And Thus Schoolwork Wins Over Blogwork

So, finals are coming up in the best way possible--paper and test forms~!
Yay!

...not.

So now I'm frantically writing papers and hoping to get everything done by Thursday so I can work on my final project for Sumi-e.

Do not fear! Once schoolwork is over, I'm writing a HUGE reflection post for Japan, this semester (and thus Kansai Gaidai), and transportation in Japan. It's going to be epic, so just you wait and see!

Until then, back to the salt mines! *whipcrack*

Tragedy at Toji

Well today marked a very tragic day for me. For the very first time ever in my life I became a delinquent and skipped class to go to the Toji flea market. It was epic and awesome and I may have bought a couple of more kimono. And some plush owls. :D

And that was when it happened.

Burdened down by my bags, I took my camera off my neck and placed it on a secure-looking post not knowing what was going to happen next.

You probably already know what happened, but I suppose I should just finish the story.

One of the friends I went with didn’t notice my camera and knocked it off its perch and into the local gutter/river thing. Fortunately, the camera part of the camera remained unscathed by water, mud, and breakage, but the lens (for non-camera geeks a.k.a. the most expensive part of the whole camera) made its way into the river and is now recuperating in a bowl of rice as we speak.

It’s not as bad as it could have been—the lens can still take pictures, but the camera doesn’t recognize it as being actually attached to the camera, due to a small piece of plastic breaking off during the fall. Needless to say, after my baby broke, I left Toji and headed back home, heartbroken.

As of right now, I’m still not sure if I can just get a plastic replacement part for the tiny piece that has broken off or if I need to buy a new lens entirely (eek!), but either way, there won’t be many pictures on the blog until my baby’s fixed. I might be able to borrow someone else’s, but, again, nothing is set in stone.

And also a big shout out to my friends who helped me stop panicking over the (apparent) death of my baby and help get me safely home! Thank you so much!

Here's some pictures of Toji before the unfortunate accident:

Look at ALL OF THE THINGS!

Two of my buddies, Erin and Liz. There were about...I want to say four others, but we kept wandering in and out of each other's way, so it was always a changing number.

Also, I'm playing with the formatting of the blog this week, so sorry if your feeds are spammed...

Just Thinkin'...

So today Liz and I were just chilling in the CIE lounge (henceforth known as “the Lounge” or “CIE”) when along came a gaggle of Japanese students with the dreaded…SURVEYS!

Dun dun DUN!

Well yes, if you’re going to hang out in the CIE, you’re also going to have Japanese students practice their English and use you for surveys for their classes. It’s common sense for them to use native-speaking resources for their English classes. I have no problem with this, because it allows me to sometimes practice my Japanese on them. Other people are not so happy about this occurrence.

Anyways, I filled out five or so surveys with Liz today about health, eating, and nutrition. And I can happily say, I think we’ve broken the mold on some students’ opinions and stereotypes about America. You see, Liz and I are both people who are very healthy. Sure, I don’t exercise as much as she does, but we both believe in eating healthy and not dieting (we would recommend, instead, a change in lifestyle habits of eating and activity). And there’s also the fact that the portions I eat in Japan (due to Okaasan’s finagling of my eating portions) are slightly bigger than what I eat in America. My survey people were floored. It was kinda funny in a way, if it wasn’t so sad that everyone thought that Americans were butterballs that consumed food like black holes.

Furisode Fun!

 Today Okaasan helped me get dressed in my furisode I bought at the Toji Temple flea market. Apparently, it’s a little small on me (probably because it was made for a Japanese woman and not a gangly American) but I love it anyways. I can probably not wear it in Japan without getting mocked, but I feel that not a ton of people in America would notice that it didn’t fit me as well… Hmmmm, I may know what I’m wearing on the plane ride home. XD

I don’t have all the accoutrements needed for kimono wearing, so Okaasan kindly lent me her own. Everything except the kimono and one of the sashes is borrowed from hers. Apparently the obi I bought didn’t have the right stiffness for the bow she wanted to make, so she lent me her own. “Next time,” she promised, “we’ll put your hair in a cuter style and use your own obi.” So, yay! It’ll happen again!

From the front!

Did you know that you’re supposed to style your hair before putting on a kimono? Yeah, I didn’t. I just wanted to keep it out of the way for the forty-five minutes spent completely still as Okaasan wrapped me up like a doll.

Look at the designs!

The Japanese have a thing about wrapping things to make them pretty; it’s only common sense that that would apply to wearing clothes as well. There are so many things you need to make yourself compliant with a kimono. I could tell you them all and describe them to you myself, but there’ s already a lovely page about that that I will direct you to: here. Check it out if you want to see what went into making me look like I was kimono-ized.

Look at the beautifully tied obi!

Fortunately, getting out of a kimono takes much less time than getting into one. In about five minutes I was out and in my regular clothes.

Traditional Japanese Garden

Today Okaasan and I went to a traditional Japanese garden. It was a local park, so it was free to go to. However, we arrived when it was about to close, but due to me being foreign, we were allowed to quickly circuit it. Ah, the pleasures of sticking out like a sore thumb...

I never knew how many spiders inhabited a tiny garden like this one. I actually didn’t take any pictures, but the webs were huge. Also there we saw something that Okaasan called “wild turkeys.”

Okay, I live in Wisconsin. For me, wild turkeys are these:

However, in Japan (according to Okaasan), wild turkeys are these:

…yeah, I don’t get it either. The word I know for “duck” (あひる), is apparently only used for domesticated animals, and I didn’t have my trusty electronic dictionary to help me.

In spring, there would be a patch of irises here. I find it interesting that they're all labeled with their names. Yes, each specific flower has a name. Isn't that cute?

The little coats (like the traditional straw raincoats) on the pine trees are to protect them from bugs. Aren't they adorable?

These rocks are designed to look like mountains. Japan just seems to love mountains, don't they?

 Ah, Japanese nature gardens are really enjoyable, aren't they?

She's Back!

So, you all may be wondering why I was out of touch this week....well, it's not that much of a long story, so I will tell you (and then update! update! update! all the blog entries that I've been missing).

To start it off, there was Halloween and the contest I entered, rendering me useless to do homework until 11 at night--and I had conveniently forgotten that I had a powerpoint due the next day. Needless to say, there was no sleep the night of Halloween! Then there was the culture festival, which was a wonderful distraction from just about everything--including schoolwork. Following that was a frantic haste to finish up my midterm paper for my anthropology class--I wanted it done by Friday (though it was due Monday) so I could relax over the weekend.

And then it happened--the weekend. First I went to the Royal Palace in the pouring, then had a belated birthday (2 months!). At this point, I was a little fatigued, and had slept weirdly so my throat got kinda dry at night. The next day I (finally!) went to Fushimi Inari which resides on top of a mountain with no elevator. >.< I had a blast! And then it happened.

DUN DUN DUN.

I got sick. Being sick in Japan is srs bsns (serious business). If you’re sick, you need to buy some horrendously overpriced otc meds (much like in America), but you also need to buy a medical mask. I have no idea why (maybe Japan just doesn’t want to see dripping noses or just wants to stop contagion), but if you’re sick in Japan (or part of the punk subculture…), you wear a medical mask.

Example A: Sick person wearing medical mask

Example B: Part of the punk subculture

Currently, I'm still sniffing along, and Okaasan has unfortunately caught it as well. :(

We're both healing, and look forward to hearing more updates from me~!

The thing about timezones is...

...some places, like Japan, don't have them!

So, Japan doesn’t take Daylight Savings into account…I should have realized this before trying to call my family at 6 in the morning their time…Sorry Dad! Sorry Mom! Sorry Em!