February 26

Today was the speaking part of the midterm. I heard my phone die before I had to wake up, so I stayed in bed, half asleep, waiting for the sound of the stobu to wake me up. I let my schedule slip a little toward the late side because the exam would not start until 10:40, but due to I don’t know what, I was able to catch the first train to class. I spent a lot of the time online (since I had studied so much the night before).

A bit before my time slot, I went downstairs (from the computer room to the testing room) and began to get nervous. The instructors were behind schedule, so I had to wait quite a bit. However, when I did go to take the test, I was still nervous. Even entering the classroom was part of the test, so I knocked three times, opened the door, said shitsureshimasu, and commented on the weather before sitting down. Tsuda sensei asked me about three questions about where I grew up, where I was born, and something else I don’t remember. Next was the role-play. I had to ask my host mother (Tsuda sensei) to bring my (vegetarian) friend to dinner and if we could go to Kyoto on the weekend, not to return until after dinner. I screwed up a bit, but I can’t do anything about it now. At the end, I had to ask a question of Tsuda sensei, so I asked what to do to get acclimated to nattou. On the way out of the test, I remembered to excuse myself.

After that, I waited on my friend to finish and talked with Alvin for a bit. He showed me his Japanese keitai, which can play live television. It was pretty cool, but it’s pink! He invited me to come with him and his Japanese friends to make food and speak (Japanese) on Friday after classes. It sounds fun (and like a good chance to meet Japanese people) so I think I will go.

After being abandoned by the friend I was waiting on, I went to the computer lab again to pass another hour waiting on Mike to get out of class. Once he got out, I went with him, two Annas, and Keily to Valor’s for lunch. It was Mike’s first time going to the supaa (and panya) so it was pretty exciting. I ate too much (but I did find the maple melon pan that tastes like hottoke-ki with syrup!) and it was delicious.

Afterward, I returned to the computer room to do the research for my Geisha presentation. It didn’t go well, but I suppose there wasn’t much else to do today.

At home, I listened to the kikitori renshuu for tomorrow’s test. I got so bored that I listened to the kaiwa from daigoka before going downstairs to finish my geisha research.

Before the research though, I had dinner with okaasan and otousan. We had salmon, gohan (never gets old), asparagus, and miso. Okaasan has been teaching me to eat like a Japanese person. I’ve been eating my miso by pulling out the vegetables, etc. with my chopsticks, then drinking the broth. Apparently, Japanese people don’t do that because it takes too long. Instead, they push the vegetables into their mouths while they drink the broth. I’ve tried this perhaps once, and the chances of making a mess of myself are just too high, so I’ve resorted to eating the vegetables while okaasan isn’t looking and drinking the broth when she is.

At dinner, okaasan and otousan explained that they would have to be away during some of March. They asked if I ate junk food, and I admitted that I did, but when they asked if I ate at McDonald’s and KFC, I told them the truth; no. Although, otousan referred to it as fried chicken, then KFC, so I told him that if my mother made it, I ate fried chicken. I think he was planning for the days when okaasan would be out, because this question came up when okaasan was talking about otousan cooking (she laughed a bit at the thought) while she was away. So far, we will have curry one night, sushi (I told them I liked maguro upon prompting, but I wish I said ebi too) another, and I don’t know further.

For dessert, okaasan appologized for not having okashi, but I wish she wouldn’t. She spoils me as it is. Instead, I had some of otousan’s Valentine’s Day chocolate (as did he and okaasan). I was just going to have a (Godiva) lemon rind, but ryoushin told me to try the “marou.” Oh my gosh, thank you so much ryoushin! They were worried that there was sake cooked into them, so otousan tried it first, and said it was okay, so I ate mine. As it turned out, the marou was a truffle, perhaps my favorite candy, if it can even be put in that category. Woooo~!

After shokuji, I finished my research for the geisha presentation and went to my room to assemble the information I had collected (in the form of web archives). I was worried because I felt my research was inadequate (it really is hard to research geisha without all the side crap in the timeframe of one day). I ended up going to sleep somewhere around 12:30, so I decided to sleep in a bit the next day.