Super fun school day :)

Monday, April 21

So Takuya texted me that lunch Tuesday sounded great and he wanted to join us! Yayyy!! I was super excited.

After our breakfast of, you guessed it, cereal, I told Yuko I wanted to leave early because I had a test today. Which that was true I did have a test today, but I wasn't worried about it. I wanted to get to the station early to update my pass. I rode my bike through the pouring rain to the station and was able to update my pass. I asked for the same route, but later I thought maybe I should have done Sakae to Nagoya instead because I think that's cheaper and it's definitely more convenient. But I'm so used to going through Kanayama now, I don't know. Oh well.

I got horribly squished on the way to school this morning, because I took the 57 train. And the subways were just as bad. But I ran into Emma at Yagoto Nisseki, so we walked through the rain to school together. 

When we got to school, I went up to the computer room right away to print off my sadou essay. I was hoping to have whichever sensei I had today look it over for me, because although I wrote most of it myself, I wanted to say some really awesome, eloquent things that I had no idea how to say in Japanese, so I'd used Google Translate for some of it... Heh...

I stayed in the computer room to answer emails until 9:16 and then left to go up to class. Except I'd forgotten today was Monday, so we had class in J. Crap! I had to run all the way over to J. I ended up being about three minutes late. Luckily, I ran into Dylan and Tina on the way, so we all went in together. Only Heather and Chris were in there, so Mutsukawa sensei hadn't started the test yet. Henry came in a little bit after and Natalia had had Dylan tell Mutsukawa sensei that she was at the clinic. I fired she'd show up later, but she ended up not coming to class all morning.

The test was super easy. I was the first one finished and finished 20 minutes before time was up. Mutsukawa sensei was pretty shocked. I saw him read over my test, but he didn't write anything on it, so maybe I got a 100? *fingers crossed*. I hadn't been sure of some of the particles (I hate particles with a passion), but when I looked them up after, all the ones I'd been unsure about, I'd gotten right!

After Mutsukawa finished looking over my test, I asked him if he'd read over my sadou paper for me. So he took it and made corrections for me and then gave it back. He hadn't written what it was supposed to say where he'd made corrections (he just marked it), but for most of it I was able to tell what I'd done wrong and could correct it. Though some he had just underlined and written "?" or "vocab", so I figured that was just Google Translate sucking.

Then we had regular class once everyone had finished the test. At one point Mutsukawa sensei told us we should go practice in the Japan Plaza, and then he was all like (in Japanese), "Biseru san, you went to the Japan Plaza last week" and I was like "yeah, on Friday" and he was all like "I heard that you did." Whaaat? That's creepy, who was talking about me?

At break time, Mutsukawa sensei left and Kondo sensei came, so I had her tell me what I should write instead of the stupid Google translated Japanese. She helped me with some of them, but then it was class time.

In class, we played a really fun kanji game that Kondo sensei had made that I would totally buy as a board game. We each got a handful of cards that were kanji radicals (parts of kanji) and each of them needed one more card to make a whole kanji. So we could steal cards from the person to our right and if we still couldn't make a kanji, we could draw from the pile in the middle. I had really crappy cards the entire time, but ended up making three kanji! Other people made more though, because Kondo sensei helped them since she saw they could make kanji that we hadn't learned yet! Not fair!

It was really fun! I guess it's nice being in the baby class when you can play fun games during class. :)

Also, we had to write "nayumi" which are things people with problems write who are seeking advice. I wrote about my bike problems, but then everyone was shocked I didn't write about wanting a boyfriend (since that's what everyone thinks I want), so I wrote an "uso no nayumi" (which sensei said we could do!), which is a fake nayumi about how I was lonely everyday and wanted a boyfriend, but I'm weird, so finding a boyfriend is hard haha. Everyone cracked up, but sensei didn't realize it was fake I guess, because she was all like "Keito san!! You're not weird, you're cute!" Haha I love her.

Btw this is what she wrote on my paper last week:

My paper had said something about maybe returning to Japan in the future, so at the end of her comment she wrote "Please come back to Japan someday. I will be waiting."

I pretty much died. Why is she SO ADORABLE???

At lunchtime, I really wanted to get the rest of my essay corrected, so I decided to go to the Japan Plaza instead of going to photography club. And anyway, Natalia wasn't here today, and I'm not quite as into the club as she is, since I like taking digital photos better.

So I headed over in the rain to the 100 Lawson's and bought a pack of two rice balls for 80 yen because they were 20 yen off. What a steal!! Just one rice ball is usually over 100 yen! And I also got an apple even though it was 108 yen (tax) because I've been craving apples lately. I miss them like crazy and Japanese apples are so big and sweet!

When I finally made it to the Japan Plaza, it was already after 1! But I got in and the TA said, sure, she'd help me with my paper. Also, she remembered my name (she was the same one who'd been there Friday)! There were three Japanese girls eating bentos, one of whom I recognized from Friday. They were all kind of smiling and looking at me shyly so I smiled back. The TA said they all really wanted to talk with me, and asked if I'd answer any questions they had, haha.

So I said "konnichiwa" and then the TA told me to do a jikoshoukai, so I told them about myself and then they all talked about themselves. They asked me some questions and we chatted for a bit. The TA told them I'd only been in Japan since January and they were like "whooaaa" and told me my Japanese was really good! They also asked about my paper and what class it was for. They were jealous of sadou and the fact that this was our first and only homework assignment, haha.

Then the TA helped me write better Japanese in the last few places I needed it and I dashed upstairs to re-type it and re-print it before calligraphy.

In calligraphy, we got long paper today! We had to write "mirai no yume", which I actually knew the meaning of! It means "future dream". Emma was really excited because we got to write "yume" (dream), which is what we'd practiced at the party last night.

My best "no" and best "yume" weren't on the paper with my best final creation, so I took pictures of them separately, haha.

(My best "no")

(My best "yume")

We had to stamp our final product with the stone inkan we made.

(My final product)

Then I headed out to talk to Chris because he'd wanted to talk to me about the bike earlier. I found him taking to Cathy. He just wanted to know if my host parents were cool with me giving them that and I said they were. Then I had some time, so I talked to Cathy for a bit, since I hadn't talked to her since we went to the Boston museum that time. I told her about the getting hit by a car and stuff and she said she was just happy I was okay, because when she was studying here last time, outside her host family's house one day, she heard a girl on her bike get hit by a car. Thankfully there were people around who called 119 (Japanese 911), but the girl ended up dying because she'd hit her head and no one wears a helmet in Japan. :(

Gosh, I guess I really was lucky in that sense!

It was still raining as I walked to sadou. I hate how it rains for the entire day in Japan. I'm used to short rain showers and then clear skies, but no, when it rains here, the rain's here to stay for a while.

I stood outside the tea house and ate the onigiri I'd only been able to take one bite of at lunch because I'd been finishing my sadou paper.

The rain was pretty, watching it from under the roof. And I saw the little forest surrounding the tea house is full of bamboo! I'd never noticed that before!

Sensei took attendance and we handed in our paper whenever our name was called. She let anyone who'd forgotten their paper turn it in next week. Well then...

We also got any pictures that had been taken that we were in! I went to go get mine from the older sensei and she said I was in a lot of them! Here they are:

I really like this group shot!

Then we had the tea ceremony!

The okashi was super cute today!! It was called "haruyuri" and is supposed to look like a kimono with the layers. 

(It's pink!!)

(Anko inside!)

In the second part of class, the lecture part, sensei told us that way back when, the highest class people wore thirteen layers of kimono!! Holy crap!

After class, I went to R to do some homework and eat my second onigiri and my apple. Both Sara and Yukari passed by (at separate times), saw me, and came over to chat. I made sure they could make lunch tomorrow with Takuya! And they said they could. :)

Also, Mitch gave me this picture that had been taken at the CJS festa because I was in it, lol. I don't like it, though. I look really bad.

After that, I headed home. When I got to Yagoto Nisseki, I couldn't believe it!!

There were soooo many people there! It was all backed up to the top of the stairs, so you couldn't even walk down the stairs to the platform!! Is this what it's like every Monday at 5? I guess I usually leave at 5:30/5:45 after I write my blog, so I don't usually see it like this! Wow, rush hour must be horrible I guess.

I pushed through the people and got to the bottom of the stairs and saw the platform was jam packed as well. There was no way.

Then I realized I could take the train the other way around too and go the Higashiyama line way, since that was on my pass. So I went over to the other side. But that was crowded too!! I saw red writing scrolling across the boards. Ugh, so the trains were delayed? That sucks at rush hour! I didn't bother to try to read the red writing, but looked of the number of minutes it was delayed, but I couldn't find it.

(View of the other side of the track)

But then I heard the train on my usual side coming, so I went back over there, but only half the people on the stairs made it on the train before it was completely stuffed. So I went back to the other side, which was less crowded, to catch that train. It came a few seconds later and I just made it on! People behind me weren't able to board.

At Motoyama, I switched to the Higashiyama line, which had come just as I reached the platform. Then I rode that to Sakae and switched back onto the Meijo line. I saw more red writing, which meant more delays. But that train also came right after I got to the platform, so that was nice!

But gosh, that platform was super crowded as well! Look at all these people!!

And finally I got to Kanayama where I could take the JR. The JR was super crowded as well, but I was able to get a seat from Nagoya to Ichinomiya, so that wasn't bad.

Then I rode my bike home through the rain. The rain had started falling really hard, so I got soaked. I walked into the kitchen to say I was home, and Yuko saw how wet I was and thankfully let me hop in the shower right away. Then when I was done, we all had dinner.

Yuko had made grilled onion rings that we had with salad, rice, and soup. I hate onions, but I tried them and they were really sweet and delicious!!

Miya was complaining because she hates onions, but Yuko told her to try them because they were sweet. She wasn't convinced. But then I told her I don't like onions, but these were really good! And that convinced her to try them. She said they were "maa maa" (so-so) and then didn't have any more after that, haha.

After dinner, I texted Takuya to meet us in front of the fountain and he said he would.

(My awesome Japanese! Emma didn't want me to put that first smiley, but I told her it's my trademark smiley!! I always use it when I text Japanese people, haha)

Ken came home, but he ate and showered really quickly and everyone was in bed by 9! Whoa!! I had a whole bunch of homework, so I did that and then watched an episode of Free! before bed.