The "Normal"

I am apologizing yet again for another belated blog. Everything has just been so normal that I kept thinking to myself "I'll write tomorrow, I'll have more to say" and now it's the end of the week. I promise to do better next week and get back into my one per day/two days.

So yes, this week has been fairly normal with nothing special really going on.

Things are well with the family, I've been speaking with Otosan a lot more, which I like. He seems genuinely interested and his English is the worst out of everyone's, so it forces me to use more Japanese. He's also been helping me with my Kanji after dinner, which I appreciate.

Toko came home short and upset on Wednesday night. I was in a pretty cherry mood and she came in and asked if I was showering, I said yes, and she kind of sighed. I asked (as best I could as always) in Japanese if she was okay, and she shortly said 'no' before leaving the room. Then Okasan came downstairs to tell me I'd shower after her. I don't think it was anything I did, I don't see her enough for her to be ticked at me. But I've been kind of distant from her since then.

Okasan had lunch with a bunch of other host mothers. She came back with some fun stories of how sub-par the other students were, which made me feel good. I know the Japanese society is one of being polite and complementary, but I really do think Okasan likes me and appreciates what I do.

I never see Kai, so um, he's existing, somewhere, to my knowledge?

Classes are also going well.

My speaking class I'm still excelling in, I'm learning things I remembered not learning very well the first time. I'm thinking it all works out for the best that I couldn't switch my level.

In my writing class we start Kanji on Monday, SCARY! Though I'll still be good for about the first 20 Kanji, after that I'm expecting to WORK the rest of the semester in that class.

My anime class is still awesome. We learned about this theatre called the Takurazuka Review, it's old and very famous. It was built to be a "reverse kabuki." It's all females, and they put on a play (male parts are played by females) and then do the "review" which is like a vegas song and dance. I really want to go, and in the same town there's a museum to one of the essental founders of anime Tezuka (Astro Boy), so two birds with one stone.

In Ceramics I told Sensei that I wanted to throw bigger pieces, so he showed me how. Now I've bit off more than I can chew! I throw 2kg of clay at a time, and have failed epically at some point every time this week. He opened the studio on Saturday and I had to go. Not only can you "log time" for the future (I.E. if you come in 2 hours extra, and miss a 2 hour class, then it's like you never missed a class) but I figured not many people would show up so I'd get some instruction. Because I'm the ONLY intermediate in the whole school I don't get a lot of instruction, he's always helping the beginners. Even I'm helping the beginners half the time. So I don't get a lot of demonstration or direction, it's more of a show once and go. I realize being "intermediate" I may not get the exact same hand-holding, but this is really difficult and I needed more help.

What I didn't expect was that -NO ONE- would show up today (Saturday)! It was me, one of Sensei's friends who wasn't a student who was just working, and sensei. I got a lot of instruction, it came to a point where he just essentally said "you just have to learn what works for you" which I understand, but having that time helped a lot. I think coming in also made a good impression on him, because he was very kind (not that he was ever mean) and reassuring. He said that it's okay to fail, that his teacher said that you fail 20 times before getting something right when it comes to what I'm doing, so I shouldn't be discouraged. By that logic I still have about 10 more times of failure! I'm definately going to make going into the studio a Saturday thing, assuming I don't have any other plans, and even if I do he opens it up at 9am, so I can go in the morning.

Life with the friends are good as well.

I haven't made any close friends from my classes, but I'm getting there. There's a really nice guy who sits next to me in my pottery class and two Egyptian girls I've made friends with. I'm good enough friends with the Egyptians that I'm inviting them to my birthday party, pretty much all that's left is the exchanging of numbers. (And, they both live in Cairo Mater & Pater!)

I went over to the Seminar house on Friday. We didn't have a cooking party, but I wanted to make mac and cheese. The blue box doesn't make very much, and if I cook it at home I'd have to share it!! So it's going to be my once/twice a week treat when I go to the Seminar House. It was nice to hang out with the girls for a bit, then I went home.


On Saturday (today) as I said I went to the studio. Then I couldn't get a hold of anyone, so I went to starbucks at the station with a book and read for a little bit. As I'm sitting in the second floor of starbucks and I look out the window and see Sophia and Ogilvie! I quickly clean up my things and ran down to meet them. They were just walking around the stores.

I was so glad I went, I found black suede boots on sale for 3900 yen. They're so cute, and they have a button up side, so you can either wear them as knee-high or ankle boots. They're also my size and very comftorable, so I know I can walk in them, while still being trendy. I picked up them and a pair of cute stockings on sale also for less than 50.00$ US. I know it's a little bit of money, but it's the first time I've spent, and boots are so big here I felt so uncool not having some I could walk around in.

Tomorrow I wanted to go to Osaka, but the scholarship money for students hasn't kicked in yet, so everyone is broke. So I think we're going to karaoke and walk around malls again. I'm being very specific and tactful with my shopping. I've decided I still want/need the following things (in order of importance):

Black Skirt
Black Shorts (all I brought literally was jeans and jean shorts I realized, I know these are basic but the diversity would be nice)
1-2 more pairs of versitile yet interesting tights/leggings
1 awesome hat
1-2 pairs of Knee High socks
Jean leggins (because they're awesome?)

I'm slowly shopping for this list, after seeing the fashion here I've deemed these things the essentials which I failed to bring/couldn't have forseen. I'm not in any rush, but I have it in case I see something perfect.

After shopping I went home then went to the grammas house. We ate, I rarely like the food we eat there I've discovered. I don't know if it's more "traditional" or what... it's not the flavors really, just the way the meat is prepaired. The fish is served with bones in it, and I've got no experience with picking them out. Or with scales on it. Or the meat has fat and or skin, which they all love, and I've really been trying with. But as soon as I start chewing the fat in my mouth I get that hot nausious feeling that I'm sure everyone has had at some point. But there's always miso soup, with tons of tofu, my bowl of rice, and I normally can find something else to pick at, so I'm never starving, just not really full.

We watched some crazy Japanese TV tonight. It was a bunch of men, in spandex, some in bannana hammocks. They had a plastic tarp track with little hills in front of them. They then proceeded to pour buckets of some kind of lubricant all over themselves, and the same was poured on the track. They then tried to get to the other end, hystiraclly, and the one who did first got 100.00. Welcome to Japan.

Tonight I also hand-wrote birthday invitiations. I'm inviting 11 people to go to Round 1 in Osaka, a big gaming place with all kinds of arcade games, bowling, karaoke, sports games, and more. I'm excited to have a birthday party, and I'm looking for it. I can't believe it's already my birthday, how quickly the time is passing. The weeks seem to be passing by so quickly...

Today I also went to the 100 yen store and got 400 yen worth of halloween decorations. It spruced up my room a good bit and made everything seem more festive, it makes me happy when I come in. There's one more thing though I think I'm going to go back and get, because one area of the room seems baren, then I'll take a picture and put it here.

So yes, more soon, and I'm sorry again, I know how these blogs link me with everyone so I'll be better about updating them. They're also a good record of my time here, one that's worthwhile to keep.