Week . . . 4? 5? 6?: The I Don't Know How Much More Milage I Can Get Out of this Title Format

So this is why they say it's so hard to keep blogs going.

Full size model of the Laputan robot from
Castle in the Sky.

I really don't have much time to write tonight--I'm sorry, I'm sorry!--but I told a friend I'd at least post something, so here we go. Did you see my nifty little link to my photo gallery over on the right? I put that up a bit ago. Until I figure out how to integrate a slideshow into Blogger, that'll be the way to keep up with my photos (or Google+ or Spacebook, of course).

Can't see him too well, but the guy in the
white wolf mask was awesome.

I went to the Studio Ghibli Museum with the group last week. That was pretty spectacular. The whole building looks like it's straight out of one of his movies. Photos weren't allowed inside, so the only pics I have are of the building and the surrounding area. The inside was packed with sketches, paintings, models, and all kinds of phenomenal art. I even got to see a Studio Ghibli short film made exclusively for the museum. Pretty much heaven on Earth for a Ghibli buff like myself. I took home a few nifty trinkets from the gift shop, which I'll snap some pictures of soon.

Okay, I have a Japanese test tomorrow morning and a paper due tonight, but I'll regale you with one more tale. Yesterday I went to the Kawagoe Festival, where I learned how amazing street vendor food can be and how terrifying crowds can be. The big attraction is these large parade float-like vehicles pulled along by 30 or so people tugging two big ropes. When two of the vehicles met, the riders would have some sort of Shinto-style dance competition, before one float trudged away the victor. At least, that's about how much I got out of it. It was a lot of fun, though the crowds were so dense that sometimes you just had to let them push you along in a direction. Just because you want to go right doesn't mean you're gonna go right.

I'm actually going to be getting paid to write for the CIEE blog, so I'll likely repost that material here when I write it, or just provide a straight link to my posts. Either way, financial incentive means you're going to keep seeing posts from me. I'll try to have the next one done in the next few days.

Oh, and I suppose it's worth noting I'm dating someone now. So that's fun.

Laters!

Week 3: The Reunion

Oh, hello there. I didn't hear you come in. I've missed you. Care to catch up?

Despite approximately a week of absence, there really isn't all that much to report. Things are starting to become routine over here, as odd as that seems. Waking up at 7 a.m., eating soup, rice, and fish for breakfast, taking the train to school, studying all sorts of things, then taking the train back home—it's life these days. Or at least, that's what it's been for the past week or so.

Er. Mah. Gerd.

I did head over to the Pokemon Center with a group of friends, however, and that was quite the experience. A whole store packed with every sort of Pokemon merchandise imaginable: toys, cards, plushies, food, school supplies, models, clothes, phone charms, games, dishes, you name it. It was awesome. I bought like five phone charms, a chibi Lugia plushie, a compilation of concept art, two folders, a figurine, and some stickers. Once again, Black and White 2 were right in front of my nose, but I was holding out for the English versions (which are out now, by the way. Waiting on Amazon as I type.)

Classes are quite good. My comparative literature class on detective fiction probably takes the cake. It's just so interesting! We're studying Edgar Allan Poe's short mystery bender at the moment. So far we've read The Murders on Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter, and The Raven (the last of which isn't really a mystery—but whatever.)

I'm also really enjoying my linguistics class. It's all about nit-picky language minutia, which is completely my thing. Unfortunately, the professor has this vocal tic where he draws out most of his vouls into "uuuuuuum's" or "eeeeeeeeer's" or "aaaaaaaaaah's." In a class all about the sounds we make,  it's rather maddening.

View of the city from the 17th floor of Building 2.

My sociology class is super interesting as well. It's really strange to see how different the Japanese value system is from the American value system. In America we value individualism and rebellion, but here those things are seen as kind of immature, as conformity and group wellbeing are kind of at the center of everything. I'm still trying to figure out if I agree with that perspective.

My Japanese class is going quite well too. It's a good mix of old and new to me. I know a decent amount of the grammar we're learning, but I don't know quite a bit of the vocabulary and kanji, so I'm picking those up. (I'm pretty sure I know more than 100 kanji now. Woo!)

There was a baseball game that some of the CIEE kids went to as well, but I passed on that one. Talking to some of them now, though, I'm kind of wishing I hadn't. Not that many of them are actually into baseball, but they said it was a great time. Apparently everyone got free jerseys too. I want more free stuff...

Oh yes...

Speaking of (not) free stuff, my TV/monitor thing I ordered a while back showed up today. Playstation-branded 24" 3DHD screen a-go-go! PS3 is now up and running as well. So many things I want to play! Resident Evil 6, Borderlands 2, Dishonored—but NO! WHAT'S THIS!? PSN won't take my credit or debit cards! Shut up and take my money, PSN! I'm trying to figure out what the deal is. It seems that some places will take my cards but others are complaining about my billing address being wrong. (Which it's not.) *sigh*

Anyway, oh what else? I shuffled my room around. I now have three bed pads snugly stacked over in the corner as opposed to my one in the middle of the room I had before. My desk changed spots and my shelves got scooted over to make room for the bed. My clothes have been relegated to the closet at this point. (What an idea!) My PS3 and TV are now at my desk and the room is slowly starting to fill up with gaming memorabilia.  It doesn't sound like much, but moving around, sleeping, and lounging are all a lot easier now. This is starting to resemble home more and more.

They were surprisingly organized for such little kids.

I went to my imouto's undoukai this past weekend. I'm not entirely sure how that translates to English—like sports festival, athletic meet, or something. It was basically a bunch of kindergarteners and their parents doing joint games and relay races and such. It was cute.

Okay, I think that's enough for now. Writing this blog was my excuse to put off doing homework, but I think I should probably get to that now.

See you next week-ish or so, maybe, I think!