THE TOKYO BLOG: Hanging around town without meerkats

Today was the second snow day of the winter, which according to the olden calendar of Japan, ends today. As the spring is "here," in name, if not actually weather-wise, my host family and I threw soybeans outside in all of the major rooms to traditionally throw out the bad and bring out the good. Then, we each ate a number of soybeans corresponding to each person's age. So, happy spring to you--wish it wasn't freezing!

So, I finally did the much-awaited Vatican speech, which was pretty pathetic, as I eventually ended up creating 1 questionably accurate map of Italy and Rome, 1 frantically drawn Swiss Guard uniform in chalk on a black board, and 1 stand-up speech in a mix of casual Japanese and English. My standup speech was probably the worst of the three, as I took a gander at explaining, comparing and contrasting the different branches of Christianity in America--not pretty. ("Mina de wa onagi belief ga aru kedo, tatoeba mina de wa chigau celebrations toka ga aruyo.") In fact, there is a comedian in Japan who is famous for throwing random English expressions into his sentences--my speech was pretty similar to one of his acts. But seriously, how am I honestly expected to be able to explain about Mormons and polygamy in Japanese? Oh, please...

But before that...I went to watch Japan versus Chile in soccer!

I was soooo excited--it was in the National Stadium (the same one, if you remember, in which I ran a 1k in nefarious costume with Natsu) and there were so many people. Poor Chile--there isn't a large Chilean majority naturally residing in Japan, and I don't think that most fans, even the most devoted, chose to travel to Japan to watch the match--so, Chile's cheering section was hard-pressed to a) find people and b) compete with the thousands making up the crowd cheering for Japan, not to mention Japan's specially designated cheering sections, which didn't let down for singing Nihon fight songs. Thus, I was in short, pretty pumped for the game. This euphoria was quickly taken out by the biting freezing cold. I was literally the coldest

I think I have ever ever been. And it wasn'

t just me--everyone was turning into human ice lollies. To top it all off, after almost 2 hours, neither team had scored. It was still very very fun, though, and I would love to go again sometime--especially if it was just a teensy weensy bit not-so-COLD! =D

On Wednesday, I got sick once again...

...

I made sure I got well soon, because on

Friday, I had

priorities....

On Friday, I went to Disney Sea with 3 of my friends! We were there from opening to closing (10 hours!) and because it was Friday (we had the day off from school) it wasn't crowded at all. We went on all the rides, met Mickey, Minnie, Cruella De Vil and friends...the scariest ride we sent on was one we had all been on multiple times before, but mid-Indiana Jones the ride broke down,

and we, chained to our seats, were all poised for the fall... the suspense built, until we were just confused as to what was wrong. The best part--it was the scariest ride ever AND then the staff let us go again without waiting! Yay! We spent a very long time at Disney Sea, and although everyone's feet were dying by the end, it was most definitely worth it.

On Saturday, my host family and I

celebrated Keito's birthday.

I made chili, and that plus a bunch of other dishes constituted a very large proper birthday dinner, I think. Keito's grandparents came. and she played sax and I played violin for them..

.Today, I went ice-skating with Keito and her friends from elementary school. Very fun!

Tomorrow

is my cooking class that I am

teaching in English. The menu was initially labeled Mexican, but I think, as "chili tacos" aren't exactly traditional standard, the menu should be renamed "Tex-Mex for Cross-Cultural