Day 128 - AKA The End

So, this is a little late, I realize.  The trip to the airport in itself was difficult. Woke up late and still had to clean. Managed to vacuum and everything, and went down for breakfast. Last breakfast in Japan included onigiri (rice balls), so that was nice. Didn't have time to enjoy it though, because by then it was twenty minutes past the time I wanted to leave. Mama and I left for the station, having decided it would be faster and more convenient to take the train rather than the car. I was a little afraid my super-packed suitcases would break on the 5-10 minute walk to the station, but they held. Made it to Shinjuku by a little after 11, but that's way later than I wanted. Had to buy a ticket for the 11:40 bus. I did end up with a little luck though. The 11:20 bus had someone who cancelled and enough space for my two suitcases, so I got to leave a little early. After a quick but earnest goodbye, I was off to the airport.

I brought my Laboon pillow as a personal item for on the plane and got plenty of comments. One of the guys who unloaded my luggage off the bus nodded at it and grinned. It was cute. Got a couple of kids that pointed and tugged at their moms arms, too. Even the girl I sat next to on the plane nodded, and asked if I'd bought it in Japan. A good bit of good attention.

Getting on that first plane took a while. I generally got to sit around the airport and wait. Which was perfectly fine, as I was able to relax a bit. Met up with Tamarra just before my plane left. She took a different one, but it was good to see her a last time before we left Japan.

The flight was fine from NRT to LAX. Didn't sleep enough. I think the rushing sound of the plane ended up getting to me. The worst part was the descent. I couldn't get my ears to pop because of this damned cold. Felt worse than those crying babies. Had to wait a long time after we landed to be able to pop them properly.

Weather in LA was lovely when I arrived. About 66ºF. Wonderful and cool. Walked over to my next terminal where I got to stay for the next something like 7 hours? Guh. That was a little tooo long. By then my cold reared its ugly head and I had a miserable time. Took dayquil and had my first american burger in 4 months. It was good, but a little disappointing, I was kind of expecting magic. Oh well. Spent almost the entire time drowsing in and out, not drinking enough water, and taking more medicine than I should have. Eventually finally did get to get on my plane, but not before finding out that Colleen was on the same plane, a few rows back and on the other side. Got to sit and chat a little while before boarding.

Flight back was uneventful, other than me not being able to pop my ears again. Still trying a little bit. Very uncomfortable. But came home! Got to see my family waiting in the airport. It was late by the time I got home, it had been the longest day I've had in a long long time. But I'm home. Got to sleep in my own bed last night, eat american food… Japan was a wonderful experience but I'm glad to be home. For all of you who've been following my blog, or read it even a little, thank you.

Day 127 - Coming to a Close

You know the day's not going to be a good one when you're crying within the first two hours of being awake. My cold-befuddled mind made it the worse for me when I tried mailing things at the post office. The woman there was kind, I could understand what she wanted me to fill out, but the enormity of what I was doing struck as soon as I started writing out my home address. I'm going home. Of course, that led to a lot of distress on my and that poor woman's part, and I took far longer than I should. I also made some poor decisions when it came to what boxes to check. Hopefully it won't come back to bite me later.

I had made the trip to the post office with Mama, and had assumed she would come in with me. Instead she parked on the street, sometimes coming inside to badger me about why I was taking so long, why am I crying. It was more stressful than it should have been. She was also supposed to come with me to the AU shop to help me cancel my phone once and for all. She decided, for a reason she explained, but I neither remember or think acceptable, to just drop me off and go home. Left me to deal with them myself, and call her if I had trouble. I can't call, I cancelled my phone. Also, don't like being abandoned. Oh well. I managed okay on my own. Managed to not even cry. Hooray. Still, too much trouble to go to, and then have to pay for it as well. Fuck phone companies.

Returned home. Thought we were going to see papa today. Also, with this cold, I thought she said something last night about me not actually going, which I'd understand as this is really fucking with my throat and he kinda has throat cancer. Just sayin'. But no, and we didn't go until about 5:30. So I took some time trying to socialize and ended up napping on the table. Damn this cold. Went upstairs and finished packing completely. This room looks really sad now…

Did end up going to see papa. I wish I'd been able to see him more. Three times in four months doesn't seem fair. He was in great spirits, but it's going to be a long recovery. I wrote everyone in the house letters, as well as one for Tamarra's host family. I hope they're not too bad. Papa is probably the calmest in their family. Yuri doesn't count because she's not related. I hope he gets better soon, if only to return some stability to this household.

Ki-kun, one of their past students actually showed up at the hospita. He studied with Papa a lot and ended up actually studying to be a doctor. He's really close to the family, and I gather visits all the time with gifts and such. I actually first met him on Mothers day when he stopped by to give Mama a gift and I had to answer the bell. Mama invited him to come along to my good-bye dinner. Wut. Come on, really? I've met this kid once. I know you're attached to him, but really? So I got to share stilted english conversations with him, he hasn't practiced in a while.

We actually went to a Korean food restaurant in Ginza. Hurray. :/ One of my major issue foods here has been kimchi, I don't even like smelling it. It smells worse than natto, and that's saying something. We got a fancy course meal, and all the courses had kimchi in it somehow. Wow. I just… Hooooo it's okay. I'm going home. They also gave me a bunch of small presents. I appreciate the smallness, since I can fit them into my carry on, and I'm glad they were thinking about me, at least a little.

Came back and I did some cleaning. Managed to smash one of my toes trying to maneuver one of my suitcases around. Bad idea. Used mama's bathroom scale to see how much they weigh. Should be just under 23kg, which is the limit. I know. I've checked at least 5 times. Going to finish with dusting, vacuuming and airing the room tomorrow, want sleep now. And thus ends my last full day in Japan.

Day 126 - Phones, Donuts, Dogs, and Hogs

Wow. So today. First of all, I woke up with a terrible throat pain. Japan is really doing its best to have the last laugh here. Fuck. I'm sick. And it's awful. It makes my head hurt, and my throat hurts terribly. I just wanna curl into a ball and cry. I did, in fact cry. Three times today. Thanks Japan. Love you, too.

Today was the day to cancel cell phones. Had Tamarra meet Rio and I at meidaimae to take care of it. Tama-chan had no troubles. Me? Lots. I tried earlier to have them charge to my debit card. Unfortunately, they were declined. But kept the card on file, and apparently didn't know they were declined, even though they sent me a notice to that effect and I've been paying in cash. Because the company itself is separate from its billing department, and I guess doesn't send them important notes like that. But so, since they have my card on file, they've decided that I should close my account with that card. Even though it doesn't work. And I told them that. So I guess we had to do paperwork to take the card off file. And other paperwork to find out how much I actually owe them, because they don't know. This took over an hour today to figure this out, working with Rio, who speaks Japanese. So I got to sign forms that I guess they're faxing, but it'll take all day, so I have to come back tomorrow. Fuck.

We split with Rio after that and headed for Setagaya to see the Harley Dealership. Took us a while, but we got there eventually. Cool, cool. Had to ask two different 7&i for directions, neither knew what we were talking about. We'd actually given up and were walking back to the station when we found it. Whoops. Good fortune here, at least.

Headed out to Odaiba after that. Couldn't remember which stop on the Rinkai line to take, but figured it out. It was absurdly hot. Like it's been for the past week. Glad to be going home, just because of the heat. We took some pictures of the Fuji-tv building and the Gundam outside Diver City, and had a quick lunch of donuts and pretzel dogs in Diver city. Very American. I can't wait to eat normal american fast food again. Mango donuts are not normal. At that point, I was feeling rather faint and exhausted because of whatever this sick is. I don't think it's a cold as I have no nose/sinus related issues, just throat pain and coughing. But it was enough to send me home.

Relaxed at home, trying to get better. Have no medicine, so I don't know what I'm gonna do. Had a very late dinner with the host family because I fell asleep. Guess I'm going with Mama to mail things and deal with cell phones again tomorrow. I had wanted to visit Papa one last time, but since I have this throat thing, and he's dealing with throat cancer and is still in recovery, it's probably not good to have me go anywhere near him. I have written him a letter though, and I'm gonna give it to Mama to give to him tomorrow. I hope it's okay. Seriously doubting my writing abilities. But yeah. Gonna finish letters for Mama, Rio, and Yuri tomorrow. For now, sleep. Japan will not win, I'm gonna try my damndest to finish this in one piece.

Day 125 - Fireworks Festival

I completely forgot to post yesterday. And now cannot remember what happened. What was yesterday? Saturday? Ah, right. Saturday was a flurry of packing. Woke up about 10ish and spent the entire morning and afternoon packing to go home. I even forgot to eat breakfast until after 2 or so. Furious packing rampage. I thought I would be shipping packages so I wanted to get everything completely squared away. And mostly did. Unfortunately, no shipping that night.

At about 5ish I left to go see some fireworks with Tama-chan at the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival. It was later than we'd meant to leave, but oh well. I'd been planning on wearing my yukata in Japan for the last time, but it was so freaking hot I decided to just go with a dress. Tooooooo hot. Even in the short, light dress I wore, it was too hot. We went out to Asakusa, 'cause I guess they were doing fireworks out on the river. I keep getting myself into these situations were I don't really know what we're doing, and come along anyway. This was a great example of that.

We got to Ueno to take the Ginza line to Asakusa and it was packed. I mean, packed full, shoulder to shoulder, just to stand in line to get on the train. OMG. Tamara wore her yukata, but with a new obi and was kinda falling apart already. We did manage to get onto the train and to asakusa where we fought our way down the middle of the street to see some fireworks. It was intense. I mentioned at the beginning of my trip the crowds for club recruiting at waseda? It was nothing compared to this. I intentionally stomped a few toes just to vent my frustration at the crowd.

Still, it was astounding to see so many people and women dressed in yukata. Usually, in Japan, you can see four or five women a day dressed in traditional attire. And they're usually old ladies. On a lucky day, you see them moving in packs and get in a whole 10 or 12. This day, about 1/15 women were dressed in yukata, of so many shapes, colors, sizes, decorations, with hair bows and flowers and ties, that it was just baffling. I wish I'd taken more pictures. I wish I'd bought more yukata, or at least worn mine. But I'd look dreadfully dull in my more traditional colors against the brilliant bold colors and darks and pastels and glitter and butterflies and everything…

We did get to see some fireworks. Never really had a good shot of them though. They were really impressive. Took some video. But I think the best part was really the people, fighting to get past, listening in on conversation, rubbing elbows with hundreds of other people all charged with the excitement of just being there. Reading up on the festival itself now, it seems there's a long tradition, and while we only stayed for an hour or so, they were going off the entire time, and continue for hours. Thousands of fireworks all up and down the river. And I guess expected attendance was over a million? You never really get the feel for how many people there really are in Tokyo until you go to one of these major festivals. It was insane.

We couldn't stand it for very long. Headed back to the station, where we had our Japanese version of a mosh pit of all the people trying to shove their way into the station. No music, but plenty of stomped toes and screaming people. The ride once we got onto the train was pleasant though. Took it all the way to shibuya were we relaxed and had a quick meal before I returned home.

I think, of all the things I've done so far, this has been the most "Japan" of them all. So many people, meeting for such a Japanese-type display, wear traditional clothing. It was overwhelming, but also just utterly fantastic and I'm glad I went. I guess I was so exhausted when I got home I just forgot to post or even think about posting. I guess this means we get two posts back to back tonight.

Day 124 - Conclusion of Waseda

After doing karaoke all night, I am properly exhausted. Got home and into bed about 6:30, and promptly fell asleep. I had the air-conditioning going. Modern electronic devices are fantastic. Love 'em. Can't imagine living in Japan without them. Woke up about 11 feeling refreshed. Had a lazy brunch and slothed around for a few hours. While I was shaving my legs I got a cramp in my calf so strong and painful I literally fell over. It still hurts.

The shock of the day was that we had to be at the school by 2:45 for the closing ceremony today. I strongly recall people saying 3:30. That's when it actually started, but they wanted us seated earlier. I learned this at about 1:30. Didn't give me much time to get ready, considering the hour-long commute, and by then I was sweating again because I'd turned off the air-con. Still, managed to get there with a little time to spare. Hung out with Tamarra and her host family for a little while.

The closing ceremony itself was rather dull. I was surprised at the lack of formal dress from quite a few students. I understand maybe a plaid shirt or dark jeans, but a t-shirt, shorts and a baseball cap aren't really appropriate attire. But yeah, got my little certificate saying I attended Waseda for spring term of 2012. We had a little get-together afterwards with some food and company and carousing.

As things wound down I started to really realize that this was probably the last time I'd be seeing a lot of people. That kinda brought down my mood a little. Kenna kidnapped Tamarra and I to go to Ike. We looked around in Tokyu Hands for a little while and I managed to buy more things. I just gotta leave my money at home. This is getting ridiculous. We went to Starbucks and tried their weird, Japanese summer drinks. Very refreshing, if strange tasting. I had something with lime in it. Don't remember the name. Not bad. Just strange.

And home. I turns out that Rio brought home a cake yesterday, but since I was out Karaoke all night, I missed out. They saved me a piece and I enjoyed that tonight. They have a weird custom of putting fruit and jelly on their cakes. The moose thing was very tasty, and grapes were fine. The pear was a little strange. All in all, tasty cake. The show we watched was about men in Japan making things for their partners for their weddings. Like, a guy made a paper flower bouquet for his wife. Apparently this is a crazy strange idea, to the point of 「気持ち悪い」 I can't believe that it's soooo strange here. Japan has some strong older ideas of gender roles that make me feel a little awkward sometimes.

Less than four days.

edit: There was just another tiny earthquake. Seems like Japan doesn't want to let me go without scaring the bejeezus out of me at least one more time.

Day 123 - The Beginning of the End

Today has been a good day. Started kinda shit, but ended well. Went with my host mother this morning to take care of my insurance. I needed to cancel it before leaving Japan, but it's pretty difficult on my own. I appreciated her help, and the fact that it was done so quickly.

Headed to school straight after to go to my last class of the term (yay!!!). Got some lunch before, and actually managed to get there before the class started. To my surprise. The class itself was rather boring, but whatever, can't have everything. Hung out with Jenny after, reading while she got a little sleep.

Then it was time for the SKY TREE!!! I had been waiting for this for quite a while. We met up with the entire Oregon group to go to it. This thing is massive. I'm a little ashamed to say I didn't even know it existed before getting to Japan. The student who picked me up at the airport pointed it out to me while we were on my train, and I was completely clueless. Well, no more. I've been inside the thing. Up to the highest observation deck. Wahoo!

After that adventure, we went to have dinner as a group at an okonomiyaki restaurant. There were courses and courses of food an I ate sooooo much. Felt sick a little after. But it was wonderful to finally spend some time with the entire group of people. Too bad it was also the final time we'd do it as well. Lol.

Found out a few of us were going to do Karaoke after. Sign me up. Turns out karaoke turned into all-night karaoke. or that was the plan all along. Dunno. Either way, spent something like 5 or 6 hours with a group of cool people, singing fun songs, drinking a little, celebrating our togetherness and leaving back for eugene. Tomorrow (today?) is the closing ceremony, so it's kind of really the end here. After this I'm also graduating (I hope?) so it's kind of the end of all things college. What a way to finish. I'm exhausted, but still rather awake. It's now… 6:30. I'm gonna sleep for another 4-ish hours, then get up, get dressed kinda fancy, and go to that last ceremony. Then school is pretty much all done. For now, sleep. As much as I can.

Day 122 - Time To Present

It's toooooo hooooootttttt. Had three performances today, and they reminded me why I hate working in groups so much. One of our group members in the first class just didn't show up. Texted the guy, saying she overslept. She's just a dunce. Unfortunately, she's the only one who had the full script, and was one of the main characters. And the second person in our group to duck out. It's extremely frustrating.

The other presentations I had today weren't nearly as bad. Thankfully. I talked about cake in one, which is always enjoyable. The other was a gag-skit about people eating dogs. Japanese is weird sometimes... I don't think I would have been able to handle today if things had gone worse. The heat, it really got to me today. I know there's only like, six days left, but I don't know if I'm gonna make it. Water fountains pretty much don't exist here, and shelling out two bucks to vending machines every couple of hours to keep hydrated is really draining my expenses faster than I thought.

Came home today and did all my laundry. Gonna give packing a shot tomorrow morning, see if I can't fit mostly everything into my two bags and still keep them under 22kgs. Mama seems to be worried about me having to pay overweight baggage fees. I'm worried about strangling her in her sleep getting along well for the next few days. She's gotten a little naggy. I emailed her this afternoon asking if we could go to the ward office tomorrow to cancel my health insurance (which she's been adamantly against for no good reason) and she emailed me back about two hours later. I didn't respond because it didn't look like it needed a response. Apparently I should have. Still, we're going tomorrow. Later than I'd like, but I'll take what I can get. If I can't cancel it properly on my own, I'm gonna hand it in at the airport and let Marie know it's her problem. I know she's got her own problems, but Mama is too much for me right now.

I shouldn't let my bad experiences ruin my whole day. It's just harder at the end here to remember what was very good. Some of the skits put on by other groups in my classes were hilarious. I don't know where they get their inspiration, but I'm constantly surprised by the improv ability of my peers. I did manage all my washing, and my yukata came out of the wash just fine. I was a little worried there for a moment. Yeah, I think I'm gonna try to intentionally have something positive in these posts until I leave. Shouldn't be too hard, but I feel like I've been a bit of a downer lately.

Day 121 - One Week Left

Tooooooo much tired today. Admittedly, Disney after Fuji was a pretty poor decision. But I'd bought the tickets already, and have no free time in the foreseeable future to go so… Disney after Fuji.


Spent the morning resting as much as possible. Had an idea that I might be pretty tired, even if we were only going for a half-day. Had to go to school though, so that put a little damper on things. Unfortunately, it seems to have warmed up again. Not quite as hot as a week ago, but it was still rather uncomfortable on the way to school, and at Disney in general. Muggy.

The last time we went to disneyland was during the easter celebration. They're now full-swing into their summer festival time, so there's lots of cute little mickey's dressed in yukata, and creepy-adorable Japanese style summer masks of the disney character faces. Was tempted to buy one, but didn't. I think I took a photo though, and I wouldn't have ever really used the mask anyway.

Space mountain was also down last time, but not this time, and we rode it right away. Despite it having warmed up, there was also some kind of thunderstorm warning, and lots of parades in the evening, so we never ended up waiting more than say, 40 minutes for a ride. The one for space mountain said 50, but there was no way that was 50 minutes. And by the time we got out, they were changing it down to 35 or something like that. Rode Its a Small World, only waited around 15min for that one. It seems to be very different from the US ones, but I haven't been to the one in Cali in a while, and the one in Florida in 2009. Maybe I'm just crazy. Got to ride on the Snow White ride as well. I don't think I've ever ridden it before. Then we rode a bunch of the ones we did last time. Rode more this time than last time, and in half the time. And quite cooler, too. Oh well.

The final stage show was fantastic. Only got to see the last half of it, poor timing with dinner and rides and such, but it was great. Fireworks, enormous jets of water, and most exciting, huge plumes and balls of flame. Fantastic. For the day that marks one week left in Japan, it's been a great, if exhausting, day.

Took a late train home. The Chuo line was delayed, so I had to take a different way. Chuo always seems to be delayed. Lots of unhappy people take that train. :( But managed to get home just after midnight. Took a glorious long, relaxing shower and came to bed. I am so glad I got to go to disney one last time. I love Disney so much. If I ever get a chance, going around to see all the ones in the world would be amazing. I've only two that I haven't seen yet, but to see them all in a short space of time would be… Magical.

Tired now. Making terrible puns. Gotta do performances and such tomorrow at school. But then that's it. Four more classes and I'm done.

Day 120 - Fuji

Went to Fuji with Tamarra today. Started with a lot of very strong frustration. Got to the station on time, but she was late. Wanted Krispy Kreme, but it wasn't open til 8. Went the wrong way for our bus and ended up getting to the correct station 4 minutes late. But after that it was mostly fine. Managed to talk the guys at the counter to stick us on the next bus. Didn't end up sitting side-by-side, but way better than waiting another two hours. Watched Sherlock on the way there. Season 2 Episode 1. Fantastic. My arm fell asleep holding up the screen. Oh well.

We actually ended up in Kawaguchicho, two stops down from the Fuji station. All the better. We were actually there to see some caves left from collapsed lava tubes from forever ago. Two of the ones we went to were called the Water cave and the Ice cave. Very original. But fantastic. It was lovely and cool. Recently been in the lower 20ºC, but here it was 0º~3ºC. Bracingly chill. And beautiful the ice in these caves was really just so beautiful.

Went to the bat caves afterwords. I hadn't been sure what to really expect. Got more cold. A little bit of a stink. It was another lava tube, but this one was much narrower at points. Couldn't go through some of it. But fun nonetheless.

Headed back to the station and since we still had time, took the quick two stops to Fuji station. Unfortunately, it was getting to be rather overcast at that point and I'd only gotten a measly half-shaded photo of fuji from a moving bus. Hopefully it'll turn out okay. On the way to the Fuji station is this place called Fuji Q. It's an amusement park. Didn't have time to go. Or the will power. By that point I was fairly well exhausted. But next time I'm in Japan… I'll go there, for sure. Looks like lots of fun.

Didn't end up leaving the station at Fuji station. Was too cloudy and didn't want to have to spend more to get back. So just took the train back. Was getting kinda silly with exhaustion at that point. Went to get some sustenance at the local 7&i, and sat waiting for our bus. Which was 10min late. Without a single apology. SOOOOOO FRUSTRATING.

Anyway, got back to Shinjuku in about an hour and a half. Those busses are pretty good time-wise, usually. It was kinda nice. Thought about getting Krispy Kreme on the way back, since we'd finally found the store, but decided against it. Felt a little car sick and sick in general after such a long day.

First thing I did when I got home was take a shower. Had so much cave on me. :( It was lovely and relaxing. The bath was also full, but I wasn't sure, so I left off. Kinda wishing I'd gotten in now. Oh well. Had an awkward conversation with my host mom about trying to cancel Japanese insurance. The headache I've had all day hit its bursting point. So now I'm upstairs. I might go on my own tomorrow to deal with insurance. Don't know for sure yet. Depends on how I'm feeling tomorrow. Anyway, that's it for today. Fuck, I'm exhausted. So glad I didn't actually even try to climb that thing. I can't imagine…

Day 119 - Slower day

Sooo, today started out with me freaking out. Well, yesterday actually. After my post I looked at my plane ticket and found out… I'm leaving day earlier than I thought. That put me into hysterics. The idea that I could have completely missed my flight and not known until the next day… I still get a little terrified thinking about it.

Spent the morning lazing in bed. It's nice to be able to finally relax a little. Next week is literally all presentations of some kind, and I'm not really looking forward to it. But for now, Fuji is tomorrow and Disneyland is the day after, and that's all I'm really going to worry about.

Went to Yoyogi park with Tamarra today. Somehow she hasn't managed to get there yet. Spent the cooooool afternoon wandering the park and talking about flying home. How eager, how far it seems, how soon it seems, all the shit we have to do before we go… It's crazy schedule time.

We went and had crepes at a place on Takeshita street, the famous one in Harajuku. Then went down Omotesando to this "Oriental" goods store, basically a Japanese-goods-for-foreigners store. Found a cool couple of little last minute gifts for people back home. After disney on tues, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be done with gifts.

Came back here and spent the afternoon listening to one piece while I tried to figure out how I'm gonna get everything home. I have a box which I'm gonna ship, and it's full now, but I don't know how much it'll cost… kinda heavy. But going by boat, so it should be much cheaper than it was coming here. Hopefully. But I seem to have more things than I did before I got here, despite throwing away a lot of stuff and using up a lot of stuff. Hopefully it'll all work out. Kinda counting on it, actually…

Day 118 - Music

Mmmm today. Words hard. Woke up nice and late-ish. And by that I mean about 7ish. So not really late. But late enough considering I went to be about 7pm yesterday. Got some good sleep. It was cool enough today because of the rainy weather that I got to dress up a little. Wore a skirt and everything. Met up with Tamarra for lunch. Curry. I'm gonna miss curry on saturdays.

Tamarra's host mother performed with a choir today. Directed by some famous guy who recently turned 88. 大央　恩 or something like that. It was nice, if difficult to understand because it was all in Japanese. They did have the lyrics in the play book, but it was also full of kanji so… yeah. But her host mother was lovely. Looked very nice. A mezzo soprano, and as a group, they were very good. I was pleasantly surprised. All the musical exposure I've had in this country so far has been boy bands and AKB48, which really aren't stellar examples of music in any sense of the word.

Went with Tama-chan to Denny's for the last time here in Japan. Don't have the money to do it again. I'm really starting to run a little short. Gotta cut back on lunches. Didn't expect to be spending so much of bottled drinks, but gotta stay hydrated somehow and there's a notable lack of water fountains. Thankfully, I've paid for most everything, but what's left is kind of big. The bus to the airport is over $30. To cancel my phone is probably over $100. And I'm not sure how much shipping will be. To get here a box cost $70. I'm shipping by boat so it'll hopefully be cheaper, but I don't know how much cheaper… Money problems.

Day 117 - Finalsfinalsfinals

I am not good at this stuff. Set my alarm for hella early again this morning but still somehow managed to ignore it. My sleep schedule has been piss-poor lately. I got an extra two hours of sleep in today, but freaked out when I woke up because I realized I only had about an hour to study for the second part of my econ final this morning. Yeah. I got about 2/3 of that. It was only three questions, but still…

Second was my last class in "writing my personal history in Japanese", which I'm kinda grateful for. We were supposed to be reading each others books finally. I got through one all the way, but fell asleep halfway through the second. Whoops. Then woke up when she called on my to present on what I thought about the project to d a book at all. I don't think she knew she woke me up, but it was still a little shock.

Lunch was supposed to be with my partner for my final this afternoon, running through dialogue a few last times. She never showed. I waited half my lunch and she never showed. Japanese people are extremely sensitive about being late or waiting for people who are late and it's starting to rub off on me. What really irks though is that we ran into each other yesterday and reminded each other about today and lunch. So frustrating.

So then it was Lit, and I got to turn in my paper that I was crazy over yesterday. He wanted 2500 or more words. I got in 2505. Yeeeeaaah. Of course, he didn't let us turn in the paper right away and we had to sit through one last agonizing lecture that didn't really apply to any of us anyway since we'd already written our papers and there was no way we'd be able to edit them to include new information by whatever his deadline it was today.

Then that class I mentioned earlier, with the partners. I hate working with partners. She showed up with a written script of what was supposed to be a rather ad-lib conversation. Excusing herself for lunch and saying she wasn't good ad-libbing, so we should just follow what she wrote. It's kind of the point of the class to learn this kind of conversational ad-libbing though… Whatever. I was fine. Final went fine.

Came back home again right after school. Spent about an hour looking at news and stuff I'd missed in the past three days that have revolved so much around disney and finals that I haven't done much else. Fell asleep around 7. It's now almost three in the morning, and while I'm still tired, I feel better rested than I have in the past two weeks. Gonna sleep more. But wanted to post again before I get too far behind.

Day 116 - Day after Disney (Finals)

Wow, this one really got away from me. After disney sea yesterday, I didn't have much time to study for my econ final. I woke up really early, an extra three hours early, so I could get in some last minute cram time. But that, mixed with Disney, means that I only got about three hours of sleep. I spent my free period relaxing, or rather sleeping in a study room. Got lunch, and went to another final, a presentation this time. Actually enjoy the class some days, I might even actually miss it.

Immediately after class I came home to work on my lit paper. I've been putting it off for the past few weeks, but it's finally due tomorrow and I couldn't put it off any longer. 2500 words takes a lot longer than I remember. A lot of it was still me procrastinating and having to stop for dinner, but I ended up typing til like 1 in the morning again and forgot to write my blog post at all. Which is why it's up so late.

Haven't really had any Japanese adventures lately. Mainly my brain has been absorbed with schoolschoolschoolschool. I feel like I could still get some Japanese fun in here though…

Day 115 - Re: DisneySea

So. Today. I can't really brain anymore, so you're gonna hafta stick with me here. Had a shit day most of the day, starting with a class where only have of the group showed up for our project. Lunch and the next class was okay. I am not stressed about that. Last class was fine, if hella boring, but then she decided she wants us to do a group skit. On the last day of class. Next week. UGH. So we worked on those in class. But weren't able to finish. She wants the script by saturday. I want to punch her in the glasses. GUH.

But then Disney. Decided to go back to disney, even though it's not really in the budget. Made my day a million times better. I cannot express how joyful I felt arriving at disney and getting in line for our first ride. Journey to the Center of the Earth is amazing. I could ride it a dozen more times. Fantastic. The rest of the day was lovely. We stayed until park closing and it was lovely. At the end there I started getting tired. Haven't been sleeping well lately at all. Stupid heat and stress. So now my feet hurt, I'm tired, but still have to study for a final tomorrow. Guess I'm getting up early.

So, weird and (hopefully) interesting observation of the day. There are eleven toothbrushes in the bathroom downstairs. Only four people live here. I have no idea how this happened.

Day 114 - Uneventful and Unhelpful Day

Today I woke up early, intent on writing my paper for my lit class. That did not get done. Also, it was hella early in the morning because I woke up with the sun again. I'm gonna have to find a better way to do this.

Did work on group stuff today and managed to finish my data collection for a survey. Mainly relaxed though. Enjoyed my last day of relative chillness before the big freakout that comes with finals.

My leg hurts. After that walk yesterday it's been kind of achey all day. I think I may of strained a muscle in my shin. It's unfortunate. Gonna keep it elevated and put a cooling medicine thing on it. Hopefully that will quell the ache. Thankfully it's not too bad, but it's uncomfortable.

Classes today were meh. I had to sit through presentations that I didn't understand because everyone uses too much kanji. Then had to sit through my muttering lit teacher. Glad that's gonna be over on friday. Still gotta write that paper though… Hmm…

Got home and did some more studying, more group work stuff. Should really prioritize econ and lit, since they're what I need. But guilt makes me work on group stuff first. I'm pretty much done now though. It lies in the others' incapable hands.

Managed to figure out my airconditioner today. What a glorious two hours before my host mom came home. I feel a little guilty using it because she hasn't said I could, but it feels so good… I managed to make it through the afternoon without sweating myself soaked. I consider it a grand accomplishment.

Realized today that the one thing (inanimate object) I miss the most from back home is my car. I wanna drive where I want, when I want, with the windows down or the ac cranked, and listen to my music and be able to sing along. There's such a strong suppressive air here, I just wanna burst into song. Oh well, only fifteen more days.

Day 113 - Nikko

Hadn't even realized I didn't make a post yesterday until just now. Yesterday was exhausting. Got to bed soon enough, only to be woken by an earthquake at about 4:30 in the morning. It was vigorous enough and close enough to when I wanted to wake up anyway that I just stayed up. Admittedly, in hindsight, that was probably a poor decision.

Hopped the early train (6:25-ish) to Ike where I met Tama-chan. We then headed out to Nikko. One of two last minute desperate attempts to check things off our lists. Nikko was lovely, full of all sorts of beautiful scenery. Huge historical landmarks. There's this temple that we visited that was decorated to the point of being absurd. Crazy-intricate wood engravings and gold everywhere. There was a mausoleum up a crazy amount of steps on the hill in the back. I made it there, but only barely.

Nikko is also home to a beautiful bridge called the Shinkyo bridge. This is the bridge I think of when people talk about bridges in Japan. Red and gold, sweeping over a beautifully burbling river… It's a sight to see.

Found a super-neat little place for lunch. Apparently it's a really popular tourist spot. You can tell from the myriad of notes, bills, and business cards tacked to the wall. A definite fire hazard, but awesome. Also, had some of the best yakisoba I've had in Japan, ever. Fantastic. - EDIT: I just discovered the name of this place, a little more than a year later. It's Hippari Dako.

Had enough time in the afternoon to visit the Tobu World Square, also in Nikko. Everything in the park is 1/25 size of the original monuments. From every, US, Japan, Europe, etc. Got to see the pyramids of Gyza with the Eiffel Tower in the background, and the Vatican with the Great Wall of China in the background. It was fantastic. Also, unbearably hot. Thankfully there was a little air-conditioned shop selling icecream there, otherwise I think I would have passed out from the heat.

Made our way back to Shinjuku where we had Burger King for the first time in Japan. Pretty much exactly like the US, though they had this strange thing called Irish Lemonade. I wasn't feeling too adventurous at that point, so I left it for another time. It was filling and I came home and I guess fell right asleep. Yeah.

Day 112 - Can't Stand the Heat

So, today was nice. I lie. Today was so freaking hot. I hate this heat. And humidity. Uggggghhhhhh. For comparison, I watched a special last night on places in Hokkaido. One place they mentioned is a hot spring bath type place. They heat the baths up to 31º and recommend you don't stay in too long or you'll get light headed. It was the same temperature today in Tokyo. And just about a much water.

Went with my host sister, Rio, to Takaosan today. We had planned to go to a photography exhibit, but changed plans last night in favor of something potentially cooler. So much for that idea. We went to the trick art museum, a relatively cool place, thanks to air conditioning. Took a bunch of awesome pictures that you're not gonna see, until at least much later. I think I've just given up posting pics, it's too much effort. Might do a large picdump later with a bunch of pics I've taken but not posted. Don't know for sure yet.

Tomorrow is a hella early start, which is why I'm posting before 10. Gotta be at Ikebukuro by 7am. UUUHGGGGGHGHGHHHH. Hate getting up early. At least it might still be a little cool. Don't have much faith in that. It never really cools down here like it does back home. I think it has something to do with all the buildings, concrete and asphalt. They absorb all the heat and just never let go. It's absurd. Anyway, this is goodnight. Hopefully I'll post tomorrow night. Might depend on how busy my day will be.

Day 111 - One Piece!

Glorious, today. I got a lovely sunburn. You'd think I'd have learned by now. Nope. Never will.

Started out waking up nice and late. Got out of bed around 11? Easy, lazy morning. Then went to school to meet up with some mates to go to Odaiba! Hooray! It's long enough away, almost an hour from Baba. I could have met them in Shinjuku and skipped 10 minutes or so, but it's really not worth it.

Odaiba is the home of FujiTV, a broadcasting company in Japan. You might recognize their building from Digimon or, you know, any anime or show set in modern-day tokyo.

We went there today in search of the 1000 Sunny from One Piece. It opened there a year ago. Unfortunately, it was no longer there, and is inexplicably somewhere in Nagasaki, Kyuushi, Japan. Well, it's a boat, I suppose they sailed it there. Haha. But yeah, it was a sad surprise. But there was an almost-real-size version of Shirahoshi, the mermaid princess from recent chapters in One Piece. Her tail was a slide! (O。O)

Spent the day wandering around the Fuji TV building, going in, checking out the view from the 24th floor, and doing a little tour of Diver City, the mall there. Hella expensive. But cool. Also, that's the mall with the giant Gundam outside, as well. Got a few good pics. Which I'm not gonna upload. It's already 1 am again and I'm tired again. I'd feel guilty, but too tired. Tomorrow should be fun, too. Going to a mountain with my host sister. Not Fuji, that's later…

Day 110 - Singing with the Fam

So, sorry this one's late. I had a very busy day yesterday. I'd actually pulled up the page to start writing my post, and promptly fell asleep at my computer. Woke up two hours later with a crick in my neck and decided I'd better leave it til this morning.

I woke up early for early classes. Hadn't gotten to sleep until late, too, so that means I got about 5 hours of sleep? Went to econ. Thankfully, I only have two of those left. Unfortunately, both are exam days. That's fine though. Went through the rest of my classes. Spent lunch with Tama-chan, and my free period after that I spent alternately stressing about a speech and simply falling asleep because it hurt to keep my eyes open. Then lit, and japanese. Classes today ended about 6.

6:30, we had our final (and only?) dinner with host families and everyone who's going home this spring. I'd thought we were supposed to dress up, so I did. Wore a nice dress finally. I kinda stood out against the guys wearing shorts and t-shirts. The dinner itself was buffet style, but none of it particularly appealing. I like the karaage, but everyone else did too, so I only got like, three pieces.

The main drag was that everyone was to give a speech to their host family, and get one in return. There are 19 people in this group. We were there until almost 9, listening to everyone else. It got rather dull after the 5th one, and Marie decided to make the spring students wait til the very end. Everyone else used pieces of paper or their iphones, and just kind of read from them. I hadn't written anything down, so I just winged it. Mama was very impressed.

After, Mama thought it would be a good idea to finally do some Karaoke, which was awesome. We managed to drag along Rio and Yuri to get a room. But before that mama and I went to a little cafe near the station. It's popular, so there's always students, and it was a friday night. We ordered shaved ice and french fries, but in the 20minutes we were waiting got neither. Mama bugged them twice and then decided to cancel her order. She's quite strong willed. It's a little embarrassing.

But then karaoke, which was fun. This made the 3rd time. Mama likes to sing a bunch of traditional-like love songs. Rio and I sang glee and backstreet boys. For an hour, it was pretty fun. We finished after 11, came home, and mama decided we needed to eat more, since there wasn't much at the dinner thing. I got some delicious reheated yakisoba, and watermelon, of course, because for the past four days there's always been watermelon. We sat and chatted and I didn't make it up to bed until after one. So yeah, super tired.

Day 109 - Breezy Day

The weather today was a lovely respite. I woke up this morning, not drenched in sweat, and it was lovely. There was a nice, crisp breeze that kept things cool most of the day as well. The weather looked a little gruesome, and it turned out one of my professors today cancelled her class. Which is okay, but seeing as I only had the two classes today, it was a little unfortunate. I did go to econ though, and stuck around after that to work on schoolwork. I'm actually doing it, I'm surprised at myself.

Spent enough time at school to meet with Tama-chan after 4th period. We had a quick snack at this tiny cafe near campus. Makes this delicious chocolate mousse with ladyfingers in it, and a raspberry glaze on top. And ice cream with rum-raisins.  Sooooo tasty. I'm still debating if it's worth the ¥500… I'm thinking it is.

I'm sitting now with the rain pouring outside my window. Days like this I always want to sing irish songs into the rain. Don't really know why, some sort of rain+highschool+irish association there. Don't wanna think about it too hard. That's another thing that I kind of miss in Japan, being able to sing. There's such an oppressive atmosphere here. I feel like, if I broke into song on my way to school or whatever, I'd get some pretty hateful glares.

Tomorrow is looking to be a busy day. But I'm gonna dress up for the first time in a while. It's just for dinner with host families, but I feel like it's a good excuse to get all pretty and shit. I'm finally gonna wear my polka dot dress. I'm excited.

Day 108 - Hot hot hot

It was extremely hot today. I know I've complained the past few days, but that's pretty much all my days consist of at the moment. Muggy, drowning heat, and school. School of course was rather boring today. Had to work on another group project. I honestly don't know if we'll succeed with that… In another class we had a speech/paper assigned. She wants us to give a speech, but also write it out on paper, and not look at the paper while we give the speech. Kinda confusing. And last class, we found out we'd be doing another skit. Starting next week. Giving us a whole week, meaning one entire class, for the skit, along with everything else going on. I hate one class a week classes. Loathe them. I'm so glad I'm going to be done with this soon. "This" being college in general. And Japan. Kinda.

By the time school let out it was nice and windy. Got to walk back to Baba with Tama-chan. Was nice and cool, at least while the wind kept blowing. The shade helped a little, too. We've made plans for some more fun, and it's looking like it'll be on cooler days, or at least days when it's raining and that will provide some respite. Meanwhile, I'm working on essays for at least three classes, a speech for friday for my host family, and various group projects where the group simply refuses to even try meeting. Hooray.

I spent the afternoon today dozing in and out. When it gets this hot, it's hard to remain conscious. I tend to kind of just slide sideways into sleep, one minute reading or watching something, thinking with my eyes closed, the next minute I'm suddenly awake and wondering where the last hour went. It's like my mind is overheating, blinking off for a short amount of time to recover from the heat. It is finally becoming slightly cooler as it gets closer to midnight. It's currently nearly 11pm, and it's still 77ºF outside. But I chatted with my grandmother last night, who's in cali, and it's in the triple-digits there right now, so I'm thankful for the relative coolness, at least.

p.s. I think I might have made it a little easier to comment. Haven't worked much with blogger before, so we'll see how this works out…

Day 107 - Domestics

So, today was another really domestic day. Woke up nice and early because I was sweating to death. It was so hot this morning. Hotter than anytime yesterday at all. Couldn't get to sleep after that so I took the time to work on some school work. Watched a little tv. Then school.

I really, really hate group projects here. It's worse than back home, because people tend to either not care or just somehow not know how to work in a group. So, the group presentation I have to do for class is hardly close to being done, and it's due in two weeks. We meet once a week. Next week it's all presentations, so it needs to be done by then. I guess I'm bringing my computer and might skip my next class so we can actually make a powerpoint, which we haven't done, yet. UGH.

Came home almost immediately, or at least tried. Someone offed themselves on my line again. Rather than try to find another route, I decided to hang out at a cafe and do a little reading. Waited about 45min, and everything was up and running again. Gotta hand it to the Japanese, they're pretty damn efficient, even when it comes to something as gruesome as scraping people off of the rails. I'm fairly convinced at this point that they're doing this intentionally, to cause as much trouble for commuters as possible. There's certainly other ways of dying, that don't back up the trains. I'm still feeling a little dour after group work. That's probably a little harsh. Sorry.

At home I'm finally getting caught up on Eureka. Having a good time with that at least. Managed to finish most of my laundry. Had dinner with the fam. Kinda gross hamburger patty thing swimming in beansprouts and egg, but the potatoes, wow, were they good. I might dream of them tonight. Garlic and parmesan and salt. And just soft enough. It was like heaven in carb form. Delightful.

Day 106 - Too Hot To Anything

So, I spent the day in a kind of stupor. Not really doing anything. Read a little, watched a lot of television. I wish I'd done more, but I don't think I'd have been up to it anyway. Too tired. Today was another too-hot day and the heat really sucks my energy out. So yeah. I stayed in and relaxed, or rather melted under the heat, and had a quiet day. I'll probably regret when it's time to turn in homework later this next week or so. Another oh well. Japan is really tuckering me out.

Day 105 - Another Quiet Day In

There were great plans for today. After sleeping in. But the sleeping in took too long. It got to be about 3 before I actually left the house. And then when I got to the station, it turns out that there was a delay on my line. Found out later that some pitiful someone had jumped further up the line. Oh well. Plans cancelled. Will try again tomorrow. I spent my day today going over what to box and send home, and what to bring in my carryon and all the other stuff. Painted my finger and toe nails. Built a tiny TARDIS out of lego. Attempted making the sky tree out of paper, but that might take another day to finish. And watched Bones. I missed most of last season, so it's finally time to catch up. And that was pretty much it. I'd intended to clean and do laundry, but meh, I'll do that later.

Day 104 - Busy and Fun

So, at the beginning of this blog, I had showered praises over the creation of the heated toilet seat. Or at least meant to, since it was usually so cold I couldn't sleep at night without my teeth chattering, it seemed a major blessing. Not so anymore. Waking up sweating is one of the least fun things to do, but worse is sitting down on an even hotter toilet seat. It's like torture. And there's no way to turn it off. (・ロ・）

Had curry again today. It seems to be becoming tradition. Unfortunate we only have three more saturdays for this tradition left. Oh well. Was delicious. I got to try a new flavor, a shrimp masala. I wanna eat curry every week, forever.

Went with Tamarra on a whirlwind of adventure today. First was to the costume museum in shinjuku. Rather than costumes, it's more a clothing museum, I don't know why they call it costume. Usually they have a variety of western and eastern clothing. But today was special, and they had african clothing only. I'll admit, I was a little disappointed. I've been wanting to see a real, period bustle dress up close for a long time, and they normally have one on display. Not today. Still, the african ones were interesting. There was one that was made with human hair. Creepy, but also really kinda cool.

After the costume museum, we headed over to the Square Enix store once more, getting some final souvenirs for family back home. Tama-chan bought so many moogles. It was shocking. I got a little souvenir, too. Not gonna say what, or for who, 'cause they might read this blog.

After SE store, we wandered and got a little lost. Mainly because we were trying to find a different museum, using a tiny map. Found it eventually, after following some misleading signs. The Japanese Sword museum. Very cool. They had this huge hunk of raw iron outside, something that they develop over time, firing again and again to be able to harvest iron from it. The making of Katana in Japan is considered a national art form / national treasure kind of thing, and masters of the craft are actually subsidized by the government. The museum inside was cool, if a little difficult to understand. So far most of the museums we've visited, we've had the same problem. Very basic descriptions of pieces are in english, and the rest of the detailed plaques are in Japanese. So I either spend very little time looking at each piece, or would have to spend more than 20min for each one, trying to decipher what the plaque is supposed to say. It's a little frustrating. I think it would be a cool idea if the museums worked together with the universities, and had students do translating as assignments for classes. That way, museum gets work done, and either Japanese students or English students can get some hands-on translating practice. Good for language on both sides, yeah? And Museum gets free or cheap labor.

Anyway, that was finished almost too quickly for my liking. Next we headed over to Ike for some anime time. I had been hoping to hit a cat cafe, but by then it was running a little late in the day. We headed over to the Animate, a big chain store that hocks anime, manga, and some gaming goods. Got a few more souvenirs. Horay. And a little something for myself. It was fun. But my feet started protesting. Sit down and dinner time. Fortunately, right across from the Animate was an El Torito. I have been craving mexican something fierce here, and there it was, glorious. We have an El Torito back home that we visit now and then. This was different, but the same in many ways. Some foods were very Japan-ized. Others were the same. Had delicious fajitas, and chips and salsa for the first time in what feels like ages. And a real, honest-to-goodness margarita. Well, a Kiwi flavor one. Tama-chan had a normal flavor. The kiwi tasted almost like watermelon. I dunno. It was delicious. Felt like home.

Tama-chan and I have this game where we point out interesting-looking people nearby. Sometimes it's funny, like the guy in Harajuku whose hair was the same color as his horrid neon-pink striped pants. Other times it's kinda sad, like the very obviously-anorexic woman today, who was so skinny her skin was sucking up under her jawline. My favorite today though, who Tama-chan didn't actually get to see, was this guy who had probably done his own weave. Poorly. And had taking the term rather literally. He'd taken chunks of long blond hair and tied it, with yarn, to his own dark hair. It was… dreadful. One thing Tama-chan's said is that the Japanese have a wonderful eye for seeing beauty in simplicity and so are good a finding beauty in very little. Unfortunately, the have no eye for terrible, and are unaware when they fall victim to ugly. It's really, very true. Poor Japanese.

Had a mainly quiet night at home. It's nice to just sit with the fam and watch tv. Laugh together. We're supposed to write a speech for the kind-of farewell party we're having next week. Not really farewell, since we're sticking around for another two weeks, but yeah… I think I might write about tonight, just laughing so easily with them…

Day 103 - Ugh

Aaand, today was a hard day. Not particularly special in anyway, but by the time I got home, I was just worn ragged. I had planned on going with Colleen and Kenna to Tokyo Tower again today because they have this special thing where if you wear a yukata, you get to go up for free. But I chickened out / have had such a hard day that I'm just not up to it at all. I'm going to bed early and ignoring the world. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Day 102 - Hot Cross Ponds

I always wanna start these posts with a long, drawn-out sigh. Today it's mostly because of the heat. I think I may be actually melting.

Mama made more plans today. And thankfully didn't pass me off to someone else again. Started class at 9, and after school was over around 3, managed to find my way to Fukugawa, where there is an Edo Museum. Well, much better than just a museum. It turned out to be an actual small version of an actual town. Like, they built whole houses and a mini river, and a watch tower, and cut away parts of some of the houses, and you could go inside the others. It was fascinating, if rather small.

There's some definite differences in culture here. I waited to meet Mama, but as soon as she appeared, she got a phone call and stood, with me, for a good 15 minutes chatting with a friend on the phone. Yeah, she's got her own life, but so do I, and I felt rather put out at that. Also, inside the museum, there were these lovely volunteers who were willing to give some info about the different types of buildings. But they spoke Japanese really quickly, so I got lost almost right away. But Mama didn't seem to notice and stood talking with them for a long time. I felt like a 5-year-old again, "go do something else while mama talks with these nice people", kinda thing. So yeah, I wandered off. And she talked with them about old Edo, and where this was actually a copy of, and a bunch of things I simply couldn't follow because the volunteer was completely ignoring me.

But all in all, the Edo museum was lovely. I think I might talk Tama-chan into going with me. It was only like, 300¥, so pretty damn cheap. And there was a cat-thing, which I think may be the true lure to getting her there.

After that, Mama and I went down the street to a "rock garden". I was just expecting a bunch of rocks. Which there was, but it was surrounded by a lovely normal garden. The garden had rocks from all over Japan, which was probably the least interesting part of it. It had a huge pond in the center full of Koi and turtles and tiny fish, so that was very nice. VERY Japanese. There was also an Iris garden at the back, mostly bloomed out. And at the very back, a pretty famous stone. Well, I know about it, which is saying something. It's the stone on which Basho, the most famous poet in Edo period Japan, carved one of his famous haiku poems.

Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto

A quiet old pond,
A frog hops right into it,
The sound of water.

Unfortunately, it wasn't anywhere near a pond, and there were no signs of frogs nearby. The irony. Mama didn't even notice it until I hung back to take a few pics. And said what I knew about it. Then she got real excited. It's actually the original stone, and while it used to be in a different place, they moved it to this particular garden out of fear of natural disasters.

I got to travel home after that. Mama diligently made her daily trip to the hospital to see Papa. I got a few hours on my own, where I baked up in my room. Today has been tooooooo hot, and it seems the days only get hotter from here. I'm gonna die. Especially if Mama continues to insist on feeding my hot food on days like these. I got delicious curry udon. But it was hot. I don't even want to digest, my whole body is working on keeping me cool. Stomach cramps and too hot. Japan. :/

P.S. If you couldn't tell, I'm officially out of interesting titles for my blog. I just… don't know anymore. Bleargh.

Day 101 - Better

Yeah, today definitely made up for a not-so-steller yesterday. I guess 101 is better than 100 after all. Might have been better in dalmatian puppies though… Will have to try that at some point. Or, could consider today 100, since it's still yesterday at home. Kinda.. Time differences…

Still went to school, though shorter than usual. My last class was cancelled today. On account of me wanting to go to a park zoo with Tamarra. Got there too late though, and the zoo was closed as well. Stupid for zoos to close at 4. What's wrong with Japan. Anyway, hung around the park anyway and found swan paddle boats. Soooo cute. Much more work than they're worth though. It was 700¥ for half an hour of paddling around their pond. Very nice. Got quite a bit of a work out.

After that it was time to head back in the school direction to go to our favorite bar, 82 Ale House. It's a Brittish-styled pub, very similar to Hub, but smaller, quieter, and has good food. Just found out they're owned by the same company. Who knew? But yeah. And since we went early, happy hour! 350¥ for cocktails! Yay Japan. Finally tried their bangers and mash, which was lovely, though a little over prices at 700¥ for bar food. But damn tasty. Haven't had suitable mashed potatoes since coming to Japan. And sausage. Yum.

Anyway, spent a good amount of time there, just hanging, then headed out to Ike for some Sweets Paradise. Last time we went, we got there after last call. Not so this time. Unfortunately, I had mostly filled myself up on alcohol, bangers and mash, so I didn't really make much use of the tabehoudai occasion. Also, I was more disappointed with this one than I remember. It always seems like a good idea, but I guess it's never good as I hope. It was nice to sit for a little more though, and enjoy some tasty cakes, food, icecream, and shaved ice.

After Sweets Paradise, we went to Roppongi. Always hear it's dangerous to go there at night. Oh well. Seemed fine to me. We have a discount as students for the Roppongi Hills Skywalk, which is on the 52nd floor of the Roppongi Hills building. Lovely view, and it was clear enough tonight to see pretty far up. Also, Tokyo Tower was nice and close, and lit up. With Tamarra's help I managed to get my camera to finally take some good night shots. Probably will never post them. Too tired to think much now… It was a little spendy just to walk around the floor of a building. I guess I'm getting super money conscious as I get closer to the end, (exactly 4 weeks from 4 this afternoon…) and I probably don't need to worry, but I do.

So yeah, today was much better. Going with Mama to… Fukagawa? Tomorrow. To see a different Edo museum, and some shrines. I guess I gotta wear something comfy. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day…

Day 100 - Celebrating My 100th Day in Japan With… Laundry

Today rocked! Lol, bad pun, sorry. The ground literally shook. Earthquake. It shook for a very long time, and harder than any I've been through before. I was laying in bed at the time and was scared enough to fall to the floor, away from my windows and questionably-safe bunk bed. It stopped soon after, but it was hella scary. That was about half-past eleven. Yeah yeah, I sleep in late. I had already finished a load of laundry and was actually doing some homework at the time but still…

School was rather boring. Stuck in this group project with three other women who seem to have never been in a group in their lives. One of them actually was going about it on her own, and we had to explain to her, after three weeks, that this is actually a group, we need to work as a group. WTH. This teaching system is really getting to me. Also had Lit again today, with the professor who constantly mutters into the mike, and writes kanji on the board for important people's names. I can't read that! Sure, I'm sure it helps the Japanese and Chinese kids in the class, but please write in English, too. Guh, he said the same name four different ways today, mainly just dropping syllables whilly-nilly.

Ended up raining today, too. I had remembered to bring my umbrella, even though the forecast hadn't called for rain. Just got lucky, I guess. Grabbed a quick snack on my way back to the station, hoping to go out with Tama-chan and get something tasty to celebrate our 100th day in Japan. She was already home, having dinner with the host family. Oh well. It was pouring by that point anyway, and my desire to do anything had changed. So I just came home.

Had some quiet time to sit and watch one piece. Did another load of laundry. Most of my things are clean now, and my room smells lovely. Mama's coming home late for dinner so Yuri and I ate together. Mama had made some rather delicious curry. Gonna miss the home made curry when I get back to the states… Maybe I'll eat some chocolate or have a swig of rum to celebrate today. 100 days in Japan, and I still haven't been run over a cyclist. I count that as an accomplishment.

Day 99 - The Day I Thought Was 100

So, today started off lovely. Woke up nice and late. Got to sit and read a little while before going down to breakfast. Food was forgettable. Got to eat chicken jerky from Korea. Tasted like most other chicken jerky. The plan today had been to go with Mama to the Tokyo Tower Aquarium. Well, plans change. Turns out that Mama invited Ih-kun to go in her place. Which is totally okay, though completely unexpected. I was feeling a little wary about that, but since he speaks english and is a little closer to my age, it's kinda better than going with Mama.

Turned out to be really nice. I'll even admit that Ih-kun is pretty cute, he wasn't too hard to look at all day. But clever to boot. Talked half in Japanese and half in English, managed to get through a ton of topics without it ever getting to awkward or stilted. Conversation stage cleared! And still went to the aquarium. Turns out, after all, that it's actually below the tower. So I got to see it really up close. Super cool. Tokyo Sky Tree is cool and all, but the Tokyo Tower has history. I don't know what that history is, but it's been around long enough to have some, I figure.

So yeah, spent the day wandering in a tiny aquarium, making fun of weird-faced fishes. There were a bunch of eel and pirana in this one, which I haven't seen much of so far. Pretty cool. Also, alligator turtle, awesome. The thing looked ancient, and had moss and shit growing on it. I was impressed. Had lunch at a Japanese Pizza chain called Pizza-la. Tasty, but strange. Tried their teriyaki-chicken pizza. It also had mayo and corn on it, for some strange reason. Japan. Then we split up and Ih-kun went to hang with his friends, since that's what he was here to do in the first place. I got to come home and relax for awhile before Mama came home. Homework, then bed.

Also, kinda spent the whole day thinking today was my 100th in Japan and was happy about how it was turning out. Welp, it was actually the 99th day. So tomorrow's the 100th. Might end up doing something fun. Probably will just school and laundry. Japan is so exciting!

Day 98 - Booo

Soooooo boring today. Sorry. Had all these plans to do a bunch of stuff today, and it all fell through. Oh well. Got to meet Ih-kun. He's a korean guy who stayed here before. He's come back to Japan to hang out with some friends and is I guess staying here til thursday? That was news to me. Also, Rio's been on a business trip for the past few days and came back today. Full house.

I pretty much just stayed in my room, read, napped, played video games. Around twoish the rain kind of cleared up so I went to a nearby convenience store to get some food. Then came back, did all the same things. Late dinner. Tomorrow may be more interesting. Maybe not. Oh well.

Day 97 - DANCE

Today started pretty much like any other saturday. Go to school, pick up Tamarra. We were gonna get lunch, but both ended up feeling not up to it. So we went straight to the zoo. Yup, another zoo today.

Actually went to a different zoo today. Only have been to Tama before, but today we went to Ueno. This one is an older, much smaller zoo. The main attraction here is the PANDAS. Finally found some. Well, one anyway. The zoo has two, but only had one out in the pen today. He seemed pretty content. I even managed to snap a few pics. Will upload eventually. Maybe.

The other big thing for today was going to the Obon festival with Tamarra and her host family. I chickened out this morning and didn't bring my Yukata to dance in. But Tama-chan brought her's. I was helping her put it on in the womens' changing area and realized I'd made it uneven at the bottom. We kinda just stood and stared at it for a moment when an old woman stepped up and asked if we wanted help. I gave a weak nod and the woman pretty much just stripped everything away and started from the beginning. Whoops. She was really nice, but spent way too much time making Tama-chan's yukata just right. It was a little embarrassing. But we thanked her profusely. Anyway, she seemed only toooo happy to help the clueless foreigners. Little old ladies here are just adorable, kind, brilliant forces of nature.

Learned a bunch of dances today. Each region has their own special, and we danced a lot of those. Tama already knew a lot from watching a video, but this was my first time. I got a little overwhelmed, and it was extremely hot pretty much the entire time. I did dance at least two full ones though, and some of the way though quite a few others. Didn't see a lot of foreigners there, but didn't really expect to. It's a very Japanese thing and can be intimidating if you don't know what you're doing.

After dance was dinner. Her family took us and a pair of their friends to this really nice italian place. As in more than $15 for appetizers kind of place. It was lovely. We all shared foods, got three different types of pasta and a pizza. Very tasty. Tama's host dad had gotten pretty drunk at the festival though, and had more to drink at dinner. Got to teach him new words. Taught him "smashed" and "buzzed", as english equivalents to よぱっりand ちょっとよっぱり. He and his friend got a kick out of it.

Tama-chan and I decided to head out and just kinda chill a little, find somewhere good for dessert, on our own. Wanted Sweets Paradise, but it was closed when we got there. So went to TGI Fridays instead. Finally had the brownie sundae I've been mooning over for the past forever. Was good, but not what I expected. But good.

Heading home was kind of an irritation. Pretty much caught the last trains. Going Ike to Shinjuku wasn't too bad, the Saikyo isn't usually busy. But from Shinjuku home was a nightmare. Managed to get a spot standing near the end, near a door to the next car, which thankfully not too crowded. I may have found a new good place to stand when the car's gonna be packed. But getting out… Ugh. So many people crammed around the exit, and no one wants to move from their "place" for some foreigner. Thankfully, my Japanese accent is good enough they just kind of automatically move before they realize I'm foreign. Horay.

Anyway, wore the wrong shoes and shorts today, so my legs hurt all over. My headache has finally gone away from this morning. Hopefully I'll sleep enough and rest enough to be restored for tomorrow. Our Grutt pass runs out this week and we wanna get as much of it done as possible. Of course, we're busy all the rest of this week, so that means we have to do all of it tomorrow. Ugh. Gonna be so busy.

Day 96 - Awkward

I honestly wish today had been more interesting, then I'd actually have something to write about, rather than this drivel. Blah blah boring school, blah classes, blah home and lazy, blah. Something small but stupidly silly happened today. I got home around I dunno, 7, 7:30. Tired, but just lay in bed, reading in the dark on my ipod.  mama coming home, and Yuri coming home, bringing her friend. Woke up around 10 and felt really awkward coming down, all rumpled, sleepy-eyed, to have to meet new people. It's dumb. But that's it. She left and I quickly dodged upstairs to get some sleep. Sorry for another short post. I'll try to write tomorrow more interesting.

Day 95 - Working for the Weekend

Managed to wake up in time for school today. And by "on time", I mean 5am. WTH. Japan's fucking with my sleep schedule. It's too bright in the mornings here.

Today… it was too hot, despite being cooler than last week. It was "mushiatsui" (humid-hot) all day and really just sucked the life out of me. That could have been lack of sleep too though, I suspect. Good thing I only had the two classes. Tomorrow's another day though, and I have four classes to worry about. Haven't really bothered to look at homework, but I think I'll be fine. Despite being my most class-heavy day, friday tends to be pretty lax. I think the teachers get tired of the school week, too.

I got home around 4:30, 5ish today and lazed around. Did a bunch of laundry really quick, just to get it out of the way. It was so hot today that after that I just just laid down on the floor and watched One Piece from an awkward head position. Then fell asleep after about an hour or so. Woke up after my host family came up. It's weird waking up, then going down to eat dinner, then coming back up here to sleep again…

Also, some potentially fun news. Hopefully, if plans go correctly, I'll be going to another festival on Saturday. Don't wanna post any spoilers though, incase things fall though. But I'm pretty excited. Also, it looks like I get to take a special trip with Mama to go see the Tokyo Tower on monday! Horay! Also, apparently she has tickets to the aquarium there, too? This weekend should be fun.

Day 94 - Short

I always feel a little lame when I write about days when I didn't really do anything. Today is one of those days. Went to school, did classes, came home, internet, food, etc. Went to the supermarket with Mama. That woman. She bought so many snacks. I seriously think she's trying to bribe me with food. We bought a half dozen loquats, which were delicious, and two watermelon, only ate most of one of them, and sundry sweets, cookies, and icecreams. It's a little absurd.

On the way home, I realized that I didn't have anything to read on the flight back and started making plans in my head. It's hard, knowing I'm coming back in almost a month. 35 days. And I have no idea how I'm gonna get all this back! (>w<)

Day 93 - What?

Just realized I hadn't made an entry yesterday. Not that it was particularly interesting. Classes and whatnot. We did have our final orientation, and I've discovered leaving Japan may be more difficult than it was getting here. There's a lot I have to do besides school work in order to get out of this country. It includes finding time to stop by offices and cancel things and it seems like too much. Ugh. That's pretty much all my day was yesterday. My last class of the day was cancelled, so I got to get home early and work on homework. Hoooray. And read a little. Had a boring dinner, then went to my room soon after to work on more homework. It's kinda been piling up recently. I think the professors are realizing there's only a few weeks left now and are throwing it into high gear.

Day 92 - They can't sing, they can't dance, after all miss, this ain't France

Today was lovely. I slept in super late, didn't get up until after 11. It was wonderful. It's also been cool all day, so I got to enjoy some nicer weather, inside for once. Just spent a lazy day reading and watching One Piece. Sadly, it's probably been one of my favorite days so far. Well, until tonight.

I'd agreed last week to go see Yuri perform tonight. Yuri is the other girl who's living in this house. I'm still not sure if she's related to the people here, like a cousin, or if she's just a guest like me. Whatever. But I do know she's wonderful at piano, and thought it would be us going to go see her play somewhere. I was incorrect.

I met up with Mama in Shinjuku and we ended up going to Kabukicho. It's not the most friendly area in Tokyo. Kinda creepy all over. All sorts of girls in maid outfits and host-looking dudes loitering about, looking to lure you into their club or cafe where they'll milk you for all the money they can. The sad thing? A lot of the hosts just looked creepy, sad, and old. Their hair was puffed into these stupid looking doos, but was also thinning, and it was just sad. :/

Anyway, we finally got to where Yuri was performing, this seedy looking little club in the basement of a building. The doors were absurdly heavy, and we had to pay a ¥2000 cover price to get in (about $22). We were early, so we had to sit around for almost an hour, because they didn't allow reentry. At least got a free drink with the ticket. Needed more than one though. Turns out the place was a kind of like, practice bar for girls who wanted to try at singing. Honestly, a lot of them should stick to very drunken karaoke. Or get some voice lessons instead of skipping straight to performing. Because oooooh man, that was painful.

Yuri herself wasn't too bad, and there were one or two others that I sat through without wanting to stab myself in the ears. But it was bad. Some of the girls simply forgot lyrics to the two or three songs they sang, or stumbled and mumbled through them. One of them tripped and almost fell while she was jumping around trying to get energy out of the less than energetic crowd. To be fair, there were two creepy old guys that were a little too energetic. Creepy. All that, combined with a very small space, uncomfortable chairs, too loud speakers, and rapidly flashing lights added up to an uncomfortable evening. We were eager to leave as soon as Yuri finished, despite there being more girls to sing.

Got home about nine-ish. Ate a quiet dinner with Mama and the television. Ate a bunch of sweets. Tried this shrimp-cracker. Never Again. GUUUH. Also tried this "cheese"-flavored cracker snack thing called "Happy Town". That one was surprisingly good, once you got past the initial taste. I'm still not sure what it actually tastes like, but not like any other cheese snack I've had. Best thing was the chocolate chip cookies. I'm gonna see what brand it was and probably buy more just for myself…

Day 91 - Busy Weekend

So, staying up to 3 last night and drinking ended up being a bad decision. Also, I didn't manage to finish sewing my flag, despite renewed efforts. This added up to me disappointing Colleen. She held a workshop today at the park, just hanging out with people and showing them new things to do with their hoops. I had really wanted to come and play with my flag. But slept in until past noon, and had to get breakfast and get clothes, and didn't have time to finish my flag, and go come back home to pick up my flagpole and then get back to Yoyogi before it was finished. So yeah, a lot of little things that ended up kinda fucking that up.

We set out late today, again, mostly because of getting up late, and MLP. Guh. Oh well. Got to Ikebukuro and Sunshine City late. So we ended up meeting Kenna's friends late. Oh, the reason we went to Sunshine City again? To go to Namja Town. Kenna's been so eager to get me to go there with her and we finally went today. I kinda wish it'd been another day because after the zoo yesterday, I'm totally exhausted now, but it was fun and pretty cute. I'd totally recommend it to anyone coming to Tokyo, as long as they're really good at Japanese. I definitely struggled in places, and it's a little theme park geared toward children. Still, hella fun.

There were three or four different floors, and some themed zones. A creepy haunted house area, an old restaurant area geared around gyoza, an "adventure" theme and "fantasy" theme zone, an ice cream area, and a scifi ghost fighting area. Super fun games and stuff all around. The ice cream place was cool because they had a bunch of crazy flavors. Like squid ink, fried chicken, or garlic. As well as normal flavors. Weird thing about ice cream in Japan, rather than vanilla flavor, people tend to really like just "milk" flavored ice cream, which just tastes like creamy ice. Not my favorite, but crazy popular here.

Favorite thing I did had to be the alien/ghost fighting game. You got these headphones, and a "power pack" and had to wander the top floor of Namja town, through small town-like streets, and push buttons to plant bombs that would kill the pod things on the houses that the ghosts came from. If you managed to destroy enough of them with the bombs, you got a small prize at the end. I managed to get 29 of them, but you needed 38 to get the prize. Oh well. Still, super fun.

By the end of the night tonight though, I was totally ready to just sit down anywhere and sleep. We stopped by for some ice cream on the way back to the station and enjoyed the cool contact juggler street performer in Ike. Got back to the lockers at the station to get our stuff out, and there was a guy just passed out and sleeping in front of them. He was okay, but just sleeping there. Tokyo's weird sometimes. Super tired, got home, took and shower and here I am. I'm super glad I don't have class tomorrow. Gonna take the day to chill, do some laundry, and actually finish my flag.

Day 90 - A Day Late

Sorry about my tardiness. This weekend has been a ton of fun, but also ridiculously exhausting. I'm gonna write this like I did it today, but I'm actually writing this Sunday night about Saturday because I'm weird like that.

So, today I got to sleep in a little bit, finally. Then got up to meet up with Tamarra (Tama-chan), Kenna, Colleen, and others for lunch at the curry place. It's pretty much my favorite food here. Tama-chan's class gets out earlier than the others so we ended up sitting and talking and playing video games. It was kinda nice. Kinda wish I'd watched more One Piece though. Oh well. Met people and had lunch. Unfortunately, lunch ran absurdly late. Like, and hour more than anyone expected.

The trip for today was Tama Zoo. I've written about it before, went with Kenna and Tamarra, but Colleen's never been and we didn't get to see the Lions last time because it was raining. Unfortunately, since we ran so late with lunch, we got to the zoo around 3. It closed at 5. So it was extremely tight. Still, I got some lovely pictures of Lions from the little safari lion bus, and we managed to make it all the way to the other side of the park to see the red pandas, which was what Colleen wanted to see. Saw a lot of others along the way. It was an action packed two hours.

The reason I didn't actually finish this post until tonight (sunday) is because Tamarra and I stayed the night at Kenna's homestay and didn't have access to internets. It was lovely though. They have two cats. Only really got to see Kuu-chan, but that was certainly enough for Tama-chan. Got to sit and chat with Kenna's family and be insanely jealous of their chemistry. There's no way I'll get that level of camaraderie with mine before I have to leave. Oh well, she's also had another extra half a year more than me.

We also sat down and subjected Tama-chan to some My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. We've been joking and making references to it for the past month or so, and she's never seen any of it, despite knowing almost more about it than I do. We've been comparing her to Twilight Sparkle, because I know I can trust her to be organized and have a plan for pretty much anything. Watched that and I sewed my flag until about 3 in the morning. Which admittedly was another poor choice.

Went to bed nice and tired, full of Kenna's host mom's delicious Okonomiyaki, and booze, and brain full of ponies.

Day 89 - Late

Sorry for the late post. I stayed up watching One Piece and sewing my flag (finally), so I quickly lost track of time.

I woke up later today because of the rain. Kinda glad the econ prof is still in Kenya, this way I was able to wait til second period to get to school, and by then it'd mostly stopped raining. School was its usual boring fare. Only thing really remotely interesting was this guy Izzy, in my last class, kept using this word "mama-san", which seems pretty tame, until you know that's what they call women who run brothels or bars in Ginza. Yeah… It was fun pointing that out to him.

After school there was this meet-and-greet session with the students from Waseda who are going to Oregon schools. There were quite a few who are going to my school next year. Too bad I won't be there to greet them, lol. Still, it was kinda fun.

Got home today, and Mama greeted me with a manju. Pretty much mochi with bean paste inside. Yuck. Well, it wasn't too bad, but not something I'll want again soon. Finished watching some strange movie with them about a girl that gets kidnapped, and her kidnapper is a better mom than she'd have had anyway. Kinda depressing. Found out that my host sister has done some voice acting? Wanted to watch some, but it's all on VHS and she couldn't figure out how to get the VCR working. Maybe some other time.

And then I stayed up too late. I figured, I'mma be in the park on sunday anyway, may as well finish my flag and take it with, yeah? I'm about a third of the way there now. I wonder if I'll finish in time…

Day 88 - Meh

So, today was pretty boring, too. I thought I had class this morning at 9, and so I went. Turns out my econ prof is in Kenya? I thought he'd just have a sub. No one showed up. I guess we're gonna have make-up classes, but I don't know when. If it's after the 1st, I'm kinda SOL. Hmm…

So, I only ended up having one class today. Spent the rest of my time reading mostly. After school, went with Jenny to a little place near campus, right next to the indian curry place. I go past there every now and then, wondering if it's good. It is. They have this delicious chocolate moose and raspberry dish. Sooooo good.

Came back home pretty quickly, and watched a bunch of One Piece. That's pretty much my world right now, school and one piece, with some touristing around inbetween. It's been in the news that there might be a typhoon tomorrow. Too bad I have to be at school early. Hopefully I'll get an email soon saying it's going to be cancelled…

Day 87 - Past 2/3

I feel like, now that I'm finally getting into the swing of things, getting used to dealing with the weird quirks of Japanese culture, things are moving too fast. I'm on day 87. That means I only have what, a little over 40 days left? I'm past the 2/3 point.

I was hoping last night that the typhoon would continue on through today. No such luck. Unfortunately, because of all the havoc from last night, it was difficult getting to class on time, all the trains were either delayed or cancelled or other bull. I managed to get there just in time, but there were students who got there very late, and some didn't come at all.

Classes themselves were the usual boring fare. Without dance to keep me there until 6, it was difficult to force myself to stay there the whole day. I don't know what it is about Japan, but I've suddenly become a terrible student. Before, the idea of skipping classes horrifies me. Now I'm tempted to skip as many as I can without failing…

While there wasn't a full on typhoon anymore today, it was extremely windy. I decided to wear a skirt, which seems like a bad decision, but it was close enough cut that it didn't cause too much trouble, and I was nice and cool in the breeze.

Came back here and watched a bunch of One Piece. I've started to skip between story lines. I started watching again with Thriller Bark, but couldn't quite remember how/when Robin and Franky joined, so I jumped all the way back to the Alabasta arc to watch some of that. It's a wonderful way to pass the time, while still thinking in Japanese, so when my host family gets home, I'm usually enough in the mindset still to be able to converse passably.

I got to meet a new person. I think her name was Ana? Japanese. I had this whole confusing text conversation with Mama and ended up meeting them late. It felt awful. Oh well. Got to go out to dinner and eat some normal-ish italian food. Hooray. Conversation was stilted and awkward between me and Ana(?) but Mama's always eager to fill any empty spaces. She's also pretty pushy. The restaurant is really popular with the local college crowd because it's close and it's pretty cheap, and naturally it got a little loud. Mama insisted on telling a server to ask them all to keep it down. I felt embarrassed for him. There was no way he'd be able to control the noise level. Well, I guess it was mostly she just wanted her opinion heard. But she's kinda harsh sometimes.

Got home, took a quick shower, and here I am. My econ teacher for my first class tomorrow is still in Kenya (?) I guess? So I'm not sure if I should go to class. I can't be "absent" to any more, really, but there's not going to be someone there to take attendance. I kinda just wanna get out of the house early, watch his pre-taped video, and dick around campus for my one other class. I'll decide in the morning.

Day 86 - Typhooooooon

So, today was pretty tame. Got up nice and late, dicked around on the internet until it was time for school. Met up with Kenny to give him homework he missed out on. It was a little overcast and sprinkley all day. Went to classes. Found out I did about as good as I thought on my Business Honorifics midterm. Oh well. Lit was boring, but I managed to stay awake somehow. Headed right home after classes and got here about 6.

The typhoon hit in full force about 7:30.

Mama had already made it home, thankfully, and we had a simple dinner. All the while, wind was pounding the windows and rain torrenting down. I was more than a little afraid for Yuri and Rio. Yuri got here first, about 9, and Rio about an hour after. Rio was soaking wet. Not much an umbrella can do if the rain is falling sideways. I checked the Waseda website and the latest classes today were cancelled. I'm wondering/hoping that all classes tomorrow will be cancelled if this keeps up. Mama said they usually get cancelled in cases of typhoons…

Day 85 - Under the Sea

I tried so hard today, really. I went and plugged in my camera battery last night, had my camera on my bed with my phone and ipod, so I would put everything in purse this morning before leaving. Unfortunately, I forgot to put the battery back into the camera. Ugh. I'm hopeless.

The plan today was to go to Ueno Zoo, but unfortunately we forgot that it's actually closed on Mondays. Whoooops. So instead we went to another aquarium called the Tokyo Sea Life Park. Good thing, too, it was ridiculously hot today. I really need more shorts. I was sweating so hard, even inside with the airconditioning. I was not made for Japanese summer muggy heat.

They had this amazing, huge tank where tuna swam around, it was lovely. I managed to snap a few photos with my ipod, but they're pretty crap quality compared to what I'd get if I'd had my camera. Next time, I swear. The fish there seemed almost as interested in us as we were in them. Very active. Here's a few of the pics I took:

All in all, it was a lovely day. This place was really close to disneyland, and we could see it peaking out over the trees, taunting us all day. There was a nice ferris wheel there, too, and huge. It was like, more than 500 feet tall, I think is what they said? Well, after some calculations. 170 meters, is what they actually said. But I managed to get Tamarra to go on it, despite her fear of heights. We got a lovely view of Tokyo. Could see the Sky Tree, as well as a lovely view of Disney. I was so tempted to just go anyway. But didn't. We probably will go again at some point soon though. Anyway, that's about it for today. Gonna sleep early today so I can enjoy a cool morning before it heats up here again.