Ringo, Densha, and Mexshican Biyori

Wow has it been an eventful few days. On Friday we made Mexican food at my friend Kayo's apartment. It was pretty good considering that we had to improvise a lot and we couldn't get all of the ingredients in Japan. We had a lot of people over to eat it and it was delicious. That night, Kayo chan, Emy chan, and I walked to Seven to get a late night snack. After that I went home and told my Okaasan about the Mexican food adventure. She seemed to find it pretty amusing. I actually had a real conversation with her in Japanese, which was pretty awesome. It was the first time that I have actually been able to communicate everything I wanted to say and understood everything that was said to me. I actually spoke in real sentences too, not fragments.

Saturday morning I got up early to go on the apple picking tour with other exchange students from YPU and from Yamaguchi University. (There are two universities in the city, Yamaguchi Prefectural University, Yamaguchi Ken-Ritsu Dai Gaku in Japanese, and Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi Daigaku in Japanese) The other university is public and ours is private so they had a lot more exchange students. It was pretty cool. We went there on two big tour busses and we passed through this really beautiful part of the prefecture. There were huge mountains, a light fog, and beautiful forests. We drove past a lot of really picturesque little hamlets too that were really cool. When we got to the orchard we were given apple bags which were kind of small. They each only held three apples. The orchard was beautiful. It was a huge maze of apple trees and they were all different colors, green, yellow, pink, red, purple, green with red, yellow with red. All of the trees were full of apples and all of the apples are huge! They are about two or three times the size of apples in the US and they taste so much better! I ate two of them and got a green, red, and yellow to put in the apple bag. Then we played bingo at the orchard, which was kind of really random, and I won three towels with soap.

When we got back from apple picking some of us decided to go to the house and garden party at Schakoff Sensei's house. We took the train as far as Ootoshi and then walked to his house. It was so beautiful! The gardens are really gorgeous with lots of big beautiful flowers and sculptures. The house was just as beautiful. It was a Meiji era Japanese house so it was really traditional. All of the floors were tatami and the rooms were full of beautiful antiques and scrolls. It was really fun and Whitney, Eric, and Aya were all there so we sat and talked with them for a while before leaving. Unfortunately, we had left our bikes at Miyano Eki, which is a pretty small train station, so a lot of trains don't go there, especially in the evening. I decided to just take the train to Yudaonsen Eki, which is a block from my house and only two stops away from Sensei's. I could catch the 8:44 the next morning to Miyano Eki and pick up my bike then ride to Mass from there since St. Xavier's is pretty close to Miyano. Taking the train to Yudaonsen allowed me to get home in time for dinner, which was important considering I hadn't asked my mom if I could eat out. Besides, I really wanted to eat dinner with my family.

Dinner was awesome because every Saturday we go to Wasabi, which is a sushi restaurant. Because my family eats there all the time the chefs know us and are really friendly. As the daughter, it is my duty to serve the tea, which I really like to do. This was the first night that I managed to order for myself! It was pretty exciting. I got Salmon with butter, onagi, tomago, azi, ebi, and squid. Onagi is the best, that's eel, and I love it. I have already learned all the kinds of eel so that I can order them and eat them. They're delicious. I really like Japanese food. In fact, just today I ate Western food and it made me ill. I think readjusting is going to be a problem.

Sunday morning I got up and got ready for the 8:44 train. Well, when I got out the schedule and checked it just to make sure I was right and, sure enough, it said that there was an 8:44 from Yudaonsen eki to Miyano eki. I walked down to the eki and, three minutes early, the train rolls in. Well, this is really strange because trains in Japan are dead on time. But, all of the Japanese people got on so I thought there must not be another train coming and I did not see another train on the track. It must be early, I thought. Well, as soon as the train started moving I knew I was wrong because it was going in the wrong direction towards Shin-Yamaguchi Eki. This is the Shinkansen, bullet train, station. It's ok, I thought, I'll just get off at Yabara, the next station, and take the next train back to Miyano. Well it didn't stop at Yabara, or even Ootoshi. That was when I realized I was on an express train. Well, finally after 20 minutes or so the train got to Shin Yamaguchi. I wasn't really worried because I knew I could figure it out but I was worried about whether I had enough money because they don't take credit cards here and I had only bought the 180 yen ticket to Miyano. A ticket to Shin Yamaguchi is about 1000 yen. However, as long as you stay on the same train and get off at a station within the price range of your ticket you will be ok. So, if my same train turned around and went back the same way when it reached Shin Yamaguchi I would be alright.

So, the train got to Shin Yamaguchi and I got off and ran down the platform, then I ran up the stairs, across the tracks, and down the other side. There I saw the arrival departure board. It was all in kanji but I was able to read it and to do so quickly because I was kind of worried. Well, I saw that there was a train leaving in a minute for Yamaguchi Eki on track 2. Yamaguchi Eki is the station next to Miyano Eki so I could get there just fine with my ticket. They only take them when you leave the station. Track 2? That was the train I just got off of! I ran down the platform, up the stairs, across the tracks, down the other side, and sprinted down the platform to jump on the train just as the bell was ringing. I know the conductor must have realized I was the same person who just got off the densha. After all, I was the only blonde in probably a 50 mile radius. He seemed to realize I was lost however and did not give me any problems. Kono densha ga Yamaguchi Eki ni ikimasu ka? I asked him. He just smiled and told me that I was just fine. The train took me to Yamaguchi Eki and I got off of it and ran inside to check the schedule. There was a train leaving for a minute for Miyano but I just missed it. The next one did not leave for an hour and a half. I decided to just walk but it took an hour. Unfortunatley, it started raining in the middle of the walk. But, I had my raincoat and the mountains which surround the city look so beautiful in the rain with the mist rising off of them. So I did not mind so much. I was kind of upset that I missed Mass because I really like it a lot but I really didn't have much of a choice. I'll have to write a post about St. Xavier's because it is pretty cool.

Finally when I got to school I was able to get on skype and talk to Mom, Dad, and Joey. I also found out that Joey got jumped, beat up, and had to get stitches the other day!

Another bad note is that my camera is broken. So, no more videos or pictures for a little while. I don't know what happened to it but when I took it out of my purse it was completely shattered. I was pretty upset. I guess maybe it was a pretty old camera and its time had come. But, Mom and Dad got one for me for Christmas and shipped it to me so that is something to be very thankful for.

Also, today I went to the Yubinkyoku (postoffice) and mailed by absentee ballot. The workers were very helpful and I'm glad I could manage to do that. I also bought geta today, the wooden shoes that go with kimono, because tonight I have to wear my kimono to a halloween party at Marc-Andre's host family's house. It should be pretty fun. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, also I gave the apples, towels, and soap to my Okaasan which made her pretty happy. I am always really happy when I have a gift for her because she is so kind and does so much for me. The apples are delicious and we've been eating them for breakfast.

Another thing is that I feel the language level has risen a bar. I finally had gotten to a point where I was comfotable and could communicate and then the level went up! Now I'm struggling again but it will be ok. I'm really excited to learn more.

Shimonoseki

Here is a video of my trip with my mom and Elliott, a French-Canadian student, and his mom to Shimonoseki. This is the city on the southern tip of Honshu, the biggest Island. It is in Yamaguchi Prefecture, the one I live in. And, it is the biggest city in the Prefecture, followed by the city I live in, Yamaguchi City. Shimonoseki was originally founded as a town to protect the Shimonoseki Straits which are between Honshu and Kyushu, the Southernmost of the four islands. In the 1850s the batteries here fired on the American ships trying to enter Japan.

We go to a fish market, find a Totoro store, and take the ferry from Honshu to Kyushu. Enjoy!

Changes

The Japanese have already gotten into me and changed my way of thinking. I unconsiouscly apologize all the time. Secondly, I got very mad yesterday when there was no place to take your shoes off at this thing we went to. Thirdly, the other night I encountered some foreigners who were wandering around Yamaguchi. They saw me, saw I was not Japanese, and stopped to ask me questions about where there were bars. I immediately got very upset because they did not even try to speak to me in Japanese, they did not begin their conversation by bowing to me or saying excuse me, like you should, and they did not bow and than me at the end of the conversation. Also, they should have known that there aren't places like that in Japan. I was very mad at them and mumbled about baka gaijin all the way home until I realized that I too am a gaijin. However, I understand what is appropriate and these people did not. It was very upsetting. They probably don't even take their shoes off inside. Very rude people.

I have been very busy. A few days ago I went to You me town, a mall, with the Americans, the Canadians, Kayo san, Aya san, Aya san, we have two Ayas, Maya san, and Hiro san. It was really fun. I got pear flavored Baskin Robbins ice cream and Dominique, Maya san, Emily san, and I looked at leggings. You can buy them in any color and pattern here and there are whole stores full of them. I did not get any because I do not have any skirts to wear them with. After that we all went to Karaoke and Whitney, who stayed with the Izumis two years ago, is my adpi sister, and is now an English teacher in Japan, showed up at the Karaoke place. This was for real Karaoke where we had our own private room and little handheld computers to look the songs up on. I didn't sing but some of the kids did some pretty funny songs and some of our Japanese friends sang Japanese songs. We made Aya chan sing a song in English.

I left early because I had promised to have dinner with my family. We had fish, the whole fish, one for each person. It is the best way ever that one can eat fish. It had so much flavor and was so good. Otousan had to teach me how to eat it though. You turn it over to the soft side, split it open down the middle with your chopsticks, peel back the two sides, take the spine and ribs out, and then it is really easy to eat. It was delicious. Okaasan's cooking is so good!

After dinner I helped Obasan with the dishes then Okaasan talked on the phone with one of her friends. She was really excited after she hung up and told me that she was going to visit her friend. She wanted to know if I wanted to come. I said yes and so we hurried to get our shoes on and ran out to the car. Okaasan's friend's name was Tajima san and it turns out that she is Elliott san's host mom. We took her a big box of grapes as a present. Elliott san wasn't home yet though so we sat in the living room and had coffee. Okaasan thinks Tajima san's house is very pretty and it is but it is much more European looking than our house. They talked very fast in Japanese and then they both started making phone calls. For Japanese women it is considered very polite to talk in a high voice on the phone. Okaasan doesn't care about this but Tajima san says Moshi moshi in an incredibly high pitched voice. Moshi moshi is how you greet someone on the phone. Then Elliott san came in and he was very surprised to see us there. He came in and sat down and it turns out we were there because Okaasan wants to invite Elliott san's family to go fly fishing and to the hot springs with us on the 19th. He had a hard time making a decision though because the host family party is supposed to be that day.Finally, Tajima san called the other host moms and it was decided that the party will be moved to the 18th and fly fishing and hot springs will be the 19th. It should be very fun.

We stayed there till about 11 and then Okaasan wanted to go grocery shopping. She kept asking me what I would like but I did not know what to pick so I said anything would be good. It was lots of fun. she just kind of goes around and throws whatever into her basket. She did get upset though because the store was out of bananas and she is on a banana diet. I don't see why because she is very pretty and certainly does not need to be on a diet.

The next day I went to see many shrines, graveyards, and temples with Whitney san, Audrey san, and one of whitney's friends who is living in Yamaguchi and teaching English. It was lots of fun and everything was really beautiful. We saw a five story pagoda which was built in 1400. Whitney and I went to eat sushi that night with my family. They go every Saturday and they just kept ordering things for me until I was crazy full. I had 7 plates of sushi. Then we went to the Jazz bar with Otousan which was very fun. The singers and musicians were really good.

The next morning Whitney and I went to the flea market, freemarket here, and then we met up with our other friends to go to artful Yamaguchi, a festival that was this weekend. We got to see lots of traditional houses which were really cool. Last night I had raw squids for dinner. Tomoko san's friends caught it that morning. Last night I had to stay at a hotel because my family is gone today for a haircutting competition that Tomoko san is in. I hope she wins. Tomoko san is in and out of the house a lot because she works at the salon. The other daughters do not live in Yamaguchi though. The hair salon is super nice and I was told by other students here that my family is rich because they charge 50 dollars a haircut. 50,000 yen. Today I have Intercultural Ed. Flower arrangement, and Archery. I will let you know how it goes.

Orientation and Host Family

I just met my host family last night and they are really awesome. Otousan speaks decent English but Okasan, Obasan, and Ojiisan do not. Obasan is the cutest person ever. She gives me hugs and is always worried that I am cold or have not eaten enough. Otousan wears his hair in a top knot and Okasan is very pretty and cooks very well. That picture is of Otousan to Obasan. They showed me around the house and explained all of the rules to me. There are not very many. I take my shower at night, which I like much better than in the morning because I can dry it at night and straighten it in the morning.

I have not had any trouble using appliances or charging things. I still can not get service on my Cincinnati Bell phone to text. I also help Okasan make breakfast in the morning. We have coffee, tea, toast, and yogurt. They really like apple flavored things here. I also help her make dinner at night. We eat at 7:30. They made me pizza last night. Then we wash the dishes and then we put them in the dishwasher and wash them again. The house is pretty big and they have a piano but I forgot my music. Otousan plays the alto sax and he wants me to play the piano with him. We are going to a nearby Jazz club next Saturday because he really likes Jazz music and likes to go there. My family wakes up a little after 7 but I woke up at 6, washed my face, straightened my hair, did my makeup, got dressed, and then looked over a Japanese phrase book and a book about Japanese situations and what you should do in them. They had already put these in my room for me.

I came downstairs at 7:30, which was perfect timing and helped Okasan make toast and coffee. The toast is really good because it is homemade and really thick. It is so delicious. She toasts it in a little oven with some butter and then we put orange marmelade on it. We listened to Otousan's favorite Jazz music this morning during breakfast and then I helped Okasan with the dishes. I am getting better at speaking already. I was able to tell her that there are 5 students from Centre and 4 from Bishops, the Canadian school. She told me that if it was raining today and that she would take me to school in the car.

We are on the Southern tip of Honshu, the big island, so we get all the weather from the island and there has been a typhoon yesterday and the day before, asita to ototodoi. Today was beautiful however and Okasan drove me to school this morning to show me the best and safest way to get there and home again. You only ride your bike on the sidewalk here and she yelled at a man riding his bike in the street. The dog's name is Romuko and he is very little fluffy and cute, kind of a poodle cross I think. He does high fives, and shakes with both paws. Okasan puts him in her purse and he rides in the purse on the front center console of the car. She told me I should take the train if it is raining because the station is right by our house. It is just a 5 minute train ride. By bike it is about 20 to 25 minutes. I have a mountain bike along with 3 other students because we live the furthest away. I am allowed to ride it anywhere. It is blue and the shortest one, they have already adjusted it for me. There is a bike shop on campus which takes care of all students' bikes for free. It has a nice basket on the front so I can carry things.

The school system is neat here. I start classes tomorrow. We go to whichever classes we feel like for two weeks and then you decide on October 16th which ones you want and sign up for them. I'm thinking about doing archery club too. There is a really sharp learning curve as far as language goes. Last night I felt really stupid because I was hardly able to say anything but I have learned a lot since then and this morning I was able to communicate ok.