Japan - Days 95-100

Holy moly, 100 days in Japan :-O And I haven't blogged all week, so I hope I can remember everything ^^'
Monday was the first of the two days of autumn vacation... for people with classes. For me, it was business as usual, except that I didn't have Japanese class. I can't remember anything particularly eventful happening in the daytime, except that the cafeteria was closed so me and Jen couldn't have lunch together; I cycled to the 100 yen store to get food, then cycled back to my room to take a quick shower, and was still back within an hour. In the evening, everyone met at 7pm to have dinner, as it was Jordan's last night in Japan. We went to the Chinese place by the izakaya, where I've been with my lab a couple of times before. It was very tasty, naturally, and I got to sign Jordan's leaving book during the course of the meal. Afterwards, we all went back to Mo's, after a stop at a supermarket (I got a Chupa-Chups with a Pokémon toy inside XD I got Entei). We ended up having cake and sitting around in Mo's bedroom talking for a couple of hours, with reminders to be quiet when we got too loud, as Mo's neighbours have been known to complain; it's surprising how many people you can fit in such a small room. At about 11.30, a lot of us headed back, I don't know how late the others stayed
Tuesday was a saaad day v.v When I got online before going to the lab I found a couple of my friends were sad, which put a bit of a damper on things. At about 11.30, I went to Hirasuna to meet everyone and say goodbye to Jordan, as he was heading back to the States. He got a lift down to Tsukuba Centre with his luggage, while the rest of us cycled to meet him. We then went and got lunch in the food court, though as I'd bought something beforehand, I just had an ice cream. We ended up shifting about 3-4 tables and putting them together, I'm pretty sure the staff weren't too happy but they didn't complain. Well, except when Jon was taking pictures, then they made him delete them v.v After eating, we headed out to wait for the bus, taking group pictures and the like. Lots of people were crying, and it was sad saying goodbye to him. A bunch of us ran after the bus as it headed down the road, but it got stopped at a traffic light so it wasn't hard XD Then we all headed back to what we were doing before; I went back to the lab with Mike. In the evening, I went to the Chinese restaurant with Derek for dinner, which was alright.
Wednesday was an okay day. I was going to have lunch with Jen, but she had to study for her level-up test in Japanese (she wants to skip a class) so she couldn't come v.v I went to the combini to get some food, then took a quick walk to Book Off during my lunch break, and was still back within an hour. In the evening, I went to the cinema with some friends. Because I was late getting out of the lab, I wasn't in time to meet everyone at Hirasuna; I missed them by 10-15 minutes. I called the others on the way, and I got Andrew to buy me a ticket for the film I thought we were all seeing: Harry Potter. I'd seen it already, but it was the first of the month so it was only 1000 yen as opposed to 1200, plus I wanted to hang out with everyone. However, when I got there, and the ticket was bought, I discovered that the two people who I'd seen Harry Potter with last time were going to see a different movie, Space Battleship Yamato, which they'd neglected to tell me. Needless to say, I was pissed off when I found out. We all went to the food court and had some dinner (I had a carbonara burger from McDonalds), before going to get some movie snacks from the cheap store and then going to see the movie which was, once again, good. Plus this time I wasn't dying from needing the toilet for the second half of the movie XD When we got out, all the shops in Iias (where the cinema is) were shut, so it was kinda weird walking around to get out and get our bikes. Once I got back I worked on my Powerpoint for next week's presentation, and ended up with about 12-13 slides.
Thursday morning, before paying my rent, I discovered that my phone wasn't working; I couldn't make texts or calls. I know a couple of other people had the same problem recently, but they were on pre-paid, not contract, so I was very confused. I asked my tutor when I got to the lab, and he said we could go to Softbank the next day. I got my slides checked over, and got some advice as to how to make them better. Me and Jen finally got to eat lunch together again; thankfully I could still receive texts so I knew she was ready to eat at the usual time. In the evening, I met up with Molly, Mike, his neighbour and his neighbour's friends (who I'd met at the first Harry Potter screening and Jordan's going-away party), and we all went for dinner at Hamazushi, which is always good :-)
Friday was a pretty good day, if expensive :-( For starters, I had to put down the 10,000 yen reservation for next week's trip to Shimoda for the conference (which is refunded at the end, thankfully). Then, I discovered that the reason my phone had stopped working was because my tutor had been late paying my phone bill -_- So, first off I had to pay 2 months' worth of phone bill, which came to about 16,000 yen (fuck). International texts accounted for about 2,000 yen, which I didn't understand, I didn't think they were THAT expensive. However, for the next 5 months my contract is free, so all I'll have to pay for is the add-ons, like international texts, calls late at night, messages to other networks, etc. Plus, the phone's now in my name at last. On the way back, my tutor took me to Tsukuba YouWorld (now I know where it is ^^) so I could buy a cable to connect my phone to my computer and transfer stuff (I just tried it and it's not working; I can't find the driver software, so I'll need to ask someone about that -_-). When we got back, I got my slides checked over again, and have to write a script and make some more adjustments over the weekend. I also met a couple of the people who are joining the lab in the spring. After labs, I walked back to meet Derek so we could go and eat. Ueda, one of the guys from my lab, came with me as he needed to get to the bus stop by Hirasuna, which was on my way. He ended up coming to have lunch with me and Derek at Fuji-sen (the Hirasuna cafeteria was closed). I never realised before, but the owners of Fuji-sen have a pet cat which was walking around :3 I petted it a bit while we were waiting for food, it was sooo cute ^^ After dinner, Derek headed back, and Ueda and I went to Coco to meet everyone. After a few drinks, and waiting for a bunch of people (who'd also been to Fuji-sen, a while after us) we went to Shein's. As always, a very eventful night :-p For starters, someone had brought out a permanent marker pen, and Shein was letting people write all over the walls. I'll admit, I went a bit crazy over the course of the evening XD I started by writing 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe' ('This is not a pipe'), then drawing a pipe underneath it (a reference to a famous piece of French art). This got the attention of a bunch of African guys sitting nearby, and I got talking to them a little, though it made me realise how much French I've lost :-( After that, I got Ueda to write the Japanese incantation for the Indignation spell (in the Tales Of series), which he got a little wrong, which surprised me as he's a Tales Of fan apparently. Then I ended up writing a few movie quotes, a few spell incantations, and a couple of my poems which I had saved to my phone. A bunch of people were switching shirts, though I managed to get away with not doing so. I was also tricked into buying a drink: Shein came over and said 'Let me get you a drink', which made it sound like it was a freebie. Once he'd made it and given it to me, then he said 'That'll be 500 yen'. I should have known better, he's known for being a slippery character -_- At about 5.15am, I decided it was time to leave
This morning (Saturday) I slept through the alarm I'd set, so I ended up waking up at just past midday. I got up, grabbed a bite to eat from the 100 yen store, and cycled up to Iias for my usual McDonalds wi-fi run. On the way, I went into WonderGoo and found another 4 cheap Pokémon Special manga, bringing my total up to 14; I'm only about 1/3 of the way through my collection, as volume 37 was just released :-( Actually, I just remembered something - I have a couple of Japanese Pokémon Special at home, a present from my Japanese friend, so my collection is actually up to 16. Still, got a way to go ^^' After coming back from Iias, I made a stop at Dayztown to play DDR, but lost on the second stage as I chose Difficult mode :-( While cycling around, I debated over whether or not to buy Tales Of The Tempest for 500 yen from Book Off, but I decided to hold fire on that for now, as I've spent a lot these past few days, and I still need to do Christmas shopping; if it's still there in a few weeks, I'll get it then.
So now I'm back in my room. It's only 4pm, so I'll update again with what happens during the rest of the day at some later point. I may go to Shein's again for salsa night, depending on who else is going. I'll at least go and say hi to everyone outside the combini, even if I don't actually go to the bar. In the meantime, I should work on my presentation. Bye for now :-)
[Edit: In the end, I didn't go to the salsa night. Me and Derek went to the Chinese restaurant for dinner, after first trying gyoza, which was full, the cafeteria, which was closed, and Fuji-sen, which was also closed. We bumped into Cenk and Bianca there, and we all ate together. Then, Derek invited me along to Mo's with him for a tea party; we had scones and muffins and cake :3. I ended up falling asleep on the floor for about half an hour, only realising when I saw Mo had wet hair when I opened my eyes XD Then me and Derek cycled back at about 1am.]