Karaoke!!

Ugh I was so tired again this morning. But since the 300 level (aka me) had 2 Japanese classes today (from 9:20 to 12:35) when normally on Wednesdays we just have one from 9:20 to 10:50 like the rest of the levels, tomorrow our class from 9:20 to 10:50 is cancelled!!

So I get to sleep in and only have to be at school at 11:05! Woohoo!

I talked to Yuko about it at breakfast this morning and she said she'd leave me cereal and soy milk in the fridge so I can make breakfast whenever. 

Anyway, here's a selfie illustrating my attempts to fit in with the Japanese.

(Those are my star leggings from America. I still haven't opened the star tights I bought, but I'll be sure to post a pic of me wearing them!)

Except I totally still don't because all the Japanese girls at Nanzan wear a shit ton of makeup and super high heels!

I mean I gotta ride a bike and stuff. Although I have seen girls riding bikes in high heels and super short skirts. Yeah, definitely skills I lack. 

I would never ride my bike in the skirt I have on without leggings.

Oh and embarrassing moment at breakfast...

So when I was telling Yuko about my schedule change I told her that tomorrow my classes started at "gozen ichiji" and she was like, you mean "gogo"? (PM, I had said AM) and I was like no, "gozen" (AM).

And she was all "hontou" (really?!?)

And I kept saying yea, and she kept giving me this weird look.

Yeah, she eventually figured out I had meant "juuichiji" haha.

I'd said one AM instead of 11 AM.

Major fail.

Omg and breakfast...

Guys I got to the table and there was a bowl full of fish a little longer than my middle finger... And they all still had their eyes and everything. They were like full fish as if they'd just been caught.

It was not okay...

Needless to say, I avoided them.

I got to the station in time for the 7:57 rapid train. As I was standing in line, someone tapped my shoulder. Turns out it was Esteban! We'd gotten there at the same time.

So we rode together all the way to school. I also invited him to karaoke. 

On the subway there was some major PDA going on directly in front of us haha and we both wondered whether or not that was socially acceptable in Japan.

When we got off the subway, we ran into Emma! So the three of us walked to school together.

I hung around the CJS office a while taking to people and then headed to my locker to get my textbook (I'd left it at school so I wouldn't have to lug it around Sakae yesterday) and then walked to my class building.

In class, for one of the examples, Mutsukawa sensei asked me:

Mutsukawa sensei: ビセルさん日本の音楽を聞きますか。

Bissell, do you listen to Japanese music?

Me: はい、聞きます。

Yes, I do.

Mutsukawa sensei: だれが聞きますか。

Who do you listen to?

Me: HOME MADE 家族を聞きます。

I listen to HOME MADE Kazoku (my favorite Japanese band, who I found out actually went to Nanzan University!)

Mutsukawa sensei: ああ、HOME MADE 家族。

Ah, HOME MADE Kazoku.

Me: してる？

You know them?

^^^That is actually really bad to say to your sensei. NEVER do that! It's super casual, and it just popped out of my mouth because my host parents say it to me all the time since they speak casually to me.

Mutsukawa sensei: はい、しります。

Yes, I know them.

He responded politely, so I felt bad, but he didn't correct me or anything!

Anyway long story short, later when we were going over invitations (how to invite someone to do something) he did generic things with everyone else, but with me he asked if I wanted to go to a HOME MADE 家族 concert!! It was awesome haha. And I responded super enthusiastically!

So maybe he does like me after all. :)

Lol and later on, we were doing how to politely decline an invitation.

You say the part you don't like about it wa choto...

So if someone asked you to the movies on Saturday, and you didn't like movies, you'd say:

えいがはちょと。。。

The movies wa choto...

Or if Saturday wasn't good for you:

土曜日はちょと。。。

Saturday wa choto...

So I asked if you could say 

あなたはちょと。。。

You wa choto...

Like you don't like the person asking haha. 

And everyone burst out laughing!

Turns out if you don't like the person, you just say choto...

Anyway, we got out a few minutes early from class, so that was nice!

I headed back to the CJS building to meet up with Taylor (she leads the unofficial karaoke club that goes to karaoke every Wednesday).

Everyone else was there already, so we left right away.

It was Emma, Esteban, Taylor, Jess, this girl named Megan, and me.

We stopped by Lawson's to get lunch on the way. I got sushi and this chocolate chip Danish Taylor said was good. It was okay...

Also they were selling entire okinomiyaki!

And I got a free coffee when I paid!

I ended up giving it to Emma.

So we took the subway to Aratama-Bashi, which is on my route so it was free for me!

On the way to the karaoke place (it was only about a three minute walk), I saw this sign and Esteban and I had a laugh about how the poop was bigger than the bird haha.

Karaoke only ended up costing us 480 yen for three hours and at the end we got coupons for 50 yen off next time!

I was a bit hesitant about singing in front of other people because I suck at singing haha but it was SO MUCH fun!! I soon forgot my doubts and danced and jammed out. We sang a mix of English and Japanese songs. It was fun singing the Japanese songs because I got to practice reading Japanese and worked on my kanji! A lot of the kanji didn't have the hiragana sounding them out but Taylor knew them all so I just listened to her.

You better believe I sang HOME MADE 家族 and Taylor Swift haha. And my favorite part was when Taylor, Jess, Megan and I jammed out to The Beginning by One OK Rock. Love that song!

The karaoke room was so cool. We had a private room with two tables and a booth. It was dark with a disco ball and rainbow lights filling the room. We had four mikes and two electronic song chooser things (one of which died pretty soon into our time there).

(Emma's holding the song chooser thing)

We got unlimited drinks too! I had hot chocolate and melon soda. Taylor brought us candy canes to put in our hot chocolate. :)

So here's more pix!

 

(Emma and me singing Love Story by Taylor Swift)

(Megan's song Fly Me to the Moon)

(Nagareboshi by HOME MADE 家族!!)

(Ahh love HMK!)

(Esteban and me jamming out to Don't Stop Believing. Such a classic!)

We all stood on the booth and danced for most of the songs lol.

(The soda machine)

(The outside of our room)

Ahh it was so fun! I definitely want to go back sometime. :)

Afterwards, Taylor, Emma and I stopped at the Book Off around the corner to look around. Then I took the subway in the opposite direction as them and headed home.

At home, I wrote this while Miyabi watched cartoons. She watched Phineas and Ferb. It was in English and had no Japanese subtitles which I found strange.  I asked her in Japanese how much she understood and she said some of it.

For dinner we had this really, really good tofu in sauce that Yuko said was a Chinese dish. My friends were right when they said Chinese food is better here than in the US!

After dinner, Miyabi and I played Othello and she killed me! Rawr.

I learned that you say "onegaishimasu" before you play and "arigatou gozaimasu" after! 

Miyabi said "thank you" to me after we played haha. It was so cute!

My voice is super hoarse from singing. So yay for sounding like a man!

I'm super jealous of my friends at Tech frolicking in all that snow. Make a 雪だるま (snowman) for me, kay?

Here are some pix of me at Nagoya-jo from the CJS Facebook page:

(In the gold building)

(Natsumi, Rassha, Pearl, Rana, me, Emma)

P.S. HMK is doing a concert here in Nagoya in April and I'm kind of thinking of going even though it's $55. Bc I really want to see them play in their hometown! :D