...until my 21st birthday! Yep, it's already June. Scary, isn't it? My time in Japan is flying by. It's actually pretty depressing.
Even though I didn't get to sleep until 4 AM and felt under the weather when I woke up, I went to the gym with Yoonkyung and Bea around 10 AM. Once there, I spent an hour swimming in the pool. Unlike in America, Konami (the gym I go to) was packed with senior citizens and older adults. Maybe this is part of the reason why the Japanese live longer than any other people!
After I had gotten my work out in, Bea, Yoonkyung and I went out to eat lunch. The restaurant we went to was interesting in that you looked at the menu outside and paid for a meal ticket from a vending machine before going in to sit down. You would hand the pre-paid ticket to the waitress and she would bring your food out to you. After you finished eating you were free to leave. Simple, right? From the restaurant, the three of us went to drink coffee at Tully's. While we were talking Bea suggested we do karaoke. Of course, I could never say no to karaoke. Because we went during lunch time and got a student discount, we only paid 200 yen (~2$) for an hour! おとく Generally, a lot of companies and big groups will do karaoke together on the weekends so that is when it is most expensive. Therefore, it's best to go on weekdays during lunch time!
Once we got our fun in, it was time to get serious. I went to Yoonkyung's office to study for a while, and then left her around 4:30 so I could help set-up for ikebana. Ikebana is another traditional Japanese art form that involves arranging flowers to give them meaning. The International Student Center paid for a professional ikebana instructor to come and give us a short lesson. Unfortunately, she was about 40 minutes late (extremely unusual for a Japanese person), so we just waited in the classroom until she arrived. It worked out well though because I was able to make friends with two Taiwanese girls and a Chinese student whom I had never met before.
When the teacher finally came, she gave us some instructions and had us arrange our flowers to express an idea of our choice. I arranged my flowers to convey my personal theme of "Ganbatte imasu." Ganbarou is essentially a Japanese phrase that I really feel embodies Japan's spirit of perserverence and diligence. I hear it everyday here in one form or another, and it essentially means: "Do your best! Don't give up!" Because I have developed a strong sense of determination to do just that while I am in Japan, I felt it was appropriate. I tried to express this by having my flowers go from smallest to tallest, with the lines being very straight and upright. I wanted this to reflect strength and a sort of "reaching" for the top. I hope I did it justice!
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| My new Taiwanese friends |
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| Ikebana instructor |
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| My flower arrangement |
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| All the international students who took the ikebana course! |
As soon as ikebana was over I rushed off to church where we were having a guest pastor from Korea. I came in late since my ikebana class went over, and as I result, I was extremely confused. The pastor would speak in Korean first, and then our pastor would translate into Japanese, but because my pastor spoke extremely fast, I couldn't understand most of what he was saying. However, I didn't need to understand anything during our time of prayer because the Holy Spirit was definitely alive and moving in the room. Everywhere, everyone was on their knees crying out to God. It was such a powerful experience, and I really dedicated my time to praying for Yoonkyung and Hana who were bent over on either side of me.
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| At church! |
When church finished, Yoonkyung and I rode our bikes back (in spite of the rain) and stopped by a popular ramen shop near campus to eat. Because Yoonkyung had just gotten paid she treated me. : ) The two of us talked for a while and then said good night.
June is already off to a good start.
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| Ramune, a drink enjoyed by all-- especially children |
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