"Harajuku girls know how I feel."

I had lots of plans of Friday afternoon (usually the best block of free time I have on weekdays), but I actually just stayed in most of the afternoon, because it was chilly outside.

Friday evening, though, was the "International Cuisine Potluck" organized mostly by Alden. It was more AIKOM than not, but, besides Sarah, several awesome Japanese students (Marie, Takao, Yamaji, Mikito, Keisuke, Shun and Miyamoto, as far as I remember) came out, most of them not even Mitaka dorm residents. And holy cats, the food was so good. It ended up being the second day in a row of tabehoudai food paradise... In fact, it was such a success that we decided to do it every month!
This time I made a big bowl of guacamole, presented with a bowl of corn chips and a jar of salsa. Most of the Japanese students I've talked to had/have never had guacamole. Shock. So, though it wasn't strictly the cuisine of my country, I figured I was one of only three representatives of the New World, anyway (the other two being from Seattle and Toronto). Amusingly, though, Erika (the other American, from Seattle) and I did not consult with each other ahead of time, and both ended up making/bringing almost the same thing.
After eating until we could eat no more, we played Charades for a while, which was uniquely challenging with a group from so many different countries and languages, but very fun. And then cards and chatting and such in the MSC room until pretty late... A great night.

On Saturday a few of us had arranged to go somewhere (not entirely decided where) together, but when we met at the decided time of twelve o'clock, rain that was forecast to last, liek, eighteen hours was just setting in and so, since the forecast for Sunday was sunny, we decided to postpone our day out. I think the idea was for us to get our homework done on Saturday so that we'd have Sunday free, but... Ah, well, it's just hard to actually do work on Saturday, even if it's a lazy, rainy Saturday in.

On Sunday, however, I went with a pretty altered group from the day before of Yisha, Fiona and Joon Woo to Harajuku. I'd actually never been to the famous area of Harajuku, so it was an interesting experience, though we didn't spend a lot of time there; just had lunch. Sunday is supposedly when all the famed harajuku girls in their cuh-razy fashion come out, but because of some figure-skating event, apparently, the area was extremely crowded, and they all stayed in. I only saw one person in an elaborate Goth-Loli dress, and it was a man, so that was a slight let-down.
We had lunch, met Zhemin briefly, then walked back to Shibuya. I also bought Andrew's Christmas gift, fufufu. Fiona left from Harajuku station with Zhemin, so Yisha, Joon-woo and I went to Shimokita-zawa and went to a little second-floor French (or at least French-themed) cafe to do so schoolwork. It was quite expensive, but quite charming, and actually had the perfect atmosphere for studying. Quiet French music playing in the background and not at all crowded, so there was no pressure to leave... So we stayed for a couple hours. I, at least, got a pretty good amount done. We had dinner afterward elsewhere blahblahblah, but that was the most notable part. I think the AIKOMsei, myself definitely included, are taking quite a shine to Shimokita-zawa. <#