Stupid weather...
Kuu is happy to see you! I swear my cat thinks she is human... If you have been to Japan, then you know that the bathrooms are like a room with a shower, and next to it a bathtub. Anyways, Kuu likes to hang out in the room while either Nao or I am taking a bath, she gets soaked, but doesn't seem to mind the water (unlike most other cats). She also often sleeps on her back, and prefers to sleep under the blankets at night in our bed.
The weather here has been really odd. A couple days ago it snowed in Tokyo and near Kobe, kind of like a blizzard which is really rare for this time of the year. Therefore, Osaka was freezing cold. Then yesterday was kind of hot and sunny, but today was rainy and again cold! Weather make up your mind!!!
I managed to get a couple jobs. I am working at a childrens preschool on Monday mornings, and in the evening I give private lessons to two little girls. Tuesday I give private lessons to a little Korean boy who is 6 and is fluent in Japanese and Korean and is VERY advanced in English already (too smart!) Wednesday and Thursday I am giving private lessons to an okonomiyaki restaurant owner who plans to move to Australlia in about two years. As for weekends, I might get a job at as a bartender at a kind of foreigner bar in Higashi-Shinsaibashi.
This past Thursday I was invited to 御花見 (ohanami) which is your typical BBQ/party with friends under the sakura (cherry blossom) trees. I was invited by Kousuke. I eventually found out that Yuko was going too, so I met with her in Umeda and we went to Morinomiya station to meet her boyfriend Shinji before walking over to Osaka castle park. At the party there was a bunch of new faces, about 5 Italian's which 4 of them couldn't speak English so we had to communicate by speaking Japanese (weird) there was also a Canadian and an Aussie. We just basically talked, ate, and drank in the freezing cold (yes this was at night). After we finished up there, we ended up going to karaoke near by for about 2 hours. Getting home was a pain in the ass. Yuko and Shinji were both quite drunk and missed their stop to transfer trains, so we all ended up getting of a Hommachi, which I forgot you can transfer to the Yotsubashi line from there, so I was just walking with everyone else towards the Midosuji line, then I was like "Oh, i'll go by the Yotsubashi line!" I said bye to everyone and began walking when I heard the train attendant men yelling out that it was the LAST train for Suminoekoen so I had to run like hell and almost missed the train which would have stranded me in Hommachi.
Today (Saturday) I was invited to ohanami again, this time by Tamaki so I decided to bring Akemi along. The bad thing was, that today it was quite rainy but we decided not to cancel and all met in Umeda and headed to Ashiya (Kobe). Tamaki, Akemi and I met with Tamaki's friend Yukari and her roommate April (from Canada) and we headed to a popular sakura viewing area, but it was super crowded, and there were festival food booths and some live music, but we were able to make ourselves comfortable under a tree and ate and talked a lot. After we finished up, we headed back to Umeda and Akemi and I ended up resting in a cafe for a little while before coming home.
When I got to Kishinosato, it was raining even harder and it was a very cold 20 minute walk home... Have been completely lazy since!
Some sakura over the stairs at Osaka castle park
Yuko, Shinji, Keisuke, Keisuke's wife, Kosuke's girfriend
Same people but adding on Tony (Canadian) and Tomomi
I like how this turned out
Tony at karaoke
Yuko, Shinji, and I
Kosuke & his girlfriend
From todays ohanami
Tamaki eating Toppo
Sakura
Akemi hiding from the rain
Tamaki, Akemi, Yukari, & April
