OCTOBER 20
It’s raining. A lot. On the day I need to do laundry
and get some shopping done. I’m going to go hang out in Rachael’s room until it
clears up a bit…
Great news!! My search was successful! Rachael and I
biked to Donki to start our shopping. I had hoped to find a pair of Dickies shorts
because I needed a pair for our dance uniforms at the festival. Really, I was
the most worried about the size, since I had no idea what I would fit in— for
one, they are men’s pants, so I couldn’t figure out the sizing. Secondly, I
didn’t even think there was a size big enough for me (based on the waist/hip
measures listed). But, I found the shorts and tried them on (over my pants in
the aisle cause there was no dressing room, haha!) I’m still a size 16, I
think, but the size 36 pants fit. A little snug, but they fit. The store only
had grey however, so I had to contact the group coordinator and give him my
size to order the shorts. I decided a bag 38 would look better for hip hop than
a snug 36.
With the first and most important leg of my search
complete I proceeded to shop. I found a nabe (ceramic cooking pot) that
serves up to eight people. Just in time for my nabe party tomorrow. Then
I bought some non-white sheets to replace the ones we received with the
bedding. White just gets dirty too easily.
Rachael and I returned to the apartment and soon Joy
joined us to go eat dinner. They place they usually ate at, and recommended,
was oddly on vacation that day, but we still wanted Chinese food. We settled
for a small chain restaurant near our apartment called Osho. Surprise,
surprise, most everything had pork, so all I could order was rice and the
veggie mix. They also use too much black pepper— one of the few seasonings that
I am not a huge fan of. After eating at Kinrai in Toyohashi, my Chinese food
standards are a lot higher right now, even if it’s technically not real
Chinese. Osho doesn’t cut it.
OCTOBER 21
Cleaned my room the best I could in the morning
because after class we are going to have a nabe party! With my bed frame
folded up, and futon tucked under my desk, there is actually enough room for
people to sit comfortably on the floor.
Once our classes were over we made the essential stop
at MaxValu to grab ingredients for our nabe. It’s not really a soup, but
that’s the closest comparison I can make. Once the initial broth and vegetables
are prepared, then you cook the nabe in rounds, always changing the
amounts of meat, or vegetables, or other ingredients such as noodles, tofu, and
egg. The seven of us went through 3 rounds, and when we split the bill for
groceries, it came to about 800 yen per person. That was due in most part to
the fact we bought one expensive pack of beef for 1500 yen, while normal packs
were 400 yen. It was darn good beef though.
OCTOBER 22
Not too much going on today. I finished my surveys
yesterday, so it’s just a matter of inputting all the data and making a report.
Two years ago, there as a milk tea incident while we
were in Kyoto. Incident may be a stretch, but let’s just say, it gave me a
stomach ache. Today, I drank lemon milk tea. Same result. Conclusion, milk tea
doesn’t like me. Because of the tea I couldn’t eat during lunch, so I waited
until I went home to prepare for dance to eat an early dinner.
OCTOBER 23
I think it’s time that you all know that when I try to
plan something, it usually doesn’t go as planned.
Today, it was Rachael’s birthday. So I made a plan to
surprise her. I secretly invited our friends to meet us at the Curry restaurant
at 6pm; in theory, I would arrive with Rachael and they would all be waiting.
Well, one of the girls had class until 6pm, so I
stayed at campus to wait for her while Rachael went ahead with the others. I
don’t know how surprised she was because I was the one who ended up arriving
late. Overall, 14 people did show up, which was a few too many to sit in any
one section of the restaurant. As a result, Mark, Jason, Totoro and I ended up
sitting at the opposite end of the restaurant. Judging by Rachael’s laughing I
think she enjoyed herself. That’s what matters.
OCTOBER 24
We, the new International students, are throwing our
first party tonight! It’s actually a test party for next week’s Halloween
party. I was at dance practice until 7pm so we held the party in Joy’s room.
There was quite a few people so you really couldn’t move, just sit there and
snack, and talk, and drink. Of course, drinking people turn into loud people.
Apparently, one of our neighbors didn’t appreciate that so they called the
cops. When they came everyone got really quite, but they just gave us a warning
that at that time of night it was better to have a party elsewhere. My mood was
dampened, but the party continued at a lower level. Once the party withered
down to only a few people I actually had the chance to hold a conversation.
Small groups are much easier to deal with than big ones. Next week will be
interesting…
OCTOBER 25
Class. Nap. Hang out in the library with “the cool
kids”. Hang out in Mark’s room with “the cool kids”. Day complete.
OCTOBER 26
The ESS’s party was canceled due to weather - aka
another “typhoon”. Just a lot of wind and some rain here and there. Instead,
Joy, Rachael and I hung out all day. First, we tried to pay our insurance, but
we hadn’t actually received the bill, just a notification of an upcoming bill.
So we grabbed a snack from MaxValu; I could smell the garlic bread once I got
in the store, I had to have it! It was freshly made and delicious.
After that we biked to Donki. I decided to by some
under armor-esque clothing while it was still on sale. There was also a mark
down on a clothing rack, from 2999 yen to 999 yen, perfect for drying clothes
on rainy days. The problem was, it was a relatively long box, so I had to hold
it at my side as we went home on bikes and in very strong wind. I managed to
stay on the path, but I’m pretty sure that every old guy on the street was
trying to run into me (please stay in your lane, sir!)
We also made
plans to go to Karaoke that night. But since it was cheaper to go from 10pm we
needed to kill some time. The three of us went to Elephant’s Nest, a British
pub where our friend Shin works. In the Halloween spirit, he was dressed like a
zombie, and his coworker was a nurse. Kentaro also stopped by and we stayed
waiting for Shin to get off work, which wasn’t until 1am. By that time, the
French girls, who were going to meet us at karaoke, went home. Understandably,
since we kept them waiting. Then Kentaro, Shin and his coworkers decided to go
to a club instead, so we passed on karaoke for the night and headed home.
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