Music club

Yesterday there was a mini concert put on by the music club in the studio. No one told us when the concert started, so by the time we got there we were only able to see the last band perform. However, since we know quite a few people in the club they invited us out to their dinner party. We went to a place called Bancho, which is a pretty great all-you-can-eat place with quite a bit of variety and only cost about $20. After dinner we all went out for karaoke. The music club members are a great bunch of people and I'm really glad to have met them.

Cherry Blossoms

It's cherry blossom season right now. This year is exceptionally cold, and so they bloomed a few weeks later than they normally do. They also didn't stay pink for too long and quickly turned to white, but they're still very pretty to look at! Yesterday I went to Goryokaku Park with some friends. There are so many cherry blossom trees there it's awesome! The park is a really popular place for cherry blossom viewing. Not only is it a nice park with lots of cherry blossoms, but you're also allowed to have a bbq and little parties there as well! They light up lanterns at night so that's pretty cool as well. Too bad it's too cold at night to stay out and enjoy the night view.

Nice people

I noticed that the middle aged group and older people are about 100x nicer than the younger people. For example, the other day I was walking home and I passed a place where I got my haircut once. The hairstylist who was in his 30s invited us to a party he was having that night. We stayed for a long time and there was a lot of good food and we made lots of new friends. And I've only met this guy once! One of the student teachers at the adult school for learning English gets taken out to dinner by his students all the time. If you're looking for really nice people, looking for the ones that are older than you!

Brain farts

I've had so many brain farts since I got to Japan. They happen really frequently now. Simple Japanese that I use all the time will sometimes not come out at all. It's a really discouraging thing. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that even though it may not feel like it, your brain is working very hard to be able to speak in another language. Your brain never stops working if you're always speaking in another language and if it doesn't get any rest, it will just stop working when you need it to. If you ever study abroad in a place where English isn't spoken, make sure you give your brain ample rest time! But at the same time you can't give it too much rest time and allow it to become lazy. You need to find that perfect balance or work and relaxation.