Tamagawa Under the Bridge

I had my first quiz today in my Japanese class. It went okay, I think. I got to class 45 min early so that I could study. Since no one was there, I decided to take pictures.

 My Japanese classroom on Fridays (it changes each class). This is in Mita campus' oldest building (First School Building: Foreign language school) so the classroom is kind of old fashioned too.

Hallway

During break time, my Japanese level 7 teacher, Watanabe sensei, spoke to me about my schedule a little bit. I received my composition that was due on Wednesday back and I got my first A! She was pretty impressed that I did such a good job considering that I hadn't ever done a composition before. I guess I'm just good at composition despite the language, because I'm good at Spanish composition too.

My final schedule is the following:
MON: 9~10:30, 10:45~12:15 Japanese level 7
TUES: none
WED: 9~10:30, 10:45~12:15 Japanese level 7
1~2:30 Intermediate Convo B I [Polite conversation]
2:45~4:15 Intermediate grammar I
THURS: 4:30~6:00 Intermediate Composition II
6:10~7:40 Art workshop
FRI: 9~10:30, 10:45~12:15 Japanese level 7
1:00~2:30 Intermediate Conversation A II [Daily conversation]

I think I'll be ok with this. Plus, it's exactly 12 credits.

After class, I stopped by Tamagawa on a whim. I took lots of pictures. It's a really small residential area, so I doubt many foreigners pass through. I must have stood out.

 A cafe on the way from the station to the river. I thought the name was funny.

 A cross roads. There are lots of these in Japan. The train passes through the street. I guess it's a lot like the crossing in Rockville.

 Tamagawa bridge that crosses the river

 The train crossing the river

 People fishing

 A few people sit along the sloping stairs. There were even a few businessmen putting their feet in the river.

 The path along Tamagawa bridge

There were lots of homeless people there, but they don't bother anyone and they keep mostly to themselves. This is probably one of their houses.

 View from the bridge: boys practicing lacross

 These were really cute. Stone turtles all lined in a row.

 Stone turtle close up

 There was a kindergarten group having relay races. They were so cute cheering each other on as they ran. I watched them as I ate my dinner...

Nikuman--meat bun. Today I wasn't so hungry for dinner. I just felt like a warm fluffy bun. You can pick them up at the convenience store for 105yen...and there's a convenience store EVERYWHERE.

My excursion to Tamagawa was nice and really helped me relax a little when I have so much on my mind right now. I expected more people in the park today, but oh well.

A Short trip to Jiyuugaoka

Today, I received my alien registration card so I'm legally allowed to live in Japan~ Then, afterwards, I went to Jiyuugaoka to look around. There were lots of cute shops with TONS of strawberry stuff that I was really tempted to buy but then I didn't really need them...no one really needs them unless they have a house of their own I guess...maybe.
For lunch, I stopped in an udon restaurant and had the specialty curry udon. My first time trying udon in Japan. It was a bit spicy and very hot but very yummy and even less expensive than the dinner I had yesterday: 680yen.

 I also took a picture of the front box of the restaurant. Most restaurants in Japan have a glass window full of wax models of the types of food they'll serve. That way, people can look into the window, see if there's something they like and know what they want right away. I think it's actually kind of a good strategy. They look really pretty and real too. I'm actually gonna make a food wax model like this in my art class!

Finally, I just finished my first art project--a self portrait, so I thought I'd upload a picture of how it looks like. It...doesn't really look like me but it doesn't have to. It's the spirit behind it that counts. -nods-

Okay...I'm going to study a bit and then go to sleep. I have my first test tomorrow in Japanese~~~

The past few days...

Hi, it's been a while since I posted!

So, this is what I've been up to...

On Monday, me, Stephanie, and this girl from Hong Kong named Kit went out for drinks with Kim-san and Kotaro-senpai. I had met Kim-san before but I met Kotaro-senpai for the first time. It was pretty much just talking the whole time--well, Stephanie did most of the talking and I pretty much didn't stand out at all AGAIN. Kit doesn't speak Japanese at all, but she's cute so she stands out in her own way...I actually told Stephanie on Tuesday that she talks a lot--not in a mean way but just as a fact. Not that she doesn't know already. I really have no problem with it. She should be herself. It's just a bit frustrating that she steals all the spotlight. But, I told an lady I was conversing with this on Tuesday and she said, yeah, that happens, but don't worry because there are lots of Japanese people who are like me. So, I just have to meet them and it'll be ok :) So, well, Monday wasn't that much fun...but senpai paid for our drinks (as an apology for being 5 min late--Japanese are really strict on punctuality) so it's cool♪ This is what I had:

It was like a kiwi thing...really sweet but didn't taste alcoholic at all.

On Tuesday, I studied all day. Then at 6pm, me and Stephanie went to a Japanese conversation workshop with Hiroko-san. A bunch of foreigners get together from the neighborhood and practice with Japanese volunteers speaking, reading, whatever. Stephanie got placed with Hiroko-san and I forgot the name of the lady I was with, but she was from Kyoto and really nice. Hiroko-san was so funny like last time and just couldn't stop talking how amazing I was for teaching myself Japanese. Haha it was embarrassing...

Then, today I had class pretty much all day and was tired when I got home. I wanted to get my alien registration card, but I finished class at 4 and the place closes at 5 so there was no time. I'll do it tomorrow since I don't have class in the morning. On the way back home, I picked up a bento for dinner.

It was pretty yummy. It was my first time tasting a Japanese omelette. As I've heard, it tastes sweet rather than salty so it was a different flavor from what I'm used to but it was really yummy. I also got to taste some kabocha! (Japanese squash) It was a very autumn-y flavor.

On another note, I finished the drama 'Ikemen desu ne' today and it was soo cute! Why haven't I met any Japanese celebrities yet when I live so close to them??? I need to go exploring Tokyo some more...   

Lots of new meetings♪

Today, I met a lot of new people!

At 9am, I went with Stephanie to meet her friend Azusa in Jiyuugaoka. From the station, we went to this place where Japanese people practice English conversation together. (Usually it's 500yen per session, but it's free for native English speakers haha) So...it wasn't really Japanese practice, but they practiced their English with me and we shared culture together and I met lots of interesting people! Everyone there was older than me--mid 20s to late 50s even 60s maybe.

After the conversation session, a bunch of people went out to lunch together and we had omuraisu!

I was stuck at a table the only girl with two older guys...so it was kinda awkward but they were nice enough and this time, I had a lot of Japanese conversation practice! Midway through lunch, one of the guys got a nosebleed though and everyone was making fun of him like "It's just that he got so excited since a pretty girl like Kenia was at his table" lol...

Then, we went to a beautiful Japanese style cafe called Kosouan. (I've come to learn that after lunch, Japanese people ALWAYS need to go to a cafe or something afterwards for tea.)

It was so beautiful. The garden was so bright and calm--Japanese style. An older lady was sitting there painting.

 Because Shintaro-san insisted on taking a picture of me in the place lol.

 Each drink came with a small Japanese sweet. This was delicious strawberry milk (much better than Nesquik lol). It was just the right coolness and very frothy. I love the way you eat Japanese sweets with little wooden picks. They're just perfect to slice the sweet and then eat it in tiny bites. Ahhh it was so lovely♥

Stephanie, me, and Azusa-chan.

It was really so much fun today. But, overall, my favorite meeting was when I went up to this girl at the end and said,

 "Kenia desu."

She responds, "Heh~Tooi desu ne" (Wow, that's far.)

Me: "Iya, kuni ja nakute, namae desu..." (No, not the country, it's my name...lol)

((P.S. Mother, Daddy...not to worry, for I have finally given in and bought toilet paper today. You're welcome.))

Waffles and Lemon tea

Today, I went with Stephanie and met her friend Haruko. We went to have waffles at this place called Waffle Cafe Orang. When I went to the bathroom, this was on the door. I thought it was so cute. Not 'Men', not 'Women' but:

 I had the Matcha Waffles: waffles with green tea powder, green tea ice cream, and red bean sauce. To drink, I had lemon tea. Stephanie and Haruko had Choco Banana waffles: waffles with pieces of banana, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate syrup. To drink, Stephanie had the green tea milk and Haruko had a latte.

 Me and Haruko. Haruko is 26 and currently looking for a boyfriend (international or Japanese) lol. She looks like one of those super fashionable fake kinda girls but she's actually really nice. I on the other hand am super unphotogenic...We took purikura pictures together later. You can choose your eye size and Haruko chose the biggest size just for fun, so we all looked like aliens with giant eyes lol.

 On our way home, Stephanie and I took a picture of Shibuya. At all times of the day, it's super busy. At the cross roads, there are bazillions of people.

Hiroko-san

Today, I went to Nakameguro to visit Hiroko-san, the lady that stayed at my house about 7 years ago.

First, she and her husband Yuji took me to this gyoza restaurant. She ordered so much! I feel like I ate at least 2 if not 3 days worth of food...But it was all delicious and traditional Japanese food, so I was happy. First, there was fried gobo root. It was really yummy. I think in English, it's called burdock. Before it's chopped into long slices, it looks like this:

We also had a bowl of nori (seaweed) soup, and there were two types of rice: one with chopped up pickles and another with pork. There was also a dish of sliced chicken with onions and an orange mayonnaise-like sauce, a dish of really thinly sliced carrot with tiny fried fish on top (the fish were really so tiny that I didn't know that they were fish until I looked closely and saw that they had eyes, which was kinda creepy and cute at the same time haha--they were crunchy and yummy), and finally an order of 30 gyouza. It was...a lot, even though everything (except the gyouza) came on tiny plates. Plus, afterwards we went to Hiroko-san's apartment and had some English tea with grapes and Japanese pears. Hiroko-san kept saying "Eat this! Eat this! And more of this!" and she served me so much haha...She talks a lot and her husband talks very little, but I had a conversation with both of them.

Hiroko-san's apartment is very small and her living room is filled with lots of little things that she buys on her trips. She loves to travel. She used to be an airline stewardess apparently. She also remembered that I used to draw a lot so I showed her and her husband somethings online, like my manga that I draw and the game that I translated. She and her husband were super impressed haha...After feeling second to Stephanie all this time, I guess it felt pretty good to be praised by someone.

Also, apparently Hiroko-san volunteers in this place where foreigners can go to practice conversation and talk about whatever they want. There's only an 100yen entrance fee and people can talk or read together and snacks are served at the end. I thought it sounded like a great place to practice speaking. Since I don't have class on Tuesdays, Hiroko-san said I could come see how it is next Tuesday around 6pm. She said Stephanie was also welcome haha.

At the end of my visit, Hiroko-san took me to the grocery store that she usually goes to and showed me around, explaining the different foods that we passed by. Since I don't cook, she recommended that I go to the grocery stores like Tokyu and pick up the lunch boxes that they sell there for relatively cheap and no preparation work except perhaps microwaving. She also recommended the bento shops where you can choose your own side dishes and make your own personalized lunch box. I think there's one of those right next to Mita campus. I've decided that I'm not gonna stock up on food anymore, because although I like cooking for other people, I really don't like cooking for myself. Plus, I don't have anything to cook with except for my kettle which can boil things like eggs. I think from now on I'll just live on the grocery store lunch boxes and from time to time restaurants with friends haha.

Anyways, sorry for going on and on about my day today...it's been a while but I have some photos today! Me with Hiroko-san

Mokuyou, desu ne

Today, it was sunny in the morning as if no typhoon had passed at all. Of course, once it was time for me to go to class around 2:30, it starts to rain.

At 4:30 I went in to the Intermediate Composition II class to see how it was. I actually thought it wasn't that bad. Like all the other classes, except my level 7 Japanese course, it only meets once a week, so there's a composition of about 400 characters each week. The theme is given in the beginning of class, there's a few minutes to talk about it and write a few bullets, and then we're given about 40 minutes to write the essay in class. Then, the teacher checks over the essays, hands them back the next class, and then we have to fix it up so that it's a clean final draft at home. So...all essays are done in class. I think actually that it's better that way. I'll learn to write faster probably. Also, while you're writing the essay, you're allowed to ask the teacher any questions like "How do you write this word?" or "How can you phrase this sentence better?" Today we had a short surprise essay already. The theme was: "My favorite store". I felt like I was in elementary school writing about that haha but it was fun. I wrote about Le Pain Quotidien--a french restaurant in Bethesda♪ I even used some new grammar that I learned from my level 7 class homework, so I felt pretty accomplished~ I think Composition II will be just fine, and maybe I don't need to be in Composition I. Plus, Stephanie was there! I hope she chooses to take that class too! It would be nice to take a class together.

After, I had my art class. There seem to be lots of exciting field trips! The teacher is a bit awkward and the class is pretty late (6:10-7:45) but the trips and the projects seem to be pretty fun! I'm looking forward to more classes. It's a class open to both Japanese and International students, but there are only 2 Japanese girls. Luckily, I was able to talk to one. Her name was Eriko and we walked to the station together after class. She seemed pretty nice.

Tomorrow, is a holiday because it's the autumnal equinox. According to my level 7 teacher, Ikeda sensei, people often go visit graves ("hakamairi") on this day. Since I don't have school, I am meeting Hiroko-san in Nakameguro at 12pm for lunch! She called me yesterday all worried about me because of the typhoon. It was nice to have someone worry about me here. I'm looking forward to it!