Another busy day. I'd resolved to save my money, but that's out the window. Luckily, I didn't bring much with me today. Just the remainder of the 10,000 that I mostly burned through earlier. I did even more shopping today. I hadn't been doing any because normally, I don't enjoy it much, but I'm finding all sorts of things to look at. For instance, today, I looked at new cd's and dvd's, I looked at used cd's, books, and games, I went to some grocery stores looking for Pocari Sweat mix, which I didn't find, I bought some of those ridiculous "loose socks" that all schoolgirls are wearing right now [Like orange/brown/blonde dyed hair, these loose socks were originally the provance of the "bad girl", but both have been co-opted into the mainstream], and I ate gyoza at a ramen restaurant. YUM! I wanted noodles, but by this time, I was down to about 500 yen and some change, so I bought gyoza (you get 5 at a time). I wish I'd have bought more, but it's ok, I'm going back there for lunch tomorrow on my way to meet Sarah.
Anyway, these socks are made of thick white cotton (always white) and are kind of like 'slouch' socks of the 80's in that you push them down. The difference here is that these socks come classified according to lentgh: 30cm, 40cm, 50cm, 70cm, 90cm, 110cm, and 120cm. This is no joke. They wear socks that are almost as long as I am tall. I bought some 40's for historical reference. I figured they'd be good for keeping my feet warm later on. I also found some of those silly little socks with 5 toes, so I bought some of those too. Had I had more money on me, I'd have bought some easier to take on and off shoes, since you have to do that all the time here. The store I bought them from was fairly cheap, kind of like the old Allied Department stores that we used to have back home.
At the used bookstore (BOOK OFF!), I bought a set of 7 GoldenBoy [a clasic ecchi series] manga books for 1050 yen. That store rules. I just wish I could read better so I could take advantage of it. I figure if you can't read, you can't go wrong with pr0n.
The semester exam was this morning. It wasn't hard except for the dictation, which was ridiculous. We had to write 4 long sentences, including kanji, and she only said each one twice. I was the first to finish, as usual. Sometimes I wait for someone else to be the first to turn in exams, but that usually takes longer than I am willing to wait so I was first. While the test was going on, it began pouring rain. I hung around in the lounge with everyone else until the rain got weak and then I left with Sarah. In Nanae (my suburb), it had been quite hot and sunny, but not in Hakodate. I went to the internet cafe and Sarah stayed on the streetcar. I left school so early that it was also early when I left the internet cafe, which was the cause of my money disappearing. It was too early to go home.
On the streetcar, Sarah told me about 2 naughty underwear stores she'd seen from the car, since she rides it to school every day. Hopefully I can check them out soon. She said one is called 'Nudies'.
I beat host mom home by a couple of minutes. I told her all about my busy day and she said she'd take me to more stores that are hard to go to on foot. Yeah! I also told her what stuff I would and would not have seen by Friday, and they are going to take me sightseeing later on. If you climb the mountain at night, the view of the city is said to be spectacular. They are taking me to see it. I generally don't go out at night because we live so far away from everything. If we lived near a station, it'd be easier. I've heard of other people having a 30 minute walk to their station followed by a 45 minute train ride to get to Hakodate. That must really suck. Or a 40 minute bicycle ride to their station followed by a 30 minute train ride. My roommate from Narita has to do that. I think she almost went home she was so upset.
At Japanese stores, when you buy something, you put your money in a little tray. This is pretty constant whether it is a conveience store, department store, or restaurant. I have been here 4 or 5 weeks and still can't remember to use the tray. I'm getting better at little things like that.
I think I'm going to have to buy another piece of cheap luggage before I come home. I've bought so much stuff that I'm not at all sure if it will fit in my suitcase. Unlike most people, I only brought one partially full suitcase and a backpack. I know I can fill it now, though.
The sewing machine is gone! I was using that box to block my door to keep that damn cat out! Rats. Ok, there was a new sewing machine in my room still in its box. The other night I was looking for a suitable object to place against the door to keep that stupid cat from opening it and that sewing machine was the best I could do. I was worried she was gonna spot it and move it and she did. Now I want to tell her why I moved it but how? I hope she doesn't think anything bad. Maybe she was afraid I would break it. Grr.
Earlier this evening, host dad saw my door open and said "Don't let the cat in!". I told him "the cat let itself in!". He said it comes in their room too. I said it was a bad cat. I didn't see the point in closing the door since the cat's gonna come in anyway but I closed it to make him happy.
I spent the evening with host family. I was trying to teach Hiroshi about computers. He was asking me all kinds of hard questions which would have been elementary in English, but rather impossible with my limited vocabulary. He wants to get DSL and asked me all about that. Then he saw a wireless card/access point set and asked me about that. Believe it or not, that was really hard to explain to someone with no computing experience in a foreign language. Finally, I showed him my Farallon card w/ 2 port dongle and an ethernet cable and after a while, he understood. It went on from there, but it's not interesting.
I looked through some salepapers and at Toys R Us, found a dvd player shaped like a tree trunk with an acorn shaped remote, found a clothing ad for "men's bottoms", and found an ad for a mega gaming store, among other things.
English is really hard to explain. The other night, I tried explaining the difference between "to look" and "to watch". Not something I've ever really thought about. But in Japanese, these are the same word. Finally, I came to the conclusion that we "watch" things that move and we "look" at things that are still. A couple of weeks ago, he asked me the difference between "mug", "cup", and "glass". Glass was easy. It's a glass. I said that "mug" has a handle and "cup" usually doesn't, but that's not entirely accurate although it was close enough for our purpose. How do we subconsiously make our distinction between a coffe mug, beer mug, "beaker", tea cup, plastic cup, and glass? We just know; we don't know how to explain it.
For dindins we had what I considered to be "pork-fried chicken" which was chicken with a heavy breading and thick crust (I thought it was pork at first), home-grown asparagus, kimchi for me, and some really horrible sweet tofu with egg. I REALLY hate tofu. They told me it would be better with soy sauce but when I ate it, I nearly gagged. It really was disgusting. Imagine putting soy sauce on a banana. That's what it reminded me of. You can never hide your true feelings from Japanese people. They knew immediately that I didn't like it and I hadn't said a word OR made a face. I think.
Sunday, we are going to their daughter's house, which is an hour away. She has 3 kids, assuming she hasn't made any more recently. I'm sure it will be horrible. They asked me if I wanted to go, and I figured I probably should. However, I asked if we could leave earlier than "night" because I have homework due next Monday. Japanese teachers ALWAYS give homework, regardless of how long the vacation is. At UGA, we had summer vacation homework, Christmas vacation homework, and spring break homework.
Ohhh, I'm tired and feet hurt. Bedtime.