Running on less that four hours of sleep. That's what I get for staying out all night lol. Like I don't consider myself to be one of those people who goes clubbing a lot, but clubbing in Japan is so much fun. And the club we went to last night was amazing!

Anyway soon I will be leaving for Shimane. I have a lot to do to prepare before then...but at least I'm done with everything for this semester! Yay!!!

And today I got to eat pancakes with Becky and some Japanese friends I haven't seen for a while. Afterwards Becky, one of the Japanese guys we were with, and I just walked around Harajuku, Omotesando, and Shibuya as well. It was a lot of fun hanging out with him. Some people are just easier to talk to than others sometimes.

Tomorrow I have another orientation for Shimane and then a dinner for the people who are going to the Philippines and Korea together. Exciting!!! I need to start saving money haha.

Sometimes I Probably Shouldn't Go Out in Public

One more paper. One more class. Have a slight cold, but not letting that stop me from finishing or going to a club tomorrow or hanging out with friends until Friday haha.

So did I mention I got to see sumo on Sunday? Here is a pretty cool pic of me and my friend Scarlet:

Monday I had a final exam and a paper due. I think I did pretty well. Also went to a sweets tabehoudai (all you can eat) with some friends for a good bye party for one of the half semester students. So. Delicious. And a bit expensive. 

Today I was feeling pretty out of it for a bit. I just wish my body was stronger T_T but it has always been like this...but I was so spaced out at dinner that I ended up dropping my hot bowl of nabe all over myself, my bag and scarf, the wall at the restaurant, and ended up breaking the bowl as well. Cool. 

Still have a lot to do before Shimane. Shopping for gifts for my host family there (mom, dad, 2 grandparents, 2 girls 10 and 12 years old) and hanging out with friends and host family as well. I just want a day to sleep and relax~ But anyway, loving Tokyo as usual! 

Also, I had some pretty weird dreams last night. Threw scissors in someones eye...I blame those dreams for my off day...haha

One final and one paper down. One final and three papers to go! Tomorrow I get to see a sumo match with my study abroad program exciting. 

Today I walked around Yoyogi Park for a bit. I was trying to find this big flea market going on (which the internet told me was in the park but it was actually across the street from the park), so I just walked around the park for a while. The sun was bright, and it was a nice afternoon. A lot of people where there. I really love Yoyogi Park because so many people gather there for so many different reasons. This one guy was making huge bubbles (he was also there when I took my brother to the park and he let us make some!), some people were practicing dance, some people were practicing instruments, some people were doing sports, some people were walking their dogs (so many pretty dogs!), and the list goes on and on. I can't wait for it to get warm again so I can actually enjoying spending time outside again. Anyway, I enjoyed walking around for about a half hour and then I figured out where the flea market was, but it was near its end so it wasn't that exciting. I was thankful I got to take a nice walk though.

When I got home I tried to work on another paper, but the cold weather has really been getting to me. It just makes me so tired. I got some work done, but I really wanted to finish it today...oh well...

Once my host parent got home from work I had a really nice talk with my host mom for about an hour. She had been gone working in Nagano since Wednesday, so I hadn't seen her for a while. Since I was tired my Japanese skills weren't too great, but we talked about a lot of stuff. I told her I am seriously interested in working in Japan after I graduate, and she told me she will have her friend look into jobs for me since she has a lot of connections apparently. She also told me they would have a room for me so I could stay with them again if I come back. When my host family says things like that to me I feel like they really mean it. I mean, a part of it could just be to be nice, but I really feel like my host family views me as a part of their family. And to me they are my second family. I'm really glad I got a great host family. Obviously they aren't perfect; but I am thankful for them. Sometimes I do get a little home sick here though. It's weird to think that after I graduate I won't be able to go back home for the summers and just do absolutely nothing and rely on my parents. Becoming a real person is scary. 

Also, though I've always known this, being here has made me realize how bad I am at keeping in touch with people who I don't actually physically see. There are people that I don't really keep in touch with now, but who I really do cherish. But there is only so much I can do in a day you know >_<  

Went to the samgyeopsal restaurant near my apartment with Becky and Dre for dinner. I feel like I can become a regular there! (even though I will be out of Tokyo for two months lol). It was my third time going there, so by now the owner and some of the workers know (especially since it isn't too big and we stand out since we are foreigners). We got to talk with the owner for a bit which was nice. Slowly making connections! lol. Also, I pretty much love that place. The food is great and everyone who works there is really nice (and sometimes somewhat awkward which is pretty funny/cute). And also we are usually given something free (nori, facemasks), but this time the cook made us a special dish that wasn't even on the menu! Cheese dukbbokki(spelling?) with lettuce and meat in it as well! So freaking good!!! I was so surprised he made it for us on the house, without us ordering it either!!! Pretty awesome I think. :)

Ohmygod. I can't even describe how amazing these last couple of days were. I had so much fun with my brother here. We did so much. I'm sad that he had to leave today, but I'm so thankful he was able to come here. I wish I could write about it all now but I have a lot of finals to study for and papers to write, so I probably won't get in a real post in a while.

But for now I'll mention that today I had my orientation for Shimane. I'm so excited to go there! My host family seems pretty cool: Dad, Mom, 13 year old son, 10 year old daughter, and 77 year old grandpa and grandma. Shimane is more conservative than Tokyo, and way more country side, so I'm interested to see that side of Japanese culture. Also, so excited to go work at middle and elementary schools there! 7 of us are going, but we got split into two groups to go work at schools. Luckily I'm in a group with my friends: Jhanus, Kiyomi, and Tori! I'm so glad I'm with them!! Also, I probably won't be able to get online as much there, but I'm nto sure yet. Anyway, once I'm done with finals I'll try and write a real post!

Kyoto, Osaka, hanging out in Tokyo, an amusement park. These last few days have been crazy fun.

So much has happened these last few days! I'll write about it someday haha.

I woke up to see that it's snowing in Tokyo! Like hard-core snowing right now. None of it is really sticking on the ground though. I forgot how pretty snow can be.

My brother will be here in a couple of hours! I'll try to keep everyone updated on what we are doing. When he gets in tonight we are going to a tabehoudai (all you can eat) with my host family. Then tomorrow bright and early we are boarding a shinkansen to Kyoto to hang  out there for a bit, then will head over to Osaka to go out to eat with my host dad and his friends. Then Wednesday we will explore Osaka some more before heading back to Tokyo again! Looking forward to a busy but fun week!

AND JUST KIDDING THE SNOW IS STICKING AND IT IS SNOWING SO MUCH. CAN'T SEE THE BUILDINGS THAT I USUALLY CAN FROM MY WINDOW. CRAZY!

We Can Do Cheese

Thursday I started English teaching again. It's pretty cool to teach English to a jazz singer. I only had one class Thursday but it was over three hours long and yeah...just too much. Went out to eat with my friend Jhanus and some Japanese friends who are in the club we are in (and who also might be coming to the Philippines/Korea with us?)

Friday I woke up and finalized plans for Kyoto and Osaka with my host mom. I'm so glad she helped research travel packs for me! After that I played with building blocks with my host brother. Sometimes when we play together I don't know who is haivng more fun...haha. My host family is in Nagano for the weekend. I could have gone with them but really needed to plan stuff for the Philippines and Korea/save money.
For lunch went to a curry place with Becky called Curry Up in my neighborhood. Some of the best curry I've had here. Next we went to a cafe called Lapaz which is also in my neighborhood. The drinks/cake was a bit pricey, but the atmosphere there is great and the bathroom is crazy (it's all white and has cool architecture  I felt like I was Alice in Wonderland). Got some homework done there thankfully. After that continued to walk around my neighborhood (Harajuku, Omotesando, Jingumae area). Really love where I live. Checked out some 2nd hand shops/thrift stores that had some of the ugliest sweaters I've ever seen. Too bad the best ones were like over $20...oh Japan. Thrift stores here are always thrifty...For dinner we went to this samgyapsul place (kinda like Korean BBQ). Started talking with the workers there which was fun. They ended up giving us free face masks, nori, and put cheese on our dokbokki even though it wasn't on the menu when we asked if they could (at first the waiter was like no we don't have cheese dokbokki, but then the chef was all like you want cheese? we can do cheese). Oh, and before that we stumbled across a vintage American toy shop! Polly Pocket and Barbies! It was a bit creepy though...haha

Delicious cake

This cafe is so cool!~

All the ugly sweaters

Saturday class was horrendous as usual. Afterwards met up with everyone at Dre's to plan for Philippines and Korea. So excited. Haven't bought the ticket yet but know which one I want. We reserved a hostel in Seoul though! These next two months are going to be crazy! Also went to the gay bar (LOL) again with Jhanus and some other friends from our program. Made some new friends and got to see our bartender friend for a bit! After that ate at a family restaurant and went to karaoke. So tired. Went to bed around 6:30, got up at 2 (and woke up like five times in between that). Trying to finish some more homework today so it's not all pilled up later...also going to the samgyapsul place again for dinner? Haha. Today I've been in Japan for four months. Crazy. I've made so many great memories so far. AND MY BROTHER IS COMING TOMORROW YAY!~

A lot to catch up on, but about to hang out with friends soon so another post tomorrow?

Started to plan my trip to the Philippines and Korea! So excited!~

And my wonderful brother will be here in two days! I can't wait!!!!!!!!

Art Museum and Beer

Okay so yesterday, Tuesday, I ended up going to the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi Hills with some girls who are also study abroad here (one is in my program, another from California. I'm not really close with them, but they invited me and I was free until 6 so I decided to go with them). The exhibit was pretty cool. And there was some weird-ass shit there too. I won't go into details, but let's just say there was an 18+ section...anyway we also got to go to the observation deck (I forgot to mention the museum was on the 52nd floor) which was pretty cool as well. Got to see a nice view of Tokyo Tower.

So this room was there

lol

After that I headed back to Waseda to meet some friends for dinner/drinks. We went to a nearby yaki-tori place that I'd never been before. Let's just talk about how delicious yaki-tori is. And a Niji member was working there that night, so we were able to get a special service (a nice big discount!). We also ran into other Niji members there, so we all ate/drank together. And it was at this yaki-tori place where the biggest cup/mug of beer I've ever seen was sold. It was almost like a personal beer pitcher. So of course I got one. It was great.

Yep

Notice the huge things of beer to the right

Today I was pretty tired for class, but somehow managed to stay semi-awake. I was going to finishing writing a paper, but haven't started that yet. Maybe I will after I finish writing here. It's due Saturday (I'm pretty sure?) so I still have time. Getting more and more excited for my brother to come visit. My host mom was helping me look for a cheap/good trip package. I'm thankful, because I've never really planned a trip by myself/I haven't had much time to look into things properly. So I'm really glad she is helping me. Sadly she can't come with us, but my host dad will be joining us to take us to various restaurants/bars. Next week is going to be so much fun. After will be hell though haha. So many papers to write...I can't believe it's already Wednesday though! Time is flying by too fast!

Exploring Tokyo with Hanley and Becky!

Okay so on the 5th (Saturday) I did some homework, shopping (finally got the polariod camera I've been wanting!!!), and had some cake and tea and talk time with Becky. After that we went to the Niji nomikai. It wasn't as big as it usually is (and it started a lot earlier than usual) but it was a lot of fun! Made more friends! And afterwards went to this place called The Hub with Becky, another guy from our program, our Japanese friends Miwa and Kota (who are seriously two of the cutest Japanese people ever). It was a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know them better!

A polaroid of me and my friends!~

The 6th was such a full and amazing day. Woke up early to meet Hanley at Tokyo Station around 9. From there him, becky, and I (Earlham reunion) went to Akihabara since we had never really been there before. It was still pretty early when we got there, so most of the shops were closed and there weren't too many people around. We walked around a cat cafe that we decided to go to one it opened, so to kill time and get food we went to a nearby Jonathon's (a family restaurant) for breakfast. After that we eagerly walked down the street to the cat cafe where we played with cats for a half hour. These cats were more active than the cats at the last cat cafe we went to, which was pretty exciting. One cat was even curled up on some guy's lap (jealous. he seemed like a regular...lol).
After the cat cafe we walked around Akihabara some more and went to a game center where we did purikuri (and I ended up cosplaying for free...haha).

a wooden door!

CATS

Next we headed up to Ueno station to get Hanley's luggage and then headed over to Asakusa to find Hanley's hostel. It was in a really quiet part of town. It's amazing how if you walk five minutes away from the main parts of the city, you'll end up in really quite and nice residential areas (although who knows how nice this area really is since there was graffiti on the old election posters lol). For lunch we hit up kaiten-zushi and then tried to look at the kaminarimon area/temple, but it was still super crowded since new year's festivities are still ongoing.

Sky tree and other buildings near Asakusa!

We didn't really have a plan for the day, but Hanley wanted to go to Tokyo Tower, and Becky and I hadn't been, so we all headed there. I'm super proud of myself for getting us around the whole day by the way. I'm no expert of Tokyo by any means, but I've gotten to the point where I can navigate/show someone around!
Anyway, we checked out Zojoji temple (a big/famou(?) temple right by Tokyo Tower that I've been to before but only when it was closed). Right by the entrance was a monkey show going on (such random things can happen in this city) which we watched till the end. Next we went up to the main part of the temple where I made an offering (first temple visit of the year for me) and ended up buying my first charm! I've been wanting to buy a charm for forever, but usually can't read the kanji so I've never bought anything before. But there was English thankfully so I knew what I was getting. I got a ちえまもり which is a charm for wisdom. I also got a year of the monkey charm/key chain for good luck. I was also tempted to buy a charm for good health, but thought maybe buying three at once would be too much...

Jump!

Next we walked over to Tokyo Tower and bought a ticket for the main (but not the highest) observation deck. It was pretty cheap (like $9). And the view was really nice! We got there at the perfect time, as the sun started to set so we could see the city in both the day and night time! We were also able to see Mt. Fuji a bit! We were pretty exhausted at this point from walking around all day, but for dinner we decided to head over to Shin-Okubo (the Korean town area) for Korean food (which was pretty good)!

Fuji!

Yesterday was my first day of classes again after break...so sad. So much work to do before the end! But we ended up meeting Hanley for lunch. And it was so random, but we happened to run into one of the Japanese guys who studied abroad at Earlham! It was random...and awkward a bit haha. But after that we said goodbye to Hanley and went back to class. And yesterday I actually managed to do some research for a paper due this week. Now I just need to write it haha.

But seriously, so much to do soon. I need to finish planning out what I'm doing in Osaka with my brother/host family, need to plan out more for the Philippines and Korea, etc., etc.

These last two days of break were so much fun! Sadly school starts tomorrow and I have some things I need to do before I go to bed, so post later?!

The First Few Days of the New Year!

So on the morning of the 1st, I went to do hatsumode (first shrine visit of the year) with my host family. We went to a smaller neighborhood shrine not too far from our apartment. There were more people there than usual; everyone going for hatsumode. In the entrance path to the shrine there was a circular thing made out of rope standing in the middle of the path. By this circular thing was instructions for how to enter. I don't remember exactly how it went, but first we bowed, entered and walked around the thing from the left side to the front again, then you bow again and go from the right, and then there were some other steps but I don't quite remember them. At one point though, we were able to walk through it and enter the shrine. The other day when we were at Toshogu, my host mom had explain that when you enter a doorway or any other entrance to a shrine, you are technically supposed to walk in on one of the sides with the front of your body facing the middle (since the god is supposedly in the middle of the entrance and you don't want to show your back to the god since it would be rude). Anyway, after we walked in we went to cleanse our hands (I don't remember the order either but I think it's left hand, right hand, put water in left and put it to your mouth, then left hand again). After that we walked up to the shrine to make an offering/wish for the new year. First you throw your money in the offering box, ring the bell, bow twice, clap twice, make your wish/pray, then bow once again. I also got an omikuji (fortune) at the shrine as well, the first one I bought in Japan. I got small fortune (sho-kichi), but I think it was a pretty good fortune overall.

Next we headed to my host dad/s dad's house for a family gathering on that side. When we got to the apartment my host mom decided to go buy my host brother a toy so I went with them (there was a furby there for like 7,000 yen which is over $70...) and we got ramen afterwards. Then we finally went to the apartment for the gathering. It was mainly my host dad's dad's siblings (so a lot of old drunk people haha) but they were interesting and nice. My host dad later told me he thinks they are all weird haha. But my host mom, brother, and I didn't stay all that long. It didn't seem like my host mom really talked to anyone there, which made me wonder if they don't get along very well with her or if there is some weirdness towards her since she is the 2nd (younger) wife. But I could just be reading too much into it.

Anyway when we got home we watched a movie while eating this delicious new year's bento. Apparently some of the foods have certain meanings. The only one I remember is there is shrimp because shrimp look like old men I guess (since their backs are hunched over like old men's and they have long whiskers like old men have long beards?). I didn't get to try all of the foods there, but what I did try was delicious.




On the 2nd we woke up early to go do ohakamae, or go before the grave/grave visiting (for my host dad's mom). We rode the train to the city she was buried in where we also met my host dad's sons. I had met the older one before (22) but I had never got a chance to met the 18 year old since he has been busy studying for college exams (college exams are super intense here), so I was pretty excited to meet him. After we said hi (it was really quick, I thought there were be more to it), we all went out to eat. It was a lot of fun getting to talk to the brothers (mainly talked with the younger one, we got along pretty well I think which of course sparked my host dad into half-joikng about us dating in the future lololol).

After lunch my host family and I did some shopping (actually it was just them shopping and me waiting around) I was pretty tired/tired of my host brother crying for no reason constantly (he's a bit spoiled sometimes). Also my host family wants to buy me a designer bag for a Christmas/New Year's gift. We looked around at some, but didn't really find any that caught our attention too much (actually there was one I really liked but it was a bit small...) Also I feel bad about them buying me an expensive bag, and I told them they didn't have to buy me anything, but they want to at some point.

On the 3rd I woke up early to go help out with the mochitsuki event Niji was putting on. It was such a fun event and great day. Although I was outside from 10am till 4:30pm helping with the event, I'm really glad I was able to help out with one of the Niji events (I've been wanting to for a while). So yeah, we got together at 10 and then went to this shed behind a shrine to get the materials (this wooden bowl/stand thing with too hammer like things-real descriptive I know) and pushed them to a nearby park where we were holding the event. After that we set up and waited for people to show up (over 3o did!). To make mochi you pound freshly made rice until it gets real sticky and mucky, then you put flour on that and knead it until it is less sticky and then add flavoring. At first I helped put flavoring on (something sweet called kinako) and handed them out to people. There was also the savory soy sauce and seaweed option(which was delicious) and then another dish made from anko (sweet red bean paste, hot water, and mochi). Everything was so good and I ate so much. It was also really good to see a lot of my Japanese friends I hadn't seen in a while, and I made some new Japanese friends as well! Later on I got to help pound the rice too (I used the heavier hammer LIKE A BOSS, but actually I should have used the lighter one since I probably looked silly, oh well haha).









After we had finished cleaning, and putting the materials away, a couple of us went to a nearby family restaurant to eat a bit. I had plans to eat real dinner at 7 with friends from my program, so I didn't eat too much. After that a couple of us went to the shrine were we borrowed the materials from and did another "hatsumode" there. After that I still had some time to kill so I went shopping (and spent money on things I didn't really need to buy...) and then met up with my friends (Dre and Jhanus) to eat at Denny's in Ikebukuro. Protip: Denny's in Japan does not have real pancakes. There were dessert pancakes, but they didn't really have any breakfast food (except like french toast which was good), but I got the hamburger set (which is like a hamburger without a bun and the one I had had an egg on it-SO GOOD). Next we went to a nearby game center where we played taiko drums and mario kart (so much fun). Then I helped them do some shopping at a 24 hour clothes shop, where even more inside jokes were made (our group has too many). Overall it was a really great day!



Yesterday I met Becky to do some homework/mainly talk at a cafe in Harajuku. Before that though, I made an awesome train track route with my host brother and host grandmother. We really got into it haha. Anyway, most of the cafes I wanted to go to were either closed for new years or crowded, but we were able to find some nice ones to hang out it (though we didn't get much work done. So much work to do this month....). For dinner I met my host family at this delicious shop in Yoyogi. We sat in the upper part of the restaurant (which was a bit small-we sat cross legged) and there was a great atmosphere there. Today I plan on hopefully buying a polaroid camera I've been wanting forever (I also want a Nikon D5100 DSLR if anyone wants to help chip in for that!) and then I have a niji nomikai to go to! Tomorrow my friend Hanley from Earlham will be in Tokyo, so I'm going to hang out with him! And then Monday I have school again :( Oh well, going to enjoy these last two days of break to the fullest!

New Year's Eve

Okay so where we left off I was woken up at like 1 in the morning to find out I was going on a trip that day. So I quickly took a shower, and packed. At around 2 we left the apartment. I thought we would take a train as we usually do, but to my surprise they had rented a car! So yay for a mini road trip! I was pretty exhausted from the night before, but I didn't really sleep in the 2/3 hours that it took us to get to our destination: Kinugawa. It was so nice to watch the scenery of Tokyo and other cities pass us by. It was another one of those moments where I realize how much I love Tokyo. It was a pretty foggy day though, so I wasn't able to see a lot of the countryside we drove by.

We arrived at Kinugawa at around 5/5:30 (it was already dark outside and raining so I couldn't see too much). We stayed at a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) so our room was a tatami room (thought it was pretty big) and we slept on futons. We ended up going to this random restaurant to eat (someone from that restaurant drove to our inn to pick us up which I guess was normal since they did that for other customers too) and the food was really good there. I ate so much (I think I had chicken stomach/insides for the first time, it was delicious!). After eating we were driven back to the hotel and went to the bath/onsen area. This was my first tine officially going to an onsen, so I was super excited! There was a normal big bath inside (which was nice) but the onsen was outside. But since the inside bath warmed you up, it wasn't cold when you stepped outside for the onsen. And ohmygod the onsen was so amazing. The water was nice and warm and it felt so cool being in an outside hot spring. I could have stayed there forever. Afterwards we just sat in our room and watched hilarious Japanese television shows.

The beautiful view from our inn room

Part of our room

The next day we decided to get up early to head over to Nikko to see the Toshogu shrine since it was pretty close. The shrine was beautiful. It was pretty cold outside (there was even some snow on the ground!) The architecture of the shrine buildings was incredibly intricate and beautiful. I wonder how long it took to make everything there...The shrine was built in 1617 (so it's pretty old) and is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate (his tomb is actually there which I got to see!) I really want to go back to that shrine someday. It was a bit hectic since everyone was preparing for the new year's eve ceremony that would take place there later that night. But there are so many awesome buildings there and decorations on said buildings (such as the see no evil, etc. monkeys).

Tokugawa's remains

After spending a good amount at the shrine we headed to another part of Nikko called Lake Chuzenji. To get there we had to drive up this crazy, windy mountain road (which was kinda fun but also a bit dangerous at certain points since there was ice). The lake was also beautiful. The color of the water was amazing and the mountains surrounding the lake were also beautiful. But man was it cold. Like seriously  so freezing. The moment we stepped out of the car to take pictures we were hit by ice-like winds. Which is why we didn't stay very long. After the lake we planned on going to another onsen, but the one we wanted to go to was closed, so we just headed home. Sadly my stomach started to hurt the way back (thankfully I was able to sleep some though).





When we got home we dropped off our bags and headed to Shinjuku were we ate at a yakiniku place. My stomach still wasn't feeling very well, and I was exhausted, so I wasn't able to enjoy the tabehoudai  (all you can eat) to the fullest. After eating we went to rent some DVDs and then headed home (my host family also bought me some medicine on the way, they take such good care of me!). When we got home we stared to watch one of the various Doraemon movies that exists (which I half napped through) then watched the yearly concert show called Kohaku where famous musicians perform. Sadly I was still feeling sick, so the night wasn't that exciting. We didn't really do a countdown or anything either, but we did eat toshikoshi soba, the traditional soba dish on new years. There is so much I want to write about New Year's in Japan, but I don't even know a lot of the traditions that well myself, so just wikipedia it. Haha. Still have a couple days to write about, but for now I'm tired so I'll stop here. Hopefully I can get caught up tomorrow!

Nichome and Internet Cafe!

Okay, so let's go back to December for a bit. So on Friday the 28th, I didn't do much in the day, but I meet one of my friends for dinner/drinks. We went to Shinjuku where we got curry. After that we headed to Nichome, the gay section of Tokyo (my friend is gay so he's been there before and he wanted to show me a bar there). I had heard about Nichome before, but had never before been. I was interested in going though. Being gay isn't really an acceptable thing in Japan/something people are very open about sadly. The area wasn't too different from other parts of Tokyo except for all the gay porn shops, gay clubs, and gay bars. At about 8pm we got to the bar he wanted to take me to. There was a nomihoudai (all you can drink) from 8-10 so we went early. Not too many people were there at the time, but that was actually a good thing. We meet (a somewhat weird) older man who graduated from Waseda at the bar. We also became good friends with the bartender! He seemed pretty cool/nice so we just decided to start talking to him (also my friend had seen him another night when he came). We stayed till around 11 (more people started to come, we actually meet people from one of our classes at Waseda haha), and had plans to go to a friends house to watch ANTM, but my host mom didn't have her key and couldn't get into our apartment, so I had to go let her in. That was probably a good thing though, since I was already pretty drunk. I mean, usually the drinks aren't that strong here (I guess it just depends). But our bartender was awesome (we kept asking him for his recommendations) and made us super strong drinks. So I was pretty drunk when I let my host mom in, but she thought it was funny (I told her I went to nichome and she said she wants me to take here there sometime haha).


The next day, Saturday the 29th, I actually got some work done. But not enough. But oh well. Anyway, at around 3pm I decided to go to a modern Art museum called the Watarium down the road from my apartment. I had been wanting to go there for a while, and needed to kill some time before meeting the friend I meet the night before for dinner, so I decided to go. I'm so glad I did! The exhibit they had at the time was really cool. My favorite pieces were the hand drawn city-scapes in ink this artist called Kyohei Sakaguchi made. Pictures weren't allowed, but I took two anyway.





After the museum (and after I looked at the cool book shop there), I decided to just walk around since I still had free time. I really, really, really love the neighborhood I live in. Really. I walked down Aoyama dori to Omotesando where I went to a store called Kiddy Land (it's like a huge character shop; there was even Star Wars stuff there! Definitely going back to get the lightsaber chopsticks). After that I went to Shinjuku and meet my friend. From the station he took me to an internet cafe (a 24 hour place with small rooms you can stay in for a certain amount of time where there is a computer, t.v, and shelves of manga and free drinks outside of your room. Also, there are showers there. So it's sorta like a hotel but the rooms are really really small and there aren't any beds but it's really cheap and you can stay for a long time). We became members (I have my own card haha) and rested a bit before dinner since we weren't quite hungry yet. After that we ate dinner (gyudon, beef on rice) and headed to the bar.



At the bar we did another nomihoudai. The same bartender was there again, and we got to talk to him for a bit, but the bar was pretty crowded and he was busy so not for too long. One of our other friends from our program met us that night too, so the three of us drank and talked a lot! It was a lot of fun! We are definitely going back again.



We had wanted to stay until 5am, but my guy friend was feeling sick so we left around 2. From the bar we bought snacks and went back to the previous internet cafe we were at before (my friends 3rd time there that day, my 2nd). There we ate, tried to sleep, and watched youtube videos until 7am (5 hours for about $13). Internet cafes are great, but ohmygod it got so hot/stale in there; we were dying. It feel so weird to be walking to the station at 7am when people usually are there at that time to go to work, etc. When I got home I crashed into bed and got some sleep, but woke up around 1 when my host mom texted me to tell me we were going on a trip in an hour (she was at her mom's house so it's not like she texted me when we were both in the same place lol). And then we drove to Kinugawa! But I'm tired and have plans to help with mochitsuki tomorrow, so I'll end here for now. Still have SO much to write about, but hopefully I can do that tomorrow or Friday! Aggg I can't believe break is going by so fast!

So much to write about! But I'm tired/somewhat sick/busy. So a long post will be coming soon! Happy New Year everyone!~