01/07/10 Inuyama Inn afternoon - After finishing my last entry I took my computer back to my room and talked with my roommates Dorothea and Melinda until it was almost 7. Then we all went to the basement and into this huge room with a tatami floor. It had little tiny tables set up with trays on them on the floor. There was enough for all the students (26 of us because Tana hadn’t arrived yet). There were cushions in front of each tray with a back to it. So it was like a chair with no legs sitting on the floor. We all selected a tray and sat down. I was on an end and could see the whole room from where I was (just how I like it). On my other side was Amanda. There were two older Japanese ladies who were flitting about (it can only be described as such) adding stuff to our trays. There was so much stuff on our trays. All traditional Japanese food so I couldn’t identify a lot of it. There was a jumbo shrimp with its tail and head and everything. It might have been alive, it looked pretty darn natural sitting there on the tray looking up at me. I ripped its head off and ate it. :D I had virtually everything on my tray and there was a lot there. After most people were finished and leaving I started going around to other people’s trays and finishing the stuff they didn’t. Melinda starting doing it too and she called us the vultures of the group. It was humorous. She asked me if I go by Cat and I said I let people call me whatever they want within reason. So she asked if she could call me Simone. I was like, NO. We laughed and finished off a few more edamame pods from abandoned trays and then went back to our room. On the way, Melinda showed me where the Ofuro was (the bath).

Once back in our room we (Melinda, Dorothea, and I) talked some more and then went down to partake in the Ofuro. If you don’t know, the Japanese know how to bathe and it’s supposed to be a real experience. First you wash off and then once you are clean you climb into this huge bubbly Jacuzzi type bath and just boil for a while. It was very relaxing and the facilities were pretty fancy. We stayed in until we felt dizzy and then got out, rinsed off (cuz you’re supposed to according to Melinda). We messed around with a feet massager thing and then Dorothea and I went back up to our room. Melinda stayed to talk to Jayla who had just arrived. Dorothea starting watching a Japanese game show back in our room and it was… strange. Our fourth roommate, Tana arrived shortly after. I know her from the University of Rochester and she finally got in because her flight had been cancelled. I took her to the Ofuro (she probably needed the healing after being in an airport/airplane for so long). Later Dorothea was sitting in our genkan (entry way to our room) talking with her friend (she knew him from her university). I chatted with them. Kyu (that’s his name, that’s how it phonetically sounds anyway) asked about my hair. Then he got some cookies and dried squid he had bought earlier. I tried a cookie but I found it lackluster. I then went to bed. I just shut the screen door separating the genkan from the main part of the room. Melinda and Tana came back soon and went to bed. I fell asleep and was so comfy and warm in my futon. It was my first time sleeping on/in a futon and I didn’t hate it. The blanket was so thick I was steamy all night. It is quite cold in the Inn because in Japan energy conservation is a huge thing. But the ofuro and über blanket kept me plenty warm. I set my little alarm clock for 7 but I woke up at 6:45 in dire need of a toilet. The toilets in Japan are pretty epic by the way. They have all these settings and buttons and the seat is heated. Of course those are the western kind. There is a traditional one in the lobby which is a hole in the floor. I used it, I felt initiated. Back to the story now. Tana and Dorothea were already up. Breakfast was at 7:30. At 7:15 Melinda got up. We all left for breakfast at 7:30ish. It was on the 5^th floor in this huge western style room with a gigantic glittering chandelier with a disco ball in the middle (I took a picture of it, :P). We were ushered to a table by the same two Japanese ladies as the night before. Each place at the round tables had a tray that was full of dishes AND there was also an all you can eat buffet line as well. I ate like a pig and loved every minute of it. My favorite was the dumplings (I had like 11 or 12). THERE WAS MILK AGAIN!!!! :D :D Last breakfast I drank four glasses of moo juice and this time I drank five. :d Milk has only been available during breakfast so far so I make sure to stock up. The Japanese waitresses noticed my hair and flipped out a little. They asked me how long it took me to grow it and I told them 9 years and they were all impressed. XP. I won’t lie, I was eating it up a little. They told me it was kawaii (cute).

After I finished gorging myself on dumplings, miso, fish, and milk Tana and I went back down to our room. I took my computer to the computer room to check my email. Then I went back to the room and gathered my class stuff. Class started at 9. It was another fun-filled 3 hours of intensive Japanese review. I still love Koizumi Sensei though; she is the stereotypical hyper cute Japanese lady. We got two ten minute breaks this time but also got homework unlike yesterday. At noon, class was dismissed and I went to my room. The maids had transformed our room back to daytime again. Yesterday when we returned to our room in the evening they had pushed the low table and legless chairs again a wall and spread out our futon for us. Now the futon were back in the closet and our table was back in place in the middle of the room. I looked around for more of the tea sweets that we had had with our tea set when we first arrived. I didn’t see any so I was a little bummed. They were red bean cakes and I QUITE enjoyed mine.

Everyone else was gearing up to get lunch. They were in and around their rooms, spilling into the hallway, the boys were coming from around the corner, everyone was dropping off books and talking about leaving to go get lunch but I was barely starting to recover from my breakfast binge so I said I would stay. I had some things to get done anyway. Tana asked if I was sure and offered to pay for me if I didn’t have any yen. I said no, no I will just stay and be productive. She offered to bring me back something (she is so sweet! :)). I said no, I didn’t need anything. After they left I organized my stuff b/c it had become very messy and quite strewn about. I usually have trouble functioning if my stuff is unorganized. Then I updated my spending record. Then I studied. While I was studying a maid came by and dropped off another set of toiletries and four more red bean cakes!! I was so happy. Lol. Then I went out and walked around and took pictures around the inn. I found a 1 yen coin on the ground. Which is like a penny but I was still excited. I was like “oooo a yen!!” X3 First bean cakes and now a yen, it was like my birthday and Christmas all over again! :P I went back inside and found four of the students in the lobby. Tana was one of them. I joined them and we swapped accounts of the afternoon. The huge group of them had split up into smaller ones because not everyone could decide on a restaurant. Tana had bought me a strawberry milk at a convenient store. She said, “I wanted to get you food but I didn’t want to get something you didn’t like so I got you milk, because I figured that was fail-proof!!” I thanked her profusely and said I had never had a strawberry milk before. I tried it and she asked how it was. I said it tasted like amoxicillin. “But I love the taste of amoxicillin!!” I said. She laughed. We went back to our room and studied together for awhile. Because she’s had more Japanese than me she explained some grammar structures to me. I love Tana. We made tea. I showed her the new sweets. We ate our own cake and drank a cup of tea each. Then we went to the computer room. I had told her I wanted to set up a blog about my experience studying abroad and she is actually doing the same thing so she showed me how. I posted the two entries I had so far and then started writing this third one. Tana finished and went back upstairs to study some more. I am still sitting here writing this and there is less than an hour before dinner. And I am just starting to get hungry. It is 5:06 and dinner is at 6. Well since I’ve run up to the present I guess this entry is finished. As soon as I’ve experienced some more stuff I’ll write another. 17:07 (Japan time).