Rizza Camus Caminero ...: thanks, makino-san...

really, thanks to makino-san for showing us around nagaoka today. i'm sorry i didn't inform you earlier about our plans. i hope i didn't do much damage to your schedule today.

when i opened the door to check the weather, i didn't expect to see snow. but, it was snowing. it was a great view. we took pictures outside, before we left to meet makino-san at 10am. the four of us (jay, lloyd, lily ann) walked to mae's apartment, passing by 7-11. it was already 10am, so makino-san and mae just went to 7-11 to meet us. lily ann, lloyd, and jay rode in makino-san's car, while i stayed with mae and wawang. we followed makino-san's car. he wanted to show his house. so, we went there first. his wife was there and served us coffee and biscuits. after talking a little, we left to go to echigo hillside park. there, the view was very nice. we went inside, took pictures. in their culture room, there were some people making some slippers, hats, jackets, made of dried rice stalks (what do you call them??). from there, we went to the historical museum. the regular exhibit costs 400yen. to also look at the special exhibit, just add 200yen. makino-san suggested we see both exhibits. it was already 1230pm.

we were near the special exhibit. so, we looked at them first. it took us almost an hour there. we were thinking of eating lunch, but we didn't have enough time. so we went down to the regular exhibit instead. it was very nice. they had life-like figures, depicting the life of the people a long time ago, in the jomon period. it was great! we would have loved to further examine everything, but we didn't have enough time. we had to rush through the exhibits and had to hurry back to the apartment to get lloyd and lily ann's things.

makino-san was kind enough to bring them to the bus stop (nagaoka kita). mae and wawang also followed, so that they will know how to go there. after bring them to the bus stop, we went back. makino-san dropped jay and i at kappa sushi, while mae and wawang went home directly, since dana looked tired already. jay and i walked home after eating at kappa sushi. jay left at 545pm, by taxi. his bus is at 605 pm. i'm back to being lonely once again.

i sent a text message to lily ann around 730pm, asking if they arrived already. that's the time they're about to arrive at ikebukuro. but, her reply was that they just left the 2nd service area, and they're 2hrs delayed because of the traffic. another bad news was that they were not able to buy any food because there were so many people. they only had bread for lunch (the one they bought at 7-11, supposedly for breakfast). jay also said they just left the 2nd service area around 930pm. he just sent a text message now (1105pm) they they just exited nerima. under normal traffic, it takes less than an hour to reach ikebukuro. i hope they don't encounter much traffic from now. so that jay can still arrive in time to ride the yamanote train to nippori or nishinippori.

it's really lonely, with me alone here in my room, when just last night, we were so noisy here. i'll just have to look forward to the next time jay and i will see each other. it will be this friday, around 1230am. we will be going to the tokamachi festival on the 17th. i'm also looking forward to our laboratory trip in kashiwazaki on wednesday. it's a fun-filled weekend, but it's time to think again about my research tomorrow. my room's a little messy right now, but i still don't like to tidy up. maybe next week.

thanks to makino-san once again for his help today. thanks to lily ann and lloyd for coming here. it was so much fun. thanks to mae, wawang, and dana for last night's dinner, and for today. it was so much fun. i'm looking forward to another fun-filled weekend next week.

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updated with pictures...