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Just got done with hanging out with friends from my Japanese language class. In my class, there are five students, besides myself. We spend 7 hours in class together, and usually hang out in the evenings, so, you can imagine how close we are becoming. The only two girls in my class are both from Thailand, one of the guys is Swiss, one is Indonesian and one is Bulgarian. A really interesting mix; and it becomes exceptionally interesting when you add a wild Bahraini to the mix. Oh well.

We first went to have dinner at a nice little Korean Restaurant. The restaurant is a 1 minute walk from our dormitory. It is on the second floor of a building that includes a grocery store, hair salon and some weird office of something I never heard of before. We had a LOT of food and it wasn’t terribly expensive for Japan. After that, we got some snacks, came back to the common hall on the 2nd floor in the dorm (same floor as my room), listened to music and looked at pictures of the things we’ve been doing here in Hitotsubashi University since arriving in Japan.

I enjoy the company of my classmates, and I feel they feel the same way. We all feel that we are going through this challenging experience together, so, we sympathize and identify with one another. All of us constantly help each other so that no one falls behind in learning each day’s Japanese lesson - you know how learning the grammer of a language could be frustrating at times.

Yesterday, we experienced a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. We were hosted by one of the top specialists in the Japanese tea ceremony (aka, SADO). According to customs, in a tea ceremony each of the hosts and guests have a role to play while participating in a session of the tea ceremony. I was named “guest of honor”; in other words, I had to be the representative of the other guests with me; and I was the only one allowed to speak directly with the host of the ceremony, after getting permission from the host. Another nice thing about being the guest of honor, was that I get to drink the tea and eat the sweets before everyone else. So, it’s cool. However, sitting in the traditional SEIZA (kneeling) is REALLLY difficult, so, I was a little bad and decided to break hundereds of years of tradition by sitting in the Indian cross-legged position. Oh well, I am a GAIJIN (foriegner), so, I can get away with it, until I become fluent in the language, at least.