Rain Coat

I've come to understand why the Japanese use umbrellas instead of rain coats. In the bay area, if it's raining, it generally means it's also cold, or at least cool. Here in Japan they have warm rains. Since the temperature doesn't drop much when it rains, my rain coat tends to be way too warm and I end up soaked with sweat rather then rain. As much as I love my rain coat and hat, I think I will have to leave them at home until it cools off. Though I should probably buy myself a new umbrella too. Although the one I found in the gutter outside Trader Joe's last year was free and convenient, I'm not sure how well I rock the pink stripes.

I'm also trying to cut down on how much I carry with me on a daily basis to save my back a bit. I'm having a hard time leaving for school without all the useful stuff I keep in there though. I always feel so unprepared without my full complement of supplies.

Speaking of supplies, I need to restock my med kit. People keep crashing their bikes and cutting themselves on kitchen knives, and I seem to be the only one prepared for the bloodshed. (Perhaps a different word would be more appropriate then "Bloodshed".....) I seem to be the only one prepared to perform first aid. (That sounds less morbid, yeah?) At any rate, I have the Japanese for Hydrogen Peroxide written down, I just need to find a drug store and ask for it. I need that and a lot more bandages. Alcohol prep pads would be good too. All mine were apparently too old and had dried out.

All that will have to wait though. Tonight is study time. I have two tests and a bunch of writing due tomorrow.

Field Trip and Golden Week

So, I've been rather busy with being in Japan, and as such, I haven't posted in a couple weeks. I'm sorry for the delay. However, I realize I'm not contractually obligated to stick to a schedule or anything, so I'm not going to worry about it too much. If you see that I haven't posted in a while, just assume it's because I'm busy living. 

At any rate, I've done quite a few things since my last post, and I was able to get pictures of a decent amount of it. I took a couple videos as well, but I won't have those uploaded for a while (High Definition Videos take a really long time to upload, and we're not supposed to do it on the internet here at the Kaikan anyway, so I'm going to wait until next time I visit Mary, or lug my laptop to school and steal their internet.)

The first big thing I did was go on a field trip with a bunch of the other new international students (plus some old ones who signed up anyway) and tutors. The first stop on the field trip was the town of Kitsuki. It had some kind of castle, but we didn't actually see the castle. We walked around a preserved part of town instead. It was pretty nice weather, and I was happy to be out with folks enjoying the day. My tutor Ayumi was on the field trip as well, so I finally got to spend a good chunk of time with her in a non official capacity (So far she'd helped me with getting me from the station to my apartment, student log in information, and course registration. Not terribly entertaining activities.) And of course no tour is complete without a slew of touristy pictures.

(Some of the nice Scenery in the town of Kitsuki) 

(Here is Ayumi (left) and her friend Mana (right))

(And much fun was had)

After the tour guide walked us around the town a bit, we got to go into one of the buildings for a tea ceremony. It's possible that I was the only person in the group with experience with participating in a tea ceremony (that includes the Japanese tutors who had joined us). The practitioners were rather surprised by the fact that I knew what to do, and (roughly) how to do it.

(I don't think they normally have this many customers)

(This is actually the first male practitioner of tea ceremony I've seen)

After the tea ceremony everybody walked back to the bus and we went to lunch. Lunch was a big bento box full of food, and a medium sized juice box (Not quite enough juice for my taste, but still pretty big for Japan) The bento was rather tasty, and had a good variety of food. None of which I know the names for. Many of which I didn't even know what it was made out of. (That's part of the fun right?)

(Mysterious, but tasty)

After lunch everybody got back onto the buses (We had enough people to fill 2 of them.) and we headed to a sake brewery.  The brewery equipment itself wasn't terribly interesting sadly, and I couldn't understand much of what the tour guide was saying either since it was all in Japanese (Probably the local dialect as well). Fortunately I was kept entertained by peoples various drinking stories (An inevitable topic of conversation at a  brewery I suppose.) and the brewery's shrine to the god of sake. After the tour was over, the part that everybody was looking forward to was waiting for us at the exit. The free sake sampling. They had given the underage people little tags that identified them as non drinkers (Some did their best to hide these tags). I also had one of these tags, which drew some strange looks. I was given the Japanese equivalent of "There's no way you're only 19!" and had to explain that I had an alcohol allergy several times. However not drinking gave me a great opportunity to take pictures of everybody else drinking. Including the teachers. I was rather amused at this concept. I found it strange that even though we were getting samples, I didn't see a clear way to actually purchase alcohol from the brewery (I was thinking about buying some as a gift). However they did give everybody a little bag with some sake, a cup, and some other little things. The people with the "Can't Drink" tags got water and rice instead of alcohol. I thought it was pretty nifty.

(The sake god 's shrine. The followers love paying their respects)

(I wonder what would happen if students and teachers drank together more often?)

(And much fun was had)

Once we'd had our fill at the brewery the tour group went back to the area where we had lunch and we got to go into some green houses that were behind one of the buildings there. Lots of folks were looking forward to this part of the trip actually. You see, instead of flowers or decorative plants, these greenhouses contained strawberries. Lots of strawberries. Of the "All you can eat" variety. I took that task to heart and consumed 111 strawberries. Sadly I neglected to get a picture of my pile of stems to document my achievements. (Somebody else may have though, I'll have to ask around for that.)

(Improper climate is no excuse for the Japanese to not grow fruit it seems. Though this is part of why fruit in Japan is so much more expensive.)

 (The Japanese make it so easy, you don't even have to get dirty while picking them.... Which isn't quite as fun in my opinion, but it does make eating them more efficient.)

Although the strawberry patch was the last stop for our field trip, it was far from the end of the fun that was had that weekend. The following day consisted of..... Actually, I don't really remember what I did during the day. (Probably homework and video games and socializing) But the evening was grounds for my new favorite Japanese word: 食べほうだい (Tabehoudai). It translates to "All you can Eat". There was also 飲みほうだい (Nomihoudai), or all you can drink. So really it's the "Houdai" that I'm most fond of I suppose. But yeah, a bunch of the exchange students, and some of the Japanese students who like to hang around so they can work on their English went to this place called Ranzu Cafe. This place does a pizza tabehoudai for ￥2,000, (which is about $24 based on the exchange rate when I landed in Japan.) and included in that is nomihoudai for both alcohol (Not that it mattered to me) and soda. For reference, pizza is generally at least twice as expensive in Japan as it is in America. Also the concept of any pizza over 10" in diameter is beyond Japanese comprehension it seems. With these two things in mind, Pizza is generally not a financially viable option for food. Because of this the ￥2,000 pizza tabehoudai is an amazing deal. With the nomihoudai added in, it's down right supreme. My general status as a poor college student did not deter me from this event because I deemed the social benefits to be far superior. I also convinced myself that I would just eat enough food to last me a few meals. I was pretty successful at that actually. I'm fairly certain that I consumed the greatest overall value of food and drink out of the other 20 people that attended. There was one person who ate more pizza then me, (He had about 20 slices, I could only confirm 14) but I consumed about 10 drinks as well. After the 4th drink they actually started watering them down I think. (I was switching between Gingerale, orange juice, and pineapple juice.) Regardless I had a good time and got to try a wide variety of Japanese pizzas. (None of which I can remember at the moment though. Guess this means I'll just have to go back some time) Our group also did two Russian Roulette pizzas. Allow me to explain. So once you've ordered a Russian Roulette pizza, they bring you a pizza with 6 slices and you get 6 people to each take a slice. Everybody takes a bite at the same time. The pizza is already spicy, but once slice is chocked so full of spices that the consumer is generally reduced to a whimpering pile of watery eyes and an overwhelming burning sensation in their mouth. (I didn't get the spicy slice). It was a lot of fun, but I think I've had my fill of spicy pizza for a good long while.

(An intimidating group of foreigners to Japanese eyes I'm sure.) 

(I'd be interested to know how many pizzas we consumed)

(And much fun was had)

Overall, I'd rate that as a fantastic weekend. Sadly the week following wasn't as fantastic (Granted it's generally pretty hard for a week of school to match up to a weekend) Really only 2 bad things happened during the week, it was just compounded because they were on the same day. On Tuesday we had a birthday here at the Kaikan and we were having a potluck to celebrate. I was going to bring a bunch of rice since I have this big rice cooker and a rather large bag of rice. It started raining at the end of my school day. This didn't bother me because I had my Jacket and waterproof pants with me like I usually do. (I was actually rather pleased that I was able to use them. I walked happily to the train and talked with Jihee (A Korean girl who I have some classes with, and who also lives in the Kaikan) on the ride to Oita station. At this point I had about an hour and a half before the potluck was going to start. As soon as I got off the train I realized that I no longer had my shoes. (For those of you who don't know me that well, this happens more often then you might think) I had taken them off before leaving school because my flip flops have virtually no grip, and are rather dangerous when it's wet out. Also, I have no issues just walking around barefoot regardless, so when it's raining, I sometimes just go barefoot for convenience. When I go barefoot, I have a strap attached to my bag that I snap around my shoes to hold them in place. At some point between my classroom and the train station my shoes had fallen off of my bag.  Unable to find my shoes on the train, I had to go back to school to search the station there. When I arrived at Oita University Station I happened to run into Abe (Abe is a Japanese guy with good English, who also happens to look like Hiro, from "Hero's", the TV show) who had seen my shoes back up on campus near "The big building close to the library" which was all the way back on campus (The station is a 7-10 minute walk from the main campus). So I started up the path barefoot and in the rain (At this point I was very thankful for my waterproof pants, my jacket, and my Chrome bag.) When I got up to campus I was able to find my shoes laying on the path not 50 feet from the door of the building I had left earlier. Shoes in hand I returned to Oita University Station and awaited my train back to Oita. When I finally made it back to the Kaikan, the potluck was just getting started. I was apparently quite a site walking into the lobby rain drenched, barefoot, and with blinking bike lights on my chest and back. (I should find out who has that picture....) I apologized for being late, and went to my room to get the rice started. Since I was already late, I was rushing the process and didn't really do any measuring. As a result I added too much rice, and not enough water to my cooker. Since I was so late with the rice, I decided to take what was left of my meat and vegetables and make a stir fry to share with people. Thankfully that turned out well. But an hour later when my rice cooker beeped I found a very full pot of partially cooked rice inside. Not only had I failed to deliver my promised course on time, but it was also inedible. I had wasted a rather large quantity of my rice in my haste, and was rather displeased with myself. Fortunately everything else at the potluck was tasty, and only a couple people were still actually hungry. I didn't get to eat much of the main course stuff, but I was able to share in the cake.

(Left: Mario aka the birthday boy. Right: Tano, Center: Somebody whose name I should really know by now. Center Low: A pile of delicious cake) 

(And much fun was had)

The rest of the week is a blur of Classes, homework, studying, and failed attempts to rescue my partially cooked rice. Probably also some video games. Oh, right.... Akira (A Japanese guy who sometimes hangs out at the Kaikan to practice his English) and his friend brought over a Wii and Super Smash Brothers (It wasn't Brawl, but it was some Japanese only release that was very much like Brawl. Probably there was some balancing done or something, I dunno.) It turns out that even though I'm rather rusty, I was still better then either of these two guys. That picked up my spirits after my failed attempts at rice. Thinking back, I also sat down and watched the two Evangelion rebuilds I have on my computer with Yannik (A french guy that lives here in the Kaikan) Anyway, onward to the weekend.

And by weekend, I mean Golden Week (A week that encompasses three Japanese National Holidays). Sadly Oita University doesn't treat it like we do spring break in America, and we had school on the Tuesday and Wednesday that weren't national holidays. So instead of a week vacation we had a 3 day and a 4 day weekend back to back. (Lots of people skipped the two days of classes anyway so they could travel.) Mary came to visit me on Saturday, and stayed in Oita for a few days. On Sunday we went for a walk and I saw the river that's nearby for the first time. On that river there were a bunch of people practicing racing kayaks and canoes. After the walk (And a miss-communication about the time) we went to Oita station to meet up with My Tutor Ayumi, her friend Mana, Tano, and a couple other people who I don't actually remember. We went with them to a nearby mountain (I can't remember the name. It started with "Taka") that is a monkey sanctuary. The term sanctuary is kind of misleading though. When I think Sanctuary, I think a nature area that has been preserved for their benefit. This place is actually a full temple complex where the monkeys are protected. Despite the presence of man made stuff, the monkeys were quite at home, and rather abundant as well.

 (So many monkeys!)

Sadly the tram ride to the top of the mountain, combined with the sickness she'd already been battling (Probably the same one I brought with me from America actually) was apparently enough to tip whatever scale her body had been balancing, and she got rather sick. We were still able to enjoy the monkeys, but Mary was pretty wiped out and developing a fever, so she and I had to skip the second half of our day trip which was going to be the Aquarium.  Instead I took her back to my place and made her some chicken soup. (A first for me. She gave me instructions but I didn't have any salt so I used soy sauce instead. It turned out ok... ) I took care of Mary until she was feeling well enough to return home. 

In the middle of the week, class happened. It wasn't anything interesting enough to write about so I'll just skip to Wednesday afternoon when I took the train out to Saga for the rest of Golden Week.

So Traveling in Japan by train is really convenient. The schedules are easy to understand, and provided you look up the kanji and pronunciation of the town you're going to, it's not hard to buy your ticket. Since it was Golden Week, lots of people were traveling. That being the case, I went ahead and reserved seats on my trains a week early. It was a little more expensive, but after seeing how crowded the non-reserved cars were, I'm really glad I did. When I arrived, Mary was still sick so I resumed taking care of her. Fortunately she started feeling better on Friday and we were able to go to Arita (One of the famous pottery towns) for their annual pottery festival. I'm sure the festival has some kind of significance to its residents, but for the people visiting it means lot of vendors have set up shop on the main street and are selling stuff at discounted prices. It's a pretty famous event in Japan it seems, and Mary had been looking forward to it for months. It was really cool seeing so many different varieties, but not that many of them suited my fancy. Three shops met my interests. Sadly the one I found most interesting was closed by the time we made our way back to where it was to check it out again. But the second most interesting shop was right across the street, and was still open (this place was also less expensive). Turned out that this place had something I had been looking for. A bigger cup. I was rather pleased. After I saw it I kept looking around the shop just to make sure, but it was one of those things where you see it and just go "Yup, that's it. That's exactly what I've been looking for". If left to my own devices I probably would have stayed out of the shop all together for fear of finding something I wanted to buy, but Mary insisted on buying me a gift. A housewarming present of sorts I suppose. I also managed to find a good sized (aka large enough to hold my desired daily amount of breakfast cereal) bowl at one of the other shops we had decided to check out again for only ￥700 (not a bad price for handmade ceramics. About $8.40) I was going to buy it myself, but because Mary wound up buying a lot from the same shop, the shop keeper threw it in with her purchase as a bonus. (I never took Japan to be a haggling society, but it totally is once you get out of the big stores)

(This is the place that closed before we got back to it. Expensive, but gorgeous.)

(The spoils of.... uh.... pottery festivals...)

On Saturday Mary's friend Tatara-san (A little old Japanese lady Mary does tea ceremony with) took us to a big second hand store to look at Kimono. While we were out I got myself a larger cooking pan so that I can make stir fry without having to worry about my food spilling over the edges while I stir. I didn't bring my camera with me, but there had some pretty nice Kimono (Japanese doesn't have plurals, so I probably won't be adding any s's to Japanese nouns. It just seems weird now that I'm learning the language). Sadly Kimono are generally not built for our larger western frames. Mary was able to find a summer Kimono that fit her though for only ￥3,000  (about $36) though. I was not so lucky. I'm pretty happy with my fry pan though.

On Sunday I was fortunate enough to go to the beach with two of Mary's ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) friends, Mo and Ben. This was my first time going to a Japanese beach actually. (I've seen them before of course, but this was the first "Hey, lets go to the beach and have a picnic" kind of thing.) The weather was great for beach going, and for whatever reason the beach only had like 4 other people on it. We snacked on deviled eggs (Which I made) Chinese coleslaw (That Mary made) Onigiri (Rice balls (That Ben made)) and sandwiches (That Mo made), as well as a variety of Japanese snacks. The was also a Japanese drink that roughly translated to "Because it's Green". It wasn't green.... We also played Frisbee and walked around. It was a pleasant afternoon and a good end to my vacation.

 (There's a village on that island. We were wondering if they replace gym class with swimming to the mainland to get to school. If you're late to class, you'd fail gym class for the day.)

(And much fun was had)

(Sand writings are so much more interesting when you have no idea what they say)

Ok, I think that's all for now. As much as I don't want to leave the people who are way interested in what I'm doing out in the cold wasteland of not updating for weeks on end, I am busy with school and will make no promises on how often I update. That being said, I think I'm going to try for more bite sized updates that don't take hours to compose. (I go through a lot of pictures and am frequently distracted by people. It's a slow process.) At any rate, it's almost 1am, so I'm rather tired. Fortunately I don't have class until 1pm so I'll at least get a good nights sleep. Until next time, Take care!

~Daniel 

A Light Rain

It rained today. I rather like the rain, but I'm still not really used to it being warm when it rains. It makes all the rain gear I like wearing a little less appealing. It was still a nice day though. I think its interesting to watch masses of people walking with umbrellas. Enough to stop in the middle of a crowded walkway and pull out my camera for a picture.

For comparison, here is the same walkway two weeks ago.

A pretty drastic change. There was a brief period of both blossoms and leaves that I really enjoyed. I don't think I stopped to take a picture of it though.

I got fair amount of paperwork taken care of today. Got my course schedule checked by my adviser. Registered online for all my classes. Turned in my paper schedule to...... some office. Paid for my futon rental. Turned my student information form and copies of my passport, alien registration, and proof of travel insurance. (I still need to get on the Japanese National Health Insurance plan though. I also need to get them another picture.)

After all that official stuff I walked to the train station and headed home. The weather was fantastic (in my opinion) and the walk down the path to the station is probably my favorite part of any given school day. I decided to take a moment to record what I was experiencing.

(Click the image to watch the video, or open it in a new page here.)

Tomorrow morning I get up and go on a tour around Oita with a bunch of the other exchange students and our tutors. Aside from the visit to the brewery (the smell of mass fermenting beverages is a pretty quick way to make me sick I've found) I'm looking forward to it. The last stop of the day is going to be all you can eat strawberry picking. I have a feeling I'll be feeling nostalgic for Nakagomi Orchard. At any rate my camera is fully charged, and the card is virtually empty so I'll have plenty of pictures to share of the trip later. Until then, Take care.

~Daniel

Meet the Tutors

(I actually wrote this entry on Friday while I was on the train, but didn't get my computer hooked up to the internet again until just now.)

I feel I ought to introduce the tutors that have been helping me here in Oita by doing more than just mentioning their names. So I’m going to do just that.

I have three tutors here (which is apparently rather unusual. Most people only get one, occasionally two.) who have helped me get settled in at the Kaikan (international house where I’m living), taken me shopping for food and household items, and helped me with more official stuff like my alien registration. Well, technically I have one tutor, and two sub-tutors. I have no idea what the difference is between them though. So far they’ve all been helpful to me, so I’m guessing that it has more to do with the administrative side on their end. At any rate, let’s start with my Tutor and then move on to the sub tutors.

Ayumi Kusano is my tutor. She’s been the one that has accompanied me to the school orientations and gone with me to meet my advisor. From what I can tell her English is pretty good, but she speaks to me mainly in Japanese, (which I appreciate) so I don’t know the extent of her knowledge. She seems pretty cool though, she seems pretty laid back while still being school oriented. Llots of the other people I talk to, both international students and Japanese, seem to know who she is and think well of her. I’m glad for that because if I ever can’t find her for whatever reason, other people will be able to tell me if they’ve seen her. Ayumi is also taking some kind of English seminar class, and I’m going to meet with her teacher and talk about possibly volunteering as a guest speaker.

Takuri Mitarai is one of my sub-tutors. Takuri was the first person from Oita that contacted me directly. We exchanged several emails before I got to Japan. Our correspondence started out in English, and at my request slowly shifted to Japanese. Unfortunately Takuri is the tutor I’ve had the least amount of contact with. He has a part time job working as a cram school teacher (Cram school is basically night classes to prepare students for the college entrance exams) and it seems his schedule and mine don’t line up very well. He’s a nice guy though, always smiling. He’s big into basketball. I feel kinda bad because I know virtually nothing about sports other than soccer (and even then, only what was required of me to play when I was in elementary school).

Kengo Onishi is my Other sub-tutor. Out of all my tutors, Kengo engages me in English the most because he’s really intent on improving his fluency. He has a pretty good vocabulary (Much better than my Japanese one at any rate) and as such is good at explaining things that I have difficulty understanding in Japanese. We’re going to be actively helping each other with pronunciation. So far he’s the one I’ve spent the most time with. (The difference between the three is no more than 3 hours at this point though.) Kengo has taken me shopping twice so far (He has a car) and we’ve run into each other on campus a couple times. Actually, I always see Kengo and Takuri together on campus, which is nice. I like seeing familiar faces. Kengo has also invited me to his home and to his grandparent’s home, which is up in the mountains somewhere. Apparently they want an opportunity to talk with a foreigner. I look forward to doing that at some point in the future. I would love to see some more of Japanese home life.

(Left: Takuri, Right: Kengo)

All three of my tutors have been generous with their time and knowledge. They have also made themselves available to me whenever I may need it which is nice. I hope to be able to hang out with them in the future as friends, rather than just tutor and tutee. I think I’m well on the way to making that happen though.

Ok now that the tutor introduction is taken care of let’s move on to today’s events.

I had heard from some of the other Kaikan residents that it was supposed to rain today, so I packed my rain coat. Since I was also planning to go to Saga this evening I packed everything I needed for the weekend. (It was Mary’s birthday on the 12^th, so that also included her birthday present) Combined with my various weekend things, my school bag was rather large and heavy. It drew many looks and a fair number of comments both in English and Japanese. (Most Japanese school bags are roughly the same dimensions as a briefcase if not smaller)

At school I had a fair amount of time between classes (I have one morning class, and then a two and a half hour break before my afternoon class on Fridays), so I grabbed a bench and just enjoyed the weather for a while. After not too long I was joined by a couple other International students, and we spent the afternoon talking. After my afternoon class I met up with Ayumi and went to go meet my Advisor (he was away in Osaka for some kind of university business during orientation when I was supposed to meet him). We looked at the classes I’ve been attending, and how I think my schedule will be once it’s finalized. I placed into level 3 Japanese, but my kanji skills are kinda lacking so I’m also taking level 2 reading. One of my level 3 teachers thinks I should take level 2 this semester though because they’re worried about my performace in level 4 next semester. The only problem I have with that is I need these courses to transfer for my major once I’m back at SF state, and I’m pretty sure the level 3 courses won’t cut it. However after looking at the schedule, it looks like I’ll be able to take almost all of the level 2 and 3 courses at the same time this semester. Even though it’s a lot of Japanese, I’ll be getting the all new information I’m supposed to, and the all the review that I so desperately need. Even though it’s going to be a lot of work, I’m guessing it will still be easier than my kanji class at SF state (I studied 16 hours a week for that class alone and still only managed to get a C). And being able to use what I’m learning in class in my daily life ought to help it stick. Already there have been quite a few pieces of vocabulary that I used to have a really hard time remembering, and now that I’ve been able to use in context they are sticking.

After meeting with my advisor, Ayumi and I went to the Seikyo (the building which houses the cafeteria, book store, and discount student travel agency) where Ayumi helped me get my tickets to Saga for the weekend. (The people at the travel agency are amazing!) Once that was done I walked back outside and ran into Soo Min (a Korean girl who also lives at the Kaikan), who informed me that there were several other Kaikan residents hanging out in the cafeteria waiting for the welcoming party that was happening at 5:30 (It was probably 4:00 at this point). So I went and found those guys who were doing a laid back mix of studying and goofing off. It’ was pretty fun. At some point I spotted Kengo and Takuri and went over to them. They were talking to their senpai (a senior classmate essentially) and I joined in on the conversation. I wound up telling them about the two other times I was in Japan, in Japanese. After the conversation they joined me in sitting with the other Kaikan members until the party started.

The party started off kinda awkward because nobody really knew what was going on. I put my bag down under a table and found some familiar faces to chat with. I realized I wanted my camera and went back over to the tables but several other bags had been placed in front of it by this time. Rather than try and dig it out I opted to go around the side and dive under the table instead. It worked quite well, but I surprised a group of girls who were setting down their umbrellas when I slid back out from under the table suddenly. (The floor was actually quite smooth, so I was literally sliding.) Once people started taking pictures the atmosphere lightened up considerably. Oh yeah, this welcome party was between the international students, their tutors, and all the staff and teachers in the international education department, as well as the members of the international student assistant organization whose name I can’t remember. It was nice for me because we all had name tags, So I was able to relearn the names of a lot of the people I’d been introduced to over the past couple weeks. (I probably forgot a lot of them already though. But I rememberd quite a few as well, so I’m ahead of where I was earlier in the day) at 6:00 we did a toast (Kanpai!) and a bunch of food was brought out. I proceeded to make a food-kabob on my yakiniku skewer.

(It was delicious)

Once again I drew quite a few looks and comments in Japanese and English. But that’s ok, I find life is easier when people recognize you, even if it’s for something weird. Once that initial barrier is broken Japanese folk tend to be more talkative and friendly. After food were a couple speeches and we broke up into groups to do some self introductions. The main party ended after that and most of the other students headed to the nijikai (After party) which you had to pay 500 yen (about $7.25 with the current exchange rate) for, but they serve alcoholic drinks. Apparently that’s where people really get to know each other, but I needed to leave at that point so I could catch my train. It turned out I wasn’t the only Kaikan resident who was skipping out on the nijikai. The Korean girls Soo Min and Chi Hee were there, and so were 4 Chinese students, Sho (Who is my neighbor) Nicole, Wendy, (they haven’t told me their Chinese names) and one other whose name I haven’t learned yet. Nicole was getting waiting for the train so I lent her my coat, which being me sized, and her being an Asian woman, was rather large. So large in fact, that I was able to share it with Nicole and Chi Hee at the same time.

(Part of my ongoing effort to prove to Asian women that despite what they think, they aren’t fat)

Once the train came we all go on and headed back to Oita Station where I parted ways with them and got on my train which is where I’m writing this entry from. I love train rides, but this one has been less than pleasant. Apparently something I ate at the party had been cooked with alcohol because I’m experiencing the symptoms of what I’m going to refer to from now on as “Alcohol Sickness” (provided I remember the term). At any rate, My laptop is running out of battery, and I’ve given a pretty good update I think. Also, it looks like I’m almost at Hakata where I will transfer trains. Perfect timing. Later!

~Daniel

Settling in and a weekend away

Now with 800% more bedding!

(My first night here sucked on account of they hadn't delivered my bedding yet.)

ANYWAY!

So I've been settling in here at the Kaikan (The international student apartment building I'm living in) and slowly getting use to living on my own here. It's weird not having a shared cooking space, and kinda lonely. But in the evenings there are usually several people in the lobby hanging out that I can interact with.

So far I've had two orientation days and a day of class at the university. The campus itself feels a bit like SSU (The university near where I live, and also where my high school was located, so I'm pretty familiar with it) but shrunk down by a third. There are a few buildings being renovated at the moment, but over all the buildings themselves are pretty plain. The scenery is pretty nice though. Here's a photo of the walkway from the campus to the train station.

(If you zoom in you can see all the blossoms blowing in the wind)

Of course it won't look quite as nice once Sakura is over. But I think there's enough greenery to keep me happy.

The first day of classes went pretty well. I was keenly reminded of just how much I've forgotten over the past three and a half months, but I think I'm at the right level. I definitely need to refresh myself on a few things, but with the constant practice of actually living here in Japan I'm hoping it will all stick this time.

Over the weekend I took a train out to Saga to see Mary so I could attend the public tea ceremony that she was going to be serving tea at. I also attended a Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing Party) with her and some of her other ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) friends.

I woke up rather early on Saturday so that I could take an early train and meet up with Mary at Hakata (The major train station in northern Kyushu) where she saw her parents off at the airport just prior to my arrival. From there we traveled together to Saga where the Hanami was happening.

(I was not the only one tired on the train)

At the Hanami I got to meet a lot of Mary's friends and co-workers, and enjoy lunch under the cherry blossoms. Sadly (Ok, not really sadly, I was having fun) I didn't take many pictures because I was being social. The park itself was crowded but rather pretty. As you might have guessed, lots of other groups were doing exactly the same thing we were.

(This picture doesn't do the park justice)

Mary's friend Ron had to leave partway through the Hanami in order to attend a BBQ that the people at his Karate dojo were having. Since Ron has a car we hitched a ride with him in order to get home easier. On the way, Ron convinced us to attend the BBQ with him (It didn't take much). This BBQ turned out to be a rather cool experience. The Dojo itself is right below a Buddhist temple/Shinto shrine (It was both apparently). I'm not sure if the guy was a priest, or just happened to live there, but the Dojo was up behind his house. Regardless it was a rather nice place, and the food was quite tasty.

(I love this informal style of eating. It's just so much fun.)

While we were there Ron showed us around and took us up to the temple/shrine. I think I've been slightly spoiled by all my sightseeing being done during Sakura. I'm not complaining, but I sometimes wonder how other things will compare when I see them at other times of year. Anyway, here's a couple photos I took around the compound.

(I have some strange attraction to Bamboo it seems)

(This gate leads up to the main temple)

(This is the pathway down from that gate. The angle doesn't really show it, but it's rough stone steps)

After the BBQ Ron took us on some windy back road through the Mountain to get back to Mary's place. That road was an adventure in itself. Thinking back, driving that road would have made a good video, but I wasn't really thinking about it.

That was Sunday. Saturday was the Tea Ceremony. After Tatara-san and Okamura-san (Two of the ladies Mary does Tea Ceremony with every week) dressed Mary up in her Kimono, we got driven to a nearby mountain temple where the event was taking place. The driveway up to the temple was lined with Sakura, and is apparently rather well known. There were lots of tourists about and even a little stand selling snacks and gifts. Once we parked up at the temple, Mary ran in and started helping (Well, I suppose she shuffled actually, you can't really run in a kimono). By the time I got my shoes off (after wandering the courtyard and snapping a few pictures of course) and made it inside the temple Mary and Tatara-san (who drove us. At least I think it was Tatara-san..... ) had disappeared into the back and I was on my own. Women in kimono were bustling about carrying pottery and sweets in and out of the main room in the temple. I went inside and was able to catch the second half of a ceremony from the door. I hadn't really seen a tea ceremony before. At least not in person like this.

(Some of the tools used in Tea ceremony)

After that first ceremony had finished, I was beckoned to sit down in front and served a sweet snack, that I'm sure has a proper name, but I have no idea what it is. Apparently they don't normally have foreigners attend these events often (Not a surprise really, Saga isn't exactly tourist country) and immediately associated me with Mary. So they sent Mary out to perform the next ceremony. (I have no idea if Mary was expecting to perform or not. As far as I know she was only supposed to be helping to serve tea)

I suppose how the setup deserves some context and explanation. Basically the ceremony itself took place between two people. The person preparing the tea, and the "customer" (who was also one of the ladies dressed up in kimono). While the ceremony was happening other viewers from the general public could walk in, sit down, and have the other women not currently performing the ceremony bring them sweets and tea (the same kind of tea that was being prepared in the ceremony, which is a thicker more bitter tea then you would normally drink).

The Ceremony is highly ritualized. Every step is predetermined and each piece has a place where it is supposed to grasped and set down. The pace is slow, but each movement is deliberate and precise. It's very calming to watch. I would have loved to have gotten video of it but I was running low on memory.

From what I could tell, all the women involved, besides the Sensei (teacher), performed a ceremony. This includes the little girls who are apparently also learning Tea Ceremony.

(I was surprised that they were involved so young. I think it's good though)

(This wasn't part of the ceremony. Lighting incense is something you do when you pray at temples.)

(On the lookout for guests)

These girls were super cute, and I took several pictures of them throughout the course of the day. The little one in pink referred to me in a variety of ways ranging from "Gaijin-san" (Mr. Foreigner) to "Shotto Ke-ki Oji-san" (Uncle Short Cake). Apparently saying "Cheese" when taking a photo was a new concept to her, and she linked it to cheese cake. Cheese cake eventually lead into short cake. She was also perplexed by my hair being "long like a girl's (Rough translation), and frequently came up behind me while I was sitting down to play with it. (I really wish I'd been able to get a picture of that, as I'm sure it was adorable)

Since Mary was working the tea room all day, I had plenty of time to wander the temple grounds and take some (ok, a lot) of pictures. Here are a couple.

(I love all the garden paths around Japan)

(This is the driveway up towards the temple)

(I knew about leaving sake, but Coke is a new one for me)

During one of my walks around the grounds I met a Japanese woman who was astounded by my beard and asked to touch it. I was happy to oblige. It's nice to know that not everybody is afraid of me.

Once they finished doing the ceremonies for the day, since they had seen me taking pictures all day, they asked me to take a picture of all of them together. Unfortunately the little girls had already changed out of their kimono, but I still got a pretty good picture of everybody.

All right, I think that's enough for now. Sorry it's been a while. (Though I'm sure there will be similar long breaks in the future) Until next time, Take care.

~Daniel

Oita

Earlier this afternoon I left Mary's house and with the help of Mary and her dad, lugged my baggage to the train station. From Takeo Onsen (the station right near Mary's place), it was a 45 minute ride to Kosu. At Kosu station I bought myself a ticket to Oita, as well as a little bento box of shumai.

(It was tasty)

I enjoyed my little lunch while riding on the train to Oita. This train ride was much longer, but it was on a much nicer train through much nicer countryside. (Granted, I slept through more then half of it.)

(Here's the nice train I was riding)

(And here's some nice mountainous countryside I was riding through)

When I arrived at Oita station, Ayumi and Kengo, (Two of my three tutors) were waiting for me. Kengo has a car, so we were able to load my baggage into the back of his station wagon and he drove us to the international house where I'll be living for the next year. Ayumi got me signed in and handed me my key.

(My apartment for the next year)

After getting my stuff into my room, Kengo and Ayumi took me shopping for anything I might need. I got all the stuff I could think of off the top of my head as far as living necessities. I also got some food to cook over the next few days. Once they brought me back to my room they informed me that I have my placement test tomorrow morning. At this point I would like to point out that I don't really know where I am exactly. I don't yet know how to get to the station from where I am, much less where the university is. Fortunately there were some other students in the lobby who have been here for a while, and were able to give me at least some idea of where to go. Sounds like there will be a group of people going tomorrow, so we'll all be able to go together.

So now it's just a matter of getting myself all unpacked and settled in. I have run into a small problem though. It seems there was some kind of error and my futon and bedding aren't arriving until tomorrow. I found an email in my inbox that basically said, "Sorry we screwed up, please stay warm tonight." So that ought to be fun. Fortunately I've read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and have my beach towel to sleep on tonight.

~Daniel

P.S. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: If you ever want to see a picture better, all you have to do is click on it, and you'll get a bigger version. Enjoy!

The Mary Story

So about a week ago there was a little bit at the end of my blog about me having a girlfriend, and I promised I'd share that story. So here's a little bit about that.

I met Mary when I first started taking classes at SF State a year and a half ago. We had an Asian American studies class together. She had studied Japanese in the past and offered to help me study Kanji. We hung out periodically throughout the school year, and more during the summer, which is when we started dating. She graduated at the end of spring semester with a Major in English Education, and is now here in Japan teaching English as a second language to Japanese students through the JET program. Mary's parents are in Japan right now to visit her and do some sightseeing. That I was able to meet up with them in Kyoto was just a coincidence in overlapping itinerary, but we're all in Saga now, and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Tomorrow I head to Oita (which is on the east coast of Kyushu), and get checked in to my room at the International house. Two of the tutors that Oita has set up for me will be meeting me at the train station there. Beyond that I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I'll let you guys know once it happens.

~Daniel