STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 49 (Final)

AUGUST 3

This is is… the final stretch of the journey. I headed back to Nagoya this morning to join the others for lunch of our favorite Naan Curry, and also to grab round six of luggage. This time I had two full bags, my orange bag, and a large black luggage from Jason. He didn’t need it to go home, because he had sent most of his things home in boxes. Thankfully, I was able to make the trip with Takahiro’s help. Just one more trip and it should be done. To think, if I had asked a friend with a car to help, it may have only been one trip…

AUGUST 4

With the bulk of my property now at my new apartment, it was time to properly unpack and give some sense of order to the piles that spot my living room floor. It took my all day, but for having no furniture, it doesn’t look too bad. Still no fridge, washing machine, futon, shelf or anything, but I plan to buy those after I come back from America. Four more days! Crazy! I wish the others didn’t have to go home, but at least I know I will be back. I am looking forward to seeing my family, some friends, and to eating all of the things that I haven’t had the chance to eat in this past year. But, even so, I don’t want to go. If there was a way to bring all those things to me, then it would be a perfect world.

AUGUST 5

I went back to Nagoya, once again. This time it was primarily to help the other students with their final room checks. We stored their luggages in my room and went to eat at Naan Curry for the last time together. After that, it was already the evening so we hung out for a while before they decided to sleep. They were all heading to the airport early, so the group split and I gave up my floor and bed to them. In the meantime, I went to dance in the Naka District for what I knew would be the last chance I could do so for some time.

Later, when I returned, I found myself locked out of my room until I had to call on the intercom from the first floor. This was our last night together, sleeping with my newfound family, before saying farewell.

AUGUST 6

In the end, I didn’t go to the airport with everyone. I woke up, hugged them all good-bye and walked them to the station, but that was all I could have done. Even if I had gone, I couldn’t have stayed until the last person left because I had one last day of training today. Maybe it was best no to over-dramatize our farewell. I will see them again, maybe in Japan, maybe in Hawaii, or France. This is just the end to another chapter.

AUGUST 7

Yesterday I took the last round of luggage down to Okazaki, so this morning I returned to an empty room for my final check. There was no problem, as expected. I paid for the water and electric bill, turned in my keys and ID, and suddenly I was homeless in Nagoya. Homeless, but not friendless. There was still half a dozen of the Chinese and Taiwanese students remaining for the next 6 months. We ate lunch together at SUSHI-RO, and then there nothing else to do but return to Okazaki and start my own preparations to return home.

AUGUST 8

In a few hours, I’ll be on a plane back to the States. It’s all over, the study abroad, my adventure in Nagoya. When I come back, it will the beginning of a new life, a whole new adventure to look forward to. The best way for me to show appreciation for this experience is not to look back with want, but to march on with hope and purpose. Hope that I can see my international family again, and soon, and with all the intention of making that happen. I have been training for a few months now, and I can look towards my job with confidence. I’m not simply teaching English to stay in Japan, but I want to teach. I want to share my experiences with others, and encourage them the same way that my teachers and professors have encouraged me. I have something to give now, a purpose.

Until next time...

STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 45

JULY 6

It’s been too long since I have danced at Shirakawa Park. The weather today was a bit iffy, but it started out nice and sunny. Five of us were practicing, doing our own thing when I noticed someone watching in the corner of my eye. We made eye-contact and he spoke to me, ‘Do you speak English?’

Had he not asked this in a perfect American accent, I would have assumed he was Japanese. On the contrary, he was actually from Michigan! On top of that, he was a break dancer, but he was in Japan on a three-week internship as an engineer. Of all the people!

At the time he had just finished touring the science museum, so he happened to notice us as he passed by. He wasn’t meeting his friend until later that evening, so we offered him the chance to rest, or to join us if he’d like. It had been ‘months’ since he’s practiced, but he jumped right into it, despite the light rain that started to fall. Eventually, we moved our group to the basketball court, which was covered by the overpass and practiced there. As the first English-speaking break dancer I have met in the past year, I eagerly took his well-pointed advice. Now I’m trying to figure out how to do thread while I’m in a shoulder freeze. Thanks, Albert. Be seeing you again I hope.

JULY 7

I started packing and preparing for the move. What I really mean is that I’ve put away all my winter things nicely, and I have filled up my large orange luggage with things I am not using now, but will need later. It never hurts to start early. Then, evening practice in the Naka District.

JULY 8

After weeks of waiting, my group has finally been able to present our survey to the class. All the themes had a relation to school, and ours was about the commute. Almost a month ago we started our surveys by asking a few volunteer students who came to our class basic questions in regards to our research. We didn’t have to actually create another survey on our own accord, but since we only had two questions to investigate, and already eight people’s answers, we decided it was an opportune time.

I was in charge of the survey, but we divided the other research and presentation creation amongst the three of us. Not only were we to present on Japan’s school commute, but our home countries as well. As far as information goes, we filled our twenty minutes greatly, and that was before playing the video material. I wish our member had shown us the video beforehand, rather than playing the five minutes’ worth during the real presentation as we were on the clock. There were no questions to be asked, which may or may not have been a good thing. I think people just wanted to go to their next class. There will probably be a question session at the beginning of class next week.

JULY 9

It’s the second to last week of the semester, which means today was the second to last Business Japanese class we will have. Next week also happens to be the final exam, which will be similar to the midterm where we had to do role-plays. However, we also have to write a thank you speech, and practice new role plays such as telephone conversations ad lib. I hope I don’t get picked for the telephone conversation!

JULY 10

Our morning started out with a guidance meeting for the students who are going to return to their home countries soon. Granted, some of us are ready to go home, but I’m not. We spent about an hour or so being talked about canceling our Internet contracts, preparing for water and electric bills, returning our bikes to the university, cleaning up our rooms, and, of course, final paperwork. My only comfort was that if anything happened, I would still be around later to deal with it. But the harsh truth was very clear: in less than a month I would be saying good-bye to some of the most important people in my life, my second family.

Like I said it was depressing, but we couldn’t wallow in it. We still had more immediate preparations to make. The day after tomorrow four of us, Joy, Rachael, Aurianne and I were heading to Mt. Fuji. Joy and I rode our bikes to Donki for some last minute preparations, in particular headlamps. We intended to climb the mountain over the course of the day and into the night so that we could see the sunrise. Then, we hurried home to work on our final presentations for culture class tomorrow. Once again, we can present on anything we want, and I was still undecided until yesterday.

JULY 11

(I woke up just in time for the clouds to give way to the dawn.)

My second to last presentation topic of the semester, of my undergraduate career was this: Okami. Okami has several meanings when translated, all which depend on its kanji. The basis for my presentation was a Capcom video game that came out a few years back when I was in high school. In this game you played as Amaterasu, a god or okami, who comes down to Japan to save the people from the dark ages as a wolf, also okami, and your powers are used by drawing symbols on paper, the final kami. The main reason I chose this as my final subject was because this game opened my eyes to Japanese folklore. Every character, every story within the story has a link to a Japanese folktale. I’m a fan of folklore, and another big theme that I enjoy is past meets present. This game does exactly that, as it is a modern tool depicting old stories. I highly recommend it.

That said, I kind of tripped through the presentation itself. Maybe that was karma, or some foul curse that said any video I planned to use in my culture presentation would betray me. In this case, the voice over of the video was faster than I could read, but it wasn’t a real, clear language. So I constantly had to pause, read, and play the video again. It made my presentation much longer than the intended ten minutes.

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?

STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 43

JUNE 22

I am still in shock.

This morning Akane and I went back to the apartment dealer. There were three out of five places that we could go see today, and the first one just so happened to be my first pick as well. As soon as I stepped in I knew it was the place. I didn’t really want to see the other places, but I didn’t want to make an impulsive decision, so we did check out the other two places. In comparison, they seemed small, unappealing, but maybe that was because I had already made my decision.

When we headed back to the dealer, and I mentioned that I really liked the first place. I thought that would mean, all right come back again next week and we’ll draw up the contract. No, they had the paperwork ready. I knew it was the right place, so now or later it didn’t really matter, right? I didn’t want someone else to take it. We worked through the paper and they printed out the initial bill for me. It wasn’t just rent, but also a gratuity fee, insurance, neighborhood fee. In the end, it came to about 2000 dollars. I had to pay it this week. Also, I had to move into the new place within a month of signing the contract. July 19th it is.

It felt like I was doing the right thing, but I couldn’t help wondering if I had acted impulsively. Was I supposed to inform the university first? Or, was I missing some vital piece of information? It all seemed to go too smoothly.

We ate at SUSHI-RO after that, and I was still in shock.

Then I returned to Nagoya in the late afternoon, only to run into Jordan outside Nagoya Station. His plans to meet someone had fallen through and he was just on his way home. Turns out, he hadn’t eaten at the time so I took him to the nearby udon place for some venting time for the both of us.

So excited! And terrified! Am I really doing this all on my own?

JUNE 23

The last International Cafe… so sad. I will miss all the regular faces, and the bi-weekly excuse to talk about nothing in particular. Takahiro and Yuto also showed up today to hang out. Apparently, they needed a picture of me for the interview, so Yuto snapped one with his phone. I wish he had told me about it sooner because I was not at all dressed for a photo today.

JUNE 24

I did my duty and paid for the apartment today. So much money gone, and once again the bank account is starved. The JASSO money should be coming in soon though. I got to save up because it looks like we’ll be traveling next month: Disneyland, Universal Studios, who knows! It’s going to be an adventure. I’m pretty sure we are going to USJ because the new Harry Potter attraction will open around the 17th. I can’t wait to go; I’ve never been to a Universal Studio or Disneyland before.

JUNE 25

No time to work on manga today, only class and training. I’m in the last stages though; I think I can finish up the pages in a couple more days!

JUNE 26

Joy joined me to play futsal again. We always have too much fun playing against each other. Also, now that I know a few more of the members, we can actually interact with them as other matches are going on. Speaking a few sentences in English is fairly popular, but the conversation always reverts back to Japanese. Our conversations aren’t about much, but we have a great time playing futsal.

After futsal I went straight to dance practice for a few hours. Now I am home and showered. Tonight I’m going to try and get some more pages done. I have all night to do it since there’s no class tomorrow. Less than one chapter to go!

JUNE 27

It’s done! It’s done!

The pages are all complete! I finished the last details at 6pm, just in time for me to go to Open Mic Nite at the Heart n’ Soul Cafe. I even started on the cover, so all I have to do is check out the pages and prepare them for printing, finally.

Going to Open Mic became my initial celebration. Rachael and a couple other students also came to the event this time. Takahiro was there working as the MC, and he somehow managed to convince Rachael to perform next month. On one condition: that I perform with her. I enjoy karaoke, not singing on a stage. I can’t even sing that well. But, if it’s for Rachael, I’ll brave that fire. Somehow, someway, we’ll pull a performance together.

JUNE 28

Today’s culture experience was all about traditional Japanese instruments and yukata. As one of the first to arrive, I had the chance to watch our teachers for the day wander into the university all dressed up properly in yukatas. As soon as our class officially started, at 9am, we were dressed in various yukatas. They weren’t so much separated by size as they were by height, meaning there was few for me two choose from. This time, as one of the older women helped me put the yukata on and set the obi I tried to pay close attention. I would be buying my own yukata for the upcoming fireworks festivals, so I had to figure out how to wear it properly on my own.

Once everyone was dressed in their yukatas and the pictures were taken, we were split into two groups. My group was the first to experience the instruments, while the other group was taught obondori, a festival dance that takes place to celebrate obon, a festival based on the Buddhist custom of honoring one’s ancestors. In the instrument room they had set up there was flutes, shamisen, and small taiko drums. I tried the flute first, but in the allotted time I could hardly get a note through. Rachael and Joy on the other hand had experience playing wind instruments, so it came more naturally to them. Next I was sent to the small drums, which started out all right until I started going off rhythm. As for the techniques of hitting and holding the drum itself, I found that I was quite capable. Last was the shamisen, the instrument I had least faith that I could play, but it turned out to be the most fun. My fingers tend to move slowly so I thought that strumming the strings would be harder for me. To my surprise, the challenge of plucking the notes was more fun that I thought. I would have loved to have more time learning it, but our time quickly came to an end.

We switched rooms with the other group and danced for an hour in our yukatas. Dancing was nearly mindless for me, especially since the steps in and of themselves are relatively simply and they repeat for the entire song. At this point, a few people were complaining about the tightness of their yukatas as well, but I felt no such discomfort. I’m looking forward to finding my own yukata, but hopefully it’s not too expensive.

I planned a dinner get-together with the Hawaiian students and a few of the Japanese students that we have known since last year. It had been too long since we had eaten out together, outside of the curry house, so this time we went to yakiniku. Taigen recommended the place, which we found to be cheap and conveniently near the station.

STUDY ABROAD:WEEK 40

JUNE 1

Oh no! It’s already June and I’m still not done with my manga! My birthday is next month. I have no choice, but to put more time and effort into it. Sorry in advance.

The good news is that today I managed to complete the final touches on chapters 8-12. The final two chapters, 13 and 14, are also ready to be cleaned up since I scanned in all 80 pages yesterday. I’ve done so much this past month already, but there is still more to do.  Soon I will be entering the home stretch.

JUNE 2

I had to take a break from working on ‘you know what’ in order to homework for this week. There’s going to be quite a few days that I’ll probably just isolate myself and work on finishing up these last two chapters, so please bear with me. I won’t bother you with the dreary details too much.

On the other hand, I salvaged a lily that fell off my ikebana when we moved it to the second floor. The closed bud has now opened up!

JUNE 3 - JUNE 5

Three days of going to class, and then coming home to work on manga. I did go to dance practice on Tuesday and Thursday, that’s the only thing keeping me sane. I also had training on Wednesday. Honestly, I keep forgetting how long a simple task like cleaning up line art can take. Then again, there is about eighty pages…

JUNE 6

The morning and afternoon went as expected. However, this evening I made plans to meet with Kazu. She invited me to an all-girl’s dance practice in Fushimi. I’ve seen pictures of the groups online before, but this would have been my first time going.

I met Kazu and two other girls (all break dancers) at Fushimi Station and from there we walked to the studio. The small studio was actually right above a hair salon, and down the street from where Long’s apartment used to be. I thought it would be a bigger room, but once everyone showed up it quickly became very small. About thirty people showed up over the next few hours, dancing genres of all kinds: hip hop, jazz, wack, lock, and, of course, break.

Fushimi’s famous Eri also made an appearance, though I suppose she is famous throughout Japan’s break dance world by now. I watched her perform at Dance@LIVE in Tokyo. She’s someone that I can look forward to, as a future challenge, WAY in the future. I mean, I may never challenge her, but it’s good to have someone’s level to reach for. I didn’t have a chance to speak with her directly, and though I was primarily there to practice break dance I also floated around to the hip hop genre for a while. I saw familiar faces, but I didn’t know anyone outside Kazu and the two girls I arrived with. So I made a few more acquaintances.

We danced in the studio until 11pm and then everyone started on their own ways home. I walked with Kazu back to Nagoya Station. There we parted and I continued home on my own in the light cool rain. Tomorrow it’s back to the grind.

JUNE 7 - JUNE 8

The saga continues. Line art is clean, proceeding to add contrast with black ink.

We ate at one of the restaurants where a Taiwanese exchange student is working part-time. It’s famous for its udon dishes, so a couple of us tried the shrimp tempura miso udon.

STUDY ABROAD:WEEK 39

MAY 25

If only I didn’t have homework, or the need to eat, then I could have slept all day. At least Mark was going to keep me company when I headed out to the Daiso. First, however, I went to Jason’s room to return his forgotten items. I couldn’t remember which room he lived in, but I knew it was on the second floor. As I was messaging him I noticed there was a door propped open with flip flops, similar to the ones Jason wears. In mid-message confirming that I could come in, I went to open the propped door, just as its resident came to close it. We made eye-contact, long enough for our holds on the door to become awkward. I noticed he was trying to pull the door shut, so I quickly jumped back and apologized. I had almost walked into a stranger’s room, I was that tired. A few seconds later, Jason opened his door on the opposite side of the hall. If only he had done so a bit sooner.

MAY 26

I had a feeling it would rain today.

During lunch Joy and I met with the two or three students from the seminar class that still come to eat lunch with us. We decided that this Thursday we would go check out the futsal club because Joy didn’t have to work. That was fine with me, even though I suppose BPM is having a mock battle on Thursday also. I don’t have a partner lined up or anything, so there’s no pressure for me to show up. Besides, I haven’t been able to play with Kaori and the other guys on Saturdays since February— I needed to just run around and kick a ball.

As I said, the rain came, and it was a drenching rain. Nevertheless, we were determined to go eat somewhere after international cafe. Lai and I walked back to the apartments together; she had her bike and the umbrella, but in the end I volunteered to carry at least the umbrella since at her height it kept hitting me in the head. Not more than two minutes after it was in my hand the wind turned it inside out and broke one of the spokes. That is precisely why I don’t carry umbrellas. In any case, when that happened, she tried to hold up the broken umbrella over herself so I walked the bike. I was being a “gentleman”, which made me even more uncomfortable since she was holding onto my arm as well. That was just being nice and doing the write thing.

By the time we got back to the apartment, we were both drenched. That and we passed the udon shop we hoped to eat at on the way, only to find it was closed. A quick change of plans and we met up with the others at Manchinken, the ramen place across from 7i. Finally, I could try the ramen for myself, and it was delicious, just as I hoped, it was perfect after a cold rain.

MAY 27

Aside from working on manga today, Jason and I also practiced for our Business Japanese midterm tomorrow. For the midterm, there is no written test, we are only expected to rehearse and perform accurate role-plays based on the conversations we practiced in class. This is one of my skills, so even though I don’t know all the vocabulary perfectly, I can memorize lines and play them. However, since we didn’t practice until the evening I couldn’t go to dance practice. Midterms come first in this case.

MAY 28

Yeah… so that whole “test” I was talking about yesterday persists. The first part of class was a listening quiz, unrelated to our midterm test. Then, our professor gave us time to practice before starting the actual test.

The class was divided between International Students (students who were attending the University as normal students on a 4-year program) and the Exchange Students (students who would only be at the University for six months to a year). She started the tests with the International Students, of whom there were six. ‘A’ would play the student, or the lower role, and ‘B’ would play the teacher, or other superior role. Then ‘B’ would become ‘A’ and the next student on the list would become the new ‘B’. During that time, the other students would peer review their performances. In that form we completed the International Students and started on the Exchange students. I was second on the list, so I was Gi’s ‘B’ partner when time ran out. I was half done, half done! Now I have to wait until next week to finish my midterm. At least I will be the first done.

MAY 29

Last night I packed a huge bag of clothes that I don’t need any more to take to Book-Off. Supposedly we can exchange them for some money, depending on the quality and brand, etc. I wasn’t expecting more than 300 yen. Mark and Margeaux also joined me with their own bags of unwanted items. Many of Mark’s clothes were ones that he bought this past winter and would not need in Hawaii. He got less than he wanted for the amount, but I on the other hand made 600 yen! That was double what I expected.

From there we all went our separate ways. By chance I happened to run into Rachael, Joy and Aurianne as they stopped outside Café de Crie for lunch. With my hard-earned 600 yen I bought a delicious roast beef sandwich. They were on their way to find the Kobe honey exhibition somewhere in Sakae. I took Rachael’s place as she headed to work, and then the three of us headed toward the Tokyu Hands in Sakae where it was advertised to be on the 6th floor. It was not. It was actually quite a pain to find, but after asking the right people and being directed to the underground shopping area we found the honey. Apparently, when they had gone to Kobe over spring break, they had found this honey and fell in love with it because there was so many flavors.

They had only wanted to find the place today, but they really intended to return tomorrow with Rachael, who was the most zealous to buy the honey. With the mission successful, Joy and I headed back to the university to play futsal with Shogo and Chiharu, also from the seminar class. I can’t explain how good it felt to just run and really stretch out my legs. I was using different muscles than usual, so of course I became a little winded, but Joy and I had a great time. Joy and I always made a point to play on opposite sides since we didn’t know the other members, at least we could compete with each other. It was very interesting to play with just the girls, too. Many of them are still first or second year students, so they have a tendency to move in flocks. Joy and I ran the most during those games.

I went from doing something wonderful and healthy, to going to a tenpura party. Deep fried, though lightly battered, goodness of all kinds, thanks to our cooking mama: Rachael. Chicken, pumpkin, zucchini, carrots, chocolate, bananas and more were consumed over the course of the night. Taigen also came so four of the ‘cool kids’ were able to hang out and talk until morning once again.

MAY 30

No class this morning, but I didn’t sleep in much either! I’m making progress.

It goes without saying that I spent the day inking pages, and then erasing, and then toning some of the pages digitally. The reason why we didn’t have class today was because tomorrow we are going to have our ikebana experience. We can’t bring them home, which is a shame, but I’m ready to challenge ikebana again!

MAY 31

Our class all met together outside of the library just before 9am. The discussion rooms had all been opened up to create one large room. Three ikebana teachers had come to help us with our experience. They guided us through the three main steps, and also provided meanings for certain flowers.

Since there was so many of us, we could only sit two to a table, and each person received a prepared set of flowers that worked well together. For some people that included branch-like flowers and even long grass-like stems. I was lucky enough to receive the set with the lilies, one of my favorite flowers if I had to choose.

I followed the teacher’s advice through the first three main steps; the mother, father and child branches are one way to describe them. This time I was incredibly pleased with my creation. I followed the aesthetic rules and my own instincts to create a unique, somewhat tropical feeling piece of art. When we had to present our ikebana and describe the theme, I compared it to my current growing experience. Many of the students were able to create nice pieces of work, and love seemed to be a common theme. Some people even used avant-garde ideas in their designs.

In the end, ten of our pieces could go on display in the library or in the international center. I volunteered to have mine on display in the library, out in the common room, where at least I could see it every day when I come in. It was actually placed near the entrance at first, but then they moved it up to the second floor somewhere… no one goes up there. I’ll have to go hunt it out and take a picture this coming week.

([untitled] May 31, 2014)