Thursday 8 April 2010

Day 221 - 8th of April

11:28pm セミナーハウス
天気:晴れ
Well the weather turned again, and while it wasn’t as warm as Tuesday, at least it was nice and sunny… I woke up a bit after 9, and took a while to get ready; I wanted to look good for the koto performance. I ended up wearing my new shirt, with a vest over the top; I was really happy with the look. It also kept m warm enough that I didn’t have to bother with a jumper. I got to uni at about 10:30, and after dropping my bag off in the performance room (Midori and Mori Sempai were already playing), I had a bit of a walk, and took photos of the events going on, including the cheerleading, and rock band performance. I got back to the room for 11, and soon enough, it was our turn to perform in front of a small group of freshman; potential entrants to our club. Our first time through Sandan went okay, but Kyoningyo no yume was actually pretty terrible to be completely honest; my pages were out of order so I completely lost it at one point. After Maarika and I had played, Midori and Mori Sempai again took up playing, Mori offering my some glue to stick the Kyoningyo no yume sheet music together; good plan.

During this time, Rose and another guy (I’ve regrettably forgotten his name) came in, and were promptly served tea by the tea ceremony club, all garbed in kimono; and very beautiful kimono at that. Just as Midori and Mori Sempai had finished playing, a girl in the audience dropped her tea bowl; since it was ceramic it smashed. In a way, it was a fitting end to an intense piece like Kagaribi. Then we were up again, and this time we did a lot better at both pieces although, Kyoningyo no yume still wasn’t as good as Sandan; and it’s supposed to be the easier piece! Oh well, we have practiced sandan longer after all. Natalie had arrived by this time, so she played hanagoromo, and Maarika and I helped her; it turned out… okay. As soon as we finished, I had to rush off to class; it was a bit of a shame I couldn’t stay and support everyone. I ended up being a little late, but Saigo Sensei understood; he always does. The class was in the middle of watching a video about origami, but I caught the majority of it; it was quite funny actually. After that, we got into the serious stuff; as serious as Saigo Sensei’s classes can be that is.

In the break between classes, I got my homework done, and read a little more of the interview write-ups. In religion, we went on to discuss them all; some in more detail than others. Mine, which showed a pretty “typical” (the professor liked to put that word in quotation marks) representation of a Japanese person’s religious beliefs, was only glossed over, which was understandable; I didn’t have anything to add. Overall, it was really interesting listening to every ones ideas and input on other’s write-ups, and this is further helping to shape my perceptions of Japanese society. After class, I went down to check my mail, and there was another letter from Nanny and Poppy. Then I made my way back home, as I was extremely hungry. However many distractions lay in my path and it was a battle to get through them. First of all, the marching band and colour guard were performing out on the basket ball courts, so I had to watch that; it was so good. Actually, the band performed the theme from Mario Bros, which was so cool; I got it on video! After that, I saw Rebecca in the crowd and went over to talk to her; she was helping to recruit new members to her circle. I talked with her and a few Japanese people for a little while, and then finally had to excuse myself; I escaped.

I noticed Katie as I was heading towards the bike parking, but thankfully our interchange was relatively short; she had to go to Fresco for groceries. Riding home, I took a few photos of the Sakura across from Komatsu. Of course when I got back, I practically raced to my room to dump my stuff, and then went up to the kitchen to eat; so satisfying. After lunch, I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with Alex. She wants to go on one last holiday together over Golden Week, so we were looking for a good place and accommodation; we’re thinking 彦根 (Hikone) at the moment. I also talked with Dad for a while, which was really nice; we don’t often get to talk for very long. 6:30 rolled around, and after getting in my laundry, I went upstairs for dinner; yay for leftover yakisoba. I stayed up there and chatted, and watched TV (lucky TV personalities going around Disneyland and eating all the food), until just after 8:30. Then I came back down here, and got my Reading and Writing homework done; that was a bit of a mission. The rest of the night was pretty chill though…

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