Another list, and some updates...

Things that have started/will soon start to bother me:
-"Irrashaimasseeeeeeeeeeeeee." When you are walking on the street, or through a shopping complex, people are hired to scream this in the most obnoxious voices ever. I can't demonstrate the intonation here, obviously, but it's a really abrasive noise. The end is elongated, and goes up really high towards the cut-off.
-The Trains. I don't know how I'll do this every day. You literally can't move a limb unless you go in with it in the position you want.
-The previously mentioned inward-walking. Seriously. Walk properly.
-The printing system. And how half the printers in the school hate me. And how I have to print hundreds of pages. Skidmore professors GAVE us articles, these ones make us print them. Evil!
-Pompous Europeans at school. Contrary to your beliefs, speaking Japanese at a high level doesn't make you the coolest person ever.
-American jocks looking to get Japanese girls.
-Intensive Japanese. I just bombed a test today. It's just getting worse and worse, it's consuming my life. And the kanji we are learning is USELESS. Why do I need to be able to write the characters (or even know the words) for "Specific Gravity" and "Directional Current." I can't speak even basic Japanese!
-Moodle. WTF I hate this. It's like Skidmore's WebCT, but with a lot more retarded thrown in. And it's used for EVERY assignment.
-Confusion of R's and L's. Today in class our teacher was talking about political terminology, and she started talking about "elections." I tried very hard not to laugh.

Hm...updates. I've been very busy this past week. Most days I've gone out at like 7:30 in the morning and returned late at night, like between 8-12. It's very exhausting, but I'm glad I'm going out rather than just spending all my time between school and home. On saturday I went with the walking club on a 8 hour walk (I didn't know beforehand it would be that long), it was a lot of fun. I bought a grape kit-kat to go! I am not joking, it's the weirdest food ever, but kind of tasty in a disgusting way.

Last night I met up with Kyoko, my mom's friend from college. We met in Ginza, which is a really rich area, and it was fun just exploring. At dinner, she gave me lots of alcohol, so I got pretty drunk, and when I got home I realized that I had studied the wrong material for the next test. So I did a drunk test-study session, which was very ineffective (and subsequently I bombed it).

And in case you are wondering about the photo...it was at a Chinese restaurant I just went to with a bunch of friends. But look carefully. There are two interesting things here. Very random for a Chinese restaurant, but kind of hilarious.

General Observations

Things I have already become accustomed to seeing on the streets of Tokyo.

-The Infamous Surgeon Masks (these are everywhere now, I guess people are getting sick often. They wigged me out when I got here a bit, but now they don't phase me. I was afraid to tell anyone about my cold after the ice bar, for fear that they would force a mask on me).
-Eyepatches (Yeah, I still don't know what these are about. But I see people with white eyepatches quite often. I think it might have a similar function as the surgeon mask, but I can't be sure. Maybe pink eye)?
-Girls dressed as maids (self-explanatory)
-Umbrellas in sunlight
-Weird inward foot walking (where one's feet point inwards, the tips forming 45 degree angles while walking. It's seen to be an attractive way to walk for Japanese girls, especially young cutesy girls. But seriously, I've seen some girls who overdo it so much that they look utterly retarded).
-The guy who looks like Raiden from Mortal Kombat standing like a statue at my train station.
-I saw a guy missing 2 fingers, I think he was Yakuza.
-I saw this old guy today at Shinjuku station, who was (no joke) bent over at a 110 degree angle. His head was lower than his waist. I didn't know back problems could get that bad!

Hmm this is all I can think of now, but I'm sure there are a lot more. This is a really strange city.

I know the photo isn't overly exciting (it's of Akihabara, electronics/video game/gadget central in Tokyo/the world), but I thought the girl showcased two of the above points (maid outfits, and a mild case of inward feet - but it can get much worse than that).

Otherwise, school/life is busy. It seems like my life right now is filled with little tasks that would take 5 minutes in America, but end up taking hours upon hours here. I miss Skidmore facilities, the faculty did everything for us. Today I got lost looking for the US embassy, so that I could clear up my absentee ballot business. But no, I just happened to forget my phone and my dictionary (for the word "embassy"), so I was useless. Tomorrow I get my alien card. The rest of my time is spent on homework. I am regretting Intensive Japanese. I hope I have more time for fun in the near future.

I caught a cold at an ice bar. But it was so worth the sickness and the 30 dollars. It was freezing like crazy, but everything was made of ICE. It was so nifty. The chairs, the tables, the bar itself, the glasses. It was pretty awesome. They gave us Eskimo suits, which was sweet, too. It made the outside feel like a sauna, when it was actually pretty chilly.

On the way back, I got cornered by a hooker who wanted to massage me. That was awkward. She wouldn't let me go either, I had to pry her off me and push her away.

I also went to Akihabara - that place is amazing. It's like a gadget geek paradise. Or a video gamer paradise. I felt like a little kid in a candy store.

And I don't think anyone reads these (I gave the link to like two people). I might just switch to putting up photos on Facebook.

This past week has been pretty busy.

On Monday, we visited a disaster simulation building, which was both hilarious and fun. I think the fire simulation was the best - we were supposed to find our way out of a smoke filled office complex while our instructor watched us on numerous television screen. We didn't even realize she was watching us, until, in response to our constant laughing, her voice over the loud speaker "No speak!!" You die in real life!! The Japanese businessmen who went after us did it in like 30 seconds, with complete teamwork and concentration, it was kind of amazing.

The earthquake simulation was pretty awesome also. We had to find cover while experiencing a level 6 quake, with stuff falling down and the lights going off. We also did CPR and the shock treatment on manikins. Lastly, we watched a 3D instructional movie - naturally, like most instructional films, the dubbing and acting was god-awfully hilarious. They all had incredibly strong Japanese accent, except for this one Japanese businessman who was dubbed over with an Australian guy. And the 3D was a little excessive, and the video kept throwing things at the screen so it looked like it was coming at us.

The next day, we went to an elementary school. First, we observed the classes. Then they laid out this elaborate welcome ceremony for us with rainbow arches and speeches and everything. Then they sat us down in a row and had the children do one of the most bizarre dances I've seen in front of us. They had these weird instruments and kept doing these spider/crab like moves. Even if it was bizarre, it was incredibly well organized, I have to give those Japanese children credit for that.

Then each class was given two foreigners. The kids were so curious about us, we were like aliens to them. I couldn't understand anything the children said to me, they were very quiet and fast. But they were pretty adorable. We prepared a mini lesson for the kids, and then we ate lunch with them. Then they took us to the gym, where we proceeded to play games I didn't understand at all. One was like tournament, life-size rock-paper-scissors.

Also, classes started yesterday. It's a ton of work so far (and I've only had Japanese class homework so far). But I spent about 4-5 hours on it the first night, and we have this class for over 3 hours every day. It's really, really intensive. Ganbarimasuyo!