Onigiri - my new favorite lunch. Onigiri is rice, sometimes sprinkled with wakame (a type of seaweed) or salmon, formed into triangles and covered with nori (another kind of seaweed). You can buy them at any convenience store, for they make the best lunches. However, the most delicious kind are those made at home. If you are a Japanese, you can form these little shapes in seconds. I have gotten into the habit of making some everyday to take for lunch, and my triangles are not yet perfect. My host mother could do it in three turns. There is a special way of holding your hands that molds the corners just right. I am getting there - it probably only takes me twice as long as it should now instead of 6 times..

Yesterday was Easter. Happy Easter! In Japan, the only people who celebrate Easter are the less than 1% of the population who are Christian. Unlike Christmas, which has become a highly secularized and popular holiday, no one knows about Easter. There is no Easter bunny, no Easter candy, no Easter eggs, nothing. Even my church was not very enthusiastic about it (which is surprising, but it is the number one most important holiday in the Christian faith). There were only a few Easter lilies, no special music, and no one was dressed up. Just a regular Sunday.
I guess I made up for it a bit by getting up at sunrise and climbing a nearby mountain. Too bad it was raining. Oh well.

The sun is shining, the sakura petals are falling like snow, and I have no place to be. I officially graduated from KCJS last Friday. The ceremony was simple, and nice, despite the fact that I was made to play the koto.
From now on, I am working part time, studying part time, researching part time, and watching lots of Japanese television (to improve my listening skills, of course). And so, I think that I will be updating this website less often. I think I will only post pictures and really exciting things. Yes, that's all. Enjoy the spring!

Finals are over. Packing is done. Last night I ate my last dinner with my host family. Okasan made sukiyaki, which just happens to be one of my favorite Japanese dishes. It is so sad to be leaving them after 8 months of living with the Kishida family. I shall miss Okasan's cooking, Otosan's subtle humor and constant golf watching, Shinnosuke's morning alarm barking, and all the other random things that made it a wonderful experience of Japanese life.
Tonight is the graduation ceremony, in which I will be playing the koto. Probably wearing a kimono too. After that, it's off to Osaka! Tomorrow I am moving into my apartment for the summer term. It's at a wonderful location-just down the street from Ginkakuji, on the Philosopher's Path, and a 10 minute bike ride to school. I'm looking forward to a lovely summer in Kyoto!

The last party of the semester is winding down, people are slowly leaving the school, buzzed, but not drunk from the minimal amount of alchohol provided. There are no kegs in Japan. Next week is the last week of school. Two finals, a bunraku play, a luau cookout (real pig provided by visiting professor), graduation ceremony, and Latin dancing in Osaka. Good times with friends will be ending soon, and it is horrible that we have to take time to study instead of spending it with them.

The Japanese version of eeny-meeny-miny-mo:
dore ni (which one)
dochira ni shiyou kana (which one shall i do?)
tennokamisama no iu toori (let the god from the sky tell me!)
butto koi butto koide (come fart come fart)
bu bu bu ((fart noise))
mou hitotsu omakeni (one more time, throw it out)
kakinota ne ((i don't know what this word means..))

It makes about as much sense as "catch a tiger by a toe" doesn't it?