Another strange encounter in the Guesthouse

Morning: finally made up my mind about EJU, I send out the application in the post office this morning, it was simple enough to do, and the officer in the Post office, like everybody else in Japan, has been extrodinarily helpful.

Afternoon: Spend a ridiculous amount of time blogging (and I am doing it again now, gah!), then chatted with Aaron on Skype for a bit. He is more geeky than I remember, I guess that could be cute, but, it's really hard for me to keep up with a conversation when it strays into topics like debugging codes and motorola OS documentations. Sorry Aaron, I really like you and everything, I am just not a geek :p~

The plan is to do some quick brush-up on Math, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. I need to decide which subject to take before stomping into the Jimbocho district and look for exam-prep books.

When I went downstairs to make pasta (again!), I ran into another American girl in the kitchen. She has been glued to the TV since early this morning, so I am surprised to see her again at 4pm. Every time I went down to make tea, or to cook, she is there.

She is tall, and anorexic-thin. She has a wild afro hairdo, and is dressed in somewhat strange but pretty combination of clothes. The only thing is, she is dramatically, painfully, heartbreakingly shy. She mumbles when she speaks and she can't take her eyes off the table (or the floor). At first, I thought, hmm, another American teenager with low self-esteem. But then she told me her hobby was "ango," and after a painfully slow and delicate conversation, she told me she studied cryptography in American University and is now studying Japanese in Japan. She has been here for two years.

I don't know what to think. She wiggles her body and covers her face when she talks, and the volume of her voice gets lower and lower by the minute. Is she trying to assimilate herself into Japanese culture by imitating shojo-manga genre? More than a few people have commented that I am "bijin janaikedo, kawaiine." Which is an underhanded compliment that says, "you are not beautiful, but you are cute." Now, I really wonder what they mean. I hope I am not giving people the impression that I am walking around with my eyes casted down and my head hanging low, with a cute wiggle in the hip and squeaky, girly-girl voice. Really, I am learning to hold my tongue and bow and be polite, I am trying to remember to say thank you etc., but, but, but... I don't ever want to turn into a shy, nerdy, shojo-anime-princess>_<