Day 162 - 8th of February

11:26pm　セミナーハウス
天気：曇り
Today was bad and good. First of all, my cold is now a fully-fledged, life-draining monster; no, it’s not that bad really, just annoying. So this left me feeling tired, and a little out of it for the whole day… I got up at 8:30, giving me and hour to get ready for uni. This was ample time, and I actually got to uni 15 minutes early; got to chat with Katie and Jacinthe for a while. Then I had Speaking, which turned out to be pretty good. We learnt two new grammar forms, and the pace was reasonable. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for my Reading and writing class, in which, after a vocab quiz, we went over 5 grammar points; I can’t even remember what half of them were. I realise that level 4 means a lot of independent study, but this was ridiculous. Hopefully, that was just an overview, and we will look into them more thoroughly again; I’m not sure.

Well, at least that was the end of my uni day. I got straight home, and had some lunch. Then I got some laundry done. I didn’t have the correct change (the washing machine only takes 100円 coins), so I had to buy a drink out of the vending machine; apple juice. While my clothes were getting washed, I had a nap, just for 30 minutes. I got up feeling a little light headed (because of the cold), but I shook that of soon enough. I certainly felt a lot better than I have after my past napping experiences. So, from now on, I’m going to make sure that when I have a nap, it’s only for 30 minutes. After hanging up my clothes on my trusty little hanger (thanks Diego), I got stuck into my homework, which took me through to 6 o’clock. I had talked with Simon this morning between classes about going to see the film being showed by professor Hester; he does it every week. Since I don’t have koto club on Mondays now, I thought it would be interesting to go see.

So I went and found Simon in the computer room and he explained to me that he was developing a cold, and didn’t think it was a good idea to go out again. I had been planning to tell him I wasn’t up to going, so when he said this, I whole-heatedly agreed. Still, it is a shame we couldn’t see it. Simon did say though, that we could probably hire it out from the library at uni. So, that settled I went back to my room and got back to Japanese study. I have a quiz tomorrow for Speaking, so I got a vocab list created on my iPod. And oh my gosh, one of the words I have to learn, is the perfect describing word for me – 呑気 (Nonki) meaning carefree, optimistic, careless, reckless, heedless, happy-go-lucky, easygoing. And it’s such a cute word too; I love it. After that, I did some reading for Religion; about the god Inari. That was short-lived, as I decided I wanted to go and make dinner.

I’d defrosted some chicken this afternoon, so decided to make chicken parmigiana. A few of the Americans were really impressed by my cooking (go figure), and I think I’ve actually inspired them to try it themselves. Then I set the paper towels that my cooked chicken were sitting on (to drain the oil), on fire; whoops. So that was a bit of excitement; quickly amended with the aid of water. I think it was around 7:30 when I sat down to eat; it was very good. I had just got all my dishes washed and put away when Ash arrived back. I decided to stay in the kitchen, and sit with her. This proved deadly; three hours later and I was still in the kitchen. In this time, Rachel had joined us in conversation, we sung Happy Birthday to a girl I don’t know (I got some cake though), and Hugo smashed his glass; another whoops. We kept on saying, “well I really should be studying”, but kept on distracting each other; it really was great. Finally, at 11, we came to our senses, and got back to our rooms. I don’t have class till 11 tomorrow, so I’m going to get a good long sleep, and do a bit more study in the morning.

Day 110 - 18th of December

11:12pm　セミナーハウス
天気：寒い
I didn’t end up getting back till 4:30 in the morning. Karaoke was so much fun. Although it was expensive, we got free refills. I was switching rooms throughout the night, and the Japanese girls were really impressed by my singing skills, xD. I ordered a caramel parfait while I was there. It was so good, with tiramisu cake, and chocolate biscuit, and cream and nuts, and strangely, frosty flakes; the same ones I eat for breakfast. I added a great texture though; it’s certainly given me a good idea of what to put in my ice cream when I get back. We had a bit of a scare at about 3. The TV suddenly shut off, and a voice came over the speaker; a fire warning! The Japanese girls understood straight away, freaked and got us to quickly move out of the room. We were in the corridor for less than a minute before they came over the speakers again saying everything was fine; what a relief. So the TV came back on, and we continued. The last song I sang was with Midori sempai. I had never heard the song before, but I screamed out the lyrics (musically of course) nevertheless; it was great.

Some of the group decided to continue on, but Midori, Saki, Justin, Niky, Mark, Sean and I left. Giving Chiharu the money, and saying our goodbyes, we took the elevator down, and out into the cold. From there we all split up; Niky took a taxi home, Midori went with her boyfriend, Sean made his way back to Kuzuha on foot (so far!!!), and Justin, Mark, and I walked back to the seminar houses. I was really appreciative of that, because they both had bikes and could have just ridden home. We talked about differences between Australia and America, ethical issues, and language; a very riveting conversation. I made a comment about wishing I had a bike, and they both offered theirs to me for free. I was so taken aback, but extremely happy, and of course accepted. I’ll be taking both; one for me, and the other to give to someone new who wants one next semester. I’ll be picking them up tomorrow.

I didn’t end up getting out of bed until 11; I still had cereal for breakfast though. Diego had already left for Kyoto with Jessica. Carly and I on the other hand, went to Kansai Gaidai to pick up my results from CEL. I was so surprised; I got 98 out of 100 for the quiz and a 92 for my report. I also got three letters from Nanny and Poppy, which was a little odd. I’m not going to open then till Christmas though. We decided to have another look at the exhibition and take some pictures this time. After that, we went into Hirakata, to cancel Carly’s account, get me some tooth paste. Getting back, we had lunch (at 4), and said our goodbyes to Amber; she left with her boyfriend. I got so much leftover food from her, and several other people. Boxes have been placed in the kitchen where people can put there unfinished containers. This has created a free for all for us who are staying over winter; my poor cupboard is already bulging. There are also boxes for clothes, books, shoes, toiletries, hangers etc. downstairs, which I will also raid at some point.

Carly and I were going to meet Jessica and Diego in Arashiyama, but we left it too late; it was already dark and freezing. And, Diego and Jessica were already leaving. We did make a quick trip to Sanko though. Since we had such a late lunch we didn’t end up eating until 9; I had yakisoba. Feels so good to have everything over and done with. Well, have to get the room inspection done on Tuesday; gotta make sure everything’s in order. I think I’m going to have a big clean up tomorrow. So many people have left already; the futon are piling up outside the elevator. Ash and I were talking about how fun it will be to share our knowledge with the people coming aboard next semester; I can’t wait. She and Katie have moved in together now since Amber’s gone; I hope they don’t get sick of each other. Anyway, it’s late and I need sleep…