SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED

About a million things have happened since my last post and so I am going to try and list them all as concisely as I can, or else this post will be pages and pages long.

Since my last post...
I have gotten a bike, which is now my second favorite possession. My iPod is still my favorite thing. BUT ANYWAY, the bike is green, and has a big basket in the front and then a flat thingy at the back, so I can carry SO MUCH. And we rode our way to Yokohama station, and it only takes about 25 minutes to there, and then maybe another ten or fifteen minutes to school, so it`s really convenient. The bike tires got really low on air really quickly, so I took my bike to a gas station on the way home one night. The guy filled up my tires, but I think he may have filled one up too much, and... the tire exploded. The guy yelled in shock, and I yelled in shock. Then he said `I`m really sorry about that and we don`t have bike tire tubes, so here is 2,000 yen... bye`
But now my bike is fixed, so everything is fine. It`s even better than before, if that is even possible because I love it so much.

I am also pretty sure that the cockroaches are all dead. I think that the two that were in there were more of a mistake, or a fluke than an actual infestation. But when we were buying traps and bugbombs and stuff, there were all these signs that said `for every ONE you see... there are FIFTY!` So that was a little bit scary. But we haven`t seen any more since then. And everytime I come home I listen for scurrying of little feet, but I don`t ever see anything or hear anything. Let`s hope it stays that way.
BUT
Yesterday, when I was sitting in my room on my computer, I had all of my windows open, and my light in my room was the only one on. So I am minding my own business, trying to find the elusive wireless signal from somewhere in the neighborhood that we can sometimes get at our house, and notice a couple of little gnat/bug things around. No big deal. So after about an hour, the wireless signal goes away, and I get up to get some water. And when I turned and looked at my bed...
THERE WERE HUNDREDS AND MILLIONS OF GNATS ALL OVER IT.
And on my wall.
And on the light.
So I grabbed the vacuum and started sucking them all up. It was a massacre. Of course, they were still everywhere, but just a lot less of them.
By morning, though, they were all dead. I am hoping that there won`t be any more bug stories to tell. Because they are interesting, but they are not fun to experience. Well... vacuuming up all those gnats was a little bit fun.

I also got to go and visit my friend Julie in Gotemba, where she is an ALT. It was really fun. We went to a picnic with her co-workers at one of the schools where she teaches, and I got to see, in Julie`s words, "people with normal jobs and normal hair." And she was right, in a sense. I guess most of my contact with Japanese people has been with young people, or college age people, and not so much in the professional world. So it was interesting to see. And also to see that, like in every country, grown-ups are just kids with money. And a FEW more things to talk about, although mostly the topics are the same. We did get to play frisbee and catch, both of which were really fun. And in Gotemba, the U.S. army and the Japanese Defense Force or whatever apparently have this, like, joint base, and they were practicing their bombing not too far from where our picnic was. The bombs even shake Julie`s walls in her apartment from the middle of the city. I guess you would get used to it, but it just sounded like really close, loud thunder going no all day.

A lot of time has been spent making the apartment more like a real place to live, and it is finally turning in to one, which is great. There are still some things to be done and things to be bought, but it will all come in good time, I suppose. Also a lot of time has been dedicated to exploring Yokohama and also Mitsuzawa, which is where we live. The road that takes us to the station isn`t a main road, but it has a lot of neat little shops, and of course the Mintao Mirai area (where IUC is) is really beautiful, and right on the bay, and has a ton of cool places to explore.
Today, when I was lost on my bike for a good twenty minutes, I went by this temple. I suppose it was typical of a Japanese Shinto temple, but it was still so beautiful, and there was this great juxtaposition, because it was right across from the train tracks. I didn`t go in, but just seeing it there was nice. I mean, it`s not in my neighborhood, and probably I won`t go back (I had gone about three stations north of Yokohama station, whereas I live west of Yokohama station), but, I guess, seeing that made me realize that there will probably be many more places like that everywhere, and makes me even more excited to walk around my neighborhood more.

Speaking of which, there is a park next to our apartment that I think I will walk through tomorrow. I will bring my digital camera to the internet cafe tomorrow and see if I can`t get some pictures uploaded.

I also spent a nice afternoon biking all around Yokohama and Minato Mirai, and I also got to spend a long time in the stores around that area, which was so relaxing. I have been having so much fun in the preparation period before the IUC program starts, and I hope that the program will be fun, too. I know that it will probably be more challenging than anything I have done so far, but I am really looking forward to it.

Internet in our apartment hasn`t been installed yet, and I heard that it can take quite a while, so I might be coming back here quite often. Which I don`t necessarily mind, I just know that, even in this past week, there are so many things that I have forgotten about putting in this blog, which means that I`ll probably forget about it altogether. I should start writing things down more. ..

anyway, I suppose that that`s all for now. I hope you are all doing well. I know that the new semester just started at UM. I miss doing the Kaiwa Table with the JSA, and all the JSA events. There were really fun. I hope it`s even better this year!