Fireworks, Shrines, and Extensions

So, Saturday... What did I do? Nothing really. Woke up, went with Christ to Hotto Motto for lunch. It's an obento (lunch box) place. Um... oh! I went to a fireworks festival. The cost and time of travel wasn't really equivalent to the fireworks though. Like, we left at 6pm and got back.. probably closer to midnight? But they were neat. They had huge ones and the hundreds of people there would make sounds of awe in union at every one of them. Some fireworks were smiley faces or heart shaped too.



But you know how you always hear about people being stuffed onto Japanese trains and things? It was like that. There were a ton of people there and no room on the train. So a girl grabbed my bag to make sure I stayed with them and pulled me onto the train behind them, where I was squished up against two people; Jeff and some random Japanese guy, with a random girl pushed into my back. It was really awkward, since with the train's constantly stopping and going, everyone on board would rock and sway into everyone else. It was really hot and awkward and scary.

Anyway, instead of going to bed after getting back so late, I got online, Skyped a little about extending my stay to a year, and then was dragged off to the beach, at midnight, to go swimming. It was actually a lot of fun. We stayed for a few hours. More I-House people kept showing up. We swam and joked until we realized we were freezing and finally headed back. But not before Alecs had dug a massive hole and we'd buried Christ in it.



Then, a 3am Sunny's run left us with various sweet breads and sugar highs, so we watched TV on someone's computer and finally crashed around 5:30am.

Then today, Sunday, we woke up and went with Christ's friend Eri to a shrine. Chris came along too, as well as one of Eri's friends. We met at the dorm, then hopped on various trains and ended up at an Italian place for lunch. Then we got on another train and went to the shrine, where there was also a museum. We prayed at the shrine for good luck and drew fortunes. I got the littlest amount of luck so I had to tie mine up with others in the hopes it'd increase later, or something. It was actually really cool though. Christ and Chris both got the luckiest luck so they kept theirs on them.



We also tried mochi, which is kind of like this stretchy, chewy rice paste/dough filled with bean paste. It was alright.

For more pictures, visit this album.

Got back, hung out in the lobby then met on my floor's lounge to work on homework. I realized quickly that I'd accidentally already done mine thinking it was due my previous class on Friday so all I had to do was study. But there's kind of a lot, though I know large chunks of it already. We have our first lesson quiz today. I'm not really sure why I'm still awake.

We all studied together for quite a long time until I realized I was falling asleep and left. But taking out my contacts always makes me briefly feel wide awake again so I'm waiting for that feeling to pass and uploading more pictures. Hooray?

Seriously working on the steps to extend my stay for a year. I remember having complications trying to get the proof of my money last time so I guess I really need to get on that again.