Again I’m late… no excuse, really.
It was another round of not-really-exciting weeks for the most part. I was in Choshi again for the 7th and the 8th to do test assessments. One of the classes was cancelled, so I’m actually heading back in a couple of hours so we can get that one class done tomorrow, and then my time in Choshi is done.
Here’s me on a bus! Marvel at my British nose!
The weather was really nice in Choshi on the 7th, so when I went to get lunch, I had it outside.
A katsu-and-cheese sandwich from the little bakery near the station. Very good, nice price (especially compared to Sunkus. I never want to see another Sunkus again.)
Here was the kicker – shoyu (soy sauce) ice cream!
Sounds disgusting, right? But it was really, really good, one of the best ice creams I’ve had. If you’ve ever had dango, with the soy sauce syrup, it tasted like that syrup. If you haven’t, it tasted a lot like caramel, only deeper and richer and a bit saltier. It was soooo good and I’m going to go get another one tonight or tomorrow to enjoy it.
On the 8th and the 9th, there was the GazettE’s “Ōmiya 2days” part of their current tour. I went to both days, and you can read my entries about them here (the 8th) and here (the 9th). I’m no good at live reports, since I basically just give my impressions and some of the highlights, but you can hear some of it, lol.
I met Ren at the concert on the 9th, and we’re keeping in touch through Twitter, e-mail, and mixi. It’s so nice to have a Japanese friend to talk to, even if we’re not super-close at the moment. :3
(Also, Lolitas are really really boring. I dislike being at a live next to a Lolita now. No energy whatsoever! All the Lolitas at the first day just stood there during the live, didn’t participate at all before during or after. Really. Come on now.)
On the 10th I was on my way back to Choshi (nothing happened to report) and then I was back for the weekend.
Last week, I was in Kashima with Taylor. We were going to different places so we really only saw each other at night for dinner, and maybe at breakfast if our departure times were close to the same. But it was fun, and it was nice to not be there all by myself.
This was a pretty standard breakfast. Eggs, sausage, asparagus, salmon, bran flakes, rice, and some rolls. Orange or apple juice.
We went out to a second-hand store that was about a third of a mile from the hotel (maybe half a mile?) just for the fun of it and I found THIS GUITAR. OMG.
It was in gorgeous condition.
So beautiful~
(New model from official site, in case you’re wondering.)
Dinner the first night was this:
Just some shoyu ramen at the food court of the supermarket next to the hotel. Very good~
I’ve tried shio, miso, and shoyu ramen now, and shio is still my favourite. Because I’m an old person like that, I guess. It’s very simple and clean and light. Miso is probably my second favourite, because it’s a bit bolder and spicy. Shoyu is just… like what you get with the 25-cent ramen at the store. No fun, just plain.
Dinner the second night was this:
Curry udon with a fried satsumaima, one of my favourite treats.
Dinner the third night,
we ended up walking probably two miles to Sukiya for dinner one night just because Yoshinoya didn’t have curry available (WUUUUUTTTT)
Buy a Sukiya Kewpie strap. No thanks.
I got the yakitori curry bowl. Very good, very spicy. ( *｀ω´)ゞ
I’M SUKIYA.
Passed a large hotel and wedding hall on our way to and from Sukiya (this was a landmark telling us we walked way too far, haha.) It was so pretty, but I was a moron and forgot my actual camera that night so I could only take iPod quality photos. >_<
Thanks Taylor.
I was bored lol.
PUB MATENROU. 8D -shot for being a dork-
It’s Christmastime in Japan (unfortunately) and the hotel had these lovely faux-trees up all over to celebrate.
A student at the school I went to assess on Friday gave me this. x3 Aww.
The whiteboard of the English room! Cute.
Random things:
I never did show you guys my really awesome vacuum. Here it is, and it was only 2400! So small and simple but very nice. I’m bringing this baby back with me. I’m going to get my whole money’s worth out of it.
My earphones died so I got new ones. This model was called “mame” because of the bean-shape of the phone. Cute. And they’re very comfy! ( *｀ω´)
This was my quick and easy powerfood after the concerts. It’s rice with sausages and egg cooked in miso soup. poured over the top Sounds gross but it was really really good.
More kabocha sukiyaki! I bet you didn’t see this one coming! This time I added egg to the mix though.
Japanese strawberry jam. This stuff is legit. It’s soooo good.
Chocolate snack~
Katsu sandwich. Not my favourite, but it was hearty and filling and got me through the day.
Mugi choco! So basically what this is is… puffed barley covered in chocolate 8D Soooo good.
I didn’t think to take this photo until I was over halfway up, but this is one of the escalators in Tokyo Station that’s about five stories tall. xD You get vertigo.
This guy was on the train with me for a bit. He looks like he should be some VK artist or something… he looked and sounded really familiar. xD Maybe I’m just imagining things. But he was super-cute.
Yesterday Taylor and I went to walk to the nearest Aeon mall, which formerly was in the next city over, but since Hatogaya no longer exists, the mall is technically now in our city. It was about a 3-3.5 km walk in the pouring rain xD But it was good, we had a lot of fun. We stopped into the music store to look around and I found these:
Just trays and trays of them. xD
Unfortunately they didn’t have any of Reita’s or Hizaki’s or Teru’s, but I’ll just check around all the music stores I can find and see if I can’t come across some of those other ones. Bought these ones to make jewelry and such, what fun~
I have just over a month left in Japan. My schedule is full basically right up until I go. The last few days I’ve been feeling pretty distant from myself and not like myself at all… the real me is light-hearted, fun, good humoured, excited for every little thing because it means a new adventure. Lugging a heavy suitcase and a backpack through crowded Tokyo Station? Exciting! Look around and see what you can see! Go to a school full of children? What will this school be like? Are the kids outgoing or shy?
I know that may come as a shock to most of you because normally I’m not that way. That’s because normally I’m stressed with school, with work, with life. But since I’ve been here, I’ve been in an environment condusive to my behaviour, my personality, my personal growth, and everyone I’ve worked with has been worried to see how down I’ve been the past few days. I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was the moving around, the odd hours, the poor meals (lots of convenience store food, not healthy and not self-esteem helpful) and the lack of exercise and availability of what I enjoy. Homework is probably also not helping – I’ve just been told I have a whole new load to do in the next month that I didn’t know existed, and I will be writing back to say that what is not on the signed contract is what I will not do, just because I simply don’t have the time or energy.
That being said, I think it’s a mixture of all these stresses that has been putting me down. I’ve been grumpy, quick-tempered, unenergetic, hardly able to get up in the morning and make it through work. Hopefully now that I’ll be back at home during my evenings, though, hopefully I’ll get back up and feeling better. After yesterday, the long walk in the rain and a good hot homemade meal and an hour of vigorous exercise, and a full night of sleep in my own bed, I feel much better. But I’m also clinging to the parts of myself that are still normal; my companions and friends here in Japan, whom I can talk to and banter with and generally just be that light-hearted and good-humoured person that naturally I am and that has blossomed here. That’s helped, and the interaction has helped.
I can only hope that it gets strong enough that I can still maintain it when I get back to America, because there’s a whole lot back there ready to quash it. I don’t want to lose this light self I have here, this confident and inspired person. So I still have to work hard so that I’ll be okay.
It’s been a long time since I wrote about myself, and I think soon I’ll write an entry just about me and my thoughts and my feelings. I can only pray that I’ll be able to managed to convey what I wish to convey.
Looking on to next week. I’ll push ahead with my head high and do my best to keep it that way.
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