15 minutes from school that also specializes in Yakitori, which is like Chicken/Beef skewers. They were really yummy, but since there were all different kinds, I'm pretty sure that there were some that I don't actually want to know what part of the animal I was eating....We were in this huge Japanese style room with tatami floors, sliding doors, tables on the ground and Zabuton (cushions used for sitting on the floor), so that was really cool. We ordered pitchers of stuff and ate
and drank and talked...and of course did introductions, as any Japanese club is wont to do. I seriously think I have introduced myself more times in Japan than I have in my entire life. O_OI tried a bunch of different things including a Japanese screwdriver which is made with orange soda and is extremely weak and another drink made from Sakura (cherry blossoms). They were very yummy :)
Since we had our own room, it was really nice, and I could actually hear people when I talked to
them, as opposed to Pachiko from a few weeks ago. I met a bunch of people and laughed at the Japanese lack of tolerance for alcohol...which there is actually a genetic reason for, I would like to add. Asians in general, though especially Japanese, literally have a significant deficit of the enzyme required to break down alcohol in the a timely matter. I literally had a friend get red in the face and all that jazz from one cup about yay big. (that's him on the right hand side of the picture). Yay Mrs. Knight's senior science class. I actually learned something of value!And of course, what is any Japanese Nomikai without Karaoke until 5AM? Yes, you guessed right, I ended up at Big Echo (the Karaoke joint nearest to the school) until the wee hours of the morning with JEK. I didn't sing as much I did last time since the boys from JEK were more than happy to belt it out in my stead and I didn't really feel like killing my voice again. I definitely sang, just not every other song like at E.S.S.
The JEK boys were crazy. The would be screaming to songs, going all out on others and then singing peppy pop songs the next. One kid I'm still trying to figure out how he didn't give himself a heart attack from all the exertion. O_O They even busted out Maracas and Tambourines from god knows where and I had my own little Mariachi band cheering me on as I sang "Love Story".Sunday was pretty fun, with me sleeping away the morning, waking up to eat Pizza in Tony's room with the two Korean girl's the next building over. That evening we had a little party at my place which consisted of eating ( I managed to make my family's "Candied Green Bean" sauce and No bake Cookies!), playing quite possibly the cleanest game of never have I ever and watching The Japanese tradition. Yes Nicole...if you're reading this...I know you can hear that music in your head...right....now!
The Japanese tradition is a bunch of videos on you tube made by a Japanese person making fun of Japanese culture. NONE of it is true, so please don't take them seriously, but there are ones on sushi, chopsticks (warning, this has no subtitles) and of course, my favorite, the four part epic on Japanese dating (one, two, three, four). These are the funniest in my opinion, but there are other ones on Onigiri (Rice Balls), Origami, Ocha (Tea ceremony), Dogeza (apologizing) and Sumo....so just google the Japanese tradition if you would like some laughs :D
Miki actually came to school on Monday for the first time in I don't even know how long...so this was of course reason for celebration. Miki has never done Karaoke with Tony or I before,
and she was jealous that Yuuki had gone about every time...so of course we did the logical thing on a Monday evening, and went to do Karaoke, the highlight of which I'm pretty sure was Tony and my duet of "I'm a Barbie girl". Yuuki and Miki loved my ditzy Barbie voice, but were shocked as all hell when I told them the true meaning of the song.We finished out the night with dinner at an American style (kind of?) restaurant called Bikkuri Donkey, which literally translates to "Surprised Donkey".On Wednesday, the EA adviser in charge of all the East Asia programs at Penn State, David Derstine, came to Ibaraki to check in on us, see the school and get the real skinny from us. He sat in on one of our classes and then we had lunch at the Shien Kaikan with him and a bunch of the teachers from the Student Exchange Division. We attended a presentation on Penn State, to what point and purpose, I'm still not sure since Tony and I had to leave before the Q & A began to get to class. It was surprising that, no matter how many times I've said that I'm from Penn State, a lot of the people there did not put two and two together that this was my University until I said so.
Oh yes...and get this my fellow Penn State students! Remember our beloved Genki textbooks? Mary-san? Robatto? Su-san and Takeshi? The characters that we love and adore so much? ...well it turns out one of my teachers here, Ikeda, was one of the writers of the Genki books! She wasn't Ikeda at the time, so I had no idea until Fujiwara said something when I told her we used the book at Penn State. So I got her to sign my book :) I told her "You've been teaching me long before you were ever my teacher!" and that made her smile.
Today I met with Rinda over lunch to help him with intonation, accent and dictation for his English speech he has to give at next week's E.S.S....and he had a dickens of a time saying "Disadvantages", not that I say I can blame him. If you think about it, it really is an awkard word. After awhile I had to plug my ears and say it to myself to make sure I told HIM the right accent...and then Yuuki picked me up and we went to go get our hair done at Access Moon!
I was originally going to get my hair done like this, which includes a perm on the bottom half of my hair. I wanted something different and I figured 郷に入っては郷に従え...which is the Japanese version of "When in Rome"( Much like the Challenge is the Life of Spice, this little nugget of knowledge also comes courtesy of Masashi)...However when I sat down, my hair dresser kept running his hands through my hair and saying something with a frown on his face...After translation via Yuuki, I found out my stylist was saying that my hair was too fine and thin, and he was so afraid that the Japanese chemicals for perming would be too strong (perming and dying solutions are a LOT stronger here because of how coarse and color resistant Japanese hair is), that he thought that he would ruin my hair.
Sad face. :(
So instead I settled for a cute layered cut that is longer in the back and
shorter in the front. I have to get a good picture of it soon, but in the meantime, here is the Purikura that Yuuki and I took in a real hurry after we were done because I was all ready late to the party my tutor's American literature Zemi was holding for the Penn Students...Seriously, Japanese perming takes FOREVER. We started at 3 and Yuuki's hair wasn't done until 10 before six!First, she had to get her hair trimmed, and then she had to have her hair coated with some chemical that her hair dresser described to me as literally "Hair Perm medicine"...which she had in her hair until I was
almost done with my hair cut...and then she had to get her hair washed, set in rollers, get hooked up to some kind of machine that kinda looked like Aliens trying to suck her brains out for about 30 minutes, let her hair cool, put more solution on it, wait for that, wash her hair again, for some odd reason get a shoulder massage, dry her hair and cut it again for good measure. O_OWe raced back to campus for the party, which was fun, and I actually knew a bunch of people in the Zemi and they had all kinds of yummy
food like Crunky and German Potato Pizza (essentially Potato Au Gratin with Ham? Not sure how German that is...but ...) I felt bad for being late, but when I told them I was waiting for my friend to finish get her hair permed x, they all immediately understood (apparently three hours for this procedure is the norm?)...and then proceeded to tell me how much I looked like Sailor Moon...I think they wanted to get me a costume and stick some fake buns in my hair...
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