Well, I would have started writing this earlier, but my laptop decided to die from overheating; I almost thought I would too. Anyway, today turned out pretty well, and now I only have one more day left before I’m completely finished with uni; academically, at least… Like yesterday, after breakfast I did some last minute study, and then got to uni a bit early, and sat with Katie and Julie in the lounge. At 10, I had my exam and it actually turned out better that I expected; not that that’s saying much. But still, I feel pretty confident about it. Sensei was so nice, letting the last of us have a few more minutes; we had to move into another room. It was a long exam okay… After that was done, I went and had lunch with Jo, Nathan, Kim and two Japanese girls, one of whom had studied at their university last semester. I opted for Makkas, and was glad I got in early, because soon after the line was way out the door; the Japanese students all finish class at the same time. After lunch, I made my way home, doing a small shop on the way; just bread, milk, and an onion.
Getting back, I got the laundry in and started to get that put away. Carly soon arried, and then we got into some serious packing. Well, to tell the truth, Carly did all the packing while I worked on my essay; she’s a really good packer. It was a good thing she left me her space bags too; they worked a treat. After getting everything I wouldn’t be wearing packed, I weighed the suitcase, and it came to just under 15kgs, which is absolutely wonderful. I’ll fit 5 more kilos of stuff into that, and then buy another small suitcase if need be; I’m pretty sure there will be a need. I’m also going to buy a new carry-on bag since my other one broke; before I even got on the plane to get here! While I wasn’t working on my essay I helped out, getting things sorted, and starting to chuck things out; it’s all going well. As for my essay, I’ve still got a while to go, but I have tomorrow to finish it; I got all the research done this afternoon.
For dinner, I had gyudon (again), and made Carly her Mac and Cheese. Then spent about an hour more on my essay, before finding out that enrolment for USC started yesterday; thank you Alex!!! So I got straight onto that, and had almost completed it when Yuji came by, and went through the inspection procedures with Hugo and I; we went to the kitchen, and to his room. About half an hour later, we were finally done and I got straight back to enrolling. I now have three courses, and will be going to uni on Tuesdays and Thursdays; so much easier than here. It just means I can find a job, and have plenty of days to work; yay for money. Mind you, from this point onwards, all the courses I’ll be taking will be either business or politics; no more Japanese. Still, I think I’m going to sit in on the Japanese classes whenever I can; otherwise I’ll lose everything. I’m really glad I got that sorted out though; and not a minute too soon. If I had found out much later, I probably wouldn’t have had very much choice at all; first come, first serve system. Tomorrow, I’m going to get my essay finished, and then go into uni to get everything sorted out; I hope…
Two courses down, two to go; so happy!!! Well, I’ll be even happier come Wednesday evening, after I’ve handed in my Gender and Sexuality essay. After that, all I’ll have to worry about is getting home in one piece; so much less stressful. Anyway, today was another beautiful warm day, but we’re expecting rain soon…I woke up at 8, and after a quick breakfast and shower, I did a bit more study for Reading and Writing, before going to face the inevitable. It actually turned out to be not that bad at all. I read a letter from Nanny just before starting, and that gave me the extra bit of encouragement I needed. I got out of their feeling good, and shortly made my way back home. After lunch, I took a nap. I had intended to only stay in bed for half an hour, but ended up hitting the snooze button about three times, and didn’t get up until about 1:30. After that though I felt better, and got stuck into researching for my Gender and Sexuality; this consisted of me scouring my reading package for anything that related to my topic. I’m talking about marriage in Japan, and how it has changed, and continues to change; should be good.
Carly came round a bit after 2:30 and I continued my research until almost 6; she brought chocolate, chips and cookies to keep me motivated. At the request of Mori Sempai, I went into uni to play Miyabi with her and Maarika one last time; we played in front of some of the students from other clubs. We ended on a high, but it’s still sad to think that’s the last time; I’ll definitely have to pick it up again one day. Hopefully Mori, and Midori can come to our graduation on Saturday; I’d really like to see them one last time. After that, we made our way back home, and I made cup noodles for Carly, and pizza for myself; I love easy meals. After eating in the lounge, I sat with everyone in the kitchen for about half an hour, talking about anything; I don’t have many more opportunities to have these kinds of interactions so I’m making the most of what’s left. After getting back downstairs at about 8:45, I spent the next hour and a half revising for tomorrow’s Reading exam; I’m not looking forward to it at all. Unlike the exam today, which focused on 3 chapters, the exam tomorrow will be on the entire textbook; 10 chapters!!! I think I’ll be okay; I know most of the grammar and vocab. It’s just a matter of being able to get everything done in an hour and 20 minutes. Well, I’d better get some sleep now; get one more course out of the way tomorrow…
10:56pm セミナーハウス 天気：晴れ Another beautiful day; it was almost too warm… almost. I’m really, really hoping the weather stays like this, because I’m thinking about going to Himeji castle this weekend; should be able to catch the last of the cherry blossoms. See how I go; it might be nicer, and certainly cheaper, to just go into Kyoto. Anyway, about my day… I got up just after 9, and after getting ready, rode to Sanko to do a small grocery shop; I needed a few more things for biscuits. Unfortunately when I got there, they still hadn’t opened. I found this quite annoying, especially considering they’re supposed to open at 9:30; I had to wait around till almost 10. Anyway that done, I got back home and after unpacking my groceries I did a little bit of last minute study for Religion. I made my way to uni shortly after, and truly began to appreciate just how lovely and warm it was today. After Speaking class, I went to the club room and practiced koto for an hour with Maarika, and caught up with Midori sempai, who had just been on a short exchange to Australia. Getting to Religion, I ended up finishing the exam in 15 minutes; as did many of my other classmates. It was a piece of cake, or as I’ve come to learn a 河童の屁 (kappa no he – Kappa’s fart), in Japanese. Actually I lie, there were a couple that threw me a bit, but I feel pretty confident about it. I was done just as the professor came back with the compilation of this group’s interview write-ups for us to read; taking the handouts, I left.
When I got to my bike, I realised I needed baking paper, so I made my way over to Kirindo, and got some; bought some juice too. I decided to take a route through the houses to get home, and it was actually really interesting. I noticed a shrine on the way, and now I really want to go back to check it out; it’s amazing what you’ll find in side streets. Getting back, I had lunch, and then got stuck into baking biscuits; Milo ones again. I think this mixture turned out a lot better than the last, and I ended up making about 30 decent sized biscuits. I’ve got them in a box in my room now, and I’ve so tempted to eat them all. I’ve already put aside the ones for Rachael, so I’m not allowed to touch them. That ended up taking about 2 hours, and in that time, I got my Speaking homework done. Getting back downstairs, I decided I wanted to go to Avail, so I did. I wore my new shoes for the first time today, and they’re already starting to get a little dirty; can’t be helped. I wasn’t doing any shoes shopping today though; I was more interested in the bargains. And there were plenty. They were still clearing out the winter clothes, and some of the prices were amazing; 500円 for long sleeve T-shirts! I ended up making two purchases, which made me very happy; I haven’t bought anything from there for a while now.
Getting back worked on my vocab and studied kanji until I went up to have dinner at about 7. I mixed last night’s leftovers with the rest of my rice, and added carrot and bok choy, and a bit of soy sauce; it turned out great. I sat with Rachel and Ash, and finally payed them back; out of debt once again. I also retrieved Jazz’s battery charger from my room for her. After finishing dinner, I had a Milo (you’d think I’d already had enough from all the biscuits I’d ate) and a banana for dessert, and then helped Rebecca with her dinner. She was making yakisoba for the first time and wasn’t feeling very confident about it, so I offered to help; I ended up cooking it for her. It’s my own fault for being such a control freak; at least she prepared it all. And I gave her some pointers, so I think she’ll be right to do it on her own next time. I’m certainly no professional myself; I wind it most of the time. She gave me her approval after getting into it, so that made me feel good; I would have hated to have cooked a bad meal for someone. Anyway, Ash and Rachel soon left, but Katie arrived, so I talked with her for a bit, and then left myself. It was about 8:30 when I got back down, and I decided I would have a shower and shave; feel much better now. After that, I sorted my laundry for tomorrow, and then did some reading for class. Finally, I uploaded a bunch of photos on facebook, and here I am; better get some sleep…
Last day of classes before spring break; so good… I got up at about 8:30, and talked with Simon in the kitchen for a while after breakfast. Soon after, I was on my way to uni; it was a nice warm day today. Getting to Reading and Writing class, I had my final exam for the week, and it went pretty well. After that, I went straight back home, and proof read my essay for Gender and Sexuality, and had to tweak it here and there just a bit; nothing major. After getting it printed off, I went and had lunch, before making my way back to university once more. I went up to class a bit early, and sat and did my reading. It was about weddings in Japan, and was really interesting; as was today’s class. After hanging in our essays, and getting our marks back from the quiz (I got a 92 out of 100, which isn’t bad at all), we got to watch a Shinto wedding video. The Shinto wedding is actually a surprisingly new development; began at the turn of the 20th century with the Emperor. It’s an interesting mix between the solemnity of a Shinto ceremony, and a gaudy Western-style reception; with karaoke of course.
So you can imagine, the first half of the video was very slow; the professor fast-forwarded through a lot. Most of the practices, like the blessings and drinking of sake, are all part of regular Shinto ceremonies, and then there was the ring giving, and reading of vows taken from Western ideas. The bride and groom wore traditional dress, the bride in a layered white kimono, and the groom in a kimono and hakuma. It was kinda funny watching the groom; he was sweating like anything. We wondered if it was nerves, or just the heat; it was in the middle of summer apparently. Oh, and they actually had the kami (god), in the room, housed in a shrine in the room; I can’t remember his name, but he’s the god of relationships, and they brought him from his main shrine. Anyway, after that, they went into the reception hall, which was the adjoining room. While the ceremony part was reserved for family, and the matchmaking couple, the reception was friends, and work associates too.
After words from the matchmaking couple (who traditionally would have met with both the families prior to the wedding, to make sure it was a good match), they had the cutting of the cake, which is actually much sexualised. Basically cutting into the cake is a euphemism for having sex – the cutting action is called 入刀 (nyuto – lit. “instering the sword’); the cake itself is sweet, which represents the woman, and children to come (because children are sweet too). And it’s kinda funny, because most of the time they can’t afford a real cake, so they buy a plastic one; so it’s really nothing more than a symbol. The bride and groom ended up having 3 dress changes, and by the end of it, it looked like prom night; so terribly gaudy. We didn’t get to see the karaoke, since the class was over, but I’m sure it would’ve been funny. And then I was finished for the day. The professor told us about a street parade in Den den town on Sunday, and gave us some information about it; it looks great. Erin expressed her interest, so we’re going to try to get a group of people together and do it.
Getting back home, I found Hugo getting the music ready for the party. It was already past 3, and the party was at 4, but I wanted to go to the gym. So I ended up just doing a really short workout, which was for the best anyway; I was pretty exhausted from the week. I got back just in time for the party, and was soon introduced to Natsuki, our new RA. She has come from seminar house 4, where Aki (our previous RA) transferred too; kinda funny. Quite a few people showed up, which surprised me; considering it was still class time. It turned out well though. It wasn’t much of a party perse, but more like a gathering around lots of junk food with music in the background; not that I was complaining. Hugo hooked up his computer to the TV again, and had put together a really good playlist; lots of variety. The food was great; so many weird and wonderful Japanese sweets. I can’t even remember the name of half of them, but I tried as many as possible; there was also stuff like Oreos and chips. And there was lots of Natchan (a brand name drink that comes in lots of different fruit flavours). This was especially fitting because Natsuki’s nickname is Natchan. The party died down a bit after 5, and the few of us that were left just sat around a talked, and took photos; it was fun.
Also, Rebecca showed us this awesome clip on Youtube, which was basically the “if Totoro was a horror movie” trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RFv5i8LTek. It was epic, and it even won an award!!! Eventually, I went back to my room, and spent a bit of time on my computer, uploading photos to dA. Just after 7, I went up to make dinner, even though I really wasn’t hungry at all; so full of junk. I got some more people interesting in coming to the parade on Sunday, and we organised a time; not too early. It doesn’t start till 1, but I still want to get there at a good time. I eventually made some dinner, scrambled eggs on toast, which was actually really nice; I sat with Rachel. Katie invited us to movie watching in her room, so after dinner we went up. It was Katie, Sarah, Rachel, Rachael, and I; Ash was still with her parents. After showing them, the awesome Totoro video, we got into the movie; Hidalgo. I actually really enjoyed it, even though there were bits of it I couldn’t understand because the subtitles were cut off; we had Sarah and Rachael translating as much as they could remember, since they had seen it before.
There were also quite a few interruptions in between. First of all, Sarah had planned to talk to her parents at 10, so we had to stop it then. At about this time, Ash come back, letting us know her parents had settled in fine, and showing off all her goodies she good from them; so much chocolate and sweets. Sarah had to wait a while before she finally got in touch with her parents, so we sat around and talked, and watched the Totoro video once again; to show Ash. We also watched the "if Mary Poppins was a scary movie" trailer too, which was absolutely hiralious; and seriosuly creepy too. Finally, we got back into the movie. We were watching it on Youtube, in 10 minute chunks, and there were 13 all up; we were always surprised when it stopped. The quality was really good though, and apart from the lack of subtitles in parts it was great; there were bits of Native American, and Arabic. It was really great night; I really enjoyed chilling out on the futon’s too. I didn’t end up getting to bed until after 1, and Hugo still hadn’t returned…
Wow; my 200th day in Japan!!! And what have I been doing; work. Just finished my mid-term essay for Gender and Sexuality; such a good feeling! I’m very happy with it, and it’s the perfect length too. Now I just have to proof read it, which I will do tomorrow after my Reading and Writing exam… I got up at 9 this morning, and after getting ready, studied for the written portion of my Speaking exam. Getting to uni, I met up with Jo, Kim, and Nathan, and we went up to the second floor of the CIE building to room 3208, where the exam was being held. This was a first for us, so it’s either just the way they do it in level 4, or a new idea. At any rate, it was all 6 classes spread out in this room, much larger than any of the regular classrooms. After a bit of technical set up, we were given our exams. Well, I thought I did pretty good; the study this morning certainly payed off. I remembered all the grammar patterns; I did however forget some of the vocab. The listening part was the most difficult, as it used a lot of 敬語 (honorific language), and the first question was one of the stupidest I’ve ever come across. It went something like, “What is the linguistic phenomenon that shows that Mr. Tanaka is nervous when he speaks”; I was seriously confused by this. But when I heard the recording I was like, well he has a stutter; is that really the answer? It seemed way too obvious, but I talked to the others afterwards and also put that as their answer; we’ll just have to wait and see.
Anyway, after that I went home and had lunch straight away, only to turn around again and head back to uni at 1; I had Religion. We watched a documentary for most of the class, which was good because it didn’t require me to think very much; my brain has been pushed to its breaking point. It was produced by a freelancer, and looked at the lives of AUM Shinrikyo members after the sarin gas incident. There was much prejudice against them, and while I found some of their practices to be a little weird (such as drinking a vast amount of salt water and then spewing it up again to “purify” themselves), the members seemed friendly and down to earth. I thought the freelancer was very game, entering the lives and homes of the members, and even getting involved with the Yakuza at one point; who really didn’t like AUM Shinrikyo, and wanted them completely disbanded. Overall it was very interesting, and really presented to me a very different side of Japan. The weather had turned foul during class, and I rode back home in the rain; I really did jinx it.
Getting back, I had a nap, and woke up feeling a lot better; I had had a headache. Then I got stuck into my essay. At 7, I went up to have dinner, and for some reason decided to put eggs in my spaghetti bolognese; it actually tasted pretty good. One thing I had to do though was drain it after I’d already dished it out. Because I had used canned tomatoes, there was just too much liquid; so I just tipped the whole plate of food into a strainer. It all turned out fine though, and it was certainly very filling. Ash had brought her laptop into the kitchen, and she too was working on an essay. Rachel, on the other hand wasn’t, even though she should have been; she kept on finding excuses to stay in the kitchen and not do it. I soon left them, and got back to my essay, finally finishing just before 11.Hugo, had informed me that I wouldn’t see him tonight, and he was true to his word; I wonder where he went? Well, I’m going to get some sleep now, so I can get some last minute study in for my Reading and Writing exam tomorrow; one day left…
