In a bind, because I'm way behind.
If you understood that title reference, you get a cookie.
First of all, because I promised, this post is full of pictures. I forgot the ones from Kyoto, though...so we'll have to return to that later. LAME.
The entry way to my apartment-room-thing, where you remove your shoes.
The main room. I put a futon out on the floor at night.
The teeny-tiny bathroom.
The little kitchenette. There's a minifridge off to the left.
These are from my trip to Osaka-jo last Sunday, with Okaa-san and Otoo-san.
The moat, and a far view of the main castle.
Otoo-san and I, by a mysterious trackless train.
Getting closer...isn't it pretty?
A view off of the eighth-floor observation deck. That fish is real gold.
An indoor display, of more items plated in real gold.
First of all, classes have begun! Speaking and Written Japanese are both...well...language classes. Huzzah.
The kabuki and theatre class looks pretty interesting. Professor Barkhymer is a nice guy, and we're going to take field trips. Hooray, field trips! (Not to be confused with Red Stripe's "Hooray, beer!")
Cinema class looks medium. On the one hand, the movies look sweet, and they will take up one class a week. (There are only two to begin with!) However, the professor is super dry. He's monotoning it up big time. On Thursday we watched our first film, which was amazing. It's called "Swallowtail," and if you can get ahold of it, WATCH IT NOW. It's in a mixture of Japanese, Chinese, and English. (Don't worry, it's subtitled.) It was dramatic and hilarious and just CRAZILY BIZARRE. I can't decide whether I want to own it, or just see it again.
Last but definitely not least, Struggle For Justice looks AWESOME. On the first day of class, the professor blew my mind. Instead of saying, "Hi, welcome to whatever I'm professor whatever..." he comes in to the room, takes a swig of his diet coke, and launches in with, "DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES." Whaaaat? For the next forty minutes or so, he astounds me. First professor Tracy delivers the closing arguments of a prosecutor, as if we were the jury. He refers to evidence that he's supposedly shown us, he gestures to an invisible perpetrator, he warns us against the defense attorney, and he is remarkably persuasive. (It's a hearing to determine whether or not to give the criminal a death sentence.)
Afterwards, he shuffles some papers, takes another swig of his diet coke, and then delivers another closing argument as the defense attorney. He was absolutely amazing. And afterwards? He made us VOTE. We ended up a hung-jury...fourteen to fourteen.
I am so so so so excited for this class. Our first assignment? A group project -- design your own justice system. (!!!)
Other stuff: after much struggle, bought a cellphone. It was especially difficult because I went by myself...my Japanese is medium, and the clerk's English was medium. But she was super super nice! My phone is shiny and red, and can send emails.
Those hands belong to Okaa-san and Eriko-san, who is Tomoki's girlfriend. They're cooking takoyaki...octopus balls!
Okaa-san and Tomoki.
This is what takoyaki looks like when it's finished.
Hitoshi, who is really hilarious. Yes, he's always like this, and, yes, he's nearly always half-naked.
Hitoshi vs. Okaa-san -- JAN KEN PON! It's pretty much a rock paper scissors match to decide who's going to go get the ice cream.
I led an expedition back to Osaka-jo, this time with a group of friends. Our party included: myself, Julie, Megan, Thomas, Amanda, and Amanda's two host sisters -- Yuna and Haru.
Stop one: Osaka-jo. Same as last time, still awesome. A bush gave me a newspaper as a present, and I was accidentally luring blind people onto the train tracks by humming the cross-the-street song. We witnessed (and I video'd) a pigeon death-match. Also: we rode on a double-decker train! WHAT?
Megan: "If you meet a goose, just play dead or something."
Afterwards we ate some takoyaki and shopped around an area of Nanba called Shinsaibashi. Everything was expensive, and it was full of hip-hop reggae goth kids. AMAZING! I even saw two black people -- not together! AMAZING! It made me unreasonably happy.
I bought a lot of things. Engrish tee-shirts (which you'll just have to see to believe), earrings, a Deadman CD, a sweet hat. Rock on.
This picture is SO AWESOME. Osaka-jo is really cool.
Indulging in some neon fruit drinks before we enter the castle. Left to right: Thomas, Julie, Megan. One of these things is not like the others!
Why, yes, we ARE dorks.
A blurry one of me and Julie, on the crowded train homewards. Check out my fly new hat.
Yesterday I just chilled, and today Katiekay and I popped over to Hirakata-shi during her lunchbreak. We got purikura pictures taken (which was fun...especially since we had an excuse! Getting purikura has been our only Struggle For Justice assignment so far. That class is TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL.) Also, shopped around and ate at a Japanese KFC. We both bought some sweet socks, and I got another pair of earrings, a Gackt CD, and a little handtowel for my purse. In Japan, they are a necessity.
I saw Megan Ryan on TV. She was advertising coffee...IN JAPANESE.
On a commercial, I saw a Japanese man singing "Old Kentucky Home."
On a TV show about a ridiculously fat cat, they randomly played the theme from the Oliver Platt, Charlie Sheen, Keifer Sutherland version of "The Three Musketeers." (OMG one of my favorite movies.)
A sign outside of Seminar House 2. My God, what is the world coming to?
A sign in Osaka-jo. It's the black text that gets me. SCANDALOUS.
The Statue of Liberty is alive and well in Shinsaibashi.
Today I met an important cultural icon.
Katiekay, chillin' with the Colonel.
I think that about covers it...more news on the hour.
First of all, because I promised, this post is full of pictures. I forgot the ones from Kyoto, though...so we'll have to return to that later. LAME.
The entry way to my apartment-room-thing, where you remove your shoes.
The main room. I put a futon out on the floor at night.
The teeny-tiny bathroom.
The little kitchenette. There's a minifridge off to the left.
These are from my trip to Osaka-jo last Sunday, with Okaa-san and Otoo-san.
The moat, and a far view of the main castle.
Otoo-san and I, by a mysterious trackless train.
Getting closer...isn't it pretty?
A view off of the eighth-floor observation deck. That fish is real gold.
An indoor display, of more items plated in real gold.
First of all, classes have begun! Speaking and Written Japanese are both...well...language classes. Huzzah.
The kabuki and theatre class looks pretty interesting. Professor Barkhymer is a nice guy, and we're going to take field trips. Hooray, field trips! (Not to be confused with Red Stripe's "Hooray, beer!")
Cinema class looks medium. On the one hand, the movies look sweet, and they will take up one class a week. (There are only two to begin with!) However, the professor is super dry. He's monotoning it up big time. On Thursday we watched our first film, which was amazing. It's called "Swallowtail," and if you can get ahold of it, WATCH IT NOW. It's in a mixture of Japanese, Chinese, and English. (Don't worry, it's subtitled.) It was dramatic and hilarious and just CRAZILY BIZARRE. I can't decide whether I want to own it, or just see it again.
Last but definitely not least, Struggle For Justice looks AWESOME. On the first day of class, the professor blew my mind. Instead of saying, "Hi, welcome to whatever I'm professor whatever..." he comes in to the room, takes a swig of his diet coke, and launches in with, "DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES." Whaaaat? For the next forty minutes or so, he astounds me. First professor Tracy delivers the closing arguments of a prosecutor, as if we were the jury. He refers to evidence that he's supposedly shown us, he gestures to an invisible perpetrator, he warns us against the defense attorney, and he is remarkably persuasive. (It's a hearing to determine whether or not to give the criminal a death sentence.)
Afterwards, he shuffles some papers, takes another swig of his diet coke, and then delivers another closing argument as the defense attorney. He was absolutely amazing. And afterwards? He made us VOTE. We ended up a hung-jury...fourteen to fourteen.
I am so so so so excited for this class. Our first assignment? A group project -- design your own justice system. (!!!)
Other stuff: after much struggle, bought a cellphone. It was especially difficult because I went by myself...my Japanese is medium, and the clerk's English was medium. But she was super super nice! My phone is shiny and red, and can send emails.
Those hands belong to Okaa-san and Eriko-san, who is Tomoki's girlfriend. They're cooking takoyaki...octopus balls!
Okaa-san and Tomoki.
This is what takoyaki looks like when it's finished.
Hitoshi, who is really hilarious. Yes, he's always like this, and, yes, he's nearly always half-naked.
Hitoshi vs. Okaa-san -- JAN KEN PON! It's pretty much a rock paper scissors match to decide who's going to go get the ice cream.
I led an expedition back to Osaka-jo, this time with a group of friends. Our party included: myself, Julie, Megan, Thomas, Amanda, and Amanda's two host sisters -- Yuna and Haru.
Stop one: Osaka-jo. Same as last time, still awesome. A bush gave me a newspaper as a present, and I was accidentally luring blind people onto the train tracks by humming the cross-the-street song. We witnessed (and I video'd) a pigeon death-match. Also: we rode on a double-decker train! WHAT?
Megan: "If you meet a goose, just play dead or something."
Afterwards we ate some takoyaki and shopped around an area of Nanba called Shinsaibashi. Everything was expensive, and it was full of hip-hop reggae goth kids. AMAZING! I even saw two black people -- not together! AMAZING! It made me unreasonably happy.
I bought a lot of things. Engrish tee-shirts (which you'll just have to see to believe), earrings, a Deadman CD, a sweet hat. Rock on.
This picture is SO AWESOME. Osaka-jo is really cool.
Indulging in some neon fruit drinks before we enter the castle. Left to right: Thomas, Julie, Megan. One of these things is not like the others!
Why, yes, we ARE dorks.
A blurry one of me and Julie, on the crowded train homewards. Check out my fly new hat.
Yesterday I just chilled, and today Katiekay and I popped over to Hirakata-shi during her lunchbreak. We got purikura pictures taken (which was fun...especially since we had an excuse! Getting purikura has been our only Struggle For Justice assignment so far. That class is TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL.) Also, shopped around and ate at a Japanese KFC. We both bought some sweet socks, and I got another pair of earrings, a Gackt CD, and a little handtowel for my purse. In Japan, they are a necessity.
I saw Megan Ryan on TV. She was advertising coffee...IN JAPANESE.
On a commercial, I saw a Japanese man singing "Old Kentucky Home."
On a TV show about a ridiculously fat cat, they randomly played the theme from the Oliver Platt, Charlie Sheen, Keifer Sutherland version of "The Three Musketeers." (OMG one of my favorite movies.)
A sign outside of Seminar House 2. My God, what is the world coming to?
A sign in Osaka-jo. It's the black text that gets me. SCANDALOUS.
The Statue of Liberty is alive and well in Shinsaibashi.
Today I met an important cultural icon.
Katiekay, chillin' with the Colonel.
I think that about covers it...more news on the hour.