On the 26th, I woke up on my own and quickly turned off my alarm before it rang, it was supposed to go off in about 3 minutes. Father was off at work for the first half of the day. We had breakfast, then almost immediately afterwards, I skyped with my family for about an hour. After that we went and did laundry at a coin laundry place, so we could make use of the driers there. It took about 30 minutes, so we sat around and chatted. It was at this point that I asked Kyoko about why her mom does not eat with the rest of the family. She explained that that was how her mom preferred to do it. It is a much more traditional way of doing it that has mostly died out all over Japan, but apparently her mom preferred the more traditional stuff. The laundry finished, and we went home. At this point, we snacked on Mikan and sat at the kotatsu. Mother then drove Akane to the juku (cram school) so it was just Kyoko and I for a bit, but we just sat around eating mikan and chatting. Mom came home, and we had lunch and chatted more. Then Father came home partway through lunch and joined us. After lunch, Father, Mother, Kyoko, and I went for drive. We stopped by what should have been a waterfall if there had been enough rain recently, but there had not been, so it was just some exposed cliff. Then we went down a road that was totally not wide enough to be a two way street. We went to a huge and very very deep cave in the woods with a small shrine near the entrance and bats inside made by an underground river. We walked around a bit, but did not go too deep because it was dark and could be dangerous. After the cave we went to a shrine at the top of a mountain. It was Very dramatic and misty, which was even cooler because the shrine was named Misty Island Shrine. I got a small charm as a gift from Father, a small carved rooster for my birth year. We walked around the shrine a bit and they explained some aspects of the shrine. After this we continued our drive, if we had time, we were going to go to an onsen, but we did not, so instead we saw a large waterfall which was actually hot spring water, so had a really nice color and a sulfurous smell. We then went to a town that had so many hot springs, the storm drains steamed and smelled of sulfur. We went and sat in a hot spring foot bath. Our feet were amazingly smooth afterwards. We then got some snacks to eat on the way home and some eggs that were hardboiled in the hot spring water, which actually affects the smell and flavor of the egg. Probably the best hardboiled egg I have ever had. We then returned home and Father left not long after to teach trumpet and soon after that Akane returned. We had Takoyaki for dinner. It was really awesome, again, Mother kept bringing out more and more food, but she actually sat at the table with us as we ate, but barely ate anything. Then we talked a lot. Father returned home about an hour after dinner. We all went to sleep a bit early because we had an early day tomorrow.
Assume all of the days that I am at Kyoko’s house, we talk a LOT. Both normal conversation and explainations of what things are, why, how they work etc. I am almost constantly talking with Kyoko, her sister, or her parents, 90% of the time in Japanese.
On the 26th, I woke up on my own and quickly turned off my alarm before it rang, it was supposed to go off in about 3 minutes. Father was off at work for the first half of the day. We had breakfast, then almost immediately afterwards, I skyped with my family for about an hour. After that we went and did laundry at a coin laundry place, so we could make use of the driers there. It took about 30 minutes, so we sat around and chatted. It was at this point that I asked Kyoko about why her mom does not eat with the rest of the family. She explained that that was how her mom preferred to do it. It is a much more traditional way of doing it that has mostly died out all over Japan, but apparently her mom preferred the more traditional stuff. The laundry finished, and we went home. At this point, we snacked on Mikan and sat at the kotatsu. Mother then drove Akane to the juku (cram school) so it was just Kyoko and I for a bit, but we just sat around eating mikan and chatting. Mom came home, and we had lunch and chatted more. Then Father came home partway through lunch and joined us. After lunch, Father, Mother, Kyoko, and I went for drive. We stopped by what should have been a waterfall if there had been enough rain recently, but there had not been, so it was just some exposed cliff. Then we went down a road that was totally not wide enough to be a two way street. We went to a huge and very very deep cave in the woods with a small shrine near the entrance and bats inside made by an underground river. We walked around a bit, but did not go too deep because it was dark and could be dangerous. After the cave we went to a shrine at the top of a mountain. It was Very dramatic and misty, which was even cooler because the shrine was named Misty Island Shrine. I got a small charm as a gift from Father, a small carved rooster for my birth year. We walked around the shrine a bit and they explained some aspects of the shrine. After this we continued our drive, if we had time, we were going to go to an onsen, but we did not, so instead we saw a large waterfall which was actually hot spring water, so had a really nice color and a sulfurous smell. We then went to a town that had so many hot springs, the storm drains steamed and smelled of sulfur. We went and sat in a hot spring foot bath. Our feet were amazingly smooth afterwards. We then got some snacks to eat on the way home and some eggs that were hardboiled in the hot spring water, which actually affects the smell and flavor of the egg. Probably the best hardboiled egg I have ever had. We then returned home and Father left not long after to teach trumpet and soon after that Akane returned. We had Takoyaki for dinner. It was really awesome, again, Mother kept bringing out more and more food, but she actually sat at the table with us as we ate, but barely ate anything. Then we talked a lot. Father returned home about an hour after dinner. We all went to sleep a bit early because we had an early day tomorrow.
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On Christmas, I got up early had a pretty impressive breakfast at my hotel, they carried my luggage out to the street for me, then stood and saw me off until I was around the corner. I made my train to Miyazaki, barely. It was a really cool looking black deasel train and rode it for three hours. There were many tunnels, so views were limited, but it was a very good ride. I transferred at Miyazaki, and took a local train to Nishimiyakonojo, which took about an hour. I was met at the station platform around 1pm by Kyoko, a Japanese high school girl that I met in Seattle over the summer. I volunteered at a small study abroad company by helping with the welcome lunch, the farewell lunch, a tour of Seattle, and two day trips around Seattle, the group was about 10 students. I asked them if I could stay at anyone’s house, and Kyoko, of course with her parents, agreed to put up with me for a few days. She walked me to where her mother was also waiting. First shock, no trains, and buses only every hour or so, so everyone drives. Her mother drove us to a Shochu factory (a very special, and famous type of Japanese alcohol made almost only in Kagoshima) where we got lunch, pizza and they had me choose a bread too, but we did not eat the bread, they explained that it was for lunch the next day. There were actually many things that shocked me when I was Kagoshima Prefecture staying with Kyoko’s family. According to Kyoko, there are only about two foreigners in the area and both are English teachers, so it was very interesting seeing everyone’s reactions to me. Kyoko’s mother then drove us to meet the grandparents of both sides of the family, because they apparently wanted to meet the foreigner. Kyoko’s dad’s parents chatted with me, and offered me coffee and senbei (rice crackers) to go with it, then ignored me when I said I did not need it, so I got a cup of coffee and senbei. I thought it was very interesting; they had Kyoko go in to help make the coffee with Grandma, then when they brought out the coffee and senbei, there were only two for Kyoko’s grandfather and me. Then the women sat to the side, still part of the conversation, but seemingly holding back and only saying things when the conversation lagged to keep most of the conversation between the Grandfather and me. I guess those in the countryside, despite being much more open and free spirited than those of Tokyo, are more traditional. After that, we visited the other side of the family. Kyoko’s mother’s mother’s first reaction upon seeing me (not knowing that I know Japanese), was “Oh, we have a strange customer coming today,” and, “Oh, Kyoko, you got a boyfriend?” After visiting the grandparents and generally showing me off to the family, Kyoko’s mother (I am getting tired of tying Kyoko’s mother/father, so I will just call them mother and father as I did when I was there (お母さん&お父さん)). Mother took us, Kyoko and me to a famous statue of a samurai on the top of a hill overlooking Soo. We walked around, while there I made the observation that she seemed very easy going and happy-go-lucky, so very easy to get along with. She actually reminded me of a mother of one of my friends from elementary school in a very good way. After that we visited the city’s department of education and I was introduced to the person that works with Megumi on the Japan side for organizing the study abroad program. Based on the position of his desk, he seemed to be pretty high level and quite excited to meet me. I talked with him, staying very conscious of my speech formality, he asked me to check an English brochure for him to make sure the English made sense, gave me his card, then we said goodbye. After that visit, we headed home. My first thoughts, Kyoko’s house is beautiful, and all handmade by her grandfather, his apprentice, and Father. When I say handmade, I do not mean like they went to a hardware store. Her Grandfather went into the woods, picked and cut down trees, dragged them back, cleaned them, and cut them to size. Most of the joints, corners, etc are complex interlocking pieces so the house actually has very few nails. Most of the house was a very pretty light stained wood. When I heard the level of commitment and skill needed for that house, I was and still am kind of a loss of what to say about it, besides amazing. The three of us continued talking around the Kotatsu until Kyoko’s sister, Akane, (3rd year of middle school or equivalent to an American high school freshman) came home. She was super super shy at first and seemed a bit alarmed to see me. We chatted more, and Akane slowly opened up more, but even when she talked, she was so quiet, it was a bit hard to hear her. Mother then brought over dinner and we all sat around the Kotatsu to eat except for Mother who spent the whole time refilling glasses and bringing out more and more food. I later asked and was told that that was very common in Japan and more traditional. Apparently Mother prefers to do that because it was all of her own will (I had multiple chats about this because I found it so strange). On top of that, it was not a help yourself deal, it was sit back while the women prepare the food, set the table, and clean up afterwards. That felt really uncomfortable for me actually. About half way through dinner, when my mouth was full of fish, Father came home, and also seemed a bit shocked to see me, just for a second. He knew I was coming, but I am not sure he knew what I looked like. He joined the conversation too and seemed really interested in talking to me. I am not sure he gets too many chances to talk to foreigners. Mother was like that as well, seemed very interested in talking to me, not only about me, but also about America and American culture. Whenever something was needed and Mother was busy, Father always told one of the girls to go grab it. After dinner, we chatted for the rest of the night, until about 11. I got a futon in a nice 8 tatami room and they gave me a heater and hot steam humidifier as well as the insulation in Japanese houses is not the best (so that summers are less miserable). I will admit, I did not sleep that well the first night, but found that if I stuff my sweats under the pillow, I oddly sleep way better. Just that extra inch makes a difference apparently.
I spoke almost exclusively Japanese, but sometimes would switch to English because it was requested by someone, or because I wanted to practice English with Kyoko and or her sister. Father said that I spoke such good Japanese, that when I spoke English, he was shocked how well I spoke English, then he remembered that I am a native speaker of English. haha So, these updates of the past few days will take a long time it seems, so it will be in installments. This is all for today. Gotta get up tomorrow to take the Shinkansen back home. Good night This morning I woke up at 6, finished packing, and got breakfast. it even included bacon, eggs, and french toast! Miss Ameican breakfast a bit. I then headed to the station and took the Yosan Line to Yawatahama. My train for some strange reason was themed for Anpanman.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anpanman After the Anmanpan train, I walked from the station to the ferry terminal, most of the length of the city, in 30 minutes to catch the 10:30 ferry to Beppu. All I can say is Yawatahama needs a bit of a business boost and elbow grease. Some random students waved to me from a bus. When in small towns and the only white person, it is easy to feel like a star with everyone looking at you, you are really special, but it is important not to let that get to you. There is a term for it, but I can not remember it currently. (-_-;) Anyways, I took the ferry, and noticed a few other people also staring at me, so I smiled and noded and that made them stop pretty quickly. The ferry was three hours, I spend part of that sleeping, part taking pictures, and part messaging people on my phone. Washington ferries and Japanese ferries are very very different. There are mostly no chairs, but carpeted areas to sit. Only first class gets chairs. After arriving, I walked all the way to the station, again with my backpack and suit case. It was a good 45 minute walk. I got lunch at a random Ramen place, then bought my ticket for tomorrow to Miyazaki. After that, I stumbled my way to my hotel. After that, I went to a random Christmas festival. Admitidly, mostly couples again, but some singles though, most people were with others though except me. There were some idol groups and solo artist performances and many food booths. It started at 5 and went to 8, then at 8, fireworks. It started raining though, so I went back to the hotel sad I could not see the fireworks. I told the guy at the desk and he suggested going quickly to take a bath, that I could probably see from there. The onsen in this building is on the 8th floor, and the guy's bath is conviniently licated facing the ocean, so I ended up chilling in a bath with two middle-aged men, naked, chatting, and watching fireworks from an onsen. It turned out quite nice. This is a nice hotel, onsen, when I arrived, served Matcha, escorted to room, tea and sweets in room, really nice yukata, great ambience, when you leave, they take your room key, and give it back to you when you return. Also an option for a private bath so couples and families can bathe together. The guy at the desk remembers me quite well now. That is not everything, but good enough. Sleep time, another early morning tomorrow. Good night! Here is a break from packing to update my blog. I am getting back on top of it. Lets see if I can stay on top of it again, cuz I do not like pumping out 5 days at once.
Today, Monday, I slept in to the point that I was not able to get lunch, so I got 2 dollar roll with egg inside for pseudo-breakfast. I reserved a seat for my train tomorrow, to be sure I make it in time for the ferry. Reserving a seat almost doubles the cost, but I want to be on the safe side, because if I miss a singe train, then I will miss the ferry and will be set back many hours. After getting my ticket, I headed toward Dogo-Onsen, probably the most famous hot spring / bathhouse in all of Japan. I wandered around and took pictures for a while, because when you enter the Onsen, you only have about an hour or so and I wanted lunch first. After wandering and looking at the area, I went to a very unique looking cafe for lunch, a bit hard to describe it, but it was very cool. I got a tempura sandwich and ama-zake, which you may remember from my previous blog, a sweet only slightly fermented sake (so essentially non-alcoholic) with chunks of rice in it and white like milk. Afterwards, I headed to Dogo-Onsen, got the level three package with access to all three bathes, a large tatami room, with one serving of tea and crackers. I think I was the only person at the onsen between the ages of 10 and 35 and the only foreigner. It was fun, but a bit odd just being me and a bunch of old Japanese men, luckily no more awkward conversations about if I was comfortable being naked in front of others or not, like I had my first night at the hotel. After going into one bath, I went to the large tatami room, had tea and sweet crackers, then went and tried out the other two baths. It was marvelous, also all of the staff seemed to treat me slightly different than the other guests because I was a foreigner. Not necessarily in a bad way, just gave me a bit of extra attention and walked me through everything. Also noticed they kept glancing over at me and talking among themselves as I was drinking my tea. After my baths, I got a brief tour of was used to be the Imperial rooms, the audience room, his private room and the concealed guard rooms, his private changing room, bath, and even the toilet. The guide seemed really really relieved when I told her that I could understand Japanese. It was quite interesting, sadly no photography inside the onsen for some reason, haha. After Dogo, I walked around a bit, having no idea where else to go. So I ended up going to an old temple at the top of a very tall hill. And afterwards walked around Dogo park, a pretty nice park around a large forested hill steep enough that it is not and will probably never be developed. I walked through the forest a bit, then returned to the nearest streetcar station by walking around the public park portion where people were playing catch, badminton, etc. As I was walking, a pair of children called out to me, just saying hello in English. After I was well away, I heard the little girl ask my name, but at that point, I was awkwardly far away, so did not respond, only waved and said have a good day. I wish they did not wait until I was barely in yelling range to try to start trying to have a conversation. After this it was only about 4, but I had no idea what else to do, so I just returned to my hotel. I went back to the nearby mall for dinner, then browsed for clothes, I still mean to buy a sweater and pants, but am at a loss as to what might possibly look good, so again ended up browsing for about an hour and bought nothing. I did buy a beanie though, so my head can be warm as I reuse my same 5 sweaters for the rest of the year. Well, I think that is about enough for now. Good night. Tomorrow is mostly traveling, so have an early start. I am in a cafe and have some time, so I will blog. recently I have really really been craving hugs. Hugs are not a part of Japanese culture, so you will never get them typically.
On Saturday, I finished packing, and went to Japanese class with my backpack and suitcase, luckily I did not need my textbook. After class, I went and got lunch with my friends, Eliot, Cameron, Jon, and Kevin (not Japan Study from Texas). They all gave me a hug after seeing my facebook post about it. We wished eachsafe travels and a merry christmas, and departed. I headed to Haneda Airport. My smart phone is proving invaluable, without it, I am not sure I would have made it to the airport. I just carried my bag, so skipped about an hour in line. The Japanese version of TSA is so lax compared to the US TSA. The 787 was really nice, but made a strage high pitched whining at take off and landing. I arrived in Matsuyama, took a bus to the station, then use my phone again to try to find my hotel. It is actually a pretty nice hotel, especially because it was only $30 a night. It even has a sento, a large communal (gender seggregated) bath. I went to a food court by my hotel and ate Korean food, then returned to my room. I decided to take a bath in the Sento. After chatting briefly with a possibly drunk old man in the changing room, I had this bath all to myself. It seems like a lot of the other residents of this hotel are young couples. The next day, Sunday, I had breakfast in the hotel, really good breakfast buffet actually. I then used my phone map again to get to St. Catarina, girls' high school where I met up with my friend Mizuki. We walked to a shopping area for lunch at a Udon place. Then we walked around a bit, but neither of us are much for buying clothes, so we went to a book store instead. After that, Mizuki had never been to Matsuyama castle before, so we walked there. We walked around the castle, which is amazing, then got ice cream. After that, we had no idea what to do, so I suggested walking along the river, so back through the shopping area down to riverside parks. We walked along the river until we culd not anymore, then turned back. We chatted most f the time, but Mizuki is a woman of few words, so I ended up talking most of the time. She would mostly only talk if asked a question. Afterwards, we went to a mall and browsed all but clothes. Then she went back to her dorm for dinner at 5 and I went back to my hotel. We hung out for a good 6 hours. I craved some American food. I chatted with another American who was living in Matsuyama who had the same idea. Appatently I was one of the first Americans he has seen or talked to in a long time. He invited me out to go drinking with him, his treat, and I had no idea what to do, so I paniced, made an excuse, and fled back to my hotel. It was all in all, a really fun day. It was nice to see Mizuki again. Even though it is afternoon, good night. (?) So now my excuse is planning for winter break.
On Thursday I did not sleep in. I had lunch with a friend, Mika, who is at the Toyama campus of Waseda, about a 10 minute walk from the main campus where I usually am. It is nicknamed culture campus for what should be an obvious reason. So I went around 11. We met up and she briefly showed me around the Toyama campus. Then we got lunch at the cafeteria, going at 11:30 to beat the rush. Sfter lunch, we went to the library and found a private room so we could talk. We chatted for another hour or so and I helped her with an English presentation for Saturday. It was fun. She was trying to convince me that I would be a really good English teacher. (^-^) I then had the history class. After class, I chilled in the lounge a while and headed home. Friday, I had my picture writing class. Then as I was walking to a conbini to get lunch, and was caught by a lost American who I then helped find his way to where he was going. I actually walked him all the way to where he was going and chatting the whole time. I ate lunch in the lounge, then went to my US politics class. Still liking it a lot. After class, I was working on my final preparation, getting a discount certificate for travel, another trip to skin doctor about infection/rash/whatever it is, and reservation for my return trip, shinkansen (bullet train) from Fukuoka. It was a busy day. At the doctor's, someone stole by umbrela, it was raining hard. Funny enough, when I went to the drugstore to get my prescription, I found my umbrella. It had been taken by a very grumpy woman and her even more grumpy child. I retrieved my lost umbrella, yes 100% sure it was mine. I was going to call them out on taking it, but saved them the embaressment. I am in the airport currently about to head to Matsuyama. I will do today's post later. Wow, I fell super far behind yet again. Sorry about that. I was enjoying sleep too much. Oh, and I had some homework (actually already had a final in two of my classes... SUPER early)
Recently my host sister has been throwing a lot of tantrums. It is really annoying. Four year-olds are cute, but can be hard to live with. Saturday, I had Japanese class, then went to the lounge to hang out for a while. The whole day I was in my sports' jacket because that evening we had the Niji-no-kai Christmas party, a formal event that everyone dresses up for. I could have carried it like some friends did, but it is very annoying, so I did not bother. I then went to the lounge to hang out. I got katsudon (pork cutlet in a rice bowl) with some friends. I was going to go back to the lounge, but was instead invited to go to a small niji only room that actually many club members do not know about to play a very oddly placed Nintendo 64. We played for a few hours, then I went to the lounge to chill until the party. The party was a 6 at a private room in Shinjuku, actually the same place as the Halloween party. It was really fun, though I ended up just chatting with two girls the whole time. I did not know many of the people that went and it was scary to talk to new people once they are no longer sober, so I just stuck with someone I knew and her friend, who were both sober like me. It was much better organized than the Halloween party. We even did bingo and an anonymous gift exchange (I gave a Seattle magnet and got a mini Waseda bear). Afterwards, there was an after party that I went to for about half of it, and again I ended up just chatting the whole time with two girls, though this time about an hour in, another guy (from Switzerland) joined the chat. I then exchanged contact info and went home. The two girls from the after party and I have plans to hang out again. ^_^ Sunday, I bummed around the house, rested, and prepared for an oral presentation on Monday for Japanese. I even ended up just getting conbini food, a salad, a pear, and Acacia juice. Monday, I had a Japanese presentation. Then I hung out in the lounge for a bit, then went home to do homework, work on planning for winter break, and have dinner with my family as usual. Tuesday, I slept in massively, then went to school. I had the history class . Then went to the lounge to chill. I joined some friends for ice cream which we bought and ate in the lounge. I also showed my friends the location of a post office really close to Waseda. Post offices are some of the only places in Japan that you can use the ATM to withdraw money with a foreign card. After that, I went to meet a friend, Yuuka (the girl with the DS that was super good at video games), at building 22. We then took the subway to Baba. I took her to the game center and challenged her to Mariocart and a Taiko game. I won one of 2 games for Mariocart and she destroyed me for the Taiko game. It was really fun. Afterwards, we still had time before she had her part time job, so wen went to get ice cream from Baskin Robins. We sat and chatted for a while while eating ice cream. I ended up giving her some advice for when she studies abroad and practicing English with her. Wednesday, Today, was a Waseda holiday. I have no idea why, but only Waseda had no school today. I woke up at 10 and had breakfast, then I went to meet some friends, Vageesha, Elliot, and Shiori, in Harajuku. the plan was clothes shopping, we even brought a girl, Shiori, to help us with fashion. None of us ended up liking any of the shirts though, so in the end only one person bought anything, Eliot got a Pea Coat. We got lunch and wandered, looking for but failing to find anything good. It was still nice to just wander with friends though. Phew, that is enough update for now. Now I need sleep, good night. So this has been and continues to be a very busy week... I am running dangerously low on sleep on top of being sick.
On Wednesday, I had Japanese class, went to the lounge for lunch, went to my US politics class, we spent more time on the Senkaku-Diaoyu dispute and US China politics. I went back to the lounge a bit and ended up spending about an hour helping a Japanese friend, Nari, with an assignment with English, then went home. At home I made my flight reservations for going to Matsuyama during winter break on a 787 with ANA (cough, dad). My travel plans as of now is fly into Matsuyama, train to Yawatahama, ferry to Beppu, spend the night, train to Miyazaki, then to friend's house near Kagoshima for a few days. After that, I plan to take the bullet train on the other side of Kyushu to Saga, stay the night there, then a day in Nagasaki before flying back to Tokyo in time for new years'. Yesterday, Thursday, I got up, skyped, had history class, it was actually interesting today because we were talking about and watching a video about US and Japanese propaganda during World War 2. I then chilled in the lounge for a while. There was yet another Niji event, NCC or Niji Cooking Club. It was cooking, so I could not resist. I was expecting it to last only about an hour or so, but it lasted 3 hours. I made new friends and had fun, we made chocolate mousse and a chicken pot pie. It was awesome. The issue, I got home at 11:00 and still had a lot of homework. I finally finished working on homework around 2am. Today I was really really tired, I had a presentation 2nd period, so I did not sleep in at all. The presentation went well I think. I then got lunch and ate in the lounge, but I was not very hungry, so I just had nikuman and banana. I ate with a group of Australian students today, they only arrived a week and a half ago, so are still not very comfortable and not well integrated yet. It is fun talking with them though. I then had my US politics class again. Still love it... maybe I should have been a polisci major instead. Anyways, after class, lounge, chilled, chatted, and worked on exact itinerary for winter break, then returned home. It was just my host brother and I for dinner tonight. Then let him play games on my phone while I did homework. That is about it. Probably skipping again tomorrow, tomorrow is the Niji-no-Kai Christmas Party (a formal affair, everyone dresses up nicely). Good night Yesterday was a big day with the Niji event that I helped create.
I slept in way more than I was expecting, so I had to rush to eat breakfast and get going. It was a Tuesday, so my class was at one, but I have lunch plans with some friends, so I was trying to get to campus by noon. I ended up running around the house getting the last minute things I would need for lunch and for the Niji event. I then got on the train, but was a bit out of it and almost missed my stop (I did not though). I arrived at school and walked very quickly to meet up with Yuzumi and Miku for lunch, the place the three of us usually eat was crowded, so instead we ate in an almost empty classroom. I gave Yuzumi a birthday present, some Hershey's Kisses and a little stone coaster with a picture of Seattle painted on it. She seemed really happy, and Miku spent the next 10 minutes apologizing for forgetting Yuzumi's birthday. I tried convincing her that Yuzumi would forgive her if she sang Happy Birthday, but she was too embarrassed I guess haha. After lunch, I went to the boring History class. We are now on World War 2. It is rather interesting to get another perspective on the war from a non-high school class. Then I went to the lounge, I was asked to do an interview for Nihon-Television sometime I think next week or so, so that is pretty cool. After that, I went to the lounge, we finished prepping for the Niji-Winter Olympics, making shirts, organizing and gathering everything, etc, then Sachi (2nd year of 4 at Waseda from Hawaii), another organizer, and I went over to meet everyone to take them to the gym, there is a tiny little gym that you can rent near Waseda. We walked everyone there, waited until we could enter the gym, during that time I was splitting my time between talking with the other organizers to make sure we were all on the same page and ready, and talking with the other Niji members that came, especially a few quieter looking people that were standing off to the side not talking with anyone. The three guy organizers, Vageesha, Eliot, and I were forced to wear really short shorts and the white niji winter Olympics shirts we made. The short shorts were really awkward, but I admittedly got used to them quite quickly. They were a bit breezy though. There was a lot going on, so I will not say everything, but the general run down was that we got everyone in, split them into teams, they played Nijna, then made team flags and names, then dragon tag (groups of three, front grabs tails, last wears tail, forming chain like mini konga line), then Dodgeball, then a balloon Battle (think Mariocart, people wear balloons and others have to pop them, last one standing wins), and finally a relay with a twist (Everyone on one side of the gym, and 3 sets of clothes and makeup, one for each team. One by one, people run over, grab the clothes, run back, and put the clothes on a selected representative. All reps were guys and the clothes included shirt, another shirt, skirt, headband, scrunchy, eyeliner, lipstick, panties, bra, and finally a banana for the rep to eat. The event was overall a huge success I think. Everyone seemed to have fun, I had fun, nothing went wrong, no injuries, and over 30 people showed up for it. Afterwards, a few of us went to eat dinner quickly and finally got home around midnight. Good night Sweet, I remembered today and have time despite being a pretty busy day.
I got up, had Japanese, went to the lounge to wait until lunch period was over so the cafeteria was not crowded when I went. I went to the cafeteria for lunch, then tried going to the Waseda doctor about the skin infection that is still around after getting medicine from another doctor. This needs to die now. They just told me to try going to a skin specialist and gave me a map to where one is. I am going to have to go sometime after class on Wednesday or Friday. After that failed attempt, I went back to the lounge to hang out. Today I had a group meeting to plan the Niji-no-kai event that we are making, so I waited until that meeting (at 6pm). Two people brought DSs and were playing against each other so I watched a while then joined. We traded the games between four people. We did a tetris like game (but very different), and a taiko game. I lost at all of that to the girl who owned the games (she destroyed everyone). Then we played some card games, then several rounds of Uno, I won one and came in second the next time! It was really fun just sitting around the lounge with friends being social an doing stuff together. After the card games, we went back to DS for a while. We also played Mariocart. I was very good at Mariocart despite not playing for a long time. I raced this girl, Yuuka, about 10 times, and won about 8 of 10. I consider it revenge for the tetris and the taiko games. I may or may not have found a gaming partner. ^_^ Then our meeting started for planning for the event, Dubbed the Niji Winter Olympics. We did planning, gathered everything we will need, drew our poster and torch, and did final planning for games, then Vageesha and I went to grab a few last things from the 100yen store. On the way back, Vageesha went to get some money, and I go Taiyaki (the fish shaped pancake thing with filling) for everyone. We then returned and finished working while eating Taiyaki. Afterwards, we all went out to get dinner. We finished dinner around 9:30 and did not leave the restaurant until about 10. I got home at 11, took a bath, and am now doing this before passing out in bed. Good night. |