The Spring semester of KCJS is now underway! Just within this first week, a lot has happened. I came down with carpal tunnel, made my first visit to the doctor, considered changing host families, and decided to tough it out where I am. This semester, I'm taking a Women's Studies course all in Japanese. It's been pretty interesting and manageable thus far. And the new KCJS kids seem like a good bunch. There are a lot of new faces, though, and I'm still learning names. I know that I still haven't written about my winter break yet - I'll be putting those up as 'flashbacks' as I get around to writing them.
As a whole, not that much has happened this semester. I'm still contacting groups that I'm interested in joining, mostly non-collegiate circles. Japanese college students have break from February to April, so most club activities stop as well. I plan to continue Kyudo, but until my wrist gets better, I have to take a break from it.
Today, we had an Exchange Party with Japanese students. By which I mean, our 38 exchange students, and 3 Japanese students. We had ordered food for 80 people. Remember, Japanese universities are in finals season, so most kids were busy. Three or four more showed up midway, but the format wound up being one Japanese person at a table and seven or eight of us. We didn't get much farther than self introductions and small talk while eating the sandwiches and muffins that were provided for lunch.
Afterwards, though, five of us wound up taking six Japanese students to the cafe, where we talked for a good three hours. It was great, really. I feel like my motivation to keep meeting people has returned. Look out Kyoto, here I come!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Take it to the South: Crab-Eating Adventures in Shirahama
My glorious winter vacation began as I woke up at an ungodly hour and
prepared for my departure. As soon as I started loading up the car,
however, I immediately regretted the amount of baggage I had with me.
One suitcase, one backpack, one shoulder bag, and one keyboard. It
wasn't easy getting all that in the car. To be honest, it wasn't easy
getting all of that around the train stations either. There were times I
was forced to leave one bag behind, carry the other up some stairs, and
then return for the second one.
I was wiped two hours later when I arrived in Amagasaki, having dragged my bags to the Fujiwara household. Everyone was surprised that I was crazy/dumb enough to bring my keyboard with me, including myself. Luckily, I was able to ditch most of my bags at their house before we departed again, this time for warmer climes.
Hidehiro led our party around the station at Shin-Osaka, looking for our bus. It took a bit, but we eventually made it onboard. I spent most of the time "practicing Japanese", by which I mean Animal Crossing. Masako (Haruhi's mother) teased me about it, since it is a game for kids. Ah well, it's fun!
The bus stopped halfway at Kuroshio Ichiba, a fish market close to Shirahama, our destination. It was hopping, and the main even appeared to be the maguro show, where a chef would slice up a tuna in front of the crowd. Masako shoved me through the crowd, telling them that I was a foreigner who really wanted to see it. I was actually more interested in eating, but she told me I should take advantage of being foreign and go up front. I didn't think it was fair to the others, but she wouldn't let me object. Reminds me of my mom, actually.
Finally, Hidehiro came to the rescue, reminding us that we needed to eat before the bus left. We picked a restaurant on the second floor, and got the tuna bowl sets. Fresh tuna over a bowl of rice, yum. I got to try tororo, this sticky grated yam thing that most foreigners don't like. Guess who likes it now?
An hour and a half later, the bus arrived at our hotel. Well, I should probably say resort. Shirahama is best known for its white beaches, but it was too cold to go swimming (it was a lot warmer than Kyoto though!) Of course, beaches aren't Shirahama's only selling point - our resort had a hot spring attached to it.
After checking in, we picked our yukata and headed up to the rooms. I was about to grab this one yukata, when some old lady grabbed it for herself. How nice. Masako wasn't a fan of her room, so in the end we decided everyone would sleep in our Japanese style room. Just like a real family! We all went for a walk around the complex to get used to our bearings, and then the girls decided to head to the baths. I wanted to see the area before it got dark, so Hide and I went off to explore.
We made our way down to the beaches, which were absolutely gorgeous. Splendid white sand, and sparkling blue water. We sat by the ocean for a while, walked over to the pier, and looked over the sea. Man, I wanna go back in the summertime!
We had a lot of time left before dinner, so we decided to hit the baths after all. It was awesome - they had an inside and outside bath, plus a sauna and some other gizmos. We had a nice long soak, which was just what I needed after all the travel. I also got to try shampoo made with...horse oils, assuming I'm not mistaken. Logically, my hair should be long and flowy like a horse's mane, right?
By the time we got out of the bath, I was starving. When it was finally time to eat, we made our way to our table, and the main objective of our trip revealed itself: all you can eat crab! For side dishes, there was a huge variety of sushi, fish, salad, fruits, noodles and rice dishes. But I mostly ignored those, and focused on the piles of crab they served up. I definitely ate the most crab, and as it turns out, my crab-eating form is totally American. Omnomnomnom. Delicious crab.
I stopped eating around the time I was too full too move, and the obi on my yukata had been swallowed up by my very full belly. Opting for some light exercise, we all played ping pong (being careful not to whack the yakuza with the ball) for an hour, and called it a night.
The next morning, after breakfast, we hit the baths again, and then went to karaoke. Unfortunately, they had the old system where you had to look songs up in books and plug them in to the remote control. So retro. Reminds me of what they had back when I was here three years ago. They still had a decent selection of songs, so it all worked out in the end. Afterwards, we hung out in the lobby waiting for the bus, since we had nothing better to do. Oh, and on the way home, I tried out Fire Emblem on my 3DS. Too many furigana-less kanji! What's a guy to do?
That evening, I went over my parents' travel plans with Masako. She helped book better, more conveniently located hotels for my parents, which would turn out to be a lifesaver a week later. I spent the night at their house, and the following day embarked on my journey to the north.
I was wiped two hours later when I arrived in Amagasaki, having dragged my bags to the Fujiwara household. Everyone was surprised that I was crazy/dumb enough to bring my keyboard with me, including myself. Luckily, I was able to ditch most of my bags at their house before we departed again, this time for warmer climes.
Hidehiro led our party around the station at Shin-Osaka, looking for our bus. It took a bit, but we eventually made it onboard. I spent most of the time "practicing Japanese", by which I mean Animal Crossing. Masako (Haruhi's mother) teased me about it, since it is a game for kids. Ah well, it's fun!
The bus stopped halfway at Kuroshio Ichiba, a fish market close to Shirahama, our destination. It was hopping, and the main even appeared to be the maguro show, where a chef would slice up a tuna in front of the crowd. Masako shoved me through the crowd, telling them that I was a foreigner who really wanted to see it. I was actually more interested in eating, but she told me I should take advantage of being foreign and go up front. I didn't think it was fair to the others, but she wouldn't let me object. Reminds me of my mom, actually.
Finally, Hidehiro came to the rescue, reminding us that we needed to eat before the bus left. We picked a restaurant on the second floor, and got the tuna bowl sets. Fresh tuna over a bowl of rice, yum. I got to try tororo, this sticky grated yam thing that most foreigners don't like. Guess who likes it now?
An hour and a half later, the bus arrived at our hotel. Well, I should probably say resort. Shirahama is best known for its white beaches, but it was too cold to go swimming (it was a lot warmer than Kyoto though!) Of course, beaches aren't Shirahama's only selling point - our resort had a hot spring attached to it.
After checking in, we picked our yukata and headed up to the rooms. I was about to grab this one yukata, when some old lady grabbed it for herself. How nice. Masako wasn't a fan of her room, so in the end we decided everyone would sleep in our Japanese style room. Just like a real family! We all went for a walk around the complex to get used to our bearings, and then the girls decided to head to the baths. I wanted to see the area before it got dark, so Hide and I went off to explore.
We made our way down to the beaches, which were absolutely gorgeous. Splendid white sand, and sparkling blue water. We sat by the ocean for a while, walked over to the pier, and looked over the sea. Man, I wanna go back in the summertime!
We had a lot of time left before dinner, so we decided to hit the baths after all. It was awesome - they had an inside and outside bath, plus a sauna and some other gizmos. We had a nice long soak, which was just what I needed after all the travel. I also got to try shampoo made with...horse oils, assuming I'm not mistaken. Logically, my hair should be long and flowy like a horse's mane, right?
By the time we got out of the bath, I was starving. When it was finally time to eat, we made our way to our table, and the main objective of our trip revealed itself: all you can eat crab! For side dishes, there was a huge variety of sushi, fish, salad, fruits, noodles and rice dishes. But I mostly ignored those, and focused on the piles of crab they served up. I definitely ate the most crab, and as it turns out, my crab-eating form is totally American. Omnomnomnom. Delicious crab.
I stopped eating around the time I was too full too move, and the obi on my yukata had been swallowed up by my very full belly. Opting for some light exercise, we all played ping pong (being careful not to whack the yakuza with the ball) for an hour, and called it a night.
The next morning, after breakfast, we hit the baths again, and then went to karaoke. Unfortunately, they had the old system where you had to look songs up in books and plug them in to the remote control. So retro. Reminds me of what they had back when I was here three years ago. They still had a decent selection of songs, so it all worked out in the end. Afterwards, we hung out in the lobby waiting for the bus, since we had nothing better to do. Oh, and on the way home, I tried out Fire Emblem on my 3DS. Too many furigana-less kanji! What's a guy to do?
That evening, I went over my parents' travel plans with Masako. She helped book better, more conveniently located hotels for my parents, which would turn out to be a lifesaver a week later. I spent the night at their house, and the following day embarked on my journey to the north.
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