Day 211 - 29th of March

10:18pm　セミナーハウス

天気：曇り

Well, spring breaks over now, and once again, it’s time to get back into the routine that is university. Today’s weather was far for routine however. It went from sunny, to rain, to sunny, to sheet, to cloudy, to snow, back to sunny, rainy, and finally cloudy. The only thing that remained regular was the cold; I want warm weather already!!! Anyway, today was pretty lax; didn’t exactly get dropped into the deep end… going to uni this morning, I realised I hadn’t ridden my bike for over a week; I missed it. I got to Speaking just in time, and after Saigo sensei explained what our next presentation would entail, we basically spent the rest of the lesson talking about spring break. And, we also got our mid-term exams back; I was happy enough with my grade. In the hour break, I got productive writing out postcards, after buying a new pen from the convenience store. I sat with Sarah, Katie, and Rachel in the lounge, and only ended up getting two finished, since one was in Japanese; I realised that I could fit a lot more in when I wrote in Japanese.

In Reading and Writing, We also talked about our spring breaks, and then did a bit of kanji revision, before finally getting our results back from mid-terms; also pretty happy with my grades. To end the lesson, we watched La Maison en Petits Cubes, or つみきのいえ (Tsumiki no ie – “the house of small cubes). It’s a Japanese animated short film that won an academy award in 2008; I remember reading about it in Japanese back at USC. It was cool to finally be able to see it, and it was a very moving, beautiful short; only went for 12 minutes. After class, I went back down the lounge and sat with Sarah, finishing my postcards. That done, I rode to the post office and sent them on their way, and then went grocery shopping; oh, and did I mention it was also very windy today. Getting back home, I unpacked my groceries and then had lunch. Last week Rachel let me try some of the fried squid (kind of like calamari) she had bought from Fresco, so when I saw it today, I decided to get some; had it on rice for lunch.

After that, I put some washing on, and then read some more of Reborn. Half an hour later, I put the washing out, and then went to the gym. I felt good getting back into it, and I spent a good hour there. Getting back, I was able to get in contact with dad over skype, except his microphone wasn’t working, so I could only see him and try to read his lips; not really, he just typed. So, hopefully I’ll be talking with mum tomorrow, to find out what happened on Sunday. After that, I did my reading for Relgion, and then had a nap, getting up when Hugo returned at about 6:20. I uploaded some more photos to facebook, and then went up to make dinner. I used the rest of the fried squid in the yakisoba, and it turned out really well; I also had to use the rest of the lettuce, since it was getting old. At 8, a bunch of us went down to the lounge to watch “The Prince of Egypt” to celebrate Passover, since Rebecca, Brett, and Simon are Jewish; although Simon didn’t end up watching the movie. Yuji and Natchan were also among the viewers, and I think it would have been pretty interesting and informative for them. It was so funny – Natchan fell off her chair, and Yuji promptly piped up with “Moses, save me”; best call ever!!! Since I hadn’t seen the movie in ages, I really enjoyed; the music and songs are so beautiful. Well, guess it’s time for bed now; more uni in the morning…

Day 191 - 9th of March

天気：雨天

Today was another miserable, wet day; and it was freezing. I rode to school this morning, in the rain, and actually got there quite a bit earlier than anticipated. So, I decided to go pick up a snack from the convenience store; blueberry Danish. In Speaking today Saigou sensei gave us another listening exercise, filling in song lyrics; 別の人 (betsu no hito – Someone Else) by Aoi Teshima. It was a really pretty, and sad song, and the lyrics were actually written by Goro Miyasaki (son of Hayou Miyazaki), who directed Tales from Earthsea; Aoi Teshima’s song, Teru’s theme was used in the movie. Then we started chapter 6; keigo! Having studied keigo (honorific speech) in Genki, this was more of a review, and I can remember most of it. After class, with an hour break, I went downstairs to the lounge, and sat with Rachel, getting my homework done. We were soon joined by Sarah and Katie, who were busy showing each other knitting patterns across the table; instead of just looking at the same laptop screen, they would send the files across to each other. Rachel was trying, and failing, to read a book for her literature class, that was supposed to be read by last Thursday; they really do have a heap to read though, it’s crazy.

Soon enough, it was time for Religion, where we talked about 創価学会 (Soka Gakkai – lit. “Value-Creation Society), a new religion derived from Nichiren Buddhism. The professor passed out a heap of magazines for us to look at, and comment on, and everyone seemed very suspicious. I think that’s partially the fault of the professor’s, for positioning us to view Soka Gakkai negatively (whether intentional or not), and partially because of the feedback we got from the first lot of interviews; some of the interviewees feared Soka Gakkai. And indeed, there are a few things a bit off putting about it. First of all, it has a political party, which is always a little troublesome. Secondly, a lot of what it does, what it stands for, and what was emphasised in the magazines (and the short introductory film we saw) didn’t seem very religious at all. There wasn’t really enough explanation of what exactly is expected of a member of Soka Gakkai member. The focus seems to be world peace, education, and ecology. So yeah, so far seems a little iffy, but we’re going to learn more about it on Thursday. After class, I stayed behind for a little bit, and told the Professor about my experience at Kansai Soka. Of course I hadn’t realised at the time, but in 2005 when I went to Japan for the first time, we actually visited a school one of their schools. Looking back on it now, it was probably the nicest (and wealthiest) of the schools we visited; that says something.

I checked my mailbox, and found my grades for yesterday’s lesson test in Speaking. I was really happy with my results; much better than my first test. Now I just have to keep it up! I rode home, and it wasn’t raining, it was just really cold and windy; not exactly an improvement. I ate some lunch, napped, and then blogged until dinner; I’m having a lot of trouble keeping up this week. I think it was about 7:45 when I went up, and I had put on rice almost an hour earlier; whoops. Tonight’s meal was easy; lasts night’s chicken and sauce over rice. I put it in the microwave to heat up, and then went to sit down with the girls; and Simon. I while after, thinking it had been long enough, I went to check my meal, and found the microwave still running. I quickly stopped it and opened the door to find a little bit of a mess; just a little. The sauce and even some of the chicken had spattered the sides. Rachel then told me she thought that that microwave was on the fritz; I guess she was right. Anyway, no harm done, I wiped up the mess, and enjoyed my meal. We didn’t talk for too long tonight, which was okay because I meant that I got my Reading and Writing homework done. After my shower, I found Hugo in bed, so decided to follow suit; a nice early night.

Day 59 - 28th of October

8:36pm　セミナーハウス
天気：晴れ
Today was sunny but cool; so I got to do laundry. For both my Japanese classes we got let out early, which was a true rarity indeed. In Speaking, I've got a power point presentation coming up in two weeks, and I volunteed to go first. We have to talk about an experience we've had in Japan. It's only worth 5% of our grade, but I still want to make it good. I'm going to talk about my day at Osaka aquarium; should be good. After class Jo and I went over to Floresta and got donuts. I was doing a bit of homework, and then I realised that I could connect to the internet with my Ipod for free. It's just so annoying that I can't do it at uni or in the dorms. So yeah, that's my new favourite place. After that we went to Reading and Writing, but not before we got our History results back. We noticed the prof with them in his hand, and rushed down to the mailboxes to retrieve them. I got 56/60; YAY!!! I guess I am pretty good at essay writing after all.

In reading and writing we watched a 落語 (rakugo - lit. "fallen speech") performance ~ rakugo is a type of comic monologue that has been performed since the Edo period (over 300 years ago). It was in English, and pretty funny. That was about all we did. Oh, and we got our results back from our mid-terms; 80/100, not bad. I got home soon after, and talked with parents. Then I made lunch and had a nap. I woke up feeling like crap, got my laundry in and then went back to sleep again. An hour later I woke up had a headache; I really hate how naps do that. I had dinner soon after (leftovers), and then came back down to the room. Having a quiet one tonight. Just doing a bit of homework and talking with people over Skype. I think I'm going to have an early night.