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First we drove a couple hours to New Haven.
At the time, I just thought we were driving straight to NYC, so when we got to New Haven, and my parents were all like, "Get out, dear :D" I was kind of upset. I started this trip at 50% because of Thanksgiving. It just goes to show how low-energy I am when a trip to Rochester tires me out. And of course, I looked for tall suits of armor or little cranky blonde men with automail, but why would they want to go to New York City, anyway? So we got on a train in New Haven. I text messaged Yang, who called back, and we talked but I did not enjoy that train ride. (And neither would I on the way back...lalala....)
When we got into the city, it took us a long time to get a cab, so there we were, walking, with luggage. I need to put walking on my list of pet peeves. I really hate it. I mean, I really fucking hate it. (THEN WHY ARE YOU IN NYC MY DEAR?!) I thought I would die. The hotel, when we finally got there, was really nice (the bed had a down comforter on it). We ordered burgers for dinner, and it wasn't room service, either! ...and they cost $72.
So that's me, finally in New York. Have you ever been to New York City? I'll understand if you haven't. Some people have trouble walking, some people have trouble reading. Some people haven't been to New York. That's okay. But if you don't WANT to go to New York? You're STUPID. You're absolutely NUTS. Because New York City is, despite all the cars and greyness, a very nice place. You should at least WANT to go to New York. At least once.
We took our sweet time getting ready the next morning, which was just the right thing to do. I was feeling very happy and well-adjusted. We went here for lunch. Dad had oden, mom had Hakata ramen, and I had that thing on the top page with the shrimp and the tofu. Yeah, that. That's menchanko. Only the broth was with curry, and YES, I DID SPLATTER! XD It is the most wonderful restaurant ever. (Hakata ramen! For crying out loud!)
We visited Kinokuniya next. I don't remember exactly what I bought, and we had almost all of it got sent along in the mail to us, but it was about $200, mostly more manga to go with series I already have (MORE RENAI CATALOG YAY). And a Hagaren calendar. *_* AND workbooks for my test. I ended up looking at them that night, and the one I got on the reading section was for level one, oops. So I'll just use that next year. =_=
Continuing my food indulgences, we went to Minamoto Kitchoan. Wagashi places as snooty (and fresh and good) as this one are very rare in America. I imagine this one could be one-of-a-kind on the east coast (no promises for Californy, they're crazy). None of the stuff we got is currently on the web (「＿「 stupid seasonal crap), but it was two steamed sponge cakes (komachimeguri and miyamanokinshuu), and some jounamagashi (for MY reference, momijigasane, temari, akinonishiki, and kuriyose). All of these are so pretty and rainbowy I could die.
That night I studied and watched Law and Order (right there in New York! Woo!).
Now, I didn't actually go to New York to hit wagashi places and spend my parents' money extravagantly, though I did a lot of that. I went to New York to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Level two, to be exact. Because my very good friend Olive said I should.
1. I woke up and felt groggy, but not, like, sick. THAT happened after I got dressed. I just felt crummy, like I might throw up, or like I just wanted to lie down, more than usual. We took the luggage with us, and got on the subway. (We only had to pay $2 apiece to go a really long way, in a hurry. Yup, that was nice all right.)
2. When we got there, we stood around looking lost, and a girl came up and asked us where Hamilton hall was. When she heard that we were headed there, too, she promptly said, "日本語能力試験ですか?" And floored my parents. We were taking the same level! *_* She told me about this manga place that has used manga for $1. I'll be damned if I remember the name, but it was cool! We talked until we got there, and then she left to eat her croissant. ...and I didn't see her afterwards. ;_; God, I hope she was taking level one and I just didn't hear her right.
3. There were people reading RAVE manga when I got into the room where everyone was waiting before the test. And then when I went into the classroom, it was like, my God. These people all know Japanese. Just like me.
I will try never to forget this.
4. Let's all remember that I felt like lying down more than taking a test that morning when I say I thought I'd run up five flights of stairs to get to this classroom where the test was. Right. I truly, honestly was surprised when I sat down and was like, oh, my hands are shaking. (OH BAD OMENS WILL SHE PASS THE TEST! TUNE IN NEXT TIMOW DON'T HIT ME)
5. The room was kind of cramped and the "desks" had no space for me to put my head down. Okay. Also I had a guy on either side of me. Umm. The guy on my left was weird and apparently very Greek. He said he'd studied all on his own...which really surprised me, because people who study on their own never make it past katakana. =_= The guy on my right was kinda fat, and he had a shaved head, but he looked okay. And he was nice to me! Gee.
6. I finished the vocab part of the test early. Shortly after I finished, I noticed the kind on my left calculating his results for himself. I was like, ゜口゜ !? Whaddya, SMART or something? (I forgot you could do that...and I was really enjoying my freedom from a world ruled by the SATs, too!)
7. Dad got me this danish from God. Really, it came from God. Nothing could have been that good. It had almonds in it. Dad remembered to ask for almonds from God. I ate that on my first break.
8. Guy on the right called me "kiddo" at some point. He said the listening section would be really easy. Not that I didn't know, but he seemed really gung-ho about it. He said he wanted a talking section.
9. Second break. I called my parents on my cell phone. At that point, I was VERY tired and not getting any better, and certainly not feeling like socializing, so I scooted away from the guy who had been sitting on my right. He had been following me a little like he wanted to talk to me during the break. At this distance, I could see all of him without making eye contact (that's a me thing, not making eye contact), and then I noticed his head wasn't shaved, it was bald. Maybe over 30. I wonder if it was because he liked my pigtails.
10. The reading section was hell. I wouldn't be surprised if I got half the questions wrong (and I got an 89% when I did my practice tests). I finished at least half an hour early and had to sit there, feeling excruciatingly tired, with the lolicon on one side and the weirdo on my other, nothing to put my head down on, and nothing to do. And, I started to think I might be getting my period (which would explain feeling like crap).
11. While we were handing our tests over from the right, the guy on my right said, "Here you go, superstar." I fled for the bathroom.
12. I did not have my period, I just felt like crap for no reason. *flush*
13. I emerged from the test room and told my mom I might fall down, but I didn't after all. We went to get a taxi to the 125th street station.
14. The taxi driver was the talkative kind, very weird, told us to look for lucky pennies down on the floor of the cab and to give him extra money because he would be late for something. Dad saw him take a nip out of a bottle as we got out. Jesus Christ. At least the other ones were all so foreign they had nothing to say.
As you may already understand, I was tired and now we were going to get on a train to go to New Haven. It was crowded. Remember that section of one of the Hagaren novels I translated, with Ed and Roy and the train? I felt like Ed. I'd been crawling around in the dirt and couldn't wait to get back to civilization and there was no place to sit, only this time there wasn't even any Roy to harass. And I could have really used him to harass, give me his coat for a blanky, be my pillow, etc. We did eventually make it to New Haven, and then home, where my family and I promptly agreed to not try to do anything together until tomorrow. Amen to that.
Um. So I think I did okay on my test, despite the mystery fatigue and all. Next year I plan to take the level one test. My parents also said that we should just stay the night after the test, too, and I'm all for that. The moral of the story is, damn I'm tired. I'm just going to hunker down and have my Christmas now, please.
At the time, I just thought we were driving straight to NYC, so when we got to New Haven, and my parents were all like, "Get out, dear :D" I was kind of upset. I started this trip at 50% because of Thanksgiving. It just goes to show how low-energy I am when a trip to Rochester tires me out. And of course, I looked for tall suits of armor or little cranky blonde men with automail, but why would they want to go to New York City, anyway? So we got on a train in New Haven. I text messaged Yang, who called back, and we talked but I did not enjoy that train ride. (And neither would I on the way back...lalala....)
When we got into the city, it took us a long time to get a cab, so there we were, walking, with luggage. I need to put walking on my list of pet peeves. I really hate it. I mean, I really fucking hate it. (THEN WHY ARE YOU IN NYC MY DEAR?!) I thought I would die. The hotel, when we finally got there, was really nice (the bed had a down comforter on it). We ordered burgers for dinner, and it wasn't room service, either! ...and they cost $72.
So that's me, finally in New York. Have you ever been to New York City? I'll understand if you haven't. Some people have trouble walking, some people have trouble reading. Some people haven't been to New York. That's okay. But if you don't WANT to go to New York? You're STUPID. You're absolutely NUTS. Because New York City is, despite all the cars and greyness, a very nice place. You should at least WANT to go to New York. At least once.
We took our sweet time getting ready the next morning, which was just the right thing to do. I was feeling very happy and well-adjusted. We went here for lunch. Dad had oden, mom had Hakata ramen, and I had that thing on the top page with the shrimp and the tofu. Yeah, that. That's menchanko. Only the broth was with curry, and YES, I DID SPLATTER! XD It is the most wonderful restaurant ever. (Hakata ramen! For crying out loud!)
We visited Kinokuniya next. I don't remember exactly what I bought, and we had almost all of it got sent along in the mail to us, but it was about $200, mostly more manga to go with series I already have (MORE RENAI CATALOG YAY). And a Hagaren calendar. *_* AND workbooks for my test. I ended up looking at them that night, and the one I got on the reading section was for level one, oops. So I'll just use that next year. =_=
Continuing my food indulgences, we went to Minamoto Kitchoan. Wagashi places as snooty (and fresh and good) as this one are very rare in America. I imagine this one could be one-of-a-kind on the east coast (no promises for Californy, they're crazy). None of the stuff we got is currently on the web (「＿「 stupid seasonal crap), but it was two steamed sponge cakes (komachimeguri and miyamanokinshuu), and some jounamagashi (for MY reference, momijigasane, temari, akinonishiki, and kuriyose). All of these are so pretty and rainbowy I could die.
That night I studied and watched Law and Order (right there in New York! Woo!).
Now, I didn't actually go to New York to hit wagashi places and spend my parents' money extravagantly, though I did a lot of that. I went to New York to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Level two, to be exact. Because my very good friend Olive said I should.
1. I woke up and felt groggy, but not, like, sick. THAT happened after I got dressed. I just felt crummy, like I might throw up, or like I just wanted to lie down, more than usual. We took the luggage with us, and got on the subway. (We only had to pay $2 apiece to go a really long way, in a hurry. Yup, that was nice all right.)
2. When we got there, we stood around looking lost, and a girl came up and asked us where Hamilton hall was. When she heard that we were headed there, too, she promptly said, "日本語能力試験ですか?" And floored my parents. We were taking the same level! *_* She told me about this manga place that has used manga for $1. I'll be damned if I remember the name, but it was cool! We talked until we got there, and then she left to eat her croissant. ...and I didn't see her afterwards. ;_; God, I hope she was taking level one and I just didn't hear her right.
3. There were people reading RAVE manga when I got into the room where everyone was waiting before the test. And then when I went into the classroom, it was like, my God. These people all know Japanese. Just like me.
I will try never to forget this.
4. Let's all remember that I felt like lying down more than taking a test that morning when I say I thought I'd run up five flights of stairs to get to this classroom where the test was. Right. I truly, honestly was surprised when I sat down and was like, oh, my hands are shaking. (OH BAD OMENS WILL SHE PASS THE TEST! TUNE IN NEXT TIMOW DON'T HIT ME)
5. The room was kind of cramped and the "desks" had no space for me to put my head down. Okay. Also I had a guy on either side of me. Umm. The guy on my left was weird and apparently very Greek. He said he'd studied all on his own...which really surprised me, because people who study on their own never make it past katakana. =_= The guy on my right was kinda fat, and he had a shaved head, but he looked okay. And he was nice to me! Gee.
6. I finished the vocab part of the test early. Shortly after I finished, I noticed the kind on my left calculating his results for himself. I was like, ゜口゜ !? Whaddya, SMART or something? (I forgot you could do that...and I was really enjoying my freedom from a world ruled by the SATs, too!)
7. Dad got me this danish from God. Really, it came from God. Nothing could have been that good. It had almonds in it. Dad remembered to ask for almonds from God. I ate that on my first break.
8. Guy on the right called me "kiddo" at some point. He said the listening section would be really easy. Not that I didn't know, but he seemed really gung-ho about it. He said he wanted a talking section.
9. Second break. I called my parents on my cell phone. At that point, I was VERY tired and not getting any better, and certainly not feeling like socializing, so I scooted away from the guy who had been sitting on my right. He had been following me a little like he wanted to talk to me during the break. At this distance, I could see all of him without making eye contact (that's a me thing, not making eye contact), and then I noticed his head wasn't shaved, it was bald. Maybe over 30. I wonder if it was because he liked my pigtails.
10. The reading section was hell. I wouldn't be surprised if I got half the questions wrong (and I got an 89% when I did my practice tests). I finished at least half an hour early and had to sit there, feeling excruciatingly tired, with the lolicon on one side and the weirdo on my other, nothing to put my head down on, and nothing to do. And, I started to think I might be getting my period (which would explain feeling like crap).
11. While we were handing our tests over from the right, the guy on my right said, "Here you go, superstar." I fled for the bathroom.
12. I did not have my period, I just felt like crap for no reason. *flush*
13. I emerged from the test room and told my mom I might fall down, but I didn't after all. We went to get a taxi to the 125th street station.
14. The taxi driver was the talkative kind, very weird, told us to look for lucky pennies down on the floor of the cab and to give him extra money because he would be late for something. Dad saw him take a nip out of a bottle as we got out. Jesus Christ. At least the other ones were all so foreign they had nothing to say.
As you may already understand, I was tired and now we were going to get on a train to go to New Haven. It was crowded. Remember that section of one of the Hagaren novels I translated, with Ed and Roy and the train? I felt like Ed. I'd been crawling around in the dirt and couldn't wait to get back to civilization and there was no place to sit, only this time there wasn't even any Roy to harass. And I could have really used him to harass, give me his coat for a blanky, be my pillow, etc. We did eventually make it to New Haven, and then home, where my family and I promptly agreed to not try to do anything together until tomorrow. Amen to that.
Um. So I think I did okay on my test, despite the mystery fatigue and all. Next year I plan to take the level one test. My parents also said that we should just stay the night after the test, too, and I'm all for that. The moral of the story is, damn I'm tired. I'm just going to hunker down and have my Christmas now, please.
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...yes, I know it's not true, but I need my moments of utter fandom-stupidity. Cause...I would have been thinking that as I walked around the streets of NYC. ^^;;
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I've always wanted to go there. But.. yeah.
*wishes she could learn japanese :/*
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Hee. *giggle*
The lowest level test is 4, right? I suppose having these tests under my belt would look really good on a resume. *makes note to check for next year*
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Wagh.. it's so difficult. But italian class is boring, so I get the chance to concentrate then.
But yeah, your trip to NYC sounds awesome- my mom just dragged me around to the major sightseeing points when I've been there.
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Oh, is this about the Yankees?
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For future reference, Book Off is on 41st St. off of 5th Ave., opposite the Public Library. We also have an Asahiya, which is on 45th St. now (I think), near Grand Central Station. And next time you come, you have to try the Beard Papa cream puffs at Zaiya, a couple doors down from Book Off. *___* And then there's tons of Japanese restaurants and bakeries and okonomiyaki stands and yakitori places in the East Village. Ok, I'll stop now...
I've actually seen them filming "Law and Order" on location all over the city. Once they filmed part of an episode on the same block as the dorm I was living in. Very exciting.
Very jealous of your Japanese skillz, BTW.
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