Friday July 18 Mini Concert

Friday July 18 – Mini Concert

It’s Friday! The last day of the school week. This week has passed by flying! My third week in Japan is ending. Wow, if I were on immersion in France, it’s the end of my program. Good thing this summer program is long, I haven’t even began thinking in Japanese.

I had breakfast with K coz he has school closing ceremony which starts only at 9am. Lucky kid, get to sleep in late. I wake up when the sun shines on me. Good thing too or I would be late for everything.

Breakfast was curry pan. Meaning curry bun. I’ve only seen it in comics before this. It’s a oval shaped flat bun. The outside is golden brown because it is fried and there are tiny crumbs. The bread is soft and when you bite in, a bit salty. You’ll get to the curry filling soon. It’s a paste-like unhot curry with little chunks of potato. Amazing thing.

There was also cucumber (>o<) which I finished first because I don’t really like it. A bowl of corn soup, probably from instant mixes. And coffee. I poured in milk today and the coffee became warm.

I rode the bike to the station and was able to catch the one at 8:31am. :D But the train took slightly more time waiting at one other station. I’m glad my boarding station is the second because it’s easier to get seats.

I sat next to the driver’s cabin. I’ve always wondered what “wan man” on the side of the train mean, until I realised it means “one man”. I think the driver knows I’m looking at him coz he peeks out of the corner of his eyes at my direction. Creepy. He does this pointing thing that I believe is a show for me to see. Or is it not? Hmm…

Finally, I reached my station. I stopped at the library before going to class. Today’s class is in the main campus (thank goodness) so I had some more time to check my email. Usually, I can’t because walking to the normal classroom from the library takes five minutes plus.

Today in Japanese class, we revised “honorary form”. A type of tense that is confusing. There was a presentation by an American student who has been in Japan for a year. It is more amusing than the previous presentation. Sorry!

At lunch, I had unagi don. Eel cooked in soy sauce. It’s a special dish, available only for two days. I was very happy but when I got my bowl of rice… Hm… So little unagi

Still, it was tasty, even though I had to ration my rice so that I don’t end up with plain rice at the end.

At 1pm, we had our history test. I only read the readings for popular culture so I wrote and wrote. I believe it’s a lot better than the last paper. I’m satisfied with a B.

When the test was over, I went out with Wawa. We were going to Naomi’s (my tutor) part time volunteer cafe later at 5:30pm for a mini concert. So before 5pm, we were very free.

That morning, there was an advert for Donkihote. I only peeked at the advert coz okaasan seems to think that I don’t like adverts that come along with the newspaper. Or worse, that I can’t read them. There are pictures and there are Chinese characters, I understand e-ve-ry-thing.

So in the advert was a small square saying Angel Heart perfume, selling at 980 yen. Wow! RM30 for a big bottle of perfume, that’s great. I believe I’ve seen the huge sign for Donkihote, I remember the name coz it sounds like donkey.

Okaasan confirmed that it is near school. Yes! I shall go there today!

When the test ended, it was raining outside. Finally, after so many hot days. RAIN! though very little.

Wawa and I went to the post office. I bought lovely stamps with flowers. We asked about shipping costs. By sea, it costs 2,700 yen for 5kg of printed material. Wow, RM90 for 5kg. I think that’s a good price. I shall buy lots of comics to send back. Ha ha ha

Then we went to DonkiHote. You would think that with a name that sounds like donkey, their mascot would be a donkey or at least Donkey Kong, the ape from video games. No, it’s a penguin. hmmm…

Donkihonte is a supermarket that’s more than your average supermarekt. It is a totally Japanese but totally unJapanese shop. Japanese because it sells stuff that only the Japanese would think of selling: fake wigs, a whole range of cosmetics, perfume, electronics, food. All in one shop. The Japanese (Sakiko and okaasan) said the place is a mess. And that’s the unJapanese part, merchandises are stacked in different orderly messiness.

I spotted the perfume Angel Heart selling at 1,880 yen (around RM60.) Good price, considering The Body Shop eau de toilette sell at RM50++ I planned to buy it but realised the smell wasn’t really “me”. I prefer a more artificial sharp tone for perfume. And the RM30 price I saw was a promotion for Wednesday night. Starting 9pm, they are selling 20 bottles of Angel Heart for only RM30.

I didn’t buy the perfume but now I regret that perhaps I should. I can’t help being such a cheapo. Ha ha

We then went up the building housing Donkihote. It has three stories of arcades. Wow. They have those grabbing machine with practically everything from mp3

ice cream

to bath bubble,

bugs (true! but it was stationed near the counter and I didn’t take any photos in case the employee tells me not to),

clothes

bags and ice cream. Totally disorienting.

They have vending machine that sells ice cream too

One of the floors was obviously a gambling floor. We were very shocked to see at least two babies (who can’t even walk) with their parent(s). One was in a stroller, sleeping (I hope) in spite of all the noise. And the other mother’s hugged him/her while the dad finished his gambling. I didn’t dare take photos of them.

But I got one with Doraemon and Ampan man

We left Donkihote and walked back to school. Took a photo with the school name. There is no really huge sign saying Kyushu University, not that I remember anyway.

We went to Culture Cafe’s computer area on the second. The computers were the ones with the CPU built in the monitor. It runs on Windows 2000, like some of the comps in the library. I tried out two before one of it worked. It was very slow too so I only used it to transfer photos to Wawa’s thumbdrive.

It suddenly rained heavily. Thank goodness we’re already in the building. Later, Naomi came in yukata. She’s the MC for today’s show. Waa! so cute!

Wawa and I went down around 5:30pm. Moe from takoyaki party was there too with her new short hair. Later Sayaka came with her friend, but she kindly sat at our tables.

Moe asked if we were staying till the end. I replied that I haven’t decided yet. Actually I was planning to leave at 6pm, after giving moral support.

But, everyone stayed till the very end. You know why? Because of the cute/ hot guys there. Ha ha. Sounds so embarassing. But someone (to protect the identity) was eye stalking a cute guy while others giggle at other guys. Ho ho ho. But what’s better than a cute guy who plays an instrument?

There was a cup of packaged creamer and another of packaged sugar on our table. Later, we realised that everyone except us must have had black coffee because their table did not have creamer or sugar.

I ordered coffee, which is a whole lot better than the McDonalds’ burnt root drink that I had before.

I also ordered a waffle, expecting something hot but it came like this. Oh well.

Wawa’s ice thingy, with mango flavoured toppings.

The performance was good. There was a Japanese koto, which is obviously what we call guzheng in Chinese but they’re happily unaware that one exists in Chinese traditional music.