pariparibariishiyoso

I don't know what "pariparibariishyoso" means. Paripari means crispy, other than that I'm lost. It was on my bag of chips. In any case, I laughed out loud when I read it.

Things I've learned and how they correlate to real life:

"sumimasen, shashin o karimasenka"
"iie, camera o kowaredesu"

translation:
"excuse me, can you take a picture?"
"no my camera's broken"

Yes, my camera is broken. It broke yesterday as I was taking pictures of the most compact toilet+sink+shower unit I've ever seen. The lens was stuck (which is weird because I wasn't trying to close it at the time). It beeps and says "lens error, restart camera." I've tried and tried to restart the camera; I've taken the battery out to no ado, it just beeps and the lens does not retract. Damedesu! Convenient timing too right? My options are to try to get it fixed or buy a sweet new camera that speaks to me, as do all other electronics in Japan. Pictorial documentation will have to be put on hold for now.

Speaking of toilets... most have control panels and heated seats. I don't really care about the control panel, just the heated seats.

I've determined Japanese style breakfasts are exponentially better than Western style, unless you like eating nearly raw bacon, foamy eggs and salad for breakfast. Personally, not a big fan.

I get a cell phone next week. I always feel like I'm missing something and I never know what time it is without one.

¥500 (~$5) and ¥100 (~$1) are coins, not bills. It's really fun and convenient, even though I usually hate coins. Easy to forget they're worth significantly more than US coins though...

It rained ALL day. Rather inconvenient and cold. It got to the point when a stubborn Pacific Northwestern had to buy an umbrella.

There are shoes everywhere and they're pretty and I want to buy them. I hope they have my big foot size in woman's shoes. I also saw cool hoodies for ¥990 (<$10). Cool.

Pocari Sweat = clear, flat airborne. Even if it doesn't actually keep me healthy, it tastes like it does, while restoring my depleted ions.

I like the trains, but I have yet to ride one without a returner or native guiding me. It's rather intimidating. There are several different speeds of train on the same line and about a thousand different lines in the Tokyo area. So really there are about a million trains. Not all the trains stop at every station along the way. They only stop for lightning, strong wind, some other weather issue and suicides. Classes get postponed if the trains stop.

I meet my host family tomorrow, yay! I'm nervous. I have to speak Japanese to a room full of host families and teachers for my introduction at the Opening Ceremony. I feel like I would have trouble with this even in English...

Iterashai!