This word was brought to you by how great this day has been.
Today has been especially wonderful, and it's not because I've done something out of the ordinary. In fact, all I did today was wake up, hang out at home, go to school, then come back. It might sound boring, but when described in further detail, maybe you'll see why it was so great.
First, I woke up after a good night's sleep. It's been a while since I've slept without mosquitoes, and without waking up because I'm not used to sleeping on such a hard surface (a futon on the ground isn't actually that much cushion). But I think I've gotten more used to it, and it can actually be quite comfortable if you don't move around much.
After I woke up, I found breakfast to be a wonderful affair. It was rice, soup, vegetables, and friend chicken/squid, which is what I also put into my bento for the day. I think I'm also getting better at making the bento look cute and stuff too, which is an art all unto itself (the trick is to not actually have any food touch the green outer box, so that you compartmentalize everything, which adds to the cuteness and organization of a bento.
Then, when it was time, I went to school. It was supposed to rain, and I knew that, but I forgot my umbrella. More on this later.
When I reached school, I managed to squeeze in enough time to reply to our new RP before heading to class, which was promising to be fun today. We learned about how to go shopping and necessary shopping words (which I would need, considering that's something I want to do more (not necessarily buy more, but shop more, if you guys know the difference. Looking around, rather than spending)). Then we bonded over having a group conversation during break about our lives and stuff. Pu-san, one of the Thai students, is going back to Thailand tomorrow. She's homesick. From my understanding, I think she's going back for good, and not just for a visit. That's really sad, because she is one of the nicest kids there.
We're definitely getting closer though, and some of us are gonna go out to dinner in Akihabara tomorrow, which should be fun! I haven't had much time to hang out with these guys, since they've been busy last weekend (and also we didn't know each other that well back then).
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| From left to right: Chem (Philippines), Yulia (Russia), Towan (Thai), Saya (Sweden), In (Shanghai), Pu (Thai), Ou (Hong Kong), Fu (Hong Kong), Mai (Thai), Chin (Hong Kong), Nuk (Thai) |
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| I doodled on my Survival Japanese book (the left is In's book). I think it turned out pretty well! |
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| Cute little cat section at a store near my school! |
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| I like the blue gray one the most :3 |
After school, I headed home. However, it had started to rain and I had forgotten my umbrella (it was only drizzling though, which was okay—so far). Julien had gone into school earlier than I did to talk to his teachers about learning (he feels that the class has been moving too quickly), and I think that he's finally solved some stuff and worked some things out. I worry about him sometimes (he seems really sad sometimes, and is suffering terribly from culture shock; his host family doesn't really speak English, and he in no way speaks Japanese). He also lives outside of Tokyo (he lives in south Saitama-ken, which is north of the Tokyo Prefecture), which makes it hard for him to come into the city and hang out with everybody else when he wants to.
But now that things are getting better for him, I can worry less. Even though it isn't my place to worry, I can't help it. He talks to me about being depressed often, and of all places I feel one shouldn't be depressed, he's in Tokyo! Japan! We're going to Nagasaki in a week and a half! Exciting things!
As I got off of the train and began my walk home, the rain started to pour, which was less a problem for me, and more a problem of my books (come on, guys. You know me well enough: me or the books? Which is more important? >_>). I sort of dashed home as best as I could in sandals and with a backpack. I was soaking by the time I got back, but I took a warm shower and everything was nice again (my books were fine; thank god for North Face backpacks).
Anyways, dinner was great, and it was a chance for me to talk more with Masahiro-san. Yoshiko-san went off to chorus rehearsal (she's a wonderful singer, and sometimes she washes dishes late at night singing Japanese songs from Miyazaki movies, like Itsumo Nando Demo, from Spirited Away, and I fall asleep to that wonderful voice—she sounds just like Kimura Yumi (the lady singing in the link)). Nevertheless, she went to chorus, and so I was left to eat dinner with just Masahiro-san, because the children had already gone to bed early (it was 7:00).
I thought it was gonna be awkward, but it actually wasn't! He was commenting on how rainy it was outside, and I managed to ask him why the children went to bed early and actually understand his reply. We were also talking about the dinner dishes and what they were. There was soup, onigiri, inari (which is soy bean cake thing wrapped around rice), and that mystery meat. I ate all of the mystery meat before I asked what it was, mostly because I knew I probably wouldn't like the answer. And I was right: it was liver.
Now I don't have a problem with liver, because I like paté, and liver tastes pretty good (though it's pretty fattening, isn't it?), but I only can eat liver without thinking about the fact that it's liver. Just like I generally can eat meat by not thinking about the cute animals it comes from (that sounds horrible, I know, but it's true). So whenever I eat paté, it's paté, not liver.
To round off a wonderful day, I started watching a six part web show about gay people in New York. It's a wonderfully compelling show (I'm on episode four at the moment; each episode is only like, fifteen minutes long), and I wish it were longer. So nice!
So now back to the show. I'm gonna go to bed soon, get a good start in the day. I already did my homework in class, so all that's left to do tomorrow is maybe read some (I've been pretty slow on the Horatio Hornblower scene (did I mention that my new RP character, Alexei Sayansky, has Ioan Gruffud as his inspiration? I'm pretty addicted to Hornblower, I know)).
I hope you guys have / have had a nice day!
Maggie
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