最後に (last words about my exchange year and some hints)

En voi vieläkään uskoa, että vuoteni Japanissa on ohi. On ollut hienoa olla nämä melkein kaksi viikkoa Suomessa: tavata ystäviä ja perhettä, on uuni jolla leipoa ja laittaa ruokaa, voin ilmaista kaiken mitä haluan (joskin nyt täytyy keskittyä, että käytän vain suomenkielisiä sanoja), voin syödä hedelmiä ja marjoja, ja ennen kaikkea sää tuntuu ihanalta! Löisin vetoa, että monet suomalaiset valittavat +20 asteen säästä, joka on jatkunut koko kesän (tai sitten on ollut vielä kylmempää) ja he toivovat lähemmäs +30 asteen kelejä voidakseen nauttia kesän lämmöstä. Mutta minä en voisi olla iloisempi, että tuuli oikeasti tuntuu virkistävältä.

[I still cannot believe my year in Japan is over. It has been great to be in Finland for these almost two weeks: meeting friends and family, having an oven to make and cook, being able to express everything you want to say (though now I have to concentrate to use only the Finnish words), eating fruits and berries, and above all, the weather feels amazing! I bet many Finnish people complain about the +20 weather that has continued for the whole summer (okay, it has been also colder) and they wish to have closer to +30 degrees days to enjoy the warmth of the summer. But I couldn't be happier to feel a wind that actually feels refreshing.]

Mutta. Jotenkin tämä kaikki tuntuu epätodelliselta. Vihdoin olen takaisin Suomessa. Odotin tätä ja nyt kun olen täällä, niin koko vuosi tuntuu hujahtaneen kuin viikoissa tai kuukausissa. Ja tuntuu epätodelliselta, että en ole palaamassa Japaniin ja Fukuokan yliopistoon opiskelemaan japania ja tapaamaan niitä ihmisiä joka päivä. Se on oikeasti nyt ohi. Ja se kaikki tuntuu lähes yhdeltä isolta unelta.

[But. Somehow this all feels unreal. I finally am back in Finland. I was looking forward to this and now that I am here, the whole year feels like a few weeks or months. And it feels so unreal to me to know I am not returning to Japan and Fukuoka University to study Japanese and meet those people every day. It actually is over now. And it almost feels like one big dream.]

Toistaiseksi kaipaan vain rakkaita ystäviäni Japanissa ja kaikkialla maailmalla. Mutta tiedän, että ajan saatossa kun totun jälleen elämääni täällä (missä etenen yllättävän hyvin), tulen kaipaamaan ruokia, tapoja, maisemia (vaikka rakastankin Suomen luontoa!) ja puhumista japaniksi, sillä täällä Suomessa se ei ole niin helppoa löytää juttukaveria.

[For now I only miss my dear friends in Japan and all over the world. But I know that within time when I get used to my life here again (which I am doing surprisingly fine), I will miss the food, the habits, the landscape (though I love the Finnish nature!) and speaking Japanese which is somewhat difficult here in Finland where there are not too many people who can speak it.]

Haluaisin vieläkin jakaa paljoa ja kirjoittaa ylös itselleni muistaakseni pienimmätkin yksityiskohdat, mutta se on mahdotonta. Haluan silti tehdä vielä lyhyen listan, joka toivottavasti auttaa jos joku haluaa matkustaa/muuttaa Japaniin. Ja myös muistuttaakseni itseäni, mihin minun tulee varautua jos/kun matkustan Japaniin seuraavan kerran:

[I would still like to share so much and write down so much to remember even the smallest details but that is impossible. I still want to make a short list that hopefully will help someone who wants to travel to Japan and/or live there. And also to remind myself what I should be prepared for if/when I travel there next time:]

-Talvi on kylmempi ja kesä kuumempi ja kosteampi kuin Suomessa. (Kyllä, talven lämpötila laskee selvästi alle nollan Suomessa ja pysyy nollan yläpuolella Etelä-Japanissa, mutta ainakin Suomessa tuntuu lämpimältä talojen sisällä.)
-Tuoreista hedelmistä ja marjoista ei ehkä voi nauttia niin usein kun on tottunut tai haluaa, ellei ole valmis maksamaan itseään kipeäksi. Mutta toisaalta, on varaa syödä useammin ulkona ja tarjonta on monipuolisempaa ja mielenkiintoisempaa.
-Asioita, joita kannattaa ottaa Suomesta mukaan kun muuttaa Japaniin: tiskiharja (sillä siellä myydään vain pehmeitä sieniä), tarpeeksi lämpimiä ja kevyitä vaatteita (mutta ei liikaa, sillä jotenkin Japanissa tulee helposti osteltua kaikenlaista), ruisleipää ja muita hyviä leipiä jos on pakastin, jonne ne voi laittaa (食パン tulee korvista ulos muutaman kuukauden jälkeen), adaptereja joissa on vain kaksi piikkiä (koska kolmipiikkiset eivät sovi moniin pistorasioihin). Mutta älä ota hiustenkuivaajaa, koska se toimii heikosti Japanin sähköllä. Osta uusi Japanissa.
-Opettele japania, jos haluat puhua ihmisten kanssa. Englanti vain ei riitä monissa tapauksissa. Ja opiskele kanjeja sekä katakanoja.

[-The winter is colder and the summer is hotter and more humid than in Finland. (Yes, the winter temperature lowers way below zero in Finland and stays above zero in the Southern Japan, but at least one feels warm inside the Finnish houses.)
-You might not be able to enjoy fresh fruits as often as you are used to and want to, unless you are ready to pay a lot. But in the contrary, you can afford to eat outside more often and the diversity is a lot bigger and more interesting.
-Things you should take from Finland when you move to Japan: a brush for the dishes (because they only sell those soft sponges), enough warm and cool clothes (but not too much because somehow it is easy to end up buying a lot in Japan), rye bread and other good bread if you have a freezer to put them into (食パン comes out of the ears after some months), adapters with only two "spikes" (because three spikes adapters don't fit into many of the wall plugs). But don't take your hair dryer because it is going to be too weak to dry your hair with the Japanese electricity. Buy a new one in Japan.
-Learn some Japanese if you want to speak with people in Japan. English just isn't enough in many cases. And study some kanjis.]

Vuosi oli enemmän kuin upea! Olen yhä ymmälläni, kuinka hyvin kaikki sujui, vaikken edes osannut puhua paljoakaan japania vuosi sitten sinne mennessäni. Toivon totisesti pääseväni sinne vielä uudelleen!

The year was more than amazing! I am still surprised how well everything went even though I could even hardly speak Japanese a year ago when I went there. I surely wish to go there again!

ありがとう、福岡！この一年間は思ったよりもすごかった！いつかまた行きたい。さようなら！

結婚式や海の中道 (Wedding party and Uminonakamichi)

My time in Fukuoka is almost over. Wow, it was hard to try to fit all my stuff in my luggages and even harder to pull them to Nanakuma! My contract in the dormitory ended yesterday and my flight is tomorrow so I had to move to my friend's place for a couple of nights. In between packing and cleaning I still have had new interesting experiences even during these last days.


Last Friday was a long day when I woke up at 5 am to see off the other Finnish exchange student who returned to Finland. At noon we had a farewell party for all the exchange students at the dormitory. Free food, last words, little presents, lots of photos... Soon after the party I needed to get ready for the next party since I had been invited to a wedding here. People I had met at the bilingual church here invited also me even though I have seen them only a few times. Neither the groom nor the bride was Japanese but the whole ceremony was translated in both English and Japanese and the dishes were mostly Japanese style. The place was beautiful, people happy and funny, the atmosphere great and food interesting, and it was great to see everyone still one time before I go back. The only thing thing that almost ruined my evening were my new shoes that hurt my feet so much I had to walk the last kilometer bare feet. Luckily it was dark and I had a long skirt so I don't think anyone even realized that...

In Japanese wedding the gift is usually money
that is given in a special wedding envelope.

Which tableware should I use? Having the chopsticks really confuses...

For the last weekend I had had a plan to go and visit one of my Japanese friends' home near Kumamoto. Nevertheless we cancelled it because of the risk getting stuck there. There was a big typhoon in Kyushu that might have affected on the transportation on Sunday. But I didn't let the typhoon to ruin my weekend. On Saturday afternoon I went to swim for the first time in Japan. I was so surprised after arriving to the beach because even though the weather pretty much perfect to lie on the beach and swim in the sea, there were maybe 10 people on the whole beach. Well, better for us I would say. Also the sun setting behind the islands was absolutely great to see! I had never seen such shadows on the colorful sky.

On Sunday I headed to Uminonakamichi, and island in the Northern Fukuoka, with the friends I had planned to go to Kumamoto with. We wanted to do something fun together before two of us leave Japan. The typhoon never came to Fukuoka but the wind was still quite strong at times. But the island was beautiful and so much fun! There were lots of playgrounds for kids (we did try some), a zoo, flowers, fountains, and a place to watch the sea. One thing it really would have needed more is a restaurants. Having icecream for lunch is not enough when you return back home around 18 o'clock. And one thing I would have needed, was sun lotion. It was quite cloudy but as a white Finn I got sunburnt (for the first time here).

Yesterday evening after dragging all my stuff to my friend's appartement it was time to enjoy karaoke and eat-icecream-as-much-as-you-can for the last time. My Taiwanese friend and her mother (who came to visit Japan) joined me in Futaba and three hours went quickly. It is cool to notice the improvement from the first karaoke time here. I can read the lyrics fast enough to sing even Japanese songs.

I was surprised when they actually had the original Swedish version of "Caramelldansen" in karaoke.
And of course katakanas to help with the correct pronounciation.

Today morning I went to the airport to see off my dear Taiwanese friend. Until today I was able to say goodbye with a big smile to everyone and almost managed to do the same today but couldn't help the tears falling out when watching her to go to the security gate behind the corner. Yes, coming to Asia for exchange surely means I will have a long distance to my friends after the year is over...

花火大会 (Fireworks convention)

All the exams and other school works are over and what would have been a better way to celebrate it than a fireworks event on the first free day! The organize a big fireworks show in the biggest park in Fukuoka on the first of August every year. For a Finn, it is something very extraordinary to sit among thousands and thousands of people watching fireworks for 1,5 hours in a row. We were told to go early to the park to get a good place but after all we only got there 45 minutes before the show. I had not seen that many people in one place (except during the Yamakasa festival) and walking speed was somewhat slow when we headed to the area that was recommended for us by our teacher. But we got lucky before reaching our destination when one of our Japanese teachers from the university noticed us in the crowd and invited us to join her and her friends. They had reserved a great viewing spot already on the previous day. Me and one of my friends dressed up to our yukatas too because it is very common to wear a yukata for summer festivals and especially for fireworks.

These days I am not really cooking myself because I have agreed to so many appointments before returning to Finland. Yesterday's lunch I enjoyed with the nursery school teacher thanks to whom I got to visit a Japanese nursery school and for the dinner I went for the last time to Sushiro (to eat two pieces of the cheap but super delicious chocolate cake that I will miss). Today I went with a friend of mine to a restaurant nearby the university where we were invited by one of our "students" from TA class. And in the evening I am going to meet a teacher of the University whom I have ever met before but who will travel to Finland and wants to meet me before it. I have different plans for the rest of the week too so seems like I don't really need to fill my empty fridge.

What it comes to my life here during the last days otherwise, I let the following photos to tell it.

During the exam week Japanese students become really diligent
and study in the library and at the dining rooms of the dormitory.

Our studying table at the dorm.

The most delicious ramen I have ever had. A self-made candy version.

I said goodbye to some of my friends in an interesting restaurant
that looked like a zoo with lots of animal toys.

Farewell gifts I got from my lovely friends

One can collect Minion stamps at the subway stations and get free Minion stickers.
Maybe this is meant for children but it didn't stop us.

After our last volunteer Japanese class
we stayed downstairs to have a curry lunch with the teachers.

The spiders at the university are back to say goodbye too.

Ice cream that is easy to eat even when it melts a bit.

After all I ended to go to a McDonald's in Japan even though tried to avoid it.
But since I was offered a free meal... Pretty much the same as in Finland.

Shopping...

送別の時間になってきた (Time for the farewells has come)

For the last weeks I have been just counting how many weeks it is left before I get back to Europe but now that I have actually said goodbye to some people for the last time, I start to feel also sad to leave Japan. A couple of weeks and many goodbyes left before taking a plane to Finland...

Last week Wednesday was the last time for me to participate the volunteer Japanese class with the Wednesday group. Because me and two of my friends are returning to Finland, Vietnam and Taiwan soon, the Japanese class went for 送別会, a farewell party, to an izakaya. We had many dishes (both very delicious and some strange ones) and lots of fun. I talked a lot with some Vietnamese students of the class who just came to Japan a couple of months ago. It was so different to having a dinner with Japanese people of my age. Vietnamese are more talkative and use a lot of humor (at least among these Vietnamese I met). I didn't feel like it was the last time I meet those friendly teachers even though I had to make a speech at the end of the dinner. Well, who knows if I will still meet them somewhere some day.

I also joined the Saturday volunteer class after a longer time. This week will be the last time for that too. On the way back from there me and my Taiwanese friend decided to have a lunch in a restaurant we once saw on TV. Some weeks ago we saw a TV program were a group of adults wanted to go for a lunch in a restaurant where they used to eat often on their student time. So the restaurant we went to was both delicious and cheap. All the dishes were 500 yens and even bigger than the ones at our university. The place was quite small and very typical Japanese restaurant where you even take your shoes of and sit around low tables. Very nice!

Last Saturday I went to a Latin party to the place where I went to on my first week in Fukuoka. There were very few people this time but we had great time also talking. I also saw one of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks players there. He is originally from Cuba but moved to Japan for the baseball a few months ago. I wanted to ask him some questions but talking ended up to be quite difficult because he could only speak Spanish. Luckily there is Google translate nowadays.

All my Japanese lessons are behind now and today is my last Vietnamese lesson too. On Wednesday start the last exams and then the studies are over!

Our grammar teacher brought sweets to the last lesson.

Walking around in the area where we live.

Walking around in the area where we live.

A dead cicada. Those noisy bugs are everywhere.
And not so small for a bug..

博多祇園山笠 (Hakata Gion Yamakasa)

久しぶりにブログを書く。最近は勉強のため本当に忙しかったから。一週間後授業が終わり、その後最後の試験だ。試験の前レポートを三つ書かなければならないので、自由な時間があまりない。それから、最近は新しいことは少なかったが、一つの面白い祭りが行われた。博多祇園山笠は私にとって前に見たイベントに比べて、ぜんぜん違い、ちょっとクレージーな祭りだった。なぜ男の人は朝五時ごろ重い「舁き山」を運びながら、走っているのだろうか？面白いね。 でも、この蒸し暑い天気はぜんぜん面白くない。今日私の部屋は今まで一番暑くなった。35度。今からどうなっていくかな…

It has been a while again since I wrote my blog. I have been very busy recently and there has not even been that many interesting new things in my life. After one week my lessons will be over and after that I will have the last exams. Before the exam week I have to finish 3 reports (essays), one half in English half in Japanese and the other two in Japanese. Can't wait to finish everything. Even though it is great to have this chance to study Japanese and amazing to realize how much I have learned during this year, I would already have some break and rest.

The weather is just getting hotter and hotter and the rainy season seems to come to an end because it has not rained in 3 days. I wish it was... I broke my record for the indoor temperature in my room today when I was studying in the kitchen using the free air conditioner: +35*C. And the hallway on my floor feels like a sauna that is getting heated. I decided to check yesterday what the thermometer says there and no wonder it feels unpleasant to walk there: +43*C... Why do they make houses with glass walls because it causes a green house effect inside the dormitory?

One interesting happening this week was Hakata Gion Yamakasa, the biggest festival in Fukuoka. It is hold every year for the first half of July and the main event there is watching men running and carrying big structures on their shoulders. We went to follow that on two days. We got the first glance on Wednesday because we received tickets from a teacher on our volunteer Japanese class. They had built a grandstand to the yard of a shrine and there all the teams had a sharp turn around a pillar as fast as they can since they were competing. We wanted to get good seats so we were there two hours beforehand but sitting those two hours in the sunlight was quite tough. Anyway, following the atmosphere when the full audience cheer for the running men was surely something I cannot experience anywhere outside Japan.

Ice with mango taste. The best thing to eat on this weather!

The first team stopped to sing a song with the audience.

We also saw the teams on the road after they all had taken the round at the shrine.

A Star Wars theme "mountain" was the tallest one they carried.

Since Wednesday was only a practice, we wanted to experience the main race that was hold at 5 am on Saturday morning. We went to the center already in the evening and spent the night out before heading to a good street to watch the festival. Our teacher from the university had told us a good place on a narrow street and it surely was much better than the big streets where there were so many people standing that the last row could see nothing. I just cannot understand who comes up with an idea to make men running many kilometers carrying heavy things in the early morning in the middle of the summer... Well, Japanese do.

They threw water on the runners and we got our share too..

NHK news reporter came to ask a few questions from me too
since I am a foreigner. I am getting famous!

The festival is having a history of over 700 years. The original meaning behind the floats and the men sitting there up and the water throwing becomes from a story of a monk. That monk lived in a temple in a village that had many sick people. Those sick people came to the temple where the monk threw water on them and as a consequence they got healthy. That is what the carried men and the men around are symbolizing.

One more event during the past week was a concert of an orchestra from New Cingular York. Exchange students were offered a free ticket so if course I went there. Two free tickets of 3000 yens (25€) each on the same day was quite something!

蒸し暑い (Hot and humid)

Last night was horrible. Yesterday I turned on my air conditioner for the second time during this summer because my room has become so hot that I would sweat even when only sitting on the floor. So my air conditioner was on for two-three hours before I went to bed and I turned it off just before sleeping. Well, I woke up after just two hours of sleeping because of the hotness. I needed to turn on the air conditioner (which is, by the way, set to 31 degrees and it still blows nicely cool air) again and set a timer to turn it off after 1 hour. I was able to fall asleep again but again after three hours I woke up for the same reason. And I set the air conditioner again for 1 hour and fell asleep and again woke up after some hours... Knowing that the temperature will get even higher after the rainy season makes me want to return to Finland right away. Luckily it seems that today and the becoming days it will rain more than yesterday and the temperature also lowers below 30.

The inside temperature a couple of days ago...

The midsummer was full of school, also on Saturday. So I didn't really celebrate it much. The school work keeps me busy during these last weeks at Fukuoka University. Homework, small tests of new grammar, vocabulary and kanjis, reports... Everything should be done within the next 2,5 weeks, after that the final exams and then some days time to enjoy my free time and pack everything ready to go back home!

新しい授業 (New classes)

I have got one new lesson to my weekly timetable at Fukuoka University. Since I have studied German for many years and I know that one German teacher here, I asked if I could join some class of his to practice my forgotten German. After that I have joined a German conversation class a couple of times and I have come to realize how disappeared my German skills actually are. I can understand pretty well what I hear but talking is so difficult because I get only Japanese words and phrases to my mind. Luckily the level at the class is not high so I am still more of a help than a burden for the Japanese students.

Last Saturday I had TA for half a day. There were some international students coming all the way from Beppu (Eastern Kyushu) who were leading the groups of Japanese students so this time we TA's were just assisting them. Somehow I was told to be the partner for the only Vietnamese leader and even my friend was wondering out loud how I always end up to meet Vietnamese people. It was a fun TA session when we played games and made a presentation in a tv-program style.

After the TA I went to Hakata with my Taiwanese friend to meet my Finnish friend who came to Japan together with my family but who stayed here for a longer time. Finding an available hostel was a little bit tricky but we got lucky to find a brand new hostel with super nice staff. While waiting for my Finnish friend to get to know the hostel and its rules, me and my other friend were talking with an Australian guy who also had signed for the same hostel. In the end he ended up to join us for karaoke nearby our dormitory where one can also eat free ice cream as much as one likes. That is so best place! Since my friend had decided to travel around in Kyushu, I took his big luggage to the dorm so that it is easier for him to travel. It surely made his life easier because bot of the wheels broke down the day before and one needed to carry it or drag it with lots of power.

On Monday after TA I took the same bag to bring it back to my friend. I felt a little bit exhausted already when I got out of the dormitory yard and thought that it will be a long way to the subway station. Luckily there were two Japanese guys who passed me and surprisingly they asked if they would carry the bag. As a result, I got help and company all the way to the station. Just how nice Japanese can sometimes be! I spent the evening with two of my Finnish friends (one had joined us from the Northern Japan where he lives at the moment) and we visited Fukuoka Tower. It was third time for me there but the view is so beautiful every single time. This time they had a different kind of decorations both outside and inside. Inside there were also some trees for people to hang wishes on their branches.

I don't normally have classes to Tuesdays but an acquaintance of mine had asked a professor of education if I could join his lecture. So I tried to quietly just sit in the corner of a classroom with closer to 100 Japanese students and be unnoticeable but the professor started the lesson by mentioning about me to everyone. Besides they continued on a topic about Finnish education and the professor sometimes asked my opinion or if something really is true. More than once I had to admit to him that I didn't understand the question or what they had talked about. All my Japanese lessons and my Vietnamese lessons are in Japanese but I surely came to realize that following pretty well on those classes doesn't mean I could follow any class in Japanese. Many times I had no idea what the professor was talking about or what was written in his powerpoint but it was somewhat an interesting experience to see a Japanese educational course lecture.

The rest of the day went quickly when I helped my Finnish friends to find souvenirs, played fun games at a gaming hall in Hakata and went to a conveyor belt sushi bar Sushiro to have a dinner with other two friends of mine. It never stops amazing me how one can eat so many sushis and desserts with 10-15 euros and be super full afterwards!

At Hakata station we also saw a structure that they are building for the Yamagasa festival in mid-July. Some older Japanese man just decided to tell us about it the same things over and over again. He must be an enthuastic fan of Yamagasa matsuri. This huge 17-meter-tall wooden structure will be carried by running men at 5 a.m. during the festival. Cannot wait to see it!

Working as a teacher assistant in Fukudai (=Fukoka University) can be tough sometimes when you need to push shy and unwilling Japanese to speak in English but sometimes I surely enjoy earning money this way. I had two TA lessons on Wednesday and there were some memorable moments in both of them. On the first lesson there were only a few Japanese students so we worked 1 to 1 and made funny stories together. My partner spoke and wrote pretty good English so we had nice conversations also outside the stories. On the second lesson we a game "What comes to your mind when speaking of...?" The teacher gave us themes and we had to shout our answers and find all the people who are shouting the same answer. We started with really easy ones, such as "the favorite color" but at some point the teacher took themes from the TAs' home countries. "What comes to your mind when speaking about Finland?" Over half of the class gathered together with the answer "Santa Clause" while "Moomins" got surprisingly few students together. Other answers were "snow", "cold", "winter" and as a surprise one TA said "Simo Häyhä". With my bad knowledge of history, even I had to check who he is talking about...

梅雨の時雨が降らない？ (Rainy season without rain?)

The yearly rainy season started officially last week Tuesday. There was a little rain on a couple of days but that is all for now. I have been thinking "what kind of rain season it is when it is not even raining?" but I heard this summer has been unusual. And they say it starts to rain more next week. But anyway, I think I should be grateful when the temperature stays on a bearable zone before it will rise up when the rainy season ends.

The only rainy day for now had a heavy shower though...

Since my Tuesdays are free (no lessons), I have sometimes joined a Japanese language plaza at the university. Each day of the week there is a language plaza for different languages like German, Chinese and Korean. This semester they also started a Japanese plaza for foreigners to practice their Japanese. Last week I joined them for a while and one nice game we played was a drawing game where the next player needs to figure out the word for the picture and come up with a word that starts with the same syllabus than the previous ended. (For example in the picture below: sa-i-ko-ro -> rō-ru-kē-ki -> ki -> ki-no-ko...)

Last Saturday was full of program for me. In the morning I was able to join the volunteer Japanese class with my friend after a long break. They had a theme day and everyone was doing ikebana. It was my second time I get to arrange flowers like that and like on the first time, we were able to receive our flowers at the end and bring them home.

My flowers after the teachers fixed them a bit.

My flowers at home, arranged by my friend.

After the Japanese class, we decided to eat the lunch outside and my friend noticed an okonomiyaki restaurant nearby. That was more than fine for me because going to eat okonomiyaki was still on my list to do in Japan. The place was quite small and we got nice seats right next to the chef's working area in the empty restaurant. I ordered negi-yaki (okonomiyaki made with spring onion) and that is really what I got. I had never seen that much of spring onion in one dish. At least 70% of my dish must have been negi.

When my friend returned back to the dormitory with our ikebana flowers, I went to meet another friend of mine who had concert tickets for us to listen to the philharmnic orchestra of Kyushu University. That was maybe my sixth time in a classical music concert in Japan. I have never been to concerts this often in my life. Afterwards we also went to a Starbucks (which is a rare place for me since I don't drink coffee) to chat for a while. My day got a nice ending too because I decided to make most of my one-day ticket for the subways and headed to dance after a longer pause. It is so nice to go to dance now that I can also talk with people. I was remembering my first party here on my first week in Fukuoka when I could not have proper conversations in Japanese. There are still many occasions I don't understand something but now I can ask what they mean and get them to explain it with other words.

On Monday we had double training for our dance circle. We have our first show (and my only show) coming on the becoming Friday so the whole circle had rehearsals at school in the evening. In addition to that, the locking group had its third night training, this time starting at 1:30. I was lucky to be able to borrow a bicycle from my friend so I was not dependent on the subways and trains this time. It really saved time when I could leeave after the last trains and return before the first trains of the morning. Besides, it was a really nice feeling to cycle on the quite and empty streets. The distance was closer to 7 km, I had never been on those areas before and my friend's bike was too low for me but still I didn't feel uncomfortable at all.

Coming back home when the sun starts to shine..

One more important thing that has happened to me, is that I finally know when I am returning back to Finland. It was rather hard to buy the ticket, when I couldn't find simple information from the air company's website, when the support help didn't know the correct answers to my questions, when I needed to contact also my bank etc etc. But finally after all the troubles I have an e-ticket in my mail box. Yay, I am really going home again!

Some delicious fruits I got from my friend.
I had not eaten these kind of fruits before.