The drop in temperature during this month turned my apartment room into an icebox. My electricity bill had tripled due to me needing to leave my heater on all night long lest I freeze to death. The rain had also started to come back adding a sense of gloom to the atmosphere as we all knew that some of us would be parting ways soon. The iChat Lounge held one last even for the international students, a Nabe Pot Cookoff. Nabe, or nabemono, is a traditional Japanese winter dish that combines a variety of ingredients into a single hot pot, sort of like a large bowl of soup. Students were separated into groups of 5 or more and were given a limited amount of money to buy ingredients for a nabe recipe of their choice. Some groups made nabe curry, seafood, or noodle dishes. I had the idea of making a spicy broth nabe that would contain meatballs mixed with kimchi, naming our group "Mama Mia Spicy Meatball". The idea seemed great until it was put to the test. The meat would not retain its ball shape and would come apart in the broth but luckily we had some money left over from our grocery trip and we decided to put the meat into gyoza skins turning out meatballs into potstickers of a sort. Once our time was up, each group's dish was judged. In the end our group was designated the winners by the International Center and iChat Lounge coordinators! Cookoff participants were later invited to an actual nabe dinner put on by some of the school's higher ups. During this month I was also invited by Eva to visit Kobe, her place of residence during her time studying at Osaka Gakuin. The train ride took such a long time, it's a wonder how she is able to wake up early enough to make it to her morning language class! I arrived in the late afternoon so it was a bit early for restaurants to be open for dinner, but I insisted that we stop at a steak restaurant first as I was dying to try some Kobe beef. Luckily there a place near the train station about to open so we hopped in line with everyone else waiting to get their hands on some steak. Appropriately the name of the restaurant was "Steak Land" lol. The set up was very similar to Benihana where the chefs cook your meal in front of you. I ordered one of the most expensive steaks on the menu, around $80 for the meal, but it was my only chance to try some grade-A Kobe beef so I just went for it. AND BOY WAS IT WORTH IT. Without a doubt that was the best steak I've ever had, I hope to try more in the future! After our early dinner we wandered around some shopping districts where we found an owl cafe where we each had a drink got to pet some of the owls lined up on a perch against the wall (pictured below!). Our next destination was the Umie Mosaic, also know as Harborland, a large shopping mall Final Sushiro and Karaoke
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November was a very tame month as the weather began to cool down. Our main, and only, field trip during this month was to the Asahi Beer Factory. We learned about the history of the company as well as the process of making beers; we were even able to see inside the factory distillery. Afterwards all the students were able to buy beer from the factory's open tasting room. Though winter weather was setting in the trees were still changing their colors and losing their leaves. One of the International Center employees, Akiko, suggested that we visit a very famous town know for the vibrant and beautiful maple leaf trees known as Mino Park. The park features a hiking trail that runs along side a long river which eventually leads to Mino Waterfall. As the tree leaves were at the peak of their cycle, the park was incredibly packed. The hike to the falls averages around 45 minutes and that's just one way! It was well worth the hike though as the entire journey we were surrounded by beautiful, rich colored trees. The view of the waterfall was breathtaking as well (not to mentioned crowded). The hike back to the entrance was the challenging park. Due to the large number of people the main road back became very packed, very much like rush hour on the freeway with stop and go traffic, so we decided to take the scenic route back which was a bad decision on my part. The path was incredibly steep and winding and my feet were absolutely killing me by the end of the day. But overall this was one of the best destinations I had been to during my time in Japan. The iChat Lounge arranged one last field trip to Kodaiji Temple in Kyoto where a special seasonal viewing of the bamboo forest could be had. The international students met in the evening as the special viewing was set at night with the temple, its surrounding maple trees, and the bamboo forest lit up. We were able to take a tour of the entire grounds, from the inside of the temple to the surrounding bamboo and maple tree groves. It was especially beautiful as the trees still retained their fall colors which looked very beautiful even in during the night. Pictures of each described event can be found below! One final personal accomplish I achieved was finding a Mexican restaurant, which was harder than it sounds. As a born and raised Californian living in Japan, I cannot tell you how much I missed and craved Mexican food and Japan is not the best place to go in search for this kind of food. One of the International Office employees was able to search around and found a Mexican restaurant by the name of El Pancho in Shinsaibashi. The food and margaritas were divine, though I imagine my deprivation from genuine Mexican food for four months could have an influence. My initial excitement began to wind down once October came around and all the students had settled into their class schedules, myself and Marquie having been placed in the low-intermediate language class. Typhoon season was also coming to a close allowing us students to better explore Osaka. The first major even was the school's international lounge's, known as the iChat Lounge, welcome party. All of the students, including Japanese, were invited to get to know one another better through some field games and a chocolate fountain party afterwards. I even met one of the lounge's coordinators who attended CSUMB. The after party featured socializing, group photos complete with props, and many different kinds of sweets to dip in the chocolate fountains, all pictured below. The next big event was the school's annual Kishibe festival in which students could participate as booth coordinators selling a unique snack from their home countries. I was apart of the Barbados Bakes booth. The idea came from one of the international students from Barbados named Dawn who taught us how to prepare and cook a snack known as bakes from her country. I designed the sign that was to be displayed on our booth featuring Poseidon and the Barbados flag (pictured below). The festival was a healthy competition between students to see who could raise the most money and towards of the end of the festival was a performance by a group of students who banded together as apart of the iChat Lounge's iPop Band. During October I was also able to explore some of the major city wards such as Umeda and Tenjinbashi where we explored museums and shopping districts. One such destination was the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living, an indoor museum featuring the recreation of buildings and streets from Osaka during the Edo Period. While exploring the museum visitors are encouraged to don a kimono or yukata to get a feel of life in old Osaka. There were buildings of old hotels, restaurants, and houses all of which featured traditional tatami flooring and paper screens instead of wooden floors or doors. Afterwards we went to a nearby curry house that was shown to me by one of the staff at the International Center as I absolutely LOVE curry. I was luckily enough to be taken on another field trip this time with my Japanese Religions class. We first visited a Shinto shrine, Kasuga-taisha in Nara. From there we lectured and guided by one of Tenrikyo's international coordinators as we toured the main headquarters in Tenri, Nara. We were able to walked through the main building where we witnessed various acts of worship. Similar to Christianity, Tenrikyo believes in a single God and focuses on performing acts of kindness towards others in order to live a joyous life. Afterwards we explored Nara, feeding many deer along the way. October came to a close and Halloween drew nearer. Though Japan does that celebrate the holiday as it comes from purely Western traditions, many of the shops featured crazy and cute Halloween decorations. Baskin Robbins even featured a bunch of special Halloween flavored ice cream decorated with ghost and bat sprinkles. The iChat lounge hosted a Halloween party to which all of the Western and some Japanese students dressed in costumes. I was also invited by Eva to a Halloween party for some local Japanese children. All of the children had dressed up as some sort of American movie characters, which was interesting considering how many unique and cute Japanese characters there are. It just shows what a strong influence Western media has on other countries. What a busy and exciting first month abroad! It was wild too because it was still typhoon season, so there was quite a few instances of the school emailing us telling us classes were cancelled or we had to lock ourselves in our apartment rooms for the weekend until the storm passed. Nothing too bad happened, in fact the typhoons that I experienced were not that strong. One weekend Yurika and I even decided to go out and rent some movies to watch at her apartment. There was a typhoon warning for the area but the winds weren't that strong to cause trains or businesses to shut down. As we reached the movie rental place though, the rain and winds really picked up and we entered the building completely soaked. That didn't stop us though and we continued down the street to get some Mister Donut donuts and then walked to her apartment through the storm. We even ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut (I felt bad for the delivery man because he had to ride his scooter through the heavy rain), pictured below. It was $30 for a medium but the quality was MUCH better than the Pizza Hut pizza that we have in the states. We spent the stormy evening watching The Lego Movie and Monsters University, eating pizza and trying to stay warm from the cold weather. Besides my up close and personal experience with typhoon weather, I was able to explore many different destinations of history and tourism around Osaka. The school's very first field trip was to Osaka Castle in the Chuo Ward, just south of Umeda, a major city and shopping destination that I visited many times while in Japan. During this excursion I met up with a Japanese exchange student who I had met at CSUMB, Ryosuke. We met at the train station in Kyoto and went to get lunch before going to a historical temple. We ended stopping at Burger King where we tried the infamous black burger. The taste was not so great, but at least I was able to say that I've eaten one. My next destination was the Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple located in Kyoto. Luckily the cicadas were still out and I could hear their famous summer calls before they disappeared through the fall and winter. The higanbana, or spider lillies, were also still in bloom and are interestingly associated with the afterlife and guiding spirits to reincarnation in Japanese legends. In the temple grounds is a legendary stream (pictured below) that is said to grant anyone who drinks it success, love, or longevity. The next school field trip also featured a visit to Kyoto. There we were invited to participate in an ancient craft known as Yuzen dying, a traditional method used in hand painting and dying fabrics used in kimonos. I ended up designing a fan, which is pictured below as well. Afterwards a couple students and myself went down the road to explore Nijo Castle, residence of the first shogun during the Edo period, Tokugawa Ieyasu. Many of the buildings are adorned with gold leaf pain, inside and out. Nothing but the best for the shogun I suppose. Finally, I visited a small countryside town in Kyoto known as Arashiyama. This town is famous of its green tea flavored goods and a monkey park located at the top of a small mountain. The town is cut through by a wide river known as the Oi River where boating and fishing are abundant. The hike to the monkey park is steep and strenuous but well worth it as the view from the top is very beautiful. The monkeys were not my favorite though as they are known to be aggressive. My classes and time in Japan has only just begun but I am greatly looking forward to whatever sort of cultural of historical aspects I will experience. It's been a super busy first week! The month started off with all of the international students gathering in the International Center every morning at 8:50! Yuck! And it took the whole week to get through everything for our orientation. The week started off an introduction to the school and its classes and teachers that were available for us to take, as well as a written test to see where each student's level is at in terms of vocabulary, grammar, and writing. It wasn't fun but at least the hard part was out of the way first. The second day focused on the Japanese alphabets of hiragana, katakana, and some kanji. Interestingly enough they explained that we will be separated into a kanji class along with our language class placement. I can't imagine I'll be placed into a high level class, I struggled too much with identifying most of the kanji on the test. On the fourth day our interviews took place. It was a bit nerve wracking but luckily the teachers greeted me with smiles and soft voices. I stubbled a little but that was fine as the test was not for a grade. On Saturday, the International Center prepared a welcome party for everyone. There was food and games and we also were able to meet the Japanese students. When we first arrived to the International Center each student was separated into a group of about 10 or so, making sure we've been evenly mixed between students from each country. Each group circulated between games set up all around the center, such as "fukuwarai". Once lunch time came around we headed to the school's cafeteria and were separated into different groups again, this time though we were matched up with our buddy. Turns out though that my buddy is assigned to another girl from the Czech Republic! It was really fun getting to know Yurika and our other assigned international student, Eva. The day was overall very fun, a little frantic, but nontheless enjoyable. I'm excited to see which classes I will placed in starting tomorrow! After a 12 hour flight, I have finally landed in Osaka's International Airport. Waiting for me at the airport was one of the staff from Osaka Gakuin's International Office who proceeded to explain the process of finding my housing and the school. He gave me a packet full of information about the school, the selection of classes available, and the schedule of the first week in which all the students would be tested, interviewed, and then placed into classes specific to their proficiency level. He also shared my assigned "buddy's" contact information and said that we would be able to meet once I arrived at my apartment. With that having been taken care of, I headed outside to find the bus that would take me to the city I would call my home for the next four months. After a 2 hour or so bus ride from the airport, I arrived at Ibaraki-shi Hankyu Train Station, one train stop away from where my apartment is. Outside of the station was the apartment landlords and my buddy. Unfortunately, my time with my new buddy was very short as she could only say hello and had to go back to school. She introduced herself as Yurika and explained that she was looking forward to assisting me during my time studying at Osaka Gakuin. With introductions out of the way, I hoped into a taxi with the landlords and headed to my apartment. The area it is located in is a pretty small but expansive neighborhood. Essentially I was living in the Japanese suburbs as Ibaraki-shi did not contain any large shopping districts. The buildings and roads are also very small compared to the spaciousness of America, but it wasn't anything I couldn't get used to. I was the first international student to arrive so I had the entire building to myself for a few days before the other two girls arrived in Japan. One girl, Melody, came all the way from France, a much longer plane ride than mine was. The other girl, Nan, is from Thailand. We were able to get to know each other better at the rules and regulations meeting set up by the landlords and the trip to the Japanese version of a dollar store where we stocked up on toiletries and other apartment supplies. School starts once the weekend is over; I hope everything goes well... I came across a pleasant surprise today while checking my CSUMB inbox: Osaka Gakuin has officially accepted my application and is allowing me to study abroad at their school! Seeing the acceptance letter has made me so happy and excited; I'm slightly shaking as I type this haha. All of the hard work during Spring Break, getting my passport updated, filling out form after form, has paid off and I can't wait to leave for Japan at the end of August!
I recently stumbled upon this post that presented some places to visit while in various cities in Japan and boy am I glad I did. The only place I knew to visit was the Ramen Museum, but now I have 9 other options to choose from. I didn't even know that there is a Universal Studios in Osaka! What I'm looking forward to the most is trying Osaka's famous takoyaki and okonomiyaki and what other famous foods they're known for. They definitely could have added one more thing to the list though, which is to see a live manzai performance, which I plan to see plenty of!
I'm SUPER excited to finally be going back to Japan since it's been more than six years since the last time I was there in 2008. I'm sure that everyone knows this by now, but what I'm most looking forward to is to be able to learn Osaka-ben! I love their dialect and how fun it sounds. Perhaps I'll even run into Shinya Arino of Game Center CX (even though he films his show in Tokyo…).
What I'm most worried about is the language barrier (since I am not that fluent), getting lost, and getting sick (cause last time I got all doped up on the tons of drugs the doctor gave me). Being able to read and understand the bullet train maps will probably be the biggest problem for me since I don't have a great sense of directions and I was told that the Osaka bullet train lines are harder to figure out than Tokyo. But whatever, I'll try my best. What I look forward to is, of course, learning their accent, learning more about their culture, and all the food! I heard that Osaka is somewhat famous for their tokayaki, which I love to eat, so I'm excited to try that as well as any other specialties the Kansai region has to offer. The last time I was in Japan, my friends mother made so many delicious meals for us, so if I'm given the chance to stay with a host family, I will definitely be looking forward to their cooking. Here's to hoping I get accepted! |
Authorまいど!おおきに! Archives
December 2014
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