Awee man, so, I guess plenty of fun stuff happened in December! We'll start out on the 13th, which involved me traveling to Gamagori (a nearby town) with the kendo club for a large multi-school practice, which was pretty cool. Sparring with the masters is always pretty dope, though slightly humiliating. I want to say it was like 3-4 hours, which was deliciously brutal (go ahead. Put on a robe, and some armor, and swing a bundle of sticks at something for 3-4 hours). After that, I hurried home, then hurried to Nagoya, where a friend was going to set me up with his barber (this did not work out, but, uhh, more on that later). After that, I crashed at his place, because we were to be at Nagoya station (an hour from Toyohashi), by, like, 8 or 9 or something. Why? Disneyland, bruh. Disneyland.
The 3 day trip to Tokyo (one day touring, one day at Disneyland, and one day at Disney Sea) was basically super awesome, though really, I just enjoyed spending time with the other kids. The hotel we stayed at had a 24 hour convenience store on the first floor, so, I mean, you just know we all hung out and ate chicken and stuff. Also during this, I asked a friend to trim my hair, since I'd missed the earlier appointment (Gamagori kendo practice, and Toyohashi being an hour from Nagoya), and I told people that I was getting a haircut. So far, so good. And, to her credit, the person that cut my hair did well enough, but, it looked exactly the same, and that just wouldn't do! how would people be able to tell that I got a haircut? So I cut it myself. Chopped away at the top (It was bad, but not as bad as you'd think. It gets worse. Hang in there)!
So, eventually, I arrived back in Toyohashi, souvenirs in tow, but overall unhappy with my haircut, because the sides were too long, and I just ended up tucking them behind my ears. Well, upon getting home, I decided to cut them! Except I messed up, bad. So I just shaved the sides of my head. Guys, DO NOT DO THIS. That's really all I can say. Or at least make sure that it's okay, before you do this. Twas, uhh, quite embarrassing (they've grown back in now, but now the back is too shaggy, and the front and top need to be trimmed, so, the cycle begins anew).
After this, there were a few christmas parties hosted by various rotary clubs (I attended two local club parties, including one where I dressed up as Olaf to hand out presents to terrified japanese children), an independent party, where I met some local kids who went to different schools (I was invited by a rotarian, actually), and a district party, were everyone went to karaoke (surprisingly dope). After this Karaoke party, I did manage to mess up spectacularly by taking the wrong train home (as in, wrong bullet train. I ended up having to stay the night near Shin-yokohama, otherwise known as "uncomfortably close to Tokyo for someone from Aichi"), but everything worked out well enough.
After that, New years trip to my host father's parents, in Nagano! More of the same tough, involving onsen(s?) and chilling, and a massive amount of Katsukarae (fried pork, curry, and rice. the best thing ever, with a calorie count to back that claim up--and not in a good way, though I adore the dish). On the 31st, I also visited a giant wooden temple called Zenkoji, or something like that, which was neat.
After that, the rest of January was sleep-school-club, besides an orientation and some weekend trips out with friends (usually to karaoke, at this point)
Overall, a fairly solid two months, and I'd say my language skills are improving. I mean, I'm no social butterfly, and fluent is nothing but a mocking assortment of letters, but, I can understand plenty, and speak enough in turn to probably survive here for a time.
The 3 day trip to Tokyo (one day touring, one day at Disneyland, and one day at Disney Sea) was basically super awesome, though really, I just enjoyed spending time with the other kids. The hotel we stayed at had a 24 hour convenience store on the first floor, so, I mean, you just know we all hung out and ate chicken and stuff. Also during this, I asked a friend to trim my hair, since I'd missed the earlier appointment (Gamagori kendo practice, and Toyohashi being an hour from Nagoya), and I told people that I was getting a haircut. So far, so good. And, to her credit, the person that cut my hair did well enough, but, it looked exactly the same, and that just wouldn't do! how would people be able to tell that I got a haircut? So I cut it myself. Chopped away at the top (It was bad, but not as bad as you'd think. It gets worse. Hang in there)!
So, eventually, I arrived back in Toyohashi, souvenirs in tow, but overall unhappy with my haircut, because the sides were too long, and I just ended up tucking them behind my ears. Well, upon getting home, I decided to cut them! Except I messed up, bad. So I just shaved the sides of my head. Guys, DO NOT DO THIS. That's really all I can say. Or at least make sure that it's okay, before you do this. Twas, uhh, quite embarrassing (they've grown back in now, but now the back is too shaggy, and the front and top need to be trimmed, so, the cycle begins anew).
After this, there were a few christmas parties hosted by various rotary clubs (I attended two local club parties, including one where I dressed up as Olaf to hand out presents to terrified japanese children), an independent party, where I met some local kids who went to different schools (I was invited by a rotarian, actually), and a district party, were everyone went to karaoke (surprisingly dope). After this Karaoke party, I did manage to mess up spectacularly by taking the wrong train home (as in, wrong bullet train. I ended up having to stay the night near Shin-yokohama, otherwise known as "uncomfortably close to Tokyo for someone from Aichi"), but everything worked out well enough.
After that, New years trip to my host father's parents, in Nagano! More of the same tough, involving onsen(s?) and chilling, and a massive amount of Katsukarae (fried pork, curry, and rice. the best thing ever, with a calorie count to back that claim up--and not in a good way, though I adore the dish). On the 31st, I also visited a giant wooden temple called Zenkoji, or something like that, which was neat.
After that, the rest of January was sleep-school-club, besides an orientation and some weekend trips out with friends (usually to karaoke, at this point)
Overall, a fairly solid two months, and I'd say my language skills are improving. I mean, I'm no social butterfly, and fluent is nothing but a mocking assortment of letters, but, I can understand plenty, and speak enough in turn to probably survive here for a time.