Week 33

It's hard to believe that another week has sped by. I guess time flies when you're having fun and I have really enjoyed my vacation here in Detroit. That being said I've also been a bit homesick for Osaka, in particular, missing my girlfriend (though thank goodness for Skype.) Anyways, with today as my last full day before I go back, I'll probably be too busy to think about all that.

After finishing my update last week I cleaned up and walked downtown to watch the new "Planet of the Apes" movie (not bad for five bucks) after which I stopped off and saw my old boss at the city parking garage. I met up with one old friend in the late afternoon who dropped me off at home just in time to meet two more friends from a long time ago. It was nice to see everyone after all these years and to know that everyone's doing alright for themselves.

Tuesday, I managed to sleep in a bit. When I did finally rise I joined my mother for a long day of outings. Our retail adventures took us from thrift shops to Best Buy to Toys 'R' Us and finally to a little local hobby store with a great board game selection. Mid-afternoon we both had dental appointments. At mine I found out that I needed a bit of additional dental work done (which mucked up my plans later in the week, but more on that later.) After dinner at one of my favorite burrito places I napped and watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Probably due to the previous day's napping I was wide awake before seven on Wednesday. I had scheduled a Skype session with my girlfriend at eight and surfed the internet until it was time. We had a nice hour long conversation which eased some of my homesickness. After that, donuts were the breakfast of the day, followed by some light shopping and a trip to AAA to renew my international driver's license. In the afternoon my father drove out and we went to get the last of the 'big ticket' items on my shopping list (shoes!) This was followed by dinner at a great pizza place on the East side.

Thursday was yet another early one, but this time it was good, as I wanted to get across the state early in the day. I borrowed mom's car, picked up a friend in Ann Arbor, and headed off to my old college town of Kalamazoo. Our first stop was the local comic book shop where we saw the first of a series of people who I hadn't seen since I left four years earlier. After lunch at at mediocre Japanese restaurant we went and picked up another friend from his apartment, stopped by 'The Discount Den' party store to say "hi" to my old boss, and headed back to the comic shop. We played games at the comic shop until yet another friend got off work and we all adjourned to his apartment. There we played more games and ate pizza long into the night. That friend was also kind enough to let me and my friend from Ann Arbor crash at his place for the night. Again, it was to see how people were doing, all these years later.

Friday morning we had to hustle back across the state early in the morning so I could make the noon dental appointment I had made earlier in the week (the original plan calling for two days in Kalamazoo.) Fortunately traffic was good and I arrived with time to spare. Getting fillings is always fun and this time I needed one on each side of my mouth so most of my face was numb for the rest of the day. In the late afternoon (actually most of the antithetic had worn off by this point) I went to see a matinee of "30 minutes or less". It feels good to have seen three movies in the past two weeks while paying less than the cost of a single movie back in Japan.

Saturday morning I went to the Detroit Zoo with my mother. Detroit has a really nice, large zoo that puts the Osaka (Tennoji) Zoo to shame. In the evening I had dinner with the dads again (a delicious turkey breast with all of my favorite sides) before watching a summer storm roll in and wash off the heat of the day.

Yesterday's big adventure was going out to the mall for just a bit more shopping. Most of the rest of the day was spent absorbing as much American culture as I could, parked in front of the TV. Even more culture was absorbed (as well as copious ammounts of grease) at the local White Castle at dinner.

Finally, with today being my last full day before returning to Japan, I should probably start thinking about packing... oh, and maybe buying a few souvenirs too.

Week 32

This post brought to you live from the land of the free and the home of the brave, the good ole' USA. This week not only being summer vacation but being back in America there was a lot of excitement.

But not to get ahead of myself, there was some drama last Monday, the day before I left for the States. My apartment has a tiny bike-parking area which I (and other tenants) pay $15.00 a month to use. To this point there haven't been any problems. However, after lunch last Monday I parked my bike, went upstairs and prepared for work, and when I came out again someone had moved by bike to the park across the street. "Odd," I thought, moved it back, and went to work. When I got home from work my bike was gone again, this time it wasn't in the park either. I looked around for a bit before giving up and going to bed. I had a plane to catch the next day after all. I got up early Tuesday morning and went around the neighborhood two more times before deciding that I should probably file a police report. On my way into my building to get my bike registration I saw the cleaning guy and asked if he had seen my bike. Surprisingly he led me to the fire-escape where my bike was hiding. I'm not really sure who's got a problem with my bike being where it's been for the last two years but I stashed my bike in my apartment while I'm out of the country... I'll deal with that drama when I get back.

My travel back to Michigan was fairly uneventful. I did arrive at Osaka's Itami (city) airport 20 minutes before the international check-in gate opened and had to wait around a bit. Also, when transferring at Narita I got through security just as the last boarding call was made for my flight to Chicago, resulting in a mad dash across the airport. In Chicago, however, customs and immigration was a breeze and I had time to stop and get some fries and a shake from the airport McD's before my plane boarded. In Detroit I met my parents by the luggage carousel and we hopped in the car and headed to my favorite Mexican restaurant for what may have been the most delicious burrito ever.

Being dog tired from the 36 hour day Tuesday, I managed to sleep in until nine in the morning on Wednesday. After getting (real!) bagels for breakfast I came home and napped for a bit. This was followed by a trip to Sears to restock my wardrobe which in turn was followed by another nap. In the evening my mother and I headed down to Comerica Park to watch the Tigers play the Rangers. In addition to having great sears down close to the infield the Tigers even managed to win.

Thursday I was wide awake at six. I killed some time watching cable before getting dressed and heading to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. After donuts I headed over to Costco to pick up some much needed bulk provisions (my American deodorant ran out a month ago and I was on my last razor blade.) In the afternoon I went to A&W for 25cent coney dogs (on sale because one of the Tigers' players got a home run the night before.) Back at the house I fulled the ole' bike's tires with air and rode over to the local theater to watch "Captain America". I was blown away by the cheap matinee price, paying only a quarter of what I usually pay in Osaka. I cycled home just in time to meet my dads for dinner.

Friday I intentionally got up at six so I could join my mom in driving out to Ann Arbor. After dropping mom off at a conference I took the car and headed into town. I was there pretty early so took some time to take some photos before spending a fruitless hour searching for a payphone to call the friend I was supposed to meet. In the end I found a Starbucks and used their wifi to Facebook message my friend and let him know where I was. After meeting up we checked out a bunch of the cool shops in downtown Ann Arbor before stopping for lunch and a nice pizza place. We had to part ways in the afternoon as I went to pick up my mother. Most of the rest of the day was spent napping and watching TV at home, with a short break to have dinner (Mmm, baked salmon.)

Saturday I was unintentionally up really early again (this time at five!) After playing with my Lego collection for a few hours, waiting for my mother to get up, we drove over the boarder to Canada. I took a bunch of pictures along the waterfront (Detroit looks really good from Canada) before we went to the Caesar's Palace Windsor for lunch. Tired from the morning's activities (and blowing $20 at the casino) we returned home and I took yet another nap. In the evening my father came and got my and took me down to his house for the weekend. Saturday night's dinner was my father's awesome spaghetti sauce with salad, fresh baked bread, and garden-fresh green beans. To top things off we drove out to my favorite ice-cream parlor for dessert.

Sunday morning I managed, once again, to sleep in a bit. This was followed by a lazy morning reading the New York Times and eating blueberry pancakes. Mid-afternoon my father took me out to the suit store in town and I ordered 3 new pairs of dress pants (to replace the three that I've totally worn out since I was last home.) In the evening my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin came over for ribs and we had a nice time visiting with them. Late in the evening the dads drove me back out to mom's house where I watched some TV before going to bed.

For whatever reason I was wide awake at four this morning and could not get back to sleep. I once again dove into my Legos for a while before checking my e-mail, Skyping my girlfriend, and writing this post.

I'm scheduled to meet a few friends that I haven't seen since high-school today, so that should be fun. Also, later in the week I might take a road trip over to my old university to meet some other friends. It seems like this week might just be as exciting as last.

Week 31

I'm currently surrounded by half-packed bags in preparation for my imminent trip back to the States. I leave at 2:30pm tomorrow from Osaka, travel for 19 hours, and arrive at 7:30pm the same day in Detroit. I'm quite excited at the prospect of being home for the first time in over 18 months but (as usual) I'm not really looking forward to the aforementioned 19 hour flight (or the fact that I have to make said flight again to get back to Japan.)

I spent the day last Tuesday doing laundry and cleaning my apartment. I got a free ticket from a friend and went off to see one of my favorite local bands in the evening. The venue was really nice and the band rocked hard as they usually do. A good time was had by all.

Wednesday was spent souvenir shopping as well as getting my weekly karaoke practice in.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were special shifts at work; regular classes were canceled for a week and we all did demo lessons for perspective new students in the fall. All-in-all it was a pretty easy week to have right before vacation.

Saturday night I met up with my girlfriend who made my favorite "taco-rice" and watched some movies with me. I'm going to miss her terribly for the next two weeks but luckily in this age of technology she's really just a click of the mouse away.

Yesterday after work I went with some co-workers to an exhibit of some videogame concept art done by one of our favorite artists. It was a small collection, but was free and had some nice pieces on display. This was followed up by dinner at yet another new mexican restaurant. This latest place was a bit pricy but had some interesting things on the menu (like mole).

Look forward to next week's update coming to you straight from America!

Week 30

So, I left off last week thinking I was going bowling with my girlfriend's family but plans changed once more after I uploaded my post and we ended up going to the Osaka Aquarium instead. In retrospect going to the Aquarium on the "Ocean Day" holiday was a bit silly as it was super busy/crowded. In the end I think everyone had a good time though. My girlfriend's nephews (3 and 6) are really energetic and had fun looking at all the fish. My girlfriend's mother is also pretty energetic and spent most of the day chasing down the kids. Ater seeing all that was to be seen inside we sat outside (most of the day's rain had passed at that point) and ate a boxed lunch my girlfriend had prepared. Late in the afternoon my girlfriend's brother came in his van and took the kids and my girlfriend's mother home. Back at my apartment my girlfriend and I talked for a long time about various things and were having a good time until, right before she went home, I... caused some drama again, which took some time to resolve making it a very late night for both of us. (Lesson learned: don't ask questions about the future out of the blue and without context.)

Tuesday last week I walked around the electronics district with one of my co-workers who was shopping for a new lens for his camera and wanted my advice. Once we had found what he was looking for we adjourned to a karaoke box for a few hours of singing. Later, after ramen for dinner, we hit up a cool "video-game bar" which is home to a bunch of classic video game consoles, all free for customer use.

Wednesday was a relax/rejuvenate day and ended with a spectacular after-the-typhoon sunset which I watched from my balcony while sipping tea and reading a good book on my iPad.

Thursday before work I headed over to Osaka's latest fast food joint: Burger King. The Osaka outlet is just as good as any of the one's in Tokyo but not quite as good as the one's back in the states (that might just be nostalgia talking though.) The two main differences between Japanese Burger King and it's American cousin are 1.) the fries, the one's in America are crunchier and more flavorful 2.) In America you can get a shake with your meal, in Japan you can get a Heineken. All-in-all it's nice to have another alternative to McD's around.

Friday I went out for dinner with my girlfriend for the first time in a while. We went to a "hamburg" restaurant that essentially served hamburgers without the buns. Afterwards we did some light shopping and had a drink at my girlfriend's favorite bar before parting ways.

Saturday after work I wandered around the city were my Saturday school is killing time before the school party that was scheduled for that evening. But my wasting time turned out to be just that as only a few students showed up for the party. We still had a good time and I got to know a little more about my supervisor on Saturdays, which was nice.

Yesterday I came home from work and watched the week's recorded TV shows until bed time. Oh, right before bed there was a magnitude 4 quake in Miyagi Prefecture (maybe, 100 miles away) which made my building jump and shake. Never a dull moment in the land of the shaking sun.

Nothing too big scheduled for this week. Partly because I sent all my spare money home this month and partly because I've still gotta start packing. I can't believe there's only 8 days before I'm back in the States.

Week 29

I didn't think I'd have time to update at my usual time this week but I get a message at the crack of dawn from my girlfriend noting that the incoming typhoon has started dropping rain early than anticipated and that our plans to go to the park with her family needed to be altered. While I'm waiting her decision as to what we're doing instead, I might as well get this out of the way.

Quite a busy week last week or at least a busy "weekend."

Last Tuesday, while out for lunch, I stopped by the cell-phone shop and upgraded my iPhone. My old one's battery was dying and I've wanted a new one for a while now. As with all new technology I spent most of the rest of the afternoon getting it updated and in working order. In the evening I headed off to the baseball park to watch a game with some friends from work. This was a different group than the one I went with last year and not quite as... experienced as the other group. First, the last person to arrive was the one holding the tickets, and she showed up late. Next, it was already the top of the second by the time we found out seats... in the away section. You could feel the eyes digging in as we, dressed up in our Hanshin Tigers clothes, sat among the Tokyo Giants fans. Oh, and the Tigers were down by one too. Fortunately after the third inning we spotted an un-occupied section of seats in the home section and moved over. The game was much more fun after that and the Tigers ended up winning two to one.

Wednesday I slacked off all morning and worked on 'tagging' old photos after lunch. In the evening I headed to the Dotonbori canal to watch the Dotonbori River Parade. The parade was supposed to go from 6:30 to 9:00 but started half an hour late and ended thirty minutes early. The short time the actual parade happened was pretty cool however. The first two boats were rowed by a team of older guys and a team of younger guys. The following "floats" were all motor driven barges with people from various companies partying onboard. I think the last float had a famous hip-hop star on it, as the crowd went wild, but I'm not really sure who this guy was.

I was awakened Thursday morning by the ominous sound of fire engines... a lot of them. I looked out my window to see the neighboring block surrounded by firefighters. (I suppose fortunately) I couldn't see and smoke or sign of fire however. Being that I was already up I decided to start my day. I went out later to buy some new video games that were just released as well as a new album by my favorite Japanese band. On the way home I did my weekly grocery shop.

It was a short work week this week (as today is Ocean Day, a national holiday) and it felt pretty short.

As my girlfriend was at her parents' house all weekend again Saturday night I went alone to see the latest Studio Ghibli movie. I really enjoyed this new piece, though I'm not sure if it would have the international appeal as "Spirited Away" or "Howl's Moving Castle". It's a more 'realistic' (non-magic) story about a girl in Shouwa-era (50's/60's) Japan who has lost her father. As with most other Ghibli movies it's a coming-of-age movie at heart. I really enjoyed it but, then, I think Studio Ghibli can do no wrong.

Yesterday (Sunday) was spent eagerly awaiting today's activities... and I've just received word that plans for today have changed to going to a bowling/sports center called Round One down near my girlfriend's hometown. I suppose I should shower, shave, and make myself presentable.

Week 28

Despite being a terribly hot week here in Osaka I still managed to have some fun while not getting sun-burned.

Last Tuesday I woke up with the desire to go out exploring and the idea that I hadn't yet been to Kyoto's Eiga-mura (Movie-village). I got to JR Kyoto station with relative ease and decided to walk across town to the small street-car terminus that led the rest of the way to Eiga-mura. In the "it seemed like a good idea at the time" category, I underestimated the unrelenting force of the sun bearing down on me and by the time I arrived outside my destination I had no energy left to go inside (also the entry fee of 3,000yen was a bit steep). Instead I turned around and took the closest train back to Osaka. I disembarked at Osaka Station and took a look around the newly opened Osaka Station Plaza. The 'North building' is really nice and includes several roof-top gardens with spectacular views of the North side of Osaka. I also stopped by Osaka's newest Krispy-Kreme doughnut shop in the basement but in the grand tradition of such new shops in Osaka there was an hour wait to get in so I grabbed a bagel at the empty shop across the way instead.

Wednesday was a laundry/clean the house day but as I got all my chores done before noon I went and practiced karaoke for a few hours in the afternoon before coming home and watching movies the rest of the day. My electric bill is gonna be pretty high from all the AC I'm using this month, but it's worth it. (I've also discovered that my apartment is a heat-trap that is routinely 3-5 degrees C above the outside temperature.)

The work week went pretty well with a day of rain cooling things down on Thursday. I received my first 'observation' of the year yesterday and got generally good feedback. It's always nice to hear, "You're doing a good job, keep it up."

In a rare alignment of calendars I got to see my girlfriend twice this week. Friday we met up, ordered a pizza, and watched an old Studio Ghibli movie. Saturday we went over to two of our friends' apartment for dinner. My girlfriend, one of our friends, and I recently celebrated our birthdays. In addition the two friends recently go married, so we had a general celebratory dinner party. The food was outstanding with spare-ribs in a soy-sauce based sauce and some sort of mushroom and pasta-gratin. Much merriment was had by all.

Looking forward this week: I may-or-may-not go see a baseball game tomorrow depending on if a friend can get an extra ticket. A new Studio Ghibli movie comes out this weekend (which I'm excited for.) And next Monday is the first national holiday in almost two months and will be a much needed respit from my terribly hard-driving schedule.

week 27

Lots of excitement this week with a big birthday and a big test.

Although I celebrated my birthday with my girlfriend last Saturday, I had another party on Tuesday (my actual birthday) with all my friends. The fun started at the local watering-hole. A good time was had by all. Around midnight some of the party had to catch the last train and those remaining decided that it was about time for karaoke. Karaoke lasted until 5:30am when the karaoke place closed. The "evening" was capped off with a delicious breakfast at McDonalds.

After a few hours of sleep the rest of Wednesday (and the rest of my free time for the week) was spent in a run-up review for the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam wich I took yesterday. I had only a vague idea of what the test would look like going in and was happily surprised that, although the time given for each section wasn't that long, there also weren't that many questions in each section. The three sections covered Vocabulary (30 minutes for 35 questions) Grammar/Reading (70 minutes for 39 questions) and Listening (40 minutes for 27 questions). I was also happy to learn that I hadn't forgotten all my standardized test taking skills from my school days. It turns out that some of my friends were also taking this test so we all went out and celebrated our perceived success afterwords. ("Perceived" in that a 52% is considered passing... but we won't get results until September.)