1.5 months has already gone by since the last post and 2.5 months since I have been in Japan. That is a crazy thought and feeling and I continue to be happy to live here in Japan, apart from missing my most amazing family (not without problems). One thing I really enjoy about being in another country is that if I ever want to have an adventure, all I have to do is step outside my door and remember that I am in Japan. I have had a few dreams where I was back home and then I wake up and remember where I am.
Some things that stand out to me since my arrival are difficulties of the Japanese language. Every now and then I will have times where I think I have got it and I can speak Japanese and then something new the next day or in a conversation will be thrown at me. Learning a language is definitely a long and difficult process, but so far it has been worth it. Another is how many good friends God has blessed me with here. I am truly thankful for every person I have been able to meet.
The School
Festival:
It is popular for schools in Japan to have a school festival. At the school festival most of the clubs on campus are selling some kind of food to raise money for their club. Almost everything costs about 1 or 2 dollars and it is fun to try lots of different foods. It was my one chance to eat good Pho here in Japan made by the Vietnamese people, but I didn’t end up having time to get it. It was probably one of my biggest disappointments yet.
The school festival didn’t cease to surprise me with its many crazy performances. One of the first events I saw was a contest where the most sexy man woman wins. It was scary. I have never been a fan of the cross dressing contests in Japan. The man who I mentioned a few months ago at the sports day event was dressed like a woman was also in this competition. One of my friends joined a dance competition with his dance crew and competed against about 15 other hip hop dance crews. Later at night another friend of mine was performing on stage several songs from a popular girls group here in Japan with about 200 members. My friend Asako is a big fan of this group. Some of the songs are pretty sketchy and I don’t think I have found one of their songs worth listening to. (for this reason I will not include the name of the Pop group).
The festival gave us two days off of school and lasted for a total of 3 days. It was a very fun event and have never experienced anything like it at San Jose State.
International Food Night:
This was a party for all of the international students at Okayama University. We walked into a very nice hotel’s party room with many different countries delicious food waiting for everyone to come and eat it. The party of course had different performances including various kinds of traditional fighting, dance, and comedy. It was a lot of fun having all of my friends in one place, with much good food for us to share during our conversations.
The Homestay:
I had previously done a Homestay once before with the ever so amazing Hirashima family, but this time was different. This time I stayed with a family for only one night. The Homestay was through my class called Study of Japan which is basically a chance to go on many different field trips and experience some of Japan’s most famous traditions. When I first met the family at a train station about 30 minutes away from Okayama I was ecstatic to find out that Mr. and Mrs. Miyake have three children. The children are 3, 5, and 7 years old. It is interesting that they all fall two years apart from each other, because 3, 5, 7 are all very important years for children in Japan. They all dress up in traditional clothing and get pictures at these ages and I believe a party is held for them. This means that this family has much work to do. I really felt like I saw a different part of Japan, not just because I literally went to a different part of Japan I have never been to, but also because I was a able to spend a little of time with Japanese children. The reason I stress this so much is because the culture in Japan tends to pull people a little distant from each other. Their is not much touch involved between people conversing and can be strange for me sometimes. But with these kids cultural distance did not apply, we ran around and played crazy games. I could wrestle with them, or carry them with out feeling weird. It was difficult to understand them sometimes, but that didn’t stop the games and fun we had together. All of the kids called me Ani which means older brother in Japanese. When we went to an oyster festival here in Japan, the youngest girl was super cute when she asked if she should hold my hand to her mom. I really enjoyed my time with this family and look forward to meeting with them in the future.
The Sand Dunes:
My friend Daisuke and I have started to make it a tradition where we try to go on random adventures around Japan. Our first adventure together was within my first week of arriving in Japan where we climbed up a mountain next to Okayama University. Our next adventure was going to a grape and pair farm here in Japan. I really wanted to try some fruit from Okayama as it is supposed to have the best fruit in Japan. So we went to this grape farm where apparently we saved about 66% of what we would normally pay and I bought one small grapevine for about $9. Talk about expensive. The pears were even for more expensive for what you get.
Our latest adventure was going to the sand dunes in Tottori Prefecture in Japan. These were some big sand dunes and during the winter they open up some of the dunes for snowboarding. We only saw one huge dune and all the men decided to race up it when we first arrived. It was definitely one of the funniest and worst ideas I have ever come up with. After we were about 1/5 of the way up we were all panting and struggling to even walk up the dune. I recommend racing up a huge sand dune with your friends if you are into those kind of crazy experiences. It was nice to go to the sand dunes, because it was right next to the ocean. The ocean is always a reminder of home and the beauty and power of God when I see it. I really enjoyed playing on the beach with everyone. We played important games like the Spear Throwing, King of the Log, Drawing in the Sand, and running as close to the ocean with out getting wet (Fail).
Our next adventures include a trip to Monkey Island and 裸祭り. Ask one of your Japanese friends to translate that one if you want to know what it is before I participate in it.
A pic of my Japanese Class:
No comments:
Post a Comment