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。

The Rainy Season

And so it started. It's been raining practically non stop today and the forecast promises more to come.

Basically, the rainy season is about 3 weeks of rain with high humidity and moderately high temperatures. Beforehand I've been told scary accounts of how it's going to be (むしあつい), but so far it hasn't been too horrible. Certainly better than the rainy season in Latvia, where it gets pretty cold in June. And practically always rains on my birthday. The weather makes my hair all fizzy and I feel sticky, but better this, than the August heat.

Still waiting for my marriage document resolution. I guess it's no big deal if we don't marry in June.

I tried taking some pictures of the rain today. As I got the camera out, I noticed that the battery was dead. Off to the charger with it. I took my phone to try and get at least something. But it refused to cooperate, saying the battery was too low. Put that on charger as well. Conclusion - no photos :(
Not like you could see much in that wall of water.

Another Week

This week I was a bit more free, since we no longer had the debate preparation meetings. So nice. Tomorrow, though, we will get a new debate topic and the troubles will start all over again. Hopefully, this time there will be someone in my group who speaks English.

Right now it's all about the campus project. But the more I listen to what the teacher says, the less I understand: gradation story? requirements/conditions for space? Huh? Am I being thick?

On the other hand, I'm hoping that my Japanese is improving slowly but surely. I do try and talk more in the lab. I guess I 'have' to, because one of my pals speaks not a word of English. It's fun though. We share some similar interests.

On Friday we tried to get married, but the City Hall officials had other ideas. All our papers were in order, it's just one of those things - one of my documents was of a new type, different from an older version (no longer given out). We'll wait a bit and see what the embassies say.

On Saturday we went to the city centre. To get my shoes from the cobblers' (the place is too upscale for that word...) and buy some walking shoes. Shiv persuaded me to buy slightly larger ones. Buying new jeans for Shiv was also on the agenda. He looks pretty good :D

Today we had the campus project meeting, and afterwards I went to play catch-ball with some of my lab mates. It was fun, but I got bitten by mosquitoes and am now super itchy.

May

Already end of May. Time flies so fast, but it feels like one week takes ages.

University is far too busy here. I often have to go there on the weekends as well. I feel overwhelmed.

The weather is a bit annoying as well. I should really start getting ready for the rainy season and buy some rubber boots (and a better umbrella). I've already spent some days with totally wet feet.

Today was pretty nice tough. Quite warm and sunny. I have actually got a bit of a tan, although nothing too noticeable it seems. If I was in Latvia, I'd be pretty happy about it. But in Japan, white skin is considered more of a beauty standard, so you can see many girls and women walking round with parasols. Because of this, now that I finally don't look like a zombie, I'm afraid of getting too tanned. Ridiculous! Oh, the dilemma :)

In general, I think, I'm getting accustomed to university life. The biggest problem, of course, is the language barrier. There are only 2 people in my lab who speak English, some more people who can understand some amount of English, and the rest can't make out even a word.
One of the lectures has debates. Today we had the first one. It was pretty awful. I prepared for it a lot, but when it came to asking or answering questions, I couldn't help, because I couldn't understand when was the time to ask the question or what was the oppositions question to which I know the answer. Soooo frustrating.
But some of the students do sometimes express a desire to speak more English. And many help me by typing some of the stuff that's being said into a translator. I am infinitely grateful to them for that.

I keep forgetting about the blog. Plus, I rarely get a lot of free time. But maybe now I'll try tracking my study process more, so that'll give me more opportunity to write :)

おやこどんぶり