Class Closing Social

Class is officially over. The closing social was a lot of fun. We all ate lunch together - you should have seen the spread. It was amazing! I got to try several new foods like purple rice, this red bean mochi, little doughnut-like balls, and more. After lunch all of the classes performed for everyone. The morning class had an awesome skit of David and Goliath - complete with a sword, a 9 foot spear and costumes. Watabe sensei presented their completion certificates, and each of the interns got to say a few words to the students. Man, I am really going to miss these guys. We also watched a slideshow that James created - have to remember to get a DVD of it sometime when I get back to Utah. Then everyone said goodbye, took some pictures, gave gifts, and left. ちょっと寂しい。

A Lot of Lasts

Today was the last day of class. I couldn't help but think about all that I have done over the past three months, as well as all the things that are now coming to an end. We administered the finals and interviewed all of the students. During one of the interviews one of my students broke down crying and kept saying how she didn't want me to leave. I couldn't help but cry too. After this, I almost unconsciously starting noticing the "lasts." This is the last time I will have to remind Kouki to stay awake in class. This is the last time I will be able to listen to music with Asumi. This is the last time I will walk to the train station late at night. The list went on and on as I went through my normal routine. The last time stopping to buy melon soda (or lemon honey) at the usual vending machine. The last time walking up the station just as the train pulls away - followed by waiting on the benches with Taylor and talking about whatever is in my head at the time. Looking for funny haircuts on the train without seeming to stare at people. Listening to the nasal voice of the conductor and mentally reciting his spiel with him. "Tsugi wa Izumiotsu desu. Izumiotsu desu. Deguchi wa migigawa ni kawarimasu. Tobira ni gochuui kudasai." I have had the train stations memorized in order for most of my time here, and the train rides are always a time to relax for me. Leaving the train and walking to the exit, where the night shift employee always says hi to me. Walking past the conbini, and through the slightly darkened shrine along my usual route made me a little sad to realize that I won't be walking home from class this way anymore.

Looking back at all of the things I will miss helps me appreciate all of the things I love here in Japan. I would never have imagined that three short months could have such an impact on my life. Even though this has been one of the hardest things I have experienced, I have learned so much, and I really do love it here. So, here are some of the things I will miss when I come back to Utah. This list is just a few examples, definitely not comprehensive.

Being greeted with a cheerful "Ohayo gozaimasu!" every morning
Living by a castle
Living within walking distance of the bay
Having modest clothes easily available
Train rides
Narrow streets with tons of small shops on either side
Streets that play music on them
Cobblestones
The temperature. Hot and humid suits me just fine, although I do sometimes wish for air conditioning.
Japanese TV
Japanese snacks (senbei, purin, hard candies, cookies)
Hearing Osaka-ben all the time (it's just so friendly sounding!)
Shrines
Vending machines with amazing drinks (calpis, melon soda, mitsuya cider, lemon honey soda, and many more)
Listening to cicadas ("Was that a small bird?" "No, it was a cicada.)
Laughing at the crazy stuff I can do just because I'm a gaijin.
Saturday trips to historically awesome locations

And more. Japan is an awesome place to live, and I would love to visit again someday!

--Actually, I have one more week without classes, but I will be traveling all over and probably won't bring my computer. I will make sure to write in my journal and post when I get back to the states on the 8th!

Cute little kids

The Yukimoto's grandkids are staying here for a few days. One of them is in elementary school, but the rest are younger. It has a lot more lively here since they came. This morning the youngest (Maki?) ate breakfast with me. He is still learning to talk and is adorable. After I passed some juice to him, Sister Yukimoto prompted him "What do you say when Sarah gives you something?" He thought for a moment, looked up at me shyly, and said "Goodbye." It was so cute.

A day in the life of a ninja

Today I was a ninja. I am serious. The three interns got to go to a bunch of ninja places. We went to a ninja house with all kinds of cool secrets, a weapons demonstration, and a place to test our ninja skills. Because we went to all of the places, we got an added bonus of being given ninja clothes to wear. I am in the middle.
If there is one thing that people stare at more than a white person, it is a white person in ninja clothes. It was kind of fun having people wanting pictures and so forth. I was really glad that it was cloudy today or it would have been unbearably hot. It was still a little warm, but it was totally worth it.

Here is a bit about the places we visited:

Ninja house: included hidden doors, secret peek-holes, places to store weapons, and lots of actual weapons and tools for you to look at.

The weapons demonstration was also way cool. I took a video, but I think it is too big to put up on my blog with my slow internet connection. At the end of the show they let audience members try throwing shuriken (throwing stars). Since we were gaijin in ninja clothes, they treated us like VIPs and took us to a private throwing range so that we didn't have people watching us. It took a few tries to get used to the shuriken, but in the end I almost hit the middle of the target.

These are not the ones we personally threw.

We stopped to get drinks, and Taylor made an impromptu CM. Nice.


Here is a picture of a ninja chilling on a street corner.

Our final stop let us do different activities to see how well we would do as ninjas. I actually scored pretty high. First we did kind of a timed matching game. Then we threw caltrops at a target and got points based on which chute they rolled down afterward - this game was mostly luck. The third game was throwing shuriken at targets. I was really happy to be able to play with shuriken some more. I got the highest score of the group. Then we played a computer game - think Wii Katana practice. Basically we practiced hitting targets with a sword (yes, we had a sword to hold). Our final game was retrieving a scroll using a fishing hook. You got points depending on the contents of the scroll. My favorite part was the shuriken. It was really fun, and I was actually good at it. I wish I could have played with them some more...

At lot of today was riding in the car, so I slept a lot today. We also had a few smaller things that we did, like going to look at Japanese pottery and eating Korean food for dinner. I had samgeopsal - can't write it in Korean, but basically you take these huge slabs of bacon, dip them in a salty liquid, put red pepper/miso sauce on top, wrap them in lettuce, and shove the whole thing in your mouth. Delicious!

Some cool pottery

Koya San

This post is a little delayed. Last Saturday we went to Koya San (Mount Koya). This was such a beautiful place! There are lots of temples on Mount Koya, but we didn't go to many of those. Instead, we walked through a huge graveyard with over 200,000 grave markers, including markers for many of Japan's famous rulers. It was a really cool place, and I don't know that I can do it justice in words. The graveyard was inside a huge cedar forest. The trees were gigantic! The only downside: cedars are the one plant I am really allergic to. I felt kind of lousy the whole time we were there, but Taylor was nice and took pictures for me, so I still have lots of pictures.

After we left the graveyard we went to eat a dinner that monks had prepared for us. There was no meat in the meal, and it has some of the most interesting things I have eaten. As always, pictures (and more detailed explanations) will be added on when I have a little more time. Probably when I am home from Japan.

Kimono pictures

Today (Saturday) James, Taylor, and I all took pictures wearing traditional Japanese clothes. Sister Yukimoto took all of these pictures over at the Sato's house. It was fun to wear the kimono, and it was really cool to see how complex it is to do all of the folds - especially the bow in back. However, the kimono was also boiling hot, especially when we went outside to take pictures in the shrine out back. Also, if you wear a kimono, you are guaranteed to have good posture and avoid walking around a lot. Oh, well. I think the pictures turned out nice. I took some with glasses and some without. Most of the ones of the process of getting dressed are with glasses, afterwards Sister Yukimoto took my glasses. First are the process pictures.

Layer 2 complete

The beginning of the really thick layer. Also, I think you can see the cool way it is tied at the waist.

Working on the folding.

All done except the obi (sash)!

Working on folding the sash.

Me waiting patiently to be told that I can move again. I really like the way this picture came out.

The (basically) finished folded bow in back.

All done and waiting for the boys. This one is with glasses.

This is without glasses. When you sit down in a kimono, you have very good posture, whether you want to or not.

These next pictures are not formal Japanese engagement/wedding pictures!
--My host mom purposely took some to look like them, but they are not. I didn't include a lot of them.

Me and James

Taylor, Me, James (Left to Right)

Me and Taylor

I liked this picture at the shrine.

A walk through the city

This blog post is especially at the request of David Bergeson, who wanted to see a little more of the town where I am staying. This afternoon I took a walk around the city and took a bunch of pictures of normal everyday scenes. I walked over by the train station, next to the mall, and finally, along a path by the bay. Enjoy! Captions are below each picture.

This is the street corner near the Yukimoto's house. I don't know if you can see it clearly, but the entrance to the shrine is right next to the building on the left of the picture.

Look! The walking man is wearing a bowler hat!

Does this give you a feel for how narrow the streets are here? Well, now try to imagine two cars, a bicycle, and a pedestrian all passing each other at the same time. It happens frequently, but still makes me nervous.

This is a close up of the roads, with an emphases on the drain cover. All of the drain covers are decorated, and the decorations vary from city to city. I make it a personal quest to collect new pictures from cities I visit, and I will make a post at the end of my trip with my final collection. This is the Kishiwada style drain cover.

This is the street in front of the train station. See that blue building? That's the station.

Here is the station again, from the front.

This is the selection at a vending machine. This one actually has some pretty good stuff: Calpis soda, pineapple calpis, mitsuya cider, water, some sports drink and juu roku cha (an herbal tea). I ended up getting the mitsuya cider - a drink kind of like sprite. Good, but I like the summer orange flavor better. The bottom row is all coffee. They are all about $1.25.

The inside of a covered market street. There are all sorts of tiny shops on both sides, and bicycles are parked everywhere.

This is a close-up of the roof over the market street.

One of the little streets that I love. Key points are the pavement, lanterns, and constant music in the background. This is the street that was playing "Organ Fugue" the other day. Today it was light jazz.

A close up of the lanterns in the streets.

An entrance to a shop. A lot of food stores have these hanging curtains in front of the entrance, usually with the type of food written in Japanese. The people in this store gave me a really weird look while I was taking this picture. Nope, sorry. Not buying today.

This is the roof of a traditional Japanese home. I really like the tiles on the roof.

Another view with some of the trees in front of the house.

This picture shows a typical Japanese apartment building. It looks like it is made of a lot of stripes, but that is the balconies, and the stairways. The stairs are on the outside of the building.

Even though most Japanese houses have no backyard at all, many of them have a tiny garden or a row of potted plants along the wall of their house. I am always amazed at how a garden smaller that 2 feet by 4 feet can be so elegant. This is actually a fairly large row of plants.

This is the entrance to a shrine right next to the mall.

This is just proof that I am in a place with palm trees along the water front.

This is a view of the bridge looking out at the bay. You can also see the wooden pathway that I walked along.

Well, there you go. All of these are fairly normal things that I would see on an average day. The only thing missing from the pictures is the excess of telephone lines and electric lines crossing in front of the buildings. I tried to take pictures without them as much as possible. Hope you enjoyed the everyday sights of Kishiwada!

4th of July!!!

Today was the Forth of July, and it was a great day. I didn't do any homework, but just had fun all day. The morning started with watching some funny movies. Then I got to talk with Sarah Weeks (Sa-chan!) on chat - she's one of my Japanese classmates. Then I had amazing yakisoba for lunch with all of my favorite toppings added. In the afternoon I got my new 定期券（teikiken, or commuter's pass).

In the afternoon I went on a walk for the specific purpose of collecting pictures for a blog post later. I walked by the train station, over to the mall, and around a wooden walkway by the bay. I still can't believe that I went all this time without realizing the bay was this close. I knew it was somewhere near, but seriously! I also saw a sign right next to the water that basically said this: "Warning: you will die if you stand here during a tsunami." I laughed so hard at that. Really? You mean that standing in the water during a tsunami is a bad idea? 知らなかった。。。

I had to hurry back afterward because I hadn't prepared my lesson for class. It turns out that I really didn't even need to prepare a lesson today, but I didn't know that at the time.

Class was great. I basically rambled on about all of my memories of the 4th of July including the hot air balloon launch, the parade, BBQs, and fireworks. I also played games for about 25 minutes with my beginning class. Then we had a 50 minute break/BBQ to celebrate. It was a bit of a funny BBQ. It is the first BBQ I have ever had where everyone ate with chopsticks. They also had TimTams, and chocolate milk if you wanted a TimTam Slam, but I just ate mine plain and went for the Calpis. We also had hot dogs slightly thicker than a pencil, and hamburgers that were about the size of chicken nuggets. They looked so sad on the regular-sized buns. We were able to share our BBQ with the missionaries since it was their preparation day. When they came into the building, they were completely drenched. It was pouring outside. I think they enjoyed the food, and the chance to talk in English.

After eating, I went into the gym with the high school students and played with a volleyball. We didn't quite have enough room or players for a full-scale game, so we just messed around. I think it is so funny to listen to their Japanese. There really is such a difference in language in between age groups, and also between genders. I laughed a lot. James also joined in after a while. We played for quite a while, until we were all tired. Man, I will have to get them to play volleyball more. Usually it is basketball, which I don't really like. If it is volleyball, I can at least hold my own. I might spend my break times in the gym from now on.

The advanced class was also fun, although I ran out of time for the game because I got off on too many tangents. Sometimes I think the advanced class is one huge tangent. I have a lesson planned, but most of them don't need much of the material, so we end up just talking about whatever.

When James and I left the church after class, it started raining harder than I have ever seen it rain here. I was thrilled, but James was less than overjoyed. It was a little like walking in a shower, except with more water. More like standing under a faucet. It was fun. The streets were deserted, and had turned into little rivers. I wasn't expecting it to rain this hard, so I was wearing sandals. My feet were soaked in no time. I get the feeling that even if I wasn't wearing sandals, my feet would have been soaked. By the time I reached the train station, my pants were soaked from the knee down. It was an adventure - an epic adventure. I loved it!

Danjiri Museum

This is just a placeholder post so I will remember to write about this later this week.
Coming soon to a computer near you...

Funny FHE

I teach classes every evening, so on Mondays, the two classes have Family Night together. Usually we sing a song, have a lesson, play a game, and have snacks. This last time we didn't have a lesson, so we played the game for a lot longer. We played Fruit Basket, with the added condition that you had to sing a song in front of everyone for every three times you were in the middle. Well, everyone knew that I was a banana after I commented that it was ironic that I was the one fruit I hate. I think they were conspiring against me. Or I'm just really bad at that game. I ended up in the middle 9 times. Quick calculation: 9 times in the middle divided by 3 = 3 times that I had to sing in front of everyone. I am actually really self-conscious about singing in front of more than one or two people. The Japanese students were required to sing a traditional Japanese song, but I could sing anything. Song choices: Twinkle twinkle little star, the itsy bitsy spider (with hand actions), and once there was a snowman (again, with actions). It was embarrassing, and I swear my face was the color of a tomato, but somehow it wasn't as bad as usual. I don't know why, but by the third song, I was almost enjoying it. It also made me happy that I knew two of the songs that the Japanese students sang. Even though Maru maru mori mori is definitely not a traditional Japanese song, it was so cute when Kouki did it with the actions that I couldn't help laughing. I didn't know he would know the dance to that song!
We ended up playing until everyone sang at least once. I loved hearing my students sing.

Last Saturday - Back to Kyoto

Last Saturday we went back to Kyoto for the day. We only went two places - Arashiyama (Arashi Mountain) and Toei Kyoto Studio Park. At Arashiyama we looked at a cool bridge and hiked through a bamboo forest. It was really hot, and I wished that I brought a fan or a sun umbrella. I still haven't bought either, even though I keep telling myself that I should. I guess I should find some time to stop by the mall this next week. Oh! That reminds me...The mall I go to when I need to shop is called Bayside Mall. Until this last week I didn't put two and two together to realize that it literally meant it looks out on the bay. *sigh* Why didn't I realize that earlier? I probably would have gone there a lot more. I love looking out at the water and the bridges. How could I not realize that the bay was so close?

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Bamboo forest. After hiking through the bamboo forest, we were really hot, so we bought shaved ice. I bought strawberry with sweet milk on top. It was amazing. Unfortunately, mine was a little too tall, so the top (with the sweet milk) fell on the ground. Sad.
We walked around and went shopping for a while after that. I ended up buying myself japanese pajamas (blue, of course) and a Japanese curtain for Austin (also blue). We went back to the cars (and I desperately wanted to go jump in the cold river), and went to get lunch.

We ate lunch at a place called Big Boy (I think...). I don't remember what I ate, except for corn soup as an appetizer. It was way good. It might be my new favorite soup.

After lunch we went to the Studio Park. It was basically an old style town with samurai and ninjas. I have some pictures of me with samurai, but I don't think I have any pictures of ninjas - they ran away any time I tried to take a picture. There were a bunch of different shows that we went to. One of the Kobe interns got to participate and practice swinging a sword around. She got to participate after playing rock, paper, scissors with James. I think James still regrets not going for two out of three. He really wanted to do it. One of the other participants was this adorable little girl. She even posed after swinging the sword to "kill" the bad guy. I don't have a picture, but one of the other interns has it on video. I need to get that video.

Another show involved a fake movie filming with a ninja and samurai. They were both really funny and kept "messing up" their scenes during the rehearsal. During the actual performance, they completely reversed the ending with the ninja winning. It was way funny. I think my favorite parts of that were watching the samurai crack up any time he tried to make a "kakkoi" (cool) face and seeing the ninja dancing as everyone left. I caught a few seconds on video before he noticed me and stopped. Haha - dancing ninja (stops writing to die laughing).

The last show was awesome. It was a mini play. I didn't catch any of the plot except that everyone wanted this scroll for some reason. That wasn't important though. It basically involved a lot of sparring between ninjas. Including dying scenes off of balconies, flips all over the place, and other cool stuff. I was really surprised to find out that one of the ninjas was a woman after the show. I have bits and pieces on video, but I was too busy staring with my mouth open to care much about taping it. I thing one of the other interns has a more complete video. I can't even describe how cool it was. Especially the balcony work. That was awesome.

I slept for most of the car ride back to Sakai. I woke up when the car stopped, but Taylor said he was hoping James would have to wake me up. I guess I can be a little jumpy when I'm startled. (As I write this I can just picture the other interns' reactions. Hey, stop laughing now, I mean it!)

We had to wait about 30-45 minutes for dinner, so Taylor and I wandered around the mall a bit. We only found clothes stores, so we ended up going into one of the stores and trying on hats and sunglasses. It was really funny, especially since neither of us usually wear hats or sunglasses. They actually had hats small enough for me, but I am still not a hat person. It was a lot of fun. Wearing huge sunglasses and hats that I would I would never wear otherwise. Part of me wishes that I had brought me camera and taken pictures, and part of me is glad that there is no record of me wearing those things.

Dinner was the best. We ate at a buffet where you fry your own food. Hmm...that doesn't do it justice. Let me try again. We sat around a table with hot oil containers (can't think how to describe them) in the middle. We got a bunch of skewers with different foods on them, rolled them in batter and bread crumbs, and deep fried them. There were also a lot of sauces, but I really liked the cheese sauce, so I basically just put everything in the cheese sauce. I tried beef, "part of the chicken next to the breast" (yes, that was the label), shrimp, smoked cheese, sausage, pumpkin, potato, mushroom, mini taiyaki (fish-shaped pancake with red bean paste inside), a cheese doughnut, and more. It was amazing. I had melon soda with my dinner. Just imaging a poisonous fizzing green liquid that looks like acid - it is one one of the best drinks I have tasted. The desserts were also good. I had ice cream with blueberry sauce and several watermelon cake rolls. I have decided that I really enjoy types of cooking where you cook the food and everyone eats out of a communal dish, or oil pot, as may be the case. It is such a friendly way to eat. I think I cared more about sharing food in the US. Here it is kind of like "Hey, can I have a bite?" "Here, try some of this". It just doesn't seem to matter to me when I'm here.

Catching up after a bit of a break

Today it is Sunday, so I have a little extra time to write. I meant to catch up this last week, but I came down with the flu and only got over it yesterday. I guess I had time to write while I was sick, but I mostly just slept. I can't remember all of the things I wanted to write, but hopefully I will remember them and write about them later. As always, I will write about my different experiences, and post pictures later, as the internet allows.