終わり

Kyoto

everything's done for school. my brain died sometime during finals, so i feel rather blank right now. i'm going to kyoto tomorrow. you guys'll hear all about my adventures as soon as i get back. i won't be able to shut up about japan.

excited to:

• move into a sweet new apartment and be almost everyone's neighbor
  
• go to some new bar in lawrence that kyle says is pretty fun
• see Cass's short blond hair! the photos on flickr aren't enough to satisfy my curiosity
  

hermit-ing it up in my apartment to study for finals and finish an enormous amount of papers the last few days has been having some adverse effects on my brain. need social contact of any kind. boy can i not wait to be back in kansas and have everything "back to normal."

god damn, i pretty much fail at life.

last night there were two earthquakes in the evening.

today amidst studying for my kanji final i started cleaning and packing because tomorrow my apartment will be inspected to see that cleaning and packing will be "presumably done by my departure." my room looks very lonely now. it's 12 days before i'll be back in america.

i decided i will in fact buy a yukata.

today i went to the travel agency on my university's campus and bought my 新幹線（しんかんせん）shinkansen--the bullet train, ticket to kyoto all by myself in japanese. i'm really fucking proud of myself. this proves that i can at least halfway function in japan. also, i went to a tea ceremony. it was great, but sitting on your feet for 45 minutes really hurts.

can we please ponder the japanese festival for a second

japanese festivals are called 祭り（まつり）matsuri. i've decided they're basically the next best thing to sliced bread. it's like an american carnival or county fair without all the animal contests and kiddie rollercoasters and ferris wheel and funnel cakes that make me feel sick.

elements of most festivals:
-お化け屋敷（おばけやしき）obakeyashiki--this is a tent or 1st floor of a building that's been turned into a temporary haunted house (or "ghost mansion"). whenever you walk by one of these there will usually be loud screams by middle school girls.
-かき氷（かきごおり）kakigoori--basically a shaved ice stand. perfect for 80F/30C weather
-お好み焼き（おこのみやき）okonomiyaki--Japanese vegetable unsweetened pancake stand
-焼きそば（やきそば）yakisoba--fried noodle stand
-じゃがいもバターjagaimobataa--a baked potato with butter and salt stand.
-a stand where you pay for a chance to try to catch your own goldfish in a tank. there are also turtles tanks where you can do the same thing.
-fried corn on the cob stands
-すいかsuika--watermelon stands
-chocolate covered banana stands where you can get different colored and with sprinkles bananas on a stick
-dessert crepes stands--we're talking strawberries, chocolate, whipped cream, etc.
-um, beer, duh, except people here aren't belligerent and loud when they're drunk

there are usually hella traditional streamers hanging everywhere and also sweet lanterns at night. also, lots of people carry うちわuchiwa　or せんすsensu, two types of handheld fans, to keep cool, and also wear traditional ゆかたyukata, a lightweight kimono. when i tell japanese people i went to a festival they keep asking me if i wore a yukata. i think they next time i come to japan i'll buy one at Uniqlo(yes! you can get them there) and wear it to a festival, even if i look like an idiot. i really wish you could all experience a festival here. it would be so much fun to drink beers with all my friends at one of these.

it keeps getting closer and closer to when i can go home to see kyle and all of my friends! i miss them all so much. everyone's going to have new houses, mostly, too, which is exciting.

there's pretty much only two weeks left here. i've been out of it because the action is non-stop. i'll probably be out of it the rest of my time here.

on friday i went to see my friend jula, her japanese boyfriend hide[hee-day](who reminds me of a japanese garth from wayne's world), and some of her friends. we went to izakaya(japanese pub) and had delicious food and all you can drink and then went to karaoke for an hour or two, again with all you can drink before i had to catch last train around 1145 :(.

saturday i woke up to visit ghibli museum to look at totoros all day. i fulfilled my dream of going to a mexican restaurant(supposedly the only one in tokyo. we had to wait for an hour to get in.) in the evening and was happy.


before i leave japan i'd been wanting to drink beers by a river. today i got to drink beers IN a river. i went to hang out with jula, hide, and friends at the futakotamagawa river that i cross all the time on the train on the way to tokyo. everyone brought inner tubes and someone was kind enough to bring one for me. we floated down the river for a good 3-4 hours, not without a few beers and capsizes, before we got out and took took a bus back to the station where we had put our stuff in lockers. we lost two phones to water damage (thankfully not mine). it was a totally awesome way to spend my sunday.

god i need sleep and to write papers, but unfortunately one doesn't really equal the other.

this is what i'll get to see soon enough

sure ain't nothin' like where i am now.

lately

i haven't been able to successfully concentrate on anything. this is not good.

my fucking amazing weekend

it was almost perfect except that kyle wasn't here to share it with me :(

just a few of the things i/everyone did:
-went to a Vietnamese restaurant and heard my friend speak Vietnamese for the first time
-went to British pub on the Fourth of July
-shot off fireworks in Fuchinobe park
-got yelled at by the police for shooting off fireworks in Fuchinobe park
-rode in my friend's car (i hadn't ridden in a car for three months, which is crazy)
-listened to really loud Reggaeton the whole time
-met my friend's half Dominican/half Japanese family
-met my friend's dog Lassie who had been dyed blue
-went to Tanabata Matsuri (huge fucking festival)
-wrote my wish for the next year on charm paper at the festival
-ran into the head of the Japanese department at KU at the festival
-ate a freaking whole deep-fried baked potato

now i want to listen to more Reggaeton

26 DAYS

i found out today that next semester i'm going to be in the same earthquakes and natural disasters class as my white T-wearing freshman brother. this is vastly amusing to me.

the stress of this last month of school is finally hitting me. there's so much left that i have to do. for school and in order to leave japan. not to mention a short trip to kyoto. oh my god. @_@