Yotei

Here, for my organization and your tantilization, is my schedule from the vacation:


Tuesday night: Bowling and cultural exchange with a bunch of Japanese boys.

Wednesday: First day of the vacation; I met up with Ksenia and Nathalie at Nagoya Eki around noon and took the bus to Kyoto. Checked in at J-Hoppers tte iu youth hostel; met with the other three at the Kyoto Cultural Museum, had dinner and went out for puri and karaoke.

Thursday: Woke up in Kyoto in my cave. Lots of things including Nijojo Castle and wandering around outside Kinkakuji. A decent dinner at Mr. Young Men tte iu restaurant (okonomiyaki!) and early to bed.

Friday: Fushimi Inari and Kiyomizudera. Also sento (public bath) in the evening! That was cute. Old Japanese ladies put shampoo on our heads.

Saturday: Tried to return to Nagoya in a bus in the middle of a blizzard. Also, Takurazuka. Slept in my own bed for the only time this break.

Sunday: Woke up to Miki calling me; left asap for Saitama. The shinkansen was thrilling. Took about forty minutes (!!) to find her in the station because of communication difficulties. There also seemed to be a duplicate station somehow. I am not sure. Had lunch, went back to her house, went grocery shopping and made nikujaga (literally "meat and potatoes", pretty much like stew. Which is apparently not "stuu" but "shichuu"). Some interesting episodes involving escaping vegetables.

Monday: Shopping in Omiya! We went around the giant mall in the train station and had Starbucks for lunch. Also went to the shrine in the area, which was very nice. In the evening I attempted to show her how to make spaghetti carbonara, although the bacon was pretty weird.

Tuesday: It was raining and grey, so we stayed in for most of the day. For breakfast I made her pancakes, including an M for Miki. Then we spent most of the day making truffles for Valentine's day and watching "Pretty Woman". Then we left for the takoyaki party! I'm not sure if we have one word for riding two to a bicycle, but the Japanese do, and it's an extremely fun activity. Takoyaki was also awesome, there was a ton of food and it was fun to make and we just sat around and ate and watched boys play videogames. We fell asleep as they played Super Smash Brothers from around midnight straight til 8 in the morning.

Wednesday: It was super windy today. I wanted to know how schoolgirls feel in winter so I wore a skirt. What happens is your legs go completely numb and then it's bearable. Miki showed me around Saitama Daigaku, which is much prettier than Nanzan. Right now I'm waiting for her to get back from her job so we can go to dinner. I also fell asleep in the kotatsu, which I highly recommend, especially for freezing schoolgirls.

Thursday: Tomorrow's plan is to leave early and meet up with Nathalie and Hiroe at noon for shopping. I hope it works, it would be cool.

Friday: First day of classes.