Karma

I don't know how much fun I've made of other people for being sick but maybe this is karma.

Anyway ... yeah, Saturday night Alex, Sawako (?), and I met the others in Osaka. We went to the downtown district and it was so amazing!! I felt like tourist but I was completely fine with it. Then they bought taco balls (octopus) which are basically some fried dough wrapped around a tentacle of octopus. I almost tried to make myself eat one but when I speared it, amazingly, the tentacle piece fell out and Michael ate it ... the fried part was ok.

We also had a big dinner there which was pretty great. Lots of litle dishes like pizzas, yakitori, gyoza, etc. And we all had a cocktail and then a little sake. Alex is obsessed with everything Japanese by the way. I mean, I had noticed before, back at like Stanford how everything Japanese was perfect to him, but I thought part of that was like nostalgia or whatever. But no, even here, you should hear him go off about how much he loves this, and that.

Afterwards we went to an arcade (of course) and took some fob pictures. They are amazing. One is now my background picture on my phone. Afterwards, we decided to try and make it home rather than stay out all night as originally planned. Unfortunately, only 4 of us were unable to make it home: me, Ly, Alex, and Chris. So what did we do? Intensive karaoke. 4 hours in a little room and Ly wouldn't let us sleep so we sang all 4 of them. Ly and I chose a lot of hardcore rock like Linkin Park and Papa Roach and the guys sang banjo-y stuff and Beatles. By the end of the night, we had all lost all dignity and sang whatever the heck in any sort of voice.

We left at 5 and I caught my first bus home at 6:30. Needless to say, I nearly fell asleep and missed my stop. I then slept until noon. I went over to Alex's to do homework but instead passed out there too. And in the evening, after dinner, my family, Michael, Alex, and I went over to a nearby karaoke box and did it all over again. gyah.

On Monday was the flea market ... fun to look at it but nothing to buy really. On Tuesday my family and I watched the j-drama episode of zk. Oh man!! I loved this manga. One of my all time favorites. The tv show is a little butchered though ... :( But really, the perfect boyfriend ...

Yesterday, Wednesday, Michael, Alex, Christine, John, Chris, and I went to Kyoto eki to try and exchange our vouchers for JR passes. It's a tricky process cause they're only for tourists and we have visas in our passports that say cultural exchange 6 months so technically we aren't allowed to. But it worked for Michael, Alex, John, and I. Yoon-san too, later.

I have not made it home before 7 on any night yet. This is getting ridiculous. I thought I was going to have free time here but instead I've never felt so rushed before. I'm constantly worrying about deadlines and doing homework an hour before it's due. Ahh!! On M/W I am done with class at noon, but every time something comes up, like flea market, or JR passes.

Oh yeah, so I'm 21. Thank you for everyone who wished me a happy birthday and especially to those of you who sent me cards and whatnot :D Very, very much appreciated. Too bad the legal age for stuff is 20 in Japan ;)