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Nov. 25th, 2008 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tammaiyaWhoooo, you guyyys, it's fucking cold. .___. But anyway, today is the last day of my week-long break, so that probably means it's high time for an update.
This week has been, as I'm sure I've mentioned more than enough times, Gaigo-Sai, my university's cultural festival. It's apparently long even by Japanese university standards-- I am told that usually they last for three days, but Gaigo-Sai went for 5 (Thursday to Monday) with a day off classes on either side for preparation and clean up.
Despite having a week with no class, I've been surprisingly busy-- Wednesday I had work in the evening as per usual (and I actually posted on Wednesday night, so that's all that needs saying about that), Thursday I spent the afternoon down at the festival hanging out with some fellow exchange students and the evening at the dog cafe with Kanako and Shinobu, Friday I went out for lunch with the Fuchuu English Club and then met up with Eri and Madoka for more perusal of the festival and general hanging out, Saturday I had work in the morning at Lingua House and then Ikebukuro in the evening (with interlude for lunch at the festival), Sunday I had work at the Wada's... and Monday I WAS going to spend the day at the festival, but then it was cold and rainy and gross and I didn't want to get out of my nice warm PJ/blanket ball, so I stayed in and alternated between kanji, internet surfing, PSP and DS. Today occurred in much the same vein, except with blue skies until it was starting to get dark (and THEN it rained) and me dragging my lazy carcus out to do food shopping before I starved. XD;
This is the cliffnotes version, there's a slightly more explanatory edition under the cut. (But no photos of the gaigosai. I was intending to take them, but most of the time I was there I was pretty rushed and then I didn't end up going on Monday, which was when I thought I'd be able to take my time.)
Thursday: Had a lazy morning; went down briefly at around midday for morning tea, which yielded gyoza from the Aikidou club's stall, and then eventually headed back in the afternoon for lunch, whenceupon it proceeded to get VERY FUCKING COLD. I felt rather cheated; I'd toted along all the paraphenalia-- gloves, beanie, etc-- in the morning and had been rather hot, so I didn't bother in the afternoon and IT WAS FREEZING WHAT. Anyway, ran into Matt, who was with Jenny from SOAS (Dawn's uni) and Jacqui from Uni of Albany (Debbie and Brendan's uni). Spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with them eating lots of unhealthy but delicious international foodstuffs-- empanadas from Spain, kebab from... I don't remember, but it was the first lamb I've had since getting here, coconut cookies from Laos, something called a brik from Saudi Arabia. Mmm, food. Anyhoo, I spent most of the time hanging with Jacqui, who's really awesome-- after the Spanish (she had a chocolate covered thing which I've forgotten the name of, but was apparently delicious but messy) we went back to the dorm for hand washing and me to grab some extra layers.
After I was sufficiently stuffed, I headed back to my dorm to chill for an hour or so (or rather, NOT chill), then at 6 went back down to meet Kanako and Shinobu-- my students from the Lingua House who are studying at the police academy next to my uni. The stalls at the gaigosai were just closing up, which was a bit of a pity, but I shared my coconut cookies and we went to go eat dinner at the dog cafe. It was too early for the regulars except Tou-chan, who runs the place, but I really enjoyed it. My food was good, and it was fun to be able to sit down and spend some time with Shinobu and Kanako-- they're both great to talk to, and I always really enjoy my lessons with them.
Friday: Earlier in the week I'd gotten a text from Eri-- she and Madoka are the girls who I met randomly on campus way back in first semester who took Brendan and Debbie and I to Odaiba. We were going to do something in the holidays, but they were working in Nagano and after I got back from travelling with my parents, I was busy and forgot to get in touch, so we hadn't actually seen each other in a while. Anyway, she and Madoka were wondering if I was free to hang out, so I told them about the festival. The only day that really worked for all of us was the Friday-- I warned them that I had the lunch in Shiraitodai, but Eri said that was fine and they didn't mind, so we decided to aim for around 4 and I said I'd call if I was going to be late.
Anyway, the group meeting to go to the lunch gathered at the edge of my campus at 1 and we walked from there with Watanabe-san from the club. I was a little surprised, I thought we were going to take the train, but it wasn't really that far, maybe 20 or 30 minutes in the direction of the Lingua House. The weather was pleasant, actually rather warm, and it was a nice walk; I spent most of it talking to a German lady who's at TUFS for 2 years as a visiting fellow specialising in African languages.
The lunch was ENORMOUS. Enormous and DELICIOUS. I took of the table before we started eating-- although not all of it, there was a rice omelette thing and mushroom rice and dessert as well. Mmmm. I feel really spoiled that I was invited to attend something like that, because I really enjoyed the conversation (I was sitting near the German lady, three really lovely Japanese ladies about my mum's age, and their English teacher-- who'd been living in Japan 20 years but was originally from Colorado), I ate myself silly on delicious homemade traditional food (... except for the Krispy Kreme, apple pie and jelly for dessert), and they didn't ask for any contribution either.
... You know, it was probably just as well I walked there and back. *cough*
So by the time I got back it was about 5pm. I did ring Eri and Madoka to tell them-- they went around the festival trying things while waiting for me to get back-- and then we hung out around the festival until it closed, although I didn't buy anything because I was still pretty stuffed. When everything was shutting down, I figured it would be a waste if we didn't spend a bit more time together, so I invited them back to the dorm. A little embarrassingly messy, although not at its worst, and it's pretty small as always, but I showed them an ep of Avatar (since they want to practice their English)-- they giggled every time Appa showed up because he looks like the cat-bus from Totoro. XD -- and then we stuffed around with the kanji drill programme on my DS. Level 1 is a vicious, vicious bitch that even Eri and Madoka got like, 80% wrong. XDDD
Saturday: Work in the morning-- turned out to be Yui-chan's last lesson, because she has something on for her primary school this Saturday and they were finishing this month. Samishii. :( Then I went back to campus to get some downtime in my room and idle around the festival for a bit-- I was intending to visit sadou, since an acquintance asked, but it was 450 yen and I got caught up doing other stuff and in the end I didn't go. I DID eat toufu donuts from the TOFSIA stall, which were surprisingly delicious and the closest thing I've had to donuts from home. O.o; I also ate... freak, the only spelling I have is Japanese. Horshaw? And borzu from the Monogolian stall which were DELICIOUS, omg, A+++. This is by no means the only things I ate over the course of the festival, btw, these are just the things that particularly stick in mind.
There was also super super excellent custard tart from Portugal. The base was a short pastry, unlike the flakey sort you usually get with Chinese custard tarts.
Wait, where was I? Oh yes, distracted by food. So yeah, work in the morning, festival in the afternoon, out to Ikebukuro to meet![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ontogenesis in the evening. :)
Sunday: Had work in Shimokita with the Wadas at 5, which means 4pm train. Which meant some time to catch my breath, at least a little, and also try some more disgustingly unhealthy but DELICIOUS foodstuffs. Being, in this case, chocolate crepe, chocolate moffles (mochi cooked in a waffle iron with chocolate pressed inside and chocolate syrup drizzled on top), French toast with chocolate syrup and ice-cream-- OKAY, YES, I REALISE I MIGHT HAVE A SLIGHT FIXATION HERE. Although I missed out on eating the chocolate gateux. *wistful* There was also coconut noodle soup from the Laos stall. I was a bit suspicious of the spiciness, but the coconut milk balanced it out and I actually rather liked it.
... I have GOT to stop talking about food.
Anyway, work was good, Saki and Mayuka both had a lot of work to do and my blood-sugar got a bit high, but it was all fine. Dinner was delicious as usual-- I conclude that I really like daikon-- ... wait, why am I talking about food again? You'd think I was starving, but I'm actually fairly content. Huh. Anyway, Mayuka didn't do so well on her last test so I was talking to her parents about it after dinner. It seems to be a lack of proper revision, so I told her to make up some vocab lists before I see her again on Thursday. If she doesn't do it (she IS only 9) I'll make sure she gets them done then. Ah well.
Monday: I've been having a really good week, but I'm essentially an introvert-- I get drained by going out and doing things all the time, and I'd been running around non-stop since Tuesday, when I was still getting over the gastro (although, good timing getting back to real food in time for the festival, me!). So I HAD been planning to spend Monday at least partially at the festival eating things I hadn't eaten yet, watching the belly dancing, etc, but it was cold and rainy and I was tired and in the end I stayed in my room all day alternating between Prof. Layton on the DS, Radiant Mythology on the PSP, actual proper kanji study (I've been a bit negligent with it for me so far this semester, but I'm properly caught up now) and general internet surfing. I didn't go out at all-- I had fruit for lunch and cooked spaghetti for dinner so I wouldn't have to. In the end I was a little regretful about missing the last day of the festival, but I think I needed it. Plus I got a fair amount of study done, which is good.
... Although I still haven't started on my ANU research paper ajskfljasklfsd crap.
Today: More of the same. Was supposed to go out to Hakone, as mentioned above, but again, kind of glad in some ways I didn't. I think I needed these two days to recuperate. Plus, I got some more kanji study done, did some food shopping, laundered my towels, and finally washed my hair. It's nice to be clean and sweet-smelling again! It's been really hard to work up the enthusiasm to wash my hair with the weather this cold. :<
Okay, there is more to come in the form of hilarious anecdotes and completely geeky conversations but this is getting long so I think I'll put the geeky half in a new entry.
Also, have some more photos. Mostly of Ikebukuro, but there's one of the Fuchuu English Club lunch too.
... Okay, or NOT, since they won't upload. Maybe some other time.
PS: Wow, this song is really fucked up, I never properly listened all the way through before!
This week has been, as I'm sure I've mentioned more than enough times, Gaigo-Sai, my university's cultural festival. It's apparently long even by Japanese university standards-- I am told that usually they last for three days, but Gaigo-Sai went for 5 (Thursday to Monday) with a day off classes on either side for preparation and clean up.
Despite having a week with no class, I've been surprisingly busy-- Wednesday I had work in the evening as per usual (and I actually posted on Wednesday night, so that's all that needs saying about that), Thursday I spent the afternoon down at the festival hanging out with some fellow exchange students and the evening at the dog cafe with Kanako and Shinobu, Friday I went out for lunch with the Fuchuu English Club and then met up with Eri and Madoka for more perusal of the festival and general hanging out, Saturday I had work in the morning at Lingua House and then Ikebukuro in the evening (with interlude for lunch at the festival), Sunday I had work at the Wada's... and Monday I WAS going to spend the day at the festival, but then it was cold and rainy and gross and I didn't want to get out of my nice warm PJ/blanket ball, so I stayed in and alternated between kanji, internet surfing, PSP and DS. Today occurred in much the same vein, except with blue skies until it was starting to get dark (and THEN it rained) and me dragging my lazy carcus out to do food shopping before I starved. XD;
This is the cliffnotes version, there's a slightly more explanatory edition under the cut. (But no photos of the gaigosai. I was intending to take them, but most of the time I was there I was pretty rushed and then I didn't end up going on Monday, which was when I thought I'd be able to take my time.)
Thursday: Had a lazy morning; went down briefly at around midday for morning tea, which yielded gyoza from the Aikidou club's stall, and then eventually headed back in the afternoon for lunch, whenceupon it proceeded to get VERY FUCKING COLD. I felt rather cheated; I'd toted along all the paraphenalia-- gloves, beanie, etc-- in the morning and had been rather hot, so I didn't bother in the afternoon and IT WAS FREEZING WHAT. Anyway, ran into Matt, who was with Jenny from SOAS (Dawn's uni) and Jacqui from Uni of Albany (Debbie and Brendan's uni). Spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with them eating lots of unhealthy but delicious international foodstuffs-- empanadas from Spain, kebab from... I don't remember, but it was the first lamb I've had since getting here, coconut cookies from Laos, something called a brik from Saudi Arabia. Mmm, food. Anyhoo, I spent most of the time hanging with Jacqui, who's really awesome-- after the Spanish (she had a chocolate covered thing which I've forgotten the name of, but was apparently delicious but messy) we went back to the dorm for hand washing and me to grab some extra layers.
After I was sufficiently stuffed, I headed back to my dorm to chill for an hour or so (or rather, NOT chill), then at 6 went back down to meet Kanako and Shinobu-- my students from the Lingua House who are studying at the police academy next to my uni. The stalls at the gaigosai were just closing up, which was a bit of a pity, but I shared my coconut cookies and we went to go eat dinner at the dog cafe. It was too early for the regulars except Tou-chan, who runs the place, but I really enjoyed it. My food was good, and it was fun to be able to sit down and spend some time with Shinobu and Kanako-- they're both great to talk to, and I always really enjoy my lessons with them.
Friday: Earlier in the week I'd gotten a text from Eri-- she and Madoka are the girls who I met randomly on campus way back in first semester who took Brendan and Debbie and I to Odaiba. We were going to do something in the holidays, but they were working in Nagano and after I got back from travelling with my parents, I was busy and forgot to get in touch, so we hadn't actually seen each other in a while. Anyway, she and Madoka were wondering if I was free to hang out, so I told them about the festival. The only day that really worked for all of us was the Friday-- I warned them that I had the lunch in Shiraitodai, but Eri said that was fine and they didn't mind, so we decided to aim for around 4 and I said I'd call if I was going to be late.
Anyway, the group meeting to go to the lunch gathered at the edge of my campus at 1 and we walked from there with Watanabe-san from the club. I was a little surprised, I thought we were going to take the train, but it wasn't really that far, maybe 20 or 30 minutes in the direction of the Lingua House. The weather was pleasant, actually rather warm, and it was a nice walk; I spent most of it talking to a German lady who's at TUFS for 2 years as a visiting fellow specialising in African languages.
The lunch was ENORMOUS. Enormous and DELICIOUS. I took of the table before we started eating-- although not all of it, there was a rice omelette thing and mushroom rice and dessert as well. Mmmm. I feel really spoiled that I was invited to attend something like that, because I really enjoyed the conversation (I was sitting near the German lady, three really lovely Japanese ladies about my mum's age, and their English teacher-- who'd been living in Japan 20 years but was originally from Colorado), I ate myself silly on delicious homemade traditional food (... except for the Krispy Kreme, apple pie and jelly for dessert), and they didn't ask for any contribution either.
... You know, it was probably just as well I walked there and back. *cough*
So by the time I got back it was about 5pm. I did ring Eri and Madoka to tell them-- they went around the festival trying things while waiting for me to get back-- and then we hung out around the festival until it closed, although I didn't buy anything because I was still pretty stuffed. When everything was shutting down, I figured it would be a waste if we didn't spend a bit more time together, so I invited them back to the dorm. A little embarrassingly messy, although not at its worst, and it's pretty small as always, but I showed them an ep of Avatar (since they want to practice their English)-- they giggled every time Appa showed up because he looks like the cat-bus from Totoro. XD -- and then we stuffed around with the kanji drill programme on my DS. Level 1 is a vicious, vicious bitch that even Eri and Madoka got like, 80% wrong. XDDD
Saturday: Work in the morning-- turned out to be Yui-chan's last lesson, because she has something on for her primary school this Saturday and they were finishing this month. Samishii. :( Then I went back to campus to get some downtime in my room and idle around the festival for a bit-- I was intending to visit sadou, since an acquintance asked, but it was 450 yen and I got caught up doing other stuff and in the end I didn't go. I DID eat toufu donuts from the TOFSIA stall, which were surprisingly delicious and the closest thing I've had to donuts from home. O.o; I also ate... freak, the only spelling I have is Japanese. Horshaw? And borzu from the Monogolian stall which were DELICIOUS, omg, A+++. This is by no means the only things I ate over the course of the festival, btw, these are just the things that particularly stick in mind.
There was also super super excellent custard tart from Portugal. The base was a short pastry, unlike the flakey sort you usually get with Chinese custard tarts.
Wait, where was I? Oh yes, distracted by food. So yeah, work in the morning, festival in the afternoon, out to Ikebukuro to meet
ontogenesis in the evening. :)Sunday: Had work in Shimokita with the Wadas at 5, which means 4pm train. Which meant some time to catch my breath, at least a little, and also try some more disgustingly unhealthy but DELICIOUS foodstuffs. Being, in this case, chocolate crepe, chocolate moffles (mochi cooked in a waffle iron with chocolate pressed inside and chocolate syrup drizzled on top), French toast with chocolate syrup and ice-cream-- OKAY, YES, I REALISE I MIGHT HAVE A SLIGHT FIXATION HERE. Although I missed out on eating the chocolate gateux. *wistful* There was also coconut noodle soup from the Laos stall. I was a bit suspicious of the spiciness, but the coconut milk balanced it out and I actually rather liked it.
... I have GOT to stop talking about food.
Anyway, work was good, Saki and Mayuka both had a lot of work to do and my blood-sugar got a bit high, but it was all fine. Dinner was delicious as usual-- I conclude that I really like daikon-- ... wait, why am I talking about food again? You'd think I was starving, but I'm actually fairly content. Huh. Anyway, Mayuka didn't do so well on her last test so I was talking to her parents about it after dinner. It seems to be a lack of proper revision, so I told her to make up some vocab lists before I see her again on Thursday. If she doesn't do it (she IS only 9) I'll make sure she gets them done then. Ah well.
Monday: I've been having a really good week, but I'm essentially an introvert-- I get drained by going out and doing things all the time, and I'd been running around non-stop since Tuesday, when I was still getting over the gastro (although, good timing getting back to real food in time for the festival, me!). So I HAD been planning to spend Monday at least partially at the festival eating things I hadn't eaten yet, watching the belly dancing, etc, but it was cold and rainy and I was tired and in the end I stayed in my room all day alternating between Prof. Layton on the DS, Radiant Mythology on the PSP, actual proper kanji study (I've been a bit negligent with it for me so far this semester, but I'm properly caught up now) and general internet surfing. I didn't go out at all-- I had fruit for lunch and cooked spaghetti for dinner so I wouldn't have to. In the end I was a little regretful about missing the last day of the festival, but I think I needed it. Plus I got a fair amount of study done, which is good.
... Although I still haven't started on my ANU research paper ajskfljasklfsd crap.
Today: More of the same. Was supposed to go out to Hakone, as mentioned above, but again, kind of glad in some ways I didn't. I think I needed these two days to recuperate. Plus, I got some more kanji study done, did some food shopping, laundered my towels, and finally washed my hair. It's nice to be clean and sweet-smelling again! It's been really hard to work up the enthusiasm to wash my hair with the weather this cold. :<
Okay, there is more to come in the form of hilarious anecdotes and completely geeky conversations but this is getting long so I think I'll put the geeky half in a new entry.
Also, have some more photos. Mostly of Ikebukuro, but there's one of the Fuchuu English Club lunch too.
... Okay, or NOT, since they won't upload. Maybe some other time.
PS: Wow, this song is really fucked up, I never properly listened all the way through before!
