Starting school after a week-long break was a lot harder than I thought it would be! Taco Tuesday at Shooters, our favorite gaijin (foreigner) bar, did help things along though. Japanese food is delicious, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's nice to eat something familiar...pizza is totally up next, curse you Japan for you lack of Pizza Hut! On the bright side, I totally have my host mother fooled that I will eat anything that is put in front of me, because she mentioned it to my host dad at dinner tonight and I nearly choked on my rice. (Note: I've been here almost 2 months, and I've eaten with my host dad 3 times. The Japanese are CRAZY HARD WORKERS) I know I mentioned once that I wasn't the hugest fan of fish, and while I usually like the way she prepares it, I hope she doesn't start getting too crazy with dinner.
our little ND group is also expanding as we "adopt" people (Emily's word choice), which is pretty exciting too. Yay for new friends!
and I ALMOST got to go to a JRock concert on Friday, but I didn't plan far enough ahead and didn't know how to get tickets with such late notice so it fell through. Apparently Jenn loves the band, so now I'm super bummed I couldn't go...she might have died of jealousy, muahaha.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Yuki Matsuri!
I'm super unmotivated to write (for once), but I just got back from a week of vacation and feel the need to brag about it (ha ha). Getting back into the school mindset has been hard, but hey - only 4 days til the weekend? haha.
anyway, my vacation weekend began with a Friday night of KARAOKE! We did the 'all,' aka you pay about $15 and get a small room from 1-8am and nomihodai (all-you-can-drink) from 1-3. It turned out we were all having so much fun singing that we barely touched the alcohol. I was really surprised by how many English songs were in their system- we probably only sang 5 Japanese ones, and they managed to have most of the English ones that we searched for. I wasn't expecting to have too much fun either (usually me+singing = banana dance), but it was awesome. Notable moments include Banzai (the Middlebury favorite), a lot of 90s music, and waking a snoozing Xiao up in the middle of "My Heart will go on" - because we really were singing that loud.
It didn't really help that immediately following karaoke Emily and I decided to go to a memorial service for the 200-some Christian martyrs killed in the 17th century in Japan. It was in Japanese so we had a hard time understanding most of it, but it was held at a temple (outdoors = sooo cold!) with a plaque dedicated to the martyrs which was blessed by the priests. We all got to lay flowers in front of it. Also, you know you're in Japan when there are cell phone pictures being taken of the mass. By a priest. One interesting difference in the mass procedure itself is that the Japanese all do mini bows instead of shaking hands for the sign of peace. Seems a little impersonal, but hey, you can cover a lot more ground that way!
Then at 7:30 on Monday morning, Xiao, Emily, Joe and I were Sapporo bound! Flight was nice and short and the super-nice-for-the-price-we-paid-hotel was right across the street from the train station. It was six blocks to Odori Park, where we saw a lotttt of snow sculptures!
a couple notable ones: (click for larger size, believe me the details on the animal one are ridiculous!! there was even a light on the plane in the corner that blinked at night)
some of them were so intricately carved that it's crazy. I feel bad pic-spamming the blog, so check out my fb album for more!
We also took an elevator to the top of the TV tower (cool, but it was all glass, you got bad glass reflection and you couldn't walk in the open air which was laaaame), looked at some ice sculptures, ate delicious corn butter ramen, grimaced at advertisements for milk seafood ramen, went to the zoo to look at fuzzy cute animals, got lost A LOT, slipped on icy sidewalks (they don't believe in shoveling), and checked out the Sapporo Beer Museum. Where they have CHOCOLATE BEER for Valentine's Day. Okay, so still not my favorite drink by any means, but it did improve the taste, and they get points for trying...
Emily and I by Sapporo TV Tower on a beautiful night!
anyway, my vacation weekend began with a Friday night of KARAOKE! We did the 'all,' aka you pay about $15 and get a small room from 1-8am and nomihodai (all-you-can-drink) from 1-3. It turned out we were all having so much fun singing that we barely touched the alcohol. I was really surprised by how many English songs were in their system- we probably only sang 5 Japanese ones, and they managed to have most of the English ones that we searched for. I wasn't expecting to have too much fun either (usually me+singing = banana dance), but it was awesome. Notable moments include Banzai (the Middlebury favorite), a lot of 90s music, and waking a snoozing Xiao up in the middle of "My Heart will go on" - because we really were singing that loud.
It didn't really help that immediately following karaoke Emily and I decided to go to a memorial service for the 200-some Christian martyrs killed in the 17th century in Japan. It was in Japanese so we had a hard time understanding most of it, but it was held at a temple (outdoors = sooo cold!) with a plaque dedicated to the martyrs which was blessed by the priests. We all got to lay flowers in front of it. Also, you know you're in Japan when there are cell phone pictures being taken of the mass. By a priest. One interesting difference in the mass procedure itself is that the Japanese all do mini bows instead of shaking hands for the sign of peace. Seems a little impersonal, but hey, you can cover a lot more ground that way!
Then at 7:30 on Monday morning, Xiao, Emily, Joe and I were Sapporo bound! Flight was nice and short and the super-nice-for-the-price-we-paid-hotel was right across the street from the train station. It was six blocks to Odori Park, where we saw a lotttt of snow sculptures!
a couple notable ones: (click for larger size, believe me the details on the animal one are ridiculous!! there was even a light on the plane in the corner that blinked at night)
some of them were so intricately carved that it's crazy. I feel bad pic-spamming the blog, so check out my fb album for more!
We also took an elevator to the top of the TV tower (cool, but it was all glass, you got bad glass reflection and you couldn't walk in the open air which was laaaame), looked at some ice sculptures, ate delicious corn butter ramen, grimaced at advertisements for milk seafood ramen, went to the zoo to look at fuzzy cute animals, got lost A LOT, slipped on icy sidewalks (they don't believe in shoveling), and checked out the Sapporo Beer Museum. Where they have CHOCOLATE BEER for Valentine's Day. Okay, so still not my favorite drink by any means, but it did improve the taste, and they get points for trying...
Emily and I by Sapporo TV Tower on a beautiful night!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Happy Setsubun!
Setsubun, or the bean-throwing festival, is held February 3rd, the last day before the first day of spring (according to the Chinese calendar). The typical practice is to throw roasted soybeans out your window to cast out demons of ill-fortune and welcome in the new year. (I'm a little vague on the exact procedure, I learned this from wikipedia - I guess it's not a standard practice in every house!)
One tradition I did get to take part in was eating makizushi. You're supposed to eat an entire uncut roll (about 6-7 inches or so long) while facing the lucky direction based on what year it is. If you eat the entire thing facing the right direction and without pausing or talking, you will have good luck for the whole year. I think my host mom also said something about making a wish too, but since I can't understand half of what she says...Anyway, this year is the year of the Ox, so we ate our huge makizushi facing west-southwest. :)
Today was also a bit of an adventure day. We ate lunch at Osu (or Osu-Kannon), where there is a famous shrine. The surrounding area has a ton of cool little shops and places to eat. We went intending to grab some pizza (Ashley-I finally understand your pizza cravings. I think even Sbarro's would do at this point), but the place was closed so we went for Mexican instead. It was pretty mediocre, but the azuki flavored soft-serve was amazing. I'm already sad when I think about having to leave the amazing food here in a couple months. Red bean needs to catch on in the US. Fast.
After lunch we just wandered a bit, and managed to catch a mini-parade heading to the shrine. There was a marching band and a bunch of people in various costumes. We didn't stick around for the Setsubun celebration, but the area was pretty packed. There were a lot of decorations up.
Today I also went to the ward office to pick up my foreign registration card! Okay, so it wasn't that exciting, but getting there was, because I got to ride a bike! I didn't realize how much I missed riding mine (or really, how often it really is that I ride it at school), but I had a huuuge grin on my face the whole way there and probably everyone thought I was more than a little crazy. It was one of those city bikes too, with a huge basket on the front which made balancing a little tricky at first. They also have these awesome kickstand things which is actually a triangle-shaped stand that comes down over and under the back wheel. There's also a lock directly built into the bike, which is also pretty cool and different from anything I've seen before.
I also took a much-needed nap today! It was actually really cute, my host mom came in the living room around 6pm, threw me a blanket and was like 'okay you look tired so we're both going to take a nap now.' And we did. On the sofas. I'd like to think that we've bonded over sleep. :)
Hokkaido status: five days and counting!!!
One tradition I did get to take part in was eating makizushi. You're supposed to eat an entire uncut roll (about 6-7 inches or so long) while facing the lucky direction based on what year it is. If you eat the entire thing facing the right direction and without pausing or talking, you will have good luck for the whole year. I think my host mom also said something about making a wish too, but since I can't understand half of what she says...Anyway, this year is the year of the Ox, so we ate our huge makizushi facing west-southwest. :)
Today was also a bit of an adventure day. We ate lunch at Osu (or Osu-Kannon), where there is a famous shrine. The surrounding area has a ton of cool little shops and places to eat. We went intending to grab some pizza (Ashley-I finally understand your pizza cravings. I think even Sbarro's would do at this point), but the place was closed so we went for Mexican instead. It was pretty mediocre, but the azuki flavored soft-serve was amazing. I'm already sad when I think about having to leave the amazing food here in a couple months. Red bean needs to catch on in the US. Fast.
After lunch we just wandered a bit, and managed to catch a mini-parade heading to the shrine. There was a marching band and a bunch of people in various costumes. We didn't stick around for the Setsubun celebration, but the area was pretty packed. There were a lot of decorations up.
Today I also went to the ward office to pick up my foreign registration card! Okay, so it wasn't that exciting, but getting there was, because I got to ride a bike! I didn't realize how much I missed riding mine (or really, how often it really is that I ride it at school), but I had a huuuge grin on my face the whole way there and probably everyone thought I was more than a little crazy. It was one of those city bikes too, with a huge basket on the front which made balancing a little tricky at first. They also have these awesome kickstand things which is actually a triangle-shaped stand that comes down over and under the back wheel. There's also a lock directly built into the bike, which is also pretty cool and different from anything I've seen before.
I also took a much-needed nap today! It was actually really cute, my host mom came in the living room around 6pm, threw me a blanket and was like 'okay you look tired so we're both going to take a nap now.' And we did. On the sofas. I'd like to think that we've bonded over sleep. :)
Hokkaido status: five days and counting!!!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
adventures in Nagoyaland!
久しぶりみんな。 Sorry it's been a while, I have a lot less down time than I would like here! Anyway, the good news is, WE'RE BOOKED TO GO TO HOKKAIDO FOR YUKI MATSURI!!! It's a huge winter festival in Sapporo with snow and ice sculptures, I can't help but be excited. And the best part is that ND is paying for it...theoretically. I'd like to know how much attending Nanzan REALLY costs. Sapporo means finally getting out of Nagoya! Not that I mind sticking around here, but I'm really excited to travel. Potential locations for future breaks include Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Okinawa. Maybe we'll even get to all three...
Anyway, so last weekend we went to the zoo! We heard some sketchy things about it, but it only cost $5 to enter and while the cages were a little small, the animals looked alright. The baby elephant even played the harmonica for us and spun some hula hoops around his trunk. It was adorable. We were also pretty psyched for the squirrel exhibit (apparently there are none in Japan), but sadly there was not a squirrel in sight, just a lot of signs telling you not to feed them or let them escape.
Dinner was in Sakae again, some place Xiao's host dad took him to before, and Emily and I failed fantastically at eating our udon. Believe me, eating long noodles with chopsticks is hard!! Then we went on the purple ferris wheel. It is huge and kind of expensive, but definitely worth the view!
The next day I went to a taiko concert with Emily's host family. It was by a kid's group, but they were actually really good! some of them were as young as 2 or 3...I think it was one of the cutest things I've seen in my life. Pictures will be on facebook for sure. :D
And then yesterday was the CJS trip to the Tokugawa art museum and Nagoya Castle! Sadly we didn't have too much time at either place, but it was cool seeing some of the art. Unfortunately, the original Nagoya Castle was destroyed in WW2, along with most of the artifacts inside, and although it has been rebuilt the inside is designed as a museum. They're still working on reconstructing the surrounding buildings. Hopefully I'll get to see a real castle here somewhere. The place did at least have delicious green tea soft serve!
Anyway, so last weekend we went to the zoo! We heard some sketchy things about it, but it only cost $5 to enter and while the cages were a little small, the animals looked alright. The baby elephant even played the harmonica for us and spun some hula hoops around his trunk. It was adorable. We were also pretty psyched for the squirrel exhibit (apparently there are none in Japan), but sadly there was not a squirrel in sight, just a lot of signs telling you not to feed them or let them escape.
Dinner was in Sakae again, some place Xiao's host dad took him to before, and Emily and I failed fantastically at eating our udon. Believe me, eating long noodles with chopsticks is hard!! Then we went on the purple ferris wheel. It is huge and kind of expensive, but definitely worth the view! The next day I went to a taiko concert with Emily's host family. It was by a kid's group, but they were actually really good! some of them were as young as 2 or 3...I think it was one of the cutest things I've seen in my life. Pictures will be on facebook for sure. :D
And then yesterday was the CJS trip to the Tokugawa art museum and Nagoya Castle! Sadly we didn't have too much time at either place, but it was cool seeing some of the art. Unfortunately, the original Nagoya Castle was destroyed in WW2, along with most of the artifacts inside, and although it has been rebuilt the inside is designed as a museum. They're still working on reconstructing the surrounding buildings. Hopefully I'll get to see a real castle here somewhere. The place did at least have delicious green tea soft serve!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
at the "library"
Classes have started! This is both good and bad – I really need the Japanese practice, but I can say sayonara to all of my free time! I haven’t really taken the time since 9th or 10th grade to sit down and really read a book for fun, so it was really great to just pick one up whenever I had a spare minute (or more likely, quite a few spare hours). So far I’ve gotten through Murakami Haruki’s The Elephant Vanishes, Miyabe Miyuki’s The Devil’s Whisper, and Natsume Soseki’s Botchan. I’m very grateful for Professor Shamoon’s lit classes, without them I’d have no idea where to start in the Japanese literature aisle in the library, and be spending a lot more time cluelessly watching TV I can’t understand. It looks like the work load is going to be pretty heavy, but hopefully I’ll still be able to find some time to read.
Anyway, today I went to my first internet café! We went with the simple intention of grabbing lunch somewhere warm (our sensei do not appear to believe in using heaters, nor do the Japanese believe in insulation), but I thought it was a pretty neat little place. Its name was “Library,” strangely enough written in hiragana, and its interior didn’t disappoint—magazines and manga lined every wall. We ate lunch, and with that we got 90 minutes to sit.
We even found the Doraimon section—hooray for Japanese I can actually read! We only used the computers in there for a couple minutes, but it turned out to be a pretty casual place that didn’t mind us talking. Apparently they’re usually rather strict, so I wonder how different it is from those 24 hour ones that we have been recommended to camp out in overnight when we’re out late and the trains aren’t running. Anywho, the chicken curry was pretty good and the free drink refills, very rare here, was a happy surprise. Maybe not the most exciting of “firsts,” but it was a really cute place and I definitely think I’ll be back sometime.
Anyway, today I went to my first internet café! We went with the simple intention of grabbing lunch somewhere warm (our sensei do not appear to believe in using heaters, nor do the Japanese believe in insulation), but I thought it was a pretty neat little place. Its name was “Library,” strangely enough written in hiragana, and its interior didn’t disappoint—magazines and manga lined every wall. We ate lunch, and with that we got 90 minutes to sit.
We even found the Doraimon section—hooray for Japanese I can actually read! We only used the computers in there for a couple minutes, but it turned out to be a pretty casual place that didn’t mind us talking. Apparently they’re usually rather strict, so I wonder how different it is from those 24 hour ones that we have been recommended to camp out in overnight when we’re out late and the trains aren’t running. Anywho, the chicken curry was pretty good and the free drink refills, very rare here, was a happy surprise. Maybe not the most exciting of “firsts,” but it was a really cute place and I definitely think I’ll be back sometime.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Time for some remedial English...
I'm torn between going to bed and writing this, and blogging just won because I have nowhere to be on my first Saturday in Japan...
I keep forgetting to take my camera with me places, so I haven't taken too many pictures yet...but today was great, we went to Sakae, a part of Nagoya with a ton of shops and restaurants. It kind of looks like NYC, so I instantly loved it. :) There's even a giant ferris wheel! Anyway, we checked out the area a bit, had some dinner (nabe, fried rice and edamame = yummy) and did some more walking to find ice cream! And (maybe most importantly) - I got a phone! Go figure, it's this little prepaid thing, but it is already a thousand times cooler than my regular one. Yay for unlimited texting and emailing! Also, you can do sweet phone to phone information infrared information transfers. They are crazy.
I also think I'm finally getting used to public transport! It's about a 25 minute commute to school every day by subway, though it does take me a bit to get to the station. It's really exciting being able to live in a city and have so much to do just a couple of subway stops away. My commuter pass was expensive, but I'm going to make the most of it!
Yesterday my host mom and I went to the movie rental place (I believe I will be going there often from now on!) so I could get something to entertain myself while I do nothing all afternoon/evening. So I grabbed the Japanese version of Lord of the Rings, and hopefully I'll get to watch it soon! I also own Japanese Peter Pan now, which hopefully I won't need subtitles for (yeah right).
our favorite poster on Nanzan's campus!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
3 days in...
Three days in, and things are looking a little better! The first couple days have been a little rough, my host family is really nice but they seem to be the quiet type, and since I not only have no idea what to say but also can barely speak their language, conversation has been a bit scarce. I think I’ve watched more TV than in the past couple years combined. It does not help that I can’t understand any of it, and the Japanese subtitles at the bottom of the screen always have way too much kanji.
A couple things that I have learned:
- Jet lag sucks. I thought I’d killed it with the five hour nap I took yesterday afternoon, but I took another one today…and I’m still exhausted. It’s still weird to think that I’m 14 hours ahead of the US.
- Japanese people have huge mouths. Uh, that sounds weird, but they do have some major sushi-devouring skills. Yesterday night they took me out for sushi at one of those sweet places where you pick things off this rotating belt to eat. Apparently the one we went to will be on TV next week, I wonder if we’ll watch. Anyway, they just pop whole huge chunk of sashimi after whole huge chunk of sashimi into their mouths! It’s the only way you can eat most sushi, but my mouth just isn’t big enough, and then my gag reflex is triggered and I feel ridiculous because then I look like I’m not enjoying the food. But I’m rather proud of myself—I don’t particularly care for food of the ocean-dwelling type, but I tried (and more importantly—finished) everything that was put in front of me. And it was a lot! Plate after plate of “This one’s good, try it! You’ve never had it before? 食べて！” I have no idea what all I ate, but most of it wasn’t bad. I was definitely lucky I had slept through lunch, or I never would’ve been able to finish half of it.
- Don’t say “yes” to every food that is mentioned. It’s my default reaction to everything I recognize (and a lot of what I don’t), when in reality my host mother is asking if I would like to each aforementioned food. And then she zips off to the kitchen to prepare whatever it is, and I feel obligated to eat all of it. I almost exploded at breakfast the other morning. Definitely enjoying the food, but if all Japanese people eat as much as I’ve been eating, I have no idea how they all stay so skinny.
- It’s winter, but everyone still wears miniskirts. And short shorts. My host mother almost went into shock when I told her the only skirts I own go to my knees. They wear them with tights or leggings of course, but with how often they comment on how cold it is outside (when it’s probably no colder than 40 degrees or so), it’s kind of surprising. And I definitely felt out of place leaving the subway station in jeans this morning…not that that means that I will be caving to trend.
Anyway, things are still a bit crazy right now, I’m trying to figure out the deal with the forms, alien registration cards, and subway passes. Orientation has been dead boring so far, even the parts given in English get tuned out. At home, there has been more than a lifetime’s worth of awkward silences. I try and cover them up by obsessively petting their adorable, hyperactive, fluffy dog, but they were so bad the other day I was prompted to take that 5 hour nap. Which I did need, but still. I don’t know if it’s because my Japanese is so terrible it offends them, or if they’re just quiet people or if it is because this is the first time they’ve ever been a host family, but I do a lot of drowning in silence. I really wish I was better at making conversation! Granted, this afternoon was a lot better, I talked to my host mother a lot on the way back from school and during dinner.
Sorry for the obnoxious length of this, hopefully it wasn’t too boring but there’s just a lot going on right now! It’ll be shorter in the future for sure. Umm and obviously feel free to comment, it can get a little lonely over here!
A couple things that I have learned:
- Jet lag sucks. I thought I’d killed it with the five hour nap I took yesterday afternoon, but I took another one today…and I’m still exhausted. It’s still weird to think that I’m 14 hours ahead of the US.
- Japanese people have huge mouths. Uh, that sounds weird, but they do have some major sushi-devouring skills. Yesterday night they took me out for sushi at one of those sweet places where you pick things off this rotating belt to eat. Apparently the one we went to will be on TV next week, I wonder if we’ll watch. Anyway, they just pop whole huge chunk of sashimi after whole huge chunk of sashimi into their mouths! It’s the only way you can eat most sushi, but my mouth just isn’t big enough, and then my gag reflex is triggered and I feel ridiculous because then I look like I’m not enjoying the food. But I’m rather proud of myself—I don’t particularly care for food of the ocean-dwelling type, but I tried (and more importantly—finished) everything that was put in front of me. And it was a lot! Plate after plate of “This one’s good, try it! You’ve never had it before? 食べて！” I have no idea what all I ate, but most of it wasn’t bad. I was definitely lucky I had slept through lunch, or I never would’ve been able to finish half of it.
- Don’t say “yes” to every food that is mentioned. It’s my default reaction to everything I recognize (and a lot of what I don’t), when in reality my host mother is asking if I would like to each aforementioned food. And then she zips off to the kitchen to prepare whatever it is, and I feel obligated to eat all of it. I almost exploded at breakfast the other morning. Definitely enjoying the food, but if all Japanese people eat as much as I’ve been eating, I have no idea how they all stay so skinny.
- It’s winter, but everyone still wears miniskirts. And short shorts. My host mother almost went into shock when I told her the only skirts I own go to my knees. They wear them with tights or leggings of course, but with how often they comment on how cold it is outside (when it’s probably no colder than 40 degrees or so), it’s kind of surprising. And I definitely felt out of place leaving the subway station in jeans this morning…not that that means that I will be caving to trend.
Anyway, things are still a bit crazy right now, I’m trying to figure out the deal with the forms, alien registration cards, and subway passes. Orientation has been dead boring so far, even the parts given in English get tuned out. At home, there has been more than a lifetime’s worth of awkward silences. I try and cover them up by obsessively petting their adorable, hyperactive, fluffy dog, but they were so bad the other day I was prompted to take that 5 hour nap. Which I did need, but still. I don’t know if it’s because my Japanese is so terrible it offends them, or if they’re just quiet people or if it is because this is the first time they’ve ever been a host family, but I do a lot of drowning in silence. I really wish I was better at making conversation! Granted, this afternoon was a lot better, I talked to my host mother a lot on the way back from school and during dinner.
Sorry for the obnoxious length of this, hopefully it wasn’t too boring but there’s just a lot going on right now! It’ll be shorter in the future for sure. Umm and obviously feel free to comment, it can get a little lonely over here!
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