続ける

It is getting harder and harder to write in this everyday.

Basically I only had class on Monday and Tuesday this week. Wednesday I have no class, Thursday Japanese classes were cancelled, and Friday was a holiday. I really should have gone somewhere outside of Tokyo, but that was bad planning on my part. During the days off I just relaxed and hung out with friends.

Saturday I went with Sheung and Keaton to Takaosan. It's basically a popular mountain that you can reach by going all the way to the end of the Keio line. That being said, it is also a very popular spot as it is so close. There were tons of people there. Being the hardcore mountain climbers that we are, we climbed all the way to the top instead of taking the tram. It was well worth it. We got to see so much of nature. A cliff going up to the left of you, and down to the right of you is a pretty cool sight. I was very surprised by the amount of older people climbing the mountain. There were old ladies walking up with their canes! Upon reaching the top we were all famished. Everyone there had brought their own food and were having picnics at the top. We settled for some snacks to tide us over till we returned home. It took about an hour and a half to get to the top, and another hour to get back down. It was a lot of fun.

Today I did some homework in the morning then headed off to visit my old host family. I was very surprised when I remembered how to get to their house. I guess walking it every day for a month will do that. They were all really glad to see me. The first impression was that my Japanese was tons better than it was before. They said that they could speak a lot more freely now that I could understand more words and phrases. We ate dinner together and talked about all the things that have happened between then and now. They have not changed at all. The kids are still studying at school and the parents are still as quirky as ever. I was very glad to see them once again.

My Fun for the Week

First off I need to say that I bought tickets for Daft Punk in December. It is going to be a huge event at the same place where Ceatec was held. I am really excited.

Friday night was insane. The plan was to meet at Shoko's after class, chill for a little bit, then hit up a club. This was all going to be for the sake of Asuka as she is one of the coolest girls we have met. She has also never been to a club as she is still a couple months too young. In the morning I decided that I wanted to buy some headgear. Originally I wanted to get some cat ears so I went to Don Quixote to check out the selection. There were only a couple of different kinds so I decided on some different headgear.



I was the first one to arrive at Shoko's place. We talked for maybe 30 minutes until the rest of the gang started showing up. The pre-game party was a blast. I am truly surprised that we made it out the door. A lot of the people did not really want to leave, but for Shoko and Asuka's sake, they did. We went to Roppongi. I had never been to Roppongi before, but from what I have heard, it is a pretty sketchy place. Apparently it is the hotspot for foreigners as well as all sorts of other bad stuff. We went to this dance club / bar called Gaspanic. While it is free to get in, you are supposed to have a drink in your hand or nearby at all times. I guess that is how they make their money. Anyway, we stayed up all night dancing. The night consisted of a combination of good and bad music. Each hour they changed the style whether it was for good or bad. I left with Steven at around 6 in the morning to head home. By that time, everyone else had left.

Today I woke up at 3ish, surprisingly well rested. I met up with Shoko, Adam, and Nikki for dinner. I just got home on the last train of the night.

勉強したくないぞ！

明日は忙しいなー。たくさん宿題があるし、４つの授業もあるし。今勉強したくない！源氏物語の宿題は一番つまらないだ。火曜日に宿題をしなかった。ローリ先生はうれしくなかった。僕の本はわかりにくい。一枚を読んで、ぜんぜんわからなくて、もう一度読まなくちゃいけないよ。大変だなー。日本語のためにスキットを覚えなくちゃ。１週間があったけれども始めなかった。時間がない！

昨日ヴァソとケープナー先生と一緒に昼ご飯を食べた。原宿でメキシコ料理を食べた。レストランの名前を忘れちゃったでも、その場所を覚えている。色々なことをしゃべた。例えばホーストファミリや生き方など。

その夜、ケースウエスタンレザブ大学の卒業した人の会議を行った。それも楽しかった。

So yesterday I had lunch with Don (our resident director) and Vaso in Harajuku. We went to a Mexican place with tacos, quesadillas, and nachos. Mexican food places are very rare in Japan for some reason. We had a pretty good talk about homestays, classes, and the like.

For dinner I met up with Vaso, Mike, Mieon, and Aaron for the CWRU Alumni Association dinner. I got to meet Dr. Eastwood and a couple other people for the second time in Japan. I also got to meet our president Barbara Snyder. I got my picture with her :)



The biggest perk about going was the excellent food and wine. They had some pretty exquisite crab, nikuman, and sushi. I was very pleased.

Today I have been studying almost all day. I took a break to attend the Super Mario Club at around 3 or so. I got to play Mario Galaxy! It is very nostalgic, but feels gimicky at the same time. The sweetest part was when I played with the Nunchuck and Vaso played with the wii remote. I moved around and crouched, while he was in charge of jumping and attacking. It worked out rather well and we suprisingly did not die at all.

Nakano

I went to Nakano again today for some Super Famicom shopping. I ended up buying a whole bunch of games. I found 3 different shops that had varying numbers of old games. It seems that if a shop only has a shelf of Famicom games, they are usually 100 yen or so cheaper than the huge stores. It really pays to look around! Speaking of which, there are a couple of games that I have not spotted yet. The biggest one being Mother 2. I need to buy that game. Period.

In other news, I got my cell phone bill recently. For the entire month it was 3,500 yen. Not too bad if you ask me. From here on out, I will not be using any of the extra services (internet, music, etc.) I am hoping that I can cut that bill in half for next month.

I have been going to the supermarket a lot in the past week or so. I cherish the moments at home when I can just get out a piece of bread and start chowing down. On the instant side of things, I found my new favorite food: instant yaki-soba. In theory, it sounds like a terrible idea. Since it is instant, the noodles cannot be fried which is the whole point of yaki-soba. I believe it is better than ramen because there are twice as many noodles, and it is a lot more flavorful. After making the noodles, you put in some sauce, green flakes, and mayo. It tastes nothing like actual yaki-soba, but whatever the strange taste is, it is really good. I picked up a bunch of them for my lunches when I stay at home.

Trying Not to be Lazy

It has been a while since I posted anything decent. Life has just been going on.

Yesterday was really fun. After class I played my PSP in the lounge. I finally got the firmware flashed so I can play old PS1 games on my PSP. It is so nice to be able to play something like FF7 on my way to school every morning. Keaton joined me for a little bit with his DS. Afterwards I took Shoko to the best Tsukemen shop in Tokyo. It is called Yasubee and I have probably mentioned it somewhere before. Surprisingly, it was not at all crowded, very weird for a Friday night.

After dinner Shoko had to leave and I had 1 hour to kill. Needless to say, I went to the Big Box in Baba to play some games. 250 yen kept me occupied for the entire hour with a game of gundam, DDR, and Pop'n Music. I met up with Micheal and the gang in Baba station to head toward Shinjuku. The destination, Kabuki-cho theaters. The reason, Resident Evil 3. It is a very good thing that I know my way around Shinjuku. Nobody else had any clue. The price to get in was only a little more than what it would be back in the states. The reason for this is the Japanese subtitles I believe. In any case, the movie was pretty bad. There was no plot until the last 20 minutes or so, which is also the highlight of the movie. There were not too many zombie encounters, which is the entire point of the series.

I also ended up going to Shibuya all night clubbing with Vaso, Rienzo, Kyohei, and Shun Shun. It was my job to round up people to go with us, but nobody from my group wanted to go. They just went home instead. It was probably for the better. We ended up going to Club Asia. The music in all 3 rooms was a techno / trance / drum'n bass mix. I absolutely love that kind of music, but the DJ's were really bad. Two of the rooms were not loud or dark enough to have a good time, and the other had way too much bass. On top of that, there were simply not enough people. We danced for a good 2 hours or so and then decided to leave. I would like to go again, but to a different club with more people. Rienzo is going to work something out with Ageha (supposedly the most famous and biggest club in Asia). I got home this morning and slept.

サボった

今朝日本語の授業へ行ったけど、５減の授業をサボった。

Too tired to type this in Japanese. Actually, I think I am really too tired to post much at all. I am going to do some homework now.

Squall