Today, I turned 20.5!!

I had a really hectic morning today. I was planning on coming back after school today to drop my stuff off, relax, and then get ready to go out, but when I told Yuko this, she was a like "why? You should just use a coin locker to store your stuff or drop it off at Rana's beforehand." Okaaay. Change of plans.

So I had to pack this morning and cram all my clothes in my backpack, plus Yuko gave me a big bag with all the anpan she made.

So I left around 7:50, which was later than usual, but still ok. I'd just take the 8:07 train instead. But I'd biked two blocks when I realized I'd forgotten my omiyage! Crap!

So I went all the way back home, balancing all my crap in my bike basket, and grabbed it. Now I wasn't making the 8:07. As I was biking to the station, I realized I should have grabbed one of my gift bags to put it in. But it was too late now. :(

When I got to the bike parking place, it was 8:09, so I had to take the 8:17 train. I wasn't freaking out because I'd done that the day I missed my usual train and then didn't see the 8:07 leave lol. And I'd still gotten to school on time.

But when I got to the card scanning area, the 8:07 train was still on the board! Could it have been delayed?

I ran up to the platform and saw a message in red, which means delays usually and I saw 10 and the kanji for minutes!!  It was delayed 10 minutes! It ended up coming at 8:15, though, so I got to leave a bit earlier than I thought I would :)

School was meh. Project work was fun though! I got to read an example presentation. It was cool because there was a whole bunch of kanji I knew without the furigana that I got to practice saying. A few of them I used the wrong pronounciation for that word, so sensei corrected me.

Then sensei helped me write my report about the matsuri and next week in class I'll type it! Ugh, typing in Japanese is so hard!

After class, I threw all my crap in my locked (I hadn't had time to that morning) and then headed to the bank. I got there a whole lot faster this time because I went the back way. Oh well. 

(Lawlz this store I passed was called "poo")

At the bank, they told me the money I deposited still hadn't made it to my account and they didn't know when it would. Ffffff.

So I cashed a traveler's check because after paying for the nomihoudai tonight I would be out of money otherwise.

Then I headed back to school. I stopped at a grocery store on the way and saw these cool vegetables:

But there wasn't anything else I wanted, so I ended up buying my lunch at a 100 yen Lawson's. 

Then I headed back to campus to eat and Facebook message Rana that I was ready to go.

(The lunch I bought at Lawson's)

Next to me was a whole table of Japanese guys who, when I first sat down, were all drinking juice. When I looked over again later, however, I saw this:

(Seriously? It's not like they were waiting while one of them finished eating or anything. They were all sleeping! Why didn't they just go home? I mean, they're on vacation!)

When Rana messaged me back and I'd finished eating, I got my stuff from my locker and met her outside the CJS building. 

Then the two of us walked to the station. We took the subway to Aratama Bashi (about halfway to Kanayama) and then it was a 20 minute busride to her stop and a 5 minute walk to her house. So short!

There was no one home when we got home, so we headed up to her room and she helped me lie out my futon. Yes, I got to sleep in a real futon!! The one in the hostel in Osaka was super thin, but at Rana's, I had a mattress pad, the futon, a furry thing to sleep on like on my bed at my host family's house, and then a flannel blanket and a comforter (like at home). It was sooo comfy!

(Yeaaahhh first real futon!)

I also ate the orange I'd bought today at the 100 yen Lawson. It had been in sale for only 50 yen!! I was super excited to eat it because it was nice and big and juicy. That is, until I peeled it. And saw it wasn't an orange. It was a grapefruit. I hate those things!! Ugh but I ate it anyway and tried to make myself think I was eating an orange. So sour!

Then Rana's host mom came home, and we went down to talk to her and I gave her the presents from Yuko and me. She loved them!

Then Rana and I had tea. I had a matcha latte and Keiko (Rana's host mom) gave me some of the matcha chocolate pocky I've seen and wanted to buy! It was really good!!

(This one)

Rana and I went out for a bit to a huge department store by their house to look for cool Kit Kat flavors, but all we could find were matcha, dark chocolate, and regular. :(

We saw these adorable ice creams at Baskin Robbins, though! We both want to get them sometime.

So we went back home and then got ready to leave for the nomihoidai. We took the bus back to Aratama Bashi and then the subway to Kanayama. We got there 20 minutes early so I showed Rana where I had sat when I waited to meet Emma that time we went to Nami's English Cafe. It was nice and warm up there. 

At 7:10 we headed down to the North Exit. We saw Banana right away! Then everyone else started getting there. Banana and Yuri had brought their friend Sakiko. And Rana and I had brought Heather, Emma, Esteban, Rafa, Cam, Ben, this Japanese student from Nanzan named Ken, and Ken's girlfriend whose name I never learned (she's a foreign student like us). Rana and I had only told Banana and Yuri there would be 10 of is total, but now there were 11 lol. It need up not being a problem though!

Sakiko ended up being really nice! And she was good at English. While we were waiting for the dorm kids (Ben, Heather, Cam, Ken, and Ken's gf) who were late, we all spoke Japanese and Banana told me my Japanese had gotten a lot better!! I was so happy! She had a really good memory too, remembering I couldn't have milk, I went to the illuminations in Mie (where Sakiko lives), and that I was computer science!

We all were trying to get Cam with one if the Japanese girls because Cam's kind if shy, but is really good at Japanese! He and Sakiko seemed to really hit it off. :) 

At dinner, Esteban did some rearranging of seats so he could sit between Banana and Yuri haha and I think he ended up having a really good time with them. The girls definitely liked talking to American guys. I kind of wished they'd brought guys too.

But we had some pretty interesting conversations, including the ways the dating process differs in America and Japan.

I sat between Emma and Sakiko. Rana, Ben and Rafa were sort of in their own corner speaking English, so I felt bad. But I'm happy I was sitting by Banana, Yuri, and Sakiko because our half of the table spoke in Japanese the entire time!

I think I'm better at Japanese when I'm tipsy, believe it or not! Because I think less before I speak so I can say more and don't have long pauses in between my words and I'm not as afraid of messing up.

I had 6 drinks total and a shot of sake that I downed (it buuurnnned). In America I would have been throwing up, but here I wasn't drunk at all. Just a tad buzzed, and reacting a bit slower than normal. My cheeks were on fire though!

The drinks I had were pretty cool. The first was an orange something that was sweet and really, really good! Then I ordered a Khalua milk which was so bad for me to drink but was so so so good! 

After that, I had a ringo shouju (apple drink mixed with this nasty Japanese alcohol I had but it actually tasted really good in this drink!). Then I had a peach mixed drink that was gross. Then I asked Esteban what he was drinking because it looked like scotch and he told me umeshuu (plum wine). I made a disgusted face and said I hated umeboshi, but Banana, Yuri, and Sakiko immediately started assuring me that it was sweet and did not taste like umeboshi at all! So after some convincing, I tried Esteban's and it was SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!! I freaked out and everyone cracked up. So yeah I ordered two of those as my last drinks. Damn it was amazing!

(Esteban and Banana amazed at all my drinks!)

The food was good too! They just kept bringing out plates of stuff that we shared among four people each. We had an amazing salad (with a creamy but good dressing), kanishes (everyone else was lame and didn't know they were called kanishes), pieces of raw salmon, some sort of meat with fruit sauce, this one that was like a quiche with shredded seaweed on top (tepanyaki I think it was called), okonomiyaki (by this point I was getting kind of full), and then fried rice that I had to force myself to finish.

I think I'm forgetting something else we had... Oh well.

(Okonomiyaki)

Banana's pix from the nomihoudai: 

(She uploaded them like 20 min after we left! So fast!)

(All of us!)

(Heather, Sakiko, Emma, Banana, me)

(Sakiko, me, Emma. I really like this picture!!)

(Um... yeah... Me & my drinkz)

Then at the end, they brought out crepes! I took a bite, realized it had cream inside and gave the rest of it to Esteban. I didn't want to push it after I downed the entire pint of Khalua milk.

(Crepes)

There was a bunch of salary men and women at the table behind us who were drunk off their asses. One of them stared at me as I came back from the bathroom. When we were leaving,they thought it was so cool we were foreigners. The one who had stared at me pointed at me and shouted "Russia!"

I was like, "Iie, Amerikajin." And he was like "harro. harro!"

I was like "hi..."

Yeah. Then we left.

At the subway station, we parted ways with Banana, Yuri, and Sakiko. Sakiko added me on Line. Then the guys were still hungry (idk how!) and it wasn't yet 10, so we went to Denny's.

Emma decided to leave along with Ken's gf.

So Rafa, Cam, Ken, and Esteban sat at one table and Rana, Heather, Ben, and I sat at another. Heather ordered this chocolate brownie thing:

And Ben ordered everyone wine on him because he thought it would be hilarious to all drink wine at Denny's. It was Denny's house wine and it tasted like shit, so I only drank about 3/4 and let Ben finish it off.

When Rafa, Esteban (Esteban was staying over at Rafa's host family's house so he didn't have to go all the way back to Ichinomiya), and Ken headed out, Cam came over to our table to chill with us. He gave me a lot of good advice about how to improve my Japanese like that I should try to think in Japanese and listen to audio from anime on my iPod.

Around 11:40, I made everyone leave so we could make the train before it closed for the night. Rana and I headed for the Meitetsu line because her dad was going to pick us up at a station on the Meitetsu line. Ben, Cam, and Heather took the subway back to their dorm. 

Rana and I ended up catching the last train for the night, so I'm glad I rushed everyone! It got into our stop (the last stop) at midnight. Then Rana's host dad came in his car to pick us up from the station. It was so nice!!

Back at their house, Haruka was asleep but Rana's host mom had stayed up to ask us how it was. We went to sleep pretty quickly afterwards.

Also, I just had to put this on here. This is Haruka's door hanging haha. Rana and I don't think she realizes what it looks like but omg it is just too funny! I think she might have been making an infinity and then needed a way to hang the infinity? Idk... Haha

Annnnddd: 

THIS IS MY 50TH POST!!!! Yaaaayyyy!

Sunday with Rana and family!

It was so cold this morning! All the puddles were frozen. Ribbon watched me as I left this morning. It was cute and creepy at the same time haha.

This time I found the tea after church! I talked the the priest a lot because he speaks English and he gave me his email. He was cool. He'd lived in Dallas and Fort Worth for a bit, so he knew Texas. I also talked to this guy who had lived in San Antonio and worked as an aircraft engineer!

There was also okashi with the tea :)

The hard candy thing was prune flavored :/

Then I came home and had cereal and bunny apples. :)

And Ribbon ate breakfast with us. I'll never get over how they let him eat on the table!

At 10 we left for Rana's house because Rana's and my host family are friends so they were having a welcome party for Rana and me!

When we got there, I met Rana's host parents and her 11 year old host sister. Rana's host mom was nice! She told me my hair was kirei (pretty). :D

There was a lady there with her two sons. Her sons came up to Rana and me and told us their names and said "nice to meet you" in English. They saw my keychain and asked me if I liked Pokemon haha.

Then these two girls showed up who were 25. One works with Rana's host father. They're names were Yuri and Banana (a nickname lol).

Rana, Yuri, Banana, and I made pizza while the kids played with their DS's. I made 2 cheese-less pizzas! :)

We had lunch (potatoes and chicken wings) and Rana's host dad cooked the pizzas on the grill outside. Then we are them. Then Rana, all the other adults, and I had drinks (this lemony spritzer mixed drink). It was a little sour but good!

Then Rana and I went out and played a few games if dodgeball with the kids. It was really cold and windy though, so Rana and I only stayed out about 20 minutes and plus we wanted to go back in and talk with the Japanese girls.

Yuri went to sleep because she had a hangover lol so we talked a bunch with Banana. It was great practice even though Rana had to translate some for me.

When Banana woke up, Rana and I added the two girls on Facebook and Line and they invited us to a nomihoudai!!!! YES, finally! And even better it'll be with Japanese people! Rana and I are going to invite friends and Yuri and Banana are too.

The kids played with blocks while Rana and I talked and played a little too. Rana gave me this great lemon water drink that's supposed to help when you're sick. I hope it helps because I woke up still really sick this morning. :(

We had marshmallows, strawberries in jello, green tea mochi, and the peanuts and trail mix I brought from America (Yuko and Ken brought them) as snacks. 

Around 5, the woman and her two sons left and then Banana and Yuri left. Miyabi and Rana's host sister, Haruka, played together and Rana and I talked a lot.

(Haruka and Miyabi's creation)

 I got to see Rana's room! Her family's house is bigger than mine and is 2 floors. It has two bathrooms too! And the toilets have seat covers. It was cute. 

Also the toilet had this cool ball for the water to run over:

The architecture of the second floor was really cool. Their floors were all wood and upstairs there were a bunch of cutouts that looked down to the floor below and the master bedroom had a balcony that looked down to the floor below! It was so awesome. I was pretty jealous.

We had spaghetti and leftover pizza for dinner and apples for dessert. Rana's host mom didn't cut them into bunnies though. :(

At dinner, as well as earlier everyone talked a lot. Rana is so good at speaking Japanese, I was really jealous. Her mom is Japanese so she's had lots of practice. I had fun, but I would have had a really awesome time if I had spoken the language. I love dinner parties so much, but I was sad for a lot of tonight because I couldn't understand so much of what was being said and had to rely on Rana to translate.

Like the one lady with the sons told this hilarious story about when she got her first period but I had no idea why everyone was laughing until Rana filled me in later.

And everyone asked me a bunch of questions about Texas and I would have loved to tell them all about Texas, but I couldn't. And they stopped asking me questions when I kept not understanding them. Ugh!

Rana's host dad was funny, though. He asked me if I ride horses and stuff. And I did a bad job explaining that that stereotype isn't true haha.

At one point the topic of pools came up and Yuko and Ken told everyone I had a pool (I'd told them last weekend that everyone in Texas has pools), so everyone started asking me questions about it like how long it was and stuff, so I just decided to show them this picture:

And they all freaked out!! Like I felt kind of bad and thought maybe I shouldn't have showed them, but Rana said it was because they couldn't imagine using that much water. They all asked me if we paid for water in America lol.

Haha and they thought we changed the water in the pool. So I explained the purpose of chlorine.

I had to explain that we don't heat the pool because it's too expensive and anyway you don't need to in Texas. 

And dad, they thought it was awesome that you were the poolboy and did all the maintenance yourself!

I had been talking to Rana about how I wanted to buy a hand cloth for my hands because we both really want to go shopping and are planning to this week, when her host mom suddenly brought in presents for us.

And guess what they were?!? 

Yup, hand cloths! It was such a funny coincidence! I decided to take the pink one of course, because it was cute and fluffy!

Rana told her how I'd really been wanting one, so she told me I could have another, so I took the other one I wanted that wasn't as soft and fluffy (the train one). I like that one a lot!

But when it was time to go home, around 9, she ended up giving me all the ones that weren't claimed as well! So now I have more than I'll ever need! Omiyage, I guess?

It only took about 30 minutes from our house to theirs so we got home at 9:30. Ugh, I so don't want to wake up at 6 for school tomorrow. :((((

P.S. Sorry for all the typos in my posts, but I write them all on my cell phone!

P.P.S. I forgot to give the answer to the riddle yesterday, so here it is:

Why don't people in Hawaii need dentists?

Because ha wa ii !!

Hahahaha

In English: 

they're teeth are good