This is not going to be a full blog post. While I could describe my last few days here in Japan and post some pictures, that will have to wait until I'm back in America.
I am just here to say goodbye. Goodbye to this wonderful, confusing, busy, cultured, ancient, kind nation that has been my home for over ten months now. Tokyo has become home to me just as much as Los Alamos or Galesburg. And my host family has become real family to me.
I have cried and will cry again before leaving, but as my program's resident director Watt-sensei said "I hope you too shed a tear or two before you leave. That's one kind of evidence that real contact was made".
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Blogging as a form of procrastination.
It is finally that time. That horrible time when schools decide that they actually have to make sure we learned something. That's right: finals. It may be mid-July, but I'm in the midst of finals. Monday I had my final sociolinguistics paper due, today was my final group presentation in Japanese, tomorrow is my media studies exam, and Thursday is Ainu. Basically, yuck.
What does this mean for you? I'm blogging because I'm tired of looking at old powerpoints from the media studies lectures.
I will go back to Wednesday of last week. Despite a very bad morning, I decided to go to class and go through with plans I had previously made. It was a good means of distraction. Besides I didn't want to hurt the feelings of Mami's parents. They had reserved a really nice restaurant for dinner. This place had these little private parlors with a traditional set up (tatami, table with a pit under it so you sat at floor level) and a view of the garden. You can sort of see our view in the above picture. This dinner was meant as a farewell for myself and Jeremy (he leaves Japan at the end of the month).
The only way to get Su-chan to be quiet and to sit still at this fancy restaurant was to bring the PSP loaded with Anpanman episodes with us. Looks pretty cool in those headphones doesn't he?
Here is my main dish (there were several other courses, but this was the only one I remembered to get a picture of). This is the BEST STEAK I have EVER had. Seriously. Interestingly, they gave us forks and steak knives (even though the steak was already cut). I actually didn't notice until after I'd finished eating. I've gotten too used to eating everything with chopsticks I guess :P
Here is a picture of Jeremy and Mami's father (Jeremy is Mami's parents' host student if you don't remember). I was going to get a photo of the whole group, but my camera's batteries crapped out on me.
The best part of the evening came after dinner when the restaurant turned off all the lights so we could see the fireflies. It was so wonderful just to sit in the dark and watch them. Very peaceful. Except for the loud laughter of some rather inebriated men in a room nearby. Sadly, that was probably the last time I'll see Mami's parents before I leave. They are wonderful people.
So this picture gets lots of explanation. Last Saturday I went to Hakone, a place about an hour outside of Tokyo that is well known for it's onsen (hot springs). I went to what I like to call a hot spring amusement park with some friends (many of the same people that were are the Fourth of July beach party).
No pictures from inside as I didn't bring my camera and even if I had, would not have much to show for it since water + camera = dame desu (if you don't know what that means, I'm sure you can guess). There were a LOT of weird baths (chocolate, coffee, wine, sake, green tea, etc.). The weirdest of all was this bath with fish in it that would eat the dead skin off your feet. It tickled SO BAD! But it worked rather well. There were also water slides and some more normal baths.
Now the picture is of a plushie I bought of the place's mascot. It's called a spakoneko (spa kitten) and I thought it was adorable so I bought one for myself.
Other than that, life has been rather boring and more than a little stressful. I've started to feel that I have too much to do and too little time. Seriously. On top of finals, I have to cancel my health insurance, cancel my cell phone, close my bank account, pack, go to little farewell get togethers so I can say goodbye to friends and family (host family that is).
Just as a warning: this may or may not be my last blog post from Japan. I can't guarantee I'll have time in the next six days to update again. However, I will be doing at least one wrap up post when I get home so it's not like I'm just going to end it here. Thought I'd warn you though.
What does this mean for you? I'm blogging because I'm tired of looking at old powerpoints from the media studies lectures.
I will go back to Wednesday of last week. Despite a very bad morning, I decided to go to class and go through with plans I had previously made. It was a good means of distraction. Besides I didn't want to hurt the feelings of Mami's parents. They had reserved a really nice restaurant for dinner. This place had these little private parlors with a traditional set up (tatami, table with a pit under it so you sat at floor level) and a view of the garden. You can sort of see our view in the above picture. This dinner was meant as a farewell for myself and Jeremy (he leaves Japan at the end of the month).
The only way to get Su-chan to be quiet and to sit still at this fancy restaurant was to bring the PSP loaded with Anpanman episodes with us. Looks pretty cool in those headphones doesn't he?
Here is my main dish (there were several other courses, but this was the only one I remembered to get a picture of). This is the BEST STEAK I have EVER had. Seriously. Interestingly, they gave us forks and steak knives (even though the steak was already cut). I actually didn't notice until after I'd finished eating. I've gotten too used to eating everything with chopsticks I guess :P
Here is a picture of Jeremy and Mami's father (Jeremy is Mami's parents' host student if you don't remember). I was going to get a photo of the whole group, but my camera's batteries crapped out on me.The best part of the evening came after dinner when the restaurant turned off all the lights so we could see the fireflies. It was so wonderful just to sit in the dark and watch them. Very peaceful. Except for the loud laughter of some rather inebriated men in a room nearby. Sadly, that was probably the last time I'll see Mami's parents before I leave. They are wonderful people.
So this picture gets lots of explanation. Last Saturday I went to Hakone, a place about an hour outside of Tokyo that is well known for it's onsen (hot springs). I went to what I like to call a hot spring amusement park with some friends (many of the same people that were are the Fourth of July beach party).No pictures from inside as I didn't bring my camera and even if I had, would not have much to show for it since water + camera = dame desu (if you don't know what that means, I'm sure you can guess). There were a LOT of weird baths (chocolate, coffee, wine, sake, green tea, etc.). The weirdest of all was this bath with fish in it that would eat the dead skin off your feet. It tickled SO BAD! But it worked rather well. There were also water slides and some more normal baths.
Now the picture is of a plushie I bought of the place's mascot. It's called a spakoneko (spa kitten) and I thought it was adorable so I bought one for myself.
Other than that, life has been rather boring and more than a little stressful. I've started to feel that I have too much to do and too little time. Seriously. On top of finals, I have to cancel my health insurance, cancel my cell phone, close my bank account, pack, go to little farewell get togethers so I can say goodbye to friends and family (host family that is).
Just as a warning: this may or may not be my last blog post from Japan. I can't guarantee I'll have time in the next six days to update again. However, I will be doing at least one wrap up post when I get home so it's not like I'm just going to end it here. Thought I'd warn you though.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Just a few pictures.
So I decided that I'd stick a few of the Fourth of July photos that Cat took on here just for those of you who aren't on Facebook. I'll post about my recent exploits (which include a wonderful dinner with Mami and her parents) sometime later when I'm feeling less down. As a few of you know, I recently had a tragedy occur in my life so my heart just isn't in the blogging at the moment.
First picture is me, Paula, Peter, and Rachel (Tackett--not the Rachel I usually talk about here, that Rachel is Rachel Leppert--strangely enough I know FOUR different Rachels here in Japan). Not sure what we were going for in this picture, but Peter decided we looked like a band of super heroes. I think Cat's going to be drawing a comic about us now...
Me looking perhaps a little too eager with the sparklers. I believe these are the ones we put on the USA birthday cake we made out of sand.
And nighttime. Here I am lighting some fireworks. The wind was crazy so lightinng stuff with a lighter was super difficult. What we'd do was light a sparkler and then use that (because it wouldn't blow out in the wind) to light the bigger fireworks. I feel some of our pyrotechnics were a bit abunai (a Japanese word meaning something like "dangerous") but we all came away safely.
Hope you enjoyed this small selection of photos...
First picture is me, Paula, Peter, and Rachel (Tackett--not the Rachel I usually talk about here, that Rachel is Rachel Leppert--strangely enough I know FOUR different Rachels here in Japan). Not sure what we were going for in this picture, but Peter decided we looked like a band of super heroes. I think Cat's going to be drawing a comic about us now...
Me looking perhaps a little too eager with the sparklers. I believe these are the ones we put on the USA birthday cake we made out of sand.
And nighttime. Here I am lighting some fireworks. The wind was crazy so lightinng stuff with a lighter was super difficult. What we'd do was light a sparkler and then use that (because it wouldn't blow out in the wind) to light the bigger fireworks. I feel some of our pyrotechnics were a bit abunai (a Japanese word meaning something like "dangerous") but we all came away safely.Hope you enjoyed this small selection of photos...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Two weeks and counting.
I've been putting off blogging for two reasons this time:
1. I've actually been busy so I haven't had the time.
2. I've been lazy with my camera so don't have much in the way of photos to show you so I was waiting for other people to post some up on Facebook I could steal, but they are being too slow.
So here goes.
A week and a half ago on Friday, my host family left to go on vacation in Hawaii. I found it ironic that they went to America while I stayed in Japan especially with my homecoming so close. Because of their absence, I tried to fill up my time with stuff that got me out of the apartment which meant I was super social.
The day after they left, I went to Kate's house for a birthday party. We ate really yummy food, played with kittens, cats, and one dog, then lit a bunch of sparklers out in the street. Super fun.
Here's the group gathered for cake. Me, Kerry, Megan, Rachel, and Kate. Kerry and Megan left before we broke out the sparklers sadly.
This is the birthday cake! It says "otanjoubi omedetou Kate" That first part just means Happy Birthday. Japanese people seem to favor strawberry cakes for birthdays. Interesting.
This is one of the kittens investigating a bag of dried mango I'd bought earlier that day. I would have more kitten pictures, but once again I have two reasons that I don't: 1. kittens don't stop moving when you're playing with them so they're hard to get good pictures of and 2. I was far more interested in actually playing with them than snapping photos. This particular kitten is my favorite. They're rescue kittens and are all up for adoption so they don't actually have names. Kate calls him Marumaru and I called him puff ball though. It's sort of the same thing in the end ("marumaru" gives sort of a round image).
No more pictures from here on. Sorry. If I get my hands (digitally speaking) on some, I will do a picture post later on.
The day after Kate's party, my program had a farewell lunch gathering that included host families. Tomo and Hiro came (with Ryo-chan, of course) since my family was in Hawaii. If you don't remember, Tomo is Mami's younger sister, Hiro is Tomo's husband, and Ryo-chan is their baby (he's six months old now! He wasn't even born when I first got here!). That was nice though not terribly exciting. It's our last official gathering as a group, however. In reality, that was probably the last time I will have every seen some of them. I'm not exactly best buddies with everyone in the group.
Then the week of classes started. It could have been worse, but I'm really tired of class already. Thursday was cool though because my Japanese class went on a field trip. This time we went to a disaster training place (not sure what else to call it). We were taught how to correctly use a fire extinguisher, what to do in an earthquake, and how to escape a smoke filled building. All of these came with us actually doing these things (seriously they have an earth quake room that they make shake while you hide under the table). It was pretty cool.
After the field trip, Rachel and I had plans to go to Harajuku, but it was raining that day and so neither of us were actually terribly enthused. Rain sucks.
Friday I was incredibly productive in a boring way. I got a lot of pre-leaving Japan stuff done (my winter clothes have been safely shipped to Knox on a slow boat). Not much to tell really though I was excited to get all that stuff done. That evening I babysat and then the family I work for fed me dinner since they knew I was alone for the week. It was okonomiyaki which is a favorite of mine.
Saturday was the 4th of July. I missed Thanksgiving, Christmas was pretty lame, I was NOT going to miss out on having some fun on the 4th. A bunch of us went to Enoshima for a day at the beach. We were super lucky as the weather was warm and surprisingly clear. I swam, ate hamburgers, then when it got dark we lit sparklers and set off some fireworks! It was so much fun! I hope I can get some pictures from that day at least to show you.
Yesterday (Sunday) I went shopping in Shibuya with Cat and....Connie! Los Alamos Connie! Connie that I hadn't seen since graduation! She's in Japan for an internship so we met up to hang in Shibuya. Cat knew a little shop with really cute (and really cheap) dresses that were nice enough for us to wear to the SILS closing ceremony. We ate at Mos Burger and just had a good time hanging out.
And that's about it. My host family got home around 7PM last night so I'm no longer home alone. Only two more weeks here in Japan.
1. I've actually been busy so I haven't had the time.
2. I've been lazy with my camera so don't have much in the way of photos to show you so I was waiting for other people to post some up on Facebook I could steal, but they are being too slow.
So here goes.
A week and a half ago on Friday, my host family left to go on vacation in Hawaii. I found it ironic that they went to America while I stayed in Japan especially with my homecoming so close. Because of their absence, I tried to fill up my time with stuff that got me out of the apartment which meant I was super social.
The day after they left, I went to Kate's house for a birthday party. We ate really yummy food, played with kittens, cats, and one dog, then lit a bunch of sparklers out in the street. Super fun.
Here's the group gathered for cake. Me, Kerry, Megan, Rachel, and Kate. Kerry and Megan left before we broke out the sparklers sadly.
This is the birthday cake! It says "otanjoubi omedetou Kate" That first part just means Happy Birthday. Japanese people seem to favor strawberry cakes for birthdays. Interesting.
This is one of the kittens investigating a bag of dried mango I'd bought earlier that day. I would have more kitten pictures, but once again I have two reasons that I don't: 1. kittens don't stop moving when you're playing with them so they're hard to get good pictures of and 2. I was far more interested in actually playing with them than snapping photos. This particular kitten is my favorite. They're rescue kittens and are all up for adoption so they don't actually have names. Kate calls him Marumaru and I called him puff ball though. It's sort of the same thing in the end ("marumaru" gives sort of a round image).No more pictures from here on. Sorry. If I get my hands (digitally speaking) on some, I will do a picture post later on.
The day after Kate's party, my program had a farewell lunch gathering that included host families. Tomo and Hiro came (with Ryo-chan, of course) since my family was in Hawaii. If you don't remember, Tomo is Mami's younger sister, Hiro is Tomo's husband, and Ryo-chan is their baby (he's six months old now! He wasn't even born when I first got here!). That was nice though not terribly exciting. It's our last official gathering as a group, however. In reality, that was probably the last time I will have every seen some of them. I'm not exactly best buddies with everyone in the group.
Then the week of classes started. It could have been worse, but I'm really tired of class already. Thursday was cool though because my Japanese class went on a field trip. This time we went to a disaster training place (not sure what else to call it). We were taught how to correctly use a fire extinguisher, what to do in an earthquake, and how to escape a smoke filled building. All of these came with us actually doing these things (seriously they have an earth quake room that they make shake while you hide under the table). It was pretty cool.
After the field trip, Rachel and I had plans to go to Harajuku, but it was raining that day and so neither of us were actually terribly enthused. Rain sucks.
Friday I was incredibly productive in a boring way. I got a lot of pre-leaving Japan stuff done (my winter clothes have been safely shipped to Knox on a slow boat). Not much to tell really though I was excited to get all that stuff done. That evening I babysat and then the family I work for fed me dinner since they knew I was alone for the week. It was okonomiyaki which is a favorite of mine.
Saturday was the 4th of July. I missed Thanksgiving, Christmas was pretty lame, I was NOT going to miss out on having some fun on the 4th. A bunch of us went to Enoshima for a day at the beach. We were super lucky as the weather was warm and surprisingly clear. I swam, ate hamburgers, then when it got dark we lit sparklers and set off some fireworks! It was so much fun! I hope I can get some pictures from that day at least to show you.
Yesterday (Sunday) I went shopping in Shibuya with Cat and....Connie! Los Alamos Connie! Connie that I hadn't seen since graduation! She's in Japan for an internship so we met up to hang in Shibuya. Cat knew a little shop with really cute (and really cheap) dresses that were nice enough for us to wear to the SILS closing ceremony. We ate at Mos Burger and just had a good time hanging out.
And that's about it. My host family got home around 7PM last night so I'm no longer home alone. Only two more weeks here in Japan.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
There's always something missing...
So my friend Rachel posted something similar in her blog, and I thought it would be kind of interesting for me to do the same since I have very little news of my doings to put up here (I do have a little news, that will come later).
Things in America I miss the most (in no particular order):
1. my cat actually pets in general but especially Quillo
2. anything involving green chile
3. being able to read signs, magazines, newspapers, books, etc. Believe me, there is something very frustrating about being pretty much illiterate
4. being able to invite people over. While it happens sometimes, it is a much bigger deal here. I could never invite a friend over without permission from the host family and advance warning.
5. my books, oh how I miss them
6. dry air (currently this is at the top of my list--I miss people yes, but sorry, right now you rate after dry weather, this damn humidity is making me melt)
7. not feeling like an idiot every time I open my mouth. No matter how much my Japanese improves, I still manage to feel stupid most of the time when I converse.
8. real classes. I never thought I would miss all the homework and papers and tests but seriously SILS classes are such a joke that showing up is painful (especially when it's so hot and humid! What is with class in the summer?)
9. The ability to hang with friends and have fun without spending lots and lots of money.
10. Hugs. Su-chan will hug me but he squirms.
11. Being inconspicuous. Being an obvious racial minority is very interesting but it gets old fast when people stare at you all day long.
12. Small school. I definitely know that I made the right choice in choosing a small school.
13. Not having to go to a doctor every time I have a cold.
14. Understanding what garbage goes where. Obviously I've gotten the usual moeru/moenai/pet bottles/cans set-up down, but you should see the garbage room at my apartment building. They separate out EVERYTHING and all the signs are in kanji. Mostly I make an educated guess and hope for the best.
15. The ability to call people. Not just people that I'm away from, but people in the same area as me. I miss being able to call and hash out plans because that take two minutes whereas by text it takes half an hour.
16. A room I can spend time in. My room here is tiny. There is a bed and now a desk and the world's smallest closet. All crammed together. I can't spend much time in there comfortably.
17. Big sky. There's too much in the way here.
18. Stars.
19. Quiet. There's an izakaya across the street so even late at night we get to here drunken business men.
20. Sleeping in. Having a 2-year-old in the house means that if I sleep past 8, it's a miracle.
21. No curfew. I'm not much a one for staying out all night but it's very annoying to be out having fun with your friends and realize that it's 11:30 so you have to go so you don't miss you last train. It's either be home by midnight or be out all night. Not very flexible.
22. American washers and dryers. My host family's washer is puny as in five days of clothes is a good sized load. Yet it takes five hours to do one load of wash.
23. A five minute commute. Sure my commute is comparatively short (about 30min where as many people have times that are an hour or more), but still, that's much longer than five minutes.
24. People. Obviously I miss my parents and friends and everyone back home. You guys are sort of a given.
Things I will miss about Japan (in no particular order):
1. My host family (this one is rightfully at the top). Mami is wonderful, Su-chan has stolen my heart, and even Goro has grown on me (especially after we had a conversation about Gyakuten Saiban which is the Japanese name for Phoenix Wright).
2. vending machines. Yes, they exist in America, but unless you've been to Japan, you just don't understand.
3. Sasodango. Mmmmmmm...delicious. The first thing I ever ate at my host family's and an eternal favorite of mine.
4. Public transportation. Ah Tokyo and its wonderful subways and trains. I have become so spoiled.
5. Interesting places to go. Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Baba, Ueno, etc. Los Alamos and Galesburg just can't compare.
6. Potato stick thingies. Addictive. They're like a hybrid between french fries and potato chips.
7. Steam cakes. Amazing. Seriously yummy.
8. Onigiri. Oh no, I'm on a food kick... I guess I could make my own onigiri but they won't be the same.
9. Japanese curry. I am going on a curry quest when I get back to find Japanese curry tablet thingies.
10. Tea. Okay, let me explain since it's not like I never drink tea in the States. The varieties of tea you can buy from a bottle here are staggering. Jasmine is my favorite.
11. Weird fashion. I love that people actually go out in public dressed like total goths or lolitas. I always get a kick out of it.
12. Male fashion. The guys back in America are going to look soooo slobby to me! Seriously, what's wrong with wearing clothes that fit and look attractive. Nothing. Japanese guys, in general, understand this.
13. Hyakuen shops. You know how in American dollar stores, very few things are actually a dollar and most of the stuff is total crap? Well, hyakuen stores are not like that at all. I have gotten some very useful things at them including stationary, decals for my phone, a mirror, and a cute fan that I can use when I'm in one of the crappily air-conditioned classrooms at Waseda.
14. Politeness. People here are so polite. They will apologize to complete strangers for accidently stepping on their toes. They will ask if you need help if you wind up staring confusedly at a train route map that is entirely in kanji. Very nice.
15. Crepes. This country has an obsession with that particular french food. Also, kebabs. I put them in the same place because every time I go to Harajuku I think "crepe or kebab?" and wind up getting one of each. I'm such a pig.
16. Purikura! Must do it again before I leave...
17. Engrish. To quote Rachel's panda shirt "Laughing got tired" There's more but I don't remember...
18. Learning a language. It's been awesome to see my progress especially because Japanese is kind of ridiculously hard.
19. My keitai. Despite the fact that I can't understand how to use about 95% of my phone's features, I still love it. And I love texting in Japanese even though it takes me forever. And texting in general. I am an addict.
20. Being able to throw Japanese words into my sentences and be understood. There are few people to whom I can say things like "You are super genki today."
21. Onsen. So relaxing. And the one Mami and I go to near her parents is only about 700 yen. Try finding a hot spring that cheap in the US.
There is more, much more, for both lists, but those are the ones that were jumping in my brain today.
---
News! It's been a while. Not much to report though. Last Saturday was nice weather so my host mom rented a car and drove us all (herself, Su, Goro, and me) to a beach where we played and I swam (YES!). Below we have Su-chan and Goro intent upon their sand tunneling project.
Sunday I was babysitting Su-chan because Mami had a wedding to go to. Not much to report there. We watched Cars twice. That kid loves that movie even though it's in English so I'm not sure he cares about the story he just likes the akai bubu (red car in kid's speak).
Yesterday was pretty awesome. Rachel and I had a lady date. We did dinner and a movie. Dinner was Saizeriya (cheap and they had a drink bar so I had like three glasses of melon soda. Melon soda should be on that list of things I'll miss about Japan...) the movie was Star Trek. Which was AWESOME! Completely worth the exorbitant amount of money we had to pay to see it (1500 yen--about $15--and that's with a 300 yen discount because we're university students). Yeah, American movie ticket prices don't seem quite so bad anymore do they?
Tomorrow my host family leave for their Hawaii vacation which is a bit sad. I plan to use their time away to do some serious preparation for going home. Maybe get the non-necessaries packed up, etc. That way I won't be making a mess while they're around.
That's about all there is to report at the current moment though...
Things in America I miss the most (in no particular order):
1. my cat actually pets in general but especially Quillo
2. anything involving green chile
3. being able to read signs, magazines, newspapers, books, etc. Believe me, there is something very frustrating about being pretty much illiterate
4. being able to invite people over. While it happens sometimes, it is a much bigger deal here. I could never invite a friend over without permission from the host family and advance warning.
5. my books, oh how I miss them
6. dry air (currently this is at the top of my list--I miss people yes, but sorry, right now you rate after dry weather, this damn humidity is making me melt)
7. not feeling like an idiot every time I open my mouth. No matter how much my Japanese improves, I still manage to feel stupid most of the time when I converse.
8. real classes. I never thought I would miss all the homework and papers and tests but seriously SILS classes are such a joke that showing up is painful (especially when it's so hot and humid! What is with class in the summer?)
9. The ability to hang with friends and have fun without spending lots and lots of money.
10. Hugs. Su-chan will hug me but he squirms.
11. Being inconspicuous. Being an obvious racial minority is very interesting but it gets old fast when people stare at you all day long.
12. Small school. I definitely know that I made the right choice in choosing a small school.
13. Not having to go to a doctor every time I have a cold.
14. Understanding what garbage goes where. Obviously I've gotten the usual moeru/moenai/pet bottles/cans set-up down, but you should see the garbage room at my apartment building. They separate out EVERYTHING and all the signs are in kanji. Mostly I make an educated guess and hope for the best.
15. The ability to call people. Not just people that I'm away from, but people in the same area as me. I miss being able to call and hash out plans because that take two minutes whereas by text it takes half an hour.
16. A room I can spend time in. My room here is tiny. There is a bed and now a desk and the world's smallest closet. All crammed together. I can't spend much time in there comfortably.
17. Big sky. There's too much in the way here.
18. Stars.
19. Quiet. There's an izakaya across the street so even late at night we get to here drunken business men.
20. Sleeping in. Having a 2-year-old in the house means that if I sleep past 8, it's a miracle.
21. No curfew. I'm not much a one for staying out all night but it's very annoying to be out having fun with your friends and realize that it's 11:30 so you have to go so you don't miss you last train. It's either be home by midnight or be out all night. Not very flexible.
22. American washers and dryers. My host family's washer is puny as in five days of clothes is a good sized load. Yet it takes five hours to do one load of wash.
23. A five minute commute. Sure my commute is comparatively short (about 30min where as many people have times that are an hour or more), but still, that's much longer than five minutes.
24. People. Obviously I miss my parents and friends and everyone back home. You guys are sort of a given.
Things I will miss about Japan (in no particular order):
1. My host family (this one is rightfully at the top). Mami is wonderful, Su-chan has stolen my heart, and even Goro has grown on me (especially after we had a conversation about Gyakuten Saiban which is the Japanese name for Phoenix Wright).
2. vending machines. Yes, they exist in America, but unless you've been to Japan, you just don't understand.
3. Sasodango. Mmmmmmm...delicious. The first thing I ever ate at my host family's and an eternal favorite of mine.
4. Public transportation. Ah Tokyo and its wonderful subways and trains. I have become so spoiled.
5. Interesting places to go. Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Baba, Ueno, etc. Los Alamos and Galesburg just can't compare.
6. Potato stick thingies. Addictive. They're like a hybrid between french fries and potato chips.
7. Steam cakes. Amazing. Seriously yummy.
8. Onigiri. Oh no, I'm on a food kick... I guess I could make my own onigiri but they won't be the same.
9. Japanese curry. I am going on a curry quest when I get back to find Japanese curry tablet thingies.
10. Tea. Okay, let me explain since it's not like I never drink tea in the States. The varieties of tea you can buy from a bottle here are staggering. Jasmine is my favorite.
11. Weird fashion. I love that people actually go out in public dressed like total goths or lolitas. I always get a kick out of it.
12. Male fashion. The guys back in America are going to look soooo slobby to me! Seriously, what's wrong with wearing clothes that fit and look attractive. Nothing. Japanese guys, in general, understand this.
13. Hyakuen shops. You know how in American dollar stores, very few things are actually a dollar and most of the stuff is total crap? Well, hyakuen stores are not like that at all. I have gotten some very useful things at them including stationary, decals for my phone, a mirror, and a cute fan that I can use when I'm in one of the crappily air-conditioned classrooms at Waseda.
14. Politeness. People here are so polite. They will apologize to complete strangers for accidently stepping on their toes. They will ask if you need help if you wind up staring confusedly at a train route map that is entirely in kanji. Very nice.
15. Crepes. This country has an obsession with that particular french food. Also, kebabs. I put them in the same place because every time I go to Harajuku I think "crepe or kebab?" and wind up getting one of each. I'm such a pig.
16. Purikura! Must do it again before I leave...
17. Engrish. To quote Rachel's panda shirt "Laughing got tired" There's more but I don't remember...
18. Learning a language. It's been awesome to see my progress especially because Japanese is kind of ridiculously hard.
19. My keitai. Despite the fact that I can't understand how to use about 95% of my phone's features, I still love it. And I love texting in Japanese even though it takes me forever. And texting in general. I am an addict.
20. Being able to throw Japanese words into my sentences and be understood. There are few people to whom I can say things like "You are super genki today."
21. Onsen. So relaxing. And the one Mami and I go to near her parents is only about 700 yen. Try finding a hot spring that cheap in the US.
There is more, much more, for both lists, but those are the ones that were jumping in my brain today.
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News! It's been a while. Not much to report though. Last Saturday was nice weather so my host mom rented a car and drove us all (herself, Su, Goro, and me) to a beach where we played and I swam (YES!). Below we have Su-chan and Goro intent upon their sand tunneling project.
Sunday I was babysitting Su-chan because Mami had a wedding to go to. Not much to report there. We watched Cars twice. That kid loves that movie even though it's in English so I'm not sure he cares about the story he just likes the akai bubu (red car in kid's speak).Yesterday was pretty awesome. Rachel and I had a lady date. We did dinner and a movie. Dinner was Saizeriya (cheap and they had a drink bar so I had like three glasses of melon soda. Melon soda should be on that list of things I'll miss about Japan...) the movie was Star Trek. Which was AWESOME! Completely worth the exorbitant amount of money we had to pay to see it (1500 yen--about $15--and that's with a 300 yen discount because we're university students). Yeah, American movie ticket prices don't seem quite so bad anymore do they?
Tomorrow my host family leave for their Hawaii vacation which is a bit sad. I plan to use their time away to do some serious preparation for going home. Maybe get the non-necessaries packed up, etc. That way I won't be making a mess while they're around.
That's about all there is to report at the current moment though...
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The blogging gets harder as time goes on...
I have become a terrible blogger. I totally apologize. In my defense, very little of interest is going on, however, that doesn't excuse me from taking so long to blog about the retreat. There's not a lot to tell, but it's something.
Anyway, last weekend was the ACM/GLCA retreat which took place at the same place where we had our last one b
ack in November. There were less people this time though since a few people left after the first semester and several people just didn't come on the retreat. It was a lot of fun though. The weather was better this time so I actually ventured outside and went to the lake with a bunch of people.
While at the lake, we saw a swan that swam really close to shore where we were wandering about. Lydia chased some minnows and a bunch of us went wading. Cory, who is a photography junkie, brought his camera and kept taking photos of us. At one point we decided to take advantage of this and did a picture of us all
jumping. We forgot that we were backlit by the lake though but it was really okay since the silhouettes look pretty cool too.
Eventually some other people from our program made it to the lake. Ian and Yuchen decided to take a dip so they stripped down to their boxers and got in leaving their clothes on shore. This was too tempting for us. Rachel, Lydia, Briana, Kate, and myself stole their shirts and Yuchen's hat. Really that was wa
y nice of us since we could have taken their pants and shoes. That would have been awkward for them. Yeah, we're pretty tame pranksters.
In order to show off our spoils, we draped Rachel in the shirts and stuck Yuchen's hat on her. We decided that she looks like Ashton Kutcher in that hat. It's the hair...
The evening was time for a group meeting. We had five Japanese students that will be going to American colleges in the fall with us so some of us did some skits illustrating the challenges of small liberal arts colleges to them. We covered stuff like room mates and drunk frat boys. Many Waseda students live in rooms to themselves and partying here is much different than in the States. Plus, classes will be hugely different. Waseda is a big university and they're all going to small colleges.
After the group meeting we had a party during which we taught the Japanese students an American drinking game called king's cup. After that was done we played a Japanese drinking game and another whose origin I don't remember... That's all I'm saying about that.
The next day started way too early. I don't think any of us got more than a few hours of sleep (except for maybe Laura and Sarah who didn't drink and went to bed around 10 or 11). We had to get up in time for breakfast at 8am (in my case, I had to be ready 15 min earlier since I was helping with breakfast set up).
After breakfast we just hung out really. Played some cards, etc. until lunch and then after lunch we headed back to Tokyo. And that's it.
In other news, there isn't much. Classes continue which is beyond annoying. I don't like this class in summer thing especially since Tokyo is incredibly humid. Sometimes I wonder whether I really homesick or if I just want dry air.
I also had a really bad cold last week so I went to a doctor for the second time. I'm so glad Mami knew of one that speaks English. Being sick really impairs my Japanese. I couldn't even remember the word in Japanese for fever when I was trying to explain to my Tuesday Japanese sensei why I missed class.
Yesterday was kind of cool. I went to a cake buffet with some friends. The idea is that you pay 1500yen for 90 minutes of cake free for all. They had ice cream, jello, chocolate mousse cake, cakes with fruit, cakes with nuts, mochi with fudge on top, cream puffs, and more. So awesome.
And that's about all I have to say about recent times.
Anyway, last weekend was the ACM/GLCA retreat which took place at the same place where we had our last one b
ack in November. There were less people this time though since a few people left after the first semester and several people just didn't come on the retreat. It was a lot of fun though. The weather was better this time so I actually ventured outside and went to the lake with a bunch of people.While at the lake, we saw a swan that swam really close to shore where we were wandering about. Lydia chased some minnows and a bunch of us went wading. Cory, who is a photography junkie, brought his camera and kept taking photos of us. At one point we decided to take advantage of this and did a picture of us all
jumping. We forgot that we were backlit by the lake though but it was really okay since the silhouettes look pretty cool too.Eventually some other people from our program made it to the lake. Ian and Yuchen decided to take a dip so they stripped down to their boxers and got in leaving their clothes on shore. This was too tempting for us. Rachel, Lydia, Briana, Kate, and myself stole their shirts and Yuchen's hat. Really that was wa
y nice of us since we could have taken their pants and shoes. That would have been awkward for them. Yeah, we're pretty tame pranksters.In order to show off our spoils, we draped Rachel in the shirts and stuck Yuchen's hat on her. We decided that she looks like Ashton Kutcher in that hat. It's the hair...
The evening was time for a group meeting. We had five Japanese students that will be going to American colleges in the fall with us so some of us did some skits illustrating the challenges of small liberal arts colleges to them. We covered stuff like room mates and drunk frat boys. Many Waseda students live in rooms to themselves and partying here is much different than in the States. Plus, classes will be hugely different. Waseda is a big university and they're all going to small colleges.
After the group meeting we had a party during which we taught the Japanese students an American drinking game called king's cup. After that was done we played a Japanese drinking game and another whose origin I don't remember... That's all I'm saying about that.
The next day started way too early. I don't think any of us got more than a few hours of sleep (except for maybe Laura and Sarah who didn't drink and went to bed around 10 or 11). We had to get up in time for breakfast at 8am (in my case, I had to be ready 15 min earlier since I was helping with breakfast set up).
After breakfast we just hung out really. Played some cards, etc. until lunch and then after lunch we headed back to Tokyo. And that's it.
In other news, there isn't much. Classes continue which is beyond annoying. I don't like this class in summer thing especially since Tokyo is incredibly humid. Sometimes I wonder whether I really homesick or if I just want dry air.
I also had a really bad cold last week so I went to a doctor for the second time. I'm so glad Mami knew of one that speaks English. Being sick really impairs my Japanese. I couldn't even remember the word in Japanese for fever when I was trying to explain to my Tuesday Japanese sensei why I missed class.
Yesterday was kind of cool. I went to a cake buffet with some friends. The idea is that you pay 1500yen for 90 minutes of cake free for all. They had ice cream, jello, chocolate mousse cake, cakes with fruit, cakes with nuts, mochi with fudge on top, cream puffs, and more. So awesome.
And that's about all I have to say about recent times.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Normal Stuff
There's nothing super interesting to report at the moment, but I will report nonetheless!
A few days ago, a package came in the mail with the pottery that my host family made oer Golden Week while we were in Atami. If you recall, I also made a piece of pottery while I was in Minakami. I got that one sort of recently too so I thought to put up pictures of the finished products.
The one one the left is the one I made in Minakami, and the one on the right is the one I made in Atami.
Event-wise, things have been pretty quiet. This is partly because of some trouble with my cell phone over the weekend. Seeing as my friends live scattered about Tokyo, a cell phone is an absolute necessity if you want to have a social life. But mine wasn't working (I got it all worked out yesterday though so yay to that). Unfortunately, my weekend was rather boring because of that.
Yesterday was the one kind of cool thing. My Japanese class had another field trip (you may remember that last semester we went to a traditional Japanese sweet shop). This time we went to Shibuya to visit NHK Studio Park. NHK is the big public owned broadcasting company here in Japan (when I say public, think more like BBC and less like PBS). It was pretty fun though not super amazing. However, the tickets were paid for by our tuition so we didn't have to worry about money (except for transportation as I actually have to pay to go to Shibuya since it isn't on my commuter pass).
This is Bobby from my Japanese class pretending to be a newscaster on NHK's Ohayoo Nippon (morning news program, the title tranlates as "Good Morning Japan").
And just for fun, last night Mami and I were teaching Su-chan how to do the peace sign for photos.
He is one cool kid isn't he?
A few days ago, a package came in the mail with the pottery that my host family made oer Golden Week while we were in Atami. If you recall, I also made a piece of pottery while I was in Minakami. I got that one sort of recently too so I thought to put up pictures of the finished products.
The one one the left is the one I made in Minakami, and the one on the right is the one I made in Atami.
Event-wise, things have been pretty quiet. This is partly because of some trouble with my cell phone over the weekend. Seeing as my friends live scattered about Tokyo, a cell phone is an absolute necessity if you want to have a social life. But mine wasn't working (I got it all worked out yesterday though so yay to that). Unfortunately, my weekend was rather boring because of that.
Yesterday was the one kind of cool thing. My Japanese class had another field trip (you may remember that last semester we went to a traditional Japanese sweet shop). This time we went to Shibuya to visit NHK Studio Park. NHK is the big public owned broadcasting company here in Japan (when I say public, think more like BBC and less like PBS). It was pretty fun though not super amazing. However, the tickets were paid for by our tuition so we didn't have to worry about money (except for transportation as I actually have to pay to go to Shibuya since it isn't on my commuter pass).
This is Bobby from my Japanese class pretending to be a newscaster on NHK's Ohayoo Nippon (morning news program, the title tranlates as "Good Morning Japan").And just for fun, last night Mami and I were teaching Su-chan how to do the peace sign for photos.
He is one cool kid isn't he?
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