Tea ceremony in a kimono!

So I completely forgot I had a test today lol.

At the start of class Heather was all like "we have a test today"

And Iaughed and was like, "no we don't"

Yeah, we did. In the reading & writing portion. Which meant it was super easy.

Lol this weekend Yuko had even asked me if I had a test Monday and I had said no. Whoops.

I was still super sore from running Saturday and it took enormous effort to walk up and down the stairs and sit down. Ugh.

I ate lunch with Emma at Dagane and had... Guess what?

Misokatsudon! Yeeeaaaahhh! With a side of daikon and potato jelly. :P

Emma told me her host mom has shortened my nickname of "pinku ga suki no hito" to just "pinku" haha.

Then we had calligraphy. Here's my masterpiece:

(Woot!)

And theeeeennnn tea ceremony!! 

GUESS WHAT I GOT TO DO?!?

I GOT TO WEAR A KIMONO!!!!!!!!

Like no one wanted to do it when she asked for volunteers this week, idk why... But I jumped up right away and said I'd do it. She had two girls and one guy dress up and one other girl wore her own kimono.

The cute older sensei helped me into my kimono. I chose the one I'm wearing because all the wrappings were pink! The other girl got the other kimono, which once she had it on, I actually liked better. It was black with pink flowers. Oh well.

We each got a scrunchie as well to tie up our hair. Mine was black lined with gold.

The other girl's light blue and white striped to match her light blue obi.

Sensei put the kimono part on me first. Then she tied a pink tie really tight around me and asked if I was okay. lol. I said I was even though it was a bit tight.

Then she put a pink belt on. Then a big pink belt with a piece of what felt like cardboard inside. And finally my obi! And she tied it so nicely!!

Then she let me go to the bathroom to use the bowl cabinet as a mirror to admire myself. Then we went into the tatami room with the rest of our classmates and everyone oohed and ahed at how pretty I looked haha.

Then we did the actual tea ceremony. The other girl in the kimono and I acted as the hostesses, bringing in the snacks.

(Today's okashi! They had leaves on the top and bottom. And the middle was sticky white stuff filled with anko. The leaves were stuck on with clear gel stuff that was really sweet and good!)

The leaves we folded up in our okashi paper and those of us in kimonos tucked them in this secret pocket in our kimono sleeves, haha!

We had to say the stuff we had to last time again and of course I made a fool out of myself because I could t remember any of it. But neither could most everyone else. Then we drank matcha.

And then it was the other group's turn. Sensei told us we could take pictures, so I had Pearl take pictures of me. :)

While we were waiting for the next part, the older sensei came over to me to fix my obi's bow and then had a guy take my phone and snap a picture of me from behind haha. I'm glad she did, though, because I hadn't even thought to get a behind picture because I didn't realize how pretty the obi looks!

Because the belt part was so stiff, it made me sit up straight, so I didn't mind wearing the kimono, because it fixed my posture and it was actually pretty comfortable!

After tea ceremony was over and sensei helped me take off the kimono, I headed to Lawson's to buy a melon pan for the way home.

33 bunny stickers. So close! :(

Oh well, I'll try again next month!

Then I went to the CJS office and the nice lady who helped me last week helped me get everything together to pay my for my health insurance and then I stopped by the Lawson's next to the station to pay it.

When I got home, Miya and I bonded over the fact that we both had a bunch of homework (I actually don't, I just said I did to make her feel better haha). And we had an entire conversation about it in Japanese!

When she went to go do hers, I said "ganbatte!" (You can do it!) and she said "you too!"

:D :D :D

We had nave for dinner. 

And let me tell you all about our dinner conversation, haha! (It's all in Japanese btw)

So it started with Ken asking me what Japanese cooking I like. And I told him oden and everyone was really shocked lol. They were like "we only made that one time!" And Ken asked if I had eaten it elsewhere and I said no. Yuko asked what about oden I liked, and Miya shouted:

"IT'S PINK!!"

And I was like "well yeah, there's that." 

And Ken cracked up haha.

But I said it was also really delicious.

Then I told them I also liked misokatsudon. When I said I have it at school every day, they all burst out laughing lol.

Then Ken asked what I didn't like. And when I couldn't think of anything, he was like "nothing?"

And I said "nothing yet"

And they all chuckled.

Guys, I think I'm starting to make jokes in Japanese! 

Anyway, now comes the good part. Yuko was all like, "So I saw your pictures from Friday night in Facebook. You drank a lot!"

Ken started laughing and I got all awkward and embarrassed haha.

She asked me if I got drunk and I said no. I told them the drinks here aren't as strong as they are in America. Ken was like even Japanese sake?? I was like "yup".

Then Ken asked what I drank in America, so I told them rum, vodka, and whiskey. (Oh wait, jk, guys it's illegal to drink in America, so I mean I don't actually drink, ya know?)

Anyway Ken was all like "ahh whiskey" and he put his hand up "Japanese sake" and he put his other hand lower "and beer" and he moved his hand even lower. I was like "yup".

Then Yuko was like "ahh the pictures looked so fun!" And I think Ken wanted to see them too haha. No doubt she'll show him. Whatevs.

And then I told everyone about wearing a kimono today! And Yuko asked about the colors of everyone's kimonos and they were surprised when I told them a guy wore a kimono too! When I said mine was red, Ken was like "oh, not pink" but I was like "the obi was pink!" And they all laughed haha.