I've been lazy...forgive me

(I half wrote this 20 days ago so pay no attention to dates xD) 

It's so fricken cold!!
Well, it's moderately cool but the sudden temperature drop is insane! 
So I'm experiencing my first REAL Autumn this year. Yes Queensland, I don't consider your "Autumn" as a season...more like a shift from "hot" to "slightly less hot". In our garden we have one tree already that's changing colours and it's so beautiful <3 oh how I love Autumn!!
  
Last week was fantastic! It was a short one because we had two holidays.

On the Thursday I went to Tai-chans house for a BBQ and met up with the other exchange students there. Us and a group of Japanese girls we had met before pretty much sat on crates in the yard and talked all night. At around 9ish the fireworks began at a nearby park and we could see them from the yard. They were sweet as! Apart from the regular fireworks there were shapes like hearts, smiley faces, spirals and stars.  

 On the Saturday a whole herd of jr. High school students rocked up bright and early to have a look at the school so they may decide their high school for next year. For two hours we pretended to study xD so of course everyone got out their mangas and shifted our desks close so that we could all talk. Three people are interested in joining the abacus club next year so woot!

Anyway, because of that tedious day we got Monday off. Yippieeeee! Though I slept in too late :( I was supposed to meet my friend in Fukuoka city and ended up making her wait for an extra hour. Sorry Diane!! <3 anyway, she forgave me (yay) and we went to Cannel City which is basically this gianormous shopping centre with cannels running through it. We went to the top floor and ate ramen at "The Ramen Station" (I had been craving ramen for a few days so we went straight to lunch). TRS = a Considerable section of the floor dedicated to small ramen stalls. There, there was the most expensive ramen I've ever seen but we managed to find a fairly cheap one after a bit of looking (¥600)

After lunch we decided to catch a movie. Inception is the ultimate mind screw of a movie. I really enjoyed it. I recommend it to anyone. I also got some Japanese practice in by reading the subtitles xD 
A side note: Japanese movie theatre popcorn is disgustingly big. It's like the size of the large popcorn you see in American movies...I'm surprised that I saw two people who could finish it and wash it down with a monster sized coke.    

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Okay recently

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I'm currently on a bus off to Kumamoto Ken for my schools baseball game. We're in the regional finals before we go on to nationals! This means however that I had to wake up at 6am on a Saturday to catch the bus the school hired. So, so, so sleepy. After the two hour trip back home I have soroban club until 7:30. [just came back from the game. We lost 8 : 5...many sad faces to be had :( ]

The day has come! Well...tomorrow. I've got my abacus exam and am super nervous. I've now become fast enough to potentially pass; it's the fact that I make tiny errors which let me down. Excited and nervous so I'll try and get a decent sleep :P 

Some weeks ago I went to Yame for a sports festival with AFS but (oh no :P) it was raining and so Camila, Diane and I decided to go to Onsen, karaoke, joyful and watch horror movies instead xD was a really great day (none of us were that keen to exercise that day anyway hehe). The movie "Pulse" is freaky! It's such a dark movie. You know what's going to jump out from behind the door but you scream with surprise anyway. So yeah, that's a scary movie for all you technology nerds and wifi addicts xD

Last week we had a fire drill. That involved standing out in the hot sun in our winter uniform watching people light the ground on fire then putting it out. It was kinda cool because it was a decent size fuel fire and some students got to put it out. 

During exam block I stayed over my tutors house for a night which was a lot of fun. She was expecting guests so we both made a big dinner. I made beef strog, mash potato and bread and butter pudding :3 there were also some other meals that she prepared which were delicious. So that night we had four sensei's in the house. My tutor, her husband, his boss and the boss' wife (all three are doctors). They had some really interesting stories to tell and because my tutor was first aquainted with them that night, they all used teinei (very polite language) so I got some keigo practice too xD I was so proud I could understand most of what they were saying and they were impressed that I got their jokes xD

On the 31st all the exchange students are going Mikan (jap orange) picking. So keen xD 

I think I go to the tuck shop everyday with my friends now. The food is so cheap and so gooood. I usually buy "fried chicken bread" (I would type in Japanese but めんどくさい xD) I love getting the udon. On thursdays we have "plate udon" and it's a lot like "champon". Sooo cheap. Soooo tastey. 

And yet I haven't gained weight...

I'm studying a whole lot more now. I've finished a grammar book in a few weeks and by late November I will have learned 365 new kanji (starting from this week). There may be hope in passing the JLPT but it's not a major issue anymore. There's more to life than just studying. You can study anywhere in the world. I only have one chance to "live" and "experience life" here. So I consider that more important than a slip of paper verifying my profiencey (that sounds like I'm "giving up" but that's not the case) there's more to life than studying xD

There's a Cake shop on the way to school and it has all the holidays covered. For the last 4 months it's had Halloween decorations hanging outside with a giant blow up pumpkin next to the door. And inside it has Santa and a christmas Tree. It's so obsurd xD

Last note, my principal is so cute xD he's got a lisp so anyone who knows Japanese will understand that any conversation will involve an "S" sound. ~masu etc. I feel sorry for him because people sometimes laugh at assembly but it's super cute xD   
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I'll promise to write more regularly...perhaps xD

No regrets!
Live for the moment!