"I guess I'll never know where all the boys of summer have gone..."
I learned how to coax a butterfly to climb onto my finger <3
The past few days have been...routine, but not? I'm not sure, really.
In a general sense, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were going to classes, followed directly by hanging out with Emily until near nightfall (usually at Pigeon Park, each with a Kirin green label beer in hand), then going back to the Seminar House. But other random stuff happened amidst that which is now routine:
- I finally got lift-off on my bicycle! I can now ride around the flat bicycle overflow parking lot, and to a much smaller degree the street on campus that leads into said bike parking lot. I did connect with a curb and got a little scraped up, but I also managed to rocket down the hill a little ways down from that bike parking lot and not die, so I considered it a big success :P I still need a lot more practice, but it's only a matter of time before I become much more mobile than I am now.
- Friday I went back and explored the small cemetery that Emily and I stumbled upon while going on our "shortcut" route to Hirakatashi. It was beautiful.
I worked on some Japanese homework while sitting on some steps in a secluded section of the graveyard. It was interesting, however, to see the families when I first walked in who were cleaning the graves of their loved ones. I really don't see that much back home, and there were at least three families there that day doing it, so I believe it to be a common practice.
After finishing my homework, I explored a bit. A lot of the paths lead to graves or dead ends, and after winding my way up the hills and hopping down onto other paths or stairways hidden by grass, I saw a large section of tall grass off by itself near the north-eastern edge of the cemetery.
After carefully making my way down the narrow path, I found more graves hidden behind the hill, underneath trees that were home to numerous giant spiders that built low-lying webs. I fortunately walked into a web that had no spider on it, and then noticed what was around me:
I walked around a little more, taking pictures and enjoying the quiet serenity of the atmosphere around me.
Upon leaving, I started hearing this loud chanting, stomping, and this heavy, frenetic drum beat from off in the distance. Slightly confused and quite curious, I walked back up the hill from which I had come, and the sound grew closer, though sounding as if it was reaching its apex. Hurrying, I reached the top of the hill and rounded the corner just as it stopped. Apparently near the cemetery was an elementary school, and the kids were all out in the courtyard holding these large, colorful drumsticks. I have no idea what they were doing, but it sounded damn cool. I just wish I could have actually witnessed it instead of only hearing it.
Later that day, after Ethics, I met up with Emily and two Japanese students she had befriended. We all had a lot of fun talking, and were eventually joined by Stefanie and Jacco (I know I keep misspelling the hell out of his name). We all left a few minutes later to get coffee and soft drinks from the vending machines near the convenience store on campus. I parted ways with them thereafter to go get a map of Japan and figure out how to use my JR Pass.
Turns out that I'm not technically supposed to have my JR Pass. A JR Pass grants the buyer unlimited train/bullet train/bus access for a set period of time (mine is one week). When I asked about it at the travel agency on campus, the lady expressed concern that I wouldn't be able to use it. I checked with the CIE (Center for International Education, or "Home Base" for us exchange students), and they confirmed it. I'm still going to try and use it tomorrow, but chances are my plans to travel all around Japan for our nearly week-long holiday won't happen now.
Today was a peaceful day. I played around on the internet for quite a while, talking to my parents, sister, and brother-in-law via Skype for about two hours and investigating how the Japanese rail system works. Around 4:30 p.m. I showered and left with intentions to explore, but all I did was go to Pigeon Park and read for a bit, followed by walking down into Hirakatashi and eating two donuts at Mister Donut and a small tsukimi burger (burger with meat, egg, bacon, and some kind of sauce; quite tasty, really) and shaka-shaka chicken from the McDonald's before walking all the way back to the Seminar House. I had expressed interest in going with the guys out to Kyoto tonight. They were planning on going to a club there, but I think they forgot about me and went before I got back from Hirakatashi. Either way, it's cool. Hanging out in Kyoto would have been fun, but catching up on lj and having a relaxing evening also has its perks.
I guess I'll go lie down and read for a bit, perhaps play my DS.
-Daniel-