Tuesday Report

Today was another good day. I did homework, went to classes, bought another textbook, and worked out. I also went to a mini-recital by the Mandolin Club (so it wasn't a real meeting) and am thinking I actually do not want to learn how to play the mandolin. They were good, but I prefer playing bigger, deeper-sounding instruments. Also, it seemed like they were doing the same rapid up-and-down strumming motion the entire time. There is a classic guitar club on campus I can check out. But hey, this research period is part of the fun, right?

It was so nice talking with my host mom today since we both love string instruments and like to work out. Also, small world, my host family likes Enya! Since we had been talking about string instruments, she and my host father were looking through their CDs for some guitar or cello and when they listed Enya I got really excited. So we listened to the album with dinner (which was spaghetti with clams in it, salad, bread, olives, nuts, etc. and delicious). Then, we had some fancy pudding. I had thought that I could only eat American pudding because flan, Chinese custard, English pudding, bread pudding, and this odd egg Japanese custard I had all just messed with my taste-buds - but this was sweet and smooth, vanilla-flavored pudding with caramel sauce and it was amazing.

I also finished reading my first volume of manga for my manga class and it was in Japanese! I had to keep my phone or computer ready to look up all the kanji I didn't know. I couldn't use my dictionary because this manga had no furigana (hiragana (alphabet letters) above or below the kanji). However, this next one I'm about to start does have furigana, so it will be a little easier.

Before I go, here are two fun Japanese words!

• hazakura - ha comes from happa or leaf while zakura is sakura, but stressed since it is combined with another word. These are the green leaves that start to shoot out on cherry blossom trees once the flowers begin to fall (I've only seen one tree with them so far).
• nyuusan - lactic acid. I got very excited when my host mom was talking about this because A., we use this word a lot back home and B. it sounds like the Japanese pronunciation of my last name (nyuusamu). I was saying how I want Wednesdays and Fridays to be my rest days because those are kind of busy course days and I want to let my muscles rest and we got onto the topic of lactic acid. She thought it was funny how happy I was to find a word that sounds like my American last name.