Saturday, February 1, 2014

STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 22

JANUARY 26

There was no activity in the dance group’s messages that suggested they were going to practice at the park today, but I went anyway to see for myself. There was only a large group of some other kind of dancers, all dressed in costumes, and they were practicing a choreographed dance in the field. I watched them for a while, and when it seemed that no one was going to show up I decided to go for a walk.

Shirakawa Park is close to Sakae so I wandered in that direction. I found an Old Navy, where I tried on the size 12 Boyfriend Jeans. They fit, not exactly as baggy as they are supposed to be, but they, as jeans, do fit. I didn’t buy them though. I’m waiting until March, before the new semester starts up.

After returning home and having curry for dinner (because you can never have too much curry!) I received a message from Shin. He still needed some help finishing up his report, which is due tomorrow, so he asked if I could meet him and Yohei at Denny’s for some last minute studying. Why Denny’s? Because Denny’s is open 24 hours, and we didn’t even meet until after 10pm.


JANUARY 27

…And we stayed at Denny’s until 7am. It only took me a couple hours to help Shin finish his report; after that, I could have easily walked the three minutes it would take for me to get to my apartment. But, I stuck with them. They had come all the way to my neighborhood to buckle down and study for their last exams. I stayed for support. If they were going to keep going, I would too. So, the poor guys studied science until dawn broke, and then I let them leave their bags in my room before they went to go take their exam.

I slept for a bit, and then I Skyped with my friend Lindsay. She gave me all the updates on Toledo that I had been oblivious too, and I was able to talk to her about everything that’s been happening, especially with the job situation. It was nice to say everything out loud because in a way it reaffirmed what I already knew. It was just a matter of waiting patiently.

Dinner was our second hot-spot, SUSHI-RO, and in place of Long, Natsumi joined the “cool kids”, Mark, Jason, Taigen and I. After that, we hung out in Rachael’s room with the other students and played “Heads Up”. Apparently they have played this game a lot recently, but it was my first time. One person holds the iPad above their head, so they are unable to see the word written on it. That word, as part of a category, is acted out or hinted at by the other players. If the person holding the iPad can guess what it is, they bob the iPad forward for the next word. It was so much fun to play, and it takes a video as you play, so you can watch everyone’s reactions. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while, I just wish it had more categories that I knew!


JANUARY 28

I keep forgetting that some people will be leaving in March. Today, we were all reminded of that.

The international center threw a farewell party, a sort of lunch banquet, for all the current exchange students. We all gave a small speech about our semester, or our year, our future, our memories. Thankfully, it was all done in good spirits, and there was no tears shed. The students actually have a couple months left before they have to return to their countries. We are not sad that it’s over, not yet.

When the party was over I wanted to go to Donki, but my bike is still not fixed, and no one wanted to walk with me, so I ended up in the library. Up until dance practice I inked my manga and talked with Kentaro, who also ended up coming to school that day for a final exam. Maybe I’ll be able to finish inking my manga over spring break? Unlike in the States, in Japan the school year starts in April. That means the new spring semester isn’t for a good two months. That’s plenty of time to get over one-hundred pages drawn up, inked and toned, right?


JANUARY 29

I did it. I finally got my bike tire fixed, if for no other reason than to be able to bike places with people. The bike shop that I chose was actually right next to the little grocery store. When Mark needed his bike lock changed, I was the one who actually took him there to have it fixed, but I haven’t had a chance to take my own bike in. Part of that reason was because I would have had to walk my dead tire bike almost all the way to school, and by dead tire, I mean dead. It could not be saved. When the repair man put the inner tube in the water it was bubbling out like crazy. As expected, we did ruin it when we tried to fix it that day. The new inner tube and service cost me 2800yen, but it was worth the professional job. The couple who run the place are really sweet. Last time, I didn’t talk to them much because Mark was explaining his bike lock problem. However, this time I had the chance to sit and talk with the wife.

From now on if I have bike trouble I am going straight to them.


JANUARY 30

Today we dance, dance, and dance some more! Even Mark stopped by practice today since it was in the multi-purpose room. We also bought our tickets to a showcase event tomorrow, “ROUTEBOX”, where two of BPM’s members, Daisuke and Yugo, will perform. I can’t wait to see their showcase!! And I’m glad I don’t have to go alone. Mark’s been studying too much, but now that it’s vacation time, he can finally participate with the dance club.

JANUARY 31

As expected, any trip to Donki is dangerous. At least this time I only bought things that I will need while I am in Hokkaido, and that was a pair of boots, a light, but warm jacket, and a duffel bag, which is kind of also for going to dance practice. We went there by bike, and usually we go back home on the main road, but today Mark led us over the yellow bridge. Going uphill to get to the bridge, which crosses over the Aonami Line’s tracks, was an unwelcome challenge. Going downhill was much easier, but it was steep, and narrowed out to a street. It did take us right by MaxValu, where we grabbed some lunch before heading to Totoro’s room.

Our beloved Totoro is leaving in March. In preparation for going home, she’s decided to start cleaning her room and sending packages back to Thailand. I was warned that it was a mess, but I didn’t expect to see the mass of things she had gathered. There were so many clothes and knick-knacks, many of which were too important to throw out. We helped her clean her room some, with Joy at the head of the cleaning brigade. I had no idea where to start, but I was out of there by 4:30pm to head to the showcase.

Mark and I biked out to Kanayama, which was maybe an hour away. The event was being held at a place called CLUB SARU, which was initially hard to find. It wasn’t set in a normal building on the side of the road, but actually beneath the train tracks. Honestly, the place looked very shady from the outside, and we had arrived early so there was no one around. If Mark hadn’t been with me, I might have gone home, but we came all that way. I finally received word from Daisuke to confirm the location, so Mark and I parked our bikes at a nearby convenient store and headed to the Club.


Just from hearing the music alone I was excited. I wanted to dance. One of the DJ’s had a particularly good taste in music, playing many American hits from the 90s and early 2000s. There was cyphers going on between the showcases, but I couldn’t push myself to jump in. Not yet. As for the showcases themselves, they were amazing, particularly Yugo’s. His crew’s genre is krump, which up until now I didn’t really care for because it just seemed like violent twitching and thrashing. Yugo’s dance was art though; he really has a good sense of musicality. Daisuke’s showcase on the other hand was a lot of fun, and they even had a BGIRL with them. I wish I could somehow combine hip hop with break dance fluidly— I would love to do a showcase, if I had a crew.


FEBRUARY 1

I rode my bike out to the park today for dance practice. It’s my first time heading out there on a Saturday, but Saturday seems to be the day everyone goes. We had another new member join our band of misfits. It seems as though he has some sort of experience in locking, but he’s just starting to break dance. Finally, I had the chance to help someone else learn a new step.

When dance was over I went back home to shower and wait. Ryoko was having a party, but I didn’t feel like going to the izakaya. Shin also decided he would go to the party later, if they went to karaoke. As a result, the two of us hung around watching TV, waiting for the party to move. Unfortunately, when the party moved on, it went to play billiards. So we had ended up waiting around for nothing. Instead we grabbed a quick meal from the convenient store, ate and called it a night. Tomorrow’s an early day for me~

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