So wow it's been such a long time since I've updated my blog. So much has happened but I know that probably like me you don't really want to read some really long entry because then you'll just get all tired of my awful writing tone.
So first thing there was a school festival. If you've ever seen a high school anime then you have the general idea of what that was like. Quote of the weekend “A war begins tomorrow.”
Next weekend was Halloween. It was very interesting how many Japanese people got into the spirit.
Then some nothings happened for a while.
Then we went to some Japanese shrines which was pretty cool. We saw the biggest Buddha in the world. It was soooooo big.
The next day we went to Tokyo which was awesome! There are so many cool things to do there, and if you're a foreigner and you know some Japanese they love you there. If you have any questions about all that please feel free to leave them.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Why Must This Be a Blog in Love?
Well I haven't updated in some time because I was busy. Things have happen since I last updated, but I don't really remember everything that happen. I went to Oorai, learned more about my phone, and learn more interesting things about Japan, but in all the hustle and bustle of doing things, I have no idea what really went on.
So all of that isn't why I signed on today. I signed on because today I've been spending a lot of time online and learning about frustrations of living in another country in terms of prices and product availability.
So I'll start off with this. There are certain TV shows in the US, such as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, that I am unable to watch while I'm here in Japan even though I really want to. Now this seems only natural. I'm in a different country, and they have different things on TV. The thing that is somewhat frustrating though, is that these programs are available on the web on site such as www.hulu.com. It seems as though I should be able to enjoy some quality programing, but no, I cannot because of region blocking. Basically the idea is that at least for TV shows the rights to distribute them in different regions is sold off to foreign companies that can translate them for the native people. Well that sounds nice, but I don't need translation; I am an American. Over the past few week however I've come to accept this as an inevitability of business and capitalism and all those great things we are told to love in America, and very well we should because without those things, a lot of what we have wouldn't be possible.
So after this I learn of another streaming site that just launch for anime at www.crunchyroll.com. This site not only allows free streaming, but also puts money in the pockets of people who make and translate anime. Pretty awesome stuff right there. So I thought I'd check it out. Well turns out, as a person in Japan, all I can do is participate in the forum. Now what's the point really. Oh no people who already have access to it can watch it in a foreign language.
So I decided to look for legitimate means to watch some in Japan. Now as the country of origin, it would make sense that it would be the place to find the stuff for the lowest price. Actually, no. So for example, I could buy a whole season of School Rumble in the US for around $60. So for 26 episodes, that's around $2.31 per episode. That's not great, but not bad considering it's probably something you haven't watch much before you buy it, and can't watch on TV. So let's compare this to Japan's pricing in the native country. One volume of the show in Japan, which is 3 episode, costs 6,000 yen or about $60. That's right. For the price of the whole season in the US, you can buy 3 episodes in the native country. WTF? That's $20 per episode. Now why can this happen? DVD regions. So what does this tell me? These are free market practices that destroy the ideology of capitalism. The idea is that the free market will allows for the most efficient use of resources, but the free market isn't free, not when companies can do things like this which prevent me, the consumer from paying a fair, competitive price for what I want. There are some things that it makes sense are expensive, like fruit, but DVDs with programs made in Japan shouldn't be that much more expensive.
I'm tired of watching the world waste it's resources on “the free market.”
DISCLAIMER: Any future company that disagrees with this speech can gladly disregard it. I do have a certain amount of moral flexibility, and I would gladly disregard this for a great job. Please let me know where to submit my application.
So all of that isn't why I signed on today. I signed on because today I've been spending a lot of time online and learning about frustrations of living in another country in terms of prices and product availability.
So I'll start off with this. There are certain TV shows in the US, such as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, that I am unable to watch while I'm here in Japan even though I really want to. Now this seems only natural. I'm in a different country, and they have different things on TV. The thing that is somewhat frustrating though, is that these programs are available on the web on site such as www.hulu.com. It seems as though I should be able to enjoy some quality programing, but no, I cannot because of region blocking. Basically the idea is that at least for TV shows the rights to distribute them in different regions is sold off to foreign companies that can translate them for the native people. Well that sounds nice, but I don't need translation; I am an American. Over the past few week however I've come to accept this as an inevitability of business and capitalism and all those great things we are told to love in America, and very well we should because without those things, a lot of what we have wouldn't be possible.
So after this I learn of another streaming site that just launch for anime at www.crunchyroll.com. This site not only allows free streaming, but also puts money in the pockets of people who make and translate anime. Pretty awesome stuff right there. So I thought I'd check it out. Well turns out, as a person in Japan, all I can do is participate in the forum. Now what's the point really. Oh no people who already have access to it can watch it in a foreign language.
So I decided to look for legitimate means to watch some in Japan. Now as the country of origin, it would make sense that it would be the place to find the stuff for the lowest price. Actually, no. So for example, I could buy a whole season of School Rumble in the US for around $60. So for 26 episodes, that's around $2.31 per episode. That's not great, but not bad considering it's probably something you haven't watch much before you buy it, and can't watch on TV. So let's compare this to Japan's pricing in the native country. One volume of the show in Japan, which is 3 episode, costs 6,000 yen or about $60. That's right. For the price of the whole season in the US, you can buy 3 episodes in the native country. WTF? That's $20 per episode. Now why can this happen? DVD regions. So what does this tell me? These are free market practices that destroy the ideology of capitalism. The idea is that the free market will allows for the most efficient use of resources, but the free market isn't free, not when companies can do things like this which prevent me, the consumer from paying a fair, competitive price for what I want. There are some things that it makes sense are expensive, like fruit, but DVDs with programs made in Japan shouldn't be that much more expensive.
I'm tired of watching the world waste it's resources on “the free market.”
DISCLAIMER: Any future company that disagrees with this speech can gladly disregard it. I do have a certain amount of moral flexibility, and I would gladly disregard this for a great job. Please let me know where to submit my application.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Xmas Blog
Well it isn't Xmas, but it sure feels like it.
Short break from that thought though. I thought it would be a good idea to let you know that I did survive the Typhoon. I figure most of the people who read my blog would have figured that out by now. So once again that's all I really signed on for.
Of course that was a lie. Today I got a Japanese cell phone. Now when you see a Japanese cellphone you might be tempted to think “Well that's a piece of crap.” Now that's not necessarily true. I got a pay as you go phone. This phone looks cheap, like a basic flip phone with a crappy camera. So as I'm getting the phone, which looks kind of big I learn things about it. It has unlimited e-mailing for only $3 a month. If I want to pay out the rear I can use the Internet. Oh also it has a TV built in. That's right. A TV. I get eight channels for free on my phone, and the image comes in wide screen. Oh also right after that I learned something else. Japanese cell phones can do video calling. So when in America we're all like “The Jetsons lied to us” it's really more like American companies don't want to do that.
So yeah all this totally blew me away because this is a cheap Japanese cellphone. So I get the phone and I start playing with it in the car. It has a MicroSD slot, which I can use to upload music, and then I can use that music as ring tones. That's right. In Japan they don't make you re-buy music as a ringtone (or convert it to the right format on your computer) you can just use what you have. I thought this was so cool, but really I shouldn't because this should be how things are in America too. Anyway the phone also has a currency converter, and metric to standard converter. I can send all my contact info to other people via infrared or bluetooth. New phones even have this mode that allows the phones to just be touched together to send the info. It also has a Japanese to English dictionary. It can also record live TV. All of this is included with the phone.
Point is, we need this stuff in America and we need it now.
Oh also I got a Famicom. You should know what that is.
Short break from that thought though. I thought it would be a good idea to let you know that I did survive the Typhoon. I figure most of the people who read my blog would have figured that out by now. So once again that's all I really signed on for.
Of course that was a lie. Today I got a Japanese cell phone. Now when you see a Japanese cellphone you might be tempted to think “Well that's a piece of crap.” Now that's not necessarily true. I got a pay as you go phone. This phone looks cheap, like a basic flip phone with a crappy camera. So as I'm getting the phone, which looks kind of big I learn things about it. It has unlimited e-mailing for only $3 a month. If I want to pay out the rear I can use the Internet. Oh also it has a TV built in. That's right. A TV. I get eight channels for free on my phone, and the image comes in wide screen. Oh also right after that I learned something else. Japanese cell phones can do video calling. So when in America we're all like “The Jetsons lied to us” it's really more like American companies don't want to do that.
So yeah all this totally blew me away because this is a cheap Japanese cellphone. So I get the phone and I start playing with it in the car. It has a MicroSD slot, which I can use to upload music, and then I can use that music as ring tones. That's right. In Japan they don't make you re-buy music as a ringtone (or convert it to the right format on your computer) you can just use what you have. I thought this was so cool, but really I shouldn't because this should be how things are in America too. Anyway the phone also has a currency converter, and metric to standard converter. I can send all my contact info to other people via infrared or bluetooth. New phones even have this mode that allows the phones to just be touched together to send the info. It also has a Japanese to English dictionary. It can also record live TV. All of this is included with the phone.Point is, we need this stuff in America and we need it now.
Oh also I got a Famicom. You should know what that is.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
A Head in the Blogs
Today I found out that a Typhoon is headed towards the city I am in. I figured it would be good to let people know ahead of time so they could be prepared in case I die in some sort for falling tree accident, well that is unless you don’t check my blog everyday. Then you won’t have anytime to grieve. In that case though I don’t really care that you have no time to grieve ‘cause you’re a jerk for not reading my magnificent blog.
So that’s pretty much all I had to say. I wasn’t really planning on writing another blog quite yet, so I’m kind of getting ahead of schedule. Since I already am writing, I supposed I’d better give you a little more.
So today I had to pick up my certificate of alien registration, which actually is more like a card, but I suppose that’s just being technical. I was worried about not having enough time to pick up the card since I had to travel to city hall to pick it up. It turned out not to be that big of a deal, and I was able to have a little extra time for a short adventure.
The first thing I did was go out for a little electronics shopping. I say this extremely small flash drive one of my friends here had picked up and I wanted one. I went to the store, found it, struggled to find where to pay for it, and then was off. I now realize though that I didn’t find what I thought I had so now I have to go back and either exchange or return it.
After that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I ended up decided to risk being late for class to get a change to try some very interesting food at this place called McDonald’s. I ended up deciding to order a Quarter Pounder with cheese. Do you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in Japan?......They call it a fricking Quarter Pounder with cheese because they are clearly less stuck up than the French. Seriously, Royale with cheese, what the heck is that? So anyway I had heard from one of my friends who had eaten there that Japanese McDonald’s was weird and not as good. Now I don’t often eat at McDonald’s in America because I don’t like it, but this burger was freaking delicious. There were fresh onions on the burger. All the condiments were in the perfect amount. Historically I don’t like cheese, mustard, or pickles, but they all went perfectly on that sandwich. The sides were also correctly sized. It occurs to me at this point that this should be a “Tom! Don’t Eat That!”, so now it is. Bottom Line readers, if you come to Japan, you have to try McDonald’s, it’s a piece of home done just a little better.
Also I got some McDonald’s Pictures you might find interesting. The head is like the Japanese mascot of McDonald’s or something. There also some pictures of what my food came in. I ate it before I got the camera out. Maybe next time you’ll get some food pictures.
So that’s pretty much all I had to say. I wasn’t really planning on writing another blog quite yet, so I’m kind of getting ahead of schedule. Since I already am writing, I supposed I’d better give you a little more.
So today I had to pick up my certificate of alien registration, which actually is more like a card, but I suppose that’s just being technical. I was worried about not having enough time to pick up the card since I had to travel to city hall to pick it up. It turned out not to be that big of a deal, and I was able to have a little extra time for a short adventure.
The first thing I did was go out for a little electronics shopping. I say this extremely small flash drive one of my friends here had picked up and I wanted one. I went to the store, found it, struggled to find where to pay for it, and then was off. I now realize though that I didn’t find what I thought I had so now I have to go back and either exchange or return it.
After that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I ended up decided to risk being late for class to get a change to try some very interesting food at this place called McDonald’s. I ended up deciding to order a Quarter Pounder with cheese. Do you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in Japan?......They call it a fricking Quarter Pounder with cheese because they are clearly less stuck up than the French. Seriously, Royale with cheese, what the heck is that? So anyway I had heard from one of my friends who had eaten there that Japanese McDonald’s was weird and not as good. Now I don’t often eat at McDonald’s in America because I don’t like it, but this burger was freaking delicious. There were fresh onions on the burger. All the condiments were in the perfect amount. Historically I don’t like cheese, mustard, or pickles, but they all went perfectly on that sandwich. The sides were also correctly sized. It occurs to me at this point that this should be a “Tom! Don’t Eat That!”, so now it is. Bottom Line readers, if you come to Japan, you have to try McDonald’s, it’s a piece of home done just a little better.
Also I got some McDonald’s Pictures you might find interesting. The head is like the Japanese mascot of McDonald’s or something. There also some pictures of what my food came in. I ate it before I got the camera out. Maybe next time you’ll get some food pictures.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Blog, Begin Again
Well I think things kind of got off on the wrong foot. Originally this blog was supposed to tell about my time in Japan in a fun and interesting way and have several reoccurring segments. That hasn't really worked out, what with all the drinking debauchery and stuff. I should add though that going out for drinks doesn't usually mean getting drunk though or even anywhere on the drunk scale. Anyway I was hoping since it's a Fresh new month, maybe we could just start over fresh, and maybe I can fulfill some of those original promises.
Or maybe I can't. Hey I'm not a miracle worker.
So basically this week I did some stuff. I don't quite remember all of it because let me tell you it was a lot. First thing kind of worth mentioning I guess is that I bought a manga that I can try to read. Only problem is that I hardly no any of the Japanese in the manga, so I'll have to learn a lot if I want to be able to read it in Japanese. I also started eating in the cafeteria this week. Cafeteria food here is pretty good and is kinda making me hungry because I haven't had time for lunch yet. So really I should add one last small fact from the week here, so I'll say that classes started this week so I'll be getting a lot busier.
Along those lines too, work started this week. I can't really say what it'll be like yet, mostly because I've done one our of EC with one group of people so far. ….And I just realized I didn't let you what I do for work yet. Dang it! I'm like the worst blogger ever. “Hey Phil think you can tell me about what you're up to.” “Why sure. Just let me leave out tons of important details.” Frick. Well anyway basically I get paid to talk with Japanese people in English. One time a week I do at a high school, and I also TA. EC stands for English Connections and TA stands for teacher assistant, in case you didn't know for whatever reason. Anyway the one session I had went pretty well other than the fact a couple of the guys were pretty shy and didn't want to talk in English. I prevented them from speaking Japanese as much as possible. Hopefully I get my cellphone soon so I can keep in better contact with people.
So OK. Lessee after that we went to this place called The Drunken Duck with this guy who was a Tokiwa student from a few years ago who's working here now. Funny story, turns out we had Japanese together back when I was in high school. Anyway that night was pretty fun. Some people had kangaroo, but I didn't get to try it because I wasn't hungry. Though I kind of wish I had now. I mean about often do you get to try something like that. Well....I suppose the next time I go I'll have that chance, but that isn't really the point. Anyway after some earring and make-up incidents and some generally embarrassing stuff for some people, we left. It was a pretty fun night of responsible fun on the part of most people who went.
So finally we are at yesterday, which is Saturday. Or was it Saturday? I suppose it'll always be ^a^ Saturday. (I'm trying to used the ^ to show emphasis. Usually I use caps but I decided to try this for some reason) Anyway the point is that I'm pretty sure I can remember Saturday because it just happened. So they day started around noon when we had to go to the Mito International Center for a culture party. I wasn't sure how it was going to be, but it ended up being pretty fun. The Japanese people like my handwriting. I was surprised at some people ability to speak English. I had really good tea, and sore knees from seiza. I also won a fan, which hopefully gets pictured here.
I also played with this Japanese traditional toy that I'm too lazy to remember the name of. It ended up being pretty fun.
So after that we ended up going to 水戸駅 (Mito Eki or Mito Station) to meet Zaren so we could go to the 花火大会 (Hanabi Taikai). I'm pretty sure that's what it was called anyway. Basically it means fireworks big gathering. Hanabi mean fireworks (or really it means flower flame), and the taikai in this case we were told are usually competitions, so we got so see some really amazing fireworks, which should be pictured and videoed here.
(The video isn't working or is just taking too long to upload so scratch that part) It was a lot of fun. I had お好み焼 (okonomiyaki), which means “grilled thing that I like (or want).” It ended up not turning out too well, but hey, it was food. 
So basically watching this show wasn't at all like watching fire works in America. In America, fireworks are spaced apart so it's like “Boom..............boom” and then a big finish. Here almost every segment was a big finish so the whole two and a half hours were interesting. There also seems to be much more fireworks shaped like things. There were so many fireworks that ash was falling from the sky and once landed in my eye. Firework debris also landed next to us. It was all pretty crazy. 
One time a firework went wrong and hit the ground very close to us. It was a little scary. After it was over we took the bus back to the train station, and rode the train an hour home. I guess I forgot to mention that we took the train originally to get there proving how bad of a storyteller I am once again. So by the time I got home I had been on my feet for almost 11 hours, not counting the time I “got” to sit in seiza during the tea ceremony.
So I think that's mostly it. I probably left some stuff out, but I suppose you can always comment questions about them.
Or maybe I can't. Hey I'm not a miracle worker.
So basically this week I did some stuff. I don't quite remember all of it because let me tell you it was a lot. First thing kind of worth mentioning I guess is that I bought a manga that I can try to read. Only problem is that I hardly no any of the Japanese in the manga, so I'll have to learn a lot if I want to be able to read it in Japanese. I also started eating in the cafeteria this week. Cafeteria food here is pretty good and is kinda making me hungry because I haven't had time for lunch yet. So really I should add one last small fact from the week here, so I'll say that classes started this week so I'll be getting a lot busier.
Along those lines too, work started this week. I can't really say what it'll be like yet, mostly because I've done one our of EC with one group of people so far. ….And I just realized I didn't let you what I do for work yet. Dang it! I'm like the worst blogger ever. “Hey Phil think you can tell me about what you're up to.” “Why sure. Just let me leave out tons of important details.” Frick. Well anyway basically I get paid to talk with Japanese people in English. One time a week I do at a high school, and I also TA. EC stands for English Connections and TA stands for teacher assistant, in case you didn't know for whatever reason. Anyway the one session I had went pretty well other than the fact a couple of the guys were pretty shy and didn't want to talk in English. I prevented them from speaking Japanese as much as possible. Hopefully I get my cellphone soon so I can keep in better contact with people.
So OK. Lessee after that we went to this place called The Drunken Duck with this guy who was a Tokiwa student from a few years ago who's working here now. Funny story, turns out we had Japanese together back when I was in high school. Anyway that night was pretty fun. Some people had kangaroo, but I didn't get to try it because I wasn't hungry. Though I kind of wish I had now. I mean about often do you get to try something like that. Well....I suppose the next time I go I'll have that chance, but that isn't really the point. Anyway after some earring and make-up incidents and some generally embarrassing stuff for some people, we left. It was a pretty fun night of responsible fun on the part of most people who went.
So finally we are at yesterday, which is Saturday. Or was it Saturday? I suppose it'll always be ^a^ Saturday. (I'm trying to used the ^ to show emphasis. Usually I use caps but I decided to try this for some reason) Anyway the point is that I'm pretty sure I can remember Saturday because it just happened. So they day started around noon when we had to go to the Mito International Center for a culture party. I wasn't sure how it was going to be, but it ended up being pretty fun. The Japanese people like my handwriting. I was surprised at some people ability to speak English. I had really good tea, and sore knees from seiza. I also won a fan, which hopefully gets pictured here.
I also played with this Japanese traditional toy that I'm too lazy to remember the name of. It ended up being pretty fun.
So after that we ended up going to 水戸駅 (Mito Eki or Mito Station) to meet Zaren so we could go to the 花火大会 (Hanabi Taikai). I'm pretty sure that's what it was called anyway. Basically it means fireworks big gathering. Hanabi mean fireworks (or really it means flower flame), and the taikai in this case we were told are usually competitions, so we got so see some really amazing fireworks, which should be pictured and videoed here.
(The video isn't working or is just taking too long to upload so scratch that part) It was a lot of fun. I had お好み焼 (okonomiyaki), which means “grilled thing that I like (or want).” It ended up not turning out too well, but hey, it was food. 
So basically watching this show wasn't at all like watching fire works in America. In America, fireworks are spaced apart so it's like “Boom..............boom” and then a big finish. Here almost every segment was a big finish so the whole two and a half hours were interesting. There also seems to be much more fireworks shaped like things. There were so many fireworks that ash was falling from the sky and once landed in my eye. Firework debris also landed next to us. It was all pretty crazy. 
One time a firework went wrong and hit the ground very close to us. It was a little scary. After it was over we took the bus back to the train station, and rode the train an hour home. I guess I forgot to mention that we took the train originally to get there proving how bad of a storyteller I am once again. So by the time I got home I had been on my feet for almost 11 hours, not counting the time I “got” to sit in seiza during the tea ceremony.So I think that's mostly it. I probably left some stuff out, but I suppose you can always comment questions about them.
Monday, September 28, 2009
I Blog That Emotion
And that emotion is awesomeness. Some people might claim that awesomeness isn't an emotion , but I beg to differ.
Anyway so Monday was a day of great coolness and whatnot. I woke up very tired because I had to stay up late preparing for the high school visit that we had yesterday. Normally when this happens I'm able to refresh myself with a nice shower. However this time my roommate was using the shower, and I didn't have time to take one after him. I ended up having to go to class completely out of it. The upside is that even though I was falling asleep, I was able to still display enough knowledge that the teacher was satisfied. So clearly once class was over I went to go sleep.
So now I woke up, and it was time to finish preparing for the high school visit, which I dreaded more and more as it drew nearer and nearer. Desperately I created cards for pictures. I thought about what I wanted to say. I wondered if I had done enough.
Finally it was time to go. Everyone got in the bus, all feeling very nervous. The journey to the high school seemed to take forever, yet it was still not long enough. We got there, and with almost no instruction, we were sent off to the classrooms. For the first 10 minutes of class, I didn't have anyone there who spoke English, and, due to lack of instruction and Japanese skills, I didn't know how to get started. Eventually though, Dr. Otsu showed up and help me get started, and once we got started, it was a lot of fun. We played Pictionary and telephone. Pictionary was OK; Japanese people are very good at drawing. Telephone was a little more fun because it was interesting to see what they would come back with. For the second class we did, the students understood English better, and I had another exchange student with me. The downside however was that the teacher I was paired with this time was more strict and that made things harder in a sense.
The whole experience was a lot of fun, and the only downside was I wasn't able to take a picture with either class.
After we got back to campus, some of us went to work out. The gym here is pretty weak, but it's better than nothing. It was really nice to finally be able to get some exercise. Afterwords I felt great, but I was also hungry, so I made pasta. For the first time since I came here, the sauce came out right. I ended up making so much food that I had to share it with twice as many people as I had planned. It was probably good in the end though because I might get food in return.
So basically at this point I was ready to write my blog about how awesome the day was, but I didn't have time. I instead went to see if one of the other students needed help with her homework, and I ran into Aimi. I ended up talking to her about various things like anime, American vs. Japanese culture, and Japanese language for like three hours. It was a lot of fun that it just added the the awesomeness of the day. The downside was that I ended up staying up late again, but it turned out not to be a problem today for some reason.
So point is that I had one awesome day.
Anyway so Monday was a day of great coolness and whatnot. I woke up very tired because I had to stay up late preparing for the high school visit that we had yesterday. Normally when this happens I'm able to refresh myself with a nice shower. However this time my roommate was using the shower, and I didn't have time to take one after him. I ended up having to go to class completely out of it. The upside is that even though I was falling asleep, I was able to still display enough knowledge that the teacher was satisfied. So clearly once class was over I went to go sleep.
So now I woke up, and it was time to finish preparing for the high school visit, which I dreaded more and more as it drew nearer and nearer. Desperately I created cards for pictures. I thought about what I wanted to say. I wondered if I had done enough.
Finally it was time to go. Everyone got in the bus, all feeling very nervous. The journey to the high school seemed to take forever, yet it was still not long enough. We got there, and with almost no instruction, we were sent off to the classrooms. For the first 10 minutes of class, I didn't have anyone there who spoke English, and, due to lack of instruction and Japanese skills, I didn't know how to get started. Eventually though, Dr. Otsu showed up and help me get started, and once we got started, it was a lot of fun. We played Pictionary and telephone. Pictionary was OK; Japanese people are very good at drawing. Telephone was a little more fun because it was interesting to see what they would come back with. For the second class we did, the students understood English better, and I had another exchange student with me. The downside however was that the teacher I was paired with this time was more strict and that made things harder in a sense.
The whole experience was a lot of fun, and the only downside was I wasn't able to take a picture with either class.After we got back to campus, some of us went to work out. The gym here is pretty weak, but it's better than nothing. It was really nice to finally be able to get some exercise. Afterwords I felt great, but I was also hungry, so I made pasta. For the first time since I came here, the sauce came out right. I ended up making so much food that I had to share it with twice as many people as I had planned. It was probably good in the end though because I might get food in return.
So basically at this point I was ready to write my blog about how awesome the day was, but I didn't have time. I instead went to see if one of the other students needed help with her homework, and I ran into Aimi. I ended up talking to her about various things like anime, American vs. Japanese culture, and Japanese language for like three hours. It was a lot of fun that it just added the the awesomeness of the day. The downside was that I ended up staying up late again, but it turned out not to be a problem today for some reason.
So point is that I had one awesome day.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Phillip and the Blog Factory
Well here I am. Pushing out blog after blog after blog. I think the real question at this point is “Is this getting boring, tiring, or none of the above. With my editor, me and I don't know why I'm allowed to call myself that because I'm sure you've realized by some of my more recent blog posts I rarely proofread my work, breathing down my neck telling me another blog must go out, I wonder is it really worth it and still fascinating to the reader.
Anyway I last left off in my talking about how I almost got myself lost in Mito. So let's try to remember what happen next. Uh....Well I believe that night went to Bou's to celebrate a friends birthday. Originally we were going to go to nomihodai, but it was more expensive because it was a holiday. Actually now that I think about it, we were gonna go to nomihodai the next night and went to Bou's instead for that reason. Point is on those nights I went out and met some new Japanese people, expanding my horizons beyond the few that I'd previously met. Also over the past few days I learned never trust Seiko because she's a trickster. Anyway both nights were a lot of fun. We drank we laughed, my wallet emptied even more.
I think Thursday we went out for ramen again, which was awesome as always. Sometimes a good bowl of ramen just hits the spot. This is the night we learned how incredibly easy it is to get N flustered. After the ramen we decided to take a gander inside a Japanese book store called Book-Ace. There we encountered all kinds of wondrous purchasables. There were tons of movies, most of them for rent, books, used video games, cell phones, CDs, magazines, and so on in that fashion. I could not spend enough time in the store nor could I leave without purchasing a cheap game, which even though it all happens to fast for me to read I think it is actually helping my Japanese.
Let's see I guess that really just leaves last night. We went out to Bandoutarou's, and I got myself Gekikaramisonikomiudon and ordered it all by myself, after the Japanese people taught me out to read the Kanji. After a few of us, including me, returned to the dorm while the others went shopping at Kasumi. After some time it was 11:30 and my friend decided he wanted the American version of The Ring because like the bad storyteller I am I left out that we had watched the Japanese one earlier in the week. So we made a mad dash for Book-Ace and managed to get there with time to spare. After that we got back to the dorms and after much talked it was decided to watch the American version of The Ring, which I didn't really feel like watching. So I didn't. I went back to my room and watched part of Amelie instead, which was nice.
So what have I left out of this tale you ask? Elite Beat Agents. I got this game almost two years ago now, and I've been playing it on and off since then. Right now I'm in one of those on stages where I'd actually kind of like to at least unlock the hardest difficulty. So a couple days ago I got to the last song, and I can't seem to beat it. I can get pretty close though which is always frustrating. Anyway after this blog is up I might be back to trying to beat that.
Until next time remaining readers.
Anyway I last left off in my talking about how I almost got myself lost in Mito. So let's try to remember what happen next. Uh....Well I believe that night went to Bou's to celebrate a friends birthday. Originally we were going to go to nomihodai, but it was more expensive because it was a holiday. Actually now that I think about it, we were gonna go to nomihodai the next night and went to Bou's instead for that reason. Point is on those nights I went out and met some new Japanese people, expanding my horizons beyond the few that I'd previously met. Also over the past few days I learned never trust Seiko because she's a trickster. Anyway both nights were a lot of fun. We drank we laughed, my wallet emptied even more.
I think Thursday we went out for ramen again, which was awesome as always. Sometimes a good bowl of ramen just hits the spot. This is the night we learned how incredibly easy it is to get N flustered. After the ramen we decided to take a gander inside a Japanese book store called Book-Ace. There we encountered all kinds of wondrous purchasables. There were tons of movies, most of them for rent, books, used video games, cell phones, CDs, magazines, and so on in that fashion. I could not spend enough time in the store nor could I leave without purchasing a cheap game, which even though it all happens to fast for me to read I think it is actually helping my Japanese.
Let's see I guess that really just leaves last night. We went out to Bandoutarou's, and I got myself Gekikaramisonikomiudon and ordered it all by myself, after the Japanese people taught me out to read the Kanji. After a few of us, including me, returned to the dorm while the others went shopping at Kasumi. After some time it was 11:30 and my friend decided he wanted the American version of The Ring because like the bad storyteller I am I left out that we had watched the Japanese one earlier in the week. So we made a mad dash for Book-Ace and managed to get there with time to spare. After that we got back to the dorms and after much talked it was decided to watch the American version of The Ring, which I didn't really feel like watching. So I didn't. I went back to my room and watched part of Amelie instead, which was nice.
So what have I left out of this tale you ask? Elite Beat Agents. I got this game almost two years ago now, and I've been playing it on and off since then. Right now I'm in one of those on stages where I'd actually kind of like to at least unlock the hardest difficulty. So a couple days ago I got to the last song, and I can't seem to beat it. I can get pretty close though which is always frustrating. Anyway after this blog is up I might be back to trying to beat that.
Until next time remaining readers.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
When Blogs Attack
Well so here we are. Another blog post. Well today I don't have too much to say. Last night we celebrated someone's birthday. I bought a game called Jump Ultimate Stars, which is like Super Smash Bros with manga characters. It's pretty cool, but I'm gonna have to learn a lot more Japanese to be able to play it.
Anyway so my real motivation in this blog post is to introduce a whole brand new second never seen before, at least in this blog. I'm of course talking about “Misadventures with Joe.” In this section, I will talk about some sort of thing I did that ended up going horrible wrong (or just wrong and I had to spice it up a bit). So this time in Misadventures with Joe, I went to Mito Eki (eki means station in Japanese) with another International student. So we go there by the 23 bus, the only bus I know goes to the station. So we go clothes shopping, , which is really expensive in Japan, and then we went to the toys and games store so I could look at the used DS games. So my friend goes to get a stuffed animal for this girl at a bar we frequent. When he gets back we decide it's time to go because we have nothing else we want and we're not sure when the bus stops running.
So we get to the bus stop and realize we just missed the 23 back to the dorm, but we notice another one is coming in like 30 minutes so we check out another shop and come back. Then we wait....and wait...till we realize that it was a holiday, and the last bus had left over an hour ago panicked, scared we don't know what to do. We don't know if another bus will take us back towards the university. We're not sure if we can walk. A taxi just seems too expensive. Then my fellow adventure thinks he remembers that the 1 and 11 go close to the school also. I wasn't as sure about that though. Also even if it did, we wouldn't know which stop to get off at. That's when my fellow adventurer had a epiphany. He had read the manual they gave us for Japan, and he knew it said which bus go by the school. Luckily I had decided to bring my bag, and I had it with me. We found out that the 11 and 1 did in fact go by the school, so we hoped on the next bus, which happened to be the 11 and bolted towards school, unsure where to get off.
Now here we are. Riding the bus. Nothing looks familiar. People get on and off. We still we don't see anything familiar. Then finally my fellow adventurer recognizes some scenery and hears the bus recorded audio call out the stop for Tokiwa Daigaku, so he presses the button to get off. When the bus stops I now know where we are because we walked by one of the restaurants on our way back from karaoke. My fellow adventurer tries to lead the way back to school, but he starts off going the wrong way. Luckily I have a good memory for places so I take the lead of the party and march us right up to the school gates. Usually the gates are closed at this time, but today for some reason they're open, so we were able to take the short way back to the dorms. We both managed to make it back in one or more pieces.
Well that's pretty much it so I'll probably be going now. Watch out for the next attack.
Anyway so my real motivation in this blog post is to introduce a whole brand new second never seen before, at least in this blog. I'm of course talking about “Misadventures with Joe.” In this section, I will talk about some sort of thing I did that ended up going horrible wrong (or just wrong and I had to spice it up a bit). So this time in Misadventures with Joe, I went to Mito Eki (eki means station in Japanese) with another International student. So we go there by the 23 bus, the only bus I know goes to the station. So we go clothes shopping, , which is really expensive in Japan, and then we went to the toys and games store so I could look at the used DS games. So my friend goes to get a stuffed animal for this girl at a bar we frequent. When he gets back we decide it's time to go because we have nothing else we want and we're not sure when the bus stops running.
So we get to the bus stop and realize we just missed the 23 back to the dorm, but we notice another one is coming in like 30 minutes so we check out another shop and come back. Then we wait....and wait...till we realize that it was a holiday, and the last bus had left over an hour ago panicked, scared we don't know what to do. We don't know if another bus will take us back towards the university. We're not sure if we can walk. A taxi just seems too expensive. Then my fellow adventure thinks he remembers that the 1 and 11 go close to the school also. I wasn't as sure about that though. Also even if it did, we wouldn't know which stop to get off at. That's when my fellow adventurer had a epiphany. He had read the manual they gave us for Japan, and he knew it said which bus go by the school. Luckily I had decided to bring my bag, and I had it with me. We found out that the 11 and 1 did in fact go by the school, so we hoped on the next bus, which happened to be the 11 and bolted towards school, unsure where to get off.
Now here we are. Riding the bus. Nothing looks familiar. People get on and off. We still we don't see anything familiar. Then finally my fellow adventurer recognizes some scenery and hears the bus recorded audio call out the stop for Tokiwa Daigaku, so he presses the button to get off. When the bus stops I now know where we are because we walked by one of the restaurants on our way back from karaoke. My fellow adventurer tries to lead the way back to school, but he starts off going the wrong way. Luckily I have a good memory for places so I take the lead of the party and march us right up to the school gates. Usually the gates are closed at this time, but today for some reason they're open, so we were able to take the short way back to the dorms. We both managed to make it back in one or more pieces.
Well that's pretty much it so I'll probably be going now. Watch out for the next attack.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Blog University
Well yesterday was the first day of having classes other than Japanese. Now this marks the beginning of me loosing all my free time to studying and work, but if I don't sleep hard enough I imagine I'll still find time for stuff.
Anyway I imagine that you'd like to hear about my first day of classes, or maybe you DON'T want to hear about them but you'll at least have to read about them if you read this blog. Anyway so after not getting quite enough sleep I somehow managed get to class even though my alarm clock died before it went off. Class was class and then I went out and FINALLY bought an umbrella and then got some lunch. After that I got back and arrived for the new classes. This is where the fun part begins if I didn't scare you off earlier in the paragraph.
So I arrived in my first class. This class is taught by two teachers. This first one showed up. She seemed somewhat interesting, but then the other teacher turned out to be very cool. He worked for Sony for nearly thirty years, and during class he asked us out for drinks at least four times.
After that we had a break because the religion class was canceled, though I don't think I'll be taking that class.
Then we had our compulsory class, which was OK but seems mostly like a counseling class. Apparently because of the Northridge people, we have write an essay every week that doubles as their blog. I can't imagine writing about my experiences week after week. I think that would drive me crazy.
The last class we had was with the guy from Sony again. Yet again he said we should go drinking. This class was also very interesting. It was about the Japanese way of thinking and how that differs from the American way of thinking. He personally selected or wrote all the materials he expects us to read, and they all seemed much more interesting than a lot of the stock stuff we have to read in American colleges.
So yeah I didn't really do a good job of making it exciting, mostly because I've been writing this in pieces throughout the day when I couldn't think of anything better to do, but my first day of full classes was pretty fun. Perhaps now I'll do something else.
Anyway I imagine that you'd like to hear about my first day of classes, or maybe you DON'T want to hear about them but you'll at least have to read about them if you read this blog. Anyway so after not getting quite enough sleep I somehow managed get to class even though my alarm clock died before it went off. Class was class and then I went out and FINALLY bought an umbrella and then got some lunch. After that I got back and arrived for the new classes. This is where the fun part begins if I didn't scare you off earlier in the paragraph.
So I arrived in my first class. This class is taught by two teachers. This first one showed up. She seemed somewhat interesting, but then the other teacher turned out to be very cool. He worked for Sony for nearly thirty years, and during class he asked us out for drinks at least four times.
After that we had a break because the religion class was canceled, though I don't think I'll be taking that class.
Then we had our compulsory class, which was OK but seems mostly like a counseling class. Apparently because of the Northridge people, we have write an essay every week that doubles as their blog. I can't imagine writing about my experiences week after week. I think that would drive me crazy.
The last class we had was with the guy from Sony again. Yet again he said we should go drinking. This class was also very interesting. It was about the Japanese way of thinking and how that differs from the American way of thinking. He personally selected or wrote all the materials he expects us to read, and they all seemed much more interesting than a lot of the stock stuff we have to read in American colleges.
So yeah I didn't really do a good job of making it exciting, mostly because I've been writing this in pieces throughout the day when I couldn't think of anything better to do, but my first day of full classes was pretty fun. Perhaps now I'll do something else.
Friday, September 18, 2009
A Blog to Remember
Well today is the day that all my regular classes start, which mean this is either the beginning or end of my adventures. It feels like I've done so much since I've got to Japan, and while I feel as though my adventures in Japan may be getting repetitive, they are not any less fun, for me. See I realize that saying “Hey I went to this place again” isn't really the most interesting thing to do. So this is the blog where I have to try out amping things up to make them sound more exciting. Now maybe after this change today with classes and all that it won't be necessary, but it's still good to practice things, right?
Before I get some regaling done though, I think I will do a thing of “Tom, Don't Eat That!” So I think this was almost a week about, but I had natto sushi. For those of you who don't know what natto is, it's basically fermented soy beans. Now the area I'm in is famous for making this food, and every Japanese person here loves to eat it. It's supposedly very good for you. So let actually get down to what natto is like. It takes like beans. Really really gooey sticky bean that you can chew forever and ever. And yeah so it was weird. Bottom line readers, natto is weird, really weird. It's too sticky to really enjoy, but it's eatable as long you don't smell it first.
So yeah anyway after that last blog I went to the second hand store. Now second hand stores in Japan are places of wonderment where all your dreams can come true, except apparently finding an original FamiCom. Once you walk into one of these stores though, you're sure to find something that catches your eye. There were actually two seperate buildings. One was for music, movies, and games, and the other was for appliances clothes, and really whatever else. I spent most of my time in the first store, which is called Hard Off. I saw many things there that I thought about buying. The decision of whether or not to buy something plagued me like some sort of killer vaccine or something. So I decided to take a break from all that and wander down the last isle I hadn't check out. At first I thought I saw some movies I recognized, but then I soon realized that I did not. The movies I found there, let's just say there were one of the first things ol' Abey asked me about when I got to Japan. Yeah so soon after that I departed from my adventure to that store. I've been back a few times, but I haven't been able to decide on anything.
That night we decided to attempt to do something epic, have a cooking night. Almost all the foreign students in the dorm ended up cooking their dinner in the kitchen at the same time. This turned out to be quite the challenge. We were dodging each other left and right. We weaved in and out of each other as we moved through the kitchen. We shared pots and burner desperately trying to get all our dishes completed. Eventually we manage to come up with a feast that king or archduke would be proud of, since those guys probably don't really know how to cook anyway. After having our filled we all pitched in to clean up and went out separate ways.
The next day some stuff happened. I don't really remember what, but I'm sure there was a dragon involved at some point. Then after that we went bowling. Now hopefully when this gets going I'll actually have a picture of the place in this blog, which would be a first for this blog so try to be excited.
So anyway, we went there and bowled. I did the best, but I didn't do too well. Many people didn't do as well as they normally might. We decided to have a competition. Between the two teams. It was very hard to tell who was ahead because the other team bowled much slower than we did at that beginning, so we were a frame apart for most of the match. On the last bowler, their worst player, we ended up being tied. All she had to do was knock down one pin. We put the pressure on her. She threw the ball. In the gutter. Last change. Tension was high all over the room. She got into position. Approached the lane. Threw the ball. And oh yeah I forgot to mention that a couple people were drinking some beer out of a paper cup, but one of them said it tasted better in glass. Oh yeah and that last person knocked down like 9 pins so we lost.
After that we goofed off in the arcade and then ate some food and went home late. I didn't get to sleep till late and that kind of sucked for this morning. The next blog update will probably come pretty soon because I wasn't able to get this one posted yesterday. So maybe my blog says this was for Saturday, but really it's for Friday morning.
Before I get some regaling done though, I think I will do a thing of “Tom, Don't Eat That!” So I think this was almost a week about, but I had natto sushi. For those of you who don't know what natto is, it's basically fermented soy beans. Now the area I'm in is famous for making this food, and every Japanese person here loves to eat it. It's supposedly very good for you. So let actually get down to what natto is like. It takes like beans. Really really gooey sticky bean that you can chew forever and ever. And yeah so it was weird. Bottom line readers, natto is weird, really weird. It's too sticky to really enjoy, but it's eatable as long you don't smell it first.
So yeah anyway after that last blog I went to the second hand store. Now second hand stores in Japan are places of wonderment where all your dreams can come true, except apparently finding an original FamiCom. Once you walk into one of these stores though, you're sure to find something that catches your eye. There were actually two seperate buildings. One was for music, movies, and games, and the other was for appliances clothes, and really whatever else. I spent most of my time in the first store, which is called Hard Off. I saw many things there that I thought about buying. The decision of whether or not to buy something plagued me like some sort of killer vaccine or something. So I decided to take a break from all that and wander down the last isle I hadn't check out. At first I thought I saw some movies I recognized, but then I soon realized that I did not. The movies I found there, let's just say there were one of the first things ol' Abey asked me about when I got to Japan. Yeah so soon after that I departed from my adventure to that store. I've been back a few times, but I haven't been able to decide on anything.
That night we decided to attempt to do something epic, have a cooking night. Almost all the foreign students in the dorm ended up cooking their dinner in the kitchen at the same time. This turned out to be quite the challenge. We were dodging each other left and right. We weaved in and out of each other as we moved through the kitchen. We shared pots and burner desperately trying to get all our dishes completed. Eventually we manage to come up with a feast that king or archduke would be proud of, since those guys probably don't really know how to cook anyway. After having our filled we all pitched in to clean up and went out separate ways.
The next day some stuff happened. I don't really remember what, but I'm sure there was a dragon involved at some point. Then after that we went bowling. Now hopefully when this gets going I'll actually have a picture of the place in this blog, which would be a first for this blog so try to be excited.
So anyway, we went there and bowled. I did the best, but I didn't do too well. Many people didn't do as well as they normally might. We decided to have a competition. Between the two teams. It was very hard to tell who was ahead because the other team bowled much slower than we did at that beginning, so we were a frame apart for most of the match. On the last bowler, their worst player, we ended up being tied. All she had to do was knock down one pin. We put the pressure on her. She threw the ball. In the gutter. Last change. Tension was high all over the room. She got into position. Approached the lane. Threw the ball. And oh yeah I forgot to mention that a couple people were drinking some beer out of a paper cup, but one of them said it tasted better in glass. Oh yeah and that last person knocked down like 9 pins so we lost.
After that we goofed off in the arcade and then ate some food and went home late. I didn't get to sleep till late and that kind of sucked for this morning. The next blog update will probably come pretty soon because I wasn't able to get this one posted yesterday. So maybe my blog says this was for Saturday, but really it's for Friday morning.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Hell Is Other Blogs
Hello a welcome to yet another blog installment of Phil MacBanus' Japantime Fun-Blog. Now since last time, I've actually done pretty much nothing. Except for go to Pachio-co again for nomihodai and then get some karaoke on immediately after that. That was fun as I assume you can imagine, but for the sake of some of the people I went with, I will not go into anymore detail than that, but we did have a good time. Oh also we didn't have electricity for like 4 hours yesterday and that was pretty awful.
The reason I wanted to do a blog today, even though I didn't have much to talk about, is to mention some of the differences between America and Japan. Now I know people know about the obvious differences such as they drive on the other side of the road and speak Japanese. There are little things though that one might not even care to think about until he or she was here. For example in Japan, you turn keys the other way to lock and unlock them, and the position of the deadbolt is opposite. Vertical is unlocked and horizontal is locked. Also, in America it is quite common to pay only with credit and debit cards, but in Japan only a few places take cards. Toilet handles to flush toilets point down and many public toilets have two types of flushing so that water can be saved if a big flush isn't needed. In Japan, expiration dates are down the hour that they will go bad. Also the fish is so fresh here, that you can't even smell it when you walk by the fish market.
I found yet another difference while going to all the stores I went to. It seems in Japan that generally things that are cheap in America are more expensive here, and things that are expensive in America are cheap here. So like I couldn't find a shirt for less that $30 when I was shopping. To be fair I haven't yet looked over every single store yet, but since Japanese people care more about fashion than we do in America, it is not surprising. Also fruit is more expensive here especially melons, which I guess are very popular. You can buy pre-cooked meals in supermarkets for as low as $3. There are probably more things I'm forgetting, or really I'm just too lazy to keep thinking about them.
Well yeah Japan is crazy different, but not so different that I'm suffering or anything. The people here are insanely nice and very understanding of my limited Japanese skills, which become less limited everyday. I think that's all a feel like writing for today. I might go to the second hand store tomorrow and pick up a famicom; they're only 500 yen.
The reason I wanted to do a blog today, even though I didn't have much to talk about, is to mention some of the differences between America and Japan. Now I know people know about the obvious differences such as they drive on the other side of the road and speak Japanese. There are little things though that one might not even care to think about until he or she was here. For example in Japan, you turn keys the other way to lock and unlock them, and the position of the deadbolt is opposite. Vertical is unlocked and horizontal is locked. Also, in America it is quite common to pay only with credit and debit cards, but in Japan only a few places take cards. Toilet handles to flush toilets point down and many public toilets have two types of flushing so that water can be saved if a big flush isn't needed. In Japan, expiration dates are down the hour that they will go bad. Also the fish is so fresh here, that you can't even smell it when you walk by the fish market.
I found yet another difference while going to all the stores I went to. It seems in Japan that generally things that are cheap in America are more expensive here, and things that are expensive in America are cheap here. So like I couldn't find a shirt for less that $30 when I was shopping. To be fair I haven't yet looked over every single store yet, but since Japanese people care more about fashion than we do in America, it is not surprising. Also fruit is more expensive here especially melons, which I guess are very popular. You can buy pre-cooked meals in supermarkets for as low as $3. There are probably more things I'm forgetting, or really I'm just too lazy to keep thinking about them.
Well yeah Japan is crazy different, but not so different that I'm suffering or anything. The people here are insanely nice and very understanding of my limited Japanese skills, which become less limited everyday. I think that's all a feel like writing for today. I might go to the second hand store tomorrow and pick up a famicom; they're only 500 yen.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
A Big Blog of Garbage
So yeah sorry about the lack of updates, I’ve done so much stuff that I don’t really think I can remember it all, but I will try to talk about some of the more interesting things.
So after that whole Pachi-ko experience I think we had our tour of Mito. We saw several sites. There are pictures of them on facebook. So hopefully you can piece together what the pictures are of if you actually know me in real-life. If not then I guess that too bad for you and maybe you should just ask questions in comments somewhere.
Something interesting about this day though is we rode the bus for the first time. The way it works is you get on a stop and get a ticket. Then, when you get off you pay the amount it says to pay up on the board, which probably isn’t a good explanation without a pictures, but it’ll have to do. Also Japanese bus drivers are complete pros. seriously it is hard to convey the amount of skill require to drive a bus on streets that are two lanes that would be considered on lane in America.
At the end of the day we, some of us went with someone we met at the welcome tea party to Kappazsushi, which is a kaitenzushi place. Now for those of you who don’t know, kaitenzushi is a type of restaurant where sushi goes around on a convey-belt and you pull off what you want. It’s two pieces of sushi for 105 yen on most plates. Also, if you have a special order you can use a menu to ask for certain items, and a shinkansen train will bring it out to you.
Then next day I believe I had my first Japanese class, which went ok. After that, we went to the bank to get some more Japanese currency; the USA decided to be lame so the exchange rate went down from 92 yen per dollar to 88 yen per dollar and we got screwed out of more money. After that we went to Mito station. I bought Kanji no Sonomama for $30, which is awesome because it costs double that in the US. During that whole ordeal, three of us got separated from everyone else, so we went to McDonald’s. Apparently McDonald’s in Japan is not like in the US, so if you find yourself in Japan, it’s probably best to order something they don’t have in America. After that we went to the arcade and had curry. Curry was awesome, but I ordered mine too spicy. I’ll give 1000 yen to anyone who can eat a level 10 plate.
We did karaoke that night. Karaoke is Japan is awesome. Suffer with my lack of giving details.
The next day we did nothing all day, then had ramen. Japanese restaurant ramen was really cool. I’m really starting to get hungry at this point.
After that we did some more nothing and then went to Mito station to check out some shops. We went by car, which was very interesting. Japanese cars and very small and Japanese drivers are also very skilled. They can back up like crazy. Here, almost everybody backs into parking spaces, and they can do it very quickly. When we were by Mito station, we went to a place called Mister Donut. There we learned that donuts in Japan are expensive and less sweet, but still good.
That night we went to this Japanese bar I just remember I forgot tell you we went to the night before. One of our roommates works at the bar and some of us had gone the previous night, and he comped us drinks, so we felt obligated to go back. This bar is awesome. The people there were so cool, and there was a cute little girl who became very fascinated with one of us.
Now as habit as the blog goes on I become more and more tired of writing. I mean I’m not some kind of writing machine made to write for other people’s entertainment. Last time I check I’d not an English major specializing in composition, nor am I am anthropology major doing a study on Japan. , though I did think about studying anthro at one point. Anyway this blog is about my trip to Japan, I think, so I should get back to writing about that. Point is I don’t really feel like being descriptive right now so I won’t.
Sunday, which is yesterday as of this writing, we went to a mall. There were lots of clothes stores there. There was nothing in my size. Everything is so expensive.
So that’s pretty much it I think. Not much to say after all I avoid saying just now. Comment with your question, and I’ll blog again at some point.
So after that whole Pachi-ko experience I think we had our tour of Mito. We saw several sites. There are pictures of them on facebook. So hopefully you can piece together what the pictures are of if you actually know me in real-life. If not then I guess that too bad for you and maybe you should just ask questions in comments somewhere.
Something interesting about this day though is we rode the bus for the first time. The way it works is you get on a stop and get a ticket. Then, when you get off you pay the amount it says to pay up on the board, which probably isn’t a good explanation without a pictures, but it’ll have to do. Also Japanese bus drivers are complete pros. seriously it is hard to convey the amount of skill require to drive a bus on streets that are two lanes that would be considered on lane in America.
At the end of the day we, some of us went with someone we met at the welcome tea party to Kappazsushi, which is a kaitenzushi place. Now for those of you who don’t know, kaitenzushi is a type of restaurant where sushi goes around on a convey-belt and you pull off what you want. It’s two pieces of sushi for 105 yen on most plates. Also, if you have a special order you can use a menu to ask for certain items, and a shinkansen train will bring it out to you.
Then next day I believe I had my first Japanese class, which went ok. After that, we went to the bank to get some more Japanese currency; the USA decided to be lame so the exchange rate went down from 92 yen per dollar to 88 yen per dollar and we got screwed out of more money. After that we went to Mito station. I bought Kanji no Sonomama for $30, which is awesome because it costs double that in the US. During that whole ordeal, three of us got separated from everyone else, so we went to McDonald’s. Apparently McDonald’s in Japan is not like in the US, so if you find yourself in Japan, it’s probably best to order something they don’t have in America. After that we went to the arcade and had curry. Curry was awesome, but I ordered mine too spicy. I’ll give 1000 yen to anyone who can eat a level 10 plate.
We did karaoke that night. Karaoke is Japan is awesome. Suffer with my lack of giving details.
The next day we did nothing all day, then had ramen. Japanese restaurant ramen was really cool. I’m really starting to get hungry at this point.
After that we did some more nothing and then went to Mito station to check out some shops. We went by car, which was very interesting. Japanese cars and very small and Japanese drivers are also very skilled. They can back up like crazy. Here, almost everybody backs into parking spaces, and they can do it very quickly. When we were by Mito station, we went to a place called Mister Donut. There we learned that donuts in Japan are expensive and less sweet, but still good.
That night we went to this Japanese bar I just remember I forgot tell you we went to the night before. One of our roommates works at the bar and some of us had gone the previous night, and he comped us drinks, so we felt obligated to go back. This bar is awesome. The people there were so cool, and there was a cute little girl who became very fascinated with one of us.
Now as habit as the blog goes on I become more and more tired of writing. I mean I’m not some kind of writing machine made to write for other people’s entertainment. Last time I check I’d not an English major specializing in composition, nor am I am anthropology major doing a study on Japan. , though I did think about studying anthro at one point. Anyway this blog is about my trip to Japan, I think, so I should get back to writing about that. Point is I don’t really feel like being descriptive right now so I won’t.
Sunday, which is yesterday as of this writing, we went to a mall. There were lots of clothes stores there. There was nothing in my size. Everything is so expensive.
So that’s pretty much it I think. Not much to say after all I avoid saying just now. Comment with your question, and I’ll blog again at some point.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
My Three Blogs
Well yesterday was quite the interesting day, or so I’m claiming to hook you into the story. I wake up, enjoy a nice lazing about. Today I have a towel and soap so I can enjoy a nice shower. Then I leave to walk down the hall to our meeting, which I then remember is halfway across campus. Luckily, though, the campus here isn’t too big so I was able to make it in time. I hope you were expecting a big and interesting tail, only to be crushed by that anti-climatic whatever.
So we sat around at orientation. It was as you’d expect for an orientation. The whole time though, the building dread of the placement test to coming down upon us. Then it did come and the written test was really hard. After that we had an interview and which was really weird because I have practically no speaking experience. So I practically did terrible at that.
After that us Fresno people went to Kasumi which is a food market to buy some lunch. On the way out, there was a café and one of the guys suggested sitting there to eat our food. After sitting down we were told in Japanese that we needed to buy something to stay. Luckily we were able to understand them. Towards the end of the meal, we were approached by some Japanese people asking us if we were English teachers. One of us told them that we were in fact university students.
After that we took a tour of campus. A lot of the tour was in Japanese, but it wasn’t too complex so it wasn’t too hard to understand. Apparently they have a museum of museology here. I have no idea what that is.
After the tour we went to a welcome tea party where we introduced ourselves in Japanese. I managed to get completely relaxed when my turn came, but then SOMEBODY started talking behind me and it through me off. After that we ate and talked to people. I had pizza with pepperoni, corn, and pepper on it. It was good. Apparently most people really overate, but I didn’t because I was too busy talking to people. At one point our Japanese teacher blindsided me and started talking to me in Japanese. It was so loud I couldn’t hear him, but he probably thinks I couldn’t understand any of the Japanese he was speaking to me.
When the party was over we went to the dorm. Then we went to a place called Pachi-ko, which has all you can drink for \1280, roughly $12.80. My drinking skills impressed several people. All those study sessions for international business paid off. After that we went home and I slept.
Well it’s almost time for another orientation. So I’ll just end here. TTFN
So we sat around at orientation. It was as you’d expect for an orientation. The whole time though, the building dread of the placement test to coming down upon us. Then it did come and the written test was really hard. After that we had an interview and which was really weird because I have practically no speaking experience. So I practically did terrible at that.
After that us Fresno people went to Kasumi which is a food market to buy some lunch. On the way out, there was a café and one of the guys suggested sitting there to eat our food. After sitting down we were told in Japanese that we needed to buy something to stay. Luckily we were able to understand them. Towards the end of the meal, we were approached by some Japanese people asking us if we were English teachers. One of us told them that we were in fact university students.
After that we took a tour of campus. A lot of the tour was in Japanese, but it wasn’t too complex so it wasn’t too hard to understand. Apparently they have a museum of museology here. I have no idea what that is.
After the tour we went to a welcome tea party where we introduced ourselves in Japanese. I managed to get completely relaxed when my turn came, but then SOMEBODY started talking behind me and it through me off. After that we ate and talked to people. I had pizza with pepperoni, corn, and pepper on it. It was good. Apparently most people really overate, but I didn’t because I was too busy talking to people. At one point our Japanese teacher blindsided me and started talking to me in Japanese. It was so loud I couldn’t hear him, but he probably thinks I couldn’t understand any of the Japanese he was speaking to me.
When the party was over we went to the dorm. Then we went to a place called Pachi-ko, which has all you can drink for \1280, roughly $12.80. My drinking skills impressed several people. All those study sessions for international business paid off. After that we went home and I slept.
Well it’s almost time for another orientation. So I’ll just end here. TTFN
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A Blogful of Dollars
I wrote this yesterday Tuesday September 7 but couldn`t post it till now.
Well now that I`m finally in Japan, this fun-blog can really kick off. So first off, I`m sure you`re interested in how the traveling was. The answer: awful, sort of. Traveling to LAX was pretty uneventful. We got there with no real problem. Got some food, met up witht he people from the other school. Then as we`re getting on the plane I get upgraded to economy plus, which granted me an extra 5 inches of leg space. So at this point the trip`s looking pretty freaking awesome. This however is when the bad times start to roll in.
So we get on the plane, and the flight people tell us that there is a problem with communications that they need 30 minutes to fix. So two hours later we`re disembarking from the plane so that they can get us a new one. Almost 4 hours after we were supposed to take off we finally get in the air for an 11 hour flight. Now just a little side note for those interested, when flying to Japan, the plane doesn`t go straight over the ocean. It flies up near the Bering straight and then back down. I just thought that was kind of interesting.
So anyway after watching the same movie five times and a lack luster meal we arrive in Japan. One thing was apparent upon arrival, it was very humid here, and I was very glad I was wearing shorts. So we`re met at the airport by some of the Japanese students, luckily we were able to e-mail the university to inform them that we would be late. We ended up missing the welcome party that they were gonna have for us, but we went to Coco`s instead, and after that we went to Seven Eleven and got some breakfast for the next day. Also, the slippers they have here are way too small.
The following day we go through some orientation, filled out some forms, and applied for work permits and alien registration, but at lunch we got some food in a convenience store, which of course means it`s time for “Tom! Don`t eat that!” Today I had onigiri, which is rice filled with some sort of awesome wrapped in seaweed. After struggling immensely to figure out how it opened, I manage to bite into the ball of I didn`t really know what to what it was. Point is though is that that didn`t matter because whatever it was tasted delicious. Best part too is that it was very cheap. Bottom line readers, onigiri is delicious and they should sell it in all convenience stores even in America because it`s that good.
After that we bought our necessities at the \100 store and the supermarket across the street. There were so many interesting things at the \100 store it was hard not to buy more that I needed, and I probably did. When we got back I don`t really remember swhat I did, but I ended up falling asleep at some point. Enough of that though I`m done for now. Check back later.
Well now that I`m finally in Japan, this fun-blog can really kick off. So first off, I`m sure you`re interested in how the traveling was. The answer: awful, sort of. Traveling to LAX was pretty uneventful. We got there with no real problem. Got some food, met up witht he people from the other school. Then as we`re getting on the plane I get upgraded to economy plus, which granted me an extra 5 inches of leg space. So at this point the trip`s looking pretty freaking awesome. This however is when the bad times start to roll in.
So we get on the plane, and the flight people tell us that there is a problem with communications that they need 30 minutes to fix. So two hours later we`re disembarking from the plane so that they can get us a new one. Almost 4 hours after we were supposed to take off we finally get in the air for an 11 hour flight. Now just a little side note for those interested, when flying to Japan, the plane doesn`t go straight over the ocean. It flies up near the Bering straight and then back down. I just thought that was kind of interesting.
So anyway after watching the same movie five times and a lack luster meal we arrive in Japan. One thing was apparent upon arrival, it was very humid here, and I was very glad I was wearing shorts. So we`re met at the airport by some of the Japanese students, luckily we were able to e-mail the university to inform them that we would be late. We ended up missing the welcome party that they were gonna have for us, but we went to Coco`s instead, and after that we went to Seven Eleven and got some breakfast for the next day. Also, the slippers they have here are way too small.
The following day we go through some orientation, filled out some forms, and applied for work permits and alien registration, but at lunch we got some food in a convenience store, which of course means it`s time for “Tom! Don`t eat that!” Today I had onigiri, which is rice filled with some sort of awesome wrapped in seaweed. After struggling immensely to figure out how it opened, I manage to bite into the ball of I didn`t really know what to what it was. Point is though is that that didn`t matter because whatever it was tasted delicious. Best part too is that it was very cheap. Bottom line readers, onigiri is delicious and they should sell it in all convenience stores even in America because it`s that good.
After that we bought our necessities at the \100 store and the supermarket across the street. There were so many interesting things at the \100 store it was hard not to buy more that I needed, and I probably did. When we got back I don`t really remember swhat I did, but I ended up falling asleep at some point. Enough of that though I`m done for now. Check back later.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Fear of Blog Planet
So tomorrow I leave for the mythic land of Japan. Land of robots galore and whatnot. Anyway I am now packed and filled with anticipation for what is to come. As I leave my friends and family behind, a new chapter of my life begins. Unfortunately I neither know what the chapter number I'm on nor the title of it. This matters not, for in the land of Japan they do not use numbers. Well they do, but that doesn't sound as cool. Actually I have spent so much time packing I really forgot what I was talking about. Plus this movie I turned on to pass the time is distracting me slightly.
Well anyway I hope I remembered everything. I'll try to post something more interesting as soon as I can in Japan. Expect pictures of stuff at some point in the future.
Well anyway I hope I remembered everything. I'll try to post something more interesting as soon as I can in Japan. Expect pictures of stuff at some point in the future.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Love's Labors Lost in Blogform
So today I woke up. You might not believe that if you know the crazy whacked-out stuff I get myself into, but I did wake up today. So after waking up a slowly got ready. Unfortunately I didn't have time for that so after not doing anything for some time I forgot to change my clothes. I did get to have some good St. Louis Gooey Coffee Cake. It filled me up quite well.
After that we went to the Gateway Arch. It was a cool monument to Thomas Jefferson, much better than the one in DC with all it's lies and slander and Roman architecture. This monument was made of true 1960s genius, or at least that what I think I remember. Anyway you could see all sorts of great things from there. Out to the west you could see Busch Stadium and the old courthouse where the Dread Scott case was. In fact you could see many of the cool building in St. Louis. Off to the east, there were some sights too, like the Mississippi River and.............um........like a granary I think.......I'm sure there was much more interesting things to see in East St. Louis, I probably just couldn't find them for some strange reason....... Anyway...after we bought cool stuff at the gift shop, like pencils, we left the building Elvis-style and took a short tour of the section of St Louis still paved with cobble stones. After that I changed and we left.
And like magic, that magic being crossing a bridge, we were in Illinois, land of looking at my laptop while I wrote the blog I post earlier about yesterday's exploits, but I think there was quite a bit of corn. Also there were a couple stops we made along the way. The first was one of the first gas stations built along Route 66. It was pretty neat to see. We got a replica of it before we left St. Louis from my aunt. We also so the Gemini Giant which I assume has some significance other than being there and being big.
At some point in there we got so hungry, we could eat at Arby's, so we did. Now I don't wanna go into a whole “Tom! Don't Eat That!” about it, so I'll skip to the bottom line. Bottom line readers, if you live out here in the Midwest and feel like some roast beef, you should go to Hardee's and get yourself a French Dip Thickburger and curly fries for not much more than Arby's. I think there is no comparison between the two and if you do you're wrong.
Once we got near Chicago we ended up having to get on a toll road. Now this toll road was nowhere near as bad as the awfulness that we found in America's little slice of the third-world, better known as Oklahoma. First off, the roads in Illinois are much better than the barely better than dirt road status most of the roads in Oklahoma have. Secondly, we didn't get charged as much for tolls in Illinois. One day I'm sure Oklahoma will learn, but probably my then we won't need roads anymore.
We finally arrived at our destination, Elk Grove Village, IL, which is a suburb of Chicago, IL. It nice though the speed limits are LOW here. I've never seen so many main street which such low speed limit. Also there are no actual lanes in the main streets, but there are implied lanes that people seem to follow, which I do like. After we moved my cousin's stuff in the apartment, we had his friend over, ate pizza, and watched South Park. While all of that was going on I wrote this, hopefully this will turn out better than that screenplay Bart wrote that one summer when he broke his leg, but only time and the opinion of judger will tell. Of course if they think it's anything other than the best they're just plan wrong.
Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Flanders. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma.
Well we'll see what happens to the blog from here on out.
After that we went to the Gateway Arch. It was a cool monument to Thomas Jefferson, much better than the one in DC with all it's lies and slander and Roman architecture. This monument was made of true 1960s genius, or at least that what I think I remember. Anyway you could see all sorts of great things from there. Out to the west you could see Busch Stadium and the old courthouse where the Dread Scott case was. In fact you could see many of the cool building in St. Louis. Off to the east, there were some sights too, like the Mississippi River and.............um........like a granary I think.......I'm sure there was much more interesting things to see in East St. Louis, I probably just couldn't find them for some strange reason....... Anyway...after we bought cool stuff at the gift shop, like pencils, we left the building Elvis-style and took a short tour of the section of St Louis still paved with cobble stones. After that I changed and we left.
And like magic, that magic being crossing a bridge, we were in Illinois, land of looking at my laptop while I wrote the blog I post earlier about yesterday's exploits, but I think there was quite a bit of corn. Also there were a couple stops we made along the way. The first was one of the first gas stations built along Route 66. It was pretty neat to see. We got a replica of it before we left St. Louis from my aunt. We also so the Gemini Giant which I assume has some significance other than being there and being big.
At some point in there we got so hungry, we could eat at Arby's, so we did. Now I don't wanna go into a whole “Tom! Don't Eat That!” about it, so I'll skip to the bottom line. Bottom line readers, if you live out here in the Midwest and feel like some roast beef, you should go to Hardee's and get yourself a French Dip Thickburger and curly fries for not much more than Arby's. I think there is no comparison between the two and if you do you're wrong.
Once we got near Chicago we ended up having to get on a toll road. Now this toll road was nowhere near as bad as the awfulness that we found in America's little slice of the third-world, better known as Oklahoma. First off, the roads in Illinois are much better than the barely better than dirt road status most of the roads in Oklahoma have. Secondly, we didn't get charged as much for tolls in Illinois. One day I'm sure Oklahoma will learn, but probably my then we won't need roads anymore.
We finally arrived at our destination, Elk Grove Village, IL, which is a suburb of Chicago, IL. It nice though the speed limits are LOW here. I've never seen so many main street which such low speed limit. Also there are no actual lanes in the main streets, but there are implied lanes that people seem to follow, which I do like. After we moved my cousin's stuff in the apartment, we had his friend over, ate pizza, and watched South Park. While all of that was going on I wrote this, hopefully this will turn out better than that screenplay Bart wrote that one summer when he broke his leg, but only time and the opinion of judger will tell. Of course if they think it's anything other than the best they're just plan wrong.
Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Flanders. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma. Screw Oklahoma.
Well we'll see what happens to the blog from here on out.
I Blog, Mate
So last night I was far too tired to blogw so I have to blog today as if I was blogging last night so when I refer to today I really mean yesterday so please try to keep all that straight if you can.
So today I woke up in Oklahoma. In the luxury of the Hampton Innw I forgot about the horrors of yesterday and enjoyed a lovable breakfast and got ready for the drive to St. Louis. And so the nightmarish tale begins.
We get on the road, in the day this time so we are able to get a better view of Oklahoma, and boy was that a mistake. Seriously we would've better off looking a highway lined with brown paper bags lining miles upon miles of the highway. There were dead things everywhere and everything was out of control. It became very clear to me why the US government moved Native Americans there. No body would chose to live there after going there. Even the places that looked somewhat nice were ruined but dilapidated buildings.
I want to be clear right now though that this and any more negativity is directed towards the experience of driving through Oklahoma not the people in it.
It was in Oklahoma that we experienced our first toll. We were upset about having to dig to find the change necessary to pay for the toll. We ended up having to use all of our change. And then, beaconing in the distance, what do we see? Another damn toll booth, pocket empty of change we were “lucky” that this had a person who could take cash, of course this meant it was more expensive too. Now all of this might have been somewhat acceptable, if it wasn't for the fact that Oklahoma had the worse roads out of every single state that I ever driven through.
When were driving, the GPS we had seemed to direct us to toll road. Also due to having the cell phone reception of a third world country, it kept cutting out on us and turning itself off. The weather was hot and muggy. When we finally got out of Oklahoma I spit on the ground out of the car to show my complete disgust for the state of Oklahoma.
Well before I leave my discussion of Oklahoma and be fair and mention the two cool things I saw there: the blue whale of Catoosa and the world's largest totem poll (which is disputed). The whale signified a cool swimming spot of yesteryear; one can't swim there anymore which is LAME (thanks a lot Oklahoma), but it was still very cool to see. Also, the totem poll did look cool, but even more cool was the dogs who showed up to play, and every one knows, Phil loves hims some dogs. By the end the realized I would way cool and would come whenever I called them. I also called my friend, let's call her Chandni, who REALLY LOVES dogs so that she would be so jealous she'd hate me for a least the next ten or twelve minutes. Now that's all I have to say about that.
So immediately after arrived it Missouri, it was apparent to the dimmest walrus that it was a much MUCH nicer place to be. The scenery was amazing. Tree everywhere, beautiful rock faces that almost seemed to smile back at us. The highway seemed to immediately improve over the awful, awful state of the Oklahoma highway. Well as we drove through and stopped in Springfield. There we ate a Hardee's. Now you know what time it is? Well you're wrong. I decided to save my “Tom! Don't eat that!” Section for later because that's how Phil likes to do things, fill people with hope, then crushing disappointment. So anyway I will say this about Hardee's: it is not Carls Jr. People always assume they are the same or similar. While this may have been true at one point, the menus now are completely different. While I liked the French Dip Thickburger I had there, my cousin did not enjoy his Little Thickburger. So the point is don't expect to find the same things at either place.
So we left Springfield, as hard as a tried I couldn't find the tire fire, which was disappointing or the Krusty Burger, but I think I'll be OK in the end.
So after more very pleasant driving, I ended up in Missouri where my aunt and uncle live. When we got to their house, I thought it looked really cool. I learned later that it was built in 1904 as an ice cream parlor. After that it was mostly likely a speak easy due to the barrels of alcohol they found buried in the basement when they were redoing the house. Right before they bought it, it was a bar called....well I don't remember, I think it may have had something to do with Homer. I'm not sure if they served Flaming Homers there, but one can dream. Anyway way more happened than a history lesson about the house.
We first went to Imo's Pizza for some St. Louis style pizza and toasted ravioli, which are foods originating in St. Louis. Now it's time for “Tom! Don't Eat That!” It's time to be happy. So I went in the the restaurant not knowing exactly what to expect. The pizza was almost as thin as a sheet of paper. I was warned that the cheese was unique, though there was so much debate about what the cheese was called that all I really remember that it sticky. The pizza was strange and unlike any pizza I had had prior to it. It was, however good. I heard tales that many a person, especially from New York did not care for the pizza, but I think they're crazy. Pizza is pizza and this was good, well made pizza. The toasted ravioli were good as well. A nice appetizer to have at any time. While the last time I had toasted ravioli I thought it tasted better, this was still very good. Bottom line readers, if you don't like this pizza you're crazy. You need to realize that any place that will put whole bacon strips on your pizza can't be bad. If you're in the mood for some thin crust pizza, get this pizza.
Anyway after that we went to a Cardinals game, which was pretty cool except the fact that we didn't get to see the Cardinals score after the first inning. It did not detract much from being at the game with my aunt, uncle, and cousin however. We decided to sign up for designated driver tickets so we could get a free soda, but we couldn't drink. I thought that this may have been a mistake until I won't the drawing for a free Cardinal polo shirt! I was really excited, and I already have plans for it.
After the game we went to Ted Drewes,which is a stand that sells sundaes and concretes which are shakes so thick they can turn them upside down and they do not fall out of the glass. I had a cardinal sin and it was quite good.
More to come about tomorrow's (which is really today's) exploits.
So today I woke up in Oklahoma. In the luxury of the Hampton Innw I forgot about the horrors of yesterday and enjoyed a lovable breakfast and got ready for the drive to St. Louis. And so the nightmarish tale begins.
We get on the road, in the day this time so we are able to get a better view of Oklahoma, and boy was that a mistake. Seriously we would've better off looking a highway lined with brown paper bags lining miles upon miles of the highway. There were dead things everywhere and everything was out of control. It became very clear to me why the US government moved Native Americans there. No body would chose to live there after going there. Even the places that looked somewhat nice were ruined but dilapidated buildings.
I want to be clear right now though that this and any more negativity is directed towards the experience of driving through Oklahoma not the people in it.
It was in Oklahoma that we experienced our first toll. We were upset about having to dig to find the change necessary to pay for the toll. We ended up having to use all of our change. And then, beaconing in the distance, what do we see? Another damn toll booth, pocket empty of change we were “lucky” that this had a person who could take cash, of course this meant it was more expensive too. Now all of this might have been somewhat acceptable, if it wasn't for the fact that Oklahoma had the worse roads out of every single state that I ever driven through.
When were driving, the GPS we had seemed to direct us to toll road. Also due to having the cell phone reception of a third world country, it kept cutting out on us and turning itself off. The weather was hot and muggy. When we finally got out of Oklahoma I spit on the ground out of the car to show my complete disgust for the state of Oklahoma.
Well before I leave my discussion of Oklahoma and be fair and mention the two cool things I saw there: the blue whale of Catoosa and the world's largest totem poll (which is disputed). The whale signified a cool swimming spot of yesteryear; one can't swim there anymore which is LAME (thanks a lot Oklahoma), but it was still very cool to see. Also, the totem poll did look cool, but even more cool was the dogs who showed up to play, and every one knows, Phil loves hims some dogs. By the end the realized I would way cool and would come whenever I called them. I also called my friend, let's call her Chandni, who REALLY LOVES dogs so that she would be so jealous she'd hate me for a least the next ten or twelve minutes. Now that's all I have to say about that.
So immediately after arrived it Missouri, it was apparent to the dimmest walrus that it was a much MUCH nicer place to be. The scenery was amazing. Tree everywhere, beautiful rock faces that almost seemed to smile back at us. The highway seemed to immediately improve over the awful, awful state of the Oklahoma highway. Well as we drove through and stopped in Springfield. There we ate a Hardee's. Now you know what time it is? Well you're wrong. I decided to save my “Tom! Don't eat that!” Section for later because that's how Phil likes to do things, fill people with hope, then crushing disappointment. So anyway I will say this about Hardee's: it is not Carls Jr. People always assume they are the same or similar. While this may have been true at one point, the menus now are completely different. While I liked the French Dip Thickburger I had there, my cousin did not enjoy his Little Thickburger. So the point is don't expect to find the same things at either place.
So we left Springfield, as hard as a tried I couldn't find the tire fire, which was disappointing or the Krusty Burger, but I think I'll be OK in the end.
So after more very pleasant driving, I ended up in Missouri where my aunt and uncle live. When we got to their house, I thought it looked really cool. I learned later that it was built in 1904 as an ice cream parlor. After that it was mostly likely a speak easy due to the barrels of alcohol they found buried in the basement when they were redoing the house. Right before they bought it, it was a bar called....well I don't remember, I think it may have had something to do with Homer. I'm not sure if they served Flaming Homers there, but one can dream. Anyway way more happened than a history lesson about the house.
We first went to Imo's Pizza for some St. Louis style pizza and toasted ravioli, which are foods originating in St. Louis. Now it's time for “Tom! Don't Eat That!” It's time to be happy. So I went in the the restaurant not knowing exactly what to expect. The pizza was almost as thin as a sheet of paper. I was warned that the cheese was unique, though there was so much debate about what the cheese was called that all I really remember that it sticky. The pizza was strange and unlike any pizza I had had prior to it. It was, however good. I heard tales that many a person, especially from New York did not care for the pizza, but I think they're crazy. Pizza is pizza and this was good, well made pizza. The toasted ravioli were good as well. A nice appetizer to have at any time. While the last time I had toasted ravioli I thought it tasted better, this was still very good. Bottom line readers, if you don't like this pizza you're crazy. You need to realize that any place that will put whole bacon strips on your pizza can't be bad. If you're in the mood for some thin crust pizza, get this pizza.
Anyway after that we went to a Cardinals game, which was pretty cool except the fact that we didn't get to see the Cardinals score after the first inning. It did not detract much from being at the game with my aunt, uncle, and cousin however. We decided to sign up for designated driver tickets so we could get a free soda, but we couldn't drink. I thought that this may have been a mistake until I won't the drawing for a free Cardinal polo shirt! I was really excited, and I already have plans for it.
After the game we went to Ted Drewes,which is a stand that sells sundaes and concretes which are shakes so thick they can turn them upside down and they do not fall out of the glass. I had a cardinal sin and it was quite good.
More to come about tomorrow's (which is really today's) exploits.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Blog Two: The Blog Has Landed
This post was written August 25, 2009 around 11 PM.
I really wanted to post it then, but I didn't have the time to proof read it. Even now I have done a shitty job. The next post will be tomorrow because I need sleep so much I don't feel like sacrificing it for writing for you chumps and chumpettes.
Thank you for your readership of my blog. Please keep reading.
So day three here on the road to Chicago. So I imagine you'd be pretty upset that you had to wait an extra day for an entry if you had had to wait that long and not actually a few hours.
So Monday we planned to leave around 9, but we ended up getting stuck in town till around 10:30, but, really, no one really cares about that. What really important is the melted ice we found under the car. It was all like “hey I'm melted,” except for the fact that it can't talk because it's not a life form. Of course all known life forms are part water so we could really perhaps count it for like three fifths of a life-form or something like that. Though to me it seems wrong to call something three fifths of anything.
Anyway that was pretty exciting, but not quite as exciting as the awesome road that we drove on in Nevada towards Arizona. This road had miles upon miles of smooth, cool (like the Fonz) driving filled with fun for the whole car, which you should know if you read the last post was just the two of us.
Soon we arrived in Arizona, possibly the most interesting state we've driven through so far, but I'll get back to that.........now. So Arizona started out how you might picture Arizona, a desert, but soon, it opened up into a world of imagination, better known as a forest. So the forest was extending on and on forever in all directions as we passed by it traveling at speeds of which ancient man only dreamed, also there were also lots of beware of elk signs. Soon though we became hungry, and decided to stop in Flagstaff, a town full of mystery and wonder, or that had a really cool shopping district with some interesting places. After visiting this town I contemplated one day possibly moving there, but I decided I should save those thoughts for later when I'm getting kicked out of the house.
So we departed for Albuquerque with me now at the helm, and we were now on our way to Meteor Crater. It was about 15 minutes before we arrived there when I was informed that we had to pay $15 to enter to see the park. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that much on an attraction, especially since I'm leaving for Japan in less than two weeks now, which actually made my stomach jump a bit, but I think I'm fine now....now where was I.....hmmmmm.....ah yes, so we ended up going and it was cool to see the impact crater. We learned about meteors and such, but ended up having to leave earlier than I would have liked, but we had to get to Albuquerque. So we booked it from there, and by that I mean drove the speed limit because neither of us can afford a ticket. It was a very pleasant drive through Arizona with very nice scenery.
So now new paragraph time so I guess I should talk about New Mexico. Well New Mexico to me looked like when you open a closet with no light in it, primarily because when we got there it was night time, but there was still enough light to see the constant warnings of elk spattered across the highway. We ended up not getting into the hotel until 1 AM local time, no bueno. The desk clerk gave us free water and energy drinks which was awesome, but we decided to go straight to bed, despite the fact he desperately wanted us to keep him company. Like really desperately even though he insulted my shirt.
So in the morning we got going around 8:30 heading straight for the Midpoint Cafe, which is located on Route 66 halfway along the route Chicago and LA. We went inside and were treated to a wonderment of memorabilia, and with that note I think it might be time for another episode of “Tom! Don't eat that!” Now it really is a bit of a stretch to claim that I shouldn't eat what I had here, so you'll have to bear with me. I decided to order the Texas-Sized Hamburger. Now this doesn't necessarily sound like something I wouldn't eat until I explain some stuff to you. I pretty much ate burgers with only ketchup till around my freshman year of college. Now I know what you're thinking, “Kill the boy!” but I assure you I am not a vampire, and I have changed my ways. Today, which I guess now was yesterday, I would have to say I took that pretty far by not only having a burger with more on it than that, but not having a burger with ketchup on it at all and actually having it with three ingredients I generally don't like, pickles, tomato, and mustard. Well the burger, which had those ingredients plus lettuce and onion turned out to be one of the best burgers I've ever had in my life. It filled my stomach and my delight gage, which is rarely filled and only a select few know how to check it in the first place, yes you should be quite jealous. The burger also came with chips instead of fries, or for our British readers, crisps instead of chips. Though I enjoy generally fries more than chips, they fit the meal quite well. At the end I had a three berry cobbler which unfortunately didn't come it a shoe. I mean come on! How can you name a dish after a shoemaker and not make it shoe themed at all!! Anyway it was quite delicious. Bottom line readers, I would say if you're traveling I-40 or Route 66, this place is a must stop. It was the best food on our trip so far, and the burger only cost $7. Also if you're willing to brave the rattle snakes, they'll even tell you where you can dig up some original Route 66 signs.
After that we went to the Cadillac Ranch. There will be pictures at some point and that's all I have to say about that.
It's late, I'm tired of writing now, so I'll basically summarize thing quickly now. If you have a problem with this, well too bad because you're not here right now to tell me otherwise, what's your problem?
So basically we drove through Texas, more Elk signs, it wasn't at nice as New Mexico and Arizona, don't mess with Texas was on a government sign, laughter.
Now, we're in Oklahoma, we don't like it much here, roads and GPS made us angry here, nothing too interesting to see, more elk stuff.
Bed time. This has either been posted in the morning or the following night.
Off to St. Louis.
I really wanted to post it then, but I didn't have the time to proof read it. Even now I have done a shitty job. The next post will be tomorrow because I need sleep so much I don't feel like sacrificing it for writing for you chumps and chumpettes.
Thank you for your readership of my blog. Please keep reading.
So day three here on the road to Chicago. So I imagine you'd be pretty upset that you had to wait an extra day for an entry if you had had to wait that long and not actually a few hours.
So Monday we planned to leave around 9, but we ended up getting stuck in town till around 10:30, but, really, no one really cares about that. What really important is the melted ice we found under the car. It was all like “hey I'm melted,” except for the fact that it can't talk because it's not a life form. Of course all known life forms are part water so we could really perhaps count it for like three fifths of a life-form or something like that. Though to me it seems wrong to call something three fifths of anything.
Anyway that was pretty exciting, but not quite as exciting as the awesome road that we drove on in Nevada towards Arizona. This road had miles upon miles of smooth, cool (like the Fonz) driving filled with fun for the whole car, which you should know if you read the last post was just the two of us.
Soon we arrived in Arizona, possibly the most interesting state we've driven through so far, but I'll get back to that.........now. So Arizona started out how you might picture Arizona, a desert, but soon, it opened up into a world of imagination, better known as a forest. So the forest was extending on and on forever in all directions as we passed by it traveling at speeds of which ancient man only dreamed, also there were also lots of beware of elk signs. Soon though we became hungry, and decided to stop in Flagstaff, a town full of mystery and wonder, or that had a really cool shopping district with some interesting places. After visiting this town I contemplated one day possibly moving there, but I decided I should save those thoughts for later when I'm getting kicked out of the house.
So we departed for Albuquerque with me now at the helm, and we were now on our way to Meteor Crater. It was about 15 minutes before we arrived there when I was informed that we had to pay $15 to enter to see the park. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that much on an attraction, especially since I'm leaving for Japan in less than two weeks now, which actually made my stomach jump a bit, but I think I'm fine now....now where was I.....hmmmmm.....ah yes, so we ended up going and it was cool to see the impact crater. We learned about meteors and such, but ended up having to leave earlier than I would have liked, but we had to get to Albuquerque. So we booked it from there, and by that I mean drove the speed limit because neither of us can afford a ticket. It was a very pleasant drive through Arizona with very nice scenery.
So now new paragraph time so I guess I should talk about New Mexico. Well New Mexico to me looked like when you open a closet with no light in it, primarily because when we got there it was night time, but there was still enough light to see the constant warnings of elk spattered across the highway. We ended up not getting into the hotel until 1 AM local time, no bueno. The desk clerk gave us free water and energy drinks which was awesome, but we decided to go straight to bed, despite the fact he desperately wanted us to keep him company. Like really desperately even though he insulted my shirt.
So in the morning we got going around 8:30 heading straight for the Midpoint Cafe, which is located on Route 66 halfway along the route Chicago and LA. We went inside and were treated to a wonderment of memorabilia, and with that note I think it might be time for another episode of “Tom! Don't eat that!” Now it really is a bit of a stretch to claim that I shouldn't eat what I had here, so you'll have to bear with me. I decided to order the Texas-Sized Hamburger. Now this doesn't necessarily sound like something I wouldn't eat until I explain some stuff to you. I pretty much ate burgers with only ketchup till around my freshman year of college. Now I know what you're thinking, “Kill the boy!” but I assure you I am not a vampire, and I have changed my ways. Today, which I guess now was yesterday, I would have to say I took that pretty far by not only having a burger with more on it than that, but not having a burger with ketchup on it at all and actually having it with three ingredients I generally don't like, pickles, tomato, and mustard. Well the burger, which had those ingredients plus lettuce and onion turned out to be one of the best burgers I've ever had in my life. It filled my stomach and my delight gage, which is rarely filled and only a select few know how to check it in the first place, yes you should be quite jealous. The burger also came with chips instead of fries, or for our British readers, crisps instead of chips. Though I enjoy generally fries more than chips, they fit the meal quite well. At the end I had a three berry cobbler which unfortunately didn't come it a shoe. I mean come on! How can you name a dish after a shoemaker and not make it shoe themed at all!! Anyway it was quite delicious. Bottom line readers, I would say if you're traveling I-40 or Route 66, this place is a must stop. It was the best food on our trip so far, and the burger only cost $7. Also if you're willing to brave the rattle snakes, they'll even tell you where you can dig up some original Route 66 signs.
After that we went to the Cadillac Ranch. There will be pictures at some point and that's all I have to say about that.
It's late, I'm tired of writing now, so I'll basically summarize thing quickly now. If you have a problem with this, well too bad because you're not here right now to tell me otherwise, what's your problem?
So basically we drove through Texas, more Elk signs, it wasn't at nice as New Mexico and Arizona, don't mess with Texas was on a government sign, laughter.
Now, we're in Oklahoma, we don't like it much here, roads and GPS made us angry here, nothing too interesting to see, more elk stuff.
Bed time. This has either been posted in the morning or the following night.
Off to St. Louis.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The First Post 2009
This entry is from Sunday August 23, 2009 a little before midnight.
I wanted to post it then but then problems which are discussed in the blog happened. I may post another update tonight that includes the past two days.
So for those of you that don't know, my alias on this blog is Phil McBanus, and this is all about my Japantime put in the context of a fun-blog. So two weeks from now I'm leaving for Japan, or I will have already left a few hours ago, but really by the time I can actually post this entry it will be longer than that. You see apparently the Imperial Place in Las Vegas hasn't heard of complimentary Internet service and wants to charge ridiculous amounts for such a service, but this is not the point.
Right now, in preparation for my long and arduous journey to Japan, I'm taking a long and arduous journey across part of America by car. Along the way I plan to learn about travel, have a few comical mishaps, buy souvenirs for my future Japanese friends, and practice my poor blog writing skilz.
So perhaps I should start with today. I mean I COULD start with tomorrow but since I have trouble perceiving time that way I may not get all the details right and as a species that has been detailed I assume that we prefer to get those things right.
So anyway last night I was up until around abouts 1 in the morning. This morning I woke up at 7. I hadn't been planning to wake up quite that early, even though I set my alarm for that time. You see I normally press the snooze button several times, but this morning was different. Today I (The following information has been censored by the user. Please trust the user that it was quite traumatic and you do not wanna hear about it.) Needless to say after you go through something like that, there's no way you're falling back asleep.
So in the end it wasn't a big deal that I woke up earlier. I ended up having tons of time to get everything I needed (though I of course still forgot stuff), and my uncle David picked me up so I could be ready to leave at noon with my cousin Jared.
Now to make a very long story short that I assume you stopped reading quite some time ago, and if you haven't I worry about your sanity because you were able to endure the insane rants of a semi-crazy person for this long, we ended up not being able to leave until like 3 because Jared took forever packing up his whole life....OH YEAH. So in retrospect I PROBABLY should have mentioned I'm going across the country with my cousin because he's moving to Chicago, but if you knew me, and I don't know why you've read this far if you haven't, you should already know that my cousin is moving to Chicago and I'm also going with to keep him company.
INTERMISSION (even I'm getting tried of all of this craziness, I suggest you take a break at this point, get a snack, watch some guy on youtube hurt himself in an incredibly dumb way and come back to reading this a little later after you feel you can stand me some more)
And we're back from intermission, hopefully. So packed with a car filled with hundreds upon hundreds of pounds, plus Jared's stuff, we left on the road, me as the driver, out to see the country. Of course that was before we thought we were loosing gas at an alarming rate which turned out just to be the air conditioning and us not really paying close enough attention. After that there was lots of driving which I'll also leave out. Following that however, we arrived in Las Vegas, Jared now driving the car, heading to the wrong address, which we quickly realized. It was then I discovered we were somewhat coincidentally spending our first night on this road trip from hell in a Japanese-themed hotel. I did buy some cool gifts.
So before I go several people told me that during my travels, I should keep a reoccurring section in my blog called “Tom! Don't eat that!” where I review food I've eaten. So on this episode of “Tom! Don't eat that!” I went to Burger King. There I had their fries, onion rings, and hamburgers. I'd have to say I'd rate them all pretty low. The fries were typical for fast food fries, greasy and you're not even sure they were made from potatoes. The onion rings were clearly frozen and very greasy. The only time I've had worse is when I buy the frozen ones from the grocery store. The burgers turned out to be too small and ended up costing more than the whopper jr. I mean what the heck is that deal. A smaller burger with less on it costs more? Burger King needs to figure out how to price their times correctly if they really want my business. Bottom line readers, if you're hungry enough, and by science I hope you're not, you can eat at Burger King if you're willing to suffer from poor quality and nonsensical pricing.
Tomorrow we depart on our second longest leg, hopefully to survive to tell the tale.
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