"Sun sets' cross the ocean
I'm a thousand miles from anywhere
My pocketbook and my heart both just got stolen
And the sun acts like she don't even care."

That's what's on iTunes at present. A very sleepy Lily is sitting here, in a hotel suite, in Osaka, right by Daikokucho, writing these words, missing her homeland. Actually, truthfully, while I miss Canada, I'm at ease in this new setting, aside from feeling like an alien life form, appearance-wise. I've stopped wearing my Roots Canada jacket out, but mainly because it's insanely humid. For instance, it's 10:04pm, and the temperature is 28 (Celcius) and guess what the humidex ratchets that up to? FORTY DEGREES! WTF. That's 79% humidity. (And I thought people were nuts for living in Canada. The air here is like soup!)

Training is intense this week. Today was the first actual day, and it went from 10am-7pm. For the most part, it's useful material. Sometimes our trainers are a little patronizing. Today, one of them kept trying to explain something to me. By repeating it. Over and over. Finally, I was like, "I don't understand you. What are you getting at?" I think he was a bit surprised, but jeepers, get to the point, already! You're a trainer! You're trying to instill in us a method of giving students clarity and consistency, and yet you can't even do that for me! I digress, though.

Food is okay. I've been eating a lot of sushi. Today, we bought some before heading to the Kansai head office. Both Ray and Christina needed to speak to our trainers about something, so I kind of got the shaft at lunch (for 5 minutes) so I hit the lunchroom, and asked the Japanese ladies if I could crash their lunch party. They were very sweet! (Ena, Uko, and something-or-other... I can't be expected to remember everything, dammit!) Ena asked me what I was having, sushi-wise, so I shrugged and said "I can't read Japanese, so I don't really know."
Ena: (Puzzled) "You don't know?"
Lily: Naw. (Flips over sushi lid) Maybe you can tell me what's in this?
Ena: Ohhhh it's ill.
Lily: Ill? Like, sick?
Ena: No, E-E-L.

So I had eel for lunch today, ladies and gents. Who'd have thought mild-mannered (HA!) Lily would be adventurous and basically eating whatever comes her way in Japan? (I certainly didn't think so.) Tempura here is to die for. Squid stinks, though. I haven't tasted it yet, but it just smells like Whiskas (kitty breath!) to me, and that's highly unappetizing. At least, it isn't getting me all revved up to chow down. Call me crazy.

Today, *shout out!* I heard from Ravi, just in the nick of time. My suitemate, Christina, was ready to pitch her PC out the window because her internet wasn't functioning. Ravi, who know in Christina's opinion probably deserves a cape or a big gold badge, was able to help, via Skype, me fix her up. She was ecstatic, which made both Ray and I even happier. (Nobody likes seeing a girl want to defenestrate a nice shiny brand new laptop!)

I have a feeling training week is going to get nuts very soon. I didn't even do my homework yet for tomorrow. I'm getting laid back too soon! I bought some "jam" today, which smells like strawberries, but which could conceivably, be nuclear waste for all I know. We shall see. RIGHT this instant! This is a live taste test, people. Japanese Jam. *Takes a tentative nibble*

We have, for the first time by a Canadian girl born on July 28th from Barrie, tasted Japanese strawberry jam. And... it's not ass! It tastes passable. Even like strawberry actually. Woohoo.

Now if I just had some PB... That's packed into my larger bags, though, which are already headed to Akashi, about an hour from here.

Anyways, if y'all (as my one trainer loves to drawl... gotta love 'dem Texans) don't mind, I'm going to take my sleepy self to bed. Enjoy your evenings.