O-O-O-O-O-Osaka~~~

December 20: MAGICAL BOX

This blog is going to be all out of order....but I guess that's ok.  I'm pausing in my re-cap of November/December to talk about my day today.  After starting out the morning with kanji class and finding out that I made a 63/100 on that IMPOSSIBLE kanji test I took last week, I wasn't feeling so happy.  But not even kanji class can keep me down for long when Taka's around.  He met me for lunch in Takadanobaba and we had ramen.  I was fully prepared to be made fun of for my failtastic ramen eating, but I was actually able to do it right this time (much to Taka's disappointment haha)! Anyhoo, after we ate, he gave me a late birthday gift (<3) Lots of bath salts that smell aweeeeesoooome....AND....a box.  Not just any kind of box mind you.  A box that makes things disappear.  While we were at the restaurant, Taka put a toothpick in it and demonstrated it for me and I was baffled.  He had to show me how to do it and even then I still wasn't sure exactly how it worked! So needless to say when I got home it provided with amusement for much longer than it probably should have, but I was trying so hard to figure out how it works! I'm still not sure I completely understand..... but anyway on to the .....

*drumroll~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* 

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

勉強 - studying

My brain hurts....

I think I have done more studying today than I have in the entire last month.
Not to mention I am pretty sure I consumed enough coffee to keep me awake for days O_O''
I lost count after 5 cups....
But the important thing is that I got some serious studying done.
I'm pausing for a break now before I go get food and then continue for another couple of hours.

I've been such a good student lately!
I even went to the library and figured out how to check out a book!

The library here really scares me though because it has the bookshelves that move and I have this terrible fear that I'm going to get trapped and squished in between them.

There are still kind people in the world

Ok so I haven't updated in forever.
I really intended to keep a regular blog, but I just don't seem to have the time.
What free time I do have I tend to spend it sleeping or going places.
But today I feel like writing and I have something specific that happened that I wanted to talk about.

Whenever people ask me why I like Japan one of my common responses is "because people in Japan are so kind."  Yesterday, I experienced a perfect example of that.

In my classroom where I have my Japanese language class almost every morning, the desks have a cubby where you can sit books or your papers or whatever.  For me personally, it's a place where I sit my cell phone so I can access it easily to check the time (which is frequently because I'm usually starving and dying to be done with class).  Yesterday when Molly and I got to the cafeteria after we were done with class, I realized that my phone wasn't in my purse and we determined that I most likely left it in the classroom.  Instead of rushing immediately back to the room in a panic, praying that no one had found it and stolen it already, I remained sitting and talking with my friends until 3rd period was almost over.  Then Molly and I made our way back to the classroom and waited for the class that was in there to leave.  When the bell rang, we went in and began looking in the desks, but my phone wasn't in the desk I usually sit in.  As I began to retrace my steps of where all I had gone that day in my head, a guy walks over, reaches into another desk and hands me my cell phone.  This guy had not only walked away from his group of friends to help me, but also stopped in the middle of a phone call to show me where my phone had been moved to.  In America, my phone would have more than likely been gone long before I ever even realized it was missing.  And I -highly- doubt it ever would have been hand delivered back to me when I went looking for it even if it was still there.  That guy probably has no idea just how much he made my day.

I realize that there are good and bad people everywhere, but I feel like in general people in Japan just care more.  I've seen a woman drop her wallet as she was getting off a train and a man pick it up and chase her down just to give it back to her.  In the cafeteria everyone finds a seat and then leaves their purse or bookbag there to hold their seat while they walk away to go buy food without fear of someone stealing it.  There can be no one sitting at a table, but if there is a single folder sitting in the middle of it no one will sit there because it is claimed already.  In the dining halls at UGA you would come back to find your folder, purse, bag, whatever shoved off to the side and four people sitting at the table you were hoping to save.

There have been several times since I got here that I have been lost or confused about how to do something and had a complete stranger come up and, despite language barriers, attempt to help me.  It amazes and inspires me every time.  And I just wanted to share with everyone one of the many reasons I love this country so very much.

November 20th

We went on a "Tour of Shitamachi" with Kenji.  Shitamachi is the area we live in. Kenji and one of his previous teachers took us around and showed us lots of fun things around I-House like a puppet museum, a traditional sake shop, Nezu Shrine, and the cemetery where Yoshinobu Tokogawa is buried.  My favorites were the shrine and the cemetery~  The Shrine was gorgeous and Molly and I had fun running around looking at the koi fish and the turtles haha  When you go to the shrine you go to the alter, throw in a coin, clap, then say a prayer, which I got to do :)  We also got to run through the red gates! Poor Kenji hit his head on them and, despite our concern, Molly and I couldn't help but laugh.  I'll post a video below~  When we went to the cemetery, we all got into an in-depth conversation about why Japan would be the safest place to be during a zombie apocalypse because everyone is cremated here so there are no bodies to become zombies.  This theory held up great until Kenji informed us that during the time of the Samurai bodies were buried and we realized we would have to fight samurai zombies... haha

 

November 18th

This day started off with me and Molly being even more tired than usual, so for some reason we thought it would be a good idea for us to both drink two coffees before class..... Needless to say we will never make that mistake again.  We were so hyped up through the entire class, which resulted in a tower of coffee cans on our desk that our teacher questioned at one point, but never actually got mad at us for, as well as some interesting additions to our Japanese books.  That night, we had a "Takoyaki Party" in Eddie's room (Takoyaki are balls of cooked dough with octopus inside them).  Eddie did a great job cooking and I had a GREAT time at this party.  We had a giant tickle fight, taught my boys how to dance the macarena (for the record any time I refer to 'my boys' in this blog it means Daiki, Naoki, Takuto, and Masaki), had a chance to hang out with Akira again for the first time since the very first big I-House party, met Daiki's friend Kazuya, and watched creepy Japanese ghost movies.

November 16th

This was a REALLY rough day for me.  I won't go into details because it just plain sucked.  I'll just leave it at some things didn't work out the I had hoped and I was really upset.  However~ because I am blessed with some fantastic friends and the #1 roommate of all time, it turned into a pretty great day.  Molly went out and bought me a big chocolate birthday cake then Nick, Trevor, Eddie, and Alex came over to help eat it~  Nick even came in his Pooh PJs so I could cuddle with Pooh Bear and feel better \(^_^)/ We had fun and it made me feel so much better!

Pooh bear cuddles!

awesome yummy cake that Molly bought me in Nippori