Busy week

It's been a week since my last post, and I've been up to quite a bit. Here are some of the highlights:

• The university's club fair was last weekend. I went to inquire about the wind ensemble, and also got to hear them play everyone at the fair. They were pretty darn good, even though the ensemble there was pretty small. I'll be going to an interest meeting next week. I hope I don't make a fool of myself on account of my limited Japanese.
• It was during this fair that not one, not two, but three different groups of people came up to me to ask for a picture. One of the girls in the last group even went as far as to say that she thought I was cool. Again, I don't know where these people are getting their ideas.
• Finally got my SIM card for my phone. Now I have an actual phone number and mobile data, so I can finally go out without having to worry about whether or not I'll have emergency resources at hand.
• The car search is still underway. The local dealer still has yet to find anything, and I've asked an American JDM importer with a dealership in Osaka to also be on the lookout. There's a Roadster in Kanagawa prefecture that I might be able to get within or close to my budget. It was well taken care of (one of the owners was a senior citizen) and clean everywhere. I'll get an exact quote on Monday.
• The TAing has been...interesting. The classes are higher-level classes (third and fourth-year students). Some of the students are not trying, and I have to reflect that in their grades. For one of the classes, the final exam counts for 90% (yes, you read that correctly) for the entire grade. A few students then have the habit of not showing up until exam day. Problem is, if they're not doing their homework, they're not going to do well on the exam. You'd think that they'd figure this out by now. Oh well, at least I'm getting paid to do it.
• The intermediate Japanese class that I wanted to take conflicts with another class in my schedule. Therefore, I'll have to take the higher-level beginners Japanese class. I've seen the book and it's pretty easy, but at least I'll actually be getting the fundamentals down in an actual classroom, instead of trying to learn by myself.
• Apparently someone back in the States asked about whether or not I was in the part of the area that recently had the earthquake. The epicenter of said quake was 800 miles southwest from me. It'd be like someone from Japan asking someone in New York if they were affected by the tornado in Indiana. Unless you see something in the news about something happening in or near Fukushima prefecture, then you don't have to be concerned. On second thought, don't be concerned at all. I don't want to put up with a million questions about radiation exposure.

That's all that's been of interest. Onwards and upwards.

-wp