"interesting. . . "
I woke up starving this morning. I'm not yet convinced that the bowl of cereal that I usually have is enough. I already ate it, and I'm still starving. *sigh* I"ll wait for a moment and let it settle though...
My week did turn into only one work day. Thursday I had to go to my furthest away school. But I only had 2 classes there, 1st and 2nd period, so the rest of the day...I studied. For, like, six hours straight (well, with breaks to stare emptily out the window for unknown amounts of time...). It's strange, but lately I do notice differences in how much I understand and finally seeing that makes me want to study more and more and more because I want to understand everything. It actually annoys me when I don't understand things, especially things I think I should understand. I didn't have a class with the 3rd years (equivalent to 9th graders in America), but during lunch I heard the 3rd year home room teacher talking about them. They had seen me walking to class earlier in the day and they were all questioning him why they didn't *get* to have english today since I was here. lol. Sometimes I feel awkward in that class because the boys tease me (in that pull the hair of the girl you like/kindergarten kind of way) and I'm not use to it. Certainly, when I was in Junior High boys didn't tease me--I was like untouchable or something...So, it makes me feel really young and naive because I really don't know how to deal with it. But it made me happy to know they missed me. Or, at the very least, they missed how easy class is when I'm present. . . .
ANYWAY...
Friday was the Autumnal Equinox and, in Japan, a national holiday. So, the beginning of my 3-day weekend. It started off quite boring, just staying at home and playing on the internet/ doing chores.
[Yea, that's how bored I was Friday morning. I painted tiger stripes on my nails.]
In the evening I went to the nearby Ayabe for a friends "Mexican Party." We had tacos! I didn't though because I'm picky picky. lol. There was more people than I expected and I definitely feel overwhelmed with large groups of people. I never know who to pay attention to, so my attention whips back and forth between everyone and it's tiring. ugh. I mostly just stayed in the same place at the table and chatted with people when they chatted with me.
God, I'm awful at parties.
Japanese people are kind of funny though. almost always, "so why did you come to Japan?"
And then I stumble through some lame answer about just wanting to travel. Then one of the people who knows me adds, "she likes japanese rock."
The japanese person looks really confused, "Japanese rock?"
I blush and look embarrassed about being called out on this, "Yes, I like visual kei."
Again the japanese person will look confused, "visual kei?"
and I have to answer, "for example, X Japan, Gackt, Luna Sea..." Listing the most famous bands--all bands that I don't actually like or listen to (Okay, well, I probably have a few songs by all the above on my player, but...I don't obsess about them like I do certain other bands!!), but Japanese people have actually heard of.
The boys are almost always excited to hear a foreigner mention X Japan. The girls . . . "hmm..gackto-sama, omoshiroi..." lol. I'm not sure how to take that. Especially since I DON'T ACTUALLY LIKE Gackt.
At the end of the evening there was a lot of confusion about how we were getting back home, if we were taking the last train or paying for a taxi or staying the night there. And everyone was a little on the tipsy/flat-out drunk side, so that didn't help a lot. But eventually it was figured out and we caught a taxi home at about 1:30. Apparently, taxis in the area stop running at 2am? I didn't know that before, so I guess it's good that I know now. Not that I usually stay out that late, but every once in a while I catch a really late train back to Fukuchiyama and spring for a taxi from the station to home instead of walking. Also, taxis' cost more after midnight? Like a special 'midnight' price. wankers.
Today I'm driving to Kanazawa--it takes about 3 hours, but I plan on taking it pretty slowly and stopping a lot. I've pretty much decided against doing the tourist thing. I'm just gonna' do spa-weekend. Maybe a movie or something. Should be nice.
My week did turn into only one work day. Thursday I had to go to my furthest away school. But I only had 2 classes there, 1st and 2nd period, so the rest of the day...I studied. For, like, six hours straight (well, with breaks to stare emptily out the window for unknown amounts of time...). It's strange, but lately I do notice differences in how much I understand and finally seeing that makes me want to study more and more and more because I want to understand everything. It actually annoys me when I don't understand things, especially things I think I should understand. I didn't have a class with the 3rd years (equivalent to 9th graders in America), but during lunch I heard the 3rd year home room teacher talking about them. They had seen me walking to class earlier in the day and they were all questioning him why they didn't *get* to have english today since I was here. lol. Sometimes I feel awkward in that class because the boys tease me (in that pull the hair of the girl you like/kindergarten kind of way) and I'm not use to it. Certainly, when I was in Junior High boys didn't tease me--I was like untouchable or something...So, it makes me feel really young and naive because I really don't know how to deal with it. But it made me happy to know they missed me. Or, at the very least, they missed how easy class is when I'm present. . . .
ANYWAY...
Friday was the Autumnal Equinox and, in Japan, a national holiday. So, the beginning of my 3-day weekend. It started off quite boring, just staying at home and playing on the internet/ doing chores.
[Yea, that's how bored I was Friday morning. I painted tiger stripes on my nails.]
In the evening I went to the nearby Ayabe for a friends "Mexican Party." We had tacos! I didn't though because I'm picky picky. lol. There was more people than I expected and I definitely feel overwhelmed with large groups of people. I never know who to pay attention to, so my attention whips back and forth between everyone and it's tiring. ugh. I mostly just stayed in the same place at the table and chatted with people when they chatted with me.
God, I'm awful at parties.
Japanese people are kind of funny though. almost always, "so why did you come to Japan?"
And then I stumble through some lame answer about just wanting to travel. Then one of the people who knows me adds, "she likes japanese rock."
The japanese person looks really confused, "Japanese rock?"
I blush and look embarrassed about being called out on this, "Yes, I like visual kei."
Again the japanese person will look confused, "visual kei?"
and I have to answer, "for example, X Japan, Gackt, Luna Sea..." Listing the most famous bands--all bands that I don't actually like or listen to (Okay, well, I probably have a few songs by all the above on my player, but...I don't obsess about them like I do certain other bands!!), but Japanese people have actually heard of.
The boys are almost always excited to hear a foreigner mention X Japan. The girls . . . "hmm..gackto-sama, omoshiroi..." lol. I'm not sure how to take that. Especially since I DON'T ACTUALLY LIKE Gackt.
At the end of the evening there was a lot of confusion about how we were getting back home, if we were taking the last train or paying for a taxi or staying the night there. And everyone was a little on the tipsy/flat-out drunk side, so that didn't help a lot. But eventually it was figured out and we caught a taxi home at about 1:30. Apparently, taxis in the area stop running at 2am? I didn't know that before, so I guess it's good that I know now. Not that I usually stay out that late, but every once in a while I catch a really late train back to Fukuchiyama and spring for a taxi from the station to home instead of walking. Also, taxis' cost more after midnight? Like a special 'midnight' price. wankers.
Today I'm driving to Kanazawa--it takes about 3 hours, but I plan on taking it pretty slowly and stopping a lot. I've pretty much decided against doing the tourist thing. I'm just gonna' do spa-weekend. Maybe a movie or something. Should be nice.