Hello friends and family!
Wow, I seriously can't express how great of a week I've had! I had so much fun! But first, the bad news I'll try to keep this short: Louis, the French guy, got himself an adorable Japanese girlfriend named Ayari. She is one of the language tutors and we all really like her. When we were in Fukui Louis cheated on her with another Japanese girl named Shizuzu, who Dan (one of the Aussie boys) wanted to date. So, after about a week of Louis hiding it and lying to Ayari and Dan, the truth came out. The crap hit the fan and now many of the exchange students here aren't friends anymore as they're all mad at each other. Dan hates Louis and Shizuzu for lying to him. Louis hates Sarah for not being willing to keep his secret about him sleeping with another girl. Sarah doesn't want to be around Louis or Shizuzu because she doesn't like the way they treated Ayari. So all kinds of stupid Gaijin (Foreigner) drama that poor Sarah got dragged into. I mostly stayed out of it, other then standing on Sarah's side and supporting her in telling Louis to come clean. So there's a lot of tension among the exchange students, which is tough because we're always stuck together. So that's that.
Well, now the good news :) Wednesday I went to Nara with Norihiro! It was so much fun! We went to Nara park which is famous for having deer that are used to humans. They were everywhere! Norihiro bought some crackers to feed them and ended up being chased. We climbed on a bench to avoid being swarmed and one of the deer got so impatient for the cracker it bit Norihiro's leg three times. I laughed so hard! Norihiro cussed the deer our, swearing in English that the Aussie boys taught him. It was hilarious! We also went to Todaiji Temple which is the largest wooden building in the world. It has a HUGE gold platted Buddha inside that is almost 200 feet tall. It was so amazing! While we were in Nara I promised Norihiro that if I came to Snow College I would show him around Utah. He put his application in to do a foreign exchange to Snow College this month. Possibly, if he passes, next Fall he will be at Snow College.
Saturday I went to Kyoto with my Language Partner, Akane. The first time she helped me with Japanese one of her friends Inatomi (we call him Tomi) came because he wants to improve his English. So Tomi and I met at Ibaraki Station and went to Kyoto to meet Akane together. Akane had one of her best friends there, Eriko, so the four of us hung out all day. It was so much fun! Akane has really good English so she's so helpful with keeping me involved and informed in all the conversations. Tomi is hilarious! He's the character type where you can tease him endlessly and he just takes it with a huge grin, agreeing to whatever negative thing you say about him and laughing. He is quick to admit his own perverted character traits lol. Akane treats him like a little brother so their friendship is really good and funny to watch. Eriko almost immediately made me feel comfortable. She's really a combination of Akane and Tomi so she's very considerate and funny at the same time. We went to Kiyomizu Temple which was amazing! It's this huge wooden temple with a stage built overlooking a large hill. There are a lot of Momiji (Maple trees) around it so it was very beautiful. Tomi has previously made jokes that he and I are going to be married someday. So while in Kyoto he brought it up again. He asked if I would marry him so I asked if he would buy me a kimono. He agreed and I agreed to marry him. It was so funny because, without missing a beat, he said: "Ok! Lets go get a hotel!" in English lol. We all laughed so hard! I refused to get a hotel and said that he had to buy me a kimono now, and we couldn't get married for two years (we need to finish school), and we can't sleep together until we're married. Tomi insisted that my rules were difficult but agreed to conquer them. Akane threatened to cut off our friendship if I married such a crazy man as Tomi lol. Needless to say, the whole day was hilarious. I smiled and laughed so much my face ached when I returned home. I know Akane had a lot of fun too. She is planning another activity for the four of us.
Today, Sunday, Norihiro invited Sarah and I to come to his house to have lunch and meet his family. His parents, Yamamura San, were so kind. Neither of them speak any English, besides simple things like Thank you, but they were so attentive to both Sarah and I. Sarah has really good Japanese so she can carry a conversation easily (She's studied for about 4 years now). I was so nervous that I didn't say hardly a word during lunch lol. It's nerve wracking to try to eat with proper Japanese manners and speak Japanese. Norihiro kept looking at me and smiling, trying to urge me to speak, but I couldn't find the courage lol. After lunch we, Norihiro's parents, Norihiro, Sarah, and myself, went to Mino no Taki, which is a large mountain with a waterfall. We drove up a winding canyon which reminded me of Utah and got to see a lot of changing leafs and a really beautiful waterfall. They also took us to Katsuo Ji Temple which is just a little further up the canyon. Katsuo Ji Temple is known as "The Temple of the Winners Luck". We went at night and it was so beautiful! I tried to take pictures but my camera is no good :( It was so wonderful there though. They had lights and lanterns going around the ponds and in the trees as well as soft Japanese instrumental music going. It smelled of incense and the visitors were praying so they were ringing the bells and gongs in the distance. The whole place had the most peaceful wonderful feeling! After the temple his parents took us our for ramen. The whole day they payed for everything, which made both Sarah and I feel bad, but Norihiro insisted it was fine. They even bought Sarah and I little Daruma dolls (A doll for granting a wish and bringing good luck. It also is a symbol of determination and never giving up.) at the Temple's souvenir shop. They even drove us back to our stations instead of letting us just catch a train. They were absolutely so wonderful and kind! Norihiro has three brothers so I think it was very fun for his mom to have girls in the house :) Something really funny: Norihiro's family call him Nori (He's the baby of the family), which was really cute to hear. When we went to leave the house one of the neighbors, an Obaachan (older woman) was outside talking to Norihiro's mother. When she saw Sarah and I, two good looking foreign girls, she praised Norihiro. But the way she did it was so funny! She kept complimenting him but she called him "Nori chan" which is a very childish sounding name. It gives off the impression that he's 7 years old. She said it many times while teasing him about us (I couldn't understand all of what she was saying). Norihiro looked extremely annoyed, while trying to be polite. It was so funny! So I called him Nori chan later as a joke and he insisted I shouldn't call him that, and called me Taleah sempai (upper classman) lol.
So basically my week was amazing. I saw so many beautiful things in Japan, some of which are National Treasures and on a lists of places in Japan that are must sees as well as very protected. I absolutely love Japan! My time is starting to run short and I can't imagine what I'll do when I return to America. . . no offense anyone lol. All I know is, I might just marry Tomi in order to stay! lol He's crazy enough he might actually do it if I explained it was a business arrangement ;) Just kidding Mom! Don't send anyone to collect me.
I love you all and miss you like crazy! Hugs and kisses!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Fukui Trip
Hey everyone!
This week was so great! It started with Monday, I did a movie night with six other people. We went to Paranormal Activity 3 and it was freaking scary! The thing I first noticed was how the youngest daughter had a similar voice to McKayla, my niece, and so for the rest of the movie I was extra scared for some reason lol. Needless to say, an hour into the movie, I was clinging onto Norihiro's arm, the Japanese girl, Ako, next to me was slumped so low in her seat I don't think she could see, Louis and his girlfriend Ayari were bearing their faces in each other and Hiroki, a Japanese student, and his friend (who's name I could never remember!) were a little jumpy. Only Norihiro was calm the whole time . . . in fact he didn't jump once. The third movie is much more scary then the first two. Loud, dark theaters don't help with it being more scary either.
This week we had entrance exams at the college so I didn't have school Thursday or Friday. I did absolutely nothing those days . . . I sat around at home, read a book, studied a little Japanese, and all in all relaxed. I'm such a loser lol.
Saturday the school planned an overnight trip to the Fukui prefecture for the exchange students and invited up to 11 regular students to come along. Fukui is country side so I got to see bigger mountains. In fact the hotel we stayed at was in the mountains up a winding canyon so it kind of felt like being home. . . just more vibrant colors. We left Ibaraki around 9 AM and drove in a bus for about 3 hours. The weather was horrible and raining non stop so it was really cold. Our first stop was to Echizen Washi which is a place where you can make Japanese paper. So we each made paper which we sealed flowers in as well as visited a museum about traditional Japanese paper. It sounds kind of lame, I know, but it was really interesting.
Our next stop was Eiheiji Temple and, without a doubt, this is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. The temple is full of priests and priest trainees who are studying the art of Zen, specifically the Zen art of sitting still. The temple was absolutely gorgeous! Sadly, it was against the rules to take pictures of the priests but I wish you could see them! They are so peaceful and graceful it's amazing. When they walk past anyone they drop their gaze and bow as they go, very humbly excusing themselves for having to step between you. I watched three or four of them cleaning one of the rooms, they were mopping the ground with rags, and it was so graceful! It sounds stupid but it was true. They are so peaceful that they just flow, smooth, like water, not a care in the world, focusing only at the task at hand. The whole time I was in the Temple I thought of Tamirrah and Kendall. I really want them to see this place. It was so wonderful my soul felt healed and calm. The air was cool from the rain, quiet, and smelled of incense. The architecture on every inch of the grounds was like pure art. Details in everything! I took many pictures of it, they're all on Facebook.
When we got to the hotel we checked into our rooms and waited for dinner. I assumed it would be a basic meal, maybe noodles or something, but when I came down I was amazed to see an EXTREMELY traditional meal set. I had about ten dishes to myself, all of it with fish, 80% of it raw. Fukui is famous for being a fishing prefecture. So, I manned up, and ate a bunch of stuff that I had no idea what it was. I tried almost everything, at least a bite, with the exception of two things: The sushi of only fish eggs (sakana no tamago ga ichiban kirai!) and the fish that looked like it had the skin of Valcor the luck dragon from the Never Ending Story lol. It was too pretty looking to eat, I felt weird about it.
At the hotel they had onsen (public baths) and, yes, that's right, I did it! I got naked with at least 7 other girls and sat in an outdoor bath! It was so fun! The air on the outside of the water was freezing, it was still raining, and yet we got so warm. It was really funny to climb out of the tub though because we all went running inside, freezing cold. I think there's something to be said about having a bath with someone, you feel really close afterwards, seriously like family. I don't think boys bond quiet the same as girls though . . . Louis just told me who had a nice body of the boys lol. The rest of the night almost all of us, I think about 20 people in all came, hung out in one of the rooms, playing music, games, drinking, and smoking. I drank water and went to bed around midnight lol. I was told that most everyone else stayed up until around 2.
The next day we went to Tojinbo which is a famous cliffside against the ocean. The water slams so hard against the rocks and the wind is so strong. I found out later that not only is Tojinbo famous for the cliffs but it's famous as a suicide spot. . . less pretty now lol. Ooki chan told me, after I came home, this fact. I was so surprised that she laughed and said, "If you jump in, you're not coming out." Next we went to Maruoka Castle which is one of the most famous spots in Japan for viewing cherry blossom trees. Sadly, they are not in bloom so I missed that attraction, but the castle was cool. It originally was a dungeon so the inside was not at all appealing but the architecture on the outside is very pretty.
For lunch we went to Nihonkai Sakanamachi, which is a large fish market. There are hundreds of stalls set up with raw fish everywhere. I've never seen so much bright orange fish eggs before then in my life! Unfortunately, the weather was freezing so the last thing I wanted to do was be adventurous and eat sashimi (raw fish). So I ate udon and kept my hands on the bowl to warm up lol. I wish I could have brought fresh fish home for all of you but, sadly, I don't think they would keep from now until January.
Our last stop was to Konbukan, which is a type of sea week museum. It's a store that sells a lot of different types of sea weed or sea weed based food. They also have ice cream with sea weed as an ingredient. Because of my lack of adventure at the previous stop I gave it a try. I bought myself a soy sauce flavored ice cream with sea weed. It was so good! It was sweet, not salty like real soy sauce, and really tasty. I wish they would have sold it in containers because I would have brought some home for Ooki chan and Oniisan to try. After that, we took a long drive home which, to pass the time, the tour guide put on Lilo and Stitch for us, in Japanese. It was hilarious! That movie is already adorable. In Japanese, since I'm learning and can understand some of what they're saying, it's even more funny! The Japanese voice actor for Stitch mimicked the original actor really well, you could hardly tell a difference. After that I think I want to buy some Disney movies to take home and watch, in Japanese :) Maybe . . .
Anyways, things here are great. I'm really tired from a long trip and driving and very happy. This week I have two outings planned: Wednesday is a national holiday so no school. Norihiro and I are planning a trip to either Kyoto or Nara, not sure which on yet. This Saturday one of my language partners, Akane, invited me to come to Kyoto with her and some of her friends to see the Autumn leafs. So please look forward to some more pictures and fun stories.
I hope all is well at home. I love and miss you guys!
This week was so great! It started with Monday, I did a movie night with six other people. We went to Paranormal Activity 3 and it was freaking scary! The thing I first noticed was how the youngest daughter had a similar voice to McKayla, my niece, and so for the rest of the movie I was extra scared for some reason lol. Needless to say, an hour into the movie, I was clinging onto Norihiro's arm, the Japanese girl, Ako, next to me was slumped so low in her seat I don't think she could see, Louis and his girlfriend Ayari were bearing their faces in each other and Hiroki, a Japanese student, and his friend (who's name I could never remember!) were a little jumpy. Only Norihiro was calm the whole time . . . in fact he didn't jump once. The third movie is much more scary then the first two. Loud, dark theaters don't help with it being more scary either.
This week we had entrance exams at the college so I didn't have school Thursday or Friday. I did absolutely nothing those days . . . I sat around at home, read a book, studied a little Japanese, and all in all relaxed. I'm such a loser lol.
Saturday the school planned an overnight trip to the Fukui prefecture for the exchange students and invited up to 11 regular students to come along. Fukui is country side so I got to see bigger mountains. In fact the hotel we stayed at was in the mountains up a winding canyon so it kind of felt like being home. . . just more vibrant colors. We left Ibaraki around 9 AM and drove in a bus for about 3 hours. The weather was horrible and raining non stop so it was really cold. Our first stop was to Echizen Washi which is a place where you can make Japanese paper. So we each made paper which we sealed flowers in as well as visited a museum about traditional Japanese paper. It sounds kind of lame, I know, but it was really interesting.
Our next stop was Eiheiji Temple and, without a doubt, this is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. The temple is full of priests and priest trainees who are studying the art of Zen, specifically the Zen art of sitting still. The temple was absolutely gorgeous! Sadly, it was against the rules to take pictures of the priests but I wish you could see them! They are so peaceful and graceful it's amazing. When they walk past anyone they drop their gaze and bow as they go, very humbly excusing themselves for having to step between you. I watched three or four of them cleaning one of the rooms, they were mopping the ground with rags, and it was so graceful! It sounds stupid but it was true. They are so peaceful that they just flow, smooth, like water, not a care in the world, focusing only at the task at hand. The whole time I was in the Temple I thought of Tamirrah and Kendall. I really want them to see this place. It was so wonderful my soul felt healed and calm. The air was cool from the rain, quiet, and smelled of incense. The architecture on every inch of the grounds was like pure art. Details in everything! I took many pictures of it, they're all on Facebook.
When we got to the hotel we checked into our rooms and waited for dinner. I assumed it would be a basic meal, maybe noodles or something, but when I came down I was amazed to see an EXTREMELY traditional meal set. I had about ten dishes to myself, all of it with fish, 80% of it raw. Fukui is famous for being a fishing prefecture. So, I manned up, and ate a bunch of stuff that I had no idea what it was. I tried almost everything, at least a bite, with the exception of two things: The sushi of only fish eggs (sakana no tamago ga ichiban kirai!) and the fish that looked like it had the skin of Valcor the luck dragon from the Never Ending Story lol. It was too pretty looking to eat, I felt weird about it.
At the hotel they had onsen (public baths) and, yes, that's right, I did it! I got naked with at least 7 other girls and sat in an outdoor bath! It was so fun! The air on the outside of the water was freezing, it was still raining, and yet we got so warm. It was really funny to climb out of the tub though because we all went running inside, freezing cold. I think there's something to be said about having a bath with someone, you feel really close afterwards, seriously like family. I don't think boys bond quiet the same as girls though . . . Louis just told me who had a nice body of the boys lol. The rest of the night almost all of us, I think about 20 people in all came, hung out in one of the rooms, playing music, games, drinking, and smoking. I drank water and went to bed around midnight lol. I was told that most everyone else stayed up until around 2.
The next day we went to Tojinbo which is a famous cliffside against the ocean. The water slams so hard against the rocks and the wind is so strong. I found out later that not only is Tojinbo famous for the cliffs but it's famous as a suicide spot. . . less pretty now lol. Ooki chan told me, after I came home, this fact. I was so surprised that she laughed and said, "If you jump in, you're not coming out." Next we went to Maruoka Castle which is one of the most famous spots in Japan for viewing cherry blossom trees. Sadly, they are not in bloom so I missed that attraction, but the castle was cool. It originally was a dungeon so the inside was not at all appealing but the architecture on the outside is very pretty.
For lunch we went to Nihonkai Sakanamachi, which is a large fish market. There are hundreds of stalls set up with raw fish everywhere. I've never seen so much bright orange fish eggs before then in my life! Unfortunately, the weather was freezing so the last thing I wanted to do was be adventurous and eat sashimi (raw fish). So I ate udon and kept my hands on the bowl to warm up lol. I wish I could have brought fresh fish home for all of you but, sadly, I don't think they would keep from now until January.
Our last stop was to Konbukan, which is a type of sea week museum. It's a store that sells a lot of different types of sea weed or sea weed based food. They also have ice cream with sea weed as an ingredient. Because of my lack of adventure at the previous stop I gave it a try. I bought myself a soy sauce flavored ice cream with sea weed. It was so good! It was sweet, not salty like real soy sauce, and really tasty. I wish they would have sold it in containers because I would have brought some home for Ooki chan and Oniisan to try. After that, we took a long drive home which, to pass the time, the tour guide put on Lilo and Stitch for us, in Japanese. It was hilarious! That movie is already adorable. In Japanese, since I'm learning and can understand some of what they're saying, it's even more funny! The Japanese voice actor for Stitch mimicked the original actor really well, you could hardly tell a difference. After that I think I want to buy some Disney movies to take home and watch, in Japanese :) Maybe . . .
Anyways, things here are great. I'm really tired from a long trip and driving and very happy. This week I have two outings planned: Wednesday is a national holiday so no school. Norihiro and I are planning a trip to either Kyoto or Nara, not sure which on yet. This Saturday one of my language partners, Akane, invited me to come to Kyoto with her and some of her friends to see the Autumn leafs. So please look forward to some more pictures and fun stories.
I hope all is well at home. I love and miss you guys!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Exactly 2 Months in Japan
Konnichiwa everyone!
Things here in Japan are great. Not much going on. In Japanese class we're starting to study short form (those who know Japanese understand what I'm talking about) and I HATE IT! Mecha kirai! I like "masu" form. Which is silly because everyone in Osaka speaks the very casual "short form" so I need to be good at it. *Sigh* What do you do? I'm ok at Present positive, and present and past negative but past positive seems impossible to me. I'll get it though. I'm determined!
Lots of weird things have happened with me and some of the exchange students. Madison, one of the Aussie boys, is well known for complaining about EVERYTHING and just saying whatever he thinks, no matter how unnecessary or uncalled for it is. To put it bluntly, hardly any of the exchange students get a long with him, myself included. This week, on two separate occasions, he insulted me and made fun of me during class conversations, for no reason. The second time I wanted to throw a chair at his head because he was so offensive. But, as everyone knows, Karma is cruel. Friday night Madison, who's well known for drinking two much (twice now he's slept outside overnight from passing out on the streets), overdid it again. I was told, by Sarah, that he lost his school bag, didn't get off the train in Ibaraki and ended up in Kyoto (an hour away from where he lives), got off the train and got lost in the mountains. He ended up calling Dan and Bret around 4 or 5 in the morning, furious that he was lost and insisting that it was all Japan and the Japanese peoples faults. I guess he even refused to ask for directions when the other boys were trying to help him because he was too proud. He found his way to a station eventually but his bag is still lost. Inside his bag was all his school books, his iphone from Australia, his electric dictionary, as well as a huge jump drive of one of the teachers that he had borrowed. More or less he lost over $2,000 worth of personal items. Of course, being true to his personality, he blames everyone but himself, including the country of Japan. I heard that he called his family and is booking a flight home before this next week is over. I doubt he plans on compensating the teacher for the jump drive he lost. Frankly I doubt he will be missed by any of us. Karma I tell you.
Thursday I was able to try on Yukata, as I said before, one of Ooki chans students is going to teach me how to tie them on myself. She helped me, which was really fun and amazingly complicated, and even left her Yukata here for me to practice with. I've been too scared to unfold them though because folding them correctly, to preserve them, is more complicated then trying to wear them. But, by the time I'm home, I hope to be able to tie a Kimono on myself :) To make this story even cooler the woman said she might have an old wool Kimono she could give me! She's promised to bring it next time she comes and if it fits me she said she would give it to me. I was so shocked when she offered all I could do was bow and said "Arigatou gozaimasu! Sumimasen!" She insisted it was fine but Ooki chan teased me for being so spoiled by her students. I feel so lucky to be around such kind people!
I know I was starting to get discouraged with Japanese but I Skyped with Yuka today and we were able to speak very simple, and VERY slow, Japanese. (Thank you Yuka Sensei!!!) So despite all my complaints I know I'm improving. Naomi teased me for complaining about not being fluent yet. She said: "Instant Gratification Taleah rears her ugly head again!" She knows me well, hehe. It's true. I feel that since I'm not fluent, after two months, I'm failing. Speaking of two months, today, is exactly the two month mark of me being in Japan. Only 2 1/2 more months to go! That's so insane! I hope time will slow down a little for me.
Well, I really don't know what to write. . . I haven't done any cool trips for a while so nothing fun to say. But I hope you're all doing well. I love and miss you all. Until next week :)
Things here in Japan are great. Not much going on. In Japanese class we're starting to study short form (those who know Japanese understand what I'm talking about) and I HATE IT! Mecha kirai! I like "masu" form. Which is silly because everyone in Osaka speaks the very casual "short form" so I need to be good at it. *Sigh* What do you do? I'm ok at Present positive, and present and past negative but past positive seems impossible to me. I'll get it though. I'm determined!
Lots of weird things have happened with me and some of the exchange students. Madison, one of the Aussie boys, is well known for complaining about EVERYTHING and just saying whatever he thinks, no matter how unnecessary or uncalled for it is. To put it bluntly, hardly any of the exchange students get a long with him, myself included. This week, on two separate occasions, he insulted me and made fun of me during class conversations, for no reason. The second time I wanted to throw a chair at his head because he was so offensive. But, as everyone knows, Karma is cruel. Friday night Madison, who's well known for drinking two much (twice now he's slept outside overnight from passing out on the streets), overdid it again. I was told, by Sarah, that he lost his school bag, didn't get off the train in Ibaraki and ended up in Kyoto (an hour away from where he lives), got off the train and got lost in the mountains. He ended up calling Dan and Bret around 4 or 5 in the morning, furious that he was lost and insisting that it was all Japan and the Japanese peoples faults. I guess he even refused to ask for directions when the other boys were trying to help him because he was too proud. He found his way to a station eventually but his bag is still lost. Inside his bag was all his school books, his iphone from Australia, his electric dictionary, as well as a huge jump drive of one of the teachers that he had borrowed. More or less he lost over $2,000 worth of personal items. Of course, being true to his personality, he blames everyone but himself, including the country of Japan. I heard that he called his family and is booking a flight home before this next week is over. I doubt he plans on compensating the teacher for the jump drive he lost. Frankly I doubt he will be missed by any of us. Karma I tell you.
Thursday I was able to try on Yukata, as I said before, one of Ooki chans students is going to teach me how to tie them on myself. She helped me, which was really fun and amazingly complicated, and even left her Yukata here for me to practice with. I've been too scared to unfold them though because folding them correctly, to preserve them, is more complicated then trying to wear them. But, by the time I'm home, I hope to be able to tie a Kimono on myself :) To make this story even cooler the woman said she might have an old wool Kimono she could give me! She's promised to bring it next time she comes and if it fits me she said she would give it to me. I was so shocked when she offered all I could do was bow and said "Arigatou gozaimasu! Sumimasen!" She insisted it was fine but Ooki chan teased me for being so spoiled by her students. I feel so lucky to be around such kind people!
I know I was starting to get discouraged with Japanese but I Skyped with Yuka today and we were able to speak very simple, and VERY slow, Japanese. (Thank you Yuka Sensei!!!) So despite all my complaints I know I'm improving. Naomi teased me for complaining about not being fluent yet. She said: "Instant Gratification Taleah rears her ugly head again!" She knows me well, hehe. It's true. I feel that since I'm not fluent, after two months, I'm failing. Speaking of two months, today, is exactly the two month mark of me being in Japan. Only 2 1/2 more months to go! That's so insane! I hope time will slow down a little for me.
Well, I really don't know what to write. . . I haven't done any cool trips for a while so nothing fun to say. But I hope you're all doing well. I love and miss you all. Until next week :)
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Another week here, how about there?
Hello everyone,
How are you all doing? I'm fine here :)
This last week we had 4 days off from school. Three for the school festival (one day to set up, one day for the event, and one day to take down) and one for a national holiday. I had way too much free time and it was kind of boring. Also I don't think I really studied Japanese (I did my literature homework and read though) so I felt like I had taken steps backwards when school became normal again. The language got REALLY frustrating for me this week. So much so that in the middle of class and my Japanese partners all I want to do is cry lol. Luckily I hold those feelings in and push myself forward, which usually gets me results. Still can't speak, I've got to be the worst learner ever, as I have no confidence in speaking. I've realized I'm pretty prideful in that manner. I don't want to speak unless I feel VERY comfortable that the person wont laugh at me for messing up. So I hardly ever say anything unless I know I'm saying it the right way . . . which in turn doesn't help me learn as I'm only saying the same things over and over. . . it's a vicious cycle that I need to force myself out of. *Sigh*
So, I had lots of time off and didn't do very much with it. I attended the school festival which was a lot of fun. Sarah and Norihiro were there with their clubs so I bought food from them as well as talked with them. I even helped Norihiro advertise for his club. I walked around with their sign announcing food. I got a lot of attention that way lol. That day I ate A LOT of food, and it was wonderful. I seriously love Japanese food more then anything else!
On the weekend Norihiro and I hung out again. We went to Umeda to Yodobashi Camera and he bought himself a nice Camera. I thought he would be thrilled but after spending the money he just looked depressed lol. We also went to The Sky Building which had some amazing views of the city, please see Facebook for the pictures. Then we came to my house and watched Paranormal Activity 2 (yes, I endured the second movie). I have to say the second one is more scary then the first. This time, near the end, I was squeezing Norihiro's arm and, when the scary part passed, I realized how hard I was actually holding him. I apologized and he just laughed at me for being scared. We have plans to go see the third movie in the theater next Monday . . . I can't take a pillow in there to hide behind so I don't know what I'll do lol.
November 4th was the 27 Wedding Anniversary of Ooki Chan and Oniisan. It was so cute because earlier in the week Ooki Chan told me about it and then said "I don't know how we haven't gotten sick of each other." and laughed. Their relationship is so good, the fit each other so well and I've come to realize that my host parents are seriously some of the most amazing people I've ever met. One of my major concerns with staying with a host family was coming to a home where the dad would be very "old fashioned" Japanese. Luckily Oniisan isn't like that. Ooki Chan and I talk all the time and I really love getting to know her. They both talk about me to their friends and honestly treat me as if I'm their real daughter. Just yesterday Oniisan showed his coworkers a picture of me and told them I was his daughter. Then insisted it wasn't true because I was American he said lol. But the fact that he's pulling up pictures of me to show off makes me very happy. To make their Anniversary even cooler Ooki Chan found her official wedding photos and showed me. She and Oniisan look so young! It blew my mind how adorable they were and I couldn't stop looking at them in their traditional Japanese clothes on their wedding day.
This week I also went to a used Kimono shop in Ibaraki. I assumed, before going, that there would maybe be a couple hundred Kimonos but when I walked into the shop I was stunned. There were thousands, folded perfectly, stacked on shelves, organized by color and style. Ooki Chan and I looked through some of them but there were just so many it was overwhelming! I really want to buy one and, surprisingly, they're not too expensive since they are used. Any suggestions on colors people? lol. I decided that I want to get a more formal one to wear for New Years but I haven't decided what color.
Wow, not much else to write. . . things are fine, just struggling through the language and having a good time every day. Soon I'll be back to visiting Temples and Shrines which is something I already miss doing after it being a few weeks since the last visit. I hope you're all well. I love and miss you all!
How are you all doing? I'm fine here :)
This last week we had 4 days off from school. Three for the school festival (one day to set up, one day for the event, and one day to take down) and one for a national holiday. I had way too much free time and it was kind of boring. Also I don't think I really studied Japanese (I did my literature homework and read though) so I felt like I had taken steps backwards when school became normal again. The language got REALLY frustrating for me this week. So much so that in the middle of class and my Japanese partners all I want to do is cry lol. Luckily I hold those feelings in and push myself forward, which usually gets me results. Still can't speak, I've got to be the worst learner ever, as I have no confidence in speaking. I've realized I'm pretty prideful in that manner. I don't want to speak unless I feel VERY comfortable that the person wont laugh at me for messing up. So I hardly ever say anything unless I know I'm saying it the right way . . . which in turn doesn't help me learn as I'm only saying the same things over and over. . . it's a vicious cycle that I need to force myself out of. *Sigh*
So, I had lots of time off and didn't do very much with it. I attended the school festival which was a lot of fun. Sarah and Norihiro were there with their clubs so I bought food from them as well as talked with them. I even helped Norihiro advertise for his club. I walked around with their sign announcing food. I got a lot of attention that way lol. That day I ate A LOT of food, and it was wonderful. I seriously love Japanese food more then anything else!
On the weekend Norihiro and I hung out again. We went to Umeda to Yodobashi Camera and he bought himself a nice Camera. I thought he would be thrilled but after spending the money he just looked depressed lol. We also went to The Sky Building which had some amazing views of the city, please see Facebook for the pictures. Then we came to my house and watched Paranormal Activity 2 (yes, I endured the second movie). I have to say the second one is more scary then the first. This time, near the end, I was squeezing Norihiro's arm and, when the scary part passed, I realized how hard I was actually holding him. I apologized and he just laughed at me for being scared. We have plans to go see the third movie in the theater next Monday . . . I can't take a pillow in there to hide behind so I don't know what I'll do lol.
November 4th was the 27 Wedding Anniversary of Ooki Chan and Oniisan. It was so cute because earlier in the week Ooki Chan told me about it and then said "I don't know how we haven't gotten sick of each other." and laughed. Their relationship is so good, the fit each other so well and I've come to realize that my host parents are seriously some of the most amazing people I've ever met. One of my major concerns with staying with a host family was coming to a home where the dad would be very "old fashioned" Japanese. Luckily Oniisan isn't like that. Ooki Chan and I talk all the time and I really love getting to know her. They both talk about me to their friends and honestly treat me as if I'm their real daughter. Just yesterday Oniisan showed his coworkers a picture of me and told them I was his daughter. Then insisted it wasn't true because I was American he said lol. But the fact that he's pulling up pictures of me to show off makes me very happy. To make their Anniversary even cooler Ooki Chan found her official wedding photos and showed me. She and Oniisan look so young! It blew my mind how adorable they were and I couldn't stop looking at them in their traditional Japanese clothes on their wedding day.
This week I also went to a used Kimono shop in Ibaraki. I assumed, before going, that there would maybe be a couple hundred Kimonos but when I walked into the shop I was stunned. There were thousands, folded perfectly, stacked on shelves, organized by color and style. Ooki Chan and I looked through some of them but there were just so many it was overwhelming! I really want to buy one and, surprisingly, they're not too expensive since they are used. Any suggestions on colors people? lol. I decided that I want to get a more formal one to wear for New Years but I haven't decided what color.
Wow, not much else to write. . . things are fine, just struggling through the language and having a good time every day. Soon I'll be back to visiting Temples and Shrines which is something I already miss doing after it being a few weeks since the last visit. I hope you're all well. I love and miss you all!
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