On Monday, I took my Japanese 1 and Japanese 2 classes for the first time. Since there are very few international students at Osaka Geidai, there were maybe only about 5 people in that class, there was an American teacher there too. Ryan was there also. I arrived a bit late tho trying to find the classroom >_< bad bad. Anyway, we each had to introduce ourselves and then watch a video on using japanese in the work force. We also had a worksheet that we went through together. Yay for keigo! (敬語 = honorific and polite way of speaking). After lunch, I had to come back to the same exact classroom (4th floor yay T_T). While I already knew stuff from the Japanese 1 class, Japanese 2 suddenly jumped past my level –; Sensei passed out handouts with an article on it and we would read through it and discuss and answer some reading comprehension questions. So many kanjis and vocab I dunno –; So instead, sensei gave me a separate handout with a short article on fast food in Japan, which was fairly easy, although I don’t know all the vocab on the articles so I figured it’d be good to do anyway. Normally for Japanese 2 at OUA you’d do your own self study, since everyone is at different levels (well the Korean and Chinese students in my class were already ahead of me since they’ve been in Japan a while) The only textbook I really brought with me was from Japanese 321, which had the most useful lessons in it. Though I wish I had brought the textbook that I would be studying when I come back to America to get a head start >_< The teacher, Saito-sensei, seemed really nice and she’d occasionally ask me questions regarding the topics they’re talking about in class or the worksheet I was doing

Tuesday there was no class again (I don’t know what’s with all these no class days) So I decided to get a few more things I needed and check out a store called “Komeri” that was pretty close to where I live. Judging by the outside, it had all farming things and assorted plants. And walking inside, it did pretty much feel like a watered down home depot, smaller (not in a warehouse kind of building). They sell equipment for farmers, pet things, a few electronics, kitchen things, toiletries and furniture. Komeri even has its own original soundtrack…the music seriously sounds like the store music in rpg games! This was probably the best place for me to get toiletries since the prices are better than Mandai’s. Later I found out that I can buy a box of 6 2 litre water bottles for much cheaper than separately, WIN . It’s the American mentality: buy in bulk, save more money.

Been surviving on konbini food, which I know is pretty bad >.>; at least for the time being until I figure out how to get to the nearest market from here. –; The customer service is as good as foreigners say so far, compared to our standards. They treat you really well and always acknowledge your presence, so if you just browse the stores and pass by any of they may say 「いっらしゃいませ！」”irrashaimase!” even if they already have when you entered. They are attentive and speak in a clear audible voice with a smile, and of course speak in really polite language 「敬語」”keigo”. They announce the price for each item scanned and they really confirm everything with the customer. Do you have a point card? Would you like this heated? From a 1000 yen? Would you like the warm food and the cold to be in the same bag? One time a lady was about to bag some of my things, but she stared at it for a couple seconds and said “sorry” and put that one aside and opened up a new bag…maybe there was a hole in it???

Oh yea and point cards…I always been saying no at Family Mart just cause I don’t want to deal with it. (I guess part of the mentality with avoiding getting credit cards). A point card though is different from the kind of store credit cards back in America. Everytime you purchase something at the store, you collect points on the card, which you can use later to receive bonus things for free. You can also get some percentage discount and other stuff. It is similar to the membership or credit cards, that they’re supposed encourage you to shop more and be loyal to their store.

Oh yea and I need to develop a system for dealing with the coins. oh and…I HATE COINS. In America, I used my debit card a lot and avoided carrying too much cash. When I did use cash in America and got change back I would collect all the annoying pennies, dimes, nickels in a bag and when it was pretty full I’d throw it all in the Coinstar machine at Ralphs. But Japan uses cash more, and they also have more coin denominations. The lowest paper bill is 1000 yen (roughly 10 dollars), so I figure the 500 yen, 100 yen, and 50 yen coins will be used a lot. Then there’s the loose 1 yen, 5 yen, and 10 yen coins… so annoying T__T Especially when I buy something and get my receipt and change back, they would stick this heavy wad of coins on top of my receipt…I wouldn’t be able to put it in my wallet like normal T_T So I just throw it all in my pocket, and later I gather them together in an ash tray at home as kind of my coin holder. Judging by the time at Izumiya with Mamiya-san, it’s probably encouraged to get your payment exact or to even out the payment enough that you don’t have to receive and deal with more loose 1,5,10 yen coins. So now I try to get the payments down to the cent to get rid of those annoying coins –;

Each time I get home, I get tired so easily. I mean to do the blog and my video project but I just knock out really easily –; Until I get used to the new routine and time difference maybe…