Curry Class!

Hey everyone,

I think it's pretty obvious by this point that I'm not very good at this blogging thing.  I hope you'll forgive my serious lack of updates...  I'm going to try something new: writing.  I don't really like it, mainly because I can't convince myself that people might actually want to read what I have to say, but I haven't taken any interesting pictures in a long time, so this will have to do.

I woke up this morning to the sound of anime music, as is my custom of late.  My current alarm clock - an app on my phone - requires me to solve some basic arithmetic before I can hit the snooze button.  While this worked very well at first, I have developed a surprising ability for solving 69 + 52 = ? through the haze of my half-awakedness.  I fear that the only solution to waking up on time now may be to go to bed early, and we all know how impossible that is.

When I finally did wake up, an hour or so after I intended, I quickly turned on the hockey game.  Since the host family was out, I had my computer follow me throughout the morning so I could keep watching - yes, I'm that Canadian.  Eating breakfast, doing laundry, showe...  I mean, there's no way I'd bring my laptop into the shower, right?  Right. Unfortunately I had to catch a walk/bus/train to get to school for noon, so I didn't get to watch the end of the Habs/Bruins game.  Just as well, since Les Glorieux lost 1-0...

Class today was entertaining as usual.  I don't feel like I've really expressed how amusing class is - one day I will take notes about the funny stuff and post it here.  It really is fantastic.  We ended today's class with a composition (作文、さくぶん).  This particular composition will be used as the basis for a speech we will present to the class as our final oral examination.

Aside: every time I say/write/think "oral examination", I feel as though I'm referring to dentistry.  But that's neither here nor there.

There was no assigned topic, so I decided I should inform my class about what Canada is like.  After a long-winded introduction - as is my custom - I proceeded to explain that Canada is a very large country, so people have different customs depending on where they live.  For example, all the people in the west of Canada are cowboys, and all those in the east are fishermen.  Canada is a very cold country, so everyone lives in houses made of ice, called "igloos".  Furthermore, in the winter, all the roads ice over, and people skate to and from work.  Sometimes, though, the sun shines very strongly, melting the ice, which makes skating difficult.  In that situation, people use dogsleds.

I kid you not, I wrote this.  Curious to see what my teachers think about it.

After class, we had a cooking class!  It was really great: a bunch of students from 法政大学 (Hosei University), some whom I had met before, joined us to cook curry!  I had never cooked Japanese curry before, but I had a good idea of how it should be done...  And of course, the Japanese students that we were paired with proceeded to do approximately the opposite of what I expected.

Clockwise from top: Yuto-san, myself, Abigail and Jil

Despite my worries, we were able to make a fairly serviceable curry - it wasn't nearly as spicy as I might have liked, but it wasn't soupy like some of the other groups'...  I considered it a success.

Somehow, I got roped into doing all the cooking...

 We talked with the various Japanese students at our table about everything from portion sizes at McDonalds in Japan vs. USA/Canada, how one says "I'm full" and whether or not it is appropriate to call one's self a "baby" when referring to spicy-tolerance levels.  All in all, a really great day.

Cooking - and eating - is fun!

After a fantastic meal - of which we all ate too much - I accompanied a few friends of mine back to the dorm, and then made my way back to the host family.  Now, I'm completely exhausted and wanting sleep, so I think I'll go do that.

Hope anyone reading this enjoyed it!

Bowling

Yeah, I don't believe it either.  They do bowling in Japan.

Bowling is always more fun with friends!

Mandatory refreshments - also, nice catch phrase

Here, the screen animations are penguins!

Engrish #1 - Some Laughs in Shinjuku

Expect this series to run throughout my stay here: posts of me pointing out funny attempts at English made by Japanese people.  I promise I'm not making (too much) fun of them.

 

I think the only price that would truly make me happy would be 0¥...  Also, I should point this out: there are vending machines EVERYWHERE in Tokyo.  Almost every single street corner has a vending machine.  Some even vend beer.  Yeah - cold beer from a vending machine.

I've noticed a lot of French in Tokyo - it's not all bad.  I'm surprised someone here was able to get a sign-maker to get those accents up there.  Also, I have no clue how a Japanese person would pronounce this restaurant's name.

 

This...  Yeah.  I just really don't know.  There's no word in Japanese (that I or my dictionary know of) with this spelling, and Emoto doesn't really mean anything in English...  Just plain strange, especially since this was a stationary/office supplies store...

First Few Days - Shinjuku

So the school I'm attending is located in Shinjuku, one of the larger districts of Tokyo.  I can't say I know the place VERY well now, but I have walked around a bit and taken a few pictures.  Here are some of them.

I always see this on my way to school.  I have no way of knowing what kind of "Special Weapons and Tactics" are used in this office, but yeah...

This is the area in and around Shinjuku Station.  All the buildings are multiple storeys high - none of this regular-sized business.  Also, Japan drives on the "wrong" side of the road...

So this is a shop called Don Quixote (ドン　キホーテ) after the character from Miguel de Cervantes's novel.  Somehow, they took a guy who fought windmills and made him the namesake of a Wal-Mart type shop.  You can buy everything from clothes to small household appliances to cell phones here.  And apparently, it's open 24/7.  The aisles tend to be so crowded that it can be difficult for two people to go in opposite directions. And you can find REALLY strange things here.  Speaking of cell phones...

...this was the display at the Don Quixote where I bought my cell phone.  None (or very little) of this smartphone business here: most people still have flip-phones like this one:

Which is the phone I purchased.  7700¥ got me this phone, a 3000¥ prepaid card and a charger (which is obviously sold separately).  Those of you know might know something about computer may have noticed the front-facing camera.  Yeah - this flip-phone has a front-facing camera.

Then it was time for a mandatory stop at one of the local arcades.  Actually, arcades are everywhere in Japan - every mall-type place has one.  Unfortunately, you won't get a very good sense of it from the picture, but the place reeked of young male and was deafeningly loud.

Yes, in Japan, Hello Kitty is a big enough deal that Swarovski is in on it.

The amount of hilarious English in Japan is definitely well-known, and quite laughable.  But there's also a good deal of hilarious French.  This place is a tea shop...
EDIT: Apparently this is a legitimate tea company based out of Paris.  Who would have guessed...

Okay, so that's it for now.  I might have another post on the way, with pictures from a visit to Sunshine City (サンシャイン　シティ).  We'll see!