ADORABLE

I just wanna say, my speaking partner is ADORABLE. The picture she had sent me earlier really didn't do her justice. She's also tiny, and was extremely nervous when we met, which just made her seem cuter. She also seems to be very nice, and we communicate pretty well despite the language barrier. Though, at this point, she's doing most of the work, as we're speaking in mostly English. I'll have to study hard so I can communicate in Japanese with her!

She introduced me to some Japanese food at the convenience store: Rice balls, curry bread, some sort of sweet pork cutlet sandwich, and milk tea. The rice ball was wrapped in seaweed, which I found to be a bit weird. And in the middle was a sour "Japanese Plum," or something. All in all, it wasn't bad, but it was so... FOREIGN. The pork cutlet sandwich was good, but it was weird to eat a sweet sandwich. It was almost like a pork... pastry. And the curry bread... I loved the bread, but not so much the curry inside. And the milk tea was delish.

Funny, even though I thought I wasn't crazy about the food, I'm getting hungry thinking about it...


I also took her back to my dorm so I could give her the present I brought her (A hat and shirt with my home state printed on it), which turned out to be... a mistake. My dumb roommates acted like freaks while she was there, using the word "sexy" as an adjective with about 75% of their nouns. >.<

Yesterday, I spent some time wandering around town. Found a cool toy store called Kiddy Land. They had tons of those little capsule machines. And check out what was in one of them!
How oldschool is that?
I found a few machines that I wanted to try out, but I couldn't figure out how to work them! I lost 200 Yen ($1.72) in one of them, and tried a second, only to have it fail, as well. (But at least I got my money back from that one.)
I tried to ask one of the clerks how to work them, but she didn't speak english. She then left, and came back with another clerk... who also didn't speak English.
Finally, someone came who DID speak English, and I was finally able to ask her how to work them. It was all a bit embarrassing, since they're really for kids. But at least I got them to work! The trick was in how I was turning the crank... I was doing it in one fluid motion, and you have to do it in stages (turn until it clicks, stop, do it again, etc.) I got a pretty cool mario keychain-like-thing for my phone (with a turtle shell and super stars on it), but my other tries weren't as lucky. In a machine that gave away Link's weapons, I got his dinky bow, and in a machine that gave away Eva models, I paid 300 Yen ($2.58) and got the launcher stand, instead of an actual robot. Ah, well.

I also ran across a blast from my past: The old Crocodile Dentist game I had as a kid!
How crazy is that?

While I was out, I also took in some night scenery, and saw the biggest plastic food I've ever come across.

And, that's pretty much it for today and yesterday. I'm just gonna take it easy tonight in preparation for starting classes tomorrow. I'm nervous, but excited.

Oh, and by the way...


OMG SECRET NAZI SHRINE, right?

WRONG! *thwacks*

To read about what the symbol really means, and has meant for hundreds of years before the Nazis mucked it all up, click here.

This is Timzor, signing off.