One day behind...
But I typed it up after I got offline -- so I was written on the day of. Now I just should get offline, do some homework, and catch up on other things. *sighs* At least I'm not wearing soaking wet jeans anymore...Stupid too-long pants and long walks in rain.
May 12th, 2006 (Friday); Asuka’s room, Fukuyama House, Kyoto, Japan; late.
Today started out badly - I was rushing out the door and managed to get to class a little early, but everything else was late before that. I blame it on me slacking and it being Friday. But I got to class and tried to study for the quiz - didn’t do so well at it, but I had a fun talking to everyone about the TV programs we’d watched for homework. I hadn’t really done the homework, but I did end up watching a good twenty minutes of the yearly scheduled “samurai/historical drama” put out on the PBS-equivalent NHK.
Juubei and his eyepatch? Totally rock. Especially since his ponytail was huge and floofy like Renji’s and I got to use Tsuba’s name in normal conversation. *dances* (And I suddenly think I understand an anime that made no sense to me before…something with a girl who has secret ninja-samurai powers and has a heartshaped eyepatch. I even think the series had “Juubei” in the title… The real Juubei has a “tsuba” on his - a sword shield thingy.)
Classes went all right and I didn’t have an obento today, so I got yakisoba (which I had for dinner last night! It was awesome!) to be reheated, along with a Calpis Soda, and a chocolate covered cream filled long piece of bread from the Konbini. And then I still had the Taco (“Takosu”) Doritos chips and an orange from Haruyo. I tried to share and people still said I had a big lunch. I could only agree and bemoan my fate…
We all ate lunch, then headed over to Kumogae-san’s neighbor’s house to finally do the carving. The little side shop was really small and there were enough chairs, but I ended up in the very back corner and thus felt almost trapped there sometimes. But carving a green pepper (the long, skinny kind)? A lot tougher than it looks, trust me. We all struggled through it - though Ricardo used his tools like a pocket knife and finished first - and got help from the assistants. And we all tried to split our time between some of us getting randomly asked questions and carving. NHK was there and it was a little odd to know there was a video camera on me. Yes, I’ve been on film before, but it’s just been my friends and I doing our fake adventure show “Adventure Quest”. I’m allowed to be silly, speak in English, and I’m supposed to help keep it exciting. None of those applied in this situation.
NHK left after a while; they asked Travis, Jul, Abbie, Alec, and Ismail questions (they were all close to the end) whereas Livia and I just got asked “Is it fun?” and we both replied with an affirmative, though I tried to get some more camera time by saying it was hard, but still very fun. Which it was, and I still didn’t get any camera time while talking. We kept carving, I slipped up once and didn’t use desu in a sentence once (Meghan tried to get after me and then I asked her afterwards to find out that, yes, I had slipped up) but overall it was a success. And I have a pretty little wanna-be green pepper (we were rushed for time and so I only got one coat of paint) sitting on my desk. Go me! We had much fun with making Livia into a “Midori Oni” (green demon) by using peppers for horns. Most amusing. And Andy made Lauren, Julie, and I hold up our peppers to continue the photo shoot gag. Lauren wasn’t feeling so hot, so only Julie and I were very thrilled about it. Though we more tolerated it than anything, I think.
We practiced singing “Come Thou Fount” to sing on Sunday - us being Matt, Ricardo, Livia, Meghan and I, with Julie playing the piano - and that went over pretty well. Made copies of the English lyrics - we can’t find them in Japanese - at the Konbini after class. I’m glad I’m not shy about singing, otherwise I’d be more worried about singing the first phrase as a solo…though I wish I sounded as rich as Meghan. I blame my cold and lack of practice, grr.
Got home without incident and met Shizuka as she was sweeping the garage-front door area. That was amusing and I headed up to use the internet. And used it for too long, but I did get to talk to Keryn and Kon. And rped - via e-mail - with Jlee and Spaz. *squees* I’ve missed that too much. But I must be careful to focus on my studies more, I’m here to be and do and breathe Japan, not just change my scenery to do the same old things.
But it’s late, I should get some quality sleep and I’m heading out for an awesome trip tomorrow - going to a Genji Monogatari (Tales of Genji) museum, Uji city (it’s got a gorgeous Byoodoin there!) and Fushimiinari (where that long line of red tori gates is in “Memoirs of a Geisha”). And I must recharge my camera battery, just in case. Too many awesome pictures to take to risk it.
And I’m off! (Though this won’t get posted until tomorrow and then I’ll an update for then, too…)
Much love for all, (and good luck to anyone with finals or insanity in their lives!)
-bel/bobo
...and Akira-san (the grandpa) just gave me a laminated photocopy of the article in the "Kyoto Shimbun" with me, Livia, and Meghan in the picture. *preens*
-bel/bobo
May 12th, 2006 (Friday); Asuka’s room, Fukuyama House, Kyoto, Japan; late.
Today started out badly - I was rushing out the door and managed to get to class a little early, but everything else was late before that. I blame it on me slacking and it being Friday. But I got to class and tried to study for the quiz - didn’t do so well at it, but I had a fun talking to everyone about the TV programs we’d watched for homework. I hadn’t really done the homework, but I did end up watching a good twenty minutes of the yearly scheduled “samurai/historical drama” put out on the PBS-equivalent NHK.
Juubei and his eyepatch? Totally rock. Especially since his ponytail was huge and floofy like Renji’s and I got to use Tsuba’s name in normal conversation. *dances* (And I suddenly think I understand an anime that made no sense to me before…something with a girl who has secret ninja-samurai powers and has a heartshaped eyepatch. I even think the series had “Juubei” in the title… The real Juubei has a “tsuba” on his - a sword shield thingy.)
Classes went all right and I didn’t have an obento today, so I got yakisoba (which I had for dinner last night! It was awesome!) to be reheated, along with a Calpis Soda, and a chocolate covered cream filled long piece of bread from the Konbini. And then I still had the Taco (“Takosu”) Doritos chips and an orange from Haruyo. I tried to share and people still said I had a big lunch. I could only agree and bemoan my fate…
We all ate lunch, then headed over to Kumogae-san’s neighbor’s house to finally do the carving. The little side shop was really small and there were enough chairs, but I ended up in the very back corner and thus felt almost trapped there sometimes. But carving a green pepper (the long, skinny kind)? A lot tougher than it looks, trust me. We all struggled through it - though Ricardo used his tools like a pocket knife and finished first - and got help from the assistants. And we all tried to split our time between some of us getting randomly asked questions and carving. NHK was there and it was a little odd to know there was a video camera on me. Yes, I’ve been on film before, but it’s just been my friends and I doing our fake adventure show “Adventure Quest”. I’m allowed to be silly, speak in English, and I’m supposed to help keep it exciting. None of those applied in this situation.
NHK left after a while; they asked Travis, Jul, Abbie, Alec, and Ismail questions (they were all close to the end) whereas Livia and I just got asked “Is it fun?” and we both replied with an affirmative, though I tried to get some more camera time by saying it was hard, but still very fun. Which it was, and I still didn’t get any camera time while talking. We kept carving, I slipped up once and didn’t use desu in a sentence once (Meghan tried to get after me and then I asked her afterwards to find out that, yes, I had slipped up) but overall it was a success. And I have a pretty little wanna-be green pepper (we were rushed for time and so I only got one coat of paint) sitting on my desk. Go me! We had much fun with making Livia into a “Midori Oni” (green demon) by using peppers for horns. Most amusing. And Andy made Lauren, Julie, and I hold up our peppers to continue the photo shoot gag. Lauren wasn’t feeling so hot, so only Julie and I were very thrilled about it. Though we more tolerated it than anything, I think.
We practiced singing “Come Thou Fount” to sing on Sunday - us being Matt, Ricardo, Livia, Meghan and I, with Julie playing the piano - and that went over pretty well. Made copies of the English lyrics - we can’t find them in Japanese - at the Konbini after class. I’m glad I’m not shy about singing, otherwise I’d be more worried about singing the first phrase as a solo…though I wish I sounded as rich as Meghan. I blame my cold and lack of practice, grr.
Got home without incident and met Shizuka as she was sweeping the garage-front door area. That was amusing and I headed up to use the internet. And used it for too long, but I did get to talk to Keryn and Kon. And rped - via e-mail - with Jlee and Spaz. *squees* I’ve missed that too much. But I must be careful to focus on my studies more, I’m here to be and do and breathe Japan, not just change my scenery to do the same old things.
But it’s late, I should get some quality sleep and I’m heading out for an awesome trip tomorrow - going to a Genji Monogatari (Tales of Genji) museum, Uji city (it’s got a gorgeous Byoodoin there!) and Fushimiinari (where that long line of red tori gates is in “Memoirs of a Geisha”). And I must recharge my camera battery, just in case. Too many awesome pictures to take to risk it.
And I’m off! (Though this won’t get posted until tomorrow and then I’ll an update for then, too…)
Much love for all, (and good luck to anyone with finals or insanity in their lives!)
-bel/bobo
...and Akira-san (the grandpa) just gave me a laminated photocopy of the article in the "Kyoto Shimbun" with me, Livia, and Meghan in the picture. *preens*
-bel/bobo