But Please Don't Eat That Glass, My Friend

Greetings, dear readers. Sorry for the lapse in entries; it's shaping up to be one of "those" weeks. Or it may have reached the time of year when things seem to be piling up or to have gone on too long. Received one or two pieces of disquieting information during Thursday and Friday, though they may yet prove to cause no lasting trouble. Getting myself out of this funk took a good deal of tea and Sherlock Holmes, but managed it in the end.

By and large life as normal until the weekend rolled around. On Saturday I set out for Osu in order to do some Christmas shopping. On the whole I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, getting struck with the customary wonderlust and finding it difficult to get into the mindset of shopping for other people. I did, however, manage to walk there and back without help from a map and compass for the very first time! A small achievement, and a sign of the times, to be sure.

On Saturday night we had a party to celebrate the Hallowe'en party going well. These students - any excuse! Unlike the Hallowe'en party, though, it was held at our humble Yamazato dorm, and it was a rather quiet affair, not packed to the bilges or anything. The nature of this party was temaki sushi and kani nabe. "Whut?" I hear you ask. Well, temaki is a kind of sushi which you make yourself, putting rice and other ingredients into the nori (seaweed) then haphazardly rolling it into a vaguely conical shape. This was all a bit too delicate work for clumsy ole' me, so I took to just piling up my plate with rice and other ingredients (most of which are still a mystery to me) and eating them as they were. Nabe meanwhile is a kind of stew, and kani means crab. Through this party I was able to discover that I do not like the taste of crab. Overall I'd call the party a success; it was pleasant to hobnob with a few new people and see our front room miraculously transformed into a party space through the simple expedient of arranging the tables differently.

Gaiety

Sunday was back to a business-as-usual-style milling around, going food shopping, getting a start on homework and the like. There was one bit of excitement - I received a package from my family containing some English sweets and chocolate, so was able to go about my business with a little taste of home! Alas, though, this sweet indulgence was not without its bitter aftertaste. Writing from Wednesday I can also report that on this Sunday the Book-Off (cheap secondhand bookshop) down the road from me closed down. :( Had I but known I would gladly have bought up a considerable chunk of their remaining stock!