Notes between class sessions

Aiiiii! I just rode my bike to the 100-yen store (Daiso) up the street and bought myself a bento (Japanese lunchbox) set. It's so cute! You even tie it in a little napkin. They're all about presentation here--it's actually kinda weird. I'll post pictures of it when I get the chance. (It's by a company called Happy Balloon, with the motto "The life that popped.")

Had my first exam today. I think it went well, but the bottom line for passing out into intermediate level is 80%. We won't know the scores until tomorrow at the earliest. Here's hoping.

Monday was interesting. I came back and took a hardcore, 3-hour nap in the room, then woke up, found Sarah was gone, and got some dinner at Kitsutsuki. Finally deciding I wanted ice cream, I hopped on my bike and rode to Seiyu (the grocery store/complex/thing). There I ran into Sarah and Mark, who was finishing his McDonald's dinner. We chatted for a bit, then bought some stuff, and Mark dared me to drink this really disgusting-looking sake called Nigori-sake. (Turns out it means "cloudy sake" because they leave rice in it to dissolve, rather than filtering out.) So I bought a bottle for a grand total of 400 yen (that should've told me something RIGHT THERE) and was like "okay, let's do this." We argued about where we should hold the celebration. Sarah and I said Mark's room, as he's got a single, we wouldn't be bothering too many people, and he's closer than us to the store. He argued for our room, since he wanted to make fun of the fact we're in a hotel. Finally he conceded, and we head back. Neither Sarah nor I had ever been to Villa 2 (the dorm where he lives) so he lead us back... right to our hotel.

Now it's pouring rain, and that was just mean-spirited of him. So we gave up and headed upstairs, but the mama-san (looking a bit scandalized) announced that Mark can't go up for more than like ten minutes. So I told Mark to hold my stuff, ran upstairs, toweled off, came back down, and we headed off to Villa 2. Sarah opted to stay behind, as she was soaking wet.

So we headed to Villa 2 and I drank the stuff. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. So I finished the bottle (with some haste) and it kicked in almost immediately. Word of warning: Don't. Trust. Sake.

Finally Mark laughed at me enough and walked me halfway home. (He argued that he wouldn't walk me all the way home because I'm not cute enough. I'm pretty sure I threatened him at that point. I also gave him a lecture about women, because the girl he's chasing right now is an air-headed bimbo who doesn't even speak English. He thinks she's "cute" because she's almost incomprehensible. Go figure.)

In any case, I made it home and slept very well.

So yes, that's been my week so far. Not exactly amazing, but it'll do.

One other random observation: Japanese cashiers are pushy. They're subtly pushy, but they're still pushy. Once you get your change, they want you GONE. There's no stopping to put your change in your wallet. Go. Leave. Make way for the next customer. It's really unsettling the first few times you notice you're getting stared at for holding up the line. Most stores actually have counters behind the cash registers so that customers have a place to put their items in bags (they don't really bag here, they just put things back in your basket and give you a plastic bag) and put away your change. It's kind of nuts.