River stomping is probably the best thing ever

Okay, so the river. Yesterday when it was 90+ degrees and 4000% humidity I went back to my host family's house after school only to discover that everyone was out and the door was locked. So I went to the river and did homework instead. Or really, I took off my sandals, stuck my feet in the river, and then did grammar homework. I feel that it significantly improved my grammar experience. And then, when I was done with grammar, I went and waded in the river, which was awesome, 'cause the water was cold and there were a bunch of other people wading, so I didn't feel like a completely crazy person. WHOO.

Also, I just finished reading the first part of a "novel" (only about 24 pages) we're supposed to be reading for class tomorrow. (Or reading the first part tomorrow and then finishing up on Friday.) Our teacher told us not to worry about trying to understand everything, because "even Japanese people would find it difficult to read." I think I understood about 60% of what was going on. From what I can make out, it's about a young mother from a rich family who has given birth to a baby girl and is now being semi-stalked by the woman who helped to take care of the baby while she was sick in the hospital (because apparently after giving birth she was ill for a while and unable to take care of her own child). I am pretty sure that the story is going to end with the nurse kidnapping/attempting to kidnap the baby. If that doesn't happen, I will be sad, because so far the story is pretty much mind-numbingly boring. It's a lot of, "And then the mother thought, '[kanji kanji kanji] that woman has such dirty hands [kanji kanji kanji] lower class [kanji kanji] disrespectful attitude teaching my child [kanji].'"

In other news, my conversation partner saw our midterm exam and said that it looked like the kind of exams she had to take in high school.

Does this mean I'm approximately as literate as a high schooler? It would be awesome if that were true, but somehow I think it isn't.

Lessee, anything else exciting? Oh yeah, I'm teaching my class next Wednesday. My reading got approved. Yay! (If you have a copy of the book, we're reading from the beginning of the prologue to Seiji going 「いいんだよ」over and over. So lots of Mika stalking and Seiji obsessing and being freaky and five or six mentions of HER, but no body bags or cleaning blood off the wall or brother complexes or tasteless ramen. BUMMER.) So now I have to create a vocabulary list (already did that) and a lesson plan (never done one of these before) and a review sheet to test reading comprehension and homework. HMM. Still not sure what I'll assign for homework. I don't think the usual "write what you think about this piece" assignment will work, but I don't want to assign something that will make everyone else hate me.

Other news...? I don't think there really is any. I'm really tired. And it's raining, which is nice. I think I'm gonna go to bed early, 'cause I haven't been getting enough sleep (it's hard to sleep when it's this hot).

Oh, totally random fact, but I've found myself rolling my R's a lot with katakana words recently. I DON'T EVEN KNOW. Been listening to too much anime with angry men set in Tokyo, I guess.

Alright, sleeping now! G'night!

Well, I'm not dead

YET.

I survived the midterm exam, although I think I probably created a metric ton of those little pencil eraser shreds. At least I was able to answer all the questions, which is better, it seems, than most of my classmates were able to do.

Well, we'll see when I get the test back. Hopefully it won't be a 0/100, 'cause that would be embarrassing.

So after our midterm examination, we met up with some students from the other KCJS class (not the CLS class) and headed out to a kimono shop, because someone decided that it would be an awesome idea to make all of us go on a kimono field trip. And it probably would have been awesome, if it had been, oh, you know, WINTER when wearing kimono won't make you die of heat stroke.

OH WELL.

And guess what! For the first time ever, I have pictures to show you along with telling my story! SWEET!

So we made it to the shop and split up into a boys' group and a girls' group and headed inside to pick out our kimono.

Hey, guys! We're gonna put on kimono now! It's gonna be so exciting! We're definitely not gonna die of heat stroke!

First they gave us a demonstration of proper kimono-putting on...uh...I'm forgetting English. The right way to put it on? Yes, that was what I was looking for. 着方。

So we all got tabi (these nifty white socks) and managed to put them on with no problem. One step down, forty thousand to go!

So then we put on our kimono. AND TOOK FRIGGIN' FOREVER. Even longer than yukata, 'cause there were multiple layers. It took so long that the guys gave up waiting outside in the heat and waited in the (air conditioned) entrance way to the shop.

So after an age of tying and retying and trying to figure out a way to get a kimono to look relatively decent on someone with massive hips, this was the result. (As long as I keep my arms in front of my hips, it doesn't look that weird...)

HE HAS A SWORD. (Actually, it's an umbrella. It'll come back later, just you watch.)

So then we walked over to Nijo Castle, where the temperature was approximately VERY WARM. People kept taking pictures of us, which was a little bit weird. And then this super enthusiastic Chinese woman wanted to take pictures with us. That was also a little bit weird. OH WELL. I guess that's the kind of reaction gaijin in kimono get.

Here's the whole group looking all snazzy in front of Nijo Castle.

We're wearing kimono guys! And, yeah, it's getting a little bit warm, but I'm sure we'll be okay. Right?

And here are all the boys (minus one)...

...and all the girls.

Notice how people have already started to wilt.

Here, have some pictures of the gardens at Nijo Castle!

He will stab you with his umbrella (でござる). (Told you the umbrella would come back.) There's actually a story behind this picture, but I'm sure that whatever you can come up with will be more amusing.

It's pretty ridiculously hard to climb stairs in kimono! It's ridiculously hard to the point that as I was walking down the stairs, I overheard two older Japanese women commenting on how good I was at walking in kimono. SERIOUSLY.

Also, by this point, everyone was complaining that they were dying and thirsty and hot and auuuuuuugh how much longer did they need to wear these things anyway?

The castle was closing at four, so we all headed back to the kimono shop to disrobe. And, man, we could not get them off fast enough. Seriously, those things are SO HOT, I don't know who it was who decided that we would wear kimono instead of yukata in summer.

Everyone was really happy to be back in their normal clothes.

Tomorrow we're going to Arashiyama, so (if Hu-san posts pictures early) I might have more pictures to show you then.

Until then, g'night! (Or good morning, I guess, 'cause most of you will be reading this in the morning. I don't know.)

MIDTERM AUGH MIDTERM

I have a midterm in a little over 14 hours. FRIG.

So, yeah, my 中間試験 is tomorrow morning. It's on three of the readings we did in class, the keigo emails we had to write, and 8 lessons of grammar (which amounts to about 60 or 70 grammar structures). And then we have an oral test too.

AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH.

しかし、今日出した宿題に間違いが一つしかありませんでした！やった！

Okay, I'm gonna go friggin' study for this friggin' test. If I don't post tomorrow, it's 'cause the 中間試験死神 killed me dead.