September 29. 2004 10:01

Of stupidity and school (non-related)

Good thing I packed all these just-in-case things like disinfectant and cleaning pads, 'cause they come in handy now. I fell with my bike and there's a nasty wound in my right elbow and a couple of scratches in my left elbow and right knee. It was just stupid, though, I was asking for it. I was gonna go to Nara today with the Canberra group, but they had already left when I got to their dorm. The women there said the train'd leave in 15 minutes and I thought I could still catch them and left off in a hurry. So I rode my bike very fast, but the thing is that I had only one hand to steer. It was raining, so I had an umbrella in the other hand. I could see it just before it happened, I'll be falling into that rice field, but there was no helping it. I also almost trashed my bike, now the basket is curved so that I can't get anything in. Then I thought, what the hell, I won't be going to Nara today. Sure, I'd have company, but I'd have to hurry and pay a lot of money for the train and I'd miss another class. Not worth it.

Damn my elbow hurts. It's right on the scars of my previous fall with my bike, when I was like 12 years old. Ugh... Well, that's what you get for being stupid. It'll heal.

About yesterday... We decided the final subjects for our group research projects in school and divided ourselves into groups of five or so for each subject. You know how we count by putting four lines next to each other and then a fifth over them? (Dunno what it's called, it's tukkimiehen kirjanpito in Finnish.) The Japanese have a system of their own. They count by drawing a kanji that has five stokes, one stroke at a time. I don't know what kanji it is but I could find out. It's kinda fun.

Me and Dion were the odd ones out in the end, because we couldn't read the kanji of the topics. Ogawa-sensei came to translate them for us in the end: agriculture & nature, firemen & policemen, Japanese sweets, Shinto, pension, drugs, abortion, ninja and Japanese swords. I couldn't resist the idea of Japanese sweets, 'cause I'm already imagining what kind of stories that would produce, so we went for that. So, the other ones in our group are Rinchyo (the leader), Masuchan, Honey and Kurara. Nicknames ^_^ The name of the group is MoguMogu, which is the sound effect for eating. We talked for a while, filling a paper of the group members and all to give to the teacher, and then the day was over.

It amazes me how little school these people have. We're seldom there past three. I stay and draw a little, though. Yesterday I started the comic strips that're supposed to be coming to this site... When I first came here I had no paper to draw on, then no scanner, so I satisfied myself with thinking I'll start when the school starts. Then I almost forgot about it, until Akira reminded me in his e-mail yesterday, so I thought I really should start it. Now there are two strips, but I still need to find that scanner before I can get them up.

Oh yeah! I got my alien registration card and a bank account yesterday! My money problems should work out now. I sent most of my money from the account in Finland to here, I hope it'll work. I thought about trying with a smaller amount first, but the transfer costs 25 euros and I really need to pay that rent, so I'll have to risk it. Ah, I'm so happy, one thing down now. When the money arrives I'll apply for that Internet connection and then I'll go get a phone. I think I'll desert that idea of a phone that works both here and in Finland, though... Too much of a hassle for what it's worth. I could go and ask about the cheaper ones, though, just in case, but that's all I'd do about it. Then I'll get a pre-paid.

So... In the evening I went to see if the Canberra group'd have the picnic they'd been planning, but it was cancelled because it was cloudy and raining. Instead some of them had gone to a shrine for a full moon festival, but I thought I better save the money and not go. Instead I went for a dinner with three of the Canberra ladies. They're nice, and they talk about interesting things. They talked a lot about the weather in Australia and about how the peoples that have small homes, like the Japanese, like to decorate them with lots of small stuff, because that's what they can use their money on. In Finland and Australia, on the other hand, if a person has lots of money he'll just build a big house, spend it on that. Here it's not an option 'cause there's no room, so they have to find other ways to celebrate the paycheck.

When we got to the restaurant, which is connected to the university so it's cheap and a lot of the students go there regularly, we saw Dion there. I'm afraid my first impression of him was right, he seems to be kinda snotty, has this posture of "I'm a bit better that you all" and is not very social, at least with our lot. It's a shame, I'd hoped to have someone really nice with me at school. The other exchange students, on the other hand, are really nice. They came in after us, so I went to sit with them for the rest of the evening. I'm a little out of their group, though, they always seem to end up together and I have no idea how they do it. I've never been very good at catching a spontaneous group... I wonder if they just go and hang at each other's dorms every night, so they can get together. Maybe I should try that.

By the way, there's one thing I hate about the dorms. Everyone keeps stealing the umbrellas. When it started raining a couple of days ago I noticed my cheap but cool see-through umbrella is gone. Haven't seen it since I last used it a couple of weeks ago. I've been using someone else's umbrella now, passing on the problem, as I really can't go out into the rain with a bag of art supplies without anything to cover me. If someone returns my umbrella, I'm gonna take it up to my room so nobody'll get to steal it again... I'm quite attached to it. Though I think it might be goners now...

And now... I wonder if I should go to the International Center and plug into the Internet. It's still early, my school doesn't start until 13... But I don't really feel like going out into the rain with my comp right now, with the elbow still hurting and all. Maybe I'll just stay here and listen to music (Linkin Park, I didn't remember it was this good ^_^) and sort out my e-mail backups. Yeah, that's what I'll do, then go to the Office in the evening.