Weekend fun!

This past weekend was a good one! Quite eventful! Saturday was the sports festival but I didn't go... I decided that I needed to study! Keigo is a pain in the butt! why Japan would make up more polite verbs to go with their already polite society is beyond me! I had to learn I had to learn a more polite way to talk to people like teachers or old people. I figured that I might need some extra practice. When I was tired of doing that my friend Heather asked me to go shopping, which turned out to be us going to Namba for food and drinks. Namba is a cool place. I found Japanese hippies there... Not a big fan of hippies but they were all holding free hug signs, so I hugged them all. And when we came back around I hugged them again! At first there were only four of us but I called my friend Will who met up with later and he brought a friend too. So the six of us, only one was Japanese, joked and laughed and had ourselves an amazing time. And even though I had to get up early the next morning I didn't get back until 1 in the morning.
Sunday I went to Eiga Mura! Yasu, Shouhei, Justin and I went. Eiga Mura is located in Kyoto, and it is a place where a lot of samurai or old time movies were made. We got to walk into houses where movies were made and we even got to see prop set ups. I'm pretty sure I saw a famous actor but I couldn't tell too many people were in front of me. But Yasu said he was famous. They were filming a movie that day so I got to see about 30 seconds of the movie. It was only of a guy screaming for someone, but whatever I saw it. We got to watch a "Samurai" fight, which was really cool. After the demonstration they picked 3 people from the crowd to show a move to and I was one of them!!!!! I was a little nervous because I didn't think they would actually pick me but they did! It was me an old Japanese guy and another foreigner that was really tall and a little too excited. The guys talked a little fast but I got the gist of what they were saying. We got to do a little fight with one of the Samurai guys. We blocked the first attack and then do a little kind of dance-throw-him-back-thing and then the next time he attacks you, you cut his stomach and then he dies. When I went up the guy asked my name and where I was from. "America" and he jokingly said me too! He then asked me "suki na taippu?" (what's your type?) I wasn't expecting him to say something like that so I was a little confused. but I pointed and said that the guy in green was cool and then that caused an argument between 2 of the guys. Didn't really matter anyways! The guy in green was the one that I had to kill! And I did! It was awesome! After that we got a group photo with the samurai and walked around a bit. There some cosplayers there and Shouhei was excited because there were people dressed like storm troopers and one guy that dressed up as the emperor. What they were doing in an old Japanese looking village is beyond me. We also watched a 3D video there too, which was a little dumb but amusing at the same time. After we walked around a little bit more we made our way to the ghost house! I was with 3 boys and while we were going through the haunted house tell me why they screamed more than me and were pushing me to go in the front!?! G Z Whiz guys! It was a lot of fun! Afterwards we ate and then made our way back.
It has been rainy here the past couple of days which makes me sad because it's cold out... It's shame. I miss the hot weather. But I think there was an earthquake this morning... It was very small and not strong at all but I felt the building move a few times... It scared me a bit at first but it wasn't really anything to be worried about. No alarm went off so I'm going to take that as a good thing. I hope this weekend is sunny! Stupid rain! ><

<3 Fun Times

So I have been here almost a month and I am going to have to say that even though I might be a little bit homesick I am in no hurry to come back home anytime soon. I mean I would totally miss all the fun that I have with all my friends AND my roommate! (ha ha) She totally said 5 words to me on Sunday! I vacuumed our room on Sunday and I asked her if she could move her futon. "Sure." I then vacuumed under her desk and she had to move out of my way so I said sorry. "It's ok." And then when I was done she said "Thank you." I think she might be opening up to me!!
Tuesday we did not have class because of the autumn equinox. So on Monday Heather (roomie from orientation week that talked to me), Yasu, Shouhei, Justin, and I hung out and played drunken Mario Karts and walked to 7 eleven. Heather had to leave early because she had to get back to her host family so the four of us made our way to a club that was between Justin's place and the 7 eleven. It was 5 bucks to get in and then you got a ticket to get a drink. I got starbucks liqueur on the rocks and shared it with Yasu, and Shouhei. The bar/dance club was maybe 2 times the size of my dorm room! It was so tiny! But it was cool, we still had fun. We frequently went outside so we could breathe because everyone and their moms were smoking! So we would go outside to breathe. And then we went to 7 eleven again around 1 something for the 3rd time! That night was awesome until This drunk Canadian kid slapped me for no reason and I wanted to smash his face in the ground! The guys I was with didn't see it so they did nothing! And then the kid tried to hug me which made me even more upset! Then Justin stood up and told him to leave me alone. He was a jerk! But the rest of the night was fun. The four of us made plans to go to karaoke. Shouhei and I are going to sing Daite Senorita together! YamaPi!
Tuesday was a little less eventful. I went with Justin to Saty (a mall) to visit Tiki at his first day of work. We both bought jackets which I am going to need soon because the weather is getting a lot cooler during the night... Fall... awesome... Then I returned and did homework! Yay! homework!
Wednesday was a good day. After class I played frisbee for a bit and then Tiki and I went to Justin's house. I told Justin to cook for us and he did so I got free food out of it. He made oma-rice(?), maybe? Well it was some rice dish with ketchup and an omelet with onions on top. It was actually really good! Then we watched a Japanese movie without subtitles. I understood the gist of it. And it was cute and sad... I cried... The parts that we didn't understand Tiki translated. It was a good movie. "Taiyou no uta" "The Sun's Song"
Today (Thursday), the Japanese students started classes. Random right? Thursday? The cafeteria was packed! But it's cool! Tomorrow I'm supposed to have lunch with Yasu and some of his friends who want to meet international students. It's sometimes strange because everyone stares at you here because you're different. Not so much in a bad way because if I smile and wave they blush and smile and wave back. Boy or girl doesn't really matter. But I like to think they stare not so much because I'm different but because I'm cute! ha ha Just kidding, but seriously. I'm really excited to meet new people on top of all of the other people that I have already met!

Another Weekend!

This weekend was pretty cool. Well after the rain had stopped. I walked miserably to school on Friday with my bandaged knee and my crappy umbrella in the rain. Stupid typhoon! Well when the rain did stop I went out to dinner with a few international friends and 2 Japanese friends. Its always fun to teach the Japanese people sarcasm. Oh yeah, Japan is not a very sarcastic country. In fact no one in Japan in sarcastic except the foreigners. So Justin and I make it our daily effort to teach our Japanese friends sarcasm. I mean especially if they are going to study abroad in America! We have to teach them more than just the language... We have to teach them how to use! Well anyways after dinner we hung out at Justin's place for a bit and kind of had a techno party in his tiny little house. But we ended up just sitting down and talking. Sometime around midnight we made a 7-11 run. Oh yeah, Japan has 7-11 and McDonald's and KFC and of course Starbucks! They're 7-11 is way different though. They sell food that doesn't suck. But no slurpies (Sorry Joella). So we hung out a bit eating our food, joking around and on our way back to Justin's we ran into some other international students who were drunk... Hilarious. Drunk people trying to speak Japanese when it's not their first language is awesome! I have done it. You think you're smart but you sound even more retarded than when you're not drunk...
I was not able to go to Uji this Saturday with Tiki :(. There was a misunderstanding due to cultural/language differences that left me a little upset. But that afternoon Justin, Yasu, Shouhei, and I went shopping, which makes me happy so I was fine. I bought a tank top, and a dress shirt I would have bought a Bump of Chicken CD but 30 bucks for a CD from 2001 with 10 songs on it? Come on Japan... Are you serious? That is a little too takai (expensive) for me. Shouhei had to leave early because he was going to an Avril Lavigne concert that night (They love her a lot over here). Afterwards Tiki came over and explained and said sorry so we are going to go to Uji next weekend instead.
Jessica is coming down the tenth of next month to visit me and I am SO excited!!!!!!!! I miss Jessica! Next weekend should be fun too. Shouhei, Yasu, Justin and I are supposed to be going to a ghost house or something. Im totally excited about it. I have a lot to look forward to!

Typhoon!!!

This week has been pretty fun! Monday I had off and it was rainy so I did homework. That wasn't so much fun... But Tuesday I ran into a guy that I went to karaoke with orientation week and his friend. Yasu and Shouhei. We met up with Justin and Played some frisbee before we decided that I wanted to go to Starbucks. So we rode to Hirakata City on our bikes. Except Shouhei who lest his bike key so he rode my bike and I sat on the back sort of seat thing. But when we got to a downhill slope I rode down and he ran. It is always fun going down a hill for Justin and I. Our back breaks squeal so amazingly loud! I laugh the entire time we ride down hills. So we get to Starbucks buy our drinks and walk to another Starbucks to drink them because that Starbucks was full. We then played video games (I only played one because I can waist my money on cooler things) and then all four of us jammed into Puri-kura for some photos! And then when ate at this restaurant where you put your money in this kind of vending machine and you push the dish you want and a ticket comes out and then you give the ticket to a waitress who gives you your food. It was good eatin'! We then rode back to Justin's house and talked for a couple of hours. Shouhei quotes South Park. Justin and I found that hilarious!
The next day (Wednesday) was not too eventful... I had a Kanji test the next day so I felt that studying would have been a good idea. But Thursday (yesterday) was fun. After class I hung out with a few of my friends. My friend Will, he's from Leeds(?), asked if I wanted to come over to his host family's house for dinner. I said yes! Why would I turn down free food? But he had class until 6:30 so for the mean time I went to play frisbee. I fell twice trying to catch the frisbee and twice I skinned the same knee... AWESOME! My pants are all bloody and glorious! But it's ok because I washed it off in the bathroom later. All is good. Frisbee is fun and we played five hundred too. Afterwards when Will got out of class we rode to his family's house for dinner. The family had 6 small dogs that jumped up on you and wanted to lick you but backed off when you tried to pet them... The food was pretty good, minus the Sashimi (raw fish), but I did at least try a piece. After dinner we went to a different house that the family owns where Will and another exchange student live. The mom and the daughter pulled out all of these Yukatas and Will, Landon (his roommate) and I each pick out one to wear. I picked a navy blue, Akiko picked bright yellow, Will picked a royal purple and Landon picked light pink. I unfortunately did not have my camera on me but I will get the pictures that they took somehow! Afterwards we just talked for a bit before Will rode back with me around 10.
It has been a little rainy the past days though because of Typhoon #13 is coming! ><>