February 20

Today was very long. I really didn’t want to get out of bed because it was so warm and I knew it would be a cold day (from the sound of the wind outside). Okaasan made scrambled eggs for me and gave me left over spaghetti squash from the night before. It was a delicious breakfast. As the forecast indicated, it rained for about half of the day.

In Japanese class today, we reviewed for the oral exam we will have next week as part of our mid-term exams. We have about five for Japanese alone; reading, speaking, listening, writing, and maybe one other I forgot. I don’t know what my problem is, but when it comes to speaking Japanese, I get all tongue-tied, so I’m really worried about the midterms. My grades seem to be somewhere in the B category and I’m not too pleased with that, so I will probably study a lot this weekend (if I can find the time).

After Japanese class (that dragged on), I ate lunch and worked on my hanga until Art and Culture Class. That was class particularly hard to stay awake through (though I had had two weeks without it due to scheduling) and it seems I spent the first ten minutes of the lecture asleep. I managed to stay awake for the rest of the class, but I know I was writing notes unconsciously at one point.

When class finally ended, I made my way to Yagoto Nisseki so that I could get home in time for dinner. On the way though, I met up with some of the other Nanzan exchange students and met Ryan, a guy from Seattle, for the first time (though I’ve been here for over a month D:). The train ride home went as normal, except for my transfer from the Akaike train to the Toyotashi train (they run the same route, but Toyotashi goes further down the route). I had to wait for two Akaike trains before a Toyotashi one came. I ended up sitting on the edge of a bench while I waited, with nearly no room to sit due to a large group of middle (or maybe high) school boys in uniform who sat next to me.

I made it home just in time to have dinner with my host family. Since it’s Lent, okaasan made fish, salad, and vegetable soup. Okaasan’s vegetable soup is not like American soup though; it’s thick like a cream-based soup, but it has pumkin, carrot, sweet potatoes, and a bunch of other vegetables in it that I can’t identify. We talked about Michelle Obama (Otousan thinks she speaks well) and Hillary Clinton (who is “too much first lady”) as well as the monkey that attacked someone in the US. We also talked a bit about the history of Hikone (where I will be going tomorrow) as a major historic post in the transport of international goods across Biwa Lake. We also talked a bit about traveling to nearby Asian countries. Otousan suggested we go as a family to a historic place in Japan, and I’m really looking forward to it. Before we finished dinner though, okaasan convinced me to leave the house a half-hour later than I planned for tomorrow’s trip. I think she is worried about having to wake up so early (which I hope she doesn’t because I can take care of myself in the morning without burdening her). We will see.

I feel like my brain has shut off since I got to Japan. I think the lack of math and science is to blame. It may not really be related to Japanese, but I think the strain of the subject matter keeps my brain in shape (which would make learning Japanese easier). Oh well...