Oh, I Suck At Updating XD

Right, it's been far too long so let's take a little trip down memory lane! Let's go all the way back to mid-April actually! Richard came back to Kanazawa with me & we went to Kenroku-en to see the cherryblossom & also to the Higashi-chaya district but we couldn't go to the Ninja temple becaue you had to wait ages for a tour. I also took him to try ramen at Ippudo even though I hate ramen :P But it's ok because I like the little bun things they have there ^_^ Then between him going home & start of May some fairly interesting stuff happened, like going to Torinosuke with Alex's parents, exploring the countryside behind the uni with Mel and also performing taiko at a local festival ^_^ That was pretty fun! There was even a picture of Petteri & I in the local newspaper! We also had some barbecues outside the dorm & down by the river, as the weather was starting to get much nicer & appreciating of cherryblossoms was undertaken :)
But the main thing that happened was I joined a university circle - the Juggling & Magic Circle or "JMC" to precise. In JMC we basically meet up in afternoons & practise together; there are lots of different things to do i.e. juggling various numbers of balls, card tricks, cigar boxes, devil sticks, yo-yo, poi & the one I picked - diabolo! It's really fun to learn new tricks but it's also really fun to spend time with all my circle members (and new friends!), especially because it means practising speaking & listening to Japanese. So I'm really glad I joined because I made a lot of new friends & it means I don't just waste my free time sitting in my room playing games or something XD Near the end of April some people came round to play Wii & watch Appleseed with me & I realised it was actually really nice to have friends outside the dorm too because although I really like everyone I live with it's nice to spend time with different people occasionally so you don't get annoyed with each other!
At the start of May there was a national holiday period in Japan called "Golden Week" though it was actually that you got Monday-Wednesday off so 5 days really, but I guess week sounds better :P Anyway, that was pretty cool too because Dan, Richard & Annika all had friends come to Kanazawa so it was nice to go out & spend time with them too! I also took a trip out on the Sunday to visit Takaoka, which is Toyama, the next prefecture over from Kanazawa. I went to see my friend Keita which was really fun & we went to Zuiryu temple, the old castle park (which had a little zoo) & also saw the Takaoka buddha, which is meant to be one of the 3 big buddhas of Japan, though it's actually really because it has a giant halo which makes it so tall! We also had some giant ice creams & watched some children perform the shishimai (lion dance) at a local festival so it was a really good day!
Other fun things from the start of May include the welcome party for Sakiko (our new residential advisor) which was at GBs cafe & then karaoke so that was fun! Also, Kym & the colour green are particularly memorable... Plus I had some friends come round to eat together so that was really nice! :D Ooh, we had a party with our circle to welcome the new members & so we all went out to eat shabu-shabu & all the new people had to stand up & say where they were from, what they studied & what they were learning in JMC. Then everyone who had the same hometown/major/skill had to drink with them. For me, people who could speak some English joined me for England & of course everyone joined me for Japanese :P It was actually pretty fun even though I didn't eat much & actually it was all free because I am a junior member & the seniors paid for me! Wow! :D I also changed my hair... First I had some braids for a couple weeks, courtesy of Annika, but then I decided on something completely different & got it cut right above my shoulders with a fringe! I really didn't like it at first but actually I think I might keep the fringe for a bit & just grow the rest of the hair a bit longer again... We'll see. Anyway, this is getting a bit long & it's also getting late so I'll wrap this up for now & write some more soon (I hope!)
Thanks for reading, if you want to see some more photos either look on Facebook or send me an e-mail :) Take care! Kou x