Tea ceremony in a kimono!

So I completely forgot I had a test today lol.

At the start of class Heather was all like "we have a test today"

And Iaughed and was like, "no we don't"

Yeah, we did. In the reading & writing portion. Which meant it was super easy.

Lol this weekend Yuko had even asked me if I had a test Monday and I had said no. Whoops.

I was still super sore from running Saturday and it took enormous effort to walk up and down the stairs and sit down. Ugh.

I ate lunch with Emma at Dagane and had... Guess what?

Misokatsudon! Yeeeaaaahhh! With a side of daikon and potato jelly. :P

Emma told me her host mom has shortened my nickname of "pinku ga suki no hito" to just "pinku" haha.

Then we had calligraphy. Here's my masterpiece:

(Woot!)

And theeeeennnn tea ceremony!! 

GUESS WHAT I GOT TO DO?!?

I GOT TO WEAR A KIMONO!!!!!!!!

Like no one wanted to do it when she asked for volunteers this week, idk why... But I jumped up right away and said I'd do it. She had two girls and one guy dress up and one other girl wore her own kimono.

The cute older sensei helped me into my kimono. I chose the one I'm wearing because all the wrappings were pink! The other girl got the other kimono, which once she had it on, I actually liked better. It was black with pink flowers. Oh well.

We each got a scrunchie as well to tie up our hair. Mine was black lined with gold.

The other girl's light blue and white striped to match her light blue obi.

Sensei put the kimono part on me first. Then she tied a pink tie really tight around me and asked if I was okay. lol. I said I was even though it was a bit tight.

Then she put a pink belt on. Then a big pink belt with a piece of what felt like cardboard inside. And finally my obi! And she tied it so nicely!!

Then she let me go to the bathroom to use the bowl cabinet as a mirror to admire myself. Then we went into the tatami room with the rest of our classmates and everyone oohed and ahed at how pretty I looked haha.

Then we did the actual tea ceremony. The other girl in the kimono and I acted as the hostesses, bringing in the snacks.

(Today's okashi! They had leaves on the top and bottom. And the middle was sticky white stuff filled with anko. The leaves were stuck on with clear gel stuff that was really sweet and good!)

The leaves we folded up in our okashi paper and those of us in kimonos tucked them in this secret pocket in our kimono sleeves, haha!

We had to say the stuff we had to last time again and of course I made a fool out of myself because I could t remember any of it. But neither could most everyone else. Then we drank matcha.

And then it was the other group's turn. Sensei told us we could take pictures, so I had Pearl take pictures of me. :)

While we were waiting for the next part, the older sensei came over to me to fix my obi's bow and then had a guy take my phone and snap a picture of me from behind haha. I'm glad she did, though, because I hadn't even thought to get a behind picture because I didn't realize how pretty the obi looks!

Because the belt part was so stiff, it made me sit up straight, so I didn't mind wearing the kimono, because it fixed my posture and it was actually pretty comfortable!

After tea ceremony was over and sensei helped me take off the kimono, I headed to Lawson's to buy a melon pan for the way home.

33 bunny stickers. So close! :(

Oh well, I'll try again next month!

Then I went to the CJS office and the nice lady who helped me last week helped me get everything together to pay my for my health insurance and then I stopped by the Lawson's next to the station to pay it.

When I got home, Miya and I bonded over the fact that we both had a bunch of homework (I actually don't, I just said I did to make her feel better haha). And we had an entire conversation about it in Japanese!

When she went to go do hers, I said "ganbatte!" (You can do it!) and she said "you too!"

:D :D :D

We had nave for dinner. 

And let me tell you all about our dinner conversation, haha! (It's all in Japanese btw)

So it started with Ken asking me what Japanese cooking I like. And I told him oden and everyone was really shocked lol. They were like "we only made that one time!" And Ken asked if I had eaten it elsewhere and I said no. Yuko asked what about oden I liked, and Miya shouted:

"IT'S PINK!!"

And I was like "well yeah, there's that." 

And Ken cracked up haha.

But I said it was also really delicious.

Then I told them I also liked misokatsudon. When I said I have it at school every day, they all burst out laughing lol.

Then Ken asked what I didn't like. And when I couldn't think of anything, he was like "nothing?"

And I said "nothing yet"

And they all chuckled.

Guys, I think I'm starting to make jokes in Japanese! 

Anyway, now comes the good part. Yuko was all like, "So I saw your pictures from Friday night in Facebook. You drank a lot!"

Ken started laughing and I got all awkward and embarrassed haha.

She asked me if I got drunk and I said no. I told them the drinks here aren't as strong as they are in America. Ken was like even Japanese sake?? I was like "yup".

Then Ken asked what I drank in America, so I told them rum, vodka, and whiskey. (Oh wait, jk, guys it's illegal to drink in America, so I mean I don't actually drink, ya know?)

Anyway Ken was all like "ahh whiskey" and he put his hand up "Japanese sake" and he put his other hand lower "and beer" and he moved his hand even lower. I was like "yup".

Then Yuko was like "ahh the pictures looked so fun!" And I think Ken wanted to see them too haha. No doubt she'll show him. Whatevs.

And then I told everyone about wearing a kimono today! And Yuko asked about the colors of everyone's kimonos and they were surprised when I told them a guy wore a kimono too! When I said mine was red, Ken was like "oh, not pink" but I was like "the obi was pink!" And they all laughed haha.

Back to school, guys...

Ugh I forgot how awful my commute is. I got squished like a sardine for the long ride from Ichinomiya to Nagoya and it was sooo bad. I really wanted to cough and sneeze and spread my germs, so people would back away from me, but it wouldn't have worked because there's no room for them to move away from me. It sucks. It was so bad I was daydreaming of lying on the huge expanse of the drillfield with no one around me.

Anyway, the smartest decision I have made thus far is showing Miya that days of the month rap. Omg. I needed to know those for my test today, so when I was studying on the subway, I was like "hmm I think I have to know the days of the month. Crap, I should study those..." 

And then I was like psh, who am I kidding? I know those by heart from all the times Miya and I would sing that freaking rap! I have the rap memorized and it covers all the irregular days, and the rest are easy.

Today I was really sick. I went through packs of tissues like chain smokers go through packs of cigarettes. I even seriously considered wearing a sick mask haha. But I just couldn't make myself do it.

I ran into Taylor as I was walking to school and she had gotten new kitty tights and she'd found ones where the kitties had little pink cheeks!! Ahhhh! I have to have them! She said she got them in Osu. Omg omg omg!

Then I went in to the CJS office to sit with my friends and we all talked about our breaks. Emma went to Tokyo all alone, but she had a really good time! She told us how her bus got cancelled too, so she took the Shinkansen but it was delayed because of all the snow in Tokyo, so she got back after the subways had stopped running and had to crash in a karaoke bar for the night! And the karaoke workers really wanted her out lol. Ugh, sounds miserable! She also gave me this map of Tokyo and the Tokyo subway for when I go next break! :)

In class, Natalia talked about her break. It sounded like she had an awesome time and I'm jealous! She applied for this year long program (even though she'll only be able to do about 3 months of it) where she works in various places around Japan and gets free meals and stays with host families in the area. So for this break, she went around Kyushu, including Fukuoka (ahh so jealous!). So all she had to pay for was her plane ticket!

She said out of the three days she spent there, she only had to work two hours!

She got to work on a farm (all she had to do was pick up leaves) with giant strawberries and as a hostess at a hotel! At the hotel she said "irrashaimase" to the guests (aka "welcome") and gave them chocolate on Valentine's Day! So she got to practice a bunch of Japanese and got to go shopping (she bought this adorable backpack for $5) and sightseeing as well!!

Then this guy Henry in my class who's never taken Japanese before and is the worst in our class (he's the one I told about the fruit the day I got all that fruit at Lawson's grand opening) told us all about his part time job he worked over break, here in Nagoya. Turns out he worked as a host in a cafe, where his job was, get this:

To hit on girls!!

Yeah, believe it or not, he got paid to flirt with girls in English! Hahaha. 

I really wanted to ask how much he made per hour. I'd love to get paid to flirt with guys!!

In class, we had to do a bunch of those "write about what you did over the break" exercises. Ugh. Those suck in English and are even worse when you don't know how to say half the things you want to!

I bought my lunch at Lawson's today. The girl at the cashier next to me bought two sandwiches, which means four bunny stickers!! I really wanted to ask her if I could have them, but she's super quiet, I've never seen her speak. So I dont know her name or anything about her and have never talked to her before... So yeah, I didn't ask her. >_< 

And then she had disappeared by the time I was done buying my lunch. I guess she went to eat somewhere else?

But I went into Dagane to sit with my friends and got a bunny sticker each from Heather and Autumn and one from my strawberry filled bread, so I'm up to 16 now!

My lunch:

(Super yummy! And they warmed it in the microwave for me at Lawson's!)

Oh and you know my bread? Yeah so I ate it later and I was all excited for it because it looks like strawberry jam filled bread, right?

Well it was bread filled with cream and strawberry jam! :( That's the last time I'm getting that. The cream totally ruined it!

After lunch was calligraphyyy. I still suck. But whatevs.

Today we wrote "seiten". We had to do the weird diagonal lines in the kanji (we couldn't pick up our brush between lines). I don't like them, though. They make the kanji look ugly). 

(Ugh sooo badddd)

And then came my favorite class!!! Tea ceremony!

First we each got a fan.

(I chose a pink and purple one ^^ )

Then we practiced entering the room. We had to take our fans everywhere with us and alternate between sliding around our knees and walking on our feet.

We had to bow when we first entered and at the scroll. We had to admire the scroll and this flower arrangement:

And admire the pot of hot water and the tea cup and ladle.

Then we got to eat okashi! Yusss.

(Today's okashi)

It was called "snow flower" because the topping was supposed to look like snow.

I think the outside was made of rice and inside was bright pink stuff that I think might have been anko even though it was pepto bismyl colored. Omg it was delicious though. I really wanted another one. I asked the older sensei where she buys these and she told me a place behind Nagoya-jo. Ahh I have to find it!

Then we were served our tea. When we got it, we had to say

"Mou ippuku ikaga desu ka"

to the person before us,

"Osake ni choudai itashimasu"

to the person after us, and 

"Otemae choudai itashimasu"

to the host.

It was hard!

(My adorbs teacup)

Gosh I love this class. And at the end she said next week and the week after we'll be wearing kimonos!!! AHHHHH!!!!

But we can't wear jeans, so I have to remember to wear tights or my leggings!

Today I managed to sneak in a lot of pictures. :)

(Class. The younger sensei is the one in the kimono there)

I saw this awesome pocky on the way home I'll have to try one day:

(Matcha chocolate!)

When I got home, Miya sat in my room and helped me practice for my dialogue check tomorrow. Then Ken came home and we had dinner. We had a lot for dinner tonight, which was good because I was hungry!

We had rice, cooked pickled daikon, spinach, pasta, lettuce, fried tofu chunks, mushrooms, aaaannnddd...

...guess what??

THE FISH!!!

The ones where it's the entire fish. I wasn't going to eat one but then Yuko asked if I wanted one and said the entire thing was edible but I didn't have to eat the head if I didn't want to. So I was like what the heck and I ate the entire thing except the tail.

It's mouth was open and everything!!!

And I ate it!

Yuko and Ken were really impressed that I ate the head! :)

Then Yuko and Ken asked me about the nomihoudai with Yuri and Banana-chan on Friday and told me that because I'm staying over at Rana's house that night (so I don't have to ride my bike drunk lol), I have to get a present for her family (like a box of chocolate or something) because that's what you do in Japan, and Yuko and Ken have to get something to give them as well! Wow!

I also realized today that Friday is my half birthday!!! Omg guys. I gotta get shwasted...

(Heather and me from my first nomihoudai (in Osaka!) that I forgot to upload. Hopefully I actually get buzzed this time...)

After dinner, Miya and I watched cartoons (in Japanese) and some of the Olympics as well.

Then I went to bed early because it was so hard to get up this morning!

Hanga is hard...

Read the post from yesterday first!!

Lol so this morning at breakfast, we were watching the news again. We had the same chocolate chip bread I'd had at the New Year's party ;P

Anyway, they were doing this whole segment about freaking Orlando Bloom and showing him in the new Lord of the Rings movie, so of course I was dying. I told Miyabi I loved him and she told her mom haha.

Yuko asked if he was American and I said no, and she asked if he was British and I said yes (I think so anyway because he was talking with a British accent).

Yuko asked my plans for this weekend and when I said I didn't have any yet, she invited me to come with everyone to Ken's uncle's house, which is about an hour away! Yaaay!! 

She told me to make sure I did my homework beforehand because we'll be gone all day. Ha we'll see how that goes.

My bike seat was frozen again today. It was a cold ride to the station. :((( Why won't it get warm??

When I was at Rana's house last weekend, I asked those two Japanese girls when it starts to get warm here and they said March. Waaahhhh too far away D:

All the Japanese students started break today so the campus was like a ghost town and there were no food trucks and the bread shop was closed and the lady selling bread in R building wasn't there. So sad. There were some Japanese students around for club activities, though, like those on sports teams.

In Japanese class, this girl was talking about something she ate yesterday but forgot what it was called. Everyone, including our sensei was trying to figure out what it was. She said it was like a pancake and I was like "Oh! Okinomiyaki!" 

And she was like "Yeah!!"

My sensei wanted to know what I had said, so I told everyone and explained what it was. Then sensei asked the girl where she'd eaten it and she was like "Aeon Mall at some place... Uhh it started with an A" and sensei and everyone else was baffled but I was like, "oh, Aratama Bashi?"

And she was like "yeah!"

And everyone was like "whooaa, sugoi, you know so much, Cate!"

Haha I mean I just know all that by talking to people and exploring. Taylor told me about the Aeon mall when we were in Aratama Bashi for karaoke.

But a lot of the dorm kids just sit in their rooms and play video games and go to konbinis for dinner. 

Also everyone freaked out over my kitty tights haha. I got so many compliments. So now I have to go back and get the bunny and bear ones as well. 

I aced my dialogue check and the katakana test was really easy so I'm pretty sure I got a 100 on that as well.

Oh and this one girl who's from China broke her leg when she fell down four flights of stairs at the subway station!! She came in today with a broken leg and in a wheelchair. I've been scared of falling down the subway stairs a few times because they're very steep. Ugh if I did break my leg I wouldn't be able to ride my bike to the station in the morning and my commute would take so much longer. Poor girl, that must be such an inconvenience for her time in Japan.

After class, I ate lunch at Dagane with Esteban and Rafael. We're three of the five people from Texas!

I had misokatsu again. :) 

(Sooo good!)

After lunch we had Hanga. We got to make actual prints using our woodblocks! First we spread glue on the block, then ink using a Japanese round brush, and then we put a piece of Japanese paper over the woodblock and pressed this circular wooden thing with a handle over it. I wasn't strong enough to apply enough pressure, so mine was never completely black in the part that said Keito. Sensei did one for me and of course his looked really good.

(Sensei's is on top. Mine on bottom. My wood block is the black thing at the very top.)

I didn't like how it's hard to see the apostrophe thing on the ビ so I decided to carve out more on top. But I had to wait for the ink to dry first.

Once it was dry, I carved more out and then reprinted it. I was still sucking so sensei did mine again haha. And he made an awesome one!

The best yet! So I kept this as the one to turn in on the last day of class. My hands were covered in ink when class was over lol.

After class, I walked to the post office to exchange one of my traveler's checks. I had to leave through the North Gate, which I'd never been through before. I usually come through the South Gate.

On the way, I passed Nagoya Daigaku, where Ayuko went to school.

(Such colorful flags!)

The exchange rate was really good! I got 10,056 yen for 100 dollars! But ugh I'm burning through all the money I made working last year.

Then I walked back to Nanzan.

(Cool building)

(Sign for Nanzan)

I stopped in the Lawson's on campus to get a giant melon pan as a snack for the way home.

So all the breads have these bunny stickers on them that are super cute. The first time I ever got one, I saved it and stuck it on my wallet. Then, all the ones after that I just threw out. This weekend, Ayuko saw the one on my wallet and told me if you collect enough you can get a prize!! Whaaaaattt??? I was so mad! I've thrown out probably around 8 of them because I didn't know. Rawr.

So today at lunch I asked Rafael for the one on his bread and he gave it to me. This guy Matt also gave me the one from his bread!

Then when I bought my melon pan, I asked the Lawson's people about the stickers. The girl told me if I collected enough I would receive an "osara" but I couldn't for the life of me remember what an osara was. 

Then the guy brought over the sheet you stick them on and I remembered osara was plate and you got this freaking adorable bunny plate.

So yeah, my goal is to collect 40 of these babies and I'm gonna get all my friends to help out!

Also, I saw the Weekly Jump magazine and it had Naruto on the cover and Naruto is the one manga I read (though I haven't read it since, like, October), so I bought it. More Japanese practice, gaiz!

Then I stopped in R building real quick to use the bathroom. I always go there because all the other buildings have squatty potties, but R has legit toilets with heated seats. ;)

And then I walked to the subway station to begin my long commute home. While I was sitting, waiting for the train, this foreign dude (older man, maybe 40s, 50s) started talking to me and asking if I was an exchange student and where I was from blah, blah. When he heard I study computer science, he started telling me all about this article he read recently about Paul something-or-other, the co-founder of Microsoft.

It was weird because every time I asked him about himself, he'd give me a short answer and then keep taking about the article or whatever. So all I know is he taught English at a school nearby.

He got off at Aratama Bashi and then I could finally eat my melon pan haha.

 

On my bike ride home, this guy in an 18 wheeler honked at me and did some hand motion. But I was doing nothing wrong! Ha maybe it's because he thought I was cute --- jk.

No one was home yet when I got home. So I read Naruto to catch up to where the magazine I bought is. 

And guys, reading it I learned the CUTEST thing! 

So you know the kanji for love, ai 愛

Well it's a combination of the kanji for heart, kokoro 心 and the kanji for "to accept/receive", ukeru 受.

So it's like, you get love when you receive someone's heart!!

Japanese is so cute, I can't even.

Oh and this was in the Jump magazine, which I thought was a magazine for kids lol

I could only read the first line which says "seeing this penis" (yeah I knew the word for penis haha) so of course I wanted to know what the rest said. So I typed it into Google translate and burst out laughing. This is what it said:

"Can not possibly be called a kid anymore when you see this dick"

Hahaha wtf Japan. And it's an ad I think for raisin bread in Nagoya because that's what the stuff on the side says. Wakarimaseeennnnn.

For dinner we had carrots and asparagus wrapped in meat, potatoes, cooked daikon, mushrooms, chicken, rice with furikake, salad, and this soup with clear noodles, seaweed and lettuce.

I asked Yuko what the clear noodles were. She didn't know, but she looked it up for me! It turns out they're originally a Chinese dish and are made with potato starch. They were really good!

They were called harusame. I thought they were made of shark because same means shark, I think, but Yuko said no.

And they're made of tenpun, which is starch.

We also all had a laugh because Yuko asked me how many fingers I had and I said 8 (thinking about that joke where the punch line is that your thumb isn't a finger) and we all talked about how funny it is that Americans don't count the thumb as a finger, but Japanese do. Yuko said I can say I had 10 fingers while I was in Japan lol.

She also taught me the names of all the fingers in Japanese and they all had yubi on the end (Japanese for finger), while in America all but the thumb do.

Also the Japanese names were all the same as American names except the ring finger is kusuriyubi (I knew that meant medicine finger wtf) and the thumb is parent finger. And the pinky is koyubi, aka baby finger, but that's like little finger.

So interesting!

Also, here are the charms Ayuko and I got:

(You put the big one in your room and you carry the little one around with you)

And here's my Gifu castle ticket and the postcard they gave me because I was a foreigner haha.

And the ropeway ticket! 

(It's so pretty!!)

Things are looking up!

I finally had a good day where I was happy all day and had no major issues (even though I had a really bad sore throat all day I think from being out in the rain that night)!!

Here's my breakfast :)

I talked to Yuko in Japanese a bunch at breakfast this morning and she invited me to come with the family to see the illuminations at the outlet mall Sunday night!

It was soooo cold today! 36 degrees :(

(The street next to my host family's apartment)

I wanted to return the bike light I bought yesterday. Even though I opened it, I just stuck the staples back in. It tire a bit but I was hoping they'd still take it off my hands. Daiso was closed though. 7 an is too early I guess.

So I caught my train and then subway and walked to school all by myself!

(Sign pointing to Nanzan Daigaku)

I got one of the free tissue handouts too!

At school I was early, but Rana was there too so I got to talk to her. 

Today was when we bought our books. They told me to wait until I knew for sure which Japanese class I was in to buy the second Genki book. So I just bought the paintbrush kit I need for calligraphy class.

Then we headed to the Internet orientation. There we logged onto the Nanzan computers with our username and password and changed our passwords. 

All the buttons and icons were in Japanese! So everything was so hard to read. But I managed! 

I also got an email address: 13r502@nanzan-u.ac.jp

Then we learned about the World Plaza which is a room where Japanese is banned. It's for Japanese students to practice foreign languages so they want is to help communicate with the Japanese students and make friends. :)

For lunch I went with a bunch of my friends to the curry cafeteria (Nanzan had like 20 different cafeterias on campus!) and got tonkatsu. It was soooo good!

I got a glass of water and the machine was so cool! You pressed your glass against the thing like you'd do in America, but instead of just water or ice coming out, it was ice and then water!

The weird thing was that all the other students in the cafeteria (all Japanese) were all guys! There were no girls. And there were a bunch of people in there. Maybe the girls don't like the spicy curry?

Our next orientation was to learn CPR. I've already been trained in CPR but it was cool to learn it in Japanese. Like you'd run over to the person and go "Daijobu desu ka? Wakarimasu ka?" Instead of "Are you okay?"

The room we were in was in an old building that was sooo cold! This was the bathroom:

(Why were the windows open when it was in the 30s outside??)

(And of course no heated seat toilets)

(And no hot water :( )

We had to watch a movie in Japanese about earthquakes. Then we went outside in the freezing cold for the fire extinguisher drill. It was totally awesome, though, because we got to shoot the fire extinguishers into the fountain! (They just had water inside)

Then I went to get another copy of the packet of kanji from CJS that I had gotten with my acceptance letter and then left at school last fall. 

As I was leaving with Emma and Pearl, we were stopped by two girls from a nearby university who wanted to interview foreigners. They were with this shy guy who decided to interview me because I wanted to do an interview too! They were all so cute. They told us they were nervous to speak English, but they were all very good! One of the girls added us on Facebook too!

Then Pearl left for her dorm and I walked Emma to the station (look at me showing people around now!)

While Emma and I were waiting for the train, Aya came over! She was with her friend Natsu. Emma got off at the first stop, but I was able to talk a LOT in Japanese to Aya and Natsu. They were both so patient when I didn't understand something. And Aya added me on Facebook! :)

When I got off at Kanayama to catch the next train, it was snowing!!!! Tons of flurries were falling, it was so exciting!

At Ichinomiya Station, I went to Daiso to return the light. The girl at the counter put her arms up crossed like "no" and I thought she was going to not let me return it, but then my tired brain processed her Japanese and realized she was checking to make sure I really didn't need it. And then she gave me my money back! Awesome!

So I think I must have been high on my success and the fact that for the first time it was still light out for my trip home because as I was biking home (the snow had stopped), I saw a SoftBank building and decided to stop. I asked the lady inside if she spoke English and she didn't, but I was like what the heck. I pulled out the Japanese phone a friend back home gave me and tried to get more minutes on it. She ended up not being able to help because I didn't know the number of the phone, but hey, I got a bunch of language practice in!

It was sprinkling on my way back home and it had gotten really cold. When I got home I had the house to myself for a bit. Then Miyabi and Yuko got home. I played with Miyabi and then we ate dinner. We had yakiudon and it was super good!

Then when Ken got home, I finally gave everyone their presents and opened mine from them. 

Everyone LOVED all the Texas themed stuff I gave them haha. And the cat and dog liked their gifts. And here's my gift. :)

Yuko made me strawberry caramel tea and talked to me in Japanese a bunch. She told me that the stroke order for kanji she learned in school has changed and Miyabi has to learn a different stroke order! I couldn't believe it. She told me all about the Japanese school system and learning kanji and stuff. It was so interesting! And my listening skills are rapidly improving!

Oh and guys, they have pink toilet paper. I am eternally jealous...

(Just so you know, I actually wasn't on the toilet while taking this)

And by request, pictures of Nanzan and my surrounding area:

(Hill up to Nanzan)

(Front gate)

(Foreign student building. It's so new :) )

(Awesome dude who works at Lawson's)

(Train ride home)

(Strange tall white tower)

(The river I bike past)

(My host family's apartment complex)

(Bikes)

(Ribbon with my present to him)

Tomorrow I'm going to Osu with friends! I can't wait!! :D