Life in Tsuru and Daily Classes
DAY 4-Present: Tsuru, Japan. Hey Guys! Sorry, I had a speech today in front of all the professors and tutors, so I couldn't write more until that was taken care of. More on that later... This should be the last (hopefully) bulky post for a while--the rest should be a more manageable size.
Alright, where to start? Before I do anything, I should probably show some pictures of Lisa and Kacey, since I promised that I would last time. This is Lisa in her kitchen and Kacey (front) with her tutor. Sorry about the blurriness--I tried my best with the editing software.
Well, life in Tsuru is starting to fall into a routine. Those first few days were extremely long and busy, but everything has settled down for the most part now. We had a lot of work to do with getting Alien Registration cards, opening bank accounts, applying for Japanese insurance, and testing into our classes. I ended up in Class B, the upper intermediate class. I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, I'm glad that all of those hours of studying paid off in the end, but I'm also a little apprehensive. Each day, no matter how much I prepare beforehand, I always end up getting a little lost in lecture. The new books are pretty helpful, but they use a lot of kanji and vocabulary that we haven't learned yet, so you end up having to look up every other word to understand an example. I'm sure it will get easier as I improve, though. I'm trying to stay optimistic and not slack off too much.
The general day in class B is about three hours long. The first half is usually about grammer, vocabulary, worksheets, and random things they want to throw at us. In my opinion, the first half is definitely the longest. Then we get a fifteen minute break, but with no vending machines or cafeteria in sight, that pretty much means a bathroom break and studying for the kanji quiz that we have practically every day. Then the sensei comes back and we take the quiz, learn a whole other set of kanji, and finish off with conversation / listening practice. I hate that part. I can prepare for everything else in the class, but the talking part is completely random. On Fridays, we usually do reading comprehension instead of grammer and finish with an essay. So far, Wednesdays have meant either a.) preparing for a speech, or b.) preforming a speech in front of your peers, teachers, tutors, and guests. Yay. That's what I've been doing these last few days. I decided to do a presentation on my hometown, and it worked out only because Mom and Mike were nice enough to send me pictures. Our sensei changes depending on the day. Shima-sensei seems like the senior teacher. She usually handles the reading comprehension and the speeches. Takami-sensei is a guy, and he has a different kind of charm to him. He'll be completely deadpan, and then he'll do something completely crazy without changing expression. The other day, he asked us if anyone had gone to Tokyo to see the new L movie (sadly, I was busy and couldn't go), and to clarify, he sat in chair like L with his thumb in his mouth for the entire time that he was talking to us. For those of you who don't know, that means sitting like this:
That's the average day. Class starts around 9:30 every morning, and it ends by 12:45. Then we have the afternoon to do our homework and hang out. Overall, it's not so bad.I really need to study for my midterm next Wednesday, though. There's a lot of material to cover.
Okay, on to more interesting and less depressing things. The first week that we got here, a few days before our placement test, I happened to wake up early, and decided to open the windows. Since my room is on the ground floor, I have a little metal screen that you can pull down at night. You know those things they have in malls when shops are closed? Kind of like that. It's convenient because you can lock it from the inside, and it keeps the cold out a little more. Anyways, I crawled out of my warm bed in a robe and slippers, and got down on my knees to open the screen. Outside my balcony was this:
I have to say, it's one thing to look at a picture of snow, it's quite another to actually wake up and see the world completely white. I haven't really lived anywhere where it snows since I was six, so that was a pretty cool way to start the day. It doesn't snow too often, but it tends to last for over a week when it does. And the ice is deadly. We've all gone down a few times on the way to class. Strangely enough, though, the only injury I've suffered so far was when I took a spill on my own floor and bruised up my knees. Here's my favorite shot of the hill behind our apartment.
I'm also getting a little more proficient in the kitchen. It took me a while to master omelets here because the stove is electric and the eggs have a strange consistency, but I'm making progress. Food in Japan requires an entire post, but I'll try to break it down with an easy grading system:
1.)Milk: A+ I don't know what they do, but the milk is incredible. The "lowfat" milk tastes like cream, and strawberry milk is like candy.
2.) Cheese: B- I paid three bucks for a hunk of mozarella, only to find it the size of an egg and pretty bland compared to the original.
3.) Bread: A+ It tastes like butter melting in your mouth. The raisin bread is something that I can't put into words.
4.) Produce: B+ Pretty much like American produce, but veggies don't seem to last as long here. My cilantro was wilty after two days.
5.) Eggs: B Okay, the first time I bought eggs, I broke them open and discovered that they're practically over-easy/poached already. Really hard to beat. I didn't particularly like them half-cooked in the shell. But the next ones I bought were just like American eggs.
6.) Drinks: A You haven't lived until you've had milk tea. And most of their coffee is pretty good, too.
7.) Snacks: B- The Pringles that I bought at the store didn't have as much flavor as the ones back home, but some treats are okay.
8.) Meat: Undecided. Last night, I tried my hand at cooking meat, and had half-convinced myself that I was eating some sort of animal intestine after a few bites. I'll make sure not to grab something unrecognizable next time. The pork in the potstickers is good, though.
9.) Dessert / Sweets: A++ I have decided that the absolute best thing about Japan is mochi. I love that stuff. And coffee jello. And strawberry-filled custard over chocolate. Mmm.
Here are some of the things I've managed to whip up in my kitchen so far.
My host family seems pretty nice, too. I'm going over to their house this Saturday, actually, so that should be interesting. I haven't met the father yet. The mother, Tamara-san, seems very grounded and down-to-earth. I was worried that I would have to stumble through the conversation with her staring at me blankly, but she tends to prompt me with things and make it easier for me to talk in a language that I barely know. And she's incredibly thoughtful. Last week was Valentine's Day, and I had barely thrown on a robe in the morning when I heard a knock on my door. She had braved a blizzard that morning to come give me homemade chocolates, complete with an origami card and note. I felt so touched, and hated myself for not having bought something for her as well. I made sure to give her a call later and thank her. The little girl, Manami, is turning ten (her birthday is actually the occasion I'm being invited to Saturday), and she's seems very bright for someone her age. I got her a soft blue scarf, American chocolates, and a hair pin for her birthday. I hope those are appropriate for the occasion. The little boy, Ju, is only two years old, and he's so cute! I usually can't stand little kids (that sounds harsh, but it's true), but I found him adorable. Manami plays the piano, so I've been asked to play with her as well. I just hope they're not expecting a concert of anything--I'm so rusty.
Probably one of the most interesting highlights of the last week was when we "volunteered" in a fourth grade classroom in the next town over. After class on Wednesday, Fumi-san (she's like our mom over here) piled half of us into a van and drove about half an hour out of town to this little school. I was under the impression that we would just be there to help out--you know, assist the teacher and help them with their homework...maybe say a few things in English to show them pronunciation. Stuff like that. What I was not expecting was to be some sort of guest of honor treated to coffee and expensive desserts. They made us leave our shoes at the entrance to the school and escorted us into a teacher's conference area. The blue slippers that seem to be rented everywhere in public buildings are extremely slippery and difficult to walk up stairs in. Once we got in the room, they had some high-caliber snacks waiting for us, and people who looked like professors waiting on us hand and foot. Talk about disorienting. Especially since I had practically thrown a jacket on before hand and hadn't bothered checking to make sure I looked okay. It was incredibly weird being in the presence of all these people who are just fascinated in everything you say, especially when you're just a twenty-year-old American kid who has no idea what to do. They were astounded that I spoke any Japanese at all. I think that they were under the impression that some foreign exchange students would come and speak nothing but English, because we were each assigned a translator to follow us around and clarify things. Mine was really nice, and her English was impeccable. I think Kacey got her email at the end of it all. I really wanted to drink that coffee. It was so, so good! But they herded us out pretty quickly, and I didn't want to inhale it, so there was still half a cup left when we moved to the next room. >_<
Two fourth graders were in charge of leading me to the classroom, and they took their jobs extremely seriously. It was really cute. Imagine a nine year old looking up at you and saying, "This way, Miss." I didn't want to hurt their feelings by laughing, but it was just priceless. The classroom itself was pretty much like an American classroom, but a lot cleaner (sorry, Mom and Irma), and it had cubbies in the back of the room. All of the students looked like they had been prepped in some itinerary and were waiting for me when I came in. The teacher was extremely welcoming and accommodating. Apparently, she was also seven months pregnant, but I could hardly tell at all. So, without further ado, I was put in front of a podium and faced a sea of 29 fourth graders. I was supposed to give a self-introduction in English, but I couldn't help adding a little Japanese here and there to clarify. It was the most surreal, awkward English I've ever spoken in my life. "Hello. I am (name changed to protect the innocent), and I come from California. I am twenty years old. I study history and like to watch Japanese anime." All spoken in a slow monotone so that they could catch the words. I think I'm forgetting how to speak correct English. If I start typing something that doesn't make sense, it's probably because I just got out of class or something and am still in "Japanese mode." Anyways, after I gave a short intro, they ushered me to the back and rearranged themselves for a picture like they had been rehearsing for days. It's hanging on my wall now. They literally took the picture, disappeared for five minutes, and then came back with a laminated display for me.
Where's Waldo? Can you find me?
Then the floor was opened up for a Q&A session. The kids had clipboards with questions already picked out for me. Some of them were fairly easy. "What's different about America?" I told them about driving on the right side of the road, not taking off your shoes all the time, and how the toilet, shower, and mirror are all in the same room. They were the perfect audience--gasping and laughing at the right moments like I was telling them the Earth is round for the first time or something. "Something that surprised you when you came to Japan?" That one was a little tricky, but I decided to go with Japanese ambulances. You know how you just hear the siren in America, and people are supposed to move to the side of the road? Well, in Japan, ambulances have an intercom system as well. So when they're going through a busy intersection or when people might not hear them, a very calm and polite voice comes over the speaker and says, "Please move out of the way. This is an emergency." I thought that was very cool and efficient. One boy stood up and asked me a really difficult question: "Who is your favorite Japanese historical figure?" Ah, all of those classes finally pay off. The translator had a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look to her when he asked that because I think she was worried that I was going to be uncomfortable, but it was lucky that I'm a history major. I gave a general answer about the leaders of the Shinsengumi and the Ishin Shishi, and they seemed happy about that. I also added Hayao Miyazaki even though he's not technically a historical figure.
After the questions section, they cleared the area and told me that they were going to play "Fruits Basket." Words cannot describe the geeky joy that I felt at that moment. I felt every inch the "otaku" when my mind flashed to the anime of the same name and knew exactly what they were talking about. I kept thinking about being the "rice ball" that never gets called, like Tohru. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Fruits Basket is a game kind of like a cross between musical chairs and "I've never." Everyone is a certain fruit (apple, peach, banana, grape, strawberry, lemon, cherry, etc.) and they wear a paper hat on their head with that particular fruit on it. I was a strawberry. Then, one person goes into the center of the circle and calls out one or more fruits. There is one chair too few, so all of the people called out have to scramble to get to another chair and sit down before they're all taken. If someone yells "Fruits Basket," everyone has to get up and make a mad dash for a free seat. I had difficulty moving quickly when I was about two feet taller than everyone and had a blind spot where their heads were and because those shoes didn't move well on hardwood floors. I was only in the center once, though. We played that for quite a while.
I was an "ichigo" in the Fruits Basket game.
During my intro, I made the mistake of saying that I play the piano because they happened to have a piano in the classroom. Lucky me. I don't perform well in front of crowds. Strangely enough, though, I wasn't especially nervous. It was slightly less than a full-length keyboard, so I couldn't play some of my more epic songs. I settled on a Mozart piece that stays pretty much in the center of the keyboard, and they seemed to like that. The pedal was different though. When I put my foot down, instead of lengthening the notes, it acted as a damper and muted them so much that you could barely hear them. I survived, though, and it seemed like I had only just gotten there that I had to leave. A glance at the clock told me that I had been there for two hours.
They led me back into a different lounge, and I was the first one to get back, so I chatted with some of the teachers for a while. One of the professors was the wife of a Shinto priest, so the green tea was hand ground from the temple. Wow. They also brought some mochi in, and I was so happy to see it that I took it in my hands like a hamburger and devoured it. I later learned that those toothpick things they gave us in the beginning were supposed to act as spoons, and we were supposed to pick at them over a long length of time. Well, I could just use the fact that I'm an American as an excuse. Everyone else shuffled in eventually, and they thanked us again for coming. I thought that was a bit backwards. I didn't feel like we were doing them a favor at all--it seemed like we were the ones being given the royal treatment, and I did my best to show my gratitude. Still, I was happy to get my shoes back at the end and walk normally.
Remember that sign my tutors made for me when I first got here? It's on my wall now.
I forgot to mention earlier, but that town next to Tsuru where we went...yeah, it's right at the base of Mount Fuji. It's HUGE. incredibly breathtaking. You see photos of it, but nothing prepares you for the real thing. You can't see it from Tsuru because some smaller mountains are in the way, but it's definitely within driving distance. And it came out of nowhere. I had literally turned in my seat for a few seconds to talk to Preston, and as soon as I turned back, it was right there. The one hill that had been blocking our view was suddenly gone, and my only thought was, "We're going to have to climb that in the summer?!" Apparently, there's snow on it all year 'round, and it's too treacherous to climb anytime but July through September.
Anyways, after our adventure at the elementary school, I was incredibly motivated to make my way back by foot and take pictures this time. The ride over in the car was incredibly beautiful, and it killed me not to take pictures out the window. So, I decided to make a day-trip of it that next Saturday. Kheng tagged along since she hadn't seen Mount Fuji yet and wanted a little exercise. The road over is defined by snow, rice fields, a train track going through a thicket of bamboo, and a gorgeous river. Here are some shots:
Apparently the town is called "Nishikatsura." I'm not sure if that's the same one the school was at, but he was definitely outside Tsuru. We didn't make it all the way back to the school, though. I mainly just wanted to see Mount Fuji again, and we didn't have to get up close to do that. Kheng is in pretty good shape, but she isn't used to walking so far, so we turned back after we were able to see most of Mount Fuji. Walking until we had a full view probably would have taken another hour, and we had already been going for an hour an a half. Here's the river we followed:
I'm including this solely for Dad's enjoyment. A Japanese lumber mill at the base of the mountains. Very picturesque.
What could that be around the bend...?
It's Fuji-san! Yay! Absolutely breathtaking. It's hard to tell from these pictures, but the top was actually "smoking" in that it was so cold that the air around the summit was condensing into mist and cloud, creating these vapors of white. It's annoying that those telephone lines got in the way, but it was hard to get a clear shot around all the buildings.
With our mission complete, we started to head back. We were really tired by then and looking forward to getting someplace warm. This sign was encouraging.
Crossing a bridge on the way back.
So that about covers most of the things I've been doing lately. There are still a few more details, but I'll save those for another post. I don't think I'm going to get a cell phone over here, I've had authentic udon noodles, don't care for eel, and think octopus is interesting. But that's for next time. I've finally caught up with myself...thus bringing this five part series to a close! Wish me luck tomorrow--I'm going ice skating!
P.S. By the way, I'd like to rant very quickly about how everything important happens when I go halfway around the world. Fidel Castro stepped down as leader of Cuba, Obama is up in the polls, a new country was created around Serbia, and the writer's strike is over! I mean, come on! They might as well announce that they found a cure for cancer or that Harry Potter was a girl the entire time.
Alright, where to start? Before I do anything, I should probably show some pictures of Lisa and Kacey, since I promised that I would last time. This is Lisa in her kitchen and Kacey (front) with her tutor. Sorry about the blurriness--I tried my best with the editing software.
Well, life in Tsuru is starting to fall into a routine. Those first few days were extremely long and busy, but everything has settled down for the most part now. We had a lot of work to do with getting Alien Registration cards, opening bank accounts, applying for Japanese insurance, and testing into our classes. I ended up in Class B, the upper intermediate class. I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, I'm glad that all of those hours of studying paid off in the end, but I'm also a little apprehensive. Each day, no matter how much I prepare beforehand, I always end up getting a little lost in lecture. The new books are pretty helpful, but they use a lot of kanji and vocabulary that we haven't learned yet, so you end up having to look up every other word to understand an example. I'm sure it will get easier as I improve, though. I'm trying to stay optimistic and not slack off too much.
The general day in class B is about three hours long. The first half is usually about grammer, vocabulary, worksheets, and random things they want to throw at us. In my opinion, the first half is definitely the longest. Then we get a fifteen minute break, but with no vending machines or cafeteria in sight, that pretty much means a bathroom break and studying for the kanji quiz that we have practically every day. Then the sensei comes back and we take the quiz, learn a whole other set of kanji, and finish off with conversation / listening practice. I hate that part. I can prepare for everything else in the class, but the talking part is completely random. On Fridays, we usually do reading comprehension instead of grammer and finish with an essay. So far, Wednesdays have meant either a.) preparing for a speech, or b.) preforming a speech in front of your peers, teachers, tutors, and guests. Yay. That's what I've been doing these last few days. I decided to do a presentation on my hometown, and it worked out only because Mom and Mike were nice enough to send me pictures. Our sensei changes depending on the day. Shima-sensei seems like the senior teacher. She usually handles the reading comprehension and the speeches. Takami-sensei is a guy, and he has a different kind of charm to him. He'll be completely deadpan, and then he'll do something completely crazy without changing expression. The other day, he asked us if anyone had gone to Tokyo to see the new L movie (sadly, I was busy and couldn't go), and to clarify, he sat in chair like L with his thumb in his mouth for the entire time that he was talking to us. For those of you who don't know, that means sitting like this:
That's the average day. Class starts around 9:30 every morning, and it ends by 12:45. Then we have the afternoon to do our homework and hang out. Overall, it's not so bad.I really need to study for my midterm next Wednesday, though. There's a lot of material to cover.
Okay, on to more interesting and less depressing things. The first week that we got here, a few days before our placement test, I happened to wake up early, and decided to open the windows. Since my room is on the ground floor, I have a little metal screen that you can pull down at night. You know those things they have in malls when shops are closed? Kind of like that. It's convenient because you can lock it from the inside, and it keeps the cold out a little more. Anyways, I crawled out of my warm bed in a robe and slippers, and got down on my knees to open the screen. Outside my balcony was this:
I have to say, it's one thing to look at a picture of snow, it's quite another to actually wake up and see the world completely white. I haven't really lived anywhere where it snows since I was six, so that was a pretty cool way to start the day. It doesn't snow too often, but it tends to last for over a week when it does. And the ice is deadly. We've all gone down a few times on the way to class. Strangely enough, though, the only injury I've suffered so far was when I took a spill on my own floor and bruised up my knees. Here's my favorite shot of the hill behind our apartment.
I'm also getting a little more proficient in the kitchen. It took me a while to master omelets here because the stove is electric and the eggs have a strange consistency, but I'm making progress. Food in Japan requires an entire post, but I'll try to break it down with an easy grading system:
1.)Milk: A+ I don't know what they do, but the milk is incredible. The "lowfat" milk tastes like cream, and strawberry milk is like candy.
2.) Cheese: B- I paid three bucks for a hunk of mozarella, only to find it the size of an egg and pretty bland compared to the original.
3.) Bread: A+ It tastes like butter melting in your mouth. The raisin bread is something that I can't put into words.
4.) Produce: B+ Pretty much like American produce, but veggies don't seem to last as long here. My cilantro was wilty after two days.
5.) Eggs: B Okay, the first time I bought eggs, I broke them open and discovered that they're practically over-easy/poached already. Really hard to beat. I didn't particularly like them half-cooked in the shell. But the next ones I bought were just like American eggs.
6.) Drinks: A You haven't lived until you've had milk tea. And most of their coffee is pretty good, too.
7.) Snacks: B- The Pringles that I bought at the store didn't have as much flavor as the ones back home, but some treats are okay.
8.) Meat: Undecided. Last night, I tried my hand at cooking meat, and had half-convinced myself that I was eating some sort of animal intestine after a few bites. I'll make sure not to grab something unrecognizable next time. The pork in the potstickers is good, though.
9.) Dessert / Sweets: A++ I have decided that the absolute best thing about Japan is mochi. I love that stuff. And coffee jello. And strawberry-filled custard over chocolate. Mmm.
Here are some of the things I've managed to whip up in my kitchen so far.
My host family seems pretty nice, too. I'm going over to their house this Saturday, actually, so that should be interesting. I haven't met the father yet. The mother, Tamara-san, seems very grounded and down-to-earth. I was worried that I would have to stumble through the conversation with her staring at me blankly, but she tends to prompt me with things and make it easier for me to talk in a language that I barely know. And she's incredibly thoughtful. Last week was Valentine's Day, and I had barely thrown on a robe in the morning when I heard a knock on my door. She had braved a blizzard that morning to come give me homemade chocolates, complete with an origami card and note. I felt so touched, and hated myself for not having bought something for her as well. I made sure to give her a call later and thank her. The little girl, Manami, is turning ten (her birthday is actually the occasion I'm being invited to Saturday), and she's seems very bright for someone her age. I got her a soft blue scarf, American chocolates, and a hair pin for her birthday. I hope those are appropriate for the occasion. The little boy, Ju, is only two years old, and he's so cute! I usually can't stand little kids (that sounds harsh, but it's true), but I found him adorable. Manami plays the piano, so I've been asked to play with her as well. I just hope they're not expecting a concert of anything--I'm so rusty.
Probably one of the most interesting highlights of the last week was when we "volunteered" in a fourth grade classroom in the next town over. After class on Wednesday, Fumi-san (she's like our mom over here) piled half of us into a van and drove about half an hour out of town to this little school. I was under the impression that we would just be there to help out--you know, assist the teacher and help them with their homework...maybe say a few things in English to show them pronunciation. Stuff like that. What I was not expecting was to be some sort of guest of honor treated to coffee and expensive desserts. They made us leave our shoes at the entrance to the school and escorted us into a teacher's conference area. The blue slippers that seem to be rented everywhere in public buildings are extremely slippery and difficult to walk up stairs in. Once we got in the room, they had some high-caliber snacks waiting for us, and people who looked like professors waiting on us hand and foot. Talk about disorienting. Especially since I had practically thrown a jacket on before hand and hadn't bothered checking to make sure I looked okay. It was incredibly weird being in the presence of all these people who are just fascinated in everything you say, especially when you're just a twenty-year-old American kid who has no idea what to do. They were astounded that I spoke any Japanese at all. I think that they were under the impression that some foreign exchange students would come and speak nothing but English, because we were each assigned a translator to follow us around and clarify things. Mine was really nice, and her English was impeccable. I think Kacey got her email at the end of it all. I really wanted to drink that coffee. It was so, so good! But they herded us out pretty quickly, and I didn't want to inhale it, so there was still half a cup left when we moved to the next room. >_<
Two fourth graders were in charge of leading me to the classroom, and they took their jobs extremely seriously. It was really cute. Imagine a nine year old looking up at you and saying, "This way, Miss." I didn't want to hurt their feelings by laughing, but it was just priceless. The classroom itself was pretty much like an American classroom, but a lot cleaner (sorry, Mom and Irma), and it had cubbies in the back of the room. All of the students looked like they had been prepped in some itinerary and were waiting for me when I came in. The teacher was extremely welcoming and accommodating. Apparently, she was also seven months pregnant, but I could hardly tell at all. So, without further ado, I was put in front of a podium and faced a sea of 29 fourth graders. I was supposed to give a self-introduction in English, but I couldn't help adding a little Japanese here and there to clarify. It was the most surreal, awkward English I've ever spoken in my life. "Hello. I am (name changed to protect the innocent), and I come from California. I am twenty years old. I study history and like to watch Japanese anime." All spoken in a slow monotone so that they could catch the words. I think I'm forgetting how to speak correct English. If I start typing something that doesn't make sense, it's probably because I just got out of class or something and am still in "Japanese mode." Anyways, after I gave a short intro, they ushered me to the back and rearranged themselves for a picture like they had been rehearsing for days. It's hanging on my wall now. They literally took the picture, disappeared for five minutes, and then came back with a laminated display for me.
Where's Waldo? Can you find me?
Then the floor was opened up for a Q&A session. The kids had clipboards with questions already picked out for me. Some of them were fairly easy. "What's different about America?" I told them about driving on the right side of the road, not taking off your shoes all the time, and how the toilet, shower, and mirror are all in the same room. They were the perfect audience--gasping and laughing at the right moments like I was telling them the Earth is round for the first time or something. "Something that surprised you when you came to Japan?" That one was a little tricky, but I decided to go with Japanese ambulances. You know how you just hear the siren in America, and people are supposed to move to the side of the road? Well, in Japan, ambulances have an intercom system as well. So when they're going through a busy intersection or when people might not hear them, a very calm and polite voice comes over the speaker and says, "Please move out of the way. This is an emergency." I thought that was very cool and efficient. One boy stood up and asked me a really difficult question: "Who is your favorite Japanese historical figure?" Ah, all of those classes finally pay off. The translator had a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look to her when he asked that because I think she was worried that I was going to be uncomfortable, but it was lucky that I'm a history major. I gave a general answer about the leaders of the Shinsengumi and the Ishin Shishi, and they seemed happy about that. I also added Hayao Miyazaki even though he's not technically a historical figure.
After the questions section, they cleared the area and told me that they were going to play "Fruits Basket." Words cannot describe the geeky joy that I felt at that moment. I felt every inch the "otaku" when my mind flashed to the anime of the same name and knew exactly what they were talking about. I kept thinking about being the "rice ball" that never gets called, like Tohru. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Fruits Basket is a game kind of like a cross between musical chairs and "I've never." Everyone is a certain fruit (apple, peach, banana, grape, strawberry, lemon, cherry, etc.) and they wear a paper hat on their head with that particular fruit on it. I was a strawberry. Then, one person goes into the center of the circle and calls out one or more fruits. There is one chair too few, so all of the people called out have to scramble to get to another chair and sit down before they're all taken. If someone yells "Fruits Basket," everyone has to get up and make a mad dash for a free seat. I had difficulty moving quickly when I was about two feet taller than everyone and had a blind spot where their heads were and because those shoes didn't move well on hardwood floors. I was only in the center once, though. We played that for quite a while.
I was an "ichigo" in the Fruits Basket game.
During my intro, I made the mistake of saying that I play the piano because they happened to have a piano in the classroom. Lucky me. I don't perform well in front of crowds. Strangely enough, though, I wasn't especially nervous. It was slightly less than a full-length keyboard, so I couldn't play some of my more epic songs. I settled on a Mozart piece that stays pretty much in the center of the keyboard, and they seemed to like that. The pedal was different though. When I put my foot down, instead of lengthening the notes, it acted as a damper and muted them so much that you could barely hear them. I survived, though, and it seemed like I had only just gotten there that I had to leave. A glance at the clock told me that I had been there for two hours.
They led me back into a different lounge, and I was the first one to get back, so I chatted with some of the teachers for a while. One of the professors was the wife of a Shinto priest, so the green tea was hand ground from the temple. Wow. They also brought some mochi in, and I was so happy to see it that I took it in my hands like a hamburger and devoured it. I later learned that those toothpick things they gave us in the beginning were supposed to act as spoons, and we were supposed to pick at them over a long length of time. Well, I could just use the fact that I'm an American as an excuse. Everyone else shuffled in eventually, and they thanked us again for coming. I thought that was a bit backwards. I didn't feel like we were doing them a favor at all--it seemed like we were the ones being given the royal treatment, and I did my best to show my gratitude. Still, I was happy to get my shoes back at the end and walk normally.
Remember that sign my tutors made for me when I first got here? It's on my wall now.
I forgot to mention earlier, but that town next to Tsuru where we went...yeah, it's right at the base of Mount Fuji. It's HUGE. incredibly breathtaking. You see photos of it, but nothing prepares you for the real thing. You can't see it from Tsuru because some smaller mountains are in the way, but it's definitely within driving distance. And it came out of nowhere. I had literally turned in my seat for a few seconds to talk to Preston, and as soon as I turned back, it was right there. The one hill that had been blocking our view was suddenly gone, and my only thought was, "We're going to have to climb that in the summer?!" Apparently, there's snow on it all year 'round, and it's too treacherous to climb anytime but July through September.
Anyways, after our adventure at the elementary school, I was incredibly motivated to make my way back by foot and take pictures this time. The ride over in the car was incredibly beautiful, and it killed me not to take pictures out the window. So, I decided to make a day-trip of it that next Saturday. Kheng tagged along since she hadn't seen Mount Fuji yet and wanted a little exercise. The road over is defined by snow, rice fields, a train track going through a thicket of bamboo, and a gorgeous river. Here are some shots:
Apparently the town is called "Nishikatsura." I'm not sure if that's the same one the school was at, but he was definitely outside Tsuru. We didn't make it all the way back to the school, though. I mainly just wanted to see Mount Fuji again, and we didn't have to get up close to do that. Kheng is in pretty good shape, but she isn't used to walking so far, so we turned back after we were able to see most of Mount Fuji. Walking until we had a full view probably would have taken another hour, and we had already been going for an hour an a half. Here's the river we followed:
I'm including this solely for Dad's enjoyment. A Japanese lumber mill at the base of the mountains. Very picturesque.
What could that be around the bend...?
It's Fuji-san! Yay! Absolutely breathtaking. It's hard to tell from these pictures, but the top was actually "smoking" in that it was so cold that the air around the summit was condensing into mist and cloud, creating these vapors of white. It's annoying that those telephone lines got in the way, but it was hard to get a clear shot around all the buildings.
With our mission complete, we started to head back. We were really tired by then and looking forward to getting someplace warm. This sign was encouraging.
Crossing a bridge on the way back.
So that about covers most of the things I've been doing lately. There are still a few more details, but I'll save those for another post. I don't think I'm going to get a cell phone over here, I've had authentic udon noodles, don't care for eel, and think octopus is interesting. But that's for next time. I've finally caught up with myself...thus bringing this five part series to a close! Wish me luck tomorrow--I'm going ice skating!
P.S. By the way, I'd like to rant very quickly about how everything important happens when I go halfway around the world. Fidel Castro stepped down as leader of Cuba, Obama is up in the polls, a new country was created around Serbia, and the writer's strike is over! I mean, come on! They might as well announce that they found a cure for cancer or that Harry Potter was a girl the entire time.