It was a beautiful day today! But it was windy so chouto (a little) chilly :/
We had our test first. It was super easy. The last question of the listening section was "kyou nani o kiteimasu ka."
I talked to everyone after the test and I was the only one who got it. It had tripped me up too, though, at first. I was like is it "what am I asking today?" Or "what am I coming today?" Because both those are kimasu. But they didn't sound right. Then I realized it was "kiteimasu," which meant it was asking what I was wearing today!
"Biseru san, konbini ni osara o moraimashita ka"
And I got all excited and was like
"Hai!! Moraimashita!"
He asked if I got the bunny plate from the convenience store haha and I said I did. I was surprised he remembered when I'd only talked about it once, a while ago, lol.
Then Kondou sensei came to teach the second part of class.
She was going over parts of the body with us and after she said "mimi" (ear), I was like "kyou wa mimi no hi!" (Today's mimi no hi!) and she cracked up haha. She explained to everyone about how 3/3 = "mimi" lol.
Then she had us play this really fun game where she wrote part of a kanji on the board and we had to write as many kanji as we could remember that had that part in it. We got a point for every correct kanji we wrote. I ended up with 14 points! I tied with Fu, the girl from Taiwan.
Everyone was so shocked that we tied since Fu knows a bunch of kanji already (that's also Taiwan's writing system), but I'm American and thus don't! They told me I was really good at kanji haha. I'm sooo not, though!
After class I went to lunch with Heather and Dylan. On the way, they were telling me how they hadn't been able to see Mt. Fuji on the flight over here because it had been dark for Heather, and Dylan just hadn't known he flew over it lol. I told them about how all the Japanese people on my flight freaked out when we flew over it and showed them the picture I took. Heather was obsessed with the picture and Dylan said it looked like it should be in National Geographic. Haha, maybe I'll contact National Geographic!
I only got my iPhone like three days before I left for Japan, but I've already reached the limit of number of photos (over 3800) haha, so I've had to delete some. :(
Today I had misokatsudon because I was craving Nanzan's misokatsu after the Yabaton fail of a misokatsu.
Ahhh it was so much better! Then I headed to calligraphy.
Can you read what today's calligraphy says?
It's hard because we had to connect all the characters :/
(Bet you can't, haha)
Next was sadou! Everything was hinamatsuri themed today! :)
(Painted kai (sea shells))
I was in the first group, like always, so I did the tea ceremony part first. There were a lot of kids missing from both my afternoon classes today. So the first group in sadou only had seven of us, and all girls!
After we finished the ceremony, we moved to the second half of the tatami room area to listen to sensei lecture. She did a little show and tell to help us understand. Ugh, it's so had because she speaks in only Japanese and I'm the only one from 300 in the class; everyone else is at a higher level. But she always does actions along with her words, and I can pick up words every so often, so I get the gist.
In the bag were four seashells. She took those out and explained that these clam shells are a symbol of hinamatsuri because they all have a perfect other half that they fit together with, just like we hope our daughters will find their perfect other half in life. So cute!
Then she showed us the three-colored mochi. She asked what the meaning of the green on the bottom was, and I was the only one who knew. I said grass. Then she asked the meanings of the pink and white and again, I was the only one who knew. She said the pink is actually just hana in general, not Sakura. Man, I have that little boy Joe to thank for making me look smart today, haha!
The little man and woman statue thing was actually a container that held three little balls of incense. She passed them around for us to smell. The host of the tea ceremony lights a fire and throws them in to make the room smell good.
When the lecture was over, we opened the sliding doors that divided the room in half, so it was one big room again. Then we joined the other group and our senseis gave us a second okashi in celebration of hinamatsuri!
After class, I asked the senseis about the ritual I'd seen those ladies performing at the shrine in Osu last Friday.
They told me this is something older ladies usually do. They rub the papers over the spots of their bodies that are hurting them (I saw them doing that!) and then put the papers on the statue and pour water over it and pray that their pain will go away.
The senseis were so nice and patient with my horrible attempts to explain in Japanese what I had seen! It helped that I had this picture, though.
After that, I headed over to the CJS office to ask the lady who always helps me about getting the student discount for the Shinkansen. She gave me a paper to fill out and bring back tomorrow and told me she'd look up whether taking the Shinkansen there and the night bus back like I want to do is really more cost effective than booking a round trip ticket on the Shinkansen. I love her!!
Then I headed home.
When I got home, I walked in as Yuko and the two girls who'd been over before and their mom were leaving. Yuko told me to clean my room and then left with them to go pick up Miyabi from piano lessons.
I'm not sure why she wanted me to clean my room, but I obeyed. Just as I finished, Yuko got home with Miyabi. Yuko got on the phone and I went to my room to watch Princess Mononoke, since that's the movie we have to watch for Folklore this week, and I'd downloaded it over the weekend to watch but hadn't had time yet. Miyabi got bored I guess and came in to talk to me about her friend who had come over. I asked her if she knew Mononoke Hime (the Japanese name of Princess Monoke) and she said she did, so I asked if she's seen it (except I asked wrong, but she corrected my grammar) and she said she had. I asked if she wanted to watch it with me, and she did, so we sat on my floor together and watched it. She kept saying "this is fun!" haha, so I think she liked it!
Then her mom called her to talk to whoever it was on the phone.
But she came back later and we watched some more until dinner.
Dinner was really good tonight! It was fried chicken, which I don't like, but at least it's not as greasy here as in America and rice, miso soup, and salad. The good part was the sides! There was cucumbers with seaweed, a bunch of Japanese vegetables that were so good, and Asian sweet potatoes (they look like Yukon gold potatoes, but are super sweet). I don't like Asian sweet potatoes as much as American potatoes, but they're good.
I realized at dinner that I lost the back of my earring. Miyabi went to my room to help me look for it. We couldn't find it, so I was about to comb the halls for it when Miyabi found it! I gave her a hug and thanked her. :)
Then Miya came back in to watch more of the movie with me. She sat with me under my kotatsu and snuggled up to me while we were watching it. She's sooo cute!!
Then Yuko came to get Miyabi so she could finish her homework. Miya realized she didn't have a notebook she needed, so she and Yuko ran across the street to Seiyu to buy it. I started on my homework for tomorrow which I have a bunch of! :(
P.S. Today's Google!
And after I clicked on it:
Kawaii!!
What is hinamatsuri? Liked your picture of yellow river at sunset!
ReplyDeleteHinamatsuri is Girl's Day!
DeleteAnd thanks!! :D