Daily Life.

The cycle of a week has brought delightful constancy to my daily life. (We all know how I abhor a lack of structure.) Saturday has become get-out-and-see-something-cool day, while Sunday is stay-in-and-prepare-for-the-coming-week day. In addition to countless hours of studying, I include an hour of traditional Japanese bathing in the regimen. The dorm room has a Japanese ofuro, and though I don’t feel I have the luxury of either water or time for ofuro on a regular basis, I like the idea of having a good soak once a week. It’s my little bit of Zen before the harsh and heavy drill of week-long classes, commuting, practice, socializing, and so forth. Of course, my first ofuro was a little too hot for me, but I rectified that with a little added cold water. Still, when I got out of the bath my face was completely red! I was glad I didn’t have anywhere to be right then.

In other news, my dorm managers, the Nakamuras, have set up a little bamboo tree and slips of beautifully colored paper for us all to make wishes for Tanabata, the festival of Vega and Altair (the Weaver and the Cowherd stars). Wish-making is fairly straightforward: you take a piece of paper, write your wish on it, and hang it on the tree. For my wish, I wrote that I wanted to become good at speaking Japanese. When I came in this evening from grabbing some dinner supplies, the dorm mother told me that she and her husband had both looked at my wish and that they both thought that I was already good at speaking Japanese. I disagree, of course, but it was sweet of her, so I thanked her (after appropriately denying it) and clarified that I wanted to become even more good than I was now.

And that’s the truth.

Newsflash.

The discount store has gone back to being a 100-yen-store. That means one of two things: one) there is a regular cycle of discount to 100-yen-store and back again that is observed on a regular basis or, two) the shop transformed itself into a place where I could buy a pot and pan simply because the universe thinks I’m wonderful.

My money’s the former rather than the latter, so it looks like I can have fun trying to figure out the cycle.

Exchanging Kindness.

I had a fun and random adventure today. After class, B. and I decided to get a little lunch. As we were meandering our way down Shinjuku-dori, we were stopped by a Vietnamese family who asked us if we could help them find a particular restaurant. The family turned out to be from Australia, and they were taking a ten-day vacation in Japan during their son’s month-long school break. Like most people who come to Japan, they couldn’t fathom the address system.

Fortunately, B. had a city atlas, and we’d both had experience in how to read the address signs in various wards of the city. We guided the family back the way they’d come and right to the restaurant they were looking for--an apparently notable ramen shop. In exchange for this, they invited us to dine with them and we wound up with a heavenly meal in delightful company.

Lunch over, we parted ways with wishes for continued good fortune on our respective journeys, and I headed home--quite hopelessly in love with life.