SWINE FLU ALERT

haha not really.

BUT I DO GET ALL WEEK OFF SCHOOL BECAUSE OF THE 5 CASES OF JAPANESE SWINE FLU.

So yeah I'm thinking this will definitely be a travel week. If the weather ever clears up. It's way too much like South Carolina here, and by that I mean the weather is overly bipolar, but always humid. I like it when it's not continuous rain...

So this weekend was pretty epic, if I do say so myself. My ISA had a nomitabehoodai. Which meant we ate and drank all we wanted. And we did. To excess, of course. There were Japanese throwing up everywhere, getting out was like some projectile obstacle course. Afterwards, everyone decided that that just wasn't enough, Japanese-style karaoke had to follow. So for the next two hours we were all screaming into mikes, me really enjoying hearing Japanese pronunciations of American songs, them really enjoying me trying to keep up with Japanese lyrics flying across the screen. I had to leave early, around 2, out of sheer exhaustion, I texted one of my friends later and he said he didn't make it home until 7!

Saturday was fun too, but more in the it's-nice-to-have-a-schedule-finally fun. I met my Korean friend for some local food and we talked about his opportunity coming up to go to an internship in LA, and I promised to proofread his report and help him with his interview, as long as he'd practice his Japanese with me. Afterwards, I had to meet another friend in Umeda for karaoke and dinner. Umeda station on a saturday is a whole different kind of beast, but luckily we managed to find other, swim the crowd, and head out of the constant rain to a nice karaoke parlor. More singing, more eating and drinking, and we made an evening of it, but the bill was way higher than either of us expected, so we promised to keep it to a cheaper club or something next time.

Afterwards we headed to Yodobashi just to look around, and had a great time checking out all the electronics we couldn't afford, and all the gear that nobody should ever buy (500$ pen???). We found some books on Engrish, which is still alive and well on Japan, and we both put off going home as long as possible but agreed to meet up soon to go to a club or have some cheap fun.

Sunday, rainy sunday, has been slow, wet, but not without its good news, obviously. My biggest regret is being without a gym or an IT center for internet all week but I guess since I get a week to not do anything, I can't complain. I'm going to, once again, try to hit up Kyoto and Nara, but at least now I know people from both those places who have promised to show me around some!