Bank Account

When school was over for today, I went to 新生銀行 (Shinsei Bank) in Shinjuku to get that bank account I was talking about. Apart from being one of the coziest banks I have ever been to, the service was great, and everything went more smoothly than I could ever have expected. Though I had to sit down and wait for almost half an hour (in a quite comfortable chair, I might add), once my number was called it didn't take long before I walked out of there with my brand new ATM card.

Even nicer was that I didn't even had to get up from my chair while the whole thing was taken care of - they came to me. And another nice touch was that they allowed me to choose the color of my card from among twenty something different nuances. I picked a very nice shade of almost viridian green they called crocodile. I would have given you a picture, but my camera wouldn't give a close enough representation of the color. 

I am currently awaiting a package from my mother, by the way, containg no less than two kilograms of pick and mix candy. While very popular in Sweden, such candy doesn't exist at all here in Japan - one of the very few reasons I wonder whether I could really live here indefinitely. But I suppose as long as I have a steady supplier, I'll be alright. Thanks mom! You're a life saver! :D

An earthquake far far away...

So I hear that southern Sweden had an earthquake this morning - 4.7 on the richter scale. If that isn't proof enough that the gods are angry at the damn socialist tendencies of that country, I don't know what is. More will follow, trust me on that! Soon they will be begging on their knees for forgiveness.

Of course I am kidding. But they did have an earthquake. Which means that since I came to Japan, the most seismologically active country in the world, my family in Sweden have have experienced as many eartquakes as I have. And their's was stronger. How is that for a twist of fate?

I finally got my package today!! Many thanks to my parents for sending it! I am now sitting here eating the most Swedish candy I have tasted in months, and I love it! Some things Swedish I will never be able to get over, it seems. The candy is one of them. Kebab pizza is another. And gingerbread cookies, undoubtedly, is the third.

A great day indeed

The last few days have been marked by studies. There is a week of tests ahead of me, and I do not feel ready for it. The grammar is not problem - that's the easy part - nor is the kanji that hard to remember. But for some reason I find it nearly impossible to memorize all the hundreds upon hundreds of words compiled in my vocabulary list. That  is where the hard part lies. But I will do my best, and I most definitely will continue to study harder than ever during these upcoming weeks of the winter holidays, to reach my goal of knowing every piece of vocabulary, every kanji, and every piece of grammar used in our course books, before the beginning of the spring term.

Only time will tell if I actually succeed, but do know that I am adamant in my attempts to do so.

Speaking of the holiday season, I finally posted that Facebook event I have been meaning to make about the upcoming Christmas party which I hope will forever mark this Christmas in our memories as a truly great one. Though it technically would be far from only my responsibility, I do feel that if I don't start steering things up soon, they will just end up falling through. So I took the initiative, and now things are starting to look much brighter again. I have already managed to bring a splinter group or two in under my all-encompassing Christmas umbrella, and more are sure to follow.

I got a birthday card from my grandmother yesterday. I was quite surprised when I found it in the mailbox, as I had no idea she knew my address in Japan. But of I should have known she did. After all, my grandmother would let nothing stand in her way of proper birthday gratulations.

Another piece of mail which I am currently waiting for, is a package from my parents. Technically sent from Helsingborg, by my father. But as it all started with me whining to my mother on the phone about how much I missed proper Swedish candy, and as most of the content of the package will actually be made up of said candy and cookies bought on my mother's direction, I definitely see it as being from both of them.

The problem is that it still haven't arrived, a whole week after it was sent. I was kind of expecting it either yesterday or today. And yes, they do deliver mail on the weekends in Japan. It's the height of servicemindedness, if you ask me, and very convenient at that. Anyway, the package will most likely be delivered tomorrow.

In the meantime I suppose I will just have to make do with the two large boxes of ginger bread that Linus bought with him on my behalf when he went to IKEA earlier today. He also got me a bottle of Glogg, the traditional Swedish spiced wine much associated with Christmas. I am very much looking forward to opening that one. Perhaps I will save it till the Christmas party, perhaps I will open it on my birthday. Either way, it will be a great day indeed.