A Sunday Spent Inside

今日の日本語の言葉: ohanashi (お話) - story

This word was brought to you by what I did today, unsurprisingly.

I woke up today, wanting to go somewhere and do something. It's a Sunday after all, and I had no plans, but I wanted plans. No use wasting a Sunday in Japan, right? I wanted to go to Shinjuku Gyoen, actually, which is this amazing park with multiple gardens all with different themes. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in Tokyo, and it's only about an hour away by train.

However, it then started to rain, which put a wrench in my plans. I didn't want to go there on a rainy day, and it was raining for a while. Heck, it's still raining now, and it started at around 10:00. I didn't want to have pictures with an overcast sky. So many another day, when I've planned better and actually have friends to go with.

Anyways, I then decided to stay home, and maybe spend some time just hanging around, observing and participating in the daily life of the Kiuchi family on weekends. In the morning, Ryosuke left for some school thing he was doing, leaving Ayuka and Yoshiko-san at home with me. The picture you see below is the first floor, which I don't think many of you have witnessed yet. It's very beautiful.

Then Masahiro-san came back from dropped Ryosuke off. I've been sitting on this chair the whole time, writing chapter 25 of my fic, which is the last chapter (epilogue notwithstanding). But from my chair, I get the perfect vantage point for what people are doing within the house, such as the picture below of Ayuka and Masahiro-san playing a board game that I learned is sort of like the Game of Life, except more for children, and less complicated. It doesn't involve getting married and having children and stuff. It's more of an adventure. How about we liken it to Candy Land instead?

Then for lunch we had soba. I had been writing for about an hour and a half now, on a brand spanking new chapter too, so I still had a ways to go. Writing the last chapter for something is always the toughest, because everyone's counting on you to give them a satisfying ending. That's a whole lot of pressure.

But lunch was great, and delicious as always. Afterward, Ayuka involved me in a bunch of her antics, so I took a slight break from writing to play with her. She cleaned the house with me—she loves to clean—and then was a cat scratching at my legs for a while. When she got bored, she cooked me "food," which turned out to be cute blocks that form sushi shapes. In America, we have trucks and Barbies, in Japan, we have sushi. I love it! <3

I also watched Dumbo with Ayuka as I later continued to write (for a period which I didn't know was going to be five hours straight of writing). I had forgotten just how trippy the movie gets. It's sort of like watching interpretive Beatles music videos. It's so odd, and the dancing elephants freaked Ayuka out to no end. Poor her. I was freaked out too. o.o

When Ryosuke got home, I was still writing. My mind was working furiously, and I was totally on a roll. My fingers, however, were having problems. If any of you have ever typed for that long of a time, you might know what I'm talking about. I start making more mistakes though I type faster, and then I have to go back and fix them. And my fingers even work ahead of my writer's brain sometimes, and they twitch, not having anything to type down as I think about what to say next. It's tough.

Ryosuke played more of the game with Ayuka, which was a very heartwarming sight until they started fighting over pieces, and someone ends up crying, like siblings always manage to do somehow if they're close enough in age. Still, somehow that's heartwarming too (did that sound cruel?). 

I helped make dinner tonight, which was a combination of many, many things. Being in Japan is great because of my vow to try any and all foods that come my way (I'm so glad that chocolate covered (insert insect here) hasn't come my way... yet). Which means that for the first time I can remember, I tried turnips. I've always avoided them because I thought they'd be crunchy, but they're actually quite soft. And they were delicious in the turnip miso, along with being pan fried.

We also had burgers, which were mostly vegetables with a bit of meat to hold the thing together. We had potatoes, rice, salad, and wonderful tiny rolls of pizza dough. I really want to make pizza sometime, along with apple pie, and Yoshiko-san and I agreed that we should definitely do it in the near future! I'm in Nagasaki next weekend, but maybe the weekend after that.

I also had an orange to round off my meal. I've had so many oranges, actually, that I wonder if my skin can turn orange like with carrots. Joking. It can't... can it? Anyways, below is a picture of the box of oranges, which was full to the brim when they first got it. It's been only a week, and we've put quite a dent in the thing. Now you see just how many oranges I have been consuming. Now I see how many I've been consuming too. Holy cow.

Decorations in the hallway at the front door. The left side covers Christmas
and the right side covers Halloween, it seems.

Ayuka likes to count her oranges as she eats them.
Is it to check that her brother hasn't taken any, or something?

After dinner, I wrote more, and I finally put up chapter 25 of my fic. It's like a milestone feeling. It's like completing your first marathon, no matter how short it was, or how slow you ran. You still did it, and you kept going, and now... you're done. There's something nice about it, but there's also something... empty about it too. You train so hard for the damn thing, and now it's done. But, I guess like many marathoners, you then just start training for the next one. So I guess I'll start writing another fic.

I also spent some time after dinner reading a story to Ryosuke. I want to help him with his English, and so I try talking to him in English and helping him with his English homework. We read some story about a tree stump and how it can be useful to many creatures, and isn't owned by any one entity. There were words like "titmouse" and "feelers" (referencing antennae), which I thought was ridiculously difficult for his age and level of English. Like, damn. What kind of English teacher has them read that? He's still trying to pronounce words like "were" (after I read, he then reads the story back to me, asking me about words he doesn't know as I correct his pronunciation). Overall, it's a very good time, and I like doing it a lot. Helps me with my Japanese too as I try to help him understand the story's meaning by describing it in Japanese.

Before I go for the night, I want to leave you with this hilarious image that Facebook has so kindly sent my way. The Perks of Being an English Major:

Well, that's all, folks! I would write more, but I'm tired, and my fingers are doing that cramping thing. I can't wear them out too much, now, can I?

All the best!

マギー