Thursday, October 4, 2012

Hey, No Skipping!

It's been staying pretty simple this week here. Yesterday, I went to go get a cat present for my Grandma at that one cat store with all the cat stuff, to add to the letter I wrote for her. Cats.

Of course, the one place I wanted to go was closed.
WUTWHY?
Oh well. I went around searching for another cat thing around town and ended up buying presents for Lauren, Beth, Timmy, and my grandma. I still haven't found the perfect gift for MoMo yet. It's always "well...maybe," but never like "OH GEE WIZ, THIS IS PERFECT FOR HER!," like the other presents.

Here's some Japanese food. I was probably very rude for walking in, taking pictures, and walking out. In several places. Lauren, I really am building quite the reputation here.
I feel like they actually cooked this stuff that day and it didn't come shipped to the store in a plastic bag, refrigerated for awhile, and then taken out to sell *cough*, like some stores back home...*cough*.
 And a bakery...like Mitsuwa has! I wonder how they compare in taste.
 Wut. Hot dog croissant-kind-of-things.
And passed a tiffany lamp store and thought of MoMo.
They were much prettier in person, I swear!
OH YEAH. AND THEN I GOT SKIPPED BY THIS WOMAN. I still have to get used to this. If you're standing somewhat distant from the line, you will get skipped. If you are looking the other way while standing in line, you will get skipped. This happened again by a business man when I went to another grocery store a half-an-hour later. I almost pulled a Beth, and instead of saying "Sir, after you!" with a dramatic hand wave, I had to stop myself and just said "Okay then!" and walked away into another line. If you want to keep your place in line, you have to mean it. You have to look it. You have to be. the line. darnit.

Then, there were these awesome guys at a boutique:
 Coin purses!
 And then I found necklace versions and phone chains! There was a multi-colored tongue in the one where I'm opening it's mouth, but you can't see >___<. Just imagine the greatness.
This wasn't at the boutique, but I kind of wish it was.
 No matter how hard they try, I don't think putting them in ice water again is going to save them. I didn't want to tell them though.
WHY WAS THIS MEAT SO CHEAP? I don't understand. So I bought it. And ate it this morning. Omg, zo good.

MoMo, this Raspberry Nectar tea is insane. It smells like a popsicle. I must try it cold sometime. Thank you again! ^___^

Rather than venturing a bit more, I've been studying a lot. And when I take a break, I've been playing Animal Crossing in Japanese, which is called "どうぶつのもり/動物の森、” which means Animal Forest. I've hardly gotten far. It's like oh yay! Time to relax and do some errands for some animals and go fishing and talk to the workers. Then, they bust out really strange Japanese. It's all casual speaking, the kind that kids use. In school, we've learned mainly formal speech, so this is just crazy stuff. I haven't even finished doing the simple errands for Nook yet. lolol. It takes a year and then some to figure out what they're saying and after looking up the random Kanji they use. It's kind of tiring, but still really fun.
Today, we had the 3-hour class again. Dying. Slowly dying. lolol, it's just really very fast-paced and brutal to your brain.
But we were able to watch this video. I think Lauren might enjoy it a few times.

Basketball was really fun today. I'm getting to know the other students better, too. And they're passing me the ball XD. haha, yay! The teacher is so funny. She's full of energy and is always yelling stuff that I don't understand some of the time. She's like the "best friend's young and eccentric grandmother" you wish your friend had.

Here are my new basketball shoes. They were totally required.
I like how I needed to buy new shoes for school, but no books. These are Men's ones, too. They only had 2 really ugly girl style ones. Da frack up with that. I was like no plz.

I forgot one of the student's names (WHY AM I SO BAD AT THIS?) but he's been really nice to me 'cause he knows a little bit of English and sometimes helps me when the teacher says something that I don't understand. Something I thought was funny was when he asked if I knew the brand American Eagle. Apparently, it's really desired, but really expensive in Japan. I asked if he knew what "preppy style" was, but he didn't ^___^'.

I decided to drop Calligraphy after not much debate in class. It was. Really boring. We practiced the same 4 Kanji for an hour and a half. But here's my name in calligraphy that the teacher gave me:
Last week, he had a tough time figuring out how to write my name. I told him "neko," which means "cat" would do. So he did and gave this to me today.

It's pretty early right now. Yesterday, I found out while I put on some TV briefly, that we're receiving some random channels for a bit. One had Hamtaro playing! but it also had this big sign blocking the channel. Maybe we're not supposed to be getting it. lolol. Well, Bijou here is pretty pumped about it.
And something that's cool about some Japanese TV shows is that they have Japanese subtitles to go along with the show, so it's nice when you're trying to learn and can read and listen to it. I captured this really awesome shot.
 And then some programs have a little display, like in this one, on the top right, of people watching the same thing you're watching. Just so you can see their reactions to what's going on.
lololwut.
I got to mail the letter for Grandma today, so I'm really excited for her to receive that.

But yeah! This is what's been going on. Kirsty and I are going to go to Shinjuku tomorrow to find out where Grant is living so I don't get as lost trying to find his place when he gets here this weekend! ^____^ So awesome. So pumped.

Time to study now though. =^.^=

Oh yeah, here are some pictures Asato san gave me today of the lunch with the American Embassy a few days ago:
Please note that my tongue is sticking out in 3/4 of the photos. I can just hear Mum saying, "Ughh, Kathleen." and shaking her head while smiling and then getting distracted by a baby bunny in the yard and totally forgetting it.

4 comments:

  1. When I was first reading your name thing, I was like... He just decided to call you Neko.. haha then I saw the caption..

    I hope the outside of my apartment looks cool!

    Those greedy embassyjins...

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  2. Plz tell me Patty the cow is in your Animal Crossing game.

    ...plz.

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  3. I heard that stores randomly close in Japan a LOT. Like I mentioned before, sometimes stores that people travel all the way around the world for are closed by the time... for no real reason. Frustrating!

    OMG, PRESSIES FOR MEEEE. I'm excited. =D

    I'm really enjoying seeing your reputation build so quickly. You should write a book about how you're affecting the Japanese culture.

    Whoa, the stuff in that bakery looks awesome, a lot like what we've seen at Mitsuwa. Both places seem equally fresh, but I bet you have more options to pick from there.

    I laughed so hard when you started talking about about people skipping in line. I would have never even thought that store lines would be so different in another country, but it really does make sense! You have to really be on guard when you're in line, hahaha. OR ELSE. Be the line, Kathleen. Be. The. Line.

    Ooo, what kind of meat was that? Glad it turned out to be good! I would have been suspicious because of the price, too. xD Sometimes meat is like that here though, and it's still scrumptious.

    Good for you for learning while you play video games AND go to school. That's tough stuff, bb! But still, that's awesome. At least you get to learn a bit of the relaxed language in your own time. I wonder if they'll ever teach you that more in school.

    Omg, that video... It's so cute. >w< Why couldn't I watch stuff like that when I was in college? Boo. (I love the part when he falls out of bed! *PLOP*)

    Shawn had a difficult time understanding why men shoes were pink. Lolz.

    Kathleen, you should wear American Eagle all the time so you can be the cool kid, even if it means you're preppy.

    Sorry to hear about calligraphy. I can see how the pace of that class would get boring though... I'm a little surprised you were able to deal with the slowness for so long actually! Still, at least you'll have more time to focus on classes more at your pace.

    Ugh, Bijou. One of the cutest characters ever. I wouldn't mind watching Hamtaro all day!

    Shawn and I both liked those photos at the Embassy. ^__^ He asked why all of them looked like they were taken in the 80s, hahaha. I especially enjoyed your tongue sticking out almost the whole time. I wonder what our friendship would be like if we had met for the first time in Japan. I'd be like this the whole time: o___________O

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  4. More and more yummies in the bakery. I would weigh 200 lbs in a month if I went there. All of the food looks colorful and pretty. Makes me hungry...I need chocolate..be back in a minute..............

    The skipping in line is so funny, but it actually makes sense, and everyone just accepts it calmly. It's probably the only place in the world that you can do that.

    Grant is stopping by tomorrow afternoon. I'm giving him some lock n locks. Anything else you want me to send?

    Pink mens' shoes? Really? Ha Ha. That's what Kathleen needs...another pair of shoes. I will give Shawn $20 if he wears those shoes during work for 2 days.

    I really like the photos of the Embassy. You look adorable.

    I knew you would like the raspberry nectar tea. Tell me when you run out, and I can send some more.

    Grandma will love getting a letter from you. Getting the mail is the high point of the day. Love, MoMo

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