CIEE Gathering/Celebration!

今日の日本語の言葉: seiza (正座) - sitting straight (though it actually means a specific way of kneeling, like during a Japanese tea ceremony and stuff)

This word was brought to you by why my legs are still aching right now.

This morning, I woke up bright and early and watched some Doctor Who with Lissa. I'm glad that we're doing this on weekends regularly now, so that I know that every weekend, I at least have some plans, you know? Plus, we don't have much of a chance to talk otherwise, so this little chance is very nice. 

In addition to the Skyping and Doctor Who watching with Lissa, I also talked to Anna a little bit, which I look forward to every morning that she's due to be around. You have no idea how good it feels to start the day off with a nice talk with one of your friends (and of course, a lot of writing).

I've never fully explained to you guys why I like writing Alexei and Mikhail so much, have I? Well, they're both highly intelligent characters; Alexei is the chief inspector of his department, which deals in grand scale, high end thefts, and Mikhail is a master thief. Think Sherlock and Moriarty. They're both incredibly intelligent, and they play so many mind games with each other. Each conversation between the two has about five different layers of meaning, which makes it such a challenge to write for them, because they're so damn smart and quick witted that they outwit the both of us sometimes. So it's such a challenge writing for them that I look forward to it every single time. 

For breakfast, I had bread, cucumbers, jam, and ham. I don't understand how the Japanese seem to really like mayo on their cucumbers, especially Japanese mayo, which tastes very different from American mayo. They also put mayo on broccoli and other vegetables, which bemuses me so. @_@

I then spent the time taking a very nice and relaxing shower, writing more of my fic, watching anime with Yoshiko-san, who was very interested in seeing what this "Kyou Kara Maou" thing that I really love was. The language in the anime (and the manga) is so difficult though, even for Yoshiko-san, because not only is it extra... keigo (honorified), because the main character is a king, but it's also set in olden times, which makes the language honorified and archaic. So I know way much more vocab for words like serf, and treasure room, and magical sword of the king, rather than useful words like blanket. Well, at least I know I can probably survive if I get sent back in time to feudal Japan somehow, eh?

Anyways, at 12:45, we left for Jimbocho, which is where the event was being held. We took the train, which turned out to be horrendous because between the two of us, I knew the train system better than she did (she always drives)—and you know what that means. We overshot and were late, but it was a nice adventure, and it gave me a nice chance to talk to her more. She's a very interesting person.

Got a picture from Yoshiko-san of Ayuka's outfit yesterday. <3  

When we reached the event, below is a picture of what I saw. Many things strewn across many tables, with tons of people milling about doing different things. And you know me; the first thing I went for was the yukata room. I think yukatas and kimonos are the most beautiful pieces of clothing ever invented—for women. Men's fashion I think is tied between a full on tux, a suit, and a yukata.

When I was done putting on the yukata and taking those pictures, I sat down to start making myself some zouri, which are those classic slippers (which usually are seen to be made out of straw of some sort). Ian and Julien were already well underway, and I really wanted to finish before I had to take off the yukata, so I could have the whole ensemble. But those things take about an hour and a half to make, so I knew I'd be sitting there for a while. Had to work fast!

Starting on my zouri! So much harder than it looks. 

As you can see from the picture below, it was some nice bonding time between Yoshiko-san and me—not that we haven't had plenty of that already. But making these things gives you lots of time to talk, since it's just sitting there and doing stuff with your hands.

However, I decided that I was not going to mess up my yukata, and I was going to sit seiza style. I've done it before, and it's hurt like hell before, but I hoped that over time, I coud get more used to it and that eventually, I'd be able to sit seiza style without pain. Yoshiko san can do it perfectly fine, and actually prefers to sit that way (how the hell...?).

Now try it yourself. Find some solid ground, like wood or something, and kneel seiza style. That is, legs are tucked together under you, and they're touching each other all the way back to your toes. Your heels and toes are touching too. Then just sit back, back straight, with your hands on your lap. Look forward and put your shoulders back. Now try doing that for two hours.

I ended up sitting seiza for most of it though. We'll say everything but the last fifteen minutes was seiza. At that point, I really couldn't handle it anymore, and was satisfied enough that I lasted that long, and thus could sit "Thai" style, which is sitting straight with both your legs tucked closely to one side (NB: this style only applies to Thai girls, not guys). It's vaguely uncomfortable too, but I've gotten used to it from living in Thailand.

Below is an image of the finished product, which I'm very happy about. They're ultra comfortable, and I need non-winter house slippers anyway. These will do great! They're machine washable too, which makes them easy to clean. They're really fun (though tough) to make. I wonder if I should make another pair sometime, just to see if I can do it on my own.

The finished product! So proud! 

After the event, I went home with Yoshiko-san. We both were starving, and when we got home, we rushed straight to making dinner, which was gyoza! It was supposed to be burgers, but since the kids had gone to Maku Donarudo (Mc Donald's) for lunch and ate burgers, we didn't want them to have burgers two meals in a row. I'm not complaining! Burgers are great, but gyozas are so much better. :3

I also brought home tons of snacks from the event, including this cute little yogurt thing, with the little paddle and all. It's really small, and so damn adorable (you can use my wallet for a size reference; the cap is just a tad bit larger than a quarter). I haven't actually tried any of the snacks yet (there was a lot of dinner), but I might do so tomorrow, and I'll let you know how it is!

This reminds me, though. I did try Hokkaido butter candy earlier today, which sounded gross, but had gotten me curious. It... doesn't taste like butter, at least. It just doesn't taste like anything else I want to eat too. If any of you have ever had milk candy, it tastes like that, but... after it's left out for years. I love milk candy, but I don't like Hokkaido butter candy. Zannen desu ne?

じゃ、眠いですからまた明日! I'm tired, so I'll see you guys tomorrow!
マギー (Maggie)