My first earthquake.

A year ago today I found out that I'd gotten a place at TouDai in AIKOM, and that I'd gotten a scholarship that meant I could claim that place. <###
Of course, today I'm busy being depressed about how little time is left. XD

Not really. But I do increasingly feel like I need to try harder in the time that's left. Related, I've recently found some better Japanese radio online (the two stations I get on my actual radio are both pretty bad). Yaaaaay~ Not that it really relieves my withdrawals from US public radio (still off-limits, as it's in English)... But it's something. Seeing how I am at TouDai, there are probably people who know about good Japanese radio, if it's out there. I should ask around.

Tomorrow my 15-day (I think it was) pledge of speaking no English aloud whatsoever when outside of classes conducted in English will end. I think I'll renew it, until the end of the month, for now.

In other news, I felt an earthquake for the first time today! There've been a few that other people have said were feelable while I've been here, but I'd never noticed them. I was sitting in my chair, diligently studying, and actually felt my chair shake, looked around and saw the curtains swaying a bit, saw people on the street going about their business as normal... And eventually decided that it probably was an earthquake. It only lasted for, liek, ten seconds, tops, and nothing fell over in my room or anything, but it was kinda cool. A few minutes later people (in other areas of Tokyo) were posting about it on Facebook, so I was sure. Earthquakes are kinda scary... But I'm also kinda glad I got to feel one. XD

Also, I went back to Kendo yesterday after missing two practices in a row before that. <# Maybe it's just because I'm still recovering things I used to know/be able to do but lost, which is perhaps a much faster process than normal learning, but I really can feel some improvement at each practice, which is immensely gratifying, even if overall I'm still terrible. I even got really praised by one of the senpai I did "jigeiko" with(? This may have actually happened before... But anyway, it was certainly the first time I believed the senpai XD).

Some recent notable events:
Some time over Golden Week I went with Sarah, Joon Woo and Team China (including, somewhat unusually, Yu Chen) to 外延前, where we ate a pasta restaurant Sarah recommended. The sign read 生パスタ (nama pasuta - "fresh" or "raw" pasta) which at first bewildered those of us who had never been. Usually you see "nama" in front of "beer," meaning beer that's from a tap, not a bottle... And besides that, yeah, I only knew it as "raw," as in what sashimi typically is, or sometimes something like "plain," as in eating bread straight out of the bag. The restaurant was tiny, just one room (with kitchen area divided off by only a counter), so we got to watch them prepare our orders. The pasta came out of plastic packages, and was already soft-ish; not dried (though they did then cook it in hot water). So I guess that's what it meant. It was, by the way, the best pasta I've had in Japan, easily. Ffff so good.
After that treat we went to 自由ヶ丘, a neighborhood famous for its sweets shops. It has an annual Sweets Festival, which is, as it turns out, that week, and was in full-swing. And holy cats, there were a lot of sweets shops. Joon Woo took us to some famous ones, and I ate two deserts, which were both excellent.

Also, there was the Chabashira Golden Week BBQ, which was a blast, although it involved getting somewhat sunburned on my part. We went waaaay out to the countryside (well... By Tokyo standards, anyway), to a place on a river with tons of BBQers. Chatted, played with frisbees, waded across the river, cooked over fires, and had a good time. <#