Snapshots of Japan

• Had a dream last night. Right before I woke up, 'Across the Universe' started playing in the soundtrack of my dream. I didn't know my dreams had soundtracks.
• Last night on the train home, a Japanese girl puked. My friend gave her a shopping bag, she was too drunk to stand, and we're not sure what stop she should have gotten off on.
• I had my work party. Apparently my kyoto-sensei (Vice Principal) is VERY fun when drunk. He kept pouring beer into people's drinks, regardless of what they had, and trying to set me up with all the single teachers. Also, I almost ate a moth that was in my salad. Very traumatic.
• It's hilarious how red Sekimitsu sensei gets when he drinks.
• My high school has Dell computers in their computer labs. Dell.
• Found an art supplies store. Great sense of accomplishment involved, as I had to ask one of the non-English speaking teachers for directions on how to get there, and then had to spend 20 minutes speaking awkward katakana English to employees trying to figure out what kind of ink to buy.
• The other day in class, students were asking me questions about America. Questions include:

• Why do all Americans wear shoes inside their houses? (When I responded 'a lot of us don't' I was met by outbursts of shock and disbelief)

• Do you feel unsafe in a place where everyone has guns? (My response:*blank stare* Really?)

• What is some traditional American food? (was unable to answer this one and realized the US has no cultural identity)

• What are some traditional American clothes? (pilgrim attire? feathers and deerskin? blue jeans? crocs?...again with the realization that my country has no history or identity of our own)

• Realized Japanese people are really friggen stuck up about their country and culture. Probably moreso than Americans, which is saying something. When people ask me, 'oh Japanese is such a difficult language, isn't it?' I've started responding "nope. it's no more difficult than any other language" because it's true, and because they need to be told the truth. I actually had some teachers freak out because I was eating rice crackers. They actually called over more teachers to witness the gaijin eating rice crackers. "IT'S SO JAPANESE!" they said. "Well I'm sure it is," I thought in my head, "But I'm also pretty sure I don't run into McDonald's and shout, 'Awwwwwww, LOOK AT YOU GUYS! YOU'RE SO AMERICAN!"
• By the way, any stereotype you've ever heard about Japan? Not true.
• Highlights from Silver Week:

• Went to Kyushu to visit MM.

• Started out in Kagoshima city. Random Japanese guys tried to take over our vacation on the first night. They were really nice, but kind of pushy, and didn't get the hint that we wanted to go away. So we eventually had to say, "Go away." Remember the whole thing about Japan being high context? yeah they're not. Next day, went shopping and spent entirely too much money as usual:) Realized on Kyushu, Japanese people stare at gaijin a lot more than they do on the mainland. Almost punched a couple girls in the face. Not really. But when people are staring so blatantly that they are actually turning around to look at you, it gets to you. When it comes to staring, Japanese are like children. They just keep staring and never know when to look away.

• Next day in Shibushi at MM's apartment. We were in the bedroom, when I happened to look up at the wall in the living room. Upon seeing gigantic spider the size of my hand perched in the corner, I remember MM's penchant for placing fake lizards in her car for decoration. "Um... is that supposed to be there?" I ask hopefully. MM turns around and my only answer is her scream of terror. So no. It was not supposed to be there. Spent the next 30 minutes or so trying to figure out what to do with the thing, which more or less involved me cowering in a corner and MM standing in the other corner holding a broom. At one point she turned the lights in the living room on and from 15 feet away I saw the thing's EYES. This was an epic spider. MM closed the closet door to keep it from running in, but when she did, it ran down the wall and disappeared and the two of us were standing in the room screaming. I hadn't actually seen it run, but when MM screamed, I screamed, and I'm sure the neighbors had no clue what was going on. Eventually, she found it under the curtain and hit it like 10 times with a broom to kill it. All in all, scariest moment of my life. If I EVER find one of those things in my apartment and I'm alone, I WILL have a heart attack.

• Spontaneously took a ferry to Nagasaki. Caught the last one of the night by accident. We went to the Peace Park, and then realized we don't care about all the other touristy things, so after that we went to Starbucks and went shopping.

• Went to Fukuoka. Holy crap, best ramen EVER. We went to this huge mall called Canal City and stumbled upon Asian Week where they had a bunch of acrobat guys in the center of the mall doing a show. We met our friends there and at night went to this street along the river with a whole bunch of ramen vendors. Seriously, amazing. That night, wandered around drinking beer, shochu, and whiskey. Not all at the same time. Tried to go to a bar and meet some other friends, but repeatedly got lost, and everytime we stopped to ask for directions we ended up talking to the people we got directions from, and then forgot where they told us to go. Took epic jumping picture, perikura, found mall robo-cop, and fit 6 people in hotel room meant for 2.

• Next day, hangover. MM and I went to Wendy's and I had amazing chili-cheese fries. Whoever invented chili-cheese fries=genious. Dave had taken MM's bag by mistake, so instead of returning to Kagoshima, onward to Beppu. Spent the day at a breakdancing competition. Best accidental Silver Week day EVER. The competition was amazing, and I now want to learn to breakdance.

• Went to Oita. Went to onsen where they cover you in sand. Had awkward moment at the door with the woman who works at the onsen. She was trying to communicate that women aren't allowed to go in during that certain time of month. The sign was quite clear, so all she needed to do was point to the sign. But she didn't speak English very well, and I guess thought we didn't understand, and proceeded to yell at the top of her lungs, "Tampon! NO!" MM and I just looked at eachother, not sure what to do, and Dave replies, "Oh well I guess I'll go then!" and the lady realized we knew what she was saying and let us in. After being buried in sand and soaking in a hot tub, I had chocolate ice cream out of a vending machine and decided that Japan is awesome.

• Last night, Sifton and I met up in Sannomiya. As we were walking to dinner, a random guy came out of nowhere and tried to hug us and speak to us in English. I tried to push him away, but apparently he really wanted a hug. He may have been drunk.
• I was very upset to learn that Yamada sensei, the math teacher at school that is very cute and I have had a middle school crush on since I got to Japan, got married over Silver Week. Why, God. Why?
• Learned choreography to "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. Also working on body waves and the moon walk. My friends and I have big plans for the Himeji Halloween Party.
• Slowly but surely redecorating my apartment. Gradually becoming my own :) I printed out pictures to hang up, bought new pillows and some wall hanging things.
• No longer afraid of my kitchen. Well, a little afraid of the stove still, but overall, doing well. I've made spaghetti three times, ramen once, and some rice krispy treats. Also, made a big step when I bought chicken and vegetables to cook for dinner. Very proud of myself.
• Typhoon hit last week. I was awake all night because the wind sounded like it was going to knock down my apartment building. We ended up not having school the next day, but the teachers were supposed to go anyway. It was beautiful out and I didn't feel like going, so I took a vacation day.
• Found out my little sister got her driver's ed books 2 weeks after her 16th birthday. Was very angry about that for a long time. Still bitter, but getting over it.
• Kobe is awesome.
• Things that I miss about home:

• friends

• buffalo sauce

• ranch

• tacos

• bath and body works

• shoes that come in my size

• not being illiterate

• not having to dress up just to run to the store

• not being stuck in a stereotype everytime I do something remotely American

• knowing what everything is at the grocery store

• 24 hour grocery stores

• 24 hour ATMs

• non-cash based society

• blending in

• Things that are cool about Jay-pan:

• Random English

• Japanese onomatopoeia

• Kaitenzushi

• Onsens

• Fashion

• I live near 4 major cities that I can get to at any time, easily, by train

• Public transportation

• Standing out

• MM is here, too :)

• JET community

• Ubiquitous conbini (convenience stores)

• History

• Culture

• Izekaya

• Learning a new language that has no plurals, no articles, no future tense, and virtually no verb or noun conjugation

• 100 yen stores

• Karaoke