Quake-tastic.

Hi! I hope you all are well. :)

I'm sure a lot of you have heard of the lovely natural disaster that happened yesterday and has been all over the news. Let me start off by saying that the earthquake in Japan may have been huge, but here at Lake Biwa we're pretty well-protected. We're pretty far inland, way south of the epicenter, and surrounded by mountains. We've barely gotten any rain, let alone flooding, and we had a magnitude 4 aftershock in the middle of the afternoon yesterday with no harm done. So, I hope that puts you all at ease. :) My friends here are all safe, in Sapporo and otherwise, so I'm glad it was so far north of us. The greatest inconvenience the quake poses is traveling to Tokyo next weekend, which may not be a good idea considering the damage done. Other parts of Japan are not in the best shape, though. I haven't looked at too many pictures but the ones I have seen are really worrisome. Keep the people of northern Honshu in your thoughts!I do have a funny story about the quake we did feel, though. I was actually at karaoke with a bunch of friends, and at the time of the quake we were rocking out to a K-Pop song (Korean pop). We were all dancing around to the song as we sang, and I started feeling a little dizzy, feeling like the bench underneath me was moving. And then we all stop singing and look up at each other, realizing that the building around us was moving. It's a really weird feeling, having the BUILDING you're in moving. It's like you're on a ride, but a really big one you can't get off of. I thought it was sorta fun, to be honest. :) We didn't really have anywhere to go, so we just rode it out in our room. It was a fairly long quake, though - lasted for about 3 minutes, maybe? But then things got back to normal, just in time for the next song. XD
What else happened on Friday, you ask? Well, after our exam, our "cultural activity" for the week was Naginata. :)Naginata is the name of this weapon. Real Naginatas are long spears with metal tips, but we practiced with these wood-and-bamboo ones instead. There were 2 parts to the lesson - we learned a series of moves to practice, and then we also practiced really simple sparring. Fun, right?There's something very empowering about wielding a spear. Here, my friends Meg and Brad are re-enacting a scene from Summer Wars. In the movie, the grandmother goes after one of her grandsons with one of these. Scary!We also hit Sapna and rocked out at karaoke for 5 hours. I've learned something about karaoke! Picking songs you can sing with multiple people is way more fun than just finding one you personally know. So I fit in my Nightwish and Sonata Arctica fix but also do a lot of songs we all know. This time, we did Bohemian Rhapsody, Potential Breakup Song and Don't Stop Believin', among other things. And, because we were feeling silly, we finished with the Star-Spangled Banner (and yes, they did have that as a karaoke choice). I looked for the Aggie War Hymn, but no such luck. XD It was a fun afternoon, even with the crazy weather. We rode to Bell Road in the rain, experienced an earthquake while there, and rode back in the snow. The night was ended with 42, which is always a pleasure. :)

Today, I went to help another girl here with her internship - she teaches English at the children's English school JCMU hosts on Saturdays. It was the kids' last day for the semester - school ends around this time for all Japanese students and starts up again in April. So, we were giving them an English assessment! We were testing 3-7 year-olds, some of whom have never taken a test before. It was pretty simple - in most cases we would say a phrase in English and they would have to pick the picture corresponding to what they said. Most of the kids knew at least some of the answers, but some struggled a lot. It was good practice for me, though, as I gave instructions for each section in Japanese! It was simple stuff like "I'm going to read 4 sentences. Write down the number of the correct picture for each sentence." but it was still empowering. XD

This afternoon, I got to do some swing-dancing! 2 other students and I are hosting a swing dance lesson on Tuesday night, so we met up to work out details and figure out the steps we're teaching. It was fun! I'm a little rusty and not nearly as good as the other two are, but that's okay because I'm just glad to be dancing again. :) Hopefully the lesson will go well!

Have a great weekend. :D

Fun and Games

Well, hello! Hisashiburi desu ne! Otherwise known as, "It's been a while." To justify my delay in posting, not much new has been going on here! Saturday and Sunday I didn't leave the dorm much...mainly watched some shows and movies and played lots of 42. So there's nothing exciting to report.
Here's my random Japanese photo of the day...I was at Viva City with a friend and there was a girls' dance group performing. The girls were all really sparkly and happy and doing dance moves like you'd see in a J-Pop music video. And we wonder why Japan has such an idol-centric culture...

Yesterday was the last day of my elementary school internship! It really felt like less of an internship and more of an observational period because I felt like I didn't do a whole lot. We spent an hour playing games in an English class and then an hour participating in club activities. I made candles in science club this week. :)
The games were really fun! In this first one, we were all a number (ie one, two, three, four). And you would say your number and then someone else's ("One two"). Then that person has to do the same thing. It was silly, but fun!We also played a rock-paper-scissors animal name relay. XD All the pictures on the table have animals on them - you have to touch each one and name the animal in English and work your way around the table. We started in 2 lines at the opposite ends of the table. When you encounter another person, you play Rock Paper Scissors (known as Jan-ken-po here). Everyone in Japan takes their Jan-ken very seriously. If you win, you get to keep going. If you lose, you go to the back of your line and the next person gets to try. If you get to the other side undefeated, you win! Our team was superior at Janken, so we won twice. :)

It's a bit strange, not having my internship now. I liked getting to know the teachers, because a lot of them were really nice. And playing with kids is fun. :) Having the afternoons to myself again is nice, though! Class prep is starting to take more time than it used to, so having the internship was starting to cut into my spare time.
And last night, we watched a cool movie called Summer Wars. A lot of people equate the movie to Studio Ghibli, and I can see why...it's not necessarily in the animation style because there's a whole different feel, but the movie itself has that sort of storyline. It's a feel-good movie in which everything rights itself in the end. I don't want to give away much of the plot, but it centers around this online world called OZ. You create a character for yourself and can roam the world as you please. In the movie OZ is popular on a Facebook scale (perhaps more so), to the point where people even manage things like taxes and water systems on OZ. It's a bit of a cautionary tale about putting too much faith in computers. But so good! Go find it and watch it.Tonight we had an epic American Chinese food dinner. It was a ton of cooking...about 2 and a half hours of work. But it was so tasty! We made honey walnut shrimp, sesame chicken, pork fried rice, ginger stir-fry vegetables, and eggrolls with sweet and sour sauce. Definitely a success, though I have a feeling I won't want to make any more big meals like that for a while!

Classes are going well! Midterm grades came out today for Japanese and I'm doing just fine. :) It's sort of irrelevant because the grades won't transfer back to A&M (only the credits), but it's still nice to know! Japanese has fallen into a rhythm for me, though I don't know if that's good or not. We cover a chapter a week, so that means 3 dialogues to memorize, about 60 vocabulary words to learn, 16 new kanji, a reading passage to translate, and 5 new grammar patterns each week. It's a pretty fast pace! A break would be nice, but it's not hard for me to keep up and I know this semester is a vacation compared to what I would be having back home. I'm so grateful!

History and Culture is pretty good as well. We have our midterm on Thursday, which is a little worrisome just because of the sheer volume of information we've covered over the past few weeks...Japan's history from BC to about 1925. But I still love the class! Professor Morris talked about our field trip today - we're going to Osaka at some point. He's hoping to make it an overnight trip so we get to see a lot of stuff. Should be fun! Of course, I'm going to Osaka this weekend as well. But that's more of a shopping/aquarium trip, whereas the field trip will be to historic sites. Sounds like a good balance to me. :)

That's all I know for now...I hope your week is going well!

Nothing but blue skies...

Look at this beautiful weather we're having! :) I was worried when I arrived home to snow on Sunday, but we have clear skies (clear enough to see the mountains on the other side of Lake Biwa) and decently warm weather - it was 2 degrees Celsius(36 F!) today. ;)

Monday was fun - I started my internship! We helped out with an English class for an hour, which was fun. Mainly we played lots of little games and then folded origami. And then the students gave us a bagful of origami figures. They're adorable! I'm kind of amazed by how interested in us the students are - they want to sit next to us and hold our hands and say hello and talk to us in Japanese and English. They're adorable, and all the teachers at the school are really nice. I really enjoy this internship!And today has been a really good day, too. I've biked all over Hikone, it feels like. We first went to lunch at a restaurant that is pretty much as close as you can get to Americanized Chinese food - I have never been so excited for sweet and sour pork and spring rolls. We also rode by this hotel - yes, it is a hotel - on the way and I had to get a picture. My second trip out of the day was to City Hall with a friend, then to the grocery store. I feel like I'm finally getting used to riding a bike around town - it's becoming less of a chore and more relaxing.

This is kind of a weird week - we don't actually have class on Friday! Normally we'd have a test, but we're visiting an elementary school instead so our exam of the week is tomorrow. So we have a listening exam during the end of second hour and an exam during third hour. To make things more confusing, our test is on chapter 15 but we've been covering chapter 16 stuff ALL WEEK. Last week we didn't have a test due to our vacation day so we're a week behind on testing. I think it should turn out okay, though! Plus, tomorrow night we're having tacos, thanks to a friend's care package and a professor's trip to Costco. Mmmm, tastes like home.

That's all I know for now. :) Have a wonderful week! Before I go, though, have a music pick-me-up: it's my homestay sister Kana's current favorite song. It's so cheerful and everything. The song may be in Japanese, but it's actually by a Korean girls' group - there's a lot of crossover between K-Pop and J-Pop, as it's called (but no Japanese person has ever heard of J-Pop, as I discovered a few days ago!). Enjoy!

Shojo Jidai - Genie

Spring Break!

I am officially on break! Hooray! We had our last class today, and we have a 4-day weekend. I'm choosing to go to Sapporo to visit some old friends. My flight is tomorrow afternoon and I get back on Sunday around noon. I'm staying with an old homestay family part of the time and spending the rest of it with a Japanese friend and his family. I know we're going to see the Snow Festival as well as Otaru (a small town not far from Sapporo), but other than that I'm leaving it up to my hosts! Should be fun.

Speaking of fun, getting to an airport in Japan is a bit of a production if you don't have a car. For example, here's my route tomorrow. I first take a shuttle bus from the hotel near JCMU to Maibara Station(it has a much larger train hub than Hikone). From Maibara, I take a train heading to Ogaki (a largish town between here and Nagoya), change trains, get off at Kanayama (another town close to Nagoya), then switch to another train to get to the airport. Total travel time from Hikone to Chubu Centrair Airport: 2 and a half hours. My flight time is only 1 and a half. XD Thankfully, there is enough time between trains that I should be able to catch them with no worries. It will be weird traveling with a suitcase, as well as by myself - it's my first trip through the subway stations on my own. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Monday was the first day of my internship at Johoku Elementary. Normally, I'm supposed to help teach English for an hour and then join in with club activities for an hour (I'm in the science club, of course). However, the English teacher was absent on Monday so I ended up just attending a science class instead. They were using little scales to find the mass of various objects. After that I went to a sort of club meeting - the older students in the school join an organization that does school service, and volunteer for that. I didn't do much besides sit and listen, though I did talk some with the teachers in the teacher's lounge. Hopefully next week it will be more exciting. :) I also got to see the after-school dismissal speech. All the students get together and get a short speech from their principal at the end of every day. It's cute. :)

I also have a conversation partner! I met her briefly on Monday - her name is Naomi Tanaka. She's from Otsu (a large town about 2 stops outside of Kyoto) and works in a department store. She also loves cooking, apparently! We'll have to cook together sometime. She's very nice, and we've agreed to have our conversations half in English and half in Japanese so we can both practice. And, thanks to her I now have a nickname! "Kelsey" is very difficult to pronounce in a language where all consonants are separated by vowels, so she just calls me "Keru-chan". I call her "Nao-chan" in return. :) I look forward to getting to know her! We have our first full meeting next week. I also met her friend Azusa, who has conversation partners as well. We'll probably end up getting together in the larger group because it's more fun that way!

And I found out about my homestay family (all in one day!). Next weekend we get to go and stay with a random family for the weekend. Mine is in a town called Kusatsu, which is a stop on the way to Kyoto. They're an old couple, the Ishisakas. I don't really know much else about them but I'll be staying with them for 2 nights. I will definitely be putting my Japanese to the test!

Yesterday was far less full of running around. I got my caramel apple bread fix from Vidal (best bread I have ever eaten, by far) and also visited the recycle shop in Maibara. It's basically a pawn shop the size of a Walmart. It's FULL of stuff! They have models, manga, music, menswear, and more (I couldn't resist the alliteration, sorry! :P). My favorite, though, was the stuffed animals section. I need to bring my camera next time to show you how full it is. But I found Chiffon!This is a picture of Chiffon. She's a friend of Cinnamoroll, a character created by Sanrio (the Hello Kitty people). And she's a cocker spaniel. So, when I found this plushie, I couldn't resist.
She's SO CUTE! And has an innertube! :3 I am a sucker for such things. My stuffed animal collection is growing more and more the longer I am here.

Anyway, the trek to Maibara was fun! Really long, though - 4 km each way. But there are a lot of things I saw along the way I'd like to go back to - a really pretty set of wedding chapels I'd like pictures of as well as a little shrine that would be fun to visit.Last night we made chicken pot pies as well! Mmmm, so delicious. Japanese food is good but sometimes American food just sounds best.

Today was pretty much an ordinary day of class, except for last period. Our normal teacher is in America for the week, so the level 1 Japanese teacher subbed in for him. She's hilarious! She came in and first asked us (in Japanese) if we preferred strict or easy-going teachers. The first student said "strict" and she said, "Oh! You are my student!" Then, the second said "easy-going", to which she responded "Wait for your normal teacher, then." XD She was hilarious, and made class a lot of fun.

Tonight we're celebrating my friend Jade's birthday! It will be a nice way to kick off the holiday and relax. So, enjoy the rest of your week, stay warm and I'll see you in Sapporo. :D

Back to Class!

Let's start with a fun subway icon. :) These are on the special reserved seats you're required to give up for the various people on the squares.

I have more kanji fun for you today as well, though it is a little morbid. The characters for euthanasia are 安楽死. These characters are in the words 安い(inexpensive), 楽しい(fun/enjoyable), and 死ぬ(die). So, together it means "cheap fun death"! In actuality the first character can also mean "to ease" and the second can mean "pleasurable", so it really means "to ease death/make it more bearable". Kanji is fun, right?

On Monday I met with my internship supervisor and went to the elementary school to get a weekly schedule figured out. The school I'll be working at is called Johoku Elementary (which literally means 'north of the castle'), and I'll be working on Mondays for 2 hours a week. The internship actually only lasts 4 weeks as classes end for students in March (and the new school year starts in April!), which is sort of a shame but it should be a fun few weeks. Another girl is doing the internship with me, and we're going to be at the school for 2 periods: one period in which we help teach English, and another in which we participate in club activities. I'm joining the science club. ;) I'm a little nervous about starting on Monday because I really don't know what's going on besides when I should show up, but it should probably all work out in the end!

As far as interesting adventures, not much has gone on this week. We've mainly been watching shows (my count of shows-in-progress has now reached 7) and studying (because preparing for class every day is becoming lots of work!). However, we did make blueberry bread on Monday. Fruit is expensive here, but it's totally worth it because the bread was so very tasty. I now am master of the convection oven, and have figured out that a half-batch of bread (ie 1 American loaf pan-worth) makes 3 Japanese loaves - great for sharing and using as incentive to get kitchen helpers. :D My friends and I have decided to make this a weekly thing! I think we're going to give apple bread a try next.

I also had Indian food today! The main shopping thoroughfare in Hikone is called Bell Road - it's about a 15-20 minute ride away. They have lots of stores and restaurants along it, including an Indian place called Sapna. It had the best naan and chicken curry I have ever tasted. I'll have to get a picture the next time I go because it's so so so good.

As far as life in general in Japan is going, it's going well. It's amazing how quickly the weeks fly by. I can't believe tomorrow's Thursday! The weather is starting to warm up a bit...we haven't had snow in almost a week! This is making it a lot easier to get around town, so I'm biking more. I'm getting used to classes and hanging out with people lots(42 and study parties - almost feels like home). I was a little homesick earlier in the week, but it's easy to not worry so much about that with so much going on! It sort of feels like life at home is on hold while I'm here - I keep forgetting I have to worry about things like class registration for next semester and figuring out grad schools when I'm here in Japan. I'm sure it will hit me once I'm home again. :)

Anyway, I hope you're having a good week. I know there's a "snowpocalypse" blanketing the US right now, so stay warm! Also, in case you've heard anything about the volcano eruption in Japan, don't worry! Kyushu(where the eruption is occurring) is a completely different island, and very much south of us. Take care!

Because I have no new pictures, here's another one of Hikone Castle's garden area. Except for the fee to get in, it seems like it would be a great place to sit and study/read when it gets warmer! :)

So, I have a random Japanese word of the day. :) We learned it in class: gorogorosuru. It's a verb, that means "to be a couch potato", essentially. Gorogoro, incidentally, is also the Japanese sound effect for boiling water in a pot. Sort of sounds like a sinister bubbling cauldron to me! :)

Once again, nothing really exciting has happened lately. Sorry to disappoint! We've just been doing homework and watching shows and playing 42 (and the count of people, excluding me, who know how to play is 6 now!). I suppose life is starting to settle into a routine, now that I've been here 3 weeks (which is crazy, by the way. I somehow manage to forget that I'm in a foreign country sometimes...then I look around and see all the kanji and feel silly for not noticing). This weekend, however, we are heading to Kyoto (and it's a definite trip this time, because I'm in charge of figuring out when and where we're going. :P).

Japanese class is about the same...I'm sort of getting used to having 3 hours of language class a day but I don't think my speaking skills are improving any. XD The history class is still awesome, and really interesting. We just finished covering the Tokugawa period, which is from 1600-1850, and I believe that we'll get to the modernization of Japan next class! Right now we're watching a drama that's actually on-air right now, called Gou: Himetachi no Sengoku (Gou: The Warring States of the Princesses). Oda Nobunaga, one of the 3 men responsible for the unification of Japan and the Tokugawa period, had 3 nieces, all of whom grew up to be very influential and powerful women. Gou is his youngest daughter, and the drama follows the story of her life, starting with her parents. We watched most of the first episode in class, and now I'm hooked - it has awesome music and a good story. If you're interested, you can watch it here (and don't worry, it has English subtitles).

Also, I found out today that I got the elementary school internship that I wanted! I don't know exactly where or when yet...we have a meeting on Monday to talk about it. But it should be fun. :)

Have a wonderful week!

SNOW!!!

We have SO MUCH SNOW! Snow fell all Sunday night and most of yesterday, and it was blizzarding this morning. Everything is COVERED in snow. It’s kind of awesome, besides the fact that I’m snowbound and without access to a grocery store. I went shopping on Saturday, but I forgot to get much in the way of food (like meat or veggies) so I’m pretty sure I will be surviving on vegetarian curry, fried rice and cereal until it clears. XD

It is gorgeous outside, though! It has stopped snowing for a while, so the sun is out. And we got our class canceled for an hour this morning while it was still blizzarding. So, today has been a short day! This afternoon we went out to build snowmen, but were stymied by the bulldozers (all they have to clear the snow!) so we instead decided to just play around by the lake. :D And now I'm back inside with a cup of Mexican hot cocoa and my Engrish sweatshirt, warming back up and thinking that life's pretty great at the moment. :)

Not much else has happened today! We have been given the opportunity to participate in internships - they're a 3-hour commitment one day a week. I'd like to go teach English at the elementary school - there are also some waiter and clerk jobs and a translator job at City Hall. We interview for those tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes. :)

Today I’m doing something a little different with my post. I figured that, after a while, posting every 2 days would get redundant. After all, weekends are exciting but my classes aren’t really. I mean, I learned Japanese today! But I also learned it every day last week as well. Nothing too interesting has happened yet. So, I’ve decided to start some Top 5 lists. Basically, the lists are of random things I’ve noticed about Japan but haven’t really been able to include in posts yet. So, I get to share random pictures and you get to learn more about Japan. Sounds good?

I figured I’d start my lists off positively with 5 Innovations That Make Life In Japan Great. There’s also one on innovations I wish Japan would pick up on, but why be a negative nancy to start with? Here are some of the random perks of living in Japan. :D

Specific Water Heaters

See this little console? It’s really cool, and hooked up to our shower. Basically, you set it to the temperature you want (I like 41 degrees Celsius, personally), turn the hot water faucet all the way on, and in 2 minutes you get the perfect temperature of water. You can also use it to boil water to make tea/hot cocoa/instant meals right in your tap. No more twiddling the dial! Also, as an added bonus you never have to worry about the water spontaneously cooling down because the heater maintains the temperature you set.

Microwave convection ovens

This is the coolest microwave ever! As you can see, it doesn’t have any number buttons – everything is just an option. Do you want toast? Just press the toast button (#4!), and your bread will come out nice and toasted on top. Want to warm up some milk to make hot cocoa? Press the hot beverage button! Want to bake a cake? Press the cake button(#8)! (And while I haven’t tried it yet I’m going to maintain that it works. I’ll get back to you on that!) Just warming up food is a little trickier because the buttons are more difficult to find, but you can do that, too. Just set the power level and time like you would at home (by pressing the minute button at the bottom). Awesome. :D

Lappi Machines

Lappi Machines are in just about every vending machine store ever. They look sort of like a miniature Redbox kiosk or an old arcade game. But they are so much more useful! You can buy all sorts of things with a Lappi machine. I’ve used it to get concert tickets, but you can use it to pay for online purchases, buy merchandise, get train tickets or tickets, make copies, and even pay bills! You can also order concert/event tickets online and pick them up at your closest convenience store. It’s super-cool.

Train Timetables

The subway system in Japan is, of course, legendary. Everyone knows about how you can get anywhere you want in Japan by subway. And it’s mostly true! In large towns like Tokyo, it is entirely possible to get anywhere you need to go by train. In Kyoto the train and bus system combined can get you anywhere. Even smaller towns like Hikone have a train station (and Hikone has 2!). What is really remarkable about it is the train schedule. Pick a day, any day, within the next three months. You can know the departure and arrival times of every train in Japan. And, if you book a trip for some random day in March, you can depend on those times still being accurate. It’s pretty cool. Hyperdia is my new hero – it’s a search engine for traveling Japan by train. I’ve looked up a lot of different routes to get to new places, and it’s a must-have resource if you ever intend to travel in Japan. Timetables rock.

Rice Cookers

This one is also a little less exciting than the others. After all, they have rice cookers in America also! But I’m still a huge fan of rice cookers. They’re versatile enough that you can use them like crock pots (and though I haven’t tried any recipes, they sound intriguing). Also, you don’t have to wait to need rice to start cooking it. You can start your cooker at, say, breakfast and have fluffy, perfect rice available for you for lunch and dinner (and perhaps even the next day, if you push it!). My roommate says it’s also great for making stews. And it’s so tiny! Very portable, very safe for use (as opposed to the fish fryer and open burners we have to deal with otherwise), and so easy. I understand why the Japanese eat rice all the time!

I hope this was enlightening. :) Have a wonderful week, and hopefully by the next time you hear from me, I will have been able to leave campus(and will maybe have an internship!).