Shopping~

Picking up from last night, at around 8:00PM, two Japanese girls took members of the Seminar House through the city to show us where the 99Shop (A dollar store essentially -- everything is 99 yen! - they call it the "kyuu kyuu"). After about a 35 minute walk, we made it to our destination.

I couldn't really read any of the packages, but I needed food for dinner, so I just took a chance and bought some ramen-type food. I also bought some scissors, and some chocolate.

I never thought that chocolate would be such a popular commodity here. Yes, I knew it existed here, I just didn't expect there to be about four candy aisles per store! Everytime I go to a store, I end up buying some chocolate, so I've accumulated quite the stash.

After that, we went to a store called Top World. This was more of a traditional, large grocery store. The strangest thing about the store, I have to say, was the fact that they only played ABBA music. All of us foreigners were softly singing to Dancing Queen and Mama Mia as we shopped!

Kaylie and I managed to find the spaghetti, and we plan to have spaghetti Sundays since the campus stores aren't open then. Spaghetti is my favorite thing, so I'm glad we were able to find a place that sells it! I bought some detergent. Well, we think it's detergent. It might be fabric softener. I guess we'll find out when we go to wash clothes. >_<;

I found some kind of species of chicken nuggets at the store. I haven't made them so I don't know if they're any good. I got some chocochip pan (pan = bread), but I'm saving that! And I also got apples! The apples here are HUGE for whatever reason. It took be about a half an hour to get through one, and it was very filling, but also very delicious.

And then I found it! I found One Piece! Sorry to throw my nerdiness in here, but I am such a fan of One Piece. The instant I saw a bag of potato chips with the Straw Hat crew on it... I had to buy it. I haven't eaten them yet, so I don't know if they're any good, but here's a picture!

It's an ad for the newest One Piece movie that is currently in theatres. I really want to go see it, but I don't know where the nearest movie theatre is.....I guess I'll have to check up on that! Movie tickets here are pretty pricey ($20), so it might be the only movie I see here in Japan.

We came home and made our dinner. I picked one of the ramen-type deals and made it. It tasted like spicy peanuts, but wasn't all that bad. I chased it down with the giant apple, and was nice and full! After that -- it was time to study (i.e., cram) for my placement test that I took today.

I re-read through all the lessons in Genki -- skimmed the rules and read in depth the ones I didn't remember. this turned out to be super useful! I wish I had more time to get things to sink in, but beforeI knew it, it was about 2:00AM. We had to wake up really early to get ready to go to campus, so I hit the futon and slept comfortably all night long for once!

I woke up super early in the morning and did my morning thing, then visited the computer lab to say "hi!" to friends on facebook. Then it was off to campus yet again! We had to sit through an orientation session about general information about what session are important to attend and all that jazz. Then it was time for the placement test!

I was pretty nervous, not going to lie. The first part was a listening portion. It was so hard! Luckily it was only a small portion of the test. Next was a basic hiragana/kanji test. Really easy stuff -- it was a piece of cake! I felt pretty stupid though when I realized that I messed up the kanji for hyaku (百 - 100) later on in the test. I haven't had to write it in awhile, so I put a hook on it like a dork, sort of like the this kanji: 月 . Total brain failure with that one.

The third part was the grammar portion. There are 5 sections, and depending on how long you've been studying, you take three of them. I've studied for up to three years, so I started on part B and could continue on until part D. I could only complete up to part C though, which pretty much was the end of the Genki book. I think I did pretty well!

Lastly was the kanji portion. The first part consisted of just looking at a kanji and choosing the correct reading out of various choices. The second part was looking at hiragana and choosing the right kanji combinations to match the reading. I got about halfway through each portion. Overall, I feel pretty confident that I got put where I belong!

Then we went to the convenience store and got some stuff. First were these sandwiches that are similar to those Uncrustable sandwiches we have here. I had one that was filled with yakisoba, and to my chagrin, mayonaise. Kaylie got one that had a gratin croquette inside. Each packet contained two sandwiches, so we switched. We also decided to stay away from those ^^;

I got ham pan...not sure how well that's going to turn out though. I'll let you know! And of course, I got some cookies that have chocolate bars attached to them! But our number one purchase was this stuff called CalorieMate. It's some kind of nutrition/energy bar. Those who are familiar with the video game Metal Gear Solid will totally get what these are! It's pretty much a block of...something...that has the texture of a dog biscuit and is vaguely flavored. Kaylie got maple, and I got chocolate. Other flavors available were fruit and, to my utter disgust, cheese. I cannot even begin to fathom what a cheese flavored CalorieMate would taste like! Here's a few pictures of our spoils.

After that, we went and turned in some forms and played on the computers until our next orientation session: Living in Japan - Safety Issues. We learned all about pedestrian laws (walk on the left side of sidewalks, and right side of roads), and bike laws. Japan is pretty crazy about bicycle thefts, so you have to get your bikes registered, sort of like a title to a car. If you are riding on a bike that doesn't belong to you, you can get arrested and fined! It's pretty crazy stuff. I decided that I don't think it's really worth all the trouble to have a bike. It's not like I don't need the exercise!

We went over earthquake safety too. Apparently, there is at least one earthquake here per semester, so I guess I'll get to feel the magic of how that feels. I'm a bit nervous about that, but they gave us lots of tips to protect ourselves in case it's a bad one. Also, the college is built with the highest level of earthquake resistant technology, so if I'm on campus, I'll be safe!

Other stuff we went over included drug laws and general behavior. They pretty much told us not to be loud, obnoxious foreigners so that we don't encourage stereotypes that people have about us. Overall, the presentation was really hilarious -- the guy who did it is an American and he had a really excellent sense of humor -- had me in tears at one point!

When that was done and over with, we went and got our computers registered. We're supposed to be able to get wireless access sometime tonight, so I'll keep my fingers crossed!

On our way back home, we stopped at this clothing store for slippers. The house otousan sort of reprimanded us yesterday for walking around in our socks, so we went and got slipper-ified ASAP. But...the store had so many cute things! I went on a small spree. Everything was pretty reasonably priced, so I went for it! Here are my spoils:

I needed a new wallet, mainly because the one I brought was made to hold American money. Yen is much bigger, and you also end up carrying around more coin money than in America, so you need larger coin pockets. I think it's really cute! Kaylie got one too, but hers is black with white polka dots!

Here's the inside of the wallet. the side of it opens up to hold yen as well. That's where I have my spending money. I'm saving that 10,000 yen to pay for my sumi e (brush painting) expenses, should I make it into that class.

Something awesome about Japan -- breaking a 10,000 yen bill ($100) is nothing. They are so cash-based that you can walk into a McDonalds and buy a hamburger with one. It's pretty convenient! Although, I keep breaking my small bills because I'm not used to it.

My slippers! Kaylie has the same ones. I was so happy I could find something that my Godzilla feet could fit in!

Anyone who knows me really well knows that I love keys. They're one of my favorite motifs. I found this really nice, casual key necklace. The bead up at the tied end can slide up and down the string to make for a tighter fit around your neck.

Really cute bunny clips! :3

Again, more keys. This time, it's a cell-phone strap. The keys look a lot prettier in person, and I absolutely adore this decoration

A crazy, ornate headband. I'm not too sure if I'll honestly wear this around. I'm sure I'll find an occassion for it, but it was too cute to pass up!

A GIANT hair tie bow.

Well...I think that's all for today. See you tomorrow! XD