It's 2 o'clock at night, and I can't sleep because Shiv is away in UK. Well, actually it started with a mosquito bite that wouldn't stop itching no matter how much medicine I put on it.

Anyway, a lot of stuff happened in August, not all of it that great.
The good stuff was the university projects, I suppose. We had a workshop in an elementary school in Uto and another one in Minami Oguni as well as random trips.

The elementary school was designed with no air conditioning or heating. The no heating in Japan is normal, but not the absence of air conditioning in 30+C in the summer. The school had a very minimalist interior with floor to ceiling windows. All the spaces generally had only 2 walls. Some French architect seemed pleased he could meet a foreigner to get an opinion. We also got to hang out with the architect who designed the building and his office staff. He was also awesome because he paid for our meals.

The Minami Oguni project is still ongoing. We had 2 workshops so far and another one is coming up at the end of September/beginning of October. It's pretty hard for me because of the language barrier, but it's super fun hanging out with my classmates (lab-mates?). My favourite bit is the ride back :D

We had a trip to a ryokan for Sonyan's going away project presentation/drinking party. Watching grown people who never dance trying to mimic Michael Jackson in 'Beat it' is very funny. However, I was too tired, so I went to sleep an hour early.

The bad stuff was me being stung by a jellyfish when I was in Shimonoseki, and then the sting becoming irritated with inflammation. Falling out of the bus and hitting my back and elbow. Had to go back home, my arm was so much in pain I couldn't move it. Getting my foot caught in a blanket and falling face first onto an ironing board. I broke the ironing board and bruised my nose that started bleeding.

That about sums up some of the stuff I did or had happen to me up to this point.

なつやすみ

Aah, it's been such a busy couple of weeks. And now it's summer vacation. Or so people say. Architecture students don't have much free time.

I signed up for a workshop in Oguni with our lab. It was pretty fun. Everywhere you walk in that small town you can hear the sound of water, because the streets are lined with irrigation canals. It has a greenhouse where they grow strawberry and some other red berry. There's also an old sake brewery.

We had a barbecue in the evening, and when it got dark, we played with fireworks. After that we visited the public bath. My first time - はずかしいーー！But it's really nice to sit in a big hot bathtub.

We had breakfast the next day at a very cute cafe that sells natural apple juice. I believe they make it themselves. Everyone was oohing and aahing at the juice, but to me it felt very diluted with water. I guess not a lot of families here make their own juice :).
We ate lunch at a bar type establishment - so much food. Very good karaage. After the super huge lunch we went to play in the river with kids. So refreshing. But right at the end a local kid sprayed me with water. How dare he! So I jumped in and stole his water shooter. It was easy to operate, but I ended up spraying myself just as much as others.

Tomorrow we have an end of term party. And on the weekend I really want to go to the anime exhibition in one of the local museums. Can't really make plans further than that because of all the meetings and preparations: have to make a model on a Monday, Tuesday is for preparing for Open Campus that's on a Wednesday and a meeting after that.

In repentance for the skipped weeks, I'll attempt some more writing.

For the past week or so I've had trouble with my knee. At times it was too painful to actually walk. I am such a grandma. What's worrying is that there is a softball game coming up. I think that's what it's called. Running around with bats, hitting balls in this heat is nonsense. Maybe I can blame my knee and get out of it? Also, I don't have any sports clothes. That  may be a problem as well.

This weekend I undertook an enormous task and washed the kitchen. I know, I am so awesome.
On Sunday we went to the city centre and I bought a projector connector thingy for the laptop and headphones. The headphones aren't too comfortable, but they were very cheap, which makes me slightly less unhappy. But maybe next time I'll try to be less of a greedy little goblin and shell out on a decent pair. But the cheap ones are pink, so I forgive them :)

In Japan there seems to be a lack of colour choices that are usual for Latvia, but they make up for it with an abundance of others. Blue items aren't that common as well as grey, but they have a ton of pink and things like turquoise or lime.

Right now it is really hot in Japan (which is normal, since it's summer). It's practically impossible to live without an air-conditioner. I am sort of considering buying opera style gloves that girls here wear. It's to do with sun protection and keeping your skin white. The white part doesn't interest me so much, but the sun protection element I like. Maybe next time we drop by Hikari no Mori.

Skipping

Even though I said I'd try and update every week, I skipped 2 of them already. Why? Well, last weekend and part of this week was spent franticly getting the presentation ready for my Wednesday class. The week before that was my birthday. So I was super distracted from doing anything else.

So, my Birthday. It was great really. In the morning we cleaned the house some and did the washing - very un-birthday-like. Then we went shopping to Hikari no Mori (光の森) - a shopping mall about 30 minutes away y train. We bought a ton of things, and there was this weird thing near one of the elevators.

It's seriously huge!

When we were inside, it started raining. So when we were leaving to go to the station, the rain was in full swing. Not so bad, since I had a ton of shopping bags to protect my precious locks.

In the evening we went to a French restaurant. The same one we went to last August when I was leaving to go back to Latvia. Or was that the August before last. I can't remember. My passport, however, claims it's been 2 years already. Even more surprising was that the waiter remembered us. I suppose, foreigners rarely come there, since it's quite expensive and totally in Japanese.

It was delicious. And I really like the atmosphere of the place. They also bring out a huge number of cutlery. I am always a bit nervous that I might use the wrong one. But it usually turns out fine.
I had a really lovely birthday thanks to my wonderful boyfriend.

Now, during the past weekend I was rushing to write the presentation. I tell you, my hands were hurting a lot by the end of Tuesday. On Saturday Shiv went on a night hike from Aso back to Kumamoto. So he got back Sunday morning. His feet were in a right state.

I have to admit that because there was no one to scold me for procrastinating on the presentation, that is what took up most of Saturday. I also skipped out of helping to set up screens in the Hall for students to pin their work on Tuesday. But I did finish the presentation on time, and it went rather smoothly.
Also, Tanaka sensei taught me how to print papers double-side and in sets. I shall have to try that later by myself.

Local Bar

About a month ago we went to a bar that served lots of pork stomach kebabs. They also served all sorts of sake, which I didn't drink. I got my さんざし.

Shiv found on the internet that if you order sake from Tohoku, a part of the money you pay goes to charity.

It was pretty fun.

After the bar we bumped into my teacher who was out drinking with other teachers. I had no idea what to do. Shiv talked and I smiled and bowed or more likely nodded :)))

Sudden memory loss

I forgot I had a second lecture today... Total memory lapse.

今日は、二つのじゅぎょうがあるのをわすれていました。。。

Routine days

Let's see. This week we were preparing for the debate again. I did manage to get data from my other class, but we didn't use much of it I think. Had to meet on a Saturday too. Our team won though :)

The week wasn't very eventful. I honestly can't remember much of what I did. Thursday's meeting took a really long time. I ran away before it finished (as always). I really want to know what the upperclassmen are doing though. I spent Friday preparing the 2-week report. As usual I do stuff at the last minute. Got to work on that.

I try speaking with the students from the lab a bit. Even my tutor girl forgets I don't understand much and just rambles on in Japanese until she sees my eyes glaze over :))) Well, I suppose it's good practice. I also told Shiori-san I might start attending the competition meetings next semester or the next competition they have. The current one's description was so confusing and vague, I just gave up.

Shiv says I should write my blog every day, at least 2 sentences or something. Isn't that what twitter is for?
I might try it though.

On Sunday we went to the city centre. Did some shopping and fighting :(
I finally bought that make-up thingy, but not sure yet if I like it as much as I thought I would. Need to experiment a bit more with the application.

So serious.

I think the most enjoyable part for me was drinking the honey-au-lait and stealing Shiv's pumpkin cake.


In the spirit of practicing my Japanese more, I shall attempt to write some stuff -->

今日のディベートで私のチームはかちました。とてもうれしいです。
ディベートちゅう雨がとてもはげしいふっていました。