March 6

Today, I made a scrambled egg pancake. I was getting tired of fried eggs, so I decided to make scrambled ones today. However, due to my multitasking (and the amazing effects of teflon) I made an egg that resembled a pancake; it was the same color, shape, and fluffy consistency, but it was an egg instead. When I started my day outside the house, it was raining. It didn’t stop for most of the day and by noon, it was raining fairly strong.

Class was particularly boring. After taking our half-hour test (which had to be extended because half on an hour is not enough for two pages of assessment), we had three hours of bunpou renshuu. The first session was with Hanashiro sensei and I made a small joke, since he seems to be laughing at his own all the time, but I’m not sure if it went over well. He was asking what we should do since we had lost some time with the testing period’s extension and I suggested we take a break from class (or a nap depending on the interpretation) and I think he took it as disrespect because when we were doing practice one-at-a-time, he skipped me. When he realized (or realized that I realized), he made me do about six practices in a row (while everyone else had gotten only one). It was okay though, because Mertz Sensei had done this to me at State (probably without any hard feelings) and I got them all right. Otherwise, the only interesting part of class was the end, when we had to debate between cats and dogs and homestay and dorm living.

After class, I made my daily Valor run (alone in the rain because my friends punked out on me) and used the internet between classes. My friend was also using the computers (to finish her report that was due that afternoon). It was interesting because her phone kept ringing and people would come by to talk to her. In the end, she wrote her paper in about half of an hour with only about fifteen to spare before class.

Class itself was pretty boring. I couldn’t pay attention to the professor for the most part. It’s become very bad. Usually, I will draw pictures while he speaks and write down the important points he makes, but lately, it does not seem like he is finishing his thoughts and the important information is usually written on the slide copies he gives us. It all equates to me drawing pictures in class.

When we were finally let loose (ten minutes after the course was supposed to end), I went to my eki as usual, but I ran into Fukatomi (ne) sensei. I didn’t realize it was her (as I was looking further down the platform to see if it was safe to walk in the narrow space of the platform) until she waved her hand in front of me many times. I didn’t know what to say, since I was surprised, so I only got to return her “konnichiwa” and say “tomodachigamieru” before walking to another door at the train that had just arrived. I had seen my friend further down the platform, so what I said to her was true.

Otherwise, the trip home was uneventful. When I did get home though, otousan was making dinner. I’m kind of happy to be able to help out, even if my help is elementary. Otousan asked me if it was okay to put glass in the microwave. I thought he was asking if the bowl was good for the amount of rice I was going to nuke. He seemed a bit surprised when I pulled out some saran wrap to put over the bowl to keep the moisture in. I guess cooking really is usually the wife’s job in Japan. To be fair though, he had to show me how to use the microwave.

At dinner, we ate otousan’s wine-flavored chicken stew (I tried not to eat the Chicken part of it since it’s Friday) with the gohan, clear wakame soup, and salad. Otousan’s cooking is pretty good, especially for a hobby. He asked me twice what I thought of it, I don’t think he was confident about it.

Okaasan came back from her trip to either the west most or the southern most island of Japan. I’m not good at directions in Japanese either. D: She said it was fun and interesting, but tiring. She brought me back a special present. :D It’s a hand-made fabric pencil case in traditional Okinawan color and pattern. She explained the inverse checker patterns on it as: itsunoyounishiawaseninaru. itsutsu(five) youtsu(four) ni shiro (white has “shi” in it as does happiness). There are two checker patterns that have four and five white blocks, so if you put them together, you get a whole (itsumo) white area. It makes a lot of sense in Japanese. :D

Culture Note: Japanese people are worse than Germans when it comes to following rules. Even if there are no cars coming from any directions, they will not cross the street at a crosswalk until the pedestrian light turns green (blue if you’re going by Japanese standards). However, I (and many Japanese people from my neighborhood) J-walk daily to get to Nisshin eki.

P.S. The Lotus count is up to two or three. I can’t remember now. D: