I have officially been in Kyoto over a month. I officially return home to Maui for Christmas break in exactly 2 months. Time is going by much quicker than I thought it would. Thus, when I don't update for over a week, don't think of it as me ignoring all of you, think of it as me being completely unaware of the time. haha.

Anyway... so what have I been up to? I'll rewind to last week. I met up with some of the other FBs in Osaka last Friday night so we could all go clubbing. Caitlin (from University of South Carolina) is researching contemporary dance and she found out that this particular club had a showcase of 20 or so dance teams performing for a couple minutes a piece. We had a really good time. But because the trains stop at around midnight, when you decide to go clubbing in Japan, you better be in for the long haul. Meaning that we were there until the club closed at 5am. Needless to say, I was a bit tired, but the five of us had a great time. We were the only foreigners in the club and were quite the spectacle for while once the performances stopped and everyone got to dance. Here's a picture of me with Bryan (from Colorago College) and Lisa (from UCLA):

After making it back home at around 7:30am, I spent the rest of the day sleeping. Go figure. When I finally managed to make it out of bed, I wandered down to Starbucks and read for several hours. Yay for my caramel macchiato tasting exactly the same in Japan.

Sunday I began my new project - going to a different temple each week. First up was Ginkakuji. I went to Kinkakuji two years ago when I came to Kyoto for a trip with my study abroad program. For those not in the know, Kin is Japanese for gold, and Gin means silver. I will inevitably go to Kinkakuji again at some point, but if you have seen my pictures before, it's this amazingly beautiful golden temple on the edge of this pond that reflects the image of the temple. Ginkakuji was built after it, but was intended to be silver. The story goes that they ran out of money to make that possible, so instead the title is a misnomer but the temple is still very pretty:

Classes have been going well though I find it difficult to be motivated at times. It's a lot class time and I'm admittedly a bit burnt out after four years at Oxy. I am gaining back my confidence with Japanese, which is a plus.

On Wednesday I was finally blessed with internet in my apartment. When the delivery guy came with my modem, I told him in Japanese he was my new friend. I don't think he understood... he basically grunted, made me stamp the form, and walked away. haha. Regardless, it feels fabulous to be reconnected with the world. And I have now caught up on Grey's Anatomy. Which has made me cry an innumerable amount of times. I'm such a sap. Currently Rachel and I are racing each other to see who can get tonight's episode quicker. I'm leading at the moment but since I have to leave soon to meet up with some international students for the evening, she will likely be watching it first. Yay for being Grey's deprived in Asia. haha. Feel free to call me on Skype: 213.985.3424. Leave me a voicemail if I don't answer and I will be sure to call you back. :)

Making friends has been a more difficult than I had expected. Because my status is such that I don't fall into any neat little program within the University, I don't have a ready-made set of friends. I'm having to be more pro-active and outgoing than I typically would be, but I suppose that's a good thing. I'm meeting up with people from my class later today, as I mentioned, so I am hopeful the friend situation will improve soon.

I'm meeting up with Amy (another FB... she went to William and Mary and is creating a cost analysis of the impact of lead-free electronics in Japan) and Regan in Osaka tomorrow. I think Regan is crashing at my place tomorrow night and will join me on my temple site-seeing adventure on Sunday. That night I am attending an FB Kyoto alumni function, which should be interesting.

That's it for now. Hope everyone is doing well!

The weekend turned out to be great despite the change in plans. I made it to Costco and got a bunch of stuff I was looking for, so that was great. It's a little different from America but that was to be expected. I ended up there for a couple of hours, helping the couple from the American Studies Grad School figure out how to get things delivered. I find it funny that I end up translating for people a lot when my Japanese is not great to begin with. Oh well, everything has turned out okay in the situations where I have had to do it.

After Costco, I took a train for about 45 minutes out to Himeji to visit Regan. I got there a bit later than expected, but we stayed up late talking so it was a good night all and all. The size of her apartment made me a bit jealous, but then again, there is a strong possibility she'll be here more than a year. We didn't have time to visit the famous castle at Himeji the next day (and my camera charger ws still in Hawaii, haha) but we got lunch at a really good ramen place and wandered into a bookstore with a huge foreign titles section. Forrest, I managed to find Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride - if I don't like it, it's all your fault. ;)

Saturday afternoon I headed to Osaka after Regan and I parted ways. I caught up with two of the other Fulbrighters, Bryan and Lisa, at a huge mall there. We discussed our housing and school situations and wandered around the Virgin Megastore for a bit. Bryan and I ended up catching dinner at a Korean restaurant after Lisa had to leave to meet up with her host family (Cindy, the bibimba was really good and made me think of you). Then Caitlin, another Fulbrighter, joined us and we watched a black and white movie from the '20s called "Freaks" on the rooftop of a bar in Osaka. Not your average Saturday night activity, but fun nonetheless.

I crashed at Bryan's large apartment in Kobe for the night and then we just went through the shopping district of Sannomiya during the following day. I have never seen so many Louis Vuitton bags in my life! Kinda nuts... Finally I had a long trip back to Kyoto, made it back in time to get all my stuff delivered from Costco.

Yesterday my camera charger, winter coat, Grey's Anatomy and Smallville dvds arrived (Thanks Mom)... I proceeded to binge on the Grey's season two episodes I missed (and cried three times in the meantime, haha). Since I have my camera charger back I should be able to take pictures of all the amazing stuff around me... so you can all look forward to that. I've decided that every weekend I am in Kyoto, I will go to a different temple every Sunday. There are a lot, so that shouldn't be too difficult. But I figure that I am here, so I might as well take advantage of all the historic stuff Kyoto has to offer, right?

Okay, this post has been fairly boring, I am sure... sorry about that... just thought I'd recap the current events of my life.

OH OH OH! Good news - the fine folks at Yahoo! BB should be installing internet in my apartment next Tuesday! YAY! So then I will be able to respond to emails in a more timely fashion, will actually be online, and can Skype with people. If you're interested in my Skype number which will allow you to call me from a phone in the US for no more than it would cost you to call any American number (I have a 213 area code for it), email me and I'll give it to you.

That's it for now. Take care!

Weekend plans have changed. Monday is apparently a national holiday in Japan - Sports Health Day or something along those lines (on a sidenote, Japan has some great holidays. A couple of weeks ago was Respect for the Aged Day). While most schools have the day off, Doshisha does not. This makes going to Hiroshima rather expensive considering I'd only be there a night and the train would be about $160 roundtrip. Thus, I had to switch gears a bit.

Instead, I get to go to Costco this afternoon with some of the American profs from the American Studies Department. Yes, they have Costco here. It's near Kobe, which is close enough that I can go and stock up but far enough away I won't be going more than once a month. Apparently it's full of all the same American stuff, which I find really, really exciting. I'm looking forward to getting my favorite cereal... and getting cereal in a box bigger than... well, I don't what to compare it to, but frankly, it'll be closer to the size I get in America and a bunch cheaper. haha. Rachel pointed out to me that the littlest things can make you happy when you're abroad. Which is not to say you aren't enjoying your time in a particular country, but sometimes it's nice to get the stuff you're used to at home. Regardless, getting Honey Bunches of Oats will make me super happy. haha.

After Costco I am still planning on meeting up with Regan. I think we're going to go to a moon viewing festival at Himeji Castle (which is near where she lives). I'll crash there for the night and then meet up with a bunch of Fulbrighters in Kobe. I think I've already promised to sing Britney Spears at karaoke with one of them... before you go and get critical, may I suggest that you have to sing something absolutely absurd when you go to karaoke. You can't take it so seriously. After all, you're singing into a mic in a small room decorated with glow-in-the-dark stickers and black lights with a TV that scrolls the lyrics for you. I think a little levity, say in the form of "Lucky," is required.

Some other things I'd like to mention:

-I somehow made it through my first week of Japanese classes. 15 hours is a lot. I think I can handle it, but wow - it's hyper-accelerated. I think we get taught about 6 different grammar structures in the first 90 minute period each day. I am either going to leave at the end of the year amazingly Japanese capable (and likely unable to put together a coherent sentence in English) or I'll just be really burnt out. We shall see. Feel free to point out how bad my English gets as the months go by. I left after 4 months the last time and struggled to write papers at Oxy for a while afterward. I think my English competency is inversely proportional to my Japanese improvement.

-I need book recommendations. The upside of not having internet at home is that I read a lot more. So drop me an email or comment with a book you like. I can't guarantee that I will find it in Japan given the relatively small English language sections in book stores, but if it's popular enough, I'll hopefully be able to track it down.

Okay, that's it for now. Have a lovely weekend.

Happy Birthday to Queenie and Emily. Know that I am celebrating with you halfway around the world :)

Alright... so I meant to update sooner... except everytime I started, I got distracted by something... go figure. Oh! Something shiny!

Haha... so anyway... let's see, what happened in the past week?

-I bought a bike. It was new and was about $80. Now I can ride to school and around Kyoto, instead of walking or taking the train, which seems to add up pretty quickly. I am also now free to mow down children and the elderly as I careen down the sidewalks of Kyoto. Have no fear, I do at least ring the bell in hopes they will move first. ;)

-I have decided that you are nothing in Japan without your Alien Registration Card. I have gone to every major bank in Kyoto, only to be denied because I only have my temporary card. Thankfully my real one will be ready next week. None of the other Fulbrighters have had these problems... of course, we all knew I was special, right?

-I went furniture shopping with an American couple on Saturday. The husband is teaching at the American Studies Grad School but neither the husband nor the wife speaks Japanese... so I need to stop complaining about things, I've decided. Nitori (which is essentially the Ikea of Japan) took care of my tiny apartment's furniture needs and it's all slowly getting delivered. And hey, I can even cook food in my own apartment now!

-Speaking of food, the TA who has been helping me out took me to a supermarket the other day that had a foreign foods section. I got wheat thins... and cheddar cheese... and wheat bread... and pretzels. I was quite happy. Really, it doesn't take a lot.

-The TA, Kyoko (she does have a name, after all), also helped me set up my cell phone. While mine isn't quite as nifty as some of the other phones AU had to offer (I went with the freebie), it does have a pretty sweet camera. So, hey - feel free to call me! I don't think it's too expensive if you call me through Skype. My number is 080-6143-1406. I think you drop the first 0 and put 011 in front of everything when calling from the US. And you can send me a text by emailing me at haileyinkyoto@ezweb.ne.jp

-This coming weekend I am going to Hiroshima with Regan, which should be fun :) We went before when we studied abroad two years ago but the city is really pretty.

-Classes started on Monday. It's mostly review for now but it will probably pick up soon enough. I have seperate classes for reading, grammar, listening, and writing. Here's hoping my Japanese gets exponentially better.

-Oh, how did I leave this out... sooooo funny story: On Saturday night I was supposed to meet up with a bunch of the international students but I guess plans changed and I didn't have a cell phone then so there was no way to contact me. I decided to go ride my new bike around in search of dinner. I got to a corner and waited for the light to change, when along came a college aged guy who decided to say in English "How are you doing?" I responded in Japanese, which got him very excited. He proceeded to follow me four blocks, asking random questions in Japanese. I didn't quite know how to end the conversation, so I decided to humor him. That is until he started asking if I wanted a Japanese boyfriend, wondered what I was looking for in a guy, and if I wanted to go drinking with him (all in Japanese, mind you). I finally tried to politely say "Um, I have to go home" now, hoping he'd get the hint. He responded with, "Oh, I'll go with you!" Apparently my hint wasn't clear enough...

Whew, okay. There's the update of the highlights. Leave a comment, email me, call me, send me something... hehe. :)

Miss you all lots!