Thursday
- Day two of Kanji, just as bad as day one T_T I feel so behind all the other students somehow.. But I did end up with an 8/10 on that kanji quiz instead of failing it. Somehow.
- Day two of Japanese Symbolic Practice. That class is going to be totally awesome. Teacher is really great and funny, and the class is going to be so media focused. We're picking topics for our field research/final project/paper soon, and I think Greg and I are going to do gaming. Our class came up with a lot of ideas, and he was encouraging a lot of ideas that were really media focused (like thinks we talk about in my MDST classes at home), but really cell phones and gaming are the only two that really stuck out as being particularly different in Japan and worth spending the time to research while in Japan.
- (The previous paragraph can also be read translated to the following text: "Greg and I are going to play video games with Japanese people and call it homework." )
- G Splash practice was House! I'm not sure what that means really, but the music was a lot more jazzy with piano parts and stuff, and the dancing was pretty easy to pick up. The girls did their routine for us, and it looked like it was just fun to dance House. The House leader also told us foreigners the club rules in English. Basically, don't miss practice or be late without telling someone first, extra practices around event time, for the first event you can only dance Hip Hop or Lock (yay!), first event is in June, second is in August (booo!), it's a serious club they don't mess around blah blah blah.
- We met some new friends afterwards! The only name I remember is Shougo, but there were two boys and two girls we met. They were really nice! Shougo and the other guy spoke some English and it was really funny. I was trying to explain the concept of first-year, second-year etc. at UVa, and I mentioned how Thomas Jefferson built our school, and Shougo was like "Ah!! Thomas Jefferson!... Thomas Jefferson ha.... independence... independence.. nantoka nantoka.." hahha. And the other kid's English pronunciation was reeally good! I was impressed.
- We got dinner at a cool place Greg and Hunter had found and got their recommended yakiniku. For some reason, the sauce on yakiniku still makes me feel pretty sick....although it's better in Japan
- From about 10pm to 1:30am, I wrote lengthy emails back and forth to my adviser trying to get the issue of our credit transfer worked out. The story changed a lot of times, I learned some specifics about the requirements for my major, and it looks like it's going to work out fine with me getting 11 credits of Japanese language to finish up that part of my requirements, and then 3 credits from the Japanese Symbolic Practice class for another part. After I get back, I'll just have 2 more Japan-related courses to take in different departments, one of which I'm already signed up for.
- Since it was 1:30am and I was still sort of in correspondence with my adviser, and I hadn't started my homework, and I didn't really feel like sleeping, I decided not to sleep that night. I did some laundry since I had run out of things to wear for G Splash, and I picked up my room a little bit, and I talked to Nick and my Dad for a long time on Skype.
- Somehow I couldn't make myself focus on my homework, and there really wasn't that much of it, so I decided I didn't really need to stay up all night, and ended up taking about an hour and a half nap and getting up at 6:15 to finish my homework.
- Got up at 6:15 to finish my homework (well, most of it)
- Ditched the guys and rode the special ladies only car on the train, for the busy morning commute. It smelled nice and it wasn't crowded at all. Being a lady rules sometimes.
- RAIN. It rained so hard on Friday, and the wind was blowing super bad, it was ridiculous. I was thankful for my new heavy-duty old lady umbrella.
- Class was ridiculous. Jen and I got a bad case of the giggles when Noguchi-sensei just ran class so hilariously. He just sort of says ridiculous things while he's talking to the class, like it's nothing at all. And he draws example pictures on the board, which is fine, but he goes too far... He just keeps adding pictures and it keeps getting more ridiculous.. Jen and I were having a hard time in that class because we were both just laughing until we were crying, it was crazy... we just could not stop laughing, even a long time later.. I think Jen summed it up best when she asked me "What is he doing??"
- Lunch was bad for me.. I accidentally bought a Soba ticket instead of Udon, so I asked the lady to change it since it's the same price, and she was like sure! But the message didn't make it all the way down the line, so the guy in front of me had ordered soba, but his ended up with an egg in it instead of what he ordered, when the egg and stuff was supposed to go in mine T_T So he ended up having to take the thing I had ordered basically instead of what he ordered.. I felt soooo bad and it made me feel bad all lunch, I wish I had said something to him to apologize. I couldn't even offer to take that one since the other one was udon.. I prayed that something especially nice would happen for him that day.
- After lunch, I went to try out the post office ATM and see if I could get money out of it like Greg did. On the way there, I stopped in a Christian bookstore near the school and fulfilled vow #3 by buying a Japanese Bible.
- I successfully took out 50,000 yen from the ATM, with about a $5 service fee, not bad!
- For the room we practice G Splash in, it's supposed to be no shoes, or only indoor shoes. I've been getting away with wearing my normal shoes inside, but I decided I should really get some indoor shoes, so I walked down this street for suuuuchhh a long time and didn't find anywhere selling shoes! Very discouraging T_T
- My jeans were soaked once I got back to campus T_T
- I tried to go to the library to study, but ended up putting my head down for about 45 minutes, and then decided I was too cold from my wet legs to study.
- So I went to the gym room and changed for practice and studied till it started!
- Friday's dance waas.. Girls! Or Girls Hip Hop, as I think it's really called... they made the boys learn it too! It was one of the harder ones to get the hang of... I don't seem to have that natural sexy body rhythm that it takes to dance that way.. The worst parts were body rolls, which I still don't get, and a funky hop step thingy that took me forEVER to even remotely get the hang of, and I'm still not great at it.
- I got delicious ice cream afterwards =)
- Dinner was the Yoshinoya!! Wooo!
- I was extremely happy the weekend had started and went to sleep.
- Woke up at 9:30! Woooo sleeping is aweesooommee
- Left a little before 11 for the Ito Yokado mall with Hunter and Jeannette.
- We bought shoes for dancing! Mine are pretty sweet. They're all white with like a gold sparkly swooshy cross thing on the side. I decided not to invest in running shoes after all since I honestly won't have the time or feel like running here.
- After we got back, I went to Yaoko with Greg for groceries!
- Then... I took a nap! From about 2-5! Woaaah
- Then I took another nap! From about 6-8, double woah!
- Greg tried to get ahold of me several times, and I only woke up at 8 because he knocked on my door! Whoops! I didn't mean to sleep that much ^^;
- I tried to make something of the rest of my evening by cleaning my room and getting caught up with my expense report.
- Then I went to bed at around 2am.
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