8/11 11:45 pm “Business” Trip

Yesterday we went to begin the process of getting internet in our apartments…which we should have by the end of the month??? We also went to Trial to find “Engrish” t-shirts (the phenomenon of badly translated English phrases on t-shirts) for tomorrow’s theme party…which will include (as you can probably guess) KARAOKE! Mine says “Monkey Good Boy” and there’s a picture of four monkeys in a green jeep, one of them is wearing an eye patch…and under the jeep it says, “IT WILL GO LEISURELY. IF THERE IS EVEN A WAVE, IT WILL BE [The Hot Sun And] OUR PARADISE THERE.” No I didn’t accidentally type the wrong thing…that’s what the shirt says…brackets and all!

Today we spent the day in Kurume (neighboring city) with some Kurume University Intercultural Studies students. Their project was to basically give us a guided tour around the city…yes this was a day off to learn about fun stuff to do in the next city over…in the morning we listened to presentations they put together…








then we had lunch and desert (paid for by the university)…






in the afternoon we went to Kora Shrine up on a big hill in Kurume and we learned how Japanese people pray at a shrine…wash hands…throw lucky 5 yen coin (the copper looking one with the hole in the middle) into bin…bow twice…clap twice…ring the big bell…pray…bow…continue with your regularly scheduled programming…











130 Stairs
Later...




Then we went to a few places downtown and got some relatively useful information…and we all had dinner at a really nice restaurant…





appetizer…salad…










bread (pumpkin and green tea breads…both
very good!)…



pumpkin or
squash soup…










a pork dish from the southern part of this prefecture (Kagoshima I think) ...








a plum in some kind of alcohol flavored gelatin…







and I had a green tea cappuccino at the end…ALL YUMMY!!! (and paid for by the university…oh and they reimbursed us for the train ride)…


Today I also:
-Got asked if it was alright to touch my hair
-Got asked if my hair was natural (meaning real) -Bought another phone card
-Played Kokology, Kings, and Never have I ever…no comment

Quotes of the day
"Good 'cuz they free, shoot...Yeah, shoot"...how I felt about the whole day!!!

“My skin is yellow.” ~Kurume University Student