Mie ken with Father John!

I'M BACK, GUYS!!! Sorry, my life has been incredibly exciting lately, and I haven't much time for blogging... But I will be all up to date soon! :)
I included a summary of Thursday at the bottom so I can catch up!

Friday, April 4

It was supposed to rain all day today (it was yesterday, too, but it only started last night), so everyone was freaking out about the cherry blossoms being over, but there was no rain when I left for school, thank goodness!

I was late, so I didn’t catch my usual train, but this one was so uncrowded, I think I’ll avoid the 7:57 from now on, unless I get there early enough to be first in line. Ugh, commuting problems.

I memorized all my vocab on the way to school so I was ready for my quiz. At school, the football players were back and all shouted Ohayou gozaimasu (probs because I walked in with other Japanese students). Inside, I was telling Emma about how I lost the bear sticker yesterday, when she remembered she’d found one on a bench and gave it to me! I don’t think it was mine, but it was still cool!

The vocab quiz was a synch. Then we started using the Genki II book. My friends in 400 haven’t finished using it yet, so I can’t borrow theirs. Crap, it’s gonna be awkward for a few days when I don’t have a book in class… But I’m not gonna buy another textbook and have to lug it home with all my manga and magazines.

I left class after an hour (at 10:20), so I could make it to Ichinomiya on time. I ended up getting there in about an hour, so I was thirty minutes early. I wish I had stayed in class a bit longer then, because I found out from Heather later tonight that right after I left, Kondo sensei had used little cake balls to illustrate a grammar point and then given one to everyone!

Here’s a picture Heather took:

Ugh, that makes me so mad! She could have given me mine when I left and gave her my homework!

Anyway, I killed the 30 minutes in the Ichinomiya library. I went up to the adult floor and looked around. I ended up finding a bunch of English kanji-learning textbooks, so I chilled and studied kanji for thirty minutes.

At 11:50, I headed back down and met up with Father John. He had this ticket that you buy and you can use it five times in a month (a whole day counts as one time), so we could use it today to ride any JR line for free.

So we took the JR to Nagoya station, where we changed trains to the nice JR line that went all the way to Ise. We had some time to kill in Nagoya, so we went down to the underground mall below the station and Father let me walk around. In one of the omiyage shops, I found misokatsu mix and miso sauce for the topping!! OMG!!! I need to buy it to make in America!

Then we got on the train. We had reserved seats and everything. Father told me had tea, but if I wanted something else, I should buy it now. I didn’t want him to have to share his tea with me, so I bought some water. I found out later, that he had bought me a separate bottle of tea! And he gave that to me too!

He had also bought sandwhiches for us for lunch, it was so nice! So we ate our sandwhiches on the train. The first one was poato salad stuff with bacon, and the second was spicy potatoes with chicken. I was so shocked he’d gotten meat sandwhices on a Friday, but I didn’t say anything. I’d also meat for breakfast, since Yuko had made hot dogs stuck in bread.

The train was nice, but didn’t have as much legroom as the Shinkansen and wasn’t as fast or as smooth. But I got a nice view on the way down. I saw all these hills with little pink splotches where the sakura were!

Father asked me a lot of questions about America. He also gave me a magazine about the Maryknoll priests for me to look at, because that’s what his friend is. Maryknoll priests are sent to various countries where Catholicism isn’t very prominent. His friend is American and was sent to Japan. But for the most part, Father was pretty shy and didn’t talk much.

We had a lot of trouble on the way down! So the JR train we were on ended up stopping due to the strong winds. After a while, were able to inch our way down to the nearest station where they told us to get off and change to the Kintetsu line.

So we rode the Kintetsu to the end of the line, at a station called Tsu, where Father said we’d get off later to see his friend. But we still weren’t at the shrine. So we had to ride the above ground subway to the shrine. The subway kept stopping to let other trains pass since it was only one track. Father showed me how the Kintetsu trains have a telephone-line looking thing on top because they run on electricity, while the subways run on an engine.

Finally we arrived at Ise Shrine. We had been planning to go to Naiguu, the inner gate, which was more impressive. But because of all the stupid train trouble, we only had time for Geguu, the outer gate. It was still pretty cool, though!

Entrance. You walk across a bridge first

First tori. Made of wood.

Second tori.

 Inside, there was a hand washing area. Father didn't want to wash his hands, but I washed mine. Then there was a shrine that was half old and half new. You could pray there, but Father didn't want to (I guess since he's Catholic), so I didn't. Everyone I told that I was coming here with a priest, was shocked that a Catholic priest was going to a shrine (which is Shinto). But I wasn't surprised. I mean, what's the big deal? It's not like you have to pray to the Shinto gods at a shrine. I just pray to God when I go to the shrine...

Stupid wind...

 Then we climbed a steep hill up to another shrine.I was awed that Father had no trouble climbing all those steps in his old age!

At the top of the hill

Then we walked out of the shrine and past some shops, heading back to the station.

Mie's drain covers

Uncolored version

 

We had 15 minutes to kill before the train came, so we looked around in a konbini for a bit. While I was looking at chocolates, Father bought me some omiyage! So nice!!

The white bag was full of taffy-like candies. Father took two and then gave me the rest. I ate one, expecting it to taste like salt water taffy. It didn't.
I've gone drinking enough times here to know what nihonshuu tastes like, and bam... overwhelming taste of nihonshuu! These were freaking nihonhuu (sake) flavored candies! They were delicious. Father told me they don't have any alcohol in them though, lol.

We caught the train back around 3:30. We were meeting Father’s friend (Father Robert) at 5:30, so I thought we were leaving kind of early. But it’s a really good thing we left that early, because we had more train troubles! More trains stopping due to the strong winds and pouring rain, as well as trains just not running for some reason, and then more issues with the subway stopping to let other trains pass. So we didn’t get to Father Robert’s place until 6!

Father Robert is the priest at Tsu Catholic church. He was freaking awesome! I was all like “konnichiwa” when I walked in, but he was like “hey, how are you?” He talked to me a whole bunch about America and stuff because he was really excited to have another American to talk to, haha.

He’s been living in Japan for 60 years!! And today was the 60th anniversary of his ordination. Back in his time, Maryknoll priests didn’t get to choose the country they were sent to. He wanted to go to China, but he ended up with Japan. But when I asked if he hadn’t, he said no, he likes it a lot here.

There was a Japanese lady, who worked as his cook. She served us dinner. It was all fancy with courses and two forks, as well as a knife and a spoon (she only put those out because she heard I was coming, lol). I felt awkward using them after using chopsticks for so long, though. First we had this creamy soup, then rice and salad with slices of meat. I finally had to ask. Why the heck was he eating meat on Friday??

Father Robert said that in Japan, not eating meat on Friday isn’t a thing! He said it’s not a rule here and in Japan there are only two holy days of obligation, Christmas and New Year’s, so he likes living in Japan much better, haha. Wait till I tell Heather about the meat on Friday thing, she’s gonna flip!

After that was dessert! Holy crap, the desert was amazing!! We each got a GIANT cream puff! It was full of whipped cream and pudding. It was so, so good. Then Father Robert brought out ice cream too, because he LOOOOVEEES ice cream. I took a teensy bit so as not to be rude.
Father Robert reminded me a lot of my Grandpa because he had white hair, really blue eyes, and loved sweets. He was also really funny and talkative.

Father Robert had to leave quickly after dinner to go to a first Friday mass, but I gave him chocolate before we left. I'd brought it for Father John, but I felt bad not giving Father Robert a gift. Father Robert was overjoyed, and thanked me over and over again. Then we said goodbye and he told me to pray for him whenever I remember him.

We headed home after that. We were going to get back on the JR because apparently they were running again, but then Father decided to but tickets for the Kintetsu instead, because he thought it would be faster. So he bought us each a ticket and we rode the Kintetsu back. The Kintetsu was really nice. It reminded me of the Shinkansen, but it was shakier and not as silent as the Shinkansen.

As we were leaving Tsu, I realized something. So all the train stations have name plaques where their names are also written hiragana, so little kids (and I) can read them. So Tsu was written in hiragana and it was just "つ". I found this extremely hilarious. It looked so funny, just a single lonely character on the huge sign. And before you go thinking I'm insane, the couple in front of us was pointing at the "Tsu" sign and laughing too, so there.

 I was really tired on the way back and feeling really sick after all the milk, so I just stared out the window and tried and failed to fall asleep. When we got back to Ichinomiya, we walked outside, where we parted. I wanted to thank Father a whole bunch, but I only got out one "thank you" and one "arigatou gozaimasu," before he walked away. He's pretty shy.

When I got home around 10, Yuko was still up. She asked how Mie had been and I told her about it, and it turned out she knows Father from when he did stuff at Santa Maria's (Miya's preschool). She said he was really shy there too. Then Ken came home and she told him too.

Yuko and Ken both asked if there were a lot of people there, but I said there were very few! Huh, I wonder why, if they thought it should have been more crowded. Maybe because of the wind? Or maybe because we were only at the outer gate?

Weird. Anyway, Ken showered first and then I got to go. I was so exhausted and it's a big day tomorrow! If it doesn't rain, we're going to the Higashiyama Zoo (where I went last weekend).

~*~*~*~*~

Quick-ish summary of Thursday since not much happened:

•  I got ready pretty quickly this morning and Yuko was shocked when I left around 7:20, saying I was “hayai” (early).

•  I caught the 7:37 (whoa, right??), which was way less crowded. And I did my homework on the way to school because I’d completely forgotten to do it because I was studying for my test

• Class kinda sucked. Mutsukawa sensei kept calling on me because I usually speak the fastest out of everyone/know the most vocab, but I wasn’t doing too hot today because we’re on the stuff I never learned at VT…

• In reading & writing, we had our test which was sugoku kantan (super easy). Then we had to write down our wishes for the future because we’re learning about Tanabata (Japanese festival where you write your wishes and stick them on bamboo trees)

• After class, Jose gave me a bear sticker, which I ended up losing (I know, fml). Then I went to check my mailbox and all the papers from yesterday that I hadn’t bothered to read were in there. One said that Folklore today was cancelled! Whaaat? I didn’t know what to do with myself now that I had the whole afternoon free!

• I went to Dagane (because there were no Japanese people on campus today!) and got misokatsudon. The price had skyrocketed with the tax increase! My beloved misokatsudon is now 420 yen… D: I sat and ate with Emma and then Esteban joined us too.

• While we were eating, Kazuki came over and said hi to me! He told me how he’d gone back to Tsuremai Koen last night and drank alone! I asked if it was lonely and everyone laughed. Then I introduced him to Esteban and Emma and he talked with them a bit too.

• When we were finished eating, Rafa and Heather came over too to talk. I got this French toast set from Lawson’s and it came with three bear stickers!!

• Around 2, we all decided to head out. I went to write my blog in the computer room and I finished around 3:30, when I would usually have class. So I decided to take class time to watch the movie due next week, which I have to give a presentation on. It was called Mogari no Mori (The Mourning Forest).

• I didn’t really like it. It was kind of boring and nothing really happened and the plot was really weird. But it was only about an hour and a half, so I finished right at 5:30, when I would have finished class anyway!

• I guess I was slow getting home or something, because I ran into Yuko when I was parking my bike. She told me I was osoi (late), and asked if I had been out having fun. I told her about the movie and that it was my homework.

• Ken and Miyabi were already home. Miyabi told me she wanted to play the computer game my mom had sent her, so Yuko and Ken told me to set it up on my laptop for some reason. I did and Miyabi played it, while I did some of my homework.

• Then we had dinner (dumplings and soba). After dinner, Miyabi came back to play more of the game until it crashed (I think because I literally have 780 MB/140 GB free on my computer, haha. So I told Yuko and Ken it wouldn’t work anymore on my computer.

• Miyabi wanted me to play with her more, making donuts with her erasers, but I unfortunately had to do my homework.