Okay okay, LAST HOMESTAY I SWEAR. Haha. I had the opportunity to do a third homestay with yet another family just before leaving to return home, this time accompanied by a girl from Turkey.
Like the other families, this family was also incredibly nice. Yakage is a rural town and while visiting we experienced a teeny tiny local festival. It was awesome. Tons of yakitori and happy people. Sometimes a little too happy, in the case of an awkward drunk older man who kept trying to hit on us foreign girls. I think my favorite memory was the kiddie sumo wrestling, which they let the foreign students "compete" in as well. You lined up against another person and tried to push them out of a ring. When finished, everybody ran to the back of the lines to go again. Super cute. The following day, we went "river rafting," which involved a very homemade raft. We sat on some flat sheets of wood and were slowly propelled down the river by use of stick. It was actually really cool. Later, we had soba. But like, we had soba using the best method ever. They set up half of a long piece of bamboo and ran water through it and let the soba run through the water; you had to pick out clumps using your chopsticks as they flowed past! The bits people missed collected in a strainer at the bottom. And this was accompanied by delicious barbecued vegetables. Though I love American BBQ, this was actually way more fun for every participant I think. I hope I can do it again someday. It was bittersweet to return to my dorm room and finish packing. I was able to get in one last visit with my original host family just before I left, too. We had yakiniku and went swimming. I'm very glad I was able to say goodbye to them so soon before leaving. Each of my homestays has been a highlight of my time in Japan, but my first host family holds a special place, as I've been able to return and visit them several times; they really came to feel like my Japanese family. I hope I can return someday.
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Wow, this was totally a spur of the moment trip. I took the shinkansen with a friend going to Tokyo for job interviews; he invited me only a week or so beforehand when I happened to mention I wanted to go to Tokyo sometime before I went home. We stayed in different hotels because there was no more room in the one he had booked, haha.
That was fine though. I actually snagged a sort of semi-capsule hotel for women only that was actually quite nice. I experienced sleeping in a small space without a lot of the downsides that come with ordinary capsule hotels. Also, while my friend did his interviews on Saturday, I got to wander around Tokyo alone, which was amazing. I walked through Roppongi, briefly met up with friends in Harajuku, visited a pokemon center, and happened upon the Nippon Budokan (which is this huge building for martial arts tournaments). There was actually a tournament going on when I wandered up, for Judo. Though I know next to nothing about Judo, I got in with a student rate and enjoyed the sweet sweet air conditioning for about half a glorious hour before wandering back out into the sweltering humid heat that is Tokyo in summer. My friend and I went in both the Tokyo Tower and the Skytree and I got to see the Kaminarimon up close. Really amazing experience; I'm happy I jumped at the opportunity. April started off the new semester and so began pretty hectically. We got some new EPOK students from Australia, California, Canada, and Germany, and that was pretty cool. I also signed up for every class I thought might be interesting, with the intent of paring down my schedule after trying each class, which gave me a pretty crazy schedule for a while. Eventually I got it down to nine classes, including Japanese 4 (4 classes by itself!), Japanese through Films 1, Hawaii and Japan, Japanese Mind, Culture, and Identity, Extensive Reading, and a Seminar on Globalization. It's an okay schedule, most of my classes are on Thursday and Friday. I've also continued working at L-cafe and am now teaching two Intermediate level English conversation courses. I tried out the Shorinji Kempo club, but I felt it would take up too much time during the semester, so I decided against joining. Still trying to find the Uraja circle for foreigners, that sounds fun.
I did go to Karaoke for the first time! I loved it! I wish they had more Japanese style Karaoke places in the US. I was also hired by ASAP at CSUMB to be a Japanese and ESL tutor starting next semester, yay! Woops, forgot to write my blog for March. So, this is pretty late, oh well!
March was a pretty relaxed month for me, as I was on school break. I mostly chilled at home, but I did go on a few trips. The first trip was to Aichi prefecture to visit a friend who had graduated. It was pretty awesome! Three other people and I took a 7 hour train ride to meet my friend in Nagoya. (All of us were low on sleep, it was pretty funny.) We ate Miso Nikomi Udon and then visited the Toyota museum. There we watched a robot play the violin and then got a tour through the part of the museum dedicated to looms, which was originally what the Toyota company worked on. The tour was fantastic; we got to see how the various machines worked, and how they were improved over the years and at the end of it we got a scrap of clothe woven at the museum. The other half of the museum, about cars, was interesting as well, but the looms were my favorite. Probably it was one of the best museums I've been to. We then went back to my friend's house, which was also a pretty neat experience. We stayed in traditional tatami mat guest rooms with really nice painted doors, and I went to a bathhouse for the first time. I have to say, I love bathhouses and wish they existed in the US as they do in Japan. The next day we went on a tour of the Toyota Factory, which was pretty cool, and then ate Miso Katsu, which was absolutely delicious, and the day after we visited Nagoya Castle. The castle is probably the best I've visited so far in Japan. It's huge and super cool. Still under construction, but they've got some really neat exhibits. I also did a day trip to Hiroshima with another Japanese friend. We went to Hiroshima Castle, ate Okonomiyaki, and then visited Miyajima, which was my second time visiting. It was a fun day, and I fulfilled the goal of riding the shinkansen, as that's how we traveled to Hiroshima and then back to Okayama. The last trip of the month was to Kyoto, with my Vegan international student friend. We traveled by bus and stayed one night. It was pretty awesome. We visited Toji Temple, met an interesting fortune teller, had fun trying to locate a vegan restaurant, went on a night boat ride along the river to view cherry blossoms, and discovered we had accidentally booked a tacky love hotel to stay at, all on the first day! The second day, we visited Heian-jingu, walked through the imperial palace grounds, and visited Kinkaku-ji. It was all fun and adventuresome! The semester finally, Finally, ended this month. What a ride. Those last couple weeks were crazy and super busy. I finished up my Japanese class in a rush and received an A+ for my effort. Woo! I'm sure I did well in my other classes too. Success! Though I'm hoping I'll be able to take my experiences this semester to be better prepared for the next one. I'm thinking I'd like to take more Japanese language classes, and perhaps start getting some ideas for my Capstone...
The last week of the semester also saw the culmination of a project I'd been working on for a while. It stemmed from the special Global Communication course that met four times. Here's the gist: Okayama University has been named a "Global University" by the Japanese government, and will be receiving a grant to aid in efforts to become more global. So, as a class, we came up with a Global Resolution, with Student ideas and perspectives on how to make Okayama University more global. In Japan, it's unusual for University administration to ask students for feedback on University policy, so it was extra important to be able to put our voices forward as Japanese and International students. I was a part of a small group of students that continually met up after the class was over to edit the document. In the last week of school, this small group of students presented the Resolution to the president of Okayama University. It was a bit nerve-wracking; I ended up being the one to explain the Resolution (my nervousness made me speak a little too quickly, bleh). However, it went very well! Hopefully some of our ideas will be considered and implemented. It was also pleasing that the teachers facilitating the project were impressed with my critical thinking and overall performance. I loved working on it, and I found the whole thing to be a really great opportunity! It's also great because now I can officially say I am a "Certified in Global Communication", hehe. After this experience, I hope I can be involved in similar ventures in the future. I'm thinking of trying to get together a team next semester to attend a Model UN conference; I think it would be pretty cool and a great experience. I've been feeling a bit blah, but slowly recharging as break goes on. I now have two jobs as an English teacher over break (not L-Cafe, it's closed). One is more frequent, but pays less, and another is work for the prefectural police department of Okayama! The police one pays really extraordinarily well, though I only work a couple hours on Tuesdays. Eventually, my teaching partner and I will help translate documents to English that will them be disseminated and used throughout the prefecture, wow. It would be nice to have a true break with nothing I have to do, but I value the money and experience I can gain, and I still have days when I don't work. As far as traveling goes, I went to Kobe twice in February. Once was a one day school trip the last week of the semester, the other was a vacation after the semester ended. The school trip was for my class "Globalizing Japan: Society and Culture from a Multicultural Perspective." We went to Nankinmachi and visited Harbor Land. It was fun, but it was a bit difficult to do the anthropological research we were supposed to be doing -- everybody was too busy to really talk to us. The vacation was pretty great, I went with my UK friend Sally to experience the Spring Festival (Lunar New Year Festival) in Nankinmachi. We stayed for two nights and explored Harbor Land, found some super cool escalators, saw Chinese Lion Dance and a unique string instrument quartet performance, and traveled about on the City Loop bus seeing the sites of the city. Obviously, we didn't get to do everything, but it was a pretty great time. Our hotel was a "romantic" hotel, which was funny for the two of us, but it had some great perks, like free bread and an awesome shower. However, it was quite far from Kobe's downtown, so we had to go through some walking shenanigans to avoid taking the expensive taxi ride to and from the nearest train station to many times. It all worked out in the end though. The day after coming back from Kobe, I went with another friend to see the Naked Man Festival! This festival in Okayama Prefecture is on of the rarest and most unique festivals in Japan. The culmination of the festival includes nine to ten thousand partially naked men (they were traditional loin clothes to cover their genitals), fighting in the freezing cold (it was raining!) for these sacred sticks thrown into the crowd by a priest of Saidaiji temple. The man who capture the lucky stick and shoves it into a special area is the lucky man, and happiness is supposed to follow him for the rest of the year. It's a rather violent affair, and emergency services are on hand to deal with any injuries, I've even heard that it's not uncommon for a death to happen. It was a site, though the fight was shorter than I thought it would be. Before the fight, there were fireworks over the river, partially naked boys (and girls) marching around the temple in a show of devotion, and of course, festival stalls. My friend and I had a good, if cold, time (though we waited in the watching area for several hours to ensure we had a good spot to see everything, that was a bit boring). The festival ran really late, which ensured we arrived back at the dorms around 12 in very tired states. I also discovered I missed Reservation Days for housing next year. Yay. Now I don't know where I'm going to live when I get back. Hopefully something can be worked out with on campus housing. In happier news, February is the month of my and my boyfriend's anniversary! We've been together one year. It's been tough being apart, but he's been really great and supportive throughout my time here. I love him a bunch and I'm excited to be celebrating together this weekend with Pocky, mutual movie watching, and game playing over Skype! January has been something of a looong month. It began with New Year's and wound down with almost the end of the semester. As I write this, I only have about two weeks left before spring break begins.
I've been pretty busy with homework and final papers and presentations, and also a final trip to Hiroshima with Study of Japan! We visited Miyajima, which was beautiful, and the Peace Park and Museum. The Park was very pleasant, but the museum was devastating. I cried my way through reading about how people had died and suffered when the Atomic bomb was dropped. I chose to stay the night, and two French girls and I stayed at a cheap hostel before meeting with everybody else in the morning. It was my first time at a hostel, kinda meh and a bit dirty, but it was alright. On the second day we visited Yamato museum, a WWII naval museum dedicated to the largest and best ship Japan built (which was sunk before it could do anything), and then what I liked to call Bunny Island. The island used to house a poison gas factory, and when the factory was dismantled they released a bunch of bunnies onto the island to check and make sure it was safe for humans again. The bunnies didn't die, they bred. There are thousands of rabbits on the island that will come up to you for food. There is also a poison gas museum on the island, detailing the suffering of the workers. It was interesting and a bit bothersome to note that the museum completely glossed over how and where the poison gas was used during the war and what those victims suffered, but it's sort of a theme I've noticed in Japan, the ignoring of past atrocities they have committed. I had a teacher tell me that it was because Japan still hasn't gotten over the war. Anyway, the poison gas museum and the A-bomb museum were both pretty horrifyingly graphic; at least I didn't have nightmares afterwards. After the trip it was more papers and more presentations. I'll be glad of the break for sure! I'm hoping I can travel a bit too! And spend some time learning interesting things. So this post is a couple days late. Woops!
Anyway, after my first homestay the rest December passed both slowly and quickly. Then suddenly, Christmas. I spent Christmas Eve sleep deprived, on account of staying up way too late finishing a project for my Japanese class, but still had a good time. I went to the station to eat crepes with a friend and then we went to the 300 yen shop and bought each other presents! She got me this adorable Kappa roll thing. I named it Kappamaki. I also picked up a present for my Secret Santa. When I returned home, I skyped with my Aunt in Germany for a couple hours. On Christmas we still had class, though no work at L-cafe. I spent the day skyping with my boyfriend and then went to a Christmas party. There was lots of food to be had and secret Santa gifts exchanged. Pretty fun. The 26th of December was the 25th in California, so I skyped my family on the 26th as the last bit of my Christmas. I missed everybody back home, but it was a pretty good Christmas. The 26th was also the first day of the New Year holiday at Okayama University. We return to school on the 5th, though work at L-cafe won't start again until the 8th. I spent the first few days of the holiday relaxing and skyping with my crazy Lion Dance friends back home. I miss them a bunch, and it's hard to be away during the New Year time, when the Lion Dance team does a bunch of performances and everybody gets to chill and hang out. New Year in Japan is very much a family holiday, like Christmas in the West. But I didn't spend it alone! I got to do another homestay with a different family in Okayama. It was pretty great. They picked me up on New Year's Eve and I got to visit with their family and eat Soba, play games, watch tv, and arrange the Osechi Ryouri (traditional New Year food) for the next day. I also discovered I really like Sea Cucumber (namako)! We all went to bed after 12 and woke up around lunchtime the next day. Lunch was Osechi Ryouri, which tends to have a very Japanese taste. I liked some of it. I then got to participate/ in Hatsumode, the first temple/shrine visit of the New Year. It was super cool! I lit a candle for good luck in studying for the New Year and Kotone and I lit incense. The was a ceremony we went to, and I prayed with the family to the many Buddhist statues and was given ashes and grain to throw around my home. I then got to try amazake, which has an interesting ginger flavor. I stayed one more night, and was able to eat toast for breakfast. Toast! I didn't realize how much I missed the ability to make toast. Kotone and I then went to parikura (I think that's what it's called) and took pictures together that made us look like dolls. It's kinda creepy looking, in my opinion. Especially on me. Lunch was more Nabe! Mm, Nabe... After that, they took me home. Kotone and her whole family were very nice! (And they wouldn't let me pay for anything...) I had a great visit full of delicious food and fun games. I also came back with several presents. Ukyou, the 16 year old son, gave me a DVD of The Devil Wears Prada (a movie we watched while I was over) and a book on conversational English, which I think I may be able to use to learn conversational Japanese. They also sent me home with sweets. Now that I'm back home, I get to go back to studying. Huzzah. But I think the holiday was a nice break. For the New Year, I'm hoping I can get my studying back on track for my Japanese courses. My goal for the New Year is to learn new skills, improve my writing (and write more often!), and have fun. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with my life, but that's okay. So, Happy New Year! Okay, so this post is much later than I intended! I had it written out much earlier, but forgot to post!
"My homestay was pretty much the greatest thing I've done since coming here, I think. I didn't want to leave. I very much wish I could actually live there for a whole semester, like some other colleges allow (I'm sure my Japanese skills would improve tremendously if I was able to do so). My host mother and father and grandmother and the kids were all very nice, I've been invited to visit anytime, especially if I want to go to a hotspring with Okaasan and Otousan. It was very interesting interacting with the family and I really liked their house, and I'd already fallen in love with Kojima, the two previous times I'd visited, but oh my goodness was it cold. I'm aware that temperatures can be colder, but it was cold inside the house and I'm a wimp from California. My room had a heater, but on a futon on the floor I became intimately familiar with the concept of heat rising. Going to the bathroom was also an exercise in speed, there was no heater there. (I have a new found appreciation for heated toilet seats, as well.) The first day Obaachan showed how to do some Origami and we played a game. We had Okonomiyake for dinner, very tasty. Also, home made tempera. Yum. The next day I woke up super early (for me) and then wandered over to eat breakfast. It was rice, Japanese soy sauce soup with liberal amounts of tofu, salad, and fruit (mandarin oranges and persimmons). A fairly typical Japanese breakfast, though the soup is usually miso. After breakfast, Okaasan and I went out to a Shrine and Temple. It was super cool! (So many stairs though. So so many). She taught me how to do the bowing and clapping thing, and we got to sit in on a Shinto ceremony thing. Then we wandered over to explore the Buddhist temple part, it had a huge fire god statue, I think the biggest one in the world of that particular god. Very cool. We got to sit in on a ceremony there as well! Awesome! We got blessed at both the Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies. Oh and there was a Monk from America! He was part of the "Hoodie Monks", they rap and hip hop to spread the teachings of Buddhism. I thought that was pretty sweet. I want to go back and maybe talk to him again, there was a whole museum that we didn't get to see because we had to meet Otousan and Yama-chan (the youngest kid) for lunch. While at the Buddhist temple I donated money and got these good luck/drive away evil spirit things. You could write your name and wishes on them if you wanted, and you threw them over the edge of the nearby balcony toward the fire god and prayed for your wishes. We went to Kappazushi for lunch with Otousan and Yama-chan. Which was one of those revolving sushi bar places. Very yummy. Then Okaasan and I went up to a mountain and hiked around. It was very beautiful! And it had a rock that looked like it had a smiling face that we visited. Apparently the area is also a really popular spot to set unwanted pet cats free. There was a huge cat population, and people who volunteered their own personal time and money to feed these cats almost every day. Wow. There were also some stray doggies that I felt bad for, they looked like they could use some petpets, but for obvious reasons you can't just go up and pet stray dogs. After hiking Okaasan took me back to the station in Kojima, and I rode the train back to Okayama, and then biked home. Lots of exercise that day!" Update time!
November has been a good month. I visited Korakuen for the first time. It's the historic park in Okayama City, near the Castle. It was beautiful. And free to Okadai foreign exchange students! I also threw together a Thanksgiving potluck. It was a great success, everybody had a good time. I'm glad to have the opportunity to hang out with such great people and eat such good food. Speaking of food, I also attended two more Nabe parties! (I really like Nabe parties). Oh! I also was the guest of honor at a casual tea ceremony! It was really cool! I like tea ceremonies a lot, though I kept messing up on the specific rules, haha. Very cool experience. I hope I get a chance to do another one. In Kuwanoki Dormitory, we've started having Sunday night dinners together. Pretty cool. One of the dinners was a Nabe party. We also celebrated my Birthday just yesterday! The Sunday night dinner was moved to Saturday, and we had home made Thai food and stir fried rice and stew and there were soft drinks and sweets. I had two cakes, a sushi cake and an ordinary cake. It was all very delicious. Then we watched Forrest Gump to continue the birthday celebration. I had the second Nabe party with my tutors today. This Nabe was probably my favorite. I think it used Soy Bean stock, or something. Very Good. We celebrated my birthday again. There was another cake! It was a very cute lion head! It was a chestnut cake and it was so good. I've decided Japanese bakeries just do cake better than American ones. Next weekend, I will be doing a homestay. I hope it goes well! I'm so happy to have met such good people, and so thankful to be in Japan. What an opportunity. This is a bit late. Oops! I actually wrote something up to post for October at the very beginning, but then forgot to post it. Haha! So, without further ado, this is what I first wrote, not long after my arrival:
"It's been a long couple days. The flight was grueling. I was on the verge of crying a lot and I up not feeling so great by the end of it, physically. It was so scary, coming here. My stomach was in knots. Star Gate Hotel was very nice, but I threw up part of my breakfast in the morning, yeesh. I've made it to my hotel in Okayama, thankfully. My directions weren't exactly precise, but it worked out. This hotel is less nice but still good. Tomorrow I check in and begin my stay at the University. Gonna take a lot of walking with my luggage. Ugh. That shit is heavy. Okayama City is less overwhelming than Osaka. Also, everybody rides bikes here. I've seen more people on bikes than pedestrians. I intend to get a bike for the duration of my stay, I suspect it will make getting around a lot easier." Needless to say, I did make it to Okayama University safely. And actually, I bought a bike, with help from my tutors, the same day I arrived there. I found out they really treat bikes like vehicles here, you have to register them and everything. Riding a bike not registered to you can get you taken in by the police! I'm also amazed by how tiny cars are here, way different from the U.S. Things have been a bit rough, this past month. But I'm settling in fine and classes are really getting going at this point. I'm taking nine class hours, but I like all of them, so it's all good. I've been on trips to Kojima and Bizen, both pretty awesome. Making new friends has been really fun. I'll miss them when I leave, for sure. I also experienced my first Nabe party! I'm glad I've got good friends and family back home. I miss them a lot, but they've all been really supportive and helpful. Overall, October was an okay month. |
AuthorHatty is a CSUMB student. Archives
October 2015
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