Playing Catch Up :: All the Things

As the title of this blog suggests, I'm very behind on blogging. So sit back, relax, and get ready to read me ramble on about all the things.

How was that midterm?

What midterm? I don't recall any midterm. Certainly not a three-hour long trial filled with things I couldn't read. And confusing, sguiggly pictographs. And very, very, very unrehearsed speeches. But if you must know more, there was a part of this midterm that never happened that wasn't completely painful to do which included us poor test-takers giving advice about an email from an apologetic soon to be ex-boyfriend to his long distance girlfriend where he explains that he was hanging out with a mutual female friend at Tokyo Disney World instead of keeping his promise to visit her in Osaka. 

After the test was over, I went to Kyoto with a friend, and we had an amazing three day weekend that I will blog about later, since I am a bit (a lot) behind on catching y'all up to what happened before the Midterm-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named. 

Tuyu

Tuyu (rainy season) has been a bit shy this summer so far, which my host mother tells me is a bit odd. Some days I've gotten drenched even with an umbrella, and other days go from being completely clear to thundering and back to being clear within a period of 5 minutes continuously throughout the day. Other than that, it's been very hot and very humid, and every day I feel like I'm slowly melting. I'm going through clothing so much here, and I can definitely see why my host mother does laundry so often.

Frozen

I hear my host sister singing early in the morning, little kids singing on the street as they play, and even adults humming along on the street. The Frozen songs are inescapable, even in Japan. 

Sketching

I went sketching on the Asanogawa river with Thaddeus last week as further procrastination. It was a ton of fun and I managed to get two sketches in. It's been a while since I've sketched landscapes from life, so I was a bit rusty (very rusty). It did feel great to get back to sketching, though. 

I got a bit lazy everywhere

I thought that perhaps focusing on smaller things would be easier. I was still wrong.

DT Suzuki Museum

Also went to the DT Suzuki Museum some time in the past two weeks. Thaddeus did a really great post on the museum, so to save myself some time, here's the link to his post. I can imagine the museum being a great contemplative space when there aren't 40 留学生 tramping around having loud conversations and goofing around. I am definitely going back (hopefully sometime this week) to sketch. 

Didn't take any pictures, so here's a great picture that Claire took! PC Claire Williamson (check out her blog!)

Satoyama Experience

One of these past few weekends (I have really lost all sense of time here), I went with 19 other PIIers to Kanazawa University to help with cutting down bamboo to clear a trail for hikers. We split up into two groups, and luckily I got put into the group that did the bamboo cutting since the other group just wandered around looking at plants and helping to make lunch. The chief bamboo cutting person (so technical, I know) had a very tiny, cute chainsaw that he used to cut the base of the bamboo, and then we went at the bamboo with gigantic knives (a bit like machetes) to cut it into segments. 

Cutting down the bamboo. PC IFIE staff

Going at it with Turman-san! PC IFIE staff

Afterwards, we made chopsticks out of the bamboo that we cut down. It was a labor of love (similar to the tyawan) where we just whittled slowly away at sticks of bamboo, trying not to cut our legs or hands. Soon after that, we ate lunch with the chopsticks that we made. 

PC Zhuo Dayou

Butterfly landed on my hand! PC Zhuo Dayou

PC Zhuo Dayou

Cooking rice! PC Zhuo Dayou

Lunch with the chopsticks I made

Stay tuned for Kyoto adventures! Thanks for reading, and DFTBA!