Monday Tony, Rola and I finally got Internet in out rooms! Being connected has never felt so good! :D Its a bit pricey, but split between the three of us, it really shouldn't be too bad, plus I think we may get the first month free. :D
While Rola and Tony were messing with the router, I had to go met with my tutor Ayaka and some of her graduate student friends for dinner at her place. They
weren't a terribly lively bunch, but sweet and friendly, and enjoyed talking movies with me :) I really don't know what Ayaka made but it was something like brown rice with ham, mayo, avocado, lemon juice and fish eggs (which I couldn't taste due to the overpowering taste of mayo and lemon). It was a very interesting combination...but it did look pretty on the plate. Ayaka apparently makes this at the cafe she works at?...I could tell she'd had practice :)When I came home I had internet! It was very exciting :) I even got to skype my friend Greg who I haven't talked to in almost two months now, and he gave me a little tour of all the art work in his room from elementary and middle school, which I liked to call the Louvre.
The rest of the week kind of went by as it always does. Class, E.S.S., Class, English Corner, UNSECO, Class, Shopping etc. It was the same ol', same ol' here in Mito. I got to skype with a lot of people I haven't talked to in a while, so that was fun. :)
Friday morning right before I was about to hop in the shower, I got a call from my parents, telling me that my Grandmother had fallen and broken her hip and needed surgery to repair it and her Orthopedic surgeon was not optomistic about her chances of making it through the surgery, let alone through recovery and the rest of the year. My father was at the hospital, so I was able to Skype for possibly the last time, telling her how much I loved her. She was very confused by what was going on, but she was able to understand that and told me she loved me as well.
I kind of went through the rest of the day in a haze, relying heavily on the support of my friends such as Yuuki, Tony and Yasu. Yuuki met me at school and took me to an empty class room and just hugged me and let me cry. I had to miss my first class to skype with the my Grandma, so Tony told the teacher and I handed in my homework later, and Yasu made it his goal to make me laugh at E.S.S. that night.
E.S.S. was its usual fun self. We played Password and fill-in-the-blanks with "Love Story" by Taylor Swift, and Taku, one of the seniors in E.S.S. and a friend of mine from Karaoke, actually came (usually seniors drop out of any and all clubs to pursue jobs) so we talked while Yasu and Rinda were describing the details for the speech contest to the underclassmen. He finally looked at me and just said, "Are you okay? You look depressed..."
...I clearly fail at not wearing my heart on my sleeve. m(_ _)m
Afterwards we went out to eat, and it seems like lately, E.S.S. has been branching out greatly in its variety of food. I haven't been to Taiko in nearly two weeks! Last Friday we went to Ghandi and on Wednesday we went to Gusto...and this time we went to Kappazushi...which is....well....
A sushi restaurant. That took me a while to choke down when they asked if the group wanted to go there. Takami came up to me and was like "Caitlyn, I know the Japanese thing is to always say yes, but if you really don't want to, its okay to say no."...have I mentioned these people have only known me for like...6 weeks? They know me to well. I didn't have a problem with trying it, I was just worried about not being able to eat anything, but finally Taku piped up and told me that there were things at Kappa that weren't sushi...so I agreed and we headed off to Kappa...me and all 8 of the E.S.S. boys that were coming. It seems like every Friday I'm always the only girl. I think that the restaurant owners around this part of town are going to start think I have my own harem going...
At Kappazushi, the tables are all alongside a counter of some sort, to which is attached a conveyor belt, for grab-it-as-you-want-it sushi, a monitor for placing your order and a train track that a train runs on and comes from the kitchen with your specific order. With the exception of Karage (Chicken) and desserts, all plates are 90 Yen on the weekdays, so its a pretty good deal :) And when I say plates, you get a little bread plate sized dish with two pieces of sushi on it.
I started out slowly....with Inari which is a soybean powderpuff filled with vinegar rice and hamburger sushi. We quickly discovered that my mouth is clearly not big enough to eat
sushi, as you're supposed to eat a piece of sushi whole, and I was unable to do this without choking...so I did it in two bites....which usually resulted in me making a general mess of myself (as is evidence of this picture...), so I gave up on being a graceful eater that night.I eventually moved up to shrimp and crab...and yes it was raw. It took everything I had to push past the chewiness/rubberyness of the shrimp, and even when I did, I couldn't really taste it because it had wasabi on it, so all I tasted was spicy. Crab was a lot better, though I
think I would enjoy it more cooked and with butter. Whenever I ordered a plate, I would sit there for ten minutes just telling myself "Mindovermatter mindovermatter mindovermatter mindovermatter" until I finally ate it...and then Yasu wouldn't stop staring at me, even when he was eating...just to see if I was okay ><...when I was trying to eat the shrimp, I think I turned green because Taku looked and me and went "Uhm...are you going to be okay?"But I did it! So I'm proud of myself. I steered clear of fish, because I figure if I'm going to eat it, we're taking baby steps and I'm eating it cooked first. They were laughing at me when I said that this was a life achievement...but I really think it was. I mean seriously...if you never ate something in all your life, wouldn't you think it was strange?
Yasu succeeded in his goal of making me laugh that night, so he and I both left happy...but I'm even more happy now because I got the phone call from my parents that my Grandma made it through surgery! She's not out of the woods yet, and recovery will be a long road...but she's okay at least for now :) I love you Grandma! Hang in there for me, because I have lots of fun stories to tell you about Japan!
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