Yesterday

Waah, September's almost ending! Yesterday it was thundering in the morning and we thought it would rain all day, so we brought our umbrellas with us shopping. Luckily it didn't though. Also, I got the results of my Japanese placement exam! I tested into Japanese 4 (of 7 levels). Basically it's the class that bridges the gap between intermediate and advanced Japanese.

For the rice harvesting festival, I needed to get some rain boots and a dark long graphic t-shirt or something  that could get dirty and wouldn't be stained for life, so we headed to Ikebukuro since PARCO is still having their sale.

The first store I ended up checking out was Liz Lisa again since I saw they still had the lucky grab bags. I was hoping there would be no incidents like the misunderstanding that happened the day before, but the girl who rung me up the day before was there and she recognized me, pointing me out and saying I was the girl who came yesterday. As a result somehow though I ended up getting royal treatment?? I guess I've been accepted by them.

Today not only did I get this special gift bag, but...

I also got an actual regular shopping bag! And the girl who rung me up was even nice enough to wrap it up in plastic so it wouldn't get wet. She also gave me an advertisement for some special set they'll be selling next week, which involves a coat, a dress, and some panties-protector shorts which are actually separate from the dress for about $60 less than the normal price for them would be. She even talked to me and asked me about myself and stuff in Japanese while she wrapped everything up and stuff. Gosh, how nice. I almost asked to take a picture of her because she was so cute, but I didn't in the end.

I didn't get to find out what was inside of the bag I bought until I got home. What I got was...

This white Marilyn Monroe shirt. It's actually really nice. It was originally 5,145.

And I also got this adorable dress. It bunches up weirdly around my boobs though, but it looks great if I use the shawl I got with my dress from Cecil McBee. This dress originally cost 9,345 yen! I can't believe if it's a size 0 too. Good to know I can fit into a Japanese size 0, though I needed help to get it off.

Surprisingly, I got the same skirt I got from the day before again in this bag. Now I have 3 things I want to sell. I made sure to go for a light one this time so I could make sure I didn't get a purse again. I was hoping for two tops or two dresses.

Anyway, after Liz Lisa I browsed through all of the other shops and ended up choosing this top from Cecil McBee:

It's not something I'd usually buy, but I like it. You wear it off shoulder with this tank top underneath:

Pretty simple, and I can easily replace it with a different tank top if I want to.

After that, we looked around for some rain boots, but all the ones I saw there were really expensive, so we figured we'd go look at Sunshine City instead. On the way though, we stopped by the arcades so Daniel could try out the UFO catchers. He ended up winning another Rilakkuma~

So cute! This one's bigger than the other 3 he won and doesn't have a keychain.

After that we decided we were hungry so we went to a place I don't quite remember the name of anymore, but it had Ginza in the name. I got small spare ribs:

Very yummy~

After food we continued on our way to Sunshine City, but I spotted a shoe store having a closing sale so we checked them out and I found some rainboots!

They're black and sparkly.

We made it to Sunshine City but didn't go very far. I was already done with all my shopping and Daniel decided he just wanted to head to Uniqlo to get the few things he wanted to buy.

But I did pick up this cute cheap umbrella from a store called Shazbot. It's really long though, which I wasn't really expecting. At least it'll keep me super dry since it's so big.

So, we headed back to the Uniqlo that was right near where we had lunch. I got a crepe at Sunshine City before that though, which ended up almost becoming super messy. Didn't take a picture of it though. At Uniqlo, Daniel got some new clothes, including some pants. The pants were a bit long though, so we had to wait a half hour or so for Uniqlo's seamstress to tailor them to size. We grabbed a few drinks at McDonalds while we waited, headed back when it was time, got the pants, and headed home. Boy I was pretty tired.

When we finally made it home though, I started coughing and my head feeling really icky. x.X I was afraid I was getting sick, so I ended up falling asleep really quickly and early last night. Luckily I haven't really been coughing today.

Nogal

Sunday we ended up just staying in all day and lazing about. Nothing too exciting, until I saw on Ameba that Fujita Shiho had updated her blog about harvesting this year's rice. Who's Fujita Shiho? She's the leader of a movement called Nogal, which is dedicated to spreading awareness about the agricultural crisis in Japan and educating about the unnecessary anxiety towards rice and other healthy food through the means of growing her own rice together with other famous models who have a particular fashion sense called gyaru (gal). They also have the goal to create a newer, more stylish image for farming.

Anyway, she updated her blog and wrote about how she was taking applicants for people who wanted to participate in this year's harvest festival. I wasn't sure how much of a chance I had, but I applied anyway. The application consisted of usual things such as name, phone number, address, and age, as well as whether we like rice or not and our reason for wanting to participate. I ended up writing a little mini-essay to introduce myself and that even though I'm foreign I know Japanese and am interested in gal style, and told her I've been following her activities for the past year and have read her books, written essays, and even given presentations on her work. We also had to include a picture of ourselves, so I ended up getting dressed up just to take a picture. XD

This is the picture I ended up choosing to send in along with the rest of my application. I was really unsure whether I had a chance or not, but my chances would remain 0 if I never sent it in at all, right? And that was pretty much all the excitement for yesterday, although while we were falling asleep we felt our first earthquake! That was an experience. It was pretty short though.

Today I got up as usual, checked my email, and found out from their newsletter that Ikebukuro PARCO is having a sale in nearly every store to support a baseball team. I noticed that Liz Lisa was having lucky bags as their participation. ...how could I resist!? So I headed over to Ikebukuro by myself since Daniel was at school. I was curious how much my commuter pass is going to cost, so I decided to go to the ticket counter and purchase it. My pass is 6,450 yen a month. Much better than 24,000 a month, right?

Anyway, I headed over to Ikebukuro PARCO, went over to Liz Lisa, and got myself one of their lucky bags.

The letters are shiny. :D Inside were three items. I was hoping for two dresses, but instead I got...

A purse that was originally priced at 8,295 yen.

This adorable skirt originally priced at 6,195 yen.

And last, this fluffy sweater originally priced at 7,245 yen.

The skirt alone was worth the whole bag. It's so cute! I'm not sure if I have anything good that would go with it though. I don't really dig the bag, and I'm not sure what to think of the mint-color sweater. I'm thinking I'll just sell the two on eBay or something. But for that, I need a scale to calculate shipping with. I wonder if I can find one to buy around here or if there's one I can just randomly use...

Right as I was about to try on the skirt, my phone started vibrating. I was getting a call. I picked it up nervously and answered in Japanese and got a long explanation...the conversation is now a blur in my memory, but my heart must have stopped when I realized it was Fujita Shiho and she had told me I had been accepted to join in with the harvesting of the Shibuya Rice. I was speechless and shaking all over, that's how shocked I was!! I remember her asking me how I found out about it, and I told her it was from her blog, and she asking to make sure I know when and where they're meeting in Shibuya, and she mentioned that it's cold in Akita this time of year so I should dress accordingly and make sure I wear something easy to move in and have long shoes I don't mind getting dirty, but I asked and rain boots work as well.

I was trembling with excitement after the phone call. I couldn't believe I had talked on the phone with Fujita-san herself and that I had actually been accepted!!! Waaaaaah! (≧∀≦) She even wrote about me briefly in her latest blog post today. She only said that "a foreign girl living in Japan had applied" though, so nothing too amazing.

So, on Friday night I'm going to meet up with possibly Fujita-san herself along with the 39 other girls who had been selected in Shibuya and we're all going to get on a bus and go to Akita to go harvest rice all day on Saturday. Saturday night there'll be a barbecue and we'll head back to Shibuya on Sunday. I'm guessing it's going to be an all night trip to Akita though. Akita's pretty far from Tokyo. I hope they give us blankets or something.

But that's about it for my day today. The skirt fits great though not sure what to wear with it, and I'm still extremely excited. What an opportunity! I need to find something cute and functional to wear, since we're creating an image of stylish farming. The weather report says that the highs will be low 70s and lows will be high 50s, so I'm thinking shorts with tights + rain boots, plus a long shirt if I can find a cute enough one. And gotta figure out what to wear on the bus too! Gotta buy rain booooots.

Hat!

On Saturday Daniel and I went to Shibuya! We were both in the mood for some American food, so we headed to TGIFriday's in Udagawa-cho I think. We were expecting something more like the American restaurant that it is, but it was more like a upscale classy bar, and it wasn't open to minors either. I was dying for a normal chicken caesar salad but all they had was non-chicken. :( Plus a lot of the stuff was just appetizers. In all we got the salad, some shishkebob thing, and these barbecue chicken quesadillas...except they had apples in them. But they were delicious and very autumn-tasting.

I tried to take a picture of the inside of the place, but as you can see it came out kind of blurry.

I ordered an Ultimate Strawberry Margarita for myself. It was sooooo tasty.

After our servings of appetizers, we wandered over to Shibuya 109. I've been feeling like I need a hat  for a while now, and I found the perfect one in a small accessory store called Sarah Zodiaque.

It's just sooo cute, Daniel claims it was made for me. I ended up getting bullied into buying it~

I also saw that Chiara was still having their lucky bags, so I picked another one up!

As you can see, I got two more hair accessories, a new phone strap, a box of jewels to decorate my cell phone or iPod with, and two more of those weirdo ice cream things. The pink hair band was originally 473 yen. The blue, purple, and yellow one was originally 315 yen. The phone strap was 840 yen, and the decorating jewels were 300. So, for 525 yen total, I got at least 1928 yen worth of stuff. Not as much as my first bag was worth, but I love the bear phone strap! It alone was worth the whole thing.

After wandering around a bit more, we headed home.

And A Few Days After That

I think Thursday it was raining like crazy, so I couldn't do laundry even though we had a ton to do. But for lunch we ended up going to an Indian place nearby called "Spicy India" or something like that.

I got a mango lassi, but it made me feel so sick that even thinking about it now makes me sick.

So because of that I didn't get to enjoy my mutton curry and nan so much, though it was very good.

I think otherwise I ended up staying in and studying? Friday too, though Friday night we watched a lot of the first episodes to the new fall season shows and drank a bit. Yay for BT.

Like I mentioned in my last post, think I mostly spent the days sleepy since I'm trying to catch back up on that sleep.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it, but at the restaurant after the welcoming party I met a few other Japanese girls. One of which was a Pokemon addict like me. But she said she won't play the new games until she's done with her thesis in December. Ugh, I want the new Pokemon games so bad. The Pokemon addict also thought I was 19 years old hahaha. Her friend thought I was 23. So I guess I look plus or minus 2 years from my actual age to the Japanese. I wish I could still remember everyone's names...I totally forgot them by now!

Orientation

I keep meaning to post, honestly! But ever since I woke up super early for the placement test on Wednesday, I've been sleeping in a lot and I guess because of sleeping too much maybe I've been feeling so sleepy. I've even been skipping studying days! x.X

But let's see, Tuesday was my orientation. Ugh man, it was so boring. And not to mention they tried to explain everything to us so fast none of it made sense! A Spanish speaking girl sat next to me, and said she thought I was half Japanese because of my clothes (I was wearing my Rose Fan Fan military one piece, the leopard scarf that comes with it, the marine style tanktop I got from Uniqlo, jean short shorts, and my new backpack) and makeup and was shocked that I had an American accent. When I told her I wasn't, she said I was turning Japanese really fast...haha.

After the long speeches and explanations and stuff, we met our "monitor students" which were two Japanese girls, one of which couldn't speak English. A few of the people in my group couldn't speak Japanese at all (surprisingly) and the rest were kind of bad at it. One of the people in my group was actually from my school, although she didn't know my name since I was in a class higher than her. I knew her name though from Facebook...

The monitor students gave us a tour of the campus, which wasn't very long since the campus to my school is very small. Nothing compared to UMASS. After the tour we exchanged Facebook and cell phone information and went home. I didn't really take any pictures this day, sorry!

Though, I have this picture of katsu-curry, so I think Dan and I went to Nakai for dinner. So yummy I love katsu-curry!

Wednesday was my placement exam. Had to get up super early to put on my makeup and stuff, though I ended up being ten minutes late for the exam. First section was kanji, which I knew nearly all of, though I had to guess on a few of the advanced kanji. Then there was some verb conjugation table, which I'm not so sure I did okay on. That was followed by grammar, which was simple enough. I think I might have confused a few grammar points I've been studying recently, but I think I was fine. After that was reading, which went fine until the advanced portion. I understood what the advanced readings were going on about thanks to studying kanji the Heisig way, but I honestly could not explain that stuff in my own words. After that was a short essay. I think mine was kind of lame... I won't find out what course I tested into until the 28th.

After the test I was going to just head home, but the other people from my school were there so I stayed there and chatted with them. None of them seemed to manage to get very far, and even just gave up when the reading sections came up. I probably won't be in classes with them.

After all of the people from Umass finished their test, we ended up heading to Jonathan's though first we had to wait for people. It was sooo hot that day!!! I think it was at least 35. I ended up sweating so much that it caused an irritation with the necklace I was wearing and now there's a few spots on my neck that have been stinging a bit. Eventually we got there though and since there were so many of us though we had to sit in the smoking section. I don't know if I mentioned it, but it's okay to smoke here in restaurants as long as it's the designated smoking section. Ewww.

Then we were faced with the menu, and some of the people in our party just didn't know what to do or to make of it...I don't think they had even been to an actual restaurant like this before yen. The two Japanese girls with us and I had to help them figure out the menus and what some of the food actually was.

I got what you see above. It was really good, besides all the fat in the steak.

Someone couldn't really handle their noodles though, and got some stains on their white shirt. We had time to kill before the welcoming dinner party, so we ended up going to Shinjuku to go find a shirt for him at Uniqlo. This was their first time at Shinjuku.

The dinner party was entertaining, even though I was exhausted and sat in corner for the beginning of it. My feet were hurting so much by then since I had the sandals I bought in Ueno on. I was also wearing the black vest and white tanktop set that I got from Cecil McBee. I'm not so sure I really like that tanktop so much though...I think I might wear the vest with a different one from now on.

Anyway, I met a nice girl named Emika thanks to their game where you're supposed to go up to random people to fill in a question sheet. I ended up inviting her along to the restaurant we all ended up going to after, which I guess a girl who had been on exchange to Umass was working at.

Took this picture on the way out, but this is the place we went to.

Inside we were served a ton of sashimi. I was only brave enough to try the pink stuff in this dish, and I immediately wanted to spit it out. I don't think I am a fan of sashimi.

After this ended up going home, though some of the others were going out to drink more. I ended up passing though since I was just way too tired.

School Supplies

Today I did a little bit of back-to-school shopping at the 100 yen store.

I got this cute notebook.

Another cute notebook that matches the previous one.

Also got a new pencil case.

On top of that, also got a book stand since I have no personal bookshelf and other crap currently occupies the one that we have and one of those big folders with a lot of pockets inside. Got it in hot pink. Yay for everything only being 100 yen!

Can't wait for school to start on Tuesday~ (≧∀≦)

Shinjuku

I decided today I wanted to time myself so I could figure out how much time I should give myself in the morning to get ready and get to school.

So, it takes me about a half hour to do my makeup. And I even did my eyelashes perfectly on the first try today! Thanks to the tips I saw in the latest issue of Jelly magazine. Hooray!

But I guess this means I should get up two hours before school starts? x.X

In any case, after that we headed off to Shinjuku to go back to Kinokuniya. Daniel searched for a book he needed to get for school, but unfortunately they didn't have it in stock and would take 2-3 weeks to get in.

Since we were in the area, we headed back to Old New York Pasta.

I ordered the pizza I got before and Daniel got himself some pasta. His pasta was actually pretty good besides the onions which I was not expecting nor wanted.

I felt like dressing up today so I wore the dress I bought from Cecil McBee with my high heeled boots. I think I lost some weight since I got here though! Before I had trouble zipping the dress up by myself (the zipper is under my left arm) but now I can do it pretty easily.

Too bad the lighting in my pictures suck because the window was behind me.

The picture I took of Daniel came out better, as you can see. Though the woman looking directly at us behind his shoulder looks kinda creepy.

After eating we came straight home, where I've been doing some studying and now was supposed to do some interpreting work...or so I thought, but no one's coming online...so guess I'll just study grammar now while I wait.

Oh Snap

So I guess the tour is actually tomorrow, but Daniel just got home and he won the UFO catchers in Ikebukuro!!

So cuuuuuuute!!

Saturday

Well this'll be the first Saturday I've been on my own. Daniel's off at a tour with his school of Ikebukuro and Akihabara. So I've been doing laundry, but I just ran out of clips so I guess I'll stop now and do studying or something.

Here's a picture of my nails done with the nail cocktail polish. I didn't put the jewels on yet, probably will today?

I got a message from a friend who was on exchange to my school when I was a freshman in Massachusetts today!! I hope we can meet up this weekend. I haven't seen her in so long!

...and that's about the excitement I have for now. Oh, I made a Twitter..

...oh, apparently Daniel just got home.

It Has Happened.

Out of detergent so I headed to Drug Papas. I asked for help in Japanese, explained in situation in Japanese. All the responses I got back were in English. My Japanese was perfect except for the fact that I don't know the word for detergent, and yet I all of her responses were in English, as if I didn't know any Japanese. This makes me :(. I'm sure she thought she was being helpful, but...no! :( Or maybe she was just in denial?

It's amazing how even though it's in the 80s today everyone's already pulled out their fall wardrobe. I only saw like one person wearing shorts. Granted, I was wearing half-pants since all my shirts are hanging to dry right now, but still. It's hot out!

Ikebukuro Station

So my waves stayed in all day for the most part. It doesn't help that it was raining today though. But I managed to catch hold of cabin fever today and decided I had to go out somewhere. I ended up heading to Ikebukuro station and into the drug store called HAC in there, which is right across from Ikebukuro PARCO.

I ended up picking up a highlighter and lip concealer from a makeup brand called Canmake.

I also got what's called a "nail cocktail" which is three different nail polishes that you use to create a pretty design on your nails like the picture~

I also got these to go with them. I wonder if I should buy some fake nails and paint those. I ended up cutting my current nails all the way down today because they were catching onto things. I think I might, plus it would mean that I wouldn't have to wait for my own nails to dry... But that would also mean I'd have to purchase some glue. Such a pain. I'll check out Drug Papas and the other drug store in town for that tomorrow~

While I'm personally a fan (and probably will stay a loyal fan) of Diamond Lashes, I saw that eyelash cases existed and picked up this one from Dolly Wink. I had just been putting my used eyelashes back where I tore them off from, but having an actual case for them is so much easier to handle.

Also bought Daniel some ginger tea. Turns out he is feeling sick today too. :(

After I left HAC, I headed over to PARCO. I wove in and out of all the stores, but in the last shoe store I was looking at, the gal working there came over to me and talked to me. At first she asked if I wanted to look at boots, and I said yes. Then she says "It's cold, isn't it?" and I'm like "Huh? You mean today? Yeah." and then she asks me if I was cold. What...?? But then looking around at everyone else at the station, everyone had an extra layer on! I was one of the only people wearing short sleeves, or at least wasn't wearing an extra layer of clothing. I was actually pretty hot since it's hot inside the station, but I guess everyone switched to fall fashion without me realizing it!

Drug Papas & Pizza

Shortly after my last post I headed off to Drug Papas. I also popped in that new gum I bought. It was quite unsatisfying and I doubt the flavor even lasted 10 minutes...

I got myself some hair spray (which Dan said he almost mistook for air freshener). I'm just trying it now today since I just took my braids out a little while ago. I hope the waviness stays.

Yesterday Daniel said he thought he might have caught something, and seemed to progressively feel worse and worse as the night wore on. In any case, we ended up getting delivery from Pizza Hut.

The crust with sausage on it must have been a seasonal thing for it is no longer an option. I was very sad indeed. :(

I hope Daniel is feeling better today...especially since I don't want to get sick right before my school starts!

Looking at this picture of pizza is getting me hungry though. I think it's breakfast time~

Note to Self:

Never open door when it rings if I am not expecting a delivery from mom or from Pizza Hut ever again. Yet another Jehovah's Witness came by, and this time I was by myself. I attempted the same tactics that Dan used by failed and she said she wanted to stop by again and talk to me some more orz

I guess that it's true that we white people appear older to Japanese because she was surprised when I gave her the excuse that I'd be busy with school.

She even gave me a book entitled "What does the Bible Really Teach?"...



In other news, I've been taking showers early in the day/morning, but I think I'll be switching to night so I can braid my hair before I go to sleep and wake up with natural wavy hair. Guess I'll get some hair spray to keep it in though.

Ugh, there's been some annoying baby that's been crying on and off all morning and early afternoon. Make it stoooop.

Books~

Monday I stayed inside and did laundry and study. Was pretty bored throughout the day. Today I had cabin fever, and needed to get out and do stuff...! But Daniel needed his own stay inside day, so I headed out into the local neighborhood on my own. Since I've been wanting a light novel to read, my first stop was the local bookstore. Hooray for them taking credit cards though~ Even Kinokuniya didn't accept my Amex.

I got the first novel in the Hakushaku to Yousei series. I've been wanting this one~ I also picked up the book I spotted in Kinokuniya that looked really interesting: Nihonjin no shiranai nihongo (Japanese That Japanese People Don't Know). It's about the experiences of a teacher of Japanese. I've read about a quarter of it already, and it's really funny. I think I'd want to check out the drama too.

Otherwise, I hit up the local grocery to buy some margarine and then to Lawson 100 to buy other necessary food.

I also decided I wanted to try out this gum since Majolica Majorca is said to be the company who designs it!? Majolica Majorca is a popular cosmetic brand here...lol. The flavor is "peach magic" though I haven't tried it yet. I hope it doesn't melt like the American gum I brought with me did...Sucks to be in a different country without your favorite gum. :(

Also, it seems we got someone else's bill from Softbank. The name is a kanji I can't read, but it was probably the previous tenant of our apartment. I ended up taking it to the local Softbank store and asking the person who works there about it, and she said it was probably sent to me by mistake and I should probably call the English Softbank customer service...naaaah.

I ended up grabbing McDonalds for us for dinner. At least I can take comfort in knowing there's a place where I can get a meal that reminds me of home just 10-15 minutes away. :x

BookOff & The Elixir

Yesterday we were going to go pay our rent, but we didn't have an emergency contact so we decided we wait until someone we know on Facebook responded back to us. I wanted to find a cheap novel to read, so we headed off to BookOff instead. We first headed to the one near the nearby station, where Dan found a lot of cheap ($1) video game-related books in amazing condition that would probably cost a lot to get otherwise. He was pretty happy. I wasn't though, since I didn't really find anything I wanted book-wise. We decided we'd go try the other BookOff that was about 15-20 minutes away by walking. Before we did that though, we decided we would stop in at a restaurant for a quick and cheap meal.

I got katsudon curry with rice. It was delicious!

After that, we stopped at home to drop off Dan's stuff and then headed off to the other BookOff. Didn't find anything there either unfortunately, but Dan found more stuff he wanted. He got himself quite a collection.

Then we headed home, and stopped by Sunkus on the way. There, I spotted something amazing:

A Final Fantasy XIII elixir! We never thought we'd actually see one since the game came out so long ago.

It even comes with a toy.

We got Saaz...I wish we got Lightning. :(

In the end I only had a few sips since it was caffeinated, but it tasted like grape-pineapple.

To Kinokuniya

Yesterday was Dan's day off from school, so we decided we'd go back to Shinjuku. Really good thing too, since I was itching to go out somewhere, even if it's just to walk around and see what there is to see or just go look at the shiny electronics and accessories in Bic Camera.

There was a surprising chill in the air yesterday. I wanted to wear my new dress and furry vest from Cecil McBee, but it wasn't quite THAT cold enough. I ended up wearing my other one-piece from Cecil McBee, the one with the Engrish, and some leggings. Also wore these boots for the first time I bought a while ago. Unfortunately I was dumb enough not to wear socks and got some blisters on the back of my right heel.

So yeah, Shinjuku. We sought out Kinokuniya, a very large Japanese bookstore branch (it even has a few stores in America). While we knew vaguely where we could find it, we weren't sure for sure so we started wandering around.

We saw a Taito arcade and decided to stop in there first, but didn't really see anything we'd want to try getting from the UFO catchers, Daniel did end up playing one arcade game and I managed to rest my aching feet for a little bit. After that we left and looked for the bookstore some more. After checking out a map, we finally found our way and made it.

I looked at a map for the bookstore and figured what we wanted would be on the seventh floor, so we headed to the elevators. I was surprised that they actually have people running the elevators and telling you what's on each floor as you go. We made it to the seventh floor and started looking around.

I saw a surprising amount of studying materials for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. It took me forever to figure out that there was a sign saying that we have to ask for the application form at the register though, silly me. Daniel was surprised to find that they stocked the textbook he needs for his Japanese class. He said he thought they wouldn't have so many foreign books, and they indeed did have quite a bunch of them. So, he ended up getting that and I got the application form together with the JLPT official guide book since it had a practice exam inside. I think I might go back and get the other practice books later. There was also a book about how to get a job in Japan for international exchange students, so I'll probably pick that up as well sometime in the future.

After that, we were hungry so we headed to a place called Old New York Pasta.

We got a four cheese pizza, which surprisingly had no tomato sauce. Oh, and it had chicken. What?? I ordered cheese, not cheese and chicken...but it didn't matter since the pizza was really good. It didn't last very long before we devoured the entire thing.

Afterwards we headed to the train station and headed home. However, despite my aching feet we had one last stop: The new store that's like a CVS called Drug Papas was having a super special opening sale and everything in the store was 20% off!＼(゜□゜)／ The store wasn't supposed to have its grand opening until Saturday, so we hurried in and started buying like crazy. I managed to get a good cheap nail polish remover, and a bunch of cheap cotton puffs, amongst other things...

...like Natchan! apple juice! I'm trying to stay off apple juice, but the logo is just so cute...I can't resist it!! You can see the nail polish remover and the cotton puffs in the picture too lol And yes, that is my ironing board...we have no proper table to do homework on or write on, so we've been using the ironing board.


Anyway, everything was cheap, we were intending to buy a lot thinking we'd just charge it to the credit card. We even found Bounty paper towels and Listerine. I even found a box of 34 tampons. It took me forever to find though, since they were hidden on a small portion of the top shelf and surrounded by a whole aisle of a bajillion brands of pads.

The line was super huge and snaked around the whole store. And then we got to the front of the line, and there was a sign that said that credit cards can't be used until Tuesday. (￣□￣;)!! So we paid for the whole thing in cash, which wasn't too much luckily since everything was discounted... I managed to get one of their point cards though, but even the point card can't be used until Monday! I guess this means that their opening sale is going to last all weekend.

By the way, the building for Drug Papas was nothing the first day we got here. Absolutely nothing, just ground. But they built it and made it into a working store so quickly! Just one month!! Watching their progress day by day was really interesting.

So we headed home and I took the non-listening portion of the practice exam in the official guide book. I got 24 out of 31 questions right, which is a 77% which means I passed that portion. Yay! I looked over the ones I got wrong again and nearly all of them were stupid mistakes since I started getting tired/lazy and I should have known better. But there's still a lot of vocabulary I need to study (over 2000 words still) and still a lot of grammar I need to go through. Also I haven't even tackled any listening yet.

Someone said that they try to read a half hour a day of Japanese printed things, so I think I might go to BookOff and buy a used novel. I should probably also try to watch those stupid talk shows for at least an hour a day to tune my hearing too.

Today I'll probably do laundry and make more flashcards. Gonna try to do at least 20 grammar points today.