Nigata!

What an awesome experience this last month was....
So my program requires that all students complete a one-month long spring practicum. I decided to go to Nigata, a very rural prefecture among the mountains about 2 hours from Tokyo, along with Cory from my program.

The main street in the town we stayed in.

Right before we were about to leave, Cory and I were told we could no longer go to Nigata, as our planned homestay fell through. So, we were ready to go to Shimane instead. But then we were told, no we were actually going to go to Nigata still, but we were going to stay in a group home for the elderly. Um... what?

Turns out the group home situation really wasn't that bad. It was this house that was formerly owned by some Japanese CEO dude, but he went bankrupt and had to sell it. It was a really big, pretty, traditional style Japanese house, and could hold 10 old people. At the time Cory and I stayed there, there were 8 old people. Overall the experience at the old person house was interesting, although the food was less than great, as some of our housemates didn't have teeth, and there was a lot of vegetables, which were always grey in color. Yum. The caregivers ranged from a really interesting younger woman, to the most awkward woman I've ever met in my life, who was always concerned with what Cory and I were up to.

The group home aka "midori ie" after a random 3 days of heavy snow. It was really pretty.


My housemates at dinnertime.

What was really fun was the Hoikuen. Everyday, Cory and I helped out at a preschool. This preschool was pretty rockin. The teachers were really enthusiastic, and the decorating was out of control. At first it was really difficult, as I couldn't understand a lot of what the little kids were saying, but then I grew to really love playing with them and getting to know kids on an individual level. I could tell the teachers were greatful for the help, especially Kai sensei, who had to manage a class of 25 5-year-olds by herself. Yikes. One interesting thing very different from America was lunchtime. In America, kids head to the cafeteria when the lunch bell rings... not in Japan though. The teacher sets out the food, and then the class eats together in the classroom, with the teacher. This was interesting multi-tasking, as you had to try to eat, while yelling at kids not to play with their chopsticks/food, and urging those who weren't eating to eat "TABENASAI!" And I had to eat all of my vegetables or else the kids would say "Sensei! Kerry sensei's not eating her vegetables!" Booo.... Luckily the food was waaaaaaaaay better than at the group home...

Me and Cory and... Aozoragumi and Taiyogumi.


With one of our favorite teachers, Kai sensei, and with the whole staff... and those lovely orange aprons.

Hirai sensei was the woman Cory and I were originally supposed to do a homestay with. She is the head teacher at the hoikuen, and is called "grandma sensei" by all the kids there. Cory and I hung out with her on the weekends and on the occassional weekday. She really went out of her way for us in many situations. She took us to see a few temples, which were really beautiful set in the mountains like they were. We also went to an onsen, and ate out to some delicious food. We also went to a history museum about Nigata, which was interesting, and we got to see how the snow in Nigata used to be... like 10 feet of it. Dang. Sometimes we would be accompanied by Umi kun, Hirai sensei's 1 year old grandson. He was quite the troublemaker. "Ararara umi kun" was the phrase spoken by Hirai sensei most often when she was around him.

The first outing to a Temple with Hirai Sensei

This really pretty mountain temple.... it was shaped as a quad, and inside was lots of snow preserved




This house was owned by a wealthy landowner a long time ago... it was so huge and incredibly beautiful. These are the gardens you could see from inside the house.

A typical day in the life of Kerry and Cory in Nigata:
8am: wake up, eat gross breakfast at group home
9am: go to Hoikuen, a 5 min walk from the group home
9am-12am: do various activities with the kids, helping out the teacher
12pm: eat lunch with the kids, then it's ....
1:30pm: naptime for the kids! (and a lot of times naptime for the teachers too...)
1:30pm-3pm: breaktime (a very general timeperiod, sometimes it would be breaktime, sometimes it would be make paper flowers time, always forced consumption of tea time.)
3 pm: kids wake up, then snack time
4pm: playtime! for the oldest kids, that usually meant playing with legos
5 pm: return to group home
5:30: dinnertime! (with the woman with no teeth on my right making gross moaning noises, and the man on my left coughing on my food)
6ish: Cory and I go to combini or supermarket, buy junkfood, return to group home, watch movies or play on computer in Cory's room
Anywhere from 10-12: bedtime!

A couple of exciting events...
I fell down the stairs at the group home. They were very steep wooden ones. And it hurt. Then two old women proceeded to immediately spank me on my ass right where the giant bruise was. Ouch.

The first words my host sister said to me after a month were:
"It's been a long time."
The second set of words my host sister said were:
"Did you get fat?"

I also returned home to found out that my host sister got a job after 5 months of unemployment, my other host sister is getting married, they removed the snuggley winter blanket table thingy, and the cat is even more crazy then ever.
Welcome home Kerry, welcome home.

I think Cory and I had the most rockin' practicum ever. I really enjoyed it and plan on writing back and forth with a couple of the teachers and maybe become the hoikuen's pen-pal. I really hope I can return before I go back to America :) Now, off to meet my parents at the airport...

My winter break has been slow at times, but I'm keeping myself entertained. Apparently the emperor's birthday is a holiday, and the palace grounds are opened up only on this specific day (the 21st, I think...). Soooo I got up early and headed to the palace near Tokyo station with my friend. We recieved cool little Japanse flags and stood in line with all of the elderly Japanese people so we could go see the emperor give a 2 minute speech. It was interesting though, even when the little old Japanese lady behind me kept hitting me in the head with her flag (on purpose I think).



Christmas was uneventful... and lonely....
I wiped out jogging the day before Christmas and scraped my face on the asphalt and screwed up my knee... it was awesome. Then I went to the "lonely single people" Christmas nomikai for kendo, as Japanese people usually celebrate Christmas only amongst couples. On Christmas I spent most of the day wallowing in self-pity alone in my house until my host mom took me out for Thai food, which was delicious... it reminded me a little bit of a Christmas story, that scene where they go out for Chinese food... only different.



For new years it's custom in Japan to make mochi (sticky sweets made from pounded rice), and I was disappointed to find out that my family really doesn't do it. But I actually did get to make mochi at a couple different places... one was with my host mom and dad at our neighbor's house. Our neighbor and her husband and her friend had us over and we got to make mochi, which was fun. We then drank lots of sake and wine, as is custom at any Japanese party, and my host mom embarassed me by mentioning to our neighbor's 28 year old son that I was single and desperately need a boyfriend, as usual.




The following day I went to this random house with a group of American friends which I expected to be a small gathering, but which was in fact a giant mochi-making New Years party with like 50 Japanese guests. We got to try pounding mochi the traditional way, with a giant mallet, which was really fun. We interacted with the drunk old Japanese guys, who can definitely be creepy at times, but it was fun and I'm glad I got to experience it.

11/29
It has been a while since I posted anything, I guess... I've been busy though.
I went to an area by Mt. Fuji with the Japan Study program a few weeks ago. It was really pretty but freezing. The weather was also cloudy, so I only got to see the foot of Fuji. It did remind me of one of my goals while in Japan though: to do the sunrise hike on the mountain. You start at like 11 pm and climb to the top where you watch the sunrise. I think it would be amazing.
My host family is hosting a Chinese student for only one day, and we hung out and went sight seeing today. It was interesting, but the one thing I found out and really appreciate is the fact that I kept subconsciously switching to Japanese when talking to her, even though she only speaks Chinese and English. That means I'm beginning to think in Japanese! Yaaaaay!


12/15
Omg I fail at posting... I promise I'll try harder though!
I haven't been going to kendo recently, as I've been sick, however the all night nomikai two weeks ago was pretty insane, I'm not gonna lie. On Christmas eve there is a kendo party for "single lonely people." I am definitely in that category and fully intend on going. Dating in Japan is hard- the boys here are crazy shy.
I went to Fujikyu Highland with my host brother, his friend, and Lana. Fujikyu is this awesome amusement park by Mt. Fuji. The whether was amazing, it wasn't crowded at all, and Lana and I got to ride in the front of every roller coaster, which was awesome. I got to check off "riding on Dodanpa (an awesome launch rollercoaster)" from my list of things to do while I'm here. The haunted house we went in was definitely the scariest one I've ever been in- it was themed like a hospital and zombie people chased us etc. Us girls were scared, however my host brother just laughed at us.
I'm frantically trying to plan what I'll do over winter break, but right now it looks like I might be staying in Tokyo. Oh well, I will figure out plenty of things to do, I hope...
Yay commercialistic Christmas! In Japan it's a new celebration, mostly done between couples. It's entirely commercial, almost obnoxiously so. I think I will definitely miss Christmas with the Fam. Oh well, new years should be pretty interesting.

That's all for now- later!

All I have to say is Obama. I was really sad about how many amazing celebration parties I missed as America finally elected a president we could be proud of. I'm no longer ashamed to be an American. The Japanese perspective was pretty interesting though. I find it very interesting that while Japanese politics are at a high point and with the probable dissemble of Parliament, I really have not seen that much on tv about it that I have really noticed. Also, if you ask the average Japanese college student about Japanese politics, they won't be able to answer. However, if you ask Japanese students about American politics, they usually know something about it. Also on tv during and after the election Obama was on the news all the time. I even see Bush occassionally on tv, even though I feel like he's kind of forgotten in America. What was really amusing was that there's a city called Obama in Japan, and a lot of news coverage was about them whole-heartedly supporting Obama for president. It was quite funny watching them post red and blue flowers on a US map and watching them wave Obama signs and US flags. I really feel like they wouldn't get that excited over a Japanese election. I am so happy I am actually going to return to a country that I like now...
I had my maid cafe interview, however it was quite the adventure. Me and two of my friends arrive in Akihabara with a really bad drawing of a map that I made. I immediately forgot the name of the place I was trying to find, and so we spent like 2 hours trying to find the place. We finally find the actual cafe, but then we find out we are supposed to go to the office. We eventually get there right at the time my interview is supposed to start, and then my friends leave me to wait, which I do, for 1 hour. Then my interview finally takes place, thank God the managers spoke English, and then me and my friends hung around Akihabara. We ate in this delicious restraunt that looked sketchy from the outside, as it was in a basement, but was actually quite pleasant. I ate an entire sea food pizza, which included clams and squid and tuna and shrimp, and it was sooo incredibly delicious. The we headed to Ikebukuro, but apparently the world shuts down there at like 9 at night, except for the DELICIOUS crepe stand on a street, which we took advantage of. Then I came home.
I'm bonding more with my family, I think. The other day we all went to this clothing store sale- it was really nice. My oldest host sister I think has accepted me as the new younger sister, and as such teases/makes fun of me a lot. Good thing I'm used to that already. The other day my host mom and sisters and I went out to Tai food and sat there and ate for like 2 hours. It was really fun and was delicious. I really enjoy that kind of thing.
Not really much else to report... pics are up on facebook if you want to take a look

ooooh wow, Japan.
Japanese class is kicking my butt. It is really hard to learn like 50 vocab words and 30ish kanji every week. I will survive though. I feel like in the real world, it's becoming easier to express myself though. When I first arrived, my host dad told me it would take 3 months to completely see a change for the better, and it's been 2, so I'm almost to that mark...
Kendo is probably one of the coolest sports ever. It is also one of the most intimidating sports ever, because the sport itself is scary and because there is so much tradition surrounding it that you have to learn about. When you do kendo, you wear a whole bunch of armor and this mask with metal bars on it. Frankly you look a little like a jason-esque axe-murderer. Also you have to scream whenever you try to hit somebody, so whenever practice is going on, it sounds like a full on war is taking place, with the screaming and smacking of shinai (the bamboo sticks) against armor. The club is really nice though and has been helping me a whole bunch. Saturday I got over my fear of yelling and I feel like that really helps. I also got my first kendo blister! yessss... I'm turning into a real kendo person! (I have a loooooong way to go though...)
I have an interview on Saturday for a Maid Cafe. It's a themed cafe where the waitresses dress up and act like anime characters, usually maids. I didn't realize how much I love dressing up until this summer, when I wore costumes once a week- dressing up and pretending to be somebody else for work sounds like fun to me (the extra money wouldn't hurt either...). We'll see how it goes- I hope I get the job.
Oh and for anybody who cares is curious, or wants to send me a little somethin' somethin' my address in Japan is:

Tokyo to suginamiku
honamanuma 2-39-8
ichijyo kata

I am so sad Japan doesn't celebrate Halloween... Oh well, I had fun anyway and went out with some friends while we reminisced about American Halloweens
That's all for now....

well, I'm finally back in Japan after the brief break for my sister's wedding. The wedding was very nice, however it felt like I had a massive hangover for 5 days because of the jetlag. Coming back was a little bit better, but I am still exhausted. I took a sleeping pill when I got back to Japan that my mother gave me to try to catch up on my sleep, and silly me, I didn't go to bed right away and ended up feeling verrrrry funky...
The economy in both the US and Japan sucks, in case peopel haven't noticed. The exchange rate when I got to the airport yesterday was 94 yen to the dollar (when I got here in September it was like 112 yen to the dollar). And that job I was really banking on fell through. Sucky.
I am excited for Halloween, even though it's kind of a new thing in Japan. I'll probably go to a party or something. I have to find a costume first though...
Now to catch up on all of the stupid homework I missed. A whole bunch of Japanese quizes to be exact...

　　Ｗｒｉｔｉｎｇ　ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ　ｏｎ　Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ　ｃｏｍｐｕｔｅｒｓ　ｉｓ　ｓｏ　ａｎｎｏｙｉｎｇ，　ｌｅｔ　ｍｅ　ｔｅｌｌ　ｙｏｕ．．　ｆｏｒ　ｏｎｅ　ｔｈｉｎｇ，　ｔｈｅ　ｓｐａｃｅ　ｂａｒ　ｉｓ　ｗａｙ　ｔｏｏ　ｓｍａｌｌ　ｓｏ　Ｉ　ｋｅｅｐ　ｏｎ　ｓｗｉｔｃｈｉｎｇ　ｔｈｅ　ｌａｎｇｕａｇｅ　ｓｅｌｅｃｔｉｏｎ　ｂａｃｋ　ｔｏ　ｈｉｒａｇａｎａ．　　ｇｒｒｒｒ．　　Ｔｈｅ　ｗｏｒｋ　ｓｅａｒｃｈ　ｉｓ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｏｋａｙ　Ｉ　ｇｕｅｓｓ，　Ｉ　ｈａｖｅ　ａｎ　ｉｎｔｅｒｖｉｅｗ　ｉｎ　ａ　ｗｅｅｋ　ｆｏｒ　ａ　ｓｗｅｅｔ　ｐｒｉｖａｔｅ　Ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ　ｔｕｔｏｒ　ｊｏｂ，　ｗｈｉｃｈ　ｐａｙｓ　ｔｈｅ　ｅｑｕｉｖａｌｅｎｔ　ｏｆ　＄３０－５０　ｐｅｒ　ｈｏｕｒ．　That　ｗｏｕｌｄ　ｂｅ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｎｉｃｅ，　ａｓ　Ｉ　ｅｎｊｏｙ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｏｕｔ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｍｙ　ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓ，ｂｕｔ　ｃｏｓｔｓ　ａｄｄ　ｕｐ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｑｕｉｃｋｌｙ．
　　Ⅰ　ｊｏｉｎｅｄ　ｔｈｅ　Ｋｅｎｄｏ　ｃｌｕｂ！　Ｉ　ｈａｄ　ｔｏ　ｂｕｙ ｍｙ　ｏｗｎ　ｃｌｏｔｈｉｎｇ　ａｎｄ　ｓｔｉｃｋ　ｔｈｉｎｇ，　ｂｕｔ　Ｉ　ｇｅｔ　ｔｏ　ｂｏｒｒｏｗ　ｔｈｅ　ａｒｍｏｒ，　ｗｈｉｃｈ　ｉｓ　ｔｈｅ　ｍｏｓｔ ｅｘｐｅｎｓｉｖｅ　ｐａｒｔ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｇｅａｒ．　　Ａｓ　Ｉ　ｗｒｉｔｅ　ｔｈｉｓ，　ｔｈｅ　ｓｈｏｐ　ｏｗｎｅｒ　ｉｓ　ｅｍｂｒｏｉｄｅｒｉｎｇ　ｍｙ　ｒｏｂｅｓ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｍｙ　ｎａｍｅ－　ｓｗｅｅｔ．　Ｔｈｅ　ｆｉｒｓｔ　ｐｒａｃｔｉｃｅ　ｉｓ　ｔｏｎｉｇｈｔ，　ａｎｄ　ｂｅｆｏｒｅ　ｙｏｕ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｉｔ，　Ｉ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｂｅ　ａ　ｌｅａｎ，　ｍｅａｎ　ｋｅｎｄｏ　ｍａｃｈｉｎｅ！　　
　　Ｉ　ｇｏ　ｂａｃｋ　ｔｏ　America　ｉｎ　ａ　ｆｅｗ　ｄａｙｓ－　ｊｅｔ　ｌａｇ，　ｈｅｒｅ　Ｉ　ｃｏｍｅ！　Ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｔｏ　ｇｏ　ｔａｋｅ　ａ　ｎａｐ　ｎｏｗ　ｓｏ　Ｉ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｂｅ　ａｗａｋｅ　ｆｏｒ　ｋｅｎｄｏ　ｐｒａｃｔｉｃｅ！

A few observations...

I have made a few observations about Japanese life during my short stay here.... Japan is the most efficient, awesomest country ever in some ways, yet in some ways, they are just... not.

Efficiency/ Greatness
1. Public Transportation
Japan has the public transportation thing down, yo. If you want to get somewhere, you can take a train or bus pretty darn close to that location, and then walk the rest of the way. Although extremely crowded at times (I mean, chest to chest, breathing in another person's face kind of crowded) trains show just how much people utilize public transportation. I can make it to class in about 45 min via foot/train/subway versus what might take a heck of a lot longer during rush hour in a car.

2. Anti-car greatness....
Although Japan has some pretty sweet cars riding around, people tend to not use them all that much in Tokyo. They're just a pain in a big city. Instead people walk everywhere (how do those Japanese girls do it in 4 inch heels? I have yet to see a young Japanese girl in any sort of flat, comfy shoe...) or ride their bikes. Oh the bikes... you are bound to be run over by one any given day because they are everywhere! And the things people can do on bikes... I've seen moms with a child sitting in the back and front of her bike, with a baby strapped to her chest, holding an umbrella. Bike riders are that talented.

3. Energy saving...
The toilets in my house have sinks on top of them. They use the running water that fills up the tanks of the toilet. The dorm I stayed at had a place to put your room key when you entered the room that would allow you to turn on the lights, so that when you left and took your key with you, the lights would automatically turn off. Again, the public transportation/ anti-car greatness. And my family does not possess a dryer for the laundry. A few of many examples I've seen...

Anti-greatness (abridged version)
1. About the energy saving thing...
I think it's mostly to save money, not because people care about the planet. If you go to a store and buy anything, it is guaranteed to come with a plastic bag. If you go to the local 7-11 an buy a pack of gum, most likely it will be handed to you in a plastic shopping bag. Yuck. Also- excessive packaging for everything. If you buy a boxed lunch, it's probably wrapped 3 times in plastic and then has individually wrapped everything inside of it. Hmmm

2. Foreigner fear....
I get it, I look different than most Japanese people- but really, really? Must you stare so intently? ugh...

3. Why must we wait at the street corner in the pouring rain if the walk sign says don't walk if nobody is coming from any direction? Argh...

So far the good has outweighed the bad, which is a good sign, I think. I'm having fun, and hope it wil stay that way for the rest of the year...

What a ride...... it's week 3 I guess

    Wow, I am in awe as to how crazy the past few weeks have been.  I am both excited and extremely nervous about having to go to school here in the crazy world of Tokyo...

   I arrived with the rest of the Japan Study group at Narita airport in Tokyo on September 13.  It was almost surreal arriving, because I had just spent 10ish hours on a cramped, hot airplane, and arrived in a humid, crowded airport a day later than when I had left America.  I met most of the people in my group, only some people were caught in Chicago during some freak rainstorm. After stumbling around the airport for a while in some sort of daze, my group finally left for the dorm we would be staying at at the equivalent of 2 am America time.  

   The dorms were interesting... I assume they are normally used for business men who are doing business away from home.  Each room had its own bathroom and was really nicely organized (Japanese people have a much better realization of space utilization than Americans do...)  My group and I then went through orientation, meeting some volunteer Japanese students from the Rainbow club at my school, who were pretty darn awesome.  Once I get my light pink rocking cell phone, I plan on getting everybody's numbers.

  Orientation included introducing us to the realization that we do not know Japanese.  Like at all.  I realize this most when I go to the grocery store, or the mall, or basically anywhere in public.  I hope eventually I will stop feeling like a 2 year old who has no grasp of language skills at all.  The group liked to go out and have a good time and it was fun going to restaurants and bars just because I could :)  Now orientation is over.... time for the real test, when I am not surrounded by 30 other native English speakers who I can feel foolish with and commiserate with.  Will I survive?  Probably.  Will I embarrass myself? Definitely.  Will I learn a lot about myself and cultures other than mine?  I certainly hope so.  

   My host family rocks, by the way.  They have a large house and have set no curfew for me.  I am excited to stay with them.  My host father speaks quite a bit of English, so I hope I don't fall back on that when I am nervous or flustered, because I want to learn as much Japanese as humanely possible.  

   That's all for now... more later

random thought of the day: Japanese people have the best parking skills I have ever seen.  They can park cars in places I never thought possible.