Day 176 - 22nd of February

10:17pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ、曇り

The weather is definitely warming up, the blooming plum blossoms heralding an early spring. Seriously though, even when it was cloudy and windy this afternoon, it was nowhere near as cold as it has been; I’m so happy. Anyway, what did I get up to today… well, I got up with plenty of time to spare, and still made my way to uni with 20 minutes to spare; old habits die hard. Yes it’s loud, and a bumpy ride, but it’s my bike, and I love it to death; I’ve been so deprived. Riding to uni takes no time at all, so I could walk in at my leisure from the bike parking, talking to Kim on the way; no more having to rush. We watched some really cute little video clips in Speaking today, one depicting the life of a business man, and another full of palindromes (which, as you can imagine, work really well in Japanese). I thought I’d have the tunes stuck in my head for the rest of the day, but now I can’t for the life of me remember then; oh well. After Speaking, I went down to the lounge and sat with Katie and Sarah, and got my homework done.

Soon enough, it was time for Reading and Writing. Although the class is intense, I really feel my reading is improving a lot, and more and more kanji are becoming recognisable; it’s great. Where ever I see a kanji I don’t know, or one I do know in a new compound, I’m always eager to look it up (with my trusty iPod dictionary), and that’s helping a lot too. After Reading and Writing, I rode home, and made Milo pancakes for lunch. I haven’t had pancakes in ages, so it was a nice change. Soon after, I was out again, making my way to Midori. On Saturday when I went there, I accidently bought another Nintendo DS case; I can’t believe I didn’t notice it! So yeah, feeling stupid, I decided I had to go back to try and return it. When I got to Midori, I went into Llife first, and found some sauce for my dinner tonight. After I bought the Doritos at Don Quijote, I knew I had to make Nachos, and since I got out the mince from the freezer, I thought I’d give it a shot tonight.

I couldn’t find anything resembling taco sauce, so I settled for a pasta sauce; I always like to improvise. I then went across to the pharmacy, and bought a refill for my soap. It’s unbelievable, but that one, 500ml bottle of soap has lasted me all this time! I love the slogan on the bottle – “Please feel good smell with your whole heart”. I was worried I’d have to get rid of it, so when I found the refill, I was really happy. I’ve been using the aloe vera extract all this time, so I decided I’d try the orange extract; hopefully it makes me smell yummy. Anyway, after that I went upstairs and was at first hesitant to approach the register. As far as I can tell, Japan is a notoriously difficult place to get a refund on goods. I bumped into Jeremy (he was looking for a new pair of earphones), and told him of my mistake, and he figured the odds of getting my money back weren’t promising. Still, I was determined, and, sucking it up, I approached the register…

I didn’t have to say much before the woman realised what I wanted. And… it was all good! After a bit of number crunching, she had a new receipt printed out, and all I had to do was sign, and I had my money back; I was very grateful. Well, that was certainly easier than I thought it would be; maybe because I got onto it straight away. Elated, I went to tell Jeremy, and then celebrated by playing the piano. Well, I had actually intended on playing it anyway; I even brought some sheet music to practice! Jeremy left me there, and a played for a while. Finally tiring of it, I left Midori, and made my way over to Kirindo, to pick up some basics. Then I was on a mission to find everything I needed for Nachos. I went over to Fresco to get an avocado (they’re the cheapest there), and then rode to Top World. I was able to find sour cream (really cheap since it was almost expired), and a small bag of red kidney beans. I also found that sparkling chocolate drink; since it was so cheap I decided I’d give it a go.

Satisfied with all my purchases, I went home groceries in my basket, and bag on my shoulder; it wasn’t so bad. It was about 4:15 when I got home, and after unpacking my groceries, I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and playing Plants vs. Zombies; those dolphin-riding zombies are so fast in the water!!! I had a nap at 6, and by 6:30 I was so hungry I had to make food. And believe me when I say I was very happy with the result; it looked great, and tasted even better. I’ve even got a bit left over, which I think I’ll eat tomorrow for lunch. The only thing I wish I had had was some proper sauce, but Sarah told me they had some at Top World; I’ll have to look harder next time. After cleaning up, and watching the ice skating for a while, I went downstairs to find Simon, and his Japanese friends watching Batman Forever, dubbed in Japanese. I hadn’t seen the movie in years, and it was actually quite hilarious to watch; more because of how bad it was. Still, I kept me entertained, and we all had a good laugh. After the movie was finished, it was time for all the guests to leave (it was almost 10), and for the rest of us to get some homework done. Hugo returned from dinner, a little after I got settled down. Well, better do a bit of revision for tomorrow’s quiz…

Day 143 - 20th of January

9:55pm　セミナーハウス
天気：曇り
Well, I’m still connected to the internet. Supposedly, our laptops are supposed to be disconnected from the network today; that was the “gentle reminder” from CIE, lol. This is in preparation for next semester, and I also have to go in next week (orientation) to re-register my laptop; such a pain. Oh well, has to be done. So, today… well, we ended up getting home at about 4:30 in the morning; it was epic! Surprisingly, though not so surprisingly, Ryan wasn’t back yet. So I showered, and then hit the futon. I managed to get up at 11. I washed my hair, put on a load of washing, and then went up to the kitchen and made pancakes. I was so happy; they all turned out perfect. The trick is really, really low heat; I actually turned off the gas completely a couple of times so it wouldn’t get too hot. I happily munched away at them, saving some for tomorrows breakfast.

I got back down, and took the washing out, and then a bit later, I had a nice long chat with family, during which I opened up the box of Tambyln’s shoes, to check them out; so cool!!! Got Devo's address, so I should get them mailed off by the end of the week. At about 4:30, I had a snack, and then started clearing out my kitchen box. Since we won’t have a kitchen key for orientation week, we have to move all our food to our rooms. The fridge, but we have to make sure we put everything in there in a bag too, otherwise it’ll be chucked out. We also get our gate key taken away, so curfew of 10; how bothersome. Well, I got all the food moved, so I’m happy about that; I’ll be cleaning the fridge tomorrow. I watched the rest of Hetalia; as much as I could watch. There are 52 episodes, but the last two haven’t popped up on the internet yet, so I wait in eagerness.

I went up to make dinner at about 8. I actually used one of the Continental packets; carbonara pasta and sauce. I fried strips of chicken, carrots, and green capsicum (kindly donated by Jeremy), and mixed that in with the pasta, and it turned out great. I was a little afraid the sauce wasn’t going to thicken, but it turned out fine; successful meal. I helped clean the kitchen, and then enjoyed my dessert of mandarin, red bean bun, and milk. Ryan’s still not back, and I’m a little concerned; I just hope he shows up for the inspection. Well, tomorrow I will be going to the Toji flea market (the big one), with Ash and Katie at about 10. Then later on I’ll be cleaning; be so happy when I get back into the semester and regularity. I think I’ll play my DS for a while now…

Day 139 - 16th of January

10:12pm　セミナーハウス
天気：晴れ
A nice clear day; not that I appreciated much of it. Yes, I woke up in the afternoon; again! I think today topped the lazy charts; seriously. I had breakfast (the failure pancakes I made a while ago, which actually turned out to taste fine), then spent the rest of the afternoon playing my DS, occasionally switching over to my laptop. At around 6 I read some more Deltora Quest, until I gave into my hunger, and went up and made dinner; scrambled eggs, toast, and rice. There was a really interesting movie on TV; 時をかける少女 (toki wo kakeru shoujo – “The girl who leapt through time”). It’s a 1983 live action movie based on a novel of the same name. Admittedly, I was more than a little confused for the most of it, but I enjoyed the music, and the setting, so I watched it all, as people slowly filtered out of the kitchen; I was the last one there. I came back down, read some more, exercised, and then showered. Tomorrow going to Nijo Castle...

Day 133 - 10th of January

10:09pm　セミナーハウス
天気：曇り
Well I guess I decided that today would be the end of my lazy week; I didn’t get up until 11. Oh well, it was a nice day… I made pancakes, and all but one turned out to be complete disasters. I tried to make them really big and thin, but they cooked too fast and I couldn’t manoeuvre the spatula well; just ended up a big mess. Of course, I’ll eat it eventually. After that, I talked with Mum for a while, and then continued watching Hetalia. By the time I had lunch, at about 2, I had watched up to episode 29. I sat in the dining room for a few hours, and talked with Ash and Jeremy, while watching this before and after show on TV; it was a house renovation, and there were some really great innovations. At about 5:30, I went and did some more grocery shopping at Sanko; got what I needed for pizza tonight.

Getting back, I watched some more Hetalia, before finally having dinner at about 8. I organised with Ash a Karaoke session as soon as Katie gets back; we’re both hanging to sing. Also, we’re hopefully going to go see Avatar soon; really looking forward to it. Pizza was really great, even though it was messy. Again, chatted with Ash and Jeremy; well I listened for most of it, when they started talking about Star Trek. But anyway, came back down to find that Ryan’s still not back, which makes me wonder maybe he’ll be coming back tomorrow morning. Regardless, I’ve decided to go and explore Osaka tomorrow; Shinsaibashi and Den den town. I’ve wanted to do it for a while, so I figure I might as well do it tomorrow. I’ll try to get there as early as possible, and hopefully get back not too late, because we might be going to karaoke! So, early night tonight…

Day 124 - 1st of January

12:59am　祇園
天気：雪
Happy New Year!!! We’re in the line (more like the mass), waiting to get into the Yasaka shrine; only one way to enter. Chionin was amazing. We were at the bell for New Years; we got to hear it ring about 30 times. Apart from the yelling of the security guards, beckoning us to advance, it was a truly magical event. At New Years, a lot of foreigners cheered, but I was against that; it’s not the right thing to do at a temple. We got to spend about half an hour at the bell, which was more than ample, before we were swept away by the tide of people. I gave the girls hugs and congratulations, and watched in awe as it snowed lightly; I was so happy that, although I didn’t get a white Christmas, I got a white New Years. We walked down into 円山公園 (Maruyama Koen – Maruyama Park), and the girls bought some 甘酒 (amazake – sweet sake). I got a sip from Katie’s cup; it was… interesting. Nadezhda brought mocha, and we shared that, and my coconut sable. We thought we could get into the shrine through the park, but we ended up having to walk all the way around and back onto Gion, the main street…

1:26am　祇園
Still waiting…

2:26am　祇園
Almost there… We’ve been occupying ourselves with songs, riddles, and jokes. It’s snowing pretty heavily now…

3:34am　普通
We’ve just gotten on the local train back to Makino. Yasaka shrine was really beautiful, so I guess it was worth the wait; wow, I can say I’ve done hatsumode!!! I bought a burger which looked really nice, and it was huge, but it was also stone cold. I think the girls made a better choice getting takoyaki; oh well. We gave our offerings, made our New Years wishes, and then made our way out, and back around to the station. Jo’s going to go shrine hopping until 4pm, when she can check-in to her hostel in Osaka. I was game to join her at first, but now I just want sleep…

11:41pm　
After getting back from Kyoto, I found Ryan to be awake still, but managed to get to sleep just fine. I didn’t wake up again until 2:30. I made pancakes, something I haven’t done in a while, and watched some traditional performances on TV. At one point I was watching a traditional instrument ensemble consisting of three koto players and a shamisen player. They were all elderly women, dressed in the formal 黒留袖 (kurotomesode) kimono; it was a very enchanting performance. After that I talked with Carly for a while before watching Labyrinth with Alex, India and Nadezhda; it was so funny watching that movie again. We took a break, so I could go make some dinner (shepherd’s pie), before sitting down for Watchmen; we were joined by Jeremy. I can’t say it was one of the better movies I’ve ever seen, but it was certainly different. And that was my New Years. I was really glad I got to participate in hatsumode; certainly a unique-to-Japan experience. Walking back from Makino station this morning, I realised there was a solar eclipse. I looked it up online to find that it was only a partial lunar eclipse but still very rare. That and the fact that it coincided with a blue moon last night makes 2010 seem a very auspicious year to me; I certainly welcome it…

Day 104 - 12th of December

天気：曇り
I woke up pretty late this morning; later than I wanted to. I made banana and chocolate pancakes, and they turned out okay, though a little burnt. I've found that, the pancakes turn out best when you don't add anything extra. So next time, I'm going to just make plain ones. Soon after, Deigo and I went to Sanko to get a few things. After lunch I got stuck into my report for CEL, and worked on it right up to dinner, having a nap in between. I wanted to make pizza, but I'd forgotten to pick up some salami (or just any other sort of meat) on Friday when we went into Hirakata; they only have ham at Sanko. Oh well, I'll probably just make it in the week. Instead, I had shepherd's pie, with leftovers for tomorrow. Watched TV for a bit, and got to try a sweet potato KitKat; it was really nice. Speaking of sweet potato, Carly went to Fushimi Inari this morning, and brought back lots of little goodies. In particular, a box of yatsuhashi with three flavours; sweet potato, chestnut, and 南瓜 (kabocha - pumpkin). I think sweet potato was my favourite, although I do really like chestnut. Pumpkin was a little weird. With lots of yummy food in mys stomach, I spent the rest of the night working on the report.

Day 55 - 24th of October

9:14pm　セミナーハウス

天気：寒い、曇り

Today was a lot of fun. In the morning, I made pancakes for the first time; Diego usually does it for me. They turned out to be a bit of a disaster, but Diego gave me some tips, so I'll do better next time; seriously though his turn out so perfect and round. They tasted fine though (I added banana), although one hadn't cooked all the way through and was a bit soggy; that wasn't so nice. Oh well, live and learn. After cooking (which always takes way too long), we walked to Midori (Carly, Diego and I). I found a firewire cable for my camcorder, so now I can dump the movies onto my laptop and reuse the tapes. Deigo got himself a new mouse, and Carly just got some batteries for her toothbrush - she was going to buy an electronic dictionary but they were too expensive.

There was a soccer match on this morning, between seminar house 2 and 3 that Eddy, in our house, had organised; Bianca and Stephanie were cooking up a storm this morning to feed the hungry mop afterwards. I got there just as they finished; they were playing at the uni fields. I felt a little bad about not showing up sooner to cheer our team on. Unfortunately they lost, 13 to nil; Seminar House three had an unfair advantage with most of the guys actually expecienced in soccer. I hung around for a little while, and then left for the CIE lounge, to wait for 12:30. I met with another girl from koto club, Maarika from Estonia. We walked over to the library and met with a bunch of Japanese students. It turns out a number of clubs were going to the BBQ, and Maarika and I were the only international students. We caught the bus Yamada Lake, and then walk a while to a part of the park I hadn't been to before. It was amazing; wide open space. People had tents set up, and were playing sports in the grass; a true rarity in Japan.

There was a huge blue tarp set up for us; which we never actually used to sit on. And on it... sooooo much food; too much food in fact. I basically spent the next couple of hours eating on and off: Beef, chicken, pork, fish, mochi, noodles, cabbage, sweet potato, peppers, onions, eggplant, mushrooms, apples, bananas... and they all went on the barbeque in no particular order; it was a free-for-all. I was so full by the end of it, and I even got to take home some chestnuts; Diego suggests that we grill them. I was a lot of fun; I didn't practice my Japanese enough though. I don't know, I just seem to choke and revert back to English; gotta try harder. Even from the park, the main administration building of Kansai Gaidai is clearly visible. It seriously is the tallest building around.

We finished at around 4:30, then I walked home and this time I didn't get lost; the sunset was beautiful. I ate leftovers and bread for dinner, and then an apple. Tonight was basically a repeat of last night, just without the Potter Puppet Pals. Amber's gone now, but Carly's still here. We've all been trying to study for our exams next week. I won't be doing too much study tomorrow though; going to a rice festival at Fushimi Inari in Kyoto; I'm so excited. Lol, I burnt off some of my finger hairs in the barbeque today; there were 5 set up and we basically had chopsticks and a plastic plate, and went for it. I hope we do something like that again; it was great. Anyway, I shall be off now, Carly's going to draw a still-life of me; if I can stay still that is!

Day 44 - 13th of October

10:28pm　セミナーハウス
天気：曇り
Woke up late, had breakfast (pancakes again - naughty), and did a bit of grocery shopping. I'm going to make a stew tomorrow with potatoes, and carrots, and mushrooms, and peas, and beef; hopefully it turns out okay. I'll probably be able to get a few meals out of it. Nothing particularly unusual happened today. I went to uni at 12, had classes and went to koto practice. We got our tsume today, and I bought a little pouch to put them in. Every one's getting really good at playing Sakura sakura, and we continue to watch in awe when the Japanese girls play; they are so good.

I wonder how long it will take for me to get to their level; too long. But still, it is a great experience, it's helping me with my research project, and I'm making new friends. We're going to be having a barbeque on the 24th at Yamada Lake; can't wait. After koto, went home, and cooked some rice, and ate leftovers from last night with it. I've got an in-class essay tomorrow. I have to write about my lifestyle. I feel pretty good about it, since we can take in dictionaries and other vocab lists we like. Then in speaking we'll be talking with Japanese students; I think we're getting graded on it; I'm a little bit more worried about this. Oh well, just see how it goes...

Day 15 - 13 of September

1:22pm　セミナーハウス
天気：曇り
Since I'm writing in my blog at home now, it's obvious that I haven't gone to the eisaa matsuri. The weather has turned out pretty fine, with some cloud cover, but I decided not to go. After going to the aquarium yesterday, I needed a day at home, to clean to room, and do homework, and go grocery shopping. And since it had been raining yesterday, the grounds there would be wet. Lol, well that's how I'm justifying not going anyway. I would have been great but, I'll see others.

So yeah, after eating Deigo's yummy pancakes, I vacuumed the room. I'm going to hang out the futon to air shortly. I still need to go shopping, but I can do that a bit later. What I really have to do right now is my readings for my history, and culture classes. Then I have to study for my vocab quiz in Japanese tomorrow...

7:32pm　セミナーハウス
YAY!!! I had pasta and meatballs for dinner. So good, xD. Diego and I went halves, in cooking, buying the produce, and washing up; he washed, I dryed. It turned out really, really well. I bought a better dish towel too. Well... technically it's a bath towel, but it works just fine, if not better. Sanko was packed this afternoon. I bought a lot of fruit and veg, and some rice. I'm going to try to be much healthier from now on. I'm feeling good now, I got everything I needed to get done today finished. Have an early night tonight, cause I have class at 9:00 tomorrow.