I suppose...

I suppose I should now change this into an almost weekly blog.

Turns out, I'm not a blogging person! Haha!

The chano-yu was really entertaining. We had to bow our heads down to enter the first room. Some light tea was served to us. We then went to a little flowing water faucet outside. We used a wooden ladle to ladle water onto our hands and to rinse our mouths. One scoop is to wash both hands. Another scoop was to rinse our mouths and rinse the ladle. The rinsing had to be done away from the faucet so that the used water would not contaminate the faucet. We had to sit in seiza for the main tea ceremony, although almost everyone gave up within an hour. We tried the light tea course, as heavy tea is a bit difficult for first timers. A sweet that looked like a Hydrangea was served first. We had to say "excuse me for going first" to the person on the left before eating. Then the tea was served. We had to turn the tea cup so that the front faces the host (I'm actually not sure anymore, can't remember). The tea was frothy and strong! Although, I think I'm the only one out of everyone who couldn't finish the tea. We got to try another round of tea, this time with a cute flower-shaped candy and swedish fish-like candy. It was overall an interesting experience, although I'm not sure if I'm suited for strong tea powder....@_@

That Saturday, I and two other students went to Asakusa with other foreign students. Two people didn't make it to the bus on time, lol. We went to Asakusa first. They showed us where we had to meet up later and sent us off. We saw Asakusa Jinja (and got a ton of fortunes!). Asakusa Temple was filled with tourists. We just went in and out, basically. But the ceiling of the temple was covered with beautiful paintings. I then went down Nakamise Street and bought imo-youkan for my laboratory members. I visited a famous tempura restaurant called Tempura Daikokuya (beware, there was no English sign outside, so know the kanji of Daikokuya). It was very delicious! You should also order the seasonal ice cream. The seasonal ice cream was cantaloupe, freaking delicious. Afterwards, we headed to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. I didn't really go through the museum. I was more interested in talking with the new friend I made. Wow, she's amazing. We then came back and I rushed to the dorm to watch Ueda on Honoo no Taiikukai~

Sunday, I woke up late and explored the area around JR Kiryu Station. There was a really adorable cafe/restaurant that I tried. Then I went back to the university to finish my report. Thank god the post-doc student was there, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get in.

Monday, my new friend took two of us to a yakiniku/buffet restaurant! Oh my gosh, it was amazing. So much food! It had a cotton candy machine too!

Wednesday, I went to Kusatsu Onsen! It was super rainy but the rain ended when we got to there! Lucky! I'm not sure what the onsen was called, but it was an indoors onsen. We placed our shoes in a shoe locker. Then paid, and entered the changing room. The changing room was full of baskets on shelves to put our bags and clothes. Me and the only two other girls in the lab took up like 9 shelves....lol. But there was no one there so it's okay! After removing all our clothes, we took a small towel and entered the onsen/shower area. The shower area was on the right side so we scrubbed thoroughly. I was super slow, lol. The onsen bath was hot! Like, seriously hot! But really nice! I'd love to try again! Ah, also the towel and your hair can't touch the onsen bath water. You have to try to keep the small towel as dry as possible to use to dry yourself after getting out if the bath. After soaking in the onsen, we have to use a wooden ladle to ladle onsen water from a different smaller pool to rinse our bodies. The smaller pool had significantly cooler water, probably to cool our bodies before going back to the changing room. We then changed into our yukatas! Yes, I bought a yukata. It was a must. Luckily, we were able to catch the last 5 minutes of the yumomi performance. Apparently, it's a famous song and performance, although I didn't understand why people were willing to watch a yumomi. We got to try using the large piece of wood to move in the same motion as the performers. Again, I still don't understand. ANYWAYS, SOUVENIR/OMIYAGE TIME. A lot of the the omiyage were anko/azuki bean flavor :( But I bought an apple pie for my new friend! She likes sweets. After walking around the town, we headed back to the onsen to change back into our street clothes. We had locked and stored our bags there. Afterwards, the members drive back to Aeon Mall in Takasaki. There was a Chinese restaurant there and I enjoyed showing a new food to them~ We got back at like 11 pm, but it was a ton of fun nevertheless!

Yesterday, I got to try making capillaries and melting glass to fuse them together. Capillaries were easy. Fusing, I failed twice. I will try again soon.

So, since I have two reports and two presentations to do, plus a farewell party tomorrow night and adventuring in Tokyo on Sunday, I most likely won't be able to update this blog for a whileeeeee.........Jyaa, mata ne!

Busy!

Sorry for not posting in over a week. I've been busy writing laboratory reports and running around Kiryu and Tokyo.

I've slowly been getting familiar with my laboratory members. They are all really nice! They also use some new equipment that I've never seen before so I suppose I'm learning!

Over the weekend, I booked a stay at an economy hotel for one night. That way I could enjoy Tokyo for much longer! I went to the Pokemon Center Saturday morning. It was crowded! But I really enjoyed my time there. I headed off to The Globe Tokyo Theater for Junno's Forrest Gump stage play. It was really different from the American movie! I managed to catch some parts of what they were saying but clearly my Japanese is not that good yet. I really liked the person who acted out the Captain.

Afterwards I headed to Shibuya and walked down Cat Street. It was, in my opinion, okay. It was very varied with a ton of boutiques and clothing stores but I didn't manage to find anything to buy. I stopped by a steak restaurant and then went to check in at my hotel. Afterwards, I headed back out to Shibuya to explore Shibuya's UNIQLO. :)

On Sunday, I had an unique experience for breakfast at Burger King. They have sofas! Sofas! I then headed to Shibuya 109. American music was blasting in every store and the prices were quite insane. Outside Shibuya 109 was a mini cheering squad for Japan in the FIFA Soccer World Cup. They were wearing blue soccer shirts. I then went to a gyoza restaurant and ate a delicious meal. Too bad I couldn't finish it all. I had to leave after lunch in order to get back to Kiryu on time.

The weather has also been insane. One minute it's rainy, the next the sun is blasting. Really. Make up your mind.

Tomorrow we will be going to a chano-yu, which is a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. Looking forward to it!

Tokyo Whhaaaattttt

Today is Monday the 9th.

I think I should start by first stating that it's the rainy season here in Japan. 

I got on the 7:01 bus bound for the Shin-Kiryu station and purchased a platform ticket and a Ltd. Express ticket. I got on the train and quickly fell asleep. In the middle of my sleep, I heard the movement of a ton of people and I opened my eyes to see what was going on. Apparently the train was stopped due to some accident and everyone has to get off. Being extremely confused, we followed the station attendants' red flag directions toward a local train bound for Kiku. We got off at Kiku and saw another train going in the direction towards Asakusa. We got on that train, thinking it would leave the station immediately. It did not. The announcer kept saying announcements I did not understand and we stayed on a non-moving train for an hour. After talking to another girl on the train, she told us that the train would start again at 10:01 and would not stop at Asakusa. Instead, we would have to transfer again at the last stop of this train. After transferring, the train had another delay. So we ran to a local train that had just come into the station and rode it to Asakusa. We eventually got to Asakusa at noon. And guess what half of the Tokyo trains also had? Delays. Due to rain. I believe we had some major bad luck that day.

But upon arriving in Shinjuku, I walked around and found a Chinese restaurant! I haven't eaten Chinese food in so long! I ordered a ramen and chahan(fried rice) set. It was delicious!

I then took the train to Shin-Okubo to try to find the Tokyo Globe theater. I decided to walk down one direction, after passing a couple kpop stores, I had a feeling I was walking in the wrong direction so I went into a police box to ask for directions. They were very helpful!

My last stop was Harajuku, as I only had about an hour and a half left before I had to leave Tokyo. 

I found the Johnny's shop and bought stuff ^.^ I also walked down a part of Takeshita street. It was a street filled with cute knick-knacks and delicious looking crepes and desserts. 

Once back in Shinjuku station, I finally checked my phone. One of my friends who had came with me texted me that he was lost in Akihabara. We tried, he tried, apparently it just wasn't his day because he  never managed to leave Tokyo on time. We had to ask our neighbor if she could pick him up from the station since the buses stopped running by the time he got back.

Sunday I just spent relaxing and finishing my laboratory report. :)

Enjoyment

Today is Friday. We visited a Textile Museum and Textile Factory on Wednesday. It was really cool and we got to try out some ancient machines! We also got a free swatch of fabric! Did you know that Kiryu-shi's mascot is modeled after the jagged roofs of textile factories? Also windows in the factories can only be built facing the north side!

It's the rainy season now. I think it's going to be raining everyday until the middle or near end of June. Hopefully there are some cool sunny days. 

I visited MEGA Don Quihote yesterday. It was massive! They had like nearly everything! Except for computers and computer accessories! They also had an entire party section and I saw a Cup Ramen costume. The basement level had a supermarket. It was cheap....like maybe cheaper than FRESSAY....

Tomorrow I'm going to be going to Tokyo. Wish me luck!

Second Week!

Its now Monday, 6/2/2014.

It was really nice that we had an entire week for us to relax and get adjusted to a new country.

I'm urgently trying to remember all the names of my laboratory group. There's too many people!

On another note, I managed to semi-destroy my laundry last week. Powdered detergent and liquid softener!!! The horror!!! But second time's the charm! I got it to work! And since the dryers in Japan suck, I've been air drying my clothes in the sun. It works pretty well! 

Over the weekend, I also visited a hospital for my ankle. I fell off a bike. Yup. 

I also explored the city yesterday. There are so many bus routes and everything. I hope I never get lost.

A woman went out of her way to explain how the Tobu Line works, even though she could literally only speak fast Japanese and my Japanese comprehension sucks. In the end, I actually understood what she was trying to say! Yay!

I'm so glad I have a semi-working GPS here. I also sang in a chorus with a couple elderly! They were really nice! But when it came to the lyrics of fast-paced songs, I couldn't read the hiragana and katakana fast enough >.<

Kiryu-shi has really nice people! It's also kind of bad for like have a shopping spree since the stores are so far apart from each other. Honcho street is the main street with most of the stores, but the issue is it takes over an hour to walk to entirety of it one-way and it is HOT here! It's been averaging 90 degrees for the past couple of days.

Also, the reason why I haven't been updating often. I only get internet access at the University and only certain parts of the University will get Wi-Fi. My laboratory floor on the seventh floor has no Wi-Fi at all. :(