her the Schmitz sensei (teacher in America) version, she seemed much more able to understand. She was glad to find someone who could explain the material to her after finding many who could only tell her the answers. From there, I made a new potential travel buddy and friend. We talked until it was time to go to negotiation, one of the classes that we shared.

In negotiation, we received our test back from weeks past. I expected the teacher to be about that slow in grading based on his personality. He said that most people got a 20 point question wrong and accepted the blame on himself for that and therefore gave everyone a curve of 13 points, which he claimedly does not usually do. With the curve, I managed a 97 as a final grade on my test. Now all that is left is to do the same on my Human Resources test that is coming up soon...