太る！

I've run out of creative ways to intro these things so I'll just jump right into my week.

This week wasn't too out of the ordinary. My school, as usual, switched the schedules around a bit (they do that A LOT for some reason) and that was probably the most exciting thing to happen at school. I'm living life in the fast lane, I tell you! I'm sure something exciting happened, I'm just having a brainfart...

OH, so I haven't even mentioned this but instead of doing Track and Field I'm now doing 茶道部 (Sado Bu - Japanese Tea Ceremony Club)! It's on Mondays and Fridays after school, and I like this one because not only does it give me some days where I can have some free time after school, but it's also super Japanese culture-y. And intricate. How hard can it be to pour someone a cup of tea? My friends, the Japanese have perfected the art of making it harder than it needs to be. In doing so, however, they have made it into an art. I don't really mind the intricacy, so I'm really enjoying it. The only downside is that I have a feeling that club is going to greatly contribute to my weight gain (contrary to what many people thought would happen, I've GAINED weight). >____> Every day we have club, we sit down at the end, drink tea, and eat mochi, or some other anko product. This past Friday, after already being full from earlier that day, we ate ぜんざい, which is pretty much an anko soup with mochi cakes floating around in it. Sounds gross when I put it that way, but I can definitely see why people like it. That being said, I am not one of those people. I like mochi (especially when it's baked, and then dipping it in soy sauce with some sugar... yes), however ever since I first tried anko I knew I was destined to battle it's recurrences throughout my stay here. It's just too sweet. I know, I know, America consumes some of the grossly sweetest products there are on a daily basis. I agree. So I can't really tell you what it is about it. You have to try it to know what I mean. For me, however, it's almost sickly sweet. But I drank that soup like a champ. Yup. I called myself a champ. The upside to it's sickly sweetness is that it balances nicely with green tea, which is very, very bitter. I'm alive, and I did it. That's all that matters.

Saturday was fun. :) I hung out with some friends from school. There were four of us altogether, which is the perfect number for... you guessed it (or you didn't)! Purikura! We went downtown and took it two times, and both times my eyes managed to look one hundred times creepier than everyone else's because of how wide it made them. I legit look like an alien or something. Whatever, at least I have proof now that I have friends here. We spent the entire day window shopping, and took a break at lunchtime to eat ramen. I'm sorry to say I didn't take a picture because it was too delicious to stop eating and take the time. Seriously. Best ramen. If you're ever in Kumamoto city, go to Tsuruya and find the floor with all the restaurants. Go to Manriki Ramen (I think... wow I don't even remember the name). I ordered mine with a soy sauce-y broth but they also had a salted one (as if it needed any more salt). At the end of the day, I wasn't sure which bus to take so (I felt like a helpless 7-year-old or something) my one friend stayed with me to help me find it even though she took one that came before mine. Can I just take a moment to say I have the BEST friends here? If they ever read this, みんあ大好きー！ Japanese friends are good people. That is all.

Today was my host mom's birthday (which I'm proud to say I remembered)! And what do you do on your birthday?  You take your study abroad student to a 琴 (koto - traditional Japanese instrument) concert! It was three hours of traditional Japanese instruments, and by the end of it all, I felt like Sayuri from Memoirs of a Geisha. In all honesty, it was actually really cool. You'd think it'd be boring, but the sound of it all was so interesting that I didn't even realize it was so long.

The things in the back that look like they're playing recorders sure sounded like them, but they had a different name that escapes me now. In front of them are the shamisen and then the koto in the front. The way they played the koto made it look very... not sure what the word for it would be in English, but in Japanese you'd say かっこい. Like, it looked so cool and legit. Yup, that's the best I can do.

After that, my host mom and I stopped by a Mister Donuts and I bought both of us one. :) Big spender, right here. We also picked up a cake for her birthday.

Tadaaaaaaa! Japanese people are so fancy when it comes to cakes. It tasted as good as it looks (which is very delicious).

We also had やき肉 (Yakiniku) for dinner.

So delicious! It's basically a grill in the middle of the table and you eat as it all gets cooked. THIS is why I'm getting fat, people!

Anyway, that was pretty much my week/weekend. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but it's still weird and awesome to me that I can say this is all going down in Japan. This Friday there's no school, and AFS has something planned for us　留学生 (ryugakusei - foreign exchange students). Something about wearing kimonos, so I'm excited!

FLIUER.KBNWALEOFROIUHFV
-Ellie