Catching Up Again

Friday, April 20 - The Milky Way

I had previously received an email from Miruku inquiring where I was at the moment. At that particular time, I had already returned to my dorm, where I would continue work on that horrific project of mine. I described to Miruku in my response that I would be tremendously busy until Friday. Since she had obviously tried to set up a meeting with me, I decided not to leave her hanging by inviting her to lunch with me on Friday. When said day arrived, we met as planned.

She came with some friends who, after meeting me, all went off to do something else. Miruku and I surveyed the area for potential foodage, and we decided to go to the upstairs cafeteria in order to perform the eating ritual. I had never been to the upstairs cafeteria before. They had some different selections, but nothing substantial. I opted to get the omuraisu, which is the Japanese way to say omelette with rice in it. After we got our food, Miruku and I talked about various things. After eating, we continued to talk about various things in the CIE. Eventually, class interfered with our conversation.

Today, we had another negotiation. We were acting as representatives of a college including the trustees, headmaster, and faculty. I was part of the faculty with three others. The negotiation went about as we expected. The headmaster fought hard for his sports improvements, the faculty fought hard for the scholastic improvements, and the trustees fought hard for the profit margins. As we were winding the negotiation up, the teacher walked in and distributed a paper that said a student was attacked on a dark path and we were advised to invest in lighting. This was a rather sneaky move to make the negotiation more interesting. We had only half the necessary money to complete the lights as our deal stood. We decided to do half the lights and add a lighting project to the engineering curriculum as well as a self-defense class.

After the negotiation, I returned to the lounge to meet Miruku and Yuki. We stayed and talked until the lounge closed at 8:15. From there, Miruku and Yuki decided to join me for dinner to prevent me from having to eat alone. We went to Roro where we continued our random chatting. After dinner, we each went our own ways since it was late.

Saturday, April 21 - The Funkytown Osaka Tour: fieldtrip tag

As aptly named by our teacher, we went on a fieldtrip for my Culture class. On the way to the station, I saw many of my classmates riding the bus too. We arrived a little early, so I talked with my classmate Sayuri for awhile until it was time to meet with the class.

Our first stop led us to the Liberty Osaka Museum, where we got to view various articles on human rights in Japan. Most unfortunely, coupled with my already uninterest in museums, all of the displays were in Japanese, hence making the experience quite boring. I had to backtrack several times in order to prevent finishing the tour an hour before those who could read Japanese. After I finished the tour, I went to eat lunch at the museum's cafeteria with Eilene and Sayuri. We had to rush since we were worried about being late for our departure time, but we ended having to wait for the teacher to finish the tour anyway.

Next, we ventured to the homeless area of Osaka. There were many people with many reactions to our 25 person group. Some people ignored us, some people greeted us, some people greeted us per person, some people commented on us, and some people tried to talk with us. After walking around for awhile, we went to an even more obscure area: the red light district. There were many open buildings, each featuring a young girl being guarded by a not so young girl. Many of the young girls laughed as we passed, perhaps out of embarrassment, or pehaps because there were 20-some foreigners walking through the red light district of Osaka.

After leaving the slums of Osaka, we began making our way to Korea Town. On the way there, we passed through several shopping areas that were very narrow, but full of people. We later passed through a fish market. Next, we stopped by a shrine, where most people sat down and rested since we had been walking for several hours straight. We then went into Korea Town, where, other than a few different names on products, everything pretty much looked like Japan.

We ended our tour at a Korean restaurant, where I discovered that all of our food had been pre-ordered by the teacher. This of course meant that I would not like much of what came my way since a lot of it was either spicy or seafood. The last dish looked like someone went to the beach and threw in everything they found without even removing the shells! All I can say is that it was a $20 meal that I walked away from still feeling hungry. So at last I found food that I don't like in Japan; except the food wasn't Japanese...

Sunday, April 22 - You Are Candy!

Today was the welcome 'party' for the freshmen. It seemed to be more of a recruiting effort from the school clubs than a welcoming ceremony. The main attraction was in front of the cafeteria, where many musical clubs came to perform. I watched a few performances until I got hungry and went for lunch. While at lunch, I was joined by Hisaka and her friend Yumi. By this time, the reality that my project was actually over had finally caught up with me, so I was in a rather hyper-active mood. Because of this, Hisaka, at one point, said that I was okashii (strange), but in a good way. Okashi also means candy in Japanese, so I proclaimed, "I'm not candy!" This seemed to be popular with my company, as from then on, Hisaka would proclaim, "You are candy!"

After lunch, we exited the cafeteria to find a heavy metal band performing. There was a big Japanese guy screaming and the guitarists were going wild. I thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen. Hisaka and Yumi seemed to get a kick out of me thinking it was funny. After we got tired of watching the band, we wandered off toward the CIE where we were drafted by the dance team to join them in a mini lesson. I attempted to follow the instructions and eventually was able to do the moves acceptably by the end of the lesson. From there, we went to the gymnasium to watch various clubs introduce themselves. That did not prove to be very entertaining, so we went back to watching the bands perform. Some of them were actually pretty good. After we finished watching the bands, we all went home.

I met Nabil, Todd, and Einar and we all went to dinner. After dinner, Todd and Einar went home and I went to karaoke with Nabil. We tried singing some different songs since our party was small this time. After that, we headed home to prepare for the oncoming school day.

My Thesis to You

I have a game on my computer called Stepmania. It is a computer simulation of the popular Japanese dance game, Dance Dance Revolution. Every now and then, I will run across a difficult song that will prove very challenging to pass. Despite the song's difficulty, I am able to survive, however, toward the end of this song, there is a part that is almost impossible to pass that makes me fail the song. I have named such an instance as a f--- you move.

Perhaps it has crossed your interest as to why I am describing such things to you in my rather late blog about my recent experiences in Japan. To clear things up, the past several days have been a splitting example of the f--- you move in that I have been so unbelievably swamped with school work that I had absolutely no interest to sit down and catch up with several days worth of blogging. Because I now have almost two weeks worth of story to tell, I have named this particular blog a thesis.



Sunday, April 8 - Flowers Galore
For centuries, it has been a Japanese tradition to view the majestic sakura/cherry blossom tree blooming. This practice, named Hanami (flower seeing), had been the hot topic around campus for a few weeks. The sakura had an apparent short lifespan, and I had yet to see them. I started to worry that I might not get to see these flowers since I have difficulties traveling to new places by myself and could not find anyone to go with me. Then suddenly, it was Kazuki to the rescue! My dear friend and I traveled to Zoheikyouku in Osaka; the Japanese version of the US Mint. Our journey led us to a jam-packed park in the area where many others had come to view the flowers. As we walked, I was able to witness both the majestic flowers, that were quite plentiful, and the masses of Japanese folk who were partaking in their time-old tradition of flower viewing. As we left the park, we progressed into the heart of Zoheikyouku where we joined the multi-lane line of people wandering through the aisle of sakura trees. As if in Atlanta traffic on foot, we progressed through the area, snapping pictures as we crept. At one point, Kazuki asked if I knew how to change pictures on the computer, so I later took one of the pictures from our trip and made it look like he burned down a house. I quite honestly have no idea what we did after seeing the flowers, as that was literally two weeks ago. But feel free to view the pictures under the hanami tag.

Wednesday, April 11 - Hito ga ooi
Today was the first day of school. Of course, I refer to the Japanese students, as I have been in school for a long time already. 12:00 lunch time went from very busy to unbearable. During my waiting period between classes, I noticed a group of three Japanese girls peering into the lounge. It was obvious that they thought they were not allowed to enter, so I beckoned them inside to permit them entrance. The girls asked if it was okay for them to enter and then began the typical process of practicing English with a foreigner. These girls, Yuka, Miki, and Kayoko, made similar comments to what Ai and Hiromi said about me in terms of being handsome. I think this perception is mainly due to me not being Japanese, as some Japanese girls prefer foreign looks. We talked for a short while before they all scampered out, having to go somewhere.

I also saw my friends from before the semester ended, Koichiro and Mariko. I had met Mariko only once, and when I remembered her name, she was taken aback. After we talked for awhile, their friend, Kanae, came to join the party. However, Koichiro and Mariko had to take their leave for class and so I just talked with Kanae as did Albert, who eventually joined in as well.

Outside, there were many clubs advertising themselves for the new students. Some clubs were performing their various arts, while others just sat at tables patiently. The campus had certainly come to life. I also noticed that the school facilities remained open much later than before, which I was somewhat upset about since it was unfair to the foriegn students before.

Thursday, April 12 - The End of Freedom
The main reason my blog is two weeks behind is because of the giant presentation we had in Human Resource Management that I volunteered to do the powerpoint for while the other members simply had to make their speaking parts. As a great summation of the next week's worth of work on the presentation, I had to continuously make ammendments to the project up until the day of the presentation which was a week from this entry.

In addition to the project, I had also volunteered to speak at an intercultural exchange event on Saturday, which I had a feeling would make life difficult for me. I decided that it was best to fully concentrate on completing the presentation for that so I won't have to worry about it later. I decided to do my topic on International Food in America.

Friday, April 13 - Lunch Meet
Lunch time had become atrocious. There were never any seats for to sit at since there were so many students. Of course, being an exotic foreigner, I was able to easily find an open seat and gain permission to use it. As if by divine will, the people at the table would eventually start a conversation with me. That is how I met Shiori, Ayako, Mariko, Nanako, and Saki. Shiori was apparently preparing for a job interview as most third year students go for in preparation for graduation. She had to leave before everyone else, but we all did the 'great exchange' of phone information before she left. Ayako was the flamenco club with one of my friends, Yuko. I showed everyone the picture of Kazuki burning down a house and was able to convince them that he acutally did it before telling them that I made the picture myself. I also showed Saki Saki's picture, and she said that she might have seen her before. We all continued to chat until they had to go.

After lunch, I went to work on my project in the lounge. While working, Yuka, Miki, and Kayoko came for a visit. I decided that Kayoko was the single most cutest girl in Japan, as I have to work to not daze off while looking at her. I spent their visit showing them my project thus far and then several pictures from home. Soon after, they again had to go.

Saturday, April 14 - International Exchange
I made my way to school early so I could eat lunch before presenting. From there, I went to the event's room where I discovered myself to be first: first in arriving, and first in presenting. My presentation worked as it should and all was set and ready. The room seemed to be rather scarce as it neared starting time, but at the last minute, there became standing room only, which soon after also dissipated.

I didn't expect my speech to be anything special, but it really didn't matter since I was first and there was nothing to compare it to. Everyone else primarily presented about their cultures which was both interesting and boring at times. The main event, as I had anticipated, was Nabil doing a traditional dance from Dubai. For pictures, please refer to the nabildance tag. I also have a video with no place to put it. After the presentations, we had chat time where I met two more girls who I have pretty much forgotten since I saw them only once. Later, I went with Kazuki for karaoke.

Sunday, April 15 - All Work and Some Play
I worked on my project all Sunday until Nabil came by that evening and we all went to Round One. I needed the break, but I felt that it would not be enough.

Monday, April 16 - Death
As I expected, I was completely burned out on Monday from having so much work to do. Apart from the project, most of my classes kept throwing homework at me and I wasn't too interested to hear it. After dragging through my classes with an alcohol-less hangover, I went to the computer lab with Yu (group member) to discuss what he wanted added to the powerpoint. I ran into Shiori in the lab and after I finished talking with Yu, I went to dinner with Shiori who was looking for something to do that evening. We talked about how she wanted to become a flight attendant and how her interviews were going. After talking in the restaurant for about two hours, we walked to the station in search for something to do. We went into a store where she looked at some magazines for awhile. Soon after, she discovered that she had to go since the buses in Kyoto stop early. My evening adventure helped me feel a little better, but I was still mostly dead and I still had all the work I had to do.

Tuesday, April 17 - And Her Name Was Milk
Lunch presented the same problem as usual with no seats readily available, and so I scouted out a cute girl with an open seat and asked if I could sit. I allowed the automated process of being talked to to take place. Sure enough, one of the girls at the table began a conversation. This girl's name was Miruku, which is the Japanese pronunciation of milk. She was with her friend, Yuki, and they were sitting at the table with another girl, Miho, who they did not know. I could tell that Miho was in a higher grade than Miruku and Yuki since her English homework was much more advanced than the English that Miruku and Yuki were using. In fact, as Miruku struggled to communicate with me, Miho would occasionally chuckle since I would look at her, knowing she knew what they wanted to say.

Most of the conversation came from Miruku, who seemed to have a much more assertive personality than any other Japanese girl I had came across. Yuki and Miho seemed to remain as simple spectators for the entire time. I eventually told Miruku that she was very animated (with the help of my dictionary) because she would constantly move while talking. She was very entertaining. All of us also participated in the 'great exchange' of phone information before parting ways.

Later that evening, I saw Miruku in the CIE as I was thinking about heading home. We went into the lounge where we joined some of her friends, a different Yuki, Masato, and one who's name I did not catch. We continued to talk for awhile until Yusuke pulled me away to ask me about the project. After I helped him figure out what to do, I returned to the girls to talk with them until they had to go.

Wednesday, April 18 - More Names
In the lounge, I found Mariko and her friend Yoshie, who I had met briefly before. Mariko soon had to go to class, and she was replaced by Yuko, my classmate. I worked on my project while occasionally talking to Yoshie and Yuko. Both of them had an impending class and so they had to go eventually. Soon after their exit, however, I was joined by a new group of girls. I can remember only two of their names, which were Hisaka and Risa. Albert had also joined the party soon after their arrival. I spent my time showing them various pictures on my laptop since my ability to work on my project was once again interrupted. We all talked until I had to go to class. After I went back to the dorm, Miruku sent me a message asking where I was. I told her I was very busy up until Friday, so we set up an appointment to meet for lunch on Friday.

Thursday, April 19 - The SuperNova
At long last, the day had finally arrived. All I could think about all day was getting rid of my presentation. The day inched by like a legless dead mule on a conveyer belt going the opposite direction. Finally, the time came for us to give our presentation. As opposed to my usual speeches, I was extremely unprepaired for this one since all of my time was spent on making the powerpoint. I was fortunate to have typed out a speech for me to read to the class, although I had no time to practice it. My part was substantially shorter than everyone else's though, so it wasn't so bad for the presentation. I was surprised that we actually spent the entire class presenting, as I thought we would come up 30 minutes short.

After the presentation, I went to meet Einar so he could take my laptop home for me. I was on my way to Kyoto. I was going to meet my friend Aya, who I met from the website I became a member of a while ago. Aya has a dream to become a singer, so we were planning to go to karaoke so I could see what she was all about. Once we met, I could tell that she had a voice just by how she talked. She had been studying English for only a year via private lessons. It seemed that they had spent a large amount of time perfecting her pronunciation, as she had very clear speech. What they hadn't spent a lot of time on was vocabulary, so we had some difficulties communicating at times.

For some odd reason, we ended up driving aroud Kyoto for two hours looking for a place to eat. Once we finally found a place and ate, we went to karaoke for an hour. She had me start out before taking her turn. As I later had to get a friend to help me translate for her, listening to her sing was like listening to a CD. With the exception of a few 'l' sounds and 'th' sounds, I could swear that I was listening to an American pop star singing on a professionally made CD. She said that she would sound bad since she had a bit of a cold, but I couldn't hear it.

After karaoke, we both had to go back home since it was getting late. When I finally got home, it had been 13 hours since I left that morning.

I'll type the rest later! I have to go to class now!

Random Acts of Practice

Friday started off like any other Friday; go to Japanese class and do my language lab assignment. After lunch, I decided to put a theory I had to the test. The last few days, I just sat in the lounge doing nothing in particular when all of the sudden, something cool happened. And so, after working on my Japanese review sheet, I began listening to music and playing my DS while greeting people as they passed. At one point, I looked up and there were two Japanese girls standing there hoping to get my attention.

After noticing them, they asked if I could help them practice English if I wasn't busy. Of course, I was glad to talk with them instead of play games, and I cooly shut my DS to show that I would talk with them. They were freshmen who would be starting school next week. They asked me various questions in English and had to return to Japanese from time to time, but I was easily able to understand what they said. At one point, they asked if I had a girlfriend. They were surprised that I did not since they both thought I was handsome! - If the beginning of the Japanese school year will bring random girls who think I am handsome to me, let's get it started already! - Their English was actually quite good with the exception of their heavy Japanese accentation of syllables that don't need the extra sound. (You can see my house-u from-u the gate-o) After we talked for awhile, they had to go and I returned to my game in waiting for class.

After class, as soon as I got home, Nabil and Einar hoisted me away to Hirakata station. We were looking for someplace to eat when Nabil suggested that we go to an Indian restaurant that he had eaten at before. Neither I nor Einar knew what we wanted to get, so Nabil decided we should go with the meal set. The set cost about $30 per person, which I expressed that I was not thrilled to pay, so Nabil said he would pay $60 worth (because he likes spending money or something).

We started with some salad which was very good. Next came some potato-like things wrapped in a triangle (yes, I forgot the name). I wasn't too into the potato things because they were spicy and whatever gave them the spice had an odd taste. I eventually finished the whole thing though. Next came some chicken. I assumed that the red color they had indicated that they too were spicy, and indeed they were (note that Michael spicy is much more mild than most would call spicy). After that, the spice went away with the bread called nan (I remember that one!) and curry. I enjoyed the bread and curry greatly. Lastly, we were given some mango icecream to finish off the meal. I had some sort of yogurt drink with the meal that proved quite effective against the spice. It was a nice experience, but I would go there only so often since the price is so high.

After dinner, we all went to Ring to do more karaoke. I did several songs that Nabil felt obligated to clap after I finished. I also did some Japanese songs from Kana and Ayumi that I was able to keep up with fairly well. After we sang for three hours, we did some table tennis before walking back home.

At home, I had to enlist the help of my sister, Julianne/Julie/Jukums, to see if I could register for my classes back at CSU. As I feared, neither my advisor, nor the administrative staff in the business department removed my advising hold despite my having asked them to several days/weeks ago. I am now left worrying about how on earth I will register for my classes since no one from CSU seems to care about me now that I am abroad. Hopefully, it will all work out.

As a last note, I need to think of a topic to speak about concerning American culture. I am really clueless about what would be interesting for Japanese students to hear about, but I really would like to present something. Please please please send me ideas!

Random Trips and Lessons Learned

I spent the majority of Tuesday afternoon looking through my Human Resources book/packet in prepartation for both the upcoming test and the upcoming study session I had with my Japanese classmates Yusuke, Yuko, and Nozomi. Being that English is their second language, I would naturally become a sort of 'teacher' for them instead of us just studying.

In addition to studying, I also had a meeting with my assigned group from International Negotiation about our upcoming negotiation for the next day. Our Dutch counterpart, Neils, had reportedly fallen ill with some sort of stomach problem and was unable to attend, so I proceded with the preparations with my Chinese counterpart, Wei. As we looked at the information we were given, it became apparent that this would not be an easy negotiation, as much of the information was unknown from the other side, while also being necessary for planning. Our meeting was short-lived, and I couldn't help but notice that our opposing team was in the lounge planning for nearly the whole afternoon.

In the evening, Nabil showed up and randomly suggested that we go to karaoke. We all figured that we might as well and we made way as our gaijin crew consisting of myself, Nabil, Einar, and this time Todd. To reminisce on some missed pictures from last time, there was Einar and I and Nabil and I. Aside from the tone-deaf Arab (who actually sounded better this time) and the Arnold Schwarzenegger impressionist (who sounded the same), Todd took on a fake heavy metal tone of voice, though he didn't seem to be trying very hard. The experience turned out to cost what I thought was an exorbitant amount. Fortunately/unfortunately, Nabil had promised us that he would treat us to karaoke. I said that next time we should go to the other karaoke place since we could wind up with half the price for the same thing.

Wednesday brought new activities to deal with as the day progressed. First, we were to have another negotiation meeting in attempt to talk with everyone in the group. After neither of them showed up on time, I went to have lunch, during which, Wei called me to say he would be late. When I returned to the lounge, I found Neils working on an essay. He had described his experience the previous day as needing to be within ten seconds from a toilet all day and getting a shot from the hospital in order to quell his stomach. After awhile, Wei showed up and we talked about the negotiation a little bit until they both had to go to class. I didn't feel like we had a solid plan, which was unfortunate since that was the last chance we had to meet before class.

Almost immediately after our negotiation meeting ended, my study session for Human Resources began. During the session, I pointed out several points that I thought were important for the test, as well as explained several of the concepts to my Japanese friends. Before long, it was time for me to go to class and attempt the negotiation. I was able to finish going over the material for our test just in time before leaving.

The negotiation was interesting. My team was to role-play an American company that had been bought out by a Japanese company. Our goal was to keep our freestyle work environment in tact which was an interesting feat considering that most American companies are not even that free. Our opposing team consisted of three Japanese girls who were to represent the Japanese company. To make matters more interesting, the teacher had rented some video cameras for us to record our negotiation.

The negotiation itself was so long that we ran out of tape. It seemed that our team, despite not having discussed the negotiation that much, was able to work together towards common goals. I would many times want to add something, but another member would start talking about it before I got the chance. Despite our easy flow of words, the Japanese side had to break away from us several times to discuss certain aspects together before telling us what they thought. In the end, we came to an agreement that we were both able to be happy with - two hours after we began.

After discovering that we were probably the last group to finish, I decided that we might as well make something of our meeting and I declaired 'Nijikai!,' which means second meeting - typically for eating out together. And so we all headed to a Japanese-style restaurant where we shared a variety of different dishes. In total, our meal cost about $30... for six people, coming out to about $5 per person.

After returning home, it was time for my words from Monday to come back at me. I bet my roommates the rough equivalent of $100 that they couldn't drink a 1.5 liter bottle of soda within a certain time limit without burping until the end, at which point they had to exhale a single burp and no more. I was joking about the bet, but they were adamant about doing it.

Todd was up first with a twenty minute limit, which I thought was unreasonable. His strategy seemed strange, as he was making odd noises as he progressed. As it turned out, he was cheating by burping through his nose while swallowing. His mischief did not help him though, as he reached the point where he could no longer hide his gastric sounds.

Einar took his shot next with a much more admirable time limit of five minutes. Since his time limit was so low, Todd also threw in his $100 bet. Einar seemed intent on following the rules as he gulped down the soda like a machine. For some odd reason, he felt it necessary to have a conversation with Todd while he was on the spot. After he got about halfway through, he had to hunch over to take a break and walk around for a little while. As he moved back toward the bottle, he began shaking his head to indicate that it was over and he exploded. He was upset that he had just eaten prior to the contest, and he demanded a retry on Friday. Since I didn't want to bet $100 in the first place, I took the opportunity for readjustment and downed my offer to $20. I think I will enjoy the experience more now that I don't have to pay an unfair amount of money when I have only something to lose.

Sore Throats

On Saturday, I was set to meet Kazuki, who had purchased some Japanese sweets for me while he was in Tokyo (since we had been discussing how we both like sweets earlier). I decided to bring him some American candy in return for the gift. I figured that a simple exchange of candies would not make a useful meeting, so I pressed for another activity. Agreeing to the notion, Kazuki and I went to a local department store to look around. I picked out some items that I thought were interesting before we headed out to look for something to eat. After dinner, we opted to go to Ring, where we did some more karaoke.

This karaoke experience was different from the last in two ways: first, Kazuki is able to sing on key, and second, my voice had a much more raspy quality to it that made singing a little more challenging. Needless to say, by the end of our activity, my voice was set to call it quits. After we left Ring, we parted ways as we each went home.

I spent Sunday talking to various people though email. I was able to set up a transaction for a fairly rare set of Japanese items that shall remain unsaid for gift-giving purposes with someone I met through a Japanese website. It was surprising to me that she offered to pay for the items in advance for me, especially since we had never actually met in person. I will have to advise her to be wary of doing such a thing in the future, as some people may not actually pay her back.

Monday
Today's most interesting event was that my friend Eri came to ask me for help in pronouncing English words. She explained that she had to give a speech to the new Japanese students at Kansai Gaidai in English and she wanted to say everything correctly. After going through the speech I was pleased to tell her that all she had to work on was the 'th' sound and when to use 'r' and 'l'. I think she will just have to wing the word 'program' since she can only say 'proglam' or 'plogram'. After our session, she said now all she had to worry about was her sore throat from the cold she caught.

For dinner, Nabil and I rode down to Makino. By 'rode', I mean that I got on the back part of his bike and held on for dear life as he rode from the school to Makino (about a 30 minute walk). Fortunately, he did not pull any stunts like the last time I rode on the bike and did not speed down any hills while I tried to wish myself to another planet. That did not keep my hindquarters from becoming quite sore from the metal protrusion that I was situated upon. It was a flat surface, but it was a series of metal stripes instead of a plate. I was glad to arrive and depart without a scratch.

The Night of the Gaijin

Friday

Up to this point, there has never been a night that I went out with a group of people that did not include a Japanese person. Tonight, all of that changed. It was me, Nabil, and Einar who went as a unisoned trio out to town. By Nabil's suggestion, we embarked on a course to Round One; his apparently favorite place in all of Japan.

As if compelled by divine will, Nabil instantly made his first stop the golf area as is customary of all of his visits to the entertainment center. Since the activity is not multiplayer friendly, we split our unison as I guided Einar to the arcade section of the facility. We began our adventure by playing a guitar-based game that was very similar to guitar hero, but much simpler. After wallowing through our three songs, we moved on to participate in a drum game that I had also seen in America. Next, we participated in a short DDR session. By the time, Nabil had rejoined us, but by the time our game was over, he had disappeared to play tennis against a machine. Einar and I played a few more games before Nabil joined us again and we all went to play table-tennis/ping-pong.

Our experience was hightened by setting up a game that could include all three of us - circle tennis. This game consisted of each person running around the table in a circle in attempt to hit the ball before it falls to the floor. After doing this for a good while, we decided to take turns having matches. Once we concluded our matches, we made our way to the outdoor sports area. We spent the rest of our time there before it was time to go. From there, we returned to Hirakata station to eat.

After dinner, we sat in the station wondering if our night out was over. It was about 10:00pm. There were two people who set up some instruments and started singing. Let's call it a jury-rigged rig. What these two people accomplished was giving Nabil the idea to have us continue our venture and go to karaoke.

We made our way to the karaoke studio that I went to with Saki and friends, hoping that it would still be open. We discovered that not only was it open, but it was also bustling. We became worried that we might not be able to get a room. Einar, being our senior expert of Japanese, went forth to attempt to set up our event. We opted for a two hour stay and were led to our room.

The actual singing experience was an unforgettable event that I will perhaps be scarred by for a long time to come. Picture a tone-deaf Arab and Arnold Schwarzenegger attempting to sing classic songs through the ages. It was actually quite amusing to watch while hoping that one does not develop a headache from listening to it. Early on, Nabil had expressed his expectation that I would have miraculous skill in singing. When I started my song, I was greeted by sounds of delight as I attempted to mimic the orginal singer of the songs.

After we sang a few numbers, we changed tracks and began attempting some Japanese songs. For the most part, we found it very difficult to keep up with the Japanese words as the songs progressed. I had picked a particularly difficult song to attempt since the words were very fast. After muttering through most of the words, we went back to singing English songs until our time expired. From there, we walked back home and brought our night to a close.

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...

Almost a Week's Worth

Wednesday

There were no Japanese classes held today because some people still had to the their oral assessment test that I completed the day prior. Because of my freedom, there was no need to worry about going to school early. Despite this, I found it easier to make way to the school in order to eat lunch and study.

For the last few days, there had been a guard at the school who seemed to take a special interest in talking to me as I passed by each day. Today, we had a longer discussion and exchanged names. Mr. Mori (which means forest in English) then produced some chocolate from his pocket and dubbed it a present. As I walked onward away from him, I began wondering what his intent was. It could simply be that he wanted an international friend, but there could also be negative reasons. I figured that I would just keep my eye on what he does and let it continue. Afterall, our meeting point is surveyed by a camera in case anything goes awry.

Lunch was particularly busy today as it seemed that the halls were again filled with Japanese students. After finishing my meal, I went to the lounge to begin studying for my two tests tomorrow. I began by attempting to find the last few answers for my culture study guide in the book. After awhile, I saw Koichiro, a Japanese friend that I met toward the beginning of my stay here who asked me for help in English. He explained that today was class registration day and that is why so many people are there right now.

After working on my study guide for about two hours, I began working on my three page Japanese study guide which I finished in one sitting and checked for correctness. By that time, I was completely burned out and could no longer stand to study. From that point on, I played games on my Nintendo DS until it was time to go to class, afterwhich, I studies some more.

Thrusday

Today was the day of the tests. I began by waking up a little early so I could have a last minute review before the tests. At the school, I again had a conversation with Mr. Mori and he passed on another set of chocolates before I went on my way.

We had the test in a different room than usual. I arrived to find other classmates standing around. There were people already in the room who appeared to be taking the test. After awhile, it became apparent that the test would be administered to all of the Japanese 2 classes together. I took the rest of the waiting time looking over vocabulary words as a final preparation.

When the test began, I started my way down the page. Once I finished about 1½ pages, the teachers began the listening section. The first example was very difficult to hear. I was certain that I missed two parts of it. The other two examples were easy to hear and gave me no trouble. After that, I continued to work on my test. Nabil had told me earlier that he would finish first (because he likes to compete), but I finished well before it looked like he would, so I checked over my test because I felt bad that he would be so behind. After stalling all that I could, I handed in my test and left Nabil in the dust.

After the test, I ran off to lunch to suck up my food and study for my culture test. When time came to take the test, I was more than ready to get it over with at long last. Taking the test could be described as a person learning to drive for the first time. Go-stop-go-stop-go-stop; which translates as I know this-I don't know this-I know this-I don't know this. Fortunately, I went more than I stopped, so I would hope for a reasonable grade. I was able to answer the bonus questions too.

After my next class, I discovered that I had lost the ability to send email with my phone. This was a particular negation to my existance in Japan since most people here thrive on using email and rarely ever dial a number. I did not feel up to dealing with the situation at the time though. I went home and did nothing for the rest of the night to recuperate from my long study time.

Friday

Without Japanese class, I again went to school for lunch. This time, I came prepared to accept Mr. Mori's gift with a gift of my own. I exchanged some rice crackers for his chocolate, which he expressed jokingly was lunch.

Today's goal was to regain my cellphone email. In order to do so, I would have to find a Japanese student to help me translate. A translator was especially important since my cellphone is a rental from a thrid-party company and it was especially important that I confirm that email is possible under the circumstances.

The first person I came across was Kimie. She was misfortuned with having to write a paper today, so she could not go. The next person I came across was Keisuke. He had class and had to meet a friend, so he could not go. The next person was Taka, a friend I met through Will and Daan. He was able to assist me, and so we went to the SoftBank store to explain the situation.

The process was fairly simple. After Taka explained the situation, the saleswoman said that she would have to tack on only a small extra charge to the bill in order to make the email work. Since my account had been deactivated, I lost my previous email address, which, despite being long and ridiculous, was replaced by an even more ridiculous email address. The fun part was figuring out how to change my email address. After the SoftBank employee could not figure it out herself, she took the phone over to the computer and changed my address manually to one that I chose. Having resolved my troubles, we returned to school where Taka and I parted ways since he had to meet friends for studying. Now I just have to see if I can still email a week later...

In my negotiation class, we talked about various things including why it is better to have a translator when doing international negotiation. I was proud that I did that exact thing just a few hours ago, which verified what he was saying. I was also glad that I had no more tests to care about and I sat peacefully while waiting for the last class of the week to end.

After class, I went with Albert, Yusuke, and Yu to Hirakata City to do a 'teambuilding' exercise since we were all in the same group in Human Resources. Our outing began by eating dinner and having a meeting on what to do about the project. Our topic is Special Employment Issues Regarding Age in Japan. We decided to have everyone find all the material they could on the topic and report their findings the Monday we go back to school. From there, we will divy up the work among the four of us and go from there.

After lunch, we went to an entertainment center called Ring where we played pool. Despite my previous atrocity last time I played pool, I had somehow magically improved substantially. I was suddenly able to make shots that I couldn't even come close to the last time I played. At one point, we played 9-ball and everyone but me bet 100 yen for the winner. I did not want to bet since I was the least skilled and would probably lose. Ironically, I was the victor of the first game by sinking the 9 ball with another ball (which I did intentionally)! They had to start another game in order to get a winner.

Once our gaming came to a close, Yu headed home while Yusuke, Albert, and I went to MOS Burger, the Japanese version of McDonalds (even though they have McDonalds in Japan). I wasn't particularly hungry, so I just ordered some chicken nuggets. They seemed to be healthier than McDonalds', but nothing special. Once we finished, Yusuke went home and Albert and I walked back to the dorms.

Saturday

Today was graduation day for the Japanese students at Kansai Gaidai. It was supposed to be a very traditional setting, so I journeyed over there to see what was happening. Please visit http://profile.imageshack.us/user/exite13/ and view the images under the 'graduation' tag for many kimonos! I also watched part of the ceremony via TV at the school to see what it looked like. Each class was represented by one person who came up to receive a certificate for the class. As I was told, the students would later go to an assigned room to pick up their diplomas. This practice makes the Japanese graduation ceremonies typically last about 30 minutes and no more.

After I had my fill of pictures (and my camera started complaining about low batteries), I started on my way back home. I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some items. My goal today was to buy some actual food and try cooking something. I bought some gyoza (I really don't know how to describe it), udon (real big noodles), and shrimp. I had to ask an employee how to use the flavoring for the udon. After we struggled to communicate, she recommended using powder flavoring that you can mix with water. Happy with my forshadowed meal, I made my purchase along with some other items for less than $10.

Cooking the food was a bit of a trick. I was eventually able to figure out the steps in making the flavoring, but I was not sure what exactly to do. I decided to ask Okaa san since I heard that she was good at cooking. After only a minute or two of trying to explain what to do, she decided to come up and show me. From there, the woman who most people in the dorm curse everyday practically cooked the meal for me. I will forever be baffled as to how so many people can look down upon her as they do. I enjoyed the finished product greatly.

Sunday

For lunch, I decided to take my own crack at making udon since I was show how to do it. Before cooking, I mandated that I had to get a bigger bowl since the miniscule bowl provided by the dorm was barely suited for the meal. At the advice of my roommate Todd, I made my way to Sanko, the supermarket that tends to close whenever they feel like it. On this particular occasion, they happened to be open. I found the bowl I was looking for in a side store, but I had only a 10,000 yen (~$100) bill with me and I did not want to buy a measly bowl with such large currency. I visited the food section of the store and picked up a few items first. I was able to buy a large bottle of Coke on sale for $2 which was about a thrid of what it would cost from a vending machine and some very peculiar pumpkin flavored KitKat Bars as well as some other items. After then obtaining my bowl for a simple dollar, I returned home to cook. On the way up, I showed Okaa san my bowl since she would understand its significance.

It was simple to cook the meal now having been taught how. It was pretty much exactly like it was yesterday.

Monday

Today, Todd and I went to Osaka just to go somewhere. We began our journey by going to Yodobashi Camera (where I bought my electronic dictionary). Todd decided to purchase a large box for an anime that he liked so he could get all of the episodes. After the purchase, we went to the game section so I could think about buying something. Not wanting a game enough to get a Japanese version, I decided to wait until I got back to America. From there, we began walking around the city looking for something to do. After awhile, it became apparent that we were not very successful in finding anything to do. This was exactly the reason that I do not like going places without a plan. I always thought that I would wind up just walking around not knowing what to do and today proved that I was right.

We came to a grassy hill and took a rest. Todd decided to open his anime box because he had started to wonder if it really was what he thought. As he discovered, it was actually an action figure with one special feature DVD - a set quite contrary to the box set he had hoped for when he bought it. He firgured that since he opened it, he could not bring it back and so he decided to leave it by a trashcan and go on without it. I couldn't help but think that it was such a waste of money to do that, but he insisted. From there, we returned to the station to go home. It was quite fortunate that I was there because Todd started goinging the opposite direction to the station at first and I had to correct him. I may not be able to find my way anywhere, but I can almost always find my way back. This theory was verified after we got off at Makino station and I was able to remember how to get back home from there.

While we were walking, we passed the yet again open Sanko and we stopped for some shopping. I decided to get some sushi since I had yet to eat any in the land of sushi. I made sure the there were no raw materials in the sushi since some sushi has such things. After returning home, I prepared the gyoza and ate it with the sushi.

Tuesday

For lunch, I finished off the rest of the sushi that I could not eat the night before. I then spent the day doing various things around the dorm including laundry. For dinner, I could not decide whether to go out to eat or make something at home. I decided that I would go to the grocery store or eat somewhere along the way. Before I set off too far, Nabil called me and wanted to go eat. My question seemed to have been answered. We went to 'big food place'/'that place' which I believe is actually called Michiko's. After eating we returned home where I finished writing my catch-up blog.

I Made Pot

For this post, I will try my alternate way of storytelling, which will consequently make this post very long...

Awakening: I came to premature to the sounding of my alarm. This early rising is common among my days since there is typically a fair amount of activity each morning. As I went about my morning routine, the cleaning lady made her scheduled visit to clean the bathroom and livingroom floor. Having completed my hygenic practices, I receded back into my room in order to complete my metamorphosis into my daily guise. Being that I had a speaking test fast approaching, I made my way to the school in order to study without the distractions produced by having a computer readily available to me.

My trek to the school was facilitated by the use of my MP3 player. I had started to use the headphones that came packaged with my electronic dictionary because they were smaller than the set that I had brought with me from America. While walking with my larger pair, I spotted a noticable number of people staring at me. It was apparent that large headphones were not common to walk with in Japan. My theory seemed correct since I receieved far less stares with my smaller headphones. Although the sound quality is triumphed by my other pair, they seemed to be more socially accepted as walking gear.

Upon arrival at the school, I seated myself in the CIE lounge in order to take a final review of my speaking material. The review guide consisted of thirty questions, each with an answer. We were to have a seven minute interview with the teaching assistant in the presence of the teacher. Since we would have to both ask and answer the questions at random, there were essentially sixty sentences that we had to be familiar with for the test. Up to date, I had practiced several times and was comfortable with my ability to perform the questions and answers. All that was left was to climb the stairs to the teacher's office and await my examination time.

I was to go first out of my class. Because of my pioneer position, I discovered that I was able to begin early once the teacher became prepared. After I took my seat, I surveyed the area. Next to me was Mizoguchi sensei who was making the final preparations to begin the exam. In front of me was an audio recorder and a laptop with a powerpoint show set up on it. When we began, she had me read instructions in English out loud. The instructions asked that I attempt to expand the conversation beyond the instructed phrases as much as possible. The next slide produced two cartoon heads that Mizoguchi sensei defined as herself and me. The slide then displayed a speech bubble for each character. I was to ask or answer the question in accordance to the speech bubble's instructions. Being that it was a test, naturally, I was nervous. Except for the occassional tripping over of words, I did just fine. Before I realized it, Tokashiki sensei called out that the time had expired. We said our farewells and I exited the room. The next student was waiting outside by that time and was also surprised to be told that he could begin early.

Having completed the exam, I made a trip to the computer lab to spend some time working on my forboding culture study guide. I elected to use technology to catch up with my lack of reading as an alternative to reading hundreds of pages in two days. I was able to fill out most of the sheet by using sites like wikipedia. After working for an hour, I retired from my work to seek some food out. By this time it was already 12:00, so the cafeteria had become quite lively. On my way to the building, I ran into my friend Sarah who I hadn't seen in quite some time. After battling my way through the lines of people to get my food, I took my seat and waited for Sarah to escape the crowd as well. We talked about our upcoming tests as we ate. Once we finished, we parted ways and I headed to the CIE office to ask for directions to the Osaka International House.

Today, I was going to a class in ceramics that was offered to students who did not have any Tuesday classes. The event was completely free for Kansai Gaidai students except for transportation costs to the Osaka International House. I did not know how to get to the destination, so I went to ask for directions. One of the student assistants printed out a map and detailed which stations I had to take in order to get there. We determined that it would take about an hour to reach the House, so it became apparent that I had to set out immediately. After a short bathroom break, I was on my way.

I maintained my stubborness to walk to Hirakata station since I abhor having to scrounge up 220 yen in order to take the bus. Once arriving at the station, I located my first waypoint and purchased the ticket. The train that was already waiting at the station was a local train, which meant that it would stop at every station on the way there. Since time was of the essence, I decided that it was better to wait for the next train. Once the express train arrived, I asked someone if it would indeed stop at my desired location. Having received an affirmative answer, I boarded the train and waited for my arrival. At this point, my journey became more complex. There were no signs that specifically pointed me to the subway system, so I had to ask where to go. After gaining my bearings, I found the subway and purchased my ticket. Unfortunately, I was again faced with no signs that specifically said where I was going. As I was trying to find someone to ask, I ran into a fellow Kansai Gaidai student, Louise, who was apparently also going to the ceramics class.

She was able to locate a sign that verified the subway's route and we boarded the train. Once we reached the designated stop, we relied on the instructions that I was given in order to find the House. As we were walking, it began to rain, which was unfortunate since neither of us had an umbrella. We finally arrived at the House pretty much at the last minute in order to not be late. Fortunately, the bus didn't leave for a few more minutes, so we would have been fine if we had been a little late.

The bus ride lasted about thirty minutes to get to the Maishima Pottery Village. When we started traveling, two Japanese people got on the intercom and made a speech. I wasn't able to understand anything they said, so I just kept to myself. Once we arrived, we were rushed through the entrance area into a workshop area. It became apparent that everyone was asked to store their bags and coats in the cubby holes and coat racks since that was what everyone was doing. I grabbed my camera in case I had any pertinent pictures to take.

I took my seat at the table that Louise sat at that was comprised of her, my classmate Jarlene, and another girl who were Kansai Gaidai students. Next, a Japanese person from the Pottery Village began talking. At our table, the only word that we were able to recognize was the word "explosion," which seemed to worry the girls. I figured that the word was used as imagery and there was no threat of anything really exploding. After the speaker finished, everyone circled around one of three tables in order to observe the pottery process as done by an instructor.

The instructor started by cutting off about 1/5 of the clay that he had and pounding it into a flat circle on the turnstile. He described something about a pencil for the circle's size, but I wasn't able to understand the specifics. He then spun the turnstile and took a needle-like device to engrave a circle into his clay circle. From there, he used a knife-like tool to cut the exterior area of the engraving off. Next, he began making a clay line about the circumference of a finger. He placed the line all around the top of the remaining clay circle and connected the line to the circle by rubbing his thumb in the inside and outside of the clay. Once the spaces were not visible anymore, he added another line by using the same method. He did this a total of five times. To complete the process, he used the needle tool to engrave a circle around the top of the clay and continued to spin around the clay until the tool cut off the top part. Next, he took a wet piece of cloth and ran it across the shaven top in order to smooth is out. He then took the knife and cut some of the base in a circle before using a wire to detach the pot from the turnstile. He then instructed us to stamp our ID number into the bottom of the pot with a number stamp and sign a custom character of our choosing as well. He then allowed us to return to our tables and begin the same process ourselves.

We all began making our pots as best as we could remember. As I was making my circle on the turnstile, the instructor came by to tell me to make it a little bigger. Once I finished with the circle, I cut the extra area off. I then began making my clay lines and placing them on the circle. It became apparent that my creation was going to be a bit larger than I expected. When I put my last line on, the instructor came by to help me not make it look lopsided. I then finished the process. The finished product was not that bad. I was then told to make a second one with my remaining clay. I didn't know if I could since my first pot (better to say bowl) was a bit large and there wasn't that much clay left. I set off for my second venture keeping in mind to keep it small. This time, I did much better, but toward the end, I noticed that it wasn't quite even. I decided to make it into an abstract since there wasn't much else to do with it. After finishing my two ceramic works, the instructor helped me through the paperwork process to define what color I wanted my works to be painted. Then he told me to place my art upon the shelf. I apparently finished very quickly since everyone else at my table was still struggling with their first construction. I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the class and Louise and the other girl being hard at work. I was happy to be able to wash my hands, but the water was extremely cold.

Once the alloted time had expired, we all were hearded back onto the bus in order to return to the House. When we arrived, we were invited to stay for the next event at the House if we wanted and were given a flyer for the event. From what we could read, it was apparently a basketball event, which none of my table group seemed interested to attend, so we headed back to Hirakata.

On the train back, Louise began asking about Seminar House III since she had heard so many bad things about the caretaker there. Okaa san (more formally called Yamamoto San), is a strong-willed stickler for the rules, which causes many college students a lot of grief while they try to do whatever they please. I am among the minority that finds Okaa san to be a nice and wonderful person, so I was able to give Louise the story from another perspective.

When we arrived back at the station, we took the bus back home and went to our separate dorms. I soon wanted to go for dinner, so I made my way to my favorite restaurant that Nabil introduced me to a few weeks ago. I like this restaurant because the food is reasonably priced and always good. I selected a new meal for my experience today. I ordered the Japanese style beef 'mini' steak set that came with rice, miso soup, and salad. Being that the steak cost only ~$7.00 along with everything else, it wasn't expected to be as good as what one would call 'real steak,' but it was still quite good.

While I was eating, a little girl entered the restaurant and hid in a corner. I wondered if she lived there or knew the people who worked there since she seemed to be alone. Soon, an older man entered the restaurant and the little girl jumped out of her hiding place. The two of them then sat down at the table and the older man began to order a lot of food. It was apparent that they would soon have more company and they eventually did. It seemed like they were celebrating what seemed to be something for the older man. I finished my meal before too much longer and so I went on my way back home.

Clouds on the Horizon

Monday brought on the atmosphere of the week. Before me lay midterm week and I did not quite know what to expect until today. The heaviest burden was that of my culture class. We received a study guide that I stared at hopelessly without knowing barely a thing on it. Such things happen when you don't do any of the reading and cannot bear to listen to the teacher talk. I know that I am not the only person who was in this position too, so I would expect the test to be very interesting. At any rate, I knew that I had my work cut out for me.

After class was over, I went to meet Kazuki, who wanted to see the school today. I wasn't quite sure what I could show him other than the CIE and a few other buildings, so after the tour, we sat down so I could show him some pictures of home and family. After that, we went to eat dinner. Lastly, he wanted to see where I went for shopping, so we stopped by the supermarket before we parted ways. From there, I went back home to study for my speaking test the next day.

Working Back Up

As I am sure that you religious readers can tell, I have been falling behind in my blogging. This is mainly because it is a little annoying to have to take a break everyday to type my life story. Nonetheless, I shall continue to write as I get to it. Today, I shall get to it.

Tuesday

Today was a day of reminiscence as I was to meet with my visiting CIE director, Dr. McCrillis. After Japanese class, I was to report to the CIE office to have a lunch meeting set up with him. After explaining what I was there for, I was led into a waiting room while he finished up with a meeting he was in at the moment. It wasn't very long before I was greeted by him and his collegue from Valdosta State along with one of the CIE employees. We made our way to the cafeteria in order to have lunch and talk.

In the lunch room, the concensus seemed to be for curry rice, but I opted to go for the club lunch. After a quick explanation of what it was, Dr. McCrillis changed his order to the club lunch as well since it came with rice and miso soup as well. We talked about my time in Japan and how I was adjusting to it. He wanted to make sure that I was doing alright and there were no underlying problems with the culture and being away from home. As the CIE person said, there were typically one or two people who decided to go home early because they couldn't deal with the culture differences. After a short tour of the CIE, we stopped to take a picture before saying our farewells since he had to go to other meetings.

Once departing, I made my way to the city hall to pick up my alien registration card that had finally been prepared. Happy that I was legal, I went back home to attend a meeting for the dorm. The meeting was primarily geared toward the girls, who had apparently not been keeping their bathrooms as clean as the boys. Ironically, there was only one girl among the ten or so boys who attended the meeting.

Wednesday's main event was my first non-Japanese test that was to be held in my International Negotiation class. The test was a very lovely set of essay questions that left my hand in pain. I should have done fine except on one question that I knew I got wrong after discovering the real answer after the test.

Thursday brought about a movie in my culture class, Family Game. The movie was about a lazy Japanese student being tutored and how his family dealt with what was happening. I wasn't able to watch the whole thing in one sitting since it was longer than my class time, so I had to come back after school to finish. We had another presentation in Human Resources and it seemed to go on forever. Once classes were over, I went with Yusuke to study for awhile before going to finish the movie. The end of the movie absolutely confused me since it had no notable reason as to what happened. I almost feel like it would have been easier to not watch the end and speculate on what happened. I received an email from my phone company saying that my account was now registered and I now have an email address. I confirmed this by sending a test email that was successful. My address was some rediculous slew of numbers and letters, so I wanted to change it. As I discovered with the help of the dorm caretakers, I lacked a password for my phone, so they set up a meeting with my RA to go to the phone store the next day.

On Friday, I had a Japanese test. As I later found out, I missed some of the listening portion, as most of the class did, but I got all of the writing portion correct. After class, I went with my RA, Masato, to the phone store in order to find out about my password. They had us call the support center, so we did so on the way back to school. After getting the center, they told us that the store could reset the password or I could contact the rental company in order to get the code. I figured that the store could not reset the password since they had us call, so I emailed the company instead.

After my phone fun, I went to the computer lab to translate my study guide into Japanese so I could study for my midterm oral exam. I had my Japanese friend, Yuka, check my work. I hung out with various Japanese friends until it was class time. After class, I went with Nabil and Todd to dinner.

Saturday was Karaoke Day. We had four people attend. On their side was Saki and Chiaki, and on my side was Keisuke and myself. I was pleased to find that there were songs that I actually knew and liked, especially since they made me start. I sought out a slow song to begin with and chose Time by Alan Parsons. From there, the others rotated songs. I continued with Spiders by System of a Down. After the next rotation, I did Our Time Is Running Out by Muse, which I thought was my best performance. Next I did Emerald Sword by Rhapsody, Pushing Me Away by Linkin Park, Needled by System of a Down, It's Been Awhile by Staind, Sea of Lies by Symphony X, Papercut by Linkin Park, and finally Knights of Cydonia by Muse. By the time everyone sang about that many songs, our three hours were up. I have some videos of everyone singing, but I don't know where I can upload them in order to share.

From there, we went to dinner at an Italian style restaurant. I decided upon getting a pizza, but it isn't what you'd expect. This was a Japanese-style pizza with shrimp, clam, squid, and tuna. I was able to happily eat the whole thing. Once dinner was concluded, we went to the bus stop where we went our separate ways. While on the bus, I saw a very scary looking Japanese girl with horrible piercings all over her face and hair that she purposely made look awful. Not only that, but she also began to talk on her cellphone during the bus ride, which is a cultural taboo. It was disturbing enough to point out. I also helped an old lady who dropped her bag and could not find it. Finally, I began construction of my catch-up blog while chatting with friends online.

Back to Back

Sunday

Today's itinerary began with going back to Kyoto. I went to Hirakata station to meet Kenji, who arranged our trip. Once we arrived at our destination, we walked around for awhile to see the sites. Among the stores were some shrines that we stopped by to see. As Kenji pointed out, there was a much different feel in the shrines than there was on the street just outside. It was like a shell of silence brought peace to the area while the noisy street passed unimpeded. After walking for a while, we took a bus to our main event: plumb blossom viewing.


The entrance to the shrine was guarded by a bull statue. There were many people taking pictures of the flowers just as we were. There was also a long line of people waiting to pray for knowledge at the shrine. After thoroughly enjoying the flowers, we headed back to Hirakata.

Upon our arrival, we went to a restaurant for dinner. This restaurant was different than any other one that I have went to because you had to buy a meal ticket of your order instead of asking a waiter for something. After we ate, we met up with Nabil and thought about what to do next. We decided to go to Round One, a gaming center.

At Round One, Kenji set it up so that we could get members cards for a discounted price for future visits. With the card included, it cost about $15 for three hours of free-play activities. After ascending to the game floor, we began to play the various games including sports-related games and video games. After playing for two hours, we went up one more floor to the recreation area where you could play actual sports games. I found enjoyment in trying the archery practice range. Having only done archery once several years ago, I had to learn how to do it again. I quickly learned that holding my arm out straight was not a good idea since the string liked to attack anything near it when let go. I also discovered that it was easier to hold the bow right under the arrow since everything else was bumpy and rough. Lastly, I recalled how to hold the arrow before firing so that it was less painful to shoot. Despite my learning curve, I ended up making a premier shot in my first set of shots. In my best set, I managed to get four arrows out of six (one being broken and unable to stick in the target). After that, I rejoined Nabil and Kenji who were playing Tennis. I also played my first Tennis game today. I wasn't too bad considering my inexperience. I just need to not hit the ball so hard sometimes. After the game, we went back downstairs just in time to leave at our designated time.

As we waited for the bus, I decided that it would be a good idea to study for the quiz that I had the next day. Once arriving back at the station, we walked back home since it seemed that the buses had stopped running. Once getting back home, it became apparent that I had been gone from 12:00 to 12:00, making it a 12 hour day. Sleep was greatly anticipated.

Monday

I started by taking the quiz that I barely studied for over the weekend. It became apparent that my hurried cram session was just as successful as my more laxed sessions. I met up with Yusuke at lunch and we decided to go study for a test that we would be having in our class today. As we were looking up the questions, we ran into two other classmates who joined us in studying. I was the only non-Japanese student in the group, so I pretty much became the teacher. After we got through the questions, it was time for class.

I was particularly dreading my first class today since I had not gotten enough sleep from my late-night venture the night prior. As I expected, I spent the whole class battling against falling asleep. In my next class, we had some lecture and then took the quiz. After that class, I went to the lounge to read for my test on Wednesday while waiting for Albert to get out of his class. Once it became 5:00, we went to Gasto's to eat.

I thought that it might be a good idea to get something Japanese at Gasto's instead of the American food that they also served. My meal had some very interesting side dishes that I wasn't particularly fond of, but I was able to eat it all. After dinner, I went back home since I was still exhausted from yesterday. From there, I did my laundry and relaxed.

Do It Yourself

First, let's do a little catching up. On Thursday, I entered into my long day with three classes almost back-to-back. It wasn't as bad as it usually is, although each segment of time seemed to go by slowly. At dinner, I went with Albert, Yusuke, and their friend David to Roro. I ordered Ebi Doria, which was shrimp and rice covered with cheese and oven-baked. It was very good, but surely unhealthy. At night, I found a person that I met on the Japan website on gmail, so we chatted until it was time for bed.

On Friday, I met up with Keisuke and Kim for lunch. From there, I went back to the lounge with Keisuke and was eventually joined by Kimie and her friend/my classmate, Maya, and then her friend Megumi. From there, I worked on my homework and conversed until it was time for class. In Negotiation class, a question about uncertainty avoidance (risk) came up. The teacher wanted to prove his point, so he gave the opportunity for people to make a bet. The bet was to guess two out of three coin flips correctly in order to get 100% on the next test and not have to take it. If the person lost, they would get 0% with no questions asked. The first person to try was a Japanese person who guessed correctly the first two times. From there, two others volunteered and also got it. After that, two people in a row failed and no one else volunteered. The teacher actually recorded the names of the people who won and lost and gave them their respective grades. I figured that I had a better chance to take the test than to gamble my grade.

For dinner, I ordered a hamburger at a restaurant called Gasto. The hamburger tasted like a real hamburger as did the fries. Ironically, the meal cost only $5, which is much less than I can get a real hamburger in America. After dinner, Albert had me join him for a short exercise session. He started teaching me how to box at the end. It was an interesting experience since I have no experience fighting. Sadly, my session with Albert was ultimately more helpful than my year in Tae Kwon Do. It's a wonder what you can get for free. I talked with my friend online again until it was time for bed.

On Saturday, the real fun began. I was going to meet my first friend from the Japanese site today. I had to wake up at 8:30am in order to get to Hirakata station at 10:00 since I did not want to take the bus. Once at the station, I waited for a while to meet my new friend Kazuki. He was about ten minutes late, which isn't that bad to an American, but he thought it was a horrible thing. After we were able to get past the time issue, we made our way over to Kyoto to go to Arashiyama where we would try making Ocha (green tea) ourselves. There were a few nice sites to see on the way to the tea shop that I am sure you would like. Once at the shop, we were given instructions on the step-by-step process that is required to make Ocha. The tea came with some Japanese sweets. Mine was made out of red beans. The tea was very bitter and the sweets were sweet. Overall, it was a very bitter-sweet experience. Ironically, it appeared that I was better at making the tea than Kazuki was. He kept forgetting steps and where to put things after using them.

After finishing the tea, we sought out lunch. Kazuki realized that he had not brought enough money with him, so he had to borrow from me in order to eat. After lunch, we had to go to Umeda, Osaka for Kazuki's job interview. I started asking him interview questions to help him prepare. He obviously was not ready for what awaited him. He had not even researched about the company. When we got to Umeda, it became apparent that he would not make it on time. After finally reaching the building about 20 minutes late, Kazuki went inside, but I had to wait outside since I did not have an appointment. I spent my time buying and eating onigiri (rice wrapped with seaweed with a filling). By the time I was finished eating, Kazuki came back outside. Not having been long enough to have had an interview, I asked what happened. He said that he had to reschedule since he was late. I thought that it was a very fortunate occurance since it would allow him time to properly prepare.

After the interview, we went back to his appartment so he could get money to repay me. It was fairly small, but bigger than he described it. Once we got the money, we went to a game store that he had told me about. This time, we used his car. This was the first time that I had ridden in a Japanese car. It was fairly nice with a built-in GPS/TV. The TV would switch back to the GPS whenever the car was moving as to not distract the driver while in motion. After looking at the game store, we went next door to a Chinese restaurant to eat dinner. Chinese restaurants in Japan are like Chinese restaurants in America, except they serve more Japanese-style food instead of American-style food. After dinner, Kazuki took me back to the dorm, which wasn't that far at all. From there, we said our farewells and I went on to do my laundry and type this blog.