So...

So I've been really busy these past few weeks, but now that things are starting to sort themselves out I have no problems... Well few really. Just silly things like "I forgot to pack my running shorts" or "わかりません！！" Nothing too drastic. There was a short poverty episode, but thanks to my school, they're soo helpful, that was nipped in the bud. And now that I've gotten my fundings from back home, that's even better. I am not sure whether I want to go clubbing tonight or not, since its all a matter of "when the clubs close, what will I do to fill in the time until I can get home?"  Though, sometime this week there was a shift from a 13 hour difference, to a 14 hour difference from here to home. I wonder what that means. Eh, no biggies. I've made a ton of new friends and am excited because on Monday all of the Japanese students are starting school! YAYS! I can attack them with my sucky 日本語skills. :D Now that my major problem with Japanese has been mostly fixed, I am really excited to go out and talk to people. I realize that my skills with directions suck, but that goes to みちこ先生。There is also a surprising amount of "black" people here. I'm not talking tan asians, I'm talking HEY! YOU WITH THE DREADS/PERM/AFRO~! I get the feeling that socioeconomically, they're way better off than their American counterparts. Moreso there's a ton of black males here. Ahhahahahah! That's a riot, especially when I see them with some girls with really long bleached blonde hair (black roots) and are soo short. Though its really nice to see the diversity of foreigner+Japanese relationships. I saw Africans in a Kyoto Temple last week. They had a translator, and Its really cool when I run into the "black" people because we get these special little moments of "Yeah!" *nods heads and goes on with life* because thar be a special connection that others anywhere else probably wouldn't understand of get. I've taken up to crowd watching just o see how many a day I see. I mean I'm one of 2 (+?) on campus, but they're everywhere. Even in the little high school uniforms. It's really cute. Also, I paid my insurance on Friday (your thursday in America) at the post office. Yup that's where I have to go to pay my insurance (or bills if I had any.) Its really convenient. And since I'm living in Japan, I have to have their insurance, which means that if I got hurt, and went to the hospital, as a citizen I only pay 30% of the bill, and tax money pays the rest. Its really nice since people don't have to worry about making the money to pay off their health bills I bet. I'm having a hard time doing my dreads, because my arms can't reach the back well, (since they're twisted specifically to go towards the back) and I end up twisting them towards the front. The Japanese are enamoured with them! At the Welcome Party tons of host families wanted to talk to me about them and touch them and took pictures of them. They asked "mainichi?" meaning "everyday?" with the motions to twist something. I told them "ichi.... gatsu" which is "one.... month" because I don't know how to say times. like amount. @_@ Curse ye american school with your shoddy yookoso textbook and not teaching well. its okay though, because the textbooks I use here (really cheap in conversion of prices) is paying under $50 for the three I use. (I entered the prices in my phone and its converts them as of the exchange rates standards for that moment). The phones have THE WORST ENGLISH I've ever seen. Its really awkward to use when you're not using Japanese. Essentially I've become the topic of many households dinners, and made a lot of friends/been invited to other host families homes to visit as a result. There might be a few things I will have to buy, like soap and maybe new pants (or those really cute skirts--American fashion is awkward and weird right now, so its why I didn't buy much while I was there... I just need to get some bottoms so I can go running and lose weight faster.) My host mom even noticed a difference between me right now and the pictures my family emailed me that was taken at the beginning of summer. Had a really funny dream that Uncle Jamar was trying to drive one of the tiny cars here, but he had to either stick his head out of the window or drive with the sunroof open. Saw an American 70's car with hydraulics go down one of the narrow streets at school, and laughed because if the street were any narrower, he wouldn't have been able to turn the corner because his car would have gotten stuck. I wondered how muc it must have cost the poor Japanese guy to import such a vehicle. Since I am getting more free time with my schedule becoming more regular, I will start to write what I've done this past month more and more. It'll take a while since I've been writing them down in a notebook so I don't forget... and I write at least 3 pages per day. @______@ I might just rewrite it and hand out copies when I get home depending on how lazy I grow on that subject...