寝る間も惜しんで勉強だ。

久しぶりだ！It's been a while
Has it really been more than a week since I posted?
Time flies when you are stressed out and just wishing for more gosh darn time. :P
Kanji tests, mini reports, speeches and debates.
Late nights, early mornings and too much sugar to make them possible. 

イカはいいか？Squid?
As many of you have seen on my facebook, I now have circle lenses and an albino squid. Both involve big eyes. ^_^ The squid is yet unnamed, though was purchased from Nagoya Port Aquarium and now sleeps on my bed. Went to the port last week with Emily, Gretchen(please click to check out her awesome blog) Remi, and Justin. After going to the Port (we did not actually go to the aquarium) we headed to a British pub for drinkies. Was an enjoyable day.

Another awesome thing that I found was this Dragonite model kit which I built while watching Queen of the Damned. The Dragonite features internal mechanisms that make it's arms move when you open and close it's mouth, and allow for movement of the tail, feet and arms.

部活を見つける時間だ. Club finding time!
Time to start looking for a club!!
Since the Japanese semester starts early next month, I am on the lookout for clubs that I wish to join. Two of the clubs I am considering are the Anime club and the Koto club (Alex, you could come learn Koto with me). Shall keep you all posted on which club I decide to enter, though there are indeed many awesome clubs here.

花道や盆栽 Kado and Bonsai
Last weeks flower arranging was a little different in that it used preserved flowers. Such a break from the usual fresh cut flowers that bought such vibrancy and life.  Thanks to my brief yet valuable experience at Trudy's Flowers in Ballina, this was not something new to me and I was able to create something worth keeping for the 30-40 years that the flowers will last (no idea how I will get them home). Did manage to break one flower though, snapping the head clean from the stem >.<Also received the bowls I made a few weeks back. My two turned out well I think. ^_^

Cy-chan and Saki- chan (previously Shiro-chan) have begun to get their leaves for the year which is marvelous to see. I love how the leaves begin red when they shoot, then change to green once they form. The moss seems to have mostly taken and there seems to be some growing in places that I did not place it.

Hoping to be more prepared in terms of University work for the week ahead so I don't have to struggle though nights of catching up though early mornings. :P Hope you are all well in your respective countries and much love.

*Currently writing post cards to send you all* Please, if I don't have your address and you would like a post card, let me know.

住所

Address updated

220 Ihouse, Aichi Shukutoku Daigaku,
2-9 Katahira, Nagakute,
Aichi, Japan. 480- 1197.

Maneki-neko-duck

So I have been Bastien a-lot over the past few days.

Exams. Anyone who read my Facebook posts about waking up in a cold sweat gasping for breath after 4 nightmare filled hours of what could barely have been called sleep, or heard my consistent laments via text about no longer wishing to exist, you know how I felt.
Results
Listening 71%
Grammer ??

 The bright-side, 

 Saw Maneki-neko-duck.  

Please view the clip here.

  Went to see Piagi (Piago, a very popular super market in Japan's mascot) with Yuka. (Please excuse my daggy clothes as I was properly munted )Really did not want to get out of bed after a really busy end to last week which involved my first time clubbing in Japan. We went to I.D and I played bull-dyke cock block for a cute blond American.



 Got my chawan back, though I can not take it home until next week *pout*. Only got a photo of one of them, though there is another black one that I shall get photos of once I bring it home.



Today I made sushi with my classmates for our culture class. My sushi did not turn out so well as I did not squish it correctly. We were able to bring our own ingrediants, so after over-baking the capsicum and mushrooms, the only thing I had left was...renkon! Which actually went very well in the sushi

Akemi also made cheese puffs for us to nom while we made sushi and chawanmushi. 

 This-afternoon I went to the post office to post a small amount of mail to some very beloved friends, though the big lot of mail will be sent next week in preparation for Hanami (Sakura Viewing)



Have been drawing more which is a good sign, though possibly not the best use of my free time after exams.Had last Friday and this Friday off and I intend to sleep most of tomorrow.

Plants. 

Cy-chan and Shiro-chan have stopped blooming and lost all their leaves, so they have been given a trim and some moss around their roots which is taking well. I added the moss because they looked cold and there are possibly a few more cool days to come before spring has fully sprung. My Kado sensei lent me her clippers to trim them both. They are going to look beautiful when their leaves come through. I'm so in love with Cy and Shiro and shall be sad to leave them when I come back to Australia in 12 months.

Kado-ka?

Kado classes have resumed after two weeks of Sado. This week we were able to use sakura (though the branches I received were not in bloom). Please enjoy these images.Also, a big congratulation and best of luck to Alex Bear who secured one of a limited number of places to study Sogetsu Ikebana officially.

妻籠や馬籠

 Today I went to these two wonderful old Japanese towns in the mountains of Japan. It was a wonderful experience and my teachers had me keep an eye out for the message boards, main hotel and strategic curved back-road street.

Shall not go into depth, though each had beautiful scenery and I was able to find some gifts for a few of you wonderful people back home. Please enjoy the photos below from each place.


妻籠　－つまご－ Tsusmago

We were able to go inside the three story Japanese hotel. It was incredibly cold, though they had tatami mats, this wood fire in the middle of the main entrance area, elaborately decorated everything! (Including rooftops, roof tiles, structural beams of the house and walls)

These were mounted on either end of the roof. I really like the contrast of the pictures.

It was freeeeezing in this tatami room, though the mat was heated. Please, whoever I end up living with in Japan, can we have a room like this?

One thing I love about traditional Japan is the way that people and nature seem to have struck a balance. Because the materials were borrowed from nature, if something was not used, it was reclaimed.
 馬籠　－まごめ－Magome

 Lin
鈴
Rin
林
Syorin
小林
Berin
ベリン

 Such a beautiful view and I love the sticker graffiti on this temple hand washing tub.
 

 These are all my friends from Ihouse minus the boys. They are such a wonderful bunch!!

Finally, I was able to make mocchi between going to these two places. The way of making it was rather simple and I was able to make two mocchi balls. I think I made them well.

 林や鈴
小林やべ鈴 

WARNING!!!!

Next post will be about the Honen Matsuri. If you are sensitive to images of large or excessive numbers of penises, please skip my next post. :D

Don't be sado.

Sado



Sado or "tea ceremony" class this week instead of Kado. Finally got a chance to wear my yukata. ^_^.

Being the only person to have bought my own, everyone was fairly impressed. Felt good to wear it again in the proper context.

 Matcha was made by the sensei, though we also received mocchi and we were taught the correct way to consume these.

Seiza is painful and my feet went numb, though it was a good experience.

Sensei is such a kind lady and although I look a tad masculine, I think this photo turned out well.

Please if there is a word you don't know and it's in lilac , click it!! 

Mind your salaryman-ners.

HUB

Finally made it to "Hub" a bar that I had often heard about where gaijin meet and Japanese people come to interact with gaijin. Usually my friends would attend the one in Sakae, though this time Justin's friend Tom took us to the Nagoya hub. Met with Justin, Emily and new friends Tom,  Ukyou and Tatsuya at Nagoya station.





Hub did in fact have a lot of gaijin from various countries and I was able to meet new people such as Manabu, who has a passion for classical American cars, and Shinji-kun who is studying at Aichi Shukutoku to be a primary school teacher and enjoys sports.





After Hub we went to Kareoke where the real fun started. Ukyou and Tatsuya went home, though were joined by three more people including a New Zealander.

Initially we had hoped for the kareoke bar in Nagoya, though it was too expensive, so we went to Sakae, though on the way, at midnight, in the Sakae train station walking down the stairs who did I happen to meet but Mayu! My host sister from my third host family from 2009! Got her number, though my phone does not like it so I shall endeavor to find another way to contact her.

Arriving at the JoyJoy in Sakae, we booked our room on level 4 and quickly went up. The New Zealander kept holding my hand..then told me he was trying to pick me up. o.0 Dafuq.

Highlight

Naked...saleryman..ice...fight.
Around 2am, mid song, our door opened to three people, one fully clothed, the other shirtless and the last completely starkers. Upon closer inspection the floor of the room they had come from was covered in crushed ice. What even? They kept yelling at each-other in the hallway and there was a lot of pushing and shoving which seemed to escalate a number of times before the group appeared to have been kicked out completely.
 

Not an actual depiction of the incident , though these are salaryman.

Back to my booth..

Some of the people in the small crammed dark booth insisted on smoking and as the night/morning dragged on it became apparent that they intended to sing until the 8am deadline.

I looked across the hall, noticing the room across from us still had it's light on and lacked the booming music of the other stalls. Peering in I could see three people with blankets over their legs as they sat on the tatami mats watching the words to the One Piece theme scroll. I took a chance, opening the door and asking for clemency, hoping for some small mercy in the busy goings-on. Megumi and Shou-chan had only met that day at a wedding, and the third person in the booth, a young man was already sleeping.We chatted about anime for at least 2 hours, then took our sleep.