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!
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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! |
AuthorHatty is a CSUMB student. Archives
October 2015
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