Weird teachers, crêpes, and leaves

I had a test in Reading/Writing this morning, and I think it went really well. In Speaking class we watched a few commercials online. You have got to check out these hilarious Fanta ads; it’s okay if you don’t know any Japanese, they’re still funny. Reminds me of those kids’ books The Bailey School Kids, where this class has all these teachers who may or may not be werewolves, vampires, mummies, Big Foot, etc.

After my morning classes I was able to Skype with David and Nikki, clean my room, and take a nap. It was cold this morning, but the afternoon was beautiful and I enjoyed leaving the balcony door open. It was a good day.

For supper, I was supposed to meet William and his friends at Makino to go to a Mexican restaurant there. But his friend—the only one who knew where the place was—couldn’t come today, so we decided to do it next week. That put me in a bit of a spot for supper, because I had very little food. But I made some grilled cheese, and worked on a crossword puzzle with my dorm friends while I ate. That was fun; as college kids we can make anything infinitely more interesting than it normally should be. Let’s just say that there was much inappropriate discussion about what could be a four letter word for “balls.” (The answer? “Orbs.”)

Afterward, Jamie wanted to go to Fresco to buy crêpes from the people who set up their little stands outside the store. Since I needed to do grocery shopping anyway, I went along with him. Crêpe man wasn’t there this evening, so Jamie got these little donuts from a different vendor. I got a lot of shopping done for very cheap, and I should be set through the weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, I’m still deciding if I should go on my art history class’s field trip to Mt. Hiei. It’s a really famous and beautiful mountain outside of Kyōto, and I would absolutely love to go. The only problem is that we’re hiking up one side and down the other. The first two and a half hours would be strictly uphill hiking, plus there would be the hike down as well as the commute to and from the site, which would be exhausting in itself. Having not been able to bike to Hirakata last weekend, I think that might be too much of a strain on my body. But I really, really want to be able to say I’ve hiked up one side of Mt. Hiei and down the other. I’d be able to see Lake Biwa, too. I don’t know. If I don’t go to Mt. Hiei, I’ll go to the Monkey Park at Arashiyama, which will be awesome!

The leaves on campus have started to fall. They were very beautiful coming down in the wind today. But they’re so good about sweeping up the leaves and garbage and debris every day that there’s no way the leaves will collect enough to get a good crunch. What a shame; sometimes it’s good to be tidy, but I rather pity these Japanese kids who are so used to these immaculate yards and parks and don’t get to trudge through crunchy leaves.