Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Oops. I'm back ^^

Hehehe long time no blog, right? I honestly think its because I'm tired of my layout. I want to make a new one, but I just can't be bothered. I also can't remember how blogger coding works, and I don't really want to spend an evening remembering how again.

Alright so, things have been going pretty good. I'm a little behind in my work, but only for 1 class - I can turn that work in by the end of the semesters, so I'm not SOL, just.. stressed. Completely my fault, though. 3 1-page papers for that class, not that bad. Plus I need to do a report for this Friday class coming up... Bah, whatever. I'll get to it!

Things have been happening. It's been cool. I can't really say what all has happened since my last post.. quite a lot, actually. But I can say that last weekend we went & did this "Aichi Industry Tour" thing. It was like a field trip. A surprise field trip, because I thought we'd be back by noon, only it took all freakin day - from 8am to 5pm.

And it was hot as balls outside. Everyday is about 90 degrees with enough humidity to make it feel 100. I have a tan. I'll say that again. I have a tan. How does that happen!? And it's like a farmers tan too... I even have a tan line around my watch area. So not tacky at all.

Anyway, back to my point. The field trip. It was cool, we went and saw a Miso factory (miso is basically.. just like.. umm! To put it simply, a "Spice" I guess. Nagoya is famous for it.) It was really neat because the factory holds hundreds of this huuuuuge buckets (probably 10+ feet high. I have pictures on facebook). And in those buckets is the miso with dozens of rocks piled on top of it, to smoosh. It's slightly amazing because it takes about 5 years to balance the rocks just right, and then another 5 years to smoosh the miso adequately. The rocks are so balanced that even earthquakes don't knock them over. And there are tons of earthquakes in Japan.

I haven't felt any yet. Kind of disappointing, but... a relief too, I suppose. There was another 7.1 earthquake around Tokyo a couple days ago. So many! But none around Nagoya. Good? Yeah...

On Monday I did a presentation at a local high school. It was pretty amazing. I wasn't looking forward to it because - come on - it's a presentation. But they were actually really interested in what I had to say. (Most of what I said was in slow English, but the powerpoint itself was in Japanese. So they could understand what was going on.) I think it's so cute how Japanese girls are so amazed by anything Western. I can give a peace sign and they'll gush, "kawaii~~~" (so cute!). Yes. I am amazing.

The attention is nice, but I seriously can't wait to be home and not be stared at for once. Seriously, I now know what its like to be a minority in a country. There are no other white people apart from me and the 5 other westerners at Kinjo. I've gotten used to the stares, but it'll be nice to not have to worry about it...

Although, there is the good news about being foreign in Japan. I was asked to be in a Kinjo commercial! Me and my friend Nat-chan. Obviously, it was because we're foreign, and they want the commercial to make Kinjo seem so diverse - and say, "Look! We have blonde girls and Americans! We're awesome!" Hehe but I'm not complaining. It was a really neat experience. The shooting was today during lunch. I basically sat a table with Nat-chan and a Japanese girl, and we talked while they played with lights and filmed us. I didn't even know they began filming until the director asked for more hand gestures.

And then it was suddenly over. They gave us presents at the end! I got some special Kinjo chopsticks, and a Kinjo make-up bag. I'm a happy camper. Also, they're giving me a copy of the commercial on a CD, but it won't be ready untilt he 29th. I leave the 30th! Hopefully it's not late!

Hum, let's see. What else is new... I picked out a yukata to wear to the Farewell Party in 2.5 weeks. CIEP is renting them out. But... I think I am going to buy one. I rented one just in case but I plan on going shopping for one this weekend. =] It's still a pretty yukata though. I hope to get one just like it!

Anything else going on? Probably. But nothing immediately coming to mind. Something I still need to do before I leave: VISIT CAT CAFE, AMG.