Caitlin in Japan #5

Written by sonicsuns

Hey-o, Japanese Club. I have officially been in Japan for more than a month now.

I went to the Edo Tokyo museum on Sunday, which was quite fun. Our guide seemed impressed by my knowledge of Japanese history (I give all credit to Professor Udry. Seriously, take his classes). He was also just an awesome guy who said many amusing things to us throughout our tour. But by far my favorite was this:

“And over here on the model, we can see two people meeting behind a building. She is a samurai’s daughter and he is a craftsman’s son. It’s forbidden love, like Romeo and Juliet. I wonder what they’re talking about? Maybe they’re talking about committing suicide together. Or maybe they’re talking about kabuki or something.”

That’s what all star-crossed lovers do in dark alleyways, isn’t it?

In other news, I ended up hanging out in Akihabara with an extremely attractive Korean classmate of mine, who turned out to be 30. More on that story as it develops.

My host mom is convinced that I am the subject of much gossip. It’s an old superstition in Japan that when one sneezes once randomly without provocation, someone is talking about you. I sneeze multiple times every day, usually only once or twice at a time. I must either be really popular or really unpopular. But, as Oscar Wilde once said “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”

I also seem to have managed to mess up my insurance billing, so the bill is being included on my host mother’s insurance bill. Oops. Looking into getting that fixed as we speak.

My midterms are coming up next week. I feel like I should do fine. And because I feel that way, I’ll probably end up doing horribly. Because my brain is a scumbag.

Beyond that, there’s really not much going on worth reporting. I accidentally swore (In English) during our class break-time last week. You would have thought that I was George Carlin, the way people were laughing. I am much beloved.

But yeah, things are fairly routine here as of now. Until next week.