karaoke v.2 and a tour around the city

This morning, we were shepherded into the lounge area of JCMU's dormitory to take the course evaluation necessary for every class JCMU provides (helps them see what they're doing right/wrong, totally anonymous, way too long most of the time) before Kawaguchi-san took the four students (meaning myself, Rory, Ashley and Tori) who were going to remain in Japan for the rest of the summer on a tour of Hikone city and downtown.

Due to the rainy day, he drove us in his car and we bustled about on the street corners with our umbrellas bumping into each other and running in and out of shops. We got to meet the President of Hikone, who told us about a paper plane throwing contest held every year in August in Hikone City as well as an artist fair that is happening in two weeks or so on the street we were walking. We also got to go to a fish vendor (who made us try dried thinly sliced fish flesh.........), a vegetable vendor (who gave us little rice cakes that made the whole day better), a sake brewery, a mascot shop, a ryokan (traditional style Japanese inn), an old abandoned basic elementary school house, and a cake shop (that the President ran with his family, and he also gave us a little cake sample-- in the shape of a fish!) before running out of time to show us the city.

Oh and, when we went into the mascot shop, they took us in the back and let us try on a few things.... Yes, that is Ashley in the giant rodent head.

We also drove by Hikone Castle (where I have yet to visit but plan to in the near future) several times, which Kawaguchi-san was very proud of and told us many a thing about.

Being starved adventurers, once we returned to JCMU campus the four of us ran over to Cocos and ate over priced American-ish Japanese food, and Yutang (the Chinese boy of the class) came over also and joined us for lunch.

I ATE THIS PIZZA FOR THE SECOND TIME. and got a parfait~

and this is what other people had!

Much later in the day it was decided that since it was rainy, we'd return to the karaoke place that we had gone to earlier in the weekend instead of traveling to a different one farther away. We called in taxis and were driven out (this time with a bigger group, 9 of us) to Paru.

It was SO much fun. We got a bigger and much nicer room than the first time we went, Ashley and I split some very hot but delicious french fries, and we sang the whole 4 hours we booked. Some of the group once again decided it would be more fun to drink, but again stuck to my staple ginger-ale. It's much waterier here than in the states, which, on a singing-made-parched throat is very soothing.

As soon as we got back from karaoke, again by taxi, Ashley and I decided that pancakes sounded just about right, and I whipped up a batch that we ate with peanut butter while checking these internet obligations of ours.

The rest of the weekend before karaoke night was extremely uneventful. Ashley's allergies came back with a vengeance, so she was down for the count for the most part, and we spent the time doing frivolous, stress free things like watching anime, reading manga, watching Dr. Who, blogging, cooking food, sleeping. It was like being college kids all over again!

This week signals the first programs ending, and a lot of the friends we made on this trip so far are headed back to Michigan tonight and tomorrow. We have a week to ourselves, here at JCMU between the end of Politics of Peace and the beginning of the language course, and then all of the new students are going to flood in, we will have orientation all over again, get interviewed for homestays and be well on our way into the real reason we came to Japan.