Day 18 - Getting hard to think of interesting names

I've come to the conclusion that Japanese sinks are just too damn small, and their water pressure is too damn high. I've washed my hands a number of times today, and each time, no matter how careful, I managed to soak my shirt and get water everywhere. It's stupid. The one greatest thing about Japanese bathrooms is the heated toilet seats. I can't say how many times I've appreciated sitting on a heated seat in this freezing house.

Only had two classes today. The first was Economic Development, and second was "Learning Japanese through Activities". I heard back from my advisor, and it seems that this Econ class will count for my Econ requirement that I need for my major. That, along with the word that the Literature and Arts class I'm taking works for the "Arts and Letters" requirement (I'd be disappointed if it didn't), means that as long as I pass those two classes, I'm graduating when I get back home! Horay!

Class itself was pretty dull. The Econ prof. actually bothered to show up this time, but was a little… higgledypiggledy. He couldn't keep on topic, or couldn't really create a flow of topic that was easy to follow. I took a lot of notes. I just hope it'll be enough.

Japanese was equally uneventful. We're doing this kind of weird activity where we do a self introduction, but only use three main words that are important to us. Then have people ask questions. I didn't go today, but I guess we're doing it next week as well? Don't wanna… Mine's gonna be pretty lame.

The interesting part of today was the health check. Waseda requires that its students go through a health check each year in order to use their health center and exercise facilities. They've got procedure down to an art, and I can really appreciate the efficiency of their process. I was able to do the whole process and be out in less than an hour. If I spoke better Japanese, or had done it before, it probably would have been even faster. The tests included a chest x-ray, height and weight measurements, eye exam, and blood pressure test, then a short consultation at the end with information about on campus facilities, and information about your general health. It was relatively painless, and quick enough for the number of people streaming in and out of there.

I'm getting a little tired of all the people staring at me here. It's something I'm going to have to get used to, but for now it just is uncomfortable. It just makes me feel super self-conscious. The walk home today, while nice because of the weather, was slightly dampened by the crowd of Meiji University students I had to wade through, amongst whispers of "gaijin" "gaijin". I hear it enough on campus, too. It's okay usually, but I guess someone came up to an OUS member yesterday while we were at the Hanami yesterday, and told them to "Go home, Gaijin". It just kinda sucks. I wanna ask that guy why he felt it necessary to be so rude. It's just one of those weird dichotomies of Japanese culture. On the otherhand, I live next to a sports-focused highschool, and could hear them practicing to Lady Gaga and Ke$ha…

There was another, much smaller earthquake today at about eight-thirty. It was a little exciting, but makes me wonder what I'd do if there were a more drastic one. I didn't really react here. Would I later on? I hope so. On another subject of natural stuff, there's supposed to be another typhoon tomorrow. Starting in the east, and moving up through honshu as the day progresses. It's not supposed to hit Tokyo 'til later, but I don't wanna get stuck if the trains stop running like they did last time. And it's possible it could run into saturday and ruin some fun plans. Oh well, only time can tell. I keep telling myself to be more patient.