yeah, so i’m a bad blogger, i havent really blogged at all lately, and i’ll be honest, i’ve kinda lost the desire to and replaced that desire with something more productive, like programming games.  So whether my winter road trip series gets completed or not is a mystery to the universe.

However, I DO have something for you guys.  Before last Sunday, I actually hadn’t even been to Nara yet, and I had a Field Report to write for my Professor Kenney for her Religion in Japan class.  So I decided to base my report on the Todaiji (Todai Buddhist Temple), home of the laaaargest Buddha in Japan! (According to somewhere on the internet that might actually be wikipedia).

Prof. Kenney asked for a “Field Report” so I wrote a “Blog Post”, which i’ll print out and hand in as a “Field Report” then she’ll tell me “Jace, this is shit, this is a ‘Blog Post’” and I’ll be all like “Yo waaaaaat?” and she’ll be like “yo i’m-an-easy-marker-so-have-an-’A'-even-though-you-didn’t-do-what-I-asked” and i’ll be like “kthxbai”.

Here it is, my “Blog Po”- i mean “Field Report”:

Ok, so i havent updated in a while, and YES there is still 129387123 posts about the backpacking trip still to come, but i’ll still update you with the goings on of the beginning of semester.

First of all, i lost my apartment and (rage incoming) i don’t know what the fuck is up with the Japanese and giving away things that have been reserved.  It happened with my phone last semester, and now my apartment this semester.  I even paid my deposit, but they still gave my room away leaving Annie, Paul and I without accomodation on the first day back.  But! More details on that when I cover it via the backpacking posts.

I’m currently living in Seminar House 4, i’m actually enjoying the dorm layout a bit better than the apartment layout but everything still kinda feels the same as last semester – everyone’s full of energy!  (‘cept me)  But that energy dies down, as reality kicks in with the noobs and study pressure really starts the weigh everyone down.

Ok, so today is my last day in the Seminar House (student dorm) before checking out tomorrow and beginning my backpacking trip of Japan. I still need to “pack” my stuff… but a slight dilemma, Paul is bringing me a travel backpack from Australia, meaning I’m gonna put my suitcase into storage here at Seminar House 3.  This is a slight problem, because I need to put all my stuff (school backpack, suitcase) into storage today – the latest, then I’ll leave to go to a hostel tomorrow… but… what do I cart all my clothes and things I need for the trip in???

So the plan is that I’ll have to find a garbage bag of sorts, shove everything in there, and train my way to Tennoji station in Osaka – HOBO STYLE! Just thinkin if I should wear shoes or not… or better yet: wear ONE shoe… Meh, I think I get enough looks and stares just being a foreigner.

The seminar house is slowly emptying as people leave for home or travel.  Our apartment alone has been reduced down to 3 people (me, Mitch, and Sunny [or Sunshine as I call him]).  Only about a week ago it was full with 8 people + randoms who always seemed to sleep on our couches…

First of all i’d like to say a big thanks to everyone who checked out Road2Japan during Korea week.  It was a lot of fun making it happen, especially the video at the end, although my brain WAS on the verge of collapse after editing video for about 1238192873 hours.  For anyone who missed Korea week, it was a series of 5 posts about my trip to Seoul, South Korea.  In part 5, there is 3 youtube clips i made, basically an 18 minute video in 3 parts. Here’s a link to Part 1 of the Korea week posts.

However, as good as Korea week was, I think my timing of it was a bit off, because things happened during Korea week that I felt I couldn’t really mention due to the theme of the week.  So, time to catch up!

Korea week here at Road2Japan was known by another name to the Kansai Gaidai students: “Finals week”.  That’s right, all my finals were last week, and now that they’re done, my first semester here at Kansai Gaidai is over! Time to relax! Blow some money! And prepare for the big backpack trip around Japan.

I think i did well on my finals, i should have passed everything at least, but there is also the possibility for an ‘A’ in there somewhere, so that would be nice.  The finals week format was pretty much the same as the mid-term week, in my case.  That was that I had a Speaking Japanese oral, a Speaking Japanese written test, a Reading and Writing Japanese Oral, and a Reading and Writing Japanese written test.  All of which were tested almost exactly the same way as they were during mid-terms. For my orals, I had to read a passage out loud for Reading and Writing (something about eating turtles…)

Oh I’d like to just mention that there were a few funny things I was able to photograph during my stay.

Monday was a pack up and go day.  The plane left at 4:30pm, but we woke up late around 10 or 11am, packed our stuff and left.  I kinda miss the Bong House, it was cozy there… and it had heated floors…

The flight back was only a 60 minute flight as we had a lot of tail wind.  However, the bus ride from Kansai International Airport back to Hirakata-shi was 90 minutes long… ouch.

I woke up at around 9am… Stomach in chaos.  Hopped outta bed and had to run to the bathroom.  Sunday turned out to be a frustrating day for me.  This was due to:

1. Lack of sleep
2. My freakin stomach
3. The cold I was getting over

I felt like a disgusting piece of human all day.  My cold was gone, but my body decided to start flushing all the crap outta my nose, so I was on the tissues all day.  I needed sleep so bad that not even a wakey potion would suffice, and I was running to the bathroom every hour.  I felt crap.  I was really tempted to stay in, but I didn’t want to waste my day.  Reluctantly, even though I didn’t let them know it, I went out again with the gang.  Not entirely looking forward to the day ahead.

Destination for Sunday was “Insa-dong”.  This place was supposed to be a shopping district kinda place. It also had a bunch of traditional Korean houses, stores, roads.

I really liked this place, it was nice.  It was pretty much just a strip of shops, from clothes to food.  Got some nice night time shots:

The next day was fun.  Frank found out that there were some markets nearby, so we decided to check them out.  I was actually really tired at this time.  Was kinda thinkin to myself “How the hell am I gonna stay AWAKE through this day???”

Then my answer came to me in Potion form.  A “WAKEY POTION”!  Yeah! I found this at a 7-11, a drink, called Wakey Potion.  I was a bit hesitant at first, but then I noticed that the packaging suggested that I “Take my Chance” and that it promised me “+5 Hours”.  Well in that case….  I grabbed me a wakey potion, and drank it.  Awesome.  I wonder if I get a 29 hour day now…

Anyway, Markets! We hopped on a train, Frank led the way and eventually we found them. Most of the stuff on display were kinda similar.  The markets were set up on the sidewalk of a bunch of streets.  There wasn’t a marketplace, per say, but the locals sure turned these streets into one.  There was ridiculously cheap stuff everywhere.  Clothes, souvenirs, what seemed to be stolen electronics (or so I claim) and food.  Speaking of food. OMG. I saw Jesus in food form.

For an entire dollar, I got 2 slices of toast, buttered, with cinamon and an omelette filled with vegetables shoved into a cup and handed to me.  It was the most amazing bit of street food i’d ever seen/tasted.

My initial impression: Korea Rocks!

It was awesome! People! Noise! Wide roads (and narrow side roads)! LITTER!!!!! OMG it had been ages since I’d seen a bit of rubbish on the ground – it was by no means a dirty place! But litter did exist, unlike in Japan.  Korea still kinda felt like Japan, but a little edgier, maybe a little more alive, and even a little more genuine.  It immediately looked rougher, but i liked it.  It was a welcome change from the fabricated/perfectness/cleanliness/professional/polished Japan I’d been living in the past few months.

…looks gross

Also Korea seems to have a LOT of street food.  That is, people with stalls on the street cooking ridiculously cheap food for sale.  Some looked mighty freakin dodgy let me tell you, some looked awesome.  Everything was ridiculously cheap, i’m talkin anything they sell would go for about $1, maybe 50 cents. The most common i’ve seen is this “Fish Cake on a Stick” stuff.  Looks disgusting.  Didn’t know what it was until this very second after researching for about 5 minutes.  However, Chris and Haruna had one, maybe Frank did too… I had a bite, and it wasn’t vile… but… i’d probably never bite into one again.