June 12-13th

Yesturday was one of the longest days of my life. I woke up at around 4 am and the sun was up. Thats a major difference from Canada where is rises at around 6. Then the sun sets at around 6pm. It is all nuts! That morning I ate at Sagawa-san's home. We had egg salad sandwiches, letuce, and tea. It was alright, and filled me up, I can already tell I've lost some weight too. I also had small tiny Japanese fish and a leaf. Yes a leaf. The leaf was soaked in soy sauce and garlic and tasted pretty good. Sagawa-san said it was a Korean dish, it was very salty though. Same with those fish. Yesturday was orientation as well, where I met Haruna, a very very cute Japanese girl who is helping me and Nadine around. She was born in New York Originally but moved to Japan when she was 13. Anyway she took me to get some things I needed at the grocery mart called Maruto. It is big like any Canadian market, but with a Giant fish section and any alcoholic beverage you want. I never have to show I.D. either! Another thing I'm not used to is all the Japanese starring at me, expecially the girls at Ibaraki Christian. Anyway I had to ride my bike to school but it was very very tiny for me! MY legs reach the handle bars and my light doesn't even work. I met two Chinese girls also at Sagawa-san's party, Cicy and Onh ga. Their english is good, I also met three korean girls named He-sung, gi-sung, and so-heun. And Sagawa-san's wife Miho, and their 8 month old baby Keta. Instantly I thought Keta could be Luzmillie's Japanese boyfriend in the future! Hahha. Anyway I drank and had sashimi at the party and squid. Also I had a Japanese spicy chilli dog. All of it was delicious! Later that evening we went to the beach to walk along it and listen to the waves crashing in. It felt beautiful being there and just looking out to the pacific and imagining seeing Canada across. Anyway, Bikes are important in Japan. Almost everyone if they need to go a short distance they take bikes and every bike is pretty much the same. Silver crappy with a tiny basket at the front. That night when I slept I felt very good and I woke up at 9:30am this time! I got over jet leg fast!

June 13th

This morning I ate a Canadian breakfast I like to call it. Peanut butter toast, Frosted Flakes and Orange juice. Japanese milk here is much more sweet, as it is like 4% M.F. So I bought skim milk also because it is closer to Canadian milk. Today I went with Jared to the market again to grab more things such as fruit, toilet paper and other things I needed. Tonight we will go to Mito, which is the Capital of Ibaraki. We are going to a person's birthday party, but we don't know who the person is, just a friend of Jared's invited us. Anyway, I am looking forward to the times ahead, and I hope I can pick up JApanese much more quickly as really ...I need to.

Nick Bouvier