Wow… What a week.  The curve balls my life continues to throw at me are almost as bad as the one’s i send flying back.  But this is Japan, and everything i’ve given up is now allowing me to take hold of my dream with both hands, and run as fast and as long as i possibly can.  Half assing this trip would have made every sacrifice i’ve made completely redundant.

Japan is slowling starting to feel more like home – which is what i wanted.  I’m slowly getting used to the lifestyle, the people, the weather and even the routine of everyday life.  I love it here, and i cant wait to learn more about this country.  I feel i’ve already learned so much.

The past weekend was a long weekend as Monday, Tueseday and Wednesday were public holidays – YAY 5 day weekend!  It’s called “Silver Week” and the public holidays for Monday through Wednesday are “Respect for the Aged Day”, “Autumnal Equinox Day” and “Kokumin no Kyuujitsu”, respectively.  No real clue what they mean (except Respect for the Aged – self explanatory) or who celebrates it or HOW the celebrate it – but the long weekend was a much needed rest.  Rest from what? Well… processing Japan, its people, and its culture takes up a lot of energy.  It’s not bad! but… it’s not what I’m used to, and adjustment requires effort.  But i feel well rested and relieved.

Now a lot of people travelled for the past 5 days.  Some to Tokyo, some took a bunch of day trips to Kobe and Nara and other close-by places, and some guy went to these intense Buddhist temples in the mountains and got to stay overnight in one of them – AWESOME, im gonna have to do that too.  Me? Well… nothin… =(

Ok not entirely true.  On Saturday I went to Hirakata Park (its a theme park) with the gang.  It was awesome!  I mean all the rides were a bit tame, but they were really fun and a good change of pace.  They even had a replica of the Little Beastie from Wonderland Sydney! That was a big deal to me, because I grew up on that ride – it was the only ride i could go on for a few years coz i wasn’t tall enough for anything else lolz  But yeah, managed to ride it AND film it with my awesome phone – I as SOOOO scared i’d drop it!

Sorry about the fingers! Didn’t want to drop my phone!

Sunday I just chillaxed, I felt quite sick actually and spent most of the day in bed trying to void the onset of a cold.  Lucky me, i dodged it – however i did miss a day – others spent the day at an aquarium or museum in Osaka.

Monday I went to these oldschool markets set up in some temple grounds at Kyoto.  Probably the ONLY cool thing in the market was the Pagoda sitting in the middle.  I didn’t enjoy it at all, in fact i think i was there for an 1-2 hours.  It as EXTREMELY crowded, so much so that if i were to stop and look at something at a stall i’d feel as though i’d be pissing off a hundred Japanese people – so i felt really rushed.  Also everything looked dodgy and severely overpriced.  It felt like a tourist trap.  Things LOOKED like they were authentic Japanese souvenirs, and they might’ve been, but cmon, an A4 sized drawing for ¥9,500 ($110)?? Nope, not my thing.  I could’ve just taken a picture and nicked off.  However half of the company I went with enjoyed it, and so i don’t mean to bag the Kyoto markets and do the whole “NEVER GO THERE!” thing, but it didn’t work for me.  But it works for some.  After the markets, we grabbed food, it was pretty average and made me sick, and i went home. guh, crappy day.

Man in the Yellow Shirt: “Who farted?”

Tuesday, I went to Den Den Town in Osaka with Charlie, Jamie and Paul.  It wasn’t quite what I had expected, but i guess it was cool enough.  Den Den town is like the electronic district in Osaka – but there’s one other thing I noticed they had a lot of: Porn.  Every third shop was some wacky porn place.  We went in and had a look for kicks, but sure enough everything in there was dodgy.  It got to about 5pm Charlie and I had had enough, Paul wanted to check out Den Den Town some more (he was looking for a specific shop – which he found eventually. Good Job!), and Jamie had to go back to his Host Family.  So we split up.

Also we had more of the gang scattered around different regions of Osaka that day so we all decided to meet up at this Shisha bar/restaurant thing to eat, drink and smoke shisha.  So Charlie and I set off on an adventure to find this place so we could then relay directions to everyone else.  Oh boy did we go on an adventure.  Oh and along the way we spotted this:

Festival Gate

So eventually, after getting lost we found the Shisha place, and things were looking up: Charlie and I arrived at HAPPY HOUR! YAAY!  So we grabbed cheap drinks while we waited for everyone else.  Now, i’d never smoked Shisha, so this was all new to me.  So when everyone arrived we got 2 Shisha thingies, both Mint (they only had 2 flavours =/).  It was awesome tho, heaps fun.  Ange introduced me to a Shisha smoking game, which i did bad at but eventually beat her in – COP THAT ANGE!

After Shisha we walked around Osaka with the intent on going clubbing.  However i had 2 tests coming up in a couple days (today actually, i smashed em!), and so i wanted to go home and study and wash my clothes.  I was kinda alone on that idea lol  *surprise* and i didnt want to go, but i did.  Mitch, drunk, said that there was a station nearby and just pointed in a random direction that i decided to follow – yep, got lost, Alone in Osaka (almost a song title there! – anyone get that one? no? bah!).  SO lost.  Oh and my phone ran outta battery.  But it was fun!  I even found the Glico man!

I ended up back at Namba station.  Okok, not that much detail can go into the next part, so let’s fast forward:

Jumped on a train, changed trains, got on the wrong train, changed trains again, got on the wrong train again but this time i was closer to my destination, waited 20 minutes for the next train, in that time i saw a cleaner sweep up someones train ticket then he left before i realised it was MY FUCKING TICKET, train came, it was the right train, changed trains again after arguing with the train man in broken Japanese that i lost my ticket, got off at Hirakata-shi, caught a bus, got off the bus, walked home, success.

So i made it home, studied my ass off while i washed my clothes then went to sleep – exhausted.

The next day/yesterday I chilled all day, and studied for my tests.

Ok, so i mentioned before i did really well in my tests today.  It was awesome.  Not only that, i kinda felt, for the first time, on the same level as the class! I’m no longer behind! I’ve caught up! It really raised my spirits a bit actually, so i think i’m gonna ensure i’m on top of things – it’s gonna make this experience a whole lot easier.  The Japanese classes here are SUPER fast paced – well to me they are.  But it’s good, and i think given the environment (Japan) it makes learning easier.  However I am concerned about my other classes.  They are very political, EXTREMELY interesting, but unfortunately they, and the assessment required, are EXACTLY what i’m weak at in term of academics.  Not only that, i’ve never studied anything political before.  So i’m in a bit of a pickle, and if i fail anything then i’ll be coming home early, and i sure as hell don’t want that happening.

Living in the dorms is insane.  Anything can happen here, and as my buddy Jesse would say: “This place is a fuckin circus” – yes, it is a circus. A sideshow.  A zoo.  But i love it here, i love the chaos and the different people, from the creepy to the loud to the annoying and to the awesome – this is my home, these people are my friends and we’re all tackling Japan in our own ways, but together at the same time.

Japan is slowly shaping up to be everything I had ever wanted, one day at a time.

Ciao for Now!