lauren in japan

I had my second Japanese lesson this week and while the lessons are based heavily in "usable" conversation I am still required to study some elements of grammar. The small portion I've studied thus far continues to be a conundrum wrapped in an enigma and shrouded in mystery. I keep expecting a Buddhist monk to show up at my apartment to send me on a three-part quest so that I may finally gain true enlightenment of negative sentence structure.

I can write my name in katakana though. Anyone? Anyone? No? Alright.

Anyway, on Thursday I will have been here for eight weeks. Zoinks! As such, I decided it was time to get more familiar with Kashii, the area I live in -- I know my immediate surroundings well enough like where the post office is and the hospital and all that. But what if, say, I needed to know where the intricately baked and decorated super expensive cake shop is? Well, now I know (through downtown, over the canal and on the left). Neighborhood exploring super picture fun time:











I also wanted to test out walking to the grocery store housed one station over in Chihaya which didn't seem terribly far away by train but whoever knows. Not I said the fly. It did turn out to be quite close and seems to be a potentially great running route -- the path I took to get there is in a developing area with mostly brand new apartment complexes and very few businesses -- lots of flat, wide sidewalks and very little people traffic. Joy!

Also I went to the 100 yen shop and bought this memo pad:



FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY, LET'S WRITE IT DOWN BEFORE IT FORGETS!

Miss you all.