Nothing but some, things

So, I'm attending the language class at the moment
prior to the main course which starts in October.

I had been told that all students would be Asian.
But actually we are such a multi-cultural class.
Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Brazilian, Portuguese,
Russian, Swedish, Colonbian, Spanish,
Estonian, Dutch...I am only Japanese in the class.
It's fun, but all communication is only English...sigh.

Well but the class is really fun.
We can share variety of stories from variety of countries.
The subjects are different as well such as fashion,
fine art, graphic design, media, product design etc.
Naturally everyone looks to get excited when we talk about
"art" or "design", especially western people can
"argue" a lot. Asian tend to be withdrawn,
perhaps because of our culture, or just lack of English skill???

But the main course must be harder,
I have to get in there!

It's been for a while since I wrote last time
as I was so busy with assignment,
but I'd like to resume writing now!

Yes, I'm basically lazy, but I cook recently.
I love wandering around tesco.
Oh, I found Kikkoman's soy sauce.
And something looks like chinese cabbage!
Well now I wish to have sliced pork, but...
as I guessed, there was only block pork,
(Surprisingly I found minced one.)
I found only long grain rice...well it can't help.
Fish I could find were mainly salmon or tuna,
but they didn't look fresh enough to make sashimi.
I couldn't find tofu or shirataki, or gobo...

But anyway, I can buy almost all of what I want,
and prices are reasonable.
So cooking by myself is much better than eating in restaurants!

But still I don't like tesco's rice...
I need to find Japanese rice somewhere or I would die...(???).

By the way I didn't know I was so good at cooking.
If I started cafeteria at college,
I'm sure I would make good profit...

Enrollment??? Sounds like rolling around...
It means registering to the university???
Anyway, the language course started at 28th July,
but the first day was not something like
"announcement of classes", but actually only for enrollment.
(That's rather surprising as it's not like this in Japan.)
I went to UAL in Bond Street.

It should have finished in 10mins or so
because what I needed to do was only handing in papers...
but there were few people compared to the number of students.
Everything goes slowly in England

After that, I also went to the Japanese consulate in Piccadilly.
I went there for residential registration.
A Japanese woman welcomed me with gentle smile.
Oh it's been while since I spoke Japanese last time...(well, only one week.)
I believe the way Japanese is spoked is very...respectful.
I feel like I can respect that person well
when I hear this kind of polite way of speaking.
Japanese language is great.
I think I should be able to communicate in right, respectful
Japanese at all times.

Of course, in English as well.

The seventh day. Today I went to Oxford street to buy
a mobile phone and a bag to carry to school.
Started from Green Park, we went through Mayfair,
and had a lunch at a noodle bar called "itsu".
The meal there was rather shocking for me though...
Although sushi looked like proper sushi...

...Is this...Udon??? This is not a problem of "western" or "eastern"
(In Japan, soup of udon tastes different in west and east).
It's almost something completely different.
Actually you can meet udon noodles and miso-soup
under this lots of vegetables. Although I was told to
use teriyaki sauce...sorry. I can't. As the sauce was served
in a small plastic bottle, I just take it away with me.
But its taste was quite good! Today's title is the name
of miso soup in that restaurant.

After that, I went to Phones 4 u to buy a mobile.
(It was the first time for me to have it in England.)
It seems pay as you go has a certain share in the U.K....
(Not so common in Japan) Although I wanted to choose monthly
as the cost would be cheaper, I had no choice as
I don't have a bank account yet.
By the way, it's interesting that we can buy only SIM cards.

Well...I think handsets sold in the U.K. don't look cute.
They are not smart either...The interface is not so good either...
If I try to buy a good one, it costs a lot too...
Anyway, I chose a handset and got it set up.

And we went shopping. I think there's no such a big price
difference in clothes...maybe.
I love shopping in London.

The 6th day. I needed the internet anyway....
so went to the reception to ask about it,
and found out that the service is offered for free
only for summer season. Lucky!
The receptionist gave me a LAN cable as well...
which was extremely short. 1m?

Connecting to the net, the first thing I searched
was where Burger King is lol
...I like fast foods. And prefer BK.
In the UK, I think BK is much better than mac.
The nearest one is in Waterloo station!
Oh I remember, a few years ago, I went there
with my friends before taking the eurostar...

From here to waterloo, it took about 20mins by walk...
it was closer than I imagined. After eating at BK,
I went for a walk as it was such a nice weather.
But...got lost. Passing by the Big Ben, Trafalgar square,
I found myself wandering around SOHO.
Noooo where am I now???
Finally I arrived at Oxford Circus and safely got back
to Elephant and Castle by tube. Sign.

At night, while doing laundry, I looked at the
gallery by the current students of the course.
Ummm...maybe there's no time for getting lost.
I need to prepare for the course seriously.

The fifth day. Finally checking out from the hotel,
I went to the hall of residence.
The area I will live in is just 5 mins away
from the university. Which means,
I don't need to spend much money for transport!
And I can oversleep in the morning! Yes!

I was told that the area was a bit dodgy...
but actually I was so surprised that there are
so many people from other countries.
Is it really the U.K. here?
Well, that's not a problem...but I didn't like
the scenery so much...and there is a big
round-about just in front of the station,
and to cross the road, I need to go to subway
where some dodgy people are laying down sometimes...
This is a bit scary! But I walked towards the hall anyway.

Receiving the key, entering the room...
well, it was much cleaner than I imagined.
It is not such a big room, but shelf and desk etc
looked useful. I liked the layout.
The kitchen is shared, and looked like...
"No one uses here" and looked a bit messy,
but I can clean it up later.
The bed and dishes should have been brought
by myself, and I found the "All Essential Pack"
which I had ordered before delivered.
It contains all these things, and it's just 90 pounds...
Quite reasonable, isn't it?
Cleaning my room, started to feel happy :-)

After that, I went to the shopping centre
(Not so big...but they have tesco and boots etc...)
just near to the station to buy some necessary stuff
and took a rest.

By the way, anyone knows why it's called Elephant&Castle?
I don't know, but found that there is a statue of an elephant,
and coincidentally my friends in Japan had gave me
a small bad which elephant was on, so I took a picture like this.

Oh. The colours are the same...

Although it's still in the middle of London report, I'm gonna write about this...
Keane's new album is going to be released? In October?
You can get one track from online. Go to their official site!
http://keanemusic.com/

Well...they sound quite different this time...
Isn't it like dance-pop music???

The fifth day...well just before writing about it,
these are the things I thought good choices to bring to the U.K.
after arriving here.

1. Slippers
Even the hotel didn't provide slippers.
They are so useful after moving into the hall too.
A colleague gave me this, soft, cute slippers.
So comfortable!

2. Cosmetics trial kit
The first few days are rather tiring,
so these things are really useful to be relaxed
after taking shower. I like these "trial" things anyway.
At the moment I'm using "Makanai Cosme",
but it's really good. It has cleansing, soap, toner and oil
and you will have a really refreshed skin.
It would be better if it had aromatic nice smelling...
but still I feel so happy using this.

3. Tenugui (Japanese traditional style cloth)
I can use it as towel as well as wrapping cloth.
Also it is soooo useful as it's really dry in England,
so tenugui can dry out so quickly.

And of course, I need...
instant miso soup! Miso, you are so great...

The fourth day. I went a typical tourist course.

Along with Thames, I went to Westminster.
To see Big Ben, of course!
I know it's toooo common, but I can't feel like I'm in London
without seeing it.
Even at the first sight from a distant, it looks so great.
From a closer distant, it looks great too.
It looks much better than how it looks in photos.
Words can't describe this.

...I took this picture without thoughts,
so CCTV has got into the frame...
well, it means a lot anyway...

By the way, this is very typical as well,
but I had English breakfast in the morning.
It was heavy as usual. I wonder how tomato
and mushroom could be so oily?
Words can't describe this.