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!