Chick donuts and kitty ice cream!!

Tuesday, April 22

 

I think Yuko’s forgotten how to make breakfast. Cereal again. Not that I’m complaining though. I eat cereal every day in the U.S.! On the way out, I stopped by Seiyu to buy my favorite inarizushi and sushi combo bento and an 80 yen strawberry jam filled pan. Mmmmm! 

At Kanayama, this morning, I ran into Chris. He was having a problem with his card, so I waved to him and then continued down to the subway, figuring he’d catch up. And he did. We talked a lot on the way to school. When we reached Yagoto Nisseki, I brought up the huge crowds I’d seen yesterday.

And he was like, “You know what that was?” And he told me some Japanese word which I didn’t know. So he explained to me someone had committed suicide by jumping onto the train tracks in front of an approaching train. He said all the red writing on the signs that I hadn’t bothered to read had said that there had been an accident on the Meiko line (which is what the Meijo line turns into once it passes Kanayama), and the entire Meijo line was backed up while they cleaned it up.

Chris told me these types of accidents are super common during this time because it’s the start of a new fiscal year and the recent increase in consumption tax has left a lot of people hurting financially. Therefore, news of the accident wasn’t broadcast at all (not on tv, radio, newspaper, anything). Gosh, how horrible!

As we got to school, I saw Kondo sensei exiting R building. She came running over to tell me that class was moved from K building to R building today. Yay!!! I love having class in R! Our classroom ended up being this room on the 6^th floor where for some reason you’re not allowed to wear shoes! So we got to take our shoes off, which was cool, but since I’d worn tights today, my feet got pretty cold.

Natalia was  back today, so we played the same kanji game we’d played yesterday so she got a chance to play it as well. Again, I didn’t do too hot. Kondo sensei helped people make kanji we didn’t learn again. I asked her to help me too, but she couldn’t do anything with the sucky cards I had. I ended up making two kanji though!

Then it was lunchtime! Yay, finally!! I headed out to the green area, where I was meeting Takuya and the rest of my friends. When I got to the fountain, I saw Sara and Yukari were already there. They were sitting with some Japanese guy I didn’t recognize. When I came over, he was all like, “hisashiburi!” (long time, no see). I was like, who is this guy??? So I just said “hisashiburi” back. I was like, this isn’t Takuya, right? Like, I think I remember what he looked like.

Yukari patted the seat next to her on the bench so I sat down. We all talked for a bit and then I finally realized where I knew the guy from. I’d met him last week after tea ceremony when I’d gone with Brendan to work out who was doing what for our Folklore project. This guy was the one who’d been hanging out with the dorm kids and asked me all those questions.

Takuya came after that! He looked super cute, as always. Thankfully he and the other dude didn’t know each other, so the other guy introduced himself as Shunsuke. Ah, that’s what his name was! Takuya asked me if Emma was coming too, and I said she was, but she had to buy a bento first.

So we decided to go sit in the grass, even though it was a little damp. Then Emma came and we all started eating.

To be honest, it was a little awkward, haha. I think Takuya felt kind of out of place since he didn’t know us all that well. He was also super shy, so I kept having to ask him questions, like where he usually eats (at the curry cafeteria) and what classes he had later and stuff. He said he wanted to befriend an Indonesian (since he’s studying Indonesian), so I told him I’d introduce him to Chris, the Indonesian guy in my Japanese class, sometime. Yukari is pretty outgoing, so she talked to him a lot too, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying and when I did speak, I talked super slowly. Gosh, it was another one of those times I wished I was fluent in Japanese.

But one awesome thing that happened was when Takuya was first opening his bread he’d bought from Lawson’s, I noticed him pulling off all the bear stickers. So I asked him if he collected them too and showed him my sheet of stickers I’ve been collecting. And then he gave me the stickers!! I was like, “whoa, don’t you want the bowl?” and he said he did. So I tried to give him the stickers back, but he wouldn’t take them back. It was so nice!!

Sara took a picture of all of us! I think she just loves to catch me with my mouth full, lol.

Then Takuya left to go to class, but the rest of us stayed to finish up our lunch. Then, I saw Chris (Indonesian Chris) walk by and I was super pissed Takuya had left already! I could have introduced him to Chris! Ah well.

Then Emma and I decided we’d better leave so I could stop by my locker before hanga. So we said goodbye to everyone. Shunsuke left with Yukari and Sara, but kept looking back and smiling at us, haha.  I think he really likes us! Probably because we’re American.

In hanga, I carved more of Totoro. I’m really close to finishing, I just have to do a bit more of the background. Hopefully I can finish it this weekend, since everything’s due next Tuesday.

After hanga, Emma and I headed to Sakae to the Krispy Kreme there to finally eat the chick donuts we wanted to eat on Easter Sunday, but they’d been sold out. When we got to Sakae, though, we realized we had no idea where Krispy Kreme was, haha! So we went out the exit that connects into Oasis 21 and asked at the Information Center where Krispy Kreme was. They showed us a map and told us Krispy Kreme was at the place on the map marked “Donuts” lol. Then they asked us what country we’re from (because they always ask that).

It turned out that we had to go to the underground mall in order to get to the Krispy Kreme. But it wasn’t hard to find. On the way, we passed a place giving out free tea samples, so we decided we’d stop there on the way out. Basically all of Sakae Station always smells super strongly of ocha, and I finally figured out why! It’s because this tea store wafts the aroma of their tea into this fan that blows it out into the station. Wow.

At Krispy Kreme, we ordered two adorable chick donuts and they gave them to us in a little to-go box and bag and told us “kiotsukete” (be careful). Then we went back over to the tea place to get our free tea. It was delicious! Then the guy took back our cups, just like that. No pressure to buy anything! Japan’s awesome.   :)

We headed back to the bright, sunny Oasis 21 to eat our donuts. They were so adorable, it was hard to eat them! Well, for me at least. Emma bit it’s head off right away! D: But boy, were they delicious! They were filled with caramel too. Mmmm, scrumptious! The eyes were chocolate flavored and the beak mango flavored!

Look at the chickies peeking out of the bag!!

With the Krispy Kreme bag

 

After we finished them, we were still hungry, so we decided to go get the cat ice cream sundae we’d seen at Baskin Robbins when we were in Oasis 21 last time. So we headed over to “Sahty-wan.” (BR in Japanese). The guy there was super nice and let us try a bunch of samples because we couldn’t decide what flavor we wanted, haha. When we first walked in, he gave us ocha flavored ice cream, which was delicious! Then we tried a bunch of other flavors, including this really cool one with pop rocks in it! I kind of wanted to get something you could only get in Japan, so it was either matcha or azuki (red bean). I eventually convinced Emma to veer away from the raspberry one she wanted (it was kind of sour) and go for azuki, which we both liked. The azuki ice cream had actual red beans inside! It was so cool!!

We had decided to split a sundae because it was so expensive! I’d wanted the bunny one because it had cookie ears, but we decided to get the cat because it was cute and Limited time only. The cat was made with gummies and I don’t like gummies, but I went along with it. Emma agreed that the gummies, were gross, though.

The guy, really intently and delicately, drew on the kitty face. It was cool to watch!

Then we took a picture with our ice cream in front of the display case like weird tourists, before we went back out into Oasis 21 to eat it.

So tiny for 430 yen! What a ripoff!!

It was super yummy! After that, we headed back over to the information center to ask for the wifi password, because we wanted to look something up online. I told the guy there that the donuts had been delicious, haha. He asked where we were going for donuts next, lol.

But we got the wifi password. We were standing outside the info center when I saw I had a friend request from Shunsuke! I accepted it and then he messaged me a second later, thanking me for adding him and saying we should talk more later. Whoa, cool!

Also, the Oasis 21 dinosaurs' eyes were lit up red, so I had to get pictures!

 

Emma wanted to take a picture with this weird giant head we’d seen other times we’d been to Oasis 21, so we headed over to it. I was about to take Emma’s picture, when someone came over and Emma said hi to her. I turned around and it was Yui!! From the party Sunday night! We squealed and hugged each other.

Wow!!! There are so many people in Japan! What are the odds we’d find each other again, in as big a city as Sakae? So awesome!! So of course, we all took pictures together in front of the head. 

Then we talked with her for a bit. She told us she’d just gotten off from work and had come here to shop.

Then she went on her way and Emma and I finished taking pictures of just ourselves in front of the head. And then it was late, so we had to head home. :/

I got home a bit late. Yuko and Miya were just about to start eating. So Yuko got me a plate and gave me those clear Chinese noodles. I told them about the suicide on the train yesterday and Yuko used that same Japanese word Chris had used. And she told me that train suicides are super common in Japan.

Towards the end of the meal, Yuko was all like (in Japanese), “In America, is slurping your noodles okay?” I was like, “No, it’s bad”

And then she said, “Oh, but you’re slurping your noodles.”

I was like, “really??” I hadn’t noticed myself making any noise, but apparently I was slurping my noodles? She then proceeded to tell me that the only noodles you’re allowed to slurp in Japan are soba noodles and for everything else, slurping is bad.

After dinner, I went to my room and studied for my vocab quiz tomorrow. Then I watched an episode of Free! When it was over, and I’d just laid down to go to sleep, I heard the door to Ken, Yuko, and Miyabi’s room open. Then Yuko shuffled out with Miyabi to the bathroom. Miya started coughing and whining and stuff and I heard Ken wiping down the bed. I realized she must have thrown up. They made a pretty big racket, but I was really tired, so I ended up falling asleep anyway.