Developing photos and swimming

It was still effing raining this morning. I wore my yoga pants and they were completely soaked through when I got to the station. Rawr.

At Kanayama, I ran into Yukari, so the two of us rode the subway to school together. We started talking all in Japanese. She speaks so fast, I always have such a hard time understanding her, but it's really good practice for me!

But then we switched to English and she told me again how much she loves English and really wants to speak it fluently. But she told me so far, I'm the only ryuugakusei she can speak English with, even though she's met and talked to a whole bunch of them. She said she feels most comfortable speaking with me. The rest she's too nervous to speak English in front of. 

I understand completely. I'm always way too nervous to speak Japanese with my bilingual native Japanese speaker friends like Ayuko.

Yukari shared her umbrella with me as we walked to school, even though in fine with my rain jacket! And we taught each other various English and Japanese words. It was fun!

At school, we had Mutsukawa sensei for class. We practiced for our conversation test on Friday.

When class was over at 10:50, it was time to swim! I ran into Emma on my way to the pool and she wanted to go eat at Downey's. Argh, I forgot I wanted to go there! I told her I was planning on swimming now and suggested we go when it's not raining. She agreed. So I headed to the pool.

The swimming club must practice later now that school's back in session, because no one was in the locker room when I got there, and only two people were in the pool. One a guy who looked my age and one an old man. It was nice and quiet! :)

I promised the first time I went swimming that I'd take pictures in the future, so here they are!

(Entrance to locker room, where you put your slipper/sandal things)

(The lockers! With the sinks in the background)

(The sinks and stairs up to the showers/pool entrance)

(Just noticed this door today. It leads out to a balcony!)

(View from the balcony)

(The top of the stairs - entrance to the shower rooms. Exit the showers and to the right are the toilets and the left, the entrance to the pool)

(Entrance to the pool. Don't ask me why the pool is on the second floor...?)

(The poooolllll!!!!! *kira kira*)

(Left side. The spiral staircase goes up to the spectator balcony)

(View from the left side)

(Right side)

I loooove the huge windows! It makes the pool so bright and cheery feeling instead of depressing like indoor pools in America. That's why I quit swimming in middle school because when I moved, the new swim team was in an indoor pool that was dark and warm and gross and swimming just wasn't fun anymore...

It felt so great to be back in the water! Especially after so many episodes of Free! I was itching to swim, and it was so great!

I started with a 500 and then swam more for an hour. When I left, the lady at the front desk told me "otsukaresama." Yus! :D

I was starving but I'd told Hikari, the secretary (?) of photography club that I'd be available today for her to show me the dark room. We were supposed to go last Thursday, but I'd gotten sick. So we were meeting at 12:35 in front of Lawson's. I got there early, but I saw Brendan sitting by himself, so I went over to sit with him. We talked about our host families until Hikari got there and then she and I headed out.

She took me to this building next to the pool with a sign on it that said "clubhouse" in katakana. Ohhh, so this was the legitimate clubhouse! And it really did look like a clubhouse when we went inside. Right at the entrance, there was a Nanzan themed vending machine that I wish I'd gotten a picture of! I'll have to go back some time. Then we went to the photography club's room. There were two girls in there who said hi to me. Hikari got the key to the dark room. Then we walked downstairs to the darkroom. On the way, we passed a bunch of various club rooms. The cheerleader's room was full of pom poms and sparkles, haha.

In the dark room, Hikari showed me everything. I helped her make the fix and she showed me some negatives of pictures she'd taken and let me choose one to develop. I picked one of the big ivy covered wall of Nanzan in the green area.

Then she showed me how to shine the picture on the appear and then put the paper in the various solutions to make the picture appear.

It was the exact same way I'd done it in high school, with all the same tools. Everything was so familiar. And I felt incredibly natsukashii (nostalgic)!

Standing there with my wet, chlorine filled hair, in the dark with only the red light on surrounded by the vinegar-y smell of fix...

It was just like I was back in high school, developing my pictures before class after morning swim practice. 

Hilary had asked when I had to leave for class, and I'd lied and said I had class at 1:30 because you know, a girl's gotta eat sometime.

So she showed me this super rapid fix stuff that we hadn't had in high school that she said you could use to fix the picture when you didn't have time to wait. So we put it in there and then moved it to the dryer.

In high school, the pictures had to sit in the drier for like ten minutes, slowly drying. The dryer here was totemo sugoi! You slid the photo in between two rubbery things and it rolled through and came out the back a second later, completely dry!!

Then Hikari gave me a camera to borrow! She said I had to buy film, but once I took pictures, I could come use the photo paper here to develop them! Ahhh! Sugoi! I really want to, but I doubt I'll have time... :(

But anyway, she gave me the photo and then told me to "ganbare" in class and stayed to clean up. She's such a sweetheart! I felt bad for lying, but I was sooo hungry!!

(Her picture I developed!!)

At Dagane, I got misokatsudon! Then I sat and ate it while I watched Free! on my phone like a loner, haha.

(Look it's glistening with deliciousness!)

After lunch, I worked on my PowerPoint to go along with my happyou Friday, and then I headed home. The rain had stopped when I got out of the computer room, so I figured I'd better head home before it started again.

When I got to the bike parking area in Ichinomiya, I noticed the top of the bell on my bike was gone!! No! This was the new bike Chris had given me. I knew it had been there this morning, because I'd used it (I remembered because I'd been all excited because it was my first time using a bike bell!) when this guy was walking slowly in front of me and I couldn't get around him. So I took my bike over to the guy running the bike parking place to show him the missing bell top. I told him it had been there that morning. He had one in the lost and found, so he tried to fit it on my bell bottom, but it was too small.

So we went over to wear my bike had been parked to look to see if it had fallen (which I already did), but we couldn't find it. So he said he'd look one more time in their lost and found.

And he ended up finding another bell top! And this one fit! He had to tape it a bit, but then it stayed on! But when it was on, the little thing you flick would get stuck. He said I could still use it like that, but tried anyway to fix it completely.

And he ended up being able to!! It was like new when he was done. It just shows if you're not lazy, and just fiddle around a bit, sometimes you can make things work! I thanked him profusely and then left.

On the way home, I swung by the guys place who had fixed the old bike for me for 400 yen and asked if he wanted the bike, since Yuko was throwing it out anyway. He said he had no use for it. Ah well. It was worth a shot.

When I got home, I said "tadaima" and then went to my room to study for my huge ass every-kanji-we've-ever-learned test tomorrow. Miya ran by and said "bye" and then everyone was gone. What? No one had said "ittekimasu", or where they were going or anything! I'd had my door open too. Wth?

So I sat in my room and studied and ate something that would make my mom have a cow if she knew what it was, haha. So skip over this part mom!

Yeah, I ate melon pan dipped in the left over cupcake icing, haha. It was sooooo good!

Everyone.     came back in time to make dinner. So we had rice with vegetables. I talked a lot at dinner tonight! I told everyone about the huge kanji test I have tomorrow and then where exactly I'm going over golden week after we get back from Handaa.

Then Yuko and Ken told me that they'd take care of the all the rest of the bike stuff (registration and disposal of the old bike) and I just had to pay them!! Oh, I'm so happy! That takes so much stress off me! They said they wanted me to focus on my studies instead. The school must have talked to them!

Then I went to my room to study. Well, I meant to study. But Shogo (the guy I met Monday) started texting me finally. The "two day rule" must apply in Japan as well.

So yeah, I was pretty distracted. I also texted Emma to tell her he texted me. But she wasn't answering, so I got impatient and started texting her a play by play of our conversation haha.

And then I started freaking out because he said he that he had to take me out to a ball game (yes, he said it just like the song). I was super excited!!! Omg I might actually go on a legit date in Japan, to a baseball game!!! Sugoi!

Now I couldn't study!

Then Emma finally texted me back and burst my bubble. He'd been texting her too (so unfair! I found him first!!). And not only that, he'd texted her the exact same things he'd texted me! Word for word. What a two timer!!

That pissed me off. He didn't say anything else the rest of the night, so I just went to sleep.

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!!

Suiyoubi!!

Last night I had my first nightmare since coming here. It was one of the super scary ones where I die. :S

But when I woke up from it, I had a bunch of messages from my friends to cheer me up! 

Esteban said he was going to swim with me today (he'd been thinking of playing badminton instead) and Minju said she'd seen that the Sen to Chihiro world we were going to go to after the Ghibli museum, closed at 4:30 so she decided she'd get the 2pm ticket too and we'd go there before the museum. Yayyy!!!

I just hope she can find someone to buy the 12pm ticket off of her.

Last night I ended up finding an awesome hostel!! It has free breakfast (the only hostel with free breakfast in Tokyo) and free luggage storage and is really close to all the major stations in Tokyo. It was also really cheap! The only problem is I have to share a room with 9 other girls! Ah well. Maybe they'll be nice. And I think the hostel has parties sometimes too, so I'll be able to make friends! :)

Also, I learned a new word at breakfast! Hachimitsu, which is honey! I asked what Yuko and Miya were pouring on their toast because they'd never used it before and they showed me the honey. It was less viscous than it is in America (so it was more runny and Miyabi kept spilling it off of her toast). That's why I didn't recognize it was honey.

And I was like "oh, hachi means bee!" Haha that makes sense.

I had anko on my toast today, because I wanted to try something other than jam and it was really good! But not as sweet. And I like sweet breakfasts!

For some reason I got ready super fast today (when I left, yuko was like, "whoa, hayai!") and ended up catching the 7:37 train to school today. Whaaaat?!? I haven't done that since the first day of orientation! Hahaha.

So I went to school and derped around online and looked up fun stuff to do in Tokyo. 

Class seemed so short today. Suddenly it was 10:50 and it was owari, whoo!

Today is Wednesday, which in Japanese, is Suiyoubi. The kanji for "sui" is the kanji for water, and the word "swimming" in Japanese is "suiei" so Esteban declared the day we go swimming to be Suiyoubi! It works out because we have such short classes.

When I got out, I waited around a bit because I wasn't sure if 400 had gotten let out yet, but when I didn't see anyone from 400 coming downstairs, I headed to the pool. I saw Esteban had gotten out of class early and already signed in. So I signed in and they were all like "hajimete janai, ne?" 

(It's not your first time, right?)

And I was like uhh actually it is. So after I removed my shoes and put these rubber croc things on, this cute old lady led me upstairs to the locker room. She only spoke Japanese, by I managed to talk with her. She asked where I was from  and I told her Texas and that Texas was really hot and at my house I have a pool I swim in and she thought that was awesome! 

When we first walked in, we had to take our rubber shoes off. Fortunately the wooden board things we walked on weren't wet yet because I was wearing socks. Then she told me to go up more stairs to get to the showers and toilets and go straight from there to get to the pool! So after I changed, I walked up to the pool. I saw a Japanese girl who said "konnichiwa" to me. Esteban's always taking about the Japanese friends he makes at the pool who talk to him in the locker room, so I want to make some too! But there was only one other girl in there.

The pool was beautiful! Next time I'll take pictures. It was on the second story so you saw the rooftops of the neighboring buildings out the window. The walls were all windows so it was nice and bright, unlike either of the pools at Tech.

And it had a spiral staircase up to a balcony where there were benches to watch people swimming, but the staircase was blocked off. So I guess it's only open during meets.

And then there was the Japanese swim team. Holy crap! It was mostly guys and they were all lined up along the side of the pool stretching. If anyone knows this anime called Free! that came out last summer (I've never seen it, but I've see pictures of it everywhere and it's basically five guys who are shirtless all the time because they're on the swim team and they're hot)... Yeah, imagine all those posters of Free!...

Actually, here I'll post a picture of one of them:

Yeah, it was that times ten. I was like ooooooohhhh my gosh. Damn they were fine.

Esteban kept teasing me about how there was all that eye candy and I was totally enjoying it haha. He told me they have a meet coming up so we might go watch it! Yeaaahhh!!

So anyway, Esteban and his friend Matt were in the first two lanes, which are the only two open while the Japanese team is practicing. But just as I hopped in Esteban's lane, they finished practicing, so I got my own lane.

After I warmed up, I decided to try a 500 to see if I could really still do it. And I did! I made it all 20 laps without stopping and it didn't take me quite as long as I thought it would. I kind of wish I had timed myself though. Oh well.

Then I noticed the 60 second clocks like we have in America, so I decided to see if  my sprints were still as fast as they used to be. I wanted to do a 50 in 31 seconds like I did in high school, but I could only do it in 36. :( I decided it was probably because I didn't dive in, so I got up on the starting block and waited for the top of the clock, but when it came Esteban shouted something to me from the other end of the pool and I missed it. I should have just dove in anyway, but I wanted to wait for the next top. While I was waiting, the pool attendant lady came over and apologized, telling me I wasn't allowed to dive off the blocks.

That's what Esteban had been trying to tell me. Because it was only 4 ft deep and they didn't trust us to only do surface dives.

That's so gay. Like, why are there even starting blocks in the first place, then? So I have no idea what my real time for a 50 sprint is. But I just swam more stuff like 100s and 200s until Esteban said Matt was leaving, but he was going to meet Rafa for lunch, did I want to come?

After the Japanese team had left, only guys came in to swim, so I went in to an empty locker room. Maybe if I come regularly I'll be able to meet more Japanese students!

Man, the swim felt amazing though! It was nice to get back in there after so long. I'm happy I still fit into the suit I wore when I was fourteen (I was legitimately worried I wouldn't). And swimming with my nice pink swimmer's goggles was so, so great!

Afterwards I had that tired, but happy after a swim workout feeling. 

(Selfieeee)

And I felt like I could eat anything and everything haha. So while we were waiting in line, I saw this Japanese guy eating this huge dish of meat on top of rice that looked really good, so I asked him what it was and he told me pork ginger. So I got that! It was only 360 yen, but I got the smaller version because I wasn't sure I'd like it.

It ended up being really, really good! I've definitely had it with at home before (like my Japan home, not America). Rafa got this humungo chicken meal for 500 yen, so he was good, but Esteban and I were still hungry after we'd eaten, so Esteban got a hot dog and I got the small rice bowl. I looooove rice!

There was this creepy guy, holding two cute breads, looking in the windows today. I'd seen him another day too when I was walking past outside and just figured he was making faces at someone inside, but today he just stood there looking in for forever. It was really scary. The Japanese girls sitting right under him didn't seem phased at all!

(There he is, such a creeper! After I took this picture, he moved a little farther down the windows to creep some more).

After we finished eating, the guys were still hungry haha, so we went to Lawson's. Esteban got a pack of dark chocolate (called black chocolate here) and gave us some. It was good! It tasted sweeter than American dark chocolate.

Also, look at these prices!!

We walked to the lockers afterwards and I dumped my stuff then parted ways with the guys. They were going home to take naps, but I was going to the bank.

Ugh so when I got there, I discovered my money still hadn't come in. I got the girl who was good at English, so I asked her to call and find out what the hold up was. She called the head bank and they said these things usually take a month!! So the earliest I'll get my money is Friday, but more likely it'll be next Thursday. Arghhh, I'm running out of money!

I'm so happy I have the traveler's checks, or I'd be up shit creek without a paddle. So I cashed another one of those today, but this is really stressing me out!

(Cute tree I saw on the way to the bank)

On the way back from the bank, I saw a cop car out in front of the 100 yen Lawson's. Then I saw two police officers talking to these three Indian guys and checking their ID and stuff. Ooohhh I wanna know what was going on!

(The back of the guy says "POLICE")

When I got back to campus, I got on the computer to send some emails and then went home.

On the way to the train station, I stopped at Lawson's to TURN IN MY COMPLETED STICKER SHEET!!!! 

I bought a thing of bread today and stole the other 5 stickers off other breads because very few had stickers left. The new wave of breads are sticker-less.

The guy took it AND GAVE ME A BUNNY PLATE!!!!! Ahhh! I was so sure he was going to tell me to mail the sheet in or give him an address to send the plate to or whatever, but he just gave it to me right then and there!

(Cute box it came in!!)

(It says Miffy Curry Plate :D )

(Me with the plate!!)

(Argh so cute!!)

When I got home, I made a half a pecan butter sandwich with the bread I bought. It was gooooood! The bread in Japan is so thick, though!

Then I took a shower. Miya and Yuko didn't get home until 6:30. Miya had this awesome thing she made today with paper, a bag, and a straw, where she would blow into the straw and the bag would fill up!! Sugoi!

When they got home I did my homework and then Ken came home and we all had dinner.

Dinner was soooo good! I told Yuko it was "mecha oishii" haha. It was a tofu burger with mushrooms in it that tasted exactly like the veggie burgers I eat and love in America! Yuko made it herself!

And we had miso soup with pumpkins in it!

Miya poured her tea in her rice bowl and I was like wtf? And her parents didn't say anything. They even encouraged her! Yuko must have seen my wtf face, because she explained that's a thing in Japan. She said you don't do it in a restaurant, only in your home, but people do it all the time lol! She said it's really good. Maybe I'll try it too some time.

After dinner, I studied for my dialogue check and did some of my worksheet due next week.

Ahhh today was such a good day!!

Friday should be fun too. Rafa and I are going to go shopping in Osu and then Taylor's organizing an all-night karaoke slumber party! I was telling everyone about it at dinner and I knew how to say all night! 

I learned it from Miss You, this song by M-flo I'm obsessed with and listen to every day. In it they say "asa made" which means "until morning". So I said the karaoke was "asa made" and everyone understood what I saying! Yayyy!

Also, here are pix of me and Minju from the science museum from the CJS Facebook page:

(Burning calories on the bike)

Matta ashita!