Tanoshii Times

SO here we are again, a week since my last blog post and I have to apologize again for not posting more frequently. But, this week was a ton of fun so get ready for a long post. But first, a side note:  I realized a few minutes ago how second nature Japanese is becoming - my vocabulary is still very limited, but the words I do know come to mind readily - such as when I was just talking to a friend from Wellesley and asked her "tanoshikatta?" ("was it fun?") without really thinking about it. Ah. Although I've been frustrated at times, it's good to see progress with the language study, but at the same time I was thinking about how I will barely use Japanese once I go home... but I just decided that I'm going to keep using some key phrases and get other people to learn it, so, American friends, get ready to learn some nihongo (Japanese)! First lesson: "tanoshii" means "fun," (so the title of this blog post is "Fun Times"). There will be a quiz.

Okay, back to this week. Last weekend was our trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima, so it was a pretty exhausting weekend. But, there was no rest for the weary as I had to wake up bright and early Monday morning for class. Thankfully classes weren't too eventful, and then in the afternoon it was my friend's birthday so we went to shabu shabu for dinner (think Melting Pot but Japanese-style). It was DELICIOUS - you get unlimited meat so I think I pretty much ate a whole pig - and we had a lot of fun. After dinner, we had some drinks then went to this arcade/pool hall, where the guys all played billiards while I lounged around and took a bunch of pictures. It was a lot of fun and definitely a quality Monday night.

Everyone playing pool!

The birthday dinner group :)

Tuesday was, finally, a relaxing day. I had only missed one Japanese class all semester, so I decided to take the morning off and caught up on picture uploading/talking to friends. I made it to school for my afternoon class but then came home right after, so I was only out of the house for around five hours total. It was a nice change of pace from leaving at 8am and getting back after 7pm or later. Tuesday afternoon I went on a long run to the river and back, which went really well. I've been running as much as I have time and am really enjoying getting back into it! I spent the rest of Tuesday night straightening up my room and doing homework. I also caught up on some sleep, so I was ready for the rest of the week.

Wednesday I had Japanese in the morning, and then had lunch before going with a group of CIEE people to visit the U.S. Embassy. I thought we were doing a sort of tour, but turns out it was more of an information session about careers - I'm not too interested in the foreign service but it was still interesting to get some information and hear everyone's stories. There were six staff members on the panel, and two of them were actually from North Carolina! After the panel, I went back to school to get ready for my NGO class. We got our midterms back, and mine went really well - thankfully coaching SAT prep for Let's Get Ready had kept me in the practice of writing timed five paragraph essays, because there had been two of those on the midterm. After class I went to our favorite ramen spot with the two CIEE students who are also in the class with me, which was a lot of fun. The staff all recognize us and are always really friendly. It was a good day!

Thursday started with a lesson test in Japanese but then got much better when THE BRUINS WON THE STANLEY CUP!!! I pretty much only follow hockey around playoff time but I was still thrilled for Boston to win the championship. I wish it had happened last summer when I would have been able to go to the parade! Thursday afternoon I headed home early and went for a run before heading back to my homestay family's house for dinner! They had invited me over to show them my pictures from Hiroshima and Miyajima, and I also had an omiyage (souvenir) to give them. It was A LOT of fun - they are really an amazing family. We had tacos (YUM) with cheese and lettuce and salsa and home-cooked beef. It was amazing. Then we had a giant plate of fruit for dessert. Oishikatta (it was delicious)! After dinner my homestay little sister spent more time being adorable as she put one of those fruit cushion things on her head and also pretended to be a reindeer and/or Santa Claus. I can't wait to see them again!

Actually the cutest child in Japan, not to mention the world.

Dessert! Noms

Friday was a rainy day and was relatively uneventful. In my anthro class in the afternoon we had an "earthquake evacuation drill" where we had to exit our building, walk across campus to another building, and then go up five flights of stairs before talking about it. Then we walked back across campus to our original classroom... but it was useful overall. After class I went with a friend to Harajuku, where I did some shopping before going home. I was thinking about going back out to meet with friends but I ended up just lounging around the dorm. My friend had downloaded game 6 from the NBA finals so I watched the end of that and then the postgame celebration - it was really exciting and I'm still SO glad that Dirk and Dallas won and Bronbron lost... maybe next year!! Ha.

Saturday I woke up and got some work done before going to Ueno in the afternoon to try to find some new sandals. It was another rainy day which meant Ueno Park was pretty empty, so I decided it was an acceptable time to make a mess while eating a corn on the cob and got one of those from a street vendor. It was definitely worth it. After eating I sent out to find some shoes, but everything either had too high of a heel or they didn't have a big enough size. The search continues... Saturday night was another quiet night and I did a lot of reading before hanging out in the common room and catching up with friends. I was pretty worn out from the past few weeks so it was good to have a weekend doing nothing... and then today, Sunday, was a really long day!

Jelliesss

I woke up early this morning to leave the dorm at 9:30am to head to Enoshima, a seaside town, for a SISEC event. We thought we were going to be really late but actually weren't the last ones to arrive, so we were able to get some lunch while waiting for the last few stragglers. Once everyone was there, we headed to the suizokukan (aquarium). I can't remember the last time I went to an aquarium in the states but I've been to two in Japan so far... but they have both been really cool. Before we went in, we did introductions and I had decided that jellyfish were my favorite fish, and the jellyfish exhibit there did not disappoint - they even had carolina blue jellyfish! It was really cool and we saw another dolphin show, although the one in Kobe was more impressive.

Girls by the water!

Taking a picture of the group right as a wave hit - love it!

After the aquarium we went out on the beach to hang out. It was overcast but not entirely chilly, and the water was actually bearable once you got used to it. I just put my feet in but some of the guys went pretty far out. It was a lot of fun and we got some great pictures in the waves. After spending a while there, the group decided to head towards the "Sea Candle," an observatory, but me and some friends decided just to go home. It was too cloudy to have any kind of a view and we were looking about a 90 minute trip home, so we decided to call it a day in an attempt to get back and have a somewhat productive night. Upon getting back to Nishikawaguchi we were disappointed to find the ramen place was closed, but we had some delicious okonomiyaki instead. I got home about an hour ago and have been stressing about blogging ever since, but I finally got it written! I really will try to post an entry midweek, but I'm looking at another busy week... my boyfriend is coming to Japan next Sunday, so I need to get a lot of work done this week! I only have about three weeks of classes left - can't believe it! Time needs to slow downnn... matane~ :)