Hi!
Today we had a tea party to meet our Japanese pen pals. Sadly, none of mine could make it :( But, I did make a lot of new friends among the Japanese students. They were all really nice. :)
Then...
Wow.
Kendou was SO fun. We got to wear the uniform (yay hakama!). Mine was all white and looked very cool. Our sempais (upper classmen) taught us the proper etiquette on bowing and sitting and getting up. Then they taught us some of the basic strikes:
1) men - an attack on the head,
2) kode - an attack on the wrist,
3) dou - an attack on the stomach,
and 4) tsuki - an attack to the throat.
They also taught us the proper way to walk in kendou - one foot drags and the right foot is always in front of the left. Everyone was really, really welcoming. I met a girl named Satomi who was ridiculously nice and had practiced judo for 14 years! (She's my age!!!) Wow.
The boys and I (I was the only ryuugakusei [foreign student] girl who joined kendou) went back home on the bus and then went out to an okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza kind of thing) place. I had pork on top of yummy soba (buck wheat noodles) with bean sprouts. Mmmmm. We all had some sake too, to complete our Japanese culture-filled day. Then we all grabbed some conbini (convenience store) ice cream and headed home.
It was a wonderful day!
Yay kendou!
I'll be practicing at least three times a week and I can't wait to get started!
I love and miss you all!
Love,
Christy
Friday, September 19, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Finally! An Update!
Gomen ne!!!
I am so sorry it's taken me this long to update. Things have been crazy during the "getting settled" period.
I decided to do this update via the video camera. I separated it into three parts and the transitions are kind of awkward...sorry! I'm new to this whole vlog thing :) I need some of Lora's video editing expertise because, sadly, I have none of my own.
Anyway, I hope you all are doing well and I miss you like crazy!
Part 1
Parts 2 and 3 are giving me some trouble...so I'll do them in separate posts.
Also...something I forgot to mention in the video...
I'm probably going to join the kendo club! Kendo is Japanese sword fighting (don't worry - they practice with bamboo sticks). I've wanted to try it for a long time and what better place to start than Japan?
I'll channel Kenshin ;)
Kendo starts Friday, so I'll let you all know how it goes!
Love and hugs,
Christy
I am so sorry it's taken me this long to update. Things have been crazy during the "getting settled" period.
I decided to do this update via the video camera. I separated it into three parts and the transitions are kind of awkward...sorry! I'm new to this whole vlog thing :) I need some of Lora's video editing expertise because, sadly, I have none of my own.
Anyway, I hope you all are doing well and I miss you like crazy!
Part 1
Parts 2 and 3 are giving me some trouble...so I'll do them in separate posts.
Also...something I forgot to mention in the video...
I'm probably going to join the kendo club! Kendo is Japanese sword fighting (don't worry - they practice with bamboo sticks). I've wanted to try it for a long time and what better place to start than Japan?
I'll channel Kenshin ;)
Kendo starts Friday, so I'll let you all know how it goes!
Love and hugs,
Christy
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Day Two!
Hi!!!
Today we had a guided tour of Kobe and the surrounding area by the wonderfully helpful students from Konan University!
We walked all over the town by our school, Okamoto, and went to the HyakuYen store ($1 Store). Then we bought discount train tickets and took the train into the city. I went to my first shrine in Japan where the students showed us the proper etiquette for prayer.
Then we went to Sannomiya, a gigantic out door mall with an incredible amount of stores, and wandered around for a long time. China Town was next - it was filled with tons of street vendors and Chinese dress shops, just like home (only slightly closer to the real thing :) ).
We had okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza (kind of) made from cabbage, flour, and toppings like pork and gravy) for dinner at Kobe's Harborland, a pretty mall right on the water. I have wanted to try okonomiyaki for a really long time. It was delicious!
Kobe at night in the harbor is ridiculously pretty. It was a perfect temperature too! And the city is SO clean! It was a wonderful day.
I talked to the students in Japanese and English, we switched on and off. It was so funny to hear all the different languages going on - they taught us Kansai-ben (the "dialect" of the Kansai area) and we taught them English phrases like "old school". We had a very fun day and I felt like I made lots of friends.
I am getting a little nervous for tomorrow though. We meet our host families!
Mine seems so nice, I can't wait to meet them, though I am a bit scared. :)
I am putting up pictures right now so you can all see Kobe!
I hope you are all doing well! I love and miss you!
Love,
Christy
Today we had a guided tour of Kobe and the surrounding area by the wonderfully helpful students from Konan University!
We walked all over the town by our school, Okamoto, and went to the HyakuYen store ($1 Store). Then we bought discount train tickets and took the train into the city. I went to my first shrine in Japan where the students showed us the proper etiquette for prayer.
Then we went to Sannomiya, a gigantic out door mall with an incredible amount of stores, and wandered around for a long time. China Town was next - it was filled with tons of street vendors and Chinese dress shops, just like home (only slightly closer to the real thing :) ).
We had okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza (kind of) made from cabbage, flour, and toppings like pork and gravy) for dinner at Kobe's Harborland, a pretty mall right on the water. I have wanted to try okonomiyaki for a really long time. It was delicious!
Kobe at night in the harbor is ridiculously pretty. It was a perfect temperature too! And the city is SO clean! It was a wonderful day.
I talked to the students in Japanese and English, we switched on and off. It was so funny to hear all the different languages going on - they taught us Kansai-ben (the "dialect" of the Kansai area) and we taught them English phrases like "old school". We had a very fun day and I felt like I made lots of friends.
I am getting a little nervous for tomorrow though. We meet our host families!
Mine seems so nice, I can't wait to meet them, though I am a bit scared. :)
I am putting up pictures right now so you can all see Kobe!
I hope you are all doing well! I love and miss you!
Love,
Christy
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
I'M HERE!!!!
Konban wa!
I am in Japan!
The plane ride was excruciatingly long, we were traveling for almost 24 hours! I wrote letters to my USA pen pals on the flight to California, but I didn't have time to mail them, so I'll have to get on that once I find a place to buy stamps.
But, the flight had its good points! One of the high-lights was seeing Mount Fuji popping out of the clouds on the way in. I was looking out the window and saw a silouette I recognized instantly. I turned around saying "Hey guys! It's Mount Fuji!". I couldn't believe it was that big! I took a bunch of pictures of it in the clouds. I'll try to upload my photo album after I finish this entry.
The hotel is very, very nice. The rooms are huge and it has an amazing view of the city and the mountains. The breakfast was packed with both Western and Japanese breakfast foods and was quite delicious.
I am jet-lagged though. My roommate and I woke up at 4 AM and watched Japanese music videos until it was time to get ready for breakfast at 6:45. It was pouring cats and dogs in the early morning, but it cleared up for our trip.
We had our first day of orientation today. We took two trains and walked about 20 minutes to get to the school. The school is so wonderful! It has gorgeous landscaping and very nice buildings. It even has free cell phone charger machines!
It's right by the mountains too.
After introductions and speeches from our new professors, we got a tour of the school by the students themselves! We actually had conversations in Japanese! I was really surprised by how much I understood what they were saying and how relatively easy it was to talk. Of course, we didn't stray much from the basics like where we come from and hobbies, so that's probably why we didn't hit my vocab and grammar barriers too many times. It was very fun though, no matter what. Yay understanding!
We had some more orientation things after that - how to access email and print from the computer lab and things like that. Then some of the clubs on campus gave us demonstrations. Konishi-sensei, an English teacher here, performed a "jyuutama" dance for us. It was a very elegant dance that was very expressive in a very controlled way. I was very impressed.
The kendo (sword fighting) and kenpo (mixed martial arts) clubs demonstrated their sports for us. Then there was a concert by a club of cover band musicians. They had us make a mosh pit at the front of the hall. It was pretty funny. I don't know what club I'll join, but I want to join one!
We had free time to run around the campus then. I took LOTS of pictures. We ran into a lot of students too and they were all very welcoming and nice. Very playful too - we got into a dance-off (I am not kidding). It was the ryuugakusei (foreign exchange students) versus the Konan kids. It was hilarious watching everyone dance. I never dreamed I'd see my first dance-off on my first full day in Japan. I guess you never know :).
The staff took us all out to dinner at a restaurant called Amataro. It was a very strange meal. They had lots and lots of courses - from nabe (chicken, cabbage, bean sprouts and other things cooked in a hot pot at the table) to french fries to mini-shrimp and corn sprinkled flat bread to pizza to yakisoba. It was very varied, to say the least.
It has been an amazing experience so far and I've only been here one day!!!
I'll write again soon!
I miss and love you all!
I am in Japan!
The plane ride was excruciatingly long, we were traveling for almost 24 hours! I wrote letters to my USA pen pals on the flight to California, but I didn't have time to mail them, so I'll have to get on that once I find a place to buy stamps.
But, the flight had its good points! One of the high-lights was seeing Mount Fuji popping out of the clouds on the way in. I was looking out the window and saw a silouette I recognized instantly. I turned around saying "Hey guys! It's Mount Fuji!". I couldn't believe it was that big! I took a bunch of pictures of it in the clouds. I'll try to upload my photo album after I finish this entry.
The hotel is very, very nice. The rooms are huge and it has an amazing view of the city and the mountains. The breakfast was packed with both Western and Japanese breakfast foods and was quite delicious.
I am jet-lagged though. My roommate and I woke up at 4 AM and watched Japanese music videos until it was time to get ready for breakfast at 6:45. It was pouring cats and dogs in the early morning, but it cleared up for our trip.
We had our first day of orientation today. We took two trains and walked about 20 minutes to get to the school. The school is so wonderful! It has gorgeous landscaping and very nice buildings. It even has free cell phone charger machines!
It's right by the mountains too.
After introductions and speeches from our new professors, we got a tour of the school by the students themselves! We actually had conversations in Japanese! I was really surprised by how much I understood what they were saying and how relatively easy it was to talk. Of course, we didn't stray much from the basics like where we come from and hobbies, so that's probably why we didn't hit my vocab and grammar barriers too many times. It was very fun though, no matter what. Yay understanding!
We had some more orientation things after that - how to access email and print from the computer lab and things like that. Then some of the clubs on campus gave us demonstrations. Konishi-sensei, an English teacher here, performed a "jyuutama" dance for us. It was a very elegant dance that was very expressive in a very controlled way. I was very impressed.
The kendo (sword fighting) and kenpo (mixed martial arts) clubs demonstrated their sports for us. Then there was a concert by a club of cover band musicians. They had us make a mosh pit at the front of the hall. It was pretty funny. I don't know what club I'll join, but I want to join one!
We had free time to run around the campus then. I took LOTS of pictures. We ran into a lot of students too and they were all very welcoming and nice. Very playful too - we got into a dance-off (I am not kidding). It was the ryuugakusei (foreign exchange students) versus the Konan kids. It was hilarious watching everyone dance. I never dreamed I'd see my first dance-off on my first full day in Japan. I guess you never know :).
The staff took us all out to dinner at a restaurant called Amataro. It was a very strange meal. They had lots and lots of courses - from nabe (chicken, cabbage, bean sprouts and other things cooked in a hot pot at the table) to french fries to mini-shrimp and corn sprinkled flat bread to pizza to yakisoba. It was very varied, to say the least.
It has been an amazing experience so far and I've only been here one day!!!
I'll write again soon!
I miss and love you all!
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