STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 44

JUNE 29

This morning I went to Okazaki to sign the finalization of my apartment contract. The events have finally settled in, and I will be moving in a few weeks. While I was in Okazaki, I decided to walk to the mall and also check out the nearby Donki, where I bought some sportswear.

By the way, Ramadan is supposed to be starting soon, but I’ve been hearing different things about the starting day. Some are saying it’s tomorrow, and others are saying it’s Tuesday. I’m not sure, so I decided to start fasting from today. As long as this summer isn’t too humid, I think I won’t have a problem.

JUNE 30

I haven’t really had a chance to relax and do nothing the past couple weeks, and since I was out all day yesterday, that’s exactly what I did today after class. I sent in my book stuff to be printed; now it’s just time to wait until the proof copy is delivered.

JULY 1 - JULY 2

Today I decided to kick back a bit more. Joy and the others have decided to go climb Mt. Fuji on July 12th and 13th. That just so happens to be my birthday week. I couldn’t have planned a better way to spend my birthday than with them. As for climbing the mountain, if we can get all the way to the top it will be a great feat. I have a few doubts, since I’ve never done it before, but as far as fitness goes I think I can make the climb. I may be slow, but I will get to the top if that’s where we are going.

JULY 3

Today is all about BPM. They’re having another party down in Toyohashi tonight, which I almost missed out on. Initially the date was set for next Thursday, but it was suddenly changed to today. It’s probably going to go all night again, but I’m looking forward to seeing if any of the graduated students show up. This may also be the last time I can party with them as a student, so I have to make the most of it! Toyohashi here I come!

JULY 4

As expected, the party lasted all night. It wasn’t as lively as some of the other previous parties, and by that I mean a lot more people slept through the night. I considered napping once or twice myself, but I have a hard time doing so in public places. Instead I danced most of the night, and when morning came, this time I was showered and ready to start my day.

I actually had quite a Friday planned. After class, where presentations on Japanese instruments continued, I went to karaoke with Taiga and Rachael for the afternoon three-hour special. We needed to figure out what songs we can sing together, so I went for practice, she just went to be awesome.

Then, following an enriching karaoke experience, I met with Takahiro at the station. We headed down to Osu on the subway in search for yukatas, preferably cheap ones. Normally, a new, well-made yukata might go for a couple hundred dollars or so. If at all possible, I hoped to get the whole set: yukata, obi, and geta (wooden shoes) for less than a hundred. They had pre-made packs in Aeon for about one-hundred dollars; that was my back-up plan.

Thankfully, I didn’t need to go to Aeon after all. The first store we went into had two floors, with used yukatas and kimonos on the second floor. We checked the second floor first because some were as cheap as 500 yen! Unfortunately, we could find little that would suit my height, or that was the right material/color. We were pretty set on some sort of blue as the main color. Two middle-aged women graciously gave us advice on where to look for the right styles for summer, and they even went as far as to lead us, well me, around the store to try on different styles. They didn’t work there, they were customers like us, though clearly more experienced.

When the second floor proved to be insightful, but not plentiful, we headed down to the first floor. I expected prices to be through the roof, but there was actually yukata between 3000 and 5000 yen. There was only one blue one that would fit my height, I was worried if it would fit the girth of my hips, when suddenly another middle-aged woman came out of nowhere and started to properly dress me in the yukata. We had a red obi picked out, which she quickly wrapped around me and confirmed the sizes would fit. Thank you, random lady, for saving us the guess work. All I had to do was choose a pair of geta, which for my size was even harder to find, but there was a few extra-large pairs. In any case, they would have been tight because they were new. All that for about 7200 yen, perfect!

Following our shopping venture, Takahiro and I trudged back to Nagoya station so we could go to English Cafe Nite. There happened to be a large group visiting from California, which at least doubled the number of English speakers in the room. We played a game similar to telephone, only with gestures instead of speaking the phrases. Some of the phrases we had to act out were impossible to decipher: my group’s phrase was becoming a ghost, but it ended up looking like the rain came and something sprouted. Regardless, we had a great time, and I earned the right to a good night sleep. Good night!

JULY 5

Mark’s having a party tonight in his room. For the first time it’s not in my or Rachael’s room, so we’re grateful. It went well, as most parties do. Nobody came to hush us, though I thought sometimes we got a bit loud. Then, out of nowhere, Mark’s neighbor calls for his attention on the balcony. Next thing we know, he’s sitting in the room with us, talking about games. We thought he was going to tell us to be quiet, but he just came over to join the party. In fact, this was the same guy that I had talked to WAY back in September when there was a fire in the building across the street. Who knew he was Mark’s neighbor?