10 minutes left of Halloween

Well, I figure I'll make a post about Halloween.

It's surprisingly big here in Japan. You wouldn't think so, but it is. There was probably a party every day last week. Today, people even went around campus in costume. TISA's Halloween party on campus had alcohol, food, and even shows put on by the juggling and dance clubs. Even the family restaurants are decked out in cheesy decor. The servers were wearing cat ears and pumpkins and shit. As far as I know, Trick or Treat does not exist, though.

Usually, by this time, I expect to freeze, but it's still 60-70 outside.... As of now, I've been in Japan for two whole months already. Crazy stuff.

Gas stations?

Yo.

Much like at OSU, I tend to enjoy going outside at night, whether it's to run errands or just to get fresh air. Tonight, I had to pick up a couple things, so I went to a hyaku en shop. It's finally actually getting a little chilly out BTW (but I was still fine with just a t-shirt before the sun went down).

Anyway, on the way to the closest grocery store, you'll pass a gas station. Funny thing I've noticed is that this is PRETTY MUCH THE ONLY GAS STATION IN ALL OF TSUKUBA. Probably a gross exaggeration, but it's the only one I've seen.

4月　UPDATE: Interestingly, the gas station has become self-service
 now. Huh.
In America, gas stations are everywhere. Also, attached to them is usually either a convenient store or restaurant of some kind. On the contrary, Japan's gas stations are for gas and various car servicing things. This is probably because convenient stores are literally everywhere and they don't need to be in gas stations too. I'm sure there are at least 10 711s on the same street, not to mention Lawson, Coco Store, and Family Mart. You can't go 2 meters without bumping into a konbini of some kind, but gas stations seem to be really rare by comparison. Interestingly, I can both pay my phone bill and take money out of my US account at 711.

In addition to that, vending machines. If I haven't mentioned it yet, vending machines (自動販売機） are also everywhere. While in America, they are usually inside, most of the machines I see here are outdoors. Some even sell hot drinks. Unlike America, though, snack machines are super uncommon (if they even exist?) and I almost always exclusively see drink ones. Today, I stopped at the cheapest one I've ever seen (100 yen per can instead of 110, shityes). Also, I forgot this existed here, even though I have a picture of the stupid grape one.

Red Bull sucks here so I'll settle for this.

Did I mention I got a free rice cooker? It has changed my life. I also bought more utensils, so once I find out which brand of curry to buy, it's totally カレーライスの時間.

For now, furikake. Nothin like a hot bowl of rice when it's cold. Well, except for soup. Or noodles.

Lastly, there was a health examination today for all the exchange students. I had to pee into a paper cup before I went this morning and then fill this little bottle from said cup. It was disgusting. Also, apparently I have high blood pressure and need to go back again tomorrow. Fun. At least I get to practice my Japanese?

風邪

Well, I ended up catching a bit of a cold. Probably from all this changing weather.

Bought some Halls, which are the same as American Halls except grapefruits flavored and with anime girls on them.

Pretty low quality, but...

Actually, my keitai camera takes decent photos if I mess with the quality settings. But, the only way I know how to upload is by emailing my gmail account, and if I reduce to this quality, it makes it go from about 4 MB to 25kb, so it doesn't take any time to send.

It's actually kind of pointless to be able to zoom in this much

I should take/upload more pics to Google as it's been forever, but I've been busy/sick, so...

Anyway, I bought more medicine today. This stuff ran me 980円 and seems a bit like that Emergen-C stuff that you mix with drinks. If I understand correctly, you take it 30 minutes after eating. Unfortunately it is literally the worst tasting medicine I've ever had ever. Seems to be working though!

Paburon

Oh yea, by the way, for anyone who doesn't know, if you get sick in Japan, you're supposed to wear a mask. It's a cultural thing, but it also helps prevent sickness and germs from spreading, which is useful here because of all the tight spaces and close-quarter interactions. In addition, it flags you as a sick person. 

 Plus I just look cool. LOL.

It's getting colder out, but between the medicine and the healthy food (NATTO) I've been buying, I should get better soon, so no worries. ^^

これから気をつけます。

Hello blog.

I somehow made it through my roughest weekend yet. I'd like to say it made me stronger(mentally), but ironically I'm feeling incredibly weak(physically). I think I caught some kind of bug. Maybe it was the weather change. Or a combination of several factors.

If anyone really is reading this, I want to take this space to thank all of my real friends here. Especially those of you who've been supporting me so much lately. It's very, very much appreciated. I honestly can't thank you all enough...

I can't say I'm feeling better (mostly because I'm pretty ill), but at least I've learned a lot.

Speaking of learning, I haven't studied all weekend and midterms start tomorrow. I only have one on monday, so I can cram from 8:00-13:45. For now, I gotta sleep.

So yea...

Midterms are coming up. I should be studying, but I'm not.

Extremely lazy weekend. I'm just catching up on sleep, cooking, and watching TV (read: streaming American shows).

It's oddly warm here for October 15th. The sun went down but it's still 73 and very humid/rainy. Not very Fall-like compared to what I'm used to.

I'm just gonna eat some junk food and watch the office. Yep.

Also, my camera's incapacitated, so I'll either be posting pics from my keitai or nothing at all until I buy a new one...

Bored

The day between parties is always boring for some reason.

Lots of birthdays lately. Also, the school festival is this weekend. Yet another party tomorrow night. It'll be my second nomihoudai, but this one's cheaper and goes all night.

Probably won't end well. XD

I'll probably post info about the festival tomorrow. Maybe some pics, too.