Over the Puddle

Well, as I’m writing this, my left index finger hurts pretty bad. During making and cutting Soba (traditional Japanese noodles), I got a piece of my fingernail, nearly cutting into my finger. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Oh well, it didn’t start hurting until like an hour ago, so it didn’t ruin my day.

I admit, I had -grave- reservations about going on this trip today. It was to Miseme, a little city along the coast. I was seriously mistaken! It was a blast! The drive was like an hour. My camera is working again, so I snapped a few pictures along the way.

When we got there, I was amazed at the ocean first off, and had to go play by the water for a little bit ^_^. Then we went in to meet everyone else. I felt like such an outsider at first, as I walked into a crowd of like thirty Japanese people. The obvious language barrier kicked in, and I was scrambling to try and figure out what they were saying. My apprehensions were eased immensely by the man in charge, who was an older man, fiftyish I figure, with gray streaked hair, glasses, a huge friendly smile, and obvious enthusiasm. He greeted me in easy enough Japanese so I could understand him. I wish I could remember his name… Japanese names are tricky to remember ^_^;;

At any rate, after going over the schedule, we headed out to a rice farm on the top of the nearby mountains. What a view! Though those damned windy, narrow roads, in a bus, had me on edge. When we got there, we entered a little building cover with tatami mats.

The sensei entered the room, and her and her helpers laid out a blue mat over the tatami and set down to showing how to make Soba. I think it’s some kind of ground rice and wheat dough mix to begin with, but I could be wrong. They then had everyone help, and of course, the gaijin, me, got to go first ^_^; Everyone seemed to be enthusiastic about the American helping out, albeit badly. It’s amazing how hard it can be to knead that dough. I kind of felt like the kids there, leaving about their culture from their mothers.

The sensei was a pleasant, grandmotherly, old woman, warm and caring, even though I think I was doing a horrible job ^_^;

Afterwards, the dough was then pounded into largish round patties, and then rolled flat. I got that part right! Next, was cutting small strips from the thin, flat dough. I took a crack at it, but was worried about slicing my fingers, and so started making wide noodles. The sensei then showed me how it was done. Man, can she fly! One full patty took her maybe one minute! By way of comparison, I took about ten minutes. It was on the second patty that I sliced my finger, but luckily I only cut the nail.

After we got all the patties cut, we were brought over to a table with unglazed soba sauce cups. They were just plain brown cups. The idea was that we take the cup, and paint on something, then at a later date, the cups would be glazed and fired, so we would have a permanent memento. I settled for my name in katakana. I am -not- artistically inclined ;p

While we were doing this, they setup a luncheon of the soba noodles we had made. You take the noodles, and dunk them in the provided juice/sauce with green onions (yum!). Again, all eyes were on me as I tried the Soba noodles, and was met with applause when I said that they were delicious ^_^; In fact, when I was done, as was everyone else, they kept feeding me more! Truly a friendly group that seemed to appreciate a foreigner genuinely trying to learn their culture. I admit, I was and still am a little concerned about what the older generation think of an American. This group didn’t seem to have any reservations however!

After that, we headed to a greenhouse at the peak of the mountain to pick roses. I have one in a small vase on my desk right now. I can’t really imagine anyone being to pick roses for free, seeing as how they sell them for outrageous prices. Well, I guess these weren’t really free, as it costs like $150 for the three of us to attend the festival. They bought ^_^;;

On the way back, we made a side trip to what apparently is the cleanest river in Nagasaki, in a beautiful little park buried somewhere in the hills of Nagasaki. There were tons of little minnows in the river, and it was icy cold, but very very clear. I snapped my last picture before running out of film. Of course, I have 7 other rolls at home, but forgot to bring any others. Turns out it didn’t really matter anyway.

After the park, we finally headed back to the meeting area for a full blown dinner. This dinner had -very- traditional food, many of which I do not know the name for. What I do know was the sashimi, sweet potatoes, a kelp roll, and some tofu (man, that tofu made in clumps looks sooo unappetizing). In addition, there was a salad with some weird dressing, deserts, wasabi, mint tea, herb tea, green tea, kelp soup, etc… I was greeted with applause again as I ate anything thrown at me. I think it became a game at some point, them trying to see how much I could eat ;p They were an extremely friendly crowd though.

On an odd note, this city is apparently mostly Christian. The ancestors fled to that area to escape persecution years ago, and their descendants apparently still live there. Also, there is a blue, white, and red bridge leading to that area, apparently to show that it has good relations with France.

Now, after all this fun, they had a rather long section where they were talking about the history of the city, and later everyone stood up and told a little about themselves. I got a little burned out trying to pick up what I could, and missing the vast majority that went over my head. As the mic neared me, I prepped a little introduction about myself, confident I could say it without screwing up. I was a little disappointed when my host mother got the mic, then passed it to my host father, who then did intros for all of us. Oh well… He presented me kindly enough, saying I was a study-abroad student, from Wisconsin, who didn’t know Japanese but was learning, and that this was my first time in Japan, and my first time eating real Japanese food, and seeing the ocean (that got laughs).

Next, we took an odd way home, which kind of threw me off, until my host mother told me she was going to introduce me to her friend who got the replacement battery for me for my camera. I was a little reluctant to try anymore Japanese for the day, and when we walked in, I started to mutter a `Hajimemashite`, until the man said `Hey, how you doing?` in English! I was so floored and relieved to be able to talk in English and be understood and not have to try and fight with Japanese. Apparently, this man had studied in America for college. I didn’t catch where, but knew of the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Brewers, and Brett Favre. Then he showed me pictures of the last two study-abroad students my host family had had. They were studio shots! One was a twenty-one year old man, in a kimono, in a samurai pose. Very professional! The second student was about my age, and was at a bar ;p He promised he would take one of me before I left ^_^;;

After the refreshing burst of English ,we headed to the largest mall I have ever seen in my life! This makes any mall in Wisconsin look tiny in comparison. There were literally hundreds of stores! Granted, some being half the depth of a normal American mall store. There were almost miniature malls within this mall. Of these had six stores, which contained a CD store, to my delight, and had lots of CDs I knew and wanted, including Anime OSTs. I found a link to my host father when I was rummaging through the anime OSTs, and happened across a Lupin III OST, and my host father saw and laughed, saying `Rupan san-sei!` in obvious approval!

This CD store also had the Hamasaki Ayumi Best CD playing, which was brand new! What’s more, they had the Ayu-mix-II Orchestral Version CD I had been looking for in a big rack. I limited myself to buying the orchestral CD, knowing full well that I could drop all of my money in that one spot, in an hour ;p. My family was thoroughly surprised that I liked Jpop, let alone knew the artists` names and songs they played. My host father was also surprised that I was digging through the artists` CDs despite not being able to read kanji. Never doubt my powers of being to find music I like
Another thing that felt weird was that I was perfectly at home, buried in the mall, in the downtown area, despite being able to read or understand very little. If there’s one thing, you can usually function well enough without understanding the language, if you have city smarts. There’s no real reason to understand it anyway, you either like something or you don’t, you want to buy it, or you don’t. The mall was also odd in that it was more or less open air. There were walls, and a ceiling but the ends were open, and a small road runs through somewhere around the middle o.o; On top of that, this huge mall was small for Japan! O.O! If that wasn’t enough, the area around the mall is stuffed full of small stores as well. It’s just one huge hub of commerce. I should also point out that these outside stores are just as tiny as the mall ones. I think that the families may live above the stores too.

Oh, one other thing, the parking `garages` in this area are very different from what you would see in America. Here, you drive your car into a holding tray, and then the car is lifted, vertically and stored, not unlike a gun holding bullets.

Finally, we went out to dinner (ugh, more food!), but this time, I got a familiar dinner of pork. Nothing unidentifiable, nothing strange, just good old pork. What was amazing was that we passed the spot where I first called my host family when I got lost, which was a five minute walk away! *sigh* This restaurant was at the peak of this mountain and offered an absolutely fantastic view of downtown nighttime Nagasaki, with all it’s lights and commercialism! I’ll have to head back one day and try to get a picture. During dinner, I discovered that I was the least fluent or knowledgeable student in Japanese that they have had. A dubious honor :/ But, considering that this year was the first time that Japanese had been offered at my school, they were understanding.

On a side note, you can tell Nagasaki, and perhaps Japan advanced rapidly with their technology. The mall area is a rat’s nest of power wires and whatnot, and roads are illogically placed, and way too narrow. Perfect Godzilla or perhaps Angel (Evangelion) fodder ;p The other thing is the mix of kimonos and normal dress. While habits have died, that one hasn’t quite yet, though it is uncommon enough for me to think that some day kimonos will not be seen except for weddings or funerals.

Well, time for my turn in the bath.

Just finished with dinner. I must say, I`ve been exposed to more new and strange dishes already, some good, some very not so, than I have in my whole life. I discovered, by accident, just how hot Japanese radish can be, when I grabbed a whole bunch of seemingly innocent little green vegetables, that looked like parsley, and shoveled them in….Later, after about 4 glasses of water, and much coughing, I asked what they were. Then I tried the ocopus, and squid. The octopus was alright, but the squid was vile. The wasn`t -horrible-, but it was somewhat sticky, squished, and squeaked like cheese curds. I shudder just thinking about it. I also finally had the curry rice that seems to be so wildly popular in anime, and apparently, by real life Japanese children. I admit, it wasn`t anything special, merely slightly spiced rice. But I imagine the children get tired of tasting bland rice after a few years. My host mother also went a little overboard. She asked me what foods I liked, and I had mentioned corn at some point, so tonight we had cream corn!

On a completly unrelaten note, there is a TV show on with a gum spitting contest, seeing how far they can spew their gum o.O;;

And now a show showing Americans trying to read katakana and translate what some kids are saying in Japanese. Japanese TV is always weird, at least you can count on that ^_^;

And now a show, seems like a grade school play, where there is 4 adults going to watch fireworks. Now the fireworks are adults in black suits, against a black wall, who pick the children up, who are also wearing black suits with colored garland, which are then shaken to simulate fireworks O.O;; Maybe I`m watching `Japan`s Strangest TV` or something…

Anyway, back on track. After dinner, I talked with my host family for about an hour or so, about my own education, and then comparing Japanese and American students. Now, I am -not- a traditional student ^_^;;, and will have about 130 credits after this semester, and will have approaching 200 credits when I graduate, which floored them. They then went on to say that Japanese colelge students are almost always stupid, who leech off their parents until they are married. That floored me! After our conversation, the general consensus was that Japanese grade and high school are better, and that American colleges are better. There were many interesting differences that came up, but it goes to show you that the stereotypes can often be wrong!

Oh and a coupl odd random thoughts. My accent must be horrible, judging by some reactions I`ve had from Japanese people. For instance, at Hard Off, I asked one of the clerks, in Japanese, if they had any Akira Sudou CDs, and he game me the most puzzled look. I -know- I said it right, and it sounded right to me. After a few seconds, with me repeating the question, he directed me back to the CD aisle, which I had been in prior to asking him, which didn`t help at all… Oh well.

I also met a perrt nice old man at the bus stop today as well. It`s been my experience, so far, that older people either ignore, just pass by with their head down, or barely acknowledge your existance with a mumbled `konnichiwa`. This guy however was -extremly- friendly. When I said `konnichiwa` to him, his excitedness rushed like a flood! He seemed genuinely happy too, returning my `konnichiwa` very excitedly, and commenting on the nice weather, and asking me if I was well. All different sorts of people I suppose.

Communications and relations with my host family are on the up and up. I just succesfully managed to communicate that my camera battery was dead and that I needed a new one. I even managed to saw where it died! Simple sentences I know, but baby steps first I asked simply where I could buy a new one, but they took it a step further and called a friend at a photo studio to see if he had one, and then my host father went so far as to go down and get it!

In other news, our orientation today ended at noon, so Nathan, Matt, Kirsta (the Canadian), and I went and explored the area around the college. Originally Matt needed his passport, so we walked to his place (a 30 minute walk or so), and then headed back towards the school, hitting the stores on the way back. We stopped at a `Hyaku Yen Store`, sorta like an `Everything`s a Dollar` or a `Dollar Tree`. They had a decent selection of stuff, though I only bought a decent looking pair of shopsticks for myself. Next was a `Hard Off`. Ok, I know what you`re thinking, but it`s not like that ;p It actually is a decent electronics store that sells all sorts of electronics, games, and cds. I found a couple of Jpop artists I liked, but only bought an Ayumi Hamasaki Accoustic Orchestra II CD I had been looking for, for only 1300 yen! (about $13). Cheap! CD`s are normally at least double that, but this was used. I decided to be somewhat frugal, as this was only week #1, and I have a long time to go, so I can stop back sometime. After that, we stopped at a Sega World, which was actually rather disappointing. There wasn`t that many decent games there. Oh well. Finally we stopped at a KFC for lunch.[
At the KFC, we had the obvious problem of the language barrier, and the other problem that they didn`t have numbered meals ^_^;; So, the `pointing` method worked out rather well I still have to get used to Japanese portions, heh. If I had paid the ~500 yen (~$5) that I did in the States, and gotten the same portions, I would have been ticked. I got 2 chicken strips, about a dozen largish fries, and a small soda. The staff was nice enough, especially the cashier, to gajin like us. Finally, we split up from there, and I headed to the computer lab in the library while everyone else went home. I probably startled the staff too. I came in, cracked open my new CD, took off my coat, plugged in my headphiones, popped open like 5 webpages, and went to town Granted, I was cruising at about a whole 2.3k/sec ^_^;; I will be so glad when they finally upgrade the internet connection, which should be in a few weeks. Basically, I can`t FTP anywhere, because the connection is too slow and often the program times out. I can browse the web, albeit slowly, and at least I can check my email. I have to pick up a floppy disk sometime too, because unfortunatly, the computers here don`t have zip drives, and we get no student storage space on the server. I guess I am kind of spoiled by my own college, because there the computers are fairly up-to-date, and we get storage space on the server, so you don`t have to carry around disks. Also, there, we have a fairly fast internet connection too! Here, the floppy disk is still *in*, while in America it is pretty much obsolete. That combined with not being able to really FTP anywhere makes it rather difficult to store any data. For instance, I started to type this journal up, but had a horrible time trying to store the data anywhere. Also, Japanese keyboards are horrible for an American computer user, because some of the keys are in different places, and some keys have four things on them! Moral of the story: bring your own keyboard ;p

While I was returning home, I ran into my host mother at the bottom of the hill in a Taxi, and so managed to get a lift back home. I have revised my opinion of Japanese driving a bit: it`s not the drivers who are inheritantly suicidal, but the roads make them that way. Imagine a 30kph limit or so, in a road about the size of one carlane, in a curvy, hilly area, with a stickshift, while dodging people, dogs, bicyclists, etc, around blind corners, and -sharp- turns. I thought I was going to die. There is no way I would ever drive a road like that! The other odd thing is that Taxi doors are controlled by the driver. I`ve even seen vans with the same door control as well. Let me tell you, when you see a van door close on it`s own the first time, it is creepy o.o;;

Enough for now!

Well, I just had probably one of the worst experiences in my life: I got lost. Now, there is nothing worse than getting lost in a place you don`t know, in a different country, where it is difficult to communicate with the people! I don`t mind the bus and street car ride, other than feeling somewhat like a bug in a jar with the way the people stare. The hill that this apartment is on however, has probably hundreds of small walkways like an elegant spiderweb, covering the mountain. There really are no roads on this mountain either, at least, not as I know them. There`s a few very narrow roads, and the people here tend to ride their scooters on the walkways all over the mountain. So, when you get lost, you get -lost-. I think I walked up and down this hill at least twice, and it`s a -tall- hill. I pride myself on being city saavy, but this is unlike any city I`ve been in, so normal strategies don`t apply. Landmark recognition would be easier if most of the stores weren`t in kanji, and landmarks I did know became hard to recognize when it got dark. On top of that, this was my first time returning to the apartment on my own too. The only way I got back was go down the mountain (thru a rather large cemetary in a part of town called `temple town` I found out later), and coming across the street car tracks. Then I found the #3 street car (the one I take), and followed it. I went one way, and realized that I recognized the tunnel I was headed for, and assumed, correctly, that I was heading the wrong way. So, I backtracked along the rails, and came back to the area I knew. I had called my host family earlier, so they wouldn`t have a heartattack when I didn`t arrive back on time, and said I would call again when I got to land I knew, seeing as how we both didn`t have an idea where in the hell I was. My best guess is that I wound up about 2 miles too far west. I had made it halfway up the hill earlier, and made a wrong turn, which then lead me to get more and more lost in the rat maze of little paths. I admit, I came across some breathtaking scenery, my particular favoirte being a sakura tree around an arch at the enterance to the large cemetary, with some sakura on the headstones beyond. As soon as I get a battery for my camera, I will have to find that spot again (and get back without getting lost!). The `temple town` area is breathtaking, with lots of old shrines and temples, and stone bridges crossing the river, with many large carp swimming around, and turtles sunning themselves, and cranes hunting fish. Also, at the top of the hill is an absolutly beautiful view of the city of Nagasaki, and the harbor behind it. I hate where my apartment is, but I love the view.

During my walking, I came across a Pachinko Parlor, which I thought at first was an arcade judging by the sheer volume of noise coming from it. Just from looking at it from the outside, there was alot of flashing lights, dinging, and clamouring.

Anway, when I found the liquor shop at the bottom of my hill, I called my host family again, and my host mother came to the rescue, in a taxi! I actually was really close to my apartment when I got lost. I mean, I made a right when I should have made a left. I was so close in fact, that where I got lost, you could actually see the apartment, once I knew what I was looking for. *sigh* We all had a good laugh after the fact anyway. My legs hurt however, after walking up and down the mountain for the last 2 hours or so. I think I am going to have calfs of steel after my stay.

On another note, relations with my host family are getting better, probably partially due to my getting lost, which, as odd as it sounds, lightened the atmosphere a bit. Now we`re opening a little more, and I found out that they have had fourteen past foreign students! Sugoi! O.o! I`m still trying to speak more Japanese and have my host mother speak less English,. It`s difficult to be sure.

Now that I think about it, I took my Japanese placement test earlier today. It went well I though. It`s kind of refresking to know that I`m not a complete idiot at Japanese, though I can`t help buy feel that way when dealing with my host familt ^_^;; I got placed in the Beginner level Japanese I course, but I don`t feel too bad becasue the Intermediate is meant for people with more than a year of Japanese, which I most definatly do not have. On top of that, there is this one French teacher who is really cool, and will probably be in my class! He`s a ball to talk to.

Speaking of, I`m surprised I still know some of my French, considering it has been about five years since my last French class. To be sure, I can understand more than I can speak, considering I can barely remember how to string together a French sentance anymore. I found this out when he was talking to one of the two French students about a book he had that helped him remember the kanji, during which I asked him a question in English. He turned and replied to me in French, which I didn`t notice at first, but caught about 70% of anyway. Later, I looked at his French book that helped him remember the Kanji, and could understand about 50% of it. It kind of makes me wish I had appreciated my French class during high school and actually studied and kept up on it. I probably could have become somewhat decent. Luckily, the French sutdents and the teacher speak English, so I don`t have to fight to remember my French anyway
As for the composition of the students here in the JASIN program, we haver two French students, four from America, one from Canada, and like nine Koreans I think. It is a little weird to think about it, because the odds of having such a group together again is extremly unlikely. We all have Japanese as a common language, though some of them speak English too, so it`s somewhat like a little Nexus here, with samplings from all over the world.

Also, the feeling of despair has subsided a bit, knowing that I can still string a Japanese sentance together, albeit badly, and can function well enough in a store, and can even ask a police officer where in the bloody hell I am I guess that initial panick of coming to an entirely different place, where the language you`re learning is the native language is intimidating. I mean, you may think you`re good at Japanese, but coming here, you realize you don`t know jack.

Oh, and one other random thought. earlier today, we went to this supermarket behind the college. While there, I heard Ayumi Hamasaki playing on the radio ^_^ Simple pleasures I guess

Culture shock and the realization that I`m in Japan are tickling right now. Communication with my host family is very difficult. They are nice enough people, but I almost feel that a person should have more of an understanding of Japanese that I had before coming here. I have a feeling that we`re both a little frustrated at my limited Japanese.

The trip here is only about an hour I guess. I first take a street car for about 40 minutes, which costs 100 yen each way, and then I switch to a bus, which costs 140 yen each way. Also, I have just about every anime stereotype going for me. Sakura covered arches are over the walkway I use down the mountain, a long bus/train ride, the pedestrian bridge over the road, heck, even the train crossings sound the same.

I have my Japanese placement test in a little while. My confidence in the language is shaken pretty badly, so I don`t know how I`ll do. There is definatly a difference between anime and practical Japanese, and the formal Japanese you learn, and the Japanaese you use. It`s something I never really thought about before. I guess I thought my family would speak in formal Japanese, and all would be alright. Nope.

Well, time for the test.