Merry Christmas everyone!
It will be especially merry for me! I can't wait!
Now for the quick update about my trip to Tokyo a while ago...
We took the Shinkansen there and it was SO cool. There's tons of leg room and they sell special "ekiben" train lunches/dinners that are quite delicious. Unfortunately, we rode it at night, so I didn't get to see Mt.Fuji out the window like I'd hoped. Next time!
We checked into our business hotel in Ueno pretty late that night. It was actually pretty nice for the price. We even had refrigerators!
The next day, we explored Akihabara, the anime/manga/electronics/strangely-dressed-people capital of Japan :). It was really fun! I even found a Studio Ghibli store and the PERFECT gift for my dad for Christmas (I won't post what it is until after, just in case he sees this :)
After Akiba, we went to go see Wicked in Japanese. Very cool! Having seen the English version of the show 3 times or so, I found it really interesting to compare the lines in the English version to the quick translations of the Japanese lines I was doing in my head. The English and Japanese version's characters were slightly different in the different languages. It really caught my attention. Very, very interesting.
Afterwards, we walked around Ginza, the Michigan Avenue of Tokyo, and looked at all the (really expensive) window displays and the pretty Christmas lights.
The next day, we explored Harajuku, a famously popular shopping...town, almost. It has a long, narrow main road that is always ridiculously crowded and people wander in and out of the shops. If you're claustrophobic, I suggest you avoid that street ;)
We wandered around some famous Tokyo places the next day. We went to the statue of the dog Hachiko. The story behind it is really sad. Hachiko used to walk with his owner to the train station every day and then meet him at the station to walk back when he came home. When the man died, Hachiko kept coming to the station to wait for him...for nine years until he, too, died. So they built a statue of him there.
That night, we ate at TGI Fridays, not very Japanese, I know, but the Japanese restaurant we wanted to go to closed right when we finally found it. TGI Fridays was nice, but really expensive. A plate of a bunch of appetizers was $20! It was weird to have American-sized napkins and drinks again :)
We tried to go to Disney Land the next day, but it was full to capacity when we got there (because of the holiday), so we couldn't get in :(
So we ended up going back to a different part of Harajuku that had a store called "Kiddy Land" that was just an electronics wonderland. It was crazy! :) I bought lots there :) Then we rode the Shinkansen and the subway home again. It was about a 3 hour trip, so not bad at all :)
Also, I found a church with an English Mass about 30-45 minutes (depending on what train you catch) away. It was really nice to hear Mass in English again. I've been going for the past few weeks. They even had a Christmas concert! It was great :)
Finals were tough, but now they're over! Yay! I also had to write a short story in Japanese and read it out loud to my teacher with emotion, as a writing and speaking test combined. It went really well! (Thank you drama and Creative Writing!) My teacher really liked mine, I think. :) I ended up being quite proud of it :)
I also had to write a newspaper article style interview of a friend for another class. That ended up being really fun too. I'd forgotten how much I like writing things that aren't research papers!
The last thing I had to write was a paper, so...not so fun. It was a bit confusing for us students because the paper topic (Controversial American art and the National Endowment for the Arts in America) had nothing to do with the class (Japanese Art History). It was a bit weird.
But now I'm done! Hooray! And next semester's classes (E Class Japanese, Japanese Cinema, Modern Japanese Literature, and Language in Japanese Society) all seem very promising. I'm quite excited.
In other news, the DS (;)) game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is pretty much the best game I have ever played...ever. I know it sounds really dorky because it's about lawyers and court and everything, but it's got an amazing storyline, characters you really come to love, and great animation! I love it! I'm on the third game right now and it's just the best!
If you have a DS, you should definitely give it a try!
Anyway, I'm off to go clean my room. No, really. :)
Merry Christmas to all and to all an Oshougatsu Omedetou! (Happy New Year!)
Love and Christmas Wishes,
Christy
P.S. - Truly, I wish you all the best Christmas you've ever had. I sincerely hope that next year is ten times better than this year for all of you! (If that's true for me, then next year will have to be pretty amazing to beat everything wonderful that happened this year! :)
Monday, December 22, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
One Crazy Weekend After Another!
Holy moly! Has it been a crazy couple of weeks! I haven't had a chance to post for a while...but, at least I have a lot to talk about now!
Alright...starting with the trip to Kyoto I was talking about last time I posted...
It took us about an hour and a half by train to get there, which would have been great, with lovely sight seeing out the window, except we had to stand the whole way, which was no fun. Once we got there, we walked over a really lovely bridge with cranes in the river below and weeping willows and cherry trees on the banks. Then we took the subway one stop to an art museum to see an exhibit about lacquer work. After oohing and aahing, we had some lunch at this cute little restaurant by the station that, oddly enough, was playing American '50s music. Everyone was very nice and gave us their "osususme" (recommendations). The food was absolutely delicious, too. Afterwards, we went to see an ikebana (traditional Japanese flower arranging) presentation from an ikebana master and his students. It was really beautiful. All the different arrangements were so pretty and varied - they even had an exhibition of sushi made from flowers!
The next day I went to the first judo match of my friend, Calvin, from UIUC. He actually won his first fight! It was really cool! I had no idea that the matches were structured like that. I promise to upload pictures from this and all the other things I've done right after I get through finals!
That week, we had a lesson in ikebana in one of my classes from another ikebana master who happened to be friends with my professor. He gave us all a bunch of different kinds of flowers and a lecture on the basics of ikebana and how to arrange the flowers. He was incredibly knowledgeable and very nice. I've got a picture of the finished product to show you when I have time to upload!
The next weekend, we had another class field trip, this time to the area right off the Sea of Japan, Kanazawa. I'm pretty positive that it's my favorite place in Japan (of the one's I've visited), except where I live of course :). We took a six hour bus ride to get there, but it was punctuated by some really gorgeous stops. We first stopped at a famous Zen Buddhist temple called Eiheiji, which means Eternal Peace, and got to see all the wonderfully beautiful fall scenery. With the trees and the beautiful weather, it was absolutely lovely. I can't wait until you can see the pictures! Our next stop was Tojinbo, which is a special area on the coast of the Sea of Japan where these amazing cliffs have been carved out by the waves. It's one of three places in the whole world where you can see this geologic phenomenon. We were a little late getting there, but we could not have had better timing. We ended up getting to go on a boat ride on the beautiful, clear Sea of Japan to see these cliffs, just as the sun was setting on a perfect fall day. It was....awesome (in the original sense of the word). Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, my camera died just when we got on the boat :( Aside from that, it was perfect.
We stayed at a nice little hotel that night and headed to "One of Japan's Top Three Most Famous Gardens" the next day. Kenroku-en (the Garden) was gorgeous too! It was raining, but it was really pretty to see all the fall leaves and waterfalls and trees through the drops. There were even some winter cherry trees in bloom. It was very calming.
We were also supposed to go to this Ninja Temple, but, sadly, we didn't have time. So we went to lunch at a nice bakery and then headed home on the bus.
I actually have lots more to tell you - about my trip to Tokyo and my finals that are about to start, but, because of the latter, I think I will have to cut this short! I will soon update more!
I love you all and miss you very much.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Christy
Alright...starting with the trip to Kyoto I was talking about last time I posted...
It took us about an hour and a half by train to get there, which would have been great, with lovely sight seeing out the window, except we had to stand the whole way, which was no fun. Once we got there, we walked over a really lovely bridge with cranes in the river below and weeping willows and cherry trees on the banks. Then we took the subway one stop to an art museum to see an exhibit about lacquer work. After oohing and aahing, we had some lunch at this cute little restaurant by the station that, oddly enough, was playing American '50s music. Everyone was very nice and gave us their "osususme" (recommendations). The food was absolutely delicious, too. Afterwards, we went to see an ikebana (traditional Japanese flower arranging) presentation from an ikebana master and his students. It was really beautiful. All the different arrangements were so pretty and varied - they even had an exhibition of sushi made from flowers!
The next day I went to the first judo match of my friend, Calvin, from UIUC. He actually won his first fight! It was really cool! I had no idea that the matches were structured like that. I promise to upload pictures from this and all the other things I've done right after I get through finals!
That week, we had a lesson in ikebana in one of my classes from another ikebana master who happened to be friends with my professor. He gave us all a bunch of different kinds of flowers and a lecture on the basics of ikebana and how to arrange the flowers. He was incredibly knowledgeable and very nice. I've got a picture of the finished product to show you when I have time to upload!
The next weekend, we had another class field trip, this time to the area right off the Sea of Japan, Kanazawa. I'm pretty positive that it's my favorite place in Japan (of the one's I've visited), except where I live of course :). We took a six hour bus ride to get there, but it was punctuated by some really gorgeous stops. We first stopped at a famous Zen Buddhist temple called Eiheiji, which means Eternal Peace, and got to see all the wonderfully beautiful fall scenery. With the trees and the beautiful weather, it was absolutely lovely. I can't wait until you can see the pictures! Our next stop was Tojinbo, which is a special area on the coast of the Sea of Japan where these amazing cliffs have been carved out by the waves. It's one of three places in the whole world where you can see this geologic phenomenon. We were a little late getting there, but we could not have had better timing. We ended up getting to go on a boat ride on the beautiful, clear Sea of Japan to see these cliffs, just as the sun was setting on a perfect fall day. It was....awesome (in the original sense of the word). Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, my camera died just when we got on the boat :( Aside from that, it was perfect.
We stayed at a nice little hotel that night and headed to "One of Japan's Top Three Most Famous Gardens" the next day. Kenroku-en (the Garden) was gorgeous too! It was raining, but it was really pretty to see all the fall leaves and waterfalls and trees through the drops. There were even some winter cherry trees in bloom. It was very calming.
We were also supposed to go to this Ninja Temple, but, sadly, we didn't have time. So we went to lunch at a nice bakery and then headed home on the bus.
I actually have lots more to tell you - about my trip to Tokyo and my finals that are about to start, but, because of the latter, I think I will have to cut this short! I will soon update more!
I love you all and miss you very much.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Christy
Monday, November 3, 2008
Finally I'm Better! Hooray!
If you couldn't tell from the title, I've finally recovered! Well, mostly! So yay!
Most of the reason for my miraculous recovery is my being a KY. KY is an abbreviation for Kuuki Yomenai which means "Can't read the atmosphere (of the party, room, world, etc.)". It's basically Japanese for Party Pooper. :) Instead of going out with everyone on Halloween to scare all the Japanese people with our silly costumes, I decided to go home, even though my friends were sad I couldn't come (Yay friends!). I got home around 5:30 or 6:00 and changed into comfy clothes. I wanted to lie down a bit before dinner, but somehow I ended up falling asleep for 14 hours until 9:00 AM the next morning. I felt a lot better after that. :) Hooray for KY me! :D
Let's see....hmmm...updates!
I expect this week I'll finally be able to go back to kendou and ballet, so that's good news, especially since I'll probably be taking lots of classes next semester and may not have time for kendou. :(.
It looks like I did pretty well on my midterms! My speech test was easier than I thought and my teacher gave me a high grade for fluency, which made me really happy.
Morikawa-sensei, one of our E class teachers, talked to us last Friday about what we'd most likely be doing next semester and it sounds really fun (if slightly challenging). First, we're going to read "Moonlight Shadow" by Yoshimoto Banana together as a class. During class time, we'll go over hard kanji or grammatical structures in the book. We'll also be studying kanji from a kanji textbook and grammar from a grammar book designed for people studying for the JLPT (Japanese Language Placement Test - this big standardized test that is really important for all jobs involving Japanese). Also, we're going to watch some more Japanese movies or dramas in class to work on our listening skills. There also might be an extra "Academic Japanese" class to work on advanced grammar, so I'll probably participate in that as well. After we finish "Moonlight Shadow", we each get to pick a Japanese book we want to read and do it on our own (with help from the sensei if we get stuck, of course). After we finish, we'll have an oral exam during which we summarize the book in Japanese for our sensei. It sounds interesting!
I've been reading, or, I should say, attempting to read, lots of manga in Japanese (right now I'm on DeathNote, it's quite good!) lately, so that should help hone my reading skills for next semester. :)
Oh! Miyazaki update!
I'm sure I mentioned how great "Gake no Ue no Ponyo" was when I saw it in theatres. It was adorably cute and just over all completely darling. However, my friend Zoe and I watched the Studio Ghibli movie released just before Ponyo for the first time last night. It was called "Geddo Senki" and, while amazing, it was anything but darling or cute. It was directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro. The name "Geddo Senki" roughly means "The War Chronicles of Ged", but really it's based on the Ursula K. LeGuin novels about "Earthsea". It hasn't been released in the US yet because there's a rights battle going on over the title. Some people want to name it Earthsea, but the SciFi channel just finished a TV series version of the books under that same title and it's all complicated and silly.
Anyway, the movie was EXCELLENT. The Japanese voices were really great, though the translation of the English subtitles was a little sketchy at parts. The animation and the backgrounds were beyond gorgeous, as to be expected from Studio Ghibli. However, it was quite dark for a Studio Ghibli film, and also not a little creepy, especially towards the end. The characters were really compelling and the music, though not composed by Miyazaki's usual Joe Hisaishi, was beautiful in a haunting way. I don't want to talk too much about the plot because it could ruin it for any of you who might see it, but, suffice to say, parts of it reminded me of Full Metal Alchemist.
I highly recommend it to any Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli fan (or anime fan in general...or, really, anyone :) ), especially one who wants something a little more adult than Ponyo :).
Alrighty, enough with the silly movie talk! Some exciting things are coming up soon...
This weekend, my Art History class is taking a field trip to Kyoto!
Next weekend, the ryuugakusei are taking an overnight field trip to Kanazawa!
The weekend after that (a four day weekend! yay!), I may be going to Tokyo for the first time!
I think that's about all for now, but I'll write again soon!
I love and miss you all!
Love,
Christy
Most of the reason for my miraculous recovery is my being a KY. KY is an abbreviation for Kuuki Yomenai which means "Can't read the atmosphere (of the party, room, world, etc.)". It's basically Japanese for Party Pooper. :) Instead of going out with everyone on Halloween to scare all the Japanese people with our silly costumes, I decided to go home, even though my friends were sad I couldn't come (Yay friends!). I got home around 5:30 or 6:00 and changed into comfy clothes. I wanted to lie down a bit before dinner, but somehow I ended up falling asleep for 14 hours until 9:00 AM the next morning. I felt a lot better after that. :) Hooray for KY me! :D
Let's see....hmmm...updates!
I expect this week I'll finally be able to go back to kendou and ballet, so that's good news, especially since I'll probably be taking lots of classes next semester and may not have time for kendou. :(.
It looks like I did pretty well on my midterms! My speech test was easier than I thought and my teacher gave me a high grade for fluency, which made me really happy.
Morikawa-sensei, one of our E class teachers, talked to us last Friday about what we'd most likely be doing next semester and it sounds really fun (if slightly challenging). First, we're going to read "Moonlight Shadow" by Yoshimoto Banana together as a class. During class time, we'll go over hard kanji or grammatical structures in the book. We'll also be studying kanji from a kanji textbook and grammar from a grammar book designed for people studying for the JLPT (Japanese Language Placement Test - this big standardized test that is really important for all jobs involving Japanese). Also, we're going to watch some more Japanese movies or dramas in class to work on our listening skills. There also might be an extra "Academic Japanese" class to work on advanced grammar, so I'll probably participate in that as well. After we finish "Moonlight Shadow", we each get to pick a Japanese book we want to read and do it on our own (with help from the sensei if we get stuck, of course). After we finish, we'll have an oral exam during which we summarize the book in Japanese for our sensei. It sounds interesting!
I've been reading, or, I should say, attempting to read, lots of manga in Japanese (right now I'm on DeathNote, it's quite good!) lately, so that should help hone my reading skills for next semester. :)
Oh! Miyazaki update!
I'm sure I mentioned how great "Gake no Ue no Ponyo" was when I saw it in theatres. It was adorably cute and just over all completely darling. However, my friend Zoe and I watched the Studio Ghibli movie released just before Ponyo for the first time last night. It was called "Geddo Senki" and, while amazing, it was anything but darling or cute. It was directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro. The name "Geddo Senki" roughly means "The War Chronicles of Ged", but really it's based on the Ursula K. LeGuin novels about "Earthsea". It hasn't been released in the US yet because there's a rights battle going on over the title. Some people want to name it Earthsea, but the SciFi channel just finished a TV series version of the books under that same title and it's all complicated and silly.
Anyway, the movie was EXCELLENT. The Japanese voices were really great, though the translation of the English subtitles was a little sketchy at parts. The animation and the backgrounds were beyond gorgeous, as to be expected from Studio Ghibli. However, it was quite dark for a Studio Ghibli film, and also not a little creepy, especially towards the end. The characters were really compelling and the music, though not composed by Miyazaki's usual Joe Hisaishi, was beautiful in a haunting way. I don't want to talk too much about the plot because it could ruin it for any of you who might see it, but, suffice to say, parts of it reminded me of Full Metal Alchemist.
I highly recommend it to any Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli fan (or anime fan in general...or, really, anyone :) ), especially one who wants something a little more adult than Ponyo :).
Alrighty, enough with the silly movie talk! Some exciting things are coming up soon...
This weekend, my Art History class is taking a field trip to Kyoto!
Next weekend, the ryuugakusei are taking an overnight field trip to Kanazawa!
The weekend after that (a four day weekend! yay!), I may be going to Tokyo for the first time!
I think that's about all for now, but I'll write again soon!
I love and miss you all!
Love,
Christy
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Byouki :(
Hey all!
Sorry I haven't posted for a bit. I've been sick :(. I got some kind of cold or something and I just can't seem to kick it. I even missed two days of midterms at school cause the doctor said I should really rest. Blech. I've still got a cough and I'm really exhausted. No fun at all.
But, in other news, the ryuugakusei are having a Halloween party on Friday! Japanese people don't really do Halloween, so we're planning on frightening them all by wearing our costumes to school :). Should be fun!
I didn't want to spend $50 (the cheapest one I could find!) on a costume for ONE DAY so I bought some cheap little horns and a pitchfork and I'm going to wear a red dress I brought from home. Voila - devil! I'll take pictures! My friend is planning on going as Pikachu. It will definitely be an amusing Halloween. :)
Also, recently I've discovered the wonderful world of Disney in Japanese! I even translated the song "Once Upon a Dream" from the Japanese version back to English, subtitled the video, and put it on Youtube. It was really fun! I've been listening to all my favorite Disney songs in Japanese. I even bought the Japanese version of Aladdin! Good practice, if nothing else :)
This Sunday I went with a friend and his host dad to the Akashi Kohashi Bridge, the longest bridge in the world! It was awesome! They gave us hard hats and special vests and ear pieces. Then they gave us a presentation on how the bridge was built and showed us exhibits about the materials. The presentation was a little hard to understand because they spoke really quickly, but the visual aids helped :). We got to walk half the bridge underneath where the cars were driving. It was kind of scary - above you there are cars and trucks whizzing on the bridge and below you there are boats and freighters sailing on the ocean and all that separates you from these things is an iron grid. Slightly unsettling. But really interesting!
We took an elevator up to the 98th floor of the bridge's first suspension rigging tower. It was so pretty up there! Even though it was raining and cloudy, you could still see INCREDIBLY far. On the one side is the mainland and on the other side is Awajishima, an island that's famous for its museum about the Great Hanshin Earthquake 10 years ago. From the top of the bridge, I could even see a Kofun! Kofun are these ancient tombs from around 200-550 AD. Yeah, really old. They're keyhole shaped and gigantic, so really the only way you can see them fully is from above. I was looking out over the mainland city and suddenly I noticed one and pulled my friend over shouting "Look! It's a Kofun!". We just learned about them in my Art History class, so I was pretty excited to get to see one from the right angle.
It was really fun!
Alright, I'm off to bed because I'm still sick and I really want to get better soon. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired! :)
Love and miss you all!
Love,
Christy
Sorry I haven't posted for a bit. I've been sick :(. I got some kind of cold or something and I just can't seem to kick it. I even missed two days of midterms at school cause the doctor said I should really rest. Blech. I've still got a cough and I'm really exhausted. No fun at all.
But, in other news, the ryuugakusei are having a Halloween party on Friday! Japanese people don't really do Halloween, so we're planning on frightening them all by wearing our costumes to school :). Should be fun!
I didn't want to spend $50 (the cheapest one I could find!) on a costume for ONE DAY so I bought some cheap little horns and a pitchfork and I'm going to wear a red dress I brought from home. Voila - devil! I'll take pictures! My friend is planning on going as Pikachu. It will definitely be an amusing Halloween. :)
Also, recently I've discovered the wonderful world of Disney in Japanese! I even translated the song "Once Upon a Dream" from the Japanese version back to English, subtitled the video, and put it on Youtube. It was really fun! I've been listening to all my favorite Disney songs in Japanese. I even bought the Japanese version of Aladdin! Good practice, if nothing else :)
This Sunday I went with a friend and his host dad to the Akashi Kohashi Bridge, the longest bridge in the world! It was awesome! They gave us hard hats and special vests and ear pieces. Then they gave us a presentation on how the bridge was built and showed us exhibits about the materials. The presentation was a little hard to understand because they spoke really quickly, but the visual aids helped :). We got to walk half the bridge underneath where the cars were driving. It was kind of scary - above you there are cars and trucks whizzing on the bridge and below you there are boats and freighters sailing on the ocean and all that separates you from these things is an iron grid. Slightly unsettling. But really interesting!
We took an elevator up to the 98th floor of the bridge's first suspension rigging tower. It was so pretty up there! Even though it was raining and cloudy, you could still see INCREDIBLY far. On the one side is the mainland and on the other side is Awajishima, an island that's famous for its museum about the Great Hanshin Earthquake 10 years ago. From the top of the bridge, I could even see a Kofun! Kofun are these ancient tombs from around 200-550 AD. Yeah, really old. They're keyhole shaped and gigantic, so really the only way you can see them fully is from above. I was looking out over the mainland city and suddenly I noticed one and pulled my friend over shouting "Look! It's a Kofun!". We just learned about them in my Art History class, so I was pretty excited to get to see one from the right angle.
It was really fun!
Alright, I'm off to bed because I'm still sick and I really want to get better soon. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired! :)
Love and miss you all!
Love,
Christy
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Midterms Midterms
Hey everyone!
I'm about to enter midterm week, so I'll be benkyou-ing (studying) like crazy.
BUT, I wanted to tell you all about this band my friend introduced me to - The Radwimps (weird name, I know, but they wanted to coin a word that would mean "superlative coward" or something to that effect). They are Japanese (dur. :) ), but some of their songs are in English.
My absolute favorite of their songs is called "Order Made". It's pretty much an idea of what conversation you might have had with God before you were born.
I think it's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard and the lyrics are simply amazing.
Anyway, here's the video (with subtitles, no worries ;) ):
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=-A28kvuvHks
Try checking out some of their other songs too, I really like them!
As for what's going on here...
I found a used book store! I got 11 manga for $13!!!!! That is an AMAZING deal. I was very happy. I've been curling up with my denshi jisho (electronic dictionary) and having fun translating them to English. My friends and I all sat around today after class and translated our manga together. Our teacher came over and, seeing our dictionaries out, asked if we were doing homework. We sheepishly replied "No.... But at least it's good practice!"
It really is helping me learn lots of new words though. :) I knew being a nerd would pay off somehow ;)
Anyway, I hope all is well at home!
I love you and miss you all!
Love,
Christy
I'm about to enter midterm week, so I'll be benkyou-ing (studying) like crazy.
BUT, I wanted to tell you all about this band my friend introduced me to - The Radwimps (weird name, I know, but they wanted to coin a word that would mean "superlative coward" or something to that effect). They are Japanese (dur. :) ), but some of their songs are in English.
My absolute favorite of their songs is called "Order Made". It's pretty much an idea of what conversation you might have had with God before you were born.
I think it's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard and the lyrics are simply amazing.
Anyway, here's the video (with subtitles, no worries ;) ):
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=-A28kvuvHks
Try checking out some of their other songs too, I really like them!
As for what's going on here...
I found a used book store! I got 11 manga for $13!!!!! That is an AMAZING deal. I was very happy. I've been curling up with my denshi jisho (electronic dictionary) and having fun translating them to English. My friends and I all sat around today after class and translated our manga together. Our teacher came over and, seeing our dictionaries out, asked if we were doing homework. We sheepishly replied "No.... But at least it's good practice!"
It really is helping me learn lots of new words though. :) I knew being a nerd would pay off somehow ;)
Anyway, I hope all is well at home!
I love you and miss you all!
Love,
Christy
Monday, October 13, 2008
New Pictures!
Hey again everyone!
I just uploaded some more pictures to my Picasa album. They can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ryuusei726/Japan# .
I would add them to the slideshow, but it won't let me for some reason. :(
Hope you enjoy them!
Love,
Christy
I just uploaded some more pictures to my Picasa album. They can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ryuusei726/Japan# .
I would add them to the slideshow, but it won't let me for some reason. :(
Hope you enjoy them!
Love,
Christy
Again with the Late Posting!
Gomen nasai, minasan!
I keep promising myself I'll update on time, once a week at least, and then I go to kendou or on some trip and I get really tired and I don't. I'm sorry!
So to catch you all up since I last posted...
Starting with this weekend and working backwards...
Yesterday, my friend Zoe and I went to the Ashiya Aki Matsuri (Fall Festival). It was amazing! They had this big danjiri - a Japanese parade with these huge portable shrines (mikoshi) being wheeled and whirled down the street. On top and on the sides and all around the mikoshi are dancers in traditional dress with all kinds of lanterns and other decorations, inside the mikoshi are drum players. Everyone chants to the drums and it is REALLY cool. I took lots of videos. One of the guys on the mikoshi even waved at me! It was awesome.
After the danjiri, we shopped around the festival and met up with my host mom who bought us delicious takoyaki (grilled octopus balls - not as weird as it sounds, don't worry :) ), and adzuki mochi (red bean rice ball dessert-y things :) ). We got to play all the kid games and lots of the stall people gave us extra prizes because we were foreigners, an unexpected perk.
Also, on the way home from church last night, my host mom brought me to where the night danjiri was going on. It was even cooler with all the chochin (lanterns) lit up. It is definitely a sight to be seen.
Saturday, I woke up early to go to kendou and what a practice it was. An old sensei separated us from the main group and worked with us on the basic stroke - men - a hit to the head. Then he taught us "Sayuu Men Utsu" - multiple hits to the left and right sides of the head. He taught us the movement that goes with Sayuu Men Utsu, which is one of the basic kendou practices that the experienced kendouka work out with. Then, unprecedentedly, he brought us into the gym during practice. (Usually, during practice, we work with one of the experienced kendouka out in the hall while the main group works out inside the dojo. The dojo practice is VERY loud. Everyone is "kiai!"ing and stomping and the swords and hitting each other and people are running all over. It's kind of scary :)) So, the sensei brought us into the gym and put on his armor and let us practice on him, another first (usually we practice on dummies called ningyo). We practiced Sayuu Men Utsu and a few other strikes. It's very different hitting a person than a dummy. But the sensei was smiling and clearly enjoying himself the entire time. I think he was really happy that foreigners were trying kendou. After that, we practiced with the dummies again and tired ourselves out sprinting up and down the hall jousting with them.
After kendou, we went to a Ryuugakusei (Foreign Students) Aki Matsuri. We all gathered on a really pretty riverbank and ate snacks and talked and played soccer, etc. It was really fun.
Friday, I went to karaoke for the first time!!!! I LOVED it. We sang Queen and Journey and the Backstreet Boys and a bunch of crazy Japanese songs. It was a blast :). I can't wait to go again.
Last weekend...
I studied most of the day Sunday while talking on Skype to friends and family at home (If you don't have Skype, you should get it!)
Saturday, I went to kendou and out to lunch with my friends. Saturday night I walked about two and a half miles to get to the church that has Saturday night Masses. It was very nice weather though, so I didn't mind. :)
Also, last weekend, the host sister that is teaching preschool in Korea came home for a very short visit. She really liked my bracelet! Also, she brought a bunch of cute gifts for me from Korea - an adorable, bejeweled mirror, a keychain with a bunny dressed in pretty Korean clothes, and a princess tiara headband. She is really pretty, too! I can't wait to talk to her more when she comes home for good in March.
The weekend before last...
The ryuugakusei spent the entire weekend on top of a mountain (Koyasan) at a Buddhist temple! It was an educational experience, to say the least! We got a guided tour of this gigantic Buddhist cemetery called Oku-no-in. It was very peaceful - mostly because of the GIGANTIC and gorgeous cedar trees that grew everywhere throughout the graveyard. That night, we told ghost stories in the dark, a tribute to our cemetery wanderings. Spooky!
We also saw LOTS of Buddhist temples, most gorgeously painted and decorated, and went to a Buddhist meditation ceremony (at 6 in the morning, augh) at the temple we stayed at. The temple we stayed at, like all Buddhist temples, was vegetarian, so we had no meat - lots of tofu and veggies, though. :)
The trip there and back was absolutely gorgeous. The view of the trees, the lakes, and the mountains from the train was breath-taking.
AND before that...
We took a trip to Nara this week with my Art History class. It was spectacular to see all actual art in person as I've seen so many pictures of the various pieces in so many textbooks. We went to the oldest wooden building in the world, among many other places. Inside the oldest wooden building in the world - also known as Todaiji - is the biggest statue of Buddha. It is gigantic! The entire building is mind-blowingly big. There's a deer park around it as well, so we got to feed the deer, which was really fun. I was feeding the nice does my deer biscuits when I got headbutted in the butt by a big, mean buck. I ran away while throwing my deer biscuits behind me, hoping to distract him. It was really funny. I even bought a deer hat complete with antlers - by far the highlight of my trip ;D!
Besides all my trips, I've been going to kendou religiously and studying a lot when I'm not hanging out with my friends or my host family.
All in all, it's been a very busy, and very fun, month!
I hope you all are doing wonderfully and I miss you SO much!
Love and Hugs,
Christy
I keep promising myself I'll update on time, once a week at least, and then I go to kendou or on some trip and I get really tired and I don't. I'm sorry!
So to catch you all up since I last posted...
Starting with this weekend and working backwards...
Yesterday, my friend Zoe and I went to the Ashiya Aki Matsuri (Fall Festival). It was amazing! They had this big danjiri - a Japanese parade with these huge portable shrines (mikoshi) being wheeled and whirled down the street. On top and on the sides and all around the mikoshi are dancers in traditional dress with all kinds of lanterns and other decorations, inside the mikoshi are drum players. Everyone chants to the drums and it is REALLY cool. I took lots of videos. One of the guys on the mikoshi even waved at me! It was awesome.
After the danjiri, we shopped around the festival and met up with my host mom who bought us delicious takoyaki (grilled octopus balls - not as weird as it sounds, don't worry :) ), and adzuki mochi (red bean rice ball dessert-y things :) ). We got to play all the kid games and lots of the stall people gave us extra prizes because we were foreigners, an unexpected perk.
Also, on the way home from church last night, my host mom brought me to where the night danjiri was going on. It was even cooler with all the chochin (lanterns) lit up. It is definitely a sight to be seen.
Saturday, I woke up early to go to kendou and what a practice it was. An old sensei separated us from the main group and worked with us on the basic stroke - men - a hit to the head. Then he taught us "Sayuu Men Utsu" - multiple hits to the left and right sides of the head. He taught us the movement that goes with Sayuu Men Utsu, which is one of the basic kendou practices that the experienced kendouka work out with. Then, unprecedentedly, he brought us into the gym during practice. (Usually, during practice, we work with one of the experienced kendouka out in the hall while the main group works out inside the dojo. The dojo practice is VERY loud. Everyone is "kiai!"ing and stomping and the swords and hitting each other and people are running all over. It's kind of scary :)) So, the sensei brought us into the gym and put on his armor and let us practice on him, another first (usually we practice on dummies called ningyo). We practiced Sayuu Men Utsu and a few other strikes. It's very different hitting a person than a dummy. But the sensei was smiling and clearly enjoying himself the entire time. I think he was really happy that foreigners were trying kendou. After that, we practiced with the dummies again and tired ourselves out sprinting up and down the hall jousting with them.
After kendou, we went to a Ryuugakusei (Foreign Students) Aki Matsuri. We all gathered on a really pretty riverbank and ate snacks and talked and played soccer, etc. It was really fun.
Friday, I went to karaoke for the first time!!!! I LOVED it. We sang Queen and Journey and the Backstreet Boys and a bunch of crazy Japanese songs. It was a blast :). I can't wait to go again.
Last weekend...
I studied most of the day Sunday while talking on Skype to friends and family at home (If you don't have Skype, you should get it!)
Saturday, I went to kendou and out to lunch with my friends. Saturday night I walked about two and a half miles to get to the church that has Saturday night Masses. It was very nice weather though, so I didn't mind. :)
Also, last weekend, the host sister that is teaching preschool in Korea came home for a very short visit. She really liked my bracelet! Also, she brought a bunch of cute gifts for me from Korea - an adorable, bejeweled mirror, a keychain with a bunny dressed in pretty Korean clothes, and a princess tiara headband. She is really pretty, too! I can't wait to talk to her more when she comes home for good in March.
The weekend before last...
The ryuugakusei spent the entire weekend on top of a mountain (Koyasan) at a Buddhist temple! It was an educational experience, to say the least! We got a guided tour of this gigantic Buddhist cemetery called Oku-no-in. It was very peaceful - mostly because of the GIGANTIC and gorgeous cedar trees that grew everywhere throughout the graveyard. That night, we told ghost stories in the dark, a tribute to our cemetery wanderings. Spooky!
We also saw LOTS of Buddhist temples, most gorgeously painted and decorated, and went to a Buddhist meditation ceremony (at 6 in the morning, augh) at the temple we stayed at. The temple we stayed at, like all Buddhist temples, was vegetarian, so we had no meat - lots of tofu and veggies, though. :)
The trip there and back was absolutely gorgeous. The view of the trees, the lakes, and the mountains from the train was breath-taking.
AND before that...
We took a trip to Nara this week with my Art History class. It was spectacular to see all actual art in person as I've seen so many pictures of the various pieces in so many textbooks. We went to the oldest wooden building in the world, among many other places. Inside the oldest wooden building in the world - also known as Todaiji - is the biggest statue of Buddha. It is gigantic! The entire building is mind-blowingly big. There's a deer park around it as well, so we got to feed the deer, which was really fun. I was feeding the nice does my deer biscuits when I got headbutted in the butt by a big, mean buck. I ran away while throwing my deer biscuits behind me, hoping to distract him. It was really funny. I even bought a deer hat complete with antlers - by far the highlight of my trip ;D!
Besides all my trips, I've been going to kendou religiously and studying a lot when I'm not hanging out with my friends or my host family.
All in all, it's been a very busy, and very fun, month!
I hope you all are doing wonderfully and I miss you SO much!
Love and Hugs,
Christy
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