katekat1010

I admit it, I dropped the posting ball!  Because I'm actually back home, and have been for a day or so.  Jet lag is either catching up with me or hopefully almost done with me - I slept twelve hours last night and when I woke up I still felt like I could sleep some more.

My last couple of days in Tokyo were filled with preparation - for the end of the semester, for my two finals, and for the trip home.  A month in Tokyo was perfect - I was ready to either get on the plane or stay there (and since getting on the plane was my option ... *grin*).  Finals were taken on Friday,  questions answered in both classes, oral exam discussed, all of that good stuff, and then I headed back to the apt to pack and rest a little.  Because even though they're summer classes I actually put some effort into them and I wanted to do well! 

Saturday night was the perfect ending to this whole journey - I met Gabriel and his friend for kaitenzushi and then later drinks in Ni-choume, we had a fantastic time and mostly ignored the boys hitting on Gabriel and talked goofy fantastic stuff until we needed to catch our trains.  I can honestly say that one of the things that made this summer trip so great was having Gabriel as a companion. 

So, good friends, great classes, a school that actually had interesting activities and me better able to manage myself (since I think last year I didn't say no when I should have) and it all combined to equal greatness (well, greatness with a dirty bathroom.  *grin*)

( the last of the piccies!! )

Coming home was a wonderful blur - I got to the airport early but not as early as I thought since I had to repack my suitcase twice to get it under the weight limit, and then it was 10 hours in a middle seat on the airplane with two crying children in the rows in front of me (thus I did not sleep - but watched movies with the sound turned way way up).  Getting off the plane in LA my darling M was there to pick me up and whisk me away to the Malibu Beach House (and yes, it really was in Malibu, it really was on the beach, and it really was absolutely wonderful).  It's a tradition that the house gets rented every summer by our friends or their parents, and this summer was no different.  I got on the porch, was handed a round of hugs, and then a drink, and we watched the waves roll in as the bbq got warm.  I may not have been able to string a coherent sentence together, but I cannot imagine a better place to ... not string coherent sentences together.

That night M put me to bed and left me a key, and I got to wake up and have breakfast the next morning with M2 and then hop on the air shuttle for ... that most wonderful of places... home.

It's 12 midnight my time, and I'm supposed to be in bed, sleeping, so I'm doing a drive by post with links instead of full thoughts.  Will come back, soon!

Monday afternoon I saw two kabuki performances at KABUKI-ZA!!  Kabuki rocks when there are demons in it!

Tuesday I ran down to Akihabara for more kaiten-zushi (see previous post for link to that) and some present buying, then went to an Izukaiya with my rommie B and ate bite size chicken skin and livers and stuff and had my first sake in Japan on this trip

Wednesday was my last tutoring session, and after I took myself off to Yasukuni Jinja and found the best thing about the place, for me, was the little koi garden in the back.  (pictures forthcoming, promise).  After that I went to Ikebukuro for my first American fast food in Japan - KFC and did some shopping and met a school friend H for coffee and cigarettes.

THEN, I spent the rest of the night reading our homework assignment for class and:

EVERYONE INTERESTED IN ALTERNATIVE FICTION (i'm talking new forms of writing), please check this out - it was a sensation in Japan.  It's a supposedly true story from a single-men's BBS (online forum) in Japan - this guy was worried about asking a girl out on a date.  The BBS of single men (they call themselves poison men because they're the kind of guys who, here, are expecting to be geeky confirmed bachelors their entire lives) gave advice to the guy and basically coached / followed his story.  So, this happened on a forum right?  Well, the owner / mod of the forum compiled the threads into one single narrative, and then it was consumed by millions in Japan.  AND THEN.  they printed a book that is the *exact* same thing you can get on line... and know what?  It sold in the MILLIONS.  I sound like add copy, but it blows me away that the thing that most of us take for granted is our daily life online ... and it was published as a  new form of media and not only sold, but was one of the most popular books of the year here.  Also?  A TV series AND a Movie and I think also a manga and WHOAH.  That's a lot of readers.

I want to write more about alternative writing forms, but have to stop gushing.  Check it out here:  TRAIN MAN  電車男

Today!  Today G & I got together after my class and went to Ueno Park: the National Museum, and also the old black market of Japan that used to be right next door (it's now not a black market, but a market, still!).  And I had falafel that was FANTASTIC and should be on a show about Tokyo - a $5 falafel.  MMMM.  Then we finally, after two previous abortive attempts, saw the new Batman movie and ... well, it just about blew the top of my head off with the goodness.  Even though I was supposed to go home right after we stopped and got some food so that we could discuss because AH! there was so much to talk about!

tomorrow (friday) i'll try and put up the pictures - studying for my finals on saturday, yay, and then on Sunday I depart for LA!

(and this is what I call a short post)

Tueday's child:  Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging)!

Well, I know the rules of one school of flower arranging!!  The Sensei did 7 different arrangements, including one gigantic tree that was ... colossal.  They gave us the opportunity to make our own ... in a group of 5.  The thing I learned?  Ikebana is not suitable as a group pastime by any stretch of the imagination.  I basically sat back and let other people cut the flowers because it wasn't worth it to bicker over the heights.

( Some of the highlight pictures )


Wednesday... I studied.  Got ahead in my reading.  Waited for a friend to drop off his suitcases in my room since he's just finishing a year in Japan and is headed to Okinawa for diving.  At first we were going to meet at 5, then at 8, then at 10, then at 10:20, then finally 11 pm rolled around and he made it to our station.  Funnily enough I didn't really hold it against him - it was still lovely to a familliar and dear face even if it was only long enough for him to lug his luggage from the station to my room.

Thursday... Sophia put on a Rakugo performance - a one man comic who made us laugh for about an hour, even though he'd learned english from tapes that he'd put together to get the intonation down.  Pretty impressive, and since the guy's full time job is as a musical signer his voice and range was incredible.

Tried to see the Batman movie with my friend, but sadly we misjudged the date and it wasn't playing at the movie theatre we went to. So we went to Ni-choume (the gay district in tokyo) and had some drinks and talked instead. All in all a totally pleasant evening.

Friday's child:  Nekobukuro!  (Kitty-town)

Friday afternoon a friend from school and I decided we'd go pay to pet kittens!  Hey, when you go through pet withdrawal, you'll do anything to catch up.  The cats were absolutely beautiful, and some were even sleeping down close enough that we could actually pet them (sadly, no picking up).

( So, the kitties looked like this... )

Last night I got a roommate!  A friend from Texas needed a place to crash for a couple of days, so now I have a roomie - and last night was his night to grin and goof around with his Tokyo friends (and he of course invited me and the friend from school).  We landed in one of those tiny places in Shibuya that makes fantastic food and brings you lots of drinks (all of which are... well, not as cheep as they could be).  Hilariously some of Blake's friends had opted not to take the class I TA'd for in fall.  Apparently talking about Harry Potter on the first day of an adaptation class is a no no according to them.  Other than not taking my class, they were quite lovely people and I had a great time.  Oh, and I had a mahi-mahi / avacado salad to die for!  Sadly I pooped out at about 11:30 pm - getting up at 6 am really puts a crimp in your ability to stay awake until a decent hour.  I split off from the group as they moved to a dance club and managed to catch the last train home (yay for trains!)

Saturday's adventures:  Vampire Cafe!!

Today, after my tutorial I met up with my gothy school friend and we went to Ginza to go to the swankiest goth place ever - a Vampire cafe!  The menu was hilarious, we ate in a velvet-draped alcove, had to ring a bell every time we wanted service, and it was actually really good food (not the kitchy kind you'd expect from a themed place in the states, to be sure!)

( Check it out! )

and now.... to bed!! 

xxxooo

there's a man I see on my way home from school sometimes, a small and thin bent-backed, white-haired man who has a container garden.  A little gray fence screens a square meter of green, with a long-needled pine tree and another leafy vine reaching into the alleyway.  But outside of the perimeter of the fence is where the containers lie.  Three days ago I swore he was pulling carrots from one small pot, and yesterday he was trimming dead leaves off of his geraniums.  Each pot is hardly bigger than the plants I used to have on our porch in LA, although he probably has fifteen pots, some bunched together in one small space like little terraces, four others strung out along the outside of the fence with late-summer plants growing valiantly in the summer humidity.  It's a marker for me, when coming back home, that I'm more than halfway back to my little room - a place to set my burdens down and cool off from the sweating, sweltering, cloying heat of the day (no matter how cold the air conditioners on the trains run they barely cut through the air).

( but my recent days have been less filled with quiet things )

And now, since I haven't taken pictures, but I succumbed to the temptation of snapping away while at Meiji Shrine, the three pictures that I actually liked from the bunch.

( they're not too bad, for touristy pictures )

Ikebana (flower arranging) tomorrow. Possibly movie Thursday night, and a friend from Texas is coming to stay with me on the weekend!

I just had this pizza



for breakfast, at a Coco's Restaurant (Coco's Japan, mind you).  And it was ... really good. bbq pork on one side and panchetta & sausage on the other.The only thing that would have made it better was corn.

Scintillating things have happened to me since the last time I posted.  Absolutely scintillating.  Or titillating?  Possibly dizzying or dazzling.  Ok, I'll stop with the thesaurus and the sarcasm.  Especially since it wasn't the most exciting of the last couple of days. 

( The highlights have been: )

No new pictures though.  I suppose at some point I'll take my camera to school with me and take pictures of the campus, but as of right now I'm kind of settling in to life.  Perhaps there will be some great Harajuku girls who want to be photographed tomorrow!

Ok, so... anybody ever read anything about a place in Tokyo and wanted to go there? I'm looking for things to do and I've gone through a bunch of the travel brochures and websites, and I thought... why not ask the online friends? So, if you've heard of someplace that you think is a must see, I want to go see it!

Let me know in a comment, and if you have a link to the place description that's a bonus!

Time ran away from me yesterday a little bit, and it was a fuller day than I expected.  We had our orientation for summer school - big differences from last year's program - this one actually gave us student ID's, we have access to the Sophia computers/library/internal internet, and generally the whole thing went off like a well oiled (of a sort) machine.  They've been doing this summer program for years and it shows.  There are about 200 people in my program (up from last year's 80 or so), and we all sort of wandered around introducing ourselves to each other in piecemeal fashion...dribbles of hometown, or major, or Japanese experience, or just who found a way to buy a phone or not.  Most people in the program seem really young, but we'll see how that sorts itself out as we get into classes. 

As a fantastic bonus for showing up at school for the orientation (well, and as one of the planned activities) we were herded onto four buses and driven down to the port so we could take a cruise up the Sumida river to Asakusa.  The river was beautiful and possibly slightly cooler than the rest of the city, and I started talking with a couple of people from my bus (Japanese natives taking the non-Japanese classes for summer credit).  We arrived in Asakusa and they gave us the option of sticking with the tour or heading off on our own.  I stuck with them for about 15 minutes, until I couldn't stand hearing one more word that I already know about temples and fortunes and the whole shuffle-shuffle-snap picture-shuffle  process of being in a group on a tour.  Not that it's not interesting, but I think there's one generic spiel about the functions of temples, how to cleanse yourself, how people gift their prayers, and I heard it three or four times last time I was here.  I want to get a religious specialist to come with me someday and tell me about each temple's distinctive personality, but until then I'd rather walk through the temples and the stalls of food and touristy things (Mom, I got one of your requests already!) on my own.  That's how I found the Buddhas at the end of the first set of photos.

After that I took myself home and managed to save some money not taking the train all the way back from the school.  Talked to my darling man on the interwebs (much better access this year) and got ready to get up at an ungodly hour in the morning.

( And here you go, the pictures of the day )

Today was more exciting for me but less exciting to read about, since classes probably aren't interesting unless you're actually in them.  Japanese looks like it's going to be great, and my literature of Tokyo class is going to be fantastic - a smart woman from University of Washington is teaching. When she heard about my major interests she promptly gave me the name of someone on their faculty who does a cyberpunk class.  Yippee for making connections in Tokyo!  While sitting around / having lunch / etc I also managed to read the book we're reading last in the class, so I'm already ahead of schedule on day one. And I may have a class buddy or two - there are three really sweet German students, two of whom are in my Japanese class, and then one in my lit class, and we talked a bunch today.

I decided to spend another hour or so walking around my neighborhood instead of freezing this evening while watching a Noh play (school activity, yay). Every time I ride the train back to my stop I see these pretty flower streamers hung up on the north side of streets leading away from the train station, so I decided to follow them.  Turns out there's a little shopping district down there with more bookstores, cds, kimonos, groceries, and everything else that seems to be found on every other corner here, but I had a lovely time and took a couple of pictures worth sharing.


( My neighborhood - a couple of streets )

and finally, since *someone who shall not be named* yelled at me for using photos from last year as my Japan icons, I have a couple of new icons from the things I'm posting today... *neener, neener, neener*  ;)

when buying yogurt in Japan be very careful to not only look at the picture on the yogurt container, but also be on the lookout for the tiny label that says アロイ (aloe) because it is not a pleasant experience when expecting only blueberries to be eating yogurt with blueberry and small chunks of aloe.  My tongue feels funny now.

Since I have the leisure to do so this year, I thought I'd start posting pictures now instead of waiting forever and posting them in one massive overwhelming bunch.  Besides, my day wasn't so exciting as I pretty much managed to

a) find my way to my school campus, which may take up to 45 min to get to from door to door - but on the good side one of the administrators was actually there and informed me I don't have to be on campus until 9 am tomorrow instead of 8:30 (yay!)
b) eat lunch at a little cafe
c) go to Rikugien Koen (Rikugien Gardens).  The garden reproduces in miniature 88 scenes from famous poems - although I didn't actually wander around to every single scene, I did see a bunch, and all of them were beautiful.
d) discover the "little" grocery store in my neighborhood is actually a 5-story ... department store with a food component in the bottom.  I got dinner and an alarm clock!  And I'm seriously thinking about going back to the housewares section to get myself a second comforter, since I'm actually using my first one as padding because the mattress is so lumpy.

( To start off the photo tour, you get the neighborhood I'm living in as seen from my 4th floor window. )


( Now, photos from my garden adventures )

Finally, once I got back home this afternoon it had started to rain, including lightening and thunder that I could see in the distance reflecting off the buildings.  At one point the sunset turned everything an almost starteling deep yellow-orange color, and low and behold, I saw a rainbow! 

( That's right folks, a rainbow over Tokyo. )

So there you have it - day two in all it's glory.  I'm sacking out early tonight with a movie and some JapanesePodcast language lessons to get ready for class tomorrow, after which I will continue my search for a cell phone (which was, again, the only thing on my personal agenda that didn't get done today).  I checked online and it appears there are only *certain locations* where I can pick one of these suckers up, or I have to order it online and get it mailed to me.  So I'll be heading to the depths of (or possibly wilds of?) Shibuya in search of the mythical pre-paid cell.

I'm in Tokyo!!  And it's fantastic.  After two and a half days of visit with my dad & stepmom, and then another two day visit with my mom, and a night spent at Hawk & Miranda's house (all of which were amazing and fabulous and just good in multiple ways that I won't try to describe here) I got on an airplane and arrived in this city!

( Not only that, when I landed last night I managed to get myself to my lodging, jet lag and all.  )

Anyway, my day started great and ended great, despite the frustration of the phone in between, and I'm going to bed happy.  I'm also hoping to get myself out to one of Tokyo's gardens tomorrow to walk around - it's been pretty hot here so it might not be the best time to see it, but supposedly it's actually a bunch of mini gardens who were all planned / inspired around a series of poems.   Oh, and Gabriel showed me this fantastic grammar book that he's working through that I really want to get, so perhaps a bookstore visit?  We shall see.

So, this is my last post before I head off to California before I head off to Japan.  I don't know if I'll have internet while in CA because the parents ... well, one of them does, and the other is doing dial up and I have lost the patience I used to have with it.  Besides, I kinda want to hang out with them a lot.  And then... JAPAN!

I'm sure I'll be boring you all with posts once I get there, as this year I'm supposed to have much better (and more reliable) internet access.  But until then, in the words of the goofy reprobates (and I seriously hope they don't remake this movie): Be excellent to each other. And party on, dudes!


OH, and PS, for all you Cordelia lovers?


[user info] / [join] / [affiliate]

Friend? Love? Perhaps sign up?

I went to a mock trial yesterday - it was really fascinating.  And the bonus?  Getting paid for giving my opinion.  My opinion was contrary to the other outspoken people in the room, so it was great fun to be the voice of dissent.  It's crazy how easy people fall into types in my head though - without knowing names or backgrounds or anything that makes people unique there were people I ... recognized.  You know, the lady who's in her 50's and very particular about how things are supposed to be happening, who had some legal experience and so was annoyed that they didn't "instruct" the jury as they ought.  The woman in her mid-40s wearing a long flowered skirt and a sensible top with frizzy hair who saw things in black and white, the younger (maybe 20s) guy who slouched in his chair and was  a total idealist.  The guy whose white shirt didn't totally hide his tattoos in his 30s with sharp eyes and day-old stubble who didn't want to make decisions fast and who tried his damnedest to be fair to both sides. 

Makes me wonder what my type is.  I know I've got one, and I used to be percieved as that girl in my classes - too precocious, doesn't know how to shut up.  But at this point I'm getting too old to be qualified as "girl" anymore.  Still don't keep my mouth shut though, but I don't know if I come off as an idealist or a know it all (probably both, but I'd like to know if it's a 60/40 split or the other way around).  I had trouble staying quiet while other people made their points, I was the one who directed conversation through the first run through and made sure every one in the damn room had the chance to give their opinion at least once, and I spoke up in the first group during the debriefing.  I wonder if, in 20 years or so, I'm going to be the woman who is all uptight about the rules.  Guess I'll have to ask the question again in 20 years or so.

( it is sunday night in kate-land and that means i have a week to recap )

Current (and final) Picture Count: 742
Weeks in Japan:  6.5
Pictures uploaded: 742

Here's the thing... I sat down to write titles for the pictures I'd uploaded - you know, a kind of online narrated slide show.  Then I realized that I'd probably be sitting here until next week doing the same thing if I kept to my same pace of titling and typing.  Rather than chain myself to the computer for those reasons, below you'll find links to the galleries I've set up.

If you find a picture in one of the galleries and you want to know about it copy the link and stick it in a comment and ask me... and i'll tell you what it is!  

gallery 1:  Tokyo - the first week

     subgallery:  more pics from the bansai/wabisabi/ikebana display at Meiji Shrine

     subgallery:  more pics from the Imperial Iris Gardens

gallery 2:  Mobarra - homestay

     subgallery:  more pics from the Ajisai (hydrangia) gardens

gallery 3:  Weekend in Nikko

gallery 4:  Tokyo Days & Nights

gallery 5:  Tsukiji Fish Market

gallery 6:  The final days

gallery 7:  Pics from other people (mostly of places where my battery ran out)

I'm sorry, I know it's the lazy way out.  But man, I took WAY too many pictures. 

Wow.  Missed this.  Missed this with an ache and a longing that can't properly be expressed in words - it's one of those feelings that lives in your gut and makes the back of your throat clench with the idea.  'home'

The first moment I really felt like I was properly home was when Neil wrapped his arms around me in the airport and I stuck my nose against his cheek. 

Flying was easy.  Even with the 10 hours and the small child kicking the back of my seat for 8 of those 10 hours, I was pretty serene.  I'd done it all before - the hot towels, the watching movies till my eyes hurt, the getting checked through customs and patiently waiting for my luggage and calling to let everybody know I'd arrived and ... even the staying at Maija's house and getting to see Miranda and Maija and Jeff - my family stop before I made my way home home.  Everything was buoyed up by the fact that I was actually on my way, one step closer to my love, one step closer to the world we've created around us and the people I'd left behind for a couple of months and everything that was wonderful about all of those things.

And now that I've been home for a couple of days I feel like it's beginning to sink in.  I spent all that time imagining it while I was in my little closet of a room in Tokyo (well, ok, also obsessing about it when I was in my homestay room because ... homestay... yeah).  gray_ghost  asked me last night to tell him my best experience about the whole trip, but I don't know if I can point to a single thing and say "wow, that was the one, the pinnacle".

( so if there was no pinnacle, what's the fuss about? )

And now, with the rain coming down outside, i give you a stanza from one of my favorites in the Tolkien books:

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone.
Let others follow, if they can!
Let them a journey new begin.
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.


(picture post, of course, forthcoming...)

ok, i don't actually remember that line well enough to look it up, much less mangle the quote into something that fits my situation. But, xdawnfirex was wondering if I was still alive after the earthquake so I thought I'd be reassuring:

x. still alive! I actually slept through the earthquake and didn't feel a thing (or if I did I thought it was simply a truck passing or something). The kids who were in class today said that the walls shook and they felt like they were on a ship for a couple of seconds, but that was it. The epicenter was far enough away from us that we didn't get the brunt of it.

x. we actually had a typhoon also hit Japan a couple of days ago, but since the country is so used to dealing with them it apparently didn't even show up on much of the international news. All it did by the time it reached Tokyo was drop a lot of water out of the sky - equivalent to one of your major Texas thunderstorms without the hail (well, for 48 hours, but that was really the only difference)

Got my first experience with Japanese hospitals today - or sort of experience. Today is a Japanese holiday, so they had minimal staff and... get this: on holidays they can only issue enough medicine for one day. So even though they are giving me antibiotics, they could only give me one day's worth. I have to go back tomorrow to pick up the rest. Yep, that's right. Now, before you let the word "hospital" confuse you into thinking my condition is super serious, it's not, it's simply that since IES doesn't have any medical staff they have to take us to the hospital for any treatment at all. I've got a cold/cough with a slight fever and some tonsil swelling, hence the antibiotics. So much fun. But at least it's going to get cured even if it does take trips to the hospital to do it.


Anyway, just wanted to reassure you guys in case you were worried - I'm alive! And getting better!

sadly, after going to Harry Potter yesterday (and going out with Gabriel the night before), I caught Megan's cold... and it's not pretty. So I've spent the last 24 hours or so trying my very best to sleep and keep myself quiet and not cough. Being sick when you're away from home is not recommended.

Although the nicest thing is that there are some really sweet people here who have checked on me and made sure i was doing ok, offered movies to watch and fetched food (or given me chicken soup and everything). So at least that's ok.

but i don't want to be sick. really don't.

sigh.

Oh dear.  I knew the moment I put them out there that the week of plans was going to go awry.  And awry they went. 

Instead of going to Kabuki on Tuesday I had a crisis about our oral exam on Wednesday.  Apparantly our professor is slightly different than the other professors in the program.  He's like that square surrounded by circles in the Sesame Street song "this one is not like the others".  He's definitely got some hard edges.  All I wanted was a review sheet for our oral exam, or, when I stayed after class to talk to him about the oral exam, all I wanted was a little direction. 

Instead, when I asked for help with all of the grammar, I was told that even though I have a lot of experience with japanese, i'm in a rut in terms of forming sentences, I don't use new grammar, and the only solution is for me to practice everything, but that he couldn't help me with that.  He made me feel guilty for asking for help, or sample questions, or examples of what he was going to ask in the exam.  I'm willing, now, to chalk a little bit up to the language barrier, but I wasn't asking for the answers, just for practice with him instead of with other students.

( It's been a whole saga though )

( Then we got to class on Wednesday and found that we didn't have a professor )

( Of course, today, we had our test )

( So my search tonight started in Akihabara )

institutional toilet paper.  One-ply cheep sandpaper is not cool.

sorry, I've thought that thought the last three times I've used the facility here at NYC, and so it had to be said at some point.  I'll stop spamming and go to bed now.  Night all!

Current Picture Count:  605
Weeks in Japan:  4
Pictures uploaded:  31


( So, it's a little bit of a recap )

Ok, first off, I take it back - I am totally remiss in saying I have three loyal readers - it seems there are more of you out there who are willing to put up with my endless babbling about Japan!  Massive hugs to you all for slogging through it (and LG, I just suck. You are awesome. And so are LillianV and Nalesse for giving me good advice! Thanks guys!). 

When last I posted it was Wednesday... and nothing really happened for a couple of days.  People got sicker and dropped out of class like flies, and then it was Friday and we had a class field trip to Tokyo Daigaku (Tokyo University - it's the #1 Ivy League college of Japan... and goes by Todai for short).  Since we're working on directions right now we actually had to stop and ask directions from train station guards over and over again - it was fantastic.  Ok, not really.  And since our professor hadn't actually been there before once we got on campus we had to ask for a place to get food and ended up in a cafeteria, and then ... we were done.  No tour.  No visiting a classroom.  Nothing.  I have some pictures of the campus though - it's pretty and very much a university anywhere.

( Friday night, however? was FANTASTIC! )

( And as for today... )

And in just a couple of minutes I'll do another photo post so keep your eyes peeled.

For my like three loyal readers (I adore you BJ, and you too Mish, and ... umm... I think mom might be out there somewhere!) I've managed to take a couple of minutes this evening on the 4th - the birthday of a nation that I'm not currently in. I'm nostalgic about it though, in a kind of "aww, isn't it sweet? where are the fireworks" kind of way. The funniest thing is that we can actually buy way more fireworks here than we can in Austin.

Today we were promised test scores by our sensei, but we have not received them. Sadly. Or perhaps not.

In celebration of the fact that it was Tuesday we went to Akihabara, the electronics district and I made my very first "oo, i have to get that when I'm in Japan" purchase! I bought an anime of Ursila K. LeGuinn's Earthsea trilogy (well, the first book anyway) called Geddo. I haven't watched it yet because I don't have the correct software/hardware config, but I do have the movie in my possession and it may end up being part of my research about the translation of fantasy/scifi from the west into japan and back, so hey, YAY for me!

Still on the list is an anime that's titled "The Golden Laws" in English - I did a paper on it, but couldn't actually find the film, and since it's done by a cult that's fairly low profile now, I may still have some trouble. But the hunt for stuff has finally begun!

We also found a manga shop filled with manga as far as the eye could see - and most of the male customers wandering around the separate porny section. Gu-san, the guy who went with Megan and I, offered to buy our porn for us if we were uncomfortable about the whole thing, but we both agreed we'd rather look for porn at our leisure and buy it ourselves. We also found a shop selling Nintendo DS - I might actually buy one because they're cheaper than the pocket electronic dictionaries that everyone has and they come with a kanji program that's just as extensive. And then I can buy the brain game exercise programs too! No, I'm not a terribly good gamer kid, why do you ask?

So it's turning into 1:30 am here, and I should be off to dreamland and then up in the morning for another kanji quiz tomorrow. Our professor seems to have taken our complaints about the workload to heart because we actually got it done in 3 hours tonight instead of 4 or 5. Horray!

( And then there was the Guest Speaker yesterday )

And with that I bid you all goodnight, sweet dreams, and hopefully be checking in tomorrow!

Friday night I was trying to be a very good girl and spend the evening in since we were leaving for our Nikko trip on Saturday morning at the evil hour of 8 am.  Never in my life have I really resisted being up so early this much, but in Tokyo?  I want to stay up late and get up late and it doesn't work.

It especially won't work if the plan we hatched with our professor last week goes through - instead of having an hour and a half lunch break and then coming back for 40 minutes of class we may be starting classes at 8 am and getting more of our afternoons free.  Not that it means we'll be spending more time in the city, per se, but at least we'll have more evenly distributed time for homework.

( So, yeah, Friday night was boring.  )

( Nikko was absolutely stunning )

( Mexican food in Tokyo )

( Monday was study day - and definitely a monday )

( Tueday test day - A plague is on our house! )

Tomorrow, hopefully, will be a better day.  And now I'm going to try to get to sleep and hope that when I wake up, it will also be a sick free day for me. :D  And maybe I'll have some time soon to explain just why the guest speakers they've scheduled for us completely suck - we're now two for three in my book as we had another one this afternoon who sounded interesting but who ... wasn't really.  Sigh.  I'll be glad to get back to lecturers on my own campus, I will. 

Where did the week go?  It's all of a sudden Thursday night!  Time is seriously slipping through my fingers, and I have not much to show for it...

Or, at least, not too many crazy stories.

( Monday I felt a little sick )

( Sadly Tuesday was really more of the same... )

( On Wednesday, though... )

( Thankfully, today was much quieter )

And that's all the updates from here.  The classes are so busy that the days are streaming by.  Next week I'm going to try to get research done, since I kind of crapped out this week.  But that's all after the Nikko trip!  Yay Nikko!

So, this weekend was our first real free weekend. No events were scheduled by the powers that be. Best of all, we got to sleep in finally. For the first time in more than a week!

Oh, but I keep forgetting to mention, on Thursday we went to the science museum in Odaiba and saw Asimo! For those who aren't in the know, this is one of the first robots that can run, and he's on permanent exhibit at this science center. So he came out, did a little dance, ran from one side of the room to the other, and then went back to sleep. He actually looked like a little boy running, which was kind of fun.

After that we went to this crazy mall that looked (on it's upper floors) exactly like a Vegas mall – even down to the painted sky. There were horribly upscale and expensive shops there (none of which we could afford, but window shopping costs nothing) and some great places to have a little lunch. We whiled away the four hours we needed to spend before we could get back on the buses and head back to NYC (since our check in time was 4 pm).

( Thursday night we tried to recover from Mobara )

( Friday night was Karoke night )

( And then there was Saturday and the Ni-Chome district )

Today was mostly spent doing the homework I put off yesterday and reviewing the lesson plan for tomorrow. This week's plans are pretty mundane – I'm going to ask my professor to help me find a way to increase my kanji knowledge outside of class, I'm going to try to take a field trip to the Diet Library (since their catalogue includes every book ever published in Japan), and finally there's a bookstore in Shinjuku that's 7 floors high. I'm going to take the list I make at the Diet and go on a spree … at least, that's the plan. This weekend we're doing one of our field trips and heading to Nikko, which is temple and waterfall city according to our other RA.

Lastly, though, I want to thank everybody who's been checking in and letting me know they're reading. I'm really sorry I haven't been able to respond to comments – I won't do the internet rant again but it's not much better now. But I am reading every one and it's great to know where y'all are and how you're doing and what you're thinking, so I didn't want anybody to believe that I wasn't paying attention. I miss you all like crazy, since at the moment I'm pretty much under forced vacation from LJ as much as I am from the states.

Current Picture Count:  449
Weeks in Japan:  2.5
Pictures uploaded:  14

Below you'll find some selected pictures - what I was able to upload through the highs and lows of the slightly improved internet available in the lounge right next to the faculty lounge in our new and improved NYC housing.  These are sorta scatterd.  But still... they're here!

( So, you really want to see how I'm seeing Japan )

So where were we?  Oh, yeah, the first meeting.  Ha.  So, after mentally relaxing and finding out that our musical tastes weren't as different as I thought they might be, they told me they hadn't made any plans for the evening or the next day, and asked what I wanted to do.  Did I like shopping?  The ocean?  And I was at a loss.  I probably should have read up more about Mobara.  I probably should have figured out things that I wanted to do... but at this moment in time, since it seemed Mobara Ensemble had planned most minutes in our daytime lives, I really had no idea.

What did we end up doing that night?  We went to the mall!  Just to show me, apparantly, what Japanese malls look like.  Funniest thing  - the look much like US Malls.  I know, you're aghast.  I did get to watch them play a taiko video game, though, and that was adorable.  And we got some icecream, and I learned that both Yukari and Hiyato (their little boy) loved chocolate.  Absolutely loved it. 

This was reassuring, since I'd brought them Texas made chocolates as part of my guest gift! 

( After ice cream )

( Japanese apartment living )

( For my homework that night )

( Sunday - Family Day )

( A little bit about the evening routine )

( Monday in Mobara )

( Tuesday in Mobara )

( Wednesday - the last full day )

My last night in Mobara Makoto had a dentist's appointment so Yukari, Hiyato and I had dinner together.  And then... it was the best.  Yukari and I had been talking about music, and so we went through the stuff I had on my computer to see if she wanted me to leave her with any of it.  Makoto and I ended up laying on the floor like college kids with our computers next to eachother, trying to find a way for me to get a couple of albums of japanese ska back to America.  We were up until about 11, goofing and laughing and trading songs.  They also gave me incredibly sweet goodbye presents, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for some of my readers by talking about them now.  Oh, and I have the gyoza recipe so I can finally make it from scratch myself when I get home... once I translate it.

And that... mostly... was my homestay.  My family all took me to the bus the next morning, and we shook hands before I hopped on.  I wanted to hug, but ... hugging?  NOT part of my family's lexicon.  But they waved, they grinned, and I really do appreciate everything they did letting me stay with them. 

I'm back!  Back from the wilds of Mobara - it's so hard to explain in few words the ups and the downs that have happened in the last week and a half since I've checked in here.  Especially since I've been so very up at certain points and so very down at others.

So first off, they told us on Thursday of the week before last what our homestay appointments were goinig to be - and I was the envy of most of the girls as I was placed with a family of two parents and a four year old little boy.  Apparantly every woman here wanted little kids to play with.  It didn't make that much of a difference to me, on the other hand.  What did was that my homestay family was the same exact age as me (I mean the couple - Yukari and Makoto).  I was worried and a little scared in seperate turns that they weren't going to want someone as old as me, that they weren't going to be happy with my Japanese speaking ability, something like that.

But Megan (my next door neighbor and best friend here) and I put all those worries away and went back to Yoyogi part the next Friday afternoon to walk around the Imperial Iris Gardens.  I cannot explain in words how fantastically beautiful the afternoon was.  They have probably a couple of thousand iris growin in this valley in between the huge trees of the park.  We were there for a couple of hours, in time to see the sun start to set, and just enchanted by every variation of purple and blue and white, every petal shape and new name. 

That night, since our Saturday move to Mobara began at 7:15 am, we got to experience the joys of Japanese laundry.  Actually, laundry isn't so bad - but the dryers really don't dry anything.  Luckily Megan and I had purchased some lovely laundry line at the 100 yen store, so our rooms finally took on some personality with our clothes hanging around in them. 

That was also the first night that I noticed my mysterious rash.  My right leg looked like it had a bug bite - but one going quietly septic and making my ankle swell.  I was concerned, but not overly so, and Megan had some zyrtec since she's allergic to everything, so I took that and threw myself into a couple of hours of sleep hoping to wake up and have everything be alright for the trip out.

( Hey, there's nothing wrong with optimism, until there is )

( Then there was Mobara - the actual, not the ideal )

( The Introduction Ceremony )

( And then everything seemed like it was gonna be ok )

And since I have to go to a hall meeting now, I'll leave you all with that for an update.  The trials and tribulations of the rest of the week will be forthcoming.  Just to place you in the time frame - I'm still on Saturday in terms of narrative.  Yep.  Just you wait till I get to Tuesday.

(oh, and for those who are worried, everything that was wrong is fine now.  We're back at NYC, my leg has cleared up - more on that in the next post - and we're back at school.... but that's all another story)

You'd think that I'd have some crafty Japanese saying to head these lovely entries.  But honestly?  There are some things that need to be expressed in English.  The finding of tennis shoes is one of them.

And I have to admit:  Neil Told Me So. 

He told me I'd better take my tennis shoes because there's no way I'd be able to do the kind of walking around that someone does in another city with my sandals.  He was right.  I admit it.  Only after coming home the other day, putting my feet up on the bed, and actually having them cramp from being walked so hard in shoes that were not made to walk.

But the walking was worth it! 

( little moments from Meiji Shrine and Harajuku )

( adventures in Shinjuku discount shopping )

Oh, and I suppose I should actually acknowledge that I'm totally tickled as pie to be back in school again.  Even though taking the longest test in the world definitely hurt a lot, I'm glad to be placed into the class that I'm in.  We're doing a whole bunch of review, and I simply love the long day format (3 hours of instruction, break for lunch, another hour or so).  It feels so much better to me to be going through multiple grammar structures and to use them all in the same day!

There's news on the homestay front (since our homestay is next week) but it's 1:30 am here, and I should really get my butt to bed so I sleep a little before tomorrow!  Goodnight all!

Since this seems to be the topic of interest....

( Why was Kate confused by the shower? )

ETA: I am the new master of the universe! I discovered the *seats*!!! (small tupperware things that looked like trash cans with a hole cut in the bottom - except they are kept upside down for a reason - so one can rest on them and wash). I knew there was an easier way!

ETA2: I'm really sorry i haven't responded to all of your comments - with this bandwidth issue, I can't seem to be logged into lj and actually get to a comment at the same time. I am reading though! And thinkign of sassy replies, don't you worry!

I'm here!  I'm even the delux model Kate-in-Japan that now comes with internet!!!  Hello America! (and to anyone else who's reading... Maggie?! Germany!)

I cannot begin to sum up the last three days in any kind of coherent style.  It's been fantastic, and annoying, and wonderful, and heart wrenching, but now I'm actually here and tomorrow we get on with the business of learning japanese!

( the good, bad, and ugly pre-show (or, how my summer in Japan really started) )

However, no experience is perfect.  And there's still a whole lot more to go, discover, and do. 

And hey, I love all you guys, and I miss you terribly, so I hope you're doing fantastic too!

Ok, I don't know if it was apparant from previous posts, but in order to keep flights cheep and finagle some time in LA too, I flew into LA yesterday and am flying out of LAX to Japan tomorrow. 

What does this mean?  This means that my goodbyes to the good old US of A have extended from yesterday through tomorrow morning.  Really makes me feel like I'm officially leaving.

( saying goodbye properly - impossible )

( and then there's maija )

( of course, today, we ... were goofy and giddy )

( When on the west coast... see the ocean )

( mmmm...chicken wrapped in bacon )

( el Coach )

Part of me wishes I had longer to stay here.  The other part of me knows that if I did that I wouldn't want to leave.  And this is the transition point, the movement between my Austin world and my soon to be Japanese world, and I couldn't have asked for better.  How good is it to know that, even though you don't want to leave them behind, there is a fantastic man at home that I adore, and all of these wonderful people here too that I love so much, just willing to gather around and say goodbye in this most fantastic of ways?

So, until tomorrow, when I'm waiting in the international terminal to hop on my interminable flight... goodnight.

I don't think this trip is really about *work* but ... quasi work.  It's not about playing, that's for sure, although I'm also quite positive that there will be quite a bit of playing involved.  But I'm there to study, to learn more than I know about Japanese, to find resources, and to ... BE THERE.

It's completely unreal, though.  My brain doesn't know how to process the feeling of two months elsewhere.  Especially this kind of elsewhere.  My mom says I won't really believe it until I'm off the plane.  I tend to agree.

But I'm packed, zippered, dressed, and confirmed.  And I find I'm going to need more icons of Tokyo related things.  These are the minute details that my brain concentrates on instead of the larger ones, like that I'm not going to see my boy in person for ... 8 weeks.  But then again, at least we have skypes.

Traveling always changes you, and I wonder how I'll be changing this time?  Older than most of the students there (probably older than some of the IES staff who are going to be looking back on us).  Not really a conventional summer school student.  But since that's what I am, I know I'll occupy a weird space of not-quite-being what I am. 

It'll be an outrageous test of my listening skills to, to hear what doesn't get said in another language.  Even though there are these mythologies about Japan that people debunk on a daily basis, there are differences between our two cultures, major ones, and the sublty factor is one of them that I alternatively feel confident and afraid of.  Most of the time I like to think I'm fairly perceptive, but I know that I've got my own bull in a china shop tendencies.  Here's to keeping those all in check.

And, in case anybody's curious, here are the two places they tell us we're going on our field trips... SO cool:

Ok, so it's three days till I leave for LA (and then onto Japan).  THREE DAYS!  OMG.

Today I actually bought things I'm going to need for Japan... generic guest gifts (called omiyage)... luggage (yep, i now own big girl luggage, woot!)...shoes for walking around Japan...and crazy things like shampoo and girlie stuff just because I'd rather take what I have than have to worry about finding it right out. 

It was a busy run hither and thither kind of time, but at least Neil tore himself away from the kitten long enough to accompany me to the mall.  Apparantly my boyfriend is a mall rat at heart.  I'm reminded of it sometimes, but not terribly often.

We've decided that my last night in town we're going to Ranch 616 for dinner, just because it's my last night in town for two months.  The idea of that still staggers me.  I have absolutely no idea how to pack for two months.  Two weeks, sure, but months?  I've set up my library as a staging area to collect all of the silly things I think I'm going to be taking with me.  A backpack full of electronics, a bag full of girl things (face wash and the like), a suitcase full of clothes.  It seems like so much and so little at the same time.  Tomorrow's the final laundry day.  I'm trying to pretend that I'm leaving on Monday so that way I'll still have time for all of those last minute freakouts where I tear my  hair out and have to whip out to the store for that must have american item that i'm sure never to find in a metropolitan city like Tokyo.  /sarcasm

There are TWO things that, today, are the supercutest ever:

1 - I received the most adorable bon voyage package today from my darlingest elizabuffy !  It was filled with maps and guides to Japan (and one to her home city ... and EB, Neil says that it would be kind of cool to visit someday, so you might have to deal with both of us!).  And it was in the cutest packaging ever.  I swear, EB's a closet Japanese girl.

2 - the cuteness that is Ash!  OMG.  I'm sorry, I know I'm boring everyone with these, but .... LOOK AT THAT TONGUE!


for more frolics in the stuffed animals (and other freakishly cute images) go here

+ I was in a hit & run today - the guy slammed into my rear bumper.  I'm fine, the car's kind of mostly ok, and the guy who hit me?  took off before I could even get the license plate #.

+ got money from UT financial aid today to pay my tutition (becuase they'd incorrectly charged me tutition instead of paying it to me so i could pay the Study Abroad program).  It was nice having them cut me a check for a change

+ I've made a Greatest Journal Account and tried to find y'all there... I hate this whole business, but I'd rather not lose any of you, period.  So, I'm katekat1010 if you want to find me...

+ completely disheartened that SixApart finds time to respond to Cnet but not to us.

+ if you don't know about it already, and you're a fandom person, please join fandom_counts

+ the kitten is still UNBELIEVABLY cute.  I've added more pictures of the cuteness starting here

+ The Japan Countdown has FINALLY become real!  6 MORE DAYS TILL I LEAVE FOR JAPAN!   It's real because we got our final orientation packets today and all started emailing and introducing ourselves.  Sounds like I'll be doing lots of drinking.  Big surprise there!

at least, today it is.

( lovely things from the weekend )

( so...the saw parts of the see )

( but...there are things to look forward to )

Of course, the other thing I'm looking forward to, with a grin, a giggle, and a set of posts I can't wait to hit send on?  summer_of_giles ... fandomy-goodness at it's best

huh, i think i have far more to be happy about than to worry, and writing it out always makes things feel better.  Thank goodness.

Nothing makes me feel better about adventures than my favorite horoscope writer....

Libras:
"There can be no transformation of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion," wrote psychologist Carl Jung. That should be your motto in the coming week, Libra. Clear thinking and impeccable logic will not be sufficient to guide you to your next great adventure. You need the driving force of succulent emotion rising up in your solar plexus, the lush power of raw sensitivity piercing your heart. Feel as deep as you dare."

I think I can muster some succulent emotion right now!  Especially since this morning my cup floweth over - I got a B in Japanese!!!!!! 

It's definitely the little things that make me happy.  Well, ok, that's rather a big thing.  Especially with the final counting for 17% of the grade - it had me worried.  Worries are now only left for my Mass and Pop Culture class, and really, no matter what I get there I'll deal. 

I haven't done much of anything the last couple of days.  My modus has been to sleep in extravagantly late, goof around for a couple of hours, eat lunch with my boyfriend, goof around in the evening, stay up too late and read bad fic, make graphics for friends and for the_jossverse (I'll post a redux here later today, I think), and think about finishing the writing on my own fic.  Total slacker.  I've gotten in contact with some of the people I'm going to hang out with as I detour to LA (on my way to Japan).  Oh, and chores - can't forget that I've actually done chores!  But not many, and it's mostly been a revolving load of dishes.  Why haven't they made a magical dishwasher yet?  Or one that puts dishes away as soon as they're clean?  I'm waiting for that day.

We had amazing thunderstorms last night at about 4 am - and I was up and awake to see them crashing into the house, dumping rain out of the sky.  Our little outside kitty is a tough trooper and the only difference with him this morning is that he seems cleaner.  Nothing wrong with a spring rain washing everything clean.

I just realized that I'd bounced up and down about it, but I hadn't written my official I'm DONE live journal post!

And I'm done!  It was a 10-page Japanese final.  Yep, that's right, 10 pages!  But it's over now, and I've turned in all of the papers and written all of the kanji!  Yay!

What's left now?  I have 24 days until I go to Japan!  *bounces* *whimpers*  There's so much to do before then, and I'm making plans to do it.  All starting Monday.  Because I thought that I could at least take the weekend off to celebrate the lack of that spooky feeling every college student has in the back of their heads that means more homework or tests or something on the horizon.

Last night I got taken out for mexican food and margaritas as a little end of the semester I made it through alive celebration.  That was yummy, and fantastic!  And all due to my handsome boyfriend, who kinda spoils me, but who doesn't seem to mind!  Today I slept *IN* without worrying that I was missing study time.  And we saw Spiderman 3.  I have some thoughts about that I may put in another post, if I'm motivated, but all in all, pretty fun for a summer movie.

For tonight?  I'm hoping to finally get back to all of those nice comments people left me - especially fic feedback - and make some graphics.  Yep, that's right, graphics!  Oh how I missed y'all!

ETA: If you're an icony person and bored, the most recent beegee_icontest closes tomorrow - we need entries!  Check it out?

ETA2: summer_of_giles signups are closing soon!  We have SO many fantastic people signed up to write (and some even on multiple days...soooo cool!).