Saturday, September 6, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Host Family
Firday the 5th of September
This has been the scariest day of my life but at the same time the day that I realized that I am the luckiest guy in the world. Today was the day that we met our host families. We ate breakfast as normal then went back up to get dressed for the party. I asked the front desk for an Iron, which I should have done in Japanese because the guy seemed to have a little bit of trouble understanding, then started getting ready. We all finished up and packed up all of our stuff and I called maintenance to pick up the iron, I did that in Japanese but it didn't go as smoothly as possible. We then went from a few different rooms and had some of the KIEC staff tell us some things about being polite to the host family and what not.
Then came the big moment where we gathered in an line and they called the host family and us. I was getting so nervous. I don't know why I have spoken to people who only know Japanese before but it was really getting to me. Then I finally got to meet Otoshi-kasan. She scared me a little bit because she, and I mean this in a nice way, has kind of a crazy old lady look to her. The conversation at first was a little rough and difficult but then the party started and we could mingle and eat. She talked a lot with all of her friends and at this point I was kind of thinking “oh jeez what have I gotten myself into” After the party we got into her car, which is really nice, and we drove to the ward office.
Along the way we said a few things but this language barrier was getting rough. Well I mean it was possible but I was nervous and bumbling with my speech left and right. I got to see a really nice view of Kobe though. Anyways we go to the court house type thing, uh municipal office maybe? And we got my gaikokujin paper work thingies and there was one girl who talked amazingly fast. I could not keep up. It was a normal office but everything being in japanese it was just so new and ,of course, foreign. Oh another thing I noticed, Japanese people always seem to back up into a parking spot, usually at great effort. When we got the house she backed up with her side next to the wall then got out the passenger side.
The house though, this was what made me realize how lucky I am. Its freaking huge for a Japanese house and really good size for an American one. My bed room is a 6 tatmi size room which, if my family is reading this its a little smaller then Jessie's room. Next they have a freaking HUGE tv. Probably a 52 lcd or something. And Japanese TV is almost all HD, I really like that. Also we talked about the rules and the only thing she cares about is that I tell her when I'm coming home each day. If I'm going to eat dinner with friends just call her by 4 or 5 so she wont make as much and if I'm going to stay later then normal just give her a call. She also said I could have parties here. From the start of the day my nervousness was at an all time high and by dinner it had dropped quite a bit, until I finally understood about Stephan. Stephan stayed with them as a foreign exchange student 2 years ago and became such good friends he lives with them while he works as an English teacher. So I have an emergency person to talk to if I have to, and it shows just how freaking awesome they are.
All of this has made me realize that my life has pointed me down this amazing path by all of the things I thought were misfortunes in the past. Not being able to move to Florida, moving back in with my parents, not being able to be a foreign exchange student right after transferring to U of A, all of that put me on the path of having the best possible experience in Japan and probably the most amazing thing I will ever do in my life.
This has been the scariest day of my life but at the same time the day that I realized that I am the luckiest guy in the world. Today was the day that we met our host families. We ate breakfast as normal then went back up to get dressed for the party. I asked the front desk for an Iron, which I should have done in Japanese because the guy seemed to have a little bit of trouble understanding, then started getting ready. We all finished up and packed up all of our stuff and I called maintenance to pick up the iron, I did that in Japanese but it didn't go as smoothly as possible. We then went from a few different rooms and had some of the KIEC staff tell us some things about being polite to the host family and what not.
Then came the big moment where we gathered in an line and they called the host family and us. I was getting so nervous. I don't know why I have spoken to people who only know Japanese before but it was really getting to me. Then I finally got to meet Otoshi-kasan. She scared me a little bit because she, and I mean this in a nice way, has kind of a crazy old lady look to her. The conversation at first was a little rough and difficult but then the party started and we could mingle and eat. She talked a lot with all of her friends and at this point I was kind of thinking “oh jeez what have I gotten myself into” After the party we got into her car, which is really nice, and we drove to the ward office.
Along the way we said a few things but this language barrier was getting rough. Well I mean it was possible but I was nervous and bumbling with my speech left and right. I got to see a really nice view of Kobe though. Anyways we go to the court house type thing, uh municipal office maybe? And we got my gaikokujin paper work thingies and there was one girl who talked amazingly fast. I could not keep up. It was a normal office but everything being in japanese it was just so new and ,of course, foreign. Oh another thing I noticed, Japanese people always seem to back up into a parking spot, usually at great effort. When we got the house she backed up with her side next to the wall then got out the passenger side.
The house though, this was what made me realize how lucky I am. Its freaking huge for a Japanese house and really good size for an American one. My bed room is a 6 tatmi size room which, if my family is reading this its a little smaller then Jessie's room. Next they have a freaking HUGE tv. Probably a 52 lcd or something. And Japanese TV is almost all HD, I really like that. Also we talked about the rules and the only thing she cares about is that I tell her when I'm coming home each day. If I'm going to eat dinner with friends just call her by 4 or 5 so she wont make as much and if I'm going to stay later then normal just give her a call. She also said I could have parties here. From the start of the day my nervousness was at an all time high and by dinner it had dropped quite a bit, until I finally understood about Stephan. Stephan stayed with them as a foreign exchange student 2 years ago and became such good friends he lives with them while he works as an English teacher. So I have an emergency person to talk to if I have to, and it shows just how freaking awesome they are.
All of this has made me realize that my life has pointed me down this amazing path by all of the things I thought were misfortunes in the past. Not being able to move to Florida, moving back in with my parents, not being able to be a foreign exchange student right after transferring to U of A, all of that put me on the path of having the best possible experience in Japan and probably the most amazing thing I will ever do in my life.
Oh Japan
I've seen the weirdest and coolest thing today on the train. It is an automatic window fogger. Not a window defogger but one that will fog up on purpose. We were looking out the window at the city view and all of a sudden the window was too foggy to see out of. I was confused but thought we passed by some steam vent or something like that but before I could think about it, the window was clear again. I kept my eye on it and realized that at specific times it instantly fogs up then instantly clears. The reason I believe is that certain houses want the extra privacy so when the train gets to a certain area it prevents the riders from seeing. Its cool and awesome but at the same time not entirely necessary. Very Japanesey.
Today we had a tour of downtown kobe with Ryo, Yuki and Mai. They all were very friendly but our Japanese and their English skills held back the conversation a little bit. But Kobe is a huge city! It has those giant crosswalks, it has a china town and it has giant sky scrappers. I wish I could take the time to take pictures of everything. Thats kind of becoming a problem that there is so much cool new stuff that I want to take a picture of and share with everyone but I simply don't have the time for everything.
Today we had a tour of downtown kobe with Ryo, Yuki and Mai. They all were very friendly but our Japanese and their English skills held back the conversation a little bit. But Kobe is a huge city! It has those giant crosswalks, it has a china town and it has giant sky scrappers. I wish I could take the time to take pictures of everything. Thats kind of becoming a problem that there is so much cool new stuff that I want to take a picture of and share with everyone but I simply don't have the time for everything.
Also I wish I could get some more internet time. Just a few minutes today after lunch was just enough to update a blog and send everyone messages. I have so much I want to tell everyone its a little frustrating being held back.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The rest of the first day
(8:22 pm)
Uh lets see where did I leave off? Well we met up after that little break in the schedule (thats when I posted the last one) and we headed over to this Japanese style restaurant. It was a very unique experience for sure. We entered this building on one of those business alleys that aren't exactly crowded but wide-ish. We enter it then go up a lot of stairs and enter this room with three long tables low to the ground. We take off our shoes and put them in a shoe locker then sit down at the tables, the floor is sunken there so it felt like sitting normally but you weren't. Also in the center, sunken into each 1/3 of each table was this wok type thing with cabbage and what i think is chicken.
The waiter came in and turned on the gas oven below each to get it start cooking. We didn't know what to do exactly, like when it was ok to eat so we just waited a while until someone took the initiative and grabbed some. It was good slightly spicy. There was also a salad that had lemon rines in it. I don't know if the rines are supposed to be eaten or not, it tasted terrible (I only took one bite). Then he brought out what he called pizza but was basically a cracker with corn and tiny fried whole shrimp. The shrimp part of that was weird to see but didn't have any really texture when you ate it. The little shrimp looked like dead bugs so you had to make sure not to think about that part of it too much. Then he brought out this pasta which was like spaghetti but um cold and like I guess a little bit more of a fresh taste.
Then came the thing that really threw me off, he brought french fries, onion rings and rice cracker like thing. The rice thing looked like styrofoam but tasted like a regular rice cracker thing. There was also three more dishes a fish something in a light soup, yakisoba, and something closer to pizza but had weird japanese twists on them. I had a piece of the potato one myself. It was really cool eating like that, but I would have enjoyed it more if I was just feeling like myself. I'm tired and my stomach keeps acting up.
We walked then took the JR line to sumiyoshi then at that station transferred to rakko-liner and road that for four stations until island center. We got back and I checked out the 100 yen store, I was surprised by the quality of stuff they had. They had belts and hats and slippers, I was really surpsied. I bought a hankerchief because bathrooms don't have paper towels and one of those colapsible fans because geez the humidity just destroys you, oh yeah and also a DS screen protector (I need to see how that one goes).
I also tried to find some place that I could buy aspirin or some sort of stomach relief. I tried the family market and they didn't have it but they did have some really cool dragon ball items like a big dragon ball pillow and a Bulma statue and chibi goku plushies for 200 yen. If I was at a con and saw those for 2 bucks I'd buy them all but I had to stop myself because I need to be very cautious with my money until the jasso money comes in and where would I put something like that. I went to the mall thing again looking for somewhere to buy some medicine, and I found a pharmacy but it was closed, I continued walking in it but then all of a sudden I was back in the hotel. It was really confusing.
Japan has a weird night life it looks like. From what little I have seen it appears that people have specific destinations that they go to in the evening and thats that. By 8pm most people on the street are just a few stragglers trying to catch up. Well I sure wrote a whole lot for one day. I guess as my first full day in Japan it wasn't too bad. It could have been much better if my stupid body would just work with me here but I've seen more new things in one day then I did all of last year.
Well I'm here
Okay wow got so much to talk about I don't know where exactly to start. Lets see so the rest of the plane ride was really long and so uncomfortable. I could not get a wink of sleep. I don't want to ever do that plane ride again, it was terrible. I was worried about the customs with my dvds so what I did was I just took a new form and said that I didn't have anything that violated prohibited items and the guy at customs just took my paper and said "ganbatte". I guess they check that stuff before I get it anyways. The whole immigration, if thats the write word, was very professional and strict feeling. Also the airport had a very contemporary look to it.
So I get out of customs and find the staff from konan holding a sign, one of them recongized me right away. I then messed around with the calling cards to tell my family I am ok. It took a while I think someone was using the phone at 11pm because I ended up having to call dad's cell phone. We then waited around for the bus to come and take us to the shearton hotel on rokka island. The view of Osaka was amazing. I tell you I've never seen anything like it. The roads were so clean and organized and the city was mixed with giant apartment complexes, traditional houses, a castle, golf driving ranges, and industrial sites. There are also giant and amazing looking bridges. Each one was a diffrent color and design. I said that the red bridge must be the leader of the bridges.
So we get to the hotel and it is amazing. The nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. They gave us a packet and we were free for the night. I made plans to go out with my roommates because I didn't want to get lost in Japan on my own. It took a while to get everyone together and ready but when we did, man I don't even know what to say about this place. There is such a varriety in architecture and there is this sense of order around everything. There were a few children playing by themselves at night and none of the bikes are locked. Like entire bicycle parking lots full of bikes that aren't locked because no one is worried about theft. There were even bikes that had locks but the owner must have felt it wasn't worth the effort. We walked around these really spacious and empty feeling malls or shopping center, I don't know what to really call it. We stopped in a comic store for a bit, that was awesome. We then went to a restaurant and ordered in Japanese, which we didn't do that well but the fact that we did is pretty impressive. I had katsu don, oh man was it good. We then went back to the hotel and called it a night. The hotel is very western but they did provide us with yukatas which are really comfortable. Oh and the toilet! The seat warmer and water spray sound silly but once you use them your sold.
The next day my stomach ache that has been coming and going every since I left Tucson hit me pretty hard and I was up pretty early because of it. Once everyone was up and ready we went downstairs to this breakfeast buffet, they gave us passes for it, and I went for the more japanese type food. I don't know what I ate but it was all pretty good except for the natto. I first tried it by itself and it was this weird sticky type web between each soybean and it wasn't repulsive tasting but there is just no way you could eat it by it self. We ultimately mixed it with rice and soy sauce and it became do-able.
We then headed out for Konan university. We all gathered up and walked over to the train station where we bought a ticket to sumiyoshi and then transfered to something yamamoto. The trains are pretty good quality, nice and clean. They did have signs saying to not use your cell phone while on the train, which is something you wouldn't see in America. The school is about 15 min walk from the station. I wish I could take the time to take more pictures, it really is just a sight to behold.
We then were in a classroom for a few hours going over various things and doing introductions. We had to introduce our classmates infront of everyone. Most people did theres in English but I did mine in Japanese. In my mind I knew exactly how I wanted to say it but when I got up there I got a bit of stage fright and messed up and skipped stuff. I think I am in the upper middle of language ability in this group. There are some people who seem to really know there stuff and others who know hardly any at all. I'm actually really excited about starting class and learning more Japanese. My stomach ache was a real problem here as well. I knew this was going to happen so I brought some pepto bismol but I put in my luggage that was sent to my host family. Somehow I've manged to survive it all but this day would have been much better with out it.
We then had a guided tour of the school by some Japanese students. They spoke English but we were able to have a good mixed language converstation. The cafeteria is something I think I'm going to like, most dishes are under 300 yen and are a very good portion. I noticed a big difference right away between American restaurants and Japanese, the drink. At the cafetria you could get a juice box but there was no soda, can or fountain to befound. Instead there was a stack of small cups and water jugs behind the register. Even though the cup was small it felt like enough, its weird.
We then went through more information sessions were we got computers working at what not after that we went to a club demonstration. One of our teachers is not quite a master or anything like that but really skilled at that Japanese dance where it is very slow specific movements. It was really amazing but if I was feeling well I know I would have appreciated it more. We then saw a kendo demo and a kenpo demo. Kenpo looks cool, it looks like much more practical fighting styles. Its 6 hour a week of practice so I dunno if I want to do something quite like that. We then saw a demo from the music group and one of their freinds I guess was wearing a cardboard gundam costume with a costume horse head. It was really weird but cool at the same time. I really wanted to get a picture of that.
That brings things up to speed I suppose, we are going to a restaurant as a group from here then back home. I'll write soon .
Also very important I now have my japanese pictures up so check it out
My Picasa account
So I get out of customs and find the staff from konan holding a sign, one of them recongized me right away. I then messed around with the calling cards to tell my family I am ok. It took a while I think someone was using the phone at 11pm because I ended up having to call dad's cell phone. We then waited around for the bus to come and take us to the shearton hotel on rokka island. The view of Osaka was amazing. I tell you I've never seen anything like it. The roads were so clean and organized and the city was mixed with giant apartment complexes, traditional houses, a castle, golf driving ranges, and industrial sites. There are also giant and amazing looking bridges. Each one was a diffrent color and design. I said that the red bridge must be the leader of the bridges.
So we get to the hotel and it is amazing. The nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. They gave us a packet and we were free for the night. I made plans to go out with my roommates because I didn't want to get lost in Japan on my own. It took a while to get everyone together and ready but when we did, man I don't even know what to say about this place. There is such a varriety in architecture and there is this sense of order around everything. There were a few children playing by themselves at night and none of the bikes are locked. Like entire bicycle parking lots full of bikes that aren't locked because no one is worried about theft. There were even bikes that had locks but the owner must have felt it wasn't worth the effort. We walked around these really spacious and empty feeling malls or shopping center, I don't know what to really call it. We stopped in a comic store for a bit, that was awesome. We then went to a restaurant and ordered in Japanese, which we didn't do that well but the fact that we did is pretty impressive. I had katsu don, oh man was it good. We then went back to the hotel and called it a night. The hotel is very western but they did provide us with yukatas which are really comfortable. Oh and the toilet! The seat warmer and water spray sound silly but once you use them your sold.
The next day my stomach ache that has been coming and going every since I left Tucson hit me pretty hard and I was up pretty early because of it. Once everyone was up and ready we went downstairs to this breakfeast buffet, they gave us passes for it, and I went for the more japanese type food. I don't know what I ate but it was all pretty good except for the natto. I first tried it by itself and it was this weird sticky type web between each soybean and it wasn't repulsive tasting but there is just no way you could eat it by it self. We ultimately mixed it with rice and soy sauce and it became do-able.
We then headed out for Konan university. We all gathered up and walked over to the train station where we bought a ticket to sumiyoshi and then transfered to something yamamoto. The trains are pretty good quality, nice and clean. They did have signs saying to not use your cell phone while on the train, which is something you wouldn't see in America. The school is about 15 min walk from the station. I wish I could take the time to take more pictures, it really is just a sight to behold.
We then were in a classroom for a few hours going over various things and doing introductions. We had to introduce our classmates infront of everyone. Most people did theres in English but I did mine in Japanese. In my mind I knew exactly how I wanted to say it but when I got up there I got a bit of stage fright and messed up and skipped stuff. I think I am in the upper middle of language ability in this group. There are some people who seem to really know there stuff and others who know hardly any at all. I'm actually really excited about starting class and learning more Japanese. My stomach ache was a real problem here as well. I knew this was going to happen so I brought some pepto bismol but I put in my luggage that was sent to my host family. Somehow I've manged to survive it all but this day would have been much better with out it.
We then had a guided tour of the school by some Japanese students. They spoke English but we were able to have a good mixed language converstation. The cafeteria is something I think I'm going to like, most dishes are under 300 yen and are a very good portion. I noticed a big difference right away between American restaurants and Japanese, the drink. At the cafetria you could get a juice box but there was no soda, can or fountain to befound. Instead there was a stack of small cups and water jugs behind the register. Even though the cup was small it felt like enough, its weird.
We then went through more information sessions were we got computers working at what not after that we went to a club demonstration. One of our teachers is not quite a master or anything like that but really skilled at that Japanese dance where it is very slow specific movements. It was really amazing but if I was feeling well I know I would have appreciated it more. We then saw a kendo demo and a kenpo demo. Kenpo looks cool, it looks like much more practical fighting styles. Its 6 hour a week of practice so I dunno if I want to do something quite like that. We then saw a demo from the music group and one of their freinds I guess was wearing a cardboard gundam costume with a costume horse head. It was really weird but cool at the same time. I really wanted to get a picture of that.
That brings things up to speed I suppose, we are going to a restaurant as a group from here then back home. I'll write soon .
Also very important I now have my japanese pictures up so check it out
My Picasa account
I'm on the plane
Its either 3:43 pm or 7:43 am right now I'm not quite sure. The excitement of this great adventure has kind of dulled out on this plan trip. Holy shmolly its so hard to get anywhere near comfortable in this plane and I know I need to sleep and I want to sleep but for the life of me I can't. If I want to do some job in the future that requires a lot of travel back and forth between us and Japan I'll need to figure out some sort of secret to making this bearable. I filled out a landing card and it was really confusing. It had one question about bringing prohibited items and it just mentioned something about intellectual property violations, which could be some of the burnt dvds I brought. Granted some of them I netflixed and copied but others are just copies of movies I own so that I can both leave the original at home and remove the region protection on them so they can play on japanese dvd players. Lets see how that goes, kind of scarry. Oh yeah and looking out the window is something else just ocean and clouds forever. Really gives you a sense of the vastness of this world.
Monday, September 1, 2008
The day has come
Its 5:36 am my plane leaves in 1 hour and I am freaking psyched. I'm going to Japan! I really am! Its happening! This is the greatest thing ever! I'm listening to some J-rock and my excitement level is...its... ITS OVER 9000!!!! I was so worried that something was going to go wrong that this wasn't going to happen but here I am with a ticket to Osaka! Wow this might be the greatest day of my life, well maybe not today itself because I'm going to spend it all on a plane but oh man, life rocks!
It was a really sad goodbye to my family though. Most of us in the family have had experience saying bye at airports to people but Chris and Julie were so sad. Just seeing them cry I couldn't hold back my own tears. I am so close to those two and I'm really going to miss rough housing with them. Aw thinking about that slightly dropped me down from my Japan high, I better listen to some more awesome Japanese music.
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