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.
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| 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.
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| 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...
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| 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.
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| 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!
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