3/11

My best friend Kim is going home early this semester. We've become quite the duo here and I'm going to miss her. So today we decided to spend the last few weeks together doing all-sorts of crazy (but  legal) fun. Today we finally baked a cake to have for cake and tea time. As usual I was late...and we we're having it at my apartment. So Kim rings my door bell, and I had just woken up and didn't have any milk for the cake.  Kim ran to the store while I cleaned and then we baked the cake while I did laundry. We always joke that we are like an old married couple and Kim is the "man". I think that me sending her to the store for milk might add to it. It was nice to spend the day, just talking and eating our home made and iced cake. We had milk tea instead of actual tea.

3/4

I never realized how hard patty cake was as a child. It was so ridiculous. Loren (the British rep.) was saying the words over the mike and then Kim and I were one pair doing it, while Markeith and Keith were the other. At first Loren started out too fast, and off rhythm (she had never actually heard or done patty cake before). Then the second time we just messed up. In the end we just laughed along with the audience.  Andre`s French game went well and this time the kids actually ran. The Chinese game was basically that one person was the Robin (it might have been another type of bird) and one person is the Chicken and everyone else are the chicks. The chicks all line up behind the chicken and then the robin tries to get past the chicken to snag a chick. It was a lot of fun but dangerous on the slick wood floors. The Russian cat and mouse game was a little confusing. There are a certain number of mice and cats (marked by a little tail) and then everyone else is in a circle. The mice are inside the circle and the cats are outside. The cats try to catch the mice and the mice try to steal the cat's tails. Cats are not allowed inside the circle.  All of the foreigners and a couple of the volunteers were the cats and the kids were all mice. I was thinking that it would be ok. No. Two seconds into the game my tail is gone and I have no idea what to do. And they were like "Go! catch the mice!" And I went to go do so, but then I saw about seven or eight kids in a group and I got scared and I just started running from them. It was a bit scary. All in all it was lots of fun. Then we went to go and man the stations for the next couple of hours while the kids played. I was so tired by the end of it. 

3/3

Today was rehearsal for our guest appearance at the Children's Day festival being hosted at NUAS. There were six countries being represented; England （イギリス） , France（フランス）, Nigeria（ニィジェリア）, Russia（ロシャ）, China （中国・ちゅうごく) and America（アメリカ）for the kids. The entire gymnasium had been decorated by the NUAS student volunteers and the staff at the Children's Care center. They divided the room into five parts with Europe (England, Russia, France, and Nigeria) on one wall, America on the opposite, China at the back wall, a middle station for flag making, and the entrance desk just past the doors. Each child got a little passport as they entered and after the presentation they would go to each country and receive a stamp after they played a game there.

Each country had at least one person representing them and for our presentation we where to show a game or song from that country.  So from France we played a game un, duex, trois, soleil (one , two, three, sun), that was like red light green light except with numbers. We played with the volunteers. It was funny because all of the foreigners would run and get out quickly. But the Japanese students just sort of shuffled forward until someone made it. Nigeria had a song (can't remember the name of it), China's game was a chicken protection game, and Russia had a cat and mouse game. England joined forces with America and we were supposed to do patty cake.

Practice took about three hours and then we all just went home. At about 7pm Kim came over to my room and we ended up practicing patty cake over and over again and trying to remember our lines (we had to say a short little speech about America in Japanese) for the next day.  

 2/24

Today is my Birthday!!! I just turned twenty and I decided to go get lost in Sakae. Actually, I've been lost there before just not in that particular part of Sakae. Kim and Nana went with me to the Sakae station and we visited Oasis 21, which is a great indoor/outdoor shopping center. I was going to go shoe shopping but as I approached the store I had flash-backs of the last time I went and the sales clerk trying to help me get on the shoe...so we skipped that part. But we did go up to the sky deck.

After we left , I wanted to just walk to Ozu instead of taking the train (it's about 2 mins between stops on the Meijo line so in reality not very far). We had never walked there but we knew what direction it was in. On the way we stopped in at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. It looked like an authentic Chinese restaurant the signs were in Chinese and our waiters only spoke Chinese and a little bit of Japanese. Naturally we were excited to try the food. Yeah... big mistake. Nana order a crab and egg drop soup type dish that was a bit bland but still good. I ordered the fired shrimp because you can verify that it's seafood and they are usually always edible. And the Kim wanted to order this one dish. The menus were in Japanese and Chinese with pictures but we couldn't read the kanji for it. Three times I say "That looks like liver." "hey Kim, don't you hate live and I always end up eating your liver at Kizuna's" "Cause that really looks like liver and pepers and onions." Nana says "I think its whale." So Kim orders it and guess what? It was liver. I actually physically face-palmed myself when it came. Luckily, it was rally cheap and my shrimp where good.

After the food we went walking again and managed to find the Art Museum, the Space Dome Museum, a cool Shinto shrine, a cafe named KumaCafe (bear cafe), a large park, and Loft (a department store of epic proportions).  We had to have walked for a good two hours. And we were officially lost (which means that everyone present had absolutely no idea where we were). I was getting tired and we where standing at a light waiting to cross the street. Suddenly, I remembered what Yuki had said to me once. "If you're ever lost ask a Japanese man because they are more likely to help you." So I turned and saw a Japanese man stand slightly ahead of me and off to the side. EUREKA! I'll just go ask this kind fellow. So I very politely went up to him "Ano Sumimasen...(excuse me)" and then he turned around. I could have kicked myself. He looked like he was out of a Yakuza businessmen's lunch or something. Leave it to me to find the one odd person in a crowd full of parents and young girls and other random normal looking people. But in for a penny in for a pound. So I asked how to get to Ozu. He was like. "Oh, that's far well I'll just show you." My heart stopped. I just started frantically praying that he wasn't trying to lead us off somewhere to kill us and sell our organs on the black market. I turned to look at Kim and Nana and they were both giving me a this-is-the-guy-you-picked look. In the end we followed him anyway and he was perfectly nice. He took us to the next train station and then told us how to get to Ozu from there. No killer instincts or surprise kidnappings. Although he did take us the long way around because we ended up back where we had been before. So basically instead of telling us to go back up the street we had come from and going straight, he took us in a circle and then told us to make a left.

Once we made it to Ozu we  went and did purikuri and failed at it the first time. We have one shot were no one got in the frame and others where at least one of us is look all crazy. So we did it a second time and had much better results. We left with very sore feet and a promise to come and visit all of the cool place that we had found. All in all, it was a good birthday.

2/20

On our last adventure to the hospital we actually had the chance to see more of downtown Nisshin. Today we decided to go exploring and see what else there is beyond the shadow of our territory. We found the Public Library with an adorable little hallway. After finishing our self-appointed tour of the library we went to go and find the Orange House. It's actually this random shop that we passed one night (it was closed) while we were lost. The only thing interesting about it was that it was named the Orange House but it's actually white. We didn't know exactly where it was again we were lost and following directions that consisted of "japansesthatIreallycan'tunderstandbecauseyou'respeakingtoofast - go straight - morejapanesegoingovermyhead and turn left. I'm really surprised that we made it back from that one. But regardless we did in fact make it back to the Orange House, we originally thought it was a cafe but it turned out to be a hair salon. Then we found a hot springs bathhouse. It looked a bit like a castle. We didn't have the necessary supplies (towels, soap etc) so we again skipped it. Kim did a funny because of it though. We were just standing inside the entryway, trying to figure out how to leave without looking like stupid gaijin who didn't understand. (In the end we decided on the classic pretend-to-text-a-friend-then-make-loud-protesting-noises-and-finally-walk-away-talking-quickly-and-gesturing. ) And she turns to me and says "I just realized that we're had a bath together." In Tohoku for volunteer work, we used a public bath together (it was a bit weird). The really funny thing was we went up almost five months ago. I ended up laughing hysterically at her as we rode off and I almost ran off into traffic.

Kim has a bit of a weird interest in parks (and ok I admit it, she's starting to convert me too). Therefore when we found one we decided to go play like we were in grade school again. I think we made a dad who was playing with his kids nervous and then we made some grade school kids angry when we parked our bikes the way of their game (we had parked before they got there and we moved them when we realized). Oh, we were lost again at this point but tired so we just kept sitting there talking and getting looked at by passersby and one housewife from window. It was kind of funny. In the end, we biked around trying to find our way back and stopped at three different parks to play during the duration. We really should invest in a batman spotlight to light our way back to proxy considering how often we get lost.

2/14

Last night I was struck with a wave of inspiration and decided to write a short story at three am. Oh, Japan how you make me do crazy thing at odd times. But it did lead to me studying more Japanese...there is progress and perchance a hint of method to this madness.

It is Valentine's day in Japan. Scary. Anyone who lives in America (or has visited during the silly season) knows that about a good month in advance stores start selling holiday themed items starting with Halloween and running through New Years. It's especially  bad around Christmas time. Well in Japan, there isn't a really big hoop-la over Christmas. Instead they have Valentine's day explosions. Chocolate is everywhere and all you see are adorable things to buy. And Japan is the King of Cute so you just have to buy it. There was only one solution when faced with the anxiety of having to buy chocolates for friends, and making sure that is wasn't 'giri' (obligation) chocolate instead of 'tomo'(friend) or worse 'honmei' (literately home-made but for romantic interests)... hiding shamelessly. I went out the day before and got some oranges that I gave to Kim (no wrong message that way) and then I ignored everyone else. Although Nana did give me some chocolates later. So I'll have to get her something for white day.  

2/6

Today, I finally had the chance to see the Nisshin City hospital. I must say that if you are ever here and actually need a doctor, call an ambulance. （991 - kyukyusha [qu-qu-sh-a] is the word for ambulance so we always joke that it's called that because its the sound of a gun and being shot which is why you need the ambulance. lame word pun. haha) The hospital is really, really far from where I live at, however Kim and I decided to be cheap and bike there. Just to clarify Kim was the one who needed a visit not me. So we start biking and I have no idea where we are going. Turns out neither does Kim really, even though she had already been once earlier in the semester. We rode for almost an hour and a half to find to hospital. Once we turn into the parking lot Kim turns to me and says "You know, if I'm well enough to bike here I probably don't need to be here. Let's go now." Naturally, I dragged her inside anyway. Then we walk up to the reception desk and the man asks Kim why she was there in Japanese. Kim just says "Kyo...(today)' and stares at him. At this point I'm fighting so hard not to just die laughing that I can't even try to help the poor guy. In the end he called someone over to help. Who informed us that Kim's doctor wasn't in and that we needed to return in about two hours. 

We walked back out and went looking for some place to wait at. In the end we found an adorable little cafe to sit and wait at. (Time for my daily dumb Japanese moment) So I asked the lady who worked there if I could take a picture. But instead of Shashin (photo) I said (Zashin) which sounds a lot like (Zasshi) which means magazine. So we spent a few moment staring at each other in confusion until I realized what I had said. The food was so good and they didn't try to rush us out when we were finished eating. Once it was time for Kim's appointment we headed back to the hospital. We waited for her to be called. Once she was summoned, Kim disappeared for what felt like forever. I ended up going to sleep in the VERY uncomfortable chairs, not advisable. She was prescribed some medication and we picked it up from the Pharmacy ( conveniently located across the parking lot from the hospital) and biked back home. So tired. Sleep now.