Yesterday was the first session of the Soukyokubu (koto) Club. Three hours really drags on when a lot of what you're doing is just waiting. Besides me, there are eight other international students, four of whom are guys, and the club currently has six Japanese members, all girls. There simply aren't enough kotos for everyone to practice at once. Of course, I've tried out the instrument before, so I registered instead at the beginning of the session. During that time, the others took long turns at practicing the beginner melody 'Sakura', an children's' melody that everyone in Japan knows. I didn't get a chance to play until almost the very end. Practice ends at 7:30 so, with sign language as well, half the week I'm getting home pretty late.
Today was the same story. Since I had the most recent turn the day before, I let others go before me. But the person I was waiting behind acted like she didn't notice and hogged all the time to herself. I swear, if I knew German, I would have given her a talking to (i.e. cussed her ears off). Practice time was cut in half today because on Tuesdays a teacher comes to help the Japanese members. So from 6:00 to 7:30 I sat seiza style and just watched them practice. I've never been good at sitting still, I'm a figiter, and seiza was probably invented by some monk as a way to pass the time laughing at his students. You position your legs in just such a way that they can't fall asleep and you still feel pain.
Thank heavens for Final Fantasy. It means that I have something to keep me occupied in the long stretches between classes. I've already worked out which classrooms are free when, so I get a nice quiet room to myself for a few hours (which means I can actually listen to the dialog). The campus is packed now that the regular students are back. The other two cafeterias are open now, too, so I'm systematically trying out anything that looks good.
It's been raining during classes all week so far; this means that at any time when I am walking to and from the train station the weather is fine! If I tried to ride my bike, though, I'd get poured on right away, I just know it.