Whew! Exams!

Hey all!

People have been asking for a post but it's been exam time, so today's post may be short and sweet and maybe boring because that's what exams are all about!

So my last post was almost two weeks ago, and things haven't been that exciting.  My knee still hasn't gotten better, and I can't do much walking on it without needed to rest and elevate it for an hour or two.  This lead me to skip some classes in the last two weeks, and I feel bad because I had had a perfect record up until then.  It was necessary though, because some days I would wake up, and the last thing I wanted to do was to move my leg.  I talked with my friends about seeing a doctor, but we all kind of figured that nothing was wrong with my knee, and that is most likely just needed some RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation).  I've done lots of that though these past three weeks, so I think it's high time I went to the doctor to get it checked out.

My leg has caused me to be much more restless too.  I worked out 4 times a week and ran 4 times a week, but I haven't been able to do anything with my knee like this.  It's so frustrating! I want to be outside! I want to be moving!  It's the most frustrating thing!

Anyways, my exams started this past week.  Monday I had my Reading & Writing Japanese final, and Tuesday I had my Speaking Japanese final.  They were a little hard, but I prepared very well for those ones. Wendnesday I had 3 exams all in one afternoon: Japanese Monsters, International Negotiations, and Japanese Pop Culture.  I didn't bother studying for Monsters, which was all right, there were only 2 question that I would have needed to study for but I don't mind losing a couple marks over those.  International Negotiations I studied some key parts for and those were the only things that happened to be on the test.  I've never lucked out like that!  Oh, I don't think I've mentioned this before, but the whole class got t-shirts saying we were in Negotiations Boot Camp.  And mine was a men's large and it was more like a paper bag dress than a shirt.  But, I took my sewing kit, and what little knowledge of sewing I have and pimped them out:

That's Malaika, from Uganda.  She's wearing boots, I'm wearing socks.  Go figure.  I was actually only wearing those sandals because of all my shoes they have the best support and I thought it would be good for my knees.  Anyways, back to exam talk!

So Monsters and Negotiations were done.  And I was the first one done both exams.  So I made it my mission to be the first one done my Pop Culture final too.  Of the three exams I had that day, Pop Culture was the only one I put a lot of effort into studying (because I didn't take any notes all year.  Oops!)  I'm glad I did.  The test was so easy, but only because I had studied.  One of my friends didn't study and he asked me what I should know.  I told him 5 things, and those 5 things were big parts of the test.  I must have used up all my luck that day on those tests.  Oh, and I was the first one done that exam too.  No big deal, but I'm kind of a big deal. :P

Thursday I went out to get Christmas gifts to send home.  I went shopping in Shinsaibashi with my roommate, Yu, and it wreaked havoc on my knee.  I felt so stupid, the way I was walking.  It probably looked like the grandpa from King of the Hill (he has no knees or something like that).  Anyways, Yu and I went to do some purikura (insane photo booth pictures), and we rented some Santa costumes for 100 yen to take the pictures in:

Afterwards, when we were waiting to change back into our clothes, some high school girl came up from behind me and said "Sumimasen." *Excuse me*  When I turned around, she said "OH! GAIJINDATTA!" *FOREIGNER*  And ran away to her friend saying how she wanted to ask me something but I turned around and I was a Gaijin and she was so surprised that she had to run away.  I know that there are some crazy girls in Japan who dye their hair blonde, but I think even from behind, my body is definitely not Japanese (I have some muscle on my, Japanese girls tend to be super slim), and I'm blonde.  I so curious now as to what she wanted to ask me.  Wherever you are little girly, I can speak Japanese, I understand the things you said!  Yu was losing her shit laughing about it though.

Next, Yu and I went to Sweets Paradise, a dessert buffet restaurant.  There was some regular food like spaghetti, salad, omerice (Omelette+rice=freaking delicious), sandwiches, soup etc.  And then there were about a hundred different cakes and desserts to choose from.  There was a giant white chocolate fondu fountain too!

 

My plate!  Pretty much the only way I can eat strawberries 

in Japan is if it comes on a cake.

Yu's plate!  With a giant green tea cake!

Yummy!

Oishii! *Yummy!*

It's really such a ridiculous place.  I mean, buffets are bad enough as it is, but a buffet full of desserts? That's just asking for obesity.  It was so good though, they did not go cheap on those cakes.  Top quality delights is what they had.  I can't go back again with Yu though, she told me it was her own policy that she always takes a new friend there every time.  I'll just bully my way and make sure she brings me back soon!

Thursday night, I had one last round of Yakiniku and Karaoke with the boys.  Our friend, Robert, was going to Indonesia and then home to Holland.  It was pretty emotional, and I don't think he knows it, but I was fighting back a lot of tears when saying goodbye to him.  It's just so strange; you go from seeing somebody everyday, and then all of a sudden their gone and you don't have a clue if you're going to see them again.  I told my friends that were leaving that it may take about 10 years, but I do plan on seeing everybody again.  I made lots of awesome memories with these people and they've made a huge impact on my life.  My friend Daisaku from Mexico is leaving soon, so I have to make sure I get my heartfelt goodbye to him soon too!

My Korean friend, Deuck Jo is in my bed right now reminiscing about his semester here, and how Tom, Robert and I were good workout buddies, and he was really glad to make friends with us. I'm really glad I made friends with him too, and all the other people.  

Guys, it's been a great semester.  Most of you I will be seeing next semester, but for those of you who only stayed in Japan for one semester, it's been fun.

Sayonara friends, we will meet again.

Peace and Love,

Sad Kelly

I'm a Whiney B!tch

Hello Again!
It's been awhile, and hopefully today's post will be entertaining for you, but for me, it's just going to be a little bit of a vent time.

So last weekend, I biked to school, and then went out for supper after class with some of my roommates.  I left my bike at the school and went to pick it up the next afternoon.  My bike was nowhere to be found.  SOMEBODY STOLE DESTINY!  I wasn't that distraught about it however (I was later, after other events occurred that I will get around to telling you about).  I was more or less like "it's out of my hands, not much I can do now." Two of my friends also had their bikes stolen in the past 2 weeks.  Wtf?  Someone has it out for the Gaijins (foreigners) I think, but it's pissing me off.  Poor Destiny is all alone with nobody to tell her how wicked cool she is.  I went to the people at school who are in charge of the international students and asked them if I could view the footage from last weekend to see if we could find out who stole the bikes.  The following conversation ensued:

CIE worker : I'm sorry, we can't let students view the footage.  Only someone with authority can look at it.

Me:  Okay, can we get someone who has the authority to look at it?

CIE: No, we can't do that.

Me:  Then why did you install cameras if you can't review the footage?

Honestly, what is the point?  If we can view the footage we can find out who did it and if it was the same person who took mine and my friends' bikes.  So stupid.  I had to go to the police station to report it and it was really cool.  My roommate Yu went with me to act as a translator, and everything went pretty smoothly.  They had to use my fingerprints as a signature on the pages (strange huh?), but the detective thought I was silly, because I would make stupid noises every time I stamped my finger.  And when he asked me how old I was I accidentally said 11 instead of 21.  He gave me a silly look and Yu called me a liar.  My bad!  Anyways, after all the paper work was done, he told me that I was a pretty girl and that I should be very careful when I am out for strangers and gropers on the train.  I then really super politely asked him to please find my bike and he thought that was really cute.  Yu and I went out for some Starbucks lunch.

Coffee!

The police kept calling though to double check the bike registration number, and it turns out I had the wrong one.  My friend Tom and I had bought our bikes together and somehow during the paperwork process our numbers go switched up.  So I had to go back to the police station on Friday, but it was a really quick visit; in and out.  So now I have to sit and wait patiently to see if any news turns up. One of my other roommates, Misty, is only here for one semester, and she said that if I didn't hear anything by the end of next week, we can switch the ownership of her bike over to me.  Thanks Misty! You're a sweetheart!

All right, another problem.  I participated in a race last Sunday, the 1st Osaka Sweets Marathon.  I was in the running group that was only doing 10km, but it wasn't easy!  It was getting so cold at night the last few weeks before the run, so I didn't practice much.  My friend Steph and I kept pace throughout the whole thing together and we didn't have to stop once.  And I came in 107 and she came in 108 place out of 600 people! Way to go us!

Crossing the finish line!  Woot woot!

Once we finished, there was a table of chocolates and sweets waiting and a man handing out ice cream to the runners who were finishing up.  It was great, but all I wanted was water, and I couldn't find it at all!  Such a silly race, it was a lot of fun though, and I had a blast with the running club!

I'm paying the price for that run now though.  One I woke up on Monday, my body was aching all over (well mostly my legs), I couldn't get out of bed to go to class.  I though taking one day off would be fine.  I also had this cream that was good for sore muscles, so I made my roommate watch as I put some on my bed.  "Kelly! You're so silly!" Yu said.  I know!  The next day my muscles felt better, but my knees were killing me.  And since I don't have to bike, I have to walk all over the place.  It's a real pain.  I've had to skip class a few times this week because it was too painful to walk.  I think they will get better if I can give them time to just rest, but exams are coming up, and I really can't afford to do that.  Last night I went to a club too, which probably wasn't the best idea, but I figured that it was one of the last time I could go before exams, so I might as well.  It hurt at first, but after I started dancing, the heat felt really good on my knees.  Today though, I'm definitely paying the price.  I can't walk one step without cringing.  Maybe on Monday I will make a stop at the infirmary at school and maybe they can fix me up!

The club was a hot mess too.  I had an awesome time, but I don't know how I drank too much but I did.  I spent about 2 hours over the porcelain throne, puking and sleeping, and then another hour recovering from that.  But once they played a Ke$ha song, I was ready to go! Full recovery made!  Me and my friends were the only Gaijins there, and we felt pretty special about that.  All the Japanese people thought we were so silly/cool, and the boys I was with liked the girls dressed up as sexy little santas.  There was one girl there who really pissed me off though.  She is a gaijin, and she has a boyfriend at Kansai Gaidai, but she was making out with guys all over the place last night (who weren't her boyfriend).  I really hate people who cheat.  It's so selfish and callous.  If you're going to be in a relationship then be committed, if not, dump the person to spare them the humiliation of being cheated on.  I can't look at her the same way now, she lost a lot of respect for that.  I also don't believe in the "but she was drunk" ordeal.  Drinking just takes down the walls that sobriety holds up; in other words, alcohol can reveal your true feelings and thoughts.  That's my opinion anyways.  Don't get me wrong! I still had a lot of fun last night!

Some other things that have bothered me: price of fruit in Japan.  I just want some fruit.  I don't want to die of scurvy, and rice has hardly any nutritional value.

People who interrupt presentations.  If someone's giving a presentation, hold off your questions/comments until the end.  This stupid girl in one of my classes keeps interrupting just to put in a stupid comment/hear herself talk.  Shut up, nobody wants to hear what you have to say.  She also said that where she comes from (Czech Republic), students don't raise their hands unless they have something smart to say.  Oh, really? Had me fooled.

People who copy me:  I'm a tad flattered, but it really just annoys me.  We got these free t-shirts in one of my classes that are huge (awesome, but huge).  So I took mine and made it smaller and then cut up the sleeves and neck and made it look really hot.  Now one of my roommates is doing that too.  I don't know why it bothers me so much, but get your own style please.

That's about it.  My boys should be back with my hangover McD's soon, so I'll hobble over to their room to have a nice dinner with them.

Hopefully the next post won't be so whiny, but I just needed a good vent!

Peace and Love
The Cripple

Golden and Silver Pavilion.

First of all, I have some bad news to report.

DESTINY HAD A FLAT TIRE! I was so upset! I was on my way to the grocery store, and she was making some godawful noises and it was very difficult to bike.  When I got off to check it out, the rear tire was as flat as my sister's chest! It really inhibited my moving for a few days.  Today, I finally got to take her to the bike doctor at Bike Land.  I felt like the hugest loser walking my bike around everywhere, but I knew it would all be worth it in the end.  At the bike shop, I had to wait a couple hours for them to finish.  The best part though, was that I had a full blown conversation in Japanese.  I was just talking to them and they were speaking back, and then they asked me where I was from.  I totally understood the question, but I was so flabbergasted that I had been able to just easily understand them that I stood there in silence! They thought I didn't understand and were like "Americajin? (American?)." I corrected them and told them I was Canadian, and that they'd done an awesome job on my bike and went on my merry way.  Me and Destiny are back in action, ready to take over Japan!

This past Sunday, while my bike was out of commission.  Me, my roommate Fran, and two Japanese friends, Nozomi and Kazuki, all went to Kyoto to see the Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion) and Ginkakuji (Silver Pavillion).  It was my first time in Kyoto, and I got to say I've been missing out.  Kyoto is the place where old traditional Japan meets new Japan.  Everything was so cool!   We went to the Kinkakuji first and it really took me by surprise.  It was at the base of a mountain (I think), and some of the trees were turning red on the property.  There were a bunch of old buildings and lots of Japanese and foreigners there to check out the temple.  But after I bought my ticket and came around the corner, I was flabbergasted! This thin is super gold!

So gold!

My friends laughed at me because the first thing I said was "Holy Crap! It's gold!"  I really thought that it would be a dull kind of gold after all these years (built in 1398), but it's retained all it's shiny glory.  The top two tiers are covered in actual, gold, I'm surprised nobody's tried to steal it (like how the pyramids used to be covered in limestone, but other peeps were like "Yo I want that shit!" and they took it off and now they just look like sand? Yeah, I thought that would have happened to the Kinkakuji).  But yeah, it is super gorgeous and gold.  I loved it.  It was my first traditionally Japanese thing that I've done (usually I'm shopping/drinking/clubbing, which I think is also very culturally enlightening. Kanpai! *Cheers!*).

We got to wander around the property, finding special little wishing wells where you could throw in some change, and if you hit the right spot (the top of a shrine, or inside a wooden bowl), then your wish would come true.  

Kazuki missed, so his wish is NOT coming true.  :P

We then got served some traditional Japanese green tea and some omocha (a sweet Japanese treat, made form rise and a sweat red bean).  It was served to us by a girl in a cute little kimono and it was pretty good!  We were told to eat the omocha first because it is super sweet.  I didn't believe them,  because I've heard that Japanese green tea isn't very good, but it was a good idea.  It was a good thing the omocha was so small, but it was a sweet overload; delicious, but sooooooooooo sweet.  The green tea was actually very good!  It was very green, and the taste was pretty enjoyable.  I highly recommend it!

Ah! Japanese culture!

So sweet! So green!

We then went to the souvenir shop, and I bought some presents for people back at home, though they won't be getting them for awhile.  Then we were on out way to the Ginkakuji.  I had no clue that there was a second pavilion, and I actually thought that we were on our way home.  I was so surprised when I found out the bus we were getting on was taking us to another place, but it was worth it, I think.

Silver...?  Usokakuji (Lying Pavilion) I think.

My feelings about the "Silver" Pavilion

So this is the Silver Pavilion.  It was built in 1490 but never actually finished.  Nozomi told me that nobody knows why it isn't silver, but it might be because the government didn't give enough funding for the builder, or that he died before he could finish it.  Anyways, it's now a Zen temple, with a few Zen gardens,that aren't really gardens at all, it's just a place for people to rake sand into cool patterns:

How are there no footprints!?!

Anyways, it was still a really cool place.  We got to climb up a bit of the mountain and see some views of Kyoto and the changing colours of the trees.

After the trip at Ginkakuji, I found a store selling only bunny paraphernalia.  This upcoming year is the Year of the Rabbit, and I'm freaking psyched because everywhere, everything has rabbits  all over it,  I bought some souvenirs there too, and they've infested my room.  Hurray cute overload!

Alright, now I have a poor story to report on.  I don't know if I have told you about this before, but I will go over it again quickly just in case I have talked about it.  Gaijin Hunters are the Japanese girls and boys at school that are looking for a Gaijin (foreigner) boyfriend/girlfriend.  Your a big target if you are blonde, tall and/or muscular.  My friend told me I could put this story in my blog as long as I didn't give out his name, so we'll just call him X-san.  

X-san was asked to be a wingman one night for his friend at Karaoke.  Being the good friend that he is, he obliged and went.  Now the girl that he had to be wingman too wasn't that easy on the eyes, but he tried to look past that.  She got his number, and would text him and call him multiple times a day.  He asked me for advice, and I said just make friends with her, it'll be okay, she looks like a happy girl anyways.

Worst.  Advice.  Ever.

So she called and texted all the time.  She would find him and corner him in the school and never leave him alone.  Stage-5 clinger.  She emailed me and one of my friends saying that she wanted to confess her love to him, even though he was blatantly ignoring her.  One time she asked him to go to Karaoke again, and he just told her that he had a girlfriend.  Then things got even worse! Her calls and texts were even more numerous everyday until eventually she texted him and told him that he she loves him (along with a bunch of other mushy stuff that hits my gag reflex).  He handled it eventually, and I don't think they've communicated since then.

Now, I know that this last part of my blog might seem a little mean, but it's what we have to put up with.  Not all of the Gaijin Hunters are this persistant, but they're numerous.  I've had to deal with it a couple of times on my own already, and it may or may not be turning me into a mean person.  I'm not very good at saying no in general, but I'm starting to get good at it now.  It's definitely difficult saying no to pretty much the politest race of people on this earth, but sometimes it has to be done.  Now, I try to hang out with guys (either Gaijin or Japanese, as long as it's a guy I'm friends with), and the Japanese naturally assume that I am dating the guy that I am hanging out with.  So far this plan has been flawless, and my Gaijin guys are always looking out for me.  If my Italian friend sees me with a guy he always asks "is he bothering you?" and the guy never is, but I always appreciate the gesture.  I love my Gaijin boys!

Anyways, I suppose I should start studying or doing something productive.

Will probably just read some more One Piece though :P

Peace and Love!

October

As I sit down on this highly unentertaining Sunday, I decided that it's time to update my blog (which it's been more than a month, sorry!)

So at the beginning of the month, I went to a parade with my friend Tom, Fran and Hi-Chan.  I thought it was going to be a parade like I knew, but it was more like all the vendors in the area came out onto the street to sell their stuff.  I got to try umeboshi, which are pickled plums.  Extremely sour! Extremely awesome!  We kept trying the free samples and taking pictures of the mascots that were everywhere.  We ran into the Kintetsu rugby team, which made my month.  Japanese boys are a little on the thin side, so when I see some with muscles I get excited.  There were some Aussies and New Zealanders on the team too, accents are always a  bonus.  They were doing line-up throws to little kids, so I went up to one of the Japanese players and said that I used to play rugby in high school so they threw me up too:

I wouldn't have worn a skirt if I knew I was running into them, or I would have worn a shorter one (^_-).  Later we saw a university sumo team teaching little kids how to do sumo.  I saw enough big Japanese butts that day to last me a lifetime, but they were surprisingly flexible:

We continued on our way and found a Hard Rock Cafe that was a little expensive, so we went to Shakey's a buffet restaurant.  They had pizza, pasta, fries, fruit and salad.  Since we don't have much access to fruit, that's what I loaded my plate up with.  We did some exploring after, and some creepy guys would try to come up to me to say they wanted to speak English, but Hi-Chan would just tell them I didn't speak English.  I love you Hi-Chan!  Thank you for the wonderful day and for protecting me!

The next day I had my first visit with my home-visit family.  Their oldest daughter, Ayaka, goes to Kansai Gaidai.  She met me at the train station at 10 and we started the long trek to her house in eastern Osaka.  She had a fairly modern house, with one room that was more traditional with tatami mats and a low table to eat at.  I met her mother, father, her younger sister Sayaka, and her grandma and grandpa.  Her grandparents didn't speak a lick of English, so I was able to practice a lot of Japanese with them.  I could mostly just say adjectives like sugoi! Oishii! (cool! Delicious!).  Ayaka's mother had made lots of sushi for us to eat and two great big dishes of nabe.  Nabe is just a large pot that a soup is cooked in, but they refer to the final soup is nabe.  It had some sort of broth with egg, cabbage, udon, fish, and lots of veggies.  Oishii!  The sushi was amazing too.  Not like california rolls, it was the whole raw fish deal.  I know most westerners think its strange, but it definitely carries a freshness to it that you can't find at home.  She was a wonderful cook!  I had brought some desserts for us to eat, so afterwards we ate that.

All the girls in Ayaka's family are really into Korean things (Korean dramas, food, singers, boys etc) so we watched a DVD of their favourite Korean boy band.  I understand why they like them.  Korean boys are conscripted into the military for a minimum of two years, so Korean guys tend to be pretty muscular.  Oishii! They were pretty cool and sexual with their performance.  Boy bands are big in Japan, I think that trend ended in the late 90s in Canada (though Backstreet Boys are still a big deal here in Japan).  After we played on their WiiFit, and I found out my balance is shit.  Her grandmother gave me two beautiful handkerchiefs and her family gave me some very cute tea towels! ありがとうございます！Arigatou Gozaimasu!

Her grandmother then went to karaoke with some friends and her grandpa went fishing.  I was supposed to go with him, but then they told me there were poisonous snakes where he was going and they didn't want me to die.  So the rest of Ayaka's family and I went to yakiniku (Korean food lol).  Yakiniku is "grilled food" so at the restaurant you have your own grill built into the table, and the waiters bring you raw food to cook.  We ate every kind of meat you can imagine! It was totemo oishii (very delicious!).  Ayaka's mother was acting very much like my own; she never let my plate be empty, and she made sure I tried everything.  I liked everything she made me try except for one thing.  I always seem them in the grocery store and I think "Wtf mate?"  They're tiny dried up fish.  Like minnows that were left to bake in the sun.  They taste like, words can't describe, but at least I can cross that off my list.  The restaurant was close to my rez so they drove me home afterwards.  I had a lot of fun and I look forward to my next visit!

Later that week, I had one of the best days I've had in Japan.  My friend/personal trainer Take took me on a ride on his motorcycle.  It was pretty bad ass.  I made sure I dressed the part so that I could fool people into thinking I was a badass too.  He took me for a tour of the area and down to the other campus that is more in the countryside, all the while telling me about Japanese things and testing me on kanji and such.  It was just such an awesome feeling, who expects to go there and hop on a newfound friend's motorcycle and go out and discover it! I LOVE JAPAN!

That weekend I started hitting up the clubs in Osaka.  Going to a club in Osaka is a full on commitment;  the clubs usually don't open until midnight, and that's when the trains stop running, so you have to wait until at least 5 in the morning to make it back home.  I didn't think I'd be up for it (since 2:00 am seems to be when I max out from partying) but I did it! I had a blast! The club was called Beronica, and I was friends with one of the DJs, so I got to be on stage most of the night.  It was a costume themed party, but I didn't have my costume yet so I just went in a normal clubbing dress with the boys I hang out with.  It was a grand night.  Turns out if you tell the bartender he's ichiban (#1) He'll give you 3 shots for the price of 1.  This didn't work in my friends favour (he was hugging the porcelain throne later), but it worked wonders for me!  I can't wait to go back for the Christmas shabang!

Oh yes, fun times!

Then it was midterm times.  Now, I don't know about other universities in Japan, but the midterms at Kansai were somewhat... of a joke.  The only problem was that they kept me super busy.  My Japanese midterms were a little difficult, but I got 91% and 94% on them.  In my Japanese monsters class I got 100.5%, and the other two classes I had papers too write so I don't know what I got on them yet (but if they're what I think they're like, then I'm not too worried about it).  Lots of Japanese friends kept asking me to hang out, but I was always studying for these midterms.  Not that I regret it since my grades are amazing, but if I would have known that a 2-year old could have wrote them, maybe I could have found more time to hang out with my friends.

I told my friend Rina that I would hold a Karaoke-Birthday party for her when she turned 19.  So around 20 of us, half Japanese, half international, went to Ring Karaoke for her birthday.  It was lots of fun, and most of us got meccha yopparai (very drunk).  I tried to sing a long with the Japanese songs, but the words went by too fast! I'm sure the Japanese people thought the same about all the English songs we sang too.  

Me with Rina, the Birthday Girl!

Me with Take (the guy who took me on the motorcycle ride) and Naomi

Later, Rina took me out costume shopping for Halloween.  We went to a store called Don Quihotei, which is pretty much like Spencers and the IT store back at home.  They costumes there were very expensive, and they were all size small.  My body could fit in it, but my chest is more endowed than the Japanese ladies, so that would have been a no show (oh yeah, you weren't allowed to try on the costume before buying so it was all about guessing).  I decided on a costume that was a free size (like socks, should fit anyone) and was the cheapest one there.  It was a little short, but I stretched it out over the week before Halloween.  

Yep that's me, the impractical skirt-wearing sailor.

There was a giant costume parade at Kansai Gaidai, and since I had to run home after class to change into my costume, I didn't get to be a part of it.  But while standing back in the sidelines, I had a bunch of Japanese people come up to me and ask if I could take a picture with them.  I felt like a celebrity! The more outgoing ones came directly up to me to ask for a picture, but the more shy ones approached Take and asked him to ask me if they could get a picture.  I took at least 20 pictures with some randoms that I will probably never see.  I think it was a mix of the whole blonde/short skirt thing that made them want pictures.  Oh and it wasn't just guys, but girls too! They just wanted pictures with me! If you ever want to see my ego inflate, just ask to take a picture with me!

After that we went downtown again.  The club Onzieme was holding a bargain: come with a costume, free cover.  That is a wicked deal, since cover in Japan is usually around $25 for girls, $40 for guys (sucks it guys!).  So me and the guys all went downtown dressed up:

Left to Right: Canadian, American, Italian, Mexican, Pole, Swede and another Canadian.

Diversity at it's finest! But where are the Japanese?

The club was filled mostly with Japanese people.  I think that we may have been the only international people there.  I thought that the Japanese would be really shy in the club, but they were pretty outgoing and ready to dance with us! Unfortunately at this club, saying the DJ was ichiban didn't get you any sort of a deal on drinks.  Maybe next time, it's always worth a try!  They played pretty good music, and the inside was like a laser light show, not like any club I've been to in Canada (at least not in Ottawa).  The DJ's were all dressed like SuperMario characters, and it was my goal by the end of the night to get a picture with them.

Success!

It was a beautiful night.  We lost some friends somehome in the night, but we all knew to meet up at the Drunks Haven at 5:00 am: MacDonald's.  I had my first McDonald's breakfast (which is a beautiful thing, can't wait to have more this weekend).  I was home by 7:00 am, and I was supposed to go see a Takarazuka (a musical play where all the roles are done by female actors) play at 9:30 am, but my drunk body was incapable of waking up.  So I missed out on that cultural experience.  On Sunday, the actually Halloween, me and the running club did a 10 km run! I was still recovering from a cold, but I had to lead the group.  My lungs were BURNING by the end, but I made it! I did the whole thing without stopping! And the best part is there was a BBQ waiting for us at the end of the run.  Yes!  Thank you Prof. Tracey for the wonderful meal, I had a blast, and it was a wonderful end to my wonderful Japanese October.

Clearly I'm the only one loving life right now

All right now that this post is done, I'm going to continue to enjoy my umiboshi and set up another motorcyle ride.

Peace and Love!

Ame-Mura and Den-Den-Town

Hello all!


I have a fairly homework free night, so I suppose it's time to update!  Today's post is about 2 of Osaka's districts: Ame-Mura and Den-Den-Town.  Ame-Mura is kind of a Crazy Town.  It's where lots of people go and dress up in a very Visual Kei style:

And Den-Den-Town is Electonics City.  If you want any sort of gadget that's electronic, you go there.  It's also full of Maid Cafes (more on that later), porn, anime, and lots of Otaku (hardcore anime and manga fans):

So I started my Saturday off with 2 of my friends, Calvin, Robert and Tom, and we're meeting another friend, Jacqui, at Yodoyabashi station.  It was our first time taking the train without help from a Japanese friend, so I was a little bit nervous.  The system is pretty easy though: you see where you want to go and what the price is (320 yen in our case), buy it, and wait for the train at the appropriate platform.  We screwed up on that last part though, we were waiting for the red train on platform 5, and Robert casually noticed that nobody else was standing on our platform.  Then we see the red train with "Destinatin: Yodoyabashi" written on it arrive at platform 3, on the other side of the tracks.  We tried to race and catch it but we were too slow. It was all right though, another one came in 6 minutes.  We met Jacqui and the mother and 2 daughters of her host family at Yodoyabashi, and her host mother helped us get on the subway and get off at the right stop, Shinsaibashi.  

When we came out of the subway, we were surrounded by ritzy stores like Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, etc., and I thought we were in the wrong place.  But after a little wandering and asking the locals for directions, we made it to Ame-Mura.  I apologize, I don't have many pictures of the place, because I was just standing there gawking at most things.  A lot of guys were dressed like the picture I posted earlier:

And there were lots of stores supplying this style for them.  All of the stores for girls were full of the typical floral and lacy clothes that most Japanese girls seem to wear.  Calvin, Robert and Tom left to find our friend Luke at the subway, so Jacqui and I wandered around.  She was trying to find this store that she had researched that sold boxed hair dye, and it was very difficult to find somebody who knew about it; turns out it was in a completely different part of town (not part of the Ame-Mura district).  Before we went to the store, we discovered a pet store (with the cutest papillon puppy! <3) some tattoo shops, and a very classy club, where some Japanese boys on the top balcony waved at me and tried to get me to join.  Sorry boys, I'm on a budget!  Then we met up with the boys and began our trek to the hair dye store, but just before we left Ame-Mura district, we ran into some Yakuza.

Now for those of you who don't know what that is, Yakuza are super-badass Japanese mafia, a traditional Japanese crime syndicate.  They're always dressed up in very well-tailored suits, have LOTS of tattoos, and are occasionally missing fingers (if a >_<).  

Ouch.

Now, this whole... ordeal lasted less than 3 seconds, but it still feels so fresh in my mind.  The only reason I noticed them was because they were dressed in suits, and not in the crazy Visual Kei that everybody else was wearing.  I caught them out of the corner of my eye and turned to look at them over my right shoulder.  There was three of them, two in black suits and one in a grey suit.  And out of their collars and the ends of their sleeves, you could see the tattoos just crawling out of them across their skin.  I wish I had had time to see if they had all their fingers.  The one in the grey suit noticed me looking and he gave me a very genuine smile, but the other two shot me the dirtiest looks I've ever recieved, so I decided avoiding them was the best course of action.  IT WAS A TOTALLY BAD ASS MOMENT!

After my heart stopped racing, I found that we had made our way to the hair dye store, Loft, which was really just an everything store.  They had lots of zippo lighters, stickers, expensive watches and sunglasses, hair dye, make up, hair accessories, hair tools, foot massagers, shampoo and soap and loads of other things.  That was only 2 floors too, I'm pretty sure there was five altogether.  Jacqui found her dye, the boys bought some zippos, and we made our way to a Chinese restaurant to eat.  It was pretty good, but not like American-Chinese food, I think this stuff was more legit.  

You be the judge

So we met up with another friend, Sebastien, and the boys decided they wanted to go to Den-Den-Town to see a Maid Cafe.  Now a Maid Cafe is, usually, a cafe where all the waitresses are dressed as maids (to go with the whole Otaku thing).  But sometimes, there are some sexually explicit ones.  Here is a typical Maid Cafe:

So Jacqui and I reluctantly agree to join them in Den-Den-Town.  We hopped back on the subway and went to the Nipponbashi stop.  There we got out and saw our first love hotels.  Love hotels are places people can go to have sex.  They get charged by the hour.  The reason is that, Japanese houses are so close together and  its very easy to hear thins between houses, so couples can't be intimate within their houses.  As a result, they go to these love hotels.  Here's a nice Christmas themed love hotel we found:

Sexy Santa!

We made our way through a market, and found ourselves in Den-Den-Town.  Everything was lit up in neon signs and the streets were full of nerds er, I mean Otaku.  Totally different from the Japanese rocker style of Ame-Mura.  So of course, our first stop was a 6 story Japanese porn shop.  It was pretty fun.  Each floor got progressively worse and weirder than the last.  And it was very funny to come around a corner and see some guys who were actually going to buy something be super surprised to see girls in the store. There was porn for weird fetishes too (bondage, pooping and peeing on each other, old people...). But once you've seen a million boobies, you've seen them all.  So we left, don't worry though, I'll be back to get my Halloween costume (Just kidding mom and dad!).

And then we went into a 5 story arcade.  It was really cool.  There were floors with typical arcade games, and then there were online games where you battled other people there.  There was a Gundam gaming pod (Gundam is a manga and anime series where people fight in these giant robot suits).  Here is the pod:

And people are inside of it controlling a robot, as the characters would in the Gundam series.  There were probably 14 pods there and it was split up into a red team and a blue team.  People not in the pods could watch how the battle was going on a television screen.  Luke tried his hand at it, but he got his ass handed to him by the Japanese gamers.


Now it was time to find a Maid Cafe.  There were maids standing on all the corners, trying to get customers to come to their cafe (actually describing it like that made me think of another profession...?).  So we went up to a maid dressed in pink with devils horns and a devils tail (foreshadowing!)  and asked her where her cafe was.  She showed us the way, and there was herself and a few others standing outside.  We were looking for a cheap one (apparently they're pretty pricey), so we asked to see their menu.  They didn't really understand, so they told us there was a 500 yen cover charge and a beer cost another 500 yen.  So we asked them for their menu again, and they pointed to a sign at the front of their building that showed what they offered.  It was offering lots of massages.  We knew then it was time to leave.  We said our thanks to the devil and left.  The boys stopped to eat and then we all decided to return home, although me and Jacqui were pretty ticked since the reason we came was for a Maid Cafe and the boys gave up pretty easily.


The rest of the week was fairly uneventful.  I joined the Kansai Gaidai Running Club, and Monday and today (Tuesday), I successfully ran 1.6 km (a mile) each day.  I can usually only do this on a treadmill, so being able to do this outside is very good for me.  I'm quite impressed with myself.  Way to go body!


Today I was meeting a Japanese friend, Naomi, for lunch, and while I was waiting for her, two Japanese girls came up to me and said "Do you have time?" So I gave them the time, and they asked again "Do you have time?" and it took me a bit but I realized they were asking if I had time to hang out.  So Rina and Azu, the two girls, joined Naomi and me.  They were very nice girls, and we're planning to have lunch again next week (or maybe this Friday? I'm not sure, I'll have to figure it out).  I also went to pick up some milk and bread after my run tonight, and while I was waiting at the stop light (on Destiny, my Bike Conquistador), two Japanese boys drove by on a moped and said "So Pretty!"  It made my night.  Thank you boys! I accept compliments at all hours of the day! Anytime, anywhere!


Anyways I'm off to bed now,  I'm supposed to be going to a Danjiri festival with my friend Hi-chan this weekend, so hopefully I will be able to tell you about that!


Peace and love!

Drunk Karaoke and Kyuudo

Oh homework Sundays. They are a huge Debbie Downer, but that's why I'm on here blogging instead of doing my homework (sorry Mom and Dad!)




So this past Thursday I learned how to make udon noodles and how to cook things with tempura batter.  One of my roommates, Fran, and a Japanese student who was teaching us, Asami, were in a group to make these things.  It was a very messy and somewhat dangerous experience.  The udon was pretty much just flour and water, kneaded into a dough, and then foot stomped, so pretty much the Japanese equivalent of  stomping on grapes to make wine. Once our dough looked right (and it didn't for a very long time), we had to let it sit for an hour.  Then we got to make TEMPURA!!




For anyone who doesn't know what it is, tempura is a Japanese batter that you deep fry almost anything in.  And it is very oishii (yummy!)!! So we were putting shrimp, fish, some kind of glorp, a kind of sweet potato and eggplant in the tempura batter.  Once its fully covered in the batter, we placed it in a frying pan that had about an inch of oil in it.  It's fairly simple and quick.  You just watch the food, flip it, and eat it!  But the oil is constantly fizzling at you, so I have some grease war scars on my legs from where it hit me :(




After we finished cooking the tempura we had to finish our udon.  We took out the dough, flattened it so it was super thin, folded it twice, and then cut it into very thin slices.  Afterwards we unfolded the cut pieces and boiled them in water until they were thoroughly cooked.  For being only flour and water, they were very delicious! The three of us got to sit down afterwards and eat all the food that we made.  Here's a picture of me, Fran and Asami with all of our tempura food:

I'm definitely going to be signing up for more Japanese cooking classes.  It's going to make life a lot easier because they really don't have a lot of North American food in the grocery stores, or if they do, I haven't figured out how to read it on the packaging!




On Friday night, me and some friends hopped on our bikes to go out for my first night of Karaoke jams in downtown Hirakata.  For about $15 bucks we got to stay for 3 hours and have free drinks (non alcoholic).  But it was totally okay to just step outside to the convenience store and grab some beer, coolers or some mickeys of hard liquor to bring back in.  Not that the alcohol was totally necessary, but it does get everybody a lot more into the singing.  I tried my hand a couple of times at some Japanese songs, but I had no clue what the rhythm was and reading a foreign alphabet is pretty hard.  But I did choose some pretty goods songs that got everybody into it: a couple of Queen songs, Rollin' by Limp Bizkit, Shania Twain, All The Small Things by Blink 182, and Pretty Fly for a White Guy by The Offspring.  Limp Bizkit was a lot of fun, probably because of all the swearing, and I really took it away with the rapping parts.  It felt like I OWNED that song!!!




You weren't subject to stay to your own room either.  We had some friends in other Karaoke rooms that we could freely move too and join them for a bit.  I'm super excited and ready to go out and do some more Karaoke!  This is our Karaoke room:

So we had the room until 1 o'clock in the morning, and then we decided that we weren't ready to go home yet.  So we found a 24 hour MacDonald's for a MacAttack.  I'm still so flabbergasted at how much bigger the burgers are here than at home.  We were trying to find a place to continue drinking, but Hirakata is a city that goes to bed early.  There isn't much in the way of clubs or bars there.  I'm pretty sure the group that I was with was the only thing out and making noise.  So at 2:30 we got some ice cream and water from a convenience store and decided to start making our way home.




We had parked out bikes illegally, so I was really worried we would have tickets or  have them towed (seriously, Japan will tow your bikes and have them impounded).  But luckily there were still there, ticketless. Probably because nobody wants to mess with our bad ass biker gang.   But there was a group of guys that kept driving by us on their mopeds.  They were probably looking for a race, but I wasn't going to humiliate them buy making them eat my dust, so we just passed that up.




There is this HUGE hill to go up when coming back from downtown Hirakata to rez.  But I biked up it.  Drunk.  I was super proud.  But I thought there were cops on the hill and that they were going to charge me with a DUI (I wasn't steering very straight), but they were just construction workers directing traffic.  Whew! I made it home by 3:15 and went straight to bed.




The next day, my friend Robert and I were going to try out Kyuudo: Japanese archery.  One of the girls who helped with tempura, Maiyu, has been practicing Kyuudo for awhile, so she said she would take us for a lesson.  I've been doing archery since I was 3 years old, and this is totally different from any archery that I've done.  First of all, the bow is about 3 times the size of my bow at home, and weighed about as much as a pencil:

And there are very specific ways of holding and drawing back the bow.  You don't draw back by pulling with your arms, you pull with your shoulders and chest.  You hold the bow in your left hand, and the string in your right hand, at about 45 degrees above your head.  You then pull the bow part with your left shoulder, and then pull the string part with your other shoulder.  Your anchor part on a regular bow is near the corner of your mouth, but on a Japanese bow (yumi), it's about 3 inches behind your head! It's very difficult to get used to, here's the supposedly correct position, after Maiyu's sensei rearranged my body to the correct position:

And that's my friend Robert with the bow.  He's a 6'5" Dutch boy, and that bow still towers over him.  Oh, and we weren't allowed to shoot arrows yet, because we were new and were still trying to draw the bow properly.  So that's why it looks like we're shooting a a wall.




There's a lot of ritual, zen and spiritualism to Kyoudo.  Everything is done a specific way and your posture and breathing must all be in sync.  The targest don't even seem to be important.  Except for the very experienced archers, everybody wasn't trying to hit the target (or at least, it didn't seem so), the release of the arrow was some sort of spiritual release.  They were also all dressed up in Hakama (the traditional black pants, or skirt for the girls) and a white Gi (the white top they wear).  I have a video of Maiyu-sempai shooting her yumi, but for some reason it won't upload on here.  And since I'm pretty sure all of my followers are also friends on facebook, I will just post it there.  Sempai is someone who has more experience than you in a class or something.  So even though Maiyu is a year younger than me, she can be referred to as sempai because she has more experience in Kyuudo than me.  She was also teaching me, so she could have also been Maiyu-sensei.  Anyways, here's photo of her at full draw in full garb.  Oh yeah, girls have to wear breast plates too.

Maiyu was a wonderful teacher! Robert and I had a blast learning Kyuudo, and hopefully we'll be able to go back and learn some more.  Also, a big thank you to the Kyuudo club for letting us come and use their facilities for the day! Doumo Arigatou!

And here's how Robert and I finished off our big day of learning a new sport:

Oishii double cheeseburger!

Now I best be getting back to my homework.


Until next time!


xox

JITENSHA *BIKE*

Hello Again!


So yesterday I decided to invest in a bike.  I was holding back just because of waiting for the bank account to open and yadda yadda but it was time.  It was a half hour walk to school, and carrying groceries around, so it was time.  So my friend from Canada and I made a trek to a far away bike shop to buy a bike with our limited knowledge of Japanese.


Upon entering the shop, the lovely owner welcomed us in and asked what we wanted.  So we said "chuko no jitensha" and she knew what we wanted.  A used bike.  She brought us outside to 3 used bikes.  A bright shiny red one, a silver one, and a lovely cream coloured one.  I was hoping for a yellow bike, a Flying Banana, but I wasn't about to pay $150 for one of those.


So I tried out the red one, and the front was so heavy I couldn't control it.  I hopped on the silver one which was much better, and then I tried the cream bike and it was as smooth and dreamy as a Fudgeeo (FYI, those aren't in Japan).  I was sold.


A shop worker brought out another used red bike for us to test out, and while my friend tested it out, I tried to make small talk with the shop owner, when all of a sudden she turned around and grabbed me around the waist and said "Very nice body." And then she lightly took a lock of my hair in her hand and said "Very beautiful."  That was the only English she spoke.  So I bowed, fairly deeply, and said thank you very much.


We paid for our bikes and filled out the paper work for it.  She laughed at my writing because it's so heinous to look at (In English and Japanese, it's horrid).  All in all my bike cost 6500 yen (approx $80).


This bike is amazing.  I was looking for a bike exactly like it back in Canada but it was nowhere to be found.  It came with a large basket on the front, a place to put another basket on the back if I choose to buy one, a light for travelling at night, a bell to warn others, an intense kickstand and a way intense bike lock.  And it's cream coloured, so I'm still waiting to name her but any suggestions would be appreciated! I'm thinking maybe the Flying Banana Cream Pie.


It has no gears, and only one speed: Mach 3.


This bike was the greatest investment.  If I could afford to send it home to Canada in 9 months I would.  It's so great.  I can fit so many groceries in it, and I can get to anywhere important in under 10 minutes.  It's my first epic win in Japan.


And to report on today, I found my first Japanese crush.  He doesn't know my name, and I don't know his.  But he's a baseball player, and I have a thing for uniforms.  I was riding on my bike to school, so I was looking pretty fly, and him and some other baseball players were doing a warm up in the opposite direction as me.  And he was the tallest (and hottest) one of the group and I couldn't stop staring and he was staring at me so I smiled and he smiled and waved.


DESTINY!!!


I just have to see him again and figure out his name, and when he has spare time.  It will be an epic moment.  I may have to be a creeper for a while.


I've been checking out the rugby practice too because those guys are actually muscular.  But they got in trouble for waving and blowing kisses at me so I stopped creeping on that. :(


Ending thoughts for today:


1. Grocery shop after 8:00 pm, they make lots of fresh things cheaper.


2.  If you're living in Japan, GET A BIKE! It's the only way to live.


3.  I'm curious if blonde guys are having this much fun in Japan as I am.  My ego is going to burst through the roof.  Well I really hope it's not getting to me, but I'm digging the attention.  That doesn't happen in Canada.


4.  Don't forget! Give me suggestions to name my new bike!


That's all for now! Jaa Matta! *See you later!*