It typically takes about 30 minutes to get home, at which point I offload my stuff, plug in my computer, and usually watch some of the TV shows I'm missing while I relax. 6:30 rolls around and it's time for dinner, so Tim and I usually meet up and go downstairs for our incredibly hit or miss free food. I finally let them know I don't eat pork so when it is some sort of pig dish the kitchen staff will prepare me some chicken nuggets and pseudo-salad. Now while I do question the nutritional value of multiple chicken nugget meals a week, I must say I can't complain...at least chicken nuggets don't have eyes.
After dinner it's about 7:15 and I'll usually go back to my room for about 45 minutes or so at which point I'll hop in the shower. This week Tim and I picked up running, which is very likely to get us arrested for jaywalking, being creepy gaijin who get lost in childrens' playgrounds, or being even creepier gaijin who like to play "race that sweet old lady riding her bicycle alone on this vacant street at night" (to Tim's defense, I'm really the only one who likes this game). We're hoping the running will last, though we did take a break on Friday and, due to soccer injuries sustained by both of us, may have to postpone it indefinitely.
After the run and/or shower I'll usually head back to my room, peruse the "Intahnehto" a bit more, and go to sleep by 10 or 11. There are a ton of things I'd really like to start doing, such as learning a bit more Japanese, but for some reason it seems like as unproductive as I may be on a given day, I don't really have the time for it. I'm hoping this coming week I'll get started on some experiments.
The Weekend:
Friday most of us didn't have any lab work to do so we spent a large chunk of the day deciding what we were gonna do that weekend. We had decided to stay in Osaka for the weekend, and planned to go to the aquarium at some point. Friday night we wanted to go to Shinsaibashi, which I guess is one of the other big downtown-like areas in Osaka (Umeda being the other). One of the problems with going out over here is that since the trains stop running at 11PM and cabs are prohibitively expensive, you either go out pretty early, as in 7PM-11PM, or ridiculously late, as in 11PM-5AM. We settled on the 7-11 run and decided to meet up in Umeda at about 6:45.
4:55 rolls around and one of the guys in the lab tells me that he's practicing his english presentation at 5:00 and would like me to watch. Alright, this shouldn't take long. So he starts the presentation at about 5:10 at which point his computer crashes and he has to restart it. At about 5:20 he begins the presentation again, and finally after the presentation/questions are over (5:45) I tell Tuan-san I had plans and I can't see his presentation and I leave. I get back to the dorm at about 6:10 sweaty from running to make it, change, and we're out the door a few minutes later. We get to Umeda about 15 minutes late, and then learned that trying to find an asian person in Japan is like trying to find a needle in a haystack...all rook same!
We finally found Clare in the shoe store at the bottom of Hep 5, our meeting place, and I was rather surprised she didn't fly into a fit of rage at the very sight of us. We had a bit of trouble finding the train line so we stopped by the standing room only McDonalds (chris bought the Shrimp McNuggets) for some dinner and to figure out where to go. Being the ever frugal college student I had made some screwdrivers prior to our departure, and so I gave thanks to Buddha for his lack of open container laws and chugged away.
After finding the train we headed over to Shinsaibashi and decided to walk around a bit. The initial plan was to stop by Cafe Absinthe but no one remembered to bring directions so we just walked around a bit. Much like Umeda, I feel like Shinsaibashi is more of what people imagine Japan to be like.
Crazy and busy with lots of lights.
Apparently they have homeless people as well.
And we stumbled upon this.
I have no idea what it is, but I do know that I see the picture in almost every map or promotional material I see for Osaka.
After walking around for a bit we noticed Tim getting increasingly irrate as he mumbled things to Chris under his breath (that's right Tim, we heard you!) so we decided to stop into the first place we saw which happened to be a brewery/bar. We sat there and grabbed some overpriced beer that made me happy I had planned a bit ahead of time with my cheap vodka, though rather unhappy I had just paid 7 bucks for a beer
Afterwards we decided to stop by a bar called the Pig and Whistle which we had read about in Frommers and had seen along the way. Much like the previous place it was also pretty expensive (about 500-700 yen per drink on average). While we were there I got up to go ask some Westerner if he knew where Cafe Absinthe was. He informed me he'd only been there 2 or 3 days and so I offered for him to come join us. Ewin, an English teacher from Scotland, spent the remainder of the night drinking with us.
Not long after Ewin joined our table some random older Japanese man said hi and asked if he could join us. I didn't really speak to him or catch his name, but as it turned out the Japanese have something in common with the Scottish
Bad teeth...
After taking a couple more pictures with our Japanese friend
and speaking a bit to the group of people next to us we decided to head back home. Once we got to Umeda station Clare went on her way to her dorm and we went back to Ikeda. We decided to check out the Japanese Denny's so we got there and I ordered some fries which Tim and Chris ate because I fell asleep. After eating they woke me up and we headed home to sleep for real. I still maintain that I was simply resting my eyes.
Saturday, after ignoring the phone, I was awakened by Joey and informed that we had meetings with Kuboi-sensei (meetings that like most other things, no one informed us about). I headed over to campus around noon for the meeting, and since Joey was in the middle of his I decided to just get lunch. After lunch I came back and had my meeting in which Kuboi-sensei spent his usual 20 minutes telling me absolutely nothing. After the "meaningless discussion" as his students like to call it, I decided to stay on campus for the next few hours because we were due to play soccer at 4 with Chris and his lab.
Soccer time came around and after finally finding the group we played the game. I make it a point to mention stereotypes and I must say we all represented our country quite perfectly in being the living proof that Americans are poor soccer players. We played on a dirt field about half the size of a regular field, and it was some of the most fun I've had since being here. Every time one of us would do something remotely decent or as was more often the case, completely pathetic, everyone would cheer and laugh. It was all fun and games until I went to block a pass, slipped on the ball, and sustained what I like to call "my ass injury."
After playing for almost 2 hours we called it a game, and Tim and I went to the cafeteria to grab some food. My back was covered in dirt so Tim lent me his extra shirt, and it wasn't till I sat down that I realized the extent of my injuries. I finally found a sitting position that didn't pain me greatly, finished my food, and embarked on an excrutiating walk home. I was pretty exhausted so I went to sleep early on Saturday.
Sunday we were going to go to the aquarium but the weather took a turn for the worse and I wasn't too excited about the prospect of walking around all day so we took a rain check. Tim and I got breakfast (basically a bunch of assorted pastries and an egg sandwich) and I spent the rest of the day watching Studio 60 and scrubs, and basically lying in bed. We got some ramen for dinner, but that was about it.
It's now Monday, my ass is feeling a bit better, but my request to begin some experiments clearly wasn't understood because I just spent the last couple hours updating my blog.
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