The Morning After

Greetings. Still alive in Kumamoto, having survived my first typhoon (1) last night. Bit of a disappointment really, didn't get to see a lot of action. Pretty much heavy rain and really high winds, myself and my roomates were a bit let down by the fact that we didn't see any cars being overturned/roof's flying off etc. We invented the game 'typhoon dare' which involved just going outside and walking around, to check if there was anything exciting going on down the street. Got a little bit of 'serious lean over while being held up by the wind' thing happening, it was kinda fun.

It is definitely a change of concept not having to work nine to five, in fact pretty much no one I associate with is on regular hours, and has their days off on different days of the week. Combine this with having multiple birthdays, going's awayseses, new arrivals, and you've got yourself this equation: Any semblance of an excuse + multiple drinking buddies = big nights and good times - EVEN ON A SCHOOL NIGHT!
Having said that I've compiled this little list, which of course is NOT based on personal experience:

The Morning After: Subtle Signs That You May Have Had One Too Many Last Night

• You wake up in your pants and shoes.
• The $150 bucks you took out at 7pm last night has been reduced to 16 coins on your bedside table.
• You last memory consists of answering your mate's question with this reply: "Do I want another tequila shot? HELL YEAH"
• There's a piece of paper with the name 'Yukie' and a phone number on it, yet you have no f.cking idea who Yukie is.
• There's a fat girl in your bed.

Given the hecticness of the last couple of weeks, I've decided to tone it down a bit and get stuck into the study. Implemented a new policy of having at least three AFD's (2) a week, starting next week...Nah just kidding started a few days ago, it's been going well, put in about five hours language study today. The reason for the intenso homework action is that I've applied for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Thought I'd bypass past level 4 (the easiest) and go straight for level 3. Upon reflection, this may not have been the best option. Come December I've got to know 300 Kanji, 1500 words of vocab, a fair bit of grammar, and have good reading, writing and listening skills. Not going to be easy, but I figure even if I fail I'll learn a fair bit in the process.

That's about it for now, hope everyone is safe and well, I'll talk to you soon.


(1) Typhoons, Hurricanes and Cyclones are pretty much the same thing, but are called different names depending on the global area in which they form:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-a-typhoon-and-a-cyclone.htm

(2) AFD - Alcohol Free Day