Nara Video

My friend Emily uploaded this video on her Picasa account, I can't imbed it here but here's the link VIDEO

My Classes

I promised my mother that I would talk about my classes here at Kansai Gaidai. She is under the impression that I am failing all of my classes from my lack of talking about them. (HAHA Oh mooooooom).

My Japanese speaking class is kind of fun. We do a lot of pair work having conversations. Some days there is an odd number of people and I get paired up with either the Sensei or the two teacher assistants. The two teacher's assistants are students of Kansai Gaidai about to get their teacher's license. They are both going to teach Japanese to foreigners, either abroad or here in Japan. They are very nice to talk to. Anyhow, sometimes I get paired with them which is only bad when I have not been paying attention and don't know what we are talking about. Anyhow, most of what I go over in this class I have learned before, but I'm learning how to apply them better. My Reading and Writing class, which I thought would be difficult at first is prob my easiest class. I know usually about half of the kanji in each week's lesson which makes studying easier. (THANK YOU YOUKOSO!- name of my old Jpns textbook) I feel really smart in class to. I have very little diffifulty with reading the assigned passages, and when I write, the only thing I ever get wrong is a word or two and some particles, which have always been my downfall. I'm not doing as well in my Japanese classes as when I was at home, but Jpns at Towson is reeeeallly easy. I still maintain solid A's for these classes so far though.

My sumi-e class is amazing, and it's a great time to sit and relax during the week. When class starts I have to take off my shoes (tatami mat art room with low sitting tables) and get my supplies to my seat. I fill my water dish and start grinding the sumi-e ink. The grinding takes about 10-15 mintues and then class starts. Sensei/of who's name I don't actually know, demonstrates a technique or a new 'item' such as a flower or rock and then the class is left to experiment with it. The second class of the week is also a technique class. The third class of the week is just free time to paint whatever I want, or work on a technique or finish the hand-in assignments. I have to hand in three pieces of work a week for my porfolio. I will be graded on my porfolio at the end of the semester. I've been getting better, but I am still working on tonality. Basically having more than a one or two shades on the painting. I am also still working on getting away from the 'Western art perspective.' This basically means that Westerners like art that is definit, equal, balanced, while Eastern perspective likes messy, random, and asymetrical. I am also always conciously thinking of this as I paint. So far I have learned two techniques of bamboo, one type of flower which I don't remember the name, rocks, and next week we get to learn chrysanthemum.

My Culture in Everyday Life class is also a good class. It is an anthropology of Japan class, basically. The big assignment for this class is one or two interviews with strangers on a topic of my choice. I have to annalyze both interviews. I am not very good at picking topics but I am excited to do this interview. The book for this class is a collection of articles about different aspects of Japanese culture and I completely love to read them! I'm already ahead in the readings because I find them so interesting. We get to read about the Japanese school system, minorities in Japan, etc. AND speaking of minorities in Japan: last semester I ahd to do a proect/write a paper on Koreans in Japan and one of the sources I used was really interesting. As it turns out, the Professor that teaches in this class wrote the article I quoted and used as a source in my paper! What a coincidence!!

My business communication class is my ultimate favorite class in the world! I hate business. But I love this class. We get to learn theory about interacting with other cultures in a professional atmosphere and I think that the things I learn in that class I can apply to working in my future. The project thing for that class is maintaining a blog. Heh well I haven't really been updating on my other blog. I think having two blogs is unnecessary, so I figure that this blog is fine for now. (Until he says otherwise I'm going to use this as my class project as well HAHA)

All in all, school in Japan is great. The professors understand that you are in Japan for a once in a lifetime opportunity and they make it very easy to learn and still do things outside of studying all the time. My life here in Japan rocks! ;P

Different Interpretations

My host mother's sister stayed the night last night because she was taking Obaasan/Grandma to the hospital today. Her sister is really nice and she knows enough English that I can understand her. This morning I was feeling particularly good looking.. xD ( meaning, not like usual, where I wake up and my hair looks like a bird's nest, where I have pillow imprints on my face and drool on my mouth...just kidding about that last part. ) So yeah I went downstairs to eat breakfast and her sister says something in Japanese to my host mom, they laugh and then she says to me, "You are so white." Now, I know that in Japan it is a compliment, but with my background living near DC and Baltimore all my brain could comprehend at the time (still being tired) was, "You're suck a cracker." ... It took me aback for a few seconds until I realized what she meant. She meant to say "Your skin looks nice this morning." -Sigh- misunderstandings..

America vs Japan: Round #1

Things I miss from America:
Cheese
Cold Water
REAL news

Cheese cannot be found in Japan in any recognizable form.
I am sick of tea. I am sick of hot water. I cannot be satisfied after a meal if I don't have anything cold to wash it down with.
Japanese news always has odd topics, and while it's interesting from an anthropological perspective, it is utterly useless for keeping up with international topics!

Social Rules for a Gaijin #2

Essential Phrases for the short term or long term Gaijin. These are all you need to know:

すみません I'm sorry/excuse me.

ごめんなさい I'm sorry.

しつれい　しました Excuse me I was rude.

もうしわけ　ございません I don't have an excuse.

いけない　こと　を　しました I've done something I shouldn't have done.

私がわるかった I am bad/I was wrong.

Quick Tip: The lower you bow the more sorry you seem.
(And yes, all Japanese people look like Goku when they are angry or upset)

Kobe Trip- Sannomiya

The Kobe trip actually happened first so ignore that I wrote the Kyoto post first. On Saturday I met up with my friends Sonya and Celest. They had moved to Japan sometime around last October to get jobs. Their free spirited nature took them all around Japan and Korea and they were on their way back to where they are currently staying when we decided to meet up and catch up. They are staying with friends in Kobe and I decided it would be fun to go out there and see what's around. So I dragged Emily and John along for a little adventure. We got completely 'lost' on the way there according to John, but my definition of lost is getting off at the wrong station or going in the wrong direction. We merely just couldn't read the map correctly and took a long way there. We met up with Sonya and Celest in Sannomiya. Sannomiya is in a busy part of Kobe and is prob the only famous thing about it. Kobe is the 'gangster/ yakuza' area of Japan.. but you really couldn't tell - or at least I couldn't. Under Sannomiya station there is a HUUUUUUUUUUGE indoor shopping district. And I don't want to say mall either, because the word mall implies a limited enclosed space. It was big and it lasted for blocks. We did a little window shopping there and decided to go to the famous Sweets Paradise for lunch. All you can eat cake and dessert stuff. you get 70 mins to stuff your face full of whatever you like. There was also normal food like rice and different kinds of noodles in case you needed real food, but the sweets were enough for anyone to take a bite out of. After that we walked to Kobe's China Town. It is something like a week afer the Chinese New Year (honestly I have no idea) so there were a lot of people. We had the famous Chinese meat buns, that Japanese people love, and I love as well! We walked around and decided we wanted to walk to the Kobe Earthquake memorial. On the way out however, we were randomly pushed to the side very abruptly and a dragon parade kind of came.. right to us. The dragon was going inside all the stores to give them good luck... but they were in our way. I uploaded a small clip of what I am talking about on my facebook. So go look for it! Anyhow we made our way over to the memorial. It is an outside memorial with a section of the old damaged port encased so you can look at it. That area of Kobe was the most heavily damaged and the pictures/movies in the memorial definitly showed that. I took a pic of the damaged section and the new bright lighted city in the background. Which ca also be found on my facebook. Kobe reminded me very much of Baltimore, despite being the only foreigners around, and it was really nice to 'get away', from what I don't know, but it was a nice feeling nontheless.

Kyoto Trip #3

I dub this the Official Trip of No Personal Space.

Our group, now having Andra back from her Saturday plans, was back together for this third trip to Kyoto. This time to the second most famous flea markets in Japan. It happens on the 21st of each month, and lucky for us February and March both have the 21st on Sundays. ( Meaning we don't have to skip class to go) The flea market is on the temple grounds of Toji in Kyoto. Kyoto being the most convenient and easy place to get to, it's obvious we like going there, and will continue to go for the remainder of the semester. At Toji station we weren't sure of how to exactly get to the temple. We had the brilliant plan of 'lets just follow the big crowd.' Usually that doesn't work in a place like Japan, .. or the US but it suprisingly brought us to the front gate of the temple grounds and we made our way in and around the shops. Walking around was a pain because half of Japan was here and being a foreigner didn't give me any perks today. Usually foreigners get more personal space because the Japanese want to avoid you. Nope. Not that day. People didn't have a problem pushing into you, bumping you, standing in your way, and coming to a complete stop while you are trying to catch up to your friends whom you had lost 5 minutes prior...! Ok.. enough complaining. I did buy a few things for shits and giggles but Emily and Andra were on a mission to buy Kimonos for themselves and for their mothers. New kimonos are rediculously exspensive, think one to a couple thousand dollars. There were nice kimonos for 3,000 yen to 60,000 yen. (30$-600$) VERY nice deals and the quality was still pretty good even for the cheap ones. There was a lot of antiques here and I was struggling with my love/obsession for old useless dirty 'things'. I was at the ends of my self-control on shopping through all of the antiques. Luckily I thought ahead and didn't bring a lot of money. Otherwise I'd be shoving huge pieces of antique pottery into my suitcase at the end of my study abroad experience. I had a candy apple (er sortta) and takoyaki for lunch. (takoyaki is really hot breaded ball of octopus) and the others had okinomiyaki (the fried cabbage pancake thing). We went early because the flea market only goes to 3pm, and by that time everyone was done with what shopping they were going to do and we headed back home. I had dinner with my host family that night.

Host Family

There has been a new addition to my host family over the past few days. My host mother sat me down last week and told me that her mom was diagnosed with cancer. Her mother is in her 80s/90s so she has lived a long life. She decided to get surgery for her cancer so she moved in with us. Previously she lived in her hometown which was like an hour away. So there is now another family member. She doesn't speak any english, and despite me saying several times in Japanese that I do not understand much and that basically I can't understand her, she continues to 'have long chats' with me. I basically sit opposite of her and nod my head for awhile, then I throw the obligatory Japanese 'Um', 'I see', "ah'. (But she's a really nice sweet old lady.)

Lunch With Speaking Partner

Today I had lunch with my speakng partner, Kaori (picture on facebook). I invited her to our friday karaoke nights. She likes Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson, karaoke with her should be fun! Tonight I go to a club meeting. I wasn't going to join a club at first and I still might not but this is a small bible study and I feel like I should do something with more than just my international friends.

This Saturday I am going to Kobe with Emily and John, and I am going t meet up with my friends Sonya and Celest that moved to Japan last year. I believe I haven't seen them since last October.

Sunday we finally decided that we would go to the flea market in Kyoto. So Sunday is trip #3 and there are still plenty of things to see and do.

"Make sure you have enough food for all" Some wise advice.

Todai-ji Temple

Waking up to a "was that REAL?!"

This morning I was supposed to wake up at 7 am but I wanted to sleep in a bit. Around 7:27 I start to feel the house shake. I'm kinda asleep and my thought while laying there was "this is an earthquake.. wow.. I should get up and like go somewhere" I asked my host mom when I went down stairs if that really was an earthquake, I guess I just couldn't believe it. She said it was a very small one. It may have been small but it was big enough for me to feel and big enough to wake me out of sleeping!

Community Center

So on Sunday I had a rare day to myself. So naturally my host mother thought it necessary to bring me out.. instead of relaxing and studying at home. I got over my slight aggravation quickly. We walked about 30 mins to the community center in Hoshigaoka where she takes lessons in some type of Japanese traditional poem thing. Like a haiku, but it has a different order and it has to be witty or wise. We looked at the art people did. We watched the community center put on shows. We saw a magic act. Harmonica music. And traditional Japanese dancing. The dancing was prob the only thing I enjoyed outside of looking at the art. The kimonos were beautiful, the fans were to, the music was like jazz classics from the 50s?40s? I don't know,.. they were old. It was a so so day. We had a great lunch at this Chinese ramen shop accross the street. She got us platters. It was rice, Japanese Kimchi, dumplings, and a bowl of ramen.. Mmmmmm so good. Then we went back home. On our way back I was asking about buildings in the distance. In particular this giant pink and green building. She told me it was a love hotel which lead to a very.. interesting... awkward conversation. Love hotels are places couples go to um.. 'do it', because the walls of Japanese homes are very thin.

At the community center I met this nice man, whose name I can't remember right now, but his English was very good. He told me he was taking English Communication classes at the center. He was a cool dude and it made me think about this Anthropology article I read for class on this guy whose thesis topic/whatever ws on community connections in suburban Japan. I was making the same type of connections he wrote about in his article. Sounds boring right? To you, maybe, but I was fascinated.

Nara Trip #1

I woke up at 6:30 am because it was laundry day for me but I had stayed in on Friday so I got plenty of sleep. I did laundry and was out of the house by 9:30. I met with Andra outside of the Softbank store where I got my prepaid cell. It has been incredible difficult to coordinate trips through faulty/crappy internet signals at home. ( If you want my email for the phone message me on facebook. Japanese cell phones don't use the texting system- it is an email system. You can email directly to my phone and I reply just as fast as texting would.) At 11:00 we met with John and Emily and we started our journey to Nara. We had an hour long train trip, and we transfered only once. We went to Todai-ji temple which is a HUGE temple with an ENORMOUS Buddha statue in it. We went to Nara park where we fed deer.. got bitten by deer... got head butted by deer.. got chased by deer... and stepped in deer poo. We walked up to Nigatsudo where we could see the entire city. We went to the Shrine of a Thousand lanterns. We ended the day with more deer feeding and then we went to the light show.

Todai-ji temple has the biggest cast iron Buddha in the world. It is the religous center for a specific Buddhist sect, which I do not know of. The original building burned down and another was built in it's place, so this huge building used to be bigger. Inside there is Buddha, and two deity things on either side. We walked around to see him from the back. The posts to hold the building up were huge to. One had this hole carved out of it. It was said that if you could pass through it, then you are a virtuous person. Naturally the only non-virtuous person of our group tried, John, and he passed through rather quickly.

We walked up the mountain to Nigatsudo. (Made me tiiiired) This place was very high up and there was a very pretty view, so we all stopped to take a million photos. All along the way there are deer and we feed them every once in a while. Needless to say, we washed our hands at every water hole. We had lunch on the way to the Shrine of a Thousands Lanterns, which is a Shinto shrine. (Again, in Japan, mixing religions isn't abnormal, you can be many thigns at once). There was a pathway of old lanterns, comnig up the the shrine which was surrounded by more lanterns. They light one every year.

Deer in Nara, are sacred, so if you hit them with a car, steal em, etc. you get in BIG trouble. It used to be a capital offense. They trim the horns so they don't kill tourists and for the most part they are pretty safe. There are signs everywhere, in Japanese, telling people to not just feed the small cute deer, but the large older ones as well, otherwise they will get angry. We fed all types to there werent any angry deer. Some deer are territorial so they 'claim' a person and follow them, and bite at other deer. If you don't feed them fast enough they will snip at your bags or coat... my coat for example was covered in deer spit.. EWW. John was like a deer whisperer that day and got chased by deer even when we stopped to eat some human snacks. The pictures tell it all, so wait a big for them. They are coming.

Light Humor on Japanese Lang.

Funny Article You Have to Read About Japanese



My friend gave me this link. It is very funny and amusing. Read it.
Warning: It Contains Adult Language.

Future Plans

On my list of things to do/places to go:

Den Den town/Nipponbashi- in Osaka, shopping, bars, karaoke district and very popular area.
Nara- Toda-ji temple you can go and pet and feed deer.
Akihabara, Tokyo- the steryotypical bright and cute area of Japan. All things anime related, puri kura, maid and manga cafes. Think Hello Kitty land on acid. Lol Good place for shopping.
Hiroshima- museum, I'd like to go
Osaka aquarium
Universal Studios Japan
Toho studios in Tokyo
Imperial palace in Kyoto
Hijime Castle
Geisha district in Kyoto
Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto
Osaka Castle
Umeda Sky Building-observation deck in Osaka
Engyoji, Mount Shosha
Osaka Peace Museum
Mount Koya



all of these... for now.

Social Rules for a Gaijin #1

Rule #1 Feign Ignorance.

Pretending you are dumb as a foreigner is not only expected from the Japanese but it is also beneficial. You can listen in on conversations pretending you don't understand them. When you want to be left a lone in the station to avoid the soliciters passing out junk to people, just walk with a glazed over expression, tilt your head to the side, have a creepy smile on your face, stare straight ahead and keep walking. (Think of the scene in Disney's Aladdin where Jasmine and Aladdin first meet in the market place. Jasmine 'steals' an apple and Aladdin makes her pretend she dumb so she can get away. The look on her face is the look you should have.) This rule of thumb also lets gaijin get away with breaking social rules that they are not aware of. It is not however, an excuse to break those rules on purpose. Just know that in Japan, they expect gaijin not to know anything, and it is often very weird for them to hear or meet a gaijin that knows the rules. (And weird is not bad, but it often puts you into the 'other' category which is bad. If you are outside of the norm then it is bad)

Things I notice:

Money: It never passes hand to hand. When you buy something you place your money in a dish, and the cashier scoops it out of a dish and returns your change back into the dish. I asked once why that is and the only answer we could come up with was that it is historically rude to 'throw' money at people in Japan. Handing money to another person, who is a stranger, can't be hand to hand.

News content: News in Japan is somewhat puzzling. There isn't as much crime here in Japan so most of the news stories is a mix of oddly chosen stories of other countries, a spotlight story of a person which can be inspiring or sad, and small top news headlines which very little time is spent on. The top stories now adays are the Toyota Prius Hybrid story. It is important because it is a 'vertically integrated' Keiretsu, not as big as Sumimoto bank, or Mitsui or Mitsubishi, but it holds a lot of power in Japan, and needless to say in Japan, mistakes can't happen. The other top Japan news story is the story about the Asashoryu, a sumo grand champion, who got into a drunken bar fight with a stranger. He was ashamed and retired from the world of Sumo. He was Mongolian born, and while he is a hero in Mongolia, there are mixed feelings about him in Japan, in part because of their racist attitudes towards some 'outsiders'. It is news worth caring about? Not really, but it is interesting to me that it is interesting to them.

Fashion

The fashion here for girls is of most particular interest to me. High buns on top of the head with loose bangs and hair hanging down. Very large scarves that are wrapped around their necks several times, used also to block wind from hitting the lower half of the face/ ie instead of a face mask pull up your scarf. School girls do have long skirts here, as is appropriate, but I do see girls around the train stations pinning their skirts shorter. That is the fad in Tokyo and while it is fashionable here to wear mini skirts, it is also against many school's dress codes. Women older than school age wear mini skirts with tights. Sometimes they wear Bermuda length shorts with black, brown, or navy tights. And every female in Japan wears boots.

You may have seen that I have adopted the high bun look in some of my pictures, I need more hair though Lol my hair it to short for it to look perfect. I have already been doing the scarf thing over my face. I think it looks weird in America for people to cover their faces but here it is normal and I do it without hesitation when it is cold. I did bring my boots, but there is no way on Earth that I am going to where those out to school, or out about traveling where walking consists of daily life here. I will wear them to go to a specific place for a specific time, but my feet wouln't be able to last a whole day of walking the Japanese life.

Nihon ga daisuki desu...demo...

I love Japan... but...

I have some complaints.

People on the train/bus: This is a pet peeve of mine I am getting while I'm here in Japan. Japanese people are the nicest in the world, in my opinion, but when you are on a train or bus they act like New Yorkers! They push and shove their way onto the train, some young people don't give up their seats for the elderly, etc. When your stop is coming up and you need to get off, you would think a simple 'Sumimasen' 'I'm sorry/excuse me' would be sufficient for people to move out of the way for you.. NOT. You literally have to push the old grannies to the side to get off the train before the door closes. I ride a local train so there are not many gaijin/foreigners riding it, and the Japanese sometimes wonder if I am lost or something. I've been asked if I neeed help getting somewhere, and when I am standing right next to the door about to get off people walk in front of me before the door even opens! They think I'm not getting off or don't know where I am, it is VERY frustrating.

Culture shock 3

Offending my host family:

For the most part, watching anime and TV dramas has given me a good indication of what I would expect, and they were accurate enough for me. I don't intentionally do things wrong but sometimes there are so many social faux pas that I can't keep up. NO shoes in the house. I got this one down packed. But this also applies to the toilet room, and the clothes hanging area. I have to change my shoes when I go into the toilet room, and when I go on the balcony. Sometimes I think it's just annoying so I don't do it. It is a complete waste of my time. Emily's host mother even goes as far as changing her shoes to unlock the front door, which is 3 feet away, just to then change back into slippers. Communicating is difficult and sometimes I don't know whether I am saying something correctly. Daijobu is the phrase I use most often. Like when my Okaasan thinks I am to cold and she wants to turn on the heater, I say 'Daijobu', when she asks if I want more food, I say 'Daijobu', and she gives it to me anyway, when she thinks I need to wear a scarf or bring an umbrells Say 'Daijobu'. It basicaly means I am ok, but it doesn't mean that they listen.

The biggest mistake that I make is before and after a meal, and before I leave and when I reaturn. I am supposed to say 'Itadakimasu' which essentially means 'Thanks for this meal' although not a literal translation, it's like a saying. When I finish I am supposed to say 'Gochisosama deshita' which means 'The meal was pleasing' although it is also not a literal transation. I forget to say these two, which gave me an awkward first week. I remember most of the time now adays. But saying thank you in English to my host parents doesn't have the same meaning behind it. This is a learned social practice, and I am learning. Similar to eating, when you leave the house and return home you are suppose to say 'Ittekimasu' and 'Tadaima', which mean I am leaving, and I am back respectively. My host parents have their own responses which mean 'Please return (safely)' and 'Welcome back' and also are not literally translated.

Culture Shock 2

What I eat:

Someone told me before that when a person is used to certain foods and abruptly must change his diet and eat completley new foods, he feels like he is starving and undernourished. This is kind of how I felt that first week with my host family. Everything I ate was foreign to me. I didn't know what it was, how to eat it, or even if I can stomach it. My bowels told me right away that my body didn't want any of that.. stuff. Most things I had I liked, but, most is not all and now, I am very comfortable telling my host mom what I like, and what I don't like. If anything at all I can eat the rice and miso soup which come at every meal. In Japan, a meal without rice is just a snack. Even for breakfast we have onigiri, rice balls, or mochi, dough made from rice, or some type of rice product. (I swear, if my homecoming meal is rice I will blow a gasket xD ) I've discovered that they eat small fish bones, the fat on pork, and other similar things. <- I get grossed out when they do that but I don't say anything, I just don't eat it. If I had a really nasty breakfast I make sure to eat a good sized lunch at school.

Outside of my host family, restaurant food is amazing. Most have the displays outside so you already know what you are getting. Japanese people are obsessed with McDonalds and KFC. I haven't tried their KFC but the McD is pretty good. I tend to go for noodle dishes when I am out, but that is only because udon is so delicious.

Requests: Culture shock

So I've been asked to write a post on more 'culture shock stuff'. Including what I do, eat, differences in daily life, being offensive, and bath time. Lol I'll do my best.

I'm at the point right now where I do miss some things at home, but I can't tell whether it is because I am homesick, or whether I am in culture shock. I think it's important for you readers to understand that it's hard to determine which one I am in.

Things I do: Every weekday in Japan is roughly the same, and I am predicting that I will have this reutine for the rest of my stay. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. My first class of each day is at different times. If it is an early class I wake up at 6:30 am, go potty, wash my hands and face and put my futon away in the futon closet. I am downstairs for breakfast by 7 am where my host mother proceeds to feed me the entire refigerator's worth of food. I still eat salad every morning.. ick, but she's been giving me pan, or bread with peach jelly or prune spread on it.. it helps. Then sometimes there's sweet potatoes and raisins, or yogurt and raisins. Tea or a veggie juice. But all in all it's a HUGE breakfast which I have been trying to tell her to make smaller.. It takes me about 30-35 minutes to eat my breakfast because my hand muscles can't use chopsticks for somethings... it is very hard. After breakfast we watched the news together. Otousan leaves early for work, so every morning it is just Okaasan and me. After some time I go abck upstairs and finish getting ready. If I have a late class in the morning I do my laundry. The washing machine is really efficient and cool, I just wished they owned a dryer. Hanging clothes is a pain, especially if it is going to rain. When it's time to leave, I say goodbye to Okaasan and Taro-kun, the dog, and walk to the train station near the home. Hoshigaoka station is a small station, and I only got on the wrong train that one time. I haven't gotten lost since. When I get to Hirakata station I push my way past the crowds and walk down to the bus stops. Most of the time I take the bus to school and I walk back to the station. This helps if I'm running behind schedule. When I get to school which is anytime between 9am and 11am I usually go to the computer lab first to do posts like these. Classes are next. The morning half of schedules everyone has their language courses. I have Japanese speaking 5 times a week and so on. Time between the first half and second half is where I eat lunch, sometimes If I have a 5th period class I only have 25 minutes so I have to hurry. I eat lunch in the big cafeteria. They display what is for lunch on a table near the doors so you can decide what you want ahead of time. (They do this in a lot of restaurants as well. ) I usally pick the udon, soba, ramen, or meat dish-usually pork. And this comes with miso and a bowl of rice. They have forks and spoon in the cafeteria and my hands like a little rest from chopsticks every now and then. After all my classes are done I walk back to Hirakata station. Depending on how late it is sometimes I just go back home. Other times I hang out with friends in the city. When I return home I finish any homework I have and then starts the end of my night. It is dinner time. Dinner consists of 5 or so small-hard to eat with chopsticks- dishes. After dinner, Otousan takes Taro-kun for a walk. After the walk we have tea time. With more food, usually fruit or a red bean bun. Otousan takes his bath first because he goes to bed early. Then It's my turn. I shower, then soak in the tub. It took me awhile to figure out why it is necessary to soak in HOT water. In Japan most houses, including my own, have no central heating. The house is always colder than the outside. When you soak in the hot bath you stay warm until you go to bed. This is very nice and I take FULLLLLLL advantage of this. After my bath I go upstairs and pull out my futon. If the internet is working I check my mail, if not I go straight to sleep, never later than 11pm. Basically my night ends when dinner starts. It can be a bad thing, but at least I get sleep.

Puri Kura

Don't know what it stands for but it was a fad that started in the 80s and 90s and is still quite popular today. It is NOTHING like the photo studios we have in US malls. This is way more fun and entertaining. Eventually I will scan these individually and post em on facebook, but for now, enjoy the mighty wonders of Puri Kura.

Tell me what to Post About

I know I've been neglecting important things to blog about, but sometimes I forget, so If you want me to take a picture of something, or want me to blog about something specific shoot me an email or a message on fb.

Kiyomizu dera

Kyoto Trip 2

Alot went on during this trip so hopefully I can remember it all. We left at around noon. Originally it was only Emily, John, and I, but Andra's friends cancelled on her last minute so we invited her along. The four of us decided seperatly not to wear our best winter clothes that day. I especially told my host parents that I would be fine wearing just a sweatshirt and gloves and a scarf. BOOOOOY was I wrong. But that part comes later. We decided that since we would go around to Kiyomizu dera and then to see the huge Buddha. Kiyomizu dera is a Buddhist temple set on this huge hill. Smoe facts I learned that day: People used to throw themselves of the temple, it was said that if you lived your wish would come true...- they had a nice gate up so people can't really do that anymore ^_^ instead of taking the huge staircase we took the ramp which went by all of these cool shops selling tradition Japanese traditional items. Kimonos, Geisha dolls, handmade fans, handmade pottery. All very expensive, but nice to look at. We went through the big red gate and into the temple grounds. It was very cold that day, we didn't expect a lot of people to show up. It was actually pretty funny, all the tourists were Japanese. xD we were the only foreigners around. Apparently, one the the temple workers told us that foreigners only come out when it's warm and that made us laugh. Halfway through the temple (outside temple to be exact) it started to snow. This made it a little unpleasant to continue walking through. And then.. what should we find in the middle of the temple gruonds?! An udon shop! :D so we sat down to have a late lunch. We also tried some sake. So... some god advice for anyone who wants to try sake, 1. Don't. 2. If you have to, take it like a shot so you can't taste it. It was pretty nasty, but it was a first that needed to be done. After finishing the temple area we walked over to the big Buddha. Unfortunatly it was getting late and the park had closed down for the night. So we awkwardly snapped a photo in the parking lot and walked back to the station. We ended the night with Karaoke. Very fun Saturday night.

Karaoke & Shopping

My friends and I got a membership to this entertainment place so we can go do karaoke whenever we want. Karaoke in Japan is much more fun that it is in the US. You get a private room. Free drinks. Better song selections. (My personal favorites were Beyonce's Single Ladies song xD) And an all around better atmosphere. I've gone back two more times since. The entertainment club has a free manga rom where you can go and read. Billards. Darts. Video games. You can even spend the entire night there, which I think our group is planning to eventually.

Shopping on the other hand is a little give and take. I've mostly been doing window shopping. Clothes here are obviously too big for me and some other people in my group of friends. BUT, we found a single plus size store in the mall. But even then plus size in Japan doesn't mean bigger pants, just bigger dresses and shirts. Japanese women gain most of their fat in their torso and not their legs or butt xD The plus size store is called TYL, Teen Youth Large, and they have some pretty cute clothes. I've mostly been looking at purses and handbags.. which will be the death of me someday but I have refrained from any unnecessary purchases for now.

As for other types of stores, near the mall in Hirakata city is a store called Book Off, which sells used books, CD's, and DVD's. You can get manga for 100 yen, and childrens books for very cheap. I mention children's books because my level of reading is elementary school level. But I like that store and spend a good deal of time there.

CLASSES

I got all but one of the classes I wanted. I had to settle for my second choice for one of them which is perfectly fine with me. I am taking Japanese Speaking 5 days a week. Japanese Reading and Writing 3 times a week. I am taking Japanese Culture in Everyday Society: from an Anthropological perspective, and an Interxcultural Business communication class (which was actually my first choice in picks :P) I got into the Sumi-e class which made last week ridiculous for me. I had to run around and get signatures here and there. Then I had to wait for people to drop it s I could get in. I was a tad bit stressed on getting those 17 credits I need to graduate on time with, and now I got them. Even though I have to show up early on Fridays, it's actually my favorite day I think. I like having free time.

A second blog

If you guys take a chance to look at my profile in the next few days you'll notice that I created a new blog. This second blog is a class project, and while it will be a record of my 'time in Japan' it will be very different in respect to content and how it's presented. The information on each blog will be different so you can look at it if you like.

Navigating Hirakata and the transportation system

Navingating around Japan isn't as hard as I thought before I came here. The train time/map system is very easy to read, as well as the bus system. They place the time in military time, and either from left to right or up to down they display at what time (minute wise) they show, my train shows up on the 05, 15, 25, 35, 45, and 55. Respectively the bus schedule is much the same. The bus I take to school is either Bus 12 or Bus 13. They arrive every other time, and there is always one that is at the bus stop at 00, 15, 30, and 45. My host father showed me how to find my trains, even though I did get lost that first day, however today I navigated the bus system by myself for the first time, and did not get lost. The only problem, however, is that you MUST know the name of the place you want to get off on in KANJI. On the train they will display in English on an electric sign where you are, but on the bus you need to know a head of time, especially if it's not a repeating trip. Meaning, if I want to take another bus to another area of town and I'm looking to get to a specific case, when I read the map and schedule I must be able to recognize the name in Kanji. ok? ok.

PS:I will edit this post later to add a picture, (when I upload it later) of the bus schedule that I talked about.

Saving Resources

So I'm bored about talking about food and me not be able to understand Japanese so I'll write more about the Japanese people.

They conserve everything. Their recycling system is rediculous. And they don't do many things out of convenience. Explanation:

Water. The shower if only to be put on when you first need to wet your bath sponge thingy, and when you wash off the soap. Same with dishes. They are very conservative about water. It really makes me think about how I leave the sink on at home all the time, when I'm brushing my teeth, taking long showers, etc.

Trash. There are a MILLION trash cans and recycling bins in Japan. When I was at the seminar house, they were in the hallway, the kitchen, the entryway, the lounge, on both floors. At school they are near every staircase, near the bathroom, in every building. At my host family's house it's the same. Their system is very cvomplicated and they as Japanese people, spend a lot of time trying to explain it to foreigners. There is a can for plastic trash, one for paper, one for food wastes, sometimes one for burnable things, PET bottle, etc. etc. If you don't do it exactly the right way then the trash gets marked and you get in trouble.

Convenience. In America, convenience is everything. Eat fast. Shower fast. Drive everywhere. In and Out. In Japan, there are still the same things that need to get done, but they seem to do it at a slower pace. I shall give for example, drying laundry. Dryers take up a lot of energy, but not enough to make a house go bankrupt. But everyone in the middle class here that doesn't have one hangs their clothes out to dry, which takes longer, and you take more time dealing with things.

There is a lot I don't understand, and these are just a few.

Frostbite

I did my laundry this morning and had the great opportunity to find out what it's like without a dryer.. IT'S FREAKIN COLD! I had to hang my laundry outside.. wet clothes.. wet hands.. windy.. cold weather.. not a good combination. I did not get frostbite.. but my hand were def pink.

Oh and last night xD LOL somehow my host mom thinks I'm cold all the time, because I don't wear the warm coat thingy that Japanese people wear.. so all last night she kept pointing the heater at me.. it was putting me to sleep while I was doing my homework. And then, I don't know how.. but somehow she knew I didn't soak in the bathtub and she was trying to explain to me that if I don't soak in the tub that I will get cold. (In my head it doesn't compute that way, more hot water equals more cold when I get out) So last night I had to soak in the tub. It felt good because my muscles were sore from last week.

Dinner last night was undestinguishable.. love using big words I can't spell nor say.. I basically mean to say that I had no idea what anything was for dinner last night. We had the usual bowl of rice and miso, this time chunks of tofu in the miso. I can come to appreciate tofu a bit, and with the ammount that this family eats I better. Also, I found out the thing the other day wasn't a radish, we had radish last night and I liked that. I don't know what the thing the other day was though. There was some type of fish in the shape of a meatball. You know how a hotdog is made out of mystery meats? Well this fish ball was like that but with only fish. Then there was some other stuff. It was all really good but if they told me what any of it was I'd prob puke.

Breakfast today was a sunny side up egg :D and toast and jam, apple slices and anther salad. Ick why salad for breakfast I'll never know. I thik I wrote about this before but all bread in Japan is SWEET. Bread is a dessert here. However, there is regular unsugard* bread people use for western style sandwitches. Bread used for toast is like twice the size of American bread. Take two pieces of bread and that's how thick it is! But I greatly appreciated some normal food.. minus the salad.

Going to School

I wanted this to have its own post. My trip to school this morning was good, and bad. Last night Otousan gave me a map of Hirakata shi and it helped A LOT! When I went to the station this morning I did what I usually do and went on the right train but went in the wrong direction. I got off two stops later and switched trains. I made my way to the Hirakata station. Outside however I got turned around because I exited on the wrong side. I took the south exit and I needed the north exit. It took me awhile but found the bridge I needed and walked to school. That road I said was dangerous the other day is the road I take so I will just have to be careful when walking on that street. But I made it to school and now I'm going to go change my classes and then go to Japanese.

Host Family

I didn't get to update yesterday because I was very busy. I met my host family at around 1:30pm and they brought me by car to their beautiful home (pics to come soon) in near Hoshigaoka station. That is 2 stations away from Hirakata, and another 30 min walk to school after that. They helped me get my commuter pass, which lasts for one month. They don't speak English but they know enough important words to express what they mean when I don't understand them in Japanese. We had the meeting with the translator to go over what the expectations are and everything. I've heard some students get host family's that are very modern and hip or whatever.. mine are sooo not. They are ultra traditional. Which isn't bad, but they have to explain a lot of things to me - which they are doing a good job of I think. All my little weird mannerisms are definitly getting worked out of me.

Their house has three floors. The first floor is the garage, where they have a mini suv, a bike, and a motorcycle of which my 50 year old host mother drives xD It's quite funny. The second floor is the house. Tarou, their dog lives outside in a doggy house. He is very nice and well-temperd, mostly because he's a very old dog and blind :( Inside is the door way where you take your shoes off and put on slippers. There is the family room which is also the dining room and a kitchen roughly the same size our old kitchen was at home. Only two people in it at a time.. if that. They have a large flatscreen TV, and a kotatsu, which is a low table with a blanket overtop, and the underneath is heated. You stick your feet inside the kotatsu to keep warm. On the other side of the hallway is the toilet room, which is seperate from the bathroom. The bathroom has the soaking tub, of which I prob won't use a lot, and the shower. The shower is not a standing shower. There is a stool you sit on and then you wash yourself there. Very different. Upstairs is Kenkichi san's or Otousan's office, their bedroom, and my bedroom. It is a 6 tatami mat room, however there is also hardwood floor in my room, which makes my room rather large. I ahve a balcony to dry clothes on, because most Japanese people including my host family do not own dryers. I have a couch, a huge dresser, a closet, a western style table for studying and my very own futon. My host family has only ever hosted boys, I was their first girl so they bought pink futon bedding for me xD! SO CUTE!

They are an older couple so they eat really healthy. I said at the translating meeting that I would try anything they gave me and tell them when I don't like something. Okaasan made a traditional style dinner for my first night. It.. was a lot of food. But it was also all healthy food so give and take I guess. Miso soup with onions, I told her right away I don't like onions. There were a few garnishes I didn't like as well, such as radishes, I told her she didn't have to give me that again. Lol A bowl of rice, slices of pork with some green veggetable, a mini tomato, seaweed (VERY sweet, and I liked it very much), and a BIG helping of lightly fried tofu. Now I like tofu in small ammount but I'm guessing I'll have to get used to it here. Dinner was very good despite having to choke down a few non-likeable things. Breakfast was definitly the weirdest thing I've ever had in my life. They don't eat eggs or toast or pancakes or whatever.. nothing I'm used to of course. Each person had another bowl of miso, this time w/o onions ( ^_^ ), two onigiri, or rice balls of sufficient size, a salad (yes.. for breakfast), more seaweed, apple slices, cauliflower, soybeans, and a few other things. I couldn't finish everything, I kept trying to say Ippai desu 'I'm full', but she kept insisting and I ate as much as I could. That's another thing I'll have to get used to- eating a large breakfast.

All in all I think it will be fun to live there. It will be hard to change habbits but they are willing to teach me and are used to having to teach host students. Our communication can be better, but throughout the course of the semester it will be easier to talk.