finally some November weather

It was looking very gray and overcast before I left for school, but it wasn't supposed to rain, so I wore my sweatshirt and down vest. Sadly, as Scott and I were leaving class it was starting to rain and the ride home was miserable, with ice-cold rain and windy. It was sort of nice, though - I prefer this yucky weather to the perpetual sun we had been having. But I was also quite chilled when I got home.

Emily made curry for dinner tonight (yesterday I made a sort of red sauce and we watched a movie and got discount crepes). Japanese curry is more like gravy with meat and vegetables in it, not Indian tasting at all. It was quite good. I am not sure how I will heat up my leftovers, though, since cold curry doesn't sound particularly appealing.

I have decided to try studying a lot for Japanese to see if that helps... but I am seriously thinking I might not take it next semester (maybe just audit it, or whatnot) so as to not potentially harm my GPA. Especially since the next class sounds a lot harder than this one. I have realized that I'm not really that interested in learning much more Japanese - I can sort of get by with what I know, and the more grammatical patterns I learn, the less sure I am of the ones I do know. It would be much more useful to actually talk in class rather than sitting there listening to the teacher. I am perfectly capable of reading the textbook to find out about the grammar, and some of the teachers pretty much just read from the textbook to us - or follow it so closely that it is sort of like they are. We do have to do a presentation about our hometown, but that's the only thing in this class that we have to do to prove we can make a sentence without following an example. From what I've heard, the next class doesn't have any more participation in class, and that doesn't seem to be helping me learn anything.

don't worry!

My finger has recovered from yesterday. I guess it just looked a lot worse right after it happened - now it looks like I have a blister on my finger. I scraped it between my fingernail and the first joint. It bends fine. This teaches me to not put my fingers between sliding doors. I just don't like seeing my own blood "get loose", in the immortal words of my little brother.

v-day

Today they fumigated. Last night I put all my kitchen stuff outside, including my dishes and pans and packaged food. This morning I put my bedding into garbage bags and put them out there too - my porch was *very* crowded. I lugged around my backpack full of all my valuables... it didn't feel too heavy at 9am but by 5 I would have sworn there were bricks in it. We had to be out all day for the fumigators to fume. Scott and I walked slowly to school and still got there an hour early. I have no idea how this is possible, but it is colder inside that building than outside. And not in a good way. Luckily the classrooms have heaters, which I turned on ahead of time, but most of the way through class the teacher opened thewindow. And I had just started to get warm. After history, we walked to Saty and looked at dustbusters, toasters (I think I might spring for the 12 dollar one to enhance my bagel eating), long johns, knives and then we went to McDonalds and shared a big fries. I hadn't realized how little salt I have been eating, they were really good. Then we went to Maruetsu and Scott gota new hat at the 100yen and we looked at long johns, pillows and boots, and walked around the grocery store. I got a hello kitty lunch box. It was really inexpensive for being Hello Kitty and that big. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next day I bring lunch. Then wewent to a third grocery store, Tsurekame, and I got ice cream (cookies and cafe in a cone) and Scott got pumpkin flavored kitkats. There was still an hour to kill so we sat in the park and ate our junk food and I climbed on this climby thing, which was entertaining for about two minutes. Eventually we went back and I aired out theroom and restored order, which included washing the floor because it felt sticky in spots. I washed the desk and counter too.

I was a little disturbed to see a bug on the outside of my door that was still alive, but I got my chemical spray and dispatched it. I saw a few (okay, 3) that were obviously close to death on their backs with their legs wiggling a bit, and squirted them too. So hopefully I am bug free and will be able to live in peace, at least until it gets warm. I saw one on my curtain that wasn't as close to death as I would have liked and I was going to open the door and put it outside and spray it but I had the door open the wrong way to do that so I was switching them and somehow managed to squish my middle finger on my right hand between the sliding doors. Surprisingly, it doesnt hurt very much and blood has been kept to a minimum, but I'm thinking it is going to be bruised tomorrow. After I take a shower I amgoing to put a bandaid on it to keep the blanket fuzz out of it. It's okay now, but when I was running water on it I started to feel like I was going to throw up so I decided that sitting down and elevating it was probably a good idea.

I eventually got the bug, though.

Damn Humidity

It was cool, cloudy and breezy today (about 55, I'd guess) and so incredibly humid that my hair was going into ringlets. It was dangerously poofy. The laundry I washed today (in anticipation of the machines being busy tomorrow night and Wednesday after they fumigate) is probably wetter now than it was when I took it out of the machine. It's ridiculous. I guess that is what the Japanese get for living in what used to be a temperate rainforest before they turned it into houses.

I need more bagels!!!

I'm worn out. That party was long.

And exhausting. But fun.

Scott and I left really early to go to the train station because the teacher emphasized that trains in the directionof his house are not very frequent, and we got to the connecting station over half an hour early. So we walked around a bit and took turns going to the bathroom (the train stations here all have public restrooms... and water fountains on the platforms) and then went back to wait around some more. The train left prompty at 9:10 like it said and we got to the train station by the teacher's house in ten minutes. He was waiting for us and we walked to the community center where his son's group meets. He had kept calling them Boy Scouts so I was a bit surprised that it was a mixed-gender group leaning more towards girls. We played some odd game that I didn't really understand and then sat around in a room and introduced ourselves and the kids were supposed to guess where we were from... one kid guessed I was from Finland. Which I guess is a better guess than the kid who said the Phillipeans, but he has also said Silke was Filipino. So maybe that was the only country he could think of. Then we got in groups and my group was lame and had no talents (the Indonesian girls had got some instruments and two grad students from Taiwan had those things you spin on a rope with two sticks... like at the renaissance fair. But Kim, Scott, Gene and Silke and I had no props and they learned (sort of) how to count in German (I thought it was funny none of them could say zehn (ten) correctly). And how to say the following in English and German:

Konnichiwa-Hello-Guten Tag
Hajimemashite-Nice to meet you-Schon dich zu sehen
Arigatou-Thank you- Danke
Sayounara-Goodbye-Auf Wiedersehen

Then we played a mutant charades-telephone game and it was weird. After the little kids group was over we walked to his house along this canal thing and through a park - it was very pretty. But kind of far.

The teacher designed his own house and it was really nice. He wanted a yard so the house is kind of small, but it has a basement with a family room and tv room, the first floor has a kitchen and a living room and the third floor is kind of like the attic - the ceiling was wood and open but it was the bedrooms. The middle of the house was the staircase and you could see from the basement to the skylights. His wife had made yakisoba (noodles with meat and vegetables stirred together) and we made california roll style sushi with egg and cucumber and avacado and lettuce and crab and tuna. It was really good. And there were shu mai. His younger kid was obviously getting really wound up and hyper and was climbing on Scott and things were getting a little hilarious and out of hand so we all went to the park across from his house and played soccer. That was a lot of fun. Then we went back inside and had some apple cake.

We walked back to the train station and came back to the dorm. I was really tired and didn't really feel like writing but I knew I would get lazy and not write if I didn't do it now.

zzz.

so full..

Today Emily and I rode our bikes to Chiba for a day of window shopping (and a little purchasing). Chiba's not far, supposedly 3.3 kilometers from Inage Station to Chiba Station (according to this cool website that tells you how far and how much and what trains to take to get places), so it's definately worth it to ride rather than pay 150 yen each way.

We walked around a couple malls that are attached to the train station and I got another Hello Kitty for my phone - this one is Hello Kitty sitting on a mushroom and her friend Kitty is sitting underneath the mushroom. Very cute. I also got a rather summery skirt thats lime green and yellow that was marked down a lot (to ten dollars) and a pair of cute heart shaped clipon earrings. As it was midafternoon we got hungry and went to a french bakery and I got this bun that was slit in half and had whip cream inside and chocolate all over the top. It was really good. The combination of the french bread (being not sweet) and the sweetish whip cream and chocolate was nice. We started walking back to our bicycles and passed a mochi shop and got mochi too... I got this little skewer that had four balls on it and had some sort of caramelized soy sauce on it that was soooooooooo good. But now I'm not hungry at all.

On the way home we went to Maruetsu to the 100 yen and I got some more clothespins (as I am anticipating needing them after they fumigate and all my stuff gets washed (I have been saving up and need to also do things like my corduroy jackets and all my pants, so there will be a lot of laundry out there). Also we priced ground beef in anticipation of our Monday night meal - I am going to make some spaghetti-ish sauce (heavy on the onions like last time) and she is going to make some chicken on Wednesday or Thursday.

I'm kind of tired now.

my hair is like a study in fractals...

As I was finishing up my grilled cheese sandwich today at lunch, I noticed one of my curls was being hit by the sun and it had a lot of split ends... so I took to eradicating them. Had I been thinking ahead I would have gone outside to snip a half inch off the bottom of broken strands, but I didn't and now I need to sweep the floor. I started doing research and it was saying that you have to cut the hair at least an inch above the break to make sure it is entirely intact and won't start to fray again. A couple weeks ago I had trimmed a lot of them, so now the broken ends are either in odd places or are very small, which makes it harder to see them but also means that I have gotten most of the bad ends. I really should have cut my hair before coming to Japan, since I know my hair was really damaged before going on vacation and I had been planning to cut it afterwards but just never did... I guess it's something neurotic to do and at least I am not biting my nails.

I never thought I'd say this...

But I really wish I had a job. I have so much free time. It's a little overwhelming, I have class for 17 hours a week and that's all I have to do, ever. I don't even have intellectually challenging homework (or any homework really for that mattter). It's not that I miss yelling at people to leave (although it's a nice power trip to be able to be loud in the library, and I hated having to kick people out for breaking rules) but that I miss having something that I absolutely had to do that took up a bug chunk of time. I'm sure that if I had a job now I would think that it was taking up my valuable free time, but the truth is that I could really use some more activities. I tried to join a club and it didn't work and now I think it is too late in the semester. And I'm tired of staring at the computer screen.

look Jackie, more pie!

My fridge is full of pie. That white thing on the right is a tube of a cool whip-like substance that masquerades as whip cream. It tastes pretty good, though.

thanksgiving...

Today was going kind of slow so I decided to walk over to Saty and check out the chickens but I was getting pretty hungry and just gave in and bought one. I hadn't really looked before but it turns out they had half chickens, which is a more practical amount for me anyways. I got one and and a piece of this squash looking thing that was already cut up and had the seeds scraped out (Emily had insisted at costco that those were pumpkins and Scott and I both told her that pumpkins have to be orange). And a little bottle of pink champagne. Which was kind of a whim. I came back home and put the squash pieces in a pan with a little bit of water and sort of steamed them, I guess, for about half an hour, and then I put the chicken on the still warm burner and heated it back up that way. All in all it was pretty good. The chicken was not the best rotisseire chicken I've ever had (the ones from whole foods are) but it was definately yummy and required far less effort on my part than cooking a chicken. The "squash" tasted suspiciously like a pumpkin... they must be some odd mutant variety that has green skins. It was good, though. I was starting to eat and I realized that I had "Alice's Restaurant" on the SD card in my pocket pc and I put it in the computer and listened to it while I ate (for those of you who don't know what I am talking about... read this.) I had eaten a lot of m&ms yesterday and I wasn't really hungry this morning (in fact, my stomach kind of felt like the day after halloween) but after my walk I had gotten quite hungry... but I'm going to wait a bit to eat some pie.

mmmmmmmmmmmm

This pumpkin pie I got at Costco is really pumpkiny and yummy. I think I will definately be able to finish it before it gets bad. Of course, we'll see how I feel in two days after having it multiple times... I think I am going to have some ramen too... I went to the free health clinic at school because my knee has been hurting a lot and the doctor there just kind of poked at it and bent it back and forth and then decided that I need to get it xrayed to try to find out what is wrong. She gave me the address and stuff of an orthopedic clinic that's really close to the dorm (apparentally they go straight to specialists here rather than bounce around through different doctors) but I'm not sure if I am going to go... I guess if it is still hurting a lot on Monday or Tuesday I will ask one of the teachers to go with me to the clinic. I was slightly disappointed because when Emily went with a cold to the place they gave her a ton of medicine and I just got a reference letter... not even any aspirin.

Its kind of pathetic, I haven't gotten any mail, not even junk mail, in almost a week. And tomorrow's a holiday (Labor Thanksgiving Day) so there's no hope of any then. I am looking forward to getting some rotisseire chicken and eating my pumpkin pie, corn soup and some bread...

doughnuts!

So we went to Costco today and got more food... I split a box of doughnuts and a giant bag of M&Ms with Scott and I got a bunch of bananas and a pumpkin pie. We also got a pizza, so I have two leftover pieces. This week is not a very healthy food week, I guess. Although I looked it up and doughnuts only have around 200 calories apiece (and the ones we got are all glazed or with sort of a very minimal sugar coating, so it's not like they are drenched in chocolate frosting), which is not as bad as I would have thought. Pumpkin pie also has surprisingly few - 250 to a slice...they don't say how big a slice, though. I figure I might as well get into the thanksgiving spirit and overeat pie on Thursday (but I think I will start it tomorrow night). I managed to get it into my fridge, with much rearranging of the rest of the contents. No turkey, though. I definately think I will be able to use up all the food I have before Christmas. It was a pretty nice bike ride, and coming back we bungeed the pizza and donut boxes to the back of my bike and I had the pie on my basket with this bungee net thing... I hadn't brought my backpack, sort of intentionally because I dislike riding with it on, and Scott and Emily both had a few things in their backpacks. The pie crust gota little damaged and it got a bit tilted, but I managed to tilt it back into the pan. I mean, from the last pie (that got turned on its side) we know that it will still taste good regardless of its intactness.

I had a Japanese midterm today. I think I did pretty good on most of the sections, but I think I did pretty bad on the particle section. I used to be really good with the particles, but it seems like now I've learned so many different usages for the same ones that it gets confusing and hard to know which one to use.

Only 4 weeks until I come home!!! I'm excited. Soon I should start going Christmas present shopping...

It's a good thing we went to Wendy's yesterday

Because it's been raining all day today. I don't think we have rain like this in Chicago very often - it's raining heavily enough that you seriously need an umbrella (I think about a half inch an hour is coming down) and it's been raining for at least 12 hours without even a gap in the onslaught. I mean, I guess sometimes it rains like this at home, but much more likely is intermittent showers/downpours or else a misty fog.

Despite the rain, I did manage to get out for a bit today - I walked to the grocery store and bought a carton of yogurt, and I hit the 99 yen grocery early in the morning and got among other things, some eggs. I made an omlette with cheese and it was really good. I think I just have to make sure to use them quickly. The vast pinkness of my sleeping bag turned comforter was starting to get on my nerves so I got a duvet cover that is coveredwith multi colored squares - two greens, two blues, two pinks, a yellow and an orange, repeated over and over again. It was also less than 5 dollars. I can't decide if my strawberry accesories look more or less out of place now. I need to get another pillow that's softer, the one I have now is memory foam and at first I thought it was too hard and then I got used to it but now I think it's too hard again. All the pillows here are either memory foam, have beans in them (so it would be like a giant beanie baby) or have so much stuffing in them that they are not soft. Every time I see a pillow I squish it hoping to find one I like, and I found a down one that was okay (and I've neverhad a down pillow but from my experiences with down blankets, I would think that after you put your head on it, it would become rather flat. As long as I didn't try to sleep on it it might be okay.) but it was over a hundred dollars. The uncomfortable ones I don't want are around 8 dollars.

I also went to Saty with Silke for crepes... today was the 19th so they were cheaper... I got the "Gelato in Double Mont Blanc". I'm not sure what Mont Blanc is, but the crepe had a scoop of french vanilla gelato and whip cream (they all do), and a piece of a cake with purple frosting and some of this stuff that was the consistency of very smooth bean paste but was brown and may have been hazelnut with some of these fruit-nut things on the top... I have no idea what they were but they had a meaty texture and tasted sort of like the paste. It was really good, though, if a bit odd.

Also, I have eaten all my bagels. I should have taken Scott up on his offer to go to Costco yesterday when we were within a hundred yards of it, but I still had one for today.

french fries!!!

Today Scott and I rode our bicycles to Funabashi to go to Wendy's because he wanted a frosty (chocolate malty ice creamy thing). This was no easy task for two reasons - Funabashi is about 10 miles away and we didn't know exactly how to get there. He had a general idea, though, and we rode from the dorm to Inage Kaigan Station, which is lined up with regular Inage station but about two miles south. Then we just followed the train tracks to the station by Costco, which was about two thirds of the way there and one street away from the big one that we eventually needed to be on to cross this river canal thing. We made it nine tenths of the way without any problems, but at the very end we were a little unsure of where to go. I asked someone but I didn't understand all of what she said but she had pointed so I figured we needed to go in that direction. The road we had taken's sidewalk had done this weird thingwhere it went under the road and came back up and then went back down (using these odd staircases with a ramp up the middle so you can push your bike ) and so wehad to go backup to go in the direction she had been pointing. From the top of this bridge over what I think was a tollway, we could see the IKEA sign. This was good because IKEA had been the other big landmark... the mall was diagonally across an expressway from it on the maps (to the northwest). Using the sun, I figured out which direction was north and then figured out where the mall (called LaLaPort) should be and we started walking back in the direction we came and about ten steps further we could see the sign for the mall itself. we went back down where we had come up and followed an old guy riding his bicycle in the correct direction and got there really quickly.

The mall itself was gigantic - I think it was about a half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide. Bigger than Old Orchard, for sure. It was five stories tall and had an outdoor section in the middle where Wendy's was. It didn't take us too long to find that, which was good because I was really hungry. I got a large fries (hey, I had just ridden my bike ten miles, why get the medium one) and a medium frosty. I hadn't had fries since I left Chicago, and these fries were outstanding. After eating we wandered around for a couple hours.

The variety of stores was amazing. There were a lot of Japanese stores, but there were also some American ones - we went to The Gap and LL Bean (which was exciting for me). There was also J Crew and Eddie Bauer and a Birkenstock store and Toys R Us and a Body Shop. We were walking on the second floor on a balcony thing and I saw a Sanrio store on the first floor, so we went there... I was surprised how long Scott managed to last before going to sit on a bench outside. I got another Hello Kitty for my phone (this one is a surfer and has a tan and a surfboard) and a little Hello Kitty Christmas tree (which is the picture).

Coming back seemed to take much less time than going there did. We left at 11, got there around 12:30 and headed back around 2:30. We got back around 3:45, so I guess it was about the same.

We went to Maruetsu to get a cover for Scott's bicycle basket and I ended up getting one too... also a cheese grater (if Emily and I are goingto keep getting large chunks of cheese at Costco, I need to be able to cut it somehow, and I'm awful at cutting it straight witha knife) and these plastic shoes that are intended for laundry but I am going to use in the bathroom to keep my feet from getting wet. I'm tired of stepping in a puddle from the previous night and gettingmy sock wet right before school.

I had dinner and now I'm getting tired... all that exercise. I think my legs might get sore tomorrow, though...

finally!

So yesterday a sign appeared on the door, but it was only in Japanese and I couldn't read it, so I figured it must not be that important - It gave a date and the building letters, but things that are vitally important, like warning labels or how to turn off your fire alarm if you accidently set it off, are always also in English. Today after economics, they'd put up a new version of the same sign, this time with English. Apparently the Tuesday after Thanksgiving they are going to fumigate the building so everyone has to leave from 9 am until 5 pm. I hope this kills all the bugs.. I taped over my vent in the kitchen (I can't do the bathroom one because the fan in there starts when you turn on the light) the other day and I've seen fewer bugs. I actually went to the store this morning and got some different looking glue traps that were marked down... I went to the grocery store and wandered around near the detergent and floor cleaning things and finally asked someone and she told me I had to go upstairs to the drugstore because they only have insecticides during the summer. At least, she said they only somethingsomething in the summer, so I can only assume she was telling me I was asking for a seasonal product.

So that's good.

I made some broccoli risotto tonight and enough to have for lunch tomorrow as well - but after I added the broccoli to the pan, it got a little hard to stir... next time I make enough for leftovers with something lumpy, I need to be sure to use the larger frying pan.

I've been doing some reading on ethnographic writing... I want to start writing so I feel a little less undirected. I really ought to bang out three pages or so for law class, and figure out what to write for economics... I guess that's what I will do this weekend. I know I keep saying it, but Thanksgiving is fast approaching and I want to have these done by Christmas.

...

I'm getting tired of Japan. It's nice enough here but I think I am discovering I like Chicago more. There are a lot of frustrating aspects of living here - I can't read anything, which makes eating Japanese food difficult because I don't know what things are (and the way they cut their meat is much thinner than in America - I keep cooking it beyond the point I want it, but it's never overdone). I'm tired of people always looking at me. I rarely get a chance to use Japanese because people try to speak English to me. The classes are so ridiculously easy that even I'm tempted to ditch class simply because it's boring. I would be learning a lot of Japanese if the class was taught in such a way that it behooved you to remember the vocabulary and grammar beyond the ten minutes it takes to complete the daily quiz. I guess I just feel like I'm wasting time that I ought to be using to actually take classes that I need to graduate. Granted, I only need 23 hours of anthropology credit, and I'm going to use studying abroad to write a paper that will fill 8 of those, but I don't know how to start writing or researching for it. I've checked out all the books the library here has on ethnographic writing... all 6 of them. And only one has proven to even be vaguely useful. I should be researching grad school and doing things that are going to help me get a job after I graduate, not making risotto every night simply because I have plenty of time to stand in front of the stove stirring it. At least I will have improved my cooking skills.

I feel like I live in a cubicle.

So that tape idea?

It didn't work. The electrical tape I got is not sticky enough to catch the bugs - I chased one onto a piece of tape I'd laid sticky side up and it just kept walking. I guess at Christmas I will have to bring some duct tape back if there are still bugs. Which I'm sure there will be. I actually emailed Angela (the lady at UIC in charge of international exchange) and told her to warn the people who are applying for next year that there are an unseemly amount of bugs that will not go away. She emailed me back with a couple links to websites about ways to kill them, because apparently most of them are resistant to pesticides and won't eat poisoned food... Except I have no idea where I would buy some of the ingredients in America, much less in Japan. I'm heartened by the fact I saw a big jumping spider in my room today, maybe he (or she) will pounce on and eat the bugs.

I am getting tired of bagels. I have eaten four in the last two days, which really isn't very many - I had a bagel for breakfast and lunch on Sunday and Monday - I forget what I ate on Sunday for dinner, but it was probably some of the rolls we got, and today I totally deviated - I had two steamed buns and a packet of corn soup. Tomorrow it's back to my bagel and banana diet - which is something I ate at home a lot. Both bagels and bananas are portable, because neither squishes too easily, particularly if the banana is on the top of your bag.

I was walking home from econ with Emily and Scott and said that I wished I had some lox to go with my bagels and cream cheese and she had no idea what lox were - apparently they just say they are eating bagels with smoked salmon, rather than bagels and lox. Which got me wondering about the etemology of the word lox. I suspected it was derived from Yiddish, and the dictionary has just confirmed it - the Yiddish word is laks, from the Middle High German lahs. I think she wasn't sure she heard me right because she asked me to repeat it about four times before I figured out she didn't know one of the words, not that she couldn't hear me. Sometimes I have no idea what she is talking about, so it's a nice reversal to be the one using an odd word.

Tomorrow I'm going to wash my sheets and some clothes. Hopefully it will be sunny enough that they dry in one day, otherwise I guess tomorrow night I will just be sleeping in my sleeping bag without the benefit of the cozy flannel.

weather

I keep reading about the awful wintry weather Chicago is having and I have to admit I'm a bit jealous. The weather here is gorgeous, relatively warm and nearly always sunny. The high temperature has yet to be below about 60 degrees. The only bad thing is the humidity. And the fact that it only seems to rain on days when I was either planning a long excursion by bicycle (like yesterday) or when I want to do laundry. My tutor told me it was supposed to get "cold" next week - which apparently means that the low will be in the upper forties. I don't know how much more of this good weather I can stand. I need some damp, blustery, miserable November weather, not perennial late September weather. All this sunshine and warmth is getting on my nerves - I want to be able to wear a sweater and actually need it, not carry it with me on the off chance that it might get cold while I'm in class. Because that's not going to happen.

One thing I forgot to write about going to Costco - there were so many caucasian (and other obviously foreign) people there. It was hard to not stare at them when we first got there, but towards the end we stopped being like, look, a white person. I can only imagine how odd it will be the first day or two in Chicago. We even saw a black guy who was working in the meat department. I ate one of the dinner rolls we got and it was so good. I'm a bit of a bread snob, but it had olive oil brushed on the top and was actually a proper consistency for bread. I had a sample of asiago cheese bread and the crust was really good, but I don't like asiago cheese.

And I'm happy to report that my bagels are standard american bagels... I should get the cream cheese out in a couple hours so that it is soft enough to spread by lunch time.

too... much... food...

So Scott and Emily and I went to Costco. We had been planning to go by bicycle but it started pouring so we decided to take the train instead, which was a bit of an adventure but we didn't get lost or anything. It took about half an hour (which is how long it is supposed to take by bicycle) but you have to go in the opposite direction first to change to a different train line twice. After we got to the station it was by, Kaihin Makuhari, we had a fairly good idea of where it was and started walking. We did stop and ask a guy who was supposed to be directing traffic if we were going the right way and he told us it was 10 minutes away. Around the train station and along the way to Costco were a whole bunch of convention halls and the Chiba Lotte Marines (the Japanese World Series Champions) baseball stadium.

Costco ended up being on two levels with these odd flat escalators that were like moving ramps(for the carts, I guess. The cart was about three feet wide and four feet long, it was kind of ridiculous). Emily was in awe of the large packages of things and the American food. I ended up getting a dozen cinnamon raisin bagels (impractical amount, I know, but that was the only option) because they were einstein brand. Tomorrow morning we will see if they are the same as einstein bagels at home are... I hope so. I mean, I prefer bagels from Treasure Island, but Einstein's are good. I also got some bananas that are american sized. Japanese bananas are about two-thirds the size of a regular banana. Emily and I split a block of cheese, a package of canned tomatoes(4 cans apiece) and a big bag of dinner rolls. I also got a gigantic chocolate bar and a bag of limey tortilla chips... they willnot be as good as the rick bayless ones, but they are the brand that I first had lime chips in. I'm saving those for the week after next when I have eaten all my bread and bagels. I really wanted to get some meat, but the packages were all so big that I would have to be on the atkins diet to manage to eat that much meat before it would get bad, and even then it would be difficult alone.

We were starving by the time we were done walking around and got a whole pizza. For some reason we thought we were being smart and decided to eat it all rather than have to carry the pizza box with three leftover pieces... but now I feel like I have overeaten pizza... without even the benefit of mindlessly watching football or television. It was raining when we were leaving but there were no tables inside so we took our pizza outside and were standing under umbrellas on the patio eating the pizza. We had also become enamored of these giant apple pies that were very aromatic, so we got one with the intent of eating it when we got back. somehow it ended up standing on end in its' box so it was no longer quite so pretty by the time we got back, but it still tasted really good... too bad I had eaten a third of a pizza that was 45 centimeters (17 and a half inches). Scott and Emily both decided that they did not want the leftover pie so it is all in two tupperwares in my fridge.

So I think with judicious meal planning, I can avoid both having to spend any money on food for the next ten days and not have to eat any rice.

costco

The Hispanic guys go to Costco about once a month and we are going to try to go with them tomorrow... or we might just go on our own if they are being slow. Scott's super excited about it and I'm hoping they will have some American food, although I don't really need any food at the moment.

I did wash my hair this morning and now it's really fluffy and kind of frizzy... it will look better in a couple days when it succumbs to gravity again.

I wish these teachers would give us a more specific assignment for what to write our final papers about. My history teacher did actually give us a good description and I've already written that one. I'm going to try to write the paper for Law and Society on Sunday, he said we should write it about something we read in class, so I will just write on what I presented about, the differences in common law and civil law. I should be able to write 2 to 5 pages about that in an hour and a half if I don't waste time playing solitaire.

I have so much stuff here that I brought from home that I don't use at all. After I read the books I brought I haven't touched them, and I haven't worn a lot of the clothes I brought with much frequency. There's no real advantage to having more than two weeks' worth of clothes because there is not enough space to hang up more than about ten days' worth. I need to keep some of the stuff here that I haven't worn yet because it's seasonally dependant, but I dont really need as many tshirts as I have, or dress shirts (I've only worn two of the five I brought). I need to keep the couple sleeveless shirts for the summer. Those green suede ballet flats I have are really cute and incredibly impractical if I want to, you know, actually walk anywhere with any speed or ride my bike. I never wore them much at home either, but I thought I would try. I really like them and if I didn't have to ride the bike all the time I think I would wear them more. I just feel like I have a lot of stuff mostly because the germans and Emily (from australia) could only bring 30 kilograms of stuff in total, so I have more than twice as much as they do. The other American girls have a lot of clothes too, though.

And what was I thinking bringing a month's worth of socks? I don't even wear socks every day and I have to do laundry twice a month or else not be able to spread it out enough to dry. Some of those are definately going back to Chicago and staying there at Christmas.

I got my electricity bill

I was shocked that it was nearly thirty dollars. I guess it's not that bad, Scott's was almost 50. I only use the light at night for a couple hours, so I guess it's my computer's being constantly plugged in and the hot plate that use all the energy. Also the incredibly inefficient hot water heater - it keeps water warm so you never have to wait for the water to get hot. I'd rather wait two minutes for the water to get up to being warm than pay to keep a thing of water at a temperature that's too hot to touch without serious pain. But I am going to make a consciencious effort to unplug things once they are charged. I wish I could unplug my phone and just plug it in when I want to talk on it, but that would probably mess up the settings and I can't really reach the outlet it's plugged into (between my desk and the wall).

I went to Saty and got a crepe with strawberry, chocolate syrup and gelato (french vanilla) - it was 290 yen because it's the 9th... the crepe place has a discount on the 9th, 19th and 29th of the month. I ran into Som and we talked for a couple minutes.

I'm really tired for some reason, I think I am going to take a shower and go to bed soon. Tomorrow morning I'm really going to try to be motivated enough to take a shower in the morning and wash my hair, since the last time I washed it was my birthday. It doesn't look bad, though, but the end of last week it was looking oily. Now it's just looking kind of flatter and dried out at the ends. It's also getting a lot longer looking, because it's reached the point where it doesn't really curl so well because it's too long and the weight ot the curl is pulling it down into a wave. Or that could be because I haven't washed it in three weeks, I'm not sure. At this rate, though, I certainly won't run out of shampoo.

I finished my puzzle!

I just finished my puzzle after working on it for three days... the first night I spent about an hour and made the whole outside edge, yesterday I spenttwo hours and put together some of the inside and today I probably spent 4 hours finishing the middle. I'm glad I didn't have a pictureof it, because it was a nice challenge to not know what I was trying to make. I'm not sure if it took me a long time or a short time to finish this puzzle, though.

In other news, the bugs did not go away. Tomorrow morning I am going to go to the office and tell them that the bug bomb thing did not work and that the bugs are coming into my room from the vents, and possibly from the outside, since I don't know just how well the door seals. I can't wait for it to get below freezing so all the bugs will die - which means I will have to be very cold for a day or so to make sure that the whole room is that cold. I think it's a fair tradeoff, though.

to the basement!

I know I wrote yesterday about how windy it was - and apparently there was a really strong tornado yestersday that killed 9 people yesterday in northern Japan. I'm really quite far away from that, though. When I was watching the tv yesterday, it segued into some sort of news show and they were showing video clips of a huge storm with a tornado, but then they flashed the date on the screen - they were talking about a tornado that happened in September. It makes sense now, knowing that there was a tornado yesterday and they probably didn't have any footage of it.

And actually, I have no idea what we are supposed to do if there is a tornado (or any other disaster really) because there's no basement here and they never really went over earthquake safety or anything like that at orientation. I looked up online what to do in an earthquake and the stuff from the State of California says to hide under a big piece of furniture... the State of Alaska recommends having THREE days' worth of food and water stored in your house. I've got two water bottles and a lot of uncooked rice to eat while I hide under my particle board desk that looks sturdy enough...

Immigration

On Monday, my economics class was canceled, but we didn't know so we went there and then found out. It was okay, though, because we were going to go out to eat anyways after class and we got to talk to Josh, a grad student in econ from Alabama for a while, which is always informative. I asked him about getting the reentry permit to leave Japan and come back without violating your visa, and he said that it took like two hours when he did it and that it was a pretty grim office.

I decided to go after history today, and I was going to take the train, but then I looked at a map and decided to just ride my bike. Josh had given fairly good instructions from Chiba Station so I just rode my bike there (it was actually closer to the university than Inage is, I think) and followed the monorail east to the first station. Given the rave reviews Josh had given the immigration office, I was expecting something utterly decrepit, so I was surprised to see that the waiting room was not too bad. It was dingy by Japanese standards, but all the vinyl benches were intact and I only waited about 20 minutes - there were 4 people ahead of me by number when I got there. Once it was my turn, the guy gave me a form to fill out and a thing to go take to the post office in the basement to pay, so I filled out the form and then headed downstairs, where a policeman (I don't know why, but I think half the times I've been to a post office, I've been greeted by a rather eldery policeman who asks me what I need and directs me where to stand.) steered me to the sign that said the equivilent of please wait here (I was the only person in the office besides him and the teller, so I think I could have figured out to walk to the desk myself). I paid my 6000 yen and got a stamp (literally, I had to lick it) to stick onto my form that said I paid. Paying was remarkable only because I got a 2000 yen note (a $20 bill). Someone had said they were in the process of phasing them out and it was the first one I've seen the whole time I was here. Usually I get 4 1000 yens. (I took a picture of all the different ones I had, but I haven't got a 500 yen coin at the moment, and neither did my neighbor).

I went back up the escalator and gave the guy my completed forms and my passport and he told me to sit down and he did something and then called my name(much quicker than I had been expecting) and gave me my passport with a new piece of paper to turn in at immigration and a new sticker. All in all, I think I was there for about 45 minutes.

Riding my bike back was made considerably harder by the fact that there was a stiff breeze (okay, it was really windy) from the west... which is the direction I was going. Eventually I made it back to the dorm, though.

When I paid my rent I complained that the bug poison they had given me did not work and I got a bug bomb type thing. I had set it off in the morning, since it said to leave the room shut for 2 hours. I was surprised when I cameback that my room pretty much smelled like mint and there was no sign of the smoke that had started coming out of the thing in the morning. I had put all my bedding outside, so I checked that none of it had blown away and opened the door and then I went to get some food... I didn't feel like washing everything to cook. I never really liked curry when I was in Chicago, but I went to this curry restaurant last week and it was so good. Honestly, Japanese curry rice is half a plate of rice with gravy (with a very small amount of tiny pieces of meat and potato and peas) and some sort of breaded and deep fried meat or something. I had pork roast with it. Because my room was still theoretically airing out,I took it back and sat in the meeting room staring aimlessly at the tv. I got to see the very end of what I can only assume wasa very long movie I had seen the beginning of at the immigration office. It was some sort of dramedy set in a hospital. While I was eating, some guy from China came in and started talking to me in English. The only problem being he didn't really speak English at all. He said some stuff to me in Japanese and then vanished to reappear with a Chinese-English dictionary and I think he was just flipping through it and making up sentences with words and waiting for me to pronounce them correctly for him.

Anyways, I am going to go to sleep soon - I stayed up until almost ten last night and I was exhausted this morning.

Google Earth

So I've found something new to do with my time that might have some redeeming value to someone at some point. Assuming I'm doing it correctly. I'm labeling places in Inage. Of course, I can't actually find any places that it looks like other people have labeled, even in Chicago, so it's quite possible I'm doing it wrong. If you are really bored, search for "Chiba University International House" and see if you can see some other places nearby... or if it even comes up.

If I am doing it correctly, this will eliminate the need for me to draw a better map in paint, as an aerial photo is far superior to my scratching at the computer screen with a gray paintbrushy tool.

I was going to go to Roppongi tonight (the plan had originally been for last week) but I took a nap in preparation and now my head hurts and I feel like a zombie... and it's only 6:15 here. Somehow I don't think I'm going to go, since all I really want to do is go to sleep.

Or read some more of Cryptonomicon, the book Aaron got my for my birthday. It's really interesting. It was slow at first, though, but it's picking up.

I emailed my tutor because I have to get a stamp on my visa to leave Japan and come back in without invalidating my visa. I've found the address, hours and telephone number of the place I need to go, except I'mnot sure how to get there. I have a general idea of the location of this building, but I can't find it on a map. It's maybe three or four train stations to the east of here. Hopefully she will at least be able to tell me which station it's by. Otherwise, I guess I will go to the police box on the far side of the train station tomorrow or Monday and see if they have a really big map and can help me. I plan to go on Tuesday, since I don't know if this is a thing where I'll spend more time waiting in line than it will take to fill out the form and get a piece of paper stapled into my passport, or if I will have to leave them my passport for a week while they process it. I'm thinking it's the former, since no one has made a big deal about it.

I want to eat bread!

and eat and eat and eat bread... but I don't think I should do that, my pants will stop fitting if I gave in and was to eat as much bread as I really want to. Also, the good bread is kind of expensive to binge eat like that.

I want a crossaint, and they do actually have them at the bakeries, but I'm afraid to get one and be horribly disappointed in it. I've been eating this gigantic things called sweet bread or roll or something, that are round and about 8 inches across and taste like hawaiian bread, but I think they each have like 500 calories, which is okay for breakfast... and they are actually pretty good. But alac, they just aggravate my bread desires...

I got a box of holiday koala cookies, and the outside of them are chocolate cookie with caramel cream filling... so delicious.

I tried to make something like ceviche with tofu and cucumber, but I put too much onion in and they only had lemon juice at the grocery store... so I think when I eat it for lunch, I'll have to remove most of the onion and then cook something with onion either tonight or tomorrow.

The hispanic guys have decided that this weekend they are going to go clubbing in Tokyo and then go to get sushi for breakfast at the fish markets... this was supposed to happen last weekend but everyone wimped out (including me) and I'm not sure I have enough energy to be able to stay awake for twice as long as I usually do.

I should really do laundry soon, but it's supposed to get cloudy this afternoon... but I guess no day this week is going to be clear and sunny - in response to what you said, James, everyone hangs their laundry out to dry because the dryers here cost 100 yen (a dollar) for TWENTY minutes. Also, everyone in Japan seems to hang up their clothes, and all the rooms have a little porch for that very purpose.

so we had pizza hut.

It was everything I usually despise about chain pizza - the crust was a little too fluffy and the sauce wasn't as thick as I like it, but I'd have to say, it tasted like real pizza. My stomach is happy. I had bacon (which was really more like ham) and mushroom... not my favorite toppings, but it was the cheapest. We had heard wednesdays were half price day, but apparentally that location doesn't do it. (perhaps because too many students took advantage of it). We did get a discount for picking the pizza up ourselves, though, instead of delivery. They put it in this crazy plastic bag that kept the box flat but still enabled us to have a handle. I managed to restrain myself and only ate half of it, but my mouth wanted to eat the whole thing. Probably better for my midsection that I exercised some restraint. I really ought to be more attentive to what I'm eating, but I keep being so hungry. Must be stress or something, but I need to cut back on the junk food. I've started chewing gum when I'm sitting on the computer doing nothing, which is good because it keeps me from eating snacks. That was something I did this summer while on vacation to prevent myself from eating the whole time we were driving to the pacific ocean and back.

I have made a lovely map.

Actually, it's really bad and apparentally too small to be seen unless you click on it, and then it's kind of blurry. I'm working on it. Also, my bicycle and the dorm - shot in black and white, it looks very Soviet.