美しい日 (A Beautiful Day)

Let me start this entry by showing this:

今日、空はすごく青いだね。きれいだね。いい気持ちがある。だから、今日スカートをはいている。あー今日はきれい！

Kyou, sora wa sugoku aoi da ne. Kirei da ne. Ii kimochi ga aru. Dakara, kyou sukaato wo haiteiru*. Aa- kyou wa kirei!

Today the sky is super blue. It's so pretty. It puts me in a good mood. That's why today I'm wearing a skirt. Ah, it's so pretty today!

*I used the wrong verb. This is why I don't like speaking Japanese XD

Look how gorgeous today was! High of 80 degrees, blue blue sky (rare for the Orient, or so it seems to me)! All through class I couldn't help but stare out onto the water. There were so many people wind surfing because of the beautiful day and the chopping waves!

^Hikone-jo (Hikone Castle)

^a large heron flying over Biwako (Lake Biwa) 

^The Japanese Garden 

^Bluuuue

^This boat is named "Michigan" XD

And in the following video I talk about some stuff regarding the scenery you are seeing:

After class, we had a fire drill, which was kinda fun actually. Probably only because the weather was so nice XD. They blared an announcement through the building and we all had to go outside, and there was a mini fire truck waiting in the court yard. I wish I had brought my camera, but if my friend Ivan uploads pictures soon, I promise there will be a hilarious video involving me screaming "KAJI DA!" (Fire!), and running at a cardboard fire with a fire extinguisher and spraying water all over it. :P 

Afterwards, my friend Emily and I went out to the 100円 store since I needed an ethernet cable (yes, I finally got one :P). Along the way, I took some videos and pictures, and these videos here actually have a lot of explanation about certain characteristics of the city and the region.

There are also a few pictures here for you guys. The entire city of Hikone is filled with these gorgeous pink flowers. Today I actually saw a surprising number of people in Kimono, aka Japanese traditional clothes, which is rather rare to see as well. It makes the Japanese people stop staring at us long enough for me to whip out my camera and stalk the Kimono wearing people XD.

After doing homework, Emily, my roommate Chelsie, and her friend Nick went out to watch the sun set over the water. Emily then made us some dinner, quite good, and then after finishing the rest of my homework, another MSU student who I met on the trip who we call Lu, made us a second dinner- which was AMAZING. You give this kid three ingredients and he can make you a feast! I think I know where I'm going to be eating more often. XD

So today was a pretty good day, what with the weather, the easy homework, and the fact I got to skype with my mom and with my sister. I really ought to get to bed now since it's about 12:30 am for me. Oops. See what I do for you guys? This blog takes effort, I tell ya, man. ;)

Mary

Location: Kitchen table (cause I have an ethernet cord :D)

Mood: Happy (＾▽＾)

Listening to: Final Fantasy music that my roommate is playing to do her homework to

Japanese for the day: See the video up above! That's enough for today ^_^

Edit: Here is a picture Ivan posted of a bunch of us at the fire drill. You can see the little truck in the background XD