I have been pretty slack regarding updating lately, for no good reason really. Whenever I have time I feel unmotivated to type anything up, and when I am motivated I have no time or access to a computer! Disaster in the making. But here I am, forcing myself to sit down and write a bit about what's gone on lately.
Last week was exams and as such I didn't have regular school, meaning lots of sleeping in was done and very litle time was spent at school. I had to go each day to work on my presentation for Australia, but apart from that I was fairly free. On Wednesday I went with the teacher in charge of me and the other foreign students, Yoshimi-sensei, and a foreign student from Germany named Miyako (She's 3 quarters Japanese) to an art shop in Shijo to take part in a lesson on dying handkerchiefs using a Kyoto technique. It was more fun than it sounds and was very enjoyable. After that we ate lunch at an Italian Family Restaurant which was great.
All this week I have presentations to give to various classes within the school on Australia. Yesterday I and the other foreign students presented to my class and another second year class, which went well. Some of the questions asked were a bit odd though. Naturally we got the standard 'Do you have a girlfriend?', 'Is there someone you like right now?' kind of questions, but for variety they also asked 'Are you hungry?' and 'What time is it?' :D
Today I presented to two first year classes in a row this morning by myself. It went fairly well, I think. The teacher was happy with it and he invited me to come back to the class at any time, which I may, since everyone was super nice!
I was thinking of joining Kendo club so yesterday after school I went to check it out. They practice from 4:30-6:30 every school day except Fridays, so it's pretty intense. I think I might take part though. The only thing I'm not sure of is the uniform and gear you need, which is really expensive. It would be nice if they had rental stuff, but the club doesn't seem that big or popular.
I've also managed to get out of Biology classes, since they were becoming a pain. In the classroom it's okay for me to tune out and do my own study, but in Biology we often go to the labs to do work and experiments etc. I can't follow the class sometimes and I felt like I was getting in the way when my friends had to help me out all the time. I've joined another second year English class now, and I've gained some more self-study periods in the Library... which I can't say I'm too fond of, I'm hoping to get them switched into some classes soon though.
I also talked to my family last week about switching host families at some point. I really want to go ahead with it, since I want to try and experience as much different stuff here as I possibly can. While spending the year with this family would be amazing, and really comfortable for me, I can't help but feel I could experience so much more! I think if I didn't change at some point I would regret it. I'm hoping I can move around the start of Summer vacation in late July/early August, but I'll need to talk to my coordinator about it.
And that's about all I can think of to say really! I will try and update every few days, but if I disappear for awhile I wouldn't say that's unusual haha.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Osaka Excursion
Yesterday was the day of our planned visit to Osaka! Although it was originally just going to be Carissa, Alistair and I, we were joined by Felicia, Ben and Felicia's host sister Nao. The more the merrier, I say!
So I woke up bright and early at 6AM to start the day. At first I was worried about whether I'd be able to make it to Osaka at all, having never travelled on trains in Kyoto on my own before, let alone out of the prefecture. Thankfully the transport service here is pretty easy to navigate. I left the house at 7:30 and caught a bus from Horikawa-dori to Kyoto station. Once I got to Kyoto station I bought my ticket from the vending machine and, with some help from Carissa's host mother over the phone, chose the right train to get to JR Osaka.
The train ride was dull. I didn't get a seat because it was pretty busy. It took around 40 minutes or so to arrive at the JR station in Osaka, and after that I had to find the exit we planned to meet at. This wasn't so easy, but was eventually managed and I met up with Alistair and soon after, Carissa.
Osaka is fantastic. Even walking out of the train station at 9AM in the morning it was fairly busy and just fantastic. I think it's one of my favourite cities, pushing Tokyo down a bit. We didn't really know what to do at first, but we just felt like it would be good to catch up and talk about what's been going on with us since we hadn't seen each other for a few months. After standing around talking for awhile we did a bit of wandering and came upon one of the more sleazy areas in Osaka by accident (I swear!). It looked less sleazy later in the day with people around, but since every second shop was an adult shop or had signs with suggestively dressed girls on them, it was hard not to think of it as so.
We quickly made our way out of there and onto one of the more main roads and eventually ended up back outside the train station. There was a shopping mall right outside the station which boasted a Starbucks on the 7th floor, so that was our next destination. It didn't open until 11 though and by that time it was only about 10:45. We waited with everyone else at the bottom of the elevators and eventually got up to have some coffee and wake up a bit!
After coffee and a bit of shopping we met up with Felicia, Ben and Nao and with a little convincing from me it was decided to go to karaoke. Karaoke is always great fun, but it's so much better here in Japan. The rooms are unbelievably nicer than the dodgy place I used to visit in Australia. Felicia and Ben escaped about 3 quarters of the way through and didn't come back to pay! We met them afterwards back in sleazeville but forgot to get the money off them haha.
Next up was food, since we were hungry. Osaka is the town of takoyaki so we couldn't not eat it. Nao took us to a nearby stall and we ate and ate. It was probably some of the best takoyaki that I've had so far. Very good. No chocolate though, sadly.
After takoyaki was eaten more shopping was done, we rode the Ferris Wheel at the top of the aforementioned mall, which gave a great view of the city. It was just buildings, buildings and more buildings though. I have a feeling it would have been nicer at night. Ben sat it out since he wasn't fond of the height I guess, and Nao waited with him. We took purikura (:D) next, which I helped expertly decorate haha. This lasted well into the afternoon. We visited countless clothes stores, book stores, CD stores and whatnot. I managed to contain myself and didn't spend too much of what I brought with me though. At about 6ish Nao, Ben and Felicia had to leave so we said goodbye and then Carissa, Alistair and I went off to do some more browsing at Tower Records and then find somewhere to eat dinner.
We eventually found a small restaurant that sold various forms of curry and omlete rice. It looked good, and was pretty cheap so we chose to eat there. Good choice too, it was delicious. I had their 'Kappa Curry', rice with curry, salad, and fried potato goodness. It was fantastic and really filling. I also stole an Orange Juice. Actually, when I went to pay I had the right amount and even gave him the exact amount needed for the meal and drink, but when he reread my order he just said the curry. I corrected him and said, 'With an orange juice too', he even said yes after that but then proceeded to hand me back some of my money and charge me only for the meal! Crazy.
After dinner we went to a crepe store to buy the best desert I have personally ever had. I ordered a Tropical Mango crepe, which was mango, banana, strawberries, whipped cream and custard in a vanilla crepe. It was great and I'm going back there again as soon as I can! After we were full to bursting point we decided to call it a day. Or rather a night, since i was about 8PM by then. We went back to the train station, bought tickets and headed off to our individual trains. I made it home in one piece by 9:30 at night and was suitably exhausted. Luckily I got to sleep in today, since this week is exam week and I wasn't due at school until 9:30. I got to come home at 12:30, too!
Tomorrow I have takoyaki eating scheduled with my University Japanese tutors. This will be the third time I've eaten it in a week. On Friday night I went to Horikawa Matsuri, a tiny festival nearby my hosue, with my host brother Fumiaki and we ate it there too haha. Not that I'm complaining, I could live off that stuff.
Today AU called me about my phone. Basically, I was being charged crap loads for the sending and receiving of emails and also the internet fees, since I wasn't signed up to some form of discount plan they have. I signed up today over the phone and although there's a fee to do so it will apparently save me 70% on my next bill... which was supposedly set to be stellar. The perks of having a phone in a country that has a different language, I guess. Fingers crossed.
There are Osaka photos up in the gallery. Leave a comment too, for the amount of views this page gets I receive very little feedback. It'd be good to know who is reading it...
So I woke up bright and early at 6AM to start the day. At first I was worried about whether I'd be able to make it to Osaka at all, having never travelled on trains in Kyoto on my own before, let alone out of the prefecture. Thankfully the transport service here is pretty easy to navigate. I left the house at 7:30 and caught a bus from Horikawa-dori to Kyoto station. Once I got to Kyoto station I bought my ticket from the vending machine and, with some help from Carissa's host mother over the phone, chose the right train to get to JR Osaka.
The train ride was dull. I didn't get a seat because it was pretty busy. It took around 40 minutes or so to arrive at the JR station in Osaka, and after that I had to find the exit we planned to meet at. This wasn't so easy, but was eventually managed and I met up with Alistair and soon after, Carissa.
Osaka is fantastic. Even walking out of the train station at 9AM in the morning it was fairly busy and just fantastic. I think it's one of my favourite cities, pushing Tokyo down a bit. We didn't really know what to do at first, but we just felt like it would be good to catch up and talk about what's been going on with us since we hadn't seen each other for a few months. After standing around talking for awhile we did a bit of wandering and came upon one of the more sleazy areas in Osaka by accident (I swear!). It looked less sleazy later in the day with people around, but since every second shop was an adult shop or had signs with suggestively dressed girls on them, it was hard not to think of it as so.
We quickly made our way out of there and onto one of the more main roads and eventually ended up back outside the train station. There was a shopping mall right outside the station which boasted a Starbucks on the 7th floor, so that was our next destination. It didn't open until 11 though and by that time it was only about 10:45. We waited with everyone else at the bottom of the elevators and eventually got up to have some coffee and wake up a bit!
After coffee and a bit of shopping we met up with Felicia, Ben and Nao and with a little convincing from me it was decided to go to karaoke. Karaoke is always great fun, but it's so much better here in Japan. The rooms are unbelievably nicer than the dodgy place I used to visit in Australia. Felicia and Ben escaped about 3 quarters of the way through and didn't come back to pay! We met them afterwards back in sleazeville but forgot to get the money off them haha.
Next up was food, since we were hungry. Osaka is the town of takoyaki so we couldn't not eat it. Nao took us to a nearby stall and we ate and ate. It was probably some of the best takoyaki that I've had so far. Very good. No chocolate though, sadly.
After takoyaki was eaten more shopping was done, we rode the Ferris Wheel at the top of the aforementioned mall, which gave a great view of the city. It was just buildings, buildings and more buildings though. I have a feeling it would have been nicer at night. Ben sat it out since he wasn't fond of the height I guess, and Nao waited with him. We took purikura (:D) next, which I helped expertly decorate haha. This lasted well into the afternoon. We visited countless clothes stores, book stores, CD stores and whatnot. I managed to contain myself and didn't spend too much of what I brought with me though. At about 6ish Nao, Ben and Felicia had to leave so we said goodbye and then Carissa, Alistair and I went off to do some more browsing at Tower Records and then find somewhere to eat dinner.
We eventually found a small restaurant that sold various forms of curry and omlete rice. It looked good, and was pretty cheap so we chose to eat there. Good choice too, it was delicious. I had their 'Kappa Curry', rice with curry, salad, and fried potato goodness. It was fantastic and really filling. I also stole an Orange Juice. Actually, when I went to pay I had the right amount and even gave him the exact amount needed for the meal and drink, but when he reread my order he just said the curry. I corrected him and said, 'With an orange juice too', he even said yes after that but then proceeded to hand me back some of my money and charge me only for the meal! Crazy.
After dinner we went to a crepe store to buy the best desert I have personally ever had. I ordered a Tropical Mango crepe, which was mango, banana, strawberries, whipped cream and custard in a vanilla crepe. It was great and I'm going back there again as soon as I can! After we were full to bursting point we decided to call it a day. Or rather a night, since i was about 8PM by then. We went back to the train station, bought tickets and headed off to our individual trains. I made it home in one piece by 9:30 at night and was suitably exhausted. Luckily I got to sleep in today, since this week is exam week and I wasn't due at school until 9:30. I got to come home at 12:30, too!
Tomorrow I have takoyaki eating scheduled with my University Japanese tutors. This will be the third time I've eaten it in a week. On Friday night I went to Horikawa Matsuri, a tiny festival nearby my hosue, with my host brother Fumiaki and we ate it there too haha. Not that I'm complaining, I could live off that stuff.
Today AU called me about my phone. Basically, I was being charged crap loads for the sending and receiving of emails and also the internet fees, since I wasn't signed up to some form of discount plan they have. I signed up today over the phone and although there's a fee to do so it will apparently save me 70% on my next bill... which was supposedly set to be stellar. The perks of having a phone in a country that has a different language, I guess. Fingers crossed.
There are Osaka photos up in the gallery. Leave a comment too, for the amount of views this page gets I receive very little feedback. It'd be good to know who is reading it...
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Rain, Rain Go Away
Today it rained like I've never seen before. Actually, it started raining early on last night and continued all night into the morning. I made a call to walk to school instead of ride, because I'm not confident enough of my coordination to ride with one hand while holding an umbrella. Good call, I'd say. The rain got really heavy just after I left the house, the wind was really strong too, and despite having an umbrella I was absolutely drenched by the time I got to school (And it stopped raining shortly after). This afternoon it looks like more rain... wouldn't surprise me if it rains tomorrow.
School is going great. I am slowly making more friends outside of my homeroom class and it's great to have people waving and saying hi around the school rather than gawking at you. According to my friend Oda Misuzu I have hundreds of girlfriends haha.
I'm not a huge fan of PE lessons period, but today we played volleyball. I should mention I was never good at volleyball and never had any interest in it, but today I had a tonne of fun. Apparently I suddenly got good (or half decent anyway) at it!
I don't know I think something just clicked recently and I don't care if it's become routine, or I can't understand the lessons, I am having the time of my life. I can wake up every morning and think to myself 'Wow, I am actually in Japan!' and it's a great feeling. I have only been here for around 2 months, and already I don't even want to think about going back to Australia! Naturally I miss family and friends in Australia, but I feel so at home in this country right now. It's the best feeling ever.
I'm planning a trip to Osaka this Sunday with Carissa and Alistair (Two of the other Australian exchange students with PIEE) which should be great, since I've wanted to go to Osaka for a long time. Takoyaki city! I am definitely eating some Osaka takoyaki. I've been told some people there even put chocolate in it! Crazy.
School is going great. I am slowly making more friends outside of my homeroom class and it's great to have people waving and saying hi around the school rather than gawking at you. According to my friend Oda Misuzu I have hundreds of girlfriends haha.
I'm not a huge fan of PE lessons period, but today we played volleyball. I should mention I was never good at volleyball and never had any interest in it, but today I had a tonne of fun. Apparently I suddenly got good (or half decent anyway) at it!
I don't know I think something just clicked recently and I don't care if it's become routine, or I can't understand the lessons, I am having the time of my life. I can wake up every morning and think to myself 'Wow, I am actually in Japan!' and it's a great feeling. I have only been here for around 2 months, and already I don't even want to think about going back to Australia! Naturally I miss family and friends in Australia, but I feel so at home in this country right now. It's the best feeling ever.
I'm planning a trip to Osaka this Sunday with Carissa and Alistair (Two of the other Australian exchange students with PIEE) which should be great, since I've wanted to go to Osaka for a long time. Takoyaki city! I am definitely eating some Osaka takoyaki. I've been told some people there even put chocolate in it! Crazy.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
The Japanese Cinema Experience
Yesterday I went to my first cinema in Japan, to see Spiderman 3 with two friends from school, Misuzu and Yoshiko. I cycled over to the school to meet them at about 1:30, since they had classes on that morning (Yes, on a Saturday!) because exams are coming up next week, or something like that. Students here are overworked so much. Anyway, after meeting them at school and making use of the school's parking for my bike, we went and waited for the bus we needed to catch to Nijo, where the Toho Cinemas are.
The bus ride was surprisingly long, especially considering that Nijo is close by to my house, and not that far by bike. I guess making the detour to the school beforehand made the trip much longer. We finally got there and just in time too. Since cinemas are so busy here, and the tickets are reserved seating, it's always best to get in early. Luckily my friend had planned ahead though, and bought us all tickets a few days earlier on her mobile phone. Once you've purchased them that way you just go to the computer terminal in the cinema lobby, enter your phone number, ticket code and a password and it prints off your tickets for you! Very good, and it meant we got pretty excellent seats.
When you order food at the cinema, they put it all on a tray for you and give you refresher towels and stuff too. It's pretty great service. I ordered a Fried Potato Set (Think great fries and a coke). And these fries were pretty damn good, much better than any McDonald's ones I've had. That said, this all wasn't cheap. The ticket cost 1000 yen and the food was 550 yen. After getting used to $5 for a cinema ticket in Australia, that's a lot of money.
When you get into the cinema the first thing they play is a short film explaining the rules while trying to be entertaining. It was done by an English voice actor and subtitled in Japanese, and the English was a bit weird... haha. But it was amusing, even though it seemed a bit much. The weird thing about Japanese cinemas is that they are deadly silent. No one talks, no loud obnoxious laughter or cheering... it's just silent the whole way through, no exaguration at all.
Even after the movie is over and the credits roll, the lights stay off and people stay silent. You have to wait for the credits to end for the lights to come back on, if you don't want to stumble over people to try and find your way out in the dark. After you do leave though, there's two cinema workers waiting outside the exit. One to take your tray and throw out any papers and rubbish, and the other to collect paper drink cups/lids etc. Talk about handy!
After the movie we all went home pretty quickly, since it was getting late and we needed to be home for dinner etc... I caught the bus back to school to collect my bike and made my way home.
Today was spent doing nothing much at all! I helped out a bit with the gardening and watched stuff on the computer and did no proper study at all!
The bus ride was surprisingly long, especially considering that Nijo is close by to my house, and not that far by bike. I guess making the detour to the school beforehand made the trip much longer. We finally got there and just in time too. Since cinemas are so busy here, and the tickets are reserved seating, it's always best to get in early. Luckily my friend had planned ahead though, and bought us all tickets a few days earlier on her mobile phone. Once you've purchased them that way you just go to the computer terminal in the cinema lobby, enter your phone number, ticket code and a password and it prints off your tickets for you! Very good, and it meant we got pretty excellent seats.
When you order food at the cinema, they put it all on a tray for you and give you refresher towels and stuff too. It's pretty great service. I ordered a Fried Potato Set (Think great fries and a coke). And these fries were pretty damn good, much better than any McDonald's ones I've had. That said, this all wasn't cheap. The ticket cost 1000 yen and the food was 550 yen. After getting used to $5 for a cinema ticket in Australia, that's a lot of money.
When you get into the cinema the first thing they play is a short film explaining the rules while trying to be entertaining. It was done by an English voice actor and subtitled in Japanese, and the English was a bit weird... haha. But it was amusing, even though it seemed a bit much. The weird thing about Japanese cinemas is that they are deadly silent. No one talks, no loud obnoxious laughter or cheering... it's just silent the whole way through, no exaguration at all.
Even after the movie is over and the credits roll, the lights stay off and people stay silent. You have to wait for the credits to end for the lights to come back on, if you don't want to stumble over people to try and find your way out in the dark. After you do leave though, there's two cinema workers waiting outside the exit. One to take your tray and throw out any papers and rubbish, and the other to collect paper drink cups/lids etc. Talk about handy!
After the movie we all went home pretty quickly, since it was getting late and we needed to be home for dinner etc... I caught the bus back to school to collect my bike and made my way home.
Today was spent doing nothing much at all! I helped out a bit with the gardening and watched stuff on the computer and did no proper study at all!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
2-6's Class Trip 2007
Today we, 2-6 (2nd Year, Class 6), had the annual class trip that is organised within the home rooms and coordinated by the students with the help of the Home Room teacher. We'd decided to go for a Barbeque in the rural scenery of Omori Resort Camp, about an hour or so away from the school by bus. We'd already seperated into groups and decided that each group would cook a different type of food, which would then be shared around the whole class.
My group had decided on Okonomiyaki and within the group we'd each been allocated items to buy and bring on the day, mine being eggs. Anyway, we met up to get on the bus outside the tennis courts just before 9:00 and had left by about 10 past. The bus trip there was pretty uneventful, but the scenery once we'd escaped the city was really nice. There were some amazing mountains, rivers and whatnot. The kind of thing I have never seen in Australia. It was really something else.
When we got closer to the site of our barbeque we had to get off the bus since it couldn't go any further - we had to go on foot. This was okay, despite the heat... and it is getting hotter! In the high twenties, and I keep hearing that Summer is going to be hellish.
Anyway, when we arrived at the little park we were having the BBQ we seperated into our groups and went about preparing and, eventually, cooking. It took ages to actualy get the fire started though! I was proud of my fire-starting skills though, since I got it going after not too long haha. Our Okonomiyaki was quite great tasting, and we got a few compliments on it :D
After everyone had eaten a few games were played. Some people played badminton, others played volleyball or softball. I wandered around talking to different groups of people and being asked to take photos with people haha. Emika had brought along a big teddy that doubled as a purse or (very) small bag. She asked me be in a photo holding it haha, and after that we took way too many photos involving the bear...
At the end of the day we took a class photo which I rather like and you can see above! And then we headed back to the bus and eventually back to the school. I had an awesome time, and it was really great to just relax and get to know the other class members a bit better outside of the classroom setting I see them in. I managed to make some new friends and get to know some people I hadn't yet talked to much at all :D!
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Live House
Yesterday was probably one of the most fun days I've had recently, which is weird because it started off really poorly. On Friday my friend Azusa emailed my phone telling me that one of the Senpai (Japanese word you use when referring to a senior) from our school's band was performing at a live house the next day and if I'd like to come. Of course I really wanted to go, but had no idea how to get to the Live House itself... haha.
So we exchanged mail a bit and then the replies stopped coming. So I waited for mail that never came, and assumed I wouldn't be going. Then yesterday at about 3 o'clock she finally replies saying that they were meeting up at 4 o'clock nearby my house! So I quickly got ready and rode my bike to a the nearby Uniqlo to meet Azusa, and then we headed to McDonald's to meet another friend from school, Chihiro. After that we sat in McDonald's for a bit and Chihiro's boyfriend, Chuchuya, joined us. After we'd sat around and eaten a bit Azusa decided she wanted to go home to fix up her hair... so we waited for her to come back before we left to go to the live house, Jigen-Ya and met up with another of Azusa's friends, Sayuka.
By the time we'd arrived it had already well started, but I don't think we missed much. Essentially 6 bands played, and most of them seemed to be high school bands not much older than me. They all played mostly covers too, of bands like The Used, Rancid and some Japanese bands. They weren't too bad, and some of them really got the crowd moving. The mosh pit was crazy simply because there was no security and no barrier between the stage and the mosh, so people were falling onto amps and speakers and my legs got a real beating from being knocked against the stage. Anyone that tried to crowd surf promptly fell onto the hard ground haha.
The highlight band of the night were the last to play, and by looking at them they seemed like University students. They said they would be releasing their first mini album with 4 original songs on it, and they were the only band of the night not to play covers. The crowd reacted well to them, but I think by that point people were just too tired.
The live finished at about 9:00-9:30 and afterwards we went out and stood out the front talking and meeting up with more people. We met up with Yousuke, Yuusuke and Satoshi. We didn't end up leaving until around 10:00 when we all decided we were really hungry and needed something to eat quickly. Queue second visit to McDonald's in a day! We ate and lounged around, mostly exhausted, then we decided it'd be fun to do some English conversation which was amusing.
One weird thing about being here is that I find myself being closer to the people that can't speak English well. I guess it's because I can practice Japanese with them, they can practice English with me and we can make fools out of ourselves together and then feel a lot more comfortable. It's probably a good thing too, since it'll help me improve quicker than if I hung around with great English speakers.
After we'd eaten I exchanged numbers with the people I hadn't yet so we could keep in touch, and then headed home at around 11:00. It was raining lightly, but nothing too bad. I think I left at a good time though, since it started pouring down last night and has been raining constantly since.
All in all yesterday was fantastic. I made some new friends, got to visit my first Japanese live house and ate way too much McDonald's. What more could you ask for? :D Updated the album with a few McDonald's happy snaps. Excuse me looking awful, especially in the post-live ones haha.
So we exchanged mail a bit and then the replies stopped coming. So I waited for mail that never came, and assumed I wouldn't be going. Then yesterday at about 3 o'clock she finally replies saying that they were meeting up at 4 o'clock nearby my house! So I quickly got ready and rode my bike to a the nearby Uniqlo to meet Azusa, and then we headed to McDonald's to meet another friend from school, Chihiro. After that we sat in McDonald's for a bit and Chihiro's boyfriend, Chuchuya, joined us. After we'd sat around and eaten a bit Azusa decided she wanted to go home to fix up her hair... so we waited for her to come back before we left to go to the live house, Jigen-Ya and met up with another of Azusa's friends, Sayuka.
By the time we'd arrived it had already well started, but I don't think we missed much. Essentially 6 bands played, and most of them seemed to be high school bands not much older than me. They all played mostly covers too, of bands like The Used, Rancid and some Japanese bands. They weren't too bad, and some of them really got the crowd moving. The mosh pit was crazy simply because there was no security and no barrier between the stage and the mosh, so people were falling onto amps and speakers and my legs got a real beating from being knocked against the stage. Anyone that tried to crowd surf promptly fell onto the hard ground haha.
The highlight band of the night were the last to play, and by looking at them they seemed like University students. They said they would be releasing their first mini album with 4 original songs on it, and they were the only band of the night not to play covers. The crowd reacted well to them, but I think by that point people were just too tired.
The live finished at about 9:00-9:30 and afterwards we went out and stood out the front talking and meeting up with more people. We met up with Yousuke, Yuusuke and Satoshi. We didn't end up leaving until around 10:00 when we all decided we were really hungry and needed something to eat quickly. Queue second visit to McDonald's in a day! We ate and lounged around, mostly exhausted, then we decided it'd be fun to do some English conversation which was amusing.
One weird thing about being here is that I find myself being closer to the people that can't speak English well. I guess it's because I can practice Japanese with them, they can practice English with me and we can make fools out of ourselves together and then feel a lot more comfortable. It's probably a good thing too, since it'll help me improve quicker than if I hung around with great English speakers.
After we'd eaten I exchanged numbers with the people I hadn't yet so we could keep in touch, and then headed home at around 11:00. It was raining lightly, but nothing too bad. I think I left at a good time though, since it started pouring down last night and has been raining constantly since.
All in all yesterday was fantastic. I made some new friends, got to visit my first Japanese live house and ate way too much McDonald's. What more could you ask for? :D Updated the album with a few McDonald's happy snaps. Excuse me looking awful, especially in the post-live ones haha.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Rivers, Mountains and Samurai!
Today was a big day out, and the weather was good for it too! Although I think it was a little warm for my liking, we reached the 26 degree mark here. You can tell Summer is coming already. So today I went with my host mother Junko to a few places. Mainly 嵐山 (Arashiyama) and 映画村 (Eigamura)!
Arashiyama is out on to the West of Kyoto and we had to take a fairly long train ride to get there. I'd take a guess at 10-15 minutes. This was my first time on a train in Kyoto, and it wasn't nearly as packed as I remember them being in Tokyo. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was comfortable though... I much prefer the layout and seating in Brisbane trains! After we got off we were greeted with the hustle and bustle of Arashiyama. It was packed, there were people going in all directions! But tha said I had a great time just taking in the scenery and going into the many gift shops around the place. Thankfully, there were also lots of food samples to enjoy!
As well as tonnes and tonnes of shopping to be done, there's also a monkey park on the slopes of Mount Arashiyama, that does seem interesting but it wasn't visited today... possibly sometime in the near future? :D There's also a lot of religious Shinto shrines and whatnot. I have been told the mountains are most beautiful when the cherry blossoms are blooming and in Autumn when they turn a red and gold colour. I'll have to visit again in Autumn, I'm thinking!
After a bit of shopping had been done and photos had been taken, we caught the train back in the direction of Shijo Omiya but got off to go to Eigamura, a studio/theme park in one! It's a huge studio park themed in period Japanese style, complete with Geisha and Maiko wandering around, guys dressed up in Shinsengumi outfits (Which I thought fitting, since I bought a shinsengumi phone strap from Arashiyama haha). There are rides and stuff too, I only went into the Haunted House which was much scarier than I first thought! It was period themed with dead samurai and civilians, blood splattered all over the walls and even decapitated heads and bodies stuck to the walls... haha. That and the ghost that leapt out from the wall behind me and started chasing me D:
What's also interesting about the place is that it's where they film a lot of period movies and TV dramas. Kyoto is probably one of the most popular places to film those sorts of movies, and that's the place where it all happens!
Since I got my camera yesterday, plenty of photos were taken and they can now be seen in the updated photo gallery! Or soon they will anyway, I'm uploading them as I type this.
Arashiyama is out on to the West of Kyoto and we had to take a fairly long train ride to get there. I'd take a guess at 10-15 minutes. This was my first time on a train in Kyoto, and it wasn't nearly as packed as I remember them being in Tokyo. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was comfortable though... I much prefer the layout and seating in Brisbane trains! After we got off we were greeted with the hustle and bustle of Arashiyama. It was packed, there were people going in all directions! But tha said I had a great time just taking in the scenery and going into the many gift shops around the place. Thankfully, there were also lots of food samples to enjoy!
As well as tonnes and tonnes of shopping to be done, there's also a monkey park on the slopes of Mount Arashiyama, that does seem interesting but it wasn't visited today... possibly sometime in the near future? :D There's also a lot of religious Shinto shrines and whatnot. I have been told the mountains are most beautiful when the cherry blossoms are blooming and in Autumn when they turn a red and gold colour. I'll have to visit again in Autumn, I'm thinking!
After a bit of shopping had been done and photos had been taken, we caught the train back in the direction of Shijo Omiya but got off to go to Eigamura, a studio/theme park in one! It's a huge studio park themed in period Japanese style, complete with Geisha and Maiko wandering around, guys dressed up in Shinsengumi outfits (Which I thought fitting, since I bought a shinsengumi phone strap from Arashiyama haha). There are rides and stuff too, I only went into the Haunted House which was much scarier than I first thought! It was period themed with dead samurai and civilians, blood splattered all over the walls and even decapitated heads and bodies stuck to the walls... haha. That and the ghost that leapt out from the wall behind me and started chasing me D:
What's also interesting about the place is that it's where they film a lot of period movies and TV dramas. Kyoto is probably one of the most popular places to film those sorts of movies, and that's the place where it all happens!
Since I got my camera yesterday, plenty of photos were taken and they can now be seen in the updated photo gallery! Or soon they will anyway, I'm uploading them as I type this.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
JLPT
Since I came here I've, essentially, been without any solid goals or things to achieve. Of course I've had vague goals that I'd set out to complete ever since I decided to come on an exchange, but I kept feeling like I needed something to work towards and motivate me. As such, I've decided I want to try and sit the annual 日本語能力試験 (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). Essentially it's an annual exam held all around the world through which you can certify your skill level. There are 4 different levels, and I've decided to work towards Level 2, the second most challenging (I'm thinking Level 1 is impossible in such a short amount of time...).
The exam is held this December 2nd (That's right! The day before my birthday!) and actually costs about 5,500 yen to participate. Today I visited some book shops and purchased 3 textbooks (About 7,000 yen worth!) to help me prepare for it. If any of you other exchange students are planning on taking the exam, please share what books you've purchased/plan to purchase! I'm not sure if I got the best ones, but they seemed fairly helpful to me. One has some mock versions of the exam to work on as well as answers, another is purely kanji practice so I can learn about 1000 new kanji D: and the other is a grammar textbook I've been working on photocopies from.
Also today I finally purchased my new camera. As I posted earlier, the camera I brought with me was stolen (Partly due to my carelessness I guess), so I've been without one for a few weeks now. Today I bought the Canon IXY Digital 10. It's a fairly neat looking camera, and it's more powerful than the old one I had. Along with a 2GB SD Card it came in at about 40,000 yen. In other words, I spent a lot of money today. My wallet feels sufficiently lighter... (Or maybe heavier, since I think I gained a lot of shrapnel while losing a lot of notes).
I also should note I made my second visit to McDonald's today and can safely report that it is exactly the same as every McDonald's I have ever visited in Australia. Nothing exciting to report here :(
Today is 憲法記念日 (Constitution Memorial Day) in Japan - one of the many holidays that make up Golden Week. As the name implies it's to celebrate the day the new constitution came into effect and replaced the old Meiji Constitution. Golden Week continues tomorrow with みどりの日 (Greenery/Nature Day).
The exam is held this December 2nd (That's right! The day before my birthday!) and actually costs about 5,500 yen to participate. Today I visited some book shops and purchased 3 textbooks (About 7,000 yen worth!) to help me prepare for it. If any of you other exchange students are planning on taking the exam, please share what books you've purchased/plan to purchase! I'm not sure if I got the best ones, but they seemed fairly helpful to me. One has some mock versions of the exam to work on as well as answers, another is purely kanji practice so I can learn about 1000 new kanji D: and the other is a grammar textbook I've been working on photocopies from.
Also today I finally purchased my new camera. As I posted earlier, the camera I brought with me was stolen (Partly due to my carelessness I guess), so I've been without one for a few weeks now. Today I bought the Canon IXY Digital 10. It's a fairly neat looking camera, and it's more powerful than the old one I had. Along with a 2GB SD Card it came in at about 40,000 yen. In other words, I spent a lot of money today. My wallet feels sufficiently lighter... (Or maybe heavier, since I think I gained a lot of shrapnel while losing a lot of notes).
I also should note I made my second visit to McDonald's today and can safely report that it is exactly the same as every McDonald's I have ever visited in Australia. Nothing exciting to report here :(
Today is 憲法記念日 (Constitution Memorial Day) in Japan - one of the many holidays that make up Golden Week. As the name implies it's to celebrate the day the new constitution came into effect and replaced the old Meiji Constitution. Golden Week continues tomorrow with みどりの日 (Greenery/Nature Day).
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