After dancing and singing along to Rooney's When Did Your Heart Go Missing? I decided to step out onto my balcony. I hadn't done so before because there's an insect screen, implying that there are bitey bugs around here, but I woke up with a couple bites on my legs the other morning and I'm not ill with malaria (just itching a little), so I braved it. I think it was around half 5pm and this is what the sky looked like.

I've also taken photos of the view, from my balcony, of the road that the dorm is on.

Because it was cool outside I decided to go for and walk and as it was going to get dark soon, and colder, I left wearing a cardigan. Although it never turned out to be cool enough for me to want to have worn one. But I must bear in mind that one of the girls I spoke to at dinner yesterday told me that she had gone out shopping to buy tights because it is getting colder and Autumn will come soon.

Like I'd mentioned before, vending machines are on every road and they are very brightly lit. I'm glad that they're so bright because the street lights are quite dim and rather far apart.

I went to The Price, the local supermarket also known as the 7-11, to get a couple onigiris cos they're only 98 Yen each there but they were all sold out. So I went for a walk to see the shops on the other side of the station. From the platform you can see signs for arcades and a KFC. A couple people I've spoken to here at the dorm prefer travelling from Toda-Koen Station, even though it's further and more costly, because there are so many arcades around the Nishi Kawaguchi Station.. I suppose this means that the gambling zombies at the pachinko machines wake up to be an angry mob as they grow frustrated at not winning. Like any casino, there are no windows at pachinko arcades, so that the people inside can't tell how long they've been in there gambling for. I stayed in the brightly lit area and found several bookshops, convenience stores and places to eat, then headed back after half an hour.

Dinner isn't served at the dorm on Sundays, to give the manager and his wife a rest I suppose, so I had to buy my own dinner. It's cheaper buying ready made stuff than to cook a meal a week because I'd have to also buy pots/pans and utensils to use. The choco chips are the ones I won at bingo earlier at the party, the cereal's just there cos I was reading the box (I've not bought a bowl and spoon yet, so I've not bought milk for it and eaten any), the smaller packet on the left is a pasta coleslaw and on the right are sweet potato croquets with sweetcorn and carrots. I also had an onigiri from a Sunkus convenience store (135 Yen ¬_¬ ) that was saltier than any onigiri I've had before but the filling was a nice flaky salmon.

Righto, all for now. Freshers' Fair-like thing tomorrow where the clubs and circles (as they call them here) that are keen on inviting foreign students will have booths/tables where we can find out about what they do and sign up if interested. There's also an opening ceremony for all the students entering Waseda this semester (it's taken me until orientation here to work out that semester = term) at the fancy-shmancy auditorium. Will post about that tomorrow. Goodnight!