Shopping: part II

So much to write about! Every time I think about it it depresses me and I have no idea where to start haha.

Zerefore, I shall begin with the camera.

A week after I bought it, removed memory card to import pix and after putting it back, started getting the following error message when turning it on:

"Check that there is no foreign objects inside the battery cover and close cover tightly".

After much removing and returning of battery and memory card, was still getting the error.

So I went to the camera shop and told them what was happening, and that the message would randomly come and go.

After much more removing and returning of battery and memory cardS, this time by them, they concluded that there was a defect in the camera and that they would give me a new one.

Got my new camera, put the battery and memory card in, and turned it on, et voila! Same error message lol.

So after a couple minutes in the back of the store, the woman in charge came back and told me that this is in fact not an error, just a warning message. We were so focused on the first part of the sentence, that the second part escaped our notice haha. Since this is a waterproof camera, the lid should be closed "tightly"! And if it is in fact NOT closed tightly, this message pops up when you turn it on...

Awesome thing however is that, since I had already bought and stuck the protection sticker on my new camera touch screen, I got to keep the new one, even though the "old" one had nothing wrong with it. Yay!

Shopping: part I

OK so much shopping done this week!

First item on shopping cart:

Photo was taken using second item on shopping cart, my new Sony Cybershot touch screen waterproof slim camera yay!

I've had my eye on that camera for a while now, and after rafting, where I couldn't take my own photos (especially in the water hehe), I just had to go get it!

Once there, saw an unbelievable offer, for only one day, on a Nikkon camera. Most specs were better than mine, but it was bulkier, worse off with low light, and not waterproof. However, its price went down from 42,000 to... 18,000, just for that one day! WAT ZA FAK!?

Told some friends about it and I think 2 ended up buying it lol.

Last but definitely not least:

MUGIWARA KAIZOKU! むぎわらかいぞく！One Piece yay!

If you don't know what that is, then you suck hehe. If you do, then my good friend Michal showed me this shop where you can bring out the geek in you :) they have all that is related to manga! Toys, figurines, cosplay costumes, DVDs, comics, the whole works!

The shirt however is from the clothes shop on the floor above. They also have many others, but unfortunately no Fullmetal Alchemist :(

Speaking of the geek in us, kinda took a wrong turn somewhere in the convenience store when looking for the camera section and ended up at:

Lol annoying ass character but still cool usher to the DVD section imo!

Right inside, there was an old school section:

Behind the glass, some all-time favorite series on DVDs!

The original Star Trek:

MacGyver lol:

The original Mission Impossible!

iPhone

Vaio meet iPhone:

iPhone meet Vaio.

Dina meet Hello Kitty (I'm sure you already saw them but still lol).

(This has been in drafts for a week or so hehe).

Day 6 (Wednesday)

Last day of freedom before classes start!

So yesterday I got lost on campus. Well actually to get to our lab, I need to go into a building, walk through it, walk out from the other side to finally get to our building. So I missed a turn in the first building and ended up in a very very old section of the university, where the old (?) power breakers can be found. So thought I was in the wrong building and went back out and went North. By the time I had realized I went too far (insert Pablo Keanu Reaves impersonation here), I saw the Gymnasium sign post.

Me being in no hurry whatsoever (another way of saying having absolutely nothing to do whatsoever), decided to check it out. Bastards that made the sign just put the direction without bothering with the distance... 20 minutes later, I reach the muddy sports fields, and then finally a building with a rock concert going on? Turns out it's the music building. From outside, I could make out, in order of noise done: drums, guitar, trumpet (or trombone), piano and violin. Went in and took a look. Interesting, but strange. Each person just finds a corner and starts practicing, paying no mind to the person 2 meters away from him doing something totally different. To illustrate my point, went up to the second floor following the sounds of violin, and found a storage room full of shelves. A guy was right at the right side of the door practicing the violin (exercising not playing tunes), and two meters away, in the parallel isle, a girl was doing the same... Quite annoying.

So on my way back from the music and sports section of the campus, I would see all these people on bicycles zooming past the couple of us that were walking, and ended up wishing I had a bicycle too... Until I borrowed one today... FREEZING! OK so today's a bit colder than yesterday, but still, my hands went blue. By the time I got back I wasn't sure I still had a nose on my face. So that's why Pan-san doesn't use his bicycle...

In other unrelated new, fekin retarded ass Sony warranty doesn't fix my monitor unless 6% if the pixels are not working, so roughly 10.2 pixels. Of course the manual says this... in Japanese, in small print, in such a way that I would've missed it in English hehe. Ah well.

More bad news, went to get my phone line, with the nearly free ($5) iPhone 3GS 32Gb with it, and turns out the paper the mayor's office gave me, stating that I will get my alien status blablabla (residency) next month, is not enough and I have to wait until I actually get the residency to get my line... Meh.

Good good news however, SUSHI! Yummy... So the supermarket does big sale on all fresh goods after 8, so for 10$, ate 18 pieces of fresh (quite big too) Sushi, divided into paris of the following: tuna, white fish, shrimp, scalops, salmon, squid (or something... tastes good so who cares?!), crab (fresh! none of that crab sticks stuff), caviar and urchin (TOOTYA!), the last 2 wrapped in sea weed. Oichi (very tasty). Spent a good 5 minutes trying to find Soya sauce, and had to ask a passing woman for help (she was also very nice), then found out there's already some inside the box! Along with ginger, which actually looks like ginger! It's not pink hehe. Aaahh good way to spend the eve of my birthday. Oh and the cashier even gives you chopsticks if you want. Me likes. Finally, seeing that it was snowing (a bit) when I was going back home, there was no chance for the sushi to go bad :)

Tomorrow, party on the 8th floor to celebrate birthday. After tomorrow party at the lab to celebrate the new lab member (me!). They know not what awaits them muahahaha...

Day 5 (Tuesday)

Last night, had dinner at random restaurant, in small dark alleyway (just my type of place). Tonight, my professor, Nakamura-sensei's inviting me to dinner at a nice restaurant. Also invited are Oochi-san and Pan-san, all three have been great help in getting Yabani life started.

So, to the mall! Up 10 floors (takes a while using escalators...)! In 15-minute minimum line! Out of line! To next restaurant! Wow. Amazing dinner... So this restaurant has a grill in the middle of every table. The menu we ordered included fresh squid, that is cooked right in front of you, and a bowl containing a mixture of cabbage, squid, pork, eggs maybe, that becomes kind of like an omelet (so hard to have it right under your nose while you wait for it to get cooked...), and finally noodles with more squid and pork! Oh and beer! Mmmm... This is apparently called Okonomi (favorite) Yaki.

I'm blending in very well by the way: Japanese looks... check! Notebook used to take note of any new word/expression/food I hear of... check!

Other than that, did my daily routine of getting myself lost by walking in a new random direction (the expression "getting lost" isn't very accurate since each street has its coordinates and I just need to go back to 0 North 0 West/East to get back to the subway station). On my way back from my daily expedition, bought myself a brand new Sony Vaio VPCF119FJ/Bl. This is my birthday present from myself: Intel Core i7-720 QM, 4/8 Gb RAM, 500 Gb HD, Blue-ray Disc player, GeForce GT 330M 1 Gb VGA RAM, 16.4" display, 3.2 Kg... the list goes on. Very, very, very sweet. Got home and turned it on... to find a pixel not working! FFS! Good thing I got the warranty...

Ooh nearly forgot. Rained for the first time since I got here. Not a heavy rain, but it's getting colder. On a side note, even with the colder weather, half sleeves (for me at least) and thick jacket are more than enough. Inside is always so very very hot. I'm sweating here more than I would be sweating in Lebanon with 30 degrees weather...

Day 4 (Monday)

Paperwork, more paperwork... and then some more paperwork... Thank God I had Oochi-san and Pan-san in my corner.

The application for research student residency, for foreigners mind you, is, naturally, in Japanese...

Went to the university for the first time, and was greeted by a very very long line of club representatives waiting to pounce on new freshmen. Thankfully I don't look as young as I do in Lebanon so only a few "wakarimasen" (I don't understand) got me through. The campus is I think as big as Monsef and Helweh combined, if not bigger (18,240 students or so), and naturally, the International Student Center is at one side, and the department of Technology (and our lab) is nearly all the way on the other side, a good 15-minute walk away :S

Met my professors though, and other students in our lab. All are very friendly and extremely helpful. Also found out that if I can pass entrance exam in August (in Japanese...), I can start Master's degree next semester, skipping the research part.

Bestest part of my trip however, was finally walking into the electronics store! Wow. This store, which is much smaller than similar stores in Tokyo for example, is bigger than the technology conventions held at Biel. Divided into sections, with a different company filling each section... bliss :)

After walking around the laptop area for about an hour or so, finally decided on a very very expensive Sony Vaio, and a telephone company that gives out a free iPhone 3GS 16Gb with each line, or a 32Gb version for 5$. The service for internet on it however costs too much. Pan-san (whose friends all have the same provider) pays 10 yen a month, that's 10 cents! Getting an iPhone with the service would cost something like 60$ a month... we shall see.

Ah nearly forgot. Saw an old lady walking a gorgeous husky. Made a new friend!