I talked to my host family in Japanese a lot today and spent
a lot of time with them! I like when they include me and I get to be around
them a lot, since that’s the reason I picked a homestay in the first place.
At breakfast, we were eating cereal when I brought up the
fact that I would be doing presentation with Brendan today, since they know
Brendan and everything. Yuko asked me what the presentation was about and
everything, so I told her about the movie and how it was kind of boring, so I
wasn’t too happy about doing this presentation. She asked if we would be presenting
together and when I said we would be, she said that that’s better.
After breakfast, I went to Seiyu because I wanted to get the
sushi and inarizushi combo I always get at Lawson’s because it’s about 100 yen
less at Seiyu! It was really early and so the staff were still putting the food
out, but I was able to find one and buy it. The cashier gave me chopsticks too,
yay! Also, I passed by the bread display and saw a bunch of 80 yen breads!! The
chocolate chip bread Yuko had given me when I went to the Inuyama matsuri and
the “grape” bread she gave me when I went to Kyoto were there. I decided to get
to a chocolate chip melon pan and then I saw an 80 yen anpan (the real kind
with black sesame seeds on top and actually anko paste with the whole red beans
inside), so I got that too.
As I was leaving Seiyu, an old guy was leaving at the same
time. So I opened the door and held it for him, but he told me “dozo” and let
me go first! Awww, so nice. :3
When I got to school, I saw Kasumi! She and I had a quick
conversation in Japanese about classes today. It was fun! I have so many Japanese
friends at Nanzan now who I keep seeing around and they always wave at me or
come over to talk. :)
At school, I talked to Brendan about our project. We had two
and a half hours after lunch before class to work on it, and I knew because it
was only a PowerPoint, we could throw it together in two seconds and I wasn’t
worried. But he was freaking out because he hadn’t used PowerPoint since middle
school and thought it would take forever so he wanted to work on it right after
class ended and eat lunch later. But I had already told Emma I’d join her in
the green area to eat with her. So I asked Brendan if we could eat first and
then work on it, but he wanted to go to the Japan Plaza before class.
So I was like, how about you work on it first while I eat,
then I’ll come back and work on it with you and then you can leave and I’ll
finish it up. But he told me he didn’t remember his password for the computers,
so I was going to have to get on my account for us. Smh…
We had the reading and writing portion of the test we had
Monday today in class. Mutsukawa sensei changed one of the questions which had
a really long answer so that it would have a shorter answer and for some reason
this threw a bunch of people off.
Finally it was lunchtime! I went to the computer room
quickly to log in for Brendan so he could start working and then I went to go
eat with Emma. Sara and Yukari saw us eating, so they came over and asked if
they could join and we said sure! Then their friend Yukari, who I’d met before
we went to karaoke that time and who I’d seen after hanga class on Tuesday came
over as well. I asked her what class she had after our hanga class and she told
me an art class where they did hanga as well! But it was only Japanese students
in that class.
After we finished eating, I had to go back and work on that
stupid project. Also, the ants were starting to crawl up my legs and bite me,
so I headed out. Emma left with me. Then I went up to the computer room to help
Brendan. He’d put in his part, so then we worked on some of the slides that we
could work on together. Then he left to go the Japan Plaza and I put in my part
and made the slides look pretty. When I was done, I thought it was a pretty
darn good presentation.
Then, because I still had an hour left before class, I went
to the library to watch some of Ghost in
A Shell 2 (the movie for two weeks from now). It was all in Japanese, but
was still scary. Especially because this one creepy robot girl kept whispering “tasukete”
over and over and I know that means “help me.”
And then it was show time. Brendan and I went up to present.
Brendan doesn’t like public speaking, so I did most of the talking. I had
researched the “oishii hanashi” (cool facts) part really well, so I killed that
section. But she wanted more symbols from us. That was Brendan’s part. Ugh… But
I probably should have realized we didn’t have enough symbols. And we also left
something out she had written because I didn’t realize what it meant. Oh well,
I’m sure we still got a passing grade and that’s all I need from this class.
And then we had the rest of class, the super boring part
where we discuss themes in the movie. It wasn’t too bad today, because I had
presented on the movie and thus knew a lot about it. A lot of people brought up
things that Brendan and I hadn’t even thought of though. But I’ve never been
any good at analyzing things. I just read/watch things for the story, not all
the hidden meanings lying underneath.
Also, during class I interviewed Theresa, this girl from
Germany for my project work project, because sensei wants me to try to
interview 5 ryuugakusei not from America as well.
When class was over, I headed out with Esteban to the subway
station. I was complaining about my host family and the bike and stuff on the
walk down. And when we got to the station, my Korilakkuma train pass holder got
stuck in my backpack and I don’t know if Esteban realized or not, but he ran
ahead and caught the train because it was leaving, and I got left behind and
missed the train. But I had to pee really badly anyway, so I didn’t mind. But
it kind of sucked that he left me.
So anyway, I rode the rest of the way home alone. When I got
home, everyone was home (Ken has gotten home in time for dinner every night
this week, it’s weird. Maybe because he worked super late every night last week?),
so we ate pretty quickly. We had the donburi I really like that’s rice with
soybeans, egg, and ground beef on top. While we were eating, everyone was
saying stuff and I wasn’t saying anything like usual. But then Ken asked if I’d
gone drinking recently (I think). And Yuko was all like, “yeah, at karaoke,
right?” I just said yes because I wasn’t sure if they were talking about me
going to karaoke with Hotaru, Yukari, and Sara (which they could only have
known about through Facebook), or when I went to the nomihoudai with Banana and
Yuri and all my friends way back when. Idk.
But that got them talking to me at least! Because then Yuko
asked how my presentation went and I told them I left out a bit of stuff that
the teacher noticed. Then Ken wanted to know what the presentation was about
and when I told them the movie and they hadn’t heard of it or the director (who’s
name I know now!), Yuko looked it up on her iPad and she and Ken watched the
trailer. They thought it was scary and “heavy” so wouldn’t let Miya watch it
because she had wanted to.
After dinner, I went to my room to study for my vocab quiz
tomorrow. Then Miya came in with a rubber band and asked if it was mine. When I
said I didn’t think so, she and I started playing a game where we shot it at
each other. Miya kept wanting me to aim for her “oshiri” and hit it, haha. It
was fun!! We played for a really long time and she kept laughing and squealing
and making me laugh.
Then Yuko came in to put Miya to bed and told Miya to thank
me for playing with her lol.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday, April 18
We had cereal all five days this week!!! It was so totally
awesome! It was probably just Yuko being lazy, but I love cereal, so I don’t
care!
It was supposed to rain today, so it was cloudy out and the
air was heavy and humid. When I went in to say I was heading out, Yuko was all
like “kami ga fuafua” (you’re hair’s fluffy).
NO! I DON’T WANT FUAFUA HAIR! That’s not okay! Rawr.
Emma skipped school today with Taylor and Megan to go to
Osaka to see some show that’s a reenactment of an episode of Ouran High School Host Club. I watched a
few episodes of that in high school, but was never too into it. But Emma was
ecstatic to go.
When I got to school, I walked across campus to the North
gate and then exited to go over to the 100 yen Lawson’s so I could buy bananas.
I had brought the wheat bread I’d bought at Seiyu the other day and almond
butter my mom sent so I could make a peanut butter and banana sandwhich. So I
found the 100 yen (+8 yen tax) banana bunches. Most were four bananas, but I
saw one with three. And I ended up finding one with five! So I got that one. I
also saw a bento with inarizushi and sushi just like I like! It was only 200
yen!!! Aaaaand, it was on sale, 30 yen off. So I had to get it. I decided I’d
have that for lunch instead, but I still got the bananas.
I went to the computer room and found the Genki II workbook
online for free, so I printed off the pages I have to do for homework in the
next few weeks, because I don’t want to buy the workbook now and have to carry
it home. I’ll get it in the U.S.
We had Kondo sensei in class. We planned a class trip to a
monkey café because Kondo sensei likes monkeys, lol. I’m excited! The vocab
quiz was a synch. I interviewed Chris (from Indonesia) and Tina (from Taiwan)
for project work. Last night I had Facebooked Hotaru (fron China), so now I had
4 ryuugakusei. For her first image of America, Hotaru had said guns. Smh…
In project work, sensei was totally cool when I told her I’d
only been able to get 4 ryuugakusei. I told her I could interview my friend
Babette, from France next week, and she said that’d be great. Then we went over
the results I got from the ryuugakusei and compared them to the Japanese
students. None of the ryuugakusei had known how many states America has! Most
said something from 55-59, and Chris hadn’t know. Lol. I wasn’t surprised,
though. It had shocked me that the Japanese students had all known! And
everyone knew Obama. Well Tina had forgotten his name. She’d been like “that
black guy…” hahaha. At least she knew what he looks like!
Then I wrote the paper and started typing it. Sensei told me
next week we’d go listen to the 400 kids’ presentations and then have class
after that. I’m excited!
When class was over, it was lunchtime. Since last week, I
hadn’t gotten to go to the Japan Plaza for lunch, I made sure to today. I saw
there were Japanese girls with bentos in there again! Yay! I went to the
bathroom, and when I came back, I saw Yasuko had joined too!
So I went in and sat with the girls and ate my 100 Lawson
bento, which was delicious!!
This guy from Mexico, Oswald, was there too. He’s part of
the CJS program too, but I’ve never talked to him. I found out he’s been here a
year. Last semester he was in 300 and now he’s in 400. But he seemed to be on
about the same Japanese level as me. The girls thought he was funny because he
talked really slowly with his eyes half closed like he was drunk or stoned or
something, haha.
Yasuko said next to nothing, I felt bad because the girls
with their bentos were way more interested in talking to me and Oswald than
Yasuko (I mean I figure they came to the Japan Plaza to meet foreigners). But
yeah, we all talked about our interests and stuff. I found out one of the girls
lives in Ichinomiya too!
They were all really nice and talkative and asked us a lot
of questions. I definitely want to come here for lunch more often! It’s way
more fun now that there are Japanese students participating as well, instead of
just the boring, un-talkative TAs.
But today, I had to leave at 1:30, so I could get home in
time to meet Father at 3. He was going to take me to a bike shop nearby to see
how much it would be to fix my bike, because if it was cheap, then I could just
do that instead of finding some way to get Chris’ bike to Ichinomiya.
While I waited for the subway, I read the play Dylan had written for our 300 class to do during our last day party. We had all got a copy of it in our mailboxes today.
And I started completely cracking up because my first line is that I'm looking for a boyfriend. And the entire time were all going to find the princess (Heather), I'm just talking about how I want a boyfriend and then when we get there and she grants out wishes, I wish for a boyfriend. Hahahaha! Is this how Dylan sees me?
I biked home first using Father's bike, and then I walked my broken bike to the church. I got there 15 minutes late because I forgot it would take so long to push the freaking thing! But he was ready for me. He called the bike place first and then we walked over. It was really close! I can't believe Yuko hadn't told me there was a shop this close!
The guy who worked there was super nice and young, which was a relief. He took my bike right away and looked at it. I showed him the broken spoke and he said he could fix that, but it might need the entire wheel replaced. Father asked how much that would be and he said 2000 yen! Damn, I would pay that!
But then he was like "shite miru," which meant he was going to try replacing the spoke first. So he deflated the tire and pulled it off the rim. Then he thread in a shiny new spoke.
After he did that, the wheel was still rubbing against the brake, so he adjusted some more spokes using this little tool he had. And then the wheel stopped rubbing the brake!! It was fixed! He told me this would do for the next month and I could ride it. Yayyyy!!!
And the best part? It was only 400 yen! I thanked him and Father profusely. And then Father told me I could ride home while he walked, so I did. And the bike worked perfectly! It made a little clicking sound, but other than that, it was a smooth ride.
When I got home, Miya was shocked I was home so early, haha. Literally a second later, she left with Yuko to go to Yuko's lesson. I called my mom then to tell her about the bike. I was so, so happy it was finally fixed!
We talked for a long time and then I made the almond butter and banana sandwich I hadn't made earlier and ate it.
When I finished eating, I went into the living room and saw this:
(Cutie)
I decided I'd go to the Good Friday prayer service Father had told me about, so I texted Yuko that I was going to it and then I headed out.
At the prayer service, I saw Manaka and her mom. Her little sister and older brother were altar serving. It was interesting. I've never been to a Giod Friday service in America, that I can remember, so I'm not sure if it's different here. But one thing I'm pretty sure is different is that at one point Father brought up a cross to the altar and then everyone went up to bow to it. I hadn't understood the instructions, but I just followed what everyone else did.
Afterwards, I talked to Manaka and her mom. Her mom invited me to dinner with them after the mass tomorrow night! Yayyy!!! So I guess that means I'm going to mass tomorrow.
Then I told Father I'd brought him his bike back and it was outside and I have him a chocolate bunny as thanks for lending it to me!
After that, I headed home. Ken wasn't back yet, but Yuko had left dinner for me. When I finished, Miya wanted to play the rubber band game again. But I reminded her about the game my friend had given her, so we played that instead. She loved it!! We played it again and again and then she got out the harder, Japanese version called "Forty-one" which looks like Chinese checkers. It was fun! The instructions for the English one said things like if you had one peg left, you were a genius, two you were pretty smart, there you were dumb, and four or more you were really dumb, so I translated this for Miya haha. She really wanted to get just two or one!
I also brought in the magic eye stereogram thing my mom had sent me to show Miya and Yuko. They both thought it was totally awesome! They tried and tried to see something in it, but thy weren't able to! They didn't understand how I could, haha. Yuko said you probably have to be young to be able to see it.
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