Randomness While Wandering

So, I have returned after food, woot! And now I shall continue with catching you up on my day yesterday, Wednesday!

So because I had to make a couple of transfers on the trip there and it takes about an hour and a half to get to the station where I was meeting Sasamoto-sensei I wanted to leave early so I wouldn't be late. This meant of course that I had to leave the dorm at 7:30 in the morning. Which meant that in order to get showered and dressed and everything before hand I had to get up around 5:30ish. It was not fun especially since I hadn't gotten back to the dorm until about 10:30 the night before. Needless to say I was a little tired, but I figured that I'd manage. I wasn't as nervous because sensei is pretty laid back and fun.

I got to the station and had the fun experience (and I say that sarcastically) of experiencing rush hour train crowding. If you think NY is bad you haven't seen a salaryman with his face smushed up against a window. =) Anyways, so I managed not to be too crushed on the trip there (literally) and ended up getting to the station a half hour early. I hadn't had breakfast so I went to a little convenience store about a block from the station and got some melon bread and tea to eat while I waited. Melon bread is usually a very soft smuchy bread that is sweet and usually has some sugar coating on it. It was yummy, filling, and cheap! After I finished eating it I scurried back to the store to throw out the remains of my breakfast because there wasn't a trash can nearby, at least that I could see (see previous post about Japanese not eating outside). After that I went back to the station.

Sensei showed up about 10 minutes early and we headed off to where the lesson was going to be. It was only slightly overcast out and it was surprising cool and not humid. I thought it was nice. We got to the community center where the lesson was going to be and sensei and I set up the tables and chairs we were going to use. Everyone at the lesson was very nice and luckily some of them knew some English so I felt a little more relaxed. I learned a new song and had a good time. After lesson, as we were walking back to the station, I found out that either the manga-ka of Shonen Onmyouji or one of the assistants was in my class but that they weren't there that day. I was so excited! I hope to meet them next time.

At the station most of us took a train back to Shibuya where we all went our seperate ways. From Shibuya I hopped on the Ginza line back to Akasaka, yes I know I'm weird but I felt most confortable exchanging travelers checks at the place we did last time which happens to be across the street from the hotel. This time I got off at the right stop even! I entered the building where the exchange office was and I was surprised to find a woman singing opera for a small audience. She had a beautiful voice. It was lovely. I hopped in the elevator to go up to the 15th floor to the office and exchange my money. After I took care of that I went back down to hang around and listen for a bit. I arrived just in time for her to perform Summertime. It gave me chills. Even though she of course had a bit of an accent pernouncing the words, it was exquisite. After listening for a bit to the next song I decided to head back to the center because my right foot was killing me. Apparently those new shoes I had worn on Monday really did a number to it.

I hobbled back to the subway station and after a couple of transfers was on my way back to Kita-Urawa. While I was on the train I got to see firsthand Japanese signlanguage. It was extremely interesting. They seem to use a lot more facial expressions than we do in the US. When I got back to Kita-Urawa the weather was very great and it had cleared up nicely. In fact it was downright sunny! I debated going across the street from the station to the park and explore but my foot was killing me so I limped on back to the center. I watched some TV in my room for a bit and then came up to update my blog just as it was getting cloudy out again. Oh well, bye bye sun. I got the entry about Monday posted and then decided I needed some dinner because I was hungry. I went downstairs to the cafeteria and had some naan and miso soup. I was satisfied with that because I wasn't overly hungry. I ran into Michael there and we chatted for a bit while I ate.

After dinner we went back to our rooms. I flopped on my bed again and watched a little TV while I waited for it to get a bit later so I could come back and talk to people back home on Meebo. However, I must have been more tired than I thought because I fell asleep for a while. What I thought would be a nap turned into a looong sleep. I remember waking up at around midnight and going I should go up and say hi but I was too tired to move and my foot still hurt so I think I decided on going back to sleep. Sorry!!

And thus concluded my Wednesday! Obviously with a free day today I'm just going to relax and recoup, especially my foot. But that also means I'll be able to post a blog about my day on the day, a novel concept I know. I look forward to writing about that a little later. Right now it's time to fool around on the computer and relax. Until later. Jya matta ne!