I am making good on my promise to update this blog when I can. Right now I should be doing homework, especially as I chose to stay home instead of going out in order to do it. So I will get back to it as soon as I'm done with this. So yea, nothing really knew going on at uni, classes are hard, but workload isn't as bad as I was expecting. I definitely feel that my japanese is improving, although I still struggle with speaking. Often times people will talk to me in Japanese and I understand what they are saying, but I can't express what I want to say. That obviously makes me seem like I don't understand at all. So that is what I'd like to do. I'm going to keep trying to talk japanese as much as I can because that is definitely my weakness at the moment.
I also do 2 english language subjects once a week which is a big relief, as I am able to express my opinions properly. First one I do is the UN. I think it is quite interesting, but the teacher is a bit boring. He likes to talk about his own credentials with the UN a lot, but every second week we have a bit of a panel debate.....and because half the class is japanese and I guess aren't confident enough with their english it makes it easier to speak up.....so I hope that helps with my confidence in class when I come back home.
The other subject I do is called International Peace Studies. Surprisingly it is actually pretty good. It is run by a Danish professor who is head of some big peace foundation, he has also been all over the world so he definitely knows what he is talking about. So we learn about peace funnily enough. Last week was the Gandhian ideal of nonviolent resistance.
Anyway, monday I finally got my bike fixed after leaving it at the school. I was so happy because I was able to converse with the bike shop owner enough that he knew what to do, and he would ask me questions that I could answer. However it became apparent that my bike really is a piece of crap. I needed a whole new tyre and he kept asking me if I wanted the pedals or the brakes fixed too....but all together I could have bought a new used bike for the same price.....maybe I should have instead.
The worst thing though is, I spent that money on fixing it, and now I have lost the damn key! So I haven't been able to ride the damn thing. I have looked all over my room and I can't find it anywhere. But it has to be in the house somewhere because I needed it to lock my bike outside. It is very frustrating.
Friday night it was a girl called Yuka (who doesn't live with us) 's birthday so we went down to the river. There were heaps of international students there, it was quite cool because I don't know all of them. Anyway one of the buddies, Junko, came and took a few of us to her "special place", which is an izakaya in some creepy back alley. (an izakaya is basically like a bar)......so anyway the deal was we would have nomihoudai (all you can drink) for one hour and it only cost 1000 yen, which is about 12 dollars i think.....so yea cheeeeeap as
Unfortunately I may have taken advantage of this offer a bit too much, I lost count of all the various tequila and vodka drinks I had but it was a lot nonetheless, and I got a bit loud and annoying from what I can remember. Luckily for me an Australian girl called Amy got most of the ridicule when she puked in the sink......so she was our House's drunk of the week instead of me. I also don't remember coming home, but people have told me that we took a taxi back and they took me to bed.....so at least I live with some nice, responsible friends here. A lot like back home :)
So yea that was a bit regrettable and I think I may keep it on the backburner for a bit, lest I make a complete ass of myself.
Yesterday I felt so crap too, headache, felt like I was going to be sick....so I just lay in most of the day. I had to go shopping so I went and did a massive shop at the supermarket, other than that didn't get much done. Which brings us to today, again nothing being done....must get back to homework.
So I'll catch y'all later
Jono
man, is there a lost property thing anywhere that you could check for your bike key?
ReplyDeleteseems a bit of a waste otherwise
and WOAH at the $12 all you can drink!
hmm crappy ghandi movie taught me about that nonviolent stuff. interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteamy sounds awesome, hook up with her next time ur both drunk.
might have been better if ur friends left u, then ur appreciation for our group would go up more.
anyway im proud of u jono.
no wonder ur not making many posts. where are comments. stupid mathan.
ReplyDeleteWait a second, so Ben your advice to Jono is to hook up with the chick that puked in the sink? JONO YOU MUST GET CUTE INNOCENT JAP HIGHSCHOOL GIRLFRIEND!
ReplyDeleteGoddamn that drinking place sounds awesome, I would definitely take advantage of that. At copa on the weekend apparently I decided to go to bed and watch the hunchback of notre dame, so I grabbed my laptop, my speakers, and a glass of water, and I don't remember any of this. Then me and Bob ended up singing the Hellfire song very very loud, it was awesome.