could not have asked for better :)

this is only a part of my room ^_^

to name a few reasons...

1. my host parents are amazingly warm and interesting people.
2. the grandchildren and lulu are so much fun.
3. my room has fans and AC ~ which is a pretty big deal in japan, i guess [concerning homestay situations anyway]
   
4. my room is HUGE. and is complete with cable, dvd/vcr player, and a playstation.
5. no curfew.　[still good to be home at a reasonable hour though.]
6. mama tends to my food likes and dislikes. [before japan, i've been a pretty picky eater... getting better]
7. i'm allowed to use their phone and kitchen. [homestays are not required to provide either]
8. i may shower in the morning or evening. [some families only bathe at night]
9. drinking is allowed in the house. [responsibly, of course.]
10. wireless internet && printer!
11. the house is very traditional. [sliding doors ~ which i love ^_^ !]
12. commuting time is relatively short.
13. mama will cook lunch for me every weekend. [homestays are not required to do so.]
14. pool in the backyard!
15. widescreen HD tv in living room.

.... are those reasons sufficient enough? それだけ大丈夫？ ^_^

the wonderful 中村 family!

yeah, i know i need a better picture of mama && papa LOL 

my host family is awesome!  mama is so incredibly nice and cooks extremely yummy food ^_^ ! papa works for horiba and lectures part-time at doshisha's tanabe campus. he's also an engineer and has spent a great amount of time with his students building a racecar from scratch. i was lucky enough to watch them practice on saturday before the nationwide competition next week.

 

formula project ~ http://www.jsae.or.jp/formula/index.html

mama and i went to the library to read while papa had his meeting. afterwards, they took me out to dinner. soba noodles. とてもおいしかった ^_^！that same day, i met more of the family. they have three children ~ two daughters, emi and mari, and a son named keita. emi has a 12-year old daughter named hana and a 9-year old son named shinpei. they live about a 5-minute walk away. keita, on the other hand, lives right next door with his three sons ~ 7-year old naoki, 5-year old kento, and 3-year kazuma. they are absolutely adorable! it's like having a ton of little brothers ^_^ ! i have yet to see mari's side of the family. she lives farther away with her 4-year old daughter haru.

kazuma :)

and i can't forget lulu ^_^ !  she's a cute little chubby welsh corgi. she begs for attention--and i give it to her lol :) i have short video clips of her online ~ ask me for the links if you want to see them.

lulu-chan with the bone i brought her from home ^_^ !

note to self

.... ask mama where the light switch for the living room is.

i just had to navigate my way through the house to the bathroom in the [practically] pitch-black darkness.  that was fun ~ considering how much i like being alone in the dark >_<

akp welcome party

the beautiful midd girls :)

i went home with the 中村 [ nakamura ] family after the akp welcome party friday night. everyone was anxiously waiting in the banquet room lobby for the arrival of the families. it seemed as though mine would never come, as i was the last one left waiting of the midd kids. finally, kuwata-san pulled me aside to introduce me to my host mother. mama was dressed in a traditional kimono ~ 本当に素晴らしい！ i didn't feel overwhelmingly nervous, but i definitely got really hot really quickly. she told me to relax and said that she had been a little nervous too.

dinner was extremely おいしかった！ many speeches were given, but one in particular について、the presenter commented that if one understood 100% of what he said, then it was very impressive. well, i didn't understand it 100%, but probably around 90-95%. i felt pretty good at that moment ^_^  

anyway, if i had written this post friday night, then there probably would've been more details about the welcome party.  the banquet really pales in comparison to the fun i had with my family this weekend. 

nakedness in the public bath

google image result of a sento

danielle, erin, mia, and i went to the 銭湯 [ public bath ] together tonight. what an interesting and unique experience! we had been given free tickets and decided to take advantage. anyway, so we go to the public bath underneath kyoto tower hotel, check out a couple lockers, and head to the bathing area. we get into the changing room [ little hallway with more lockers ] and realize that one had to be fully unclothed upon entering the bathing area. after some expected giggling/nervous energy, we finally dropped our towels and embraced the experience.

we sat on little stools in front of the showers and thoroughly washed our selves from head to toe with the other women in there. then after wrapping our hair in a small towel, we entered the extremely hot bath in the middle of the room and soaked for a while. it was an amazing experience, and i hope to do it again one day soon ^_^

http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=359&pID=318

like two personal assistants

where we had lunch :)

after making it to campus on our own this morning and getting through homestay orientation, we each met up with two student volunteers from doshisha.  they were responsible to showing us how to get to class from our houses, helping us apply for alien registration cards, and making sure we had the proper forms to get commuting passes when we get our student id cards next week. it might not sound like much, but aya-san and masato-san were with me all day long. 

we began by going out to lunch at a nearby restaurant.  the food was really good, but i didn’t even finish half of my [alfredo sauce?] pasta—let alone the bread, mini-salad, and soup.  we each ordered our choices off the menu by putting yen into a vending machine to receive a ticket indicating what we wanted.  i wonder if there’s anything like that in the united states. 

after lunch, we took the subway and hankyu in order to get to my house. unfortunately, the map we were provided was not very clear, and we lost our way several times. it appeared no one was home, but we could hear loud [and scary-sounding] barking coming from within. i wondered if it could’ve been my host dog. anyway, we headed back to the hankyu to go one stop further to kami-katsura, where i would apply for my alien registration card. the process was relatively long, but luckily, some of the other akp students were waiting with their respective doshisha students as well. 

they decided to go to a karaoke bar for the evening. as interesting as that sounded, i was ready to head back to the hotel and get some rest. i was exhausted to say the very least. however, not wanting to rain on the parade, i agreed and went along. but because i’m a terrible singer, and because i don’t know too many japanese songs, it wasn’t all that fun for me. still, i was very grateful for everything that aya-san and masato-san did for me today. and after a little while, i was finally free to run to the comfort of my hotel room! 

…but who knew that my friends and i would be getting naked together in a public bath later that night? 

^_^

raw fish && cheap fruity beer

*update*

so this actually has a name ~ kaitenzushi, or "conveyor belt sushi"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conveyor_belt_sushi

we decided on a small sushi restaurant for dinner tonight. we sat down in a booth and watched plates of food go by on a conveyor belt. customers help themselves to whatever they want by lifting a plastic cover and removing the sushi off of it. the design on the plates correspond to a price, so the tab is kept by the empty plates on the table. unfortunately, i didn't have anything. i really had my heart set on some いなり [ rice in fried tofu ] or かっぱまき [ cucumber roll ]、but they never made an appearance on the belt, so i didn't have anything from the restaurant. i was reluctant [ complete understatement ] to try raw fish. i did sample the tiniest bit of raw salmon though. it tasted... really fishy?

i bought some yummy seaweed おにぎり [ onigiri ] and apple-flavored beer from a コンビ二 [ convenience store ] afterwards. the girls and i had planned on trying the public bath tonight, but time got away from us. so instead, we put on yukata, drank beer, and hung out in my hotel room. even though we elected not to do karaoke with some of the other students tonight, i thoroughly enjoyed the company of my friends.

after orientation this week, we will [ hopefully ] make friends with some doshisha students. but i'm not going to feel guilty for "staying in the comfort zone" by spending time with the midd girls because we're already really good friends--we're not sticking by each other solely on the grounds of attending the same college. it doesn't make sense to ignore the people i love hanging out with ~ though that is not to say that we can't make friends with others too.

bic camera

...is an amazing electronics store. it's huge! i think there were six floors altogether, but it seems like one could find virtually everything there. my friends and i walked there together, but we wound up splitting up into small groups. mia and i wandered around and found probably over a hundred different types of photo albums and photo frames! they were all so かわいい [ cute ] and hard to resist buying. we each got a "therapy color" photo album and a case for our 電子辞書 [ electronic dictionary ]. i had searched high-and-low for a case on the internet before but couldn't find anything. minutes after walking into bic camera, we came across a small wall completely full of them. furthermore, i found a pale pink/chocolate one, and mia chose a pretty orange one ^_^

on another floor, countless models of clocks were showcased. since my LG chocolate is of no use to me in japan, i was left without a method of keeping time and no way to ensure i won't oversleep. scanning the walls and displays for something in my favorite color, i mentally eliminated all of them but one. and this one was perfect. this clock is pink in color, egg-shaped, and includes features such as temperature, calendar, timer, and alarm. however, the awesome thing about this egg clock is that each feature [ when backlit ] is in a different color, and the backlight is activated when it is thrown off balance--meaning, this clock literally rocks [ all in directions about its base ] without falling over. && it's portable!

but shopping aside, mia and i struggled to understand what a bic camera "point card" was. the cashier was patiently trying to explain to us the benefits of having one, but we just got really confused. then i found an explanation sheet in english at the counter, and we finally figured it out. however, it took a few tries to express that i wanted to apply for one. the difficulties in communication didn't end there though. i needed a phone number, and i hadn't memorized mine yet--so mia gave me hers to use. but then, i needed an address. luckily, after writing it five times for my luggage tags and customs declaration forms, it had made its way into my long-term memory. the problem then came down to putting that address onto to paper--but in kanji... long story short, after all the communication issues, mia and i both have bic camera point cards now :)

everyone else was waiting for us outside the building at this point. somehow, we got "lost" on the second floor. when we realized we weren't on the ground floor, we headed towards the escalator to take us down. however, we first came to the one coming down from the third story, so we turned around and kept looking. the next one we came to would take us up to the fourth floor. after some more wandering, we finally found our way out.

the end.

^_^

p.s. rain + flip flops = bad idea.

first day of orientation

i'm getting so excited for this year! orientation has been fun and not the slightest bit overwhelming so far. my day started at 6:30am because i just couldn't stay asleep any longer. we had breakfast in the hotel, and i did something i'm not really used to doing--trying new food! i tried everything [ minus the pickles ] to the right of the rice, which included strange things i've never seen before. most friends know that this is highly uncharacteristic of me. even i was surprised for doing that. before arriving in japan, i was convinced that i wouldn't step out of my [ dietary ] comfort zone.

anyway, we headed out as a group after breakfast for doshisha's imadegawa campus by subway. the seats are cushioned! and i found myself at ease--as opposed to being completely on guard in nyc. the campus is merely several hundred feet from the station, which should be nice in the winter months.

i had ごほうてんぷら [ some kind of veggie tempura ] for lunch. it was delicious! and it only cost ￥110! the cafeteria is relatively small, but it's very cozy in that respect.

then at 2pm, we were turned loose in the computer lab--and here i am ^_^ ! but time's up, and now i'm off to explore kyoto!

finally in japan!

after a six-hour flight to san francisco and an eleven-hour flight to osaka, i've made it to kyoto!  i'll be staying at the kyoto tower hotel with the other AKP students until friday.  after the welcome party friday night, i'll be going home with my host family.  i'm so excited to meet them!

it still hasn't hit me yet.  i'm in japan!  after settling down in my hotel room, i went to a nearby convenience store with my friends, bought お弁当 (lunch box) with お酒 (alcohol--in this case, sparkling wine) for dinner, and wandered around kyoto for a little bit. breakfast is at 8am or so tomorrow morning, so i should get some sleep soon.

i'll try to blog more (and in more detail) later this week, but the flights were fine and comfortable.  the entire process was actually rather smooth-sailing.  i had no trouble with customs, and AKP staff were right around the corner to greet us.  our large luggage were shipped to our homestays, and after a two-hour bus ride, we arrived in kyoto from kansai airport.

and the journey begins... [part one]

mom & grandpa dropping me off at jfk :)

i went to bed after i got off the phone with matt around 1am. everyone else was already asleep, so i was talking in the bathroom as not to wake anyone up.  i really didn’t sleep too well.  i tossed and turned because the taxi service was going to take me to JFK at 5am, and i still had not finished packing. 

upon entering JFK, the first thing i noticed was the huge line at check-in.  much to my dismay, the line was actually a lot longer than what it had appeared to be at first sight, wrapping around the corner and then extending some 50 meters or so.  i was definitely glad i had arrived an hour and a half before boarding time.  however, it wasn’t until about five or ten minutes later that i realized I was standing in the wrong line. 

luckily, the line for united—not us airways—was short and much less intimidating.  i scanned my passport, but i received the same error message [something like, length of stay exceeds limit] when i had tried to check-in online the day before.  i was directed to a representative, and he got me taken care of—it was pretty painless.  as soon as i exited the check-in, i saw nestor and his family come in.  i ran to give him a hug and waited for him to get through check-in. 

going through security was relatively smooth-sailing too—until they found my nalgene with some water in it.  i just had to empty it at a nearby water fountain, but i had to go through everything all over again. 

>_>

*the rest of the story to come soon... i keep finding drafts of blog entries on my pc while i'm cleaning up some folders =]*

just a few more to go...

i’ve disappeared from this blog for over a month, and now i find myself on a greyhound bus headed for boston, where i’ll board another to nyc.  in three days, i’ll leave for kyoto from the san francisco airport after a six-hour flight out of jfk.  

it’s hard to imagine that the 9-week program is already over.  i finished with a grade much better than i had expected—i’m very pleased.  however, it goes without saying, the letter grade is rather insignificant to the overall experience.  

*the rest of the story to come soon... i keep finding drafts of blog entries on my pc while i'm cleaning up some folders =]*

sometimes anger & frustration are the best kind of motivation

[ ughh... i keep breaking the language pledge for this blog ]

we received back our tests from friday this afternoon.  i was sure that my cumulative grade so far was around a C+. well during the short meeting with the head teacher, i find out that in fact, i have an A- right now. i apologized and asserted that i was a bad student. his response? my standards are probably really high. (i don't think so, but going by what past teachers have always said, i guess some things never change.) according to sensei, if i try really hard, i might be able to earn an A. i guess the other teachers also think that entering third-year was probably a good choice for me. that made me feel better. but only ever so slightly.

soccer practice. fun. as always. however, i must have stopped about ten times to try to alleviate the pain from the blister. (moleskin, advanced healing blister band-aid, more moleskin, and finally, athletic tape to hold everything in place.) i've come to really love soccer ~ even the hard practices. we have an important game against the portugese school this wednesday, but i really doubt i'll be close to 90%. the problem is, there must be two (maybe three?) female players on the field at all times, so i'll have to be on top of my game. i did order new cleats ~ but i won't have time to break them in---they'll be arriving just hours before the game. *sigh*

i've calmed down since this afternoon, but...

love the water...

[ again, in the interest of keeping the blog updated... english only]

because the blister had turned into an open wound, it's nearly impossible to wear anything but sandals/flip-flops. after dinner, i had planned on using the bike at the gym in flip-flops, but then decided it was probably a bad idea once i got to the fitness center. since danielle was going swimming, i entertained that possibility. even though i didn't have my bikini with me, we thought i could likely get by with shorts and a t-shirt. (we were right.)

i got a pretty decent workout in the pool, despite being a poor swimmer. actually, i'll probably swim as my main mode of exercise until my heel/back of the ankle gets better.

next game is wednesday against the portugese school. we'll probably have an unofficial practice on sunday, in addition to a scheduled practice on monday. i REALLY hope (with the help of band-aid's "advanced healing blister cushions") that i'll be close to 100% by game day. *crosses fingers*

やった！ 勝ち！

今日、サッカーの試合があって、ヘブライ語学校とあらそって、５対３で勝ちました！　楽しかったけど、スパイクで水ぶくれができた。
>_< 小さいすぎるかもしれないから、明日新しいスパイクを買おうと思う。

hooray! victory!
we had a soccer game against the hebrew school today and won 5 to 3! i had fun, but i got a blister from my cleats.
:(
i think i'm going to buy new cleats tomorrow because they're probably too small.

「可笑しい」をわすれられない

今本当に「おかしい」をわすれられない。

前に、わすれしてまったけど、「い」に「何か」を付け加えるなら、「私が考えている字」になる ~ これ、覚えた。　この「何か」はもう語だけど、どの字をわすれた。

「おかし」はおいしい食べ物の一種だ。　「おかしい」と「面白い」は大体同じの意味だ。

「おかし」。。。「おかしい」。。。

i can't forget the word "funny" now
i had forgotten the word for "funny", but i had remembered that if one added "い " to an already existing [common] word - sweets/candy, one would come up with "funny". however, i had forgotten the word for "sweets/candy" as well.

"okashi" is sweets, candy..... while "okashii" means funny, amusing, strange, etc

"okashi" versus "okashii"...

>_<

friends in this entry: danielle, elliot, and carter
context: i wanted to show them the personals in seven days, but they protested that doing such a thing violates the language pledge. i was trying to attest that it was "funny" (aka worth reading), but couldn't come up with the word for "funny". i then tried to explain my thinking process (in japanese), but they eventually just wound up laughing at how hard i was trying to get them to understand. it didn't take long for them to come up with the word "funny" for me, but it took the entire way from the gym to coffrin before danielle finally understood what i was trying to explain (and then found another way to say the same thing to the guys) *sigh*

a weekend of yummy japanese food, shopping, and dance parties

in the interest of [time and] keeping up with the blog, today's (july 1) entries will be written in english only...

on saturday, my teachers cooked dinner for 中級一 (equiv. of third-year). it was extremely yummy! everyone ate until s/he couldn't eat anymore, and then ate some more! cold noodles were served with our choice of vegetables, shrimp, and various other flavorings. i forget what dessert was called, but it was similar to something i have had during a chinese holiday celebration.

anyway, the weekend began with a trip to burlington. skipping out on lunch at middlebury, my friends and i went to the sakura bana restaurant on church street. i had the vegetable tempura and vegetable gyoza ~ it was absolutely delicious! of course, we were speaking in japanese the entire time (except when we had to communicate our orders to the waiter). because we adhered to the language pledge, we got strange looks and stares from passing people upon hearing us speak japanese.

after lunch, we split up into two groups---shopping in the mall vs. watching wall-e. i choose shopping, naturally ^_^ i had misplaced my water bottle, so i bought a new one from victoria's secret ~ it is perfect! i also had to replace my earbuds... long story involving theft a month ago... overall, it was an awesome time with my friends.

that friday night, my teachers threw us another party in coffrin lounge. マルちゃん, my friend melida, dj'ed the dance. the middkids and a few others danced the night away, but to my [slight] disappointment, everyone else stood around the perimeter of the dance floor. afterwards, we gathered a large group of people to go to the grille with us, including several friends who are working on campus over summer. my teachers later joined us too. it made for quite the interesting conclusion of the night, for copious amounts of alcohol were involved...

staying active!

i joined martial arts, soccer, and volleyball as planned from day one. so far, it's been incredibly enjoyable. martial arts is every tuesday afternoon at 2pm. today's class was led by my friend elliot, whose focus is kung fu. the sun was beating down on us, but i loved learning the various kicks and the introductory kata. it was very rewarding!

tomorrow, i have my first soccer match against the hebrew school. we've only had two official practices, but i've been scrimmaging with some of the guys from japanese school---so hopefully, we'll be okay. after yesterday's practice of running warm-up laps, doing drills, practicing [easy] plays, scrimmaging.... i realized that i really missed organized sports. these nine weeks are hardly any time at all, but i'll take what i can get!

i'm not an amazing volleyball player, but i can hold my own. although the volleyball club has a set practice time, one can usually find a group of people playing on the court at any given time. i've walked past with an agenda before, only to stop what i was doing and join in on the game. and i just want to note that my teachers are SKILLED.

when these clubs aren't meeting, my friends and i hit the gym and/or pool. lately, i've been warming up on the elliptical for about thirty minutes, and then do some lifting (up to 70lbs on the lat pull now!) and abs/balance/ flexibility exercises (for cheerleading). i have yet to conquer my fear of swimming in the deep end of the pool, but i hope to overcome that soon. just before language school, while swimming in the big eddy (bath, nh) with jen h. at one point, i found myself not being able to touch ground. however, instead of panicking, which i expected myself to do, i calmly treaded water (while yelling for jen) and got myself back into "swimming position". after this experience, i'm confident that i'd be okay in the deep end---but still, it's a psychological thing...

no more paperwork! for now, anyway :)

i have finished the card for my host family, the short essay for the freeman grant, and the other miscellaneous requirements. all my forms and materials for akp are sealed in an envelope, ready to go out tomorrow afternoon when i visit the mail center.

everything is also set for the freeman-asia award. i hope to receive as close to the $7000 award maximum as possible. the application process was a bit involved, but it wasn't difficult to complete. (it was definitely worth taking the time to apply.)

and now, i sit back and wait to hear about my to-be host family :)

trial & error

i received a "B" on the oral presentation, along with teacher comments. my strong points included all elements of a well-delivered speech (volume, speed, etc). my weaknesses had to do with my level of preparedness. because i couldn't interview 村松先生 [muramatsu-sensei] until sunday evening, i only had one day to write and memorize the script (and prepare a powerpoint presentation). next time, i'll do everything i can to commit my speech to memory.

my test score from last friday was subpar, but i'll redeem myself this friday. i lost valuable points to silly mistakes, such as rushing and carelessly confusing chinese characters with japanese kanji.

classes have been manageable and extremely interesting. i can honestly say that the four hours of instruction is often over before i realize it. (and then, it's lunchtime!) yesterday, fourth period was spent writing new lyrics to the song ありがとう [arigatou] using targeted grammar points. then, 高橋先生 [takahashi-sensei] played our new song on his guitar while 田中先生 [tanaka-sensei] sang it---it was hilarious and so entertaining. another day, we read a short manga and learned some examples of 擬音語 [giongo], or japanese onomatopoeia, which is heavily prevalent in the language. earlier that same day, we learned popular japanese abbreviations (as used in IMs, texts, etc) and created some of our own. the class' favorite was unanimously JBB, or じぶビ [ji-bu-bi], short for じぶんのビールを持って行く, the equivalent of our b.y.o.b. ^_^