Hmmm, not much to saaay... last Sunday I went to Harajuku with Lisa, Matt, Allison, Priscilla, and Liz, which was lots of fun. It was nice to go back to another place I hadn't been since January. We shopped all up and down Takeshita-doori and I spent maybe a bit too much but I have lots of cool new socks now, so I consider it a fair exchange. :D! I also got one of those skirt+leggings ensembles that seem to be kind of popular now. The leggings end a little below the knee and have lace along the bottom. They're really cute. I was suspicious of this whole leggings thing because I will admit that I used to abuse leggings in elementary school, but I think it's safe for me to own a pair again.

It had been raining a little (not very hard) the 4 hours we had been wandering around though (I got a pink semi-clear umbrella! So cool) so after we got done shopping, instead of doing anything like going to Yoyogi Park (where bands play) or the bridge where the cosplaying people are, we all just went back home. Kind of laaaame, but we all said we'd come back someday when the weather was better.

Backtracking a little, last Tuesday like I said, I went to Lisa's host family's house for dinner, and we totally rode the monorail. IT WAS SOOOO COOL. The rails are above the train, and it hangs suspended from them. Watching it pull out of the station and glide away into the night over the streets and through the buildings was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. MONORAAAAIILLLL <3 And it was fun at her house too, her host mom made a ton of really delicious food (I forgot to bring a gift!!!!! I felt so bad) and it was really cool. When I needed to leave it was still raining really hard outside so her host mom drove me to the monorail station, which was really nice. By the time I got all the way back to where I live (this was wayyyy out in Chiba, far west of where I live, closer to Tokyo) it was only raining a little bit and I could ride my bike home no problems, even without an umbrella (like I can do that hold-the-umbrella-with-one-hand-bike-with-the-other thing anyway! I need one of those things that holds the umbrella up for you).

Dinner with Endo-san has been really weird lately. We agreed on a time for dinner: 6 pm. So first, we all get back around 6:10 one time and she tells us we're "late." Right. Now she's started bringing dinner in at 5:15 or 5:30, when usually only one or two of us is home yet, and saying "Everyone's late, huh?" Um, whaaaa? It's not even our set dinnertime! Don't say we're late! And then sometimes SHE'LL be late, and come in and tell us she didn't have time to make us anything proper and just give us something we know she warmed up really fast. Today I got home and dinner looked very promising. One of the dishes was this sort of pasta salad with lettuce bits, pasta (the kind that the Cheesy Alfredo macaroni & cheese used to have--Mom knows the kind!--so I was really excited about that) and some meat things. So I take a bite of the pasta and realize... the meat things are tuna. And I poke around it more, and I discover TINY SHELLS. What!??! She knows two of us don't eat fish!! Why is she serving us stuff with fish in it?! I tried to wash out the pasta and get rid of the fishy bits, but I couldn't. It was completely contaminated. agh!!! And I love that kind of pasta, so I really wanted to eat it! But no!! arrrgh.

Brette and I contented ourselves with going to the grocery store, where I got cream sauce and macaroni pasta so I can make my own proper pasta next Sunday. Ha! I also got a bunch of crazy candy/Pokemon themed snacks for Bekah. As soon as I can find a box to mail it in, I'm sending her stuff.

I also thought my bike was stolen today because it wasn't where I parked it in front of the station. I really got all worried, thinking I'd have to call my old host mom in tears telling her the bike got stolen, and I even entertained notions of going to the police (the police station is right next door) but wondered if they could even do anything, and I didn't even know the word for "steal"... well, it was there, just someone had moved it!! To the row behind the row I was parked in. whyyy? This has never happened before! But the most important thing is the bike was not stolen. Which is good, because who would want that old thing anyway? Well, I like riding it of course, but it's plain and silver, no allure for the hoodlums running around stealing bikes.

I am kind of dying to go to Disneyland (it'll be this weekend or the next, probably the next) but I need to get a new camera first. Mine is pretty much dead. I can get the camera duty-free too, 5% discount! So I think it's gonna have to be Akihabara this weekend if I have any say about it. I'm also really tempted to get a Nintendo DS and Pokemon, I wasn't originally that interested but some guys here bought those things and they're having a lot of fun with them. Plus I bet it'll help my Japanese a lot and be something fun to do on the train (besides listen to music and zone out), but that's another $200 purchase I probably don't need to make. Oooh, I really want a white DS though... I also think I'm going to go to the Pokemon Center in Nihombashi sometime soon. I'm gonna take a bunch of pictures and make Bekah totally jealous! :D

Our IES field trip to Nagano (1998 Winter Olympics site!!) is coming up at the end of the month too, I'm totally excited. We get to go to the monkey onsen!!! (read about it! If you click the "Japanese Macaque" link you can see a picture of the monkeys IN the hot springs pools!) And do lots of other cool stuff! yayy