Next: The day I flew back, I seemed to just attract random people to talk to me. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, but they sure wanted to talk to me. WTF?

Now: Penn State is being special. The good: The Japanese department is letting me into the one, single class I need to get the minor; it also turns out that I very much prefer learning Japanese in the US than in Japan. Funny, huh?

The bad: Penn State provides 16 late drop credits. I scheduled too many classes once upon a time, and had to drop a 3-credit course. That leaves me with 13 late credits. Education Abroad “scheduled” me for 15 dummy credits. I now get to ask my asthma doctor to write a letter saying I was perfectly healthy, asthma-wise, before I left, which I get to submit as a petition to the Faculty Senate to grant me 2 freaking late drop credits.

Yeah, you see how this is going already, don’t you?

I’ll just throw in that the microfilm/newspaper job in the library I applied for was not thrilled to find out that I added one, single, teeny-tiny class. Apparently the time that class meets just happens to be when the mail shows up that they want me to process. Guess who’s probably not getting a job for 12-15 hours a week?

So, yeah. I’m still sick, too, by the way. Conditions of the Japanese class are as follows:

Don’t miss any classes. EVER.

Take 2 kanji quizzes tomorrow (Friday).

Take the chapter 8 test as scheduled, and the chapter 6 test a week later (don’t ask about 7; he’s the black sheep of the family, and nobody talks about him anymore…i guess…)

Turn in all homework on Monday. NO EXCEPTIONS.

I should also mention that this was annotated in about 3 different colors of highlighter, and included a lovely parting message of NON-NEGOTIABLE (yes, it was spelled right. i think.).

I can’t tell if they like me, or hate me an awful lot.

I suppose I could get rid of the garbage, and consider packing up what I’ve decided to give away, but I won’t. Not yet, at least; I just don’t want to move. Argh.

I haven’t left at all today, and had to drag myself out of bed with the thought that I had to be ready for the guy to come at 3, just in case (supposed to come sometime between 3-5; he showed up at 3:40ish).

I hope the pillow fits tomorrow, and that I don’t forget the keys for the locks. I hope Julie takes most of the stuff I’ve got left. I hope dinner is edible, because I’m kind of out of snack-type food. For that matter, I hope Satoshi won’t freak out at a request to stop at the conbini for airplane snacks…and that if I’ve got any money left over on the Yurica, that he’ll take the thing and use it, or give it to someone who will.

Meh. I’m done with you, Japan. Done.

Second, and the main point of this post, don’t give me any fish. Period. I’ll be too afraid to eat it, because fish in Japan ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS has teeny tiny bones that will jump out and HURT YOU. I don’t even care if it’s breaded haddock; don’t give me fish. For that matter, don’t give me shrimp or clams or whatever, and I swear if you put anything remotely seafood-like anywhere near me, I will scream.

It would probably be a good idea to not take me to Red Lobster, or Long John Silvers, for the forseeable future once I return. Go ahead and get me chicken, or corn dog bites; so long as I’m nowhere near the place you got them, it should be ok.

Also, I want a steak; a filet mignon, because every damned piece of beef I get here is gristly and fatty and disgusting and I’m not allowed to spit it out because that’s rude and insulting to the cooks.

Can I cry now?

2. Yes, there were chickens/roosters in the shrine. Hence, holy/sacred  chickens. Is it bad that it was around lunchtime, I was hungry, and the first thought in my head upon seeing random chickens was “food?”

3. Hi. I’m done with listing crap now.

I went to Atsuta Jinja today, aka the shrine which supposedly holds Kusanagi, The Sword. Yes, The Sword; it’s capitalized for a reason. There are 3 treasures of Japan, all related to very important origin mythology: sword, mirror, and jewel. The Mirror is at Ise, the Jewel (probably more like a necklace) is at the Imperial Palace, and the Sword is, as I said, at the shrine I went to.

While I was walking up, I found some plum blossoms. I couldn’t get any decent pictures of the flowers themselves though, so I’m kind of sad. Anyway, an old Japanese man started talking to me in English (this happens randomly; it’ll either be in English or Japanese; it happened to Renee in Japanese at the one department store we went to), and asked if I wanted a tour guide. I said sure!

So, I ended up going to the shrine the proper way: purifying myself with the water, and praying at the temple. Apparently I came at a good time; as it was explained to me, the roof is faced with copper. When the copper turns green (as it inevitably does), that’s considered poisonous, and it actually allows for bugs (mostly ants) to come in and break down the building itself. They had just re-faced the main shrine (that I have no pictures of, because it’s sacred and the priest said no, so you listen to the priest and his back-up policeman), so it was all shiny and pretty. Anyway, you throw a coin in the box (1 yen; it’s essentially a penny), bow twice (first for hello, second for “I’ll come again”), clap (to “wake up” the god/goddess), then bow again (to say thank you for hearing your prayer). You also bow twice at the main torii/gates, for respect and to say hello.

It took forever to get there, but I’d say it was worth it for the tour by itself. It smelled AMAZING too; first the plum blossoms (which I think we need some of at home, BADLY), and then the new construction they were doing…shrines are built out of ceder!

I was extremely annoyed when I wanted to leave though, because I couldn’t figure out how to get out. I don’t think the kami wanted me to leave…maybe I SHOULD have bought a magatama [comma-shaped jewel that kami (gods/goddesses) like]; then the kami could leave with me instead of holding me hostage! >_<

2. Cancel bank account (Tsurumai- Kawana)

3. Cancel health insurance (Higashiyama- Ikeshita)

Things I want to do:

Atsuta Shrine (where they keep the sword) (Meijo- Jingu Nishi, exit 2)

Figure out what the map means by Really Big Torii (shrine gate; maybe for Toyokuni Jinja) (Higashiyama- Nakamura Koen, exit 3)

Orchid Gardens (Meijo Yabacho)

Zoo (starting point)

Considering I didn’t go to Setsubun today, and Julie apparently freaking participated in it, I think I need to make a shrine visit. It would be stupid of me to leave Japan without visiting one of the sites where they hold the 3 treasures. Ise is too far away (that’s where they keep the mirror; close enough to make a long day trip, but I don’t have time for that), as is the Imperial Palace in Tokyo (jewel). Considering the shrine where they keep the sword, though, just happens to be within the city…yeah. I think I’m going to Atsuta.

I saw the penguins at the aquarium, and as annoying as it is that the zoo is RIGHT THERE, LESS THAN HALF A MILE AWAY, I don’t know that I’ll get to see it. I want to, since their plum blossoms are supposed to be blooming right now.

As for the Orchid Gardens, I mean, HELLO, PRETTINESS.

Really Big Torii is just a strange thing I found while clicking on the various subway exits on a certain site. I guess it’s the entrance to this shrine that looks to be really far away (but is, in all likelihood, up stupidly steep steps that go on forever), but I thought I might look.

In general though, I figure if I have any time left after doing those 3 things tomorrow (which means getting up at 7:00, and hopefully showing up right when the doctor’s opens), I’ll pick something. I do need to look up when the various places close though. Shrines are less of a problem with that; I’d just be taking pictures, but I would appreciate some daylight, so any later than 5 or 6 is kind of out anyway.

Zoos aren’t that fun in the rain, in case you didn’t know. Actually, neither is walking around in a city, which would sort of rule out any shrine visits or finding the bank.

In any case, I “wasted” the whole day. I don’t regret it at the moment, mostly because of something else I decided about Japan: ever since I got here, I’ve been pushed around from one place to the next. I hate that. I think I even told the woman from IES in Chicago that I felt that way, and it was explained as “that’s the way orientation works; it’ll get better once you have a schedule again.” Well, no, it didn’t; not really. What makes it worse is that I can’t actually refuse to do anything, or ask questions. The standard response to a question is to not understand why the mere mortal is questioning the mighty authority. I don’t like doing a stupid song and dance routine for half an hour just to get someone to do what I want.

That was far more information than anyone really wanted to know about a day I skipped/ignored, wasn’t it?

I need to clean the room, which is mostly taking the old soda/water bottles out (but there’s so many, and the caps have to come off first, so I have to dump whatever’s left in them). I need to pack, which means I need to wash clothes tomorrow night, but I could just figure out what I’ll be wearing for the next 3 days and pack the rest.

I’m really not looking forward to cleaning/sorting.

CJS says the letter from the doctor will be ready Thursday morning between 9-12.

If I’m supposed to have the health insurance card at that point, then I can’t get rid of it until after I have the note. Ward office closes at 5:00.

Guy from IES just emailed me, and said the luggage person would be here between 3-5 on Thursday.

I’m really going to cry now.

On to less exciting news. I dragged myself out of the dorm around 1:30-1:45 and made it to the CJS office after getting some karaage-kun regular (aka the best chicken nuggets EVER; the -kun I think refers to the cute chicken mascot) from Lawson. I did fill out the form to withdraw, and got it signed by my CJS adviser.

I asked about the bank account, and it turns out I actually have to have the ATM card first, so that I can take it, my bankbook, alien card, and student ID (I think that’s all…) to a bank I have never actually been to before. There, I have to fill out a form, stamp it with my pretty inkan (it has been used for official things, really), and wait until they can give me back my 1000 yen. Joy.

I called the post office, and they’re supposed to drop off the card here between 7-9 tonight. Dorm lady-person wasn’t here on Saturday when they last tried, so, hopefully I’ll get it this time.

With the rent, I went around in circles with CJS for probably half an hour at least, where I tried to explain that I was leaving the day after the rent was due, so there wasn’t any point in me paying it. I finally got them to take it from me and deal with it (without me).

Turns out I shouldn’t get rid of my JNHI (health insurance) until after the doctor hands me this magical note that might get me some money back (doubtful, but whatever). Doctor’s note supposedly won’t be ready until Thursday, so I’ll probably be running to the ward office before it closes at 5.

Suppose I should open the package from mommy now.

Amusing: adapting a famous manga from the 1970s that happened to be a huge influence on subsequent shoujo (girls’) manga. Battle scenes in happy-happy-joy-joy musicals tend to be hilarious in general: there’s a lot of happy dancing, but the main guy suddenly appears to have been mortally wounded (no one else was, just the one guy), and he staggers around. In the meantime, the happy, energetic dancing continues…ending with French flag-waving and what, the French national anthem or something. Just when you think it’s all over, the girl’s been told the guy she loved was dead (he didn’t love her anymore), she says something like “it’s ok, I know we’ll meet again someday.” And you think, that’s it. They’re not…oh. Oh. OH NO. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! And there, on stage, are the gates of heaven, candles and all white, and here comes the dead guy, up from under the stage, all dressed in white. Fog machines are going constantly, so there’s also a nice, fluffy cloud cover. He sings a final song as angel-dead-guy, and that’s it.

Boring: Not knowing the story beforehand, and not knowing enough Japanese to know what’s going on during monologing. This, however, makes for interesting moments…like not knowing the one “guy” character was actually a girl raised as a boy.

That was the “Rose of Versailles” part; it went on for, I think, 2 hours? Not sure. After the 15-minute intermission came “Dancing for You.”

That…was special. Busby Berkely, anyone? Radio City Music Hall Rockettes? Broadway? ANY OF THIS RINGING A BELL??? Whatever. There were a lot of lights, sparkliness, costumes, feathers, and singing. The best part, for me, was the rendition of “Get me to the Church on Time.” Yes, there was a musical number from My Fair Lady. Yes, a lot of it was in Japanese, but the chorus…*melts* I didn’t recognize any others, and many other people (from IES) were evil and had never seen the movie before, so they didn’t know the song!

Other points of interest:

• chorus line, with feathers!
• hobo bums in “New York City”…who then magically changed into businessmen (they took off the bum-coats)
• a fake piano
• curtain call involved fan dancing, and turkey/peacock fluffiness behind the main people
• 3 encores (re-raising of the curtain to show the cast; they didn’t actually do anything else)

I took pictures of “Dancing for You.” I didn’t actually know I could take any the first half, and I wish I had, because the dresses were special and pretty (I swear, one looked so much like a wedding cake, it wasn’t funny; it defined why I don’t like the color pink), and so were the military uniforms.

Special Note: Penny presser machines in Japan are FAIL. There’s a flat piece of copper already in there, so you just put in your 100 yen coin, and the machine presses the blank copper piece to give you your souvenier. I still got one from the Pokemon Center at Oasis 21 though.

today: Went to the aquarium; saw dolphins, beluga whales, sea turtles aaaaaannnndddd penguins. Lots of penguins. I also found a mall, and ate my first Japanese-style crepe. It was delicious. Much shopping was accomplished; more was bought at the aquarium, but more money was spent at the mall/general area. Subway route went as such: Higashiyama Koen (Higashiyama line) to Motoyama; change to Meijo line until Kanayama; change to Meiko spur until Nagoya-ko. Next: Nagoya-ko to Kanayama (Meiko) to Nagoya Dome (Meijo). Ending with Nagoya Dome to Motoyama (Meijo) to Higashiyama Koen (Higashiyama). I ended up doing a complete loop around the Meijo/Meiko in the end, but it was broken up.

What I bought: bottle of water (@ sunkus), 2 fried chicken (one for lunch, one for supper; both @ sunkus), box of apple juice (outside mall), banana/pineapple/peach crepe (mall),  necklace (mall), a present (sort of at the mall), file/folder (Penguins of Antarctica), penguin postcard (i will never, ever send it though!), penguin on a spring, emperor penguin feather in a bottle, keyring, washcloth, chinstrap penguin magnet (folder-magnet from aquarium), Hello Kitty dressed as the Nagoya dragon (strap), sheep meat diagram (strap), Ishida from Bleach (strap), plastic version of the fish-shaped pancake with bean paste inside (strap). Strap means thing you’re supposed to hang off your phone; it’s as an alternative to a keychain.

tomorrow: Takarazuka at 2:00, @ Sakae. Sakae=shopping, so we’ll see what happens. I need to visit the 7-11 after today though.

I took a LOT of pictures, but I don’t know when I’ll get them all up.