Sanity break.
Taking a brief break between classes and paper-writing to continue yesterday's narration. Sorry it left off a bit abruptly...I got distracted talking to Thomas about books. English majors are a force to be reckoned with.
Firstly, though, I must make some corrections -- all that stuff I already wrote about? With my host family at the lake and Kyoto et cetera? Happened on Sunday. This is important to note, because it means I skipped three days between Thursday and Saturday. My bad!
That Thursday was, of course, Thanksgiving. Which means no school. Yaaaay.
I won't go into excrutiating detail, but here is the basic rundown. Met half of our usual crowd and wandered to Umeda, seeking the elusive Umeda Sky Building. And when I say elusive, I mean it took us over an hour of puzzled wandering before we finally found the sucker. We went to see some supposed hanging garden, which as it turns out is not so much a garden at all, but instead we found Germany.
Yes, there was a bizarre little German Christmas Market set up, where we window shopped, ate brats, spoke to genuine German people, and were pleasantly puzzled. We were met by the wayward members of our six-person coterie, and headed up to the not-really-a-garden. It was actually an observation deck of sorts, where we took pictures and hung wishes on Christmas trees and were accosted by a LARGE PASTEL CREATURE. Megan apparently has a promising video of this mysterious being...I can't wait to see it.
Then we went and bummed around in Dotombori -- accidentally discovering a block full of what appeared to be "love hotels" -- and ate dinner at a super delicious restauraunt called "BIKKURI DONKII!" The name itself says good thing about the establishment...it means, literally, "SURPRISE DONKEY!" Excellent.
I don't recall much of anything happening on Friday...Gaidai folk, correct me if I'm wrong.
Saturday Katiekay and I went shopping in Shinsaibashi with her speaking partner, Kayoko. I bought a Hanshin Tigers jersey! (The Hanshin Tigers are Osaka's much beloved baseball team. And believe me, Osaka fans can get RABID.)
Then there was the aforementioned Sunday. The only thing I'd like to add is that on the way home from Demachiyanagi, Otoo-san saved me and Okaa-san from a most-likely-mentally-challenged and exceptionally creepy human being. It was probably the most uncomfortable experience I've had since arriving in Japan.
Monday the 27th was a particularly interesting day. Well, I thought so, anyway. Why? Because it was my justice class' long-anticipated field trip, to go and watch trials in Osaka!
We met at Yodoyabashi, walked to the courthouse, and divided into groups. (One reasonably bilingual Japanese student per group, thank goodness.) My group went and watched three trials -- a robbery, an arson, and a murder. The first had multiple Chinese defendants, the second had two tiny senior citizen defendants and an alternate theory of the crime involving insurance fraud, and the last defendant was a middle-aged man of remarkable twitchiness.
Afterwards we went and had coffee and discussion at a nearby Starbucks, and Professor Tracy took us on an optional walking tour of some of his favorite Osaka haunts. I'll just say this: it involved an omelette making robot.
Tuesday and Wednesday were a blur of busy activity, as I had to do not only the work due for those classes, but also that due for all classes on Thurday and Friday. You see, Katiekay and I skipped class on those days. (Gasp!) Instead of class, we decided on a somewhat more awesome course of action...KOREA!
...But you'll have to wait for that. Gots to go write an eight-page paper. Wish me luck!
Firstly, though, I must make some corrections -- all that stuff I already wrote about? With my host family at the lake and Kyoto et cetera? Happened on Sunday. This is important to note, because it means I skipped three days between Thursday and Saturday. My bad!
That Thursday was, of course, Thanksgiving. Which means no school. Yaaaay.
I won't go into excrutiating detail, but here is the basic rundown. Met half of our usual crowd and wandered to Umeda, seeking the elusive Umeda Sky Building. And when I say elusive, I mean it took us over an hour of puzzled wandering before we finally found the sucker. We went to see some supposed hanging garden, which as it turns out is not so much a garden at all, but instead we found Germany.
Yes, there was a bizarre little German Christmas Market set up, where we window shopped, ate brats, spoke to genuine German people, and were pleasantly puzzled. We were met by the wayward members of our six-person coterie, and headed up to the not-really-a-garden. It was actually an observation deck of sorts, where we took pictures and hung wishes on Christmas trees and were accosted by a LARGE PASTEL CREATURE. Megan apparently has a promising video of this mysterious being...I can't wait to see it.
Then we went and bummed around in Dotombori -- accidentally discovering a block full of what appeared to be "love hotels" -- and ate dinner at a super delicious restauraunt called "BIKKURI DONKII!" The name itself says good thing about the establishment...it means, literally, "SURPRISE DONKEY!" Excellent.
I don't recall much of anything happening on Friday...Gaidai folk, correct me if I'm wrong.
Saturday Katiekay and I went shopping in Shinsaibashi with her speaking partner, Kayoko. I bought a Hanshin Tigers jersey! (The Hanshin Tigers are Osaka's much beloved baseball team. And believe me, Osaka fans can get RABID.)
Then there was the aforementioned Sunday. The only thing I'd like to add is that on the way home from Demachiyanagi, Otoo-san saved me and Okaa-san from a most-likely-mentally-challenged and exceptionally creepy human being. It was probably the most uncomfortable experience I've had since arriving in Japan.
Monday the 27th was a particularly interesting day. Well, I thought so, anyway. Why? Because it was my justice class' long-anticipated field trip, to go and watch trials in Osaka!
We met at Yodoyabashi, walked to the courthouse, and divided into groups. (One reasonably bilingual Japanese student per group, thank goodness.) My group went and watched three trials -- a robbery, an arson, and a murder. The first had multiple Chinese defendants, the second had two tiny senior citizen defendants and an alternate theory of the crime involving insurance fraud, and the last defendant was a middle-aged man of remarkable twitchiness.
Afterwards we went and had coffee and discussion at a nearby Starbucks, and Professor Tracy took us on an optional walking tour of some of his favorite Osaka haunts. I'll just say this: it involved an omelette making robot.
Tuesday and Wednesday were a blur of busy activity, as I had to do not only the work due for those classes, but also that due for all classes on Thurday and Friday. You see, Katiekay and I skipped class on those days. (Gasp!) Instead of class, we decided on a somewhat more awesome course of action...KOREA!
...But you'll have to wait for that. Gots to go write an eight-page paper. Wish me luck!