One Piece, Shopping, House

I've spent most of the day playing catch up on my show watching. Saw eps 174-177 of One Piece (I was expecting a lot less Chopper fighting in this arc, but they wouldn't leave him alone!). I'll most likely watch even more of it tomorrow since I'm in the middle of one of those epic battle scenes that One Piece is so very good at (I should also note that these eps were the first where I've 1) really appreciated Robin as a fighter and 2) appreciated her as an archaeologist.).

I then skipped out to go explore Ube, which meant driving around a lot and stopping in at stores that looked interesting. This worked very well, or perhaps very badly for me in that I found Book Off, which meant the inevitable spending of money (picked up I, Robot and King Arthur for about $5 each) and won some tasty snacks in one of those customer prize drawings the Japanese are so fond of. I then got even more lost exploring until I finally found a road I recognized and made my way back home. I then went out to explore my own neighborhood on foot - it's actually pretty cool. All windy, narrow streets and Japanese houses that are such odd mixtures of old and new. They don't seem to believe in insullation here so you could hear everything as you walked by, and smell all the different dinners being cooked. There are tons of small and large gardens scattered about as well and it's all on undulating hills so I had a beautiful view of the sunset (even if it was setting over one of the many industrial factories around here).

Evening saw me watching this week's House (that heart scene at the very beginning makes me very nostalgic for the Franklin Institute), and all I really have to say is that you'd have to be insane to play poker against House. Afterwards was the Dr. Who Confidential - From This Year On (or whatever the title was) which was kinda boring, but had some moments of interest. I've missed hearing British accents. Obviously, I need to rectify this with watching copious amounts of British comedy, or, you know, the new Dr. Who.

It feels a bit weird that I'm not celebrating either Passover or Easter this year (not that I'd have noticed if everyone hadn't been talking about it anyway, but I do usually celebrate them when I notice they're happening). I should perhaps use this as an excuse to eat chocolate and drink wine...

One Piece, Shopping, House

I've spent most of the day playing catch up on my show watching. Saw eps 174-177 of One Piece (I was expecting a lot less Chopper fighting in this arc, but they wouldn't leave him alone!). I'll most likely watch even more of it tomorrow since I'm in the middle of one of those epic battle scenes that One Piece is so very good at (I should also note that these eps were the first where I've 1) really appreciated Robin as a fighter and 2) appreciated her as an archaeologist.).

I then skipped out to go explore Ube, which meant driving around a lot and stopping in at stores that looked interesting. This worked very well, or perhaps very badly for me in that I found Book Off, which meant the inevitable spending of money (picked up I, Robot and King Arthur for about $5 each) and won some tasty snacks in one of those customer prize drawings the Japanese are so fond of. I then got even more lost exploring until I finally found a road I recognized and made my way back home. I then went out to explore my own neighborhood on foot - it's actually pretty cool. All windy, narrow streets and Japanese houses that are such odd mixtures of old and new. They don't seem to believe in insullation here so you could hear everything as you walked by, and smell all the different dinners being cooked. There are tons of small and large gardens scattered about as well and it's all on undulating hills so I had a beautiful view of the sunset (even if it was setting over one of the many industrial factories around here).

Evening saw me watching this week's House (that heart scene at the very beginning makes me very nostalgic for the Franklin Institute), and all I really have to say is that you'd have to be insane to play poker against House. Afterwards was the Dr. Who Confidential - From This Year On (or whatever the title was) which was kinda boring, but had some moments of interest. I've missed hearing British accents. Obviously, I need to rectify this with watching copious amounts of British comedy, or, you know, the new Dr. Who.

It feels a bit weird that I'm not celebrating either Passover or Easter this year (not that I'd have noticed if everyone hadn't been talking about it anyway, but I do usually celebrate them when I notice they're happening). I should perhaps use this as an excuse to eat chocolate and drink wine...

Who do I have to kill in this country to get a pack of index cards?

Seriously, all I want are some square/rectangular pieces of paper that are thick enough so as not to be see through when I hold them up, is that so much to ask? *despairs* I don't suppose anyone would be willing to send me some index cards so I can make Apples to Apples for my students to play?

Went on an easter egg hunt today, or rather, went hunting for chocolate eggs/bunnies so I can spend my class time tomorrow explaining Easter to the kiddies. I had little hope, but oddly enough I found chocolate eggs (filled with weird sugary shapes, but chocolate eggs nonetheless). I headed over to Shimonseki an hour early so that I could shop in the massive mall complex next to the station. Almost got my hopes up upon finding an actual store selling posters, but they were (oddly enough) the usual college poster selection and there was nothing interesting *pouts* (I'm on a search for good posters for my tatami room).

Japanese class went well. The helper teacher ended up sitting next to me, which was part annoying (just because she spoke faster than me and right in my ear) and part good since she could answer my questions right away. She was also the third J. person to compliment me on my handwriting in hiragana, which leads me to believe that I either have good handwriting, or I have good handwriting for a foreigner *L* I really do need to up my vocabulary for that class. The grammar is easy (which is weird, since I could have sworn I didn't learn much grammar over the past two years) but there's so many words (mostly adjectives and verbs) they use that I don't know. Need to learn body parts and animals too *sigh* It is nice to go there and socialize a bit, though I have to run right afterwards if I want to catch the train *pout*

Oh, and I've truly arrived in Japan - today I was oggled by a salaryman on the train.

And I really wish I hadn't listened to so much dance music on my mp3 player (or this song come to think of it) since now I really want to dance and there's no handy ceilidhs around to use up my energy in.

Who do I have to kill in this country to get a pack of index cards?

Seriously, all I want are some square/rectangular pieces of paper that are thick enough so as not to be see through when I hold them up, is that so much to ask? *despairs* I don't suppose anyone would be willing to send me some index cards so I can make Apples to Apples for my students to play?

Went on an easter egg hunt today, or rather, went hunting for chocolate eggs/bunnies so I can spend my class time tomorrow explaining Easter to the kiddies. I had little hope, but oddly enough I found chocolate eggs (filled with weird sugary shapes, but chocolate eggs nonetheless). I headed over to Shimonseki an hour early so that I could shop in the massive mall complex next to the station. Almost got my hopes up upon finding an actual store selling posters, but they were (oddly enough) the usual college poster selection and there was nothing interesting *pouts* (I'm on a search for good posters for my tatami room).

Japanese class went well. The helper teacher ended up sitting next to me, which was part annoying (just because she spoke faster than me and right in my ear) and part good since she could answer my questions right away. She was also the third J. person to compliment me on my handwriting in hiragana, which leads me to believe that I either have good handwriting, or I have good handwriting for a foreigner *L* I really do need to up my vocabulary for that class. The grammar is easy (which is weird, since I could have sworn I didn't learn much grammar over the past two years) but there's so many words (mostly adjectives and verbs) they use that I don't know. Need to learn body parts and animals too *sigh* It is nice to go there and socialize a bit, though I have to run right afterwards if I want to catch the train *pout*

Oh, and I've truly arrived in Japan - today I was oggled by a salaryman on the train.

And I really wish I hadn't listened to so much dance music on my mp3 player (or this song come to think of it) since now I really want to dance and there's no handy ceilidhs around to use up my energy in.