Next week I'll be traveling again

End of the week I'm headed back to GENKIJACS in Fukuoka Japan to study Japanese.

GENKIJacs

GENKIJACS
This is the school I went to while I was over there.

Home Again

Didn't get to update during the last week of school because there was a huge influx of new students and now I can't remember what went on.

Other stuff

On the white boards we draw lots of weird stuff to see what the teachers' expressions are.

On Monday after class Manuel and I went to Hakata station to a large store because he needed camera stuff. On the top floor we found an arcade and dumped a lot of money into those games where you win prizes. We walked out with a bag full of Mario Kart related items.

Yesterday we went to a nearby park, but I left all my cameras and stuff at home because I was sick of carrying it all the time. I need to go back there on Friday to get the pictures. Later that night I went to the Canada Day Party at a nearby bar. It was okay, but the drinks were all really expensive and watered down. I saw the Tour GUides from my Canal CIty and Beach BBQ trips and hung out with them and their friends. If they didn't show up, I would have gone home early. I really wish I could hang out with them more because I always meet lots of people.

Lotsa stuff

Okay, I'm finding myself watching stuff on TV I would never watch at home. Everything from cooking shows, to weird make-over shows, to who-knows-what.

Friday was Karaoke and I sang Europe(the lyrics and music were not correct), Iron Maiden, MC Hammer, and I think another band. Someone else sang the song from Napoleon Dynamite and the teachers sang "Linda Linda". After that I ended up at Happy Cock again, which isn't really that great. The drinks are watered down,the place is really smokey, and full of American GIs. I told the others I'm not going there again. As I left I ran into some of the others and we ended up playing pool.

On Saturday I went to Fukuoka Tower with the others. But first we went to this Ramen place that was very impersonal. You buy a food ticket and fill out how you want the food prepared while you wait in line. When you get inside, the seating is all tiny booths and you hand the cook a ticket through a window. After the food is done they drop a curtain over the window. Fukuoka Tower is very tall, and my fear of heights got to me a little bit. From the tower you can see most of the city. On one of the walls was a child's art project that made the building look like it was on fire.
After that we went to a nearby mall and bought capsule toys and played with robots.

On SUnday my host mother took me to a cheap Yukata shop, I bought a couple Yukata for family members. Later on we went to play Pachinko, I didn't win any money, but my host mother and father did. They said they won because of the souvenirs I bought them at FUkuoka Tower. We rented movies and got food from Hatto Motto.

Riding around on my bicycle

I've been riding around on my host-family's bicycle pretty much everywhere. By the time this trip ends I better be an expert on bike riding because it's difficult to dodge all the pedestrians and scooters and other bikes.

A couple nights ago my host mother took me to the video rental store. I tried to find "Machinegun Girl" or some title like that, but couldn't. I really wanted to see that movie because the preview was relly funny. I ended up renting "Cromartie Highschool" the live action movie. There were no subtitles, but I could still followmost of the movie because it was exactly lke the manga and anime. My host mother rented "Little Miss Sunshine" which was pretty funny.

I don't really like afternoon classes here because by the time classes end it's starting to get dark and I can't explore and get a lot of good video. I went back to the Kimono shop yesterday, but didn't get anything because the one they held for me was too small for my niece, and the other ones that they got didn't look too good. I felt really bad about it.

Tomorrow is Friday, so that means Karaoke and bar/club crawling. In the "Fukuoka Now" guidebook there is mention of a big party at one of the nearby places, I'll try to see if I can go there. I also want to go to some kind of amusement park while I'm here. SpaceWorld is nearby, but I really want to go to the Ninja Village place. But it's like an hour or to away, and I don't want to go alone.

Rick Roll`D karaoke

Early on last week I went to a kimono shop to look around and get an idea of how much stuff costs, etc and the person there wanted to help me out so much she called up a guy who spoke a little English to come over and help me. I felt really bad about that because I was just looking.

On Friday was a an Okinomiyaki party at school, but I went to go eat with my host family instead. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe and then went around to Toys'R'Us and other stores to find Doraemon stuff, but had little luck. They did have Hello Kitty fireworks though. After that I went to the Karaoke party and inflicted Rick Astley, Journey, and Led Zeppelin on the other people. Someone stole 2 of my drinks though. As well as my seat, and one of my evil song selections(Numa Numa). :/

After that we wandered over to the club "Happy Cock". It wasn't that great, so I left.

Saturday morning was the school's beach party, and it was really rainy. SInce we were at the beach, I went into the water anyways. We ate BBQ.

Sunday the school had a trip to Nagasaki, but I forgot to sign up for it. So I went to Tenjin to pick up my host family's bike and a new phone card. Sunday night I watched some Baseball, and then Women's volleyball. It was US vs. Japan, and the game was very close, point for point. The US won and my host mother was like "Nooooo". It was funny. Then Raiders of the Lost Ark was on.