I don't know, but somehow Japan's scenery really blows me away.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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Right outside Narai village. After this, it got real traditional. All the other Narai pics are on my point and shoot. Got tired of holding my Nikon.
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Some weird thing outside the castle. I think it's supposed to be an oni or something. I think the onmyouji's and oni's were off duty today. We weren't able to see any onmyouji and oni fights on the day we went.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Everything else... Part 2
As it has been over a week since these events have transpired, I once again stress that I'm doing my best to remember what happened with the help of my handy dandy schedule. Well here goes from, Thursday Sept. 17!
Once again we woke up, had breakfast, and headed over to Waseda University to have what we thought would be our orientations for JASSO, the scholarship I and 9 others from CSU received. Turns out though, there was an orientation for all the students living in the dorms too. They made us fill out a form and watch a video about the rules of living in certain dorms. Pretty boring stuff. After we finished with that room, the us CSU folks went to the next room to find out about our JASSO. We won't receive it without a Japanese bank account, which I recently made with the help of my WIC and Niji no Kai buddies. After the orientations, we all met back up in a classroom at the SILS building, where we waited for everyone to gather back up.
Following the return of all the CSU students, the Japanese students had taken down our names and what we wanted to eat. The Japanese students then split us up into groups, so we could all go out to lunch together. I chose ramen, which turned out to be a really dumb decision. About 10 of us CSU students chose ramen, therefore the group was too large. The CSU ramen group was then split again into more manageable groups, allowing us to fit better into restaurants. My group went to a restaurant named Guren I believe. I thought we went to get ramen, but when we went to the restaurant, the restaurant only sold Abura Men or something and Tsukemen. I reluctantly went with the Tsukemen only to find that it was actually quite good. The restaurant happened to play Michelle Branch, so a few of us CSU'ers decided to sing along. As we left the restaurant the worker told a couple of us to order the smaller portion if we can't finish. Our friend Akki assured us that such a thing was not a common occurrence as it was only our our 3rd day in Japan. After the lunch, we returned to the SILS building to get an orientation for class selection. Quite some boring stuff. Almost fell asleep. We all picked our classes, and the WIC and Niji no Kai students waited for us to finish. They then took all of us in separate groups to Shinjuku to look around for a bit. Following the small tours, we all went to an okonomiyaki restaurant.
Okonomiyaki is pretty easy to make but the monjayaki or whatever it is called, is not all that great. We had all you can eat, but the place was literally like an oven with all the hot plates going at once and the 50+ people in a tiny Japanese restaurant. Overall a fun night. After the hot hot dinner, I believe we all headed to a chain bar called Hub. Had a couple beers to end the night. Very fun night overall. Got to have some drinks with some new friends and make some new friends.
9/18 MOVING DAY
Moving day was probably the 2nd saddest day since I've been here. We all started the morning off the same way we did for the past few days by waking up and going to grab breakfast. Afterward however, we all headed back up to get our luggage ready, so we could store it in another room because we had to check out of the hotel. Following the storing of our luggage, we all went to Waseda again, for the host families needed to be announced. We all took a look at all the host families, and after that we had a pizza lunch with the WIC and Niji no Kai students again. I must say it was very trying for me as I had trouble with my Japanese that day for some unknown reason.
When lunch was finished, we had a final mini orientation to address any final issues any of us might have had. The orientation was short, and we all headed back to the hotel to pick up our stuff. We did some final preparations and basically everyone went their separate ways for the time being. The dorm students did however agree to meet up, so that we could all go grab a bite to eat as we didn't have cellphones yet. I'm pretty sure after dinner we all just went home and slept. It was a long and emotional day. The next day we had to pick classes in the morning.
Most of us all magically met up around the same time the following morning. The rundown of the day was pretty simple. We picked classes, had lunch, went to a Hanko store to buy some seals, went to Akihabara for bit though I didn't look at much, ate dinner, and went back to my dorm I believe. Pretty uneventful day overall. With that, I believe I've pretty much caught up with my blog. I'll include some better entries in the near future hopefully! I still have a couple days to write about recently including Ghibili Museum, though don't expect much haha.
Once again we woke up, had breakfast, and headed over to Waseda University to have what we thought would be our orientations for JASSO, the scholarship I and 9 others from CSU received. Turns out though, there was an orientation for all the students living in the dorms too. They made us fill out a form and watch a video about the rules of living in certain dorms. Pretty boring stuff. After we finished with that room, the us CSU folks went to the next room to find out about our JASSO. We won't receive it without a Japanese bank account, which I recently made with the help of my WIC and Niji no Kai buddies. After the orientations, we all met back up in a classroom at the SILS building, where we waited for everyone to gather back up.
Following the return of all the CSU students, the Japanese students had taken down our names and what we wanted to eat. The Japanese students then split us up into groups, so we could all go out to lunch together. I chose ramen, which turned out to be a really dumb decision. About 10 of us CSU students chose ramen, therefore the group was too large. The CSU ramen group was then split again into more manageable groups, allowing us to fit better into restaurants. My group went to a restaurant named Guren I believe. I thought we went to get ramen, but when we went to the restaurant, the restaurant only sold Abura Men or something and Tsukemen. I reluctantly went with the Tsukemen only to find that it was actually quite good. The restaurant happened to play Michelle Branch, so a few of us CSU'ers decided to sing along. As we left the restaurant the worker told a couple of us to order the smaller portion if we can't finish. Our friend Akki assured us that such a thing was not a common occurrence as it was only our our 3rd day in Japan. After the lunch, we returned to the SILS building to get an orientation for class selection. Quite some boring stuff. Almost fell asleep. We all picked our classes, and the WIC and Niji no Kai students waited for us to finish. They then took all of us in separate groups to Shinjuku to look around for a bit. Following the small tours, we all went to an okonomiyaki restaurant.
Okonomiyaki is pretty easy to make but the monjayaki or whatever it is called, is not all that great. We had all you can eat, but the place was literally like an oven with all the hot plates going at once and the 50+ people in a tiny Japanese restaurant. Overall a fun night. After the hot hot dinner, I believe we all headed to a chain bar called Hub. Had a couple beers to end the night. Very fun night overall. Got to have some drinks with some new friends and make some new friends.
9/18 MOVING DAY
Moving day was probably the 2nd saddest day since I've been here. We all started the morning off the same way we did for the past few days by waking up and going to grab breakfast. Afterward however, we all headed back up to get our luggage ready, so we could store it in another room because we had to check out of the hotel. Following the storing of our luggage, we all went to Waseda again, for the host families needed to be announced. We all took a look at all the host families, and after that we had a pizza lunch with the WIC and Niji no Kai students again. I must say it was very trying for me as I had trouble with my Japanese that day for some unknown reason.
When lunch was finished, we had a final mini orientation to address any final issues any of us might have had. The orientation was short, and we all headed back to the hotel to pick up our stuff. We did some final preparations and basically everyone went their separate ways for the time being. The dorm students did however agree to meet up, so that we could all go grab a bite to eat as we didn't have cellphones yet. I'm pretty sure after dinner we all just went home and slept. It was a long and emotional day. The next day we had to pick classes in the morning.
Most of us all magically met up around the same time the following morning. The rundown of the day was pretty simple. We picked classes, had lunch, went to a Hanko store to buy some seals, went to Akihabara for bit though I didn't look at much, ate dinner, and went back to my dorm I believe. Pretty uneventful day overall. With that, I believe I've pretty much caught up with my blog. I'll include some better entries in the near future hopefully! I still have a couple days to write about recently including Ghibili Museum, though don't expect much haha.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Cell Phones
Alright, I'm going to try to write this while I have bit of leftover buzz from the drinking earlier. The day before yesterday was the day all of us CSU students got our phones. The day was surprisingly long and stressful.
The day started off with all of us CSU students going to our respective district offices, so we could all obtain our alien registration cards. The Waseda students also wanted to take all of us CSU students cell phone shopping later in the day after lunch, therefore we all had to go to our respective district offices relatively early depending on where we lived. I, of course living in Shinjuku, had to go the "busy" Shinjuku office very early, which turned out to be hardly even busy so early in the morning. Us CSU dorm students met up around 7:30 to head out to the office and arrived before almost anyone was there. It was lucky that we got to the office and hardly anyone was there. We filled out our sheets, and after some confusion about sheets and copies, we eventually made our way to the 4th floor of the same building to deal apply for insurance.
After I had finished applying for my insurance, an elderly gentleman near the entrance to the health insurance area suddenly got quite angered. He started a small commotion, however the workers at the bank were able to calm him down for a while. As he sat down to finish his application for whatever he was applying for, he started to smoke a cigarette. He was soon escorted to the smoking every, but upon returning, he started another small commotion and proceeded to remove his top to show his many tattoos on his body as if to say he was some sort of yakuza. We decided to ignore the odd gentleman and moved on with our group.
Following a bit of exploring and ice cream, the group decided to go eat. Almost everyone from the CSU group met up, so that we could all get lunch together at an "Italian" family restaurant. I must say tuna with tomato sauce is actually quite tastely, contrary to what I believed it would taste like. We finished eating and headed off to a Hanko (a family seal) store, so that we could all buy Hanko's and be able to open a bank account in case we all wanted to get SoftBank. I bought a Hanko with my family name on it, and after everyone selected their Hanko, we all headed to make our bank accounts. It was there that I first noticed that a lot of the Japanese students were visibly exhausted. They had to have been very tired as they had been helping us CSU students out a great deal since we stepped into the country. After we made our bank accounts, the students set off to check out cell phones!
As I entered the cell phone shop, a few of my fellow students had actually picked phones already and gone with the company AU. I personally was still considering between AU and Softbank, so I decided to check out some of the phones, so I could compare them. The AU phones were nothing special, though a couple did catch my eye. As nothing made a big impact on me, I asked one of the workers there if there were any other phones possibly available to which he responded by opening up a secret compartment under the available phones to show me 1 more phone. I was interested in the phone, but not particularly attached. That is, until he mentioned the phone would be free if I decided to get it. My decision was basically made for me because on top of the fact the phone was free and had a 8 megapixel camera, I would be the only CSU student with that phone in that color. If any knows me, I try to get electronics or anything that is or is more exclusive to one person. I ended up getting the phone, and trading numbers was possibly the best part of the night. (I originally stopped writing this post here, and I'm going to continue it now. 9/29)
It was really interesting how Japanese phones just use infrared to trade profiles between phones. You literally line up the infrared areas to trade profiles. After all the number trading, we went to dinner at some restaurant called Jonathan's, which wasn't very good and allowed smoking inside. Wasn't very fun. Some of the CSU students finished getting their phones when we finished eating, so they went to eat some Mcdonalds. Nothing else really happened, and I went home afterwards.
The day started off with all of us CSU students going to our respective district offices, so we could all obtain our alien registration cards. The Waseda students also wanted to take all of us CSU students cell phone shopping later in the day after lunch, therefore we all had to go to our respective district offices relatively early depending on where we lived. I, of course living in Shinjuku, had to go the "busy" Shinjuku office very early, which turned out to be hardly even busy so early in the morning. Us CSU dorm students met up around 7:30 to head out to the office and arrived before almost anyone was there. It was lucky that we got to the office and hardly anyone was there. We filled out our sheets, and after some confusion about sheets and copies, we eventually made our way to the 4th floor of the same building to deal apply for insurance.
After I had finished applying for my insurance, an elderly gentleman near the entrance to the health insurance area suddenly got quite angered. He started a small commotion, however the workers at the bank were able to calm him down for a while. As he sat down to finish his application for whatever he was applying for, he started to smoke a cigarette. He was soon escorted to the smoking every, but upon returning, he started another small commotion and proceeded to remove his top to show his many tattoos on his body as if to say he was some sort of yakuza. We decided to ignore the odd gentleman and moved on with our group.
Following a bit of exploring and ice cream, the group decided to go eat. Almost everyone from the CSU group met up, so that we could all get lunch together at an "Italian" family restaurant. I must say tuna with tomato sauce is actually quite tastely, contrary to what I believed it would taste like. We finished eating and headed off to a Hanko (a family seal) store, so that we could all buy Hanko's and be able to open a bank account in case we all wanted to get SoftBank. I bought a Hanko with my family name on it, and after everyone selected their Hanko, we all headed to make our bank accounts. It was there that I first noticed that a lot of the Japanese students were visibly exhausted. They had to have been very tired as they had been helping us CSU students out a great deal since we stepped into the country. After we made our bank accounts, the students set off to check out cell phones!
As I entered the cell phone shop, a few of my fellow students had actually picked phones already and gone with the company AU. I personally was still considering between AU and Softbank, so I decided to check out some of the phones, so I could compare them. The AU phones were nothing special, though a couple did catch my eye. As nothing made a big impact on me, I asked one of the workers there if there were any other phones possibly available to which he responded by opening up a secret compartment under the available phones to show me 1 more phone. I was interested in the phone, but not particularly attached. That is, until he mentioned the phone would be free if I decided to get it. My decision was basically made for me because on top of the fact the phone was free and had a 8 megapixel camera, I would be the only CSU student with that phone in that color. If any knows me, I try to get electronics or anything that is or is more exclusive to one person. I ended up getting the phone, and trading numbers was possibly the best part of the night. (I originally stopped writing this post here, and I'm going to continue it now. 9/29)
It was really interesting how Japanese phones just use infrared to trade profiles between phones. You literally line up the infrared areas to trade profiles. After all the number trading, we went to dinner at some restaurant called Jonathan's, which wasn't very good and allowed smoking inside. Wasn't very fun. Some of the CSU students finished getting their phones when we finished eating, so they went to eat some Mcdonalds. Nothing else really happened, and I went home afterwards.
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I know she's not in Japan, but I miss her. Who's going to lick my face at 9 in the morning or jump into bed with me without even asking?
Everything else... Part 1
As I didn't write about what happened from when I landed until around the 20th, I'll try my best to remember what happened with the help of my handy dandy schedule. So let's start off with the flight!
All Nippon Airways was a joy to fly with. The seats weren't as spacious as I would have preferred, but no one sat to my left. I always have trouble sleeping on flights and while I'm sitting, so I didn't sleep much on the flight. The 3 kids and lady behind me kicking my chair also didn't help much. I was still a bit hungover on the flight, but enough of my appetite had returned for me to eat the meals on the flight. Though the food on the flight wasn't gourmet quality, I did enjoy what was available and had a couple beers with my meals (yes while I was still a bit hungover). The movie selection was pretty good, even though I wished the screen was of better quality. I watched a couple episodes of Prison Break, Taken, Little Miss Sunshine, and some of Angels and Demons and Monsters vs. Aliens. I didn't find the last couple interesting enough to continue watching. Overall a good flight. As this was my first flight alone, I was quite worried as I tried to navigate the airport by myself in a foreign country. I somehow managed to fill out all the paperwork, grab my bags, and get through customs fine.
As I left customs, I looked for the Waseda student signs that were supposed to be there. I first looked to the right and saw a sign that said Waseda students, but I decided to also look to the left which had a sign that said CSU IP Waseda students. Instinctively I went with the left, and as I approached the Japanese students holding the signs, one of them called me by my name, which threw me for a loop. How does a student who I've never even met before know my name? To say I was surprised is an understatement, for I was bewildered at how they knew who I was. We got introductions out of the way, and it turns out they had printed out sheets with all us CSU students' faces on it. I was also surprised to find out my dorm mate Aiko was on the same plane as me. Well more introductions were made as all the people began showing up, and we all headed off with everyone towards the Sunroute Hotel where we stayed at for the next few days. The ride wasn't too long considering we hit traffic most of the time. As we arrived, we were greeted on the street by what seemed to be the entire Waseda International Club and Niji no Kai club. Imagine being greeted by about 75-100 Japanese students who you've never met, all offering to help carry your luggage to your hotel. We basically just ate dinner and went to sleep that night. Dinner was Shakey's pizza, if you can call what we ate pizza (no offense).
The next morning we woke up, went downstairs to eat breakfast, and proceeded to walk to Waseda University for the very first time. The walk was advertised as a 15min walk, but from recent calculations, the walk is more like a 20-25 min walk for us foreigners I guess. We basically just took our placement test there, which I totally failed. I got into level 4 out of 8 levels. I know I'm a major fail. We later met up in a classroom to get ready for lunch and an orientation. The Japanese students purchased bentou for us CSU students to eat, and we all walked outside to have lunch. We ate at "the Dungeon" which is this year's CSU student's nickname for the Okuma court. Finishing up with lunch, we attended our first of many orientations to come. The first orientation concluded, and the home stay students had to do their interviews. The dorms students went off on the first tour of the Waseda area, which is quite large I must say. We walked all over the place, and I definitely wasn't able to remember where all the places were. Japan is a very visually stimulating place with signs, lights, and color everywhere hoping to grab your attention. The tour was tiring, but overall very fun. The tour ended, and we all ended up going back to the classroom to have our interviews conducted. Our interviews were easier because it was only to inform us of our housing situations. It turns out that the CSU people knew where I was going to be staying for a while already, but they just hadn't sent the information to me. I stay at a international student dorm named SouDaiRyou among the students. After the interviews, the CSU IP students went to the welcoming party at a restaurant named Wan. I wasn't feeling very good, so I didn't eat or drink as much as I would have liked. I felt pretty dehydrated, so I didn't think drinking much would have been a good idea anyways. The night pretty much ended with us going back to the hotel across the street.
One thing I wanted to mention was I'm quite glad I opened up while I was here. I would not have had as much fun as I have been if I hadn't decided to try harder to get to know strangers and give them a bit of trust. I don't think I've ever made friends as fast as I have while I've been in Japan. I also figured the situation calls for us to rely on each other too as we are all the family we have while we are in Japan, though that really applies more for the students who are not home staying. I still consider you all my family. To my family in Japan, let's continue having a great year, and my family back in the states, I miss and love you all. Wish me a safe year. Thanks for reading as always.
All Nippon Airways was a joy to fly with. The seats weren't as spacious as I would have preferred, but no one sat to my left. I always have trouble sleeping on flights and while I'm sitting, so I didn't sleep much on the flight. The 3 kids and lady behind me kicking my chair also didn't help much. I was still a bit hungover on the flight, but enough of my appetite had returned for me to eat the meals on the flight. Though the food on the flight wasn't gourmet quality, I did enjoy what was available and had a couple beers with my meals (yes while I was still a bit hungover). The movie selection was pretty good, even though I wished the screen was of better quality. I watched a couple episodes of Prison Break, Taken, Little Miss Sunshine, and some of Angels and Demons and Monsters vs. Aliens. I didn't find the last couple interesting enough to continue watching. Overall a good flight. As this was my first flight alone, I was quite worried as I tried to navigate the airport by myself in a foreign country. I somehow managed to fill out all the paperwork, grab my bags, and get through customs fine.
As I left customs, I looked for the Waseda student signs that were supposed to be there. I first looked to the right and saw a sign that said Waseda students, but I decided to also look to the left which had a sign that said CSU IP Waseda students. Instinctively I went with the left, and as I approached the Japanese students holding the signs, one of them called me by my name, which threw me for a loop. How does a student who I've never even met before know my name? To say I was surprised is an understatement, for I was bewildered at how they knew who I was. We got introductions out of the way, and it turns out they had printed out sheets with all us CSU students' faces on it. I was also surprised to find out my dorm mate Aiko was on the same plane as me. Well more introductions were made as all the people began showing up, and we all headed off with everyone towards the Sunroute Hotel where we stayed at for the next few days. The ride wasn't too long considering we hit traffic most of the time. As we arrived, we were greeted on the street by what seemed to be the entire Waseda International Club and Niji no Kai club. Imagine being greeted by about 75-100 Japanese students who you've never met, all offering to help carry your luggage to your hotel. We basically just ate dinner and went to sleep that night. Dinner was Shakey's pizza, if you can call what we ate pizza (no offense).
The next morning we woke up, went downstairs to eat breakfast, and proceeded to walk to Waseda University for the very first time. The walk was advertised as a 15min walk, but from recent calculations, the walk is more like a 20-25 min walk for us foreigners I guess. We basically just took our placement test there, which I totally failed. I got into level 4 out of 8 levels. I know I'm a major fail. We later met up in a classroom to get ready for lunch and an orientation. The Japanese students purchased bentou for us CSU students to eat, and we all walked outside to have lunch. We ate at "the Dungeon" which is this year's CSU student's nickname for the Okuma court. Finishing up with lunch, we attended our first of many orientations to come. The first orientation concluded, and the home stay students had to do their interviews. The dorms students went off on the first tour of the Waseda area, which is quite large I must say. We walked all over the place, and I definitely wasn't able to remember where all the places were. Japan is a very visually stimulating place with signs, lights, and color everywhere hoping to grab your attention. The tour was tiring, but overall very fun. The tour ended, and we all ended up going back to the classroom to have our interviews conducted. Our interviews were easier because it was only to inform us of our housing situations. It turns out that the CSU people knew where I was going to be staying for a while already, but they just hadn't sent the information to me. I stay at a international student dorm named SouDaiRyou among the students. After the interviews, the CSU IP students went to the welcoming party at a restaurant named Wan. I wasn't feeling very good, so I didn't eat or drink as much as I would have liked. I felt pretty dehydrated, so I didn't think drinking much would have been a good idea anyways. The night pretty much ended with us going back to the hotel across the street.
One thing I wanted to mention was I'm quite glad I opened up while I was here. I would not have had as much fun as I have been if I hadn't decided to try harder to get to know strangers and give them a bit of trust. I don't think I've ever made friends as fast as I have while I've been in Japan. I also figured the situation calls for us to rely on each other too as we are all the family we have while we are in Japan, though that really applies more for the students who are not home staying. I still consider you all my family. To my family in Japan, let's continue having a great year, and my family back in the states, I miss and love you all. Wish me a safe year. Thanks for reading as always.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Kamakura Tour
So yesterday was pretty much a big blur. Not too much happened. Just a boring opening ceremony for Waseda. As important as it sounds, it was very very boring. Explored a bit of the Shinjuku district kind of around where I live. Wasn't very eventful.
Today was quite a different story. The Japanese students planned a tour of Kamakura, and almost all of the CSU students went. We were separated into groups with a few study abroad students and almost twice as many Japanese students, and we all set off on our trip. The train ride took over an hour, but I kind of lost track of how much time it actually took. We arrived and walked to a big shrine where a few of the groups gathered only to disperse into different directions to go find places to eat lunch. Lunch was extremely expensive because Kamakura is a tourist spot. I ended up paying something like 14 bucks for some lightly spiced soup style curry. Afterward we proceeded to meet up with some other our members, who went elsewhere while the rest of us ate the soup curry. After our group, C group, regathered, we saw a different group walking towards us.
As the other group walked toward us, I proceeded to join them and pretend to be part of their group which was probably a dumb idea anyways because the street was super crowded. I ended up getting kind of swept up by the crowd, so I asked to join their group, which was alright by the chief. Some conversing happened, and I switched groups. We ended up going to a huge shrine where we got to do some cleaning ritual and make a wish at the top of the shrine. The scenery was amazing. My eyes were blown away by what I was seeing. The greenery behind the temple really contrasted the temple well. As we were leaving the temple, we got to see a couple that was apparently doing part of their wedding ceremony at the temple. Very cool stuff overall.
We started walking toward the station for some reason or another, but I didn't have my ticket as I had switched groups. I believe what happened next was, our chief called the other group to ask them to meet up somwhere, so we met up at the Daibutsu as the other group was there already. We walked for what seemed like at least 2-3 miles to where the Daibutsu was. I'm not lying when I say the Daibutsu is amazing. I was blown away by the sheer majestic nature of the Daibutsu. The others were saying how the one in Nara is even bigger than the Kamakura Daibutsu, so I'm looking forward to being able to see the other one too. The best part of the whole Daibutsu experience is that for 20 yen you can go inside the Daibutsu and have a look around! It was really cool, and people put coins into the walls of the Daibutsu itself. Overall walking around inside the Daibutsu was a very unreal experience.
After the Daibutsu, we walked back towards the station so we could go home. Halfway back, some of our members were missing, and it turned out that they walked into a store to get something to eat. While we were waiting, us CSU students tried to explain several English words and concepts to a few of the Japanese students. For example, I kept saying stuff blew my mind because everything in Japan is extremely visually stimulating. I also happened to make a comment about how pieces of my brains were all over the inside of the Daibutsu because that really blew my mind. We tried our best to explain weird English words and concepts like that. Our group reformed, and we headed to the train station. While riding at the end of a super crowded train, my friend Colin almost lost his balance, when I noticed a small child who was up against the window at the end of the train. I happened to make a comment about how if he did lose his balance, that kid's brains would be all over the window. The joke was inappropriate, but at the time it was hilarious. I don't know why, but it was. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.
The final thing which was really funny was a few of us taught some of the Japanese students how to say and use "hella". We also persuaded her to use it when she talked to someone from Socal. It was pretty funny at first because our Socal friend didn't understand what she was saying at first, but he figured it out and loved it. After which we proceeded to have dinner and head home for the night.
Today was pretty uneventful. Just a day of rest and research on cellphones. Had lunch at a wonderful little udon shop with 105yen udon. It was very good for 105 yen. Croquettes weren't that great there, but it was pretty worth it.
And finally, I got this bug bite which I think is a mosquito bite, but the bite got huge without me even scratching it really. Took me 2 days to buy some anti-itch stuff for it. I should have taken a picture of it, but I'll spare you the gross stuff.
Also I'll start posting pictures once I get a cable for my point and shoot. I've been trying my best to chronicle most of my meals here. Well be safe everyone and I love you all.
Today was quite a different story. The Japanese students planned a tour of Kamakura, and almost all of the CSU students went. We were separated into groups with a few study abroad students and almost twice as many Japanese students, and we all set off on our trip. The train ride took over an hour, but I kind of lost track of how much time it actually took. We arrived and walked to a big shrine where a few of the groups gathered only to disperse into different directions to go find places to eat lunch. Lunch was extremely expensive because Kamakura is a tourist spot. I ended up paying something like 14 bucks for some lightly spiced soup style curry. Afterward we proceeded to meet up with some other our members, who went elsewhere while the rest of us ate the soup curry. After our group, C group, regathered, we saw a different group walking towards us.
As the other group walked toward us, I proceeded to join them and pretend to be part of their group which was probably a dumb idea anyways because the street was super crowded. I ended up getting kind of swept up by the crowd, so I asked to join their group, which was alright by the chief. Some conversing happened, and I switched groups. We ended up going to a huge shrine where we got to do some cleaning ritual and make a wish at the top of the shrine. The scenery was amazing. My eyes were blown away by what I was seeing. The greenery behind the temple really contrasted the temple well. As we were leaving the temple, we got to see a couple that was apparently doing part of their wedding ceremony at the temple. Very cool stuff overall.
We started walking toward the station for some reason or another, but I didn't have my ticket as I had switched groups. I believe what happened next was, our chief called the other group to ask them to meet up somwhere, so we met up at the Daibutsu as the other group was there already. We walked for what seemed like at least 2-3 miles to where the Daibutsu was. I'm not lying when I say the Daibutsu is amazing. I was blown away by the sheer majestic nature of the Daibutsu. The others were saying how the one in Nara is even bigger than the Kamakura Daibutsu, so I'm looking forward to being able to see the other one too. The best part of the whole Daibutsu experience is that for 20 yen you can go inside the Daibutsu and have a look around! It was really cool, and people put coins into the walls of the Daibutsu itself. Overall walking around inside the Daibutsu was a very unreal experience.
After the Daibutsu, we walked back towards the station so we could go home. Halfway back, some of our members were missing, and it turned out that they walked into a store to get something to eat. While we were waiting, us CSU students tried to explain several English words and concepts to a few of the Japanese students. For example, I kept saying stuff blew my mind because everything in Japan is extremely visually stimulating. I also happened to make a comment about how pieces of my brains were all over the inside of the Daibutsu because that really blew my mind. We tried our best to explain weird English words and concepts like that. Our group reformed, and we headed to the train station. While riding at the end of a super crowded train, my friend Colin almost lost his balance, when I noticed a small child who was up against the window at the end of the train. I happened to make a comment about how if he did lose his balance, that kid's brains would be all over the window. The joke was inappropriate, but at the time it was hilarious. I don't know why, but it was. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.
The final thing which was really funny was a few of us taught some of the Japanese students how to say and use "hella". We also persuaded her to use it when she talked to someone from Socal. It was pretty funny at first because our Socal friend didn't understand what she was saying at first, but he figured it out and loved it. After which we proceeded to have dinner and head home for the night.
Today was pretty uneventful. Just a day of rest and research on cellphones. Had lunch at a wonderful little udon shop with 105yen udon. It was very good for 105 yen. Croquettes weren't that great there, but it was pretty worth it.
And finally, I got this bug bite which I think is a mosquito bite, but the bite got huge without me even scratching it really. Took me 2 days to buy some anti-itch stuff for it. I should have taken a picture of it, but I'll spare you the gross stuff.
Also I'll start posting pictures once I get a cable for my point and shoot. I've been trying my best to chronicle most of my meals here. Well be safe everyone and I love you all.
Monday, September 21, 2009
So far...
I'll probably update later about what's happened up until today, but I'll just blog about yesterday first. What can I say about yesterday, other than that it was a pretty amazing night. I mean where else do I get to go to an all you can drink restaurant, drink a crap load, and go to a park after that to drink again. And here's a quick rundown of my day. O yea, I'm not going to post too many pictures right off the bat. I'm too lazy to lug round my Nikon, and my point and shoot is full right now. I'll post more pictures later when I'm able to navigate the city comfortably on my own.
So we started off the day meeting up at this circle area called the rotary. The Japanese students planned out a Tokyo Tour for us CSU students. The tour was split up into 4 groups and us CSU students were able to choose from the 4 different places available. I chose Ueno because there was a festival going on there, and it wasn't something I could go visit at anytime. The choice was definitely a good one because I had tons of fun. I bought a bunch of cheap food when we first got into Ueno, but most people got 1 or 2 things. I felt like such a fatty patty compared to everyone else, but at least I was full for the rest of the afternoon. We walked on and on until we made it to the festival, where we were able to play a bunch of games and eat some more interesting foods. I also got my fortune read, and I bought a couple of Omamoris. After that we left to go look at the Zoo.
When I say we went to look at the zoo, I really mean we just looked at the zoo. We didn't go inside because we didn't have enough time and it costs money. We walked on and on and finally rested at the Ueno park. Ueno park is probably the most interesting and at the same time uncomfortable moment so far in Japan. While all of us were sitting down resting, an old man walked over and dropped a cat in front of my friends. The old man then sat down next to me and proceeded to inquire about us CSU students. He asked me all kinds of different stuff and told me about himself too. Now that might seen normal and uninteresting, but the whole time I was talking to this old man, I could smell the alcohol on his breath. It was terrible. I would have walked away, but I decided I'd take one for the team. The old man wasn't discouraged however and proceeded to walk over to my friend Jaime and pull her over to the cat so she could pet it. Quite an awkward moment. After that we walked around some more on a super busy street called Ameyoko I think. Pretty boring after that. The fun started after we went to what I think is an all you can drink Izakaya type place.
So we get into the place, and everyone sits down waiting for one of the club chiefs to give an opening speech so we can get the festivities under way. Naoto, a chief from the Niji no Kai side, gave a great opening speech. By the way, for some reason or another, Japanese people seem to enjoy yelling at the top of their lungs when they give their speeches. Pretty interesting stuff. After the drinking started, I don't know about others, but I pounded down a few right off the bat. The food was also really good. I'd say about halfway in, the chiefs of the clubs got together and did a drinking performance that was really fun to watch. I must say it's quite unique with all the clapping and chanting. We drank at a park afterward, but nothing too eventful happened there to my memory. My memory is also a bit fuzzy though, as I had a couple beers last night. I'll update with pictures soon. I love you all and keep me updated on your lives also, as I do care even though I'm in Japan having the time of my life.
So we started off the day meeting up at this circle area called the rotary. The Japanese students planned out a Tokyo Tour for us CSU students. The tour was split up into 4 groups and us CSU students were able to choose from the 4 different places available. I chose Ueno because there was a festival going on there, and it wasn't something I could go visit at anytime. The choice was definitely a good one because I had tons of fun. I bought a bunch of cheap food when we first got into Ueno, but most people got 1 or 2 things. I felt like such a fatty patty compared to everyone else, but at least I was full for the rest of the afternoon. We walked on and on until we made it to the festival, where we were able to play a bunch of games and eat some more interesting foods. I also got my fortune read, and I bought a couple of Omamoris. After that we left to go look at the Zoo.
When I say we went to look at the zoo, I really mean we just looked at the zoo. We didn't go inside because we didn't have enough time and it costs money. We walked on and on and finally rested at the Ueno park. Ueno park is probably the most interesting and at the same time uncomfortable moment so far in Japan. While all of us were sitting down resting, an old man walked over and dropped a cat in front of my friends. The old man then sat down next to me and proceeded to inquire about us CSU students. He asked me all kinds of different stuff and told me about himself too. Now that might seen normal and uninteresting, but the whole time I was talking to this old man, I could smell the alcohol on his breath. It was terrible. I would have walked away, but I decided I'd take one for the team. The old man wasn't discouraged however and proceeded to walk over to my friend Jaime and pull her over to the cat so she could pet it. Quite an awkward moment. After that we walked around some more on a super busy street called Ameyoko I think. Pretty boring after that. The fun started after we went to what I think is an all you can drink Izakaya type place.
So we get into the place, and everyone sits down waiting for one of the club chiefs to give an opening speech so we can get the festivities under way. Naoto, a chief from the Niji no Kai side, gave a great opening speech. By the way, for some reason or another, Japanese people seem to enjoy yelling at the top of their lungs when they give their speeches. Pretty interesting stuff. After the drinking started, I don't know about others, but I pounded down a few right off the bat. The food was also really good. I'd say about halfway in, the chiefs of the clubs got together and did a drinking performance that was really fun to watch. I must say it's quite unique with all the clapping and chanting. We drank at a park afterward, but nothing too eventful happened there to my memory. My memory is also a bit fuzzy though, as I had a couple beers last night. I'll update with pictures soon. I love you all and keep me updated on your lives also, as I do care even though I'm in Japan having the time of my life.
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