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 :)