Xmas party

What's this? Two posts in (technically) one day? What has this world come to?

So, today we had a Christmas party with the scouts at the cultural centre. I taught them to make an apple cake that mum sent me the recipe for a while ago, and the leaders make udon for lunch.
They were both delicious!

I also taught them to play Speed, which I seem to be doing a lot... And they taught me Japanese Speed! I can't wait to teach it to my unit and friends! We had a tournament and... I lost in the first round...
But anyway!
We also played a game called babanuki. It's pretty similar to Go Fish, in that you try to run out of cards by removing pairs from your hand. But you split all the cards between everyone, and don't ask people for a card. You take a random card from the hand of the person to your left, moving clockwise. You toss your pairs into a pile on the table and win by running out of cards. But, if you get the joker, you have to try to subtly get the next person to take it because if you have it you lose. There's no pair to it, so you can't ever run out of cards. It's a pretty fun game!

So, for once I'm not writing this at midnight, so I have a bit more time to write about my thoughts.
Let's start with school.
Tsumu, Utayo and the teachers have agreed that there's no point in me coming to school for next week because they're studying for next term for 4 hours a day. The teachers don't have time to let me figure out what they're talking about, and I don't want to distract anyone by asking. So, you can guess how boring it is...
I already know what school is like as a culture, and I really don't learn ANYTHING there. So, since karate is the only part of the day that I've been looking forward to for the past week, we've arranged that I'll go to school at 1:00, have lunch with the class, and go to karate, then come home with Tsumu.
I can spend the mornings sleeping in for a bit longer, and then go shopping or hang out with Utayo, and so get a much better idea of what the culture outside of school. We all think that that's a much better plan.
But while I'm at school, I'm finally feeling comfortable. I feel like I belong there now.
I think all the students finally got over the whole "OMG IT'S A FOREIGNER!" thing. That was seriously annoying.
I still get people say hello to me, but nowhere near as many. Most of the people that say hi and wave to me are classmates, like Chihiro, or Tsumu's friends that I've met. Not so many strangers. These are people waving to me because they know me. Not because I look like a zoo attraction. -_-
But I like being able to just walk out of the gym, wave goodbye to everyone from karate as they get ready to leave and just walk to the front of the school, without having girls giggle and call me cute, or compliment my hair or something. It feels a whole lot easier to talk to people now that I don't feel like they think I'm some celebrity who they're about to ask for an autograph from.
I'm happy that I've started talking to Matano more, and Chihiro is still really nice. Matsu is his usual self, where I'm not sure what he thinks of me at all, so I'll just try to be an optimist and talk to him.

I'm getting worried that, while my flexibility has skyrocketed, so that I can put my face to my knees with my legs straight out in front of me, my strength has dropped. I'm kinda concerned about how I'm going to go when I start riding again. I hope that I'll still be able to. And you may say, just do some squats and stuff to work on the muscles, but it's a bit harder than that. First off, I don't have much time or spare energy for that, with all the running around everywhere, and riding also uses weird muscles that I don't think I've really used doing anything else. To work on those muscles when I started riding, I had to do a whole workout regime every morning, including sit ups, push ups, and squats (and whatever other exercises I threw in for that week) as well as walking 2.5ish kilometres to school, and back again, AND actually riding every weekend. That was all fine in junior high, and probably will be when I get back home, but it'll take a while. I hope that, after his time at the school, Charlie will still be patient enough for me to get used to it again. (Charlie is my horse, for anyone who doesn't know)

I'm looking forward to coming home by now. By no means do I want to leave early, though. I'm having a great time, and I really feel like a part of the family here! I feel like I could be Tsumu's older sister!
But I miss my friends and family, and honestly, I am DYING to play Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild again. I still need to finish it... That, and Twilight Princess...
And I miss my birds, Kitty, Bunny, Pie, Ash and Will... and my chooks. I never even named them all... Just Meg, Honey, Maddie, Sylvia, Julia, and Sophie. There's still 2 more that I didn't name before coming here...
And Bubble and Squeak, my little quails...
And you have no idea how much I miss feeling Obsidion brush up against my leg while I eat, or climb onto my lap, just as I decide to finish whatever I'm doing and get up.
I miss going to Emma's house and coming home covered in long, white Bofie hair all over my black shirt!

So yeah, looking forward to home in 3 weeks. Only 2 more Sundays left before I head to Tokyo and get on a plane! But at the same time, I know that I'll end up missing this place when I get there. So, I'll enjoy it while it lasts!
We've still got Disney Land to go to, and I have no idea what else they have planned for me, but I bet it'll be great!
Well, dinner's ready, so this is tonight farewell.
Goodnight world.