| so i've been in japan for about one month now. sorry its taken me such a long time to update everyone on my life so far... actually, this post is a result of multiple sessions of editing and changing just so it'll be just perfect for posting...actually, i don't know why i spent so much time on this, but i figured it ought to be good or something. Something exciting and cool. Anyways, after the first week or so here in Japan, I got a little (actually a lot!) homesick because i didn't know anyone here in Japan. I know no Japanese and basically came here to study beginner Japanese. How crazy is that? Hey well there was a program being offered during the summer, so i said, "Why not?" Back to the first week, I was staying in Yokohama (maybe one the top three largest cities in Japan) with a family friend's friend (something like that), which eventually turned out to be really cool. lot of sightseeing and walking and buying little random japanese things and eating and walking and taking pictures with my oversized camera and eating and more eating and fun things like that. After that, met my new host family for the first time (actually, my host brother, Takehiro, came to pick me up from orientation weekend) and started classes at Kanda University in the cool and young city of Kaihin Makuhari...
so first,
meet the Sese's...
my host family is AWESOME!
starting from top left (moving clockwise), my brother Kenyon (he's about my age), my otoosan (father), my okaasan (mother), and my older brother Takehiro. both of my host parents are really into learning foreign languages...my otoosan pretty much studies his english whenever he can, watching old Broadway and Hollywood dvd's to learn from the english subtitles and stuff like that. he loves to practice speaking and working on good ol' american phrases that all the cool actors like Fred Astaire and Elizabeth Taylor used to use. My okaasan is really nice...she's in this international friendship club, called the HIPPO family club, where she has the opportunity to learn all sorts of languages. she actually started learning some chinese and taiwanese so i got to practice a little with her in conversation over dinner one night. every night (well most of the time, when i come home after school, unless i eat out with friends) i try to get in on all the cooking action...you know, and get some free lessons on japanese cooking. it's actually really fun and exciting cuz she lets me peel her onions and wash some vegetables every now and then. one time i even got to stir the soba noodles i made in a pot of boiling water. that was uh quite an overwhelming experience. so i heard the kitchen is the heart of a japanese home, so i feel like part of the family whenever i get to help out for dinner...my okaasan makes the best tempura dishes and its actually really cool how she makes them. makes me wanna try and make my own when i get back to the states. so our (now) family of 5 basically live in a humble two-story abode in the town of Kita Kashiwa, about a 40 minute train ride to school...
i get to sleep on a futon every night, which is about the same as a thin mattress and its wayy hot during the summer at nights. last night i couldn't sleep cuz of all the heat... a/c is..well, let's just say, used sparingly. kinda like wasabe in my soy sauce whenever sashimi is served...
that's the japanese way of enjoying the night.
let's see, there's so much to talk about...but i guess i'll just write about em one at a time, whenever i can. so i'll start.
movies.
so it apparently costs 1500-1800 yen to get into a single movie at the theatres here in Japan, no matter where you go. that's $15-$18!!! how crazy is that?? What if the movie turns out to be horrible?? That would make me really depressed... so star wars 3 (which i was supposed to watch back at home before i left) is probably not gonna be scheduled into my day anytime soon. neither is batman or anything fun for awhile...actually dvd's are reasonable here (about 3-500 yen per movie, but i don't know how to rent those--you probably need a membership or something, like at blockbuster). My brother, Takehiro, and I watched The Last Samurai together one night, which was really cool b/c it's like being in Japan and watching about samurai and it's cool like that, except for the part (which Takehiro nicely informed me of while watching the scenic parts in the beginning of the movie) where basically the whole movie was shot in New Zealand or something like that. How could they do that?? That's just wrong...
how cute are all these children sitting together with their uniforms?? don't you wish you were a japanese kid now...
Here's a good sign for you to learn and recognize if you should ever lose your child in Japan...
And one last picture of the coolest thing about japan--the kids!!
Class.
Imagine sitting through a language class, where the only language spoken by the teacher was the one being taught and all you could really do was educatively guess using your superpowers of context clues to imply from a combination of the teacher's facial expressions, hand gestures, and the situation of the moment (class just started, it's time to get out your textbook and turn to who-knows-what page, for example) to figure exactly what the teacher's trying to say. Or better yet, you could engage in a delightful game of charades to try and make meaning of what exactly's being conveyed to you. Well, thats basically what I've been doing for the past few weeks... And you'd think it'd be really bad, right? But it's not so terrible since you get to go through it with all your classmates who are equally as lost as you are. =)
So currently, a couple (say 6) of my friends and i are planning an exciting adventure to climb mt. fuji (how crazy is that?) and well, there's a bunch of things to still take care of...weather's not looking so hot and the word is, the top of fuji is snow-capped...we all basically packed for summer and so getting well-prepared for the trip is a little daunting at this point...
So, prayer would be much appreciated and that's basically all we can do =)
But it should be exciting and hopefully it'll work out cuz i'm very much looking forward to it. Though the japanese do have this saying that goes something like this: your a fool for not climbing fuji at all, but you're also a fool for climbing it twice. They also say fuji is more of a spectacle mountain, not much a climbing mountain. nevertheless...there's only one way to find out...
So, there's a lot more to say and write about for sure. I'll be sure to keep updating as much as possible. But, for now, i'll leave you with this picture that i took while casually perusing through the cosmetic items at the local supermarket ("soo-pah"). Don't ask me why i was there...
And this special section of this super edited post is my tribute to a wonderful friend and buddy of mine...
how awesome is that??!!!??
I found this store, it's actually a shop that sells tea products and tea leaves and cool things like that, in the middle of Harajuku one weekend...
oh.
not to mention, the one thing everybody here in Japan says to me when i'm first introduced to them is this,
"Jo..joosann...jjonnaaa....oOOOooo...JONAAASSSAAANNNN!! Oh!! Like the ressttaurranntttt...!!"
so they fumble around with pronouncing my name properly and then come to the candid conclusion that they've definitely eaten at my restaurant.
that's how they can remember my name here i guess
and the cool thing is, our stores are right across the street from each other!! |
