a macaron at the end of the world

After a consulation about what level of Japanese to best study for our current skill level, a bunch of the other international students went downstairs to just sit around and wait to either meet with their tutors or until "Cool Japan" began. I met both Marie's, both from France, though one Marie-Ange and one plain Marie. Among the bunch are Chris, also from University at Sheffield like Mike; Anika, from Australia with even a bit of Mandarin under her belt; and Yookyung (or Becky), a student from University of Toronto (and very fluent in Japanese).
We talked a lot about our own personal cultures and the divides between each other's, especially between laughs. I spoke very clear American English, whereas Chris and Mike speak very British English. Even to the contrary, Romain, Marie, Rene, and Marie-Ange speak a very French tinted English. It's just continually interesting how the language changes so much and yet we have so much in common because of it.

"Cool Japan" is a course focusing on three Japanese culture points: Shodo (Calligraphy), Iaido (Sword), and Sabukaru (Subculture). It's taught by Onigiri-sensei (lol), Taishou (lol), and Rie-sensei (aww, no lol here). The class' introduction was actually quite cool and I enjoyed talking more with Kimberly (from SDSU), Yookyung, and Rene. Afterward, I sat through "Aspects of Japanese Culture A" taught by a host of professors.

I'm not going to take the class. The first lecturer is a Japanese professor of German, trying to speak English to explain Japanese history, philosophy, and psychology. It doesn't really work and the entire time, Mike, Anika, and I were scribbling notes about the terrible class. The class ended early, much to our enjoyment. Mike, Romain, Linus, Andreas, Anika, Julie, and Marie-Ange intended to go to Yo-something Camera to do phone stuff as well as hit up DAISO JAPAN for everyday things. The guys went back to the dormitories to get some money and I ran over to Cafeteria 2 (the one with a CONBINI) to see if the ATM there works. It does, thank god. When I came back, I just waited until everyone came back and then we headed off toward Yokohama proper with Cameron leading the way. I picked up a Pasmo card at the subway station and now it is the closest I get to swiping everything.

We spent a lot of time just getting things at DAISO JAPAN. I picked up a set of bowls and plates as well as utensils. Afterward, we had an impromptu dinner at a TAKOYAKI stand. It was amazing. It comes out to about 100YEN per TAKOYAKI ball, but it's so worth it because it is so delicious. We found a nice semi-dry eave to stand under and eat for a bit. I saw two gangster-ish guys walk into the complex which had the eave and they eventually left with pearl tea in hand. I had to see where it was, and after a bit of sleuthing, I found PEARL LADY, which sadly did not have a REMONTEiI but did have an amazingly good ICHIGOTEiI. When we had all met up again, we headed over to ROUND 1, a massive seven floor entertainment center. The first floor is arcade games of unbelievable kinds (many very Japanese and including but not limited to TAIKO, POP'N, Mario Kart, and Half-Life 2). It had a bunch PURIKURA machines as well. After playing a few games and watching others play, Cameron, Linus, Anika, Julie, and I did PURIKURA.

Then there was BISHIBASHI. It's really simple. There is a large yellow button away from you. There are three buttons in front of you: red, green, blue. And then there are a host of minigames, many involving how fast you can pound the buttons. That game I played for quite a few rounds, and right now, my palms are aching from the slamming of the buttons.

After we leave ROUND 1, we head back to Yo-something Camera, and we try to do cellphones. I can't apparently, after having Ani translate a lot for me because the later the night gets, the worse my cognitive function becomes (yes, I know this is an issue). My age is an issue? In a month I can, but at the moment, I cannot. It's insanely frustrating. When all is said and done, we go snag a drink at Starbucks back at the YOKOHAMA STATION. I love that I can show them my Starbucks APP to specify my rather specific drink. The really weird part is that they also had these little packaged macarons at the counter. They had a marron flavor as well as an apple-cinnamon flavor. I had to try at least one, so I picked up the apple-cinnamon one.

We snagged a bus home and I unpacked my DAISO goods. I took a freaking glorious hot shower, because lately the weather has just been damp and altogether annoying for the state of being dry and clean. Post-shower, Sri and Han come back to our floor and tell me that the other guys are going to do a KONBINI run, just in case the impending typhoon rendered us unable to go to the cafeterias on campus. The walk down wasn't particularly bad, just somewhat wet and my jeans were just a little damp. At the KONBINI, I picked up more than just a day's worth of provisions, including some bread, some strange ham, and a bunch of condiments. The sojourn back up the hill to Minesawa was hard. By the time we were fighting the hill, we were fighting the wind, and the rain was starting to really pound. The hill had water running down the sidewalk in a rather large amount, wetting my feet and my shoes. Once we finally got to the dormitory, my jeans were soaked, not just damp, up the the knees and I bumrushed my way up four flights of stairs to take them off, dry off, and head to sleep.

Oh. But I cleaned up first, and then I had the apple-cinnamon macaron as a treat to myself. The texture is not exactly that of a macaron, but it has a very similar one. The flavor is surprising as it was actually quite nice and maybe, I'll try an apple-cinnamon jam in the future.