International Festival
What a weekend this has been! I can't even write about it without cuts.
Even though I had been out until 3 a.m. the previous night doing kareoke, I couldn't sleep at all when I got back to the seminar house. That's because I knew I had to wake up in only a few hours and go to the international festival at the university and teach about English phrases for dating - in Japanese! I literally got up every hour or so and just paced. My roommate must hate me now. But I couldn't sleep. Every time I tried to, my nerves kept me awake.
Finally, I just gave up at about 8 a.m. and started getting ready. For one of the first times in my life (excluding cosplay), I spent a lot of time trying to look nice. Chose one of the two nice shirts I brought here even. I had to be at the school at 9:40 a.m. where they told I was going to be "interviewed" during the opening ceremony to promote my language class. So I had to come up with some Japanese on the spot. The girl said she really wanted to get a foreign boyfriend. She asked the crowd if they did too and some people actually raised their hands! Then she asked me what she should do. I tried to say this:
私のクラスに行けば、ぜったいにデートをもしこめます。
I was a little nervous, so it came out a bit choppy, but judging from their reaction, it was at least understandable. I hope it was OK.
That was pretty fun, but really scary too. It agitated my nerves even more. And the worst part was that I had a ton of time to be nervous. That was at about 10 a.m. and my class wasn't until 2:30. So I wandered around the festival a bit just enjoying it. Mostly, it was the school's clubs trying to sell food. They're really aggressive! They will run right up to you and follow you for a few steps and just say anything they think will make you buy what they have.
But there was also a lot of really cool stuff to see. I watched an international dance show, put on by a mix of international and Japanese students. Also saw a bit of the "freaky, funky fashion show." Some guys convinced me to buy a ticket for 100 yen to see some cover bands. It came with a free drink and one of the bands was covering The Back Horn, who are my musical love in life. Overall, it was worth 100 yen. Free drink and the bands were pretty decent too.
Here's a couple pictures from that part of the day:
I mostly took videos, so that's about all I have.
Anyway... after the cover band... it was time for my class. I think I nearly died on the way there. I was SO nervous. I didn't eat anything all that day. Literally. Nothing. And I barely drank any of my free soda from the cover bands. I just couldn't stomach anything at all.
That was the sign outside the door for my classroom. A lot to live up to!
I had 30 minutes to prepare before the class started. I had to set up my laptop so I could do the power point. At first, there weren't many people in the room. But by the time it was 2:30, it was packed! And I mean that literally. Every single desk was gone, and some people were just on regular chairs. A lot of pressure!
So... yeah... I was terrified. I was so glad I hadn't eaten. I spoke all Japanese during the power point. I hope it was understandable. It seems like it was OK. A Japanese student had helped me prepare for the class, and she only stepped in to rephrase what I said a couple times. But I was so nervous that sometimes I just stumbled over even the simple stuff. I must have sounded funny, even when I wasn't stumbling, because a lot of the them were smiling or giggling and sometimes they would look at each other and say "Aw, kawaiisou" (aw, cute). I hope I didn't sound like a complete idiot.
I started with talking about my home. Then I tried explaining the difference between "I like you" and "I love you." I asked what they would say in English if I said "anata ga sukidesu" and they immediately said "I love you." I was really surprised. The Japanese who'd helped me with the presentation said that's what would happen, but I didn't believe it until it did. They had a lot of trouble with like vs. love. I did the best I could to explain that "like" is what you say at first because "love" is too serious.
Then I explained some of the ways to ask for date and the possible responses. Then - bases. lol. This was fun to explain. I said that in America, baseball is also dating vocabulary. It's the stages of a date. First base, kissing. .Second base, more kissing (I couldn't explain "making out'). But then third and home I just said "x-rated" and that I couldn't say them here, which they all found hilarious.
I used a movie clip to show it too. Ferris Bueller's Day Off. There was some slang I had to explain as well. They thought "whore" was really funny, but I'm not sure they got "blow him away." I also had to explain that "blow yourself" and "shit head" were insults. lol. I think they liked the clip though. It's the part where the sister is in the police station talking to the druggie guy. And they start making out. When they started kissing, I heard someone say "first stage" and I was so proud ^^ Maybe they really did learn something?
Next was a game where they just asked each other out in pairs. I asked for some volunteers to demonstrate also. Right away, one guy volunteered himself and his friend. But he did really well so I gave him a prize for being so brave. I also did a little quiz and gave out prizes for that too. The super special question was where am I from? Someone got it right away and I was so happy that I think I jumped a little or clapped my hands because they laughed (not in a mean way).
I made sure they got to ask some questions before my 30 minutes was up. All of the questions were about like vs. love. First one (from the same guy who had volunteered to ask his buddy out) was, which is best: "I like you," "I love you," or "I'm crazy about you"? I said "like" of course and tried to explain that "I'm crazy about you" used the first time you meet someone sounds like... well... a stalker... lol. They all laughed at that.
Last, I asked them for a picture and thanked them in keigo for coming to my class. Look at all my good diligent students ^^ I love them all (even though that's too strong an expression haha):
私のいい学生です。
I had to let them go then because there were other events, but a couple came up to me afterward with additional questions. One guy, the one who had asked the "I'm crazy about you" question, came up and thanked me and shook my hand. I was very happy about that. Another one asked if you would say "I love you" before or after you give someone your apartment key. I'm not sure I answered that well. He meant, give them the key, but you don't live with them actually. I just said that if you gave them the key, you've probably already said "I love you." Honestly though, I'm not sure. I hope that answer was OK...? I've met him before and he speaks really good English, so I think my answer was alright. A few people took pictures with me too. One lady (older than a student I think) asked for a picture and thanked me and said it had been a fun class, which was really really wonderful to hear.
Overall, it went so so so well. I wish my Japanese had been better, but considering the nerves and everything, I think it was OK. It seems like they all understood, at least some/most of it. So hopefully that's true.
But something really funny happened afterward.
I have to backtrack to the Halloween party for this. It was Thursday. There was a costume contest (see earlier post). Well, one of the hosts of the event was a tech guy who works at the school. And he was dressed in this maid outfit and I took a picture of it and set it as my desktop background because it's hilarious and awesome (see where this story is going yet?).
Ok, back to Saturday. Like I said, I used my laptop for the presentation. But I had to borrow some cables from the tech people. Well, after the presentation, I was cleaning up. Put all my junk in my bag. Got rid of the movie clips. Closed down power point. Disconnected all the cables. Then the computer guy walks in, looking for said cables. And sees... himself... in a maid outfit... as my desktop background...
The only thing I could think to do was say "Halloween, Halloween!" But he found it so funny that he ran and got his friend and showed him that the foreign student had him as her desktop. One of the Japanese girls who stayed behind to help me pack up even asked if it was my boyfriend! Haha. Again, the only answer I could come up with was "no no! Halloween!" Oh man. I'm probably the creepy stalker gaijin now. But really, how could I guess that HE would be the guy stuck working on Saturday?
...
Ehem... anyway.
I went outside afterward to enjoy the nice weather and try to calm down from the adrenaline. And there were some of my students! Actually, they were the students who had laughed the most. During the class, I had thought they were making fun of me. But they came up to me outside and said they really liked the class and had fun and that my Japanese was good (I don't believe this at all. If you speak ANY Japanese in Japan, they'll always tell you it's wonderful.) I was super flattered. I was even able to stomach the rest of my soda (finally).
After that, I just hung around for a little while. I saw the cheerleaders perform before I left. They were really amazing. I'm not a big fan of cheerleading even. But they were crazy. Flipping and throwing and all kinds of terrifying-seeming tricks.
A quick picture:
After that, I somehow got myself home and even managed to eat a little (at last). I only relaxed for a little bit though because the Japanese student who'd helped me with the presentation invited me to go out with her and her friends to eat.
Again, the nerves hit. It was me... and six Japanese students. Oh man. And I was tired and starving. I did my absolute best, speaking Japanese even when they spoke to me in English. But especially after I had a... ehem... drink and it was getting late, I had a really hard time understanding them. The drink was so worth it though. I'm not a drinker, but I needed that one. And it was really fruity and good too.
The restaurant was awesome. Not expensive and we got a lot of food. They ordered a bunch of stuff and we all shared. Let's see... crab pasta, some sort of soup, salads, pizza (yup, pizza) and this amazingly delicious fried dough thing with rice and cheese and tomato sauce inside. Oh man. And chocolate cake and milk tea after dinner. Amazing.
They asked me a lot of hilarious questions afterward. Birthmark v. pimple v. freckle v. beauty mark was confusing for them. I said I have a lot of freckles and they asked if it's because it's very sunny where I live. So I also had to explain that my ancestors are from Ireland and that's why I'm so pale and have a lot of freckles. And they taught me a very funny word: puri. It means a girl who is trying to be cute. Haha. I like that one. They also asked me about "marathon dating" and "ditzy" and "rastafarian." That last one was funny to explain. I just said it's a lifestyle that is dreadlocks, pot and Bob Marley (no offense rastafarians. That's really the best I've got). As soon as I said Bob Marley they understood.
They were really nice. I felt bad that they had to speak English sometimes because of me, but they were very very cool about it. And they gave me a bracelet.
See how it's tied? I have to leave it like that and not touch it. Even in the shower, I have to leave it. If it falls off naturally, by itself, then I will get my wish. I think for this bracelet, my wish is to be able to understand and speak Japanese better. I feel like I made a lot of progress that day because I had to use it so much, but there's still a lot I need to improve on. Please break soon bracelet!
I walked back home with the student who had helped me with the presentation. She said that I had done really well. She admitted that before she was nervous that she would have to translate for me a lot, so she was really glad that that wasn't the case. I guess that means my Japanese really WAS OK?
Aaaaaand - she said my class had the most people out of all the foreign language classes! 35 students!! And I feel like if the room was bigger, we would have had even more!
She was so nice. She said that seeing students like me trying to speak Japanese encourages her to work on English (even though she's already pretty good at it I think).
I was so happy. I guess it could have been the alcohol (even though it was weak) and having not eaten that day except for dinner and that I was WAY tired, but I was so happy on the walk home. I probably LOOKED drunk, just because I was so happy. And even when I got back, I couldn't sleep for a few hours because I was still riding this high of just being so so happy with how everything had gone. I think that's the happiest I've ever felt before falling asleep. It's still affecting me! I'm exhausted, yet have so much energy because I'm just so happy right now. I never want to go home.
Though the international festival was Saturday, the regular festival was today. It was the clubs selling food and things again. It was mostly aimed at Japanese, but I found a friend there and we spent the day just hanging around. First was fried ice cream. I got green tea flavor <3
I can't even believe how delicious it was. It feels really strange at first because the dough is hot and the ice cream is ice cold. So it's a bit of a shock. But then it's so so so good. Strangely, the two flavors/textures/temperatures mix really well.
We ate them while watching a band play outside. They were amazing! I think they were called... ugh. I forget actually. Sorry. But they were amazing. I wanted to get up and dance, but that would have been too weird . They're playing soon in Osaka. I'd love to go see them if it's possible.
The lead singer (center) had a beautiful voice. Not the greatest in the universe. He wouldn't win points for technical things. It just has that quality of being very light and in tune and natural sounding. And the lead guitarist, right, is really really amazing. He played some sick solos in the middle of otherwise slow, pop-ish songs.
Afterward, we wandered around for a long time. We wanted to wait for the end of the day when the clubs would be looking to get rid of all their extra food and therefore sell it for cheap. In the meantime, we caught the cheerleaders again (he hadn't seen them yesterday), got harassed by about a million people selling things and wandered around inside to see the booths the various clubs had set up. One was aliens! We couldn't resist going in.
It was actually really fun. It was an art exhibit. We got to write our impressions of the art and then draw our own sci-fi/alien thing. I think my friend and I were the only foreigners. I tried to write in Japanese, but my kanji ability is awful so I don't know how I did.
It was a little early still when the clubs started trying to ditch their food. That worked for us. There weren't as many events going on today compared to Saturday, so we were actually a little bored by the time food got cheap. My friend got some sort of rice cake with egg and stuff on it. It looked strange. He said it was a little strange to eat too but liked it. I bought this:
Honestly, I have NO IDEA what it was. But it was really cheap. And I bought it from one of my students from yesterday! When I went up there he even addressed me by name. It was really cool to see someone from class. I'm glad they remember me. Maybe now I'll have 35 Japanese friends ^^
Whatever it was he sold me was weird, but good. It was like, soft, warm dough. The stuff on top is barbeque sauce I think, or something very like it. And inside is rice and maybe lettuce or onion or some other very watery, vegetable-like substance.
I was sad that that was the end of the day, but we had to go back then. I rode on the back of my friend's bike because I had stupidly left my bike home. We see people do this all the time here (sometimes with two guys on one bike too) so we figured it would be fine, but it was really difficult! It was hard for him to get his balance. And the seat was really painful for me. It was very scary to go down hill because I couldn't see around him at all and there was a car coming. But someone I am here and in one piece still.
After all that excitement and fun, tonight is so dull. I think I'm just going to go catch up on my sleep. This has been one of, maybe THE, best weekend of my life. It's so unfun that I have to do homework tomorrow in the seminar house. At least if we had classes I could see some of my students again!
Even though I had been out until 3 a.m. the previous night doing kareoke, I couldn't sleep at all when I got back to the seminar house. That's because I knew I had to wake up in only a few hours and go to the international festival at the university and teach about English phrases for dating - in Japanese! I literally got up every hour or so and just paced. My roommate must hate me now. But I couldn't sleep. Every time I tried to, my nerves kept me awake.
Finally, I just gave up at about 8 a.m. and started getting ready. For one of the first times in my life (excluding cosplay), I spent a lot of time trying to look nice. Chose one of the two nice shirts I brought here even. I had to be at the school at 9:40 a.m. where they told I was going to be "interviewed" during the opening ceremony to promote my language class. So I had to come up with some Japanese on the spot. The girl said she really wanted to get a foreign boyfriend. She asked the crowd if they did too and some people actually raised their hands! Then she asked me what she should do. I tried to say this:
私のクラスに行けば、ぜったいにデートをもしこめます。
I was a little nervous, so it came out a bit choppy, but judging from their reaction, it was at least understandable. I hope it was OK.
That was pretty fun, but really scary too. It agitated my nerves even more. And the worst part was that I had a ton of time to be nervous. That was at about 10 a.m. and my class wasn't until 2:30. So I wandered around the festival a bit just enjoying it. Mostly, it was the school's clubs trying to sell food. They're really aggressive! They will run right up to you and follow you for a few steps and just say anything they think will make you buy what they have.
But there was also a lot of really cool stuff to see. I watched an international dance show, put on by a mix of international and Japanese students. Also saw a bit of the "freaky, funky fashion show." Some guys convinced me to buy a ticket for 100 yen to see some cover bands. It came with a free drink and one of the bands was covering The Back Horn, who are my musical love in life. Overall, it was worth 100 yen. Free drink and the bands were pretty decent too.
Here's a couple pictures from that part of the day:
I mostly took videos, so that's about all I have.
Anyway... after the cover band... it was time for my class. I think I nearly died on the way there. I was SO nervous. I didn't eat anything all that day. Literally. Nothing. And I barely drank any of my free soda from the cover bands. I just couldn't stomach anything at all.
That was the sign outside the door for my classroom. A lot to live up to!
I had 30 minutes to prepare before the class started. I had to set up my laptop so I could do the power point. At first, there weren't many people in the room. But by the time it was 2:30, it was packed! And I mean that literally. Every single desk was gone, and some people were just on regular chairs. A lot of pressure!
So... yeah... I was terrified. I was so glad I hadn't eaten. I spoke all Japanese during the power point. I hope it was understandable. It seems like it was OK. A Japanese student had helped me prepare for the class, and she only stepped in to rephrase what I said a couple times. But I was so nervous that sometimes I just stumbled over even the simple stuff. I must have sounded funny, even when I wasn't stumbling, because a lot of the them were smiling or giggling and sometimes they would look at each other and say "Aw, kawaiisou" (aw, cute). I hope I didn't sound like a complete idiot.
I started with talking about my home. Then I tried explaining the difference between "I like you" and "I love you." I asked what they would say in English if I said "anata ga sukidesu" and they immediately said "I love you." I was really surprised. The Japanese who'd helped me with the presentation said that's what would happen, but I didn't believe it until it did. They had a lot of trouble with like vs. love. I did the best I could to explain that "like" is what you say at first because "love" is too serious.
Then I explained some of the ways to ask for date and the possible responses. Then - bases. lol. This was fun to explain. I said that in America, baseball is also dating vocabulary. It's the stages of a date. First base, kissing. .Second base, more kissing (I couldn't explain "making out'). But then third and home I just said "x-rated" and that I couldn't say them here, which they all found hilarious.
I used a movie clip to show it too. Ferris Bueller's Day Off. There was some slang I had to explain as well. They thought "whore" was really funny, but I'm not sure they got "blow him away." I also had to explain that "blow yourself" and "shit head" were insults. lol. I think they liked the clip though. It's the part where the sister is in the police station talking to the druggie guy. And they start making out. When they started kissing, I heard someone say "first stage" and I was so proud ^^ Maybe they really did learn something?
Next was a game where they just asked each other out in pairs. I asked for some volunteers to demonstrate also. Right away, one guy volunteered himself and his friend. But he did really well so I gave him a prize for being so brave. I also did a little quiz and gave out prizes for that too. The super special question was where am I from? Someone got it right away and I was so happy that I think I jumped a little or clapped my hands because they laughed (not in a mean way).
I made sure they got to ask some questions before my 30 minutes was up. All of the questions were about like vs. love. First one (from the same guy who had volunteered to ask his buddy out) was, which is best: "I like you," "I love you," or "I'm crazy about you"? I said "like" of course and tried to explain that "I'm crazy about you" used the first time you meet someone sounds like... well... a stalker... lol. They all laughed at that.
Last, I asked them for a picture and thanked them in keigo for coming to my class. Look at all my good diligent students ^^ I love them all (even though that's too strong an expression haha):
私のいい学生です。
I had to let them go then because there were other events, but a couple came up to me afterward with additional questions. One guy, the one who had asked the "I'm crazy about you" question, came up and thanked me and shook my hand. I was very happy about that. Another one asked if you would say "I love you" before or after you give someone your apartment key. I'm not sure I answered that well. He meant, give them the key, but you don't live with them actually. I just said that if you gave them the key, you've probably already said "I love you." Honestly though, I'm not sure. I hope that answer was OK...? I've met him before and he speaks really good English, so I think my answer was alright. A few people took pictures with me too. One lady (older than a student I think) asked for a picture and thanked me and said it had been a fun class, which was really really wonderful to hear.
Overall, it went so so so well. I wish my Japanese had been better, but considering the nerves and everything, I think it was OK. It seems like they all understood, at least some/most of it. So hopefully that's true.
But something really funny happened afterward.
I have to backtrack to the Halloween party for this. It was Thursday. There was a costume contest (see earlier post). Well, one of the hosts of the event was a tech guy who works at the school. And he was dressed in this maid outfit and I took a picture of it and set it as my desktop background because it's hilarious and awesome (see where this story is going yet?).
Ok, back to Saturday. Like I said, I used my laptop for the presentation. But I had to borrow some cables from the tech people. Well, after the presentation, I was cleaning up. Put all my junk in my bag. Got rid of the movie clips. Closed down power point. Disconnected all the cables. Then the computer guy walks in, looking for said cables. And sees... himself... in a maid outfit... as my desktop background...
The only thing I could think to do was say "Halloween, Halloween!" But he found it so funny that he ran and got his friend and showed him that the foreign student had him as her desktop. One of the Japanese girls who stayed behind to help me pack up even asked if it was my boyfriend! Haha. Again, the only answer I could come up with was "no no! Halloween!" Oh man. I'm probably the creepy stalker gaijin now. But really, how could I guess that HE would be the guy stuck working on Saturday?
...
Ehem... anyway.
I went outside afterward to enjoy the nice weather and try to calm down from the adrenaline. And there were some of my students! Actually, they were the students who had laughed the most. During the class, I had thought they were making fun of me. But they came up to me outside and said they really liked the class and had fun and that my Japanese was good (I don't believe this at all. If you speak ANY Japanese in Japan, they'll always tell you it's wonderful.) I was super flattered. I was even able to stomach the rest of my soda (finally).
After that, I just hung around for a little while. I saw the cheerleaders perform before I left. They were really amazing. I'm not a big fan of cheerleading even. But they were crazy. Flipping and throwing and all kinds of terrifying-seeming tricks.
A quick picture:
After that, I somehow got myself home and even managed to eat a little (at last). I only relaxed for a little bit though because the Japanese student who'd helped me with the presentation invited me to go out with her and her friends to eat.
Again, the nerves hit. It was me... and six Japanese students. Oh man. And I was tired and starving. I did my absolute best, speaking Japanese even when they spoke to me in English. But especially after I had a... ehem... drink and it was getting late, I had a really hard time understanding them. The drink was so worth it though. I'm not a drinker, but I needed that one. And it was really fruity and good too.
The restaurant was awesome. Not expensive and we got a lot of food. They ordered a bunch of stuff and we all shared. Let's see... crab pasta, some sort of soup, salads, pizza (yup, pizza) and this amazingly delicious fried dough thing with rice and cheese and tomato sauce inside. Oh man. And chocolate cake and milk tea after dinner. Amazing.
They asked me a lot of hilarious questions afterward. Birthmark v. pimple v. freckle v. beauty mark was confusing for them. I said I have a lot of freckles and they asked if it's because it's very sunny where I live. So I also had to explain that my ancestors are from Ireland and that's why I'm so pale and have a lot of freckles. And they taught me a very funny word: puri. It means a girl who is trying to be cute. Haha. I like that one. They also asked me about "marathon dating" and "ditzy" and "rastafarian." That last one was funny to explain. I just said it's a lifestyle that is dreadlocks, pot and Bob Marley (no offense rastafarians. That's really the best I've got). As soon as I said Bob Marley they understood.
They were really nice. I felt bad that they had to speak English sometimes because of me, but they were very very cool about it. And they gave me a bracelet.
See how it's tied? I have to leave it like that and not touch it. Even in the shower, I have to leave it. If it falls off naturally, by itself, then I will get my wish. I think for this bracelet, my wish is to be able to understand and speak Japanese better. I feel like I made a lot of progress that day because I had to use it so much, but there's still a lot I need to improve on. Please break soon bracelet!
I walked back home with the student who had helped me with the presentation. She said that I had done really well. She admitted that before she was nervous that she would have to translate for me a lot, so she was really glad that that wasn't the case. I guess that means my Japanese really WAS OK?
Aaaaaand - she said my class had the most people out of all the foreign language classes! 35 students!! And I feel like if the room was bigger, we would have had even more!
She was so nice. She said that seeing students like me trying to speak Japanese encourages her to work on English (even though she's already pretty good at it I think).
I was so happy. I guess it could have been the alcohol (even though it was weak) and having not eaten that day except for dinner and that I was WAY tired, but I was so happy on the walk home. I probably LOOKED drunk, just because I was so happy. And even when I got back, I couldn't sleep for a few hours because I was still riding this high of just being so so happy with how everything had gone. I think that's the happiest I've ever felt before falling asleep. It's still affecting me! I'm exhausted, yet have so much energy because I'm just so happy right now. I never want to go home.
Though the international festival was Saturday, the regular festival was today. It was the clubs selling food and things again. It was mostly aimed at Japanese, but I found a friend there and we spent the day just hanging around. First was fried ice cream. I got green tea flavor <3
I can't even believe how delicious it was. It feels really strange at first because the dough is hot and the ice cream is ice cold. So it's a bit of a shock. But then it's so so so good. Strangely, the two flavors/textures/temperatures mix really well.
We ate them while watching a band play outside. They were amazing! I think they were called... ugh. I forget actually. Sorry. But they were amazing. I wanted to get up and dance, but that would have been too weird . They're playing soon in Osaka. I'd love to go see them if it's possible.
The lead singer (center) had a beautiful voice. Not the greatest in the universe. He wouldn't win points for technical things. It just has that quality of being very light and in tune and natural sounding. And the lead guitarist, right, is really really amazing. He played some sick solos in the middle of otherwise slow, pop-ish songs.
Afterward, we wandered around for a long time. We wanted to wait for the end of the day when the clubs would be looking to get rid of all their extra food and therefore sell it for cheap. In the meantime, we caught the cheerleaders again (he hadn't seen them yesterday), got harassed by about a million people selling things and wandered around inside to see the booths the various clubs had set up. One was aliens! We couldn't resist going in.
It was actually really fun. It was an art exhibit. We got to write our impressions of the art and then draw our own sci-fi/alien thing. I think my friend and I were the only foreigners. I tried to write in Japanese, but my kanji ability is awful so I don't know how I did.
It was a little early still when the clubs started trying to ditch their food. That worked for us. There weren't as many events going on today compared to Saturday, so we were actually a little bored by the time food got cheap. My friend got some sort of rice cake with egg and stuff on it. It looked strange. He said it was a little strange to eat too but liked it. I bought this:
Honestly, I have NO IDEA what it was. But it was really cheap. And I bought it from one of my students from yesterday! When I went up there he even addressed me by name. It was really cool to see someone from class. I'm glad they remember me. Maybe now I'll have 35 Japanese friends ^^
Whatever it was he sold me was weird, but good. It was like, soft, warm dough. The stuff on top is barbeque sauce I think, or something very like it. And inside is rice and maybe lettuce or onion or some other very watery, vegetable-like substance.
I was sad that that was the end of the day, but we had to go back then. I rode on the back of my friend's bike because I had stupidly left my bike home. We see people do this all the time here (sometimes with two guys on one bike too) so we figured it would be fine, but it was really difficult! It was hard for him to get his balance. And the seat was really painful for me. It was very scary to go down hill because I couldn't see around him at all and there was a car coming. But someone I am here and in one piece still.
After all that excitement and fun, tonight is so dull. I think I'm just going to go catch up on my sleep. This has been one of, maybe THE, best weekend of my life. It's so unfun that I have to do homework tomorrow in the seminar house. At least if we had classes I could see some of my students again!