Saturday, September 29, 2012

Kyoto Trip Day 2




Fushimi Inari Shrine
After breakfast we headed out to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This shrine is famous for the many torii gates lined up next to each other. I went with the group who had the breakfast buffet at the hostel so we went there later than the others. While the others took the train there we decided to walk since we had already been around that area before plus it would save us a few yen. The walk was a bit long. At one point we got lost. We ended up in a small town area with houses next to each other and there being a really tiny road. We finally were able to find our way out of that place and found ourselves onto a much busier and bigger street. We were about to go to a 7 11 to ask where the shrine was when two old ladies saw us and asked if we were looking for the Inari Shrine. We said yes and they pointed us to the right direction. On the way we stopped by a green tea shop. Some of us bought green tea ice cream and a few other things. The lady there was really nice and even told us they she went to the US once. After the ice cream shop we walked a few more yards until we reached the shrine.


When we got there we passed many souvenir and food shops/stalls on the way to the main shrine. When we finally reached the entrance we first did the water ritual thing (it's a way of cleansing before entering a temple or shrine) and after a few picture taking made our way in. There were many small shrines that were painted a reddish/orange color.There was another souvenir place which also had fortunes and other things. We looked around just for a little bit before heading to the main part of the shrine. We reached where the gates lined up next to each other. It was pretty awesome. Each one had writings on them. I wasn't sure what they were. I knew that many of the writings on there were fairly new and haven't been there for centuries. There's a reason, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now XP I'm sure you can just google it :P

Our group ended up splitting in half. Me and one other EAPer trailed off course for a bit. We followed a trail hoping it'd take us somewhere interesting. We ended up at a place that had stone panels that looked like tombstones. It was a bit creepy because no one else was there... We eventually headed back on the main trail and made our way up the trail. On the way we saw a cat chilling on one of the mini shrine things. We petted it for a little bit before we reached the top. There was a big lake that was really nice. I really love the lakes in Japan especially the ones at the temples, shrines, and castles. Anyway, we made our way back down to meet up with the rest of the group. We spent a bit of time at the souvenir shops where we bought our omiyages and stuff. After our little shopping we decided to take the train back to our hostel.


Random Walking and Eating at a Vegeterian Restaurant
After resting for a little bit at the hostel our group decided to go check out Nijo Castle. So, we walked to Kyoto Station to take the JR train line there. When we reached there we found out that Nijo Castle closed at a certain time and as it turns out it was closed by the time we got off the train. Big disappointment... So, instead we decided to go check out the Manga Museum. We walked for a long while trying to find the Museum. On the way we discovered a small shrine area that had a really big lake. It was beautiful. Places like this you can't really find if you stick with tourist maps. Sometimes walking around aimlessly will lead you to places like this :)

After awhile we finally found the Manga Museum though it was a letdown because the admission fee was 800円. That's more than $10. I'd rather just go to Book Off where people read manga there and you can buy cheap ones for way less. We did walk into the shop that had a lot of anime merchandise. I wanted to buy a lot of stuff in there >.< but I kept myself from doing so for the sake of saving money :P Plus I'm sure I'll have another chance to buy anime stuff.

After the Museum we decided to go find a Vegetarian Restaurant. One of us is a Vegetarian and she looked at a map of Vegetarian restaurants in Kyoto and she wanted to check out one of them. We walked for a long time again. And I mean long. I was getting a little impatient, but I sucked it up and kept on walking. We finally found the restaurant and the prices turned out to be really expensive. I somehow agreed to eat there. I ordered a green curry not knowing that it would be spicy >< It turned out to be the spiciest thing I've ever eaten in Japan. It was still pretty good, though. After dinner we headed back to the hostel.


That's the end of day 2

Friday, September 28, 2012

Kyoto Trip Day 1

Day before Fall Break (Friday)
Today we had our speeches. Super nervous because we had to say our speeches in front of our host families. After that I think my host mother probably thinks I speak really really well (we had our speeches corrected and edited by our teachers multiple times). I just hope she doesn't expect too much of me ^^;; otherwise I'll be spending most of my time nodding my head XD I really need to improve my listening...

After the speeches we headed back to our apartments. After a couple hours (around 6 or 7pm) me and 4 others headed to the train station in which we took the train to the bus terminal. We were on our way to Kyoto :D The bus was super awesome. The most comfortable bus ride of my life! Like seriously, the bus was super comfy. The seats were laid out so that there were 3 chairs in each row and each chair was separated by a walkway so it wasn't like normal buses where they had two chairs right next to each other. Each chair had its own blanket and head thingy. I was too short to use the head thingy so it made me uncomfortable so I didn't use it. The seats reclined and there was also a foot rest which you can adjust yourself. Being a Japanese bus you had to take off your shoes if you wanted to put your feet on the foot rest. They also provide you with slippers. Oh, I forgot to mention that our bus scheduled to leave at 9pm and didn't arrive in Kyoto until around 6am. Around midnight the lights in the bus turned off (took long enough...) which was a sigh of relief because everyone was getting sleepy and I think most of us were waiting for the driver to turn off the lights haha

Arriving in Kyoto (Breakfast, trying to find our hostel, visiting a Temple)
It was early morning when we finally arrived. One of the EAPers had already been in Kyoto before so we trusted him to lead us to the right direction. We headed out to first find our Hostel. He ended up taking us in the wrong direction. It's a good thing we were able to ask for directions in Japanese XP We ended up walking to his Hostel first. He wanted to see if he was able to drop off his luggage, but he wasn't able to until 8:30am so we had about 2 hours to kill. After finding his Hostel we decided to go find somewhere to eat Breakfast since we were all hungry. We ended up at Kyoto Station and ate an Italian-like restaurant. The breakfast was really expensive considering the portions they gave... It was still good, though.

After breakfast we headed to our Hostel. When we got there we were able to drop off our luggage. We couldn't check in yet since check in time was at 3pm. We decided to go back to where the other EAPer's Hostel was. We decided to check out a temple (I forgot the name of it...). As we walked we saw this river that was really cool. It was a nice view. We continued to walk and soon found ourselves walking alongside a much smaller river. The others didn't like it very much because that's also where a lot of bugs were. In Kyoto, bugs bite you a lot and I mean it. In Tsuru I hardly got bug bites, but in Kyoto I kept getting them... Not as bad as the others, though. Anyway, after a few minutes we found our way into a small park near an apartment complex. We decided to hang around there for a little big. I played on the swing which was even too low for me lol We eventually headed out because there were a bunch of bugs there, too. After a long while we finally made our way to the temple. It was awesome. The structures were awesome. We didn't stay long, though because the main attraction cost money so none of went to it. It was still cool seeing the buildings.

On the way back we saw a boy looking at something on the wall. We went closer to see what he was looking at and man were we shocked! We saw a black bug carrying a dead spider twice it's size! It was pretty neat and creepy at the same time. Probably one of the coolest things I've seen in Kyoto lol


We back towards our hostel and stopped by a restaurant for lunch. This place wasn't a tourist place (menus were only in Japanese) so there weren't many foreigners in there (which was nice, actually). The food was super cheap, too. I got bowl of sukiyaki which was only ¥250. Quite satisfying indeed. After lunch we headed out to find desert. We went to Kyoto-Yodobashi which is a mall-like building that was next to Kyoto Tower. We wandered up and down the floors for awhile. There was a Jump Store there (place where they sold Shonen Jump stuff). I got a little happy when I saw Gintama and Ao no Exorcist stuff x3 but we didn't stick around very long. We eventually found ourselves on  the B2F. A few of us bought ice cream and bread. We sat there for a bit. I just waited since I didn't buy anything. Eventually we headed back out. They decided that they wanted to head back to our Hostel and chill in the Bar next to it. Me and another EAPer decided that we wanted to check out Kyoto a bit more so we split from them.

Exploring Kyoto and More Temple Visits
We walked for a bit and found ourselves lost lol a random old lady saw us looking at our map. She pointed to the Kyoto Station and told us that it was the Kyoto Station. We nodded our heads and said thank you. We already knew that lol One thing about Kyoto is that every Japanese person will think every foreigner is a tourist. Can't be helped. Anyway, we went to check out a temple (I would look up the name, but I'm kinda lazy right now XP) There were actually two temples next to each other and we checked them both out. The buildings were amazing! Very beautiful in my opinion :3 One of the temples were were allowed to go inside. The architecture and stuff inside was awesome! It felt like I walked right into a Japanese movie during the older periods. I wanted to stay and stare at the them, but we headed out to the next temple.

The next one was bigger and more people were there. Inside one of the buildings there were actually people who were sitting on the ground and praying and stuff. Me and the other EAP sat down as well. After a few minutes I suddenly heard the sound of a bell. A monk was ringing one of those old Japanese bells. Something was going on in the building across from us. We decided to check it out. There were a bunch of people sitting on the ground watching some guys chanting. We sat down and watched. All they did was chant so we didn't stay long XP

We decided to head back to the hostel, but on the way back we stopped by a restaurant. I learned how to say green tea (maccha). We ordered green tea ice cream. It was super delicious! I freaking love green tea flavored stuff =3 I wish it was easier to obtain that stuff in SB :( After the ice cream we went back to the Hostel. When we got back the others were sitting on couches drinking wine (or some other alcohol). It wasn't until maybe another 30 hour until the others (3 more were joining us) arrived and until we were able to check in so we just chilled in the bar until them. They eventually came and we were finally able to check in.



Our Room in the Hostel
We booked an 8 room mixed dorm at the hostel since there was 7 of us (actually there was 8, but the other guy decided last minute to join us so he wasn't able to book it with us). So the entire time we were there we had some random people rooming with us. I think we had 3 different guys. I wonder if they felt awkward being in a room where everyone else knew each other. Also 6/7 of us were girls lol  We didn't hang around the rooms most of the time anyway so no big deal. When we got settled in our room we all decided to take a nap. We napped for about an hour. When we awoke we all decided that we were hungry lol

We walked to a ramen shop not too far from the Hostel. Unfortunately, it was a small restaurant so not all of us were able to fit. So, 3 of us decided to eat at the restaurant right next to the ramen shop. This placed had ramen, too, so it was no big deal. I ended up ordering fried rice instead. The others were kind enough to give me a bit of there ramen =3

After dinner we headed back to our room (not before the others bought alcohol at the convenience store). We went back to our room and they drank and we talked for an hour or so. I've gotten used to hanging around people who drink a lot XP After their pre-gaming they decided to go check out the mini-performance happening in the bar at the Hostel. Me and two others (the 3 who drink the least) didn't want to go so we decided to watch a movie in the tv room. We watched Tallageda Nights. We watched it with Japanese subtitles which was part of the fun since we were able to read and understand most of it. Translations were really funny lol It was also my first time watching the movie. It was pretty funny and interesting. We also met a student from Australia. A lot of people kept staring through the door (it was clear door) and we only got one person to watch with us. She was pretty chill. It's nice meeting people =)

After the movie we went back to our room. Some other things happened but probably not that important to mention xP First day of Kyoto ends here!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Mini Tokyo Trip (2)

Meiji Jingu Temple
After Sushi we went to the Meiji Jingu Temple. At the entrance you were greeted by a really big torii (Japanese temple gate). I had a picture of it, but apparently some of the pictures taken there had mysteriously vanished :( Once we passed the gate we walked several minutes on a large path that were surrounded by trees. It was really beautiful and especially nice because it was a nice day that day. Seeing light pass through the trees felt very majestic-like. We walked by an area that had a small path. We decided to check it out. We had to pay ¥500 to get in. Though, it was expensive, it was worth the trip. Once we paid we walked along the path. We soon reached a large open area with round bushes and a river. We didn't stick around there for very long. We continued on our way and saw small rice fields. We then reached the end where we found out why we had to pay. There was a long line of people. I was curious to know what was at the end then I was told there was a sacred well. People took pictures of it then would pray. The well was really small. It looked like a large wooden bucket planted into the water, to be honest. After that we left that area and continued on our way to the main temple. When we got there we saw some people lined up and dressed very traditionally. We soon learned that there actually was a wedding ceremony going on. I seriously felt bad for them because there were a bunch of people (mainly gaijin/foreigners) taking pictures of them. I took a picture, too, I admit >< I bet some people thought it was an act or something. The temple was really awesome. Just like the movies, but even better! Before we left I did one of those luck things where you shake a rectangular box and then pull out a stick. Whatever number's on there you tell the person and they give you a paper that tells fortune (or something...). I kinda forget what mine said (I still have it I just can't translate it...). But I remember it had something to do with a queen or something which was awesome because my name actually means queen in spanish lol After that we headed out of the temple and to our next destination.


Short McDonald's Break
After the temple we went to a nearby McDonalds because some of us were thirsty and we just wanted to take a break. When we got a drink we sat down, which wasn't easy by the way. There were a bunch of people at the restaurant. We eventually found a place to sit on the next floor above. We sat down and chatted. I chatted with my friend's girlfriend, which was really nice. We spoke in Japanese since my friend said I should practice my Japanese and what better way than with a native? I was nervous at first, but he told me I shouldn't since I'm in Japan now and I shouldn't waste my time not practicing Japanese. I sucked it up and talked in Japanese. I'm sure I stumbled and said a few incorrect things, but it was alright. I got to learn more about my friend's girlfriend and we shared some laughs and interesting stories :) It's really fun and satisfying being able to speak Japanese to a native without feeling embarassed or shy ^_^

Shibuya/Harujuku Walk
After McDonald's my friend's girlfriend took us to a place that I completely forgot the name of. It's basic a really big alley way with a bunch of small stores (mainly clothing stores). We just walked down it without stopping at any of the shops. We then went to Shibuya 109 (or was it 109 Shibuya?) which is a really big clothing store that mainly sells gyaru-style clothes. My friend and his girlfriend left before we went into the building. So me and the other EAPer just looked around. We soon left and went back to that one place we were at before. We looked inside the stores and looked at the clothes. I ended up buying a shirt that said 満足貧乏 (Poor, but satisfied) lol

On the way back to Tsuru
I parted ways with my fellow EAPer (she stayed another night) and headed back to Tsuru. I took the train back and as it would I ended up going the opposite direction I was supposed to x.x Thankfully, as long as you don't go past the ticket gates you can change trains. I went on the right train this time. Took about 2 hours until I finally got back to Tsuru. When I reached Tsuru I adjusted my ticket fare (since I got the wrong ticket) and walked home.

The end of my Tokyo trip =)


Monday, September 17, 2012

Mini Tokyo Trip (1)

Piano Recital
On Saturday we went to Tokyo to watch a piano recital. The pianist is from Tsuru which is probably why we went to attend her performance. The recital was nice. I never went to a 2-hour recital before. It was an interesting experience. I got to talk to one of the tutors more during the intermission. I learned that he likes anime. To be honest, he was the first tutor I talked with that actually likes anime lol It was fun chatting with him. My inner-otaku came out lol (I'm not a scary otaku....).  Another nice thing about this is the bus ride and the ticket to the recital were free! =D When we got to the place there was actually a small matsuri (festival) going on. Since we arrived an hour early we hung out around there. I bought myself takoyaki =3




On My Way to the Hotel
After the concert a few people went back home while the rest of us stayed in Tokyo. I decided to stay because I got a free ride to Tokyo so might as well take advantage of that ;D So, after the concert I headed to my hotel. My hotel was in another part of Tokyo so I had to take the train there. I went with one other EAPer, but we split up at one station. When I arrived at the station I was supposed to get off at I ended up exiting through the wrong way... I really hate it when instructions don't tell you what exits to take...

I ended up going the complete opposite way. Seriously, Tokyo. Always giving me trouble (>.<) I eventually found my way to a Koban (a small police station) and asked the policeman for help. That's probably one of the moments where my Japanese speaking skills were the most helpful. It's times like that that I'm glad I can speak Japanese enough to ask for help lol They told me that I was really far from the Hotel I was trying to get to. For awhile one of them was telling me directions, but I fixed my eyes on the clock on the back wall and realized that I have only 30 minutes to get to the Hotel before they close. I eventually asked them if they could call a cab for me. I really didn't want to because taxis are super expensive here. But I had no choice. So, I ended up taking the taxi to the hotel. I spent about $15 even though it was a less than 10 minute ride...

My Hotel
I finally got to my hotel. The people working there (ok well I only saw one) don't speak much English so my Japanese speaking skills were challenged again. This hotel is different from what I've seen. Basically, you get your own room, but you share bathrooms. The nice part is the shower/bath rooms are split between guys and girls, but the restrooms are shared. The restroom near my room had two stalls and even had urinals... I kept thinking how awkward it would be if I walked in while I guy was doing his business... Thank goodness everytime I walked into the bathroom no one else was there lol

The rooms were really small. It was maybe 8x5ft. It was Japanese style so I slept on a futon that was folded up on the ground. I got to my hotel around 11pm so I chilled for about an hour. I mainly just watched tv for abit. The AC in the room was kinda old so it didn't work very well which sucked because it was pretty hot...
I woke up pretty early. I woke up before my alarm went off. I turned on the tv because it was Sunday and every Sunday morning a show I like to watch airs. So, I watched that then I watched some random anime. I left around 10am. While I went downstairs to give my key to the owner I saw a couple of white guys. Being in Tokyo seeing other foreigners doesn't surprise me as much. While in Tsuru whenever I see another foreigner I treat them like they're celebrities lol

I made my way to the train station. I asked the hotel owner where it was before I left so I wouldn't get lost lol It was about a 15 minute walk there. From the station I made my way to Ikebukuro.

Ikebukuro (including zaitenzushi!!!!)
I met up with one of the EAPers who also stayed behind in Tokyo. We checked out Ikebukuro for a bit. First we went to a building called Bic Camera which is mainly electronics. I checked out some Gundam models, video games, movies, and cds. I didn't buy anything because everything was expensive. I kept saying how I can buy some of the stuff on Book Off for much cheaper XP Next we went to find a clothes shop. I kinda forgot the name of one of the shops. We also went to Uniqlo which is a big clothes shop in Japan.

Next we went back to the station where we came from and waited for my friend. This friend is studying abroad in Japan and is also from UCSB. We met up with him and his girlfriend. We went up to the top of the building where the station was to eat ZAITENZUSHI!!!!! (conveyor belt sushi). When we reached the top there was a bunch of dining places. The whole store was a dining area. We got in line for the sushi which was an hour wait. It was pretty funny because we kept "upgrading." What I mean by that is at first we  stood up in line, then we got to sit on stools, then on wooden chairs, then on cushioned chairs lol We kept joking how it kept upgrading and it actually did XD


After an hour we finally got to eat sushi. It was my first time being at this type of sushi place before so I was excited. There was an ipad at the table which is what you used to order sushi. There were also sushi moving on a conveyor belt, but those aren't fresh so it's better to order. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a problem with our ipad. Our food didn't come as quickly as it should have. It was ok, though, because in the end we were satisfied. One of the best sushi experience of my life!!! I had 7 plates of sushi for less than ¥1000. That's super cheap! That's about the same price as buying one special roll at Goleta Sushi House. I wish Tsuru had a place like this, but unfortunately they don't.





TO BE CONTINUED
(I shall continue this, but right now I need to study for my test tomorrow lol)

Friday, September 14, 2012

Past few weeks

Sorry for lack of updates these past few weeks! I kept forgetting to update XD Probably because nothing major has happened since my last entry. From here I'll write about what has happened since the last update. I'll subhead them to make it easier for you guys (^.^)b (not in order. I'll write whatever comes to mind XP)

Italian Food, Bowling and Purikura
*Purikura = pictures taken at a photo booth where you can edit the pictures to look cutesy or however you want it

Last week a couple of us hung out with one of the tutors who's vacationing in India right now. The EAPer who has her as a tutor wanted to spend time with her before she left for her trip. First, we went to a place to serves Italian Food (omg, another place that has non-Japanese food!). It was pretty expensive and the portions were small (in my opinion), but it was still really delicious! I had an Ebi Pasta (Shrimp). I'd eat there again :) Just not a lot XD Afterwards we went to the only bowling alley (that I know of) in Tsuru. When we walked through the entrance the first thing we see were arcade games. And of course we play those before we go bowling lol. There was a Taiko game (Taiko is a type of Japanese drum). It was really fun to play! It was kinda hard, too lol They also had a guitar and drum game like RockBand. I got really excited because I got to pick Japanese songs that I like X) I didn't play the guitar game, though. The drum one was difficult, too... After about half an hour playing we all decided to go in one of the picture booths. It was really hard to take a picture because there was a lot of us. It took so many tries and I don't think there's a single one that shows all of our faces clearly lol well we tried! (I don't have the images on my computer so I can't show it, sorry ^^;).
Afterwards we finally bowled. We played two games. We split up. Our team ended up doing really bad lol. All the better players ended up on the other team. It was still fun, though. Our team was so bad we wouuld clap whenever one of us got at least one pin lol After we finished we went to pay and they actually give you copies of how you played. I of course through mine away to hide the embarassment lol

Hanging out at Tsuru Host Mother's house

There is a person we like to call our Tsuru Host Mother. She's not really a host mother (since most of us have our own host families), but she's one of the coordinators of the program. She's like a mom to us because she's always helping us whenever we need it. She's so adorable (^.^). We generally call her Fumi-san when we're around her. On the same night we went Bowling we went to her house to have dinner. I found out that she actually owns a Juku (cram school) specifically for English. The tutor we hung out with apparently helps there :) Anyway, her house is super nice. It's like the type of place I'd like to live in. It's a combination of Japanese and Western. She also has two really cute dogs. I couldn't stop playing with them x3 They reminded me of my dog so much. One of them was a puppy, too! I kept playing tug-a-war with her x3 We also met two of Fumi-san's sons. We introduced ourselves by saying our names and what school we go to in America. They responded by saying our Japanese was really good and that they were surprised. I've gotten used to that kind of reaction now lol Even if you say the most simple things people (especially in places like Tsuru where hardly anyone speaks English) quickly assume you're an expert XP
For dinner we had sushi (which we made ourselves), pasta (again lol), various types of tempura, yakiniku, and several snacks. Of course, there was alcohol. It's funny because Fumi-san likes drinking alcohol lol I drink one of the "girly" drinks. By "girly" I prefer to drinks that have like 3% alcohol and taste sweet (they're usually fruity flavored) so you can't taste the alcohol. I actually really like those drinks. I wish I could buy them as easily in America XP We chatted a lot during dinner. Fumi-san asked us about what we wanted to do in our future. She made all of us answer xP We then asked her what she wanted to do. She laughed and said her future is small (meaning she's old already), but she gave us her answer anyway (my hearing isn't good so I didn't understand everything she said). Throughout the night we just chatted. At the last hour Fumi-san made us speak only in Japanese. She said that you had to pay 100円 (~$1) for every English you use. That scared us lol. I was talking with one of the EAPer and for a long while we spoke to each other in Japanese until we started speaking English again because it was easier lol We were on the other side of Fumi-san so we would speak using soft voices. A couple of times she would say that she heard English and we would just say "We don't know what you're talking about" lol After an hour we all headed back (because we would miss the last train if we didn't lol and it's like an hour walk from the apartments).

Calligraphy Take 2

Yesterday we had another calligraphy mini class. Before hand we had to think of a word that has two Kanji characters. During this calligraphy class we worked on writing the kanji we chose. I chose 希望 which means hope. The reason why I chose that Kanji was because a lot of difficult things has happened before coming to Japan and while I was in Japan, but I kept my hopes up and things always got better :) I should've taken a picture of the one I decided to turn in but I forgot x( Next week we have a speech where our host family's are invited and I think our Calligraphy will be posted on the walls... (kinda embarrassing...)

An Interesting Birthday Party

On Monday this week one of the EAPer's had their birthday. First we went to the Indian place. Dinner of course was a lot more expensive than lunch. Luckily, I was able to share a dinner with one of the EAPers which saved me a lot of money. Also, I'm never getting spicy again x( I love spicy but the spice of the curry was way too hot >.< I'll stick with normal lol After Indian food we went to the Birthday EAPer's apartment room. We fit like 17 people in the tiny apartment XP Of course the party involved alcohol. Before coming I stopped by the supermarket and bought myself a can of those "girly" 3% alcohol. Besides me and a few others everyone else were drinking heavy stuff like sake, whiskey, beer, and tequila. We mainly just chatted during the first hour. Eventually, we decided to give the birthday girl her cake and sing happy birthday to her. We turned down the light until it was really dim. Before we sing we hear the doorbell. Everyone just screamed "Douzo!" (come in!). One of the tutors opens the door and everyone just yells out her name "HARUNA!!! It was a really funny moment lol (There's a video I was tagged in on facebook if you're curious to konw what it was like).
I saw sake bombs for the first time during the party. Apparently, it's not really known in Japan because the three Japanese people who were there said it was their first time seeing it. It was quite amusing haha After about an hour or so later people started to get drunk. It was my first time being around so many drunk people. Luckily, I wasn't the only sober one. At first, I thought it was going to be really bad (based on the SB stereotypes), but it really wasn't. People did get a little crazy and ditzy, but no harm was done. There were people dancing crazily. I stayed in the corner and watched everyone (not like a creeper, mind you). Me and my friend went up to the loft where we felt safer. From there we continued to watch everyone lol Eventually, we left since we still had homework and a quiz we had to study for (it was Monday afterall lol). I later found out that they partied until 2am or something. The next morning during class some people were hungover from that night. The next day our teacher said the average on our quizzes went down. Everyone just laughed XP

A Trip to Book Off

During one of the Saturdays me and 3 others went to another town to go to a bookstore called Book Off. Book Off is essentially a used bookstore. They also sell new stuff and they also sell games, cds, and dvds. Book Off is so freakin' amazing! Especially, for a manga love like me x3 They sell used manga for 105円 which is essentially more than the Book Off in the US. I was happy because I don't live near a Book Off back in the US. Being in that store felt great. Unfortunately, I only bought one book because I went in not knowing what to get XP It's ok though because I can also order stuff online =3 one of the perks of being in Japan. I don't think they have an online option in America (which I wish they had...). I'll probably order online more often than going to the actually store because it's pretty expensive to go there by train and back whereas through online I can get free shipping if I spend more than 1500円 (~$17). The trouble with this though is bringing the stuff back... Books do tend to way a bit... I'll make it work somehow lol


Well, that's it for now. I can't remember what else happened these past few weeks besides class and other non-important stuff. This weekend I'm off to Tokyo to watch a piano concert and hang out with a friend then next week I'm off to Kyoto for a couple days! Look forward for to those updates :3 

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Two Days of Matsuri Participation!

(No photos because I was busy participating so I didn't get a chance to take pictures )= Might take some photos that other people took XD)

So these past two days there was a Matsuri in Tsuru-shi. The name of the matsuri has escaped my head x( sorry! I'll probably remember later.

Yesterday, we (exchange students) participated in an even where people pull a Dashi (Japanese traditional float). It takes a lot of man power to move those things.They're huge and heavy! Plus there are people on it playing traditional instruments. It was us (minus the boys) and several of the locals who pulled one of the dashi. The boys helped move another one. We pulled the Dashi using a large rope attached to the front. Several guys surrounded the Dashi. The ones in the back helped push while the ones on the side help to make it doesn't crash on the side of the road or into one of the buildings. Even though the wheels were fixed the Dashi still tended to drift to the side. Usually when that happens the guys on the side will try to push while we pullers had to go the opposite side (if the Dash was going left we would go right) and pull to help it from crashing. It's a lot harder than it sounds! We got the easy part. The guys who had to push had the hardest part. It was tough pulling, though. On ours the pullers were mainly girls. The people on the Dashi played music while we pulled which was pretty awesome. I actually like listening to stuff like that.

About half way through pulling I had to go pee really bad. You know that horrible feeling when you have to pee, but you can't really? Like when you're on a long drive and the nearest restroom is miles away? Yeah, that's how I felt. It started to get worst. Eventually, we took a little break and me and a friend asked one of the people in charge where the bathroom is. It's not easy finding public bathrooms here. We ended up borrowing someone's bathroom. It was a shop, though, not someone's private home so that was a little better. We of course thank them for letting us use it. When we came back out our Dashi had already left. The guys saw us and called us slackers lol We had to make our way down the road to our Dashi. It was another couple minutes of pulling until we reached the road where all four Dashi faced each other. We were there for about 45 minutes. Each Dashi had it's instrument players play music for about 10-15 minutes each. My feet were in pain at this point. There wasn't many places to sit =/ You notice certain things that a place lacks when you really need them but can't find them XD

After the performances we had to pull the Dashi again. Our Dashi took a couple of minutes before we reached another place. It was just us this time and we stopped next to a shop. In the shop they had set up food for us. Made me so happy x3 All of us EAPers sat together. The food that was laid out included fried squid, fried chicken, fried shrimp, sushi, onigiri, potatoe/meet soup, miso soup, yakitori, bbq fish, and some others. THERE WAS A LOT OF DELICIOUS FOOD. I love it when I eat meals like this x3 makes me so happy! I absolutely love Japanese food ^_^

While we were eating one of the guys in charge went around the tables and had people introduce themselves through a speaker phone. All of us at the table weren't happy about that lol But we eventually introduced ourselves. We just said our names and how we were Exchange Students from California.

Later we were told to go outside to participate in dancing. It's nothing fancy more like a fun thing to do. We followed a lady who danced to various songs. We were doing Bon Odori dances. There are various types. I had the hardest time at the beginning because it's hard for me to mimic someone right on the spot. Eventually, I was able to get the moves right. Not 100% but close. It was really fun! I think a lot of the locals were amused at watching us foreigners dance haha After wards several of the others decided to go to Gibson while the rest of us headed home.

The next day we left our apartments early and headed to where we had to get ready for the parade. All of us exchange students participated in the parade which at first seemed like a neat idea. I mean, when are you going to get a chance again to participate in an event that's not your country? I thought it would be fun until we arrived at the place where we had to get ready. What turned me completely off was the fact that I had to wear makeup... Let's just clarify that I absolutely hate wearing makeup. I've never worn makeup, at least not full on. I've put on lipstick before when I was young but that's it. I didn't put anything else on. It was too late, though, I couldn't back down from the parade.

After putting on the makeup we got our outfits put on. I'm not exactly sure what the outfit I wore is called. It's not a Kimono and not a Yukata. Kind of in between maybe? Oh yeah, I was a Chamber Maid. All the chamber maids were exchange students. The outfit we had to wear was blue on top and red on the bottom. We also had to wear a large, black, and circular hat. When the ladies put the outfit on me it felt really awkward. The obi that was tied around my waist was really tight and at an awkward spot.

After we finished getting ready we headed downstairs. I forgot to mention that it was raining outside. We were told how lucky we were because it's usually scorching hot. It's probably due to the tsunami that it was raining today.  We lined up (we were towards the end) and started walking. The rain stopped after 30 minutes, though.We had to smile, but it was kind a hard because my feet started to ache and I couldn't take my mind off the pain. I got a bit angry ever time we stopped which we did a lot. Japanese people really do like to take pictures. The group in front of us were princesses and their outfits were really intricate. A lot of people wanted to take a picture with the head princess. She wasn't always the reason why we stopped. People probably wanted to take pictures of the people way ahead of us. Every time we stopped people on the side would crowd near the head princess and take a picture of her. I don't think people really cared about us honestly. They were probably just amused at the fact that foreigners were dressed as chamber maids =P I didn't really care though. All I could think about is getting home or at least sit down because my feet were seriously in pain.

About an hour or so we took a break. After the short break we walked again. We stopped after 15minutes and rested at the city museum. After that we headed to our final destination, the elementary school. It started raining again except this time it was harder. We were lucky we had those hats, but they didn't protect us completely. My sleeves were drenched in rain water. We were given towels, but honestly they weren't of much help.

We eventually reached the school. We had to stand in line for about 15 minutes while we waited for some guy to make his speech. I hate to say this, but I didn't really care what he said (I only understand bits anyway). All I cared about was sitting down because the pain in my feet were getting worst. When he finally stopped talking we were free to go. Well, we all headed to the gym where we changed back into our regular clothes.

After changing we headed to the yateis (food stands) close to the school. I thought we were going to eat at a restaurant but I guess they changed their minds. I was a bit disappointed because I really wanted to just sit down and eat, but walking around the food stands was AMAZING. So many good food!!!! Super expensive, though =( I ended up buying a Yaki squid, yakitori, and a choco banana crepe. In total that cost me about 1250円 That is super expensive ($15  maybe?) and I'm still hungry.... But it was definitely worth the experience!

After walking a few us decided to head back. It took me longer because my feet started to get to the point where it was starting to go numb. I probably won't go in detail  about that xP

Being able to participate in the Matsuri was awesome! That's why I love that I chose this program. We get to participate and do so many things where we're involved in the community. Although, the result of the participation also included having painful feet pain, I still had a good time. I hope we do more stuff like this =)