(My first bad English souvenir! It’s truly Christmas in August.)

Today was the AIUlympics, a sporting event held by the RA’s on campus! The turn-out was much larger than I’d  expected, which was lovely. It began with adorable warm-ups ala Radio Taiso, which truly put into perspective how uncoordinated we all are, then mozied along to a three-legged race, a scavenger hunt, Japanese “red light green light” (Daruma-san falls down), a chopstick relay, and extreme charades. Everyone involved got hilariously competitive in true sporting event fashion; friendships were ruined by the impassable divide between red shirts and white shirts.

(We are all equally great. But I personally find white team to be more handsome.)

I spent my evening as I imagine I’ll spend many evenings this semester: bumming around Komachi Lounge. It’s a natural water hole with its three televisions, game consoles, large tables, board games, and several vending machines. This particular night I had the pleasure of playing Cards Against Humanity with a group of very animated foreign exchange students, many speaking English as a second language. As you might guess, there was much explaining to be done for many of the cards. I had to use a combination of academically dry explanation and vulgar hand gestures to convey the meaning of the cards.

(“What is… How you say… ‘Leprosy’?”)

Every day I am meeting so many people, and making so many new friends, that it kind of blows my mind. I have added more people on facebook in the past four days than several years combined.