Ken no tanjoubi!

The first part of today completely sucked balls!

It was so warm today so I wore my kitty tights and skirt and didn't wear a jacket. But my hands froze on my bike on the way to the station without my gloves. T_T

I caught the 7:57 today so I saw Esteban at Kanayama and met everyone else at Yagoto Nisseki.

On the way to Kanayama, I was reading the manga I bought a while back that's all pink with the girl on the cover. And omg, in typical shoujo manga fashion, there was a page that makes you feel super awkward/embarrassed while reading it because something awkward/embarrassing is happening to the heroine. And to make it worse, I could actually understand all the Japanese on those few pages so I knew exactly what was going on!

I was hiding my face in my scarf and trying not to squeal haha.

In class today, we got our midterm grades! I have a 96 in communication and a 98 in reading & writing. Woot woot!

Class let out at 10:50, so I went to swim. I swam for about 50 minutes (and did a 500 again, yay!) and then had to get out at 12 so I could make it to the train station by 12:30, which is when we were all meeting.

Natalia asked this hot Japanese guy in her class out, but didn't want it to be a date so she invited a bunch of us along. We were going to an Indian restaurant (ew!), but I'd decided to go to meet the Japanese guy she says is so cute.

But while I was changing I lost one of my earrings. I think it fell between the floorboards. So I have no hope of ever getting it back. I'm really sad about it. :(

After looking for it everywhere and not finding it, it was too late for me to make it to Yagoto Nisseki in time. So I headed over to Lawson's to Facebook message Natalia. She asked how long it would take me to get there, and I said actually I could just take the subway from Nagoya Daigaku Eki, which was closer. So she said they'd wait for me at Motoyama.

But when I got to Motoyama, I couldn't find anyone! There were six different exits, and I went to them all to look multiple times. I made the mistake of leaving the exit and paying, because I thought they may be outside, but they weren't. Then I waited at the area between all the exits for 15 minutes. No one showed up. I was pretty pissed off. It seems every time I plan to do something with Natalia, I never find her...

So since I'd already paid, I headed outside. I found a 100 yen store where I bought something and then I just decided I'd go back, since they'd obviously left without me.

I didn't want to pay 200 yen again to travel one subway stop, so I just walked back. It only took about 15 minutes, but my face got sunburnt because it was a warm 60 degrees out and the sun was shining super brightly.

I went to the 100 yen Lawson's and bought a cheap lunch for 210 yen.

(It also had a little piece of carrot. Not too filling, but good!)

After I ate it back at school, I went to the library to watch the movie we have to watch for Folklore this week. I had it all in and everything when I found it didn't have English subtitles. F that. So I decided to try to download it at home. 

I stopped by the CJS office to inquire about this letter about pension I got in the mail yesterday. They looked at it and showed me the form I have to fill out to be exempt and told me that I should go home and fill it out with Yuko.

So I headed home. When I got to Kanayama, the train closed its doors right as I got to the platform. Then it idled there a few seconds and took off. Rawr. So I went up to buy my Shinkansen ticket for the way back from Tokyo.

I first told the guy 8:30 at night, but then I changed it to 6:30, so I could eat dinner and then leave and get home early enough for a good night's sleep.

The guy was nice and asked if I wanted a window or aisle seat, so I said window!

It ended up costing more than my ticket for the way there, so I asked the guy why. 

And guess what guys?

The cherry on top of my shitty day:

I've known for a while that Japanese tax is increasing in April, but everyone's always said April, not March 21.

So yeah starting March 21, literally the exact day I freaking leave Tokyo, Shinkansen tickets are 200 yen more. So even though I payed in advance, I have to pay more because that's the day I'm traveling. Fml.

The bike ride home was really nice because it was such beautiful weather today! I got home super early, at 4:30. Yuko and Miya were already home. I found a package from a friend on my desk! Yayyy!!!! It made me so happy to get it!

(It was full of so many noms!! And a bunch of Texas food haha!)

Ahh it had peach cobbler (my fave!) mix, and guacamole mix, and tacos, and taco spices, and hot chocolate, and even stomach medicine because I get so sick all the time, haha! Omg, Thank you!!

Then Miya and I prepared for Ken's birthday. She had me sign a card she made for him and then we made a paper chain hanging for the door.

(The card)

(Miya's rendition of me)

(The door)

(After we finished the chain!)

While we were doing that, Yuko baked a cake for Ken.

A package came from my mom! It was huge! But I waited till after dinner to open it.

Ken finally came home around 6:45. Miya gave him another card she made.

(The drawing of me in that one. Those are actually the clothes I was wearing!)

Then she brought him into the living room to show him the door. I said "otanjoubi omedetou!" (Happy Birthday)

(Look how cute they are!)

I gave Ken a little bottle of peach schnapps I'd brought from America. He didn't drink it, but he was happy!

A little while later we had dinner. Yuko had made potato and salmon nabe. It was good! She also had salad and bread she had made. Everyone's bread but mine had cheese baked inside!

For dessert, we had the cake Yuko had made. It was delicious!! It was actually more of a tart. It was a pie crust with chocolate mousse, banana slices, and strawberries. And it had a hunk of chocolate with pictures of Mickey on it that said "happy birthday" and Miya had written "Kenji" in chocolate sauce.

It's funny because in America on birthdays we never eat just one slice of cake! It's always either two or the one is a giant hunk! But here, we all had a small slice of the tart and even though over half the tart was left, it was put away.

I asked Yuko if I should take a pic of the three of them and she said yes, so I took a normal one, and then they both kissed Ken. I was proud of myself for capturing his face at the perfect moment!!

(So cute!!)

After dinner, with everyone in the living room, I opened the package from my mom. I found the note she'd written first which told me the presents for Yuko, Miya, and Ken in there.

She'd sent Ranch for Ken! It was perfect that it came on his birthday! He was ecstatic!! Everyone was so enamored with the "to go" Ranch, because that doesn't exist in Japan.

And my mom sent a magnetic note pad for Yuko and a computer game for Miyabi and gummy letters that spelled "Miya". Miya and Yuko loved those! Yuko really wants to go to America now, haha.

(Everyone's presents)

And sooo much stuff for me!! ;)

All my favorite American foodsssss (notice: they're all sweets haha)

There's the new limited edition Rice Krispie Oreos!!! I was drooling right when I first saw them. So of course I couldn't sleep tonight not knowing what they tasted like, so I ate one and you know had a foodgasm, duh. They had Rice Krispies mixed in with the cream!! Like, I'm not even kidding, these babies will be lucky if they last until this weekend...

Aaaaand she sent my favorite Easter foods: jelly beans, Cadbury eggs, and white Reese's cups!! Yuko said you can get white Reese's cups at Seiyu, but whatevs. They're probs super expensive anyway. 

Damn good thing I swam today with all these sweets I know have!

(Tears of joy are streaming down my face right now)

So yeah, I have yet to have an entirely sucky day here! I always go to bed happy! :)

Thanks mom and my friends!

I love and miss you all!!

Setsubun!

This morning I was texting back and forth with my parents about the Super Bowl. I'd completely forgotten about it! Unfortunately I couldn't watch it or the Doritos commercial created by a Hokie because I had school. :( Lame. Who schedules school during the Super Bowl?? Oh right, Japan.

Breakfast was really good this morning! Obaasan had bought a shit ton of fruit yesterday and gave it to us, so we had orange slices, bunny apples, and a half a banana along with toast and marmalade. I was a happy camper! :)

I decided to finally dump some of the water out of my poor drowning bonsai.

I went outside and dumped it in the grass and Yuko let me leave the bonsai outside while I went to school today! :) So it got some fresh air and sunlight (even though it was super cloudy all day).

As I was walking to school from the station, I saw Emma so I ran to catch up to her and asked about her weekend. She told me yesterday she'd gone to see a Setsubun demonstration at Osu Kannon temple and they threw beans! But she didn't catch any. I told her about the mochi catching I did and she thought that sounded way cooler lol.

Class was meh. I had a test second period that was a sinch. I finished in like five minutes lol.

This girl, Natalia (the one who was supposed to go to the onsen with me but got sick) brought us all these muffin things she made. They were really good!

Then we got out for lunch ten minutes early! So I went to Dagane and quickly downed some food.

(Mmmm so good!)

Then I went to the computer lab because I wanted to send some emails.

Next, I had calligraphy. Ugh, calligraphy turns out to be kinda boring. Like we sit there for an hour and a half and write the same freaking word over and over and over. Today we wrote "shiba inu" in katakana and mine got progressively worse and worse.

I wished I was in programming class instead. Jk, no I didn't. Not even for a second!

I took an artsy photo though! Lol.

Then was sadou! Yayyyy!! Tea ceremony is definitely my favorite class. We went around and did introductions. We had to say something we liked about Japan, so I said I liked temples and shrines and talked about visiting Atsuta Shrine. 

Then we did the same thing we did last week, but we had different wagashi.

It was really cute wagashi. I'm so mad I didn't get to take a picture because sensei was watching what we did today and was watching me closely since I was one of the first to go. :(

But I googled wagashi and found one like it! It's called namagashi. And sometimes kuri (grass) namagashi because it looks like grass. Ours looked like this one except it was white with little black dots (so it looked gray) and instead of the kuri on top, it had a little white and pink flower thing made of the namagashi. Inside was anko, just like the ones last week! It was sooo good!

After class, I went home. When I got home, I checked on my bonsai. Dumping the water out must have done it some good, because now it has ten full flowers!! Double what it had yesterday! So of course I subjected it to another photo shoot lol.

I'm such a good mother, guys. Raising plants is the first step to raising humans ya know.

I went online to see how often I have to water it and the website was all like "it's difficult to know for sure. It takes most people three years to figure it out." I was like are you fucking kidding me?

But then it said to just look when the top quarter inch of the mulch stuff is dry and that's when you need to water it. But you need to check every day because both overwatering and underwatering cause illness in the plant. Ugh, taihen desu ne!

Yuko came home and then I sent a few more emails until Miya and Ken got home a little after 7. I asked Yuko about Setsubun because I knew it was today, and it turned out we were going to celebrate it, yay!

So for dinner, we had long sushi rolls! Emma had told me that morning that on Setsubun you eat those long sushi rolls that are sold in konbini, without cutting them!

But we made our own. :)

(The table all set up)

(Fillings. I really liked the hot pink one!)

We all went around and made our rolls. I went last. Ken took lots of pictures of me making my roll and rolling it up!

(My roll)

(All rolled up!)

(Making my roll)

(All done!)

Then we all had to face a certain way and eat them in one sitting without speaking while we were eating, haha.

It was hard! Ken took lots of funny pictures of us with the rolls in our mouths. 

(Facing the direction we had to face)

When we were finished eating them, we used the extra seaweed to make mini handrolls.

So ever since I was in America, I've heard people complain about natto and how gross it is. Many Japanese people don't like it either. So of course I've been wanting to try it. So when I saw natto on the table, I made a grab for it. Yuko and Ken freaked out and made me eat just a bean first, since most foreigners hate it and they didn't want to waste it. 

Yuko went and got a tissue in case I needed to spit it out haha. Everyone was so amazed when I chewed it and swallowed it lol. And then when I decided to have a bit more. Yuko said the fact that I thought the umeboshi was too sour, but I ate the natto was "new" because usually with foreigners it's the other way around!

Yuko asked if I liked it and I said I didn't like it, but I didn't hate it lol. It definitely tasted weird and kind of rotten, but it wasn't gross. The gross part was how it looked like the beans were held together by snot!

(OMG I'm eating natto guys!)

While we were eating dinner, a postman came to the door with mail for me! I got my ATM card for the Bank of Nagoya and A PACKAGE FROM MY MOM!! My mom had written four notes on all sides of the box, one for each of us. Yuko, Ken, and Miya all read their notes and mine out loud. They were all really excited to have been included. I was surprised Ken was so good at reading English since a lot of the time Yuko has to translate what I say for him (he always gets all quiet and sulky when she does and says she's so good at English and she thinks it's funny. Lol it's cute)

Yuko and Ken also got a package today from their previous host student so they opened that first. She sent hot chocolate mix, chocolate marshmallow Santas (I love those things!), and ranch dressing and hot sauce for Ken because Ken loves Ranch. She sent a letter in both English and Japanese too. Miya read the Japanese outloud.

Then I got to open Mom's package. She sent so much!! I love her! And she included all these little sticky notes that everyone tried to read but had trouble reading her handwriting so I had to read it for them haha. Miyabi loved how my mom had written her name on things!

Mom sent all my favorite stuff like pink cake mix and pink icing and golden Mega Stuffed Oreos and pancake batter and peanut butter and jelly and raisin bread and Dove chocolate hearts and rainbow marshmallows and ughhhh I want to eat it all!!

(Miya and me with the bounty!)

And then we celebrated the next part of Setsubun! Where you throw beans! Miyabi explained to me in Japanese the reason you throw beans is because oni doesn't like beans. Oni is the monster. So Ken put on a mask that came with the peanuts Yuko bought and he was the onii. Then Miya and I each got a bag of peanuts and chased Ken around the house throwing peanuts (I guess we were using peanuts instead of beans) at him. Only in Japan, guys. 

I was literally pelting him with peanuts and it was okay because I was supposed to. Like what the heck haha.

We had to shout "Oni wa soto!" (aka "demons out!") and "Fuku wa uchi" (aka "luck come in the house"). It was fun! Yuko took pictures of us. Then Ken fought back a little, throwing peanuts back at us. When we were done the floor was covered in peanuts!

Then we had to eat our age in peanuts. Since they came in pods of two, I just had 10 peanut shells, which equaled 20 peanuts. Yuko asked me if we could buy peanuts in shells like this in America and I said yes, that's what people eat at baseball games. She didn't know that, but Ken did! Then we cleaned up all the peanuts from the floor. Maple (the dog) helped us find any that were hidden.

(My 20 peanuts that I only ate 10 of)

Afterwards, I couldn't take it any longer, I cracked open the Oreos and offered them to everyone. They really liked them! I explained about all the different flavored America has (Japan only has original and not in the package like this). Although I told them about some years back when Japan got limited edition green tea and red bean Oreos and America didn't! But they hadn't known about that.

We all had two Oreos except Yuko. She said they were choto amai (a little too sweet for her). Lawlz. Then I doubt she'll like the cupcakes I make.

Then I did my homework and wrote this post. I saw them talking about the Super Bowl on tv. They kept showing shots of my lover (Peyton Manning) and saying things in Japanese about him. Idk what though.

So yeah, exciting day! I completely forgot about Setsubun this morning and expected today to be super boring, but what with that and the package from my mom, it was far from it!