Getting settled

This is my apartment- the kitchen/bathroom/front door are there on the right, and the floor space expands in an approximately 2 Elliots x 1.25 Elliots square space to the foreground.

See that tiny little loft up there on the right? That's where I live. About 2 Elliots deep, .67 Elliots wide, and .5 Elliots tall. (Since the Japanese would actually measure this space in tatami mats, I see no reason why my own arbitrary distance doesn't hold equal merit).

My roommate is 中山絢太 (Kenta Nakayama). He seems like a pretty cool guy, although we haven't yet spent a lot of time together. He's really busy with a part-time job and some other things that I'm not really sure about. I'm not entirely convinced that working in a noodle shop requires you to leave for your job at midnight and come back the next morning at 9:30, so I'm going to assume that he has ties to the Yakuza.

Incidentally, Kenta is wearing my fratty glasses in this photo--Thanks Margeaux! Apparently all the Japanese OGU partners thought they were the coolest thing in the world, and there's an extensive series of photos of everyone trying them in turn and looking badass.

First thing I did upon getting home today: make rice, and make tea. I think I'm officially an Asian housewife. But I'm getting better at feeding myself myself in Japan- at first it was a challenge to cook for myself when I was shopping for unfamiliar ingredients with directions I could only read 60% percent. The first dinner didn't happen because I tried to take a brief nap at 4 in the afternoon only to wake up at 4 am the next morning (oops), and then the next one was basically rice and noodles because I didn't have anything fresh or interesting to add to the carb fest. Realizing how quickly I would get tired of that, I made something much nicer tonight...

Isn't that the cutest little Donburi bowl you've ever seen? I pre-gamed dinner with some takoyaki (fried squid balls), then made a bowl of rice with fish and seaweed sprinkles, some beef and onions in a savory sauce, fresh tomatoes, mugi tea, and followed it up later with Dango, a sweet rice flour dumpling. Please note that the cup says in Japanese "Let's go out to find happiness!" It's matching partner says "I want to fly to wherever you are". The spoon has a smiley face. Totally bringing these home.

This is from the open air mall space where we had a banquet for all the students and Japanese partners- the whole area was covered in posters of this cat character doing different things, sometimes recreating classic movies? My favorite is the Star Wars pose. I have no idea what significance the series of cats hold.

I tested into the top level- exactly what I wanted, although I was terrified it wouldn't happen and I'd be stuck in a level that didn't challenge me like last summer in HIF. It's actually the largest of the classes, meaning there are 5 of us (but I guess that's what happens in a program of 14). We practiced speed reading today- something I hadn't really expected I would have been able to do in Japanese.

So far class is pretty manageable. I've been surprised that I feel like my weakness right is speaking. Like, at all. Out of nowhere I've become able to understand most of what's happening on the TV, comprehend all of the lengthy directions and discussions from 三森先生 (Mimori Sensei), and read an enormous volume of complex kanji while figuring out compound words I've never seen from familiar kanji. And despite all that, I'm stumbling over trying to express anything longer than a direct sentence. Balls.

Unrelated to anything else: it's weird how many American stars I've seen on Japanese TV. Ke$ha was at the red carpet entrance to some sort of Japanese music awards night, and she described her costume in the characteristic Ke$ha drawl ("It's like a... sexy bird.") while the subtitles translated ("セックシ・バード。”). Then I saw the cast of Sex and the City 2 interviewed by a Japanese station, and the main lady (Carrie?) talked at length about how you should sleep enough if you want to be pretty. And then the interviewer girl said how little she slept, and it was awkward for everyone.