One month in

It's officially been a month since I've left the States...it feels so surreal. I don't think that it's fully hit me that I am a) a junior in the States and thus less than two years until I graduate and I have to actually enter the real world, and b) that I am actually living in Japan and becoming accustomed to Japan's customs and daily life. I've noticed that when I point to myself instead of pointing or placing a hand to my chest as I had done previously, lately I've been pointing a finger to my face (Japanese custom). Now, I can't stop it and it's an unconscious act. However, it's little things like that remind me that I am becoming slowly assimilated into the culture which of course is much to my delight.

Despite continuing frustrations and changes, I still really like living in Japan - I could possibly see myself here in the future. Through this experience, I've also rediscovered my long-lost love for teaching children. Even as a child I had enjoyed teaching, but I left that idea sometime in high school. However, I could see myself as an English teacher here quite easily. Who knows, though - the future is so volatile that I don't bother to plan far ahead anymore. One day at a time is good for me :)

Rush hour on trains continues to amaze me in the sheer amount of people they can stuff within such a small space. Oftentimes, I see a stop approaching and a huge line of people waiting for my particular express train. The train is already full, and I think that there's no way they can fit that amount of people into this train, even with the usual amount of people disembarking. There's no way. But low and behold, almost always every single person at the approaching station will fit into the train car. It's magic, I swear.

Last weekend I visited my host aunt's house in Isu I think? I'm still vague on the actual location. All I know is that it is on the coast and I think two hours south via the Shinkansen (bullet train). Anyway, while there I met more of my host cousins; my favorite was Ryou, a soon-to-turn-two year old who was ADORABLE! He couldn't say much except "Koga?" which is supposed to be "Kore wa?" (which translates literally to "As for this?" but implies "What is this?"), and "Mama" which he would use to address me as he became more attached. He and I would look at a gigantic book full of characters from his favorite television show "アンパンマン"/"Anpanman" (anpan is a bread filled with anko, or red bean paste...so literally the main character was an anpan superhero of some sort? I didn't quite understand it...here's more information if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anpanman). I was so sad to leave him behind D:

During that stay, I also went to my first onsen (hot spring)! It was a little awkward at first - basically genders are separated and go to a huge room with a row of shower heads and then one huge hot spring that literally fills up half the room. Before even stepping into the hot spring, you must wash yourself using these shower heads (completely clean, soap and water!) and then you can enter the communal hot spring. I felt a little awkward mostly because I had no clothes on....in a huge room full of women (who also wore no clothes). It is customary to strip before entering the room containing the shower heads and hot spring, and as a prim American it was a little disconcerting at the very beginning. It only took a couple of moments to get over my shyness, and I was off! The place I entered also had an outside onsen (called 露天風呂, or rotenburo) that was magnificent - I will definitely want to go to one at night somewhere in the countryside to enjoy the night view and relaxing warm waters. Entering an onsen is usually fairly cheap, as well - I believe it was about 200 yen to enter. If you are ever in Japan, it is a must - the Japanese LOVE onsens (they're everywhere), and it's deeply rooted tradition (it's hard to find a Japanese person who does not like to go to them every now and then). It's also an enjoyable, relaxing experience ^_^

お待たせ！

Sorry for such the long wait, it's been EXTREMELY busy, with moving into my host family and starting classes....So here's an update (it will be very long...bear with me).

I've been here about three weeks now, and am finally getting into the swing of things. The first two weeks were spent with my program people exploring Tokyo, doing orientation, and getting ready to sign up for classes (we were not allowed to do that until we were physically on Waseda campus). The first week we actually spent in a hotel because we hadn't been assigned host families until the beginning of the second week there - we were in the Sakura hotel in Ikebukuro (which is surprisingly sketchy at night...), and I was in a traditional Japanese hotel room with four other girls. When I say traditional Japanese hotel room, I really mean traditional - tatami mats (mats made of rice straw - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami for more information) and futon (traditional Japanese bedding - also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futon for more information). At first my roommates and I couldn't figure out the air conditioner and were MISERABLE. That first week was especially hot (in the upper 80s or lower 90s) and we were roasting in that room. We finally found an English instruction sheet and were comfortable soon enough ^_^

During that week, we were taken to various districts of Tokyo with some Japanese students as our guides. They were all very patient with us XD With my group, I went to Shibuya and Shinjuku (both huge districts in Tokyo known for their shopping). In Shibuya, we went to a デパチ (depachi, or the basement of a department store where there are rows and rows of food stalls with almost any type of food you can think of) as well as Department 109 (basically a huge shopping building). In Shinjuku, most of the people in my group were sick of shopping so we went to a park where, to my surprise, you had to pay admission to get in. It was worth it though in my opinion, because the park was beautiful and HUGE. We couldn't even walk the whole thing, but only walked a fourth of it before having to return to our meeting place for more orientation.

As a big group, we went to Asakusa, Yokohama, Tsuji fish market, and Odaiba. We went to Tsuji fish market for lunch (I had the most delicious salmon sashimi rice bowl I've ever had in my life, and only for about $10 for a big bowl I couldn't finish) and then to Odaiba, a city on the seaside; it was absolutely beautiful. I walked with my newfound friends to a small inlet and we sat there enjoying the view. It's been awhile, so I don't remember what we did in Yokohama, but it must have left an impression or else I would have remembered. The only thing I remember from Asakusa is that a transvestite Japanese man-turn-woman came up to my group and I and said both "Hello" and "My name is Jason". Very, very random...no Asakusa after dark for me anymore, I think...

During this week before moving in with my host family, the Japanese students took those who wanted to go (which included me) to a 飲み会 (nomikai, or drinking party) where we payed roughly $22 for all you can eat and drink. The food was delicious, and you made it yourself in a grill right in front of you. It wasn't cheap food either - there was chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, and squid. Delicious! The drinks were also very good, but very weak - I was told later that they were watered down. It was fun though, laughing, carousing, eating, and drinking with both people from the program and Japanese students themselves. I learned some Japanese drinking games and songs, and had a great time.

On Monday the week after, we moved in with our host families - mine lives out in Machida-shi (about an hour and a half commute by train into Tokyo), and I have a little host brother around 4 years old, host mother, host grandfather, and host grandmother. I supposedly have a host father, but to this day (two weeks after I've moved in) I still have not met him. I know him to be a salaryman, so it's possible that I just keep missing him because I go to bed before he comes home and don't wake up until after he is gone to work? Maybe they're making him up? Not quite sure...so far living with the family is going very well. The mother and I get along very well (she herself studied abroad in London while in college), and I'm getting to know the grandparents more and more. It really is an enjoyable experience so far ^_^

Starting at the beginning of last week, classes started as well, so I am an official 留学生 (study abroad student), not just a 外人 (foreigner) ^_^ I am taking a kabuki and bunraku class (kabuki and bunraku are classical Japanese theater - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunraku and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki for more information), a class on the sociology of Japanese culture, a class on the history of modern Japan, a class on The Tale of Genji (a Japanese classic, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji for more information), and my Japanese language class. My Japanese class is so easy it's ridiculous and detrimental to my education BUT I can't move up a level because it is against Waseda University rules. So, at least I'll be getting a guaranteed "A" on my transcript...but otherwise my classes are very interesting. The lecture on Japanese modern history is very boring, but the text itself is extremely interesting. It not only captures the pure history of Japan, but also the cultural, intellectual, and economic history as well, all of them wrapped in one clean package. I really like the textbook being used in this class. If you're interested as well, it is A Modern History of Japan by Andrew Gordon (we're using the second edition). Highly suggested read ^_^

And that is all for now! I promise to try to be more consistent with this blog, I've been a bad girl lately D:

Finally!

It's Japan time! Finally made it to Japan after a very VERY long flight. After a good night's sleep, I'm rearing to go today.

Currently the to other people in the program and I are staying in a hotel in Ikebukuro (a district of Tokyo). I am lucky enough to be staying in a traditional Japanese room, including tatami (traditional mats made of some type of straw) and futon (basically mattresses that are on the ground rather than in a bed frame). It's small but beautiful! Luckily we have air conditioning (though it took us half the night to figure out how to work the damn thing until I found a instruction sheet in English) but now it's comfy and pleasant.

Today we have to interview for housing so they can try to match us with a host family/dorm that will work well for both parties as well as academic orientation.

It still hasn't sunk in that I'm going to be here for a year....I keep expecting to go home after a week of vacation and go back to Northwestern. But luckily that won't happen :D

And so....the adventure begins...

Where did my summer go??

So....I have less than a month left before I'm off. Seriously, what happened to my summer?! It feels like I've merely blinked and I have three weeks left.

Right now I'm spending my time with my mom and getting ready for the actual departure. Soon I'll be leaving to see my dad and then I'm off! I'm in the middle of getting my visa (I never want to deal with this process ever, ever again...), but overall I haven't pulled out as much hair as I thought I would going into this visa process. I'm puzzling more over what to get for my host family when I go to first meet them. I don't know who they are, nor will I know until I actually get to Japan during my orientation week. So it's really like groping through the dark here. So far I've gotten a deck of cards from Chicago and a coffee travel cup from Mall of America in Minnesota (where I am now with my mother). I was thinking of stuffing the travel cup with Lindt chocolates. I got the idea from the time when I bought some of these for my Japanese professors as a thank you present for writing my recommendation letters for the program...they were thrilled, and said that they were a luxury chocolate in Japan. I've still got to get more from San Diego (where my dad lives and where I was born and lived multiple but separate times) but still no idea what else I could buy. I guess I'll make it up as I go along...

2 months to go.....

I have no idea how I first got into Japanese - I decided to take it my senior year of high school once I had finished French, and all of the sudden I fell in love. I entered college thinking that I would just take it as my language requirement and say goodbye, but apparently it was impossible. So here I am, counting down the weeks (only 10 to go!!!) until I leave the States for Japan for 10 full months. It feels like just yesterday that I decided I would actually even go for it.

Of course, I'm looking forward to it but at the same time, I'm almost shitting my pants XD BUT I'm trying not to think about it now and just get through these months (I'm working on a farm in central Illinois....don't ask how I got myself into that.....)

Stay tuned for more updates as the countdown continues!