Rain and Momoko

Today was miserably rainy and cool. It was around 60 with a constant slow rain; very dreary. I rode my bike to school in the rain, wearing my hooded jacket and carrying an umbrella. The umbrella will really throw you off balance easily, so it took longer than usual to reach campus. I was pretty wet when I arrived, too. I went to writing class, did some homework, and went to speaking class. Since I missed the short vocab quiz in speaking on Friday, I talked to the teacher, and she said I could come to her office in the afternoon and make it up. That was great, but I had already made arrangements to talk to David on Skype, so it meant more biking in the rain. I grabbed some McDonald's to go, pedaled home in the drizzle, and Skyped for quite a while.

It was really nice getting to talk to David; everything at Witt seems to be going well. Beta had a great Greek Week, and even had a fantastic dance interpretation of The Lion King! Simba, the guy in the yellow t-shirt over black, is David. I'm so proud of him and all the other guys! It was such a success. I wish I could have been there to see it.

After a really nice Skype date, I had to go back to campus (again in the rain) for my makeup quiz. Not a big deal; I took it in Sakakibara-sensei's office. As I was leaving, she asked me about my home school, and when I said it is Witt, she asked about Imai-sensei! It turns out they are friends. Sensei, if you're reading this, Sakakibara-sensei says hello. I'm really enjoying her class! Anyway, after that little surprise, I did some language lab homework and went back home for a nap.

In the evening I was wondering what to do about supper, when I had a novel idea: go eat at the school cafeteria. Why haven't I done that for supper before? It's so cheap and delicious! So anyway, I got back on my trusty bike, rode to school in the rain for the third time in a day, and had some kakesoba and rice for supper as I did some of my homework.

At 8:00 I was supposed to meet my friend Momoko in the park. So I rode my bike there, and was wondering what to do about the rain, when her dad came and told me that she was in the car. So we drove to their house, which is close to the Sanko grocery store, and hung out there. It was such a cozy little house. I think they're kinda rich; like I said, I don't really read social class cues here well, but a Mercedes with leather interior and a TV in it implies some money, I think. No matter, really. I'm just trying to get my cultural bearings. Her mother had set out some little fruits and snacks for us, and I had my first persimmon, which was delicious. Momoko, her mother, her father, and I just sat around the dinner table and snacked, while Momoko made a nice map of how to get to her school. She has invited me to its bunkasai, or cultural festival, this weekend. She will be selling taiyaki, little fish-shaped sweets. She also showed me many pictures of her time over the summer in Tennessee. It was nice, really, to see pictures of Americans! Her parents were very interested in the US; they were surprised to hear that we like tacos and there are a lot of Mexican immigrants, and they were excited that I know what Costco is. They asked me what Japanese foods I like, and they have invited me over to learn how to make okonomiyaki for myself! I'm very excited. The family was so very sweet; I really like these people. We were able to really understand each other very well, too, which was nice! Momoko helped fill in the blanks for both languages.

After that, they drove me back home, I showered, and here I am. All in all, it was a very good day. And now I'm super pumped about the culture festival this weekend, too! I can't wait to see what it's like.

Oh, and Momoko mentioned that a typhoon is coming. I guess that explains the rain. Sure enough, when I look at a weather map, it looks like Typhoon Jangmi is headed this way, and we should be getting the proper typhoon rain tomorrow.

Eric, I hear that you thought it was funny that I was excited before about having a typhoon. Well, you were right, I was wrong--they can be pretty lousy when you have to ride a bike in their rain and wind! You should be a meteorologist when you grow up so you can tell silly kids like me to stay out of bad weather. ^_^

Fun fact: "To skip class (deliberately)" in Japanese is "saboru." The "sabo" part is a shortening of "sabotage." How cool! Kinda makes you not want to skip class ever again; when you think about it, though, you really are sabotaging your education. Makes sense, I guess. I thought it was interesting.