random acts of literature

16 June 2009 | 14.19 | IES Center, Makuhari

I’m sorry I completely missed writing yesterday; I had a really bad headache and was running a bit of a fever last night, and it was raining really hard, so I fell asleep on top of my homework and definitely didn’t move until this morning. So we’ll see how much of yesterday I can remember. Elizabeth and I got to class first, but the door was still locked and the building was sweltering, so we waited outside where it was nice and breezy and cool. We were pretty much all there studying by the time Tomita-sensei showed up, but Mark brought his kanji book, which was very exciting. His host family gave him one of the books Japanese children use to learn kanji, with lots and lots of pretty picture mnemonics – I want one. Then we went to take our test; it was ridiculously easy, and I really regretted spending so much time studying Sunday night. The rest of class tried to squeeze all of a normal crazy class into about three-fourths of normal class time, so it actually managed to be even more hectic. We had a guest lecture about the history of Edo (Tokyo) starting at 13.30, so I went to the konbini for lunch again. This time, I got a bentō with something like gyōza ‘dumplings,’ which I’ve been craving since Saturday, so I was delighted. I discovered that the pictures that got lost were actually hiding on my memory card, but in the process of trying to get them onto my computer, they disappeared entirely. But the lecture was fantastic; the woman talking to us was from London and had her 7-week-old daughter at the IES Center with her, and she did a fantastic job of giving (the highlights of) the history of a massive city in an hour and a half. I stayed in the IES Center and uploaded nikki and pictures from the Nikko trip, then left around 5, talked to Mommy  part of the way to the station, and got home by 6. Okāsan helped me with some of the kanji we were supposed to learn for today’s quiz – and I found out this morning that the most complicated one, she wrote wrong – then when she took Coro-chan for a walk, I went upstairs to rest for a bit. It was dark and quiet and I was snuggled up in all three of my usually-too-hot blankets, and I think I was asleep within twenty minutes. Then Jesse called, and we talked for a little bit before he had to go get breakfast. I cried some after we hung up, but then it was dinner time: spaghetti and katsu ‘fried pork.’ Okāsan explained that sometimes Japanese people eat katsu before a competition of some kind, because it also means ‘to win.’ I love wordplay, especially in foreign languages. After dinner I went back upstairs and tried to do homework, but about a page into it I fell asleep again. Then it was this morning – fortunately the only battle scars left on the homework paper were a few creases.

I slept a bit longer than I usually do this morning, so Okāsan came upstairs to ask if I was okay. Then it was breakfast, which included a cherry tomato this morning, and something resembling a mad dash to the train station to make sure I made the 7.34 train. Today’s class was ever-so-slightly incomprehensible again, so I’m not sure how well my plans to go to bed early are going to work… For lunch, I found real gyōza, which completed my life in Japan. The lady at the konbini was stunned I wanted them cold, but they were absolutely fantastic! Then I actually did a bit of homework here, but mostly I’ve just been catching up on emails and chatting. (So far, today has been among the most uneventful days since I’ve been here.)  I’ll include the rest of today with tomorrow’s entry; Okāsan is going out this evening, and I don’t want her to have to hide the key for me, so it’s time to head home now!