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Saturday, June 21, 2008

The Clinic

After the visit to Obaachan's, we went to see my host father's clinic. It is closed on Saturday afternoons so I got a full tour. As in all Japanese buildings, there was a place to remove shoes in the entrance, and then several shelves full of the indoor slippers. Inside was the reception desk and waiting area, an exam room, a room that looked like a typical hospital room, the nurses room, and then a small kitchen and storage area in the very back. It all appeared very similar to an American clinic, except that the pillows on the beds were replaced with small rectangular blocks which did not look like nice head rests.
The Japanese tend to make a huge production out of the smallest injury or ailment. Apparently this room is only for giving shots. I find this hard to believe.


After the tour, I helped my host mom tend to the garden in front. In Japan, everything has to be very visually pleasing, which is why we uprooted all of the plants that looked slightly wilted and replaced them with new healthy plants. It's amusing to see the Japanese try to find the right balance of "not being wasteful" and yet "making everything look nice."

Obaachan

From Fraise, we drove to the house of my host mother's mother for afternoon tea. She lives in a very traditional style Japanese house, with the washitsu rooms, tatame mats, shoji (the sliding doors), tokonoma (the small raised alcoves), and kakejiku (hanging scrolls).

A picture of me and Obaachan (Japanese word for grandma) in her garden. She spoke absolutely no English but was thrilled to meet me none the less. She gave me some really cute gifts: a miniature traditional Japanese fan, and a tiny purple coin purse with a little bell on it. She said they were representative of how small everything is in Japan, which is oh so true.

There was a small shrine set up, where we payed our respects to the deceased family members, in traditional Buddhist custom. A candle is lit, incense is offered, and then a small gong is rung twice before saying a short prayer.

Fraise

Saturday! Today my host mom decided to take me to meet her mother, and then to the clinic where my host dad works. Our first stop was Fraise, the cake store. It was so amazing! I have never seen so many beautiful sweets.

Each piece was a work of art. Helping my host mom pick out seven different pieces was impossible because they all looked so wonderful.

Yakisoba

The other night we made Yakisoba! It was sooo good. They have these grill things that you set on the table and then just plug in, which is how we cooked the entire meal.


Other random things pertaining to food:

  • Everyone has their own individual rice bowl and set of chopsticks.
  • There are extra long chopsticks that are used for cooking.
  • The dairy in Japan is not very good, and I don't think that dairy is eaten that often here. Two of the girls at orientation said they came back lactose intolerant. D: Luckily though my family eats yogurt every morning.
  • At school, everyone packs their own obento lunch, which is the most delicious lunch ever. My obento set has the Aristocats on it and is very kawaii. (I will post a picture soon)
  • So far nothing here is spicy! It's the only thing that I really do miss. People keep warning me that certain foods are spicy right as I'm about to eat them, but I'm not tasting it. It's not that amazing set-your-mouth-on-fire spicy. Someone send me a jar of chili peppers please. lol
  • Besides the dairy, all the food here is AMAZING!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Answers

Today I got to answer my classmates questions! It was terrifying! I couldn't even read half of their handwriting. They laughed a lot when I kept reading the same question over and over again (half of them had asked me what my favorite food was) and then gave a different answer each time, so that was good. At least they could understand what I was saying. It was the long silences that were scary. When I read the last question and thought that I had finally finished, Tanno-Sensei told me that now I had to ask them questions. Haha. Among other things, I asked if any of them had boyfriends, since that's what they've been asking me a million times a day. They thought that was funny. Girls here don't seem to have boyfriends, and they are always amazed to hear that Americans usually do. I told someone today that my little sister has a boyfriend and they were in disbelief. It was pretty funny.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Questions

Today Tanno-Sensei, the homeroom teacher, had all of my classmates write down questions for me to answer. At the end of the day I received these:
... 39 of them. All of which I get to answer tomorrow in front of the class. In Japanese!

"Japlish"



R's and L's

As you are all probably aware of, the Japanese cannot distinguish the difference between R's and L's. They pronounce them exactly the same. So last night at dinner my host family randomly asked me to teach them how to correctly pronounce R's and L's. We started with "rain" and "lady," and progressed to "pray" and "play," which was nearly impossible for them. My host mom almost has it though! It's so exciting!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Earthquakes #3 and #4

When I got home from school there was a huge BOOM that sounded like our old heater in our house in Longmont. Except I don't think they have heaters like that here. My host mom told me that it was a small Earthquake.

Then a few minutes ago, things started shaking, and you could feel everything beneath you trembling, and that lasted about twenty seconds. I've experienced a small earthquake! Sugoi!

Sailor Girl Uniform

It's what you've all been waiting for. Voila!

These are the lovely blue gowns that are used to keep the uniform clean. Everyone wears them all day during school. I'm beginning to think that they are the real uniforms, and the sailor outfit is just used for show outside of school.

Music

The only elective at this school, is the option to take Art or Music. I signed up for music naturally. I didn't realize though that "Music" translated to "Choir." I have turned down pleas to join choir at school for how many years now, and suddenly I find myself thrown into Japanese choir. lol. It was actually pretty fun. At one point we sang a song in German and I was the only person who could pronounce the lyrics somewhat correctly. Yay! Also, we had a song that supposedly had soprano, alto, and tenor parts, but being an all girls school, it was all soprano. It's pretty funny.

There was a ten minute break in the middle of music class and one of the girls asked me to play the piano for them. I agreed, happy for a chance to do something that didn't involve language barriers. I played them Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu and the moment my fingers picked up speed there was a huge unison of "Ehh???" When I finished playing I received the most ear-deafening roar of cheers that I have ever come across. It was terrifying. I had no idea that Japanese girls' voices were capable of reaching such astonishing volume. Then the sensei who had been listening gave me a Japanese piece to practice for something next month. Couldn't quite understand what.

Communications Class

My first class today was communications - the class taught entirely in English - only this time It was with the older students! Exchange students are normally placed in the lowest level of high school, since their Japanese is extremely limited. Therefor, all of my classmates are around fourteen to fifteen years old. Being with the students my age today was awesome. They have all studied abroad before, and so have much better English then the majority of the school. It was also fun because they started teaching me everyday Japanese words that teens use, as opposed to the polite and proper words that aren't even used in real life.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The most amazing backyard ever

I haven't posted any pictures in a while, so I thought I'd show my host family's backyard. It is incredible.
It's my uniform! I promise I'll post a full picture of it soon, and pictures of Shirayuri High School. I just thought I'd wait a couple days before bringing my camera to school.

Day two of school

This morning I got to take the bus to school! I have enough trouble figuring out buses in America. Figuring them out in a language I don't understand was torture.

The first class this morning was communications. It was entirely in English!!!!! You have no idea what a relief that was. It was actually a lot of fun watching the Japanese kids trying to learn English prepositions. Listening to them speak was adorable! The girls I sat next to seemed to be eternally grateful for my help. And helping them out seemed to make me even more kawaii.

After two different communications classes was the English class. I'd really like to know where all the English was, because the class was taught entirely in Japanese, and the few English words that the sensei did utter were painful to listen to.

After that was lunch break, and then Math. I was completely lost the entire time. The book we were working from had more kanji in it then numbers. The girl I sat next to though, Ayano, was extremely helpful. All Japanese students seem to have little pocket translators and Ayano was busy the entire class typing every kanji phrase into it and showing me the translation. It was so sweet. And she's the first friend I've made who hasn't showered me with exclamations of "kawaii!" That was a huge relief.

After school a group of girls found me and asked if we were riding the bus together. I have no idea how they knew that I would be on their bus, but thank goodness they did or I would have been completely lost.

Today everyone was fascinated with my "kawaii" long eyelashes, and hugging me. Whoever said that the Japanese people don't hug was painfully mistaken.

Earthquake #2

Apparently there was another earthquake at midnight last night, but I had no idea. I was sound asleep. Now I'm bummed that I missed another one. lol

Monday, June 16, 2008

Sendai Shirayuri Gakuen High School

Wow. This has been the most fascinating, and awkward, and strange, and extraordinary day of my life.

My host mother drove me to the school today at 10:00 to meet the teachers and principal. We met Miracle (the other YFU exchange student going to my high school) and her host mother in the parking lot. As is the custom, we removed our shoes and put on slippers as we entered the building. We were escorted to a meeting room where we waited for the school counselors to come and meet with us. As we waited, we were brought hot green tea and our host mothers discussed various, things, including what they had fed us thus far. - I was very proud of myself for understanding that much of their conversation as it was all in Japanese. The school counselors finally arrived, and gave us our schedules, which included Math, English, Music, Communications, Gym, World History, Information, and Religion.

After our host mothers left, Miracle and I were escorted to a large storage room to try on uniforms. I swear the two ladies helping us were amusing themselves way too much by dressing up the two of us like little sailor dolls. These uniforms are ridiculous. There is a little vest, and then a navy skirt that buttons onto the vest, and then a white blouse that goes over the vest, and then the sailor collar which snaps onto the vest in the most confusing way possible, and then the little tie that attaches to the collar. then there is a light blue gown type thing that covers the entire uniform so that it doesn't get dirty. I really don't get the point of the uniform since it is covered up most of the time anyway, and everyone just goes around wearing the gown. Then there are the indoor shoes, which I had to buy, and the special socks. Also, we have to have two different kinds of gym shoes. Ones for outside, and ones for inside. My host mother took me after school to buy a second pair. It is really sad that I have to buy the largest size that is sold. lol.

After the two women had had their fun in dressing us up, we were escorted to the library, where we were told that our classmates would come to get us once class was over. As soon as we were left alone, the two of us burst into silent hysterics. Everything suddenly seemed so hilarious. I don't even know why. We talked about every little thing that had occurred in the 24 hours that we had been separated, relieved to have a conversation that consisted of more then two-word sentences. And then there was a rumble, of hundreds of feet hammering towards us, and screaming, and suddenly we were bombarded by a hundred girls with exclamations of KAWAIIKAWAIIKAWAII!!!!! Without knowing what exactly was happening, we were herded off to our individual classrooms for lunch.

In Japan, students have a homeroom they stay in, and teachers are the ones that travel from room to room. Lunch is usually eaten in the homeroom. A desk was immediately cleared for me, and right away they all started asking questions at once. Everyone seemed eager to try out their English skills, so they would ask simple questions in English and I would try to answer in Japanese. The smallest word I said in Japanese received a chorus of laughter and excitement over the fact that I was attempting to use their language. With the constant exclamations of "Ehhh?!?!" it started getting annoying to use Japanese at all.

After we had finished lunch, one of the girls disappeared and told me to wait there. A moment later she reappeared accompanied by two girls with blond hair and blue eyes. The three of us just stared at each other for a moment, unsure of what to say now that there was someone there who would actually understand what the other person was saying. After a moment, the one girl introduced herself as Leah. She is an exchange student from Australia! She offered to show me around the school and I gladly accepted.

When lunch break was over we headed back to my classroom. It was time for my first class in Japanese high school: World History. When we got back to the classroom however, the door was locked with all of my stuff inside the classroom. Great. The classroom was completely deserted. None of my classmates were in sight. We had no idea what to do, so Leah brought be back to the teachers' office to find the main counselor. She couldn't figure out where they had gone, and so had me stay in the library for the remainder of the period.

I was in the library, which was completely deserted, reading Garfield, when suddenly out of no where one of the older Senseis appeared. Our conversation was the strangest thing ever.
"Which country you come from?"
"America"
"Where in America?"
"Colorado"
"Ahh!..." (the usual response when they pretend that they know it but actually don't) "I been to America, two occasion. San Francisco, Boston, and New York City." ..."May I ask one question? Which word you like best? You are Beautiful. You are Pretty. You are Lovely. You are Charming. You are Attractive."
I was lost for words. What in the world?! I finally managed to stutter "Charming."
"Ahh! I see!" "...Why?"
This was too weird. How in the world do you explain that it's the least creepy sounding, coming from a total stranger?

When the class period ended and I found my way back to the classroom, everyone had magically reappeared. The next class was Religion. Oh joy. I think I forgot to mention that Shirayuri is an all Girls Catholic school. Yeah. No one seems to be at all religious though except for the "sister" who taught the Religion class. It's very strange. Catholic, in Japan, must be some cool "Western" thing or something. The class itself was terrifying as it was completely in Japanese. I actually managed to pick up on some of the stories though. Yay!

After the class I was once again surrounded and attacked with KAWAII! The girls started asking about something, which I could not understand. I finally figured that they were saying "violin" since we had been talking about music earlier. I replied "cello" and they immediately got all excited and started asking for pictures. I was completely confused, until I realized that they had not been saying "violin" but "boyfriend." Do not ask how I managed to confuse the two words. So now they all think that I have a boyfriend named Cello. Super.

First Dinner Together

On the way home from the train station, my host family had asked me what my favorite food was. I replied that it was sushi, thinking that they were just curious and making conversation. At dinner time I came downstairs to a huge sushi dinner. It was fabulous and so sweet of them. My host grandparents live right next door and come over to eat dinner with us every night. So far everyone seems to speak a little bit of English except for the grandmother.

Random things that I have found amusing:

  • the TV has a remote control specifically for rotating it
  • there are lights underneath the stair railing
  • when you flush the toilet, water in the sink automatically starts running
  • we are constantly changing slippers for everything: indoor slippers, bathroom slippers, backyard slippers, outside shoes.
  • I have my own set of sheets and towels that are very kawaii: pink with bunnies

Sunday, June 15, 2008

The Kasahara Family

I finally met my host family today!!!! They were there waiting the moment I stepped off of the train. There was tons of excitement and pictures being taken. I have a host father, a host mother, and a host sister who is about a week older then I am. Her name is Midori, although she goes by Mimi.
On the way to their house we stopped at their favorite bakery and bought every kind of bread and sweet roll imaginable for lunch. The Kasaharas live in a small suburb of Sendai City and it is beautiful. There are trees and lush greenery everywhere. We passed by my school on the way to the house. I start tomorrow!

Japanese Trivia

I apologize to anyone who can't read this, but we found it on a subway and though it was hilarious.

Akihabara

After we checked into the Hotel Universe, our YFU person, Sato-san, took us to an "American" restaurant for dinner. It was pretty funny to see the Japanese interpretation of American food. It was all sea-food spaghetti, and sea-food pizza, and house salad with octopus on top, and matcha ice cream banana splits...
Afterwards she decided to take us to Akihabara. We only had time to go to the main Akiba store, and then walk up the street of endless other shops, but even at that I was not disappointed. After three years of wanting to see the place, it was every bit as magical as I always thought it would be. Seeing it at night just made it all the better. It was an endless sea of color and lights in the midst of a pitch black night. Unfortunately though, my camera's battery died right as we walked off the subway.