Day 256 - 13th of May

11:17pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

Well, today I feel much better about everything; for some reason, getting my oral over and done with was such a relief. I feel like I’ve jumped over the halfway point, and now I only have another half to go; it’s wonderful. Today’s weather mirrored my happy, warm feelings and I don’t even care that I didn’t get my report done; again… After getting ready, I basically spent the rest of the morning preparing for my oral exam. I typed out everything I wanted to say, and even got a little bit of a chance to memorise it; a very little chance. Getting to uni, I went straight to the third floor, and sat outside Saigo Sensei’s office, talking with Kim; we were talking about the same topic. She went in before me, and soon after it was my turn. After an initial mind blank, I stumbled my way through, but actually didn’t do that badly. I quite enjoyed talking to Sensei about it and I wish I could have had more time to say what I wanted to say. Throughout, he would ask questions or make comments, which steered me way off what I was intending to say, but it did make it feel more natural. He was really surprised when he found out I was only 19 actually; it was quite funny. Anyway, as soon as that was done, I leapt for joy on the inside, and then went with Kim and Nathan for lunch.

We all ate katsudon in the third cafeteria, and talked about what we would be doing when we got back home; the end is so close. Around 12:30, we went back to the CIE lounge, and I found Julie to study Religion with before the quiz. In fact, it turned out to be relatively easy, and I got it done within 15 minutes; now all I have to do is finished that report. Afterwards, I sat in the lounge for a while longer, and then made my way over to Don kihote to buy Tim Tam’s for tomorrow’s party. I also bought a packet for Rose since it was her birthday yesterday, and I’d be going to her party tonight. I met Carly on the way back to the seminar house, and after dropping our stuff off, we went to Sanko; I had to buy the ingredients for my biscuits. As soon as I got back, I got stuck into it and almost 2 hours later, I had baked 31. Already that number has decreased to 27. It was almost 5 when I was done, so I came downstairs and got started on my JASSO scholarship report. I have to talk about what I have achieved academically, and how the uni has broadened my knowledge of Japan; fun, fun, fun…

I didn’t get very far with that, as we were going out for dinner tonight; New Dehli, since Carly’s never been. We left at 5:30 and soon got there; Carly rode on the back of my bike. Finding no one there, we decided to go into uni, and soon found Sarah, Katie and Rachael in the lounge. They were waiting for Rachel to turn up. In the end she didn’t, so it was just the five of us. Dinner was absolutely wonderful as always, although sadly the service was a little soon; understandable since it was absolutely packed. After waiting 30 minutes for our lasse (only Carly got hers), we decided to just leave; that was a bit of a shame. I was already an hour late for the party, so I rushed to Seminar House 1, and got inside just in time to find Mori and Midori leaving; they had already made cake. It was sad to see them go, but I was soon enjoying the fruit (or cake), or fruit cake actually of their labours; it was amazing. Rose was stoked when I gave her the Tim Tams; she immediately ripped the packet open and distributed them. There 10 of us in the room, which was basically exactly the same as our rooms here, with little differences here and there. Us guests, stuck around until almost 10, watching funny movies on YouTube, and taking photos; it was great fun. Finally it was time to say good night, and as soon as I got back to Sem 2, I was roped into watching a drama with Julie, Chelsea, Rachel and Ash; it was actually really intense. It was only the 5^th episode, but already the plot is so complicated. Chelsea caught me up pretty well, but I kinda want to see the earlier episodes. Well, I’m going to get some sleep now…

Day 184 - 2nd of March

11:00pm　セミナーハウス

天気：曇り

Finally got back from the kitchen; another night of chatting, cleaning, and eating… I woke up with Hugo already gone this morning, and gave in to the temptation of laying in bed for just that little bit longer; meaning another half an hour. When I did finally get up, I promptly got ready, and then revised my vocab for today’s quiz; that turned out to be okay. After class, I went for lunch with Jo, Kim, and Nathan; Liz and Sarah joined us. After eating my katsudon, I decided to try the 桜 (Sakura – cherry blossom) flavoured ice cream they were selling in the cafeteria; along with a plethora of others. It was actually really nice, and I wondered what they made it with; was it just artificial flavours, or did they actually use a part of the flower? Soon enough, it was time again for class, and Religion today was, as usual very informative. Today the professor introduced us to some of the new religions of Japan, including Happy Science, and a number of branch offs from Buddhism. Some were scary, others just plain inane; yay for rhyming words. But they all had one thing in common; pretty buildings. Seriously, I want to go to some of these new religions headquarters; one of them even owns a museum. I actually recognised one of the religion’s buildings ~ 真光 (Mahikari – lit. “true light) ~ from Alex’s blog, since she had been to it in Takayama, Gifu; I thought that was rather cool.

After class, I made my way home, to find that it was once again linen changing day, so I busied myself vacuuming, and making my bed. Then I got my homework done, before Simon returned, and asked if it’d checked out the gym yet; this morning I talked to some people in my Speaking class and found out how to get in. I said I hadn’t, so we went together. Turns out, the gate to get in is actually on the other side; this means walking all the way around the block, and past Seminar House 1. I thought it was a bit ridiculous. But, more ridiculous was us trying to get inside. We ended up walking all the way around the building, before realising that the entrance was right across from the gate. And then we couldn’t even go in! Reading the sign behind the glass, we found out that we needed a second pair of clean shoes to wear inside the gym; now that’s really ridiculous. So, that was that… I needed to get groceries, so I went to Sanko with Simon in tow.

As soon as I put my groceries away, we were out again, riding to Midori. Simon was hoping to buy an electric razor, but after seeing the prices, and not really knowing what would be best for him, he abandoned the idea, and decided to just by some better razors; the cheap ones he’s been buying have been cutting his face. I didn’t feel like it was a waste of time for me, as I got to play on the piano for a while; Simon knew I would. It was getting dark, and the clouds were looking nasty as we rode back, back it didn’t end up raining. As soon as I parked my bike at home, Rachael came out the front door, going to New Delhi for dinner; it took little persuasion for me to join her. So I was off again, on foot this time, to meet up with Sarah at uni, before going on to New Delhi. Tonight, I ordered the mushroom and cheese curry, and with it came that ever-astounding Naan bread, a soup, a laisse, and ice cream for dessert; amazing value for money. And I absolutely loved the curry! This time, it was just the right amount of food, and I left feeling very satisfied, and not at all bloated like last time.

The walk back was dry, and after dropping my stuff in my room, I was soon chatting away in the kitchen. Three hours later (after talking about kanji, spring break plans, and novelty condom stores in Kobe among other things), the girls all dispersed, and I remained to help Biancha with her 銅鑼焼き (Dorayaki – it’s very similar to gozasoro ~ two pancake patties wrapped around red bean paste). We took turns whipping cream, which was not an easy task; how I wished for an electric beater. There ended up being way too much cream, so we shared the rest, making me feel a little sick; I feel fine now though. The cream was part of the filling, along with the bean paste; a new innovation to the recipe. Biancha wasn’t happy with the shape of the pancakes, and while they were indeed not very pretty looking I couldn’t care less; they tasted amazing. I stayed in the kitchen a bit longer, to help clean the piles of dishes that had collected in the sinks; somehow they were still here even after the cleaning group had been through! Anyway, Yuji came up, and got the people in the kitchen to help out; I was grateful for that. Our monthly seminar house meeting is tomorrow, and I’ll be sure to bring up the kitchen problem then; I’m sure I’ll have plenty of support. Well, better get some sleep…

Day 173 - 19th of February

天気：曇り

9 o’clock classes are not fun at all, especially when you have a vocab quiz. I managed to get to uni on time though, with the help of my alarm. The quiz was in Reading and Writing, and it went okay, then we spent the rest of the lesson going over old grammar points, just with a lot of new kanji in the mix this time. I went straight from that to a lesson test in Speaking; such a relief when it was over. After that I went down to the lounge, and sat with Rachel, Rachael, and Sarah, watching the live streaming of the ice skating on Rachel’s laptop. Since it was Sarah’s birthday, Rachel had decided to take her to New Delhi (an Indian restaurant) for lunch, and pay for her meal. I hadn’t eaten there, but had heard many good things about it, so asked if I could join; Simon come along too. Rachel decided to stay and watch her ice skating; she’s really into it. So off we went; it’s just outside the main gate. And wow, what a spread! Simon had to quickly go and sort out his insurance so we didn’t end up ordering until he came back, and then the food just kept on coming.

To start off, we all got a soup, and then they brought out our main meals. Simon and I both got the “B Lunch” which consisted of a salad (with some deep-fried eggplant), a huge piece of Naan (it was literally falling off the sides of the plate), a curry (we could chose from two, and the level of spice), saffron rice, this other really spicy thing, and a mango lassi (mango yoghurt drink). And then they brought out another type of bread with coconut inside; and this was all for 700円. Far out, I was so full afterwards; I had to ask to take out the coconut bread because I just couldn’t eat it at the time. It was really good though, but maybe a bit too spicy for me; next time I’ll choose a lower level spice. Rachael had to leave early, to get to her class in time for a test, and Simon was supposed to go to class too (but didn’t because he wanted to enjoy his food), so when we left Simon rushed off, Sarah went to 7/11, and I went to the post office to send some postcards.

Getting back to uni, I sat down with Ash, and we were soon joined by Rachael, and shortly after, Rachel and Katie. After playing some Plants vs. Zombies, and watching some more Olympics, I had to get to class. We signed up for the Takarazuka trip today, and talked about gendered language in Japanese. The professor brought in some native speakers, to demonstrate different aspects of how language can be made more masculine, or more feminine; really interesting. Then we watched a short clip on the making of the 土俵 (Dohyo – the ring where the sumo match takes place). The professor told us that next month the sumo tournament would be held in Osaka, and I think it would be a great opportunity to go and see a match; so that’s something. After class, I walked home, on the way talking with Sydney, before she was given a lift with Maureen on her bike; I’ll be able to do that for people soon. Getting back, I got my blog up-to-date and soon enough it was time for dinner. Somehow I was still hungry enough to eat my leftover yakisoba.

I sat with the group (as they shall be called for now, since I couldn’t be bothered writing all their names), and Rachael showed me some awesome goodies she’d found at Animate today; a Final Fantasy AC novel complete and postcard book. I am so jealous. Then she proceeded to tell me about all her story ideas that she hasn’t gotten round to writing yet; I got cake as a reward for listening. I wish she would, so I could read them. Katie bought Sarah a slice of cake, and we wished her a happy birthday, before getting ready to go downstairs for our Friday night viewing session. When I got down to the lounge, I found Yuji watching a DVD; he asked if it was okay if we waited another 30 minutes. So in the mean time, I went back to my room, and saw Hugo off; weekend in Tokyo, lucky guy. Then I sat in the computer room with Simon and Rachael. When he was finished, Yuji joined us, and I asked him again about the A/C; for some reason the filter warning light wasn’t turning off, even after I cleaned it. So, we went to Otousan, and he knew the solution straight away; the reset button on the controller. It was as easy as that. Thanking Yuji, I roused the troops (went up to the kitchen and told them it was time), and then we all gathered in the lounge with all our treats. I ate my coconut bread; it was really tasty.

It was about 9:30 by that time, and for the next 3 hours we watched 4 episodes of a really cool Sci-fi/Western series (weird mix right) called firefly. The story is set in 2517. The Earth has been drained of all its resources, forcing mankind to emigrate to a new star system. The only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, have fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures as well. The plot revolves around a captain and his crew who make a living on the outskirts of the society, as part of the pioneer culture that exists on the fringes of the system. The special effects are pretty good, and as a result of the cultural fusion, Mandarin Chinese is spoken often (usually when they are swearing), and there are kanji all over the place. There aren’t any aliens, which is a nice change, just a really scary cannibalistic group of nomadic humans called Reavers. The only thing I really don’t like about it is the country western music, especially in the opening credits. When everyone started singing, it was sickening; Rachel had the same sentiment. Actually, Rachel and Katie had also never seen this before. Sadly though, the series was axed after the 14 episode; so a lot was left in the air. Luckily, after a huge push by the fan base, they made a movie, which I’m told explains most things. And that was the end of my night; I was very tired.