I am one happy camper ^_^

Today started off so-so...since I overslept for an hour, but I made it to Seiyu, and bought a bike for 9,969 yen. It was one of the most stressful purchases of my life, though, since about seventy-five percent of the time I had no clue what the woman was saying to me. When I finally got the bike registered and paid for, she gestured to me that I could go, and so I rolled the bike out of the store. However, I couldn't remember her putting the registration sticker onto the bike, and I couldn't find it in the bag...and I didn't want to ride off without it, since with my luck I'd be stopped by a cop and arrested. XD So I just stood there, searching through the bag and booklet, in case it had somehow gotten stuck between the pages when she put everything into the bag...and then suddenly she ran out of the store, exclaiming, "Gomennasai!" and she put it on my bike. Since I felt really bad about being such a difficult customer (it took forever for me to understand several of the things I needed to know, and I still don't completely understood what happened), so I gave her the super-long thank you: "Doumo arigatou gozaimashita!" and bowed several times. Then, once she was gone, I had a ton of trouble figuring out how to get the kickstand to go up (it locks), and then finally I got it.

It's been several years since I've really riden a bike, so I wavered around a few times...plus I'm really short, so even though the seat is as low as it could possibly be, I'm pretty sure it's still too high. The bike only has one speed, but it has brakes on both wheels, so I quickly figured out how to use it. It also came with a basket, a lock, a light, and a bell. ^__^ I'm already really attached to it, hahaha. Maybe I will see how much it would cost to ship it to the US when I'm done here. I could always send it slow-boat and have it arrive a month after I get home, haha.

Here's some pictures!

A close up on the lock on the back wheel.

And the bell! Rin, rin! It really sounds like that, too.

So that is my wonderful, wonderful, adorable bike. I got back, and Emily was awake, so I literally squealed, "I have a BIKE!!!!!!" and jumped around for a bit before going out to take pictures.

But that's not all. Nope, not even close. After talking to Mom on Skype, Brittany and I went to Shibuya to meet up with some people from Ontakesan...but there were more than the two people we were expecting, which neither of us were too happy about. It's NOT fun walking around in a huge group of gaijin--sorry, gaikokujin. I shouldn't use the slang word for it. But we all know that's what the people think when they see us in a huge group. -_-'

First we went to a SoftBank store, and I'm sooo happy that we did, because there was an English-speaking employee there, and she told us that although they are out of pre-paid phones right now, they will be getting new models on February 4th, though she said she expected us to want the phones faster than that. I told her I was more than willing to wait and come back. It's only 9 days to wait, and I've dealt with not having a phone for two weeks so far. I'll still have the phone for three months, and then I get to bring it home as a souvenir, lol. I love SoftBank phones, and the fact that it's a new model coming out sounds promising. Besides, there are English manuals for the phones online, unlike with the AU pre-paid phones...which are really clunky, and if I am going to pay $50+ for a phone, I want to like it. (I'm used to my cheap $14.99 Tracfone, haha.)

We all went into Tokyu Hands to get my art supplies, and I bought charcoal, a smudge stick, and a tiny spray can of fixatif. Afterward, I was starving, and no one could decide on where to eat, and they got distracted by an arcade...so once we left, Brittany and I ditched them and found the best restaurant ever. (Cheap, fast, delicious food.) I don't remember the name of the place, though, haha. Then we went into HMV and I bought the new ToHoShinKI album, "T." Yaaaay. I'm listening to it right now. It was definitely worth it, since there's 16 songs on it, versus the 10 or 12 songs that artists usually put on their super-expensive cds.

Oh, and we had a funny foreigner moment on our way back to the station. We were walking along the sidewalk, and there was this group of fake ghetto guys (I'm laughing just thinking of this), wearing the shiny sweatshirts, bling, baggy pants, and hats on backward...and as Brittany and I passed them, they started singing, "so beautiful girls, so beautiful girls," to that Sean Kingston song "Beautiful Girls" in funny Engrish. Brittany and I ignored them, but cracked up once we were out of earshot. It's weird getting picked out just because you're a foreigner.

Anyway...I'm super happy right now, if you couldn't tell. ^_^