Kit Kats

I have collected quite a few Kit Kats over these last few months, so I thought while I am quarantined, I'd show you the flavors I have collected.

This is Calpis flavored. Calpis is an un-carbonated soft drink. It is a little citrusy.

Sports drink flavored. It tastes a lot like the Calpis one.

Strawberry Chocolate on the outside, wafery goodness on the inside.

There's a cookie inside. (Found at Don Quitoes everywhere)

Chocolate on the outside, strawberry flavoring on the inside. Very good.

Baked potato flavored. Not so bad, actually.

Carmel Pudding flavored

Kinako flavored. It tastes a little like peanuts. (Yokohama flavor)

Apple flavored. Tasty. (I think I was in Yamanashi when I bought these)

Red Pepper flavored. I could only buy a box this big. It doesn't taste bad, it just is strange. (I think I was in Gifu. I bought these and the apple ones on the road trip to Nagoya)

Raspberry and Passion Fruit. I did not like this one. Neither did Yan Yan.

Red bean flavored. I do not know why I thought I would like Azuki inside a kit kat when I don't like it outside one...

Miso flavored. Surprisingly delicious. It was a nice sweet and salty snack. (Nagoya's specialty) 

That is right corn flavored. Or more importantly cooked corn flavored. (Hokkaido)

Melon flavored. Very good. (Hokkaido)

Cherry flavored from the cherry covered Yamagata.

Zunda flavored. In short, it is a soy bean flavored kit kat. About as good as the corn one. (Yamagata)

Framboise flavor without the alcohol. Tasted a lot like the Rasberry one (I wonder why...=P)

Mixed Juice. It is the most recent seasonal flavor. It isn't bad. I just don't think I will ever crave it.

Winter dark chocolate. I bought it in Tokyo, but it is a Hokkaido product.

Custard pudding flavor. It tastes like the Carmel pudding one above.

Purple potato flavored. Like the baked potato one but not quite (Okinawa)

I did not take pictures of the Soy sauce flavored one (also found in Yokohama), the Banana flavored one (bought in Tokyo, but said from Okinawa), and the maple flavored one. I ate the maple flavored ones too quickly. Some of you are lucky to even get one. I seriously just went through the bag and went 'Oh jeeze! I have to send some of these out!' So yeah, the maple and the cookie ones are my favorite. They do not last long. 

Toodles!

Quarantined

Ok. So, I have the mumps. Let's just get that right out in the open. My face is a little swollen, mostly on the left side. My left ear hurts a little, and my left tonsil is a little bigger than normal. The pain is nothing that I cannot ignore at the moment. On Saturday I woke up with both sides slightly swollen and it was painful to eat. I was hoping it was an allergic reaction. Sunday was the same, so I stayed away from church since there are small children there. Today, my left side puffed out and I have not appetite. Below is the official diagnosis. The one with the circle is おたふく風邪 which is the mumps.

But anyway, to miss school without getting any absences counted against you for the mumps you have to have it declared 'the mumps' by a doctor. So I headed over to my local clinic (where the only speak Japanese, mind you) to start my adventure. I gave them my insurance card, and they took turns guessing in what order my name went (Sarver Stephanie Joyce is what is written on it). 'Joyce-san' 'Sabar Stephanie-san?' etc.
Anyway, I only waited like 5 minutes (1.2 songs on my walkman) before the doctor was available. My doctor looked like this:

 This is Morning Musume's producer Tsunku♂ (つんく♂). And yes you need the male symbol. That is just how he roles. It some how made the slight nervousness I was feeling go away though. Weird huh? Weirder: I wanted my doctor to ask me to sing him a song. Just for fun.^.^ 

But anyway, I told him what was wrong. He felt my neck and jaw. He asked me if I had been exposed to the virus and if I had the MMR shots. I told him yes and yes. He asked me if I need a prescription pain killer; I said I didn't (sorry Mom =P). I then asked him if I needed to miss class. He said since the university only had adults, there should be no reason for me to miss class and that I should only experience swelling for 5-days (so it should be gone by Thursday). I thanked him, got a copy of the diagnosis, and then stopped by a pharmacy to pick up some ibuprofen since I was running low and only expected the pain to become more annoying. 

Since I have Japanese National Health insurance, I only have to pay 30%. Wohoo. $8 to see the doctor!

I then contacted the international center with my diagnosis. I shortly received a phone call from Watanabe-san (a life-saver if you study abroad). She said the common procedure was was to be quarantined for a week. I told her that he said it should be a 5-day affliction, and it was decided that I could return to school when the swelling was gone. 
On a funny note, as I was leaving the clinic a small group of elementary school kids were walking along the sidewalk. I thought 'Great, I am supposed to avoid children.' So I held my breath, but then one boy was being sassy and said こんにちは(konnichwa) and giggled. I had to reply. I must not let sass go un-replied to! (Un and re...can you really do that?). Anyway, I replied back which cause the group of boys to run away laughing. (hahaha a foreigner can say 'hello'...)
On another funny note, it has been the perfect weather since my face puffed up...God really knows I love irony, huh? I mention this because soon the rainy season will start, so I was going to make the best of the last weeks in May. I guess I can sit by the window or on my balcony... 

久しぶり: It's been a while

Yes. I know. I have not written much, but since school started up again, it has been a lot of the same old same old. But here is a little of what has been going on.

I had a good hair day, so I took a picture. 

They had an SA mini-conference here. It is like Youth Conference, but for SAs. It was by the ocean so a few of us kicked off our shoes and headed in. I could not help but play the game where you jump over the wave as it comes in. Risa managed to get a picture of me doing it. 

Here we are doing a team exercise. We all had to enter the moving rope, jump and then do the same pose. I think this is just proof that I cannot jump like a normal person. Look at me!

Here is me screwing it up!

I so totally lost. I flew! I may be aggressive, but I do not have the weight to win games like this. 

Also during Golden Week I hung out with my friend Kazuki (see the Nagoya post). He had graduated and moved back to Nagano to work, but came back to Tokyo during the holiday break. So I made sure to go see him too. We met up in Yokohama (again love that town) and went to China Town. There they have lots of food stands. We kept buying stuff and then walking to another. Above I am eating a Chinese rice ball (totally forgot the name). It is rice and meat conveniently stored in bamboo leaves. It was pretty tasty. I prefer the nikumon though.

Kazuki decided he wanted to go see a Morning Musume concert, and who am I to say 'no' to that? And yes, I went again. During each tour they always do Tokyo twice. That is where the highest concentration of people (and thus fans) are. Heck they always do a tour in Saitama and Chiba too (North and East of Tokyo respectively). However, I did not have free time when they came that way. Anyway, Kazuki was more familiar with Morning Musume up until about 2002 (or so it sounded), so it was really fun to show him what the current line-up is like. He had a great time, and for a beginner he did awesome (I am a beginner too, and he probably did better than me). I know he had a great time because afterwards he suggested going karaoke and reliving the concert that way! And I complied. Complied so much that I have had a sore throat since. Actually I caught a cold. However, one of the members also complained about having a sore throat the day after the concert. I think she gave me the virus. That's cool though. I like Michishige. Below is a picture of her.

Ok, so before the concert I did not particularly like her. She was added to the group for her narcissistic cuteness, not her singing ability. She has gotten better, but it is far from her strongest point. FAR. But, anywho, at the concert they always do 'calls'. They always do a student/kids call. And all the kids scream. And the girls(on stage) wave. Then they do a call for girls. Let me paint a picture of their fans for you. Most (90%) are male. So when the do the call for females, they want to see and hear their girl fans. And I complied. Actually the first call they did, they totally didn't look at me, but for the second one the fans closest to me helped bring attention to me, and Michishige saw me. We made eye contact, waved to each other, and to make sure she was really waving at me, I bowed with my head. She totally bowed back. It was so freaking awesome!!

So that is what I have been up to: studying, jumping, screaming, and singing.