I Hate Bureaucracy, or Do I Really Want To Be A Caveman?

I'll just throw this up and get it over with: I'm getting tired of studying so much. And I'm frustrated with the procedures for getting the university to act as my guarantor for the lease contract on a new apartment. Going to the International Service Office tomorrow in the hope that the 10-something papers that need to be organized can be done within a day or two. I hate bureaucracy.

Alrighty! Considered, accepted. Next up: Gion Matsuri!!!! It's finally here, and despite the occasional thunderstorm and the not-so-occasional exam, circumstances are perfect. I went last night for the first time - with Misa -, and am going again tomorrow (with Ego) and on Thursday morning (with Misa). Incidentally, I made friends with a Polish girl who's been here for a year and is leaving soon, whose field of research is something to do with Japanese religion and history. Talking to her, I was very relieved to find that there IS actually someone who knows what these things mean and where they come from! Great. (I still don't).

As for me, I'm just walking around in my yukata (generously lent by Misa's dad, handmade by her great-grandma) and geta (wooden slippers), enjoying the feast that Gion Matsuri is for my eyes, ears, nose and especially mouth. Food stalls lining the streets at night - only in matsuri time, and very cool to discover the Japanese know what street food means after all.

For lack of inspiration, I'll let the pix speak for themselves. Also some overdue pix regarding anti-G8 protesting, post-Zero drinking, my stolen bike, Titinart's goodbye, Kyoto U's welcome party (the one with the Totoro brass band), karaoke with Misa's friends (I had the pleasure of participating in an otherwise all-girls Japanese birthday party), a ski shop called Kandahar, and the rainy season.

A final note: I'm having fun planning some good stuff for this summer, though it means I won't be able to buy much else than the bare essential (stove) once I move into my new place. Oh well! Updates as stuff crystallizes out. Looks like I won't be seeing Mark but will be seeing Koki, in any case.

A long-awaited first ! And second !

Yeahhhh last week I finally had my first karaoke experience. And second! First on Monday, with tutor Ryu and his buddy whose name I still can't remember. Unfortunately, Tareq and I were the only ones out of our group to join, so it was presumably less fun than it had potential to be if everyone would've come. Anyway, it was still great. Karaoke is really awesome. There's like 10^10 songs from around the world (English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean), so it ranged from Ryu's buddy's Chinese pop to my Jpop to Tareq's enka(!) to Ryu's voice being actually quite nice (in a girly way). Didn't make it too late...and the next day was Titinart's birthday (the girl who's leaving in 2 weeks to prepare for her studies in Europe after having been here in my identical situation for the same amount of time), so I convinced a couple of us living in Oubaku to get up before 6 to give her a nice surprise breakfast (a tradition I've had since I can't remember when).

Since Wednesday was actually a day off because of the university's birthday, Tuesday was perfect for celebrating Titinart's birthday, and we did so in contemporary Japanese style - first to an izakaya-kind of place for drinks and food, and then to karaoke with all-you-can-drink included for about 2 hours. Then the last train home, and a small afterparty in my room, until drinks were gone and people decided that it might be a good idea to sleep a bit before having to be at an academic workshop in Kobe at 9 am the next morning. Hehehe...

Which songs can you make out on the karaoke pictures? ;)

Ah, and the first pic is an illustration of the rainy season, which has now officially begun...most days are upwards of 70-80% humidity and a lot of rainfall; today was dry though.

Finally, before I head off to town, the choreo for our show is done! We practiced for about 7 hours last Saturday and at the end it was born. Cool stuff, I hope I can get a nice video recording for you all to see.