I have visited friends, started enrolling in class, walked around a lot, caught a cold. I went to North Carolina to visit family and meet my brother's new wife's family. Today I start work. I called a cell phone shop in Mitsuwa, the Japanese market outside of Chicago, and they said they can sell me a phone that has Japanese text ability. If it's not too expensive I want that, so I can tell my girlfriend, 愛してるよ。

Japan's sunrise seems much earlier. It used to wake me up at 5:00 every morning, until I started wearing a mask. Here in Chicago, it's 6:30 and the sun is coming up now. I woke up at 6:00 and it was still dark, it felt like 4:00 am.

I still spend a lot of time studying and reading Japanese, but haven't spoken much at all. I have to fix that soon.

If you walk around Chicago for a day, you will have 2 pleasant experiences with strangers and 2 unpleasant experiences. Homeless people (who seem friendly at first, but really just want your money) are neutral, they don't count for either. You will have 5 experiences like this per day.

My last days in Japan were busy ones. I flew home the day after graduation, so I spent a few hours eating and saying goodbye to classmates, then went home to pack. Saying goodbye to my girl was hard, but Skype makes parting a lot less sorrowful. Other final memories include:

The last morning, watching to yakuza (the boss, about 50 and his underling, late 20's, no front uppers) playing rock-paper-scissors, and the winner thumping the loser hard on the forehead. They went at it for a few minutes, and enjoyed me watching. I almost asked to take part, but if I won, I wasn't about to thump a kumichou.

Also, as I was getting dressed on my departure date, and my girlfriend watched me put on my antiperspirant.  She grabbed the spray can and started laughing. Apparently, the past 3 months, I had been spraying hair spray under my arms. No wonder it seemed like the stuff wasn't very effective.

Ahh, Just when you seem like you are entering the land of the bilingual, you realize you are just a bozo with very manageable armpit hair.

I will be back. I will study my ass off, and be fluent in Japanese, and pass the 1kyuu, and move back.

The future is so much more interesting when I think a few days ahead, rather than years ahead. The future seems like a big swirling mass of randomness. Like the ocean. When I was a kid I loved getting in the middle of a wave and letting it carry me. I can point myself in a direction and hope for the best, but I am at it's mercy.

I bought my train ticket to Narita airport yesterday, and tonight I will start to pack. Holy crap.

I thought of Old Town in Chicago, and got excited about walking around there. Not sure why, I never spent much time there. It's strange coming from Tokyo to Chicago. I used to think Chicago was a big city. And Tokyo trains run on time. But the burritos and pizza are in Chicago.

Today is my last Kanji test, I think I might blow it. This term went a little quick for me.

I mean the change in my change basket. Aside from that, everything else is changing tremendously. But that's not what I wanted to talk about.

If you are learning Japanese, you know how hard it is to improve your listening. Did you know that NHK has a website where you can listen to their daily Japanese broadcast, and select the speed of the playback? It's here. You can select slow, normal, or if you are a masochist, fast playback. It's a good way to train your ears to pick up all that crazy newscast vocabulary. Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean.

I glanced at the JLPT practice test I picked up. Out of 4 questions I answered, I got one right. Nice!

Today I get my haircut, and then I am going to have farewell 河豚 (fugu) with my girlfriends family. 6 days...

Before I came to Japan, I took 6 coffee cans full of change to the Coinstar at the local supermarket, and ended up with about $250.00. I, like many other men (I hear), accumulate loose change. At stores, I try and fumble in my pockets to give the cashier the extra .02, but there is something embarrassing to me about digging around my pants while I am being watched, so I usually give up after about three seconds.

Things have changed however (no pun intended). My girlfriend bought me a cool little change holder. Yes, it also can be called a change purse, but it's not like the ones that girls carry. It's not feminine looking. And I am actually using change. In fact, I think I can use up the change in my basket before I leave Japan.

Which is in 8 days.

Ranalli's - Thin crust pepperoni, well done.

The Brauhaus - Saurbraten

Indian Garden - everything

Moody's - Cheeseburger

Then Chinatown and Koreatown and Mexican and Little Vietnam. Maybe a Greek salad at this place I know. More later.

Well, I didn't go to Kamakura last weekend, I ended up having a lovely day with my girlfriend shopping. We bought stuff for Skype and a few presents for friends and family back in the States.  Time spent with her is better than time spent alone, I think. As we were testing Skype, she said that she thinks she will be okay if we can communicate like this. It was good to hear.

Today I had my last private English lesson with Kentarou. It was a pleasant 3 or so months working with him, and I think I taught him a thing or two. Funny, at first I didn't like him. I used to think I was a great judge of character, until I realized how many times I was wrong about people.

I have a speech and a school newspaper article to write. Plus I want to prepare some closing remarks for the graduation ceremony, in case we non-returnees are asked to speak, as was the case this time last year. Our tests have already started, and I have finally gotten used to taking them. I have discovered that studying is indeed a helpful tool.

I want the waiting to be over. I don't want to go, but this countdown is making me mental.

Tomorrow, I am going to try to go to my favorite place around Tokyo, Kamakura. If you are ever in Tokyo, I insist you go visit, especially if you won't be going to Kyoto or any of the older-style cities. There are temples everywhere, and it's kind of a sacred spot for me.

I was planning on doing it alone, but I have gotten tired of being such a dramatic, solitary person. Maybe I'll invite a friend. Since I was a kid, I always preferred to do things by myself, and lately I have grown to like others' company.