Cooking equals tetris...

Our cooking class is getting better. In fact, today it was rather hilarious.
In this cooking class, they write on the blackboard in French. Yet the dish we were making today was Italian. Don't ask me why.

For some reason or other, all the ingredients are cut into the same shape - squares. It's all in squares! Salad, potatoes, bacon... It's gotten so bad that I get slightly disturbed if there's a time when the cooking doesn't involve cutting the food into small squares...
Still, to quote Francesco: "Be patient. The squares will come."

Watching the chef prepare the food, we were equally amazed and horrified. They peeled the tomatoes, and then proceeded to pluck out the juicy parts (which we think is the best part!) and threw them in the sink. Only to add tomato juice to the food later. The horror! Francesco stared at the spaghetti we were going to add to the food with an anxious look.

Francesco: I just know something terrible is going to happen to that spaghetti!
Me: Yeah, they'll cut it into squares!
*both snickering*

Next think we knew, the chef's assistant proceeded to take the spaghetti and break it into small, square pieces. The horror! Francesco's eyes popped, I stared in disbelief, and then we both started shaking with silent laughter. The chef found it all quite amusing, smiling and commenting "Look, they must think this is weird!". Well, yes... If we want short pasta, we buy macaroni. And Francesco told me the only people who do this in Italy are those who have trouble eating. What do you expect? XD

The chef lost a small piece of square spaghetti that rolled across the table and stopped right in front of Francesco, the poor Italian... I snatched it up and put it in my pocket, demanding that we take a picture of him and the mutilated pasta after the class had ended. As the they started to add all the square food to the pot, Francesco leaned over and quietly started humming the Tetris-melody... I was unable to sit straight for the rest of the demonstration because I was shaking so bad with laughter!

I've also joined the Japanese dancing class for the first time! It's with the first years, and I completely love it! I get to wear a yukata (that I'll eventually learn how to put on too, I'm sure) and dance around on my knees. XD Yes, my knees. Almost everything we do in the first part that we learned is done sitting in seiza, getting up from or down in seiza (which is hard when you're sitting wearing a yukata) or shuffling around on our knees (which is hard to do without loosing your balance). After half an hour of this your legs hurt pretty bad, but it's loads of fun! Especially when we can all laugh at Francesco who has a considerably worse time than me maintaining the position because his knees are killing him. Once in a while we'll turn to look maliciously in his direction, laughing when he starts saying "owowowowoooowww...!" or when even the teachers are unable to keep a straight face.

Don't get me wrong, though - there's no hard feelings. We both love it! It's kind of comforting to see that even the Japanese students start rubbing their legs and making grimaces after a while. (Especially the cute first-year boy that makes me want to pinch his cheeks! Being all two years older than him and stuff. *cough* XD) Also, I've got to borrow a yukata from school. I look absurdly gaijin-Japanesey in it compared to everyone else, but never mind! I'm quite cute waring it too, so it's OK. Hehee! (^3^)/

I've obediently followed the poll results and bravely pushed the buttons on the toilet. I must say I'm no fan of water being sprayed at me while I'm seated at the toilet (heated, I might add)... The face-button essentially does the same thing, and the massage button(!) at a school I went to I couldn't get to work. Disappointment! o(-.-)o Still, I've noticed something else - while sitting at the toilet at my school, I happened to hit something "I just brushed it with my elbow like..." which caused a sound like flushing a toilet to come out of a box on the wall. "What the...?!" I went out, and saw a girl go in to one of the cubicles, followed by a familiar flushing sound... the box! When it went quiet, she flushed the toilet and came out. my suspicions had been confirmed - it's a sound box to disguise the sound you make while peeing! I hurried back to the cooking room and told Francesco, and we stood there laughing. It's just so weird! If you have diarrhea, I can see the point. But peeing? Come on, it's not that hazukashii...

The other day Momo and I sat by the dinner table laughing almost constantly for about 15 minutes. I'd said I'd share my ice cream with her if she finished her food (because she's been all cute and begging me calling me "onee-sama!"), and when she started stuffing away I couldn't help but laugh at how funny it looked. Especially when she paused to look at me with big brown eyes and her mouth full. Which resulted in both of us giggling uncontrollably. Every time we'd finished, one of us would start going "pfffftt..." and it would start all over again. In the end Madoka told me to look at her instead, but after about 10 seconds she was giggling too. "It's no use!" So kaa-san, Madoka, Momo and I sat around the table laughing for a good 15 minutes. When we eventually did finish, Momo came zooming into my room ready for ice cream, and proceeded to stuff her face with it and getting ice cream smeared all around her mouth. Which lead to lots of pictures being taken and more giggling. It was great. I love my family! ^^

Oh, and I've decided to take a Japanese language proficiency test in December. The test consists of reading, grammar, listening and writing. It'll be held in Fukuoka, so Francesco and I will go there together. I'm going to try level 2. (They have 4 levels, 4 being beginner, 3 slightly more advanced and 1 being advanced.) I don't expect to pass it, but it's a test just for myself to see how much I understand and get a paper back telling me what I need to practice more. So, yeah... I'm not saying I won't be nervous or anything, it's just a challenge for myself to see how much (or how little) I understand. XD

Tomorrow's the weekend, and we have Monday off from school! (Although neither Dazey nor we know exactly why.) Madoka has said she'll take me to karaoke! Fun, fun, fun!

Location: Nippon!
Mood: Tired but content (it's late again).
Watching: Naruto Shippuuden - aired on TV! (Although I haven't seen all the episodes XD)