Sunday I hit Nara

Sometimes when I'm too tired, I just give up on Japanese. I forget to concentrate and then I realize that it's my turn to talk and I have no idea what was just said to me. I remember how excited I was in the beginning that I was understanding right off the bat. I've been excited every step of the way. Surprised. I didn't expect it to be like this. I knew I wouldn't understand anything at all, but who can really predict what that'll be like? One of the most exciting things about a foreign exchange has to be understanding, especially on a daily basis. Before, I was excited because I could say "good night" and "Hello" to everyone. Now I'm excited because I can say "Man! Did you see that fire yesterday! It was crazy! There were firemen everywhere!" (there was a fire yesterday right in front of my school during kendo practice) and better yet, I can understand the reply, "No, I didn't see it. I skipped my club yesterday so I could study, so I was home when it happened. When was it?"

And good news, I finally know my height in centimeters. I know, took me long enough. 160 cenchi.

Today, I was fairly tired. This morning, Nakai Sensei started talking to me in Japanese and I just stared at him. He's so nice to me. He tries to help me learn Japanese and gets everything taken care of so effeciently. If I show even the tiniest bit of wishy-washy-ness, he takes the matter into his own hands. He decided I shouldn't go to the assemblies on Fridays because I "won't understand and will probably get frustrated", but when I told him I wanted to go, there was not even a moment of hesitation, and now I go every Friday. Usually, I don't understand anything. They use the most formal, difficult Japanese for assemblies. Today, instead of an assembly, my homeroom teacher spent an hour talking to everyone about colleges. I figured it was fair game if I slept. Right?

Tomorrow is the big Tacoyaki party. It's going to be crazy. Taco is octopus and yaki is grilled. Tacoyaki is like this pastry-doughy stuff with a little bit of taco inside. But I think we're going to change and fill it with anything - ice cream, chocolate, anco, anything people bring. I hope they're not planning on mixing the octopus and the chocolate together. That doesn't sound very appealing.

I was trying to tell my host parents that I want to go to a big rock garden where you meditate and practice the art of zen. But I didn't remember the name of the temple and I don't know how to say meditate in Japanese. Oh wait! Yeah I do! Darn it. Anyways, I was trying to say rock garden, but I kept saying doctor garden. "Do you mean hospital?" No! Doctor garden! "Are you sick?" No, I was told it's a famous and beautiful place to visit. "Not that special, but if you really want to see it..."

I wish we had warmer school uniforms.