japanigans!

Everyone at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:49:58 -0500

Everyone at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.

It's been awhile.

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:44:00 -0500

Hey people!

It’s been awhile since I’ve last written. I’ve been keeping myself pretty busy and really enjoying my life in Japan. This post probably won’t go into much detail, but I’ll give an overview of what I’ve been doing.

At school, classes are going well. IJ400 is progressing smoothly. I’m learning a lot and doing reasonably well for the amount of studying I’ve been putting into it (which could definitely be more). About two weeks ago, we had a project in class where we all went to interview the owner of a shop in 覚王山 (Kakuōzan), an area about three subway stop away from the school. My group had a fruit store, and the man in charge gave us all free 梨 (nashi - pear). They were really good but, the store is supposedly one of the most expensive fruit shops in all of Nagoya, so it really should be good. Aside from that, the class has been the same thing pretty much.
The rest of my classes are pretty dull, too. However, today in Tea Ceremony, we were supposed to go on a “field trip” to a tea house to look at it, but the teachers forgot that today is 勤労感謝の日, (kinrō kansha no hi - Labor Thanksgiving Day). So, most places are closed because it’s a national holiday. My university just doesn’t believe in giving us days off, so we were still in school.

Outside of school, I’ve just been going out with friends. Mostly we hang out around Nagoya. I won’t go into detail of going out to clubs, bars, and karaoke or the debauchery involved, but I’ve definitely been having a good time, and I’ve made some really good friends here.

This past weekend, I went on a trip with my friends Kate and Jeff to Kyoto. Kate had a friend from Nanzan who studied abroad at her university and invited us to go with her and her friends to see the 紅葉 (kōyō - lit. “red leaves” but means like the changing trees, or fall colors). We were originally planning on driving with the Japanese kids up, then saying goodbye to them and staying the night to go to Nara the next day, but because it was a 3 day weekend we were unable to find a hostel that wasn’t full, so we just went back the same night with them. But, it was definitely a fun day. The weather was really nice, and the leaves were changing. I think leaves change differently here, though. In America, when I drive home from school and see the mountains, they seem to all change at once and have a nice eruption of color, while here they seem to all change slower and at different paces. So, while it was still beautiful, it was a little lackluster in comparison to what I’m used to. However, I forgot my camera in my rush out of the house in the morning. So, I need to swipe pictures off Facebook from my friends camera’s.
My favorite spot in Kyoto was the 清水寺 (Kiyomizu-ji - Kiyomizu Temple). It’s a temple built into a mountain with support beams that help hold it up. It was really pretty and there were a lot of beautiful views of Kyoto. We were also there at sunset so it made the view even more gorgeous.

So, there’s a brief overview of the past three weeks. I will definitely try to update more. But, I have been trying to keep myself pretty busy and make the most out of my time abroad.

You know you love me.
xoxo

How they give constructive criticism in Japan.

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:18:00 -0500

How they give constructive criticism in Japan.

Pilipinas~

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:53:59 -0500

Hey people!

So, I got back from Manila on Sunday night. The trip wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I knew the Philippines was a poor country, and I certainly didn’t expect to be going somewhere extremely modern with high living standards, but I thought Manila would have been a little more metropolitan than it was. Nonetheless, it was an awesome trip. I’ll break it down now.This is going to be really long. So brace yourself.

Thursday morning, I woke up around 4 AM and showered got my stuff together to meet Karen at the subway station at 6. We had to take the subway to a connecting station to take the Meitetsu Line to Chūbu International Airport. Once there everything went fairly smoothly. I needed to take money out of my bank account, though. And, apparently in Japan you can’t use ATMs before 8 AM? So we had to wait for like half an hour so I could withdraw money before we could leave. But, our flight didn’t take off until 9 and the airport wasn’t too busy, so everything still went off without a hitch.

We took off fine and flew to Taipei. We had a layover there for two hours. We posed for a few tourist pictures at signs that said “Welcome to Taipei!” and such but then we just waited in the terminal for our flight to Manila. Flying over the Philippines was really gorgeous. Seeing the north coastline with the mountains was something I’ll never forget.

We landed in Manila around 3 PM. Exchanged our money for pesos and got a Taxi to the hotel. The lady at the counter for the Taxis told us it would be about 300 pesos to get to the hotel (~6 dollars) so we just did it. But, the taxi didn’t have a meter and the driver when we got there told us, “Oh, I don’t like pesos. Can you just pay me ten US dollars?” At first we were like “… no. how much in pesos?” but he was really insistent so finally I just gave him a ten dollar bill I had and we parted ways. This should’ve been an early sign that Manila is one sketchy place, but we failed to recognize the signs that early.

Our hotel was a really nice place though. The room was clean, had air conditioning, and a really nice view of Manila. Karen and I put our bags in the room, cleaned up and rested a little bit, then went out to explore Manila. We started walking down the street towards the train station, because we wanted to go look at Chinatown and some churches around that area. While walking to the station though, it became clear pretty quickly what Manila was going to be like. The walk was about 5-10 minutes, but on the way there was just a bunch of people sitting around eyeing our bags and kids who were barely clothed staring us down. Granted, the area our hotel was in was a nicer part of Manila and these people weren’t in any way threatening but, I still wasn’t expecting there to be that level of poverty right outside our reasonably nice hotel. I was also suprised at the lack of sidewalks and traffic lights. They had sidewalks some places, but like they would be really beat up, and sometimes people would like take them over and just like live there. Also, traffic lights aren’t really commonplace. Even at really busy intersections. So, we ended up just following locals when we wanted to cross the street.

We took the train to Carriedo Station, then we walked to Santa Cruz Church. It was pretty, but mass was happening, so we couldn’t really look inside. From there we walked around looking for Chinatown. We got kinda lost though. The area was PACKED. There were crowds everywhere and street vendors basically lined the streets. So, we thought we were walking towards the Chinatown area, but instead we ended up in Quiapo, which had a beautiful church and lots of vendors around it. We walked around in this area for awhile instead. We found a café that seemed to have some good food. So we stopped in and got a dinner. We had Pata Tim which was this pork, and Guisado which is this noodle dish. There was also rice, a shaomai (a Chinese inspired dumpling). It was a decent amount of food for just ₱68 (~$1.50). Pretty good deal. Then we walked around some more, we stumbled upon a mall and decided to walk around inside it. It was like 4-5 floors and DECKED OUT in Christmas decorations. Karen and I were surprised that on October 29th, a mall would be ready for Christmas to this degree. There were Christmas trees everywhere, and all the music was Christmas songs (in English AND Tagalog). After we explored the mall, we stopped at this bakery where they were making Hopia outside. Hopia are like these pastry things filled with sweet sauce. We had Ube (purple yam) and Mongo (white bean paste). Each of them were ₱3 (~$.07) So, we lived large and got 2 each. After we ate, it was already pretty dark and some of the shops were closing down. We didn’t really want to be out too late, and we were pretty tired from our day of travelling. We got back to the hotel, took showers, and passed out.

The next day we had ordered a wake up call for 6 AM and got going pretty quickly. We had planned to go to Taal Lake. Its this big lake north of Manila. We took the train to the area where we planned to find the bus. But, since it’s Manila and there’s no clear directions places, we ended up being unable to find where we were supposed to get on the bus. So, we had to walk around to look for it. We walked through this sketchy area with a big crowd. I guess I got a little too lax because at one point someone slashed the front pocket of my bag in an attempt to steal my wallet or something. Thankfully it was only the front pocket that I didn’t keep anything in and nothing was stolen. But, still it’s annoying becuase my bag was ruined. (Side note: I got a bangin’ new one today with my friends. It’s really hot. And super Japanese.) Anyway, we eventually found some buses going to Tagaytay, which is where the lake is by. So, we just took that bus there. It was about an hour and a half away, and cost ₱78. Pretty good deal. I was loving the exchange rates at this point.

We get to Tagaytay, and Karen had found a company that takes tourists to the lake that seemed pretty legit. But, here we learned the problem with making plans in Manila if you’re not used to being there. People want to help you find where your going, if it means they can be the one to take you there in their taxi. So, as soon as we get off the bus we are mobbed with Filipinos asking us “Where you going? The lake? Need a ride? We can do that!” over and over again. No matter how much you tell them “No, we don’t need a ride.” The more they ask. If you ignore them it’s even worse, they just ask louder. So, eventually we just gave in and let this one guy give us a ride. We went in a tricycle. This was probably the scariest point in the trip. A tricycle is like this motorcycle with a sidecar that you squeeze into. It was about a 20 minute trip to lake so we were on really narrow, winding roads in this little side car fearing for our lives the entire time. At one point, the driver pulled over and I was just expecting him to kill us because we were in the middle of no where and before we left the guy who pulled us in and he talked a lot in Tagalog. So, I was just like “Karen. It was great knowing you.” But, no, he just had to pee, so he went to the side of the road and peed. Still kinda gross, but not shocking.

Anyway, we finally got to the Lake and the driver didn’t take us to the place we wanted to go. We had found a place online that had reasonable prices to go out onto the lake and take a horse ride up the volcano to see this massive lake inside the volcano on an island in the lake. However, this guy took us to his friends’ place, where they told us that the place we were going was a rip off and that their prices were better. That wasn’t exactly the case, and after being insistent on the driver taking us to the place we wanted to go, we reached an impasse that meant either walk 4km to the other place or just pay like ₱3500 to go out to the island on with these people. They wanted ₱7500 for the horse ride to the top. So we we just didn’t do that. Even though they told us time and time again that “most tourists go see the crater” but, we didn’t want to spend that much at a place that was clearly ripping us off.

We finally went out on the boat, which was nice and we got to the island in the lake. When we got there people crowded around us trying to sell us tacky hats and water. We just ignored them. But, when we got the island it turns out the only thing to do there is to take a horse up to the top to see the lake in the volcano. After everyone telling us how great it is for 1000 times we remained unshaken in our stance that we refused to do it. We really did, but it got to a point where we were tired of people unabashedly trying to just take advantage of us being tourists. So, we just sat around looking at the lake and thought about the people who lived there. There were a lot kids just playing in the water, and we were curious about what they like did. We assumed they didn’t go to school, and probably didn’t really leave this little island in a lake in the Philippine countryside. It was kinda depressing. So we just sat around taking in the scenery for about 30-40 minutes. Then we went back and our tricycle driver was waiting for us. We went back to the bus stop and paid him ₱300 for the ride there and back. When I paid, he rolled his eyes and said “No tip?” and I really wanted to just say “No.” but Karen gave him ₱20. A cheap tip by Philippine standards. So, at this point Karen and I were kinda frustrated at the people in the Philippines. We got on the bus to go back.

On the bus, we both kinda fell asleep and the conducter forgot to tell us when it was our stop, so we past it and neither of us realized. We ended up really far away from where we were going. But, the people on the bus all rallied together and helped us find where we wanted to go. This really restored my faith in the people there. Because, in reality, they’re all really friendly people and kind, but some of them just gotta make a living and I guess they do what they can. But, still it was frustrating at the time. But, we stopped at the next stop near a train station and took it the way this amazing lady on the bus told us to.

Our next stop that day was Intramuros, the walled city that the Spanish ruled the Philippines from for about 300 years. We got off the train at the station the lady on the bus told us to, and we had a general idea where to go, but people were bothering us to get in their taxi or tricycle to take us there. But, we asked this one lady which way to go, and she gave us really good directions, and while we talking to her, some man came up to us and started to bother us about where we were going. I’m pretty sure this lady told him to “Fuck off” in Tagalog.

So, we followed this lady’s directions and found where we were going really easily. The city was really beautiful. It felt like I was walking in a European city, but still remained somewhat Asian throughout it. Most of the buildings were reconstructed during the second half of the 20th century because they were all pretty much destroyed when the Americans retook the Philippines from the Japanese in WWII. The only building that was not completely destroyed was St. Augustine Church. This church was comparable to any European church I’ve seen. It was absolutely breathtaking. We also went to Casa Manila, a museum that had furniture from the colonial period arranged in a way it would’ve been when Spain controlled the islands. Then we walked to the Manila Cathedral which was my favorite building in Intramuros. After that we went to Fort Santiago. My only complaint about Intramuros was this group of kids around the the Cathedral that kept coming up to us singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” then asking for money. Over and over. But, after the fort it was starting to get dark at this point, so we started walking back towards the station to get back to the hotel.

We stopped an Internet cafe on our way back, and Karen found out that our boat trip to this island where the American forces were stationed during the American Colonial period was cancelled because there were typhoon warnings. So, we decided to go get some beer and food and head back to the hotel. We popped into a 7-11 (they’re EVERYWHERE) and got a San Miguel (a really shitty Filipino beer) and then we decided to try out this fast food chain we saw everywhere called Jollibee’s. I got spaghetti and Karen got a hamburger. It’s apparently a Filipino fast food restaurant that specializes in American cuisine. It was pretty good. Karen didn’t enjoy her burger that much, though. We finished off our beer, and showered and went to bed a little later than we were planning. We decided to sleep in a little bit the next day since our plans kinda fell through and we weren’t 100% sure what we were going to do.

We got up around 9:30-10:000 and went to eat breakfast in the hotel. Apparently that night, there was a pretty big typhoon, and we had no idea. But, when we woke up the hotel desk told us the hotel was running on a generator and the electricity was out around us. The stop lights (.. more like stop light..) outside wasn’t working and the trains weren’t running because there was no electricity.

As a result, we decided to go for a walk down this street near the hotel because it seemed to have some nice places around it.Then we’d cut over to Rizal Park, where Jose Rizal, a revolutionary for Philippine freedom in the late 19th century, was executed, and where the Philippines were declared to be independent of American rule by Truman in 1946. The park had a lot of history and nice ponds and stuff. It was relaxing. It was kinda cloudy and windy, so that made the heat of the Philippines a little better. We just strolled around there for an hour or so.

Then we decided to go to Paco Park, but it was closed because of the Typhoon. So, it was kinda messy. So instead we walked towards this gardens. This is when we learned why people advise against walking everywhere in Manila. We walked through one of the worst places I have ever seen. Everyone we passed at one point was just eyeing our bags and sizing us up. But in the background were tarps propped up that were obviously people’s homes. Then right next to a bunch of people sleeping in a ditch was a really nice mall. That you could have taken and put anywhere in the US and it would fit in fine. We got lunch in the mall. And talked about the sharp contrast from what’s outside to where we were sitting. We kind of realized that’s how Manila is. There is a really nice part, but the rest of the city isn’t that modern. Which is what I meant by it wasn’t was expecting. It was definitely a humbling experience, just unlike anything I have ever experienced.

Then we walked some more. We crossed this bridge and decided to find a train station because we weren’t really sure exactly what was around us, and we wanted to go try to find Chinatown again. We walked through another depressing slum and found the station. Another sharp contrast, this was probably the nicest station we had been in. It was comparable to any Japanese station (even better than some..). But right outside was a terrible slum. We took the train back to the area we were in the first night. We finally found Chinatown. It was a dump. Super crowded, people asking us for money everywhere. At this point we were exhausted and just wanted to go somewhere with modern amenities where we wouldn’t be bothered. So, we took the train to the area around The Mall of Asia. It’s the fourth largest mall in the world.

We got out of the station where we wanted to be. Someone asked us where we were going, and offered us a ride in a Jeepney. These old jeeps that are used kind of like buses in Manila. We were too tired to argue and just got in. But, surprisingly it was really nice. It costs a flat rate of ₱7 and takes you all over the city. This one was going straight to the mall. The mall was HUGGEE and modern looking. They had an ice skating rink inside, with a little girl doing a show. However, most of the stores were just Western brands and everything costs the same. But, it was nice to be somewhere clean and familiar.

After we felt better and walked around the mall enough, we took the Jeepney back to the station, and we went to Makati. Makati is like the business district of Manila. It could be taken out of Manila and put into any modern western city and fit right in. We realized how easily someone could believe Manila to be a modern metropolitan center if they never leave Makati. We went to the Hard Rock Café. Since it was Halloween all the waiters and waitresses were dressed up. They also had a Michael Jackson competition going on. People would dress up, sing and dance to MJ songs and then people would choose who they liked the best. It was a good time. We got some appetizers and drinks and enjoyed ourselves, unwinding from the long day.

We left a little later than usual and got the train back to the place we needed to change trains, but the other train apparently stops before 11 PM? Because it was no longer running. So, we found a Jeepney that would take us to the station by our hotel. It was weird at first though. Because we asked a Taxi to take us there, but I guess it was too close because he said no. Then we asked a tricycle, and he said no, too. But, he did show us where the Jeepnies were to get a ride there.

So, then we got back to the hotel and packed our stuff up in preparation to leave the next morning. We laid around and reflected on our trip before going to sleep. We decided that it wasn’t what either of us was expecting, but we both agree that it was a worthwhile trip. Would I want to go back to the Philippines? Probably not. But, I’m glad I went. It was definitely a memorable fall break! I doubt next year’s will be able to compare.

We obviously got back to Nagoya fine. We had a five hour layover in Taipei this time. So, we started going bar hopping in the airport. We’d get a beer then walk some more til we found another restaurant or bar. It passed the time. But, we got back on Sunday around 11 PM. I was really glad to be back in Japan. It’s weird how a place doesn’t seem that great until you go somewhere that makes you appreciate it even more. Filipino culture seems to the polar opposite of Japan. People there seem to have no structure to their social rules. Basically anything goes. Drinking, eating, and smoking on the street? Sure! Talking on the train? Absolutely! It’s weird to go from somewhere with such a rigid social behavior set up to one where it’s completely lax. I’m not saying I prefer the Japanese way to the Filipino way, but it was definitely a culture shock.

But, I am so glad to be back in Japan. School starts up again tomorrow. Unrelated, I’ve been in Japan for over two months now. There’s only about a month and a half left of this semester. I need to work out my winter break plans. I have a few ideas thrown out there from friends, but nothing set in stone yet. I don’t think there will be any more trips to South East Asia, though. Unless I go with someone who knows what they’re doing there.

That’s all for now! This post was massive. You know you love me.
xoxo

Hey People! It’s been about two weeks since my last post, so I think it’s about time for...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:37:00 -0400

Hey People!

It’s been about two weeks since my last post, so I think it’s about time for an update! Life has been prety boring lately, but I’ll fill you in on the minutiae of my life this time.

My midterms in IJ400 went well. I could’ve done better in some parts, but on the whole I’m happy with my grade. Now, were back to normal class. We have a project where we go to 覚王山 (Kakuōzan), a shopping area around a pretty big temple. I haven’t been there, but my host mom says it’s a nice place. We have groups of three and each group has a store. My group has a fruit store called 弘法屋 (Kōbōya). Our teacher had told us that it’s really expensive and they sell really nice fruits. So, we need to be really polite when we talk to the people there. Tea Ceremony is still probably my favorite class. I never have homework or need to study anything, we get free candy and tea, and then talk about Japan and Japanese culture. It’s a sweet gig. We did ikebana this week, too. Which is basically flower arranging. It was kinda boring. I almost took the ikebana class here, but now I am glad I chose Tea Ceremony instead.
Tomorrow is the last day of classes before our Fall Break, then on Thursday I’m off to the Philippines! But, outside of school not too much is happening otherwise.

This weekend was pretty fun. It was my friend Jeff’s 21st birthday. So, we all went out for karaoke. We were going to go to a club, but going out with the people from the dorm is ridiculous. You can’t leave that place in a timely fashion. You go there to meet three people, but only two are ready, so then one of the two that are ready go to find the third, but then the third comes down and is ready and the one that went to find them is no where to be found, then a new person realizes you’re going out and they want to come too, so they go and change, then the one that went to look for the third comes back, and the new person isn’t ready yet, so one of the three go to find them, and so on and so forth. It’s a vicious cycle. So, it’s annoying for people who are doing home-stay who show up there all ready to go. My friend, Kate, and I call it the “black hole.” But, anyway, Jeff and Kate came back from dinner with Jeff’s mom who is visiting and we had to wait for everyone to change from their Halloween costumes (there was a Halloween party at the dorm, not remarkable) and an hour and a half later we finally left. We sang karaoke for a couple of hours, but after we were done the trains had stopped. We were close enough the people in the dorm could walk back, which means I could too since I live close enough to the school, but Kate lives about an hour away, so she couldn’t even take a taxi back. So, the dorm people went back to the dorm, and Kate and I went and got some food and sat around and talked til the trains started again around 5:00 AM. It was pretty nice out, not too cold. But, it’s weird walking around at night because it’s really quiet around here, but there’s still like old men out power walking at like 3:00 AM. Kinda weirded us out.
Well, that was the highlight of this past weekend. I hung out with some people on Saturday, and Karen and I went shopping on Sunday, but nothing too exciting happened.

I guess that’s all for now. You know you love me.
xoxo

Scandalous.

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:33:00 -0400

Hey people!

Today, Karen and I had to go to the Immigration Office to get a reentry permit. We need one in order to leave the country and come back. So, we had to take the subway to Nagoya Station. I had been to the station for the first time on Saturday. It’s the main hub of trains in Nagoya. A lot of rail-lines intersect there. If I am ever going to take the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) it’s where I would go to do so. Also, there’s lots of shops selling all sorts of things. It’s basically like a mall. Consequently, it’s a big place. I went there on Saturday to buy my Denshi Jisho (like an electronic dictionary). But, on this trip we had to go to this weird little area in south western Nagoya (not entirely sure?) and we had to get a train from the Station. But, we had to walk completely across the station to get to our next train, so we got there and waited for the train to come.

On the train we realized it was a lot further than Karen had thought, and Karen was glad she decided against walking there instead. But, on the train, these two girls started eating something and Karen snarkily remarked, “Oh, those girls breaking the rules,” or something along those lines. I thought it was weird, too, but not too shocking. I had seen people doing it before, not frequently, but it wasn’t completely new to me. Anyway, we go the Immigration Office fine, and everything went smoothly. Then we started on our back to school.

On the train heading back to Nagoya Station, the lady sitting next to me gets a phone call and starts talking on her phone. Karen and I just look at each other kind of shocked and laugh at her faux pas. Other people on the train looked at her oddly, too. It was weird to see someone actually talking on their phone instead of just texting. That was something I had not seen before in Japan. People sit there texting like mad-men on the train, but no one ever talks on their phone.

Then we got back to Nagoya Station, and were walking towards our subway line. We stepped outside to get there, and this group of girls walks by. One of them has an ice cream, she opens it, starts to eat it and throws her wrapper on the ground. Now, Karen and I look at each other in horror! Granted, in America such behavior is not entirely common either, but the blase way in which she threw her trash on the sidewalk was so unfamiliar in relation to all other behavior I have seen here.

Anyway, the whole point of this story is that I am finding it strange how actions considered inappropriate here, that back home I wouldn’t think twice about, are beginning to register as somewhat scandalous.
Also, the second thing is, I find it strange that all three of these people were young women. Whether that is just a coincidence or some indication of women trying to break out of the rigid traditional views of women in Japan, I have no idea. But, just something I was thinking about today.

You know you love me.
xoxo

久しぶり

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:28:00 -0400

Hey people!

It’s been far too long since I have last updated. Lots of things have happened since my last post, so I’ll try to be as brief as possible and just highlight the exciting parts.

School has been going well. I am enjoying my classes. I still feel like I am doing far too little work before I go to class, but when I am there I seem to be just about on par with the rest of the class. It’s kind of strange, but I’m not really complaining because, as most of you know, I am extremely lazy. IJ400 is going smoothly. I think it’s pretty easy so far. We have three midterms in the next three days though. On Thursday, I only have a seven-minute oral exam. And, because my student ID number is 001, I am one of the first to go. So, I need to wake up and go to school by 9:20 still. More time for my Thirsty Thursday Circle, I suppose. My other classes are good, too. I have to write a paper in Literature for next week. I am actually looking forward to it because I haven’t done anything at all challenging since I’ve been here. Foreign Policy is a breeze. And Tea Ceremony is awesome. We get sweets and tea every class.

Outside of classes, I need to think about all that I’ve done. I guess I’ll just put the more exciting things.

I’ve become friends with some of the other exchange students here. These two other girls and I formed a little club on Thursdays called the Thirsty Thursday Circle. Because none of us have class in the afternoon on Thursday, we spend our time walking around Nagoya and enjoying some refreshing beverages. It’s a really good time. I’m pumped for this weeks.

A couple weekends ago, my hostmom and I went to Gifu which is the capital of a prefecture north of Aichi (Nagoya’s prefecture). (The other prefecture is Gifu Prefecture, easy ne?) We started off in a ladies fashion festival thing, where lots of stores were having sales and stuff. It was kinda boring, but seeing all the Japanese ladies going nuts over dresses and stuff was kinda cool. Then, we went and walked around the Gifu Festival. Festivals here seem to be basically the same in regards to food and vendors, with little differences depending on the theme of the festival. This one was in honor of Oda Nobunaga who was the man that laid the groundwork for uniting Japan in 16th century. (It gets more complicated than that, but that’s a brief overview of it. I won’t give you a history lesson, even though I totally can and would love to if there’s any interested parties.) After we walked around the festival for a little while, we went off to Mt. Kinka, the mountain in the middle of Gifu-shi. I took this cart thing (called a “rope-way”) up to the top. Then I walked to the Castle where Oda lived for awhile. Then I took a long walk down the mountain to see this pagoda. It was a really nice walk with lots of nice aerial views of Gifu.

We had a typhoon last Thursday, though. The wind was really strong and it was raining pretty hard on Wednesday night, so the school called and told us that we weren’t going to have morning classes. But, when I woke up on Thursday it was a beautiful and sunny day. So, I got a day off school for nothing. Although, my circle meeting was postponed because of it. We’ll just have to make up for it this week.

So, instead Karen and I met up and discussed our plans for the upcoming fall break we have at the end of the month. Karen was thinking of going to Okinawa for it, but we did some research and found out that going to the Philippines for a couple days was actually cheaper. So, we went and bought two tickets for Manila! We’re going to spend our break in the sunny Philippines. It was kind of spontaneous, but I am really looking forward to it. When else in my life will I be able to spend a long weekend in the Philippines?

This past weekend was pretty low key. I’ve been feeling a little sick. I think it’s just a cold. But, I did go out on Saturday night. A couple friends and I went out. We went to a Thai restaurant. One of my new friends had spent a year in Thailand during high school, and she wanted to go find a Thai place because she misses the food. The restaurant was kind of expensive, but the food was really good. I just got this chicken in cashew sauce thing. It was good.

Yesterday, Karen invited me to go to a barbecue that a Japanese student invited her to. This girl had gone to Dickinson on a summer program, and was really outgoing and friendly. So, Karen, another girl from the dorms, and I went with her to her house. This girl’s house was HUGE. She had this shrine thing for her grandparents in her living room on an elevated platform thing that was probably the size of my room here. And the actual shrine was all gold plated and extremely ornate. They said it was the biggest one in all of Nagoya. It was pretty impressive. The food was amazing too. Lots of beef, chicken, vegetables, and squid. The squid was probably the best squid I’ve eaten since I’ve been here. We all kept saying how full we were, but the mom would just bring out more food and we’d keep eating because it was so delicious.

Well, I know I’ve done more. But, that’s about the gist of my life in Japan so far. I’ll try to update more. Until then, you know you love me. xoxo

I really can't win.

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:06:05 -0400

So, my host-mom put a bunch of new blankets, layers, and down pillows for my futon in my closet today. I was really excited to come home and take a nap on the new really comfy version of my futon. Only, now I need to fold about five times as many things back up and put them away before I go do anything. So, being lazy as I am. I’ve just been sitting here awake for like 45 minutes not doing anything because I don’t feel like putting my bed away. It’s too comfortable.

You know you love me. xoxo

Hey people! I thought it was time for another update on life in Nippon. Classes started in full...

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:32:00 -0400

Hey people!

I thought it was time for another update on life in Nippon. Classes started in full swing last week. IJ400 is decent. It gets confusing at times since we switch rooms throughout the class and have different teachers, but on the whole it’s a good class, and I’m learning a lot. My other classes are Japanese Literature, Japanese Culture and Tea Ceremony, Japan Foreign Policy, and I’m auditing a class called “History of Cultural Exchange between France and Japan.” Japanese Literature seems like it will be an easy class. The teacher is ridiculous. He is never serious, about anything. He started the class by telling us about “his dear friend who died in July of a serious illness,” and concluded with “and since he’s dead, I’m teaching this class now, so I just use the syllabus he was going to use, there’s some mistakes on it because I teach differently! So, bear with me as I’m a little unorganized! ha” He called me a pretty boy for using a purple pen while wearing a purple shirt. He said it looked good on me though. I like him. Japanese Tea Ceremony seems like it will be a good class. The lady who teaches it wears a kimono and has no idea how to work a VCR, so class ended early when she couldn’t work the tape. The history class was entirely in Japanese, I really had no idea what was happening because it was a lot of names and places. But, since it’s an open course, and school for the Japanese students hasn’t started yet, it was only me and two other people in the class. It was kind of awkward since we had no idea what she was talking about, and she knew but kept talking anyway. She did speak French at one point though. I’ve never heard anything so weird. My Foreign Policy teacher wasn’t here this week. He was in Spain. I don’t know why. A lady from the CJS office came and gave us a syllabus and ended class early. On the whole, my classes seem pretty good. Should be a decent semester.

On Sunday, my host mom and I went to this market by Kosho Temple (興正寺) which was fun. Lots of vendors selling vegetables and other goods. The temple was really close to my house. I had seen it a few times before walking around in 八事 (Yagoto, the neighborhood I live in) but never actually went up to it. So, it was nice to be able to go see it. Afterward, my host mom took me to the subway, and I went to the せともの祭 (Setomono Festival) which was a festival for the people who make ceramics in Seto. It was nice, there were lots of bowls and cups that were really pretty, and so much delicious food. Also, my host mom recommended I go walk a short distance to the old part of Seto where there’s a temple and historical house with little ceramic figurines. Overall, it was a nice day.
There are a few pictures from that, and a few other random things here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholaa
I’ll upload more when I feel like it. They aren’t that exciting, so those are about the best you’re going to get.

A few random thoughts about Japan:
It’s really confusing having traffic on the left. At first most people seemed to just walk on the left naturally, but no not really. They have no natural place where they walk. It’s awkward and lots of moments where you and someone else are each trying to move out of each others’ way but end up being more in their way than before.

Places are had to find here. I spent like an hour looking for The Pokemon Center in Sakae (basically downtown Nagoya). I knew exactly where it was, but I just can’t find it. I walked around in the area where it said it was on the website and I found it’s office. Which for some reason is in a different location from the actual store. So I asked a lady there who told me where to go. But, I must be missing something because I can’t find this place. I know it’s going to be really obvious when I actually do find it.

Sleeping on a futon sucks. I have to set it up every night and put it away every morning. I would seriously cut off a pinky toe for a bed right now. I think the first thing I do when I get home is just lay in my bed for a day.

Laundry in Japan is kinda fun. I have to hang my clothes out on the balcony for them to dry. Sometime I’m going to have to do that with my futon, too..

That’s all for now. You know you love me. xoxo

Engrish.

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:06:00 -0400

Just some thoughts about Japan so far.

I love people with random English sayings on their shirts. I really want to get some. So far I’ve seen ones that say, “You should try to not miss the train,” “I only did it because he told me,” “The elephant parade is coming.” I don’t know where one acquires these, but when I find out, it’s what everyone is getting as a souvenir. Karen and I did see one today that said “The deadline is over. If you want it,” but, it was cut for girls and I don’t think it was Karen’s size. It was in a sale bin.

It feels really weird being a minority. People stare at me. It’s kinda uncomfortable. I feel weird on the subway when I have a seat next to me, but someone looks at it and decides to walk to a further seat instead of sitting next to me.

I have no idea how to use my keitai (cell phone). There’s too much stuff happening on it. I have a feeling I am going to get a ¥20,000 charge or something next month without even knowing I did anything.

Nanzan really sucks at orienting us. I feel like instead of taking 5 days it could have easily been 2 or 3. I feel bad for the people who have to travel an hour or more. They had to come to school to fill out a course registration form. Seriously. That’s what we did yesterday. It took 15 minutes.

That’s all for now. I’ll update what I did (or really didn’t do, since school-wise, we just had like 3 half-hour orientation sessions this week.) later this week. Classes start tomorrow. Should be fun.

You know you love me. xoxo

Hey people! So far, Japan has been great. It’s just really, really hot here. I think it was...

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:11:00 -0400

Hey people!

So far, Japan has been great. It’s just really, really hot here. I think it was about 31-32 degrees yesterday. The heat isn’t that bad, but the humidity is what really makes the weather intense. I’ve never experienced it being so humid, so consistently. But aside from sweating all the time, Japan is awesome.

Yesterday, we got the results of our placement test. I got into Intensive Japanese 400 which is what I was expecting and aiming for. So, now that I know that I am pretty relieved that I didn’t mess up on the placement test. After the results were passed out, we had a really boring orientation that was basically common sense about life in Japan and “what to do in emergencies” kind of things.

Following the orientation, there was a welcome party for the new exchange students and some current students at Nanzan. There were a lot of little foods that were just kind of a random assortment. They had like sandwiches, potato wedges, and fried chicken. They also had some sushi and dumplings. After the welcome party was over, we went on tours with current Nanzan Students. It was fun to walk around and see the campus and find out which building had what things, I don’t know how much I really remember from it though. But, I have a better idea that I did before.

After the tour, Karen and I went with some of her dorm-mates to the Ward Office to apply for our 外国人登録証明書 (Alien Registration Card) and the 国民健康保険 (National Health Insurance). We took the subway, which was a first since being in Japan. It was nice, not too crowded. I suppose in busier parts of town at more rush hour times they would be a little more packed.

I went home and took a nap after we did that, and later that night Karen asked if I wanted to go for a walk. So I went over to Nanzan and met up with her. We walked towards 名古屋大学 (Nagoya University) since neither of us had been there yet. It was a nice campus. On our way back, we stopped at a 7-11 (there’s lots of コンビニ [read: “conbini,” short for convience store, there’s a lot of them here] and a lot of them are 7-11’s or Circle K’s. There’s also this one “Lawson’s” everywhere. It’s weird.) and got some 氷結 (some drink that is lemon or grapefruit flavored and delicious). We then stopped in this park at Nagoya University. We sat there drinking our dranks, then this security guard walked by and like noticed but didn’t care. Karen was getting bit by mosquitos like crazy so we just started walking. Japan is awesome, you can walk down the street just drinking and no one gives it any thought. We walked by and went our separate ways. But it was a nice night.

So, to recap:

Got into the level I wanted in Japanese.
Took my first subway ride in Japan.
Bought my first alcoholic beverage legally, ever.
Loving Japan.

xoxo.

日本の鳥

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:23:00 -0400

Nicholas Adams: OMG WTF IS THAT
Katy Ford: what
Nicholas Adams: THERES LIKE WEIRD ASS BIRD NOISES HERE
Katy Ford: ARTICUNO??

First week so far.

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:06:00 -0400

Hey people!

So, I am chillin’ in Nagoya. It took about 23 hours to get here all in all. I left Philadelphia at 10 AM on 8/31 had a layover in Chicago for about an hour and a half then left Chicago for Tokyo around 1 PM. The flight was really long, but fantastic. There was a lady a few rows ahead of me wearing a bright pink track suit with a huge Hello Kitty bedazzled to the back. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want one. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful. After getting to Narita, and my connecting flight to Nagoya, I managed to get my luggage and get through customs. There students from Nanzan waiting for me and the other students that were on my flight. We had to wait a long time in the airport for this one person who never showed. So, after about an hour of waiting we finally left the airport in the taxi. Driving on the left side of the road was kind of a strange experience.

My host brother, Motoi, met me at Nanzan after we arrived. We then proceeded to drag my luggage down the huge hill from Nanzan, then up the huge hill to their Apartment. >_< I am going to get a lot of exercise walking to and from school this semester.

Yesterday, Motoi made me breakfast then went off to school. But, he left around 8 am. So, I ate breakfast and watched some television. He forgot to give me a key to the apartment, so I couldn’t do much. I was still tired so I slept most of the day. I woke up around 5:30 PM and Motoi still wasn’t home, so I made myself something to eat (he had shown me how to make some “instant meals” the night before). Then, he heated up some frozen pizzas and we ate those. We talked a little bit about movies and music, but not much. He spent most of dinner on his computer. After dinner, he showed me how to get to Nanzan again, so I would be able to get there in the morning for my placement test. It was really easy and is only about a 10 minute walk away. It was much easier to get there without lugging two suitcases up and down a hill. When we were there I met up with Karen and Motoi left. Karen and I talked for a little bit and I went home. I kinda got lost, but not really. I just missed a turn, I realized it pretty quickly though. I went to bed kind of early last night (~10 PM) but woke up around 6 AM. I’ve been really tired lately, I guess it’s jetlag.

This morning, Motoi made me breakfast again. Today it was rice and miso with some cake. It was really good. I made my way to Nanzan for the placement test. The test wasn’t that hard. It was all multiple choice and pretty straight forward. I think I did pretty good. We find the results out tomrorow morning. After the test, Karen, Brandon, Dan and I walked to the cafeteria for lunch. I bought my first thing from a vending machine. Just a bottle of water, but it was probably the most exciting vending machine experience I’ve ever had. When you put your money in, whatever item you can afford with what you put in lights up then you push what you want. It doesn’t sound real exciting, but it definitely was. :)

After lunch, we went back to the orientation, and they had a welcome ceremony with all the directors of the Center for Japanese Studies (CJS). They all talked a little, then we went into other orientation materials. It was kinda boring at times but good information. I won’t bore you with the details. However, I did apply for stamp that you use for a signature. Because they don’t really use signatures in Japan, people get stamps, called Inkan, that you write the characters for your name and use in lieu of a signature. It’s pretty neat, and I’ll need it to set up my bank account.

Otherwise, today I haven’t really done much. I came home and took a nap. Oh, an old lady in a kimono held the elevator for me. That was kinda nice. I think I’ll go make something to eat since Motoi still isn’t home. Probably when I start to make something is when he’ll arrive. :P But, so far Japan seems pretty nice and I think it’s going to be a good year.

Well, that’s all for now. xoxo