JUNE 15
Akane and I headed to the apartment dealers this
morning. I didn’t expect too much when we arrived because the place looked like
a smaller dealer, unlike the big names in the business: Minimini, Suumo, etc.
Thankfully, I was wrong.
It was only our first meeting, but they were able to
pull out five locations within twenty minutes of the station that were under
400 a month. Not only that, but none of the locations minded whether or not I
was a foreigner. I think that part of that reason was because I went to the
dealer in person and they could see for themselves what sort of level my
Japanese was at. At least, when he spoke on the phone with the owners, that
fact came up each time. Each of the places he showed me fits my preferences, so
it’s hard to pick on above the other. I do have a favorite that I’ve seen
during my Internet searches as well. Next week, we’ll be back to check out the
places in person.
With business taken care of, Akane and I biked over to
Aeon Mall. We were basically killing time until twilight, when we were going to
meet with Jon and a couple of Akane’s friends to go see the fireflies. The way
she talked about them, it made me think that they were a rare sight to see;
little floating magical orbs. Going to see the fireflies seemed to be one of
the past-times at this time of year, so I anticipated the event.
We drove up into the mountains on the curviest road I
have ever been on in my life. It was only two-lanes, so we had to be careful
around each corner. Deep out in the country, only surrounded by fields and then
towering trees. I was enjoying the scenery along the winding ride when suddenly
we were told to stop outside of a tunnel and park along the side of the road.
There was only other car in the area, so we thought it was a bit fishy. But, we
all got out of the car and walked through the tunnel to the other side. Then it
quickly became apparent as to why we had to park so suddenly. Both sides of the
road were already lined with cars of other people who had come to see the
fireflies. The area was particularly popular because of the clean water in the
river which ran next to the mountain’s forests.
These fireflies that were the call of everyone’s
attention are the same ‘lightning bugs’ that fill our backyards every summer in
Toledo. Jon and I had to laugh because this was a normal sight for us. Though,
I suppose, if they only gather in these secluded areas, then it would be a rare
sight for the average Japanese citizen.
There was a small trail leading down from the road,
past an elementary school, down to the riverside and then back up to the road.
It did not take long to walk the entire trail, so soon we were heading back to
the car. We ended up in the middle of the pack, meaning that a whole new group
of go-seers had arrived after us, and some still arriving. As for us, we had
only snacked on some mochi while we were there so we went off to find
food. At that time of night, the only place open was Denny’s. I had pancakes
for dinner.
JUNE 16
…Manga…
JUNE 17
After dance practice I headed to the City Pal
apartments to join the Cho-Ko party. This month both Cho, one of the exchange
students, and Natsuko, the Japanese student who is assisting with our culture
class, have birthdays, so they created a party together. Many of the members
still left at the party were the new Chinese exchange students, so afterward
when we went to karaoke many of the songs were in Chinese. We stayed until
morning, so once again I let two of the girls stay in my room overnight.
JUNE 18
…Training…and it’s raining…
(View from the JR train from Nagoya to Gamagori as it rains.)
(My first attempt to explain the hard and soft ‘th’ sounds.)
JUNE 19
…Manga…Dance…
JUNE 20
Game night, we meet once again!
We started out playing Blocks, but as the members at
our table grew, Rafael suggested that we play Phase 10. The makers of UNO know
how to make great card games. As the name suggests, there are 10 Phases of the
game, but some of us only reached the third Phase before time ran out. I’m
looking forward to playing it again next month. Though, sadly it will be our
last Game Night together… June is going by too quickly!!
Once again, I went to dance in Naka District with the
guys. I happened to see a few more familiar faces, including that of Pepsiman.
The Pepsiman I knew was always wearing short shorts, and he danced very
feverishly. Today, he wasn’t dancing, and seemed a lot calmer than usual. I
greeted him and we ended up talking; it turns out that he hasn’t practiced
dance recently, he was frustrated with it. In some ways I understood him
because I was having troubles with dance recently as well. In his case, he had
been so competitively recently that dance wasn’t fun anymore, he needed to
rethink it. I, on the other hand, need to up my ante and challenge myself more.
There was something self-assuring about hearing that
he, as well as other dancers, have had their hard times as well. It seems to be
an obvious fact, but to hear it from their own mouths really hits home. It’s
hard now, but soon, very soon I’ll be free to dance and improve again. If I
think about it, when I started drawing, I made a good jump my first year, and
then it was a consistent slow but steady progress. I didn’t notice it because I
was just enjoying myself; I wasn’t comparing my skills to others as much. Then
I made a few more jumps, and here I am. If I put my mind to it, I can create
anything. I think, once this project of mine is completed, I can do that again.
JUNE 21
We had a make-up class today, in place for the survey
class we missed at the beginning of the semester. What really happened is we
watched Mark and Aurianne’s final presentation for the class. They are in the
new B class, so we usually don’t get to see each other’s presentations.
However, for these final presentations, the teacher wants us all to present
together, so from next week on our class times will overlap.
After class I went to training and then karaoke again
with Rachael and a few others. How can I say no when our time together seems so
short?
No comments:
Post a Comment