Saturday
Well, to be honest, this was probably one of the more pathetic weekends. I spent Saturday almost entirely at home in my apartment fussing about and playing video games/reading. Actually, I spent most of the afternoon hiding from the sun and trying to understand my laundry machine. I banned myself from leaving the apartment until I had done my laundry. This presented a problem because I didn’t want to do my laundry, and I really wasn’t sure how to use the new Japanese laundry machine I had.
The story there begins around noonish when I set about making sure my laundry was sorted into Darks and Lights. I decided to start with the lights because they were mostly T-shirts and, such so if something went wrong, I could replace them. Well, nothing went wrong, but to honest I’m not sure when I am supposed to put the detergent into the washer. So, after learning that I had to click the “power” button in order to just start the machine, I just poured some detergent into the washer. Then I adjusted the water level and clicked start. However, I must have clicked it twice because nothing happened with the washer for over an hour. Apparently, if I click the button once, that results in “start” but if I click it a second time, that temporarily pauses the thing until I un-click it.
The next problem to occur was the stupid thing kept beeping every 20 or so minutes, but it wasn’t done. It was still half full of water. I couldn’t figure it out. So, I think my whites got washed two or three times in that water. Eventually, let’s say around three or so, I realized the drain hose was attached to the side of the washer and pointing straight up. No wonder it wasn’t draining. It had no way to drain. Unhooking that and pointing it towards the drain changed everything. A half-hour later, the wash was done and 50-75% dry. Then I hung it all up to dry which was the easy part of the process I think.
Since I ran out of hangers and hanging space with just my whites, I decided to wait until they were mostly dry before running the black load. Considering how hot, sunny and dry it was outside, this turned out to be ideal. By about 4:30 or so, the whites were almost completely dry, so while I folded stuff, I made the black load start. Without drawing out the details, I can safely tell you that it was somewhere around six pm before I finally left the apartment.
After going out, I accomplished two things:
Food bought from a Family Mart I found as I explored East of where I live. 5$
A external DVD drive for my laptop so that I can watch rented Japanese movies. 45$
I failed to rent a DVD though because I needed proof of address with me which I thought I didn’t have, but it turned out later when I got back to my apartment that I did have.
I am pleased to point out that the DVD rental place that I found, had both Burn Notice and the A-team TV series. Not that I plan on renting either, but that it is good to know Japanese people can experience both.
Sunday
I woke up stuck in a dream in which I was writing a story in Japanese. I have now begun writing it in English. Again, like all the stories I’ve started, I may never finish it, but I’ll try.
So, the main adventure for Sunday amounts to three things:
1. Mass in English?
The cathedral offers Mass in English… something I plan to never participate in again. First of all, I could understand more of the mass when it was in Japanese than at that English Mass. Why? The easy answer is that the Mass was not in English. It was in a mixture of Tagalog, Spanish, English and a touch of Japanese. The priest was awesome because he could obviously speak all four, but to be honest, I was weirded out by how hippi-ish the Mass was. It had acoustic Guitar music, a philipino translation of the readings into English (which honestly had strange English), and lots of random interjections by the priest in some other language. Besides, I couldn’t understand why, but the ones who I would consider the Tagalog speakers in room would chatter amongst themselves all the way through the Mass. It was really pathetic and distracting. I think I have experience culture shock in the form of Japanese culture suddenly feeling normal.
2. Hondori
Really nothing much to report on hondori, except to say that I don’t think it has changed a bit. At the same time, it has dramatically changed. I was pleased to note that he arcade has about four shooting games that I didn’t recognize including a Silent Hill rehash, and I also noticed that the card-based games in the arcade are all unfamiliar as well.
3. Fukuya
This is where I am as I write this now. Wow, I am amazed at how large this place is, but I am ecstatic to note that I have finally found a good grocery store. Furthermore, it is right where I have to pass by to get to and from work. Also, I found JLPT N1 sign up information as well as study books. I, of course bought one of each, but thus far have gained a policy with games and books.
1 study book: when completed may get another
1 video game each for PSP and DS: when completed may get another
1 reading book: when completed may get another.
These are respectfully: N1 study book, Jeanne D’arc for PSP, still nothing for DS, and Natsu by Mori Hiroshi. We’ll see how long my policy lasts eh?
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