Almost Done!

Friday, December 2nd: RWJ Lesson 14/15 Test

Monday, December 5th: SPJ Lesson 15/16 Test                                        RWJ Essay Exam

Thursday, December 8th: SPJ Oral Exam
                                         Ethics Final Due
Friday, December 9th: RWJ Reading Exam

Monday, December 12th: RWJ Final Written Test

Tuesday, December 13th: SPJ Final Written Test

Wednesday, December 14th: Popular Culture Final In-Class Exam

My last weekend in Japan ended up being pretty fun, despite the fact that I spent it inside, studying. I didn't really study very much on Saturday. It was just Okaasan and me all day. She slept most of the day, and I read and...contemplated...studying.... Then we went out for Okonomiyaki and yaki soba for dinner. The restaurant was called Kokoyanen, which is Osaka-ben for 'It is here' or 'Get it here'. The table had a hot plate type thing in it, and when the brought the food, that's where they put it. There was no chance of it getting cold! First was small portions of yaki soba, Okaasan had squid in hers and I had a mix of seafood. The menu was mostly seafood based, with only a few chicken or pork options. Okaasan had a seafood mix in her okonomiyaki, and I had shrimp. A very enjoyable dinner was had by all!

Sunday was a study-all-day-until-my-eyes-fall-out day. But my reward was going out with everyone to Kaiten Sushi, or Conveyor Belt Sushi, for dinner. The restaurant was very crowded even though we were there at 6pm, an early dinner by our normal standards. We had a half hour or so wait, and then got our seats. We sat in a row, sort of like at a bar, with a counter and then the conveyor belt on a raised platform in front of us. You could pick up plates as they passed, or order specific kinds off the touch screen that was in front of every two seats. Each station of two seats was assigned a color and your order would come around on a raised plate of your color. It was very fun and yummy!

Well, as you can see above, my finals are all done. I've got the rest of today and then all day tomorrow and then I get to wake up super early and get on a plane on Saturday. However, then I get to do a bit of time travel. :) My flight leaves Osaka at 8:20 am on Saturday morning and I land in Chicago at 8:30 am on Saturday morning! Who knew it would only take 10 minutes to hop over the Pacific Ocean and most of the US? As a going away party, a few friends and I will be hitting a karaoke room on Friday afternoon. So I have one last fun Japanese experience, before I have to say goodbye.

Safe travel wishes are much appreciated! I'll let you know when I've arrived home safely, but I probably won't write much for the rest of the month. Thanks for listening to me talk about all sorts of random stuff this semester. I hope you enjoyed it! Tune in again at the end of January to hear about my adventures in France!

F.I.N.A.L.S.

Schedule

Friday, December 2nd: RWJ Lesson 14/15 Test

Monday, December 5th: SPJ Lesson 15/16 Test
                                        RWJ Essay Exam

Thursday, December 8th: SPJ Oral Exam
                                          Ethics Final Due

Friday, December 9th: RWJ Reading Exam

Monday, December 12th: RWJ Final Written Test

Tuesday, December 13th: SPJ Final Written Test

Wednesday, December 14th: Popular Culture Final In-Class Exam

Why do we have lesson tests right before/during final tests? Good question. Wish I had an answer. Maybe because they want us to pull our hair out by its roots? 'Cause that's the result they're currently getting.

So, yeah, this weekend was spent studying. No really, I did. I even woke up earlier than normal on weekends and stared at vocab lists while I ate breakfast. I had a brief (couple of hours) excursion into Osaka for the last of my Christmas gifts. (No, Mother, I will not tell you what they are. You'll just have to wait.)

Well, I need to go study some more. I've got not one, but two tests today after all. Sorry for the short post.

Update:

I know I just posted this like 2 hours ago, but I thought you'd all like to hear how my tests have gone so far. The SPJ lesson test was disturbingly easy. First, for the listening comprehension part, the computer hook-up thingy-ma-bob wasn't working so she read it out loud, which means it was MUCH slower than normal and therefore easier to understand. Also, after the listening comp. it was only two pages of fill in the dialogue/sentence with appropriate grammar, maybe 10-12 sentences in all. In other words much shorter than most of our lesson tests. I think she was taking pity on us. :)

In RWJ class, we got our lesson tests back, and I did pretty good: 45/50. I made a really stupid mistake though! In the part where we are given hiragana and have to give the kanji or vice versa, I left one of them blank. I knew the kanji! I just didn't see the blank spot when I first went through the test OR when I checked everything! :(

The essay (作文、さくぶん, sakubun) test was harder than I though it would be. On Friday he said that we would be able to choose from three topics: a Japanese experience, a worry/giving advice, and a personal ad. (Side note: those are the topics of the last three readings in the book; they didn't come out of nowhere.) For part of my studying on Saturday, I wrote up an essay for each of those topics, as practice and so I could figure out what vocab I would need. I had decided to write about going to Hirakata Park as my Japanese experience and was planning on using that as it was the most interesting of the three and used the most grammar points. Unfortunately, he changed up the topics on us. :( The experience one was actually write about your most interesting and least interesting experiences in Japan. I went with this one and was still about to use most of the Hirakata Park essay. I said it was my least interesting experience, on the grounds that it was an amusement park and all amusement parks are basically the same-rides, games, junk food, etc. I used my trip to Nara with my host family as my most interesting, as it was something that I wouldn't find in America. However, about half-way through writing about that, the bell rang, and I had to do a quick wrap-up. I left it with the sentence that at first sounded like an odd ending, but on second thought actually makes a whole lot of sense: Watch out for the deer! (Really good advice to keep in mind if you ever go.) Then I slapped down a quick, both-days-were-very-fun-Japan-is-awesome type sentence and handed it in. I didn't write as much lenghth-wise as I would have for an essay in English, but there was lots of erasing and rewriting to make the kanji look nice. (It's Reading and WRITING class after all.) So, my hand was a bit numb as I left class, but it has recovered now, thanks for asking.

Now, onto the Ethics final!

All of the new things!

Saturday was fun even if it was full of cleaning. I got to sleep lots, which as the semester winds down becomes an every increasing need. When I did drag myself downstairs (at 11:30 or so), I shared a brief lunch with Kayoko and Okaasan. With that done, we started to clear space for the new fridge to come in and the old one to go out. The old fridge was emptied into some cold boxes and the kitchen counter, then cleaned. Next dinning room table and part of the couch were rearranged in the living room area. Then the shelf in front of the large window was cleared of boxes and knickknacks, so the window could be opened to let the fridges in and out. When that was done, Okaasan ran the vacuum cleaner over the newly revealed floor where the table and chairs had been. Finally, she and I pushed the old fridge from its place in the kitchen corner into the living room, and she cleaned the floor behind it. By the time all that was done, it was a little before 3 and the fridge guys were there!

They put a bunch of blankets/pads down in the dinning room, and over the window sill/self. Then they used the crane attached to their delivery truck to lift the box with the new fridge through the window and into the house. Kayoko didn't pay any attention to it-retreating to the tatami mat room and immersing herself on her laptop. I on the other hand sat on the couch and watched the goings on with rapt attention. I probably freaked the delivery guys out a bit with my staring, but I can't help it that I've never seen a fridge come in via a 2nd story window before! It was a strange and interesting sight. They quickly unboxed the new fridge (れいぞうこ、reizouko, by the way) and maneuvered it into place. Then they wrapped ropes and pulley cords around the old fridge and again used the crane to lower to the ground outside. The whole event took about 40 minutes or so, and then they were gone, and we had a new fridge and a dining room to rearrange.

For Sunday's entertainment, I met Kolla at Hirakata-shi eki (which Okaasan kindly offered to drive me to). We set off to Osaka with shopping on our minds! Our goal was Christmas shopping, but we managed to sneak a bit of personal shopping in too! :) The first stop was Shinsaibashi, an area known for its shopping districts and as a gathering place for Osaka's youth. We found plenty of both. Starting with the Sanrio Gallery and feasting our eyes on all of the Hello Kitty merchandise there, then moving on to some music shops, then a  clothing boutique or two, and throwing in a traditional Japanese good stores to round things out, we made our way from one end of the long street to the other, and a bit beyond as well. Around two o'clock or so we succumbed to hunger and joined the line outside Shakey's Restaurant, a pizza buffet place. The line moved quickly thankfully, and we soon got a booth and as much pizza, spaghetti, curry rice, and fried potatoes as we cared to eat.

After lunch, we headed back to the station and slowly made our way to Kyobashi station and from there to Korean town, which we'd been to before, but in the company of Japanese friends who knew where they were going. We found our way there eventually and even found a few of the same shops we had visited last time. All hail the glorious K-pop Boom!

We only spent a few hours wandering around that maze of streets and shops and then admitted exhaustion. We headed home for dinner, studying, and finally sleep!

Autumnal Leaf and Tori Gate Viewing

On Sunday of last weekend, we got a slightly later start on our sightseeing than on Saturday. Kayoko stayed at home studying again. Side note: that girl can study! Every night this week she's been across the table from me, before and after dinner, with her books open, reading, and making notes. Otoosan and I walked to Korien station, Okaasan left after us, and biked there. We ended up arriving at the station around the same time. We took the Keihan line trains to Tofukuji station. (東福寺,　とおふくじ) There are lots of smaller temples surrounding the station, and on the way to the biggest in the area which is Tofukuji Temple. The smaller temples and shrines were all open that day, and were selling souvenirs, tea, and sweets to the huge crowd.
The area, especially Tofukuji Temple, is known as being on of the best places to view the color-changing autumn leaves. The Tsutenkyo Bridge, which arches over a small stream and many maple trees, is the most famous part of the temple, and was packed with people with all sorts of picture taking equipment, from large, professional cameras to cell phones. The bridge is actually two bridges, running parallel to each other. This is the first place I've actually seen a significant number of trees with yellow, red, and orange leaves. Surprisingly, the parts of the temple complex where the trees hadn't changed yet were ignored by the Japanese viewers. However, to me, they were just as beautiful as the brilliant colors in the rest of the complex. The entire area had the feeling of a fairytale forest, with sunlight streaming through the branches and leaves to dapple on the moss covered ground. Speaking of sunlight, the weather was much improved from Saturday's rain, but it was still very chilly due to the strong wind.

We made our way out of the Tofukuji area, and walked to the next stop on our list: Fushimi-inari. Fushimi-inari station is four train stops away from Tofukuji station, but we meandered through the streets, and it didn't seem to take as long to go from one to the other on foot as it does by train. Fushimi-inari is also quite famous, it's dedicated to the Kitsune or Foxes. However, you might know it better as the mountain that is covered (I'm not exaggerating here, it is literally covered) in Tori Gates. Tori gates being those large orange and black, square arches seen at shrines all over Japan. Okaasan and I lost Otoosan for a while, but we finally met up again, and headed up the mountain.

So if any of you have seen the movie Memoirs of a Geisha, then you remember the part where the little girl runs through the seemingly-neverending path under the tori gates. Fushimi-inari is that place. Everywhere you turn, there's another path running under more tori gates. On the way up Okaasan and I followed Otoosan, who seemed to magically know which path to take to get to the top of the mountain. Which took a really long time, by the way, and many, many steps. Oh, and we found three kittens near the top of the mountain. Two were friendly and let us take pictures and pet them, but the third ran away behind some of the many small shrines set up just off the paths, all over the mountain. Some of these areas looked like miniature villages made up of shrines.

On the way back, Otoosan practically flew down, while Okaasan and I took our time. We soon regretted this though, as we had difficulty when we came to the many crossroads, which tori shrouded path we had come up. It was felt like a maze at times! Well, we eventually made our way to the bottom, and then had to find Otoosan again! When we did, we did a bit of shopping, and then found an udon restaurant for lunch. Otoosan picked out the restaurant! Both days this weekend! So, clearly I'm not the only one who likes udon! :D

Speaking of udon, though, I think I've eaten too much of it, because I'm becoming an udon snob. It's sad really, because I used to just love udon, and eat it whenever I got the chance. And now, I've started noticing differences in the soups or the texture of the noodles, and preferring some to others. For instance, the noodles at this shop weren't as firm or chewy as the ones at the shop we ate at on Saturday. And Tuesday night we had instant udon at home for dinner, and I noticed that the noodles were much shorter than those at the restaurants, and that they were almost too chewy. Argh! Why can't I just enjoy the yumminess of udon? Why did I have to develop preferences? If I hadn't developed these preferences, I wouldn't ever get disappointed by a bowl of udon. And really, who wants to be disappointed by a bowl of delicious noodles?

Buddhas and Deer and Baths! Oh my!

This weekend was tons of fun! My host family (Otoosan and Okaasan) and I went to several interesting, sightseeing places. Kayoko has midterms all this week, so she stayed home and studied. :(

Saturday we drove to Nara, which is sort of south of Osaka, about 1.5 hours on the terrifying highway and then through some twisty mountain roads. The highway is terrifying for this reason: It's really high. As in, imagine a typical (American highway), then put in on stilts, then add other roads/houses/buildings/fields underneath it, and there you go. It rained the entire day, quite a downpour at times, so I got very very wet, but it was worth it.

First stop was Todaiji Temple and the Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall). It's the largest wooden structure in Japan according to Otoosan, and it has, you guessed it, the largest Buddha statue! It also has several other statues, including two of the  Four Heavenly Kings. I studied/wrote about them in a paper for Chinese Art History last semester, so this made me smile!

Then we wandered through another couple of shrines in the complex. There were deer everywhere! Most of them were huddled under trees, trying to stay out of the rain. At least until we got to the Great South Gate. Yes, almost everything there had a Great in front of it, to be fair though, most of it was pretty big. Outside of the gate, there were lots of little street stalls, most of them selling packets of special deer crackers that you could buy and feed to the deer. This is the area where all the warning signs about the deer start to make sense. I myself got headbutted in the rear end by one deer who was unsatisfied with my decision to not buy deer food! I saw a kid running with a line of deer following him until he dropped the cracker, which they immediately devoured.

As we left to park limits we saw a line of deer crossing the street, near a deer crossing sign no less. (There aren't any closed fences or gates around the pak, the deer are allowed to wander where they will, though they tend to stay near the park 'cause that's where the easy food is.) We stopped and watched them. As traffic got a little heavier, the deer on the other side, stopped, formed a line, and waited until the cars stopped, then crossed. I'M NOT KIDDING AND I HAVE PICTURES AS PROOF! It puts a WHOLE new meaning on the deer crossing signs!

There were a bunch of guys in uniforms, not police, more like security guards, standing in groups along the road as we walked to find a place for lunch.  We stopped and asked them what was going on. It turns out that a Japanese prince was going to be visiting the area, and there would be a sort of mini parade as he drove through. We did some window shopping to kill time, and then stood on the street side with the crowd and watched a bunch of cars pass, one of which had the windows rolled down, and a waving hand in it. That's all a saw of the guy, but Otoosan was really excited about it. Then we went to an udon restaurant, and all had curry udon. It came in giant, bigger-than-my-head bowls, and I couldn't finish mine! By the time we were done, Prince and company were coming back around, so we watched them pass again. Then we headed home.

A few hours later, Otoosan, Okaasan, and I packed up a change of clothes and drove to a nearby onsen, or public bath house. Otoosan went through one door, and Okaasan and I went through the other. We stripped, then took very long showers, and I tied my hair up to keep it out of the baths. There were several different sorts of bath areas. The ones inside all had jets and bubbles, and were very hot tub like, except imagine the hot tub sectioned off into four or five individual areas. Then we headed outside where there were long square hot and warm baths, all with room for multiple people to lay down and relax. There were also giant tubs of cooler water. They were big enough for me to sit in indian style, with water up to my chin! The large center bath was modeld after a natural hot spring, with fake rock providing excellent backrests! Okaasan and I also sampled the hot sauna for a few minutes, but neither of us liked it much. There was also a cold sauna! I was surprised by this, and Okaasan explained that going back and forth between the two saunas was very good for your complexion, but she didn't want to try it, and neither did I!

When we were done relaxing, we got dressed and joined Otoosan in the main room where we had dinner. And I had my first beer! I actually didn't like it very much. After dinner, we made our way home, where I read for a couple of hours on the couch, and then fell straight to sleep as soon as I hit my bed.

Random Observations

1. The cat likes me. I think. I'm as sure as anyone can ever be about a cat's thoughts. Anyway, he used to sleep in Otoosan's chair (at the dining table). When I asked Okaasan why he slept in only that chair, she said that when they don't have a host student he sleeps in the extra chair, but when there is a host student he sleeps in Otoosan's chair. Maybe because they are on the same side of the table. I think it's because he can tell when there's a new=strange person in the house and doesn't accept them as part of the family. But lately he's been splitting his time between my seat and Otoosan's seat. Also, he likes to sleep on people's stomachs. Mostly Okaasan but sometimes Kayoko too. And he has slept on my stomach twice now, but only when no one else is home. He's starting to think that I'm part of the family-in so far as I am now an acceptable heater/bed. It makes me happy.

2. Japanese people almost always back into parking spaces. And they back up all the way. Which means that they wait until the tires bump into the parking block thingy.(What is the proper name for the concrete block that marks the end of a parking space?)

3. Whereas I have lost 5-6 lbs since being here and being off cafeteria food, a friend of mine has gained 5-6 lbs. So, clearly Japanese food isn't always completely healthy.

4. Kansai Gaidai has a football team. As in American football. But half the students-the actual Japanese student, not just us foreigner, don't know it exists. But EVERYBODY knows about the cheerleaders. And the cheerleaders don't cheer for any of the teams. They even have their own name/mascot. Is there any school in America where this would happen? I don't think so. Side note: Everybody also knows about the football-as-in-soccer team here. I don't know how well they do, but they exist and can't be too bad.

5. Okaasan wants a new fridge. I asked her why, because the fridge they have looks to be in good shape still. She said the one she wants is narrower, but bigger on the inside. I am not making this up, that is the literal translation of what she said! And, okay, technically she meant that she wanted the 'drawer section' to be bigger, and so the shelf section smaller, but what she SAID was that it was bigger on the inside. And we all know what that means. TARDIS!fridge!  Also, since the stairs in the house (and most Japanese houses) are so narrow, it will be coming in via the window. I hope I will be home when it comes so I can see this absurdity in action!

6. The trees still haven't changed color for the most part here. Even the Japanese people are saying the trees are a bit late this year, but that they don't usually turn until November. Which boogles my mind. I miss the pretty colors and the crunch of leaves. And I have the feeling I'll barely get any 'actual' fall before I go home in December and it's the dead of an Illinois winter. It's a shame because Fall is really my favorite season. I love all the color, and the coolness without the biting cold, and without the rain of spring.

I'm an adult now?

As of Saturday, I'm 21 years old, and considered an adult by almost all societies. I don't really feel like an adult though, because I'm still in school, and mostly dependent on my parents, and well, I still feel and act like a kid sometimes. This whole 'adult' thing is weird, and I'm not sure I'm ready to embrace it. This is evidenced by the way I spent my birthday. I went to an amusement park!
Hirakata Park is really close by. I pass the train stop for it everyday on the way to school and back, and you can see the ferris wheel from the train. I went with a group of people, and we had a ton of fun! Even after it started raining!

We got there a little after 11am, and the sky was sort of dripping, off and on, but hadn't decided if it was really going to rain or not. We took advantage of this fact and went on as many rides as we could see as fast as possible. We wanted to get our fun in while the rides were still open. There were three main roller coasters, and we started with the smallest. It was very short and very violent-slamming us around in the hard cars. Next was what Mason City fairs call the Salt and Pepper Shaker and what I call the Emma's Going to Throw-up Now ride. Needless to say, I didn't go on this one. It went upside down. I don't do upside down. I surprised myself by joining them on the next one though-a meteor drop ride. You go way to high up, and then they drop you down really fast so you're sure you're about to splat on the ground, and then it stops and your safe, but you can't walk. Yeah, why did I go on that again?

Then we headed to the longest roller coaster-Red Falcon. Most of the rides' names were in English strangely enough. It was pretty good, but still a bit uncomfortable-my knees were up to my ears in the small car. We did a couple of water rides after that. In one we sat in a log shaped car and rode through a 'jungle' and in the other we were in a large round circle, and got splashed. We didn't get as wet as we would have in similar rides in America, but there were some wet jeans and shirts at the end of the ride. We then found the final roller coaster which turned out to be the best of the three. It was called Elf and was the only wooden coaster in the place. Its seats were really comfortable and most of the ride was up and down long and short hills. It was also the fastest ride, a definite plus!

We rode the ferris wheel of course, and a few other rides, namely the carousel and the tea cups. The tea cup ride was interesting for two reasons. One, the cups had Sanrio characters on them, like Hello Kitty. Two, we spun the cup really really REALLY fast. I usually don't get dizzy on a tea cup  ride, but there's a first for everything. Sooooo dizzy..... We also played a couple of 'games' There were three or four of them and they all revolved around some sort of maze, and doing a task as you go through the maze, which earns you points, and then playing a mini game at the end with those points, and maybe winning a prize for your efforts. The fun part came from the fact that most of the participants were small children running to and fro, and we were five tall foreigners, who didn't really understand what was going on, but running around anyway! I somehow managed to win one of the end games and got a small bag on a lanyard. I have no idea what or how I did so, but yeah me!

For dinner that night, my host family took me out to a udon restaurant. We were in a 'traditional' room, with tatami mats on the floor and an alcove for speical decorations, but there were carpets over the mats with Western tables and chairs. In the alcove, there was a drawing of a horse! Perfect for my birthday dinner, as I was born in the year of the horse! When we got home Okaasan handed me a bag and said they had gotten me a present! Which I completely didn't expect at all! It was a nice jacket-black and soft on the inside.
I hope I expressed my appreciation enough! For desert she had bough a number of individual cakes of different flavors. I had a chocolate one and one that was white cake, with lots of whipped cream, with strawberries and other fruit on top. Yuummmmy~! While eating the cakes, Okaasan and I discussed the differences in American and Japanese birthday cakes. She said that they could get whole cakes of one flavor, but she thought that was a bit boring. She liked trying the different kinds. It was fun to have so many cute cakes, but I also like my chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate chips. :P

All in all, I had a pretty awesome birthday. It wasn't what I normally do, but it was fun all the same!

TINKER DAY!

I was going to Tinker day it up last Saturday, but things came up, so instead I went yesterday. Now, yesterday was in Novembr, whereas Tinker Day is always in October, but yesterday was National Culture Day here in Japan, which meant school was canceled in the middle of the week, versus a Saturday, when there is no class (for me at least). For those of you who don't know what Tinker Day is, it's a tradition from my home university. Here's a quick run-down of the Tinker Day essentials:

-Eating Krispy Kreme Donuts
-Wearing crazy costumes (tutus encouraged)
-Climbing a mountain (preferably a steep one without much of a strict trail, necessitating rock climbing skills)
-Eating fried chicken and Tinker (chocolate) cake at the top
-Running down the mountain, ping-ponging off of the trees to keep from falling
-Singing, dancing, and skits are highly encouraged (especially Disney songs and "I love you Hollins")

For my version of Tinker Day, I had to change some things, but the general spirit of the day was maintained. I left the house at 8:30, a bit of a late start, and headed towards the train station. I got off at Hirakata-shi station and found the nearby Mister Donut shop without too much trouble. Mister Donut has an interesting history-they started out in the US, but were much more accepted in Japan, and have died out in the States, though some sources said they have been converted into Dunkin' Donuts. I thought they'd be a good Japanese substitute for Krispy Kremes. I had a chocolate icing one and one that was labeled as "huney dipped". They were both good, and the huney dripped one didn't really taste like huney, but was close to a Krispy Kreme flavor. Item number one was crossed off.

Next, I went back to Hirakata-shi station and caught a train into Kyoto. My goal was Mount Kurama, to the north of the city. I got off of the Keihan line at Demachiyanagi and switched to the Eizan line, the last stop of which lands you near the entrance of the Kurama shrine and the hiking trail over the mountain. I got off the train about 11 o'clock and started climbing. I got a a couple to take a picture of me in my outfit near the beginning of the upward slope. The cool thing about that, is that they then asked me where I was from, and I answered without thinking about how to phrase the answer! And it came out right! That alone would have made my day, but it was icing on the cake of the wonderful day! My usual Tinker Day outfit is a mis-match of layered clothing in bright, contrasting colors. I toned it down a bit for this year though, and did what I'm calling a study in purple. (My favorite color, don't ya know?) I wore a wrap-around skirt of yellow, purple, green, and pink, purple leggings, purple socks (not the same color as the leggings), purple shirt, and my purple and pink tennis shoes. Crazy outfit: check.

The mountain was really interesting. The way up was VERY different from Tinker Mountain. It was a wide, mostly stone path, with some dirt and gravel sections, and there were tiny shrines and statues every so often. About half way up there was a much larger shrine, near it was small restaurant set up. I borrowed one of their chairs and sat down and ate my 'Tinker cake' which was actually a small chocolate cake I got from a conbini. It was a bit squased from being in my bag, but still yummy! After the large shrine, the path got my narrow, and mostly consiste of stone steps. The top of the mountain appeared suddenly, and was quite different from what I'd seen so far. It was a cedar grove, and the roots of the trees jutted up and created an intricate web across the 'floor'. It was beautiful and peaceful and awe-inspiring. Standing in the middle of it, I realized that it was the exact top, every step away from the grove was a step down. The rest of the mountain might have been full of man-made shrines, statues, and paths, but here, at the highest point, everything had been left natural, and it was beautiful. Way to go Japan.

The way down the other side of the mountain was an interesting experience, as on Tinker Mountain, we climb up and down the same side. It was cool to see both sides of the mountain. The way down was also more rougher, more natural than the way up. The steps were not of stone, but of dirt and pieces of wood. There was a handrail however. The path was still pretty wide, compared to Tinker's and the trees lining the side were not bouncy younger ones for me to ping-pong off of as I half fell down the mountain, they were tall, old, sturdy ones I would have crashed face first into and stuck there! So, after a while, I very much appreciated that handrail! I got down around 12:30, and made my way back to the school (where a cultural festival was in full swing) by 2 or so.

So, let's recap: donuts-check, outfit-check, mountain climbing-check, chocolate cake-check, almost falling down the mountain-check, singing/dancing/skits-I sang in my head quite a bit, but couldn't get up the courage to belt out "I'll make a man out of you" in the middle of a crowd of Japanese hikers. I sang that song, and the "I love you Hollins" song multiple times in my head, as per tradition. The only thing I didn't get in was fried chicken. But FATE prevailed! Last night, Okaasan made fried chicken pieces as part of dinner! Which just proves that yesterday was perfect for a Japanese Tinker Day! It was a beautiful day and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and cursed my aching legs last night and this mornging--Tinker Day tradtions indeed!

Oh! We're half-way there! Wooow! Living on a prayer!

So I looked at the calendar the other day, and to my surprise I've been in Japan for over two months now. Weird. I suppose the whole week of midterms should have clued me into this development. But honestly? I had other things on my mind. So there. Anywho, I thought I'd share some lists of things with you all. (And yes, I meant to put three things in each list. Got to narrow them down somehow!)

Things I miss: (Besides the obvious friends and family, y'all know I miss you!)

1. boneless fish, I don't mind picking the bones out so much as I mind that it takes so long to do so with chopsticks!

2. living 5 min. from my class, I like walking, but some mornings I just don't want to deal with the trains.

3. pants that fit! So this one needs a bit of explanation. At first I couldn't figure out why I was losing weight. I wasn't exercising that much. I mean, yeah, an hour and a half of walking 5 days a week, but I used to have 4 days of fencing practice, which is much more exhausting than my walking. And I walked plenty around campus, both to classes and whatnot and just for fun. I haven't really gained or lost a significant amount of weight since sometime around my second year of high school. So why this sudden loss? Well I figured it out. That date I just said? My second year of high school? The last time I gained a large amount of weight? Also the same time I started eating cafeteria food 24/7. And this semester is the first time in the last five years that I haven't been eating cafeteria, specifically Sodexho, food for the majority of my meals. That whole freshmen fifteen thing is soooo not a lie! Though it might just be the Japanese food, which is supposed to be some of the healthiest food in the world. I'll have to see what develops along these lines next semester. France: your food will be put to the test! Can you win against the Japanese???? Tune in next spring for the results!
Things I don't miss:

1. cafeteria food, obviously! Did anyone NOT see this one coming?

2. Rain. Specifically Roanoke's rain that drizzles then pours then goes away completely. The rain here pours and pours all day for a couple of days and then it goes away again and hasn't been back in weeks. I value consistency, especially in weather. Hirakata's weather has it's own problems with inconsistencies throughout the day (like being freezing in the morning, warm at 10, hot at noon, then cool at 6, and cold again by bedtime), but each day is strangely similar to the day before and the day after. I could get used to this.

3. I can't actually think of anything else that I don't miss. I keep thinking of other things I miss. This is making me sad, so time to move on.
Things I've grown to like:

1. tofu, especially when drenched in soy sauce *licks lips*

2. onions, Okaasan buys these small onions (or maybe that's just the normal size in Japan?) They would fit in the palm of my hand. She cooks them whole either in the microwave (rangi) or in a pan with oil and then she, Otoosan, and I each get one, Kayoko doesn't like onions. We eat them in layers, usually with various dressings on top.

3. cabbage, When I was little I thought this was just a different name for lettuce, because they looked the same in the grocery store. I never ate any though and thought that it sounded nasty. Well, it's in a lot of dishes here, and it doesn't taste that different from lettuce. There's a slight difference in taste, but not an overwhelming one, and it doesn't taste as nasty as it sounds!

Things I still haven't done:

1. Climbed a Japanese mountain, which will hopefully be checked off after tomorrow (Saturday).

2. Drunk sake, Surprisingly I haven't actually had any alcohol, even though I'm legal right now over here, and will be legal in the US in a week. I just haven't felt the need. Probably a large part of the fun has gone out of it as it's not a forbidden pasttime now. Also, I realized that I have no idea what is good or bad or what I like, and I don't really want to start experimenting on my own. I've made friends here who could definitely help me out in that respect, but I'm not sure I trust them quite enough yet. Also, none of them live near me, and I don't want to try walking/riding the train back home drunk. Just sounds like a bad idea all around. If anyone can recommend some good stuff to try, I'll look into it though.

3. Found a balance between people time and me time. *Sigh* This is going to be a long explanation. Disclaimer: Ranting will probably occur.

For the first month or so, I was doing the whole meet-as-many-people-as-possible and talk-to-everyone-all-the-time thing. But these last few weeks the very thought of sitting down in the CIE lounge causes a gut reaction of HIDE! Part of this is caused by the fact that everytime I sit down in CIE alone, and pull out a book or some homework, I immediately find myself the to-go-girl for Japanese students to come talk to and especially to ask questions for their neverending interviews! They are usually in groups of two or three, and they seek out those of us who are sitting alone, because we are "easier to talk to". I don't mind helping them out with their homework, and I do want to meet them and practice speaking Japanese/English with them. But after a while it becomes a bombardment! It seems that if you are in CIE you are signaling your willingness to talk. You are NOT left alone, even if it is obvious that you are involved in something! So the reaction of HIDE is not an exaggeration. Even retreating to the library or the benches outside is not a guarantee of being left alone!

I've taken to finding unused classrooms in order to get a few minutes of quiet reading/alone time. I've also found a park near Hirakatashi station that is a nice retreat. It's next to the Yodogawa River (although river is a bit redundant, because kawa or gawa means river in Japanese, かわ、がわ、川). The park is very large, but my favorite part is a wide grassy area with large boulders randomly scattered around it. I, and other people, sit on the boulders and enjoy the sunshine, read, write, study, etc. It's very peaceful.

I think the world has had enough of my hiding out though. The last couple of groups of Japanese students I've run into have actually wanted to talk to me and learn about my culture and share theirs instead of just wanting me to answer some questions. And then today, well, first a guy from one of my classes apparently lives near-ish me and we ran into each other today at the train station. This incident is odd because although I've seen several other Kansai Gaidai students along my route to school, I've never seen him in these last two months! We ended up having a really interesting conversation about the class we share, and then how it relates to our home colleges and classes. I enjoyed talking to him, and it didn't feel like an invasion of my private time, even though my trips to school and back are the times I'm guaranteed to be alone. He got off at the station before me. However, I was not left alone for the rest of my walk to school. I ended up walking next to one of the girls who I worked with last Saturday at the English Camp for Elementary School Kids. We had a good conversation too! All about our various trips to school, our morning schedules, classes, etc. When we got to school, she ran off to class and I was left to make my own way to my class. This morning I was interrupted, not once but twice, during my daily dose of me-time, but they didn't feel like intrusions. I have two thoughts about this: One, I'm clearly becoming used to being interrupted and may actually be adapting to the more social lifestyle I'm living in the middle of over here. And two, the universe thinks I spend too much time alone, and need to get out more! The universe is probably right.

That's the end of my lists. I hope they gave you some insight into how my first two months in Japan have gone. If you have other suggestions of lists for me to do, I'd like to hear them. I'm disappointed in myself that I couldn't think of more!

Midterm Week

Last Friday: Pop. Culture Essay Due-easy

Tuesday: Spoken Japanese Oral Exam-easier than I thought it would be, but still pretty hard

Wednesday: Reading/Writing Japanese Reading Exam-easy as pie

Thursday: SPJ Written Exam-ugh, I don't even want to talk about it. XD

Friday: RWJ Written Exam-not too bad

Next Tuesday: Ethics Exam-I'm looking forward to this, which is weird, because I'm not a huge fan of tests. I don't hate them, but I don't like them either. I think it's because I'm really liking this class, and the test is essay question based, so I'll get to talk about what I've gotten out of the readings at length!

So, that's my week in a nutshell. Originally I was supposed to have the Ethics test on this Tuesday, but the professor took pity on us, which I am of two minds about. On one hand, I like having the extra time to study, but on the other hand, I would have liked to get everything done and over with in a week.

Last Saturday's outing to Kyoto was fun. The cake we made is called Yatsuhasi, and I wouldn't actually call it cake. It's closer to a chip texture. It came in thin rectangles, and we got to put them on the open cook tops and do various things to them as they moved down the rows. You placed them in two rows of four and then put a wooden block on top. There were six 'stations' sets of rows with a block over them. The one on the far right would be taken off, and they were all moved down, with pauses where you changed the order of the eight rectangles in each set, to make room for the new set. It's really hard to explain without having the materials in front of me. But they were tasty! Apparently they come in all sorts of flavors, but our were cinnamony and reminded me a bit of snickerdoodle cookies!

This Saturday, I'm helping out with an English Learning Camp that Kansai is hosting. A bunch of Elementary students are coming to Kansai, and getting a tour of the campus, and then they'll come through the rooms where we, the foreign students, will be. There'll be booths for the different countries, and the kids will ask us questions about our countries, families, schools, etc.

Then on Sunday, I have a meeting with my presentation group. My pop. culture class has been split into groups to present on the next few weeks topics. My topic is one that's close to my heart: Otaku! Mostly what we're dealing with is the differences between how the Japanese view otaku, which is mostly negatively, and how the term has been adapted/used/received abroad. One thing that has surprised me the most is that none of the Japanese students I've interviewed have known where the word originally came from or what it meant before it was used to describe anime and manga lovers. I've learned through my own research, and by living on Otaku Hall, that it originally meant house or home or family. Later it came to be used as a formal way of saying 'you'. When used this way it indicated distance, it wasn't used by close friends. This is why scholars think it got morphed into meaning what it does today. A big stereotype of otaku culture, is people who stay at home and only talk to others who are interested in their specific interest. They distance themselves from the rest of society. Another thing I've learned about this, is that most Japanese define otaku as being obsessed or interested in only one thing, to the exclusion of all else. Otaku have one interest, and are always researching and learning more about that one thing. This is different to the way a lot of Westerners use the term: to refer to anyone who is interested in anything Japanese, regardless of the depth of that interest.

Well, I got a little carried away, talking about that, but it ties in to what I've been doing and thinking about lately, so consider it a look into my head!

So, I realized today, that I've been in Japan for almost two months exactly. I'm halfway through, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. :\ I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Have a good weekend folks!

Random Things

1. The cat
I finally learned why the cat it named Nihango. Nihan is the Japanese version of Meow. And "go" means word or language. So I'd translate Nihango to something like The one who says Meow, Speaks in Meows, The Meower, etc. Quite an appropriate name for a cat, don't you think?

2. Cars
I really really really REALLY don't like Japanese cars, or Japanese bikes, or Japanese roads, or Japanese traffic. Not one day goes by without me being scared for my life because of one of the above.

3. This Weekend
Saturday I'll be going to Kyoto to make Japanese cake with a group of people including my speaking partner. I was planning on Sunday being my personal Tinker Day, but I have yet to research a mountain to climb, so we'll see. I may just embrace the Tinker Day spirit and wing it. I decided to climb the mountain at the last minute last year and I see no reason for this year to be any different.

4. ZZZZ
I'm sorry, I'm tired. Don't know why, I've been sleeping. Maybe it's the rain. Rain makes me sleepy. . . zzzz

Okay, sorry, but I'm going to give up on this now. I'm going to sleep a bit now, so I can stay awake in my class next hour.

Another Long Weekend of Fun

So, I didn't have very many plans for the weekend, but it ended up being really fun. Saturday was the only planned day. I met up with Kolla, Aiko, and one of Aiko's friends, Mizuki, at Hirakatashi station. We preceded to take a couple of trains into Osaka's Korean towns. There's actually two, one that's sort of grew up near a train station and is home to many resident Koreans, and another that was made by the city to be a tourist attraction. We went to both.

First we went to the original. The second we walked out of the station, we were in a maze of streets, with shops crowded on both sides. There were clothing stores mostly, both modern, westerized clothing, and shops with traditional Korean dress. There were also lots and lots of small shops devoted to K-pop paraphernalia, similar to the ones I visited with Victoria and Kolla in Harajuku. Aiko and Mizuki are also big fans of K-pop, and we spent quite a bit of time purusing several of the shops. The funniest product I found? Definitely the oven mitts printed with your favorite K-pop star's face!

One very interesting thing, which all four of us ended up buying, was a text/practice book teaching you Korean and hangul (Korean writing system). Of course, they were adorned with all sorts of K-pop stars, and we all got different ones. :) I'm going to enjoy using it, and it'll help me with my Japanese as much as Korean, as it's geared to teaching Korean to Japanese fans, and there's not a bit of English in the whole thing!

After we finished swooning over all things K-pop, we headed to the other Korean town for food, as Aiko said the restaurants there were cheaper. It was after 1pm, which is rush hour down there apparently, but we finally found a place with seats for four. Aiko, Kolla, and I ordered bim-bim-bap, which is one of the few Korean dishes that is devode of spice. I unfortunately don't have a lot of tolerance for spicy foods, which rules out most Korean food. Mizuki had something that almost had my tongue burning from across the table. When we were done eating, we wandered up and down the one street of this town. We found another K-pop shop, and this one had a TV showing clips from a recent concert, so we stayed there for a while, watching. We bought hoddeok and ate them as we walked back to the train station. Hoddeok is a sort of street pancake thing. It's made of dough, and filled with nuts and honey. It tasted almost like an elephant ear or funnel cake at an American fair.

On Sunday I spent 6 hours in a Karaoke room with Okaasan and Kayoko. It was very entertaining, and I almost didn't notice the hours passing. I butchered several Japanese songs, due to the lyrics being all in hiragana and kanji, and my inability to read them fast enough. I did manage to get all the way through the theme song to My Neighbor Totoro, one of Hayao Miyazaki's famous movies, without messing up! I mostly sang a bunch of the English songs, some of which Kayoko or Okaasan recognized.

Monday was less fun filled because I had a headache throughout the day. It was National Sports and Health Day, so thankfully I didn't have to deal with going to school. Instead, I went to the family to drop of Kayoko. She spent the day with friends doing more Kareoke, man that girl likes to sing! Then Otoosan, Okaasan, and I went grocery shopping and out to eat. We went to this german looking restaurant. It had advertisements for Oktoberfest (as it was spelled) and lots of beer selections. Unfortunately, due to my headache, I didn't get to sample any of that beer.

Tuesday dawned, and I woke up with a massive headache and nausea. Ugh. I got up anyway, and ate a piece of toast for breakfast and was going to head to school anyway. My body had other plans though, and before I got my backpack completely packed, I was downstairs and in front of the toliet. Okaasan called the school and told them I wouldn't be in to class. Then she had to go to work. She kept apologizing for leaving me, and she said if I wasn't better when she came back from work we'd go to the hospital. I thought that a bit extreme for an upset stomach, but when a CIE representative called later that day, she also encouraged me to go to the hospital if I was sick, even if I wouldn't normaly at home. Thankfully, that was not necessary. After my stomach was empty of my meager breakfast, I wandered upstairs, changed back to pjs, and slept for several hours. I was out like the dead and had some pretty strange dreams, which I fully blame on the headache. When I woke up the again, it was around 2pm and I was feeling much better.

It must have been some weird bug that's going around. I was fine when I woke up today (Wednesday) and came to school and everything. When I went to Professor Hanagan's office (I missed his class on Tuesday and wanted to find out what they had gone over) his wife, who is also a teacher here, said she had heard of four other students with similar symptoms in the last couple of days. I think Okaasan will feel better when she hears that. She was really worried yesterday about what had caused my sickness. At least it's over now, and hopefully that will be the only illness I have while I'm here.

It is ironic that I got sick when I did. My vocab quiz last week was mostly words about different illnesses: to have a stomache-ache (onaka ga itai), to have a headache (atama ga itai), to catch a cold (kaze ga hiku), to have a fever (netsu ga aru), etc. And my kanji quiz today included the kanji for both hospital (byooin,　びょういん、病院) and illness (byooki, びょうき、病気)。I didn't particularily want to put them into practice so soon, but I'm glad I knew how to tell Okaasan what was wrong.

Adventures Continued: The Concert! and Sunday's Travels

Kolla and I became avid crowd followers on the train out to Makuhari. Almost everyone we saw was wearing some sort of 2ne1 apparel, from concert t-shirts to a group of four dressed in one of the outfits in 2ne1's Clap Your Hands music video. We followed them to the right trains, and the right building. Thank you random Japanese people with all of the 2ne1 apparel! The concert started at 6pm, and the doors didn't open until 5. We got to the area around 4:30. We followed the crowd part of the way to the hall where the concert would be held, and then took a short detour for food. We ate a quick meal at a small cafe in the building next to the hall.

Then we booked it to the concert area, bought ourselves some t-shirts and light sticks, and got in line. The line moved pretty fast, and we soon found our seats: the back row, but who cares, we were in! Kolla and I took turns standing in line for the bathroom and watching our stuff. I ended up using the men's restroom, because 1. no one else was using it, and 2. The lights had just gone off and I didn't want to miss the start.

I made it back to our seats in time for the entrance. And what an entrance it was! Lights galore!Coming from the stage, from the ceiling, and from the light sticks almost every member of the audience had. They sang all of my favorites: Fire was the opening song, Ugly and Clap Your Hands were near the end, and Go Away was the encore. All the other songs were amazing as well. There's always the worry that a band won't be as good live as they are on CD, but though I could tell it was live music, the girls were absolutely amazing! The only bit of disappointment was that the guest appearance was Seven, and not Big Bang. He sang well, but I'm just not a big fan of his. *shrug* But the rest of the night was wonderful!

The concert ended a little after 8, and we began to make our way back to the train. Everyone was funneled out of one entrance, which made for a long line to get out, but they gave out free water at the exit, so it turned out alright. Kolla and I turned out of the crowd to stop and a 7/11 to grab some snacks and a rest. The train ride back to Tokyo station seemed to take forever. We were packed like sardines into the tin can of the train car. Thankfully, though we grabbed one seat, and were able to trade off who sat and who stood.

Once we got to Tokyo Station, we caught a quicker train to Shinjuku, where we finally figured out which train to take to meet Victoria in Omiya. That train was even longer, because we had to stand the whole time. In Omiya we meet up with Victoria who showed us the small line she takes to her home. The train station is a couple of blocks from her apartment building. She had already set out some mats for Kolla's and mine beds, and we collapsed into them as soon as she unlocked the door. It was a little after midnight, and had taken us FOUR hours to travel what we had previously figured to be a two hour trip! I was SO happy to take off my shoes and sit down, and I just wanted to go to sleep. However, we had to figure out how to get Kolla and I to Yokohama station where we were to meet the bus to take us back to Osaka. A couple of different options were figured out pretty quickly, and then we all crashed.

Our alarms went off at 6:15am, and we were out the door by 6:45. We got to Omiya around 7:30 and were able to catch a train that went straight to Yokohama station. After an hour and a half we arrived, and without too much trouble, this time, found where we were supposed to meet our bus. We were actually 20 minutes early! The bus left at 10am, and made several stops at rest stations along the way, which we took advantage of to get food and stretch our legs. This bus had much less leg room than the night bus, but it did have screens in the backs of the seats, like on long plane flights. Kolla listened to the music provided, and I watched a movie: Elizabeth: The Golden Age. We both worked on our homework.

Here's what was written on the wrapping of my sandwich: "We send to you the lovely flavor of the wind in the meadows." Hilariously bad English, but it was a good sandwich.

We ended up getting off in Kyoto instead of staying on the bus for another 2 hours and getting off in Osaka. From that station we took a short train ride to a station where we got on the Keihan line that runs through Hirakata. I was home by 7:30, and had some instant ramen for my supper. I took a long shower, doctored my blisters, and was in bed for a good long sleep by 9pm.

All in all, the weekend was a lot of fun, and I'm really glad I went. But it was a lot to do in just two days. I hope I can get back to Tokyo, and see some other areas at a more leisurely pace, but I'll have to wait for another long weekend!

Saturday's Adventures

Kolla and I arrived at Shinjuku station at 7:15, a bit earlier than was scheduled, so yay! We got a quick breakfast out of a nearby conbini and waited for Victoria. We weren't sure where she was getting off at, but she found us eventually!

Our first stop was Harujuku, the famous fashion street. We visited a number of what I call fan stores. They are little, usually underground shops, that are crowded wall to wall, floor to ceiling with picutres and posters and basically anything you could think of plastered with faces of J-pop and K-pop stars. One of these shops was a bit bigger, and had several purikura machines as well, which we took advantage of.

We went into a couple of shops without buying anything. One was a Lolita shop. For those you don't know anything about Japanese fashion, Lolita fashion is modeled after European Victorian age clothings: petticoats, aprons, lots of accessories, all of the lace, and platform shoes are basics of the style. We paid a brief visit to a store devoted to hip-hop clothes and accessories. Another shop we spent some time in was a Visual-Kei shop that specialized in recreating the outfits and jewlery worn by famous bands.

After all our shopping, we stopped by one of the many stands that were selling crepes. That was the most delicous crepe I have ever eaten!!! I got one filled with chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, and pieces of pie crusts. Of course, the sauce went everywhere, but it was so worth it!

Then we took another train to Akihabara, the Otaku district! The stores here were mostly tall narrow buildings with a different small shop on each floor. We went into a couple and I bought the newly released 2ne1 album, in preparation for the concert later that night. We also saw several maid cafes, both on the street and in one of the buildings.

By this time, we had been on our feet for almost 6 hours so we went into a Tully's cafe to rest. We sat and talked and drank coffee/tea for an hour or so. Then we hit up a few more shops. In one of these, I finally found a phone charm I liked: Gigi, the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service.

We took a train back to Tokyo Station, and Victoria went home to a well deserved rest. Kolla and I caught a train out to Makuhari to continue our adventures!

Friday's Adventures

Kolla and I had our last class on Friday together. It starts at 4:40pm, and we watched a movie that day. The movie was really interesting. It's called "Go" and is about 3rd and 4th generation Koreans being born and living in Japan. The perfect movie to start off our weekend of K-pop in Tokyo! The movie went over normal class time, so we didn't get out until about 6:45.

Next we decided to walk to Hirakata-shi station instead of spending money on a bus ride. We regretted that decision pretty soon, as we were almost run over by several buses! But we made it and caught our first train of the weekend to take us into Osaka. We got off at Kyodobashi station and switched to the JR line and took a train out to Sannomiya (Kobe area) where we would board our night bus. We thought we had to get off at Amagasaki station and switch trains again, but we quickly figured out that we could actually take the same train all the way to Sannomiya! We rode in a women's only car, which was a first for both of us. It was a very quiet car, and I don't know if that's because it was women only, or if it was because it was later in the evening.

We arrived in Sannomiya station with an hour to kill. We located the exit for the bus terminal, then grabbed some McDonald's for a quick and cheap meal, also because it was the closest resturant to the station and we didn't want to wander too far off. We got to the bus terminal at 9:40pm, ten minutes early for boarding, and 20 mins. before the bus left. However, we didn't see our destination listed on the board. We asked a woman working a snack counter and she said we were at the wrong bus terminal. She pointed us down the street.

We took of running, because by this time we should have been boarding the bus! We got to a corner and couldn't go straight anymore, because of some constrution. What to do now? Kolla asked a woman standing on the corner with us if she knew where we needed to go. Not only did she know where we needed to go, she ran with us to show us the way! We had a zigzag course across several crosswalks and maybe 4 or 5 city blocks. We got to the bus barely on time, and as we turned around from checking in, to thank this wonderful stranger, she was gone! I wish to say here what I couldn't say to her: You are a wonderful person, and I'm so thankful you were willing to not only tell us where to go, but run there with us. You didn't have to help us, we were complete strangers, but you did anyway, and it saved our weekend. Thank you so much!

So, thanks to our mystery woman, we made it on the bus about 2 mintues before it pulled out at 10pm. We had quite a lot of leg room, and seats that reclined, and curtains over the windows to block out any light. We talked for a bit and then traded off sleeping, trying to sleep, listening to music, and talking for the next eight hours. The bus made three rest stops on the way, one at midnight, one at 2:40am, and another at 5:30. I got off each time and used the restroom, even if I didn't really need to. My various travels have taught me to never pass up the chance at a restroom! I also appreciated the chances to walk around stretch my legs.

And that ends Friday.

Weekend Adventure

On Friday (the start of another long weekend) I left the house at 11am. I was going to meet up with my friend Kolla at the Seminar House and hang out for the afternoon. We figured how to order night bus tickets (for our trip to Tokyo the next weekend), listened to Big Bang music, watched a few parody videos, and generally had fun!

Her roommate Erin showed up around 3 and asked us if we wanted to go to dinner with her and her speaking parnter. After checking in with my host family, I agreed, thankful for the extra time out of the house.

We walked to the bus stop around 5, and met up with some other people she invited. I got to learn how the bus system works, which is sure to be useful. There are two doors, one at the front of the bus and one in the middle. You get on in the middle, and sit as far back as possible in narrow seats or stand in the even narrower aisle. Then you get off at the front of the bus, and that's where you pay. For this particular bus line, there's a flat fee, no matter how which stop you get on or get off, of 220 yen. We got off at the Hirakata-shi station stop, where we met up with the speaking partner and her friend. All together, there were 7 of us, quite a group.

We wandered through Kiddyland, which is a large store full of everything cute! (and more!) Then we went to a department store across the street, rode escalator after escalator up to the top floor and took purikura (photo booth photos, プリクラ).

Then we walked back to the station and took a train to Goten-yama station. We walked aways from the station to a Shabashaba resturant. (しゃばしゃば）Shabushabu is a form of food where there's a pot of water on a heater in the middle of the table. You boil the water, and then put strips of meat and vegetables into the pot, and they cook very quickly. Yummy!

The rest of the weekend was pretty boring, but next weekend will be much better! Next weekend, Kolla and I are going to Tokyo to see a 2ne1 concert! For those who don't know, 2ne1 is a Korean pop girl band. We will also get to explore Tokyo before the concert with a friend from home: Victoria!! I can't wait!!!!

Short Week

I can say with certainty that this week has been the shortest school week ever. It was supposed to be a three day week, with Monday and Friday being national holidays. (Respect for the Aged Day and the Autumnal Equinox, respectively) But, see, the typhoon had other ideas. It has rained off and on since last Friday, and through the weekend, but I woke up on Wednesday to a torrential downpour and high winds. There was a storm warning, which meant school was cancelled.

Kansai's policy when it comes to severe storms (and train strikes, which is odd, but helpful for all of us homestays) is that if the storm/strike is not resolved before 10am, classes won't start until 1pm, and if it's not resolved by noon, all classes are cancelled. So I woke up on Wednesday morning, ate breakfast, then went back to bed for a couple of hours. I got up at 10 to see if I would have my afternoon class, and stayed downstairs till noon, when Okaasan informed me the storm warning was still in effect, giving me a free day or yasumi (休み、やすみ).

She had to go into work that morning, but stayed home after lunch. She brought McDonald's for us. She had a chicken thing, but brought Kayoko and I tsukimi burgers (つきみ). Tsukimi burgers have a patty of some sort (I'm not sure if it's hamburger or vegetable or what and I don't really care). On top of the patty is a fried egg, then a slice of bacon, and for a condiment there is this gingery mayonnaise stuff. All together it's pretty good. A bit of breakfast for lunch sort of thing. And of course there were fries, which I like even if I shouldn't.

It has cooled down here these past few days. I haven't turned on the air conditioner in my room since sometime on Sunday. And I've had the best sleep! I put it down to it being cool enough for me to cuddle under the blanket and the rain. Two things guaranteed to make me sleep well! The clouds spit at me on my walk to school this morning, but the sun has come out of the clouds now. So much for the cool down! It's not too bad yet, today, but I'm expecting the temperatures to go back up soon.

I don't really have any plans for this 2nd long weekend. My speaking partner wants to show me around Kyoto sometime, but I haven't heard from her in a week now. Hopefully she'll respond soon, and I can get out of the house this weekend and take advantage of the extra time!

Until next time, my friends!

Computer problems

Friday was a bit of a sucky day for me. First there were woman troubles, then my computer decided it didn't want to work anymore, then the sunny skies turned to rain and I got soaked. Sucky start to a three day weekend.

My computer has a history of screen problems. For most of last year, there was some sort of loose connection which made the colors go all wonky, but I could still SEE things on the screen. I could read and send emails, write papers, surf the internet, etc. Now all I have is a black screen of doom! And the computer isn't dead, just a black screen. When I turned it on Friday morning, it made the normal starting up and log in page sounds, but there was no log in screen showing up. I typed in my password anyway. After hitting enter it made the now-showing-your-desktop sound, but still nothing but a black screen.

So, my three day weekend (Monday was respect for the aged day, a national holiday here in Japan) was spent curled up on the couch or my bed, reading. Which, as most of you know, I love. But after 4.5 books in 3 days, even I'm a little weary of it. An internet surfing break is good every once in a while, not to mention the youtube videos I could have watched. *sigh*

I did make it to school on Saturday afternoon (through more rain) to meet up with my speaking partner. She spent the last week in Korea so we had a fun time talking about our favorite k-pop bands. And on Monday evening, my host family and I went to one of the huge department stores near us and spent a few hours looking around and getting groceries. So I didn't spend the entire weekend inside, but I didn't mind the enforced insideness as much as the zero chance to interat with the outside world. Heck, to interact with people besides myself! My host mom and dad had to work for part of both Saturday and Sunday.

Now that you're all caught up, I have to get to class. See ya!

The Gaijin Walk Among Us

    I was on the train this afternoon, headed home from school. A bunch of people got off at the Hirakata-shi station, which meant that I got to sit down. I had been standing near the door, and there was a girl sitting at the end of the row there, but a large, newly empty space next to her. So, I sat down with a 'stranger space' between us. You know, not quite enough room for another person, because you don't want them to think they smell, but not very close because you don't want to crowd them either. As soon as all the people got off the train, a ton of other people started getting on, normal thing for trains. This group of people included three older women. There was some space on my other side, but not enough for three, so I scouted over, and made room.

    They sat down, and then one next to me was very close! We kept brushing shoulders, and I was freaking out, because I'd heard tons of stories of Japanese people on trains, not wanting to sit next to gaijin (foreigners, がいじん、外人). And I didn't want her to think I was being rude or something, I had scouted over as much as I could, but I tried to scoot over a littler further, to give her plenty of room. The motion of scooting over caused us to brush elbows again and she turned to me and apologized! And then I was thinking, oh no, now she definitely thinks I'm rude, trying to scoot away from her! Ah! (Side note: Why do I care what a random Japanese woman thinks of me? Because I'm trying to be a good example of foreign culture. Because I'm trying to adapt to the culture here; trying to be more Japanese; trying to incorporate the local customs and all that jazz. Because I do, okay?)

    I end up sitting there for the rest of the ride to my stop, listening to the three of them chat, not that I understood a word, and worrying  that I was being labeled as yet another rude gaijin. Well, when we get to my stop, the lady nearest me turns, looks out the window, and asks, "Doko..." (Where [are we]?, どこ？). It being my stop, I know what station we're at so I say, "Korien eki" (Korien station, こりえんえき). She looks at me with a bit of a surprised look on my face and asks if I speak Japanese, and I say I do, a little. Then she asks if I'm from/go to Kansai Gaidai, and again I answer yes. Then she compliments my Japanese, which is a bit silly since I've said all of three words to her, all basic communication things. I do the Japanese thing and deny my ability and thank her profusely, "ii, ii, arigatogozaimasu." (no, not really, thank you very much, いいいいありがとございます) Being humble=very Japanese. She and her friends smiled and waved as I got off the train and I skipped up the stairs to the exit.

    I wanted to share this story  to show that not all non-internationally affiliated Japanese dislike foreigners. I was told many times not to worry if I sat down on a train seat and the Japanese person I sat next to got up and moved, or if I ended up sitting alone while the rest of the car stood. Some Japanese just don't like the gaijin, it's not your fault. Well, actually I think it is, a bit. The fault of a number of gaijin over the years, who haven't respected the culture they've stepped into. Who have acted like they would in their home countries, especially Americans, being loud and drinking/eating on the trains, and taking up an inordinate amount of space with their large backpacks, all of these behaviors are seen as rude and offensive to the Japanese.

    I don't know if the women I met today had met other foreigners or heard about their stereotyped behavior. I don't know what they thought of foreigners before they sat next to me. But they did sit next to me, and I tried to adapt to their culture. I was polite and tried to give them some space. I kept my large, American style backpack on my lap, taking up as little space as possible. I spoke enough Japanese to be helpful and polite. I didn't try to join their conversation, but I answered their questions. At the very least, I hope I left them with the sense that not all gaijin were rude. And I encourage you, traveling in any country, to not be too afraid of what the locals think of you, but to be polite and try to adapt to the local culture as best you can. I learned in Girl Scouts to leave the campsite cleaner than when I found it. And I've adopted this motto to a lot of things over the years, but most importantly: To leave the reputation of foreigners better (cleaner, more respectful, nicer) than it was when I came.

Food

Today's theme is food. Yummy, yummy food. There might be some other things thrown in to add some contrast, but mostly food.

    Friday night we had what I'm starting to think of as a typical meal. There was tofu, rice (of course!), fish, and an assortment of vegetables. Okaasan had to leave in the middle of making dinner to go pick up Kayoko from school. So, Otoosan finished up and I helped him set the table. He put the extra bowl of rice in front of the small wooden shrine box, by  the table, as he does whenever rice is on the menu. He must have noticed me watching him do so, and he explained that he (they?) is/are Buddhist. The nightly ritual of leaving some food in front of the shrine is a way to honor their ancestors. I've also noticed that they leave pieces of fruit there too, usually whatever we have for desert. A couple nights ago we had frozen bananas, and there was an extra banana set up there. They don't leave the food up there indefinitely. For example, Okaasan adds the extra rice to her bowl, usually part of the way through dinner.

    I slept in a bit on Saturday, and only had an orange for breakfast. Lunch was just Okaasan and I, she was home from work for a while, but Otoosan was still at work, and Kayoko was at cram school. She made 'instant' ramen, and apologized for the 'bland' favor. The noodles were just like the instant ramen I've eaten in the states, but she added carrots and lettuce and ham to it! There was also an entire hard-boiled egg, split in half, floating around! It was the best instant ramen I have ever had!
    After lunch on Saturday, I headed off to school. There was a welcome party for any students that spoke French. There were 5 other international students there, 3 from France, 1 from Quebec, and 1 from England. There were also about 10 Kansai students who have been studying French. We ate Japanese snacks-I didn't catch most of the names, but there was some mochi and these things called milk balls. The milk balls are tiny (like bead on a bracelet) slightly crunchy balls made of egg, milk, and sugar, and were quite addicting! Mochi (もち) is a doughy desert made of rice and other things. It's usually got something else on top, like sugar. It was a fun couple of hours, hanging out and practicing my French as well as my Japanese skills.

    For dinner that night we had karaage tori (からあげ鳥、からあげとりあ, fried chicken), cabbage, tofu, and rice. The fried chicken wasn't like KFC, or picnic chicken, it was closer to chicken nuggets, except home made, and delicious! It was a close tie between this meal and the udon meal for my favorite meal in Japan so far.

    At least until today's lunch! I slept in a lot longer this morning (Sunday), and then I stayed in bed for even longer, reading. :D When I finally got dressed and made my way downstairs, I found the house empty. Actually, Kayoko was in the shower, but I couldn't hear that from the second floor. It was almost lunch time though, so I just sat on the couch, read, and pet the cat. Otoosan and Okaasan came back pretty soon and Okaasan started cooking lunch. We had yakisoba (やきそば, fried soba noodles). First, Okaasan chopped up all the ingredients, then she brought this big electric skillet out to the table, which Kayoko had already covered with newspaper. She plugged it in, add some oil and waited for it to get hot. Then she added the meet,  then the vegetables (carrots, onions, cabbage). After that had cooked for a while, she added the noodles, and on top of everything drizzled this brown sauce. This sauce has made an appearance at meals before. It was put on our hamburgers the one night, and Otoosan's potatoes another night, but I never seem to catch the name, and the bottle doesn't have the label.

    After everything was cooked, we were called to the table, and Okaasan filled our plates with the first serving. We each had too platefuls of it, and there was still some left over. Okaasan said something about yakisoba pan, a yakisoba sandwich. It sounds like it would be very difficult to eat, but yummy all the same. But we weren't done yet! She brought out four eggs, and fried them in the skillet too, one for each of us. I was instructed to pour the brown sauce over my egg as well, and it tasted a bit odd with the egg, but not bad. Currently, today's lunch wins the number one spot on my favorite meals in Japan list, but we'll see what dinner brings, huh?

Catching up

I've been very busy the last few days, sorry for not writing! I've basically crashed into bed as soon as my homework was done each night.

Here’s a brief run-down of the last few days:

Wednesday, September 7^th:

Okaasan made me onigiri (おにぎり) for breakfast. Yummy!

I made it to school on time for class, without any mishaps! Today was my first day of Reading and Writing Japanese. The review test for this class in on Monday, and will cover lessons 1-7.

I went to the conbini at 1pm, after my writing class. The shelves of food were almost completely empty! I shall have to remember to eat lunch before writing class, not after. I managed to find a sandwich pack thing. It had three half sandwiches in it. Two were lettuce, ham, and mayo, pretty normal. The other half was egg salad with cheese, a slice of tomato, and cucumber pieces. WHY? Why would someone put a gross tomato on a wonderful egg salad sandwich?? The cheese and cucumbers were odd also, but at least they taste good! (Sorry to any tomato lovers, I’m not one, clearly.)

Then I got to wait for THREE HOURS until my next class started at 4:40pm. Thankfully I headed to the CIE lounge and met up with some friends. A large group was quickly gathered, as happens all the time there, and we commenced talking about whatever popped into our heads for hours on end.

Finally I got to class: Popular Culture as Social Practice. Nothing much happened. We went over the syllabus and the teacher talked at length about the goals and objectives of the class.

Class got out at 6:10 and the sun was already setting. It made a pretty picture out of the window. However, it was not so fun to walk home in the dark. I got home around 7:30 and dinner was getting put on the table.

Dinner was absolutely delicious!!! Otoosan was working late, so it was only the three of us. Okaasan and I had two types of udon, but Kayoko doesn’t like curry sauce, so she had one big bowl of the other kind. The udon with curry sauce (うどん　and カレーサウス) was a bit spicy for me, so I ate that first, and then attacked the other kind. It had tons of stuff in it! It had fried tofu, tori (とり, chicken), hijiki (ひじき,　a type of seaweed), and some sort of paste thing, all of it yummy, yummy, yummy! 

Thursday, September 8^th:

I had toast with the cheese spread again. It’s growing on me. I also had yogurt. Okaasan said that I should put jam on it and I thought that was an odd condiment for yogurt. I’ve had plain yogurt before and it’s not bad. After the first taste of the non-jammed yogurt, I quickly revised my phrasing. American plain yogurt is not bad. Japanese plain yogurt NEEDS jam. I added a couple of big spoonfuls of the strawberry jam, which much improved the taste.

I only had Spoken Japanese, in which we reviewed for the test on Friday, and Ethic: East and West today. In Ethics we talked about Christianity: the Sermon on the Mount, an essay called the Power of Love, which was really interesting, and some excerpts of Nietzsche. My comments: Nietzsche was a very angry man, but he made some good points. The Power of Love essay was about nonviolence and violence and my favorite line from it is this: “...the similarity between us is a willingness to die for our beliefs. The difference, however, is whether we will also kill for them.” The ‘us’ being peace activists and soldiers. The other important point made, was that maybe the world needs both kinds of people.

After that class, I hung out at school for a bit, then headed home to study, eat dinner (hamburger patties, carrots, potatoes, and rice), study some more, and finally go to sleep. 

Friday, September 9^th:

                   Well, the day isn’t over yet, but here’s what happened so far. Breakfast was the same as yesterday-toast and jam-yogurt-and lunch was the same as Wednesday-sandwiches.

                   I think I did alright on my review test. I didn’t get all of the listening comprehension, but I got most of it. And I know I did well on the translation of dialogue from English to Japanese. I also did pretty well on the verb conjugation table, although I know I got at least one verb wrong. I couldn’t remember the word for ‘to use’. I knew it started with a ‘tsu’ (つ), so I just made up the rest of the word, and conjugated it that way, so the teacher would know that I could conjugate, but I didn’t know that word.

                   Then I had writing and reading Japanese, in which we reviewed for the review test on Monday. Fun times, fun times. And right now I’m waiting for my Culture class, which starts at 4:40pm. I’m looking forward to getting some of the reading explained. I read it, but I don’t think I grasped most of it. Last night’s reading was full of references to other works and studies, and I’ve never taken any cultural studies or anthropological classes before, so most of it went over my head. The teacher seemed nice on Tuesday, though, so hopefully he will be able to interpret it for those of us without prior knowledge of the subject.

That’s all for now folks!

The Third Adventure: Rice Fields and Philosophy

Long story short: I got lost.

But I suspect you want to here the long version. It is more interesting, if I do say so myself, but then again, they usually are.

    It starts with me waking up around 7:00am. I get up, get dressed, go to the bathroom, etc., and make it into the kitchen by 7:30am. My goal is to leave by 8am. I don't have class today until 10am, but it's about an hour commute, and I do have class tomorrow at 9am, so I'm giving it a trial run. Thank you disaster survival training! (AKA: being a Conover) My Okaasan is still here, but she leaves, just as I'm sitting down to apple juice and toast with cheese. There's this odd cheese, which is squeezed out of a bottle and looks a bit like mayonnaise. You spread it on your bread before you toast it (toaster oven, not toaster) and it spreads and tastes a bit like grilled cheese. Different, but yummy. After I finish eating, I brush my teeth and take pictures of the main areas of the house (see Facebook). Then I head out of the door, map in hand.

    My Okaasan adn Otoosan (oh-toh-oh-sah-n, おとおさん) drew me a map with reference points to get me from their house to the station. It worked perfectly! It had reasonable close distances, reference points (shop names, etc.), streets clearly defined, in a word: Awesome. I got to the station, and on the right-ish train. I accidentally got on an express train, which meant it didn't stop at my stop. However, I realized this soon enough that  I got off at Hirakata-shi station, which was one stop before mine. There, I asked one of the station managers which train would go to my station, Gotenyama. He pointed me in the direction of  the local trains, which stop at every stop. So, I got to the station alright.

    That was where the trouble began. See, the map that Kansai Gaidai gave me to get from Gotenyama to the school, wasn't marked with a compass rose, or very many reference points. I was swept off the train and through one of the exits in a crowd of people. Many of these people where high school students. I could tell, because they all dressed the same. Well, there was a high school marked on my map-a ways from the station, and they were walking in that general direction, so I followed some of them. Follow the locals, because they know where they're going, was my thinking. Well, someway or another, they all dispersed, and I found myself in a quiet residential area. These are quite common, though, I had to walk through one on my way from the Seminar House to the school, so I wasn't worried. Then the houses disappeared, and suddenly, I was surrounded by rice paddies.

    There were some blank spaces on the map, so I though maybe they were representing the fields, so  I kept walking. The fields ended in that direction (a few city blocks, maybe) so I turned right and kept walking. I could see some buildings that looked like civilization, so I wasn't too worried. When I got near the buildings, I saw it was a school, a middle school. There weren't any middle schools marked on my map, only a few high schools, and an elementary school. So I walked past the school, and finally found another road that took me back in the direction of the station. The rice fields disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared and I was once more surrounded by buildings. I went into the nearest conbini and asked for directions and a girl pointed me in the direction of the station. I got back there and tried another street, but I soon saw that it was headed back to the rice fields. I kept asking people, but no one could find where we were on the map; they just pointed me back towards the station, since that was the only thing they recognized. Finally, a shop owner figured out that I needed to go back to the station, and cross the tracks. I had been on the wrong side the entire time! No wonder no one could figure out the map! They weren't on it! The other side of the tracks shows about three roads, and thankfully the shop I asked at was on one of those roads.

    I could have smacked myself! I had been wandering around in the hot sun for an hour, getting nowhere, all because I was on the wrong side of the tracks. I cried again for a bit at that. Oh, yeah, did I mention that I was so freaked out and lost and frustrated that I started crying? Well, I did. My only saving grace is that I didn't give up, sit down in the road, and cry in despair. I cried in despair as I walked around, trying to find a landmark besides the station. As soon as I crossed the tracks,  I was able to find the first reference point (a conbini called the Family Mart) pretty easily. And from there I found the elementary and high school, and finally, the blessed sight of the Kansai Gaidai gate! I had finally reached my destination, an hour later than I had planned, and just in time for class.

    My class was Spoken Japanese, and it was pretty simple. We did basic introductions, went over the syllabus, and other first day of class things. We got a review packet, covering the first 8 lessons in the book, to study for a review test on Friday. We will be learning lesson 9-16 in the Genki textbooks. That's the last half of the first one and the first half of the second one. It's a very short class, only 50 minutes, because we meet everyday.

    My other class today was Ethics: East and West. It was another syllabus day, but this class only meets twice a week. It's an hour and a half long, which means we actually started learning some things. The main thing we talked about was Plato's cave. To sum up the arguement in as few words as possible: we are all sitting in the deep, dark parts of our minds, staring at a shadow of the real world. We must turn around and climb out of the cave of our illusions and face reality as it is, not how we would have it.

    As I walked home, (no mishaps this time) I was thinking about Plato's cave, and trying to figure out what I thought was reality and why I thought that. And my morning adventure came to mind. I assumed that following the students would help me get to where I was going, and I assumed that I was on the right side of the tracks. I know my mother is going to say, "You know what they say about assume. It makes and ASS out of U and ME." In this case, that holds true. Those assumptions I made were completely wrong.  However, if I had assumed the top of the map was north and that Kansai Gaidai was therefore east of the tracks (there were no directions marked on the map, so it would have been an assumption), then I would have been fine, because I would have ended up on the correct side of the tracks, headed in the right direction. Those assumptions would have gotten me where I needed to go, so they would have been good to assume right? Why didn't I assume those things? Because the directions weren't marked on the map, that was the first thing I looked for after I got off the train. And knowing my mother's saying, I wouldn't want to assume anything about the map. So, instead I used my knowledge of humans, to figure that the locals would know where they were going. And in my hometown, where there is only one high school, or even in Springfield, where there are a few, I would have been alright doing that. But in Hirakata there are more than just a few high schools.

    The part that really gets me though, is that I was so focused on not assuming one thing (the directions on the map) that I assumed an entirely different thing (I was on the correct side of the tracks). I had no basis what-so-ever for this assumption! I just decided it! And, thinking back, I don't know why! So, I leave you with these questions: Are assumptions useful? Why do we make them? What assumptions do you make without thinking?