Busy, busy, 忙しい.

Sunday November 14 (Japan time)

I did not have class but I went to the University to study.

Highlight:

• Randomly bumped into Maria while heading home.
• Decided on what to talk about for tomorrow’s English presentation

I took the last bus of the day and bumped into Mariya. I was trying to think of something to present for tomorrow but just could not think of anything interesting to present in English. I was thinking of maybe trying to teach people how to properly pronounce L's and R's? Mariya thought it was a good idea so yea, I tried my best to explain it to her, lol. It took the whole bus ride... But anyhow~ She also suggested that we could have a short English Only talking session and if we still have time afterward, some random tongue twisters. I also took random pictures while waiting for Dinara. We took the train together.

Creepy tree branch...

Red and yellow bush

Up close

Looking at art from some random person while waiting for the bus. Dinara and I were sitting on a bench in the subway since it was warmer than sitting outside. I took a picture of the art display~ The little picture area is called, "Metro Gallery."

So there it is! The plan for tomorrow:

Learning how to pronounce L's and R's
English only session
Tongue twister

•  Peter Piper
• She sell seashells

The rest of the night was put towards studying for kanji and doing homework. I went to bed at around 2PM.

Monday November 15 (Japan time)

I’m going to skip over the usual day stuff and just summarize it all in one sentence from now on, lol. I had class. I’ll talk more about it if it’s interesting.  I think I’ll test out a more efficient way of posting, lol. I’ll post pictures along the way.

Highlight of the day:

• Did a short presentation on English.
• I was offered a bento box from a host mother

Not many people attended today but that was okay. I sort of expected so since it was on a Monday. All the other international students get Monday off. Only people who were placed in Intermediate had class on Monday. We have our break on Wednesday. I tried to regurgitate what I told Mariya yesterday night but it was a bit difficult since I had less time to think, lol. I drew a few diagrams, tried to explain it then moved on to the following exercise. The presentation was okay and nothing really interesting happened. The tongue twisters were fun though. 

Anyhow, Alex’s host mother offered to make me a bento box (lunch box) for tomorrow~ Awesomeness. Alex’s home stay ends tomorrow so I guess she wanted to send a little gift~

I didn’t really do much other than study because I have a test the following day. I studied at the University Library until 6PM-ish… I was hoping I’d get home early enough to do laundry but that did not happen. In the end, I went home and made dinner and a lunch box (I did not know I would be offered a lunch at the time). I went to study hall and that was when I got the email from Alex’s host mother~ But anyhow, I studied the rest of the night then went straight to bed.

The lunch that I made

Tuesday November 16

I had class. I’ve noticed that my kanji scores are gradually falling… Unfortunately. It seems like I’m slowly hitting a limit, lol. It’s only two months in too, lol. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit sick of studying Kanji every single day for hours on end. 

Anyhow, highlights of the day:

• I ate the lunch
• I was invited by a host mother to watch a movie called Leonie.
• I was invited to do home stay by a host mother

I ate the lunch box and it was awesome. I immediately sent a message to Alex’s host mother and thanked her for the meal. It was awesome. =) Free food definitely tastes better… Especially homemade food!

I walked to class with Christine. She invited me to watch a movie with her host family next week and I agreed. The Movie is called Leonie? Never heard of it but apparently it looks good. (According to Christine, lol.)

I studied at the University until 5PM then went home. I got home at around 6:15PM. I did laundry, I ate the lunch I prepared yesterday for dinner and took an interesting picture. It was the first time I’ve ever seen something like that!

Double egg yoke o_o!!!

I did not have time to cook up a complicated dinner so I just made yam rice and packed it into my little bento box. I went to the study hall to study and then got another message from Alex’s host mother~ I was invited by her and her daughter to stay over at their house for homestay~ I never thought the chance would arise because the University did not set up homestay for students who are leaving second semester to go elsewhere. I was worried that I would offend Alex so I asked Alex’s host mother to give me one day to think about it. She agreed and from there we said goodnight. I talked to Dinara about the homestay and she said to give it a try since it probably won’t happen again anytime soon. I studied the rest of the night then went to bed.

Wednesday November 17 (Japan time)

I did not have class but I went to school to attend the Minapa meeting. I met up with John afterward and went to the library to study. We met Christine along the way. Christine finally got her cell phone, lol. Slow poke. 

Anyhow, highlights:

• I made my decision with regards to homestay
• Was invited by the same host mother to watch a different movie this week
• Finished my survey

Christine asked me today if I would like to attend a different movie this week. Her host mother invited me to watch a movie which was filmed in a park close to the University. I figured I'd be nice to take a little break away from school but yea, that might be a bit dangerous since I have a lot of things due next week, lol.

So yea, I finally decided to go through with the Homestay thing. It's only for a week and I guess it'll be an interesting experience. I didn't really talk to Alex about it. I texted the host mother and agreed to do homestay after I left the University. Dinara left for homestay for a week. I went home and cooked, studied in the hall and ended my day relaying texts back and forth with Alex's host mother.

I took a few random pictures of nature at the University.

It's all about the leaves at the corner

The pine bush with red berries

Close up of the bush

Thursday November 18 (Japan time)

I have class and tomorrow off because my Academic teacher is in Korea~ Hoorah! Will still be at the University handing out surveys though, lol.

Highlights:

• Went to AU and removed some application
• Took the train with Shuto and will be meeting him tomorrow

Shuto was kind enough to edit my survey pour moi. We bee lined to AU afterward to remove some applications. =) Hooray for saving money~ But anyhow, I took the train home with Shuto. We talked a lot about random stuff. =) I could have taken the bus home (the free route) but it's much more interesting to take the train with someone else. Besides, I don't really get to hang out with my tutor much. -sigh- Anyhow, I don't remember the details but we talked about the differences in difficulty with regards to English and Japanese~ It was a fun train ride. We parted ways when we reached Sapporo station. I went home, ate the leftover noodles I boiled up a few days ago with chicken and fish sauce =) I packed a small lunch containing chicken, what was left of the yam and a random vegetable. I went to bed shortly after because I was so exhausted.

I could talk about today but I'll save that for tomorrow or the day after... It's interesting and upsetting at the same time. Until then. =)