14th April 2010

I've been studying day and night, literally... when i sleep i continue studying Japanese and i continue studying in the dreams, putting sentences in the correct order etc. I'm starting to get a headache with the studying, but i have to. This is a language, it requires that kind of determination.

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So.. today after school, i bought a suit! :) i didn't go with grey though, i found one that was dark gray with some light light blue lines which was cool and i tried it on and almost bought it but i chickened out and went with the safer color, black, king of all colors.

i won't tell you which brand or anything about it, wait till you see it next week.

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Today was/is much colder than yesterday. Much too much! today was High 16 and Low 8

Tomorrow will be High 11 and Low 6 .... yaaaaaayykksss!

Anyway, i was very cold, since i had a polo shirt on and no jacket today, when i reached home but decided to jog again towards the place i went yesterday. As i was leaving the Japanase friend saw me and asked me if its ok for him to join me jogging, and we both went jogging. He was cool and actually had good stamina, he kept up with me.

I have sooo many pictures to show you... it was a really cool experience.

While we were walking, i spotted OSAKA CASTLE, i've been there before when i stayed in another hotel. I didn't know it was close to my dorm, maybe in the future i'll go there on my jog.

Also, if you noticed yesterday's map, there was a park, i'll visit it some day as well.

And later i got back, took a hot shower, and the dorm's dinner was actually delicious, shrimps and fish.

I met the Taiwanese guy who interpreted for me on my first day and he also joined us at the table, it was cool.

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Osaka Castle

Compare it to last night's post

Dinner

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Again, i hope you enjoyed the pictures :)

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PS. I have two photo's of me, i have added them to facebook, you can view them only if you're my friend on facebook... sorry

13th April 2010

Our class is a bit strange, we don't have one teacher. We have a basic teacher that comes for 3 half days during the week then the other days we have 2 teachers per day.

I at first hated this, i have a feeling that our class is like the forgotten class and they are trying to fill in rotating teachers just to get by.

Today i actually thought that i'm enjoying this, better than having one teacher we have 6 teacher or so. More personalities. More dialects to hear. etc. etc.

Today, the 2nd half teacher, Tanaka san, he was a bit of an eccentric fellow. lol funny in a coo-coo way lol

but i really like him, really like him. Also at the end of the class he told us that since SAKURA season is ending (you can see the leaves falling from the trees) he was telling the class how to go to a place that will feature a festival from tomorrow till the 20th. This festival is on a river bed and there are many shops selling barbecued meat and cafe's. Also this path has many sakura trees, so from tomorrow there will be sweet shops selling all sort of SAKURA sweets (peach sweets).

It turns out that this place is actually very close to me, on the same road i live in.

So after school i went home and got my jogging clothes on and jogged till that place... it was breath taking... beautiful. (a nice ending to a 5K jog)

I went back home got my camera and returned to take pictures. I'll go tomorrow or the day after once the festival has started and eat some SAKURA SWEETS. (my jeans are really really loose, i think i lost a lot of weight)

* * *

At school today i had to buy a Kanji book, so i also bought the book for the next level above my level. The guy there asked me if the class is easy for me, i said yes but my kanji and speaking skills are not strong. Then i asked him if i can move up, he said you shouldn't, if you don't know kanji better stay in your class. So finally thats settled.

* * *
x = my place
triangle = my school
O = sakura place





i wanted to add more light to the camera so i was adjusting the shutter speed

and got it... see the difference?

setting up the shops for tomorrow


for a whole year they are asleep, then for a week they come to life, amaze the spectators and then take to their fate and let go of this fleeting life. Some hold on to life and try not to let go, not knowing that everything has its time and that letting go and surrendering to fate is not necessarily a bad thing.



i hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as i enjoyed taking them. :)

12th April 2010

I was planning to wake up at 10 am and jog and do some studying, but i couldn't sleep well at night so i slept through the morning, till 11:30.

It was raining when i left the dorm so i took the Chikatetsu (underground train), it wasn't difficult at all and when i reached the station i wanted to, there were exit 1-8, i for some reason walked to exit 3 and it was the one closest to my school, lucky ne!

The rain here is a bit hmmm how to explain it, well i love it first of all, but its different that rain i've experienced before. in Florida and Kuwait, the rain drops are big, so you really get wet if you walk in the rain. Osaka rain, even though it was raining all day, the rain drops are small, so i really don't feel its heavy rain but in the end it does cover your clothes. (this is my theory anyway)

Compared to the MUD rain in Kuwait, this rain is clean and beautiful.

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After school i decided to go to the supermarket, which is about 20 minutes away from school, in the opposite direction to my dorm. I knew i would get wet but i figured it wasn't going to be bad.

I was hungry so i bought a lot, lots of fruits and veggies this time. My bag (i love this bag, its trustworthy) was so heavy and full lol.

Anyway, 50 minutes later i was home.

* * *

I love the TV shows here, right now on tv there is a game show, i guess, the contestant is trying to see how many sandals he can wear on one leg, so first they put one sandal, then another on it, then another on it LOOOOL the sandals bend a little and they look like a long snake (i guess the sandals are from leather)

Yesterday there was a paintball show (but with water guns instead) and each contestant has a square on his t-shirt, from the front and from the back, that square when hit by water turns color to BLUE from WHITE. So you'll know you're hit.

It seemed a looooooooooooooot of fun. There were groups, RED GROUP, YELLOW GROUP, etc. and they were playing in a live town, and they can go anywhere (we the audience see them both on the GPS and each contestant has a camera crew behind them) the players are men and women and also famous people, Jackie Shan was one of them, he was really good loooool... it was really really funny...

The town was cool, it was those typical samurai towns, bridges, tunnels, small rivers, and many wooden houses, and it was snowing, so actually the players would follow each other's footprints etc.

I wish i could go play... it was really cool. aaaaaahhhhh

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Backpack with stuff from supermarket



Supermarket stuff i bought - don't cheat, try to find the 25 items i bought



Wet Jacket and Wet Pants


PICTURES ARE WORKING!!!

may i take this time to formally apologize to the hard working team at Blogger.com and Google.com for all the bad things i said about them in regards to this issue. I love you :/ ?

lol

11th April 2010

After waking up i went on a 5 K jog, it was refreshing.

Then after showering and everything, i went out to shop. In 2 weeks i have a meeting in Fukuoka with Best Denki and i need a suit.

The weather was amazing today, in the afternoon, i was walking and there was a cool breeze mixed with the warm embrace of the sun. I even closed my eyes and walked, to enjoy the sun's energy on my face.

The reason i didn't bring any suits from Kuwait is that i already lost a lot of weight since i got them and they are a bit large now. So i went and i found a couple of cool suits but i need your help in deciding.

1. Color : Black? I wanted something light, i never had Gray suits, but i think they would be cool and light and bright.. i don't know i feel they are more summery no? What do you think?

Black or Dark Gray or Light Gray?

2. Material : I found one suit that was nice, but it was shiny. I think shiny is for casual parties not business meetings, or am i wrong?

3. Brand : I liked a couple actually, i liked one in Dolce and Gabbana but its very expensive, then i found Emperio Armani, two nice ones and not too expensive, then i found one branded Takeo Kikuchi, i guess its famous because its in a department store, which is the least expensive.

one comment, the gray suit from armani had only 1 button, does that make it a blazer and not suit? i dont know.

i really need some advise so, YOU PEOPLE WHO DO NOT COMMENT, COMMENT NOW! :P

D&G one looks similar to this,

Arami one is very similar to this

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on the way back, it rained, though it was only sparkling but i had to walk for an hour in the rain and that wasn't very convenient at all :/

Oh and during my shopping, i rewarded myself for the 5 K run and bought a sweet custard filled pie :DDDDDD

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Shinsaibashi Shopping Street

Custard Pie Shop

Custard Pie 1 and 2

Dressed up Dog

Fruits in Japanese sizes

Surprise Photo :P



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Funny link about an annoying Orange :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN5PoW7_kdA

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PS. blogger still didn't fix the problem, silly people!

10th April 2010

1 week down - 11 to go.

the TV shows here are really strange. The other day i watched a TV show where the hosts bring 6-8 hot girls and they post personal ads in newspapers with their pictures in bikinis and hot clothes. So then, when guys send them SMS, they have this live on the show, they show the pictures of the guys (and of course they make fun of them) and then the hosts (men) reply back to the guys. Then they send the girl on a date with the guy, they choose places that they have cameras in, a restaurant they rigged, and the girl has a mic in hear ear so actually, the hosts tell her what to say, and i couldn't understand well but usually they keep telling her to put the guy in really awkward situations looool.

Then.... then! they go to her apartment (also has camera and mic) and she just flirts with him, and she takes out a doll with a wedding dress on, and a male doll with a wedding suit on, she tells him, ok so lets play, and she tells him, this is US. loooooooooooool.

so then, she tells him
"do you want a massage?"
and he says "yeah yeah my shoulders hurt"
then she asks him, "then what shall we do after that?"
and he's being polite LOL he's like "ummmmm yeah"
"after massage then what?" she says
"we'll kiss" he says
"then what?" she says
"we.. ummm... take our clothes off" he says
so she says ok but now let me go on top of the bed and you stay here so i can massage your shoulders.

then as soon as she goes on top of the bed and he's alone on the ground, THE GROUND COLLAPSES and he falls down to the apartment below !! looooool there is an old woman eating noodles alone looooool and he falls in her bed!!!

what a roller coaster ride for his emotions!

then the host and all the girls and everyone come in with the camera, live shooting! lol its soo funny and cruel at the same time... That's Japan for you :P funny yet cruel.


* * *

I'm not able to sleep very well... the kitchen sink has a demon in it, i did take a video of it with my blackberry, i'll see how i can upload it soon.

I also think its the pillow, the pillow is so small and hard, it has beads inside it but not very comfortable, tomorrow i'll go buy a pillow... cheap dorm!

* * *

After studying, i did some shopping, i bought from Adidas, the authentic Japan football jersey. VERY COOL and i bought also running shirt and shorts for tomorrow.

http://www.adidas.com/jp/sports/football/jfa/index.asp#/PRODUCT

Then i went to BIC CAMERA and bought head phones for running... i bought SONY... sorry Panasonic :/

* * *

Oh... i'm starting to get famous here in the dorm lol

a few days ago i was coming back to my room when two guys in the corridor chatted with me, one of them actually, he saw me carrying my ipod touch and he asked if it was iphone i said no, he said i have i phone... so i said cool and thats it.

After that whenever i pass by them i say hello and Genki? (how are you?)

Today at dinner, he saw me and asked me to join them at their table so i did, he studied a bit of English in Australia and was happy he can practice it with me. I was happy to know they are Japanese so i can practice with them.

He asked for my email, but he was hesitant and when i told him do you want my email he was happy and was like yeah.

Anyway, during this, i saw another guy sitting alone on another table and he was stealing looks at me, he heard me say Arab, and lived in America... and was trying to eavesdrop on us.

When i finished the meal and went to check on my clothes in the laundry room he came, and was like... "hello, my name is Rai" and he was asking me, where am i from, what i did in America and what i'm doing here... i think he also wanted to practice English. He's from Taiwan.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWVoDxOEMbI&annotation_id=annotation_448788&feature=iv

watch this link, its funny

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pictures!!! Pictures!!! Pictures!!!

Ok, since those idiots at Blogger (google) are not fixing the problem with uploading pictures, i have found a work-around.

I will upload them on Facebook and put the links here... even if you are not my friend on facebook you will be able to see them. (sorry if you're not a member of facebook you will not be able to see the pictures though)

stupid stupid google!

enjoy...

:)

Pictures:

MAP OF NANBA AREA

MY HUGE ROOM

MATCHA TEA LATTE - I love this stuff

THE BODYGUARD'S FUTURE CAR 1 and Pic 2

SAKURA

9th April 2010

before i forget, yes, this trip is from my own expense, so NO RUSSIAN FOR YOU (kila ma6goog) :P

today while i was in class, i was thinking about something that i haven't done in a long long time... years maybe... of course my body really wants it but i didn't do it. Of course, here in Osaka, there are many of these available in different color and styles and sizes. Ahhhhh if i tried it today, it would be very very sweet... i was thinking this all the time in class...

I almost did, but i decided not to do it, maybe tomorrow i'll do it. I think tomorrow is the weekend so i will do it.

i am talking about EATING SWEETS, OF COURSE! lol :P

Really the sweets here look amazing, the ones in the supermarket are nice, but what i would like are the ones being cooked in the streets, CUSTARD CREAM FILLED SWEETS, and other stuff like that... Ahhhhh.. tomorrow i'll eat one.

I lost a lot of weight, my jeans are very loose. So i think i can afford to eat one piece.

* * *
A famous baseball player died today or yesterday, he fell to the ground during the game. Its all over the news. Today was his funeral. It is sad. He was 37. Strange how life is so fragile.

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Regarding class, i still don't know what i'll do. Sometimes i feel this class is OK for me, and sometimes i feel i need to move a level up. Today i saw two guys who were in my class but also moved. I think now its 3 students.

I don't know what to do. Monday maybe i'll go and buy the book for the grade higher than me and see if the material is difficult or not.

Tomorrow is weekend so i will use this time to study. And do some shopping... I decided that weekdays i will be a STUDENT, and weekends i will be a TOURIST.

I think in May, i will try to go to Kyoto and Fukuoka to meet Best Denki people.

And now... i'll go take a bath... i bought really nice salts and powders to put in the bathtub and the minerals will refresh the body LOL Nice... really... too bad i don't have a bathtub in Kuwait :(


PS. blogger.com still didnt fix the picture upload issue... idiots!
h

8th April 2010 (updated)

Captain's log...

Entry # 100288199

Deserted on this new place... new strange world... a world where the language is not understandable, strange customs and weird hairstyles and poisonous food everywhere.

ok joking aside...

So today i went and spoke with the teacher, she advised me to stay in class and said it would be a bit tougher. Even though i will not learn any new grammar, but i'll learn a lot of kanji's and new words. Also, starting next week we'll have conversation and listening classes.

Today... as a surprise to the class, the teacher brought a very cute puppy to class. I never liked dogs but as soon as i saw this one, it's really cute, we all fell in love with it. Then the teacher opened it's head with a hammer and they cooked it and ate it. (update: Sorry lol i was going to write KIDDING but i forgot :/ ..)

ok the pictures are not clear, blogger is still not working... stupid google!

But here are thumbnails that might be okay deshou!

thats the Matcha Latte i drink almost everyday.

loool when i saw this car... i thought of The Bodyguard... its sooo small i imagined him in it.

sakura

my palace :P