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.
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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! |
Authorまいど!おおきに! Archives
December 2014
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