THANK GOD, THEY'RE DONE

...the tests at least. I still have one more paper to finish and a graduation to attend, but that's it.

And I gloried in it after my last test.

First I went and explored a shrine nearby to my house that I've been dying to see, but haven't had the time for.

 

It was pretty excellent.

I found a path next to it that led to a bunch of local gardens. How nostalgic!

Then I headed home. I took some pictures of flowers on the way there.

Okaasan and Hina were out, but I could hear Hina's voice and followed them over to the nearby park.

I should have done this to begin with, but I was so busy with classes and just tiredness in general, but I introduced myself to the moms and kids at the playground (I was lucky because since I was with Okaasan, I had an in and wasn't being a creepy stranger).

For the kids, it was love at first sight. I was bombarded by practiced English (with pretty good pronunciation as well!) questions and answered all as best I could. Then we took a picture.

After that, we played tag and boy, oh boy, are little kids fast. Man. Whew.

Day in Danjiri-ville

So, remember how I mentioned danjiri, waaaay long ago in September?

Well today I went to the town famous for danjiri--Kishiwara!

It also happens to be Ikue's hometown! With only 10 days left, I'm determined to seek out adventure plus get good test scores!

First we went to Kishiwara Castle. Isn't it pretty?

In the walls of Kishiwara Castle there are holes for shooting arrows. Ikue generously shows how.

3 different types of holes: triangle, circle, and rectangle

There was also a pretty lotus garden in the moat surrounding the castle

Then we went to the Danjiri Museum which had some pretty epic interactive features such as a special exhibit on the current televised drama happening on the NHK network and a studio where you could bang the taiko and bells of the danjiri. It was pretty fun.

After that, we headed to the ocean and had a picnic lunch and then browsed around a nearby shopping mall.

At the final point, I actually got invited over to Ikue's house (something that you don't have happen often in Japan) and we hung out until her parents got home. Ikue seemed really excited that someone could come and visit her hometown (she lives about an hour and a half away from Hirakata and it's somewhat pricy to get there) and she was smiling and I was smiling and
it
was
perfect!

I'm so happy.

Kimono Fun!

Today Okaasan and I were talking about Kansai Gaidai's "Graduation Ceremony" for international students (only 16 days away, yikes!) and what I was going to wear to it. You see, I have this awesome idea. For the Coming of Age ceremony, I had neither furisode or hakama.

Well, I don't have a furisode, but that's okay! Okaasan and I decided to use a short sleeved kimono with hakama, the traditional clothing of female students for celebrations.

There are many different types of hakama, which are basically pants, but the one I'm wearing is the female version, so it's like a skirt covering or something. 

It was our first time, so the kimono is kinda messy, but with practice, we'll get better!

Of course, Hina wanted to join in the fun, so she got on her furisode as well.

 

After that, I brought down some of my haori (basically a short coat) and played around with Hina-chan.

It was fun.

Golden Week - Part Four

Well, Golden Week is finishing up, and so we went to a farm today, by Hina’s request.

By entering the farm, I did not expect to be punched in the face by homesickness, but it happened nonetheless. I’ve been pretty good with homesickness (not really having it at all except for short bursts during the holidays and such) but I did not realize how much I missed being on the farm.

I may have sniffled when I saw this

The first, and most important, stop of the day was to see the donkeys. You could buy food and feed them. It was all very nostalgic—I used to have a goat, you see, and there is very little difference between a goat and a donkey’s manners, especially when it comes to food. It was kinda sad to see the small pen all of the animals were enclosed in, though, and even sadder to see that I was the only one attempting to pet the poor creatures instead of just throwing bread crusts at them (to be fair, these were extremely rude and violent donkeys, but still!). The entire (rather small for so many creatures) pen was covered in filth with nothing green in the court or the manger. Some of the poor donkeys were caked with their own filth and it saddened me. The rabbit cages were nicer, but I still am worrying about those unsheared sheep that were panting in corner.

Despite the rather pitiful cages of the sheep and donkeys, the rabbits' burrow looked pretty nice, if small

Then we went on a walk, where I nearly had tears over the smell of fresh dirt and greenery combined with the different bird and frog calls. It was very unnerving to see myself reduced as such, but the sun was shining, it was gorgeous weather, and I soon got over it.

Turtles!

The traditional Japanese farmhouse

This is "takenoko" or baby bamboo

CHICKENS!

And then we returned home and I did homework.

Golden Week - Part Three

The weather was great today—that’s why we went out on a picnic with Okaasan’s family! The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and we managed to find a wonderful place to settle down and eat some packed bento (from the store).

From the store, but still delicious!

Ojiisan (Okaasan’s father) was also a camera geek, like myself, but preferred film cameras to digital (and, as it turns out, he was a professional photographer for many a year). As I also enjoy film cameras, we, well just me, cooed over the other’s cameras.

It was a pretty lazy day. Hina caught a cabbage moth, and I attempted to lecture on the evils of the cabbage moth (as only a farm girl can do) in Japanese. I think I may have failed.

Here's me teasing Hina-chan. She kept throwing her shoes away from the picnic blanket, so I went and picked them up. Then she would reclaim them and throw them again, so I started playing keep-away. We both had fun.

But that’s okay. I meandered around the pond with Okaasan and Hina, learned that the Japanese have a word for the color of fresh, green leaves (萌義理　もえぎりmoegiri), and managed to sunburn my face again (despite all the sunscreen I slathered on).

Lookit the cute inchworm!

I made a daisy crown! How nostalgic.

After Hina-chan abandoned her crown, Okaasan tried it on for size.

I feel that everyone had a great time. I had a good time as well! But, aaagh, finals are coming up and I just do not want to study. Wish me luck!