Greetings my dear readers!
Well, I've given up on trying to post the correct time on this thing. What a pain. So, in case you were wonder, I haven't been posting at 1 AM my time.
The most terrifying bikeride of my life was officially...Wednesday, I believe. Gami took Perkins and I to the Tsukuba Center. I don't know exactly how far it is, I think it's like 20-30 minutes by bike. Perkins didn't have his bike yet because he missed the delivery, so I ended up on the back of my bike while Perkins was on the front. It was like riding a horse, only a lot more painful. I rested my feet on the nuts that jutted out of the back tire. It's a good thing I'm so small. So, for 20 or so minutes I was behind Perkins on this bike, it was bumpy, and I couldn't see anything in front of us, so I never knew what was going on. It was kind of disturbing, but fun in a way.
I visited my Japanese Word Processing class on Thursday, and that seems like it might be kind of fun. Kinoshita-sensei is teaching it. Beth keeps telling me which teachers were the best, but I forget sometimes. ><>
I payed my rent today. The most expensive part is the deposit. I don't even wanna get into prices here. Oh! And I bought a phone. The most expensive part of that was the phone. The bill is supposed to be only about $15 a month, but the phone was rather expensive. *cough* 300+ *cough*
I took that stupid placement test. The staff had no idea what they were doing. We were supposed to take it on the computer, then one of the teachers said we weren't going to take it on the computer and they started handing out paper tests. Then, they took the paper tests back up...and then they gave them back to us again. WAY TO GO! Not many people I talked to finished. And we had to write an essay. Mine was horrible. I spent most of it apologizing for how bad my Japanese was in hopes that at least one person would get a laugh out of it. The girl next to meet used her essay to complain about the staff. I got a laugh out of that!
And I made a new friend. Her name is Kira, and she's from New York. I know what you're thinking. I should be making more Japanese friends. At this point, I'm cool with making any friends I can. I want to join a club to meet more Japanese kids.
As for today...it was so long! I made two trips to the Tsukuba Center by bike and also rode around town with Kira. She showed me a nice, cheap store. I picked some hangers there. And some water. The water in Tsukuba isn't good to drink, so I imagine a lot of my money will be spent on bottled water. As long as it's this hot, I'm going to be carrying a bottle with me in my bike basket everywhere I go.
I bought a few shirts the other day, too. They were labled "L." I put them on and I was like, "M." They're more like between a medium and small, though. I look ok in them. All this bike riding will, hopefully, help me lose some weight. Perkins kicks my ass when we ride. I let him go in front most of the time, and he's had a job delivering newspapers for a long time, so he's used to riding his bike pretty long distances. And...me...well....I'm NOT. I always say, "Perkins...huff...huff...I'm too fat for this." Once, he told me, "Think of it this way, if you were taller you'd be less fat." And I just started laughing so hard. I'm glad he's here for me to hang out with.
I really feel like I'm adjusting well so far. I'm not afraid to talk to people or ask questions, and I can understand what most people say to me. It's funny. I noticed that a few other new foreigners are afraid to even ask questions or try to figure out their way around here by talking to people. The way I see it, I'm gonna be here for a year. If I don't start talking to them now to learn the language or get a question answered, when will I?
Oh, and about the title. I smacked into a road block thingy with my bike pedal. Just my pedal. Perkins thought I was going to crash or something, but I've been good at recovering so far. ^^;
One last thing,
Perkins and I went to eat at "Shakey's Pizza." Japanese pizza is not like American pizza at all. The crust was very thin, and the vegetable pizza had corn on it! I took a picture. I'll upload that later.
3 comments:
KIRA!! Tell Kira I'm a huge fan of their work in Deathnote. Were you able to keep a straight face when she told you that was her name. So you got a phone? It's probably a Japan only phone isn't it?
Love and miss you.
Shakey's will be your God's send as far as pizza goes. Pizza Hut is 1500 yen for a large. Cheese. Yes. Cheese.
Kinoshita is one of the more boring teachers, but I assume J-word processing won't be too bad with him. Just don't expect to be able to stay awake when he talks.
I know what you mean about shirts... I went hunting for Engrish stuff at Uniqlo (it's somewhere further than the center in a place called LaLa Garden) and the EXTRA larges fit smaller than an American medium. WTF is that?
And keep up talking to people. I noticed that I caught on to things much easier than Adam did because I didn't care as much if I made myself look like an idiot for mistakes I made with speaking. And I wouldn't worry about where people are from that you hang out with... You'll meet J-people eventually. It's good to just not be anti-social right from the get-go :x
Yeah...I kinda giggled in my head a little. I was like, "Wat?"
Mmm, pizza. DAMMIT! >< No pizza hut for me. JESUS! High prices!
LOL, you got it. I'll just pinch myself often so I don't fall asleep. >>
I KNOW! OMG! I was like, "HELLO! I HAS BOOBS! BIG ONES! NEED BIG SHIRT!" So, I have no idea where I'm going to go yet.
Will, do. So far, so good. I just make sure I get out of my room everyday and talk to someone. I usually go to dinner with someone as often as possible. It makes things more bearable. How are things at ol' Purdue, Beth?
Post a Comment