It's nearly Sunday, which means next Saturday I fly home, and I don't want to! I like the lifestyle here, the people, the classes, everything, and I'm not ready to go back to the usual life in the States. I definitely don't want to leave behind my friends. I will most definitely be making an effort to find work here so I can live in Japan for a while after I graduate (that is, after I've studied in either Taiwan or China for a year).
In any case, here are some of the things I've done since I last wrote:
Firstly, I went to see Kyougen (did I mention this already?). Kyougen is one of Japan's traditional types of plays, and are half hour long plays that used to be done in between parts of Noh theater, and are comedies. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take pictures of that.
The next big thing I did was finally go into those caves I talked about a couple of posts ago, which was really interesting. There were steep stairs to go up farther into a cavern but I thought I'd have issues coming back down so I didn't do that. Instead, I squeezed through a small opening with our friend's kids into a small cavern. Here's some pics from that:
In any case, here are some of the things I've done since I last wrote:
Firstly, I went to see Kyougen (did I mention this already?). Kyougen is one of Japan's traditional types of plays, and are half hour long plays that used to be done in between parts of Noh theater, and are comedies. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take pictures of that.
The next big thing I did was finally go into those caves I talked about a couple of posts ago, which was really interesting. There were steep stairs to go up farther into a cavern but I thought I'd have issues coming back down so I didn't do that. Instead, I squeezed through a small opening with our friend's kids into a small cavern. Here's some pics from that:
After that we went with a friend and her kids to an old school that the school in the anime Kei-on is based on, and then viewed sakura at a famous-in-Shiga road station (similar to how gas stations also serve as road stations for things like food and bathrooms, but these are like small malls, with shops and restaurants, and this particular one is famous for the ice cream, of which I had a spring flower cream cheese flavored one):
Next I walked Hikone as the sakura really started to bloom:
Then we actually went to Hikone Castle for cherry blossom viewing, called hanami, 花見。
Here's some pics from biking around Hikone and waiting at the Minami-Hikone station:
And then the last thing is a second round of hanami with a couple friends:
On a final note, we have one day of class left, then a study day, then final exams. Then on Thursday is the closing ceremony rehearsal, closing ceremony on Friday and right after that leaving to stay overnight in Nagoya, and then I fly out Saturday. Also, today I finally bought a carry on bag, and I think I can fit almost all of my things in my 3 bags--checked luggage, carry on, and personal item (my backpack serving as my laptop bag, which is stuffed full of things like my textbooks). I will finish figuring that out tomorrow, though, since it seem as though I will have to pay probably $50-70 to send a box of things home. I'm not sure yet, though.
Well, tomorrow I should start studying and finish figuring out what needs to be shipped home, plus I'm tired and I think the pollution is drifting over from China again and making me sick, again, so I'm heading to bed.
Well, tomorrow I should start studying and finish figuring out what needs to be shipped home, plus I'm tired and I think the pollution is drifting over from China again and making me sick, again, so I'm heading to bed.