Good news everyone! I survived being sick! But this damn cough is persistent and still wakes me up at ungodly hours, like a pesky child. But before we get into my crippling disease, the rest of the week should come first. So on Sunday my host mother, brother and I went to a shinto temple. It was damn awesome, and I bought a fortune piece of paper for the year :D I'm not quite sure what it says, but my host mother assured me it was good, and that it said I will be safe in any travels I have. Which is good really.
After we went to the main section of the temple, we ventured forth into the Sakura park that was near by, and the petals were falling like rain. Very beautiful, and many people sitting on tarpaulins and drinking sake, which seems to be the way to enjoy Sakura. Also I learned that Japanese turtles live for 100 years! Who knew? Supposedly they are magic and lucky, so of course I stole one. And by that I mean took photos.
So then the first week of actual school started, you know, with a schedule and stuff. So that was a lot of fun, and of course I had to do a self introduction to my home room. So everything was going normally "Nice to meet you all, I'm Jesse, I'm 16 and I come from Australia. I play hockey and cycle a bit, though I'm not fantastic. Oh, and I play guitar and saxophone" " SUGOI!" which here translates to "Oh my dear lord, you are sexiness incarnate, with your big caucasian eyes and musical adeptness." So now that half the class was swooning, I took my seat up the back and stopped a whole lot of work being done.
Seriously though, class isn't as challenging as I thought it would be. Sure I don't actually understand what is really going on, but hey, writing kanji! For those who do not know, Japan has 3 alphabets. There are to phonetic alphabets "Hiragana" and "Katakana" and a third alphabet, "Kanji". I know the phonetic ones, because together there is only 90 characters or so. Kanji however, has several THOUSAND characters, and I only know about 100, and even then I couldn't write a whole bunch of them. So pretty much the goal of my classes that are in Japanese is to figure out what all the kanji mean and to remember it. After that, then I might actually do whatever we are talking about.
So my days mostly go like this: Starting with homeroom, we read the newspaper in English, then off to various classes. My classes are English (In Japanese), English (In English), Japanese history (English), Japanese geography (English), Social studies (Japanese), English grammar (Japanese), Art (Japanese, but it's art, the language doesn't REALLY matter), Shodo (Japanese Caligraphy, in Japanese) and PE (Japanese). So we usually have a couple of classes in English about Japan or Japanese language, and also have a few classes of Japanese lessons (see above). And then afterschool, commute and walk home, all up taking about 40 minutes or so, which isn't too bad considering how damn big Tokyo is, and then homework, dinner and chatting with my host family then bed. Bed at like 10 because I need to wake up early, and I certainly need my beauty sleep.
So one final thing! On the weekend, everything was pretty cruisy, didn't do anything to energetic. On Sunday we went to a sashimi (raw fish) restaurant. And by raw, they don't just mean not cooked. They mean that you catch the fish, they prepare it for you in front of you, and then you eat it. It doesn't get much fresher than 5 minutes dead fish. Oh wait, yes it does, because the Japanese sashimi master have perfected the art of not actually killing the fish, so its heart keeps beating while you eat the raw fish flesh from the platter around it. It's both impressive and kind of scary. So, no one can say they have had fresher fish than I have, unless they actually bite it straight out of the water.
That's all for now team, and remember, when you say you want a steak rare in Japan, make sure you specify that it's dead.
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Karate, Karaage and Class
Hello everyone, sorry I have been busy being awesome (that and my power adapter was wrong -_-) so I haven't updated for longer than I would have liked, so hopefully you all haven't disowned me by now. Anyway! Got to my new host family on Saturday (A week and a bit ago) and it turns out Wataru (my host brother) is 7, not 3... which was a bit of a surprise. But he is still pretty awesome, if a bit odd, but what 7 year old isn't over-excitable and a bit crazy? Other than that, my family is pretty cool.
Masafumi, my host father, is a nice guy, tall, wears glasses and doesn't come home until fairly late in the night, and seeing as school is damn tiring I don't see that much of him. Who I DO see however is my host mother, Meiko, and she is pretty damn awesome. She is about 5' 4", so fairly short compared to me, and she speaks Japanese, Italian, and a bit of english, so there is a lot of gesticulating and dictionary use in our conversations. But we have fun :P
When I got to my new family, we just hung out for the day, talking about myself and me learning a bit about their life and what they do (All in Japanese, of course) and we discussed the plans for the week etc. other non-blog-worthy things. In the morning however, we got up late, and then met with the Takei family for a picnic lunch in a park with a whole row of Sakura (Japanese cherry blossom) trees. Sakura are damn pretty, and they only last for a week, this is why the Japanese love them. A burst of bright lovely flowers that fall like rain and then it's over. Much like life. And stuff. But the park was nice, we hung out and played soccer and I introduced myself in Japanese (starting ton see a bit of a theme here eh?) and just general chilling. After that, return to the apartment, and then to bed, because in the morning, FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
My school, Seiritsu Gakuen, is 4 stories high, and made of cold, unwelcoming bricks. Good thing the international department is awesome. The two international teachers, Peter, the British karate sensei and general englishman, takes the international students for high level english and Japanese geography. Richard, the Canadian, is also a karate sensei, and he takes us for Japanese and Japanese history, and is the leader of the international department. The other kids that I am currently with are, in order of age, Tatiana (France), Gabriel (Sweden), Anariina (Finland), Pop (Thailand) and Nicolas (Denmark). They are all pretty cool (damn awesome) , and they really made coming into a foreign a lot easier. Last week, we didn't really have any classes, because the schedule wasn't QUITE ready yet, so we just did a lot of catching up on what the other exchange students have been doing. Lots of "free study" time, so now I know these people like the back of my hand.
But one thing I CAN describe, is the Japanese school system (to some extent). So we rock up here at 8:20 for home room, that goes for 20 minutes, then second home room (20 minutes) then four 50 minute periods in a row, then a 35 minute lunch, where most kids go to the canteen and get "karaage" which is what we would call fried chicken. And rice. Honestly the most delicious thing ever after 4 hours of classes. After that we have two more 50 minute periods and we and school at about 3:15, and then we can hang out or whatever until 4:00, which is when the clubs start. Currently, I am in two clubs, the English club, which goes 4:00-5:00 on a Monday, and is a requirement, and I am also in Karate club, which goes 4:00-6:00 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. English club I am yet to experience, but last year there was only one person other than the exchange students who came, so it will probably just end up being more hangout time :D Karate, on the other hand, was bloody hard. After about an hour and forty five minutes of techinical training and drills, we then do fifteen minutes of intense fitness training. Safe to say, when I get back to the great land of Oz, I will be made entirely of karate hardened iron muscle (or just a bit less skinny).
So that pretty much sums up the week, and all that you guys really need to know of it. Oh, and everyone here knows about memes, it's damn amazing. More to come on my weekend of awesome, that was just a post about the week. Good luck, have fun, and may the odds be ever in your favour.
-Jesse
Masafumi, my host father, is a nice guy, tall, wears glasses and doesn't come home until fairly late in the night, and seeing as school is damn tiring I don't see that much of him. Who I DO see however is my host mother, Meiko, and she is pretty damn awesome. She is about 5' 4", so fairly short compared to me, and she speaks Japanese, Italian, and a bit of english, so there is a lot of gesticulating and dictionary use in our conversations. But we have fun :P
When I got to my new family, we just hung out for the day, talking about myself and me learning a bit about their life and what they do (All in Japanese, of course) and we discussed the plans for the week etc. other non-blog-worthy things. In the morning however, we got up late, and then met with the Takei family for a picnic lunch in a park with a whole row of Sakura (Japanese cherry blossom) trees. Sakura are damn pretty, and they only last for a week, this is why the Japanese love them. A burst of bright lovely flowers that fall like rain and then it's over. Much like life. And stuff. But the park was nice, we hung out and played soccer and I introduced myself in Japanese (starting ton see a bit of a theme here eh?) and just general chilling. After that, return to the apartment, and then to bed, because in the morning, FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
My school, Seiritsu Gakuen, is 4 stories high, and made of cold, unwelcoming bricks. Good thing the international department is awesome. The two international teachers, Peter, the British karate sensei and general englishman, takes the international students for high level english and Japanese geography. Richard, the Canadian, is also a karate sensei, and he takes us for Japanese and Japanese history, and is the leader of the international department. The other kids that I am currently with are, in order of age, Tatiana (France), Gabriel (Sweden), Anariina (Finland), Pop (Thailand) and Nicolas (Denmark). They are all pretty cool (damn awesome) , and they really made coming into a foreign a lot easier. Last week, we didn't really have any classes, because the schedule wasn't QUITE ready yet, so we just did a lot of catching up on what the other exchange students have been doing. Lots of "free study" time, so now I know these people like the back of my hand.
But one thing I CAN describe, is the Japanese school system (to some extent). So we rock up here at 8:20 for home room, that goes for 20 minutes, then second home room (20 minutes) then four 50 minute periods in a row, then a 35 minute lunch, where most kids go to the canteen and get "karaage" which is what we would call fried chicken. And rice. Honestly the most delicious thing ever after 4 hours of classes. After that we have two more 50 minute periods and we and school at about 3:15, and then we can hang out or whatever until 4:00, which is when the clubs start. Currently, I am in two clubs, the English club, which goes 4:00-5:00 on a Monday, and is a requirement, and I am also in Karate club, which goes 4:00-6:00 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. English club I am yet to experience, but last year there was only one person other than the exchange students who came, so it will probably just end up being more hangout time :D Karate, on the other hand, was bloody hard. After about an hour and forty five minutes of techinical training and drills, we then do fifteen minutes of intense fitness training. Safe to say, when I get back to the great land of Oz, I will be made entirely of karate hardened iron muscle (or just a bit less skinny).
So that pretty much sums up the week, and all that you guys really need to know of it. Oh, and everyone here knows about memes, it's damn amazing. More to come on my weekend of awesome, that was just a post about the week. Good luck, have fun, and may the odds be ever in your favour.
-Jesse
Friday, 6 April 2012
OH MY GOD SO MANY BIKES! And Mt. Fuji...
Alrighty then, time for post number 2, on the magnificent journey that is my year overseas. So first of all, I would like to say, that Japan is an engineering dream. The economy of space here is phenomenal, as not a square meter of land is unused. Like in Osaka, where you are going through the suburbs and you can see from the train window, in the middle of the suburbs, a rice paddy. Just between houses, they are quite common. In Australia you have undeveloped fields just sitting there for years on end because they aren't deemed "useful" or "in a good location" so they go unused. None of that here, at all. Also, there are a lot of bikes here. Everyone has one, and they are the most common form of transport, other than maybe train.
And now for what I have actually been doing. The family that I am currently staying with is the Tachiki (立木) family, and they are really cool. The dad lives in Nagoya, and the eldest son lives in Yokohama, so they aren't at home unless it's a weekend (sounds familiar) and the mother and younger son live at home, in Tokyo. It's a relatively old family, with the parents being around their sixties, and the kids being around 30, so everyone is very mature (mostly :P) and it's really enjoyable. On the first day that I was with the family (Saturday, 土曜日) we went to a truck stop high in the mountains, where you can get an excellent view of Mount Fuji, Japan's tallest mountain. I looked into Mount Fuji, and he looked into me, and then, my soul was opened. Or something, but it was an amazing sight, and something everyone should really see at least once.
After that we went to a Cantonese restaurant in the town that was cradled in the mountain's valley, which also bordered the sea (Think Dromana but Japanese) and it was very tasty. Japan probably has some of the best food in the world, because the attention to detail, no matter the style, is incredible. They probably make the best bacon in the world too, because they don't just leave it as bacon. Oh lordy no, they put ginger and soy soy sauce and osake on it to make it taste like non-kosher Jesus. Long story short, Japanese food = Awesome.
そのあとで, we went to see Odawara Castle, which is an old and very important castle, having been hotly contested during the Edo period by various clans. It was built by the Hojo clan, and the castle was surrounded by 9km of walls to repel invasion and capture of the main keep. But recently it has been taken down and rebuilt, and has now been refurbished into a museum of its history, which was very interesting, and full of cool old models, weaponry and armor of the time. It is divided into four sections, each one ascertaining to a different period or theme, and each has it's own gems. If you are ever in the area, check it out, you won't be disappointed.
Note this is all in the same day, we did a lot. That night we went to one of Hisae's friends house, and we had a good ol' chat and a coffee, which was nice, and I actually understood most of what was said! So proud of myself. And then we finally headed home, after doing all of that stuff, and we stayed up and had green tea and these little cookie things, which I am still undecided on whether I like them or not. They were very sweet.
The next day was relatively relaxed, and we just hung out and spoke Japanese, I did a couple of hours of study (Japanese of course) and then we went out to this nice little restaurant called "Roses" (Romanised of course) with one of my host mothers friends, and we talked about my stay in Japan and what school is like in Australia, and what I was planning to do after high school. All in Japanese :D Then we went home and hung out with my host brother, who is really cool, and we watched TV in Japanese and there was a typhoon! :D
Next day was pretty much a lazy day, did a couple of hours of Japanese study and watched TV and stuff, not bad, not great, just a day. There's got to be some of them afterall.
The day after though, was really great. We went up to an observation deck, and I took photos of all of Tokyo, pretty amazing stuff. That city goes for kilometres on end, and there is absolutely no gap in the buildings, it's an incredible sight to see. Then we went to lunch at a restaurant that I can't quite remember, but it was damn delicious. Japanese level delicious. After the days shenanigans, we ventured back to home and then I half learned how to cook tempura (てんぷら）because the instructions were in Japanese, but I got the gist, and then we ate it and it didn't taste too bad for gaijin prepared food.
And finally today, my last day with this family. We went out to lunch at this amazing restaurant (seems to be a bit of a theme) and we had chicken battered with... something... kind of like bread, but all crumbly and delicious. This and miso soup, Japanese pickles (which are amazing by the way) and also a huge pile of cabbage... needless to say, I only ate some of that, but ALL the chicken :D そして we went back home and I did a few more hours of Japanese study and then wrote this, my amazing blog. (Not really, awaiting confirmation)
In the morning, at around ten to 11, Kota Shigematsu is picking me up and taking me to my new host family, whom I will be staying with for the next 4 months. Hopefully they are as awesome as this one was, and little Wataru is as awesome as I expect him to be, because three year olds are awesome. Not in a creepy way though. So, goodnight my friends, and I shall write again next week. また来週!
And now for what I have actually been doing. The family that I am currently staying with is the Tachiki (立木) family, and they are really cool. The dad lives in Nagoya, and the eldest son lives in Yokohama, so they aren't at home unless it's a weekend (sounds familiar) and the mother and younger son live at home, in Tokyo. It's a relatively old family, with the parents being around their sixties, and the kids being around 30, so everyone is very mature (mostly :P) and it's really enjoyable. On the first day that I was with the family (Saturday, 土曜日) we went to a truck stop high in the mountains, where you can get an excellent view of Mount Fuji, Japan's tallest mountain. I looked into Mount Fuji, and he looked into me, and then, my soul was opened. Or something, but it was an amazing sight, and something everyone should really see at least once.
After that we went to a Cantonese restaurant in the town that was cradled in the mountain's valley, which also bordered the sea (Think Dromana but Japanese) and it was very tasty. Japan probably has some of the best food in the world, because the attention to detail, no matter the style, is incredible. They probably make the best bacon in the world too, because they don't just leave it as bacon. Oh lordy no, they put ginger and soy soy sauce and osake on it to make it taste like non-kosher Jesus. Long story short, Japanese food = Awesome.
そのあとで, we went to see Odawara Castle, which is an old and very important castle, having been hotly contested during the Edo period by various clans. It was built by the Hojo clan, and the castle was surrounded by 9km of walls to repel invasion and capture of the main keep. But recently it has been taken down and rebuilt, and has now been refurbished into a museum of its history, which was very interesting, and full of cool old models, weaponry and armor of the time. It is divided into four sections, each one ascertaining to a different period or theme, and each has it's own gems. If you are ever in the area, check it out, you won't be disappointed.
Note this is all in the same day, we did a lot. That night we went to one of Hisae's friends house, and we had a good ol' chat and a coffee, which was nice, and I actually understood most of what was said! So proud of myself. And then we finally headed home, after doing all of that stuff, and we stayed up and had green tea and these little cookie things, which I am still undecided on whether I like them or not. They were very sweet.
The next day was relatively relaxed, and we just hung out and spoke Japanese, I did a couple of hours of study (Japanese of course) and then we went out to this nice little restaurant called "Roses" (Romanised of course) with one of my host mothers friends, and we talked about my stay in Japan and what school is like in Australia, and what I was planning to do after high school. All in Japanese :D Then we went home and hung out with my host brother, who is really cool, and we watched TV in Japanese and there was a typhoon! :D
Next day was pretty much a lazy day, did a couple of hours of Japanese study and watched TV and stuff, not bad, not great, just a day. There's got to be some of them afterall.
The day after though, was really great. We went up to an observation deck, and I took photos of all of Tokyo, pretty amazing stuff. That city goes for kilometres on end, and there is absolutely no gap in the buildings, it's an incredible sight to see. Then we went to lunch at a restaurant that I can't quite remember, but it was damn delicious. Japanese level delicious. After the days shenanigans, we ventured back to home and then I half learned how to cook tempura (てんぷら）because the instructions were in Japanese, but I got the gist, and then we ate it and it didn't taste too bad for gaijin prepared food.
And finally today, my last day with this family. We went out to lunch at this amazing restaurant (seems to be a bit of a theme) and we had chicken battered with... something... kind of like bread, but all crumbly and delicious. This and miso soup, Japanese pickles (which are amazing by the way) and also a huge pile of cabbage... needless to say, I only ate some of that, but ALL the chicken :D そして we went back home and I did a few more hours of Japanese study and then wrote this, my amazing blog. (Not really, awaiting confirmation)
In the morning, at around ten to 11, Kota Shigematsu is picking me up and taking me to my new host family, whom I will be staying with for the next 4 months. Hopefully they are as awesome as this one was, and little Wataru is as awesome as I expect him to be, because three year olds are awesome. Not in a creepy way though. So, goodnight my friends, and I shall write again next week. また来週!
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