NO TIME

Whew! National Green Holiday today. So I get a break and catch up on sleep. Woke at 11pm which isn't too bad compared to the time I woke last Saturday. So lemme fill you in.

Last Saturday was raining pretty heavily so we didn't really go out. I slept till about 12pm and felt well rested after. We basically studied for the entire day and at about 4pm, Miyuki's father and mother took me to a clothing store called Uni Qlo. It's quite a famous store here and there Miyuki's parents bought me a nice top I liked as a present which was really nice of them since they're already feeding me 3 full on meals a day and have taken me to nice places. Anyhow, shopping only took a few minutes because I didn't find anything else paritcularly amazing.

Sunday was great though, we drove to Edo Museum at around noon and inside we saw Cherry Blossom paintings etc. Outside the Museum was Edo Park and we visited all the old buildings belonging to high ranking people and/or farmers during the Edo Period. (Edo Dynasty, the time when Tokyo was calld Edo). It was facinating though there were so many bugs. Their ants here scare the life out of me, they're as big as the 1st half of my thumb. In NZ, they're so small you can barely see the evil fellas. I kept hopping around because I was scared they would climb onto me. I bought a few souviners at the shop in the museum.
We went back home for a big before going out again at around 5pm to the famous Japanese area, Shinjuku. There, Miyuki, Hikaru (Miyuki's sister), their mother and I headed to, what I think they said was the biggest CD store in Tokyo? I may be wrong. But there we watched a live performance of 3 rising chorus bands. The event was called Mitsu or Michu and included the bands, chorus groups, Maria, A.G.E and Butterfly Dance. Rock and Pop music. It was great! Exciting. Many people came and Hikaru got to shake hands and take a photo with her favourite member because she bought 2 of their albums, one of which she gave to me which was very generous. Unfortunately they didn't allow photos but I will take a picture of the CD and mini poster I got there.

Monday and Tuesday were nothing special because of school. Though I did go home alone on Monday as Miyuki had cram school after her after school club. I went to Computer club with Yuka which I am now apart of. It's very interesting to design game maps etc. I even got to play my own game I created. After Miyuki and I said bye and I went with Yuka, Riko (another good friend Zoe and I made) and Zoe and we hopped on the train to Kochijoji station. There we asid bye to Riko and after passing another paygate I had to part ways with Zoe and Yuka. From there, I took the train to Asagaya by myself. It was a little nerveracking and I was basically on the edge of my seat, ready to run out the next time the door opened incase it was my stop. I passed 2 stops and at both I was wondering if I should go out or not but turns out I was right to stay on and later get off at Asagaya station. From there, I had to take the Asagaya bus. I had to listen very intently for which stop I was to get off at as it was a long name. Shimoigusa Yubinkyoku no Mae (Shimoigusa Post Office Front). I got a tad lost when I got off because I headed straight down the road and forgot to turn. I figured I was going the wrong way because why would I get off at the later stop and walk back to the earlier ones? It was rather dark so I stopped at a bike shop and luckily my Japanese was good enough to ask for directions. When I got home, my host mother was on the balcony turning and circles. The poor kind lady was panicing that I might have gotten lost.

I've also noticed that I'm either becoming very old or just somehow very sore in Japan. Not only does my leg ache but so does my left hip and upper right arm. I don't know what I would do without those daily Japanese baths. Without them, I'm sure I would be nearly disabled by now.

Every resting day now, I help my host mother with cleaning, I wipe all the floors in the house and some tables which is good as it makes me feel like I'm not sitting around letting her run after me.

Okay! Technology. If I've already told you some of these things in my last blog, sorry but I am just really amazed! Phones first of all have not only text message options but everyone pays a monthly fee and gets unlimited messaging, email and internet. The newer ones also have T.V and a barcode reader. The school doesn't have any fancy notice boards or computers but all notices are given at the start of the day or during the day if there is a notice, a speaker will turn on in every room and the notice will be read out. Notices are also given at the end of the day during the homeroom time.

Now I will be going out to see more things! Even though it's a public holiday, Miyuki still has club so I will be going with Miyuki's father

Will write again as soon as possible!