Day 262 - 19th of May

9:03pm　バス停　－　片鉾中央図書館

天気：雨天

I’m standing here with Carly at the bus stop, waiting for the 9:20 bus. We’re staying at her hotel tonight, so we can get an early start tomorrow; we’re going to the geisha dances in Kyoto, and then probably doing some shopping. It’s raining, and probably will be raining again tomorrow; great way to end the semester. I’m finished, I’M FINISHED!!! I’ve been saying that sporadically since this evening. I feel… empty. I’m happy, but at the same time, the realisation that really is the end is starting to kick in… Today, I spent from 8 till 3 working on my essay, with one break for lunch. Since Hugo was sleeping, I spent most of the morning in the computer room, and then moved back into my room when he finally got up. At 3:15, I decided I had to get going, and since I had finished everything but the conclusion, I figured I could work on that after getting everything else sorted out. It actually took a surprisingly short amount of time. Basically, I had to go to the library, then the L.L. and then the CIE office, before finally going to the SHOMU-BU office for my reimbursement; yay for cash in hand. Admittedly it was a bit of running around, but there were very efficient; my bike registration has now been cancelled, and my ID card has a hole punched through the barcode.

That done, I got onto my conclusion, and ended up having to use a computer in the L.L since the computer lab on the first floor was absolutely packed. After I finished, I had to go down there anyway to print it off. I was very lucky in the fact that a computer opened up just as I arrived; thank you Kirianna. I found Carly, and after hand in my essay to the professor (and a few words of thanks), we went to check out the sumi-e and ceramics’ exhibition; since I didn’t bring mine, Carly let me use her camera. I must admit, I found the works this semester to be of a much higher standard overall, and fell in love with many…

バス

Now we’re on the bus; that was the longest 20 minutes ever… I would have bought them if they had been on sale; I was thoroughly impressed. After that, we went and got taiyaki (custard-, and caramel-filled) and I felt so stuffed afterwards; so yummy. Then we made our way back to the seminar house, briefly browsing Avail; I bought my brother a shirt. Getting back, I talked with my family over skype until about 7, and then went up to make dinner; spaghetti bolognese. Carly came in too, and we got in trouble when Yuji came in; I felt bad about that. After updating my blog, we got going; we’ve just made it to the station now…

11:13pm　セミナーハウス

Well this evening took an interesting turn. When we got to Carly’s hotel, as soon as the lady at the reception desk saw we were going to the elevator, she stopped us and said I couldn’t go to the room; since it’s a single room, only one person’s allowed. Oh well, so much for that. I made my way home on the next bus, and was thankful for Carly’s umbrella walking back to the seminar house; it was pouring. When I was getting off the bus at Hirakatashi I realised I didn’t have my keys with me, so when I arrived back and the gate was locked, I got really worried. Luckily, not five minutes later Marine and Angela returned home and let me in; I was so, so grateful. I immediately went to the kitchen to retrieve my keys; of course I had left them in the cupboard. I sat with Julie, Liz, Chelsea and Rebecca for a little while, and was interviewed by Liz about my English/Japanese experience; she’s doing it for assessment at her home university. Soon after, I came back down here, and was visited by Katie; she had just got back from a fun-filled day with her friend who’s just come from Canada. She let me know the time and place of the geisha dances tomorrow, and we’ll probably be meeting her when we get there. With that in mind, I’d better get some sleep; I’m finished…

Day 206 - 24th of March

11:00pm　セミナーハウス

天気：雨天

Just finished watching “The Producers” with Sarah, Rachael, and Julie; brings back great memories. I couldn’t help singing along; this drove Rachael up the wall. The weather was dismal today, but I still had a good day… I didn’t get up till about 11, which was quite sad actually; half the day already lost. I had the last of my milk and cereal for breakfast (really, really have to go grocery shopping), and then showered, before getting stuck into my blog; I have a lot of catching up to do. It was not until after thinking back on what I’d had done these past few days, that I realised that today was actually Wednesday; I had it stuck in my head it was Tuesday. At around 2, I made my way to uni on foot, meeting Simon on the way; we had a quick chat under cover of umbrellas. Getting to uni I went to my mailbox in the CIE and, as I had expected, there was a package waiting for me. I went up to the desk and signed for it, so eager to open it; but first some lunch. I went over to the convenience store, and bought a sandwich and onigiri. I sat down in the convenience store, and I couldn’t help myself; I had to open my box right then and there. The inside was chock full of chocolate; oh a pun, clever me.

To lighten the box, I put I heap in my bag, and then got stuck into eating my sandwich and onigiri; very filling. While there, I saw Marika, and she let me know that the next koto practice would be Friday from 11 – 3; well at least I can stay for 2 hours. I definitely have to go, since the next performance is only 2 weeks away. In the mean time, I really have to practice for the music party on Sunday; I’m definitely considering playing my own rendition of Lux Aeterna from “Requiem for a Dream”. Finishing my lunch, I made my way back home in the pouring rain, failing miserably to keep the box dry; oh well no harm done. Getting back, Hugo was still out, so I went to see if my family was online, and indeed they were. I spoke with Ben for a while, and then Mum came back from seeing “Alice in Wonderland” (she said it was great), and we talked for a while; and I even got to talk with Dad a bit later. 2 hours later, and they were having dinner, so I said good night and went up to the kitchen, not actually feeling very hungry; as soon as I got home, I got stuck into Nanny’s biscuits.

Getting to the kitchen, I talked with Brett for a while, and watched a really old anime called 鉄人２８号 (Tetsujin28gou - “Iron man number 28); apparently it’s called Gigantor in the West. It was actually kinda cool, especially considering it was made in the 80’s. After that, I watched a show about healthy old people in Japan, and their tips on staying fit. Soon, Sarah and Julie, and I learnt that Ash had taken her parents to the aquarium today, and this made me happy; I meant I hadn’t missed out on going somewhere I haven’t been before. It was about 7 at this point, so I decided it was finally time to make some dinner; gyudon. While cooking, Julie suggested that we watch The Producers sometime, and we thought, well tonight’s a good a time as any; so we decided to get started at 8:30. In the mean time, I ate with Julie and then went back downstairs to lace up my shoes; I used both the green and white laces, and did the same pattern Alex had done yesterday. It looks really cool, though the laces are a bit too long, especially the white ones; I may have to come up with something else. At 8:30 I went up, and we started watching the movie. Rachael had gone with Katie, and Ash and her parents to the aquarium, and she got me a penguin badge for my bag; so, so thoughtful. Katie came in about halfway through, just coming back from somewhere; it felt like I hadn’t seen her in ages. Tomorrow, they’re going to USJ, and I’m free to join. I think I’m going to pass; I’ve got stuff to do, and the weather’s probably going to be crappy again. First priority is getting my blog up-to-date…

Day 193 - 11th of March

10:57pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

Just finished watching the Star Trek movie with Rachel and Sarah, on Rachel’s laptop; it was pretty good, though a little corny in parts. Today was cold, but at least it was, for the most part, sunny… I got up at about 10, and made pancakes for breakfast; for some reason, they didn’t come out very well at all. I got to uni a bit after 11:30, and sat down as a side dish to the Rach(a)el sandwich; Katie was the sandwich filling. We continued with keigo in speaking, and also heard our last speech; we’ll be having our oral exams next week, which I’m not looking forward to. After class, I went downstairs to find Katie and Sarah, and Katie was in the process of getting her new laptop; her former one was blue screening constantly. So, I accompanied her to the CIE office, where she found out that she needed to pay the tax in order to get the post office to send it to the uni. Since she didn’t have the exact change, she decided to just go pick it up from the post office directly, later in the afternoon. That sorted, we went upstairs to our respective classes; I talked with Peter in the hall for a while before getting seated.

We continued with Soka Gakkai in Religion, and learnt more about Nichiren Buddhism, Soka Gakkai’s associated political party (Komeito), and what Soka Gakkai members believe in; the power of their chant apparently. It was all very interesting, and again, the sense of foreboding lurked in the background. The professor also told us some of the conspiracy theories surrounding the possible connection between Soka Gakkai and our Kansai Gaidai; the dean of the CIE is in fact a Soka Gakkai member. It seems very much a cult of personality, where Ikeda (current president and founder of Soka Gakkai International) is an idol, placing himself among the ranks of Martin Luther King, and Ghandi. And yet, for all his awards, all his dialogues with people in power, none of us foreign students had ever heard of him before; his presence really isn’t felt outside Japan. Well, except for in China… oh and guess who else is a member of Soka Gakkai; Orlando Bloom!!! I found this quite interesting. And yeah, it is definitely a religion; they do a lot of praying and chanting as frequently as possible.

After class, Peter, Jeremy, and a guy from Denmark whose name escapes me, met with Katie, and we went to Makkas to get fries; this month, all sizes (S, M, L) are 150円!!! We got there just before it closed at 3 (since the Gaidai students are on spring break they have shorter opening hours), and all enjoyed our fries, sitting with the professor; I’m sure she appreciated us disturbing her quiet time. Everyone had stories to share (especially Peter), and we had quite a good long chat. During that time, I couldn’t help but to notice the Japanese girls, hip-hop dancing right out front of Makkas. Jeremy had devised a cunning plan for just this scenario. Just as Katie came back from getting the information about her laptops whereabouts, we all went over to the window the girls were in front of, and Jeremy passed as all a piece of paper with a single number typed on it, ranging from 1 to 10; and what did we do? As the girls danced, we held up the numbers in unison to mock judge their performance. As soon as they spotted us, they all burst out laughing; and so did we. They even took a few photos; it was hilarious.

Happy with our fun, we split up, Katie, Peter, and I going to Fresco for supplies. Although, when we got there, Katie was the only one who actually bought anything; I realised I had no money left, and Peter technically didn’t need anything since he’s in a home stay. From there, we rode back to the Seminar House, and Peter got reacquainted with Otousan and Okaasan; they didn’t recognise him without his long hair and beard. Bumping into Simon out front, we decided we’d go get shoes today, since we were both free. So I said goodbye to Peter and Katie, and I was off again; I guess I was feeling industrious. When we were coming up to Sanko, Simon insisted that we bike along the road as opposed to the path, thinking it would be faster, and I flat out rejected it; so we had a race. In the end, I technically won, since he had to go around and under the train track to get back around to the main road, closer to where we were headed. Actually, when Simon went under the tracks, I lost him for a while; we eventually met back up. Then we were off again, following the tracks east for a while, and then crossing under, and heading south. I had never been to this area of Hirakata before, and it was really interesting to see; it was almost like the outskirts. There were so many restaurants along the way, and heaps of community vegetable gardens. Finally we reached 靴 (Kutsu – shoes), which turned out to be a branch of the same store in Midori. But whatever; it was much bigger, and had some great discounts.

After a quick browse, we settled on buying the 990円 shoes out front. Yes, they were cheap rip-offs, with “triple win” as their logo (which I think is actually really cool), but they would serve their purpose as gym shoes; we were most satisfied. After paying for them, we were on our way back home; as soon as Simon found his bike key (well, actually I found it for him in his bag). We decided to chance a different way home, which turned out surprisingly well; we came back to the street that Sanko’s on. This way was also much quicker and much less roundabout. I decided to go to Sanko, since it was right there, and Simon joined me. I picked up the necessary ingredients for tacos tomorrow night, and also got some great, cheap meat. We decided to also take a look at the gym (actually go inside this time) but it was already closed; closes at 5. Getting home, I unpacked, and then rested until dinner time; about 7 o’clock. I had the leftover yakisoba, and added some of the meat I bought today; I also got to try some more of Julie’s vegetable pancakes. After dinner, Rachael and I went down to the lounge to set up for the movie, and Sarah soon followed. We also watched the bloopers and deleted scenes afterwards, which are always enjoyable. Well, time for bed; I had a wonderful day today. Starting gym tomorrow…

Day 141 - 18th of January

10:08pm　セミナーハウス
天気：晴れ
Well today took an interesting, though not completely unfavourable, turn… I got up at 9:15, had breakfast and got ready to go out. At 10, I was ready and waiting, and after about 10 minutes, Ash showed up, followed by Katie. We waited another 10 minutes, and there still was no sign of Peter, so I went up and knocked on his door; he was still in bed. He hadn’t gotten much sleep at all, so said he’d catch up with us later; okay, all good. So, we walked to uni, so Ash and Katie could get money out, since they literally had none. The JASSO scholarship stipend was supposed to come today, but unfortunately when they checked their accounts, it was not there. We went over to the CIE, and Katie picked up a package. Since they had no money the trip was cancelled, so I bid them farewell, and went to get some groceries at Kirindo and Fresco. This was a good thing; I was planning on doing the grocery shopping after koto, but it was much nicer to get it out of the way during the warmer hours of the day.

I ended up catching up with Katie and Ash, almost home. They told me that the money wouldn’t be coming in till later this month; it had been delayed for some reason. Because of this, they both had to get out loans; I’m so glad I have enough money left over! So, this meant that I could have a nice lazy afternoon before koto practice. I made rice, and then had lunch. After that I played my DS for a while, and then went and watched the rest of Rush Hour with Alex. By the end of the movie it was time to go. I got all rugged up, and went on my way. Practice was good today. I’m slowly getting the second koto part of sandan, but it’s not easy. I really want to get it good come performance time, which isn’t too far off now. Marika’s a little worried how she’ll go, but I think she’ll be fine. We had our meeting when Chiharu arrived at about 6:30, and then got in a bit more practice for the last half an hour.

Getting back, I went up and heated up lasts night dinner with rice. Jacinthe told me she’d gotten the present for Aki that I helped pay for, so we went and presented it to her; TimTams!!! Yuji dropped a big hint that he wanted some too, but we joked he wasn’t the one that was leaving, so didn’t get any. I’ve found a few places that sell them, so I’ll have to go pick up some for myself. Right now though, I’m really enjoying the red bean buns I’ve got; had two for dessert, with milk and a mandarin. Then got back down here, showered, and got all comfy bed. I don’t think I’ll be doing anything tomorrow until koto practice. Then going to karaoke with Katie and Ash; looking forward to that! Oh yeah, Ryan came back today, just as we were leaving this morning. Hopefully he’ll be sticking around for the inspection on Friday…

Day 96 - 4th of December

10:30pm　セミナーハウス
天気：曇り
Well, I didn't end up going out tonight. 1. Because they were going to an 居酒屋 (izakaya - bar) so I didn't want to risk going underage and 2. because I have no money anyway. You see, after my Japanese class, I went to get out money from the ATM and somehow my brain switched the order of my pin number. So, the ATM denied my card. I didn't realise at first, so I went to the CIE to let them know. It was only when I was talking to the women there that I remembered my actual pin number. So I thanked her, and went back to try again. I knew now for sure that I was putting in the correct number. Still, no luck. Now I was a bit disgruntled and thought about just going home; I didn't though. Instead, I went back to the CIE and talked with a guy this time. He kindly accompanied me to the ATM to see what the problem was. The English version just said please inquire at the office, but when he read the Japanese version it said I had put in the wrong pin more than three times and therefore I had to go to the branch and get a new card; I felt so stupid.

So yeah, since the bank closes at 3 on weekdays, I had no time to go this afternoon, so I'm going to go tomorrow. I got back home, got my reading and writing homework done and ate lunch. It seemed that everyone was out drinking tonight, so it was nice and quiet in the kitchen. I made Shepherd's pie and watched TV. There's an interesting song on at the moment called おなら恥ずかしくないよ (Onara hazukashikunai yo - don't be embarrassed about farting). It's hilarious. The main singer is a cross dresser and, along with his two back-up dancers, farts love hearts. We've tracked down the video on the Internet, and are trying to find the lyrics to translate. The tune is actually really catchy. Before the music video begins, there's a short scene of a woman in a public place, worrying about "passing wind". I guess the song is basically promoting the fact that it's okay for women to fart in public. The song has been on all week on this particular show; only in Japan hey! After that, the ice skating came on, so we watched that for a bit, while Carly made french toast. Going to eat that tomorrow with my banana pancakes. Anyway, time for bed.