When we (Kai san and I) got off at Ozone train station, we then took the subway to Nagoya Daigaku and walked to our classroom for Japanese class. The classroom is different everyday and we are in class from 9:20 until 12:35 most days. Wednesday we only go until 11 or so and Thursdays start an hour later but for the most part over 3 hours in class with one 15-minute break. There are three or four sections, which usually means multiple classroom changes and three instructors. The class is split into two groups after the second section of time. I am in group two. Group two always moves to another room while spoiled little group ones get to stay put. Ok I sound like a horrible, lazy person there but try to imagine this. I have just come from a killer commute suffocating under my layers of clothes, which I need because it’s cold in the mornings. I struggle out of the layers I can remove (gotta leave some stuff on you know) and then have those layers and my bag and papers and folders and pencil to arrange around me in a TINY desk that is almost if not actually touching the desk next to it on both sides. I am finally settled and then group two has to move to another room. I bang my limbs on desks, chairs, and people, trying to get out and not drop all my crap that I have to somehow arrange in my arms. Sometimes the different room is in a different BUILDING. I do not like the mechanics of this at all. So that is why I envy the sections ones because they get to move one less time. I know I complain about it but despite it all I really do like the class and riding the trains and I like walking if I don’t have to carry anything but I do not bear up well under a heavy load; it makes me cranky. But now, back to my day.
We arrived in the class almost an hour early, so I was eager to do homework (not today’s of course). However, I could not b/c I spent all of the extra time trying to log into the computer. I forgot my password. You remember (if you read that entry that is), the HEINOUS password that had to be so random. I forgot to write it down and I remember all the digits I used but I can’t remember the order… I had my notebook out trying to write out all the possible combinations for the four digits I couldn’t remember the order for. I probably had at least one other digit wrong too though. In the end I could not recall that password. What a fail. Anyway Kai and I shared a computer and I had to go through this long and involved process to get my password changed after class today (in the US you can change your password instantaneously most of the time. Well security here is too high for that willy nilly nonsense. It’s a good thing really; but I was still annoyed.) Any-hoo luckily the remaining 3 sections of class didn’t involve computers. They went well. Kai san is in group one so I only see her for the first two sections of class then I am off with the other twos to the next location and the next instructor. After class, and after I finished resetting my password, I found a quiet spot in an eating hall and ate my delicious lunch that my host mom packed for me. I was rather intrigued to find SHRIMP chips in it. Yes, a bag of little crispy wafers of shrimpy goodness and onigiri (rice balls) and a banana and tea. SHRIMP chips people. I LOVE this country!!! It has the best food in the world!!!! XD Food/eating is one of my great joys in life. If I am well fed on high quality food, I am happy. :d
While I was eating, Crystal san came up to me and we started talking. We talked about many things but one thing was dango (mochi balls on a stick, looks like a shish kabob actually) which are very popular and for good reason. Doro san let me try some of hers once that she got from a conbini and I have been dreaming of trying them again ever since. I said bye to Crystal and started home. Kai san has a class at 5pm on Mondays so I was on my own this time. Uneventful trip back; more running and sweating (I wasn’t running, others were) and more me looking through store windows at the beautiful food they display in them. I tease myself mercilessly by looking through those windows. Yes, I had just eaten lunch but I was only half way full! I got back and my host mom surprised me with tea and DANGO!! She is kind of creepy actually. Remember when I wanted sweet potato and got some at the bakery place and then the very same night she served sweet potatoes for dinner? But I was so overjoyed to see those dango! They were sweet and sour dango (there are various flavors) and they were very good. I wonder if I should send Takoyaki (octopus balls) vibes to my host mom next… (uh octopus meat rolled into spheres not Cephalopoda genitalia)
I did homework/studied until dinner and then until bath time. I washed my hair and then came up here and looked at emails and otherwise poked around. Now I am too tired to even watch LoveCom; I tell you, that’s tired. I have a quiz tomorrow; a tango quiz. That is not tango as in the dance. It doesn’t rhyme with mango it rhymes with bongo and it means vocabulary (actually it rhymes with dango, the mochi kabob). It’s ok b/c I will have time to look at my words some more in the morning. Since my hair is washed I can ignore it for at least 36 hours!! :D :D :D Braiding my hair sucks up my morning when I could be sleeping more…or watching LoveCom (I sound like a spokesperson for that show. Why am I not getting paid for all these plugs?) I am going to attempt to do what native Japanese do all the time, and that is to do stuff on the train. Some sleep, some just sit and veg (like me so far). But lots of people read, listen to music, talk, or otherwise occupy themselves in a very productive fashion. I will try to study tomorrow on the trains but I also need to make sure I don’t miss a stop. :o
Well I feel delusional and I probably read that way so I am off to dream land. I wonder, now that I have satisfied my tango craving, what I will dream about. I am impatiently awaiting my first dream in Japanese. When I first started dreaming in French it was so cool! Whatever I dream about I hope I remember it if it’s nice or have a REM cycle right before I wake up and forget it if it isn’t. I hope I don’t dream about Cepholapoda genitalia…(0:03)
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