Long Overdue

So I haven't updated in more than a month. My apologies. I've decided that rather than lengthy writing I'll just post pictures and let them tell a story for me. Don't worry, I'll add captions as well. And so, without furthur ado, the last 1-2 months, in photos:

(Takoyaki making party in Mi-Kun's Loft)

(Went to see a Kimono Fashion Show)

(Went to the wedding of my host-sister's dance teacher)

(Me and my host sister after she danced at the wedding)

(Dan's host family's bamboo forest)

(Me digging for Take-no-ko [bamboo shoots]. It's actually really really hard.)

(Success!)

(Giant ferris wheel next to the Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka)

(Whale shark!)

(So we went to Tokyo for golden week. Golden week is a week long vacation in Japan where everyone and their mom travels. This is me next to the famous statue of Hachiko at Shibuya station in Tokyo on our first night)

(Me, Andrew and Alan in front of the moat-like thing surrounding the imperial palace in Tokyo)

(Tokyo Tower at night)

(The RIDICULOUSLY crowded street in Harajuku)

(The famous crossing at Shibuya)

(Feeding deer during the religion class field trip to Nara)

(Todaiji, a giant Buddhist temple and the biggest all wood structure in the world. It houses...)

(This giant Buddha. It's made entirely out of bronze)

(Some amusing signs about smoking)

(During our overnight class trip to Hiroshima we got to see the A-bomb dome. We also went to the peace museum and listened to an actual survivor of the atomic bomb. It was a moving and very depressing experience)

(Himeji castle)

(Feeding monkeys in Arashiyama)

Well that's it for now folks. As usual, see you on the flip side.

The Long Week in Review

The First Meeting

Being first on the list due to my last name, I was the lucky person who got to meet her host family first. I was scared crapless, trying to remember polite phrases, and hoping that they wouldn’t disown me when it became apparent that my Japanese was horrific.

Luckily, I got the best damn family in the bunch. My host family consists of my Dad, Mom, and little sister (who’s 11) Tomona. They call me Oneechan (big sister), and are seriously the most awesome host family ever. They’re nice to me, nice to each other, and have a love for sweets that rivals my own.

For my first dinner we went to the super market and bought a bunch of fish, and made hand-rolled sushi with all sorts of things. My Okaasan’s parents came over (so my ‘grandparents) and ate with us. They all marveled at the fact that I willingly ate octopus, praised my skill with chopsticks, and cracked up every time I tried to use polite language. I was allowed to go first in the shower/bath, and so after a long soak and an “Oyasumi Nasai!” , I crawled into my warm bed and passed out.

The next day I went with Okaasan, Otousan and Tomona-chan to Osaka Castle for a Hanami. In Japan, Sakura flowers bloom at a particular point in time in the spring, and are basically the fricking center of everything. Hanami is where people come together for a sort of picnic-like deal, and eat and drink under the pretty trees. Of course, since the flowers bloom for like, 2 weeks only, every citizen of Japan and even citizens from other countries are out and about under these trees. We met up with some of Otousan’s coworkers outside the giant moat that surrounds the castle, who proceeded to speak at about 80 km/hr, leaving me to chat in English with my little sister (who is currently studying English and is my translator whenever her parents say something particularly difficult). After the Hanami, we actually went inside Osaka Castle. They had some amazing artifacts, and the view from the top was amazing.

Unfortunately, the Sakura flowers also have deadly (in a matter of speaking) pollen that is the bane of all those who have allergies, and which makes people who’ve never had allergies in their life before (me) develop them. So the next day I woke up runny nosed, light headed, and feeling like crap. Luckily I was able to get some allergy medicine (with the help of my Okaasan), so I’m doing better now. Just a note, those masks you always see Asian people wearing on tv are not for SARS, they’re to keep pollen away from your mouth and nose so you don’t die of allergies.

School

Moving on, school hasn’t been particularly eventful yet. Japanese class is the same as usual (hard), Postwar Japanese Society is interesting, and Religion and Japanese Culture is both interesting and covers things I’ve learned nearly three times over. Luckily though, the last two classes go on tons of field trips, and so for Postwar Japanese Society we went on a trip to Ritsumeikan Peace Museum. It talked a lot about the war, had a bunch of horrific but educational photos, was really depressing, and so afterwards everyone went to Kinkakujin (which is a building literally covered in gold) to see pretty things and cheer themselves up again.

One of the bad things about the school is that everyone and their mom tries to get on the internet at the same lunch break, so the wireless is pretty janky. If you’re lucky you can connect for a while, but it’s likely to drop at any minute so you have to be wary. Luckily, I discovered wireless at my house, so I’m currently not pulling my hair out. Another bad thing is the commute. It’s about 40 minutes one way, which actually isn’t too bad, it’s just the standing the entire way thing that pisses me off. Luckily though, I’m starting to perfect the salary man’s art of sleeping while standing up, so it’s been getting better.

Another thing that’s made my life infinitely more awesome is my new cell phone. Most everyone in the SCTI program has acquired one, so now we can actually all contact one another instead of feeling frightened and scared and alone in the middle of Japan. It also makes contacting my host family easier, and my little sister will cheer me up by sending random cute emails (texts) from time to time.

Out and About

So Friday after Kinkakujin, a bunch of us ate and went out to Karaoke, which was quite an experience. After watching a room full of almost 8 guys screaming their lungs out to Avril Lavigne, my life will never be the same. Saturday we went to Kiyomizudera with the DESA kids (Doshisha Exchange Students Association, translation: Japanese College Students) , which is this temple in the hills, and after that we went to a Tabe-Nomi-Houdai, which is basically an all you can eat all you can drink deal. Kiyomizudera was pretty, but when you have allergies, high heels, and are hiking up a giant hill in weather that’s fit for summer time, you get tired pretty easily. The tabe-nomi-houdai was refreshing, but it was also ridiculously amusing. The place we went to was a “Mexican Food Restaurant” but apparently Japanese people never eat Mexican food, which would explain why one of the dishes involved spaghetti, and another involved an egg salad. Nevertheless, it was loads of fun hanging out with the Japanese students, and afterwards we all ended up talking even more at this bar called Pig and Whistle.

The next day I woke up and went to an Easter party with my Okaasan and Tomona-chan. Tomona-chan and I decorated eggs and went on an egg hunt. I felt like I was 10 again, (which was actually an awesome feeling). After that the whole family went bowling, and even though I bowled the worst game of my life, it was loads of fun. I even did the requisite purikura with Tomona at the game center.

We’ll see what the next week brings, but before I head out, it’s time for random one liners:

• Japanese Television programs are ridiculous.
• Japanese baths are awesome.
• I was almost hit in the head by a bat….the animal kind (it was flying all over the street at night time)
• I think my host family may be trying to fatten me with the amounts of ridiculously delicious food they feed me
• Dentists exist in Japan (I’ve seen an office), but I seriously don’t know what the hell they are doing
• You need to take your shoes off in dressing rooms
• College in Japan is basically considered a 4-year vacation

And finally,
Mom and Mike, I know you’re reading this, so I <3>
(My host mom's grandpa, me, Tomona, my mom's grandma, and my host mom. Otousan [dad] is taking the picture)

(Hanami at Osaka Castle)

(Tomona-chan, me, and Otousan)

(Osaka Castle)

(The view of Osaka from the top of the castle)

(Tomona and I standing next to an old canon)

(Me eating matcha [green tea] ice cream at Kinkakujin)

(Kinkakujin)

(Timi and Alan singing at Karaoke)

(Me and some of the DESA kids on the Kiyomizudera trip)

(Kiyomizudera)

(The egg I decorated for Easter)

(My lil sis and the egg she decorated for Easter)

Let's Get Oriented

Orientation.

On the first day we took the subway to Doshisha, didn't completely lose our way, and sat down for orientation. We got the basics (doshisha id card, student discount), learned about some random things, and then ate lunch. Lunch here at the cafeteria is 1. Delicious, 2. Ridiculously cheap. Like 200-400 yen (2-4) dollars. Seeing as they give us 8 dollars a day, that's some money I'm going to save. =)

Anyway, we got out of orientation early, so we went to the hotel and then wandered around Kyoto. We went to Kamogawa (a river) that has pretty cherry blossoms, then walked all the way to the shrine at Gion. Sadly we didn't see any Geisha in the Gion district, but we did see a bunch of couples hanging out at the shrine. Apparently shrine and temples are a hot date spot since they're so pretty, and just thinking about the American equivalent (hey, wanna check out that cathedral sweety?) is bizarre.

We ate dinner at a sushi place, and decided to begin our night by purchasing Chu-hi and Beer at the conbini and drinking in our rooms. Well, 7 of us crammed into one room, which was quite a feat considering the rooms are barely big enough for 2. After getting tipsy (jet lag helps) we decided to wander to the river again at night. People probably looked at us and were like "Oh those crazy gaijin..." but we had a good time. Since we started so early the night ended around 10, and soon we were off to another day of orientation.

The beginning of the second day involved another subway trip to Doshisha, and in the morning we met the other Japanese students that would be auditing our classes. We ate lunch with them, struggled to speak in Japanese, and then returned after lunch for an epic walking trip. We took the subway to the hills, and one of our professors led us on a trip to Nanzenji and Heian Jingu. Nanzenji is this GORGEOUS Zen Buddhist temple, with wall scrolls from like, the 1500s or something nicely preserved. You can walk around, and Katrin-san and I took the liberty of writing a wish down on a piece wood for all the SCTI students. This piece of wood is burned at ceremony along with all the other wishes, and it's supposed to bring good luck. After Nanzenji, we traveled to Heian Jingu, another gorgeous place. This is a Shinto shrine, and we had another good luck type of ceremony performed for us. The priest used a ridiculous amount of Keigo, so of course like 2 people in the whole group could understand him, but it was still very interesting nonetheless.

Finally we had a welcome dinner with the Japanese auditors and volunteers, which involved mingling for 2 hours, eating good food, and trying to remember every Japanese phrase you ever learned. I managed okay, but I couldn't help wondering how the first year students were surviving. I met a bunch of cool Japanese students, learned some Hiroshima-ben, and taught slang to two girls. When one of them managed to string the slang together to tell me "You're freaking cool!" it was seriously one of the best moments of my evening.

We're now on the last morning of orientation, and we'll be meeting our host families in about 5-6 hours. I'm pretty sure most of us are scared shitless and are all looking up last minute keigo. Anyway, enjoy the pics, and as usual, see you on the flipside!

(This giant food market street)

(Pretty cherry blossoms)

(The typical "me amongst the cherry blossoms" pic)

(Kamo River)

(Entrance to the shrine at Gion)

(My 6 drinking companions at the river at night)

(Random temple entrance)

(Woman getting married in Traditional Clothes at Nanzenji)

(Garden at Nanzenji)

(Garden at Nanzenji)

(Garden at Nanzenji)

(Prayer tablet that Katrin and I wrote)

(The giant entrance gate to Heian Jingu)

(Heian Jingu)

(Small River that we found on the way walking back)